[Tweety]

Hi Wonka....healthy junk food is good!

RN, way to go with the running!

Sarah, I like heat better than cold, but confess when we are into our 6th month of summer here, I'm ready for a change. It was 87 degrees the other morning by 9AM.

Mark, very good advice. I hope you post often. That used to be my philosphy about junk food.........."I'm not eating fat free sugar free ice cream, I'm eating Haagan Das!". If I can keep it to the occasionaly indulgence I'll be fine.

I'm working this weekend, and I packed a healthy lunch of bean/brown rice, veggies and fruit.

[maryk99]

Tweety, that lunch actually sounds good to me. An old friend from the Dominican Republic would cook black beans and rice:

1 medium onion, halved or quartered
2 or 3 garlic cloves
1 small bunch cilantro
1 small lime
dash olive oil
4oz tomato paste
12oz can black beans (undrained)
[I use Eden Organic beans d/t low sodium]

Heat a jigger of olive oil in a medium skillet. When hot, saute onion, whole garlic cloves, and cilantro in the pan for 5 minutes or so. Add tomato paste, stir, heat another minute or two. Take a spoonful of beans out of the can, place in a sieve/strainer; stir in the rest of the beans and liquid. Remove onion, garlic, cilantro bunch. Smush reserved beans against sieve over skillet (liberated starch will thicken sauce), stir and cook 5-10 minutes or so. Squeeze a lime half over beans before serving over rice. Makes about 3 side dish servings. Optional: garnish with some cilantro.

[Tweety]

Maryk, thanks for the recipe. I've made similar dishes but without the tomato paste. I buy primarily Eden Organic beans too. Being a vegetarian, I eat lots of beans, and they love me (no gastric distress here. LOL). I have a lime tree in the back yard, so I half the year I always have limes.

[sddlnscp]

Oooh - you are so lucky Tweety - fresh limes, yummy! I love limes, but they are not in huge supply out here. Oh well, we do get the yummy things like fresh tomatoes, peppers, onions, etc. out of our garden, so I guess that makes up for it.

I am so excited - tonight will be my orientation and officially the first day of my classes, WooHoo!!!

Hi Wonka, Maryk, Tweety and everybody else (sorry, I'm hurried and haven't had a chance to read everybody's) - have a great day!

[Tweety]

Hi Sarah, best of luck to you in orientation!

(Remember the old phrase "be careful what you wish for, you just might get it". LOL)

[zoeboboey]

Hi guys, glad the thread is still alive! Onward and upward! (actually that is what the scale is doing, "upward", but we won't talk about that...)

ANYWAY! Wanted to give people who are quitting smoking, or want to give support if they have quit, a heads up. (I have resurrected an old thread). See:

http://allnurses.com/forums/f86/nurs...ing-97301.html

As for me, SFSG!

[sddlnscp]

Thanks Tweety . . . I think. I am scared to death, but so excited I think it is evening out - I hope!

Great job Zoe!

[Tweety]

I can't wait to hear about it Sarah.

Hi Zoe!

[sddlnscp]

Aww - you actually don't mind me blabbering about my first day? Thanks!

Well - I am sooooooooooo excited! It was awesome! The instructors seem great - very caring and compassionate, although not afraid to tell us they will 'kick us in the butt' when we need it. I am scared to be going to campus classes, I have been in the online environment for so long, but I am persistant, so I hope I do ok. I have always been awesome at writing papers, but get horrible test anxiety and it looks like our grades are mostly test-based, so yikes! It was really great though - I feel like I am in a dream, can't believe I am finally here.

Ok - I'll shut up now, how was everybody else's evening?

[jenn_rn_nj]

I'm glad you are so excited, Sarah - I think that's how it should be.