• 1 box Taboule Wheat Mix
  Make Taboule as directed on the box. After you chill it in fridge for 30 minutes, then add the below ingredients. Stir it all up, let sit in fridge minimum 1 hour or overnight.
• 1 medium Tomato chopped
• 1 Tablespoon fresh Lemon Juice
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1/4 cup Fresh Basil chopped (or pulled to pieces by hand)
• 4 oz. Feta Cheese fat-free, crumbled ‘Herbed’  Tomato & Basil flavor. Comes in a 6 oz. plastic tub, purchased at Fry’s in the gourmet cheese section. I’m sure it would taste okay to use plain Feta Cheese.
• Optional: 2 Tablespoon chopped or slivered almonds

• 1 large Cucumber sliced or diced (set aside for now)
• 1/4 cup light Cream Cheese
• 1/4 cup nonfat Cottage Cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon of minced Garlic (I buy the kind in a jar, already minced)
• 1/4 cup Water
• 1 Tablespoon of Lemon Juice
  Blend it all till pretty liquidized, I use the Magic Bullet. DO NOT put the cucumber in the blender. After blending it all up, pour mixture into a bowl, now add the diced cucumbers, stir it all up, add a pinch of salt & some fresh black pepper, & now ready to serve.

 Be sure to use a crockpot bag liner. No mess, no fuss at all

• 4 center cuts without bone or remove the bone. If you have a super large crockpot, then buy 5-6 chops.
• 4 Chicken Sausage Links bought at Fry’s (I used the apple flavor), cut each link into 5ths. You can substitute with kielbasa or hot dogs. But, I like a certain type of chicken sausage at Fry’s, because it has no nitrates.
• 3 cups Claussen Sauerkraut or your favorite sauerkraut. Claussen found cold in the section with the lunch meat. Be sure to use all the juice that comes with the kraut.
• 2 large potatoes peeled & cut up, not too small.
• 2 carrots, cut up, not too small.
• 1 apple, cut into sections, I used Gala apple.
• 1 small onion, diced.
• Tbsp. minced garlic (in a jar).
• 1/4 tsp. ground pepper.
• caraway seed, few good shakes.
• 1/4 tsp. ginger powder.
• Optional: Very light sprinkle of celery salt. Remember, sauerkraut is salty enough as it is.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 Box Rainbow Pasta or Whole Wheat Pasta (precooked, slightly firm). Do not over cook, if too soggy, they’ll mush up when stirring later.
• 1 block Firm Tofu (remove from container & rinse it off).
• 1-2 cups Lima Beans (frozen).
• 1 cup Garbanzo Beans (canned & rinsed thoroughly).
• 2+ Tbsp. Balsamic Vinegar (*see below for more info).
• 1/4 to 1/2 bottle of ‘Paul Newman’s Own Creamy Caesar Dressing’
  (**see below for more info).

  Whatever vegetables you wish to add, I use the following:

• 1 medium Bell Pepper.
• 2 small Carrots.
• 1 medium Cucumber.
• 2 small Tomatoes.
• Spices: Italian Seasoning, Black Pepper, & Celery Salt (careful).

YOU WILL NEED A HUGE MIXING BOWL.

Preparation:
Dice up all the vegetables. I have one of those hand crank choppers, it’s a life saver!
For the more harder veggies like the bell pepper, carrots, & lima beans, I precook them slightly in the microwave (add a bit of water). Do not overcook, just cook enough keeping them slightly crisp (drain off liquid). Freeze cool them in the freezer for 5-10 minutes.

In the giant bowl, add cooled down cooked veggies & lima beans, then add all remaining veggies. Add cooled off/rinsed pasta, add tofu, & all the spices. Stir it all up. Refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour, then serve. Enough to feed a small army or 2 Joe’s

* When it comes to using Balsamic Vinegar, it can be deceiving. When you first pour it in, it smells & tastes like vinegar. After you mix everything up & the dish sits for a bit, it begins to take on it’s nutty flavor (what it’s known for). You definitely want to add to taste, I happen to use quite a bit.

Preparation:

• 1 pkg. Jennie-O Sweet Italian Turkey Sausage. Remove skins & fry it up like hamburger meat, chopping as it cooks up.
• Green Cabbage small size.
• 2 Carrots diced.
• 2 Bell Peppers diced.
• 1-2 c. Lima Beans (frozen preferred, not canned).
• 2 c. Whole Wheat Pasta (precooked, not too soggy/soft).
• 2-3 Tbsp. Olive Oil ( FYI: I usually use approx 4 Tbsp.).
• 2-3 Tbsp. Water (during cooking, add a bit more if needed).

• Tumeric (love this spice).
• Cilantro.
• Garlic Diced (I use the pre-diced in the small jars, found in the produce section).
• Poultry Seasoning.
• Black Pepper.
• Onion Flakes (or Onion Powder).
• Celery Salt (just a small dash, because we want the recipe to remain healthy).

DIRECTIONS
Fry meat in a large stew pot, once the meat is cooked, add all the ingredients. I like to put the cabbage in last because it cooks/shrinks itself down into the rest. Simmer with lid until cabbage is done, approx 30 to 45 minutes.

Ingredients:

• One bag prepared coleslaw (found where the packaged lettuce/salad is located.
• 1 tablespoon lime juice.
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin.
• 2 tablespoons minced onion.
• One 15-ounce can beans, pinto or black.
• One diced tomato.
• One can diced mild green chilies.
• One avocado, pitted and sliced. Avocado is for topping.
• Optional for Topping: Sprinkle top with low calorie grated cheese.

The first thing you do is rinse the beans thoroughly. Canned whole beans can be very convenient to use, but also have unneeded sodium. A good rinse removes up to 35 percent of the sodium. Add all ingredients in a big bowl, stir thoroughly. Place bowl in refrigerator and allow mixture to chill for about an hour so the flavors blend together. Take out of refrigerator and top with avocado and cheese.

I recently tested it and my reminder said:
“Hi, This is a hassle to remind you to Exercise and eat right. So get to it!
– - – - – - -
You’ll be sent one of these hassles roughly every 3 days.”

As far as I can tell, they don’t spam you with anything, it just seems to be a fun way to remember a few chores and tasks that you need to do.

While oven is preheating to 325, spray non-stick cooking spray into a baking dish. Put cornflakes, cayenne pepper, paprika and black pepper into a zip top bag and crush everything together. Personally, I like the texture the cornflakes add, but you can also crush them into a powder if you want. When it’s the consistency you want, empty the bag into a shallow dish.

Put the egg and egg white into a separate shallow dish, and whisk it completely. Dip the fish into the eggs, then completely dredge it in the dish with the cornflake mixture, then put it into your oiled baking dish. Keep a close eye on it because it bakes quickly, 15 to 18 minutes or until the fish flakes with a fork and is opaque.

This is a great alternative to fried fish, and the cornflakes add a unique flavor too. It serves 4, with only 164 calories per serving and 199 mg sodium per serving.

I’m surprised that I didn’t come up with this earlier. Now that I think of it, scissors could be used for all sorts of food, like green beans, pea pods, etc. It would probably be a lot easier to chop olives in two with them, instead of having them roll around on a cutting board.

Can you think of other foods that would be easier to chop with scissors?

Is this a great idea, or am I the last person on the planet to think of this?