Fried Green Tomatoes… Kinda.

The 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade teacher at my mom’s school was teaching weather to her kids. My mom volunteered Jake and I to go in and talk to them and answer some questions. As we left, Mrs. McCall gave us a basket of some squash, gourds, tomatoes, chilies, and some Halloween candy. The tomatoes were from her garden and still very green. So, I decided that I was going to make fried green tomatoes.

I started looking up recipes online and didn’t like any of them. Most use buttermilk which I don’t have. Many are just fried with bread crumbs and no seasonings. Some have lemon pepper in them- I’m not a HUGE fan of pepper. So I decided I’d come up with something myself.

Well, after a day or two the tomatoes started turning red. So I sliced up this half green half red tomato. I dipped it in milk and a mix of Panko bread crumbs and ranch dressing mix. I then fried them in oil. All in all, pretty easy to make. They taste yummy too. The heat brought out the sweetness of the tomato. The bad thing, they seemed to get much more ripe and red in the heat so they are not quite as firm as I think truly green tomatoes would have been. However, they taste very good.

Fact # 3

• From 2001 to 2004, breast cancer incidence rates in the U.S. decreased by 3.5% per year. One theory is that this decrease was due to the reduced use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) by women after the results of a large study, called the Women’s Health Initiative, were published in 2002. These results suggested a connection between HRT and increased breast cancer risk.

Don’t replace your hormones.

My Favorite Cookbook

After taking a long nap with the hubby, it was time to decide what to make for dinner. I turned to my trusty friend, Bill Phillips and his book, Eating for Life.

I knew I had ground turkey in the fridge. I flipped through all of the pages (each recipe has a picture of the finished product and ingredients) and found a winner. “Crunch Taco Salad: Chili-seasoned ground turkey on a bed of lettuce topped with salsa and sour cream.” Yummy. I used extra lean turkey and vegetarian chili- which by the way does not smell very good coming out of the can but tastes way better.

This book is awesome. It gives you many breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack recipes. All of them have been rated an 8 out of 10 or above by Jake and I. They are super simple, very healthy, and YUMMY! The recipes are low fat, high protein and balanced. He also includes basic diet and exercise information in the front of the book. In the back he has examples of menus that readers have sent in along with their before and after pictures.

Of all of my cookbooks, this is my favorite. Try it out. You won’t be sorry.

Fact # 2

As promised, here is another breast cancer fact:

• About 1,990 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in men. Less than 1% of all new breast cancer cases occur in men.

It's not just a woman's disease.

Are You Tough Enough to Wear Pink?

Well, October is here again and I can't believe the year has gone by so fast! I feel like I say that every year.

As I struggle to remember where the year has gone, I want to remind you that October is "Breast Cancer Awareness Month." I have found many facts about breast cancer that I will be blogging about throughout the month. Here is the first:

• Breast cancer incidence in women in the United States is 1 in 8 (about 13%).

I think it is amazing the amount of awareness that breast cancer has gotten in the last few years. It seems that no one is afraid to wear pink anymore. The University of Nebraska sported pink hockey jerseys. The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association routinely does a "Tough Enough to Wear Pink" night which raises money for breast cancer research. Who is going to tell this bull rider he isn't "tough enough to wear pink?"

I think that it is great that so many people can see the color pink and automatically think of the breast cancer cause. Remember: "Think Pink", "Feel Your Boobies", and "save the ta-ta's"!

How Does it Happen?

I worked all night last night and I came home wide awake and full of energy (I know, weird huh?) I felt ambitious and decided I was going to clean my house. My question is:

How does my house get so dirty so fast?

It baffles me. I feel like I just dusted and mopped my floors and scrubbed my kitchen and it is dirty again. With having the two dogs and a dirt yard (it's supposed to be grass but it was long dead when we moved in and it never came back) I could vacuum, mop and dust daily and still feel like it needed to be done again within an hour.

On my Simplicity Adventure blog, I follow From Pigpen To Paradise. Each day, she posts a daily challenge. It may be to clean out your refrigerator, mop your kitchen floor, wipe off the bathroom counter and sinks, or any other simple chore for the day. I like this blog because it gives me a simple chore to do each day instead of a weeks worth of stuff on my day off.

Anyway, I hope none of you have the same dusty house problem as I do. If so, hang in there.

To CA & Back

On Saturday night Jake and I worked and then drove down to Phoenix to fly to CA. Our nephew, Liam, was being baptized on Sunday.

We also had the pleasure of meeting our other nephew Grant. He is only a few months old.

Right after the baptism and lunch, we went back to the airport and flew back to AZ. We grabbed something to eat and started the 1 1/2 hour drive back up the hill. About 1/2 way back, there was a huge car accident and the 17 freeway was stopped for about 40 minutes. We eventually got through. Jake had to work at 10 that night. We only had time to drop him off so he could work. I went home, got about 3 hours of sleep and went back to work at 4am. Wow, what a long weekend. It was great seeing the family and our nephews though!