Fiesta Salsa vs. Count Chocula

Made this kick-butt salsa last night. Craving some color in my food, some veggies, fruit other than citrus, despite this being the worst time of year for produce in MN. This stuff not only makes a great salsa for chips, but also a great side for chicken, steak, any meat, really, OR just by itself - TONS of veggies, beans, olive oil, cider vinegar. Sooooo addicting! Good eatin'!

1 green pepper

1 red pepper

1 yellow pepper

1 orange pepper

5 stalks celery

1 onion (any kind - red, yellow, white)

1 can corn

1 can black beans (I like the kind with jalapenos in it, for kick!)

1 can pinto beans

1/2 c. olive oil

1/2 c. apple cider vinegar

1/2 c sugar (I halved this amount; do what you want)

Drain/rinse corn and beans, put in BIG bowl (believe me, this makes a TON of salsa. 2000 pounds worth—weighed it myself. You will need a big bowl). Dice veggies and add to bean/corn mixture. Boil oil, vinegar and sugar on stovetop, stirring occasionally, till sugar dissolves. Cool, then pour over veggie mixture, mix up. refrigerate for a few hours. YUM! Will keep refrigerated 2 weeks, if it lasts that long!

I had a bowl of salsa with 2 hard boiled eggs for breakfast. Bob had a bowl of Count Chocula. Didn't even know they made the stuff any more. He'd requested it a while back, and every time I'm in the grocery store, I look for it, to no avail. Yesterday, I'm in Uber-Target in Roseville, and the Count nearly jumped off the shelf and bit me in the neck as I rolled through the cereal aisle looking for Kashi Flax Seed and Almond Crunch. Remember Franken Berry? Boo Berry? Are any of those still around? Didn't even look to see, I was so taken, so mesmerized by the Count. Maybe General Mills brought him back to boost sales, to ride the uncomfortable, creepy (and I mean creepy in a 40-year-old-women-throwing-panties-at-undead-moody-post-pubescent-bloodsucker kind of creepy), yet pervasive vampire wave that's sweeping the nation. As always, Bob is light years a head of the trends . . . (He'll tell you that back in high school, he was grunge before grunge was grunge. Just ask him.)

Threw some ribs and sauerkraut, with apples, onion and a touch of brown sugar in the Crock Pot for dinner later. Bob said it sounds good, but whether or not he'll eat remains to be seen. Got a few errands to run, wanna run over and see Gretchen and Brian's fresh, new li'l puppies (born just this week—three baby black labs born to proud Mama Gracie! Maybe later, I'll try to post pictures). Later, I'm going to make cilantro pesto and a batch of spinach smoothies. I know y'all are groaning in disgust. I can hear you: "Jennifer! This is Operation Fatten Bob Up," not "Operation Make Bob Throw Up!" You all need to try spinach smoothies. Today. Throw a bunch of bunch of fresh spinach, a cup or so of vanilla yogurt (I use whole milk yogurt), frozen banana or two and any other frozen fruit you want, in a blender. Splash of juice of choice. Blend well. Toss a handful of flaxseed or other seeds, if you wish, before serving. Mind-boggling goodness in a glass. I bet you could even get kids to eat it if you called it Frog in a Blender, 'cuz that's what it ends up looking like. I initially added cocoa powder when I first started making these, thinking it needed a little chocolate flavor, now I make 'em pure and unadulterated. So fresh, so creamy, and fruity, so dang good! Love 'em! Bob loves 'em, too, but stuff like that—healthy stuff—hasn't been appealing to him lately. Heck, even unhealthy stuff is lacking in appeal the past few days. Hopefully, the nausea thing will pass soon.

I'll try calling the triage nurse tomorrow, to get an idea about the course of action we need to take over the next three weeks before his next round of chemo. Bob and I were discussing his situation, and three more weeks of not being able to sit is going to send him over the edge. There's got to be something better that he can take, some other pain medication he can use, so he can sit, if only for a short time, while we wait for the next round . . .