I'm doing quite a bit of stocking up-the weather is turning cool so it's time to think about cold weather. I'd been looking for sites with recipes to make 'convenience foods' from scratch to save some money. I found this site and I'm including a couple recipes. Hope you like them.

http://www.budget101.com/102mix.htm

Sample recipes: Beignet Mix

1 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg 1/4 teaspoon salt In a medium mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients. Store the mix in an airtight container. Makes 1 1/2 cups.

Recipe: Beignets (Beignet Mix) 1/4 cup butter or margarine 3/4 cup water 3 teaspoons sugar 1 package Beignet Mix -- (see recipe) 4 large eggs Vegetable oil -- for frying In a medium saucepan, combine the butter, water, and sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil and remove the pan from the heat. Add the Beignet Mix and beat with a wooden spoon until the mixture leaves the sedes of the pan. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until the mixture is smooth. Heat 4" of oil in a heavy 5- to 6-qt saucepan to 360 F. Drop the dough by tablespoonfuls into the oil, and cook about 3 minutes until each is puffed and golden. Drain the beignets on paper towels and sift powdered sugar over each one. Makes 2 dozen beignets.

Emeril`s Bayou Blast

2 1/2 tablespoons Paprika 2 tablespoons Salt 2 tablespoons Garlic powder 1 tablespoon Black pepper 1 tablespoon Onion powder 1 tablespoon Cayenne pepper 1 tablespoon Dried oregano 1 tablespoon Dried thyme Measure all into a ziploc bag, seal & shake to combine

-- Kathy Aldridge (beckoningwinds@yahoo.com), September 10, 2002

Answers

Budget 101 is a great site. Here's a few more "make a mix" sites.

http://recipes.alastra.com/dry-mixes/default.html

http://members.tripod.com/~Tweezle/makemix.html

http://members.aol.com/stephndon/recipe.htm

http://www.realfood4realpeople.com/

-- Sherri C in Central Indiana (CeltiaSkye@xaol.com), September 11, 2002.

Kathy,

As to your dry skin question, first I would look at your intake of Vit A, D & E and also intake of essentiall fatty acids, all of these are needed to produce your skin oils. Also with age the skin tends to dry outmore easily and the intake of the above Vits and fatty acids are more important. Using a real soap with glycerin or a glycerin bar might also be helpful.

Also, might want to apply a lotion before you do the potting or working in the soil, like first thing in the morning, that preventive action should help.

-- BC (desertdewller@yahoo.com), September 11, 2002.

Also Kathys been collecting wood , besides messing with soil .Both oak and soil seems to make the hands dry out and crack .It may be the tanic acid in the oak . She did say she wears gloves ?........................................................In the winter, besides putting olive oil in almost everything I'll eat , I'll coat my hands with olive oil, and sometimes even take a spoon of ( all peanut) peanut butter and use it to coat my hands with ,then rise the excess off with water .Wheat germ oil, maybe even flax seed oil might work better................................................................ .... Winter is a time when I play guitar for money.( open college ) And cracked fingers could mean a 3 hour nightmare with steel guitar strings sliding in the grooves of the cracked fingers . ........................................... ......Coat your hands with oil before touching oak or soil. ...............BC , does olive oil have vitamins A , D ,and E ? What other sources can someone get those vitamins from ?

-- Steve (Unreal@home.com), September 11, 2002.

Steve,

Yes, olive oil is a good source of Vit E as is sunflower oil, safflower oil, canola oil, many grains, nuts, and fruits, as well as fatty parts of meats. Olive oil is also a very well balanced source of omega 3s and omega 6s.

Cold water fish are a good source for Vit. D Here are two web sites that answer your questions more completely on sources for vit A & D. Vit A http://www.dietobio.com/vegetarisme/en/vit_a.html < a href= "http://www.cc.nih.gov/ccc/supplements/vitd.html#food"> Vit D http://www.cc.nih.gov/ccc/supplements/vitd.html#food

Since Vit A, D & E are fat soluble vitamins, which means they can be stored up in your fat cells, care should be taken when consuming supplements of these vitamins so that excess amounts do not build up in your system.

Off the subject, but something I came across the other day is the immune stimulating effect of Astragalus, seems it is being used with cancer patients to rebuild their immune system.

-- BC (desertdewller@yahoo.com), September 11, 2002.

BC , alot of time ,people get sick easily because they don't eat enough greens. It's not that their immune system is weak or needs stimulation ,but the intestines are clogged with low roughage foods.And this makes a breeding ground for either virus or bateria to get out of hand in the intestine . There becomes so much bateria in the intestines that the immune system gets over worked and over powered............................................................... ..Last winter I noticed I didn't get sick or get a cold. So I tried to figure what I did different from the year before. I had a cold frame that had broccoli raab , a brocoli type vetgetable. It grew from fall to spring .I ate this green every day either for lunch or dinner.I'd mix it with any meal I ate.................................I was a vegeterian from age 15 to 25 .In those years I hardly got a cold or virus.I even spent 6 weeks living outside and slept in a hollowed out redwood tree in the damp wet winter in marin county California.I never got a sniffle.That year I only ate raw uncooked foods , and no dairy products. .................................. While we tend to fight the germ that's getting us sick.We over look the condition we set in our body that caused the germ or virus to get out of hand in the first place .Unhealhty eating habits can have the effects of having an incubator in our bodies that's breeding virus and bacterias.I'm building a green house now and I'm gonna start getting back to a mostly raw food vegertarian diet.Cooked foods are life-force less and are a lot the causes for disease to grow in our bodies.Actually many of your posting here stimulated my memory.And had me thinking about my vegetarian days .It's an easier diet to maintain when living on the west coast of the U.S. where high quality organic vegetables are easy to get.Have you ever drank wheat grass juice? Now we're talking medicine.

-- Steve (Unreal@home.com), September 12, 2002.

Steve, I Don’t know how much you know about how the body works at the molecular level or physiology, but part of what you experienced from 15-25 can have a natural explanation to it, as this is when our systems is at the best, best able to fight off all sorts of attacks of every type of source and able to handle all sorts of stresses the best. People is the 15-25 age could handle almost any stress and do well.

I’m not saying that your experiences were not valid, just that your age at that time and the state of your body had something to do with what you experienced.

As to the effects of wheat grass, I have never looked at it, but will. Perhaps you are aware of the research in the past few years that have shown the beneficial effects of broccoli sprouts in the prevention of cancer carried out at Johns Hopkins and the molecular mechanism by which this works, interesting articles. Possible the broccoli raab is also high in these cancer preventive, anti-oxidants compounds and that is part of the effect you saw/experienced.

I do aggress that a balanced diet is the best thing for people, whatever that means. People have a natural taste desire that has been proven further with the discovery that people can taste amino acids and that the foods we choose are more likely chosen by our bodies need for those items. So given a free choice of foods we will eat what our bodies need. This is just common sense, but it is finally gaining scientific data, for those that need that sort of thing.

As to bacteria clogging our digestive track, we keep a normal flora of bacteria and it can be thought of like a well manicured lawn, as long as you maintain it (good bacteria), it will not allow the weeds (bad bacteria) to grown. Again, I think that our body through what we would eat given a free choice will pretty much balance out what is needed, so I don’t go for one extreme over the other, but go with what my body is telling me. Not to say that I don’t change what I eat when I am under stress, from whatever cause, as I feel that given my background that I know what is best for my system.

I'll do some looking into wheat grass. I highly recommend broccoli sprouts.

-- BC (desertdewller@yahoo.com), September 12, 2002.

BC , you said :I do aggress that a balanced diet is the best thing for people, whatever that means. People have a natural taste desire that has been proven further with the discovery that people can taste amino acids and that the foods we choose are more likely chosen by our bodies need for those items. So given a free choice of foods we will eat what our bodies need. ...................... And this spark another memory from back 23 years ago to a conversation about meat eating vs. vegetarian diet or raw food diet by a group of people that I was one of , on the banks of the Illinois river in s.Oregon.A discussion on diet or what may be considered diet fads,can be parallel in nature to a political debate of a group of right wing conservatives debating with a group of left wing tree hugging environmentalist .One group claiming logging of the old growth forrest ( virgin forrest) and tropical rain forrest is enviormentally safe and sound and has no negative effects on the planet and the other group caliming global warming and the dooming of life sustaining natural resources that keeps the fragile balance of living things in check. . . In this debate, the right wing consevatives have had so called , collected scientific data , from scholars with science degrees that backs their beliefs that logging large areas of the planet by clear cutting methods has little adverse effects on the evioronment. The tree hugging envioronmentalist have less scientific proof of the damages being done and are going mostly on a hunch or primal intuitive instincts. . . In Oregon debates of pros and cons of clear cutting forrest and protest of the past have stimulated emotions so strong that environmentalist were driving spikes in the trees , that when the chains of the chainsaws hit an un suspecting spike the chains would break and cause considerable damage to a loggers body. And also created incidences, of long haired environmentals having thier heads removed with chainsaws and found in the river detached from the rest of their body. . . Now you mention John Hopins scientific research by scholars, who I'm assuming have all types of dregrees of merit that display their intellect ,knowledge,scientific data,and educated reasoning. Plus proof on paper .So my 6 grade education would leave me at such a disadvantage to even be able to try to discuss this topic ,as my lack of vocabulary skills makes it even harder for me to express a view point in a seemingly intelligent manner and leaves me short on explaining thoughts in my head ,gained from my experiences . . . I also don't have proof nor would I want to prove my experiences to anyone .Others need to learn from proof of their own life experiences.I was just sharing, what someone may find valuable in their own searching. In this case I would be wiser to retract from what I said pertaining to diet. . . Basically the only documentation of knowledge I have is a cashiers receipt from the check out line in Wal-Marts that proves I know good value prices when I see them. But I'm guessing that little scientific data has been collected on the long term benefits or harms of humans on a long term raw food diet.I'd also be guessing that it is highly unlikely that there are enough raw food diet people around to make a valid scientific assessment on this type of diet. . . I am aware of the high starched ,high surgar and overly use of fried food diet of vegaterian people in India , as being the research gathered for making scienticfic assessments of a vegetarian diet. I'd can go further but it would have the same likeness to trying to convince a muslim to take to believing a christians view point................................................................. ....................... Now I do see alot of people in my area of tennessee practically living off of Taco bell ,Mc burgurs,Dairy Queen,. When I go shoppin I notice what other people have in their shopping carts.They seem to have items of mosly packaged food that contain high ammounts of ,salt , sugar or oil. There are numerous rows of ,what I see as junk foods in most americas food stores . And very little whole food products .And in my area there are about 30 fast food places in town yet only one health food store , that doesn't even sell produce and might soon be out of buisness. . So if we can taste amino acids and by this we choose foods that our bodies most likely needs. I'd think that most people need tocos ,burgers and fries and a lot of ice cream to maintain their health . As this seems to be what the food of choice has been for most. Im gonna add food diets to my list of politics and religion as being a subject I will strongly try to avoid getting involeved in. One reason ,I have no data and proof and was just wanting to share some of my experiences ,not prove myself or influence my beliefs onto others . Something out of this has stimulated some buried memories. . . . When I was a vegetarian for those 10 years .I tried to keep it hidden , because of all the persistence of people around me tying to convince me against it, and being insistent that what I was doing was un-natural and unhealthy . My reason for going back to a meat diet was living in a place that most vetgetables wouldn't grow ,and there wasn't the availabity of good quality oraganically grown vegetables,nuts and fruits , that my body craved for, sold in the food stores. I've adapted. But since we can adapt to a diet of tacos ,burgers , pizza , ice cream and potatoe chips and live for a long time on that diet , I wouldn't think that because I've adapted with little adverse affects , it's an indication of my meat diet being safe and healthy. Now as far as data goes,their is a place called the Hippocrates Health Institute in Palm Beach Fl. , which is more well known by extremely weathy millionaires . I had did a 3 talk on how to grow vegetables organically at the Hippocrates Institute. This institute claims to have data and documentation of people who have spent the majority and latter part of thieir lives on a raw food diet.With outstanding health bennifits not seen in people on any other diet. And this brings us to ,this group says this ,the other group says that .I have found that intuitive gut feeling instincts from searching within ,have brought me to better and more enjoyable places in life than advice or data from external sources. And a quote from a guy in Oregon 23 years ago,rings in my head now .And I will take to his advise of- " Food is for eating,not for talking about". Alot of herbal medicines you've mentioned in post are discredited from the research data of the main stream scientific comunnity.Will this deter you from your personal beleifs and convince you that natual medicinces don't work or are inferior to the ones of main steam medical technologies ? It also could be considered extreme to put the heat of a flame to our foods in order for them to have a more consentrated taste that is more lustfully pleasing to the senses of the taste buds of our tongues. But as John said 14:2 , what ever gets you through this life , it's all right ,it's alright. John Lennon , that is .

-- Steve (Unreal@home .com), September 12, 2002.

I'm not sure where to begin, first my comments and questions were phrased, I thought, to be non-offensive as I try not to talk over or below a person's understanding cause that does nothing for either of us.

The "whatever a balanced diet is" comment is one that is generic as everyone is somewhat different and therefore their needs are different.

As to your question: "Alot of herbal medicines you've mentioned in post are discredited from the research data of the main stream scientific comunnity.Will this deter you from your personal beleifs and convince you that natual medicinces don't work or are inferior to the ones of main steam medical technologies ?" No, I'll keep my beliefs as I feel they are based on sound priciples and given my extensive medical background, I also believe that they are based on sound medical principles.

As to what people stuff down their bodies goes, I feel that it is a case of lost calories chasing more lost calories that are leading to an endless desire for more junk food. Sure it tastes good, or people would not buy it, but that does not make it good for you. Sure researchers design it to satisfy you body tastes, at least in the short term, so that you will eat more and more of it, yet it does not provide your body with what it needs.

As to the value of research, it is the same for growing plants or growing bodies, you can learn how plants/bodies work and what each needs and then help plants/bodies achieve a better life. So research is just an indepth look and knowledge as to how things work and it can be either positive or negative, as to how it is applied just like most everything else.

I have a number of friends that have little formal education but they know many other things that are of importance, like natural plants and what they are good for or how to get them to grow out of their native enviroment, so I don't see educational level as a handicap.

Yes, I have alot of formal education in the medical fields and certain research areas, but I try to temper that with common sense, perhaps I am not always successful.

I've always enjoyed teaching and discussions and that is how I view these forums.

-- BC (desertdewller@yahoo.com), September 12, 2002.

BC , ` Don't take any of what I say as offense,as I find it a lot easier communcating in speaking form and seem to come off less confrontaional than in my writings.I did get a, I know more than you know , feeling from your writings, and thought of that strange, as it was my body's experiences we were talking about .I'll try to do my best in explaining my views since, you seem to want to understand where I'm coming from. BC as to commet on this you've said "Steve, I Don’t know how much you know about how the body works at the molecular level or physiology, but part of what you experienced from 15-25 can have a natural explanation to it, as this is when our systems is at the best, best able to fight off all sorts of attacks of every type of source and able to handle all sorts of stresses the best. " ............................................................. ...................................................................... . People is the 15-25 age could handle almost any stress and do well. I’m not saying that your experiences were not valid, just that your age at that time and the state of your body had something to do with what you experienced. ....................Here you ask how much I know of how the body works at the molecular level or Physiology.And I make it easy by saying , I couldn't spell those words unless I looked at your post and copied them. ................................................................ .Now I assumed when you made this commet as of why I had a better resistence and stronger immune system when I was younger , you were assuming by your knowledge that you are aware of what affects me , more than I am. I have no doubt that I'm more aware than another of what affects my body ,as I live in it . And generic scienitific knowledge is a generalization . Genetics and environment placement, possible toxic chemical exposers and many other factors are needed to even make assesments that may be far from accurate, of someone you know almost nothing about. I know what made me feel better and what kept me from almost no colds or illnesses for years.I noticed the different affects when I strayed away from that diet . With all your back ground ,I'm assuming you haven't tried a raw food diet for a year. Nor do you know it's affects personally on ,I think it's called ,free radicals and on the rejuvenating affects on cell reproduction?. ....................................................... ...................................................................... .........I don't know medical terms or the science of how things work , but I do now how results of different eating habits can affect my body , for better or worse. I've mentioned before having Sicilian roots . I knew the beneficial health affects of the Italian vegetable Brocoli from observation of old familly members since 1974 . I didn't need to read all the science behind what makes it benefit the body ,to know it benefits the body .I ate it because I could feel what it did.And eating it raw did more . . Now it's only a guess ,but I think alot of the hype in the news media about Brocoli sprouts came out around the1997.I knew someone in Palm Beach Co. who was commercialy producing them that year to cash in on the hype. ................................................................ ..................................................................I was turned on to brocoli sprouts back in the late 70's by hippy owned health food stores on the west coast and by these crazy peyote eating hippies I lived with in L.A.. They didn't smoke pot .It was considered cooked .They taught me how raw food has a life force.There is even a special camera that can take pictures ,I don't know the name of it ,but it captures the glow around live food .It's like an aura.So we have technologies that prove there is an energy from live raw food that gets destroyed when cooked. After eating raw foods for about 3 or 4 months you feel different .You don't feel stress. You never seem to get tired.Your sleep needs are less , but the sleep you get feels very restful............................................................... ........................................................If you want to be able to give an honest opinion on it .Try it for a year.Than you will have earned the right to speak for or against it. Until then any comment you make on it would be hear-say.That's not very scientific. Now I expressed it as best I can. Now I'll try to convert you to my religion. ( I'm just joking.) I didn't want to explain my soon to be again ,eating habits any further , but what the hell..

-- Steve (unreal@cs.com), September 12, 2002.

Steve, I appreciate your comments, my comments were not directed downward to you, I try not to talk down to or above people as I said. I’m was not trying to tell you what you were feeling or how your diet affected you during that time period.

My comments about the immune status of young people was meant only to be an informative statement about a generally accepted concept. Something that I felt needed to be considered when taking about people of that age groups and diseases or lack there of. It could just as well been about the early growth cycle of plants, which experience a similar effect. Both humans and plants need a better resistance/immune system in the early and reproductive years if they are to survive as a species, that was the reason for my comment.

It is well documented that the immune system starts to decline after about 30yrs old in humans and midlife cycle in plants and this was my reason for including information about astragalus in my original post.

I wish I had a year to give to each of the things that I want to try.

Religion, now that is a subject to be debated, but not by me.

Perhaps my comments are too short and my use of references is what is done in the scientific/medical field, so that anyone can check upon where you got your opinion/sources without having to ask for the sources (ie: is that a personal belief or based upon research, if so who’s), just a hang over from those days.

I’m not trying to pry or be confrontational, so please don’t take it that way.

-- BC (desertdewller@yahoo.com), September 13, 2002.

So BC ,help me out here. In 1990 I was 31 years old. ............................ . . ...From 1990' to 1995' I caught more viruses and colds in those 5 years than in the rest of my lifes years put together.............................................................. . From 1996 until the present I hardly get colds. And it seems like the only time I do feel sick or under the weather is when I haven't eatin a salad in about 5 days, and I'm eating Pizza at this Italian New York style pizza place in town.................................................................. ....................................................Now I know Sal , the pizza man , gets the best mozarella cheese and ingredients shipped in from his old home city of New York. And this makes this semi junk food , half way nutritious. And irresistible to the taste buds ................................................................. .......................................................... But I always notice a relation of when I'm clogged with Pizza and void of fresh salad greens , I feel a little sluggish .But if I take the long drive to knoxville, and get an assortment of leafy green organic vegetables in my system quick enough or it's the seasonal time for leafy greens to be growing in my garden and i'm eating plenty, I don't get any symptoms of a cold,even if everyone around me has that crouping sounding mucus cough and yucky stuff is leaking from every opening on their head............................................Now is it that I just hit into another age group that has my immune system getting stronger than when I was 31?................................................................... ......................................................... That good flora bacteria ( the term you used ),wouldn't that go out of balance, if the digestive system was clogged in a way nature didn't intend it to?...I saw a documentry.It discribed and had shown an illustration of the digetive tract, I think it was the large intestines ? and it said when this part of the body is clogged with low roughage foods , the bad bacterias get out of control and over works the immune system .I wondering was this information inacurate?............................................................ .................................................................And when the body has a continues amout of roughage , it's like a scrub brush keeping the digetive tract clean and that keeps the good bateria in check . I'm am aware there is a lot of conflicting medical and health statements being made public ......................... .............................................................. ................................................................One day I'll read that coffee is good for the body , and a few weeks latter I'll read how it can cause all sorts of negative health affects on a person. That 's why I listen to my body and I pay close attention to how it reacts to different foods. Other wise it could have a yo-yo affect , listening to one science research about health ,confict with another............................................................... ....................................... ........................ ...................................................................... ...............................So is it typical at my age of 43 for my immune system to be functioning better than 31 ? Or could it be related to diet? And science is just learning that the spirit of a person,how happy they are or how depressed they are , or if they are grouchy or have hatred, or if they they walk around will a smile stuck on their face ,like they're crazy , has a relation to the immune system................................................................ ....................................................I always believed the spirit of a person greatly affects their health...And find that laughing and being happy alot will boost the immune system.And if a person could aquire sensitivity by relaxng , being happy and looking inward,their spirit could become in close touch with their body, and like with the amino acids that you claim tell us the foods we need, the spirit could also tell us what we need to maintain health...And as the medical researches are just stumbling onto the relation of spirit affecting body ,I do believe there is hope for the medical researches after all.

-- Steve (Unreal@home.com), September 13, 2002.

It says answer but I have a few health problems like surgar and high blood presure I try to eat the right things but it just don't get it my surgar still stays is still around 300 no matter what I do I sure do like thing that are sweet but I try to take it easy on all what do you do just can't figure out what to eat and I weigth about 200 can't seem to get any lower help Thank you Dennis

-- Dennis Jean (ptcruiserman20@bellsouth.net), February 10, 2005.

Sounds like you are carbohydrate intolerant. The high blood pressure goes along with that, too.

You say your blood sugar is around 300? Do you test regularly? Are you a diabetic?

-- Terri (hooperterri@prodigy.net), February 14, 2005.