Today I feel like I did really well with the vegetables!! For lunch I had what I like to call an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink salad with some lite Salsa Ranch dressing that my beautiful daughter Nikki told me about. Actually she brought the jar of it over when she came over for dinner the last time. I said I didn't like it, but she said it was good and I liked it after all. This salad was so big that it took me about half an hour to eat it! About 3 1/2 hours after I ate it I noticed a real surge of energy! I felt good for the first time all day. Hmm... maybe there's something to this? So for dinner we had this really great left-over barbecued chicken legs and pork ribs which I wanted us to eat. I decided to make a simple vegetable soup to go along with the meats.

To make this soup I used whatever veggies I could round up in my kitchen and a packet of Lipton Recipe Secrets Onion soup mix. First I put a tablespoon or so of olive oil in the bottom of the soup pot. I chopped and added an onion, several ribs of celery, a little salt and cooked it over medium-high heat to sweat the onions. When they got good and going, I chopped and added half a cabbage, half a dozen crimini mushrooms, a smallish zucchini and also a little more salt. When those were cooking along merrily I added the soup mix and 4 cups of water. I decided to add a can of organic diced tomatoes with the juice and the last bit of some baby spinach in my veggie drawer in the fridge. My friend Jean gave me this recipe years ago. She said to just use the soup mix and add whatever veggies you have on hand. This was yummy and surprisingly soothing in my tummy. Later after honey went to bed I got to work on that giant zucchini...

I washed it and got out my measuring tape...

I peeled it and cut it up...

I needed 6 cups of cut up zucchini. This zucchini would make 2 pies!

The recipe said to cook it in a little water until it was soft...

After the zucchini was cooled and drained I added 2 1/2 cups of sugar, 3 tbsp. flour, 3 tsp. cream of tartar, 3 tsp. cinnamon, a dash of salt and nutmeg and stirred it all to mix well. I made dough for two double crust pies rolled it patted it and stuck it with a fork...

I baked it at 350 degrees for 55 minutes and voila!

I'll let you know whether or not it was worth the trouble tomorrow. It's too hot to eat right now. It does smell wonderful! I hope it's good!

I've been hearing that vegetables are the pathway to vibrant health. I plan to test this theory using myself as a guinea pig and see what happens. I weigh more than I should - a lot more. I don't consistently eat vegetables, though my intentions are good... I hereby commit to eating more vegetables!! (I'm so glad I finished the cookie dough already) I have a sweet tooth and I like my cocktails, but my plan isn't to forbid those things, rather, my only rule at this point is to do my very best to eat my veggies first and then eat the other stuff. There are many lovely cookbooks out there devoted to healthy "clean" food. I plan to use those as well as recipes I find on the internet. Right now on my kitchen counter I have a giant zucchini which my nephew's girlfriend grew in her garden, and she gave it to me! I plan to make a "Mock Apple Pie" using zucchini. Yes this is a real thing. Or at least I hope it will be when I'm finished with it. This will be my assignment for tomorrow. When I report back to you I'll also include photos. I need time to charge the battery in my camera first...