Recipe 205 Tomato and Okra Stew pg 151

Maybe you have to be Southern to get into Okra. The gooey texture takes getting used to. With enough Braggs and red pepper it all got eaten but no rave reviews from any of my family. So I rated it just V. Maybe if I had used fresh instead of frozen okra it would have been better.

Well, I've gotten a little behind on cooking the recipes in the book but I have been in the kitchen quite a bit with my grandaughter, Lewella. We made a gingerbread house fully decorated and a train cake with all the cars from engine to caboose. We had so much fun adorning it with candies and colored frosting. I should have taken a photo for you. Back to serious cooking tomorrow......

Recipe 204 Miso Soup

Who would ever guess that a soup with a name like Miso would ever taste so good. I rated it V+ as I would definitely cook it again. This is an extremely healthy dish, as Miso is a known cancer fighter. In fact, the Journal of the Natl.Cancer Institute
reports a 50% reduced rate of breast cancer linked with Miso soup consumption.

If I rated recipes on their health promotion this would be a V+++.

Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving. I saw a wonderful sign outside a church in Rockland that said Thanksgiving is our Declaration of Dependence Day. I like that!

Recipes 202 & 203 both V++

Just in time for Thanksgiving, I pulled out Bill's recipe for stuffing (pg200). This is the best stuffing I have ever tasted. Fresh herbs do make all the difference.
I am so glad I took the time to plant an herb garden. I had the use of them all summer and now I will bring them inside for the winter. Hope you will try this truly great recipe.

Katie made another awesome dish, Spinach Artichoke Casserole(pg 141). After Thursday, if you are hankering for a change of pace from the old Thanksgiving Tofurky leftovers, try this mouthwatering dish. You will be glad you did.

Recipe 201 Beet Salad V+ (pg 19)

Katie made this healthy dish for her family and I was lucky enough to have a bite of the leftover salad when I visited her on thursday. It has an intriging texture and I thought it was one of the more pleasant ways to eat one of my least favorite foods, beets!

It must be childhood memories of having to clean my plate and gag down those strange, mushy beets. I can't think why else I would have developed such an aversion to them. They say that time heals all wounds and I guess that is true because now I rather like them.

Katie said next time she makes this salad she would decrease the wasabi by 1/2 as it was a little overpowering. I think I would agree.................

Recipe 200 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you hear the bells ringing?

Minestrone Soup pg 44 was rated V++ by all five at the table tonight. It is wonderful and I would rate it high on the "comfort food" scale.


Tonight I am heading to Lexington and will be shopping at Trader Joe's tomorrow. When Mom got wind of this she said "don't forget to get my gingersnaps at "G.I.Joes"
She was completely serious!

Recipe 199 ! Granola (pg 165)

I was sceptical about this recipe as it sounds strange because it calls for using a box of granola in the recipe? But I was delightfully surprised when I tested it out in a bowl with cold soy milk. I made 1/2 the recipe as directed, sweetened with molasses and the other half sweetened with maple syrup. Both were wonderful!

I am looking forward to breakfast tomorrow.......................

Recipe 198 Wild Rice and Pine Nut Salad V+++

Awesome is the only way to describe it. We couldn't stop making exclamations about how good this salad was all during dinner. This is like nothing you have ever tasted in your life. Your taste buds are going to go (pine) nuts over this. This would be a great salad to have around for the holidays. It will keep in the refrigerator and it would be wonderful to pull out to eat with those Tofurky sandwiches!!!!!!!!!