Lori I thought of you tonight when we had this kick butt dinner that was gluten free. You have to like veggies though! Kale, White bean and Vegetable stew over Polenta YIELD: 4 servings (serving size: 1 3/4 cups) Ingredients 1 tablespoon olive oil 1/2 cup chopped onion (I think I used about double that) 2 (4-ounce) links Italian style chicken sausage, cut into (1/2-inch) slices. You could also use turkey sausage, and I recommend getting the spicy kind for this dish. 1 zucchini, quartered and cut into (1/2-inch) slices (about 2 cups) I added half a green pepper, but it is optional and did add a little more oomph to the flavor (again, if you like green peppers) 3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed 6 cups chopped trimmed kale (about 1/2 pound) 1/2 cup water (I used vegetable broth, could also use chicken broth) 2 (16-ounce) cans cannellini beans or other white beans, rinsed and drained. (I used butter beans, I love them!) I only used one can 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced fire roasted tomatoes, undrained 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1/4 tsp. italian seasoning and a healthy dash of Mrs. Dash garlic and herb seasoning Preparation Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Saut� onion and sausage 4 minutes or until sausage is browned. Add zucchini and garlic; cook 2 minutes. Add kale and remaining ingredients; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes or until thoroughly heated. (I added about 1 TBLSP tomato paste to thicken the stew) Serve immediately over polenta. Polenta (Get it from Bob's Red Mill, their stuff is usually very fresh) 2 cups water and 1 cup vegetable or chicken broth, or all water 1/4 tsp. salt (use 1/2 if you're using all water) 1 cup polenta 1/4 cup parmesean or romano cheese or fontina cheese 1 1/2 TBLSP butter for frying (that's optional, you can use olive oil or broil polenta instead of frying, or just serve the stew over soft polenta.) Bring the water/broth mix to a boil. Add the salt and stir in the polenta. Stir it as you add it to the pot to keep it from clumping. Turn the pot down to low. Simmer the polenta for at least 15 min., until it is very thick. Add the cheese. Pour the polenta into a large flat pan, well oiled. Let the polenta cool and coagulate in the pan. This will take about 15 min. Can make ahead. Then, cut the polenta into squares and fry in butter until browned on both sides, which should take about 10 min. Can also brush with olive oil and broil the polenta. Serve in flat bowls topped with the stew and a shaving of parmesean cheese. Yummo!

Hi Mas: That was funny !! One runner-up in Biggest Loser stated: no matter how much one works out, if one doesn't change how one eats, it doesn't matter much. SO TRUE !! I put in 2 hours of snow-shoveling yesterday, and lost only 1/2 lb. on the scale. Compare that to 3 lb. a week, with zero work, when I drastically changed my eating a decade ago. For me eating while watching TV for the past years caused weight gain .. I mindlessly throw stuff into my mouth without thinking. So I took away the table in front of the TV, and put my Nordic-ski-machine, plus a Bow-flex. It works !! Now I eat slowly at the kitchen table, drink herbal tea while eating, plus lots of RAW veggies ... that really cut down my intake of food. Eating mindlessly, esp. in front of the TV, can pack on pounds. It didn't dawn on me, until I asked Jesus to help me with losing weight. Hi Frances & Damask & Jim: So glad to have all of you here with your strong faiths. To improve my kid's handwring, I copy & paste Bible verses from my Pinterest into Microsoft Word document. I chose a nice font at size 18, print in light blue, and made her trace that in black ink. One verse that she traced today: 2 Peter 2:19 "They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity--for "people are slaves to whatever has mastered them."" Also Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make our paths straight." Below is the link to my Pinterest with pics. of roses, plus Bible verses, recipes, etc. Here is a link that might be useful: Straw's collection of rose pics, Bible verse, recipes This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Mon, Feb 2, 15 at 15:29

There's a side-effect of Brewer's yeast: selenium-overdose, so cut back when you see the below signs of selenium-overdose, like garlic-breadth, below is from Livestrong.com: Hair, Nail, Teeth and Skin Changes Common early symptoms of selenium toxicity and poisoning involve the hair and nail beds of the hands and feet. Excessive selenium causes brittle hair, hair loss, deformed nails, brittle nails, sloughing off of nails, tooth discoloration, tooth decay and mottled or discolored skin. Jess: If you take Solgar probiotic and Brewer's Yeast together, the Brewer's Yeast has Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which is a relative of Saccharomyces boulardii yeast (Florastor probiotics). Any yeast/fungus will wipe out BOTH beneficial bacteria and bad bacteria. Antibiotic penicillin is made from a yeast, or fungus. I once asked the biggest company in probiotics (Hyperbiotics) why don't they put Saccharomyces boulardii into their 15-bacteria-strains. They say that yeast will contaminate and wipe out the 15 good bacteria-strains. I STOP TAKING BREWER'S YEAST today for that reason, and for the research I did in the thread, "To your Mom", where I learned that Brewer's yeast kills both the bad bacteria like E. Coli, Salmonella, plus the good bacteria. Also I took only 1/2 tablespoon per day, but its high selenium made my fingernail chipped, plus I lost more hair. My hair is very thick, but it's annoying to see hair in the family's dinner. Nothing is wrong with Solgar, never see a bad review for that probiotics, and both I and my kid are taking Solgar-multidophilus for the past 2 weeks, zero gas nor tummy upset, UNTIL I took Brewer's yeast for the past 4 days. Then I got tummy-ache. Lots of people complain of tummy ache with Brewer's yeast on Amazon reviews. Four days of Brewer's yeast is like being on antibiotics again, since it wiped out the good bacteria that helped me to digest milk & cheese. So I have to take L. Acidophilus again just to digest dairy. I see brewer's yeast being useful only few days per week to supply B-vitamins & chromium .. then take a probiotics (good-bacteria like Solgar) at least 10 hours apart from brewer's yeast. That's what I did with antibiotics (which is a yeast/fungus): take it at breakfast & then at 4 pm, and wait for 7 hours before I took probiotics (good bacteria) before bed-time, to help digest my dinner. At the end when antibiotics Doxycycline tortured me with gas & upset tummy, I had to take probiotics (good bacteria) with antibiotics but I spaced them apart, with at least 7 hours gap. Here's from U. of Maryland Medical center: http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/supplement/brewers-yeast Side effects from brewer's yeast: gas. People who have frequent yeast infections or who are allergic to yeast should avoid brewer's yeast. From WebMD: People who are allergic or sensitive to yeast might experience itching and swelling. Crohn’s disease: Brewer's yeast can make Crohn's disease worse. Don’t use brewer’s yeast if you have Crohn’s disease.

Lavenderlace: I tested the below research: https://stumptuous.com/fat-sugar-metabolic-derangement "High-fat (HF) and high-fat/high-sugar (HFHS) diets both raised blood lipids. However: only rats on HFHS (fat plus sugar) diet developed hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, glucose intolerance and a diminished insulin response to a glucose load. " When I'm busy, I gulped one glass of juice for energy (100% juice with natural sugar) .. that kept my blood-sugar stabilized to finish a task for 1 hour longer. And a glass of soy milk (7 g. protein) & brewer's yeast & honey lasts me 4 hours without eating. Recently I did something different: finish the last bar of Klondite ice-cream (230 calories, 14 g of fat, 20 g white sugar) & sweet & greasy. Right after that, my blood sugar crashed, I was unbearably hungry and had to eat a meal immediately. I checked the ingredients: it has sugar & corn syrup (high fructose corn syrup). A little of fat plus protein is useful to keep one full. But fat plus sugar induce more hunger. I tested blueberry-smoothie made with 0% fat Greek yogurt versus 2% fat yogurt, and the 2% fat yogurt is more filling & last longer. CONCLUSION: Fat & protein & veggies is a good combo. Fat is needed to absorb the nutrients in veggies better. We have a friend who's a vegetarian and he ALWAYS USE full-fat salad-dressing, plus full-fat cheese on his salads, and he's just as skinny as husband in their late 50's. I used coconut oil to make banana muffin, and olive oil in my cooking. Here's what the Dean of Nutrition, Harvard Medical School said about coconut oil: http://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/coconut-oil "Coconut oil is about 90% saturated fat, which is a higher percentage than butter (about 64% saturated fat), beef fat (40%), or even lard (also 40%). Too much saturated fat in the diet is unhealthy because it raises "bad" LDL cholesterol levels, which increases the risk of heart disease. So it would seem that coconut oil would be bad news for our hearts. But what's interesting about coconut oil is that it also gives "good" HDL cholesterol a boost. But, for now, I'd use coconut oil sparingly. Most of the research so far has consisted of short-term studies to examine its effect on cholesterol levels. We don't really know how coconut oil affects heart disease. And I don't think coconut oil is as healthful as vegetable oils like olive oil and soybean oil, which are mainly unsaturated fat and therefore both lower LDL and increase HDL. Coconut oil's special HDL-boosting effect may make it "less bad" than the high saturated fat content would indicate, but it's still probably not the best choice among the many available oils to reduce the risk of heart disease. — Walter C. Willett, M.D. Harvard School of Public Health Department of Nutrition Harvard Health Letter Editorial Board" *** From Straw: Just tested Solgar Brewer's yeast (made from beets). It's less tasty than NOW brand (sold out at local health food store). Solgar BY has a "plastic" & artificial taste to it, and less acidic than NOW. So I'll use Solgar BY for my roses, and still need to buy NOW brewer's yeast when they stock up.