Having that new air cooker has given me an entire new way of cooking, enjoying some great recipes in a new way, and still keeping my diet filled with the vitamins and minerals that are so necessary for eyesight. Even with all the greens, oranges and yellows I’m consuming, my eye surgeon still urges AREDS2 twice a day, an easy thing to do with an inexpensive OTC medication. But for fun, for an easy dish that serves four, try this
SWEET POTATO VEGGIE HASH
Set Air Cooker to 400 degrees and preheat.
Peel and chop 3 potatoes (Yukon Gold are great) and toss them with 1 T. olive oil.
Put in basket and cook potatoes 15 minutes, until tender, stirring every few minutes.
Add and toss with potatoes: 1 sweet potato, 1 onion, 1 red pepper, all chopped or diced, 2 garlic cloves, 1 teas. thyme, some black pepper.
Bake another 10 minutes or so, stirring once or twice3. Potatoes will be browned, and with the vegetables, crisp tender.
Or how about Sweet Potato Tots that can be made with canned sweets.
SWEET POTATO TOTS
Preheat Oven Cookers to 400 degrees.
Drain 1 can sweet potatoes, put in bowl and mash. Stir in until well mixed: ½ Cup grated Parmesan cheese, 1 egg white, 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg, sea salt if you must.
Form rounded tablespoon size tots with the mix, and roll in a plate of 1 Cup crushed cracker crumbs. (Ritz are great, so are saltines).
Put in single layer in basket, spray with cooking oil, and cook about 15 minutes, stirring once. Tots will be crisp and golden in color.
This is a nondescript looking vegetable that is loaded with so many good things from minerals to vitamins that is should be a part of everyone’s diet. Only rarely are there allergic reactions to sweet potatoes, and just about the worst thing that can happen if you eat too many of them is an orange-ish tinge to your skin, the same thing that can happen with carrots or pumpkins. But even that isn’t dangerous at all and goes away simply by eating less of these orange vegetables.
Sweet potatoes are in the same family as morning glories, which seems kind of strange, and are different from, and more nutritious than yams, which belong to the lily family. They are generally available in supermarkets year round and are one of the less expensive vegetables. All this in addition to being full of all the healthy things. They are also low in calories, before you smother them with butter, and are cholesterol free, which means you can probably use some of that butter if you want.
Sweet Potatoes are great for avoiding aging macular degeneration or helping to keep it from advancing, since they are full of those “eye” vitamins C and A, along with a healthy amount of potassium and folates. There are those who say the antioxidants in sweets are also great in fighting cancer, and if that’s your choice, the purple sweet potatoes have the most. There is lots of beta carotene in sweet potatoes, a great blend with all the zinc and copper that are also in them. The high fiber content and the potassium are great for fighting heart disease and reducing cholesterol levels. Even diabetics can generally eat sweet potatoes with little problem, they fit well into their balanced diet. Experts also credit sweet potatoes with helping the brain function better and increasing memory powers, the same as they say about avocado and broccoli.
In buying sweet potatoes, avoid the vegetables with dark spots or indents; they might be signs of decay under the skin. It’s ok if they are sprouting, simply cut off the sprouts, scrub the potatoes, and select your favorite recipes.
There are so many ways to prepare Sweet Potatoes, be it on top of the stove, in the oven, in that great Oven Cooker or even on a grill. They can be boiled, roasted, grilled, baked, whipped, pureed, fried, served with mixtures of cinnamon for sweetness or chili powder for spice. They can even be made into a butter that will keep in the refrigerator for weeks and is great on toast.
One of my newest personal favorites is the
Oven Cooker Sweet Potato Wedges:
½ Lb. sweet potatoes, cut in wedges, peeled if you like, well scrubbed with skin
1 Tsp. coconut or olive oil
1/4 t. each of chili powder, garlic powder, paprika, black pepper, ( or cayenne) and thyme.
Mix all the ingredients, toss in sweet potatoes and stir.
Place wedges in Oven Cooker, at 385 degrees, for 25 minutes, shaking occasionally. Enjoy!
About that Sweet Potato Butter 2 Cups chopped sweet potatoes
1 Banana
1/3 c maple syrup
½ teas. ginger
¼ teas. nutmeg
1. Place sweet potatoes in a saucepan. Cook, covered, in enough water to cover 15 to 20 minutes or until tender; drain. Cool slightly.
2. Drain, and place in a food processor or blender; process until smooth. Add banana, process til smooth. Place the mixture in a saucepan with the maple syrup, ginger, and nutmeg. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cook, uncovered, over very low heat 20 minutes or until very thick, stirring frequently.
3. Spoon into a 1-pint glass jar. Cover; refrigerate up to 3 weeks.
On May 19, 2022 at approximately 1:15p.m., Middletown Twp. Police responded to The Pet Shop, located at 1284 State Route 35, for a report of a puppy being stolen from the store.
The owner reported that a young black male came into the store and asked if the store had any cockapoo or goldendoodle puppies for sale. The suspect then began to play with a cockapoo puppy, a 10-week-old female with brown fur, that was available for purchase.
Within moments, the subject picked up the puppy and ran from the store. The suspect ran to an adjacent parking lot and got into a small black SUV, possibly a Nissan Rouge, with the partial New Jersey license plate of “X58.”
The suspect is described as a young, black male wearing a blue surgical mask, ripped black jeans, orange Crocs, and a black sweatshirt. The sweatshirt had the words “Key Street” on the sleeves in white lettering.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Middletown Police Detective Bureau at (732) 615-2120. Callers who wish to remain anonymous can call the MTPD Tipline at (732) 615-3277. The Middletown Twp. Police thanks the public for their continued assistance in this investigation.
When you stop to think about it, is there a possibility there is a real conspiracy afoot by elected and appointed government and school officials in the Bayshore towns to prevent the people from their right to know what’s going on?
Look at the many examples in recent days and weeks where the public has not been given every right to know what’s going on:
The Highlands council meetings are held in a meeting place that does not meet all the ADA requirements, so people with some disabilities cannot even attend in person.
Highlands doesn’t do any of its council meetings virtually. We know they know how to do it, because they did it just fine during the Murphy mandate, but quit them as soon as the Governor lifted the Covid order. Bet they’ll be able to have virtual meetings again if the Governor orders another Covid lock-down.
What’s worse, at the next meeting of the Atlantic Highlands Planning Board, it appears they are actually going to TAKEAVOTE on whether the public will be able to virtually attend planning board meetings. Think about that for a second…
One member actually asked publicly: “Why do people on one side of town have any say on what somebody is doing with his own property in another part of town?”
Neither the planning board attorney nor the councilman present made a peep … not even to remind him, assuming they know of course, that the public does have the right to know what’s going on at planning board meetings and all changes someone is making to his property that he has to come to the planning board for approval first.
That councilman went so far, not only failing to rebuke the other member for even suggesting it’s not everyone’s business, but also suggesting the board ‘keep track’ of the number of people who attend meetings virtually. Is that inferring that if maybe only five or ten, or gee whiz, only one, actually attends the meeting virtually, than that person’s right should be taken away?
Would it follow through if no one attended a planning board meeting, live or virtually, then no meeting would take place?
The right-to-know is spelled out in numerous laws from the time Thomas Jefferson and James Madison both defended and fought for it. Shouldn’t the Mayor call for that planning board member’s resignation, or in the alternative, boot him off this official decision-making body?
Can someone who TRULY believes that the public should have ‘no say” in decisions, and ‘no access remotely’ through the exact system that was partially customized specifically for the use of the planning board be making the best decision on behalf of those same residents?
Then there are the Atlantic Highlands Council meetings. It has been more than a full year since I filed a complaint with the state Civil Rights division explaining because of a physical disability, I cannot attend night meetings. I did fine during the Murphy mandate, I explained, when my affliction first appeared, and meetings were held virtually. But ZOOM was taken away, I and everyone else had no access to participate in meetings. And I have filed a similar complaint in Highlands.
To date one year later, persons with a variety of life-threatening and life-altering disabilities still do not have the same rights as their able-bodied neighbors to fully participate in a governmental meeting. And neither do the conscientious moms and dads who can’t leave the kids alone to attend meetings. Highlands has simply ignored the issue.
Atlantic Highlands has made a public show of all they have done to change it. They’ve spent several meetings reporting they have visited other towns, looked at several companies, reviewed all kinds of options for offering virtual meetings. Why, one wonders, is all this necessary? Didn’t they provide virtual access during the Murphy Mandate? We want to make it better, they said. Commendable. And more expensive. Butitstillisn’tbeingused.
The latest reports are the equipment is all in. Big television screens and lots of mikes are visible in the council chamber. There have been demonstrations on how the camera can turn, all nice, fancy, hopefully effective and we already know, expensive stuff.
So it’s installed. But not yet in use. “Why not, you may ask? Well, there is a ‘training program’ that comes with the new equipment, no extra cost. But that training has not yet been done.
One rather astute resident, on who listens well and asks a lot of questions, could not even get an answer to his question about whether the equipment will be ready for the next meeting, that being the last meeting in May. He reminded the governing body “Zoom has worked just fine, and the engineer even knows how to run it just fine without training sessions, and the new-and-improved system, we were told, is even easier to operate, so what’s the holdup?”
But he got no real answer and we still don’t know whether the expensive stuff will be up and running May 26.
And now we’re told of the regionalization meeting on Wednesday, May 25 at 7 p.m. at Henry Hudson Regional School to introduce the second of two feasibility study proposals for the education from K through 12. This second study, was commissioned by the Tri-District Boards of Education. The first study introduced months ago, was commissioned by the three boroughs, Atlantic Highlands, Highlands and Sea Bright.
Highlands and Sea Bright have already had Town Hall meetings, Highlands is planning yet another on the now-famous Porzio report on June 8 at 6:30 p.m. at the Highlands Community Center. Mayor Gluckstein, hopefully, is going to announce soon that Atlantic Highlands will have its first Town Hall meeting to discuss the Porzio report, in addition to the recently completed BOE feasibility study. That Town Hall was purposely delayed until that tri-district second report was ready.
So this second study is apparently all set to go, yet no one has been able to see it. The word is, even the elected officials, the folks on the body that governs the town, are not going to see the BOE feasibility study report before that meeting at Henry Hudson…the meeting at night…and in another town.
And without ZOOM or any other means for people who cannot get to Henry Hudson to hear the workshop and ask questions, they will not know any details. be able to have their say or ask their questions.
Take a giant step backward. Consider all that has been described to you, does all this sound like your town’s elected and appointed leaders have any interest in the peoples’ right-to-know? Does it appear they are even aware of, let alone following, the mandate of the Sunshine Law?
Is there a conspiracy afoot to keep that candle shining light on information under a very dark table rather than letting the people know what’s going on? Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison must be shuddering in their graves and wiping tears of frustration from their solemn faces.
Not even 9 a.m. on a Saturday morning, and already there are more than three things that have made me happy today.
If you go to the Highlands Farmers Market, you’ll find even more than that. Geoff Karch of the famed distillery in Colts Neck now has a stand at the market, and offering some of that terrific rum, gin and bourbon that’s distilled right there a few miles away from where Lairds made the quaff that George Washington sipped during the revolution. He’s even got a variety of canned cocktails that are worth the visit.
Add this to the stand next to him, Born to Hula, with their terrific hot sauces running from mild to wild, and on the Waterwitch avenue side of Huddy Park the world’s best mozzarella cheese made right before your eyes, and how can you go wrong. (Get a loaf of that home made bread when he’s making the cheese for you, or those anisette cookies from a centuries old recipe are superb.
The two farm stands are chock full of fresh vegetables and fruits, and plum tomatoes are in for all you Italian cooks that insist on them for your great gravies.
Our supermarkets are terrific and necessary, but what a treat to be able to stop in at a farmer’s market and get your produce straight from the garden.
Stopping in at any library should be enough to make anyone happy, and the three things that made me happy today were at the Atlantic Highlands branch of the Monmouth County Library.
Not only is everyone on the staff more than pleasant and helpful, they also even suggest some great ideas or other books if you’re looking for something new. But this morning, one of the employees actually came running out of the library to chase down a departing customer because she had suddenly found something the customer was looking for, and didn’t want her to go home disappointed.
Then the library has tons of giveaways that folks should take notice of. For moms of youngsters, pick up Net Cetera, kind of a guide on what to teach your kids about going online. Some very special tips and guides for tweens seeking independence online, as well as knowing a bit more about mobile sharing and networking and the care that should be taken.
Anybody remember the Dewey Decimal System? It’s still intact, still in use, and the library even has cards to remind you that 100-199 is philosophy and psychology and 900-999 is geography and history. An easy way to peruse the shelves.
There’s more there as well so stop in and see for yourself. The third thing that made me happy is how wonderful is the team who selects the books that the library is constantly buying to keep up with new releases and trends. Silva’s The Cellist, his latest in series of wonderful books, had tons of rave reviews before it was even released. But the Monmouth County Library already has their share in stock! And there’s one in Atlantic Highlands branch. (Don’t look for it for a couple of days, I’m not finished reading it yet!)
For anyone who reads my blog, https://www.venividiscripto.com/ regularly, you know there are so many things that make me happy every day that I’ve formed a habit of only listing three things each day. I encourage everyone to do the same, because concentrating on the things that make you happy makes you feel a heck of a lot better than thinking about the things that may have spoiled the day, or an hour, or a visit, or something more serious.
So today, the three things that made me happy can be summed up in one statement: I went back to the Farmers Market in Highlands!
It’s easy to be happy at this Saturday market in Huddy Park at Waterwitch Avenue in Highlands.
First, it’s not so crowded that you can’t move around, but it is crowded with people you know, people who want to stop and say hello, people who want to tell you the latest news or gossip or want to comment on something they’ve seen on Veni Vidi Scripto. There’s something about an outdoor market with friendly merchandisers and fresh foods of all kinds that just makes you happy. One friend whom I haven’t seen in a few years was so happy to bump into me right smack in front of the peaches and tomatoes at the farm stand, summed it up with: “remember when you went to Foodtown and couldn’t get out in 15 minutes because you stopped and talked to so many people? That’s what this Farmer’s Market is like.” She was right.
Second, the farm stands with their fresh fruits and vegetables at great prices are surrounded by the smaller stands with more great people, and I had to get a couple of the hot sauces from the Born to Hula guy! Love his layout of Mild to Wild, so I had to choose from both ends….and it’s my guess the Wild one…Smoked Pineapple…. Is going to be unforgettable. Had to get a couple of mustards from him as well, so chose a honey mustard and a Yellow Dill…heck, even the names make them sound delicious.
Then off to the Mozzarella cheese maker who didn’t flinch when I asked for a certain size cheese…”I’ll make it up now for you,” he said, his gloved hands deep in rich curd. It was easy to wait for the warm cheese to be wrapped…his wife’s lemon blueberry pie is a huge hit amid all her pastries, and those anisette cookies from her great grandma’s recipe are spectacular! Passed up the great looking bread with sausage in it and a variety of herbs. That’ll be next week’s treat!
And the peaches at Fresh Pick Farms are wonderful! Enough to keep you happy all day long!
Any evening at the Proving Ground in Highlands with some great friends makes me happy indeed, but tonight there was an extra reason. Before leaving after a great evening, great food, great waitresses and other great staff who always come by to say hello, and the never ending beauty of looking out over Sandy Hook and the Atlantic from the Proving Grounds waterfront windows, apparently a set of my keys fell out of my purse and under the table undetected. Since there were no car keys on them, I would not have missed them that night. Never fear. Before the valet brought our car around, here comes a waitress running down the stairs, keys in hand. The bus boy cleaning the table spotted them, she remembered who was at the table, then took the time to dash down, seek me out and return the keys!. That’s certainly service above and beyond.
I saw that same above and beyond service at the Care One Care Center….aka King James…. today as well when I happened to drop in and visit a friend. It’s difficult to go into detail about how special these care givers are, how they go above and beyond to provide not only professional help but all that tender loving care that makes the difference between excellent and extraordinary care. Today’s heroines for me…and there are so many….are Linda and Brenda, as well as Kitty who provides more laughter and glee for every resident than any barrel of monkeys could do in a lifetime. Make a visit to a loved one in a nursing home, Thank a care giver, home or away., Appreciate the hearts and hard work of these wonderful people.
Everybody has children they love and know are the best in the world. But none of us lets them know it every day. Nor do we always appreciate it to the fullest. Sometimes there are extraordinary incidents that occur that simply make that appreciation pop up and you’re grateful for their love, their concern, their education, their research, and their determination to help you as much as they can, but understand when they have to stand back and let you move forward on your own. You’re very lucky when these days happen to you. It’s one of the things that made me happy today.
The fact the Atlantic Highlands Library is now back along with Borough Hall being opened is just great news that made me happy this week. Seeing so many going back into the library, though missing their favorite librarian Jane Reynolds, shows how much this town appreciates the Monmouth County Library system. Met a teen coming out of the library this afternoon, and he said his family just moved here and he was so happy to be able to go inside the library and walk through the shelves of books just to see everything that’s there. He was also thrilled because he had requested one book that wasn’t there, but he said, “the county library sent it over and I had it in two days. I can’t believe how great this is.!” I can, because I know a lot of folks who work in the County Library and they go above and beyond to keep the customers happy. The virtual programs that are offered every night are spectacular, and such talent, education, sports, music, arts and recreation being free and available right in your own home is truly a modern day miracle! A miracle, yes, but brought to reality by a very high-tech team of Library folks who apparently take such great pride in their work and love keeping the library’s customers happy. If you want an idea of what the library offers, check out their Upcoming Events column at www.MonmouthCountyLibrary.org. And while you’re there, sign up for something and see for yourself how easy and relaxing it is to be entertained or taught in your own home.
That’s only one thing that made me happy today. Another was seeing the promotions and activities set for Thursday night’s Mayor and Council meeting in Atlantic Highlands for several members of the Police Department. Truly a great department that doesn’t lose any time in ensuring the public they have a full complement of officers on duty at all times…well trained, polite and courteous at that, in addition to being highly proficient at their jobs. Stop in at Thursday’s council meeting and take pride in toe borough’s men and women in blue.
Sitting on Helen Marchetti’s front porch on Center Avenue is enough to make everyone happy. Helen, the former Mayor, native born and beloved by generations, has taken to sitting on the porch watching the world go by. She’s greeted by car honks, waves, or shouts of “Hi Helen!” from just about every car that passes in either direction on what can be a sometimes busy road. Helen will admit …under questioning and then with a little smile of guilt… she doesn’t always recognize every car or every driver or passenger who greets her, but as she’ll tell you, “I just love it. It’s my town and I just love how they all love it. That’s what we do in Atlantic Highlands. We just like each other. And we’re friendly.”
As always, there are far more than three things that keep me happy every day, but today, in all the heat and humidity, I was really happy to see those hard working guys at the Atlantic Highlands Recycling Yard. Not only because they’re so helpful and pleasant all the time, but also because I learned a few things. The truck that comes to take the trailer of paper, boxes, magazines, etc. to the recycling yard always comes on a Monday morning. That means, if you’re bringing all your paper products for recycling on a Monday morning, by necessity you have to leave it all on ground and these terrific guys then clean it all up once the trailer and crusher is back. So, to by way of thinking, if you don’t have to bring your papers goods Monday morning, and can wait at least until the afternoon when you can deposit them in the crusher yourself, you’ll also be saving double duty on getting the stuff in to be crushed. I also learned, once I complained about the number of boxes because don’t we all shop on Amazon these days and everything is delivered in oversized boxes which then have to be crushed and discarded, that’s there is really an upside to that. Yes we can have our mail orders delivered, yes they come in boxes, but if we bring the boxes to the recycling yard, they get crushed, go to the receiver and eventually get made into more boxes for more of our Amazon orders. That means we’re saving trees, and that’s always a good thing!
Another thing making me happy is all the new shops coming into Atlantic Highlands. Who would have thought that in the wake of a pandemic that changed our lives completely around, new businesses would be cropping up. Love having three bakeries in town, think the new 7-Eleven looks sparkling clean and inviting, am fascinated by a Pickle Shop and can’t wait to see what it’s all about, happy the movie theater is going to be opening again, and so much more. At the same time, we still have the courtesy, helpfulness and downright friendliness of everyone at Jaspan’s Hardware where you can absolutely find everything you need, all our fantastic restaurants, Mike’s Deli, another place where there is so much friendliness you have to smile when you walk in, and feel better when you leave with your sandwich and coffee in hand, and of course the gas station on First Avenue where courtesy is the first order of the day. I love my Highlands, but Atlantic is certainly a wonderful place to live!
And the third thing making me happy today is seeing that OLPH/ St Agnes Church is having a huge raffle going on. No doubt all the churches have suffered financial losses during the pandemic, yet have to keep the AC pumping and meet every other expense. With folks coming back, things should be getting better, but a raffle is a winner for all, those who like to take chances, the parish itself, and of course whoever turns out to be the winner. I’m sure any member of the parish will have raffle tickets or information in you’re interested.
