SNEAKING IN THE GOOD STUFF - ANY SUGGESTIONS

What do you do when your other half is strictly a meat and potatoes kind of guy. Mine is just that he is anti vegetable, although I have managed to get him to eat a couple sprigs of broccoli (must have cheese sauce though) or cauliflower here and there. To him "eating his vegetables" amounts to a slice of tomato and leaf of lettuce on his sandwich.... lol. I have to humour him though, and agree that he's doing good. For some reason he gets a little miffed when my sarcasm shines through on this subject.

I pretty much refuse to cook separate meals for each of us, so I try to hide what I can in the food for him. I have to pulverise peppers, and shred carrots so they melt into the food. I even went so far as to buy "Deceptively Delicious". A cookbook written to help parents hide good stuff in their kids food, if he only knew.

This week I thought I would try something else on him. I purchased some PC Blue Menu ground soy and used it along with a little regular extra lean ground beef to make tacos. They were delish and he couldn't tell the difference.  I wouldn't necessarily class this as a health food, because it is still a processed soy product but once in awhile to swap out some beef for him is ok.  You could also use some black beans, or even lentil instead of the ground soy. Either way I'm sure his arteries were doing the dance of joy.

I have been dying to try the Bean Burgers I keep seeing on Lynn's blog http://lifehealthfit.blogspot.com/ , so I mixed them up with one slight modification for hubbies, I added the rest of the leftover taco mixture from the night before. I have to say these are awesome. Mine did not have the taco mixture in them and I loved them. Hubby, ate 3 and really liked them as well. WOO HOO!!! Thanks Lynn

I'm running low on ideas though. Does anyone else have this problem? What do you do to get them to eat healthier?

Let the baking begin!!!

It's that time of year and I will take any excuse I can get to bake. I love, love, love to bake but refrain from doing so simply because I love, love, love to eat it too. I figured I would do some baking since it's getting close to Christmas and take it into work. Excuse number 2 to bake... There was someone in from out of town and he asks for my treats when he visits.

Here's a pic of the yummmy squares.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

Really how can you go wrong with a name like that. I found the recipe yesterday while I was blog surfing. They were DELISH!!! and easy.

ALL THINGS TEA

I have always been a tea drinker, however, have not ventured far from the standard orange pekoe teabags. I started drinking the Celestial Seasonings flavored teas, which are quite tasty. I was never a fan of mint tea but read on someones blog (I think it was over at Life, Health Fitness) to add some hot chocolate mix to mint tea., and let me tell you I was pleasantly surprised.

My new favorite thing!!
I have been on the lookout for loose tea for awhile, but wasn't having much luck around town. So when I was at Tweed and Hickory looking for some K-Cups for my Keurig coffee maker ( I love my flavored coffee too) I was excited to find they sell loose tea. Then came the hard part.. deciding what flavor to buy. I decided on Vanilla Cream and I have to say it was a good choice.
A friend of mine was out shopping and came across a kiosk at the mall for "The Tea Brewery", that was selling various flavoured loose teas. She purchased the Nova Scotia Blue.... yummy. If you like blueberry you will love this tea. The next day I was off to find me some more yummy flavours. I scored some at Sunnyside Mall. My favorite so far is Rum Truffle Rooibos..It is delish!! The others I brought home were Maple Fundy, Ginger Snap Rooibos, and Caramel Crunch Rooibos. I can't wait to give them a try. The great thing about it is they have $2 sample packs that you can buy so you don't have a big bag of tea you don't like. The Rooibos tea is caffeine free, a bonus there. I took this excerpt from Wikipedia

Nutritional and health benefits
Rooibos is becoming more popular in Western countries particularly among health-conscious consumers, due to its high level of antioxidants such as aspalathin [5] and nothofagin, its lack of caffeine, and its low tannin levels compared to fully oxidized black tea or unoxidized green tea leaves. Rooibos also contains a number of phenolic compounds, including flavanols, flavones, flavanones, and dihydrochalcones.[6]
Rooibos is purported to assist with nervous tension, allergies and digestive problems.

The Tea Brewery is a local company from Mahone Bay, NS. I've been to Mahone Bay a number of times and didn't know it was there. You can visit their website for a price list and information to place an order http://www.teabrewery.com/. You can find their kiosks at various malls until Christmas. I know they are in Sunnyside Mall in Bedford, and Mic Mac Mall in Dartmouth.

I think I'm going to brew myself a cuppa Rum Truffle now.

Jackie

Breathing a Sigh of Relief

I guess I haven't gotten off to a very good start with this blog, since it has been over a month since I last posted. We'll see if I can put in a little more effort.

So the last few days were not good to say the least. One of our fur children, our 13 year old golden retriever was not doing well. It all started with a little limp Wednesday night. We didn't think too much of it since he is 13 and has had a limp off and on before but it never lasts. Anyway Thursday morning he struggled to get up so hubby helped him up but he wouldn't walk. He did eat his breakfast and we took him outside to do his stuff, but he still wouldn't walk. We had to go to work, so asked the neighbor to watch him. Through the day she called hubbie and said "he was breaking her heart". He wouldn't get up for her. We couldn't get an appointment at our vet until Friday. Upon my return home from work, he seemed quite a bit better, he got up for me was walking around, he still had a limp, but was up and around so we thought he was on the mend.

Then Thursday morning came. He wouldn't get up again. Hubby got him up and he tried to walk, but had no control and was falling over. We were beside ourselves, it was heartbreaking to see him like that. I took the day off work to stay home with him, (I'm sure I'll get grief about that on Monday), and we were taking him to the vet in the afternoon.

I think both of us cried all the way to the vet thinking we were going to get bad news and might not be able to bring our beloved pup home.

Thankfully, that was not the case. Turns out his muscles are in spasm and this is effecting his nerves, so he was prescribed Robaxacet and massage therapy. Yes you read that right we have to massage him a few times a day or whenever he will let us. She also suggested acupuncture for him, I'm thinking I might take him with me next week when I go to my acupuncture appointment. Maybe I could get a 2 for one deal.

Our buddy is home, feeling better and that is all that matters.