Thursday Thoughts # 53

from Finger-Lickin' Fifteen, a Stephanie Plum novel by Janet Evanovich

" The food is surprisingly good, if you like nice greasy chicken, heavily salted gelatinous potatoes, and gravy so thick you could walk across a vat of it. Lula, Grandma and I gave it five stars."

from Plum Spooky, a Stephanie Plum novel by Janet Evanovich

"What's up?" I asked.
"I'm dying is what's up," Lula said. "I got the flu back. I woke up this morning and I couldn't stop sneezing. And my eyes are all puffy. And I feel like crap."
I pulled Gordo Bollo's file out of my bag. "I'm going to look in on Mr Bollo. According to his file, he works for Greenblat Produce on Water Street."
"I'll go with you," Lula said. "I heard about Greenblat. That's a big fruit distributor. I could get an orange or a grapefruit....while I'm there"

Today's thoughts:

So many people, not just in books or movies, do not eat fruit and vegetables as part of their daily diet. There are probably individual reasons for this; I personally once knew a girl who ate meat and potatoes and not a single other vegetable. 
Yet everyone seems to know that citrus fruits are a good source of vitamin C and this helps with colds and flu. 
By why ignore fruit and vegetables until you are ill, then suddenly decide an orange or a grapefruit will make you better?
Any intake of vitamin C will help, of course, but a much better option, in my opinion, would be to eat fruit and vegetables on a daily basis, keeping the body's ratio of vitamin C higher than zero. 
Or whatever your current ratio is. 
This reduces your risk of becoming ill in the first place. Staying well away from other people also helps (*~*).

And here's another thing:
I like to eat things like beef casserole with mashed potatoes, but sometimes I like to take a break from cooking, so I buy a few Lean Cuisine frozen dinners for a week. 
But when reading the ingredients list, I discover that anything of the stew or casserole variety contains red wine as part of the gravy components. 
I tried one once and the taste is far too strong, I simply do not like red wine. 

Being 'diet' foods, either calorie controlled or portion controlled, these frozen meals need something to add flavour, so many of the other varieties have cracked black pepper, or chilli in them. Not so bad, I thought, I could pick out the chilli and leave it on the plate, ditto the cracked pepper bits. 
Huh. Those teeny, tiny pieces are near impossible to scoop out and plenty of them hide in the broccoli, giving a hot surprise when you bit them. 
I like the flavour of chilli and black pepper, but it has a long lasting effect on my Rosacea. My face turns red and I feel like I am burning from the inside. The burning feeling disappears quite quickly, a day or less, but the redness can last almost a week.
So I go back to cooking my own meals. Large pots of spaghetti sauce and big beef casseroles which get served into meal sized containers and frozen. 

On a happier note: has everyone discovered the newest Tim Tam on the market?
Up until now, I haven't been a fan of Tim Tams, finding them much too sweet. Odd when you know I love chocolate.
Anyway, the newest flavour is exclusive to Woolworths (that's a shame, they should be available everywhere) and is called Three Bean.
Described on the packet as 
"a rich combination of coffee bean, vanilla bean and cocoa bean".
I like all of those flavours, so I gave them a try. Boy am I glad I did! these are wonderful. The coffee is just strong enough to offset the sweetness of the rest of the biscuit, which makes them thoroughly delightful. 
Finally, a Tim Tam I can enjoy.

Comments

  1. Laura, the youngest, eats food in the order she likes it, I realized, so I asked if the veggie for last meant best or worst. Best, she replied.

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  2. Oh for the days when we ate foods drowning in butter or gravy, and didn't know it was bad for us, lol.
    Having had a vitamin C deficiency when I was wee, I'm quite conscientious about my fresh fruits and veg... it's sweet cherry season here just now, and I'm gorging on them.

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  3. Eat your fruit'n'veg, as we tell our children here! :-)

    Greetings from London.

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  4. It's funny.....I seem to go on binges where I eat salads and then binges where I want bread and meat...I do however take vitamin C on a regular basis.

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  5. That Tim Tam flavour is quite awesome. I think the best thing is they are not too sweet. My second favourite after three bean is dark chocolate.

    I've been eating a mandarin a day for a little bit now. I like how easy they are to peel. :)

    I keep a few of those lean cuisine flavours in the freezer for the occasional lunch or dinner. They're not too bad for once a week or so, if you can find one that you like.

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  6. I am not a fan of Tim Tams, and can no longer drink coffee. The skinny one might like them though. Thank you.
    Mind you, I would prefer that he ate more fruit and veg. A lot more.

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  7. I've always eaten a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables. It's like a greengrocery here in my place. I've always got a load of fruit of many varieties. Raw nuts and seeds are on my daily menu, too. I don't take any vitamin supplements.

    My main meal of any given day/night is lunch, and it's been this way with me for a long time now.

    I have fruit in the mornings...fruit and nuts blitzed in my NutriBullet...and first thing when I get out of bed...a glass of water with fresh lemon juice added; and then, around noon whatever I decide to cook (or not cook) for lunch. I do grills (red meat/white meat/fish), stews, curries, chilli, pastas, vegetarian, salads...whatever the mood demands; sometimes just the good old standby...grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches!

    I've a little coffee machine and 99.9% of the time, I have one cup (mug) of coffee a day...I make myself a combination of a latte-cappuccino...I guess that's the best description of my concoction. And I almost always have a large mug of full-cream milk at night.

    Also at night I have more fruit. I'm a fruit bat, I think...but I've not yet started sleeping upside down hanging from my heels, that I'm aware of...Remy and Shama have told me, anyway! And I'm sure they would if they noticed such odd behaviour...then again...I guess they're used to my odd behaviour! :)

    And I love treating myself. If I don't, who else will? So I'll have to try those Tim Tams. I noticed yesterday for the first time, too, that there are now salted-caramel Monte Carlos on the market. I love the good old Monte Carlos, and always have some on hand! Talking about treats...now you've got me going, River...I just might have to get myself a vanilla slice from the local bakery on the weekend...they only make them on Saturdays and Sundays!! :)

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  8. I would have to be the world's worst vegetarian. Tofu reacts with one of my medications so I've gone back to free range chicken so I don't have tofu every day. I have citrus trees in the backyard but have an intolerance to citrus juice (recent) and a diabetic is supposed to only have 1 or 2 pieces of fruit a day. I've stopped caring and gone back to my favourite lunch of Mozzarella and apples. Fortunately I've never liked TimTams

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  9. Damn!!!
    I had answers typed to everyone and when I clicked publish got transferred to a window where I had to sign in. Now they're all lost and I can't remember what I said.. :(
    Not Happy Blogger/Google!

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  10. Take Two:
    Joanne; of course save the best for last. It's practically a rule.

    Jac; I love buttery vegetables, and gravy too, but never both together and I use a lot less butter these days.

    A Cuban in London; welcome to drifting. I love fruit and veg and never had to bribe my kids to eat them, they just copied me.

    Delores; I have salad binges too, mostly in summer, but always have meat or fish on the same day too. Protein is important. I take Vitamin C daily too.

    Snoskred; I don 't like dark chocolate, so never tried those Tim Tams, but I sure do like mandarin season.

    Elephant's Child; perhaps you could bribe him with a Tim Tam or two if he eats the veggies and fruits.

    Lee; you could be the poster girl for healthy eating! I couldn't drink a glass of milk if you paid me. I have a little in my coffee, a little in my breakfast, but plain milk as a drink is something I loathe.

    JahTeh; tofu is horrible stuff, but mozzarella and apple is the perfect lunch.

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