A_Candle_Undimmed

Weight control secret

Years ago, at lunch with a dozen friends, I noticed something important. Observations since have confirmed that fact:

THIN PEOPLE EAT FAR LESS THAN OVERWEIGHT FOLKS…except when the heavy eater also does a LOT of exercise.

Low-Cal Berry Pie

BERRY PIE PARFAIT
By Yuna Boodle

When I don’t have some ingredient for a recipe, I substitute. Usually that’s disaster but this time things worked!

I’d promised my friend, Shelley, a Marion-berry pie for our dinner at her house, with berries from our backyard plot. Then I discovered that we’d eaten all the Marion-berries in our freezer. I had only a bag of raspberries and one of blueberries, neither sufficient for a decent party pie.

As I like to do with all berries, I thawed them, poured off the juice, sweetened and thickened the juice with artificial sugar and cornstarch, and cooled everything, including a freshly-baked pie shell (frozen from the grocery store. I have never learned to make edible piecrusts.)

After cooling the thickened, sweetened fruit juice, I mixed in the raw berries. I love the fresh flavor this gives a pie or cobbler.

I layered the pie shell, first with blueberries, a half-inch of chocolate pudding (instant, sugar-free), the raspberries, and another layer of the chocolate.

IF the pie cuts properly (I’ve had in cooling since this morning) for once I will NOT be the world’s worst cook!

Here a Frog, There a Frog

Several weeks ago, my friend, Ruth Kuehl, known as the ‘cow lady’ realtor-- (ruth@cowllruth.com)
gave me a bracelet loaded with frog charms. Teenagers, especially, are delighted with the frogs when they see them hanging from my wrist.

Today, our daughter in Asia, Diane, sent me pictures of frogs shaped from green Bell peppers. They’re edible, but far too cute to destroy by chomping on them with my teeth.

From the World's Worst Cook

A SCRUMPTIOUS DESSERT BY THE WORLD’S WORST COOK
(Yuna Boodle)

My husband, Fenny Boodle, never disagrees when I tell folks I’m the world’s worst cook. After all, he's been eating my culinary offerings for forty-five years.

Fenny brags he can rustle up the most exotic cuisines--IF--we find an exotic restaurant and he has his credit card in his wallet. I much prefer Fenny’s cooking to mine.

My problem: When I lack what a recipe calls for, I’ll dump in whatever’s on hand that sounds interesting. Occasionally, such as in this recipe, my ‘dumping’ system works.

Yuna Boodle’s fresh fruit shortcakes

Lightly grease a muffin tin. (12 muffins size)

In mixing bowl stir together:
2 ½ cups Bisquik
½ cup milk (soy milk if you feel brave)
3 tablespoons oil (I use canola or olive)
4 packets artificial sugar ( because Fenny’s calorie-watching)
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix all ingredients together until you see occasional pea-sized dry lumps in the batter.
Pick up golf-ball-size amounts of dough, kneed three or four times and mold each with your palms into a flying saucer shape about 2/3 inch thick.
Place two flying-saucer dough pieces side-by-side ON EDGE in each muffin tin slot.

Bake at 400 degrees until golden, about twenty minutes.

Remove from oven and immediately spread with melted butter. (I butter with a piece of paper towel, but if you’re a fancier cook than I, use a nice pastry brush.)

Split each shortcake open on dessert plates, top with fresh fruit, sweetened if necessary.

I use blackberries or Oregon marion berries from our backyard plot, a gift from God. When I bought this house, I had no idea I was purchasing a small berry plot, too.

Now, my freezer’s full of berries waiting for me to impress guests with my cooking skills. Tee hee.

I ‘nuke the frozen berries lightly to thaw, but don’t cook them. That fresh, 'as if just picked' taste teases palates and guests tell me I’ve fed them a heavenly flavor.

Serve with ice cream. I hand my guests the ice cream package from the freezer and the scoop, to dish out what they want. My guests love deciding their own serving size.

Enjoy and God bless you with cooking success.