Hi Gina! Although I can't furnish you with recipes I can offer some suggestions... Since a blocked artery caused the heart attack than means he'll have to cut down on the bad fats as well as sodium... The first month or so I went overboard, cutting out just about all fats and anything with salt... Hubby was mainly eating fruits and oatmeal... Needless to say that wasn't good, he wasn't getting all the things his body needed to stay healthy and became as weak as a new born kitten... I contacted a dietician and she told me hubby could have as much as 60 g of fat, the good kind, and 2000 mg of sodium a day ( depends on weight and height )... The only fats he should stay away from are saturated and trans fats... I came up with the idea of keeping track of everything I feed him, the amounts, the fats and the sodium and that turned out to be a life saver... ( I disregarded keeping track of his cholesterol because new studies state that it's the bad fats and genes which clog the arteries. ) You'll really be surprised on just how much one can eat, without gaining weight, if you cut back of fatty foods... After the first few days I knew I was going way overboard, he was only getting 20 to 30 g of fat and 900 mg of sodium... Hardly enough to sustain a 5'6", 150 pound man... After the second week I had a good handle on just how much I could feed him and still stay within the guidelines... Now for the suggestions... Read the labels, REALLY read them... If something says fat free make sure you check the serving size... Cooking spray for example, it says no fat but a serving size is a spray lasting for 1/3 of a second!.. How does one time 1/3 of a second??? By the time you count to 1 you already have 1.5 g of fat and if you want to coat the whole pan we're talking close to 4 or 5 g of fat and the scary part is that, with some sprays, a good part of that is saturated fat!!! For me, a much better and cheaper way is to dab a paper towel with canola oil and wipe the pan until you only see a sheen and no droplets, no saturated fat, in fact only a trace of any fat. The same goes for salt, READ the labels... Hidden sodium and fats are really high in convenience foods, cake mixes, prepared goodies, Hamburger Helper, canned stews, chili and such, as well as restaurant food... So far I've found No Added salt canned veggies ( hubby prefers canned to frozen, why I don't know! ), tomatoes & tomato sauce and even no salt ketchup all at the local store. I picked up some no sodium baking powder at the health food store. On your meats, if you trim off all the fat you can see, beef and pork aren't really all that bad... Two & a half oz of pork only has 3.4 mg of saturated fat, 2.8 oz of lean beef only has 2.7 g of saturated fat while a chicken drumstick has 3 g of saturated fat... ( facts from USDA book Nutritive Value of Foods )... If you want to use ground chicken or turkey grind it yourself, when you buy it in the store they include the skin and fat.... It's really hard to tell a man he can only have 3 or 4 oz of meat but he'll complain less if you really fill him up with other foods... Low fat low salt foods... Example, 4 oz of baked chicken ( skin removed), cup of peas, cup of creamed corn, two medium potatoes ( no skin, boiled ), cup apple sauce, two slices of store bought bread and 12 oz of apple juice... Total fat 9 g, total sodium 474 mg. ( close to 300 mg was from the bread alone )... If I could find no salt bread I could feed hubby 4 meals a day just like this and still stay within his limits... ( if he could eat that much... lol ) A few hints... I still give hubby 'fried' potatoes BUT I 'fry' them in water and add 1 tablespoon canola oil... As the water boils away the potatoes cook and the oil starts to brown them... You have to keep flipping the potatoes to get a nice 'fried' color... I still drain the potatoes on paper towels... I grind my own beef and pork for hamburgers and patties then 'fry' them, covered, in a little bit water until cooked then a few minutes without the cover to brown them up a bit... Some times they're a bit on the dry side but a squirt of no salt ketchup or a thick slice of a juicy tomato fixes that... Above all tell your sister-in-law to cut back on his fats and make sure he takes all his meds, every day... He has to get his HDL's up and the only way to do that is quit smoking ( very important for a heart attack patient ), some sort of exercise for 30 minutes a day and cut way back on the bad fats... She doesn't need the added stress of taking care of a hubby who has had a stroke. Rita

I hope you're feeling better! I don't know if this book is still available, but "Live Longer and Better" is a good resource for not only recipes but also for making good lifestyle choices. It was put out by the editors of Consumer Guide. My copy is 1994, I don't know if it's been updated, but if not check used book resources- it should be cheap. The South Beach diet is good for you too, as long as you stick to mostly fish and veggie meals. Too much cholesterol from meats, even lean meats, will not help your heart. I also have "Protein Power" by Eades and Eades which has many good recipes. It also has information about how your diet affects your health. The only other thing I would suggest is to ask your doctor about an exercise program if you don't already exercise regularly. Happy healing!

JESS: Thank you for the pics. & neat info. about Badger .. I really enjoy learning about the animals in South Africa. One cup of chicken manure per bush is TOO MUCH. In a British rose forum, a lady burnt her roses by using chicken manure once a month. In my cold zone, I use chicken manure VERY SMALL amount when the temp is cool & rainy. Folks use Rose-Tone (has chicken manure) once a month for roses in pots. But that has only 1/6 chicken manure. I would use only 1/2 cup, 1 cup would be too salty. I killed a rose by mixing 1/2 cup of chicken manure in the planting hole. When chicken manure touches the root, it kills the root, best to dilute ONLY 1/2 cup with soil before spreading around the bush. I started a new thread, "10/30/15: Bad habits, good habits, rose & health tips, recipes." http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/3473294/m=3/10-30-15-bad-habits-good-habits-rose-and-health-tips-recipes

Great idea for early Christmas tree !! Looks good, Jim. I don't put mine up until the last minute, since my kid likes to jump rope everywhere. Then her friends come over and want to jump rope, so we always have empty space. I gave away a sofa to make room for their exercises. I'm breaking out in rash from using fish oil. It was fine for the first few weeks, then I developed an allergic reaction after repeated using. Sam's club sells Barlean's Omega-Swirl liquid fish oil really cheap .. $4 for a huge bottle, 24 OZ. It tastes like sorbet. Regular price is over $30, but Sam's club sells it for $4 since it's end of season, plus there's the news that fish oil raised the risk of prostrate cancer. Dairy & calcium also raise prostate cancer risk. The late rosarian Karl Bapst had prostate cancer. From WebMD: " The researchers reviewed 12 studies, conducted between 1966 and 2005, which examined dairy and calcium intake and prostate cancer incidence. They report that men who ate the most dairy products had an 11% increase in prostate cancer risk compared with men who ate the fewest. Men with the highest intake of calcium were 39% more likely to develop prostate cancer than men with the lowest. The risk increases reported in the studies were modest. But an author of the latest work tells WebMD that it is potentially significant because prostate cancer is so common. Prostate cancer is the most widely diagnosed cancer among American men. According to the American Cancer Society, one out of six men will develop the disease. One out of 34 men will die from the disease." http://www.webmd.com/prostate-cancer/news/20051206/lots-of-dairy-linked-to-prostate-cancer From Straw: Omega-3 in fish oil raises prostate cancer risk even more. Fish oil capsule is quite stinky once I poke it to sniff. The fish oil liquid I take is stinky compared to eating FRESH fish. Anything stinky & concentrated isn't good for health. The book "The China Study" written by Dr. Campbell tested fish-protein, cow-milk protein and induced cancer in rats with BOTH. But vegetables and plant-protein shrank tumor in rats. " Mercury is not the only toxin found in fish and fish oil. Polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, are commonly found, in high levels, in fish Oil supplements. PCBs are considered carcinogens, or cancer causing, and are also known to cause headaches, cough, fatigue, skin sores and more. There is currently a lawsuit against fish oil companies because they are not disclosing the levels of PCBs and other chemicals present in their products." http://ezinearticles.com/?3-Reasons-Fish-Oil-is-Bad-For-You&id=4371461 "These anti-inflammatory omega-3s were associated with a 43 percent increased risk for prostate cancer overall, and a 71 percent increased risk in aggressive prostate cancer," said study lead author Theodore Brasky, a research assistant professor at Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center in Columbus, who was at Hutchinson at the time of the study." http://www.webmd.com/prostate-cancer/news/20130710/too-much-fish-oil-might-boost-prostate-cancer-risk-study-says?page=2