Going Unplugged

Beginning tomorrow, April 23rd, I’m turning off the TV and limiting my blog/email time to one hour per day. You can see posts about this on my other blog. I  just wanted to let folks know that if I don’t get posts done or respond to comments, that’s why. It’s not too late to decide to go unplugged, yourself, for a week. Check out the bloggers’ challenge by Mom Unplugged. Here are some links regarding TV turn-off week:

• TV Turn-off Network
• TV Facts & Figures
• Ad Busters
• Facts, FAQs, and a list of alternative activities
• Crayola Activities

What to Feed the Dog??

I’ve written recently about my dog being ill, along with the pet food scare. I must say my dog’s illness was not directly related to the pet food – we did not have any of the recalled food. Although he is a relatively healthy dog, with only occasional bouts of illness (diarrhea, vomiting, ear infections), I believe the commercial diet we feed him does have a negative impact on his health. It is not a natural diet for a dog. In the back of my mind as I’ve made effort to eliminate certain types of food from our diet I knew the same types of issues existed for the dog, as well.

Several weeks ago, in the midst of the scare, I checked out the Weston Price website to see what they had to say about dog food. What they recommended was a raw meat diet. I brushed that aside and figured I’d find that cook book my mother-in-law had given and begin to cook him some mixture of food. Today, my husband gave me a news clipping about feeding your pet. They referred to PetStyle.com and claimed they recommended 1/3rd meat, 1/3rd grain, and 1/3rd vegetables. Well, I don’t know where the author got that from. In browsing the PetStyle.com site I’ve found two articles recommending the same raw meat diet as the Weston Price folks!

Aha! I just found an article by a vet recommending various brands of commercial pet food. So the above recommendations for preparing your pet’s food yourself are probably there, somewhere. So I suppose PetStyle offers a balance of the many differing opinions out there. But, the more I read about the raw diet for dogs and cats, the more sense it seems to make. The jury is still out and I’m not off to the butcher just yet. But I’m starting to lean more in that direction. My deadline for deciding and proceeding is before the current stash of dry dog food runs out. Here are some links to the raw diet info I’ve been reading:

• Trends in Home-Prepared Diets for Pets
• Optimum Pet Nutrition
• Dispelling the Myths of Raw Feeding
• Jane Anderson’s Raw Learning Sight - a wealth of information!
• Raw Fed Dogs

That’s Interesting

I watched a PBS nature show with my son yesterday. Sorry, I don’t remember what the title was. One segment featured the Tasmanian Devils of Australia. Apparently they are being ravaged by a disease that is threatening their population. Their numbers are dropping dramatically because of it. Although they didn’t make any mention of possible causes of the disease, they did mention one of their habits is dumpster diving. The little devils like to snack on discarded people food. After that they named the disease they had been referring to – lymphatic cancer.

They briefly mentioned that they were raising some orphaned devils in captivity, meaning their diet is more controlled – no dumpster diving for them. And so far, those devils have remained free of the disease. Hmmmm. This was a short segment without much detail. But I couldn’t help but wonder if there might be some connection between the dumpster diving habit and the cancer. I don’t really know anything about how food is processed in Australia, whether they have similar issues as we do here in the US with how crops and animals are raised for our food. I couldn’t possibly be the first person to wonder if there’s a connection. Surely it’s being considered. But, I thought it was interesting.

Roasted Chicken

The roast chicken I mentioned in the previous post came from this recipe from my Southern Living Easy Weeknight Favorites.

• 4-5 pound roasting chicken
• salt & pepper
• 1 teaspoon lemon-pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large garlic clove, minced

Remove giblets from chicken. Rinse and drain chicken; pat dry. Sprinkle cavity of chicken genersously with salt & pepper.

Combine lemon-pepper and remaining 5 ingredients. Rub mixture all over chiken, coating the top well. Place chicken, breast side up, in a 4-quart electric slow cooker. Cover and cook on HIGH 4 to 5 hours or on LOW 7 to 8 hours. Remove chicken from slow cooker, and let cool to touch. Remove meat from bones, and chop. Yield 4 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken.

This is good enought to just eat on its own, along with a side dish or two. It also goes well in a Ceaser type salad. I mentioned in the previous post trying it in chicken salad spread. And, of course, it makes great roast chicken sandwiches. I love recipes that are simple and versatile.

Maria’s Chicken Salad

I had a friend over for lunch today and she brought over some chicken salad. It was rather unique, so I got her permission to post it here. It’s really good. As a matter of fact, I was eating some this afternoon with some crackers for a snack when my husband came in. He tried it and nearly took it away from me to eat it himself. I don’t have any measurements, but I’ll throw out what Maria told me. Perhaps someone out there might like to experiment with these flavors yourself.

2 cans of chicken, some mayonnaise, and some raspberry walnut vinaigrette. Determine amounts by desired consistency.

There ya go. This is just something my friend made up one day when she didn’t have much in the kitchen. Not bad. I might try it with leftover roast chicken instead of canned. At first glance, pink chicken salad is a little weird. But, when you try it, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Off Topic – But Important

I have some posts on my mind, here. But I’ve been a bit preoccupied with a blog blitz on my other blog to raise awareness of unethical adoption practices as played out in a specific case (Stephanie Bennett). I urge folks, whether adoption interests you or not, to take a moment to find out what is happening in that Ohio case. It’s certainly not something the Bennett family went looking for. If this story moves you in any way, please take another moment to sign the petition. They are nearly half way to their goal of 1000. Send others that way, too, to sign and help them reach their goal. Let’s help reunite a family that should never have been torn apart and bring Evelyn Bennett home. Thanks.

When do we start?

I’m reading through my blogroll tonight (really should be getting to bed) and read a post by HealthyCookie asking whether you would want to know if you were genetically predisposed towards a particular disease or disorder down the road. It’s a good post. This part really grabbed me:

We shouldn’t wait for the bad things to happen before we notice all the good. So what if you found out you were the carrier of a disease or an illness. It shouldn’t cause you to live your life any differently. Any changes that would be made, should be made now. Today. We mustn’t wait until we get sick to start eating better… until we injure ourselves to start strengthening… until we are completely exhausted to rest. We must decide what is most important and make those things important right now.

Start now. So simple, yet so difficult for many of us. Why is it so hard to squeeze in the stuff we know is good for us, the right things to do, into our lives? That’s a good question. One I was already pondering as I’m reading a book on simple living. This book speaks of making conscious choices in our lives – thinking about what we do  and why we do it – living on purpose. I’ll probably post more on that as I get further into the book. It is good stuff to think about.

For now, I must say good night. Starting now, I’m going to bed to rest.

He is Risen!

*Early Sunday morning

Before the light of day,

An angel came from heaven

And rolled the stone away.

Later on some women came

And looked inside the tomb,

But Jesus wasn’t in there -

It was an empty room!

Happy Resurrection Day.

*Poem from The Rhyme Bible Storybook by L.J. Sattgast.

Not Gonna Do It!

I’ve been dreading turning 40 for nearly four years now, since I turned 35. Do you know why? It’s not a fear of getting old, so much. After all, what’s the alternative of growing older? No, it’s a little medical procedure that’s been preached at me for years, having my first mammogram. Yup. And my dread was growing as 39 looms ever closer this year, which would put me one year away from having to do it. Well, I’ve just decided I’m not gonna do it. Absolutely not.

For years I’ve kept my ears perked just in case a story broke telling of an alternative. But I haven’t heard any such thing, until last week while listening to Natural Solutions Radio when the show host mentioned thermograms. The thing is, this is nothing new. It seems the basic concept has been around for a long time. Leaves me wondering why I haven’t heard of it. It is a noninvasive procedure that apparently gives better results than mammograms. I’m definitely going to find out more about this, and how I can opt for a thermogram over a mammogram.

There are several articles regarding mammograms on the Natural Solutions Radio website that give plenty of reasons to avoid having a mammogram, aside from my own anxiety over the pain and discomfort of it. Check out Mammograms Offer No Health Benefits.

Since then, other doctors have begun to assert that in addition to failing to offer protection, mammograms — which involve exposing patients to radiation —may actually increase women’s risk of cancer. 

“The latest evidence shifts the balance towards harm and away from benefits,” said Dr. Michael Baum of University College in London. 

According to Canadian columnist Dr. W. Gifford -Jones, women between the ages of 40 and 49 who have regular mammograms are twice as likely to die from breast cancer as women who are not screened.

If you click the women’s health category, you’ll find several more articles specifically regarding mammograms or mammography. And here is another article on Thermography that has more information regarding breast screening and answers my earlier question of why I hadn’t heard of it. If you’re female, this is certainly something to investigate and seriously consider. I know I am.

Pizza Night!

As part of my menu planning, I’ve decided that Friday will be Pizza night. I figured I could make some good, wholesome, pizza, have some folks over, and play some games – stuff we don’t do often enough. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone that doesn’t like pizza, so that’s a pretty safe bet for inviting folks over.

Last week, I tried this recipe for whole wheat pizza crust. Notice I did not blog about it. But I think I’ll try it again. The dough was supposed to double in size – it did not. So, I don’t know if my yeast was too old or what. Though it wasn’t bad, it wasn’t great, either. And it only made one pizza, so we wound up ordering Dominoes as we had a couple of folks over.

This week, I didn’t invite anyone. I felt I needed some practice with the pizza dough. I decided to modify a recipe from my 1989 Betty Crocker cookbook. By George, it turned out pretty good. My husband must have declared at least three times how good the pizza was. Now that’s an accomplishment. And I didn’t do anything fancy. It was just some Newman’s Own Cabernet Marinara, grated (organic) mozzarella cheese, and some Boars Head pepperoni. I suppose the crust does matter. Here’s what I did:

• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cup unbleached white flour
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon organic sugar (found at Costco!)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt

Dissolve yeast in warm water in 2-quart bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients; beat vigorously 20 strokes (really, I didn’t count). Let rest 5 minutes.

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Divide dough into halves. Pat each half into 11-inch circle on greased cookie sheet or 12-inch pizza pan with floured fingers. Spread sauce over circles (or whatever shape you make), to within 1/4 inch of edge; sprinkle with cheese and toppings of your choice. Bake until cheese is light brown, 15 to 20 minutes.

We’re planning to have company again next week, so I’ll probably use this recipe again. But I am dieing to try the yogurt dough from the Nourishing Traditions cookbook. Now that would be wholesome.