I’d Rather Be Playing Pickleball

Monday is grocery shopping day for me. It’s not a particularly good day for this activity, because the stores are all out of product following the busy weekend of shopping by those who work for a living. So Monday it’s just the retired set. Me included. The store shelves are bare and I know they will be bare, but I continue to shop on Mondays. There you have it.

I’m a fairly loyal Kroger shopper. King Soopers in Denver; Frys here in AZ. No particular reason other than I’m used to their brands and their prices are within reason. Not Walmart prices, but need I say any more about Walmart shopping?

The nearest Frys to our house, a couple of miles from here, is located in an area that is surrounded by park model communities. Now, prior to moving to AZ, I don’t believe I had ever heard that term – park model. In fact, the first time I heard the term was at my neighborhood nail salon, when a pleasant retirement-aged woman asked me if I lived in a park model. My sister Jen happened to be visiting, and we looked at each other with deer-in-the-headlight eyes. “I’m not sure,” I told the woman. “I don’t think so. What is a park model?”

Well, she clearly lived in a park model, and was quite put out with me. I don’t know if she was frustrated at my ignorance or annoyed that I didn’t live in one. She never bothered to explain the term to us.

For your information, park models are what we might call manufactured housing back in Denver. They are RV-like, but more permanent. They generally sit on some kind of a foundation, and are connected to utilities. And they are uber-popular with the over-70 community here in the east valley, and for good reason. They are inexpensive, offer recreational activities, and because they generally are part of a large over-55 community, provide immediate friends. Personally, I like my neighborhood where I can hear children playing, but God made us all different and I’m not judging.

All this is to say that shoppers at this particular store on this particular day of the week are almost all retired folks. Again, me included. But I differ from the majority of these undoubtedly very nice people in one way. I am shopping alone. Almost without exception, shoppers here are a team – husband and wife. Bill rarely shops with me, and never when I’m doing my weekly grocery shopping. He might accompany me on a Walmart run, but he will check out the auto parts or the sporting goods while I get whatever I came to buy. And personally, I’m very happy to have him not included in this particular activity, if for no other reason than I can’t bear to see his disappointed expression when I place the vegetarian-fed, cage-free-raised chicken eggs into my cart instead of the ones that cost a buck sixty-nine.

But here’s the thing. Again, almost without exception, the husbands look so darn sad. The wives are showing them the two-pack of Magic Scrubbing Bubbles and, with furrowed brows and frowning faces, are saying, “Weren’t Magic Scrubbing Bubbles on sale at Safeway last week? I think they might be thirty cents cheaper at Safeway” and the husbands SIMPLY DON’T CARE. They want to be back at home playing cards or pickleball with their friends, or, even better, on the golf course. However, they know full well that must accompany their wives to the grocery store to provide transportation and to reach things on the high shelf.

I feel for ya, Guys. And, by the way, thanks for getting that jar of Newman’s Own spaghetti sauce from the top shelf for me today.

I’m continuing to try and eat healthier meals, and found a delicious-sounding recipe in a Weight Watchers magazine. Last night's dinner!

Beefy Skillet Penne

Ingredients
1 lb. ground sirloin
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
½ lb. penne pasta, whole grain
2 c. roasted garlic pasta sauce
½ t. dried Italian seasoning
1/8 t. salt
4 oz. shredded Italian-blend cheese, divided
½ c. part-skim ricotta cheese.
Chopped fresh parsley

Process
Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add first three ingredients; cook 5 – 6 min. or until beef is browned, stirring to crumble. Drain well; return beef mixture to pan.

While beef mixture cooks, cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and add pasta to beef mixture in pan. Stir in pasta sauce, Italian seasoning, and salt. Reduce heat to medium.

Combine 2 oz. cheese Italian blend cheese and ricotta cheese in a bowl. Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls over meat mixture, and sprinkle with 2 oz. Italian blend cheese. Cover and cook 5 min or until cheese melts. Sprinkle with parsley.

Nana's Notes: 6 Weight Watcher Plus points for a serving of about 1-1/3 cups.Very quick to prepare. I almost left off the ricotta cheese, but I'm glad I didn't. It made the dish for me.

Eat Your Vegetables

I mentioned that I did not make New Year’s resolutions for 2014; instead, I’m doing monthly challenges. My challenge for January is to drink eight glasses of water a day. I’m doing reasonably well. I’m probably not getting to eight each day, but I’m definitely getting to 6, and that’s an improvement. It will at least prevent me from drying up like a dandelion and blowing away.

Though it’s not a resolution (I did not make resolutions this year!), I intend, starting now (or maybe a little bit later) to eat healthier. I will forgo the goal of losing X number of pounds because that doesn’t really work for me (or really, anybody). But I definitely fell into an unhealthy eating habit over the holidays that made me feel less, well, healthy. Remember those couple of weeks of making Christmas cookies. Well, when you make them, someone must eat them. I did my duty.

My determination to eat healthier is, of course, a 180 degree digression from yesterday’s blog post in which I yammered on and on about those tamales (which, considering their yumminess, were undoubtedly made using lard). I am simply taking advantage of a woman’s prerogative to change her mind. Also, I weighed myself. Those tamales will be safe and sound in my freezer for a few weeks. I can eat them one at a time instead of in batches of THREE! (Just kidding. No I’m not.)

Bill and I started back at the gym Monday (and don’t my sore muscles reinforce that fact), and I joined the legions of others back at a Weight Watchers meeting yesterday, my tail between my chubby legs. I simply need to have someone remind me that there are options to snacking on Cheetos and Oreos all day. Apples, oranges, and pretzels, for example.

I refuse to count calories. I won’t even count WW Points Plus. It’s not rocket science after all. You simply need to burn more calories than you ingest. Smaller portions, more movement. Simple as that.

I made a really tasty vegetable soup that I ate for lunch, along with some turkey lunch meat. Mylee would be happy. Nothing that 3-year-old likes more than a turkey sandwich. And the soup was really good.

Vegetable Soup

Ingredients
1 T. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 red pepper, chopped
1 fennel bulb, sliced thin
2 c. baby spinach
1 zucchini or summer squash, chopped
1 can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
4 c. chicken, beef, or vegetable broth
2 c. tomato juice
½ t. red pepper flakes
1 t. fresh thyme, minced
1 T. fresh basil, chopped
Salt and pepper

Process
Brown onion in olive oil until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about a minute. Add the red pepper and zucchini and cook for a few minutes. Add remaining ingredients and cook for about 45 minutes, or until vegetables are soft and flavors mingle. Garnish with basil when you serve.

Nana’s Notes: You can use whatever vegetables you have in your fridge. I sort of make this recipe when I have vegetables that are needing to be used or tossed. Carrots, celery, etc. all would work. The fennel (which I happen to love either raw or cooked) gives it a bit of an Italian flavor; hence, the basil. You could make it a bit Mexican by using cilantro instead and throw in a bit of avocado. It makes me – a devoted lover of soup – happy because it is filling and healthy and delicious.