Eating whole grains reduces chance of stroke for a woman

Health Tip:
In a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers from Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital found that just one more whole grain serving a day that women eat lessens the likelihood of their having a stroke. The research involved a study of 75,521 women participating in Harvard University's Nurses Health Study. Between 1984 and 1996, 352 strokes occurred among the women. The researchers found that the women who ate the equivalent of two or three slices of whole grain bread daily had a 30 to 40 percent lower risk of having an ischemic stroke (the most common type) than women who ate the equivalent of less than half a slice of whole grain bread daily.

Rachel says, "So replace those refined products with whole grain to benefit from its rewards. This includes whole grain products such as whole wheat bread, whole grain cereal, popcorn, wheat germ, oatmeal, bulgur and couscous."

It's zucchini time, so lock your car doors!

Today, my Mother requested I find this recipe in her 1978 Relief Society cookbook and make it today since it's ZUCCHINI
time.

This time of year we are warned, "Watch out, lock your doors, or someone will fill your car with zucchini while you are at church on Sunday!"

Usually there is such an abundance of zucchini and we've experienced this, especially when we lived in Utah. Feel free to comment with your favorite zucchini recipe or story here! This year I have no garden, so actually I hope someone will give us zucchini. Today, I bought some to make this moist and delicious cake.

Title: Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Ingredients:
1/2 c. margarine
1/2 c. oil
1 3/4 c sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. sour cream
4 Tbp. cocoa
1/2 tsp soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves
6 oz. chocolate chips
1/2 c. nuts (optional)

Directions:
Cream margarine, oil, and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla and sour
cream. Add dry ingredients. Stir in zucchini and nuts. Pour into
9x13 cake pan. Sprinkle chips on top. Bake 40-45 minutes at
325 degrees. (Moist and delicious!)

Our Version of Taco Salad

On Friday we had overnight guests. A childhood friend of mine, with his wife and children, stopped to visit us. Our Mother's, both from Finland, both living state side, both great cooks of especially Finnish Fair, used to visit each others' homes four times a year at least. We loved our trips back and forth and are more like cousins. Each now married with children and not living nearby each other, have not kept this tradition up, so it was delightful to have this chance to reconnect and reminisce. We were in the middle of a project, so I didn't take the time to make anything from scratch or prepare any Finnish specialties, so I needed something quick and easy. I chose our version of Taco Salad for dinner. Our good vegetarian friend introduced us to it. We've modified it some, but I credit Susan A. for the idea.

Taco Salad
I prepare all the makings and place them on the table for everyone to assemble themselves per their liking. My preference is this order:
First place a handful or two of Doritos. Some like to keep them whole and others like to crumble them up into small pieces. Nacho cheese is the favorite, yet we've tried Salsa Verde, Ranch and many flavors. The latest ones were Chipotle and Taco. We also serve plain tortilla chips for those who don't care for the flavors or MSG headache.
Instead of hamburger, my vegetarian friend uses beans with taco seasoning. I like red kidney beans and use about 1/2 of a regular sized can per person. I dump them into a pot with their liquid and stir in a pack of taco salad seasoning and heat until hot or barely boiling.
If you prefer, cook ground hamburger, ground turkey or I've even found already ground chicken, and add the taco seasoning. I often serve both options and let folks choose or even use both, if they prefer. Not only do I have vegetarian friends, but also high protein consuming friends and low fat consuming ones.
At this point I add my cheddar or other taco, jalapeno, or mexican flavored cheese. For convenience I love the already grated and prefer the finely grated cheese.
Now add your shredded lettuce. My vegetarian friend's husband grows his own lettuce and it tastes so fresh, cool and crisp, except the one time a spider was still in it! I buy red and green leaf or grab the already chopped romaine bags. Use whatever is handy, but I agree with him that iceberg lettuce has no nutritional value or taste!
Fresh, diced tomatoes are best, especially if they are vine ripened. One year we grew about 12 varieties of tomatoes, so this was heavenly, but
I have used canned tomatoes when I've had to in the winter.
Even most of our kids like onions. I usually have yellow ones on hand, but even green or purple onions taste great.
One of our children really likes olives, so I offer sliced olives too.
Personally I like to add salsa and ranch dressing on top, with some salt and pepper, but my friend dresses it with Italian dressing and she also assembles it ALL in a large bowl and serves it.
One of our children loves sour dough bread, so we serve this with it, although the chips provide plenty of carbs already. And low carb eaters, can just omit both.

I served strawberry shortcake for dessert this time, but when I made it for our extended family earlier in July, I just served chocolate and banana "creamies". It was a hot day and there were more kids than adults.

So, if you want a quick, light, refreshing, somewhat Mexican fair, try our version of Taco Salad.