Plaid!!

Today will be a high of 70 degrees, low of 50 degrees! Yay! MUCH improved!

Here's a quickie recipe from Jackie that I tried and was YUMMY!

Mock Chicken Salad (fairly low carb and quite vegetarian and frugal!!)

1 can chickpeas, drained
Half a red bell pepper
Two stalks celery
Pickle relish to taste
Mayo, salt and pepper
(You can put in onion, but Jackie thought it might overpower all the other goodies!!)

Mash the chickpeas, and dice the pepper and celery. Blend all together with mayo, and season with salt and pepper as you like it. You now have mock chicken salad!

It was really good! I wrapped mine in a low carb wrap and there was a lot left to have in another wrap for lunch today!

Here's a recipe for Wiffie!

Tofu Jerky
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
3-4 tbsp liquid smoke (I think I will use less to start)
1/8 cup water
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder or 1 cloved crushed fresh garlic
1 tbsp ground black pepper
1 tsp honey (I will use one packet Splenda)
1 pound firm or extra firm tofu

Cut and drain tofu. Take a 1 pound cube, cut it in half, and then slice into 1/4 inch thick slices. Mix marinade ingredients and put slices and marinade into zip lock bag, and let soak overnight. Turn as often as hourly, while you are awake, to let flavor soak in.

Drain excess fluid (may be reused on next batch! I plan to make two batches with each marinade, at least, one batch per day). Dry tofu in food dehydrator. I have read that you can dry it outside on a hot day (turning hourly) or in a warm oven (200 degrees). I put my dehydrator on the back porch to prevent heating up the house, so will use that option. Dry until very chewy, but not crispy. Keeps indefinitely.

Also it's vegetarian, and I'm thinking about making it in quantity to have on hand in case of power failure, no time to cook healthy for myself, etc. I am going to experiment with flavors too, like ranch flavored, barbeque flavored, etc.

And one last thing......

A few weeks ago, I complained to daughter Karen that the car manufacturers in this country needed to do something about putting more color on the roads! She thought I was nuts, probably (still nothing new there!) as I pointed out all the boring cars around us on the freeway. Navy, tan, forest green, taupe, maroon, white, black, filthy, muddy, and the occasional 1966 Beetle in Easter Egg Green, to brighten things. I remarked to her that I wanted to see patterns. Flowers, like designer Michael Miller's stuff, for example:

and (gasp!) PAISLEY!!

Not to mention some exciting solids like PINK, DUSTY ROSE, CHOCOLATE BROWN WITH AQUA TRIM!!

Doncha think that would brighten up the highways and by-ways????

(Well, I'm a quilter and love colorful fabric. What do you expect?) I'm not a fan of batiks, but hey, even those would be a welcome change!

Today, I was passed on the 405 Freeway, right before I got on the 55 North.....by a car that made me shout out loud,


"YES!!"


It was a Mercedes Benz in sort of an SUV model, a bit boxy, have no clue what it was. But baby, it made me smile. Because it was covered just like this one:

.
.
.
.
.
.
.













I am SO hoping this is a trend!!

Back to work for me!