Tired of Squash

Last year, the first five or six weeks of farm ownership meant greens - Kale, Swiss Chard, and Collards mainly.  And I loved them all.  With the addition of such things as bacon, golden raisins, and broth, they became a favorite of mine and I really looked forward to cooking them again this year.  Unfortunately, this year there have been very few greens (I think we got Kale once) and tons and tons of squash.  Each and every week we receive zucchini - both green and yellow, and my favorite (not!), patty pan squash (see attached photo).  I have figured out what to do with the zucchini.  I have made bread with them, including such ingredients as chocolate, cinnamon, and walnuts, and they make a nice breakfast side.  Today I made a cake that called for 3 cups of shredded zucchini, along with cocoa, walnuts, and an orange glaze.  And it actually was quite a hit.  But I can not find anything good to do with the patty pan squash.  I have tried stuffing them - they are pretty huge - but have not been satisfied with the results.  I tried a recipe that called for fresh bread crumbs, Parmesan, and bacon, and it was so-so.  Last week I used turkey Italian sausage and mozzarella and was still not impressed.  Any ideas?   I would greatly appreciate it.  I thought the CSA was joking when it said we would be getting 104 days of squash!  I guess they decided to replace their fields of greens with zucchini and patty pans.  Too bad.  I think the squash took over the place!   Squash can do that, you know...

Yes, we have also been receiving fruit each week - from tart cherries to peaches, plums, and apples, and they have been good.  But most of the vegetables have been in the squash family.  Pout.  : (      I used to actually like squash - a lot.  Now, I am sad to say that I am sick of it.  This does not mean that I will not join a CSA again next year, but I may have to try a new one.  Oh well...

Until next time, happy and healthy eating!

Woodward House in Front Royal - Bed, Breakfast and So Much More



Last year after my husband and I came back from our first visit ever to a Bed & Breakfast, I wrote about it, asking you all, "Are all Bed & Breakfasts this good?"   After what we experienced this past weekend, I would have to say that, in Front Royal Virginia, they are!   Woodward House is a refurbished 1910 home that sits atop a small, steep hill off of what once may have been the main drag.  Upon arriving, we were warmly greeted by the owner's twin sister and were told that, because the house was being occupied by a family of 12, we had been upgraded to one of the 2 cottages that sit in the woods above the main house.  Our cottage was, for lack of a better word, adorable.  It was decorated in a country motif and contained a cozy sitting area with a fireplace that was off of a small kitchen and breakfast nook.  Because it was my birthday, the owner had left us a small carrot cake (my favorite cake, by the way!) on the table-for-two, along with a handmade card, some homemade (of course) cookies, and a bottle of wine.  To the left and tucked into its own cozy corner was a comfy four poster bed that was about 4 feet off the ground and was covered with a soft down quilt and a wide selection of pillows.  The bathroom was more than ample in size and had a heart-shaped whirlpool tub for 2 that, with the addition of rose-shaped bath beads, was so relaxing that I felt like I was floating after spending time in it.  After wrapping yourself in one of the "his and hers" bathrobes, you'll find a variety of lotions and scented talcum powder to make you feel just that much more pampered.  The cottage itself would have been reason enough to recommend this charming home away from home.  But the accommodations were just the tip of the iceberg.

Joan and Bob, the owners,  have gone out of their way to make sure your stay at their home is a special and unique experience.  They have set up an open bar area off of the sitting room in the main house where you can help yourself to home-brewed beer, wine, or ice cold water infused with cucumber slices and mint any time the mood should hit you.  After a 102 degree day, I found the cucumber water to be a real treat and plan to make it at home. 

The star attraction at Woodward House house, however, is breakfast.   Joan is an accomplished baker and, after being served a plate of fresh fruit, we were treated to arguably one of the best orange/cinnamon rolls I have ever had.  Cinnabon, step aside!  This perfectly proportioned treat (it was about the size of a baseball) was warm and tender and had just the right amount of glaze.  See photo below:

After the delectable roll, Joan sweetly asks what you would like for breakfast.  She can make you pancakes, waffles (with or without blueberries), french toast, eggs cooked any way you'd like them, homemade breakfast potatoes, and ham.  My husband chose a Western omelet and I had poached eggs atop Joan's homemade cheesy biscuits.  Both dishes were amazingly delicious!   See photo below:

This was our Monday morning breakfast.  On Sundays, Joan makes a sausage gravy that is served over her cheesy biscuits with eggs any way you like them.  Her gravy is another unbelievably delicious addition to her repertoire.  And as if that isn't enough, Joan makes spiced apples and granola that you can have over oatmeal, along with one of her homemade flavored sugars.  I loved the way her orange sugar complimented the Japanese green tea I chose to accompany my meal.   I must have had 3 cups each morning. 

Joan and Bob make you feel at home, not only with their comfortable accommodations, and the  outstanding meals and snacks they prepare for you, but with their wonderfully warm personalities.  I wish I had more time to have gotten to know this lovely couple.  But from the time we spent with them, I know that they are generous, kind, and devoted to making their guests feel comfortable, and special.  You know how you find that place that is "you"?   That makes you feel like you can be yourself while at the same time feeling  special?  Woodward House in Front Royal is that place for me.   And I hope to be able to go there again soon.  In the meantime, thank you so much, Joan and Bob, for making my birthday weekend an unforgettable one!  



CSA - A Great Start to a New Season!

Last year, when I opened my first box from our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture or "Farm"), I was pleased.  The kale was delicious, as were the spring onions, and green leaf lettuce.  The cherries, on the other hand, were tiny and there weren't many of them.  If I recall, there had been too much precipitation during the previous weeks and a late frost to boot.  This year, when I opened our box, I was dazzled!   We were given peaches and 2 boxes of beautiful cherries (see photo above).  The cherries aren't the kind you eat as a snack.  They're the tart variety and I hear they make a nice pie.  I'll find out tomorrow.  I plan to use a modified version of the Blueberry Pie recipe I posted last year to make my first ever cherry pie.  We also received Swiss chard, which I cooked tonight with golden raisins, yellow onion,and bacon.  The zucchini we got was THE BEST I have had in years - since I lived in California.   I cooked up the smaller ones we got with a bit of lemon, pepper, and butter and they were incredible - not a hint of the bitter taste that the ones I find in our markets tend to have.  Our box also contained some flawless large ones that I plan to stuff the way my mother stuffs peppers and tomatoes - with ground meat (I use turkey), onion, parsley, tomato sauce, and rice; seasoned with salt, pepper, cinnamon, and mint.  The green onions are far superior to those that I buy at the market and I plan to use them to top an Indian dish I will make on Monday. 

If this first box is any indication of what this summer and fall will be like, I know we are going to be blessed with 5 months of the best of God's bounty.  I can not wait!   Last year, I was happy enough to join our CSA again even though our cherries and potato crops had been ruined.  This year, I have a feeling there will be very few, if any, disappointments. 

I seem to recall telling you all that quite often the produce I buy at grocery stores "bothers" me.  I feel queasy or downright sick after eating much of it raw.  Nothing I ate from our CSA did that last year.  These next 5 months, I will enjoy fruit and vegetables in quantities that I am usually not able to.  I wish I could find a way to eat like this all year long!   Oh well....

I hope you are all enjoying the end of what has been a very strange spring for me.  Until next time, happy and healthy eating!!





Ticks, Lyme Disease, and STARI - The Least You Should Know

There's nothing quite as invigorating as a nice long hike in the woods.  The refreshing scent of pine, the cooling sensation of a soft breeze as it sweeps over your shoulders, and the hint of sunshine that hits your cheeks as it peeks through the trees.  Ahhhhh.  It just screams, "healthy!".   And it is.  Or at least it should be.   Unfortunately, the joys of a nice long walk can be tarnished by almost invisible predators that latch onto unsuspecting hikers, stealing insignificant quantities of blood while, in exchange, potentially transmitting one of several "gifts that keep on giving."   These gifts, in order of concern in the Eastern and Western United States (as well as Minnesota and Wisconsin), are Lyme Disease, STARI, and rarely, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (not covered herein). 

Being the consummate research fanatic that I am, when I was diagnosed with Lyme last week, I took it upon myself to learn all I could about this frustrating and debilitating disease.  Frustrating because it is often undiagnosed - a negative Lyme test does not necessarily mean you do not have Lyme.  And debilitating because, when it is not properly treated in its earliest stage, it can become a life-long ailment, slapping the sufferer with labels such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, and actually leading to Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA).  In fact, the disease was discovered in 1975 in Lyme, Connecticut , when an unusually large number of children were being diagnosed with RA. 

Lyme disease is transmitted through the bite of a creature that is so tiny that, even when it is engorged, it is smaller than a peppercorn.  The 2 that I found on my abdomen were so small that I scratched them off (not at all the proper way to remover them!) thinking they were - well -  not anything that was alive.  I thought they could be new moles and the scratch test was my dumb idea of making sure that's what they were.  The blood that smushing them produced (another really dumb thing to do) tipped me off to their true identity.  Too much information?  Sorry, but I am trying to help you and nothing short of brutal honesty will do.  The ticks that transmit Lyme are generally black-legged deer ticks and are smaller than a pin head before they feed.  They can only transmit Lyme after they have had what is called their "blood meal", since they spit saliva into their victim when they do so.  In other words, if you find a tick on you that is not engorged, you are more than likely safe.  If you do find a tick fastened to you or a loved one, the proper way to remove it is by using a pair of tweezers and slowly pulling it off.  Once you remove it, do not handle or smush it like I did, since you can transmit its "poisons" onto your skin by doing so. 

About a week after I was bitten, I was in South Carolina with my son's baseball team and noticed that the area surrounding one of the bites had broken out in a pinpoint-type rash.  It covered a pretty large area, but since there was no bulls-eye, Lyme disease was nowhere on my radar screen.  Lesson #1:  there will not always be a bulls-eye shaped rash with Lyme Disease.  Sometimes there is no rash at all. 

Within 10 days after getting home from South Carolina, I began to get pain in my joints, in particular in the hips and arms, especially the elbows.  My first thought?   Arthritis.  After all, both my parents suffer from it.  And even though neither one of them had any symptoms of the disease until they were in their 70's (or in his 80's for my dad), I still thought that's what it must be.  Until the headaches and stiff neck, and body-wide itching kicked in.  Then I was just confused.  By the time the tell-tale fatigue and light-headedness had begun to rear their ugly head, I was sure I must have contracted some kind of nasty flu.  Especially since, when I wasn't on Tylenol for the pain, I appeared to be running a fever as well.   It was only after the 12th day of this "flu" that the thought of Lyme even entered my mind.

I awoke that day - 2 Saturdays ago - to find something hard and rather large on my back.  Like the fool I had been with anything tick related,  I did not ask for help but reached and pulled the thing off.  Imagine my surprise when I saw that it was yet another tick!  A big brown one this time, with a white spot on its back,  It's little headless body was squirming in my hand as I dropped it into an empty medicine bottle for future analysis.  And it was then that I made the call to my doctor to test me and the tick for Lyme. 

Curiously, it wasn't the big brown fellow that gave me Lyme disease.  That one was a Lone Star Tick and happens to be a carrier of a disease called Southern Tick-Associated Rash Illness (STARI).  Please read carefully the symptoms of STARI - fatigue, headache, fever, and muscle pains.  Sound familiar?   It sounds a lot like Lyme without the neck stiffness and itching.  And guess what?  There is no test for STARI.   Like Lyme, it responds beautifully to a 2-4 week regimen of Doxycycline, but the poor souls who are struck with it are often left to suffer it out.  The good news with STARI is that, unlike Lyme, it does not usually cause any permanent or long-term damage if left untreated. 

Back to Lyme, it is estimated that approximately 50% of people who have it test negative because they either test too early (it needs a good 6 weeks to season in your system) or, well, just because the test does not pick it up.  Comforting, isn't it?  And the other cruel fact about Lyme is that after a while, even if left untreated, all the nasty symptoms will disappear, leaving the unsuspecting victim with a feeling of false security.  Untreated Lyme will normally rear its head again some 6 months later, with muscle pain or swelling in the knees or other large joints, heart problems, such as palpitations, and/or weakness in the muscles of the face.  Still left untreated, a year or so later, the sufferer can develop muscle weakness, numbness and tingling, and/or speech problems.  Not to mention the mental symptoms - mood changes and depression, to name a few.

Why am I telling you this?   Because if you live in tick-ville as I do and suddenly develop the symptoms of Stage 1 Lyme and they last longer than any flu (and NO ONE ELSE in your family gets it), get thee to a doctor.  If the muscle aches and neck stiffness become unbearable and the fatigue so bad that it feels like you are pushing a huge boulder uphill and getting nowhere, AND you have found a tick on you at any time in the recent past, get on a regimen of Doxycycline.  If the test comes out negative, you can stop the treatment if you wish.  What harm can it do?  If symptoms return, get retested.  In fact, because of the prevalence of false-negative test results, get retested frequently.  Lyme is a horrible disease.  (Remember, if the tick was a big brown one with a white spot on its back and you get the symptoms described above, there is no test to confirm STARI, but the Doxycycline will bring you relief).  I am convinced that Lyme is often undiagnosed and that many of the people who have been diagnosed with illnesses such as Fibromylgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome may actually be suffering from it.  I am beginning to believe that those diseases are not actually diseases in and of themselves but symptoms of a bigger disease (such as Lyme).  I also believe that some cases of Rheumatoid Arthritis, especially in young people, were predicated by untreated Lyme disease.   This was the conclusion that the researchers in Lyme, Connecticut came up with in 1975. 

Unfortunately, because we did not have much of a winter this year in many parts of the Eastern United States, there are many more ticks out there than usual.  And it doesn't just take a walk through the woods to get bitten.  You can pick them up watching a game on a ball field, doing yard work, or by taking a walk through a tree-lined neighborhood.   To prevent tick bites when engaging in these activities, wear light-colored clothing (so you can see if any ticks have landed on you) and tuck your shirt into your pants and your pants into your shoes.  I love wearing soft, loose, blousy tops and capri pants when I take my walks.  Well, not anymore!   If I had a bee suit, I would wear it at this point.  I do love my walks, but where I walk and what I wear when I walk will never be the same again.  

I hope all is well with you.  Until next time, walk safely and wisely and watch out for those nasty ticks!

Baseball, Refried Beans, and A Book on the Horizon!

The photo on the left is just one of the reasons I have not posted anything on this Blog for I don't know how long.   Yes, it is baseball season and we just got back from the Varsity team's spring break tournament in South Carolina.  We were in Myrtle Beach and, for the most part, the weather was gorgeous and a great time was had by all.  It didn't hurt that the boys were undefeated...It has also been Lent - 54 days of no meat if you are an Orthodox Christian.  Right now I am boiling another big batch of homemade Refried Beans - delicious and easy, but quite time consuming.  After sorting, rinsing, and soaking the dried beans overnight in hot water, they are rinsed, covered generously with fresh hot water, and cooked slowly for 6 hours the next day, flavored only with chopped onion, garlic and salt.   To make sure they don't stick, they need to be stirred every 10 to 15 minutes.  But they are completely worth the effort.  I keep a good supply of tortillas on hand and voila!  Bean burritos that are ready to eat in 5 minutes.  Bean burritos that can be flavored with chopped avocado, salsa (traditional or verde), and cheese, if you are so inclined. 

I have also been working on a book that I started writing many moons ago.  When I am in the groove, so to speak, I will type for hours on end.  Other days, I just stare at a blank page for a while, type something that is cold and emotionless, highlight the whole thing, and hit "delete".  I have well over a hundred pages of random chapters that I am not sure how to organize.  Do I tell the story chronologically?  Or do I jump around in time?  I almost feel like throwing the whole thing up in the air and then putting the pages back together in whatever order I happen to pick them up.   I may even become brave enough one day soon to actually post my "Preface" on this Blog.  Anyway, that is what I have been up to these days.   Baseball, refried beans, and writing the next great American novel.   I wish...

I hope all is well with you.  Until next time, happy and healthy eating!   And, when you have the time, happy reading, too!  

Jeremy Lin Got Me Drunk!

Yes, Jeremy Lin did get me drunk.  Let me explain.  The other night my husband and I sat down to watch the new basketball sensation along with the until-then-nowhere-on-my-radar-screen New York Knicks battle the L.A. Lakers.  I had never seen Lin play before, but had watched Youtube videos of him earlier in the day and he had piqued my curiosity.  So my husband and I sat down to watch the game and decided to make it interesting.  I mean, we were home alone, we had a new sports figure to get excited about, and a bottle of Whipped Cream flavored vodka just sitting on the counter.  A dangerous combination...  We decided, in our brilliant state of mind, to take a sip of this sweet luscious libation every time Lin scored a basket.  Just a sip, mind you.  Sounds pretty harmless, right?  Well, 38 points later, I was, ahem, a little unsteady on my feet.   By the 28th point, we were laughing hysterically at the amazing evening this young man was having, as well as at anything else that moved, breathed, or popped into our heads.  Congratulations to yet another fine example of a gentleman/athlete.  We love you, man!  But next time I think I'll stick to water, herbal tea, or lemonade.   You're just way too good for Vodka...

BTW, the nutritional components of Smirnoff Whipping Cream Vodka are 69 calories per ounce.  That's it.  No carbohydrates, fat, protein, or anything else good (or bad) for you.  Do I recommend it as a part of your daily diet?  No!   Like the antics on "America's Funniest Home Videos",  this was a "see, but do not do" event.  

Newton Fruit Thins - Are They A Healthy Choice?

There's a new cookie in town!  And it comes in 4 flavors:  Blueberry Brown Sugar, Cranberry Citrus Oat, Raspberry Chocolate, and, of course, Fig and Honey.  A serving is 3 cookies and contains 140 calories, 5 grams of fat, 1 to 2 grams of fiber, 2 grams of protein, and 95 milligrams of sodium.  Compared to Nabisco's last attempt to provide a healthy-choice fruit cookie (Mini Newtons), these are quite good!  I tried to get into the Mini's this past summer and did not find them worth the effort.  They were pretty tasteless - the fruit was almost nonexistent - and they simply did not satisfy.  But I digress....
We tried the Blueberry Brown Sugar and the Raspberry Chocolate flavors and gave 3 thumbs up (out of 3) to the Blueberry Brown Sugar ones.  They were nice and crispy and the blueberry flavor came through perfectly.   Would I buy them again?  Yes.  The Raspberry Chocolate ones were rather disappointing.  They tasted like "bad chocolate" with an aftertaste that made it seem like the raspberry was trying to sneak through.  Until I told my husband and son that there was raspberry in them, they didn't even know it was there.  We all gave that flavor a thumbs down.  Cranberry Citrus Oat held no appeal for us.  I don't like Cranberry scones, so I can't imagine I would like a cookie version of them.  And I imagine that the Fig and Honey ones would be o.k., but I will settle for a good fat-free Fig Newton if I get a craving for a figgie cookie.  

If any of you out there have tried the ones we haven't, please let me know what you thought of them.  In the meantime, healthy and happy eating!