Ms. Helen delight....

I just have to let everyone know that I had a big bowl of Ms. Helen's famous taco soup for lunch and it was delightfully delicious! Every time she makes it I think of our wonderful times in the healthy habits class.

Y'all always put a smile on my face!
Dr. Janet

Great article from the Braille Monitor

New Service Animals for the Blind Some of you may have heard about the hawk that was loose in the atrium of the Jernigan Institute back in October. We at the Monitor just received permission to tell our readers all about it. Meet Barton, a member of a new experimental guide animal program. We love our guide dogs, but in today's urban society, there can be some drawbacks: allergies in the family to dog dander, the difficulties finding an apartment you can afford with the space for a large dog, not to mention finding a park or similar place to exercise your canine companion. With this in mind, trainers have been working with several new animals, looking for an alternative more suited to modern city living. Barton only requires a bit of room to stretch his wings from time to time and can ride on his owner's wrist or shoulder in crowds. He can often scavenge for his own food, so the owner has one less thing to pack on long trips. Also in this program are George, a capuchin monkey, and Rocky, a raccoon. Both species are smaller, easier to exercise, and are highly intelligent. Capuchins live thirty to forty years, and raccoons in captivity can live up to twenty, meaning that they would have a much longer working lifespan, coming closer to the goal of giving a blind person a guide for life. As an added bonus, a monkey or raccoon would be trainable in such tasks as handing you your cell phone, house keys, or other small items. For more information about the program, or to volunteer to work with one of these new potential guide animals, contact Ms. April Phules by phone at (410) 111-1111, ext. 2473 (BIRD)

Baked Apple French toast

3 large tart apples
1 stick butter, ½ cup
1 cup brown sugar
12 oz cream cheese
12 slices firm bread, your favorite
8 eggs
1 qt milk
2 Tbsp vanilla
Cinnamon
nuts, pecans or walnuts, optional
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Move rack to lower third of oven. Butter 9×13 baking pan.
Core and cut apples into thin wedges, leave skins on. In cast iron skillet melt butter with brown sugar and 1 Tbsp water; add apples and cook, stirring for 3 minutes or so. Transfer to prepared baking dish and let cool.
Cut cream cheese into cubes and arrange evenly over apples. Cut the slices of bread in half diagonally and layer over apples covering the whole dish.
In large bowl beat together eggs, milk and vanilla. Pour the egg mixture over the bread, make sure to dampen all the bread. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Top with chopped nuts, is using.
Bake 40 to 50 minutes, until golden and puffed. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.
Variation: use cling peaches instead of apples.

Thanks Johnye for a great article

An S.O.S. for Cap'n Crunch? By Elena Ferretti Published April 16, 2014 FoxNews.com

If we are what eat, in breakfast terms we're no longer shredded, puffed and flaked grains. We're protein-dense, bacteria-rich strained milk. To put it another way, Cap'n Crunch is foundering in a sea of Greek yogurt. Cereal is losing ground to more "contemporary and convenient" foods, writes Nicholas Fereday, author of The Cereal Killers: Five Trends Revolutionizing the American Breakfast

Fereday, executive director of food and consumer trends at Rabobank, the Dutch agribusiness investment bank, notes that cereal consumption dropped 1 percent per year over the past decade. That doesn't sound like much, but up until then the $10 billion industry had sustained growth for more than a century. But reports of cereal's demise have been greatly exaggerated, Fereday said in a phone interview. He said his paper is "really more positive if you read beyond the headline. We're more bullish on cereal than not. Greek yogurt, breakfast bars and heat-and-serve sandwiches are redefining the breakfast landscape, he said, much as DVRs and streaming video reshaped television. We eat breakfast now like we watch TV: wherever and whenever we want. It's not about time or location, but about portability. Greek yogurt has become the iPad of breakfast foods. But cereal companies are fighting back. They've gone handheld with Fiber One and Nutri-Grain bars. Post added Greek yogurt to its Honey Bunches of Oats, while General Mills and Kellogg's are drinkifying cereal with BFAST Breakfast Shake and Kellogg's To Go . Fereday says cereal companies need to emphasize health benefits like those associated with Greek yogurt. And they have to deal with sugar, the newest poster child for poor health. Cereal's challenge is to take a category perceived as too sweet and make it healthy, he said. That's ironic for a product founded on health. Marty Gitlin's encyclopedic The Great American Cereal Book: How Breakfast Got Its Crunch explains that 19th century wellness fanatics invented cereal specifically to counter the rich, fatty diets of the day. Dr. James Caleb Jackson created the first cold cereal in 1863 by baking rock-hard bricks of graham flour and water and breaking off chips. He called his concoction Granula , and the chips were so hard and tasteless he soaked them overnight in milk. "It did nothing to improve taste or texture," Gitlin says, laughing. But it jumpstarted the colon, which was the point. Sister Ellen White, a Seventh Day Adventist and Jackson devotee, opened a sanitarium in Battle Creek, Mich., and hired Dr. John Harvey Kellogg to run it, hoping to fulfill Jackson's vision of a health-oriented (and, apparently, regular) society. Kellogg, a vegetarian, advised eating "what the monkey eats - simple food and not too much of it" as well having multiple enemas a day, Gitlin writes. Despite all this robust activity, or maybe because of it, Kellogg invented Granola ( 1880); Granose (1894), the first flaked cereal; and Corn Flakes (1906). The 1890s also introduced Nabisco's Shredded Wheat and Post's Grape Nuts . The Old Testament prophet on Post's Elijah's Manna (1904) infuriated religious leaders, so Post banished Elijah and re-christened it Corn Toasties . Force Flakes (1901) and Fig & Bran (1910) maintained cereal's original mission, while Tryabita (1903) went rogue with celery-flavored flakes. General Mills debuted Wheaties (1922), Kix (1937) and Cheerios (1941), all to enduring success. Cereal innovation exploded from the late '40s to the '70s, fueled by a Baby Boom generation that craved sweetened cereals, but the pendulum swung back to a focus on wellness by the early '70s. Granola found a new market, while Euell Gibbons' rhetorical "Ever eat a pine tree? Many parts are edible" re-established Grape Nuts in 1974. But the same era, interestingly, also spawned the sugary "Monster Cereals" - Boo Berry, Count Chocula , Franken Berry . Nabisco even introduced orange-flavored oat puffs called Norman (1973). Cereal companies today face similar contradictions as they try to reconcile "sweet" and "healthy. Kellogg's Krave comes in chocolate and double chocolate, capitalizing on chocolate's new reputation as an antioxidant powerhouse. Kellogg's To Go is another example of Kellogg's "return to innovation rather than renovation," which CEO John Bryant promised at a February 2014 analysts conference. Responding to an email, General Mills said that net cereal sales are up 2 percent and noted that Cinnamon Toast Crunch , Lucky Charms and Chex still perform well. And the company's launch this year of Chocolate Toast Crunch , Multi-Grain Cheerios Dark Chocolate Crunch and Natural Valley Protein Granola has received "good early consumer response," it said. Fereday cautions that "transitioning" a product can result in a "compromise product" that tries to turn "a cookie into a carrot" and ultimately "misses the point. (Think Crystal Pepsi , the "clear" cola.) As cereal companies return to their health-conscious 19th century roots, they'll have to think outside the bowl. The cereal bowl.

Thursday, April 17

Good morning,
Another beautiful morning in my corner of the world. The sun is shining and the trees were budding out. This means another bad allergy day! You may want to consider some type of antihistamine. Most people have good luck with the generic brands.

As you know, grocery prices are going up daily. Consider using beans to add protein to your meal.it is still cool enough to use those crockpots and cook meals which will create left overs.

Have a great day!
Until tomorrow,
Dr. Janet

Happy, happy hump day

Good morning everyone,
Another cool morning here in my corner of the world! I am really, really ready for true spring weather. Hopefully after this week.....

I have posted a great list of Siri commands I received from Rachel in the World services technology department. She uses technology everyday and is an amazing source of information.

We have lots of home visits this week so bear with me if I am slow getting back to you.

Have a great day!
Until tomorrow,
Dr. Janet

Siri

If you have an iPad or iPhone made after 2011, you have an interactive speech recognition feature that Apple calls Siri.  Siri is activated by pressing and briefly holding the home button on the front of the device.  When you do this your device will give two short beeps, then you can start interacting with Siri.  If your device doesn’t give two beeps, make sure Siri is turned on in settings, or make sure your device is new enough to have this feature.  Take a look at this list of all the things Siri can do for you!

Full list of Siri Commands
Contacts
•“What’s Michael’s address?”
•“What is Susan Park’s phone number?”
•“When is my wife’s birthday?”
•“Show Jennifer’s home email address”
•“Show Jason Russell”
•“Find people named Park”
•“Who is Michael Manning?”
Relationships
•“My mom is Susan Park”
•“Michael Manning is my brother”
•“Call my brother at work”
Siri Commands for Calendar
•“Set up a meeting at 9″
•“Set up a meeting with Michael at 9″
•“Meet with Lisa at noon”
•“Set up a meeting about hiring tomorrow at 9am”
•“New appointment with Susan Park Friday at 3″
•“Schedule a planning meeting at 8:30 today in the boardroom”
Ask Siri to change events
•“Move my 3pm meeting to 4:30″
•“Reschedule my appointment with Dr. Manning to next Monday at 9am”
•“Add Lisa to my meeting with Jason”
•“Cancel the budget review meeting”
Ask Siri about your events
•“What does the rest of my day look like?”
•“What’s on my calendar for Friday?”
•“When is my next appointment?”
•“When is my next meeting”
•“When am I meeting with Michael?”
•“Where is my next meeting?”
[ Also Read: Apps Updated for iOS 7 ]
Time and Alarm Functions
Ask Siri to set Alarms
•“Wake me up tomorrow at 7am”
•“Set an alarm for 6:30am”
•“Wake me up in 8 hours”
•“Change my 6:30 alarm to 6:45″
•“Turn off my 6:30 alarm”
•“Delete my 7:30 alarm”
•“Turn off all alarms”
Ask Siri to check the time
•“What time is it?”
•“What time is it in Berlin?”
•“What is today’s date?”
•“What’s the date this Saturday?”
Ask Siri to use a Timer
•“Set the timer for ten minutes”
•“Show the timer”
•“Pause the timer”
•“Resume”
•“Reset the timer”
•“Stop it”
Siri Email Commands
Ask Siri to Send Email Messages
•“Email Lisa about the trip”
•“Email Jennifer about the change in plans”
•“New email to Susan Park”
•“Mail Dad about the rent check”
•“Email Dr. Manning and say I got the forms, thanks”
•“Mail Lisa and Jason about the party and say I had a great time”
Ask Siri to Check Email Messages
•“Check email”
•“Any new email from Michael today?”
•“Show new mail about the lease”
•“Show the email from Lisa yesterday”
•“Do I have any new messages?”
•“Read my last email”
Ask Siri to Respond to Email Messages
•“Reply Dear Susan sorry about the late payment”
•“Call him at work”
Ask Siri About Messages
“Read my notifications”

Ask Siri to Locate Friends and Family
•“Where’s Jason?”
•“Where is my sister?”
•“Is my wife at home?”
•“Where are all my friends?”
•“Who is here?”
•“Who is near me?”
Ask Siri for Maps and Directions
•“How do I get home?”
•“Show 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino California”
•“Directions to my dad’s work”
•“Show my current location”
•“Show me the Statue of Liberty”
•“Show me directions from Washington DC to Philadelphia Pennsylvania”
Ask Siri about Local Businesses
•“Find coffee near me”
•“Where is Starbucks?”
•“Find some burger joints in Baltimore”
•“Find a gas station within walking distance”
•“Good Mexican restaurants around here”
Ask Siri to Send Text Messages (SMS)
•“Tell Susan I’ll be right there”
•“Send a message to Jason Russell”
•“Send a message to Lisa saying how about tomorrow”
•“Tell Jennifer the show was great”
•“Send a message to Susan on her mobile saying I’ll be late”
•“Send a message to 408 555 1212″
•“Text Jason and Lisa where are you?”
Ask Siri to Read Text Messages (SMS)
•“Read my new messages”
•“Read it again”
Ask Siri to Reply to Text Messages
•“Reply that’s great news”
•“Tell him I’ll be there in 10 minutes”
•“Call her”



Siri Commands: Music and Videos
•“Play The Light of the Sun”
•“Play Trouble”
•“Play Taking Back Sunday shuffled”
•“Play Alicia Keys”
•“Play some blues”
•“Play my party mix”
•“Shuffle my road trip playlist”
•“Play”
•“Pause”
•“Skip”
Ask Siri to Create and Find Notes
•“Note that I spent $12 on lunch”
•“Note: check out that new Alicia Keys album”
•“Find my restaurant note”
•“Create a reading list note”
•“Add Tom Sawyer to my reading list note”
Ask Siri to make a Phone Call
•“Call Jason”
•“Call Jennifer Wright mobile”
•“Call Susan on her work phone”
•“Call 408 555 1212″
•“Call home”
•“FaceTime Lisa”
•“Return missed call”
•“Redial last number”
Ask Siri about Voice Mail
•“Do I have new voice mail?”
•“Play voice mail from mom”
•“Play my last voice mail”
Ask Siri to make a FaceTime Call
•“Make a FaceTime call to Michael”
•“FaceTime Mom”
Ask Siri to set a Reminder
•“Remind me to call mom”
•“Remind me to call my mom when I get home”
•“Remember to take an umbrella”
•“Remind me take my medicine at 6am tomorrow”
•“Remind me to pick up flowers when I leave here”
•“Remind me when I leave to call Jason”
•“Remind me to finish the report by 6″
Ask Siri to check Stocks
•“What’s Apple’s stock price?”
•“What is Apple’s PE ratio?”
•“What did Yahoo close at today?”
•“How is the Nikkei doing?”
•“How are the markets doing?”
•“What is the Dow at?”
Ask Siri about the Weather
•“What’s the weather for today?”
•“What’s the weather for tomorrow?”
•“Will it rain in Cupertino this week?”
•“Check next week’s forecast for Burlington”
•“What’s the forecast for this evening?”
•“How’s the weather in Tampa right now?”
•“How hot will it be in Palm Springs this weekend?”
•“What’s the high for Anchorage on Thursday?”
•“What’s the temperature outside?”
•“How windy is it out there?”
•“When is sunrise in Paris?”