{FRESH Made Pasta Sauce}

Already on February 2, 2013, I came across one of my favorite blogs: Frugal Ain't Cheap where Italian born Daniela always presents remarkable tips and often recipes. She wrote: Pasta Sauce in 5 Minutes on that particular day and I saved it as it was so easy and healthy with FRESH ingredients. You can click the above hyperlink for Daniela's recipe! The bell peppers and cherry tomatoes we got at Costco's Wholesale.

Several times I made Daniela's yummy and quick Pasta Sauce, but only on May 23, I finally made some photos...

Using Trader Joe's Organic Whole Wheat Fusilli Pasta for a healthy diet.

Since we are shopping at Trader Joe's we also take the Pecorino Romano & Parmesan blend grated cheese with only 2% cholesterol and fat. Sodium is low too with only 3%.

Following Daniela's recipe above, you have a very quick and healthy vegetarian meal and I also do add Trader Joe's Beef-less Ground Beef to this FRESH Made Pasta Sauce.

Topped with the above mentioned grated cheese, served in a French Pillivuyt Sancerre, heated pasta bowl...

To the right of my plate is this French Baccarat crystal glass with 'AMOUR' engraved into it.

I also do have the 'LOVE' version from Baccarat.

With my supper, I do drink the freshly squeezed juice of one lemon (also from Costco).

Sharing some Blogger LOVE and thanks again Daniela for your worthwhile recipe!

{Healthy & Quick Vegetarian Supper}

We all have days that we actually don't have much time for cooking and still want to enjoy a healthy supper.

• It is the time of new red Russet potatoes so I did boil them in the skin and let them cool. 
• Meanwhile I did slice up an entire English cucumber (bought with 3 in a pack at Costco Wholesale) and made a dressing using part reduced fat mayonnaise from Trader Joe's (picture is below) with some brown natural Dutch vinegar (use any type you will have) and Italian seasoning. 
• If you do have some grape or cherry tomatoes on hand; slice some in half and add them too.

Toss the salad and let the ingredients blend in.
Cubing the cold boiled potatoes and with olive oil, to which I added some real unsalted butter, I did fry them.
Adding some shredded rice cheese at the last minute.

• This is what your fried potatoes look like with the shredded rice cheese kind of melted over them.

• This is how the English cucumber salad with some cherry tomatoes looks like... A very healthy and quick but tasty vegetarian supper!

• These are the Whole Foods Market Rice shreds with Mozarella flavor as a shredded cheese alternative.

• Contains 0% Cholesterol and is thus a healthy cheese. 
• The Sodium is 15% but when you don't add salt to the potatoes when boiling, you balance that out.
• Eat green - for body & earth...

• This is the reduced fat mayonnaise from +Trader Joe's.

• Again this comes with 0% Cholesterol and Sodium only 3%.

This way we will stay healthy and still enjoy a hearty meal with such an eating routine.

Have a great day!

Related link:

Sauteed baby spinach with garlic for egg beaters omelette | posted on FB Page about my Eating Routine

{Fighting the Water + Scanning Slides} | previous post where I mentioned the Sauteed baby spinach with garlic...

{Fighting the Water + Scanning Slides}

• On Friday we drove to Atlanta, early morning in heavy rain... Luckily on the way home it only was drizzling. 
• Saturday was my day for cooking a dinner for 8 people, at our home. You did see some pictures from the table setting earlier this week. 
• While entertaining our guests, husband Pieter went downstairs twice for emptying the full, 6 gallons, wet vac in his work  shop. Water was seeping in from the outside wall, where our gutters could not hold all the rain water, neither were the pipes big enough for transporting it away from the house. Maybe some burrow from a chipmunk; who knows why and how; but it found its way inside. 
• No damage, nothing as we have all tile floors. Great thing was that we have those TRINITY EcoStorage™ NSF 6-Tier Wire Shelving Racks on wheels from Costco, so we could easily wheel them off! Imagine having fixed shelves... But it is quite a challenge that Water Control!
• After serving dessert to our guests, I did scoot downstairs to empty the big bucket and to mop up some water. 
• But we had no idea it would worsen over night. It was nearly impossible to keep up with it and we could not go to sleep. 
• Pieter did lie on the bed a couple of times to stretch his back and during the in-between time, I sat at my old laptop + Epson scanner (my second) for scanning our slides. In the office upstairs I keep another Epson scanner for non-slide scanning jobs. Archiving everything...

On the left is the opening for pushing strips of negatives inside...

• Got a lot of slides done that way, because it did not stay with only one night. In fact, on Thursday night we had everything dry and could sleep in one stretch through the night without any bucket-emptying duty.
• But kudos to the inventors of those wet vacs or shop vacs. Ha-ha, shop vac it was, as it worked for us in Pieter's work shop! 

• This one, our second, came from The Home Depot and holds 6 gallons or 22.7 liter.
• It takes some muscle power for lifting them, all night long = divided by two humans!
• Also wringing out those floor cloths takes some energy...

• Soaking up some water with old raggedy floor cloths... called 'DWEILEN' in Dutch.

• This kind of work did ask for some 'Popeye' food so I sautéed some baby spinach with garlic to eat with scrambled egg, made from egg beaters. 
• That makes for a yummy and healthy heart meal! Read about how to on my FB Page: facebook.com/MariettesBaktoBasics

• Pieter got smarter as he opened up the wall, so he could attach the hose right there to suck the water up.
• He left his knee pads still on the floor...
• The noise of this 6 gallons shop vac changes when it's full, so next door in the Rose Suite's living room, I got up from my slide scanning job and took the lid off in order to empty it out.

• 6 gallons shop vac - wet/dry utility vac
• It served us very well!

• My hands sure didn't look that happy after wringing out floor cloths that many times...
• I never wear any gloves; just use my bare hands.

• My left hand with the Dupuytren's Contracture after one year...
• Still functionable and even able to perform heavy duty.

• Did any of you have to fight some water?
• We're lucky with no damage, except that the wool/silk rug in the Rose Suite living room got wet on one side, earlier on February 12 on my Mom's birthday when we also had to fight the water.
• I really feel for all those that lost valuables such as photos or whatsoever due to real flooding!

As Pieter's Dad always used to say: 'Water is like Money; there is Enough of Both but it only is Poorly Distributed...'

Related links:
{Table Setting for Friends} | previous post by me
{Our Wild Creek} | previous post by me
{Our Rose Suite Work Shop & Mariette's Back to Basics Shipping Center} | previous post by me
{My Hand and Dupuytren's Contracture} | previous post by me

{Thanks Karen; I made Your Butternut Squash Soup!}

Reading blogs is rewarding in many ways and we learn each time from other talented ladies. One I admire is Karen from the blog Beatrice Euphemie. Just recently, on January 11, she posted a delicious and healthy Butternut Squash Soup recipe that she had made for her husband and herself. Karen is not only an excellent and captivating writer, but a great cook and handy with needle and thread as well. We all can learn from role models like her! So we did buy at Trader Joe's in Atlanta, Butternut Squash, already diced and also the low sodium chicken stock and I made the soup myself at home. Just have a look at how it turned out. Below my post you find Karen's recipe in the link to her blog post about it.

Served in our French Pillivuyt soup cups & saucers 

Ramekin for butter is also French Pillivuyt

Like Karen, I did not use heavy cream either... keeping it low cholesterol. 

I did not bake my own bread, this is Costco's whole grain Artisan bread, see link below post about: {How to get a FLATTER TUMMY}

Hand  crocheted placemats are made by me...

Butter knife and soup spoons are Bridal Rose by Alvin and will be available at Replacements Ltd., see link below post. I did find mine at eBay over the years...

Carved Flameless Wax Roses are with battery.

Had to take those photos outside as it is too dark inside the house for nice photos.

Besides, in our bay window we do have those small window inserts and it does cast a shadow in that shape... A big open window would work far better. But our windows do look romantic and Victorian.

But this soup is delicious I can tell you! Worthwhile trying and getting over to Karen's blog post below...

Are you a soup person for winter time?

Related links:
Butternut Squash Soup by Karen from Beatrice Euphemie
{My Lace Crocheted Placemats} Previous post by me with Lentil Soup recipe
Pillivuyt French oven proof table ware
{How to get a FLATTER TUMMY} Previous post by me with Costco whole grain Artisan bread
Bridal Rose by Alvin silver table ware at Replacements Ltd.

{USEFUL TIP: Peppermint Tea for Anti Bloating}

• When living in The Netherlands, our back neighbors were from Turkey and I learned quite a lot from their culture. 
• They passed on age old remedies for certain ailments. One of them was, serving hot tea from fresh Mentha Piperita leaves. 
• Sure I learned about this USEFULL TIP as Peppermint Tea for Anti Bloating. 
• Since than, I've been drinking this soothing Peppermint Tea for decades, adding also some healthy Green Tea as well. 
• We always keep mint growing in our garden. So how do I brew this useful tea? Let me show you...

• Freshly brewn inside our Mandalay Chartreuse by Mason's teapot.

• With my Gardena Garden Scissors I did snip off a handful of Mentha Piperita leaves from our garden.

• Rinsing them off in my Rösle Strainer...

• Together with a bag of green tea they go inside the teapot while the water is boiling.
• Pour the water over it and let it steep for a few minutes before pouring into your cups.

• I used Trader Joe's Organic Green Tea...

• Peppermint-Green-Tea with a healthy chocolate dessert, decorated with edible marzipan rosebuds...
• Why don't you sit with me?

• Closeup from the Peppermint-Green-Tea and my dessert...

• Please sit down and join me...!
• By  the way, this amazing chocolate dessert came out of the freezer and works great for freezing it!
• Below the post you find the recipe for this diabetes type 2 and heart healthy 0% cholesterol chocolate dessert.

• This is a very soothing and relaxing tea, you ought to try it for yourself!

• No, I did NOT add any sugar...
• So what do you think? Are you going to try this out as well...?

Below are some links for more info.

Related links:

Mandalay Chartreuse by Mason's  available at Replacements Ltd.

DOES HOT TEA HELP BLOATING & GAS AFTER MEALS? 

Gardena 359 All Purpose Stainless Steel Garden Scissors

{Our Liz & Telepathy + AMAZING Chocolate Recipe!} | previous post by me

Flat Belly Diet Foods - Meet the MUFAs! | previous post by me

Foods that Support the Skin | previous post by me

Natural Healing Chart for almost all Sickness | previous post by me with a wealth of information!

{9 'Harmless' Habits That Age You} | previous post by me with great tips

{SUGAR is your #1 enemy!} | previous post by me

{Olympia's Greek Moussaka Vegan Style}

On May 27, I did read a post from Olympia's blog: Oldthings, where she gave the Greek Moussaka recipe. Since both of us LOVE Aubergines, or Eggplants as you call them, I've adapted this recipe and made it Vegan Style. Since I'm not Greek, I certainly do not qualify for making a Moussaka as well as Olympia did. Also I had to keep in consideration that it should be low sodium and low cholesterol. So I did not salt the aubergine for that reason, in order to drain the water out. Does anyone have a TIP on how to go about this, following a low sodium diet? Any hint is welcome.

I also did not fry them the way Olympia did but instead I did bake them with some olive oil in the oven, using a Demarle Silpat.

Not too bad... with some mixed greens and olive oil with Balsamico dressing. 

Above is Olympia's Recipe Mussaka, just click the link for going to her post with very clear step-by-step instructions and great photos.

For the Vegan Style I will give you my version:

3 lb or 1500 g of aubergines - eggplants

3 lb or 1500 g potatoes 

3 packages of 340 g each Trader Joe's Beefless Groundbeef (soy product)

3 large fresh tomatoes diced

2 big onions chopped

salt, pepper

For the Bechamel:

1 liter milk

6 tablespoons of soft butter

6 tablespoons of whole wheat flour

1 cup of egg beaters

salt, pepper

Serves 12

 Bake at 200°C or 400°F for 50 minutes.

No cholesterol - no fat...

These are the 340 g packages of Beef-less ground beef from Trader Joe's.

Olive oil is what I used for the onions and the ground beef...

Aubergines - eggplants sliced and with some olive oil I had them for 10 minutes on the Silpat in the oven on 475°F or 250°C.

Any tips here are welcome!

Potatoes I did bake for half an hour in the oven on 400°F or 200°C also using olive oil. 

Now layering the potatoes, aubergines - eggplants, minced beef and then topping them off with the Bechamel.

This beef-less ground beef is already pre-cooked so with the onions and tomatoes it only needs to be heated through.

The way Olympia did show how to make the Bechamel with softened, not melted butter I liked very much. 

I used whole wheat as a healthy substitute for white flour.

Instead of real eggs I did blend in the 1 cup egg beaters after I'd cooked the Bechamel.

See Olympia's excellent photos of step-by-step instructions.

Bechamel all poured over the layers and ready for the oven...

50 minutes on 200°C or 400°F.

Maybe next time a tad longer in the oven...?

What do you think?

But we both enjoyed it very much!

Thanks again Olympia for sharing this with us.