Mamita Restaurant - Exhibits my Paintings

 

 

 

A dozen or so of my most recent paintings are currently hanging in Saint Lambert's newest restaurant, Mamita.   Owner and chef, Carole Kingsbury has created a delightful yet simple restaurant offering a wide variety of homecooked meals.  The decor is relaxed and  "zen" - the perfect setting for my most recent collection of abstract and semi-abstract works. 

Located at 2001 Victoria Avenue, Saint Lambert (corner Simard) and open for breakfast and lunch daily, dinner Thursdays through Saturdays. 

 

 





A piano enhances the mood during evening meals, guests are welcomed to play as well.

 









Hope to see you there!

 

Thank you for stopping visiting My Turquoise Kettle Life today,

 

Wishing you a yummy day,

Sandra





Make your own whole wheat sugar free pita bread

Healthy Whole Wheat Pita Bread
(No Oil or Sugar)
Sandra King-Allikas

 Sometimes desperation forces me to take radical actions.  Such was the case when for the second week in a row I haven't been able to find my usual whole wheat pita bread.  I'm particular when it comes to my food (some would say picky). I don't want to eat sugar, white flour or ingredients that I wouldn't use in my own cooking.  I also don't especially like a list of ingredients that says it may contain something or it may not.  After reading the ingredients list of four other whole wheat pita bread packages I left without any.

But wait, this story has a very happy ending.  I found a recipe on line click here for recipe for Healthy Whole Wheat Pita Bread (No Oil or Sugar).  One batch yields 10 pitas (mine made 8) which is enough for an entire week.  In addition, this recipe was quick and easy but the best, best part is how delicious they taste.

I am no kitchen goddess, so when I say this was easy, you can be sure that it is really easy.

Thank you for stopping by My Turquoise Kettle Life today.

Wishing you a delicious day,

Sandra

Living Sugar Free - Dog and Man

In July I wrote about my decision to eliminate processed sugars and white flour from my meals. Sugar - Ending The Love Affair I was so unsure of my ability to avoid these ingredients that I felt very hesitant about sharing my plan on my blog.  Today marks exactly four months of sugar-free living.  I've noticed two side effects; the first is weight loss and the second is that an occasional dose of sugar leaves me feeling yucky, as though it is too sickly sweet now. 

Due in part to my own successful dietary change, I put our dog, Zack, on a reduced carb diet.  I wasn't aware of how um..."chunky" he had become until his last trip to the groomer.  His long fur had been concealing his slow-but-sure weight gain.  I gave away his dry kibble and began to feed him home-made dog food (cooked meatloaf consisting of  hamburger/eggs/rice).  Not surprisingly he loved the switch.  Today Zack weighed in at a 5.3% loss in body weight and I at 5.4%.

As with any significant lifestyle change, it helps to have a plan.  While I had done research and read other people's sugar-free lifestyle stories I didn't have a plan in place and made it up as I went along, experimenting with what I liked, what gave me enough energy and wasn't too much work.

It's helpful to assess what your family and friends reactions may be, if only to know where potential saboteurs may lie.  Fortunately my family has been amazing.  My husband is supportive of anything I undertake and the rest of my family has also been very understanding.  To celebrate my birthday this year my sister made chocolate fondue instead of chocolate cake ... that way most of the group enjoyed the chocolate while I loaded up on the plain fruit.  Now that is thoughtful. 

Here are some helpful links if you think that you or your pooch may benefit from living sugar-free.

http://homemadedogfood.com/

Dr. Lustig - Video - Is Sugar Poisonous?

Steve Nash on Living Sugar Free

Thank you for visiting My Turquoise Kettle Life today.

Wishing you a sweet day,

Sandra

Sugar.... ending the love affair.

I've hesitated all week about addressing this topic....shhhh... I haven't had any refined sugar or processed carbohydrates for the past 6 days.





raw sugar cubes

Several years ago my dad loaned me a book called "The Sugar Blues" authored by William Dufty. Frankly, I was shocked by the claims of the damage that sugar causes us. After a few weeks however, I comfortably let those nasty concepts slip right off of my radar screen. A few months ago a Youtube video of Dr. Lustig's lecture,  "Sugar, The Bitter Truth" , once more had me riveted by the idea of how much I might be able to improve my health and wellbeing by reducing/eliminating harmful sugars. (This lecture is 90 minutes long but I listened to it twice, the second time asking my husband to listen as well.) These reports are no longer shocking, at least they ought not to be, everyone seems to be aware of the dangers of high fructose corn syrup and other refined sugars on our health.

Why then did I hesitate? What exactly was I waiting for to motivate me to make this change, a health crisis? Hmmm. I'm not always the sharpest knife in the drawer but it finally dawned on me (ok ,by "finally" I mean after sampling way too many cookies and squares baked for the Women's Summer Studio during the past two months and a big dinner at Baton Rouge Restaurant followed by birthday cake last weekend) that I really want to reduce or eliminate harmful sugar from my diet.

No, I mean it! I really want to give up the sugar habit.

I read about other people's experience of eliminating sugar from their diet: the headaches, cravings, crankiness and fatigue. But I also read about how much better people felt after living sugar free.

I dove in without too much of a plan. The first casualty was my love affair with  Mr. Mini-Wheats. I guess you could say that the writing was on the box, once I realized that he wasn't good for me I was able to leave him on the shelf.   I read and re-read labels and allowed myself to fill up on fruit, oatmeal with unsweetened soy milk and lots of veggies, lentils and rice.


I wouldn't have thought myself capable of having lunch without a slice of bread (and I will look for an alternative to the bread I was using) but I haven't had or even craved bread since I began. Weird....that is all I can say... it’s weird. I don't crave the sugars; I haven't had a headache, felt weak, or crabby.

Today I'll visit the health food store and check out some alternative grains and I've made a longer than usual list of fruit and vegetable to stock up on. I really don't know if the cravings will suddenly begin, if my body and brain will read me the riot act and revolt. Who knows?  For now I'll carry on and I will keep you posted.

Thanks for stopping by My Turquoise Kettle Life today,

Wishing you a (naturally) sweet day,

Sandra