Got an opportunity to preview the new movie Monte Carlo with Selena Gomez. Took my kids (ages 7 and 9), was a little uncertain if it would be age appropriate or not, but it was perfect. A nice light romance with chance to dream about the glitzy life of jewelry, dresses, yachts and more. The kids just loved it. The story was fairly basic — hard-working young girl saves up for a trip to Paris. Gets to Paris with two friends (okay…one was her uptight new step-sister), ends up being mistaken for a look-a-like heiress and pretends to be rich for a week. The rich girl is predictably shallow and mean, the hard-working girl is nice and wholesome. In the end, every girl gets their guy and everyone lives happily ever after. A very sweet story with enough action to keep the kids entertained. Lovely shots of the Mediterranean. There was no real “bad guy” so it was nice to not have that wicked component. As far as bad language, there really was none — seems like maybe one minor word, but nothing too noticeable. For romance, there were a couple kissing scenes, but they were modest and in good taste.

Overall, a delightful way to spend an afternoon. For adults, a fairly predictable light film, but for the kids a great romantic flick.

So when my husband got his new phone a few months ago, the first game my kids were wild to install was Angry Birds. Don’t know where they heard of it, but pretty soon Angry Birds was all the rage in our house — kids fighting over who would get the phone when were were going somewhere in the car. Weeks after the kids had mastered it, I finally got a chance to play and I was soon addicted too! Now I hear that there is a special level you can only get to with a hidden code.

From the makers of the hit ICE AGE series, RIO is a comedy-adventure, in 3D, about taking a walk on the wild side. Blu is a domesticated Macaw who never learned to fly, living a comfortable life with his owner and best friend Linda in the small town of Moose Lake, Minnesota. Blu and Linda think he’s the last of his kind, but when they learn about another Macaw who lives in Rio de Janeiro, they head to the faraway and exotic land to find Jewel, Blu’s female counterpart. Not long after they arrive, Blu and Jewel are kidnapped by a group of bungling animal smugglers. With the help of street smart Jewel, and a group of wise-cracking and smooth-talking city birds, Blu escapes. Now, with his new friends by his side, Blu will have to find the courage to learn to fly, thwart the kidnappers who are hot on their trail, and return to Linda, the best friend a bird ever had.

RIO arrives in theaters everywhere April 15.

A friend of mine was telling me over New Year’s that it is a tradition in the south to serve Black Eyed Peas on New Years Day for good luck. Living in the Northwest my whole life, I had never heard of this tradition but was intrigued. I found the perfect recipe for next year. It was in
The Northwest Vegetarian Cookbook. I modified it a bit for the crockpot.

1 1/2 cups black-eyed peas soaked overnight

saute:
1 large onion finely chopped
1 jalapeno, finely chopped

combine peas, onions with everything else in crockpot:
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried epazote (mexican oregano) or regular oregano
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 carrot, sliced
3 cups water (or 1/2 less if in crockpot)
1 15-oz can diced tomatoes
2 T ketchup or tomato paste

Cook until peas are done.

Add salt to taste and top with cheddar cheese, green onions, cilantro as desired.

Check out this great new romantic comedy starring Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel. Find our post on twitter and retweet for a chance to win the dvd and soundtrack!

1 lb beets
celery leaves chopped finely from 1 untrimmed bunch celery
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
lemon juice from 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon cumin
2 garlic cloves, crushed
salt to taste
olive oil

boil beets. peel, cool and grate. add all ingredients except olive oil. let set for 1 hour or more for the flavors to blend. taste and adjust seasonings as desired. add olive oil right before serving.

Found an article this week on inexpensive superfoods. It’s a great list of healthy foods with links to recipes: http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/15-superfoods-for-under-20-stocking-your-pantry-on-the-cheap.html The fifth vegetable on the list is cabbage which is a great neutralizer of toxins in your liver. There are many stories and legends about cabbage, one of the most interesting is from the Iliad and that cabbage sprang from the tears of Lycurgus. Hippocrates called cabbage “the vegetable of a thousand virtues”. Of all edible plants, cruciferous vegatables are probably those that contain the larges variety of phytochemical compounds with anticancer activity.

Chinese Cabbage Salad Recipe

Combine (can be made ahead):
1/2 head cabbage very thinly shredded
sesame seeds
green onions
toasted sliced almonds
3 T rice vinegar
2 T oil
1 T sugar
salt/pepper to taste
1/2 chicken-flavor pack from ramen

add right before serving so they don’t get mushy:
1 pack chicken-flavored ramen noodles crunched up

A bit more about turmeric…. it was featured on a series medical treatises from 3000 BC written in cuneiform on stone tablets and has
been included in Ayurvedic tradition since about 1900 BC. If you’re interested in reading more history, I’d suggest “Foods to Fight
Cancer” by Richard Beliveau, PhD and Denis Gingras PhD. The active compound in turmeric is curcumin which is associated with antitumor,
anti-inflamatory and antioxidant properties. Another recipe my family loves which again uses some Indian spices:

Chickpea (garbanzo) Curry

Saute 1 finely chopped large onion in olive oil til edges turn brown. Add:
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 chopped garlic clove
ground chili, if desired

Add more oil if necessary, fry til spices are fragrant.

Add:
tomatoes (either 1 can diced or 4-5 diced Romas)
chickpeas (either 1 can or 1 1/2 cups fresh–available in the cooler
section in Costco–steam them first)

Simmer for a few minutes adding water if necessary and add salt to taste. Add 1/4 cup chopped cilantro and serve over rice.

Breakfast can be a tricky meal. You’d like to start the day right, but it can be difficult to find healthy choices when most of the quick
breakfast ideas in the grocery store are loaded with sugar and carbs. My kids are used to having strange things put in front of them with
the instructions “you have to at least try one bite” but a few months ago obeying that directive might have taken some courage! The glass
contained a green bubbly slime that looked like it might have various swamp monsters hiding under the thick layers.

We were looking for something gross-looking to serve at Halloween and found it! Came across an idea for a green slime smoothie. It
contains everything you could wish for in a breakfast food — protein, green leafy vegetables, potassium — and the kids now request it by
name!

Green Slime Smoothie

1 small can pineapple juice
1 cup of plain yogurt
2 bananas
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-2 packed cups of raw baby spinach

Blend all together and serve

Being healthy has always seemed to me like flossing your teeth…something you know you should do, try periodically sometimes half-heartedly, worry that you’re not doing good enough, doesn’t sound like fun but really you should or WHAT will people think! Last year a close family member was diagnosed with melanoma, add to that the deluge of friends and others who have cancer and it feels like we should be doing something. My personal path has taken me through books, to classes and on websites learning about healthy eating. From what I’ve learned, what we eat can have a huge impact on the natural cancer-fighting ability of our body. My family has volunteered (well, since I do the shopping and cooking, they didn’t have much choice!) to go down this path and be open to new foods to eat.

Turmeric has been linked to fighting infection, fighting cancer, reducing inflamation, treating digestive problems.
Experiment with adding it to vegetable dishes, eggs and anything else you can think of.Clean, trim and halve brussel sprouts.

Recipe:

Finely dice 1 large onion and fry in olive oil until the edges are brown.

Add:
1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon cumin

Cook for a few minutes until fragrant. Add more oil if necessary.

Add brussel sprouts and 1/2 cup of water. Stir and cover. Steam 5 minutes or until crisp tender. Add salt to taste.

Cook 1 cup quinoa in 2 cups water or broth. Fluff with fork and cool to room temperature.

2 carrots, shredded
2 small zucchini, shredded
1 onion, shredded
Shred above ingredients and squeeze extra water out.

1/2 bunch parsley, finely chopped
1/2 c sunflower seeds
1/4 t cumin
1/2 t coriander
salt
pepper
combine above with shredded vegetables and quinoa. mix well.

add 3 eggs, 1/2 c breadcrumbs and 1/4 c flour.

combine all together and form into patties.

grease a baking sheet with 2T olive oil. bake 350° for 15 minutes, turn bake another 15 minutes.