January 2006

1 pound asparagus, cooked
2 Tbs butter
2 Tbs flour
3 cans chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in a heavy saucepan. Add flour and stir. Cook on medium heat about 1 minute.

Add chicken broth and cream. Whisk until smooth. Continue cooking over medium heat until mixture begins to boil.

Add 1 cup of this mixture to asparagus and process in a blender or food processor until pureed.

Pour this puree back into the pan with the rest, add salt and pepper to taste.

Yield: 6 servings

Give this one a try - it’s as healthy as it is delicious. Very easy to make, also.

Joi

I’ve been trying to add to my number of Valentine’s dishes and decorations. I have Christmas covered better than Santa, himself, and have collected plenty of Halloween, Thanksgiving and Easter lovelies, but I’d love to round up a lot more for this special time of year.

I started getting out my lovey-dovey decorations and dishes yesterday and was alarmed to see how few I had! Weird, because I absolutely LOVE this special day. Per chance, the problem is that usually whatever I buy around this time of year is of the consumable variety (I think we have two boxes of candy under the roof righ now!).

The Sweethearts Candy Dish above is from Lillian Vernon is only $7.97. All these candies would look much more decorative on it than in their boxes!

They have quite a few other Valentine’s Day goodies as well - (you can get to them by clicking on the candy dish link above). There’s just something wonderful about filling your home with the season at hand. Any reason to celebrate life is a wonderful thing!

Joi

2 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a mixing bowl, combine the eggs and sugar, blending well. Add remaining ingredients. Again, blend well.

Spread batter in an 8 x 8 inch square baking pan. Bake 25 minutes - or until sides begin to pull away from the edge of the pan. Cut into squares. Allow to cool in the pan.

Freakin’ good! They’re what would happen if chocolate chip cookies bumped into brownies in the middle of the night.

Joi

1 package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (110 to 115 degrees F.)
2 Tbs. shortening
3 cups flour
2 Tbs. sugar
1-1/4 tsps salt
1 egg white, mixed with 1 Tbs. water

Sprinkle yeast over water in a small bowl, set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cut shortening into flour, sugar and salt until consistency of fine crumbs. Add yeast, stir until a soft dough forms. Cover and allow to rise in a warm spot for 20 minutes.

Divide dough into 12 portions. Flatten each into a 4 x 3 inch rectangle. Roll from long side, pinching edges to seal.

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Place rolls about 3 inches apart on a greased baking sheet. Brush with egg white mixture. Cover and let rise for 1 hour.

Bake 25-30 minutes, until golden brown. Remove to a wire rack. Split each roll lengthwise.

By the by, if you ever see American Spoon products on a shelf, invite them home with you! I truly don’t know if they’re sold in supermarkets, as I’ve never seen them. I’ve gotten them from local Great Harvest Bread Company stores. They have a website, Spoon Foods, however, and you can order directly from the site. Their Strawberry Preserves are the absolute best you can buy. Slowly, but surely, I intend to try out all of their goodies! Tough job, I know, but somebody’s gotta do it!

Last, but by no means, least - today is the the day we remember a great American, Martin Luther King, Jr. To celebrate a life very much worth celebrating, I’ve written two posts centered around him on two of my other blogs. The links are below if you want to stop by. Have a great day!

Joi

Click HERE for part 1 in a series of posts about Brain Boosting herbs. Certainly something that gets my attention!

Joi

1 (1 lb.) can salmon
1 cup bread crumbs
1 cup milk
2 eggs, well beaten
2 Tbsp. chopped onion
1 tsp. lemon juice
4 Tbsp. melted butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Mix together all ingredients until well blended. Pour into a greased 1-1/2 quart loaf pan. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Tufts University ran a study on vitamin D and how it affected women, specifically in their likelihood of getting diabetes. The researchers say that getting adequate vitamin D daily in food and supplements apparently helps stop type 2 diabetes.

Their study ran for 20 years and included 81,700 women. Those with the highest vitamin D intake had a 28% lower risk of type 2 diabetes than those with the lowest.

Good sources of vitamin D are: Milk, eggs, and fatty fish.

Heck yes! Giftapolis.com has several items featuring our boy - even a talking bottle opener, which might be too odd even for me.

If you’ve never seen this movie, see it this weekend. If you’ve seen this movie, see it again this weekend. See it twice this weekend. After the football games, of course!

Go Broncos!!!!!!!!!!

Joi

P.S. I dare you, I double dare you to go into work carrying a Napoleon Dynamite lunch box.

Spill yourself on over to this Drink Test and find out what drink you are.

I hate to be cocky, but I’m pretty full of myself right now….I’m coffee! I’m really not too surprised.

Java Joi

Did You Know That?:

• Drinking two glasses of Gatorade can relieve headache pain almost immediately?
• Colgate toothpaste makes an excellent salve for burns.
• Before you head to the drugstore for a high-priced inhaler filled with mysterious chemicals, try chewing on a couple of curiously strong Altoids peppermints. They’ll clear up your stuffed nose.
• Achy muscles from a bout of the flu? Mix 1 Tablespoon of horseradish in 1 cup of olive oil. Let the mixture sit for 30 minutes, then apply it as a massage oil, for instant relief for aching muscles.
• Sore throat? Just mix 1/4 cup of vinegar with 1/4 cup of honey and take 1 tablespoon six times a day. The vinegar kills the bacteria.
• Cure urinary tract infections with Alka-Seltzer . Just dissolve two tablets in a glass of water and drink it at the onset of the symptoms. Alka-Seltzer begins eliminating urinary tract infections almost instantly even though the product was never been advertised for this use. (Note: Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold Medicine is not the same…and contains aspirin, which can cause stomach bleeding if you have ulcers.)
• Honey remedy for skin blemishes… Cover the blemish with a dab of honey and place a Band-Aid over it. Honey kills the bacteria, keeps the skin sterile, and speeds healing. Works overnight.
• Listerine therapy for toenail fungus… Get rid of unsightly toenail fungus by soaking your toes in Listerine mouthwash. The powerful antiseptic leaves your toenails looking healthy again.
• Easy eyeglass protection… To prevent the screws in eyeglasses from loosening, apply a small drop of Maybelline Crystal Clear nail polish to the threads of the screws before tightening them.
• Coca-Cola cure for rust… Forget those expensive rust removers. Just saturate an abrasive sponge with Coca Cola and scrub the rust stain. The phosphoric acid in the coke is what gets the job done.
• Cleaning liquid that doubles as bug killer… If menacing bees, wasps, > hornets, or yellow jackets get in! your home and you can’t find the insecticide, try a spray of Formula 409. Insects drop to the ground instantly.
• Smart splinter remover…just pour a drop of Elmer’s Glue-All over the splinter, let dry, and peel the dried glue off the skin. The splinter sticks to the dried glue.
• Hunt’s tomato paste boil cure…cover the boil with Hunt’s tomato paste as a compress. The acids from the tomatoes soothe the pain and bring the boil to a head.
• Balm for broken blisters…To disinfect a broken blister, dab on a few drops of Listerine … a powerful antiseptic.
• Heinz vinegar to heal bruises… Soak a cotton ball in white vinegar and apply it to the bruise for 1 hour. The vinegar reduces the blueness and speeds up the healing process.
• Kills fleas instantly. Dawn dish washing liquid does the trick. Add a few drops to your dog’s bath and shampoo the animal thoroughly. Rinse well to avoid skin irritations. Goodbye fleas.
• Rainy day cure for dog odor… Next time your dog comes in from the rain, simply wipe down the animal with Bounce or any dryer sheet, instantly making your dog smell springtime fresh.
• Eliminate ear mites… All it takes is a few drops of Wesson corn oil in your cat’s ear. Massage it in, then clean with a cotton ball. Repeat daily for 3 days. The oil soothes the cat’s skin, smothers the mites, and accelerates healing.
• Quaker Oats for fast pain relief….It’s not for breakfast anymore! Mix 2 cups of Quaker Oats and 1 cup of water in a bowl and warm in the microwave for 1 minute, cool slightly, and apply the mixture to your hands for soothing relief from arthritis pain.
• Needless to say, I can’t swear by any of these - but I do know there must be something to the Gatorade one. My daughter, Emily, has occasional migraine headaches. She went through a period of time (before she fell in love with Iced Tea!), where Powerade was her drink of choice. I’ve been thinking about it since I read this list, and I can’t recall her having a really bad migraine during her Powerade months.

I don’t know what it could be, but there must be something “headache” friendly in these drinks.

Joi