The Govenor (no, not Arnold) ~ What's Oprah got to do with it?

Food - Have you been pondering how many ways you can cook hamburger? I thought so. I have the answer; it's 365. At least that's what the cook book I recently bought says. "365 Ways to Cook Hamburger."

One of the ways quickly grabbed my appetite. Olive Meat Loaf. I have adapted the recipe and made it into BBQ Olive Meat Loaf. BBQ - it's not just for summer anymore!

BBQ Olive Meat Loaf
Ingredients:
1 lb. hamburger
1 lb. ground lean pork (I used veal)
1 1/2 cups chopped olives
2 cups soft bread crumbs
1 cup cottage cheese
1 egg slightly beaten
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 Sm. can French's onion strings
BIG JAKE'S Hickory Honey BBQ Sauce http://www.big-jakes.com/

Mix all ingredients except BBQ sauce and onion straws. Place in a greased loaf pan, top with BBQ sauce and sprinkle with onion straws. Bake for 1 hr at 350 degrees. Serves 8.

Dish - It's here! Winter that is. For those of us who live in the great state of Minnesota, we got our 1st "real" glistening of snow fall on Friday, December 4Th, just in time to slide into the Christmas Holiday Season. Those old North winds really began to blow as Mother Nature so kindly gifted us with flurries galore. The actual accumulation did not break any records, mind you, a mere 2" in all. It added just enough pure white snow to cover the yards, streets and driveways. (Some would point out that the dusting is nothing more than a nuisance; as the "chore" of shoveling is now needed, a chore mind you that some people say is about as dumb as picking up dog poop.) I say let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! (I don't own a dog, and I like shoveling.)

I feel like I am Dorthy in the Wizard of Oz. I put on a pair of UGG boots, clicked my heels together twice and repeated the wish: Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! And, It magically appeared! (Over the weekend we ended up getting up to 8-10 inches.) Oh, if it were only that easy to get the things we wished for we would all be changing our names to Dorthy.

I, myself, think the snow is beautiful! If you were not in the Christmas Spirit, this blanket of snowfall will surely help you get in the mood. Even, Scourge, himself would not be able to deny the beauty, splendor, wonder, and innocence that this pure white snow brings to this Magical Season!

OPRAH On OPRAH ~ "I'm embarrassed," she writes in the next issue of O magazine on shelves December 16Th.

"I'm embarrassed," she writes. "I can't believe that after all these years, all the things I know how to do, I'm still talking about my weight. I look at my thinner self and think, `How did I let this happen again?"

Ms.Foodie on OPRAH: I said to myself; self, why does this sound so familiar? Haven't I heard this somewhere before? I know - my very own mother has said those same words all of her life! As I listened to all the "talk" on the radio today about OPRAH Winfrey, I had a "Ah-ha - Dawned" on me moment. I now know why I don't like fad-diets! My mother spent most of her adult life on one fad-diet after another. The grapefruit diet, cabbage soup diet, banana diet, Atkins diet, high fiber diets, no carb diet, juicing, fasting, Weight Watchers, etc... I hate to say, my Mother is still overweight (sorry Mom.) Which proves diets don't work!

Good thing because I never done deprivation very well. I have never been good at giving anything up, at least things I love, that is. I lack the discipline needed to cut out - FOOD.

It was years of Yo-yO-InG ago, that OPRAH Winfrey shed enough weight (67 lb.s to be exact) that she brought a wagon full of butter on stage to symbolize all the "fat" she had lost. Only to mutter these words: "I had literally starved myself for four months - not a morsel of food," Winfrey recalled in 2005. "Two hours after that show, I started eating to celebrate - of course, within two days those jeans no longer fit!"

Now - her goal isn't to be thin. Her goal is to be the weight her body can hold (that's a scary thought, hasn't it been able to hold up to 237 lbs. before?) —to be strong and healthy and fit, to be itself. Her goal is to learn to embrace her body and to be grateful every day for what it has given me.

The answer to this weighted problem is as obvious as the nose on our face: moderation and exercise. But we ALL know how simple that is to say and how hard it is to do. We can do it for a day, a week, a month, heck even a year - sometimes - until "Mr./Mrs. Nasty" rears it's ugly mouth and wants to eat everything in sight! Soon we have lost our drive to exercise and the pounds start packing on. And we, too, find our selves asking: how did this happen? I really don't think we need an answer to that question - we all know the truth - even Oprah knows. We just want to send this question out into the cosmic void hoping a different answer will come back to us.

I truly believe that every one's body has a set weight it wants to be at and no matter how hard one tries to be a different size, we always end up back at our target weight. One of the problems with this target weight is the target keeps moving, it gets higher as we get older. (my aim sucks.)

Maybe by Oprah embracing her body and being grateful for what it has given her, she can move on and love herself for who she is, not how thin she is. It should be about health, not size. I'm just glad she decided to wait until after the 1st of the year to start!
(Maybe Oprah could get her exercise today by walking over to the Governor's office and whip him into shape. If anyone can do it, Oprah can!)

http://www.oprah.com/article/omagazine/200901_omag_oprah_weight

Do you think our society places to much "weight" on our body size?

Embellish - Where there is no struggle, there is no strength. ~ Oprah Winfrey