HoldTheToast! by Dana Carpender

Mediterranean Lamb Burgers

1/4 medium onion
2 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes, oil-packed
1 pound ground lamb
1 tablespoon pesto sauce
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt -- or vege-sal
2 tablespoons pine nuts
3 ounces chevre cheese (goat cheese)

Preheat your electric tabletop grill; I set mine to 350.

Chop your onion, and if your sun-dried tomatoes are in halves, rather than pre-chopped, chop them up, too. Heck, if they're pre-chopped, chop 'em a little more. Throw these things in a mixing bowl.

In the Food Report From the Road thread, a reader named Marsha asks:

Hi Dana,
Very sorry to hear about your God Mother!
I have always been a fan of yours and love your cookbooks. I have just today found your new blogs. I was a subscriber of your lowcarbezine and loved that too! I have not had time to read all of your blog but am finding that you talk alot about making a tea and drinking wine! Can you elaborate for me? Does this help with losing weight?
Marsha

Hey, New Yorkers! Great news! Your tap water has shrimp in it! Such a nice nutritional bonus. And isn't it reassuring to know your water is so clean things can live in it?

I was trying to decide what to blog about today, toying with the idea of writing about chicken keeping and how cool it is, when I got an email from my long-time low carb cyberpal Kathy Miller. (I knew Kathy back in... what, '96? Back when nobody was low carb, and we were on an email support list. Remember email support lists?)

Some Facebook friends commented, regarding yesterday's blog post, that I stuck to my low carb plan really well on the road. Lori Morrell-Thomas mentioned that she thinks of travel as being hard on the diet, but I made it so easy; Laurie Rosen said I "really know my road trips." I appreciate the kudos, but truly, it's just second nature, has been for years now.

It never occurs to me that since I'm traveling I may as well just grab a burger complete with bun and fries, or a Cinnabon, or whatever other junk appears at the highway interchanges. I don't even think of it.

As you know, I've spend much of the past week going to Vermont to see my godmother Mary, who has had a devastating stroke.
I'm afraid I haven't been thinking about blogging much this week, so I don't have anything brilliant to say. Thought I'd just report what I'd eaten on the road:

Hi folks, Dana wanted me to let you all know that she's still in Vermont, sitting bedside with her godmother, who had a major stroke earlier this week. She expects to be home late Sunday night. If you're the sort that prays, you might add Mary Conger to your list. Thanks!

Also, there won't be a digest this week, since there's been little activity on the blog. We'll get back to that next weekend.

You may recall that a few weeks ago I said that if you wanted to make That Nice Boy I Married sad, you would throw away egg yolks. I'm afraid something else has come to my attention that makes him and me sad, both, and will likely sadden you as well: Apparently peanuts are atherogenic. In other words, cause plaques in arteries. It is to weep.

I'm fascinated by what scares people and what doesn't. For example: Trick-or-treating, one of the great childhood institutions of my childhood, is fading away due to modern fears. Parents are afraid of their kids going out after dark. They're afraid to have them knocking on doors They're afraid the candy may have been tampered with, some to the point where local authorities will x-ray Halloween candy for anxious parents.

Here's from the Cooking Low Carb! section of Lowcarbezine! back in the day. Come to think of it, some chunks of green pepper would be good in this, too.

With all those end-of-summer tomatoes coming in, I thought I'd give you a great salad to help use them up. This one is easy, delicious, refreshing, and looks really beautiful, to boot.

Cucumber-Tomato Salad

1 medium cucumber

2 smallish or 1 really large ripe tomato

1/2 medium red onion

1 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves garlic, crushed

I can't find the email, but a reader recently wrote and said she was allergic to coconut, what could she substitute for coconut oil? Would canola do? Calls for a slightly more complex answer than you might think.

It depends, you see, on what you're using the oil for -- are you sauteing? Or are you using it for shortening in a baking recipe? These are my two most common uses for coconut oil.

Email from a reader a few weeks back:

Hi Dana,
Gosh, love that email address.. :)
I have been talking back and forth with Ann Canlin about cholesterol recently because I just had my physical and even though I always ran a little high with total and LDL, my HDL and trig. were always very good and the ration was usually around 2.8

You hear it over and over again: Cholesterol is a risk factor for heart disease. Low HDL is a risk factor. High triglycerides are a risk factor. Obesity is a risk factor for heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer. Being over 50 is a risk factor for all sorts of things. But what does "risk factor" mean?

It sure sounds as if a risk factor increases your risk of something happening, doesn't it? It doesn't.

I have no kids, but I can't help but notice that it's back-to-school season. It's been so hot around here it seems really odd, but the notebook and pencil displays are in the stores, the flyers for school clothes are in the local paper, and those stupid talking Kellogg's Frosted Mini-Wheat squares are talking about keeping kids "full and focused" again.

Thank you to April Walker for posting this article to Facebook; I had to share!