Daily Notes- Tuesday July 5th. Overcast. The forecast says 70's and rain later in the day.

 As I am working on something (cloth) Vegetative- I am collecting images of vegetables.  The beets in my garden out back- are not growing.  They went "so far" and then stopped at being 4 inches tall (the leaves).

I love beets.  When I was on the "some kind of Protocol Diet"- I made raw beet smoothies.  Very red.  Not very good. But I drank them.  I had been on steroids for an infection near my eyes and they (Steroids) had messed up my gut.  So I was making things like Ginger poached chicken broth and eating it with Rice Ramen Noodles.  It took weeks but the infection cleared up and my gut returned to normal.  Then I got a tick bite and an extremely high fever.  It was a Fun Summer.  And I was working 40 hours a week at the greenhouse. Spending lots of time in the bathroom. A River Ran Thru Me.

I also am reminded of the Banana Muffins.  Made with mashed banana and rice flour (no eggs, no oil).  Like eating baked banana sand.  But it was something to eat and I was starving for actual FOOD I could CHEW......  Dinner was sliced zucchini (thin shaved slices from stem to stern) fried till sort of crispy in a teaspoon of oil.   Every night.  I actually looked forward to dinner.

I survived.  My eyesight survived.  That's all that matters.   Did I lose weight?  No.

I do not recommend Raw Beet Smoothies to ANY of you.  Baked Beets?  Yes.  Rub olive oil on the washed and dried beets and then wrap each one in foil and set them on a sheet pan in the oven until easily poked with a meat fork.  350 or 400 degrees. Takes an hour or more depending on the size of the beets- I buy large ones.   Eat beets peeled and still warm with good olive oil and Balsamic vinegar. Salt and pepper.  Divine.  You can add fresh mozzarella along with the oil and vinegar like you would with tomatoes.  Just make sure you eat the beets warm. Later eat them cold if any are left........ I usually ate most of them as soon as they were baked.