Saturday Morning This and That

We are getting used to our new way of eating. Giving up potatoes and some dairy is the hardest. While eating dinner, Joe said, "We sure have to chew a lot!" It's true...when you eat things like mashed potatoes and gravy, vegetables (cooked to death) stews and soups...there isn't much chewing. We are starting to eat like rabbits now. Take the other day for example...we each had a broiled pork chop on a bed of red pepper and onion strips , tossed green salad, asparagus, and Joe had butter beans from the day before. The salad was full of cucumbers, tomatoes, red onions, radishes, green onions, 1 hard boiled egg for the two of us, and a mix of romaine, iceberg lettuce and fresh spinach. I made a vinaigrette that was so good...here's the recipe: 1/2 cup white balsamic vinegar 1/2 cup EV olive oil 1 tsp dried mustard 1 chopped garlic clove salt and pepper These ingredients were whisked together and we used a portion of it on our salad. I washed out the bottle of dressing that I was throwing away and refilled it with the leftovers. I rubbed the pork chops with something new to me. Smokey Paprika and salt and pepper. This gave the chops a lot of color and a wonderful smokey flavor. I put them on a broiler pan and broiled them for about 5 min on each side. I figure that we had about a tablespoon of fat each in our meal. Nothing on the asparagus until it got on our plates...then we put a little butter on them. As we sat there crunching and munching we laughed at each other. Just like a couple of rabbits. Joe has been faithful...going to the gym every day, but I have not done this on the days that I worked out in the garden. The first day, I did, and paid for it later. When I got done, I could hardly do anything else for the rest of the day. I was bone tired and I felt that that much exercise wasn't good for me. I know my body and I listened to it. I guess we all know what we have to do to keep fit. I'm not trying to lose much weight...just want to tone my body and get some muscle back. I figure that the work I do in the yard is really good for me, at my age. I come in very tired and achy sometimes, but after an hour or so...I feel so good for having done it. I can go out the door and look at the gardens and feel a sense of pride, that I have done it myself...with very little help. Today is rainy and tomorrow will be in the 80's. We could have bad storms in the later hours of tomorrow. I have a chicken out and will make chicken soup later. I'm playing catch up in the house today. As I have always said....." I have to let things slide....to work outside." Balisha