My Excellent Choices

We love raw fruits and vegetables. Apples, pears, beets, celery, and more. They all go into our “ten ingredient salads”. We try to push salad creativity by adding in at least ten ingredients. Those incredients sometimes include a few dried cranberries, a few walnuts or a few dried date bits. 
Sometimes, a large salad just seems like too much, and so we reach for the Vitamix blender. It’s a heavy duty blender that has lasted us for years. A little ice, a little water and the vegetables of the day go into the large container. In a few seconds, a couple of glasses of a cold and pleasant tasting vegetable cocktail is ready to drink.  
There is some debate among those who like raw fruit and vegetable drinks as to whether juicing or blending is better. Most articles argue the benefits of both, like this one. We came down in favor of the benefits of consuming the whole food with it’s complete nutrition and abundant fiber content.
Check out the various models of Vitamix and give them a try.

Yes. We have one, and we use it! The tough part with some jar lids is simply getting a really good grip. This handy kitchen tool latches on to small and large lids by turning the “dial” on top.

Once it is securely gripping the lid, the handle provides the extra leverage you need to open a really stubborn lid.

Yes, they still make the “Magic 8 Ball” novelty gift, but there is another way to make those tough “executive decisions”; just open up a fortune cookie. They are really for entertainment, as it is an extremely rare occasion that a cookie contains some perfectly practical pearl of wisdom that actually applies to matters at hand.

These light and crispy cookies with a cup of coffee are an office favorite for a low-calorie finish to the lunchtime break. Try them!

(There’s a little bit of fun in each of those “thought for the day” slips of paper. They will brighten your day!)

COVID gave us an opportunity to bring better meals and entertainment back home. We are trying new recipes and discovering movies and re-broadcasts of television shows that we missed in 2019.

So, Dinner and a Movie in 2020 means a quiet night at home.

We bought these snack trays and absolutely love their sturdy construction and appearance. The only criticism so far: a tiny decorative wooden “plug” intended to hide the screw/hinge had to be glued back in place.

There are color choices and options for sets of two and sets of four snack tables lilsted on Amazon. Check them out. The “set of five” description includes the storage stand and four snack tables.

Xylitol is a sweetener substitute for anyone who wants to avoid their use of ordinary table sugar. We prefer Xylitol (from birch trees) instead of other popular alternatives that do not digest well or have an unpleasant aftertaste.

To our palate, Xylitol is the perfect taste equivalent of table sugar. It’s great for lemonade or sprinkled over tart fruit – we always keep a couple of these convenient single serve packets handy.

Smaller boxes of Xylitol are available at Amazon if you want to try it out, or if the large box is out of stock.