Depends on the mushroom!!

I am sure they are fine! Like I said ..everything in moderation or you will soon get discouraged and give up.

Mushrooms are good..............calories practically nil, and contain (I believe) potassium. Nosh away on the 'shrooms.

No one is going to bite on (my mention of) Jicama? Gene

I've had jicama in Mexico. I found it a bit on the bland side, but liked the crunch of it. I've not bought it here, but always have some when in Mexico.

When I lived in San Diego, I had it, but, to me, it was kind of like celery.... good for me, but it generally sat in the refrigerator until it was time to throw it out because it wasn't fresh any more .... no real taste, just crunch.

It's hard to get fresh produce up here. The fancy grocery store over charges for medium grade produce that must have traveled around the world before they brought it up the mountain. Either that, or they aren't selling the good stuff here in CA any more, but exporting so they can get better prices elsewhere ... Almost everything tastes yucky.

Lyn..you all need drone delivery!

Been lacto-ovo vegetarian for 38 years. Except when I was pregnant with #2. She made me eat meat! (and loves it to this day) DH wants to become Vegetarian by the end of this year. Basically I have been a student of nutritious eating since my early twenties. That is not to say I don't enjoy pizza for breakfast and popcorn for dinner. Hopefully not in the same day! But I love me some veggies! And more so the older I get. No one has ever complained about my vegetarian cooking. I serve meat or chicken on the side as a side dish. Sometimes not at all without complaints.

Recently I arrived late to the Non-GMO Party. Now have plans to go Organic and eat non-GMO the best I can. DH is on the bandwagon, too to keep a 3rd round of cancer at bay. No one can go totally non-GMO and actually live a fun lifestyle. That would mean never eating out, or to someone's house or movie popcorn or Taco Bell. And give up Dairy Queen? Nope. So let's be realistic here. Any GMO I can eliminate will be a good thing to me. I will be in search of *real* organic eggs as well. There is a veggie shop near me who sells organic produce, eggs, and milk 3 days a week. I will be talking to them Saturday when they open next.

I am still researching. I still think you can't go wrong with the simple, clean eating of days gone by like I was raised, water, and exercise. But I believe this is the right thing for us as we embark on our Golden Years. I have tried numerous times to grow a garden in what little sun I get in my shady yard. I am willing to try again, that is if @newyorkrita can give me some pointers on growing veggies in pots on my driveway. Car-Schmar. Who needs to park that thing on the driveway anyway?

ShadyGreenThumb said:Been lacto-ovo vegetarian for 38 years. Except when I was pregnant with #2. She made me eat meat! (and loves it to this day) DH wants to become Vegetarian by the end of this year. Basically I have been a student of nutritious eating since my early twenties. That is not to say I don't enjoy pizza for breakfast and popcorn for dinner. Hopefully not in the same day! But I love me some veggies! And more so the older I get. No one has ever complained about my vegetarian cooking. I serve meat or chicken on the side as a side dish. Sometimes not at all without complaints.

Recently I arrived late to the Non-GMO Party. Now have plans to go Organic and eat non-GMO the best I can. DH is on the bandwagon, too to keep a 3rd round of cancer at bay. No one can go totally non-GMO and actually live a fun lifestyle. That would mean never eating out, or to someone's house or movie popcorn or Taco Bell. And give up Dairy Queen? Nope. So let's be realistic here. Any GMO I can eliminate will be a good thing to me. I will be in search of *real* organic eggs as well. There is a veggie shop near me who sells organic produce, eggs, and milk 3 days a week. I will be talking to them Saturday when they open next.

I am still researching. I still think you can't go wrong with the simple, clean eating of days gone by like I was raised, water, and exercise. But I believe this is the right thing for us as we embark on our Golden Years. I have tried numerous times to grow a garden in what little sun I get in my shady yard. I am willing to try again, that is if @newyorkrita can give me some pointers on growing veggies in pots on my driveway. Car-Schmar. Who needs to park that thing on the driveway anyway?

Well, use the biggest pots you can find!!

Things did really well for me in pots-
Any sort of herbs (I still grow my herbs in pots to this day).
Bok Choi or Tatsoi
Peas
Eggplant
Peppers
Long Beans
Bush Beans

Did not do well-
Summer Squash
Spaghetti Squash
Pole Green Beans
Cantaloupes

Thanks @newyorkrita. No tomatoes? That is a good start. LOVE me some Bok Choy! And I happen to have 5-6 very large pots on hand. Bought them in bright pink during October Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I have since spray painted them. I will get busy on this in the spring. How can I be sure the plants or seeds I am buying are Non-GMO. Will they say "Organic" on them? Where is the best pace to by organic plants and seeds? Lowe's? ?? My biggest problem will be pests here in Tropical Houston. Neem Oil will not be good in our heat. I will try to keep an eye out on them and wash them down with lots of water.

While I won't be doing much to change the world, I can change *our* world and *our* health. And with any luck, enjoy fresh veggies, I hope.

ShadyGreenThumb said:Thanks newyorkrita. No tomatoes? That is a good start. LOVE me some Bok Choy! And I happen to have 5-6 very large pots on hand. Bought them in bright pink during October Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I have since spray painted them. I will get busy on this in the spring. How can I be sure the plants or seeds I am buying are Non-GMO. Will they say "Organic" on them? Where is the best pace to by organic plants and seeds? Lowe's? ?? My biggest problem will be pests here in Tropical Houston. Neem Oil will not be good in our heat. I will try to keep an eye out on them and wash them down with lots of water.

While I won't be doing much to change the world, I can change *our* world and *our* health. And with any luck, enjoy fresh veggies, I hope.

Veggie seeds you buy are non GMO, Well not sure about corn but the others are non GMO.

I only have good luck with tomatoes that are meant to be grown in pots for growing in pots. So something like Patio. Regular tomato plants just never did well on pots for me.,

Cheryl, your DH has a terrific head start with your expertise and partnership ..that helps to both be on same page

Gene, it's funny that you asked...I just bought a Jicama this morning! I was inspired by your post to give it a try. I haven't tasted it so I don't know whether to say "Thanks!" or "Ewwwwwwwwww! " yet.

I think it tastes better after having been in the water a while. Yes, kinda bland but I enjoy it. Keeps my mouth busy, fills me up, keeps me away from other things. Gene

Whatever works, Gene ...

IN my quest to rid my house of processed foods, I have decided I will keep cans of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup. Great stuff when you are not feeling well. I'd make homemade instead and freeze it but both of my freezers are full of meat and some veg. Gene

My go-to is Campbell's tomato soup.

Gene, since I live alone, my hardest problem was cooking for one and left overs. I finally found freezer containers where I could freeze smaller quantities than I used to in the past and now my freezer not only has lots of meats and veggies to go into future meals, but I've got a lot of left overs that I've frozen for those times when I just do not want to cook.

That has helped me a lot to stay away from processed foods.

Exactly. As long as you are cooking, cook up a bunch and freeze most of it in nice size portions for future use. They become most of what I eat. Other than Jicama. Gene

I teach a class on Spices and Seasonings so I am almost always experimenting, trying out new combinations. When I rate the results, my initial thoughts on how it came out are only part of the picture. How it tastes after being frozen for a while is another part. Just as some dishes sitting in the ref. overnight may come out better or worse. I actually give more weight to the frozen portions as they represent the bulk of what I'll be eating. Gene

I went for my first conscious non-GMO shopping spree. I made every attempt to buy non-GMO for our everyday/non-special occasion use, excpet for Sunday Football. I visited The Veggie Lady shop and found a great selection of Organic veggies. They were locally grown or Texas grown. I bought some the ingredients for a non-GMO Spaghetti Squash-spaghetti dinner for Sunday: Spaghetti Squash, onion, peppers, zucchini,yellow squash, and Roma tomatoes.

Then I hit the Walmart Neighborhood Grocery Store (My favorite kind of Walmart, btw-mostly groceries only) and wandered up and down the aisles just to see what had the non-GMO label so I could substitute what we like to eat. Oils will be hard to find and I will have to go someplace else to find it if I can. But I found organic popcorn so at least half of my bad habit will be better for me. I did find organic olive oil. Newman's Own Salad dressings are supposed to be non-GMO but they are "partially" non-GMO. Walmart Saves the day with their organic salad dressing to top my organic Romaine. They have organic Ranch, Oil and Vinegar and thousand Island competitively priced. Snyder's pretzels are also only partically non-GMO so I skipped that brand and found another.

I bought a few other things including organic Parmesan cheese certified organic from Italy. I didn't know I could read Italian but that's what it said! That took care of two birds with one stone. Recently there was a news report about the varying amounts of cellulose in pre-grated Parmesan cheeses. They are required to put the ingrediemt but not how much they have it in. Some brands have up to 45% cellulose! cellulose is basically sawdust or something. Certainly not real cheese!

I wanted cabbage but there was no organic cabbages. I bought it anyway. We are on the way to eating and preparing foods the best we can and I know being 100% about it is near impossible. I thought we've been healthy eaters all along. And for the most part, we eat healthier than most. But there is always room for improvement!