I agree about Jarlsburg. Those bouquets are ravishing.

i will be looking to add Jarlsberg to my chacuterie board at Christmas, hopefully i will get a bouquet of Pope John Paul II for my table, I see 5-6 buds out there.

I grow a lot of arugulas in my garden, one type of veg that my sister can eat with her kidney disease. I found out it‘s good for my eyes too, it’s also good for diabetes.

https://diabetesmealplans.com/10528/arugula-rocket-and-type-2-diabetes/

SoCalGardenNut Thank you for the above link on arugula lettuce. Much appreciated. HOW DO YOU GROW LETTUCE in your garden? What type of potting soil is best for lettuce? How do you fertilize lettuce in pots? Thank you.

The price of Bibb and Boston lettuce DOUBLED this year, from $2 to $4 per tiny head. I can easily eat $4 of lettuce in one sitting. I had 7 decades-old trees chopped down, so I have more room to grow lettuce in pots.

From your link above on arugula: "Vitamin K may also play a role in improving glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity, as well as preventing type 2 diabetes overall. Two cups of arugula can give you over half of your daily vitamin K requirements!

Arugula is high in lutein and zeaxanthin, two antioxidants important for eye health. Since eye problems are a very real risk in diabetes, consuming lots of lutein and zeaxanthin may help reduce your risk of blindness, glaucoma, macular degeneration, and other devastating vision issues. The high amounts of vitamin A present in arugula may also be helpful in regulating insulin release."

My favorite dressing is learned from my Mom: 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar & 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice & 1 TBS.sugar & 1/3 teas. salt & 1/4 cup chopped onion & dash of EVOS oil before serving.

Below orange Pat Austin has glossy & mild-tasting leaves (I actually tasted it, since I wonder why it never has any blackspots, the leaves are alkaline). The blackspot prone roses have more acidic leaves. Lowest left is Versigny. Right red is The Dark Lady. Left red is W.S. 2000

Pat is always healthy with glossy leaves and abundant blooms in only 4 hrs of sun, I plant it smack below a Japanese Maple on the north side of the house.

Your rose pictures are amazing.

I'm afraid I’m not very successful with Bibb and Boston lettuce, maybe the birds have eaten them or something. I also have a lot of dirt from my compost(I try not to buy dirt), so i just threw my seeds down, maybe cover them lightly. Arugulas just came up. Dont forget I'm in California. We don’t really have cold winter. But if you let them flower they will come back. i have an abundance of watercress and dill that way.

i eat the young leaves as salad with 100% California olive oil and a bit of lemon juice. When the plants are older, the leaves are bitter, i just cut them and saute them in olive oil and garlic with a bit of lemon juice, the lemon huice does cut down the bitterness, it tastes like rapini.

I also have lots of lemons from my yard.

The bitterness is good for you for some reason.

https://nowwithpurpose.com/the-arugula-effect-bitter-food-benefits/

People in my family has macular degeneration, so eye health is important.

SoCalGardenNut I have good luck with dill.... but not so on the watercress which is also means I have a problem growing nasturtium.... I have a neighbor who takes a bag of miracle grow and slits it open and can grow both of them.... but I use amended soil and I have also tried using potting soil in pots.... neither of those have worked for me... very sad because I love the watercress family and I could give a horse eating a bale of hay a run for the money... watercress is SO expensive at the market and in some places it can grow like a weed.... but since I love it so much it seems to refuse to even sprout for me.....

I'm a big fan of watercress, but so expensive, like $2 for a few bites!!

My brother with 20+ acres of land in Michigan told me he has plenty of watercress growing on his ponds.

SoCalGardenNut Please inform of how you grow watercress. Thank you. Dill is very invasive in my clay, but I rarely use it in my salad, it goes well with canned fish, but I'm tired of stinky canned fish

i used to go to one Albertson‘s and they have all my favorite vegetables like watercress, Belgian endive, escarole, frisee, rapini, etc..But that particular shop is now close, so I have to grow my own.

Thanks, Ingrid...I won't get a Cottage Rose if I see one. :) :)

Straw - sumptuous Sonjia Reikel blooms!!!! Oh my goodness!! I want one. :) :) Thanks about my Chicago Peace...I have zillions of beautiful pictures of this rose because it's such a great rose—no fragrance though, which is why I don't grow it anymore. I always use yellow potatoes...I like the taste better. Radio Times is one I have on my radar...if I can find it, I'll get it. :) :) Yours is sublime!!!

GardenNut - Oh, I really hope he can root those for you! What a great selection! Oh, I would definitely say those peonies and your All Dressed Up are totally decadent!! How is the fragrance on All Dressed Up?

Straw - your ZD is fabulous!!! I know you said that you don't grow it as a climber...my goodness....it's a stunner!!! How is the rebloom? Enjoyable is too tame of a word. :) :) Decadent is what I'm going with. :) :) Ooooh!! That pork/Puff sounds delicious!! I don't ever remember seeing puff pastry at the grocery store. I know it would be in the freezer section. Hmmm...

GardenNut - You're making croquembouche? I've seen them made on cooking shows. I would never attempt to make one. LOL You HAVE to show us your results!! Are you going to stuff them with cream?

Monarda - yes, being in England, decadence may have different connotations for you. :) :) I think cooking shows, restaurants, etc. have changed the meaning of the word a lot over here. Like you said, language evolves. Interesting how we wouldn't be able to understand someone from just 2 or 3 hundred years ago.

Sharon - That is super interesting how you can taste the difference between male/female pork. I had no idea! Did you get used to the stink of a pig farm? My relatives are mostly farmers...and I remember the smell. :) I've never tried either grits or polenta. :) :) So no thoughts from me about them. I would love to make ham...but my kids won't eat pork. Awww that's too bad about your roses still suffering from the flooding. Darn. You'll love Chandos Beauty...the fragrance is fabulous.

Summercloud - Christmas baking hell. LOL Do you get to take some of the baking home for your family on Xmas?

Straw - I love your bouquet with The Dark Lady in it...those colors are awesome!!

@strawchicago z5, i wish i knew, i just threw my seeds down and one or 2 plants came up. It’s a wet area where i grow a lot of DA roses. I let them flowered and threw them in my compost. the following year they came back, now they can be a pest. my husband likes watercress and our watercress is more peppery than store bought. i dont have a pond.

When i grew them in potting soil and container they were not doing as well, i think the key is they need a wet area.

@rosecanadian, All Dressed up has no fragrance.

Regarding Croquembouche, i never made it before, so it will be fun trying.

At my local French bakery, the chef is from Paris, the pate chaud is called Friand, i can taste a bit of pate in there.

SoCalGardenNut Thank you for the info. on growing watercress. I have a lot of wet clay near the rainspouts so I'm going to buy watercress seeds in advance. I don't miss dark chocolate with its lead and cadmium after I see below info: "30g of dark chocolate has approximately 9g of saturated fat."

I always soak my brown rice in HOT water overnight, then rinse it 4 times to get rid of the lead and arsenic. That's easier than the method of boiling, then drain off the water. Citric acid in the rinsing water also help to get rid of lead and arsenic, but I'm going to use Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) since it's cheaper than citric acid. From a study: "Boiling and soaking of rice samples with citric acid 1% can be a convenient and fast way to reduce the concentration of lead in rice samples."

Below bouquet would make a good Christmas centerpiece: Salmons are Sweet Mademoiselle, Reds are L.D. Braithwaite (no scent so I sold that to benefit charities), whites are St. Cecilia (nice myrrh scent), blue is Poseidon (patent expires in 2024), pinks are Evelyn in buds. L.D. Braithwaite has a myrrh scent once aged in the vase, but I already have Tess of d'Urbervilles with a stronger myrrh scent.

Augusta Luis is a luxurious rose filled with petals & large blooms and a strong scent similar to Munstead Wood. This cluster is from a 1st-year band-size own-root purchased from LongAgoRoses.

Below apricots are About Face. I get so tired of its being tall, over 7 feet tall, so I pruned it down to the crown this winter. Middle pink is Comte de Chambord, and dark reds are Munstead Wood. This bouquet cheers me up. Lowest orange is America climber (it's a shrub in my zone 5a), zero scent to my nose, but America climber (grafted on Dr.Huey) at the store smelled great.

Straw, Beautiful bouquets & recipees for Christmas week! I am lost looking at your plethora of gorgeous-decadent bouquets!

KittyNYz6 & everyone: What are you planning for Christmas dinner? I'm making Steak, it's fast & easy, but I'll make below sauce to go with the steak: Chimichurri:

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup packed fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

1/2 cup packed fresh cilantro leaves

1/4 cup ice cubes

2 tablespoons packed fresh oregano leaves

1 jalapeno, stemmed, seeded and roughly chopped

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Add the vinegar, garlic and a generous pinch of salt to a blender and blend on low until smooth. Add the parsley, cilantro, ice, oregano and jalapeno and blend on medium speed. With the blender running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil and blend, stopping to scrape down the sides if necessary, until smooth, about 1 minute.

The recipe above was taken from below link with lots of yummy pics. to look at:

101 Best Christmas Dinner Recipes & Ideas | Holiday Recipes: Menus, Desserts, Party Ideas from Food Network | Food Network

SoCalGardenNut If hogs are kept indoors they normally have a latrine under them. It is their urine that smells so bad..... It does smell.... I never really care for it.... but it was the smell that boars would put off when they got in fights with other males or when a sow was in heat..... the smell goes a long ways.... it is designed so that if a sow is a mile away they will smell it and be attracted to him.... ugg.... not attractive at all.... just thinking about it all these years later can make me nausiated.... it is harmone and it is in the meat.... not as strong, but enough to make one notice if you grew up with it....

Straw, I agree with Kitty about your fabulous blooms! That sauce looks yummy. I haven’t figured out the main course yet but will be making gluten free baked Mac and Cheese. Sautéed snap peas and a big fresh green salad, since peas and lettuce were in season at the farmers market. Potatoes mashed with lots of extra virgin olive oil, which I prefer to dairy and the Mac and Cheese should be plenty of dairy. Popovers with regular flour and a pumpkin pie make with coconut milk. I am not dairy free but I just love the coconut flavor. I season the custard with lots of ginger plus galangal and Ceylon cinnamon and pour it into a gluten free gingerbread cookie crust. I just finished making the cookies and half the batch will get put into my food processor for cookie crumbs. They are also pretty heavy on the ginger, actually slightly hot, with galangal and Ceylon cinnamon too.

Pumpkin Pie, 9-10 inch deep dish pie plate
Crust:
8oz ginger cookie crumbs
3-6 T melted butter (amount depends on how dry your cookies are)
Press butter moistened cookie crumbs into bottom and side of a 9-10 deep dish pie plate using a fork. Bake at 350 F for 15 minutes.

Filling:
1 can of pumpkin (15 oz.) or 1 ¾ c cooked squash
3 eggs
1 c milk (cow’s, light coconut, or soy)
1/3 c sugar
1/8 t salt
1 t ground cinnamon
1 t ground ginger
½ t ground galangal

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Place all ingredients into a blender and mix until creamy-smooth. Home cooked
squash needs a blender to puree the stringy material. Pour into a pre-baked
cookie crumb crust. Place a pie ring around the crust and place in 350 degree oven and bake 45-55 min or until the filling is slightly thickened and jiggles when lightly shaken.

The Chimichurri method of mixing vinegar & salt FIRST with minced garlic tames down the harshness of garlic. I tried that approach with roast chicken thighs tonight and It was the best roast chicken due to tamed garlic:

I mix 1 TBS minced fresh garlic with 2 TBS. rice wine vinegar FIRST, then I add 2 TBS minced ginger and 1/2 cup Simply fruit apricot preserve plus 1/3 cup Kikkoman soy sauce. Then I sprinkle this mix over 6 chicken thighs (with skin) and bake in oven at 350 for 25 min.

Stephanie, 9b inland SoCal Thank you for that pumpkin pie recipe, 1/3 cup sugar is just right. I got to make your pumpkin pie, but I'll use a flax-crust, see recipe below:

Flax-meal crust of 1 1/4 cup flour & 1/2 cup golden-flax meal, mix in olive oil (6 TBS), 1 egg white last, few TBS of cold water if too thick to roll out easier. An oiled parchment paper is needed under the crust, since the flax-EVOS crust with egg-white sticks onto pan.

I'm going to top my pumpkin pie with Streusel's recipe: 2 TBS. melted butter, 1/3 c flour, 1/4 c sugar, 1/2 cup pecans.

The rose that makes my mouth salivate is Jude the Obscure, below left yellow. I would love to have a juicy tropical drink that smell like Jude to inhale its passion fruit and pear nectar. Right is Christopher Marlowe with its cute button, never see blackspots on Chris in its 12 years as own root.

Next best desert is yellow Honey Bouquet floribunda below. It smells just like honey.

Straw, I use a cup of the light coconut milk from a can and then use the leftover for coffee creamer. I developed this recipe a few years ago when I went dairy free for a while. I love your flaxseed crust recipe and I think it will work great!

@strawchicago z5 My favorite dessert to eat is dark chocolate! Oh, I love organic chocolate peanut butter cups. Double chocolate chip cookies... chocolate cake with chocolate ganache... are you sensing a theme?

@rosecanadian I COULD take a lot of free desserts home ("staffed" is our word for "not good enough to sell") but honestly I've lost my taste for doing so! After 15 years I have a mental divide: food at work isn't for eating, food at home is. The trick to not gaining a bunch of weight is to not mix the two!

I am somewhat jealous of non-bakers though... after doing this for long enough you just decide that holidays don't exist. Thanksgiving? What's that? I'm ordering pizza.

Sharon - interesting...I learn so much here!

GardenNut - thanks...good to know that All Dressed Up has no fragrance. :) I'm really proud of you for making such a difficult dessert! Wish I could have some. :) :)

Straw - I really love your Sweet Mademoiselle! Especially the half-open bloom at the top of the bouquet. Beautiful, beautiful bouquets!!! I especially love your Augusta Luise blooms! I would love to smell a rose that smells like honey! What a wonderful smell that would be! I would love to try Jude again. :)

Summercloud - oh, that would be a shame to lose your love of holiday food! I never thought of that.

Weather in my zone 5a is brutal today at -4 F mid-noon today Friday 12/23/22. Wind is gusting at 50 mph and wind chill factor is -35 F below zero.

Re-post the Spinach and Salmon Quiche recipe. Both freezes well and it takes 1 minute to nuke that for a solid breakfast in my cold zone 5a.

https://www.bhg.com/recipe/eggs/spinach-and-bacon-quiche/

https://ethnicspoon.com/salmon-quiche/

sharon2079 and rosecanadian: Below recipe is a God-sent for deep sleep & happiness. Google Walnut and sleep and stress, and you'll see how walnut helps with sleep and stress.

The below buckwheat honey crunchy walnuts help my husband NOT to miss his chocolates.

Halloween destroyed my sleep (I ate Dove dark chocolates), plus husband's blood pressure shot up with chocolate's high in lead and cadmium.

My 20-year-old daughter sleeps so well that she's singing/humming for the first time in months. Her happiness has to do with deep sleep, rather than her getting the actuary intership this summer. At 61 year-old, I have vivid dreams like when I was a kid, thanks to high-omega 3 and melatonin in walnut. So far I don't gain weight from below recipe, but I can easily gain 5 lb. a week if I indulge in bagel & cream cheese or bread & cheese.

Use either walnut or pecans, buckwheat honey gives the best flavor: I use my toaster/convection oven. Spread 3 cups of raw walnut, drizzle 1/3 cup honey, then sprinkle 1/4 cup brown sugar. Bake in 275 oven for 10 minutes, stir, then reduce oven to 250 and bake for 10 min. more. Stir again, then remove walnuts while hot onto a plate, to prevent sticking. Walnuts become crunchy once cooled, mix in dry cranberries last. Walnut is high in Omega-3 and melatonin ... helps with deep sleep. Pecans lower cholesterol.

Heres what I picked for my Christmas table, Secret is in the middle.

i added a few roses this morning, and Chandos Beauty is finally open.

Eden Climber, the little rose bud sticking out is Scentuous

SoCalGardenNut wow !! I love all your roses: Secret, Chandos Beauty (looks like an Austin with so many petals), and Scentuous. I need to find more blue vases like yours. Blue vase makes the blooms stand out more. I have only 1 blue coffee cup which held my red Munstead Wood and orange Carding Mill .. pic. taken 11/20/22:

Below blue cup holds white Bolero and pink cluster of Mary Magdalene. Strike it Rich (yellow) gives a good fall flush. Pic. taken 11/15/22.

I'm sun-tanning myself to get enough vitamin D for my zone 5a winter. Best healthy foods I made was last night with chicken thighs & Italian Sausage & black beans and frozen tomato (from garden), plus fresh Kale & green pepper & 4 cloves garlic & onion & fresh cilantro. Serve over white rice. The spices were: 1/2 tea. cumin & 1/2 tea. paprika & 1/2 tea. tumeric & 1/2 tea leaf thyme.

Thanks @strawchicago z5, i bought a lot of vases years ago from Crate & Barrel, I collect vases for fun.

I grow lots of turmeric in my yard, I discovered this plant by accident. I dont really eat turmeric a lot, and and i give them away to my friends. i do eat thyme on a regular basis. The turneric flower is very pretty, here is one recently.

That is so pretty !! Turmeric thins the blood, but the commercial powder is tainted with lead. My daughter broke out in rash with turmeric powder, so I don't use much in my cooking.

Commercial Oregano, turmeric, basil, and thyme are tainted with heavy metals, so I will grow my own herbs and dry them. Amazon sells hanging layered baskets to dry herbs for $15.

Herbs on Your Spice Rack May Be Loaded With Heavy Metals (popularmechanics.com)

Consumer Reports tested a total of 126 products across 38 brands, using two or three samples for each product. Here are the products that ranked as moderate or high concern:

• La Flor Ground Oregano
• La Flor Ground Turmeric
• Happy Belly (Amazon) Ground Thyme
• Spice Islands Sweet Basil
• Tone's Ground Thyme

My 20-year-old daughter got an actuary summer internship in Seattle, WA (remote-work). I checked, and Buffalo, NY made the list of worst weather cities in USA, along with Portland, Oregon (too many cloudy days), and Seatlle, WA (147 rainy days per year).

An excerpt from below link, which made me glad that most of my roses are in partial shade.

U.S. Cities with the Worst Weather (alot.com)

" Portland doesn’t get a lot of sun. On average, the city has 222 heavily clouded days out of the year. That makes it tough to grow literally anything other than roses. Roses don’t require a lot of sun and love cloudy weather, so that’s why Portland is often referred to as the City of Roses.”

Below 8th-year own-root Dee-lish bloom well in partial shade, 4 to 5 hrs. of sun max:

Prairie Harvest, or any light yellow roses do well in partial shade (4 hrs. of sun)

The Dark Lady also blooms well in shade, 4 to 5 hrs. of sun max. It blooms better in shade than Marie Pavie.

Congrats on your daughter regarding her summer internship. I had a cousin whole lived in Seattle years ago, she hated the rain, she was so glad when she moved to Arizona.

I now sun dry my own oregano. For thyme, i pick them fresh from my garden, maybe I will dry them next year. Somehow Deelish didnt do well for me here, i moved it and it didnt come back. The turmeric from Costco was not effective, fresh turmeric from my garden is much more powerful. I finally threw one full jar away.

https://www.costco.com/youtheory-turmeric-extra-strength-formula-1%2c000-mg.%2c-180-capsules.product.100411695.html

Straw, I am so happy that your daughter got her internship. I know that she will feel a little less stressed now.

Thanks for posting the walnut recipe for sleep.....

SoCalGardenNut I know a SKINNY & older lady in CA who drinks Sencha Matcha green tea from Costco ($50 for 3-packs) at 225 servings from Japan. Matcha green tea is higher in caffeine than regular green tea. Green tea is famous in losing weight.

My lowest weight at 97 lb. was back when I was 44 year-old and drank 4 cups of green tea daily, but that messed up my sleep (too much caffeine). I was tense. So I cut out green tea.

Now at 61 year old, I always weigh 5 lbs. less (115 to 120 lb.), if I have fresh-lemon-balm to drink. Lemon balm tea is green and better tasting than green tea. I gave away lots of lemon-balm plants for the people who bought my rose rootings this summer. Thanks to our wet & rainy weather, they spread.

I froze fresh lemon balm leaves in my freezer and made tea for daughter for the past 2 months. She was under a lot of stress and lemon balm helps big time with deep sleep and anxiety. From drinking that much tea, she weighed the lowest at doc's office, at 105 lb. & 5'4" and 20-year-old. Since I get zero lemon balm tea (saved that for daughter), I gained 2 lb.

sharon2079: Walnuts is known to help with stress and deep sleep. I always sleep well if I have walnuts before bedtime. No weight gain if I eat RAW walnut with bran cereal & flax milk before bed time.

I made the buckwheat honey-roasted walnut for daughter since she breaks out in rash if the walnut is raw.

Frozen lemon balm tea tastes so much better than dried tea at the store. Plus it has zero caffeine and helps to induce sleep. Next year I freeze less tomatoes, and more lemon balm.

Medical news on Nov. 2022: "Higher vitamin K intake in foods linked to lower bone fracture risk late in life.

The study looked at the relationship between fracture-related hospitalizations and vitamin K1 intake in almost 1400 older Australian women over a 14.5-year period from the Perth Longitudinal Study of Aging Women.

It found women who ate more than 100 micrograms of vitamin K1 consumption -- equivalent to about 125g of dark leafy vegetables, or one-to-two serves of vegetables -- were 31 per cent less likely to have any fracture.

Consuming this much daily vitamin K1 can easily be achieved by consuming between 75-150g, equivalent to one to two serves of vegetables such as spinach, kale, broccoli and cabbage

Vitamin K1-rich foods: Kale, spinach, broccoli, green beans, green herbs, Prunes, kiwi, avocado."

From below link: Foods high in vitamin K: 40 of the best (medicalnewstoday.com)

Cooked spinach has 540 mcg, compared to fresh parsley at 1640 mcg, and raw cress at 542, soy bean oil has 183.9.

I don’t like drinking tea. I drink what my husband has in the morning and I try to eat right most of the time, but I have a friend who eats quinoa all the time for lunch.

I’m back to the heathiest weight according to BMI. I’m going to try to maintain that and not going lower.

My brother’s MIL died at age 98, she’s unhealthy weight for her whole life with high cholesterol problem. maybe it’s something else. All the super skinny people at my pickle ball court have problem with osteroposis. My grandmother had that problem too.

I'm an easy eater, I eat raw oats, boiled black & red rice, but I have a hard time liking quinoa. I made it twice, and never again.

I get my vitamin K from 4 cups of RAW kale & apple smoothie per day, and I love the calming & happy effect of lemon-balm tea at night, I wish I had frozen more from my garden.

Husband put too much ice-cream in the freezer, so I was out of room. I'm elated with the news that chocolate is high in cadmium and lead, so husband quits buying big box of chocolate ice cream bars from Sam's club.

I think my friend had a mom who died of something unusual., she also took a lot of CoQ10, I did buy a jar because of her but I threw it away after years of not using it.

Freshness is vital for health. I have a jar of years-old almond butter, so I put it out for the animals. The squirrels in my garden went crazy with its rancidity, they ate a bunch of my rose rootings to "cleanse" their mouth.

Husband threw his stale cereals in the garden, and I found two dead opossums afterwards. He thought that the cereal grains exploded in the possum's belly, but there might be other causes.

Cheerios cereal was tested high in Round-Up weed spray. Here's an excerpt from New York Post: "Cheerios cereal could be making consumers vomit and giving them diarrhea, according to a growing number of complaints funneling into iwaspoisoned.com, a platform that tracks food-borne illnesses.

The new reports involving Cheerios come on the heels of a massive outbreak involving Lucky Charms, which has allegedly sickened more than 8,000 consumers over the past year, according to the website and sparked an investigation by the Food and Drug Administration.

Both cereals are made by General Mills."

Besides the caffeine in green tea, it also gave me horrendous stomachaches. It's either the pesticides used, or else high heavy metals in commercial tea, see excerpt from below link:

"Organic tea from China and India is particularly vulnerable. Moreover, Canadian researchers found that the organic teas were no less contaminated by heavy metals than their counterparts, even when they came from the same company. A study out of Beijing Normal University found alarming levels of arsenic in Pu-erh tea from China. Studies have found that brewed black tea contains cadmium, lead and arsenic. This is likely due to the use of coal-fired power plants in China,

Canadian researchers found that tea bags from China were more likely to be contaminated with heavy metals than other types of tea. Pollutants from the environment are likely the source of heavy metals in Chinese tea."

Top 10 types of tea contaminated with toxic heavy metals (top10grocerysecrets.com)

SoCalGardenNut Congrats on being at normal & healthy weight. What helped you to be at healthy weight at 63? What are some of your favorite recipes?

I'm at normal weight for my entire 61-year-old life, except for being chubby when I was younger & in college thanks to poor eating & malnourishment (NO protein plus too much bread).

For that reason, I feed my 20-year-old daughter in college very well: 3 meals a day with whole-grains & meat & eggs & veggies & fruits, plus honeyed Walnuts, plus at least 2 TBS. of flax oil per day. She's 105 lb., 5'4" despite being well-fed.

Husband is well-fed with my constant cooking, plus he buys tons of junk food for himself. At 64, he's skinny at 6', 150 lb., thanks to running 6 miles per day.

I find that eating healthy is the key to be at normal weight. I spend lots of time in the kitchen prepping veggies & fruits & cooking for my family to be at normal weight.

Years ago I got fed up with fussy eaters (husband & daughter) that I gave up on cooking, and my entire family gained weight from frozen foods from store or take-out foods.

I'm back to cooking every other day, I have a big freezer that I cook big batches of foods to freeze, along with tomatoes and lemon-balm from the garden.

@strawchicago z5, no secret here, i just eat breakfast and lunch and do lots of yard work. i eat everything, no restrictions, but no food after 1pm. On a good day i spend 3-4 hours gardening. i also play pickleball in the winter and swim daily in the summer.

i used to be very skinny when i was younger, but when i travel i do over eat, hence that's my problem. But I'm reasonably healthy, 3 sets of doctors already told me that, loosing more weight wont make any difference and I dont want to lose muscle at my age, that's important too.

My husband is 6’ but hes 170lbs, I think he’s skinny. His uncle passed away at age 96, despite he was slightly overweight and a beer drinker, not at all careful about food either. But certainly a live and let live type. My grandfather was like that and was extremely healthy too, I’m hopimg to emulate both of them.

SoCalGardenNut What do you have for breakfast and for lunch? I would like to know what's best to stabilize blood sugar. My Mom had diabetes when she's in her early 60 and most of my sisters have diabetes, including my younger brother. He's a doc. and on Metformin.

At 61, I restrict my carbs, so my blood sugar doesn't fall into prediabetes range. Folks say don't eat before bedtime. I tried that and I had lousy sleep, so a snack before bedtime is a MUST for me. When my blood sugar drops at night, I don't sleep well.

My Mom & Dad used to wake up at 3 am to snack, then went back to sleep. I'm taking Brewer's Yeast for chromium, and it helps me to go longer without eating. There's a research on reasons for poor sleep: #1 is hypoglycemia (blood sugar drops), and #2 is backpain.

@strawchicago z5, diabetes might be genetics. my grandmother on my mom’s side owned a bakery, and noone in my mom’s family had diabetes. My dad loved sugar, he didn have diabetes either, but I do remember he hated carbs. Nobody in my intermediate family has diabetes, they do have high blood pressure. My husband’s family is the same. His mom loved dark chocolate too, she died of a stroke, not diabetes.

For breakfast, I have a bowl of steel oats with milk and then a cup of cafe au lait with toast and Bon Maman cherry jam. Lately instead of toast, I have a cookie with my cafe au lait. Last i checked i was normal for glucose and A1C.

I love this thread, peering into other people's lives is lots of fun!

Last night I had a very enjoyable dinner. After a covid exposure at work I had to cancel my travel plans for New Years and I needed something to cheer me up. I had fancy grilled cheese and tomato soup!

The tomato soup is a vegan ready-made carton that I doctored with: coconut milk, basil, fire-roasted canned tomatoes, and sundried tomato oil. For the grilled cheese I sauteed a bunch of garlic, took it out of the pan and fried some fake bacon. Then two types of cheese (Miyoko's vegan sundried tomato garlic spread, and sharp cheddar cheese) and the bacon on challah, grilled with a lot of butter. The grilled cheese was squishy, crunchy, and delicious. The tomato soup was rich and flavorful.

I put the sauteed garlic in a jar of olive oil and now I need to decide how to eat that. Maybe use it to saute the super-old "cauliflower rice" in my freezer?

My health food is: a half-cup of lactose free plain yogurt every morning. Probiotics!

Thank you, @summercloud -- NC zone 7b, for showing how non-dairy vegan food can be delicious. My lowest weight was 97 lb. at 44 year old, that's when I ate a few vegan patties for lunch & meat for dinner, soy milk & cereal, lots of nuts, plus baking with extra-virgin coconut fat like Nutiva. That delicious coconut fat is so expensive. Now I use CANNED coconut cream, it's fresher.

SoCalGardenNut I wish I can grow jujube trees for its anti-diabetes effect. It's high in vitamin C, fiber, and potassium. In my zone 5a, I eat Kiwis fruits instead, and this helps to stabilize my blood sugar. High vitamin C consumption helps with my NOT catching colds for 16 years, plus zero Covid despite NO shots.

I used to watch "My 600 lb. life" while doing treadmill. These obese people consumed mostly fast foods, high in salt & rancid fried oils. When they were admitted to the hospital for gastric surgery bypass, ALL of them are deficient in vitamins, and some had to be IV with vitamins prior to surgery. See excerpt from below link:

"Researchers analyzed the responses of more than 18,000 Americans from a seven-year survey and found that obese adults had 5 to 12% lower intakes of all micronutrients. Compared to normal-weight adults, 20% more obese adults were lacking in vitamin A, vitamin C, and magnesium. They were also less likely to meet requirements for calcium, vitamin D, and vitamin E. Vitamin A is linked to regulation of fat cells and the hormones they release. Vitamin D may play a role in the release of leptin, the hormone that controls hunger and how much fat is stored in the body. Magnesium is a co-factor for vitamin D absorption. "

https://www.prevention.com/…/vitamin-deficiency-and-obesity/

From Straw: Click on below chart to see foods highest in magnesium, those are the foods that help with deep sleep (except for peanuts since it's high pesticides).

@summercloud -- NC zone 7b I'm a life-long Kefir drinker (Lifeway brand) but stopped this year due to bad gas. My daughter no longer cares for it. She got tired of having only a small bottle of Kefir for lunch in highschool due to dental braces. She was 110 lb. back then, now she's 105 lb. in college despite a big lunch (meat & veggies & fruits).

Kefit doesn't help me to lose weight (esp. when I have to finish the entire bottle by myself), but zero calories lemon balm tea (rich in magnesium and vitamin K1) helps both daughter and I to lose weight.

Since I don't want to finish the entire bottle of Kefir myself, I'm buying Phillps Colon probiotics for its lactobacillus gasseri. Also, Bifidobacterium are often deficient in diabetic gut or after antibiotics. See excerpt from below research:

"PROBIOTICS THAT CAUSE WEIGHT GAIN: We identified and included 17 RCTs in humans, 51 studies on farm animals and 14 experimental models. Lactobacillus acidophilus administration resulted in significant weight gain in humans and in animals. Lactobacillus fermentum and Lactobacillus ingluviei were associated with weight gain in animals. Lactobacillus plantarum was associated with weight loss in animals and Lactobacillus gasseri was associated with weight loss both in obese humans and in animals. "

https://www.sciencedirect.com/.../pii/S0882401012001106

Below is research that showed how Phillps Colon probiotics helped with better gut health:

Lactobacillus gasseri KS-13, Bifidobacterium bifidum G9-1, and Bifidobacterium longum MM-2 Ingestion Induces a Less Inflammatory Cytokine Profile and a Potentially Beneficial Shift in Gut Microbiota in Older Adults: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Crossover Study - PubMed (nih.gov)

Click on below pic. to see where each sub-type of probiotics resides:

I never had Kefir drink, but just saw my daughter bought 3 large bottles recently.

Today I finally bought some milk and I’m going to try making yogurt for the first time, wish me luck.

I find that yogurt is great if I have a few bites after a meal, but NOT to sub. that with fiber-rich foods. I like yogurt for hot summer, and soup for cold winter. Excerpt from below link:

"Drawing on health data from more than a 100,000 participants in three long-running studies — the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (1986 to 2010), Nurses’ Health Study (1980 to 2010), and Nurses’ Health Study II (1991 to 2009) — the researchers found that a daily serving of yogurt was linked to an 18 percent lower risk of type 2 diabetes. "

Yogurt may reduce type 2 diabetes risk – Harvard Gazette

Yogurt also reduces the risk of colon rectal cancer. Husband's grandmother died of colon cancer and his Mom had breast cancer & masectomy at 40, but his colonoscopy after 60-year old was perfect: zero polyps thanks to his marathon running, plus he eats yogurt daily for breakfast.

Higher Yogurt Consumption Is Associated With Lower Risk of Colorectal Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies - PubMed (nih.gov)

My note: Yoplait and DanActive both contain a HUGE amount of sugar, but I have good results with probiotics pills: Culturelle and Fem-Dophilus from the below chart. Both are patented & developed by doctors and CANNOT BE FOUND in fermented foods.

Click on below link to see what probiotics are in fermented foods:

Instead of buttermilk, I use plain yogurt and sour cream to tenderize chicken breast. Instead of baking it in the oven, I sauté on a saucepan with olive oil. Yogurt makes chicken breast very tender in below geniuskitchen recipe.

CHICKEN BREAST WITH SOUR CREAM
1⁄2 cup sour cream or 1⁄2 cup plain yogurt
1⁄4 cup lemon juice & 1⁄2 teas. Worcestershire sauce
1⁄2 teas. celery seed & 1⁄2 teaspoon paprika
2 -3 cloves fresh minced garlic
1⁄2 teaspoon salt and black pepper
8 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
2 cups fine dry breadcrumbs or crushed cornflakes

In a very large bowl, combine the first 8 ingredients; mix well.
Pound chicken breasts thin & dry with a paper towel.
Place the breasts in the mixture; turn to coat evenly, (make sure that each piece is completely coated with sour cream mixture).Refrigerate overnight.
Remove the chicken from the marinade; coat each piece with the dry bread crumbs, that have been mixed with 1 tsp seasoning salt. Bake, uncovered in a PREHEATED 400 degree oven, for 20 minutes.
Turn off oven, let rest for 10 min. to finish cooking.

After reading and doing some research and this one, while more expensive seems to contain higher amounts and more strains for more benefits.

Do they make lactose-free kefir? Given that it's fermented milk...

I find it very, very enjoyable that I can now get so many lactose-free dairy products. This is so different than fifteen years ago when I first had to stop drinking milk. I can get lactose-free: cottage cheese, butter, cream cheese, milk, cheddar cheese, yogurt... I can't get feta cheese yet but I live in hope that someday I will!

I'm very lucky that I'm lactose-intolerant and not actually allergic to milk. Some actual vegan alternatives are acceptable and some are just disappointing.

Does anybody else have dietary restrictions they need to be clever about? How do you work around those to make delicious food? (Other than trying to be healthy of course! I've been loving these tips on making delicious food healthy too.)

Gawdinfever Z6 The most effective probiotics pills after antibiotics for me are studies-tested with a long-track record such as Culturelle, Phillips Colon, and Garden of Life sold at Walmart and Target.

I rarely buy pills from Amazon since some are faked products (made in China), rather than made in USA. My most effective Culturelle probiotics was bought from Walmart, with a fresh expiration date and it's made in Denmark.

I once spent hours shopping for probiotics on Amazon and found one with nearly 3,000 positive reviews, but most of them are FAKED REVIEWS from people who got freebies. The next year, such probiotics are taken off from Amazon.

Cuturelle and Phillips Colon both have studies to back up its usefulness.

A few Amazon reviewers did the "yogurt test" on Garden of Life probiotics, and yes, the bacteria are viable to start yogurt culture. Garden of Life (from Walmart) has been effective for husband & I after our many rounds of antibiotics at 60+ year-old. It has the most strains of bacteria.

Another brand that was recommended by the "yogurt-test" is the below, which has useful info. on various strains of probiotics, worth reading:

Nexabiotic® Advanced | Dr. formulated Best Probiotics for Women & Men – DrFormulas

Labdoor, an independent probiotics testing site, gave Nexabiotic and Align an A- rating. I took Align after an antibiotics treatment, and it was worthless for my gas-problem (Culturelle was much better) but Align might work for C.Diff. infection.

Labdoor - Best Probiotics Supplements

Here's an Amazon review on Nexabiotic Advanced at 30 pills for $17, and at Walmart for $24 but it's out-of-stock. "I did a TON of research on which strains of probiotic you should take to get rid of C Diff and this was one of the few. I am a 34F who got C Diff from extremely strong antibiotics. I tried using Culturelle Pro the 1st time and it came back. I did a bunch of research and read all ingredients on this, it includes the 3 strains needed. I got rid of the C Diff and then had a flare up when I ate something in Mexico and continued to take it at the max dosage on the bottle and was able to get the C Diff under controll and back to the balance of good bacteria. C Diff was horrific!" Amazon reviewer.

National Institute of Health (NIU) documented studies that back up which strains of bacteria are most effective for what ailments, it's worth reading:

Probiotics - Health Professional Fact Sheet (nih.gov)

"Overall, the available evidence suggests that starting probiotic treatment with Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG or Saccharomyces boulardii within 2 days of the first antibiotic dose helps reduce the risk of AAD (antibiotic-associated diarrhea) in children and adults aged 18 to 64, but not in elderly adults. There is no evidence to suggest that the benefits are greater when more than one probiotic strain is used.

The abdominal distension (bloating) scores improved with use of probiotics containing Bifidobacterium breve, Bifidobacterium infantis, Lactobacillus casei, or Lactobacillus plantarum species. "

My note: Garden of LIfe has the 4 strains of bacteria mentioned above for bloating. Nexabiotic Advanced probiotics (23 strains) has the 2 strains (Lactobaccilus Rhamnosus GG and Saccharoyces boulardii) for antibiotic-associated diarrhea.

Yogurt making was a success. it tastes like the yogurt i ate when i was in Europe, i had it with Wild Blueberry jam.

Today i picked a lot of tatsoi from my garden, i seem to have an abundance of this vegetable for some reason. checkout this link for its health benefit, you have to cook this veg, not eating it raw. i sauteed it with mushrooms and carrots.

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/what-is-tatsoi-all-about-this-nutritious-green

https://www.webmd.com/diet/health-benefits-of-tatsoi

SoCalGardenNut Congrats on making yogurt. Wild Blueberry jam sounds yum. I prefer the tiny wild blueberry in making muffins with more flavor. My favorite plain yogurt is WHOLE milk and grass-fed and it has a yellowish color, rather than white. I didn't gain weight with that, but I gained weight with sugared yogurt. A vegetarian friend in Texas eats tons of whole milk yogurt and she's very skinny at 64.

THANK YOU for the info. on Tatsoil green veggies, does it taste like baby bok-choy? Baby Bok-chop DOUBLED the price this past year, like $5 for 1 lb. Inflation is outrageous with veggies, that I need to grow my own in the summer.

sharon2079 I figure out why I slept so lousy after each bout of antibiotics, esp. last year's antibiotics with my root-canal. Antibiotics zap out the gut bacteria that produce ESSENTIAL B-vitamins. Supplementing with nutritional yeast for B-vitamins was NOT ENOUGH, I have to resume Brewer's Yeast (more B-vitamins plus chromium) for deep sleep with vivid-dreams.

Below info. is the logic for Align, Garden of LIfe, and Nexabiotic's putting Bifidobacterium infantis in their pills:

"One of the main bacterial strains found in gastrointestinal tracts of newborns, Bifidobacterium infantis plays a role in the production of several essential B vitamins. A study found that babies raised in Ghana (where allergies are relatively low) had a higher amount of B. infantis in their feces than babies born in other countries with higher occurrences of allergies."

summercloud -- NC zone 7b I'm also lactose-intolerant with horrible gas if I consume non-fermented dairy, but I can eat FERMENTED yogurt or cheese. Fage Greek yogurt DOES NOT have enough bacteria to help with digestion, that always give me horrible gas, but I don't have any problems with other brands with more active cultures.

Lactose intolerance was really bad after each bout of antibiotics for dental works, such as bad gas and bloating. When I was 40, the doc. ordered me to drink 3 glasses of milk for my pregnancy. The only way I could do that was to take Nature Made L. Acidophilus tablets, and I was able to drink 3 glasses of milk ... that didn't help to gain weight. I was 115 lb. at 8-month pregnant, and the doc. ordered me to gain weight, so I stuffed myself with chocolate cake.

It's interesting to see that Nexabiotic formula for weight loss has ONLY ONE strain of bacteria (L. Acidophilus) plus senna, psyllium husk, flax meal and licorice.

Cuturelle pills for weight loss has B12 and B6 (essential for deep sleep), plus L. Rhamnosus GG, plus Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis CECT 8145, which research showed to reduce Fat Deposit.

Below info. was taken from Nexabiotic website:

" Lactobacillus acidophilus has been shown to help reduce Candida albicans yeast overgrowth.

Lactobacillus acidophilus, which means “acid-loving milk bacterium,” characteristically feeds on milk sugars, converting them into lactic acid. This suggests that this bacterial strain may help with symptoms of lactose intolerance by helping to break down the milk sugar that cannot be properly broken down in lactose intolerant individuals.

Lactobacillus acidophilus probiotics are often recommended to reduce acute diarrhea and supports digestive regularity in those with Irritable Bowel Syndrome and other gastrointestinal issues."

@strawchicago z5, i like tatsoi better than baby bok choi, in fact i dont like bok choi at all.

i had more yogurt this morning, my husband will start eating it soon.

i do have polyps when i have my colonoscopy, however my brothers didnt have any polyps. i wonder if it’s gender related problem.

i eat sour cream on a regular basis, just finished making cheese/jalapeno quesadilla for lunch.

I love the soda bread I make with greek yogurt, whole wheat flour, white flour and milk. Delicious and so fast to make.