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Your BIRTHDAY TREE
December's gemstone is Turquoise. the symbol of Innocense  - Flower is the Narcissus
January's gemstone is _ - the symbol of Truth - Flower is the _

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DAYS OF NOTE

http//langa.com/newsletters/2005/2005-02-14.htm#7

In an attempt to get more of our chatters involved in our newsletter and to make it more interesting, we are adding several new columns. I'd love to see a gardening column if that's an area of expertise for any of you. Please get together with me if you have other ideas or if you're willing to do a column!

COOKING ON THE WILD SIDE Recipes and more    ...by Wildchild.

There are two submissions, one for December and one for January.  Enjoy these great recipes!!

 Merry Christmas and Happy New Years! I hope that everyone had a wonderful time of both. I thought I would give you some more diabetic tips and recipes. I hope you like them. The main dish one Lemon chicken is very good I have tried it before with rice. Then we have a side dish and dessert. I hope that you all enjoy them. By the way you can find these and many more recipes on www.splenda.com. Please remember to send all recipes household hints and cleaning tips to cookingonthewildside@yahoo.com. Thanks and have a wonderful 2006. Until next time remember to keep cooking on the wildside.
 
wildchild

PS: I also added the exchange values too.
Send your recipes and Helpful household tips to cookingonthewildside and keep cooking on the wildside.

Lemon Chicken  1 tsp. Cornstarch 1 Tbsp. Low Sodium Soy Sauce 12 oz. Chicken Breast Tenders, cut in thirds 1/4 cup Fresh Lemon Juice 1/4 cup Low Sodium Soy Sauce 1/4 cup Fat Free Chicken Broth 1 tsp. Fresh Ginger, minced 2 cloves Garlic, minced 1 Tbsp. SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granular 1 tsp. Cornstarch 1 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil 1/4 cup Red Bell Pepper, sliced into 2-inch strips 1/4 cup Green Bell Pepper sliced into 2-inch strips  Mix 1 tsp. cornstarch and 1 Tbsp. soy sauce in a small mixing bowl. Add sliced chicken tenders. Place in refrigerator and marinate for 10 minutes. Stir the lemon juice, 1/4 cup soy sauce, chicken broth, ginger, garlic, SPLENDA® Granular and 1 tsp. cornstarch together in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Heat oil in a medium frying pan. Add chicken and cook over medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes or until just done. Add sauce and sliced peppers. Cook 1-2 minutes more or until sauce thickens and peppers are slightly tender. Serve with rice or Asian noodles. Exchanges Per Serving 1/2 Carb, 3 Very Lean Meat This recipe, when compared to a traditional recipe, has a 41% reduction in calories, a 59% reduction in fat, a 31% reduction in carbohydrates and an 80% reduction in sugar!    1 1/2 cups Hellmann's® Low Fat Mayonnaise Dressing* 1/3 cup SPLENDA® Granular 3 Tbsp. Vidalia Onion, (or other sweet onion) finely chopped 2 tsp. Lemon Juice 1 Tbsp. White Wine Vinegar 11/4 tsp. Celery Seed 3/4 tsp. Salt 1/4 tsp. Black Pepper 8 cups Classic Cole Slaw Cabbage Mix (1 Bag) 1/2 cup Carrots, cut into match sticks or shredded Whisk all ingredients except cabbage mix and carrots in large bowl. Add coleslaw mix and carrots. Refrigerate for at least two hours. Mix and serve cold. Dietary Exchanges: 2 vegetable This recipe when compared to a traditional Coleslaw recipe represents a 77% reduction in calories, 88% reduction in total fat, 100% reduction in cholesterol and a 63% reduction in total carbohydrates.   Topping 1/2 cup Flour 2 Tbsp. Dark Brown Sugar 1/4 cup SPLE NDA® Granular 1/4 tsp. Cinnamon 1 pinch Nutmeg 4 Tbsp. Cold, Unsalted Butter, cut into pieces Filling 4 Large Macintosh or other tart apples 3 Ripe Bartlett or Anjou Pears 2 Tbsp. SPLENDA® Granular 3 Tbsp. Apple Juice Concentrate Preheat the oven to 400° F. Lightly butter a deep 2 to 2½ quart baking dish. Set aside. Prepare topping. Pour flour, brown sugar, SPLENDA® Granular, cinnamon and nutmeg into a medium mixing bowl. Stir well. Add butter and mix with an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, until the topping is crumbly or sandy in texture. Set aside. Prepare filling. Peel, core and thickly slice the apples and pears. Place them in the buttered baking dish. The fruit should be at least 2½ inches deep in the pan. Add more fruit, if necessary. Add SPLENDA® Granular and apple juice concentrate. Toss until coated. Cover with the topping. Bake in the preheated oven 40-50 minutes or until fruit is tender and the topping has browned. Serving suggestion: Serve warm with low fat vanilla frozen yogurt.   Exchanges Per Serving: 1 starch, 1 fruit, 1 fat This recipe, when compared to a full fat, full sugar version, has a 20% reduction in calories, a 32% reduction in fat, a 14% reduction in carbohydrates and a 32% reduction in sugar!

iHappy 2006 Chat Friends, I hope that everyone has a wonder year this year. Thanks to Puriel for sending this recipe in to NOLady we greatly appreciate it. It sounds great. Also the other recipe is my Dad's Vegetable Soup recipe its simple and easy and great for a cold winter day. Please remember to send all recipes and helpful household tips to cookingonthewildside<a>yahoo.com.  wildchild   Creamed Chicken and Biscuits 1/2 large onion 1 1/2 teaspoons butter 4 cups chopped cooked chicken 1 (10 3/4-ounce) can cream of chicken soup 1 cup sour cream 1/2 cup milk 1/2 cup chopped pimiento 1 cup shredded mild cheddar cheese    divided 6 frozen biscuits thawed   Preheat over to 350. Grease the bottom and sides of an 11x7 inch baking dish. Chop onion. Heat butter in a small nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until melted. Saute onion until tender. Combine onion, chicken, soup, sour cream, milk and pimiento in a medium bowl and mix well. Spoon mixture into prepared baking dish. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven. Sprinkle baked layer with 3/4 cup of the cheddar. Arrange biscuits in single layer over top. Sprinkle with remaining cheddar. Return to oven and bake until biscuits are golden brown and the sauce is bubbly, about 20 minutes longer. Serve hot! ---------------- Note: I can't eat onions so I've left those out. Plus I'm not fond of pimientos so I put cooked carrots in place of those. I chop one large carrot up and cook it in some water until tender. Then I add that in with all the other stuff when it's time to combine. We love it this way. One more thing is I cut down on the number of biscuits to 4 in one of those small square glass baking dishes. Since we only have dinner for 2. It's awesome and works out fine. Dad's Vegetable Soup Cook Meat on top of stove in enough water to cover it and let cool or keep left over meat from dinner from the night before. We use Roast Beef the most. We have used deer meat also. Ingredients Cans are 15 oz Size 1 can of corn 1 can of green beans 1 can of peas 2 can's of Veg All 1 can of tomato's whole or diced either one 1 small can of tomato sauce Now easy part dump all cans into water that meat was cooked in and let cook for about 30 minutes then dice couple potatoes and put in handful of macaroni and hand full of rice. If you like a bit of spice dad would cut up some hot peppers and put in  it also. Cook till potatoes are tender and enjoy

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MOVIES                 Movie Reviews

No movie reviewer right now.  Want to volunteer? Write to the editor at newsletter@starlink-irc.org

THE BOOK NOOK         Book Nook by Lorellei

Suggestions and comments .. submit them to the newsletter with Book Nook in the subject line.

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If you have a book you'd like reviewed, send an email with the subject "For Book Nook"; we're glad to have suggestions! If you'd like to review a book yourself, let us know. It's good to have fresh viewpoints!

PETS AND PESTS         Critters   by Momma

If you have questions, interesting facts or suggestions, other notable news concerning pets and pests, please submit them to the newsletter with Pets and Pests in the subject line

On Dec.21 of 2005, Diamond Pet Foods issued a recall of certain brands of dog and cat foods due to reports of several dozen dogs becoming ill. They feared that the pet foods might have been contaminated with Aflatoxin. Aflatoxin is a naturally occurring toxic chemical by-product from the growth of the fungus Aspergillus flavus, on corn and other crops. The fungus develops on crops during years with severe high temperature stress and drought.  By Dec. 23, it was confirmed that 3 dogs had died from ingesting Aflatoxin, and that it came from the plant in Gaston, SC. Unfortunately the animal death total rose to 76 confirmed cases by Jan. 9, 2006. It has been suggested that the total could be even higher, but either not reported or misdiagnosed. The following is a list of brands that have been recalled, as well as a list of states where the recall has been in affect. Brands:

Diamond Low Fat Dog Food
Diamond Hi-Energy Dog Food
Diamond Maintenance Dog Food
Diamond Performance Dog Food
Diamond Premium Adult Dog Food
Diamond Puppy Food
Diamond Maintenance Cat Food
Diamond Professional Cat Food
Country Value Puppy
Country Value Adult Dog
Country Value High Energy Dog
Country Value Adult Cat Food
Professional Chicken & Rice Senior Dog Food
Professional Reduced Fat Chicken & Rice Dog Food
Professional Adult Dog Food
Professional Large-Breed Puppy Food
Professional Puppy Food
Professional Reduced Fat Cat Food
Professional Adult Cat Food

States:
Alabama Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Kentucky (eastern) Maine Maryland Massachusetts Mississippi New Hampshire New Jersey New York North Carolina Ohio Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina Tennessee West Virginia Vermont Virginia

I have checked with local vets in Ontario Canada, and although Diamond Pet Foods are imported to Canada, none of the tainted foods came here. Those in other countries that also import these brands should have a list as to what ones are being recalled. If you are unsure, then contact your vet.
South Carolina, as well as the US Federal government are investigating the animal deaths, as well as the conditions that lead to the contamination.

At the time all of this was taking place in the news, I personally was training with a large pet food company in pet nutrition. I have a fancy title, Pet Nutrition Sales Advisor. I did in fact train with a pet nutritionist form this large company, and I do advise on the store level.
Although it IS my job to promote this brand of pet food, that is not what I am doing here. I will however bring something to the reader's attention.

Cats and dogs are carnivores, they eat meat. When purchasing kibbled foods for your pet, you should be reading the labels, the same as you would when purchasing groceries for your children. Reading the amounts of protein, fibre and such is fine, but DO check ingredients to see where these levels come from.
Protein should be the FIRST ingredient, and that would be meat. Either chicken, beef or lamb. Meat by-products should not be the first ingredient. Neither should 'ground yellow corn', corn glutens, or wheat flours and glutens. These are fillers, and of very little nutritional value to your pet. These ingredients are why you are 'scooping' in the yard and litter box more often.

Your pet does need carbs, to help level blood sugars. These are in kibbled foods as processed cornmeal, etc., and should be much further down on the list of ingredients. As a pet owner, I thought I knew what I was feeding my dogs and cats. I fell for media ads that said I should feed a certain food for optimum health benefits. Isn't it strange how we will read labels for our own food consumption and not for our beloved four-legged family members? Just a thought.......

Thanks to Itsy for sharing these Wacky Laptop Tricks:
http://techrepublic.com.com/2300-10877_11-5844549-1.html

Also thanks to Itsy for sharing "A Marine Reports from Iraq"
http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.php?StoryID=20051121-093501-9601r

Windows flaw spawns dozens of attacksAttacks designed to exploit Windows Meta File flaw range from malicious spam to an MSN Messenger worm.

Whether it's lighthearted, serious, poignant, or just plain silly, send your contributios to the newsletter with LIBRARY in the subject line.

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