Darren LeBlanc

If you spend much of any time thinking about nutrition you will know that dark green leafy vegetables pretty much rule the world (especially when you eat them uncooked). If you don’t believe me, go to http://wikipedia.org and search for kale or spinach. Then search for apple or pear and compare the nutritional information for each (and that doesn’t even tell you the full benefits). Now, if you spend anytime trying to feed said “green leafy vegetables” to your family (especially your kids), you will also know that it’s a moderately daunting task. 

Misty does not like leafy greens…at all. So I have to be creative. Necessity is truly the mother of invention, so here are a couple I recently invented. They may not be dinner party worthy- but we are in survival mode, not entertaining mode…and for that, they are perfect.

Apple Kale Salad
This is so easy, and extremely good tasting. Chop up some well rinsed kale or spinach (kale is incredibly good for you, but spinach is too) into small pieces about the size of a dime and place in a small bowl. Fold in some applesauce to coat it all very well.  I use shoprite organic unsweetened - it has great flavor and most of us don’t need to be adding any sugar to our diets.  If you like crunchy, add some walnuts or fresh apple or pear cubes.

Collard Roll
Take a nice medium to large collard green and lay it flat on a plate. Slice a peach into 8 or 10 slices and stack them down the middle of the leaf. Top with cut kale or spinach and roll it up like a burrito. I finish with 2 toothpicks to keep it together till it gets eaten. You have to use a good bit of peach because the collard is strongly flavored. Other fruit is probably good too.

Misty Update:
Unfortunately, Misty had another seizure today. The good news is that I didn’t have to give her a shot for it – it only lasted about 8 minutes and didn’t get worse than just facial movements. The bad news is that she was really out of it afterwards. To the point of not understanding me and just looking around – even not responding to me at all for a minute or two. Poor Olivia probably thought I was mad at her the way I threw her into bed and tucked her in. Oh well…she knows we love her :)

Misty’s cough has cleared up a bit but I’m not sure if that’s the pneumonia going away or just a happy symptom relief from the Mucinex DM. She still has a nasty cough, just gets a little more free time from it. Last night was much better…she slept most of the night.

I like to cook. In fact…at times I really like it.
Tonight I made dinner for Misty for our anniversary. Here is the menu:

Asian Pear Salad with Dandelion
Chilli and Thyme Sweet Potato Fries with Red Pepper Ketchup
Pan Seared Scallops with Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce
Coffee Ice Cream (no I didn’t make this)

I was so excited about this dinner. See, we really don’t do too much other than eat…so this was to be the event of the evening. Well…I went down in flames – maybe not flames, but it wasn’t my best…nor was even close. The salad was so-so and Misty didn’t like the roasted red pepper sauce for the scallops. It’s ok…I became pretty comfortable with failure at an early age when I would attempt just about everything above my skill level :) Today I’ve learned most of my strengths and weaknesses, but cooking is still a wildcard. Misty, being the most gracious person in the world, ate politely. (As an aside, I used both red and white sweet potatoes - I didn’t know white sweet potatoes existed until today when I found them at shop-rite.)

So…this brings me to post another nugget to my growing (though not very fast) list of Tips on Life (read: dumb mistakes Darren makes and learns from).

#2 -If you are trying something new for a special dinner, always have a backup old standard in the fridge. Something you have made before and your spouse likes!

And while we are here, I’ll give you number 3. I learned this one the hard way a few months ago on a trip for work but it never made it in a post…

#3 – When in a hotel, always test an iron on a towel before placing the hot metal surface on your only dress shirt. You never know when the black stuff is going to rub off (to mitigate this you can also choose to get a hotel near a 24-hr Walmart where new shirts are easy to find at any time.)

Every once in a while a good idea just jumps out at you. This category is for those ideas. Sometimes it’s a stroke of genius, but more often is lesson from life. Here is one of my favorites.

#1 – Catch of the Day
Always ask for the catch of the day when you are out to eat. You are guaranteed to get the freshest dish on the menu. And when its your first time at a restaurant, ask what the best selling dish is. The server will probably give you a good idea on what the regulars think is the best dish they make!