Health Tip Challenge

Health Tip:

This week, learn to make one thing from scratch that you usually rely on a mix for. Taco seasoning, enchilada sauce, spaghetti seasoning, brownies, none of these are very hard, and you definitely won't miss the extra ingredients that are found in the prepackaged mix. What is all that stuff anyway?

Increase awareness, write it down

Weekly Health Tip:

Every six months keep a 3 day food log. You might be surprised how much you eat…or how much you don't eat if you have to write it down. This is not an exercise in counting calories, but just the act of writing EVERYTHING down makes you aware of any unwanted excess or shortage.

I was told of a great site to do just this online at www.fitday.com, which I prefer. Sign up for your own FREE account. It calculates everything for you automatically. It's very cool and it is amazing what writing it all down for the day does for your awareness. Do you know of other sites?

Your own pitcher of water helps you keep track

Weekly Health Tip:

Fill a 2 Liter pitcher full of water in the morning. Set it aside where no one else will drink it, and try to finish it by the end of the day.

I drink a lot of water, so this one should be quite easy for me. I have a large glass I keep in a special spot in a cupboard and fill it often. I've heard if we are thirsty, we are already dehydrated. Can this be?

What water tips do you have?

Finnish May Day Celebration

Hauskaa Vappua!

Some of you may be interested to read this link
http://www.dlc.fi/~marianna/gourmet/season4a.htm
entitled Finnish May Day Celebration. You will
even find recipes at the bottom of the article.


In Finland, the traditional dessert served are May Day Fritters. I'd never made them before, but we made our 1st attempt and served them this year with sima. My Mother explained I just need to make them look like a bird's nest and indeed they did.

Easter Dinner Menu

This year for Easter we combined some Finnish and American traditions. Our Easter Dinner Menu included:
Spinach Soup with half of a boiled egg on top of it. It's the appetizer my Grandmother (Mummo) served at Easter time in Finland. The recipe is:
Melt 3 tbp. margarine in a sauce pan and add 5-6 tbp. flour. Bring to a boil and simmer gently for a few minutes, but do not let it brown. Add 8 cups milk or meat stock and 1 1/4 cups frozen finely chopped spinach. Simmer for about 15 minutes and season with salt and a little sugar. If you want a richer soup, beat 2 egg yolks and 1/2 c cream in a bowl and slowly stir into the soup.


Leg of lamb with Garlic Yukon Gold Potatoes with drippings from lamb which my Grandmother (Mummo) used to serve each Easter in Finland.
Steamed carrots and Asparagus
Cucumber Salad 1 large cucumber, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tsp salt, some fresh or dried dill, 1 cup vinegar, 1/4 c water. Wash the English cucumber, leave the peel on, take a fork and break the skin of the cucumber all the way down with it. Slice the cucumber thinly and place in a container. Cover it with the sugar, salt and dill. Put the lid on tightly and shake it vigourously for a couple of minutes until the sugar has dissolved. Leave it marinate. Add the vinegar and water to taste. Garnish with dill when you serve it. Keeps for days in the refrigerator.
Jello Eggs on a bed of jello grass that the kids helped Dad make from a variety of flavors you can probably guess from the colors and pureed fruits.
Crescent Rolls
White grape juice with ginger ale and cherries
and an Easter Bonnet Cake my Mother used to make most Easters. It's 2 angel food cakes with a whipped cream topping and a heath bar grated on top and decorated with feathers.