Thoughts on Nutrition & an Appetizer Recipe

Please humour me as I just got some fantastic news regarding this blog but want to wait until everything if finalized before announcing anything. I promise to release all information shortly. So today I'm going to just highlight a little about nutrition and I hope not in a preachy way. Don't worry near the end is a wonderful little appetizer I found in Food & Drink but modified by me. It is a nice, light appetizer that should please most tastes.

Here's my theories on nutrition. First I want my readers to know I have never had a weight problem and given my metabolism likely never will. However, I do use foods for their healing properties and I firmly believe that proper nutrition is paramount. Food serious does heal the mind and sould. This topic is on my mind having returned from Las Vegas and needing to get our routine back in order. Hopefully, that is as preachy as this entry will get.

My dietary style is I don't do diets. I'm sorry but I have other things to worry about in life. My husband is a meat and potatoes guy who likely eats more red meat than he should when we eat out. When my kids were young and right from birth I kept anything white from them. That meant white sugar, white flour and white rice. My kids were in kindergarden before they were ever exposed to sweets and guess what even now as young adult they don't like them. I also had the philosophy that a kid will not intentionally starve themseves so as long as good food is available . I figured if they had healthy coices they would eat when hungry so mealtimes have never been problematic for us. Unlike some any food was fair game in the house while the kids were growing up and still is. There are fruit and vegetable bowls everywhere and the biggest problem is keeping them well stocked. What you won't find in our home is the heavily processed, commercially prepared conveience or fast foods. I think if I had to really describe our family diet it would be vegetable, fruit and grain based with a lot of good quality fish, meats and poultry. Since I do a lot of home preserving you won't find very many of those government nutritional labels in our home.

I will mention four books that I do enjoy for their nutrition content: Healing Foods by Pratricia Husman and Judith Benn Hurley, Book of Food Counts by Dr. Art Urlene, Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser and The Hundred Year Lie by Randall Fitzgerald.

Well, that is my bit on nutrition. There is no doubt we fit into the suggested guidelines of healthy eating the majority of times but there are days we stray.

Here's the healthy appetizer:

Cucumber Cups

This is a nice refreshing appetizer, easy to make, low fat and sure to please.

Ingredients:

1 English syle seedless cucumber
1 6 oz tin tuna packed in water
1-2 tbsp Miracle Whip or mayonnaise
1 tbsp finely chopped onions
finesly chopped chives (optional)
handful of mesclun mix
homemade raspberry viniagarette (optional)

Wash and dry the mesclun mix. Place it on the serving dish. Drizzle lightly with the vinaiagarette. Wash the cucumber and remove both ends. Cut into 2 1/2" pieces. Carefully remove the center of the cucumber with a small spoon leaving about 1/2" for the bottom forming cups. Set aside. Drain the tuna and stir in onions and Miracle Whip or mayonnaise. Add chives or other herbs as desired. Spoon this mixture into the cucumber cups. Place the filled cups on the lettuce base.