Rain and Vegetables

 

 My first Dairy Queen - and I never looked back - until I had one recently.

Springdale is enjoying an additional round of slow, steady rain. I asked Ranger Bob yesterday, "What's special about Thursdays in Springdale?" He was puzzled. "It rains cats and dogs when we are rolling out the garbage and recycle barrels!" 

I did not have to use I-49a, the path from the backdoor through the kitchen and living room and out the front door - all paved. The clay soil was not completely saturated and fixin' to pull my mud shoes off. 

Christina said about Bethany's curls, "Give her a perm? Do I have time and energy for that?" Everyone enjoyed that special touch that God gave Angel, including perfect eyesight. Bethany loved the camera.

The garden plaque for Bethany arrived and took its place near Christina's. Bethany's included the fact that everyone called her Angel, no matter where she was, because of her love and natural blond curls. 

I had a conversation on the phone about my situation - being the vegetarian who never was. There were a lot of great insights from someone with experience. I never dropped meat from the menu but started reducing amounts of meat and questioning the meat itself. Schwan's is very salty, and fast foods? - off the menu entirely.

I have dropped Schwan's for a variety of reasons - the ice cream and pizzas are way too tempting and the rest of the food is overpriced and saltier than Lott's wife. Schwan is going through management confusion, doubtless because every business wants to deliver expensive food to the door. I like to shop for fresh and frozen food at Walmart, several times a week.

 Bethany loved to love others.

Here are some essentials for daily delicious food-as-medicine meals. I included some bolded links to show how incredibly health-giving these inexpensive foods are.

1. Low-salt beans - chickpeas being best - protein, fiber, and all kinds of other benefits.
2. Chopped, frozen, spinach, because this is a super food for nutrition, fiber, protein, and vitamins. Other chopped or cooked greens are great, but I like spinach best, whether a salad or mixed into the vegetable extravaganza or extra-garbanzo.
3. Walnuts and almonds for reducing bad cholesterol and other essential benefits that taste good.
4. Blueberries fresh (not jam, not muffins, not pancakes, not pie) for low sugar and lower blood pressure.
5. Rainbow mixtures - onions, green and red peppers, carrots, etc., with some variation. 
6. Rotating other beneficial foods, like - frozen peas, asparagus, cauliflower riced or not, broccoli, mushrooms,  and uh, eh, roots (gag). 
7. Lots of essential fresh fruits - pineapple, apples, oranges, tangerines, avocados, cherries, and pomegranate juice.
8. Ground seeds (sesame, flax) are anti-cancer, as many other foods are.

When I hear something is good for me - or when I read claims from Dr. Joel Fuhrman - I try out the food and usually enjoy tasting the difference and variety.