Happy Victoria Day!

So what's new out there?

Not much with me. Anyone who's been around heard I've taken some leave from work, as my brain decided to stop sleeping nearly totally.

Prescription is for rest, diet, exercise... and Cymbalta, which is a little bumpy so far but we're getting along better since I discovered it should be taken in the morning. Cymbalta's an anti-depressant, but one of two clinically validated by the FDA to be effective for fibromyalgia, and possibly for sleep cycle disturbances. We'll see. I have 5 more weeks to adjust, ugh. Unfortunately, I can't get back to sleep clinic until AFTER I'm supposed to be back to work, so who knows if it's actually fixing the fact that I don't get deep sleep.

In other news, it's the May holiday weekend, and the spouse got called into work (boo!) so I'm hanging around home with all the windows open (yay!) and making healthy food. I wasn't sure how healthy it was, but I've been using LiveStrong.com to help keep me on track, and it does the math for me. One of my favourite make-tons-and-eat-all-week meals has 250-350 calories per serving, depending on which dressing you use and how big you decide a "serving" is.

So just for fun, I'll share:

Johanna's Fresh Rice'n'Lentil Salad:

MUST have ingredients:
4 cups cooked whole-grain (brown, black, wild, mixed) rice
1 can chick peas
1 can lentils

CAN substitute (but you'll change the whole nature of the dish):
1 big bunch of fresh coriander, chopped (hate coriander? basil, parsley, dill... herbs of choice)
1 brick of extra-firm tofu, braised and chopped (can sub hard-boiled eggs or chicken, if not vegan/veggie)
1 not-quite-squishy avocado - soft enough to cut easily, but not so soft it's automatically guacamole.
12 tbsp Asian Sesame or Thai/Lemongrass salad dressing (again - dressing of your choice but totally changes taste).

Ingredients to add, but which you may freely improvise/substitute:
A bell pepper of your preferred colour, chopped
1 english cucumber, sliced in rounds then quartered
12 brussels sprouts, quartered and lightly steamed and cooled.

.... really, any fresh, non-starchy vegetables can go into this. There are tons of low-cal, high-fibre summer veggies.
Baby corn, asparagus, broccoli, bean sprouts, chopped spinach, snow peas, etc etc. Just throw in a total of about 4 cups of cut fresh veggies.

Throw rice, beans, veggies in a big bowl. Toss gently. Add dressing, toss to coat. Serve at BBQ or picnic, or keep in fridge and scoop out a dish at a time. Serves 8-12 depending on how much you serve.