Put Kale in large bowl. Chop 1/2 of the apple and add to the kale. Add celery, 1/4 cup walnuts and the raisins.

Chop remaining half of apple, add to blender with the remaining ingredients.

Puree

Pour dressing over kale salad, toss and serve.

It doesn’t get any easier than that!

I recently heard a naturally curly hairdresser say that most curly girls give more care to a silk blouse than their hair. That statement hit home. I feel that my curly hair is my best feature and I was neglecting it.

Throwing in the towel
Curly hair 101 is do not rub your hair with a towel. The rough texture of the material, typically terry cloth, dulls your hair and increases the frizz (the f word to curly girls) by disrupting the natural flow of the curls.

I traded my towel for a turbin
I found an awesome turbin to wrap my hair up after a shower. It is very light and is a waffle pattern made of Polyester/nylon. It is gentle on my curls and absorbs just enough water that by the time I apply my make up and start the coffee pot, I am ready to style my hair. I hang it up to dry and it is ready the next morning. It is machine washable.

This hair turbin is the best $7.99 investment that this curly girl has ever made!

Whole foods says this…
This pasta dish will soon become a family favorite. In a hurry? Use a cup of thawed spinach instead of fresh; just be sure to squeeze it well to remove any excess water. Serve with garlic bread and a fresh salad for a complete meal.

Ingredients are simple:
16 jumbo pasta shells
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 pound baby spinach
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 pound part-skim ricotta cheese
1/2 pound part-skim mozzarella cheese, grated
1 egg
1 Tablespoon chopped basil
1 1/2 cups marinara sauce

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta shells and cook until al dente, about 10 minutes.

Drain well then toss with oil in a large bowl; set aside

Preheat oven to 375. Put spinach into a large skillet and drizzle with a tablespoon or two of water.

Cover and cook over medium low heat, tossing occasionally, until just wilted; drain well. When cool enough to handle, squeeze to remove any excess water. Chop spinach and transfer to a large bowl. Add garlic, ricotta, mozzarella, egg and basil to make the filing.

Spread a few spoonfuls of marinara sauce in the bottom of a shallow baking dish large enough to hold the shells in a single layer. Fill each shell with spinach mixture and arrange in the dish. Pour remaining sauce over and around the stuffed shells and top with Mozzarella cheese.

Cover with foil and bake until hot throughout, 20-30 minutes, then remove foil and back until golden brown, about 10 minutes more.

What I would have done differently.
I would have added less marinara sauce and baked a little longer with the foil. I think mushrooms would have been really good also.

The sources are so many. Just off the top of my head I can name these: whole grain bread, brown rice, all beans, lentils, peas, nuts, seeds, nut butters, soy, meat substitutes, veggie burgers, protein powder and the every versatile tofu.

I would love to walk up to those same people while they are eating a big mac and fries and ask them, “Where’s the vegetables and fruit?” My husband would be quick to reply that fries are potatoes and potatoes are a vegetable. But that still leaves the fruit! : )

The first of July while watching a UFC fight, I saw an ad on a guy’s shorts that read MeetyourMeat.org. It was a site by PETA encouraging readers to become Vegetarian and Vegans. Their tag line was ‘the site the meet companies don’t want you to see”.

I’m going to give it a whirl. No big deal you say? Meat is a big deal here in cattle country! We have meat for breakfast, lunch, dinner and I’m pretty sure I’ve had some kind of desert made with meat.

I can remember being very little when my grandpa had cows. I was so scared of them, Mom or Daddy had to put me on the tractor so I would stop crying. As I got older we had cows at home. By then I wasn’t scared of course but after feeding them and watching them grow up, I couldn’t eat them. Same with my FFA pig in school. We planned on butchering Louie at the end of my senior year but just couldn’t do it. He had become a family pet.

My weirdness didn’t stop at beef and pork. I remember the first time my mom cooked one of our chickens. I was thinking how small it was and that it was kind of tough. Eating that chicken made me wonder what the poultry farms do to the chickens to make them so big and tasty. Our chicken was home grown, hand fed and as natural as they come but barely palatable.

During the past several years I’ve tried to limit my beef but being an Okie, it is hard to resist a big ole steak. I decided to take the ’30 day Veg pledge’ as a challenge to myself. I really don’t think it will be a problem but we’ll see.

My post after watching the video…
I have always thought PETA was an acronym for People Eating Tasty Animals. I watched this video on the PETA website and knew that I would never eat meat again.

I have always assumed that PETA members were crazy liberal hippies with too much time on their hands, and to some extent I still agree. I don’t see myself standing outside of Macy’s throwing red paint on fur coats or believing that everyone should be vegetarian just because I am. In fact, I had my husband and 16 year old daughter watch the video. They both looked at each other and said they wanted a steak.

I’m not making some hippie statement, I don’t have an agenda. It is simply a choice that I have made and plan to keep the promise to myself.

More soon…

So, it made us curious to know how many people really friend their ex’s on FB. Take the poll and let’s find out!

I still haven’t wrapped my head around 1,700 words a day but I can give you an example using Lorem Ipsum, which is 1,700 words of gibberish.

I’m going to need lots of coffee and prayers!

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec mattis hendrerit odio, vitae rutrum nisi ultrices a. Vivamus diam odio, ultricies quis volutpat in, blandit at enim. Proin gravida facilisis tempus. Praesent non eros ut ligula aliquet ornare. Duis suscipit, enim in semper semper, augue ipsum condimentum mauris, vel placerat sapien enim ut sem. Curabitur pretium enim sed nibh volutpat et dapibus ante semper. Sed pharetra tincidunt ipsum id placerat. Ut accumsan lacinia nulla. Ut non tortor turpis. Cras eu purus ut odio cursus viverra non vel odio. Duis facilisis iaculis nulla et sagittis. Sed euismod hendrerit odio. Vivamus fringilla gravida leo imperdiet vulputate. Nunc vestibulum metus at nisi molestie molestie. Fusce elementum pellentesque diam, eu consequat urna ultricies non. Suspendisse aliquet malesuada justo, in porta felis semper id. Donec vitae pellentesque velit. Proin egestas eros ac mi adipiscing euismod. Donec ullamcorper condimentum felis non pharetra.

Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Donec est erat, rutrum et suscipit eleifend, ultrices vel sapien. Quisque laoreet, enim id auctor hendrerit, lorem nisl aliquam nulla, a pharetra sapien sapien et magna. Aliquam ipsum est, rutrum quis laoreet nec, mattis ac justo. Pellentesque sit amet lacus in justo lacinia luctus. Nunc pharetra, nibh id faucibus tincidunt, erat magna scelerisque augue, lobortis convallis sapien purus iaculis nibh. Cras tincidunt massa quis dui fermentum porta. Aenean fermentum ante vitae magna fringilla varius. Nam a lorem et mi accumsan elementum nec sed purus. Donec sodales, velit eget consectetur iaculis, metus neque imperdiet mauris, ut rutrum libero sem quis est. Proin a lorem pharetra nulla egestas tincidunt eu at dolor. Curabitur eget urna in nibh condimentum congue. Integer vel imperdiet justo. Maecenas congue dignissim lacus, nec suscipit augue aliquet et. Cras pellentesque risus ipsum, a faucibus lectus. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Pellentesque id erat justo.

Proin vitae diam lectus. Nunc nec dui at nibh lobortis eleifend. Sed volutpat posuere pulvinar. Pellentesque sit amet vestibulum est. Nullam fermentum risus at erat scelerisque interdum. Fusce urna ipsum, feugiat eu sollicitudin vel, ornare eu purus. Sed at condimentum sem. Proin sed ante lacus. Integer placerat congue turpis, nec porta sem varius ut. Sed tempus, diam eu tristique pulvinar, odio quam fermentum enim, nec volutpat dui dui non quam. Nullam ultrices consectetur laoreet. Etiam non ipsum erat. In at nisl ut orci semper convallis. Pellentesque vitae vestibulum libero. Praesent nec nisi ac nisl consectetur varius. Duis nec lacinia tortor.

Nullam placerat tincidunt orci, non auctor ipsum malesuada vel. Quisque blandit ligula vel arcu mollis vitae dapibus purus rhoncus. Fusce nibh turpis, ultrices eget lacinia eu, faucibus pretium massa. In id nibh mi. Praesent id nulla in eros lacinia aliquet eu luctus lorem. Nullam quis volutpat nibh. Cras eget nibh eu elit aliquet laoreet. Suspendisse suscipit tempus adipiscing. Morbi sodales tellus ac purus commodo pulvinar ac quis augue. Suspendisse quis nibh mi, ut venenatis ligula. In tristique ipsum id lorem fringilla tempor. Morbi hendrerit ipsum vel metus ultricies in pellentesque sapien suscipit. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Ut ac risus at felis elementum cursus quis tempus lectus. Cras congue risus eget risus aliquam volutpat.

Etiam pretium tellus vitae tortor pretium a consequat justo porta. Mauris posuere nisi vel est rutrum ut aliquam nibh adipiscing. Nullam odio turpis, pellentesque in blandit at, dignissim at justo. Praesent urna nisl, ultricies ac semper quis, ultrices sit amet purus. Curabitur mi nibh, eleifend at tempus vel, placerat quis ligula. Aenean tincidunt elit vel neque tempus aliquet. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec eget tortor turpis. Quisque sit amet magna nulla. Phasellus ut augue lorem. Mauris id risus orci, eu imperdiet purus. Donec scelerisque dolor in odio molestie et ornare dolor vulputate. Etiam nec mattis erat. Integer placerat suscipit ipsum et gravida. Nulla viverra, odio id ultrices blandit, mi lectus tristique arcu, a ultricies velit massa quis purus. Proin ut lorem eleifend quam eleifend porttitor. Maecenas pellentesque commodo dapibus. Maecenas odio magna, luctus tincidunt molestie eu, sollicitudin ut sapien. Integer ultrices adipiscing ante at porttitor.

Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Integer tortor ligula, lobortis ac luctus dictum, dictum quis arcu. Nulla scelerisque leo non neque commodo ut elementum quam suscipit. Aliquam tempor auctor tortor, vel semper eros malesuada quis. Aenean tempus tellus eu dui rutrum vitae tincidunt odio lacinia. Nam id ante sed turpis malesuada varius. Aenean pulvinar tempus quam ut dapibus. Curabitur sapien arcu, porta at aliquam vel, bibendum id nisi. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Cras commodo est quis augue feugiat sed rhoncus magna hendrerit. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Pellentesque suscipit, purus nec volutpat porta, velit risus placerat risus, nec vestibulum nisl lorem vitae magna. Mauris risus nulla, pretium fringilla accumsan vitae, pharetra vitae nisi.

Aliquam erat volutpat. Cras diam sem, fringilla ut mollis sit amet, dapibus quis nisi. Aliquam laoreet mi in elit congue sit amet semper purus iaculis. Nam ligula tortor, tristique sed accumsan et, condimentum quis elit. Curabitur sed sapien sit amet nibh venenatis blandit. Duis quam nibh, convallis sit amet ullamcorper tempus, molestie vel lacus. Curabitur luctus, erat non placerat dapibus, dolor orci posuere ligula, ut pellentesque massa diam sit amet enim. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Aenean id ultrices risus. Donec eu mauris urna, convallis eleifend nisl. Pellentesque pulvinar, quam ac lobortis ornare, turpis libero consectetur velit, porttitor luctus sapien neque eget mi. Praesent sed elit quam. Nam faucibus, ante et venenatis venenatis, nunc dui vulputate magna, nec auctor justo diam id tellus. Donec eu accumsan ante. Proin sagittis ante nec risus consequat quis interdum nisl sodales. Nam ipsum urna, placerat sit amet porttitor a, aliquam eget metus. Quisque ac turpis tortor, nec dapibus tortor. Donec sit amet tellus dui, ac malesuada nisi.

Nam nulla sem, varius sed molestie eu, fringilla in orci. Nam porttitor fringilla sem at rutrum. Morbi eget lorem ut dolor elementum convallis. Donec viverra turpis vel purus auctor a rhoncus enim sodales. Fusce tempor mauris egestas libero hendrerit quis fringilla neque ornare. Proin diam felis, tempus non varius non, faucibus eget massa. Nunc non lectus purus, posuere viverra dui. In luctus, eros molestie mollis rhoncus, nisl ipsum sodales lorem, ac vestibulum leo tellus non odio. In sit amet urna vitae quam dapibus pellentesque sed quis lectus. Curabitur mollis, purus nec rhoncus rutrum, nunc arcu condimentum massa, sit amet volutpat nunc nulla vel mi. Etiam pretium, nisi vel volutpat posuere, lacus tortor fermentum ipsum, a posuere nulla urna nec quam. Nam placerat, turpis eu pretium elementum, felis tellus dapibus odio, a vehicula augue elit ac massa. Integer luctus, urna in auctor consectetur, erat lacus egestas ligula, eu pulvinar libero urna vel risus. Suspendisse non congue augue. Pellentesque aliquam leo vitae magna egestas eu gravida velit hendrerit. Quisque auctor urna sit amet enim scelerisque ac condimentum justo tempus.

Morbi vel nisl tincidunt massa tempor bibendum ac at nibh. Nam imperdiet luctus lacinia. Sed laoreet nibh at odio fringilla non rhoncus felis feugiat. Mauris adipiscing pharetra libero sed faucibus. Pellentesque ut dolor mi, et sodales neque. Proin sollicitudin venenatis mollis. Ut odio velit, iaculis id fermentum a, lacinia vitae tellus. Sed ultricies tempus ante, et rhoncus magna dapibus quis. Vivamus rhoncus, velit id dignissim malesuada, arcu ipsum viverra lorem, ut egestas purus dui a nisi. Maecenas eget est dolor, in dictum dolor. In nec ante ipsum, sed facilisis est. Mauris id tellus nulla. Praesent justo lacus, convallis at rutrum eu, posuere vitae dui. Vestibulum suscipit accumsan rutrum. Vivamus vestibulum nisl sit amet tellus euismod faucibus. Duis sit amet ipsum quis eros aliquam pretium. Mauris sit amet faucibus sapien. Nam ipsum dui, euismod eu elementum nec, porttitor consequat lacus. Donec eu ipsum ut erat condimentum vulputate ac sed odio. Curabitur arcu metus, ultrices ut euismod quis, consectetur nec velit.

Mauris aliquam, ipsum quis imperdiet accumsan, sapien metus elementum lorem, ut semper ante purus sed turpis. Nullam libero turpis, malesuada posuere pretium quis, egestas nec nibh. Integer tellus elit, pulvinar sit amet facilisis id, vulputate a felis. Integer tincidunt iaculis libero id hendrerit. Sed egestas blandit aliquet. In consectetur, neque sed faucibus aliquet, nisi dolor laoreet lectus, a tincidunt est erat sit amet sem. Nullam risus orci, elementum nec consequat sit amet, suscipit vitae enim. Aenean convallis mollis est, ut ultrices turpis tristique et. Suspendisse potenti. Sed at velit sit amet ante viverra commodo. Pellentesque non tincidunt ante. Integer convallis sem nisi. Quisque quam orci, facilisis sed semper non, vehicula id nibh. Etiam tempor ligula ut erat pharetra fermentum.

Suspendisse eu dignissim purus. Sed nisl turpis, venenatis a rhoncus id, auctor sed neque. Duis aliquam tristique hendrerit. Sed varius ultrices nisi, at placerat dolor bibendum facilisis. Curabitur congue, tortor eget gravida rutrum, dui ipsum tincidunt orci, a imperdiet sapien neque venenatis ante. Integer interdum, odio et suscipit iaculis, est augue pellentesque lorem, eget scelerisque eros lacus a tortor. Donec mattis tempor dui, suscipit facilisis dolor congue quis. Suspendisse id felis est, at condimentum lacus. Duis porta pharetra metus, a auctor sapien laoreet non. Curabitur at malesuada libero. Sed pharetra sem ut nulla vulputate faucibus. Fusce sit amet justo eu est interdum blandit. Donec pulvinar nisi in metus porttitor in ornare orci commodo. Aenean quis dui nec orci euismod iaculis. Morbi sit amet lacus a magna volutpat fringilla vel sit amet velit.

Sed in dui libero, ac laoreet neque. Nullam ante dolor, iaculis sit amet iaculis id, sagittis vel lorem. Maecenas sed dui eu diam malesuada egestas a ac libero. Ut imperdiet dapibus scelerisque. Sed hendrerit, augue at condimentum egestas, tellus ante condimentum nunc, ut feugiat justo nulla et enim. Fusce nisi enim, tristique non egestas id, hendrerit quis felis. In eu mi vitae arcu dictum consectetur nec in quam. Integer feugiat sapien nec mi molestie laoreet. Cras hendrerit tellus sit amet leo commodo in tempus eros porta. Morbi sed nibh orci. Integer congue, velit et rutrum vehicula, justo mauris tempor turpis, vel mollis dui libero at metus. Vestibulum non semper est. Morbi consectetur pulvinar eros sit amet viverra. Suspendisse a est in sapien venenatis vulputate. Aenean porttitor odio vel dui convallis vestibulum. Mauris fringilla venenatis vestibulum. Cras a massa.

Sunday we took the boat out so our friend Roger could could snag some Spoonbill. I had no idea what snagging meant or even what a Spoonbill was. I was in for a crash course! After watching the guys try to install the fish finder most of the afternoon, they decided it was defecting and packed it up to return it to Bass Pro. They were convinced that they would need the device in order to find the Spoonbill. We girls had decided that we were going to go out on the lake whether they fished or not. The guys decided to take a shot in the dark and go where they had caught a Spoonbill before.

Now this snagging is a lot of work. Roger was the only one fishing because you have to have a special license to snag Spoonbill. My brother drove while Roger sat on the back seat of the boat. He pulled out a very long, thick fishing rod with line on it the size of clothes line wire. Maybe just a bit thinner but this is a fishing story after all. I asked him how long it took to snag one as if he could get one anytime he wanted. He told me that his quickest time was 2 hours. I could not believe anyone could continue doing that for a minimum of 2 hours but he assured me it was worth the wait.

As luck would have it, we didn’t have to wait very long. After only 25 minutes of snagging I watched the fishing rod bend as if it would break. Roger starting reeling in it and Sammy cut the engine. After a small battle, Roger had the Spoonbill on the deck of the boat. I now understood the meaning of ’snagging’. The fish don’t actually bite the huge hook. In this case, he snagged it’s back. I’m new to fishing and I had never seen anything like this Spoonbill before. It was rubber feeling and very interesting looking. Of course by the time I got up the courage to touch it, the guys made some loud noise and it scared me so much that I screamed. “City girl” I believe is what they called me, but whatever. ewww! I also got a little freaked out when someone pointed out that I had a spot of fish blood on my leg. There was a lot more blood than I would expect.

Roger got out a rope and fed it through the fish’s mouth and out the gill for a make shift stringer. After tying one end to the boat, he dropped it back over the side so the fish would stay alive. We then had to call the Fishery and report the catch.

Apparently the Spoonbill eggs are a hot commodity. They are sold overseas for the going rate of $750 per pound! A person cannot keep the eggs to sell themselves, it is a felony if caught. They guys had a friend that had no prior record but got caught selling the eggs and went to prison for 3 years.

So we had to tag the fish, just like you would a dear. Roger fed a wire through the mouth of the fish with his tag attached. The Spoonbill eggs have such a demand that the fishery has research stations set up where you turn over your catch of the day, limit one per day, and they clean them, fillet them and shrink wrap them for you free of charge. The only catch, (no pun intended) they get to keep the eggs. Seems like a fair trade to me!

There were tables set up out front where the workers would clip the bottom lip of the fish in 3 places with wire cutters. They would then slide out a bone looking thing and discard it. They tagged each fish and then put them on a meat hook that took them inside a trailer. We asked permission for me to go inside so I could see the process. It was a small trailer with work stations. There were 6 guys working and each had a specific job. When the fish came in, one guy would make a slit down the center, the next guy would remove the gross intestinal stuff. The next guy would pull the eggs out. When I first saw this, I had no idea what was going on. It looked as if the fish had been packed with that dark gray styrofoam. I didn’t realize what it was until the a guy put them into a stainless steel bowl and brought them to a scale near me. I got an up-close view of Spoonbill caviar. The eggs looked like millions of little BB’s. This particular female fish weighed 56 lbs and had 12 lbs of eggs. I was in shock! This fish was worth $9,000!! After the eggs were extracted another guy cut the fillets. The fillets were then turned over to a guy who had something that looked like an electric potato peeler that took the skin off in a few seconds. They rinsed the huge fillets and then sealed them in a bag all the while keeping each label with each fish so you knew you were getting your actual fish. Spoonbill only have one small bone right down the center of their back. When they were done, there was a Spoonbill head and spine hanging from this meat hook. Again, just let me say, ewww! When they finished with our fish, I stepped outside and waited for them to deliver the fillets. One of the workers inside the trailer told me that the day before on Saturday, they had 16 workers and when they have a full house like that, it only takes 2.5 minutes from beginning to end. I was excited at the thought of seeing how many eggs our fish had. It was 25lbs with no eggs, it was male. Of course, the guys already knew this. The fish egg excavator guy told me that the males have little bumps on the back.

So we got our fillets, stopped at the store for some Bay seasoning and headed home to have supper. There were two huge fillets and each one would have fed maybe 6-8 people. In our case, one fillet fed 4 people and a Blue Healer. Sammy and Roger cut the fish into 4 pieces and placed each piece in foil, topped with butter, Bay’s Seasoning and red onion. In about 15 minutes the 1″ thick fish fillets were done and they were delicious.

Roger & the spoonbill

Like I said, I am new to fishing so to a lot of you, this is no big deal but it was awesome to see a fish caught at 4:55 and be eating it at 8. I probably won’t be snagging anytime soon but I can’t wait to go fishing and I think I may have found a new hobby.

I was so wrapped up in Bella and Edward that I found myself reading on my lunch hour, every night and anytime I could find. I like to read but I don’t love to read. Until now. I finished Twilight and New Moon in record time. I am now starting Eclipse.

The Edward Cullen character was so amazing! Such a sweet, thoughtful, protective vampire! My husband loves to watch me read because I really get into it. I didn’t notice that I would gasp or sigh when I read until I noticed him staring at me in amusement. I had to laugh out loud yesterday when I was reading at lunch when I gasped while putting my free hand to my mouth. I had an OMG moment when Edward asked Bella to marry him. I know my darling husband would have enjoyed seeing that.

We hesitated to buy these books for Brooke because I thought they were about blood sucking vampires doomed to live a life of damnation. I didn’t realize it was simply a love story.

I can’t wait to watch New Moon with Brooke. Twilight has been a bonding exercise for us both. When I finish the next two books, I’m going to read Stephanie Meyer’s book for adults, The Host.

I enjoyed watching Twilight with Brooke too. That Robert Pattinson is something else! So if you have a teen daughter you might think about reading the books. I’m sure you’ll enjoy them and it will make her friends think you are the coolest mom ever! : )