On New Year’s Day I cooked a big crock pot of black eyed peas.

The tradition of eating black eyed peas to bring prosperity in the New Year is well-known in the Southern United States. A quick Google search tells me that it is an international tradition. Some trace its roots to the Middle East and others to Africa.

I’m not superstitious about good luck practices – I just like black eyed peas. Since they are beneficial for Type As and Type Os, I cook them often. A holiday with a beneficial traditional food is certainly worth preserving.

I’ve never liked the Southern way of cooking black eyed peas. Even before I knew anything about nutrition, much less the Blood Type Diet, I winced at finding a chunk of pork fat in my peas. I cook them simply in the crock pot with a large chopped onion and two minced cloves of garlic.

The day after New Year’s I cooked Kasha. Buckwheat is beneficial for Type As and beneficial for Hunters, so it is a good grain choice for our household. I had never eaten buckwheat before the BTD. The first time I read the instructions I knew my family would not like it cooked soft like a cereal. The more appetizing instructions for making Kasha sounded complicated. It turned out to be remarkably easy and fast. I won’t waste blog space with what is written on the back of every buckwheat package, but I will say that if you do exactly what they say to do with the egg and the butter (or oil) in the skillet, you will have a fluffy grain dish.

By then, we were two days into 2012 and I had leftovers. So I made individual casseroles: A layer of kasha, a layer of black eyed peas, a layer of chopped turkey. I put a sauce of some kind on my husband's casserole. The combined flavors of kasha and black eyed peas was very good.

The next day I made casseroles again, this time with grilled onions and canned salmon. Another winner with compliments from my husband.

While this is likely to become our own New Year’s Tradition, there is no reason why we can’t enjoy black eyed peas and kasha any time of year.

My Wal-Mart has a big frozen fish section. I like it because they have wild caught* salmon for a very reasonable price. I began looking at the other types of fish they carry. I found tilapia – which I order in restaurants, but do not cook at home**. Sometimes Wal-Mart has whiting. This is a good choice for my family, so when it is available I stock up.

I also found swai. The package had a glowing description of a delicious and nutritious fish. It was not on the BTD food list I carry in my purse. That usually means a food is neutral, but I decided to do a little checking.

It turns out that swai is a river catfish that is native to Southeast Asia. Since catfish is avoid for both Type As and Type Os, I have was glad I hadn't bought any.

Interesting that the GTD says catfish is beneficial for Gatherers***. I don’t quite understand that, but since I default to the BTD, I’ll not be swai-ed.

* I wrote a blog a year or so ago after talking to the manager of a local fish market. He says that the legal definition of wild caught is tricky. It can mean that the fish are raised in a netted area in a river or ocean. They are sort of wild, but not free to escape. More important, they can be fed whatever the farmer wants to feed them in order to plump them up for market. So while I buy wild caught when I can afford it, I don’t really know it’s wild unless I catch it myself.

** Tilapia seems to always farm raised, which means lower than expected Omega 3s. That’s why I eat it in restaurants, but cook something else at home.

*** Grilled catfish is often on the menu in restaurants. Perhaps this would be a reasonable choice for the Gatherer half of me. However, I won’t be cooking catfish at home, either.

I think that every year at this time, I write a blog about this same topic. During the winter I eat fresh bananas, apples, pineapple, grapes and grapefruit. Most other fresh fruit is expensive in the winter, so I supplement with frozen blueberries, cherries and cranberries. I also buy some dried fruit like prunes, apricots, and figs. I have to be careful with dried fruit, because I have a tendency to eat way too much if I’m eating it right out of the bag. It’s better if I mix it with pumpkin or put it on top of a salad.

I love fruit, and when the summer fruit starts to come in, I am so excited. Watermelons are already red and sweet. I guess that is one good thing about a hot, dry summer. I pick the one with the brightest yellow spot to get a watermelon that is ripe.

Cherries are inexpensive this year. I wonder why. Are more people growing cherries, or is the economy so bad that people can’t afford them? I don’t know, but my Honorable Husband and I are eating lots of cherries.

My grocery store used to carry frozen guava. They discontinued it last winter to my disappointment, but they are carrying fresh guava this summer. The seeds in fresh guava are not nearly as annoying as the seeds in frozen guava.

Peaches are grown locally in the Hill Country. They have been so delicious, that I haven’t even bought a nectarine yet. HH and I have talked about going to an orchard and picking our own.

The price on blueberries, pears, and mangos has dropped. I wander the produce isle unable to resist the bargains. I there was protein in fruit, I would become a fruitarian for the summer. I’m getting as close as my Type O body can stand. Today’s lunch was a little bowl of salmon and collard greens accompanied by a big plate of watermelon and cherries. Ahhh, it was good.

Now that the weather is hot, the hiking club is tubing. Today was my first time to go. We are in a serious drought in my part of Texas. While other parts of the country are seeing storms of unprecedented strength, we are already under water restrictions. This does not usually happen until late July or August.

Because of the drought, there is no current in the rivers. Today, the wind was pushing us upstream about as fast as the current was taking us downstream. You probably think that is hyperbole, but it is not. We gradually drifted upstream with the wind, and had to paddle back to our starting point.

God is so good. When I thought I wanted a job, all of the doors were tightly shut. God knew that I would have as much as I could handle with family matters. Now that my parents’ house has sold, my work load is picking up. I am doing a 12 page annual report for a client. I’ve been up until 2 a.m. two nights in a row to meet my deadlines. (If your graphic designer doesn’t treat you as well, perhaps you need a new graphic designer. I just happen to know someone in Texas…)

Because of the late nights, I arrived at the river ready to relax. There were six of us tubing today. We floated around rather lazy like for an hour. Then I was ready for action. My muscles had been sitting in a computer chair for long enough. I told my friends I was going up river. No one volunteered to join me. They were having too much fun drifting and talking, but I had to get moving. I paddled upstream for a half mile or so. I saw a mother mallard with seven ducklings following her to the other side of the river. I saw fluorescent blue dragon flies. The sun was hot, and the water was cool.

By the time I paddled back to where we got in, everyone else was eating lunch. I had the same thing for lunch that I would have had today if I had stayed home. English peas with chicken and hummus. Parsnips with flax oil and cinnamon. If I had eaten at home, I would have said, “That was a good lunch.” But somehow when you eat outdoors after enjoying both total relaxation and a strenuous work out, the food just takes on incredible flavor.

Wow, I wanted to shout. This is a really great lunch!

Do you remember when you first heard about the BTD? If you were like me, as you read through the food list for the very first time there was a lot of emotion. Oh no! A favorite food is avoid. Ah Ha! I never liked that food, now I know why. Yuk! I never liked that, how can it be beneficial. I knew it! A favorite food is highly beneficial. And the best emotion of all - Yes!!!!! A food you thought would be avoid turns out to be beneficial.

Yes!! was the way I felt when I read that Club Soda and Seltzer Water were beneficial for Type Os. I had given up commercial soda years before when I became interested in nutrition and health food. You cannot read the ingredients and see all of the artificial flavors, preservatives and sweeteners and continue to convince yourself that commercial soda is in any way good for you. Then I discovered Knudson spritzers – which are basically club soda and fruit juice. My children called it fruit juice with fizz. I bought a lot whenever it was on sale and kept it in the pantry. Their friends thought it odd that we didn’t have Coke and Dr. Pepper, but they had to admit that fruit juice with fizz tasted pretty good.

I have recently found a few other brands of soda that I trust, and that I think stack up well with the BTD. Here is my list of sodas from the very worst to the best.

Commercial diet soda – I would take my chances with dehydration before I would drink anything with NutraSweet or aspartame.

Commercial soda – It’s BTD avoid and common sense avoid as well. Too many artificial ingredients, too much sugar.

Health brands of soda – I salute several companies for trying to make a healthy soda, but there is still way too much sugar in all of the brands I have looked at.

Health brands of soda with sucralose (Splenda) – I buy Hansen’s Diet Soda. Though I’m not wild about anything artificial, sucralose has been thoroughly studied and there just isn’t any scientific evidence against it. It tastes sweet, but it is not absorbed by your body. It passes right on through, unmetabolized. It is unrated on the BTD, so for now it is neutral.

Health brands of soda with "sugar alcohol" sweeteners like xylitol and erythritol. I am actually enthusiastic about this sweetener. It is not artificial. It does not raise blood sugar. Xylitol has a positive effect on dental health. Zevia is a brand of soda that uses erythritol. It used to be expensive, but the price is coming down.

Fruit juice spritzers like my old favorite Knudson. There is nothing artificial here. Just fruit juice and fizz.

Club soda and fruit juice. Make your own soda! This is the least expensive and best option for Type Os. Club Soda is beneficial. When you add beneficial fruit juices (pineapple, cherry) or flavors (ginger) you have a refreshing drink that is totally beneficial.

Saturday brought two exciting events – DD’s graduation and the wedding of DD’s roommate. Watching DD walk the stage to receive her diploma in the afternoon and walk the aisle as her roommate’s bridesmaid in the evening made for an exciting day.

This wedding reception was the best I’ve been to in years. Let me try to explain what I mean by best. I am deeply concerned about what weddings and wedding receptions have become in our culture. I enjoy the pageantry of a “royal wedding” and the food at a gourmet reception as much as anyone. My concerns are in two areas.

The first is what could be called the princess attitude – or less kindly bridezilla. It is the expectation that the wedding day is all about the bride and her desires and glory. That is the antithesis of what I believe about what a wedding ought to be. A wedding is a couple saying vows before God and their friends. It takes seriously “What God has joined together, let not man separate.” It is the beginning of covenant relationship – not self glorification for a day.

My second objection comes from my deep conviction that debt is dangerous. I understand from friends that a rather ordinary wedding today can cost from $30,000 up. I have had friends tell me their frustration at still paying off credit card bills from a child’s wedding long after the marriage has ended in divorce. Elaborate meals served at fancy receptions make up a large part of the high price of a modern wedding. While I enjoy every bite of prime rib served at wedding receptions, I cringe at the expense that the new couple or their family incurs. If they have the money and want to spend it that way, it is their right and privilege. But all too often they are spending money they don’t have to impress family and friends or to live up to some cultural standard.

DD’s roommate did not fall into either cultural trap. The wedding ceremony focused on their commitment to God and to each other from the first song to the exit of the wedding party. The reception was held in the fellowship hall of the church. To my delight, the food was simple and healthy. They had two serving tables filled with fruit, nuts, cheese and crackers. There was a delicious apple salad made with chopped nuts. There were fresh blueberries, strawberries, and pineapple. There were dates that were the largest and juiciest I have ever tasted. There were bowls of almonds and pistachios as well as platters of cheese. I stayed away from the aged yellow cheeses, but I did taste and enjoy several white cheeses.

On each of the serving tables were several drink choices in large clear jugs. There was cucumber water, orange water, lemon water, and tea. There were wedding cake and little tarts. The food was healthy, delicious, and friendly on the budget.

It was a beautiful and happy occasion not because of all the money they spent or because the bride got to be princess for a day, but because their marriage is getting off to a good start.

One moment my Honorable Husband and I were at home alone, the next moment the house was full. DD and her boyfriend arrived from one direction, SS arrived from the other. DD & I were in the kitchen cooking. Laughter bubbled up from the living room.

I had asked both kids to request favorite foods. SS wanted butternut squash soup. DD wanted quiche and salmon croquettes.

I wish I could tell you that I make the butternut squash soup that SS likes from scratch, but I don’t. I can get low sodium butternut squash soup from Pacific Natural Foods at my grocery store. I think the first time I bought it I found one avoid down at the bottom of the ingredient list. It was not significant enough to deter me from buying the soup again. My husband, son and I love it.

DD’s boyfriend is Type O, so one night before SS had to go back to work, I made lamb with stir fried asparagus and sweet potato fries. I seasoned the asparagus with Mrs. Dash’s no salt seasoning and it was delicious.

Quiche is a joke in my family. Back in the 70s there was a book called “Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche." HH took that literally and refuses to eat quiche. DD and I get around the difficulty in semantics by baking egg pie. You may remember that for Easter in 2008, she and I created an egg pie recipe for a brunch at church. I haven’t made it in quite a while, and I was so glad DD thought of it. I had some Buddy’s sausage (made with chicken and no nitrites). It was perfect in the pie.

The simplest and most surprising thing I cooked at Spring Break was okra. We got home one late one afternoon from an excursion and I was scrambling to cook a quick and healthy dinner. I sent DD and her boy friend to the freezer to find a vegetable. They came back with okra. HH likes okra and tomatoes, but he doesn’t really care for plain okra. There was no time to cook the okra properly. For some reason I thought of a jar of marinara sauce that I had in the pantry. Classico Tomato & Basil sauce has no preservatives, no sugar, and no corn syrup. It is made with olive oil. I poured half a jar over the okra and started it cooking. Oh my, it was delicious. I will make okra this way again.

I have made salmon croquettes several times, and have never been completely satisfied with them. This time I read half a dozen recipes. I borrowed a little from one and a little from another. The result was the best salmon croquettes I have ever tasted. Of course I will share the recipe with you.

1 can salmon
2-3 eggs
1 tsp Braggs Amino Acids (you can substitute Tamari sauce and or lemon juice)
chopped onion
½ tsp garlic powder
2-4 Tablespoons rice flour

Sauté onion in ghee or oil. Mix salmon, eggs and Braggs. Add onion. Add seasonings. Add flour 1 Tbsp at a time until salmon mixture is mushy but not watery. Form into patties and fry in light olive oil in a skillet on the stove.

The secret it that the patties be mushy when you start cooking them. If they are firm at the beginning, they will be too dry when they are done.

I have had children in school for 21 years. About half way through Spring Break it dawned on me that this is my last school holiday as a parent. DD is finishing her senior year in May. I am rapidly approaching the end of an era.

Christmas Eve was wonderful. My Darling Daughter and I have been cooking for two days. We had turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, green beans and cranberries. We made pumpkin pie using ground pecans as a crust. We also made our fruit cake, which even my husband admits is as good as Collin Street Bakery’s, though it is 100% wheat free.

One year DD and I made dressing using flax bread and spelt biscuits. This year, she suggested we try flax bread and grated zucchini. We used all of the traditional seasonings. I liked it, but when our Strong Son went back for a large second helping, I knew it was a true success. DD has switched from soy milk to almond milk, so I made the sweet potato casserole using her almond milk. I didn’t want to top it with marshmallows, but I sprinkled turbinado sugar on top - just a little sweetness and crunch. I think it was the best sweet potato casserole I’ve ever eaten.

We had our dinner at lunch time. The plan was to take a long family walk afterwards, but while we were eating a norther blew in, pelting the house with frigid rain. DD, SS and I went to the neighborhood fitness center and worked out there.

The evening Candlelight Service at Church was beautiful. We sang lots of my favorite Christmas Carols.

This poem came in a Christmas card from one of my friends. I share it as my Christmas greeting to each of you on the BTD and/or GTD.

If you look for me at Christmas,
You won’t need a special star.
I’m no longer just in Bethlehem,
I’m right there where you are.
You may not be aware of Me,
Amid the celebrations.
You’ll have to look beyond the stores,
And all the decorations.
But if you take a moment,
From your list of things to do,
And listen to your heart, you’ll find
I’m waiting there for you.
You’re the one I want to be with,
You’re the reason that I came.
And you’ll find Me in the stillness,
As I’m whispering your name.
Love, Jesus

When I first read that quince was beneficial for both Hunters and Teachers, I said, “What is a quince?” I learned that they are shaped sort of like an apple, but they are smaller and harder. They smell sort of like a pear, but they aren’t as sweet.

I asked the produce manager at the grocery store. He said that they did carry quince, but only for a limited time in the fall. I watched for them, but never saw one until this year. I was excited to try a new beneficial, and I bought two.

I found a website that showed a couple of ways to cook and eat them. I tried one method on the first quince. It was ok, but certainly not as immediately enticing as most other beneficial foods are.

This might have ended my interest in quince, but DD had also bought some. She cooked hers a different way in her college apartment, and said she liked it. So, when she got home for Christmas break, I watched her cook my second quince.

She pealed the quince and cut out the core. She put it in a covered sauce pan with one can of undrained pineapple chunks and simmered them together at a low temperature for a long time - probably an hour. The quince was done when it turned pink. The first day I added pineapple/quince to my regular breakfast mix along with a banana. Today I ate the last of the quince with cherries. I liked it.

I read that at one time every farm had a quince tree. They were used for making jelly because they had a high pectin contest. They were also mixed with other fruits in pies. I was left with the impression that since they could easily be grown on a local farm, they were used to stretch other fruits that were store bought. That is certainly how they worked best in my breakfast. Alone they were just ok. Mixed with other fruit they taste good.

I classify quince as a "high maintenance" food. It is moderately expensive. It is time consuming to prepare. It does not taste good alone, though it is good when mixed with other fruits. Because it is a health building beneficial, I'll buy a couple each fall. But I don't like them enough to consider planting a quince tree in my yard.

There are lots of clichés about a woman’s prerogative to change her mind.

I’ve changed my mind about mayonnaise. It wasn’t long ago that I wrote a blog about the grape seed mayonnaise called Vegenaise. There are still things I like about the ingredients, and I’m going to finish the jar I have without any qualms at all.

However, my reading this week has had me so focused on Omega 3s, that I’m going to go back to cold processed canola mayonnaise. That looks to me like the best source of Omega 3s among the various mayonnaise brands.

The real advantage of grape seed oil seems to be for cooking. I use light olive oil when I cook, and will continue to do so, because the BTD and the GTD classify it as beneficial for Type Os and Type As.

Mayonnaise is a product that I use sparingly, because there is always an avoid somewhere near the bottom of the ingredient list. When I am cooking for myself, I often leave out the mayo and use olive oil or flax oil. But some things just taste better with mayonnaise. When I am preparing food for guests, mayo is often required. Cold processed canola mayonnaise looks like the lesser of evils. But if something better comes along, I reserve the right to change my mind again.

I have nudged my Honorable Husband toward the BTD for years. He eats what I serve him, and usually takes my advice in restaurants, so he has been pretty close to a Type A diet without much effort or thought on his part. I knew at the beginning that if I pushed too hard he would resist, so some things I have left alone, respecting his preferences and his comfort zone.

He is changing. As he has gone into retirement, and particularly as we watch our friends face increasingly serious health problems, he is asking more questions.

Sunday we had lunch with friends at Chili’s. I like Chili’s because they will give me a hamburger with broccoli instead of French Fries without any fuss. I get a side order of black beans for me and a take out box for the bun. Sometimes I make HH a turkey sandwich with the bun the next day; sometimes I put it in the freezer and feed it to the ducks.

We were eating with our Type O doctor friend who for years was totally convinced that a very low fat diet was best. You have met her in my blog several times. She has come to recognize her need for essential fatty acids, but she is still rightly worried about the danger of hydrogenated vegetable oils and trans fats.

Before she ordered, she asked our server what kind of oil they used at Chili's. The server was clueless, but went to the kitchen to find out. The answer was that they use 100% vegetable oil, so MD decided on a salad.

She asked what oils I used. I said that flax oil was the best source of Omega 3s, but that it is not a good cooking oil, so I cook with either ghee or light olive oil. She asked what I thought about canola, and I said that it was a neutral choice and certainly better than corn oil or coconut oil. She wasn’t familiar with flax oil, and I said that I had started using flax oil on my salads instead of extra virgin olive oil.

We were in a lively discussion and I had no idea that HH was paying any attention. Suddenly he chimed in with “Do you give me that flax oil?” It caught me off guard. I said “No, because you always want salad dressing.” He said, “If flax is that good for you, give me half salad dressing and half flax oil.” MD was laughing hysterically.

Last night I gave HH a salad with half salad dressing and half flax oil. He said he couldn’t taste any difference and said to keep making his salads that way. I am delighted to do so, but I am still recovering from the shock.

First impression: What was God thinking when he made a pomegranate? Seriously, you cannot cut into this fall fruit and believe in evolution. The pomegranate didn’t just happen. Someone with an imagination created it.

Second impression: Do not attempt to eat a pomegranate without instruction. My sister, who lives in Europe, has talked about how much they enjoy pomegranates. When I bought my first one this fall, I emailed her and asked how to eat it. She told me to look it up on the internet. What?!? How complicated can eating a piece of fruit be? She was right. I looked at several internet sites but liked this one the best.
How to eat a pomegranate
If you cut into a pomegranate without knowing what to expect, you will make a mess and probably throw the whole thing in the trash.

Third impression: Delicious. I ate the seeds with a spoon. There was a burst of sweetness, followed by a satisfying crunch. I kept them in a covered container, eating a few spoons every night as I cooked dinner. One pomegranate lasted four days.

This pomegranate did bring back some of my frustration with the differences between the GTD and the BTD. On the GTD, pomegranates are black dot for Hunters, and toxic for Gatherers, Teachers, and Warriors. That sounds like they would be bad for my family of Type Os and Type As. However on the BTD pomegranates are neutral for both Type Os and Type As. They are rated Superbeneficial for Type Os on Dr. D's Cancer Prevention Diet.

I decided that I would consider them a beneficial food for my son and myself. I probably won’t give them to my husband and daughter.

A reader, frustrated by cooking cod and having it turn out too dry, asked how I cooked frozen cod. I have the same problem when I buy thin cod fillets at the grocery store; they often come out dry.

I have the best results with cod loins, which I can only buy at a wholesale store like Sams or Costco. I do not thaw them. I put the frozen cod loins in a glass baking dish, top them with seasoning, and bake them at 350 degrees. I watch through the oven window for the juices that cook out of the cod. When the edges of the juice start to turn golden brown, I test for flakiness. The moment the cod flakes all the way through, I take it out of the oven.

When I’m in a hurry, I use a no-salt seasoning like Mrs. Dash or Spike on cod. When I have more time, I like topping cod with fresh foods – onions, celery, lemon, pineapple, whatever I have in the house.

***Basma added a comment about cooking fish in a pan vs in the oven. Make sure you scroll down to the bottom and read how she cooks fish***

The cod question reminded me that my husband asked me if we ate much tilapia. He had heard a news report about tilapia being dangerous. I spent some time doing internet searches about tilapia safety this morning. I am no expert, so do your own searches, but this is a summary of what I found.

Most tilapia is farm raised in China. The Director of Food Safety at the University of Georgia went to China to inspect fish farms, and found to his horror that they were feeding tilapia human and animal excrement. The fish were given a big dose of antibiotics prior to being prepared for market. This report is evidently several years old.

Some more recent reports indicate that China has made an effort to “clean up” their fish farms. I can’t tell whether this is advertising/marketing talk or whether they have really made significant changes.

Equally alarming is that people buy tilapia thinking that it is a less expensive way to get the good benefits of eating fish. A recommended ratio of Omega 6:Omega 3 is 1:1. The typical American daily intake is estimated at 30:1. Aren’t you glad you are on the BTD and not on a typical American diet?!?

People are being encouraged to increase their Omega 3 intake, and the three best sources of Omega 3 are Flaxseed walnuts and cold water fish. When you look at the ratio, you want the first number to be smaller than 1. That means the fish has more Omega 3 than Omega 6.

Salmon .05:1
Halibut .06:1
Mackerel .55:1
Cod .4:1
Tilapia 11:1

You can see that tilapia is not a good choice for people wanting to increase the Omega 3s in their diet. Unlike other fish, it is low in Omega 3 and high in Omega 6.

I notice that the fat content of farm raised salmon is higher than wild caught salmon. Frankly the farm raised tastes better to me, and it is usually less expensive. I was almost ready to abandon wild caught and start buying farm raised. But in the course of looking up ratios, I learned that because of the grain based food fed to farm raised salmon, the increased fat content is the undesirable Omega 6.

As for me and my house…we will continue to buy cod loins over cod fillets. We will continue to buy wild caught salmon. And we won’t be buying any more tilapia. This blog is making me hungry. It’s time to fix lunch.

I like to buy meat at Sams Club. I can get good ground beef and turkey at the grocery store. I am delighted that I can get ground bison there as well. But I’m usually disappointed in grocery store roast and brisket. Grocery store lamb is so expensive I would never consider buying it. However the meat counter at Sams Club is both BTD and budget friendly.

Today I bought boneless leg of lamb. I froze it. I’ll thaw it out and roast it with fresh rosemary the next time my son comes for dinner. The smallest eye of round roast they had today was 4.55 pounds. I will cut it in half tomorrow morning. Then I will roast half and freeze the other half for later.

Sams also carries Cod Loins in their frozen food section. The cod in the grocery store is thin and falls apart. It reminds me of orange roughy or whiting, neither of which are on my favorite fish list. But the Cod Loins are thick. They have both a good flavor and texture. I bought a bag of Cod Loins today. I like to keep them in the freezer for days when dinner time sneaks up on me.

I mentioned bison, which reminds me of a funny incident. I have a facebook friend who posts a lot of animal youtube links. She is a dear person, and it’s fun to talk with her about books and travel, but I think she drifts into the “animals are people, too” way of thinking. She had posted a link to a video bemoaning the tragedy of bison from Yellowstone National Park wandering out of the protected park lands and being shot by hunters. I commented, all in fun, that “bison is delicious, good for Type Os, and available at HEB.”

My friend was not bothered by my post at all, but one of her friends screamed at me in all caps. I assume she is a Type O frustrated with trying to be vegetarian. I’m certainly glad I understand why my Type O body needs meat. I came home from today’s shopping trip with plenty of high quality beneficial protein.

When we travel, we take our own breakfast food and eat in our room. This has become so much easier in the last year or so, because almost every motel chain now offers a refrigerator in the room at no additional charge. For our remaining two meals, we eat out one and picnic one.

For our trip to Colorado, we are staying at a condominium. We got a great rate at a ski resort. It’s too late for summer vacationers and too early for snow. This means we have a fully equipped kitchen, which makes preparing picnic food somewhat easier. But don’t forget this is vacation, I’m keeping food preparation simple!

I added three new items to the picnic food that I’ve blogged about in the past. Since we have a refrigerator, my husband gets a lot more fresh produce with his turkey sandwich. He has had grapes, apples, nectarines, carrots and green beans. I think he could eat a turkey sandwich every day for six months, but I do try to give him lots of variety with the extras that go with the sandwich.

I bought mozzarella cheese to go in my sushi nori wraps that I eat on picnics. That’s not new. What is new is using the mozzarella in the meat and veggie bowls that I eat when we are in the condo. Tonight I had canned spinach and canned chicken topped by mozzarella. Heated for one minute in the microwave, and it is the closest thing to creamed spinach that I’ve had in years. Delicious. Along with this combination, I had a half can of pumpkin heated with diced apple and grapes. Was this a vegetable dish or a dessert?

I’ve been eating a lot of humus at home. When we arrived in Colorado, I bought a container of humus for picnicking. Last night I had tuna, English peas, and humus. I had a sweet potato as well. I once thought fixing Type O travel food was hard, but I can now fix myself a bowl quicker than I fix my husband’s sandwich.

Tomorrow I’ll look at some of our adventures eating out in Colorado.

My husband and I are vacationing with another couple in Southern Colorado. Today we went to Mesa Verde. Everywhere we went we read about hunters and gatherers.

If you are not familiar with Mesa Verde, it is a National Park that preserves the ancient dwellings of the Ancestral Puebloans. The pit houses and mesa top houses are interesting, but those kinds of Pueblo ruins are scattered all over the Southwest. What makes Mesa Verde so fascinating are the cliff dwellings. They look like complex apartment communities, but they were built under overhanging cliffs. They were secure from both enemies and predatory animals, because the only access was by ladders or toe holes in the cliffs.

The Native Americans who lived in these ruins are identified in the museums, on the park signs and in all the brochures as hunters and gatherers. Many of those exhibits talk about what these hunters and gatherers ate, and believe me it is nothing like the GenoType diet!

Meat was high on the list. They killed and ate lots of game including deer, rabbits, squirrels, and turkeys. That sounds a lot like a hunter. Their other foods were pinto-like beans, corn, and squash. Neither pinto beans nor corn are beneficial choices for either hunters or gatherers. Most squash is neutral, but many are black dot for gatherers.

One of our friends commented that it would have been heavenly to have lived in such beautiful country, out in the open, with no worries about economic crises or unemployment. We all agreed that an active outdoor life would have advantages. But in spite of the clean air and water, the life span of the Ancestral Puebloans was short and often brutal. There were no antibiotics, and limited techniques for setting broken bones. There were no bananas from Central America, no salmon from Alaska, no Romaine from California, no cherries from Washington. Most of the beneficial foods enjoyed by GTD hunters and gatherers would have been completely unknown.

I will take my computer, my modern grocery store, and the probability of seeing my grandchildren grow up over the primitive life of this very interesting culture.

Speaking of hunting, our son is taking care of our dog and our house while we are gone while he hunts for a physical therapy job. We are thankful that even in this very difficult economy he is having very positive interviews.

Is the whole culture becoming more health conscious, or is it just my little Hill Country community? I am finding the most amazing foods at the local grocery store. I blogged earlier that the store now regularly stocks ground bison (for a very reasonable price) and frozen acai.

Over the summer, DD found Cedar’s Tzatziki. It is a Greek strained yogurt dip. It comes in several flavors, all of them loaded with vegetables. Yogurt is avoid for me, but it is neutral for my husband. It is certainly a much better choice for him than some of the other things (like picante or sour cream) that he likes to dip. The store is also carrying brown rice chips, which he admits are really tasty.

This week I found falafel. The ingredients are chickpeas, fava beans, onions, parsley and spices. Chick peas are avoid for my husband, but all of the ingredients are beneficial for me. And, oh my, falafel is delicious. It’s like having a little muffin with my meal.

I’m going to buy these products often, to encourage the store management to keep carrying them.

I’ve been comparing green tea at two popular wifi hot spots. The only internet access at my parent’s old house is dial up. It is s o s l o w. So every other night my sister and I pack up our computers and head for wifi so that we can get caught up on e-mail and other internet based business.

I order the same thing wherever we go – unsweetened green tea, iced.

When we go to Borders, they brew the tea fresh – a process that takes about 5 minutes. They told me all the steps they go through. When we go to Starbucks, the green tea is already made and in a pitcher. They pour it up while I pay for it.

The Borders freshly brewed tea has a slightly bitter taste. It’s not bad. In fact after the jolt of the first sip, it is very good. The Starbucks tea is smoother.

I have to admit that I like Starbucks a little better, but I suspect that Borders is better for me since it is fresh. Either way, it has been fun to enjoy green tea while we furiously sort through e-mail messages.

I’m starting the third week at my parents’ house. My sister and I have made so much progress. We have one room and one closet left to investigate. I have eaten really well - only two avoid foods. I think that is somewhat extraordinary for being away from home. One of those was a dessert for my sister’s birthday. The other was potato chunks that came with one of the most amazing egg dishes. It was a Greek frittata. The eggs were topped with asparagus, artichoke, sun dried tomatoes, and feta cheese. It was an outstanding combination.

I have made sure to exercise every day. It’s best if I get up early and walk or run before breakfast. Once the day starts, it’s hard to find time as we get busier and busier with projects. Sometimes exercise comes in surprising places. This morning, for instance, I realized that I had gotten the day wrong for the heavy trash pickup. We suddenly saw the truck a block away and raced around lugging a picnic table, ping pong table, three computers & two monitors and a mattress & box spring out to the drive way. That will get your heart racing.

For the most part, I have eaten meat and veggie bowls. Meat choices have been ground beef, rotisserie chicken, brisket, salmon, and turkey breast. Vegetables have included peas, green beans, parsnips, mustard greens, sweet potatoes, turnip greens, carrots, black beans, pumpkin, broccoli and more. My niece teases me about the combinations I put in a bowl. I think adding hummus to green beans or barbeque sauce to turnip greens tastes good, but she laughs calls it “Aunt Suzanne’s food.”

I confess. I’m guilty. I have stashed away enough pumpkin so that DD and I can have a can a week until the end of the year. I also paid way too much for it. But pumpkin is beneficial for both of us, and we didn’t want to do without.

I remember last Thanksgiving hearing something about a pumpkin shortage, but I didn’t pay any attention because I could still get pumpkin at my local grocery store. Admittedly there was no pumpkin at Walmart - even between Thanksgiving and Christmas - but I speculated that it had to do more with some food supplier being at odds with Walmart than any real problem.

My grocery store carried large and small cans of Libby’s pure pumpkin, plus their store brand of pumpkin. I always liked the small cans of Libby’s best. During the winter the store stopped stocking small cans of Libby’s. I switched to the store brand, but by spring that was no longer available either. By then it was nearly time for DD to be home for the summer, so I didn’t mind switching to the large cans of Libby’s.

At that moment, I should have seen red flags. I should have googled pumpkin shortage. I should have stocked up. But no. I didn’t want to believe anything was really wrong. (Perhaps a parallel could be drawn to those who don’t want to believe that deficits are getting worse, unemployment is getting worse, and the economy is getting worse while the Washington administration promotes policies just the opposite of those which are proven to end a recession. Sorry, I didn’t intend to get political, but the comparison is so obvious.)

Last week large cans of Libby’s were gone from the shelves. There were small cans of organic pumpkin for double the price. “Outrageous,” I cried. “No way am I going to pay that much.”

I had to go to the city for an appointment so I tried several grocery stores. It was expensive organic pumpkin or nothing. I came home and googled pumpkin. I found out that for the last three years the pumpkin harvest has been small. One year it was drought, another year it was too much rain. One year they didn’t even harvest enough pumpkin to get seed for replanting.

So I have bought out the organic pumpkin in three grocery stores. DD and I will have pumpkin for the rest of this year. I hope – for the farmers’ sake as well as our own – that this year’s harvest will be better.