Hot Morning Salad Breakfast

     This is a good healthy breakfast for a hot morning.  I have it every so often with different variations depending on which vegetable's and fruits are in season.  Grab a handful of loaded with nutrition spinach and toss into salad bowl.  Spoon some of the giant Lula or Pollock avocado out of the shell into a bowl.  These avocado's are as big as pinapples.  I always leave my avocado in the skin unless I'm going to eat it all at once and I would have to be pretty hungry to eat one of these all at once.  I feel it keeps longer that way.  I can use it for four meals.  Had a green onion so I chopped it and threw it in the pile. I added a half of a large tomato, some Swiss  cheese, bacon bits, fresh garlic and five green olives chopped.  Then I added some dry spices.   Italian Seasoning, hot red peppers flakes and black pepper.  Fresh is always better but don't always have fresh.  Last but not least, flax seed and a squirt of mustard because mustard eats fat and gives your dish a tangy twist.

Two Dollar Dinner & Breakfast

     Nope - it ain't pizza - you single men.  Gross!  You can't get a pizza for two dollars.  I opened a can of  black beans for dinner.  Added a can of diced tomato with green chili's.  I sprinkled some basil, cumin, rosemary in and a clove of chopped garlic.  Then used my corn chips as a spoon.  Mmmmm yummy.  Couldn't eat it all in one sitting so hoped it wouldn't spoil during the night.  It didn't so w a l l a.....there was breakfast ready and waiting for me when I woke.  Not hungry when I wake but didn't want to give it time to spoil so had an early breakfast.  Rinsed well and added some left over fresh spinach that was trying to sog, to my tomato/bean concoction and ate up with my corn chip spoons.  Still yummy and not unhealthy.  The corn chips are some what fattening but have some health benefits too like omega 6 fatty acids along with some important minerals.  Limit yourself to a handful.  You have two healthy meals for less than two dollars. 

For a good healthy salsa dish see July/August issue of AARP - pg 24.

Tomatoes - Good Inside and Outside

     I love tomatoes.  I eat as many as I can as often as I can.  I prefer fresh on the vine when I can get them.  Tomatoes which contain lycopene can be crucial to your health as a cancer fighter.  Including prostate cancer.  There are 30mg of lycopene in 1 cup of tomatoes.  Tomatoes are good for your skin as well as many other benefits such as a liver enhancer, cholesterol, diabetes, asthma, the list goes on and on.  I am just reading how good tomatoes are for your hair.  Who knew?   Tomatoes being high in potassium is a much needed mineral which also helps relieve leg cramps, but is low in calories and sodium .  Tomatoes are also a healthy weight balance choice.  Although tomato juice is a good choice for a long hike or just a energetic day in the sun, too much sodium from canned or juiced tomatoes can make your body retain water causing bloating and weight gain. 

Tomatoes are also beneficial as a topical antiseptic, a cleanser, aides in the survival of plants and is useful as an insect repellent.