What's On Your Table?

Sweet potatoes or yams? Many people traditionally refer to sweet potatoes as yams, but have no idea that they are two very different things. The North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission describes the American origins of sweet potatoes on their website:

In 1543 DeSoto’s Spanish explorers found sweet potatoes growing in “Indian gardens” in what became Louisiana. The sweet potatoes were also cultivated in the Carolina area of North America before the European colonization.

In Colonial days sweet potatoes were an item of trade and were shipped from the Carolinas out to northern cities. The potato was an essential food for all the colonies in the days before modern means of preservation.

 Yams originated in Africa and are described on Wikipedia:

The vegetable has a rough skin which is difficult to peel, but which softens after heating. The skins vary in color from dark brown to light pink. The majority of the vegetable is composed of a much softer substance known as the "meat". This substance ranges in color from white or yellow to purple or pink in ripe yams.

Yam tubers can grow up to 8 feet in length and weigh as much as 150 pounds!

Sweet potatoes are similar enough to yams that as African slaves were introduced to them, they referred to the vegetable as the familiar yam. 

Stay tuned tomorrow for my mother-in-law's amazing Sweet Potato Souffle!

A New Snack

A part of the diet I'm on is that you have to eat snacks five times per day, and it's specific about what makes up each snack. I've found it to be kind of fun taking my limitations and creating little "meals" to look forward to every few hours. One of my favorites is very simple and very filling!

1/2 whole wheat bagel
1 wedge Creamy Swiss (Light) Laughing Cow cheese
Smoked deli ham
Banana

I spread the cheese on the bagel and top it with ham for a yummy open-faced sandwich. The banana I eat on the side, of course. This is a really good snack to eat on-the-go, too.

My Name is Jeni and ...

... I have a problem. I love food. And I have always had a fast metabolism. But now that I'm getting older it's slowing down a bit, and my eating hasn't. Having had three babies doesn't help! Nursing supposedly helps you drop the weight faster (and I'm sure it does) but despite nursing all three babies for at least a year each my main side effect is being hungry all the time. Anyway, the result is that I'd really like to lose 10-20 pounds. My number one reason is that I have lots of clothes one size down that I could wear, and I can't afford to buy new clothes! Dieting = cheaper than new clothes.

I am participating in a weight loss program along with a group of ladies in my church. It's called For His Glory, and the goal is to develop a healthier lifestyle all for the glory of God. We commit to praying for the other ladies every day. We're not allowed any sugar or white flour and our five "meals" (snacks) are spread out over the day. We're to exercise at least 4 times per week and drink 3 liters of water per day. This is slightly different from my previous rigorous exercise routine of 4 times per month. Anyway, despite my stomach growling literally all day long, even after I've eaten ... I'm doing pretty well my first week.

I know I haven't posted much this week, and that's mostly due to starvation. It's hard to think about food when it's the one thing you can't have! I've always dreaded dieting, and it's every bit as bad as I imagined. Here's hoping I'll lose some weight and have something to show for it! I will do better with posting though, looking past my own trials ... :)

Veterans' Day

For the soldiers ... Dad, Uncle Jack, Uncle Eugene, Marc (cousin), Joe (brother-in-law), James (friend), Mike (friend)
For the sailors ... Ken (father-in-law), Kelly (cousin), Zach (friend)
For the airmen ... Joe (cousin), Randy (friend), Jerry (friend), Uncle Steve
For the Coast Guard ... Meagan and Gary (friends), Sanna (friend)
For the Marines ... James (friend)

Thank you.

Gone Fishin'!

One thing my kids like to do is snack! I've had to get pretty creative with tricking them into eating a variety of healthful foods, but it often works. One simple thing was taking my pediatrician's suggestion to wrap a spinach leaf around a baby carrot. The kids already loved carrots, and surprisingly, they quickly began liking spinach, too!

Another simple snack for toddlers all the way to big kids is to let them go fishing. On a plate, place a dollop of peanut butter along with some fish-shaped snack crackers. Then you can get creative with "fishing rods". I've used pretzel sticks, celery sticks, and carrot sticks. They use the sticks dipped in the peanut butter to pick up the fish crackers. To make it even healthier, substitute or supplement the crackers with small cheese cubes or diced fruit.

Snickerdoodles

Nothing beats homemade snickerdoodles, but this recipe is a good stand-in when you're pressed for time. It comes together super easily since it's one of those that uses a boxed cake mix.

Snickerdoodles
 3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 package yellow cake mix
2 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 375. Combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Combine cake mix, eggs and oil in a large bowl. Stir until well blended. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in cinnamon-sugar. Place balls 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets. Flatten balls slightly. Bake at 375 for 8-9 minutes or until set. Cool one minute, then remove to wire racks to cool.

Plan Ahead for the Holidays

This post is a bit of a departure from my usual, but Shutterfly is running a wonderful promotion right now. Their collection of holiday photo and greeting cards are on sale, so it's a great time to take a look at what's available. Many people send out Christmas cards every year and Shutterfly has some that are absolutely beautiful!

I love the modern, yet classic look of this card. It's a major plus to be able to use five different pictures on the card, too, since I have such a hard time narrowing it down to just one or two. 

Brown and blue ... a gorgeous color combination any time of year!

 
This is a terrific think-outside-the-box option:

I saved my favorite for last! You could use these cards to send invitations to your family and friends for Thanksgiving dinner, a fall party or change the text to share your favorite holiday recipe!

Shutterfly is so excited about their 2010 holiday card collection that they're offering 50 free cards to bloggers who share about the promotion on their blogs! If you'd like to take advantage of the offer, too, feel free to register your blog.