Where Did I Put That Again?

Having been born the middle of July, I've enjoyed a lifetime of birthdays celebrated at picnics and back-yard Bar-B-Ques. I wouldn't trade a July birthday, with  it's melted cakes and new white shorts outfits, for any other time of year.

Having just turned 55 I have no major complaints and am actually looking forward to senior discounts since I'm a self-admitted "cheap-aholic." If there is a deal to be had, I can smell it a mile away. But there is one aspect to aging that still needs some adjustment.

Last week I found myself in the garage, fully intending to get in the car to go to work, without my car keys. Oops, had my briefcase but no purse, and the keys were tucked securely in said purse, two flights of stairs away. Since I'm usually in a hurry, I ran up the two flights of stairs to get the keys, ran back down the stairs again, got in the car and realized I didn't have my water bottle. It's July, I have a long commute and need the water bottle, so I jumped out of the car, ran up the same two flights, grabbed the bottle, ran down the stairs muttering about what a goofball I am, but finally armed with everything I needed to start the car and leave.

The thought occurred to me afterwards that something is making me more forgetful. It could be the combination of middle-age and simply having too many things to do and think about at one time. Since memory issues have been a topic of conversation among my middle-aged friends recently, I'm lead to believe that I'm no more forgetful than others my age. I'm inclined to look at a hopefully positive aspect of  middle-age forgetfulness. Can the added exercise of back-tracking steps and the extra calories burned by physically compensating for a less-than-stellar memory be good for me? Could "senior moments" be helping to keep my waistline trim? Here is what I learned.

• Walk from living room into kitchen to get scissors for clipping coupons from newspaper = 15 steps.
• See  new cooking magazine on counter with summer dessert on cover and remember I need to make dessert for party, stop to leaf through pages for ideas = 0  calories.
• Oops, need cheater glasses to read the print, return to retrieve glasses left next to newspaper = 15 steps.
• Walk back to open magazine in kitchen wearing glasses = 15 steps.
• See cable bill on the counter and realize it needs to be paid that day = 0 calories.
• Return to living room for checkbook from purse, feeling very smug that remembered to keep glasses on = 15 steps.
• Return to kitchen to get amount for check, write cable check and realize stamps are in purse so walk back to living room to get stamp = 30 steps (I must be wasting away from all the walking!)
• Walk to kitchen, open magazine, find summer dessert but don't have all ingredients =  15 steps.
• Walk to the drawer to get pen and paper to write down needed ingredients = 6 steps
• See scissors in drawer, remember they are the reason for coming to kitchen in the first place!
• See chocolate chips, pop six in mouth to console myself for being so forgetful.
• Return to living room with scissors to clip coupons but realize left glasses with magazine = 15 steps.
• Sprint back to kitchen to retrieve glasses, resolved to buy as many pair of cheater glasses as necessary to place strategically throughout the house = 15 calories.

Feeling very optimistic about my theory, I searched the Internet for statistics on calories burned by walking, fully prepared to share the good news of  my findings. What I knew in nutrition school and relearned recently is this: one pound of body weight = 3500 calories. Meaning one would need to either burn or reduce caloric consumption by 3500 calories in order to lose 1 lb. Hmmm, seems like a lot of calories for one pound.  And, for the average person, 2,000 steps = one mile and that same average person burns 100 calories per mile of walking. What?!?!? One mile, or two thousand steps only burns one hundred calories?!?!?! That's a fraction of what I thought it would be!

I walked 141steps in my distracted effort to retrieve scissors, and if my high school algebra serves me, that translates into a whopping 7.5 calories burned. Since the chocolate chips contained far more calories than that, not to mention fat grams, I actually gained weight as a result of the added treat. So much for my theory. Forgetting things and running around like a chicken with its head cut off may increase calories burned, but being organized and not randomly eating chocolate chips is far more healthy...and less stressful.

Moving on to the recipe for the day, this salad was adapted from Cooking Light magazine since I never, ever, follow a recipe. My friends, Karen and Jeff tried it first and raved about it, so this is my version with ingredients altered to suit my taste. A great, colorful and healthful salad for a hot summer day. Oh, and don't forget the tomatoes, because I did. After I assembled the salad and took the photos, I turned around and there were my beautiful sliced tomatoes, sitting on the cutting board on the other side of the kitchen. What can I say... I burned 15 calories by walking over to get them.

Shrimp and Chicken Sausage Salad
Serves 3-4

1/2 pound lean chicken sausage, any flavor of your choice, cooked and sliced
1 lb. large shrimp, peeled, deveined
Sprinkle peeled shrimp with following spices and cook for about 2 minutes on each side until pink.
1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
dash of salt
In small jar mix together the dressing ingredients:
2-3 T. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. honey
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
pinch of salt and ground pepper
3-4 T. olive oil -extra virgin
Arrange vegetables of your choice on plate, then top with cooled shrimp and sausage, add dressing and enjoy. Vegetables: (I like a big salad so I don't list quantities - be creative, use what you like)
lettuce that has been rinsed and torn to bite-sized pieces
cherry tomatoes, cut in half
shredded carrots
whole-kernel corn, thawed from frozen or cooked fresh
diced green pepper
Avocado, peeled and sliced
Sweet onion or red onion, sliced

Potato Salad From The Princess

July 4th weekend without potato salad? Not where I come from.

In order for me to share a recipe for potato salad, I must share my lineage as the Princess of Potato Salad. My sisters may claim similar fame since our mom was officially the Queen of Potato Salad, but just for today, after creating my favorite variation of our traditional favorite, I am donning the crown.


Dijon and Dill Potato Salad


We learned from the best. Tart, yellow potato salad, served piled in large bowls, was a staple at every family function in my childhood home. I may exaggerate occasionally, but this is not an exaggeration at all... we had potato salad for every gathering for as long as I can remember. The type of salad never varied, it was always traditional yellow mustard salad with hard cooked eggs, celery, onion, and dressed with Miracle Whip dressing, back in the day. Although certainly enjoyed my many,  most likely why I can't get near a jar of Miracle Whip today. I did try to encourage adding other ingredients occasionally, spices, herbs, more vegetables, but the Queen of Potato Salad's response usually was, "Why would you want to do that? Everyone likes it the way it is."
I think the only inroad I ever made was with the addition of chopped pickles, but I enjoyed the small victory.

Mom chose the bowl by the number of people expected at the meal. Medium sized brown stoneware bowl was adequate for six to eight hungry adults. Grandma's white bowl with the big red dots, which I believe every grandma in the Midwest owned in the 50s, was reserved for special potato salads serving eight to ten. And on the rare occasion when the number of eaters required putting a leaf in the dining room table and perhaps setting up the card table for "the kid's", one of my sisters or I would hear, "You better get out that big, brown stoneware bowl." We would reply cautiously, knowing how heavy it would be when full of potentially ten pounds of cooked potatoes plus added ingredients, "The big bowl? Really, do you think we need the big bowl? It's kind of hard to get out of the cabinet, and then when it's full...well...will there be a man here who can carry it to the table? I suppose two of us could carry it."

Back then, depending on the size of the group, mom boiled whole potatoes, five to ten pounds at a time, heating an already hot and humid, mid-west summer kitchen to the point where windows would steam over and a lovely, russet-scented sauna filled the room.

The potatoes were then cooled and had to be peeled and diced, which took forever. White vinegar was splashed on the still warm, diced spuds, to make sure they soaked up the tart flavor. One of her secrets to a non-bland salad, was getting as much flavor into the potatoes while still warm, as possible.

The only way the salad differed was by occasionally decorating the top. A hard cooked egg, tomatoes or a few sliced radishes were saved to garnish the top of the bowl. Paprika sprinkled over it for color, of course, and it was ready to put in the fridge until company arrived. Nothing fancy, just an added touch of color and showing a bit of pride in creating something that everyone enjoyed.

The recipe I'm sharing with you today is a variation and includes everything I love in potato salad. I use red potatoes and don't peel them, saving time and nutrients found in the skin. It's best to make it a day or at least a few hours before serving to make sure the ingredients are well acquainted and flavorful.

The key to good potato salad is the basic ingredients, vary the quantities to your taste. Be creative, if you don't like mayonnaise, use low-fat sour cream or yogurt or a combination of the two. Use red onions if you prefer, chopped pickles instead of relish.

Potato Salad with Dijon and Dill

6 medium to large, red-skinned potatoes, washed well, spots removed and cut into 1" cubes.
To a large pot of well salted water, add the cubed potatoes and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium high and cook covered, just until tender. Don't overcook or the peels will fall off.
Put potatoes in large bowl and while warm, splash with 2 T. white vinegar.

Add remaining ingredients and mix well
4-5 green onions, chopped
2 T. fresh minced dill weed  (not seed) ( or 2 tsp. dried)
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup sweet pickle relish or more to taste
4 hard cooked eggs, peeled and diced
salt and pepper

Mix together well and toss with ingredients in bowl - don't over mix into mush.
2 T. Dijon mustard
1 T. sugar
1/2 cup of olive oil mayonnaise
1/2 cup low fat sour cream

Sprinkle with paprika, decorate with an additional hard-cooked egg, or other brightly colored vegetables! Refrigerate until chilled, a few hours at least.