Peanut Energy Bars

This carbohydrate-rich bar, full of nuts, seeds, fruit and oats, was adapted from Amy Harrison's prize-winning submission in the Plains (Georgia) Peanut Festival recipe competition sponsored by The Peanut Institute. It includes a little protein, and is a great grab-and-go pre-workout snack on mornings when you don’t have time to digest a full meal.

Ingredients

· ½ cup dry roasted salted peanuts

· ½ cup roasted sunflower seeds, or other chopped nuts

· 2 cups raisins, or other chopped dried fruit

· 2 cups rolled or instant oats

· 2 cups toasted rice cereal, such as Rice Krispies

· ¼ cup toasted wheat germ (optional)

· ½ cup creamy or crunchy natural peanut butter

· ½ cup packed brown sugar

· ½ cup light corn syrup, or honey

· 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Coat a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

2. Combine peanuts, sunflower seeds (or other nuts), raisins (or other dried fruit), oats, rice cereal and wheat germ (if using) in a large bowl.

3. Combine peanut butter, brown sugar and corn syrup (or honey) in a large microwaveable bowl; microwave on High until bubbling, 1 to 2 minutes. Add vanilla and stir until blended. Pour the peanut butter mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until coated.

4. Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan. Press down firmly. (It helps to coat your fingers with cooking spray.) Let stand for about 1 hour to harden. Cut into bars.

Taken from EatingWell.com

Quotes

"Your only obligation in any lifetime is to be true to yourself." - Richard Bach

Quiche Basics

A quiche is a great dish that everyone should be able to prepare. It is so easy and offers such variety that it will quickly broaden your cooking repertoire. Quiche is basically an egg custard, that is, a combination of egg and some liquid, and whatever flavorings you care to add. In general, for each large egg you use, add enough liquid to the egg to equal 1/2 cup. So for a 9-inch crust, you might use three large eggs and add enough liquid to reach 1-1/2 cups. (That may seem like a modest amount of filling, but you don't want to overfill the quiche, as you're aiming for balance between the taste of the crust and the custard.) After that, the sky's the limit — add cheese, bacon, shrimp, lobster, crab, anchovies, spinach, sausage, tomato, precooked asparagus, eggplant, broccoli, onions, leeks, or other vegetables.

For the liquid, the choice is yours. A traditional quiche is made with heavy cream and is certainly rich. But you can substitute half and half, whole milk, or even skim milk. For seasoning, add a little salt and pepper, and nutmeg or tarragon in delicate quiches, or oregano, cayenne, or sage with more robust ingredients, such as sausage. As to the crust, homemade is lovely, and not particularly challenging. But with frozen pie crusts at hand in your freezer, the production of a quiche is child's play. Preheat the oven and prebake the shell (according to the instructions) while you're putting the custard together. Remove the shell from the oven, add the filling, and bake. If you're up to making a crust from scratch, try one of the crust links below. Bake the quiche in a 375°F oven (190°C) for 30 to 35 minutes. The filling should puff up a bit and be lightly browned.
Copied from http://www.ochef.com/315.htm

Basic Soup Recipe

Prep: 20 minutes, Cook: 50 minutes Makes: 28 cups 1 lb. carrots, sliced 3 med. onions (1½ lbs.), chopped (4 c.) 4 lg. stalks celery, sliced 2 lg. cloves garlic, crushed with press 2 cans (28 oz. each) whole tomatoes in juice 1/2 sm. head green cabbage (1 lb.) thinly sliced (6 c.) 3/4 lb. green beans, trimmed and each cut into thirds 1 can (48 to 49 oz.) chicken broth 6 c. water Salt and pepper 3 med. zucchini (1 1/4 lbs.), sliced into half-moons 2 bags (6 oz. each) baby spinach leaves 1. Coat 12-quart stockpot (or 2 large saucepans) with nonstick cooking spray. Over medium-high heat, add carrots, onions, celery, and garlic; cook 8 minutes or until vegetables soften, stirring occasionally. 2. Add tomatoes with their liquid, breaking up tomatoes with side of spoon. Add cabbage, green beans, broth, water, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper; heat to boiling over high heat, stirring occasionally. 3. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Increase heat to high; stir in zucchini and spinach and heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 10 minutes or until all vegetables are tender. TIP: Make a big pot of this basic soup. Then each night of the week, you’ll mix two cups with extra ingredients to create a totally new soup, from Southwest Chili to Greek Fish Stew, in 20 minutes or less. You can even freeze the soup in serving sized containers so adding variety is quick and easy. Each cup: About 45 calories, 2 g protein

EATING FRUIT

We all think eating fruit means just buying fruit, cutting it up and popping it into our mouths. It's not that easy. It's important to know how and when to eat fruit.

What's the correct way to eat fruit?

IT MEANS NOT EATING FRUIT AFTER A MEAL! FRUIT SHOULD BE EATEN ON AN EMPTY STOMACH.

Eating fruit like that plays a major role in detoxifying your system, supplying you with a great deal of energy for weight loss and other life activities.

FRUIT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FOOD.

Let's say you eat two slices of bread, then a slice of fruit. The slice of fruit is ready to go straight through the stomach into the intestines, but it's prevented from doing so.

In the meantime, the whole meal rots and ferments, and turns to acid. The minute the fruit comes into contact with the food in the stomach, and digestive juices, the entire mass of food begins to spoil.

Eat your fruit on an empty stomach, or before your meal! You've heard people complain: Every time I eat watermelon I burp, when I eat durian my stomach bloats, when I eat a banana I feel like running to the toilet, etc. This will not happen if you eat the fruit on an empty stomach. Fruit mixes with the putrefying other food and produces gas. Hence, you bloat!

There's no such thing as some fruits, like orange and lemon are acidic, because all fruit becomes alkaline in our body, according to Dr. Herbert Shelton who did research on this matter. If you have mastered the correct way of eating fruit, you have the Secret of Beauty, Longevity, Health, Energy, Happiness, and normal weight.

When you need to drink fruit juice drink only fresh fruit juice, NOT the concentrated juice from the cans. Don't drink juice that has been heated. Don't eat cooked fruit; you don't get the nutrients at all. You get only the taste. Cooking destroys all of the vitamins.

Eating a whole fruit is better than drinking the juice. If you should drink the juice, drink it mouthful by mouthful slowly, because you must let it mix with your saliva before swallowing it. You can go on a 3-day fruit-fast to cleanse your body. Eat fruit and drink fruit juice for just 3 days, and you will be surprised when your friends say how radiant you look!

KIWI: Tiny but mighty, and a good source of potassium, magnesium, vitamin E and fiber. Its vitamin C content is twice that of an orange!

AN APPLE a day keeps the doctor away? Although an apple has a low vitamin C content, it has antioxidants and flavonoids which enhances the activity of vitamin C, thereby helping to lower the risk of colon cancer, heart attack and stroke.

STRAWBERRY: Protective Fruit. Strawberries have the highest total antioxidant power among major fruits and protect the body from cancer-causing, blood vessel-clogging free radicals.

EATING 2 - 4 ORANGES a day may help keep colds away, lower cholesterol, prevent and dissolve kidney stones, and reduce the risk of colon cancer.

WATERMELON: Coolest thirst quencher. Composed of 92% water, it is also packed with a giant dose of glutathione, which helps boost our immune system. Also a key source of lycopene, the cancer-fighting oxidant. Also found in watermelon: Vitamin C and Potassium.

GUAVA & PAPAYA: Top awards for vitamin C. They are the clear winners for their high vitamin C content. Guava is also rich in fiber, which helps prevent constipation. Papaya is rich in carotene, good for your eyes.

Courtesy of: From YOU: On a Diet, by RealAge experts Michael F. Roizen, MD, and Mehmet C. Oz, MD

Can you read this

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Quotes

What others think of us would be of little moment did it not, when known, so deeply tinge what we think of ourselves.
- Paul Valery

I used to think that the brain was the most wonderful organ in my body. Then I realized who was telling me this.
  - Emo Phillips