Tag Archives: catholic

Wilted Spinach Salad with Raisins, Pine Nuts, and Walnuts

Ingredients

1 tablespoon raisins
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon pine nuts
½ bag (4.5 ounces) fresh baby spinach
1 clove garlic, crushed
Salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 pieces WASA Fiber Rye Crispbread (may substitute any WASA Variety)

Directions

Soak raisins in a small bowl with boiling water for 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Heat olive oil in a 12 inch skillet. Add pine nuts, garlic and sauté until garlic turns yellow.
Add spinach and cook for 2 to 3 minutes until spinach is slightly wilted. Add raisins and toss.
Serve on platter with WASA on side or crumble WASA crispbread into salad.

Prep time: 20 minutes

Serves 1

Nutritional Value Per Serving

Downhill

I carefully set out my outfit.

Organized my purse.

Planned breakfast.

Gathered the leash to walk the dog.

And then, finally, set my alarm clock.

As a writer, I’ve been working out of the home for a couple years, but Monday morning I was due in a company’s corporate offices for a six-week, on-site editorial gig. I’m not a morning person at all, so the night before, I needed to prepare.

Food-wise, the first day went okay. I ate fruit and oatmeal for breakfast, had a tuna sandwich in the office’s cafeteria for lunch, and, back home, had enough energy left over to cook a healthy vegetable-based dinner. That was Day 1. The rest of week I watched myself slide downhill. (I’d forgotten how corporate jobs suck every second of your time away – making it hard to prepare fresh meals. Oh, and the sugar. Being Valentine’s week, the chocolate overload running through that office – Oy! I ate too much of it.) By Friday, my fridge was bare (no breakfast fruit), I was still eating tuna for lunch (hello – mercury overload?), and dinner was refined pasta at a restaurant.

My throat felt a little . . . sore. OMG, was I getting a cold? Dang it. I didn’t have a single cold in 2007, and I suspect it was because my immune system was stronger due to better eating habits.

“I haven’t eaten one vegetable today,” I said to Ron Friday night. (I’m not counting a wilted piece of lettuce and green tomato slice on my tuna sandwich as real vegetables).

Saturday morning, as my sinuses clogged and my throat felt worse, I rushed my husband out the door with a grocery list. I juiced vegetables and drank the concoction down in a few gulps. I ate an orange. For lunch, I made a homemade bean soup. I ate another orange. For dinner I made a veggie omelet.

Too late. I officially had a cold. I knew the best thing I could do for myself was rest. I cancelled all weekend plans, and I slept and drank hot tea. In bed Sunday night, I figured I’d be calling in sick the next day. But miraculously, I woke up cured. Again, I blame the vegetables for the quick recovery.

This week I’m doing better (not great, but better) managing the “office” life. Our home fridge is stocked with healthy foods to choose from in the morning, I’m packing my lunch (dark leafy green salad with cranberries, walnuts, and a little goat cheese), and dinner is mapped out (today we’re having a brown rice risotto with asparagus and a mixed greens salad).

I’ll be sure to toast to good health.

Mr. Forgetful

Remember Mr. Men and Little Miss?

I was a child of the 70s and loved those characters. I think Mr. Funny was my favorite, but last Sunday I was reminded of Mr. Forgetful.

It was mid-morning, and my husband and I were exiting a crowded parking lot. The pavement was packed, and cars were bumper to bumper as everyone tried to work their way out onto the main road. A couple policemen were directing traffic and one waved us on. Two seconds later a second policeman held up his hand indicating we should stop. Confusion ensued as my husband rolled forward then hit his breaks as he tried to follow the directions. Cars honked. A red truck squealed his tires and raced around us, cutting us off and running over a couple of orange cones.

Guess where we were leaving?

Church.

We had just finished listening to a sermon about treating others kindly.

How quickly we forget (and I’m not just talking about the guy in the red truck…I found myself feeling annoyed with the traffic too!).

At times I’ve noticed Mr. Forgetful making an appearance in yoga class. Here’s what happens: we spend 90 minutes stretching and meditating and bowing and OMing, but as soon as class ends we’re all shoving our blankets into the shelf (each one folded in different ways), tossing our blocks in a disorganized fashioned into a bin, and then racing out the door as we reach in front of others to grab our flip-flops.

I hate to admit that I’ve been guilty of this before. But I guess I’ll be Little Miss Confession today. After one of my yoga teachers suggested people should put their props away more mindfully, I really began to pay attention. Blankets should be folded and stacked the same way to prevent the pile from tumbling. Blocks should be stacked to maximize space. Straps should be hung without tangles.

And it’s really that simple.Š

Avanafil – The Latest ED Treatment in the ED Market

Avanafil is the latest erectile dysfunction (ED) treatment medication to enter the ED market.  Its brand name, Stendra, is made and manufactured by Vivus Inc.   Avanafil is classified as a PDE5 inhibitor drug and competes directly with the likes of Viagra, Levitra, and Cialis.  The last ED drug was released in 2003 (with the exception of Staxyn which was released in 2010 but is very similar to Levitra in nature) which is why many are a bit amazed as well as perplexed as to why in 2012, a new ED drug was released in the market that is notably dominated by the big three.  However, the confusion was gone when those men with ED braved to test the new ED drug.

For those who were brave enough to buy avanafil and test the new ED drug, they were amazed to find out that the drug was very effective in providing the necessary erection needed for a successful sexual intercourse.  Not only did the new drug provide them with a high efficacy, but the drug also had lesser side effects than the more popular ED drug Viagra.  Despite being new in the ED market, it simply proved that the new ED medication has what it takes to compete against the big three in ED medications. Read more…