Very Hot & Humid Today

A day when sensible people don't go out for a walk.  But I did and it wasn't too bad.  But I was happy to get back into the house.  With the A/C running.

Our house is well insulated (now) and we have new windows which keep out ultraviolet rays.  So, even with one very small unit set on 74--the house is very, very comfortable.  The entire house.

I follow the summertime rules I learned from my mother.  All windows closed during the day and opened only after full dark at night.  All blinds and curtains pulled over the windows on the sunny sides of the house.  I don't have any curtains that can be pulled over windows.

Contrary to my mother's rules, I am making a full pot of Grandma Judy's Vegetable Soup from the Hollyhocks & Radishes cookbook.  Author is Mickelson.  I bought this cookbook at the old Senter's
Department Store (remember when these existed?) in downtown Brunswick just after the snow melted my first winter in Maine.  My mother served potato salad and sandwiches in the summer.  With a side of homemade refrigerator pickles.

The vegetable soup is usually started with 3 slices of bacon lightly fried in the large soup kettle.  But bacon isn't on the list.  So I subbed in some smoked paprika.  Since it's a nightshades test for the next three days we are supposed to pile on the nightshades.  Smoked paprika.  Diced red potatoes.  Two cans of diced tomatoes.  There is also green cabbage, carrots, onion, green beans and one yellow squash.  It's a very colorful and "pretty" soup.  Delicious with the bacon flavoring.

I made another batch of the pineapple, strawberry, mint and kale smoothie.  The pineapple was looking like it needed to be used up.  I have noticed the smoothie is a better breakfast choice than anything else.  Stays with me.

Yesterday I had some of G's white Jasmine rice with my grilled vegetables.  No bloating or gas.  Like I have when eating the healthier short grain brown rice.  It seems that eating "healthier" is sometimes not the best choice.  The Elimination Diet book recommends an overnight soak of the dry rice with some cider vinegar to make it more "digestible". How does that work???

I have some bananas on the counter and I have plans to make the Elimination Diet Banana Muffins later today.  No egg.  Brown rice flour.  Cider vinegar.  Coconut sugar.  Coconut oil.  If it is as awful as the cobbler topping-- that may be the last of the "baking" I do with their recipes.  I will be moving forward with my plans to make another rhubarb custard pie.  I did eat that a couple of times while on the Plan and it didn't bother me at all.  Wonder of wonders.  No rash and no weigh fluctuations. Wheat flour, white sugar and eggs.  Three of the Horsemen of Dietary Distress.

Okay--I am off to the remove the darts from yet another LL Bean shirt.