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Made a Sam Sifton Mushroom lasagna yesterday for a family celebration on Saturday evening. Made a more traditional tomato-based lasagna with Impossible Burger meat, vegan sausages and lots of butter-sauteed mushrooms for freezing.

Went out to dinner at our local Italian place in celebration of our 20th wedding anniversary. Got home just as the wind and the rain set in.
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did not see the questions about my Spinach artichoke pasta dish. I used Spicy Italian sausage.
Tonight I am making Jambalaya and in case the younger grandkids don't want it I am making some Mac-n-cheese.
In the start of a winter storm...super cold, I came in from shoveling a bit ago so the Jambalaya will be good!
then it is baking and getting things ready for Sunday
Making my baking/cooking time line list. And I can get a dessert out of the way so the oven is freed up for other stuff.
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah and Happy Kwanza
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Made Swedish meatballs this morning for whenever our Xmas eve dinner will be. So I will have a few of those with a baked potato, haven't had one in ages! Mmmmm!
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On another front, dd and fam are having Christmas dinner with dgd's guy's family. No prob!

Dd texted me yesterday that sil will make their turkey and bring some over to me. I said thank you and can I have the carcass for soup too. They usually throw it out. Sacrilege! Love turkey soup!!! 🦃

My chicken soup was mainly broth and it gelled nicely so there was lots of protein in it. 😋 Some will go into the freezer and I will have a bowl of it for breakfast.
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glad - blueberry lavender Natural Kitchen Delight. I haven't bought any for a while. No idea where it is on the scale. It's not one of the ones that has been tested.

The reason for the heavy metals to be in chocolate - it's in the soil where the beans are grown.

"The  cadmium and lead are present in cocoa and chocolate due to soil and that bean cleaning during processing cocoa beans reduces lead and cadmium in chocolate products,”

https://www.pennlive.com/food/2022/12/heavy-metals-found-in-dark-chocolate-including-hersheys-product-consumer-reports.html#:~:text=%E2%80%9CAn%20expert%20investigation%20conducted%20through,chocolate%20products%2C%E2%80%9D%20it%20said.

Also from the same source

"Andrew Stolbach, a Johns Hopkins Medicine toxicologist, told NPR maximum allowable dose levels are set to be “very conservative” to account for people with higher risk due to their age and other medical conditions. The levels of lead and cadmium are not worrisome, especially when chocolate is consumed in moderate amounts, he added.

“The safety levels for lead and cadmium are set to be very protective, and going above them by a modest amount isn’t something to be concerned about,” Stolbach said.

Well, `that's a relief!!! 🍫 😋
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Beef, onion, black olive and cheese enchiladas served over a bed of lettuce, cilantro and green onions with homemade salsa.

Enough for leftovers, yay!
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97 yr old Mom - my first nephrologist told me to avoid the C's - chocolate, caffeine and citrus.
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I’m not cooking dinner. Going to eat vanilla yogurt with berries on top. Quick and easy!
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Golden has a special dark chocolate that she loves, maybe with blueberry in it? What is it that you like, Golden? Do you know where it is on the scale for cadmium and lead?

And what is the purpose of the cadmium and lead? Is there one?

https://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/22862-report-of-lead-in-chocolate-draws-confectionery-association-response#:~:text=The%20report%20found%20cadmium%20may,or%20cocoa%20genetics%20over%20time.
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Cwillie
I was glad to see you posted about the dark chocolate.

I have never really liked chocolate but have been eating an oz a day for the epicatechin to help lower uric acid. I was learning to enjoy it for the last couple of months along with a Brazil nut.

Then I saw the report that Trader Joe’s and Hershey’s had really high levels of the the lead etc.

“According to CR's findings, the safer choices are:

Mast Organic Dark Chocolate 80% Cocoa. CR found an ounce contained 14% less lead and 40% less cadmium than California's allowable limits.
Taza Chocolate Organic Deliciously Dark Chocolate 70% Cacao held 33% less lead and 74% less cadmium.
Ghirardelli Intense Dark Chocolate 86% Cacao contained 36% less lead and 39% less cadmium.
Ghirardelli Intense Dark Chocolate Twilight Delight. Lead contained was 61% below the allowable level and cadmium 96% below its allowable limit.
Valrhona Abinao Dark Chocolate 85% Cacao. Lead 63% and cadmium 73% below.”

I am now suffering with kidney stones and have recently read that dark chocolate is extremely high in oxalates … not so good for the kidneys.

Here is the link to the Consumer Reports article with all the numbers.

https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-safety/lead-and-cadmium-in-dark-chocolate-a8480295550/
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Golden,

R sounds like me! Variety is the spice of life! I have my favorites but I love trying new things.
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Sounds good to me. Any left over? }
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The cayenne was R's suggestion. We had collaborated about what spices to add. He says cayenne brings out other flavours. It really wasn't "hot" but it was very flavourful. Chocolate cayenne ice cream sounds heavenly. He once had a Bacon Maple Sundae at Denny's. It was a special. I couldn't have one with my allergies but I could have drooled over it. He enjoyed every spoonful!
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Golden.

That sounds fabulous! It’s interesting that you added cayenne. I like subtle underlying flavors in recipes.

We have a fantastic ice cream shop here, ‘The Creamery’ that makes delicious homemade ice creams. One of the flavors is chocolate with cayenne. I have had it and like it. My husband doesn’t try the unusual flavors and sticks to the traditional ones.
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Thank goodness I eat less than an ounce of dark chocolate at a time and not daily.

Need - I have added a ground up orange, peel and all, and heaps of spices nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and a some black pepper and a little cayenne to a basic chocolate cake. It was awesome!

Soup time again. I have 2 chicken carcasses so I boiled them this morning. Now they are cooling so I can get the meat off them. Then I will return the bones to the electric pressure cooker with some vinegar and spices to make the bone broth. After that remove the bones and add some veggies and later the meat. Should have chicken soup by suppertime.

DD says she is only eating fish, not chicken. Her food tastes and texture likes are still off following chemo. She really liked the fish soup. I will double order seafood my next lot of groceries and make one lot for her. It can be frozen in small batches so will last a while. I may switch some of it up into a chowder as well. She can use the extra calories.
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cw,

Dark chocolate is my favorite! I don’t want to hear bad news about it. LOL

Coffee and chocolate is so good together! Mocha ice cream is delicious! That was actually one my cravings when I was pregnant. That and citrus (I ate tons of oranges) and Chinese food! LOL 😆

I have read recipes that call for espresso in a chocolate cake. Haven’t tried it but it is supposed to bring out the chocolate flavor.
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They tested several brands ITRR and many are extremely high in lead or cadmium or both, and after reading the articles I'm left wondering about all the chocolate they didn't test. Yeah one chocolate bar isn't going to kill you but the effects of heavy metals are cumulative so people need to be aware. Just google heavy metals in dark chocolate to learn more.
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Cwillie, it's dark chocolate! I believe the reward is worth the risk.

Is it all dark chocolate or just Hershey Corporation?
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High levels of lead and cadmium in dark chocolate!!!😭
I'm looking at the small bar of Hershey's special dark I picked up yesterday (265% of the RDA for lead) wondering whether I should eat it, and remembering all the other chocolate I've already consumed.
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Send: Do you use DoorDash?
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Bird flu is an epidemic here, many have had to be killed. So chickens are in short supply, eggs hard to come by so prices higher, much higher. In fact a dozen eggs today were at $5.50. In this state, caged chicken eggs will no longer be sold in our grocery stores. Only free range eggs, making prices higher yet.
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Two rotisserie chickens from Costco were delivered and stored in the freezer for later shortages. Lunch was chicken and pumpkin pie.
They were not even cooking chickens yesterday so I called ahead.
They are just running out early. So still cooking what they get in the store.
Even bought a set of pyrex glass storage containers (was on my list) to put the larger pieces into. This is a very easy meal to have in the freezer.
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Hubs made chilli,, it was a good day for it and it was yummy. I'm taking some for lunch tomorrow!
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peanut butter and banana sandwich
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Dinner? Tonight? Maybe a can of tomato soup, tossed salad, and grilled cheese sandwiches. Something simple. The kids are all out - just me and my honey. But not yet. I’m taking a break from mixing cookie dough. First pan of soft molasses cookies going in soon. (DH is asleep in an armchair anyway)
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Burnt,

I am the same. I am not a vegetarian or vegan either. I enjoy meat, poultry, dairy and sweets in limited quantities.

I definitely don’t feel the need to eat meat and dairy daily. A plant based diet has plenty of protein.

A lot of people consume entirely too much meat, dairy, everything is smothered in cheese and cream based sauces and they include bread along with everything else on their plate. Bread doesn’t have to be served at every meal either. That’s way too much food for me.

I don’t even use a dinner plate. I eat my food on a ‘lunch’ sized plate.

I am amazed at salads served in restaurants. They have so much meat, cheese and salad dressing on them that they are no longer healthy. It seems like people have forgotten how to eat a salad made from mainly vegetables.

Moderation is the key. I didn’t grow up eating ‘seconds’ at meals. So, I suppose that was my foundation for eating healthy.

I eat to live. I don’t live to eat. When I do have a ‘treat’ I enjoy it. It’s a once in awhile thing for me.
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Burnt, do you eat kosher?

When we were in Israeli we learned what truly kosher was. I thought that would be very hard to accomplish in a home kitchen.
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@Sendhelp

I'm not vegetarian or vegan. I don't eat meat or dairy every day though. I limit it.
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@ BurntCaregiver,
Your Chickpeas soup does sound delicious!
I make meals like that in between eating steak so I guess I don't fit in anywhere in the vegetarian or vegan lifestyles.

By expressing my tastes, no offense to vegetarians or vegans was meant.
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Need: Yum on the brownies.
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