Stroke Survivors with Paczki-Lite

Statins (simvastatin) are paramount for stroke survivors and high cholesterol, but the joint pain is something else. I look like a little old lady; my calf, ankle and the back muscles are sore and painful. I discussed it with doctor, pro and con, and it wasn't for me. My cholesterol was 275 in 2011. Click statins.

I walk constantly with my Walk Aide and hopefully fit, the stroke withstanding. I march for wood in the garage, trekked to the mail and I hike to the twittering birds and wildlife footpaths. In the spring, let's see what happens for my cholesterol. Click Walk Aide.

Consequently, I eat healthy foods. Fast food, processed grub and mystery meat is verboten. I choose, for example, whole grain, sweet potatoes, oily fish (sardines), olive oil and fruit and veggies.

Yep...one thing..I have a sweet fang.

Fifty years ago, I was a tot, poking around Mom's kitchen. With yeast, sugar and lukewarm milk, the rising dough covered the bowl. It's warm, tasty and delicious and I couldn't wait. Scrawled on the back of the invoice pad (Dad was a plumber), Mom had a paczki recipe.

It was Fat Tuesday, just before Lent and no sweets of any kind, not even Juicy Fruit gum. The sweet dough packed full of fruit filling, powdered sugar glaze and fried lard lipids; I was a happy little kid. Fast-forward fifty years? I learned.

The old-time paczki is a heart-stopping, artery-clogging and begging-for-an- angioplasty. Who knew? Before you count your lipids, consider this. Paczki-light.

STUFF:

3 packets (x1/4 oz. ) active dry yeast granules, 1 cup fat-free milk, lukewarm, 1 cup flour. Let it rest for 1/2 hour.

1 1/4 cup Egg Beaters, 1/2 cup Splenda, 1 stick margarine, melted, 2 teaspoons of vanilla, 1 teaspoon of salt, 2 1/2 cups of flour. Let it rest for 1 hour.

Sugar-free jelly

Peanut or vegetable oil

SAVVY TIPS:

Step 1: I use three packets x 1/4 oz. active dry yeast granules,1 cup fat-free milk (Calories: 80), lukewarm. Mix well and the yeast is frothy. Use 1 cup of flour. Mix well. Let it rest for 1/2 an hour.

Step 2: Punch out the yeast mixture.

Step 3: Add 1 1/4 cup Egg Beaters. (Note: Shell eggs, 210 mg. of cholesterol, 75 calories per egg.) Egg Beaters: 0 mg. cholesterol, 35 calories. Click Egg Beaters.

Step 4: Use a 1/2 cup of artificial sweetener, Splenda 48 calories. (Sugar: 385 calories.) Click Splenda.

Step 5: 2 teaspoon of vanilla. 1 teaspoon of salt.

Step 6: 1 stick of Blue Bonnet (Calories 720, cholesterol 0%) margarine (any oleomargarine), melted. (Note: 1 stick butter, salted, calories 810, cholesterol 243 mg., 81%).

Step 7: 2 1/2 cups flour. Mix well.

Step 8: Let it rise again, double the size, 45 minutes.

Step 9: Punch it down, yet again.

Step 10: Transfer the mixture to a floured board, use a rolling pin 1/2 inch thick. Use a biscuit cutter or water glass. Sprinkle flour.

Step 11: Place a dollop of sugar-free jelly: strawberry, black raspberry or apple. One spoonful is plenty. Pinch edges over the filling and be sure it's sealed. Use tennis-ball paczki, please. Click sugar-free.

Step 12: Let it rest for 20 minutes.

Step 13: Use peanut oil or veggie oil, medium-high, (48 fl. oz., about 10 minutes), screaming hot. It's a rolling boil when a piece of dough rises up and floats. Use a big slotted spoon and be careful. Two or three minutes, (use your judgement), turn over. Use an absorbent paper towels. Click peanut oil.

Step 14: Sprinkle a sugar substitute, or confection's sugar.

Step 15: Yields 15-20 paczki.

Useless fact: "Plant bud" or "pak"; it comes from a derivative of the Polish language, hence, paczki.

I wrote The Bat Who Wore Rose-Colored Glasses, a children's book. A little brown bat, Oliver's looking for mosquitoes, a habitat for the winter and a wise owl with gleaming gold eyes. He was face-to-beak with a very large bird. Click Bat.