Tilapia in a Pocket

This recipe is only 388 calories per serving or 6 food points. It also focuses on the Mayo Clinic's super foods.

Hint: sometimes I buy onions already diced and sometimes I dice several onions at once and put in zip lock bag in fridge or freezer. I do the same with fresh garlic. Then I add to every entre.

1 tablespoon chopped onion and 1/2 teaspoon garlic combined in skillet with a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Add tilapia filet, sprinkle with your favorite seasoning (fajita seasoning is my current favorite) and sauté. This takes just a few minutes for filet to become flakey. Remove fish to warm plate. Add 1/2 to 1 cup chopped broccoli to pan with onions and garlic. Stir fry just long enough for broccoli to get warm. Place on plate. Spray both sides Of whole wheat pita pocket with buttery Pam. Place pita pocket in skillet to warm. To serve, fill pita with fish, onions, broccoli (my new lettuce), and sliced fresh tomato.

Recipe--Blueberry Sundae

This recipe uses the Mayo clinic's super foods and has about 230 calories.

In a wine glass slightly thaw a 1/2 cup of frozen blueberries
Add 2 tablespoons lite cool whip
Chop a tablespoon of raw almonds and sprinkle on top
Sprinkle with a little whole grain granola

Enjoy

Introduce Jackson Pollock's Technique to Your Kids

Art history and teaching newly learned techniques are my passion.

Here is my project for Jackson Pollock.

1. Find an old painter's cloth. An old one covered in paint has a lot of character. If you purchase a new one, you could cover in a base coat.
2. Save those plastic bottles. Fill with latex "oops" paint. As a teacher, I have had gallons donated to my class. (if you are doing this with small groups of one or more, buy paint in bottles on clearance at Michael's or WAlmart. I have paid as little as a quarter for a bottle.
3. Spread out the large canvas or --- last year I cut the cloth into different size rectanges for my group of ten. Now let the fun begin. Squirt different colors of paint everywhere. That's all you do. Express a joyous emotion.
4. Here are some options you might try.
Add glitter to wet paint
Fold canvas in half. Press. I let my large classes walk on it in old socks. This makes a mirror image.
Try some metallics at the end.
Try using spray paint.
Use paint brushes to create abstract painting. Then add squirts on top.
Spray or paint with polyurethane.
5. Uses for your artwork.
Frame it
Cut into placemats.
Cut up into rug sizes.
Sometimes I fold the edges under and tape for a more finished look.
You can cut and hem your pieces of canvas before painting.
6. Now get really creative. I have used this technique on old tables and chairs, on old lamps and vases, old trunks and suitcases. Even boxes for storage.
7. Like clouds, the more you look at it the more small images you will find.
8. Take photos for layer use or posting.

Post your ideas.

Getting Healthy

I have tried all the diets and I am a failure with all the diets.
Then I discovered TAp & Track. It is an app my daughter put on my I-phone. I am a committed avid fan of this app as all my fb friends can attest.

I am also a fan of the Mayo Clinic's super food list. It includes green tea and onions and fish and wine and tomatoes, whole grains, olive oil, Etc. Broccoli ia on there too and I have to admit that I am not eating as much as I should.

But with my tracking and the super foods and lots of swimming, I feel healthier and more energetic. And I have actually been losing weight.

Today I invented a new recipe and I am having fun with my blog so I thought I would share.

I chopped up 2 turkey franks and heated in a pan with grilled onions and garlic and a tiny bit of olive oil. I seasoned with fajita seasoning. Sliced a tomato and added all to a whole wheat pita pocket. A dash of low cal ranch dressing and my creation was complete. Mindy my Morkie even like it.

Share your recipes with me especially the easy and quick ones.

And Mozart Was Taught

http://ara13.com/

I read this book last week. It is the third book by Ara 13 (his legal name, I think).

I loved it. It deals with bullies and the frustration of teachers in trying to reach every student. It deals with our choices-some we make and some made for us by fate or life. The vocabulary is tough sometimes but I found it challenging--fun to see how many words I would have to drag a dictionary out of the bookcase and actually open. I loved the way the author seemed to recognize that there are intelligent talented creative people who do not respond to classroom teaching no matter how talented and creative the teacher.

Find it on amazon.com or better yet, pick up a copy at Mod Coffee Shop on Post Office Street in Galveston. On most days, with a little patience, you can meet the author and ask questions. I probably drive him nuts but I love visiting with a real author!!

Post Office Street Photo

I Poisoned Mindy

According to my mother, the answer to anything that ails you is a laxative. If I suffered from a headache, I was given a laxative. As weird as that sounds, to this day, I usually have a box of those pink pills on hand. And I suffer through the cramping they cause because I know I will feel better when all is said and done. Right??!!

I am also trying to eat healthier and hopefully lose just a little bit of weight. So once a month I might take a little pink pill. Now I don't recommend this to anyone. I am not a doctor. It is just that old habits die hard.

So Saturday night I stopped at Walgreens for a box of women's laxative. When I got home, I put the box on the dining room table. I know I should have put it in the medicine cabinet but I don't have a medicine cabinet in my condo. (It is on my to buy list but it hasn't reached the top of the list yet.) and there it sat, on the table when I went to bed.

The next morning I woke about 6 a.m. and headed to the kitchen for my coffee. I poured a cup and sat down at the table and reached for the box. It was not there. As I began to look around the room, I saw one of the foil packs under the coffee table.

I began to panic. I have a two year-old Morkie. She is my baby now that all my kids are grown. And she has been known to create mischief at night while I sleep unaware of her misbehaving. Sure enough, I found the torn up box and it was empty. I found a couple of pills with the pink licked off and a foil pack with only three pills left. (Do these pills have an aroma that only dogs can smell???)

Now I am really scared and crying. If two pills maake this old fat lady cramp, then I knew I had killed my 10 pound pup. I called my son in Lake Charles. Now Duke can take a jeep down to the frame and rebuild it to look brand new. But he is not a vet. However he is a quick thinker and gave me the number of Poison Control. The person who answered was very helpful and gave me the number of Poison Control for animals. (Who knew there was a poison contol for animals?)

While watching my dog for signs she might fall over dead at any moment, I called the new number. I was told to give her some peroxide and milk. I ran to my medicine cabinet--WALGRENS and grabbed a bottle. I just knew that when I returned home, Mindy would be laying on her back with her legs in the air in horrible agony.

But no. She was running around oblivious to the pain that was about to rack her teeny tiny body. I prepared the concoction of milk and peroxide. Mindy took a couple of licks and wanted no more. I grabbed some bread and soaked it in the milk stuff and she ate a bite or two. Then I gathered up the phone, a cold drink, her leash, and we headed outside. (I love my pup but I did not want her getting sick in the house!)

And we walked. And she barked at other dogs and at the neighbors. And she was loved on by everyone who knew her. And the sun got higher in the sky and it got hotter and hotter. We walked some more. Finally I just sat down on the steps awaiting the inevitable.

For four hours I watched and waited. Nothing. I called the vet again. This time I spoke to a lady and she said 6-8 hours. I tried to get MIndy to drink more peroxide and milk but she refused. We sat. We walked. She played.

After two more hours had passed, I called the vet again worried she could become dehydrated. I asked about giving my little baby crackers and 7-Up. The vet was smart--he didn't laugh. Instead he recommended boiled chicken and broth. I just knew this would be my baby's last meal. She lapped up the broth and devoured the chicken.

And we walked and sat and I baked in the sun. (This has to go down as Mindy's favorite day ever--the love and attention she received.)  Finally I returned home with my pup. I could take the heat no longer.

When I went upstairs I found poor Mindy's regurgitation. I didn't see any pills but...

Mindy is alive and well and we are blessed.

Crisis of a newlywed

I love hearing from my daughter--even though she has a netbook, iphone, email, and facebook---she doesn't check it as often as I would like---wouldn't you think she would call several times a day??  Or at least email several times a day???  She says she is busy.  DUH!!  Too busy for her mom?

Well for the last three days, my friends and I have been working on her business plan.  She wants to open a retail clothing shop for 16-34 year olds where they can buy or rent clothes.  The younger generation--a different outfit for everyday of the year.    Well business plans are very time consuming.  I looked up the basics and began typing.  Then I sent her a homework list.  She said I sent too many emails.  So, I sent another one with a numbered list---and probably 20 more with lists I had left off the original list.  (She thinks I overwhelm her with emails.)

I am thinking that once she saw how much work was involved--red tape for SBA and grants--she decided to change her direction---save a few hundred bucks and start small with something simple.  And all the work I have done creating this beautiful plan---out the window.

I told her dad that as a parent, we want our daughter to fail and succeed and to be independent.  However, it doesn't hurt to add a pillow so the fall will not hurt as much.  We are not going to give here the money--as if we could---and I probably would if I had it---but we are going to give her our moral support and time.  Even if she never starts this business or any other business---I think she is learning a lot.  Taking the classroom learning to real life.  For this, it was worth my time to work on a beautiful business plan that will probably never be used.  And she now knows about demographics, cost analysis, market share, owner's equity, etc.

I would say it has been a good week.