Frozen Veggies and Fruit

     If you don't have the time or the money to buy fresh veggies, buy frozen. Even store brands of frozen veggies are better than canned. Canned vegetables have a very high content of sodium and let's face it, they're mushy and have a weird flavor to them from the can.

     Bags of frozen vegetables can be bought on sale for as little as 69 cents sometimes and they are quick to prepare and still retain some of the original taste and crunch of a fresh vegetable. Compare them to the canned and you'll never go back.

     Frozen fruit can be a little expensive, but still are cheaper than fresh. As a matter of fact the only strawberries I will purchase now are the frozen ones. Strawberries should be refrigerated and they never are in the store. Plus I can barely find a pint that doesn't have some mold on at least one berry, and if one has it chances are they all have the mold spores on them.

     I use my little Bullet Blender and toss it full of strawberries, some sweetener, and fill the rest with skim milk. Do this while the berries are still frozen. Blend the drink and you've got an ice cream substitute. Cold, sweet, and delicious!

Sweet Crispy Salad

     The grocery store I shop at had a good sale on sweet red peppers and tomatoes so I took the oppurtunity to make a wonderfully filling, cool, sweet, and crisp salad. Here's what I put in.

Lettuce
Shredded carrots
Black olives cut in half
Sliced cucumber
Rings of sweet onion
Strips of sweet red pepper
Diced tomatoes
Crumbly Mexican Ranchero cheese for topping

Use whatever dressing you like, however the healthiest I believe is to combine 2 parts extra virgin olive oil and one part red wine vinegar. Best serving idea is to put your homemade dressing into a spray bottle and just spray the salad or serve it on the side. You may also want to use Feta cheese instead of the Ranchero or leave off completely. If I had a few chopped walnuts, this salad would have been even better.