A short work week, but not short on interesting items on the shelf in Kelly’s Kitchen!

A lot of people talking about this one - a vegetarian McDonalds? Sounds like a good idea...if you have travel plans for India, because that’s the one and only place you’ll find that option. Makes perfect sense, since the customer preference is strongly vegetarian. But explain how chicken is a vegetarian option. Beef and pork, I get it. But they offer what they call the Maharaja Mac. This is their version of a Big Mac made with chicken patties instead of beef. Now, the McAloo Tikki, a burger made with a spicy breaded potato patty, red onions, tomatoes and a "special vegetable sauce" does sound a lot more vegetarian than the Mac.

My thanks to the good folks from the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation that dropped by with a lovely bucket of goodies from Fresh Market, where this weekend it’s the 18^th Annual Hope Floats Sidewalk Sale Friday through Sunday. If you love a delicious root beer float (regular or sugar free) this is the weekend to enjoy one at Fresh Market, with proceeds benefitting JDRF. You’ll also still have the opportunity to be a part of the JDRF Sneaker Sale at the Fresh Market checkout. Everything you need to know, times and locations, are at jdrf.org, or at freshmarket.com.

Finally, from the fine folks at Stanford University a study that concludes organic isn’t all that much healthier than the items that come complete with pesticides and antibiotics, and that it’s
what they consider acceptable limits. Now, when it came to contamination, it had been accepted the chance of that happening, organic or not, was pretty much the same. No longer; it’s now believed when bacteria is found in chicken or pork, germs in the non-organic meats had a 33 percent higher risk of being resistant to multiple antibiotics, according to the report released earlier this week in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. Confused yet? I do know that the meal I enjoyed at Leafy Greens a few weeks ago was tremendous, without pesticides or antibiotics, but honestly was considerably more expensive thanks to it being that way. And that’s something I’d like to see change. What, it should cost more to eat healthier? Let’s work on that.

We also offer our condolences to the family of Ron Whaley, former owner of Whaley’s Markets who passed away from complications of diabetes at age 71 this week.

WORDS OF WISDOM FROM KELLY’S KITCHEN

"Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food" ~Hippocrates