Latest info, recipes, tools & gadgets to create a healthy diet
Food
Carob Vs Chocolate
Feb 28th
For years there has been a huge debate over which is better for you. However, the facts seem a little nebulous. People who like carob find it better for you. Chocoholics find all the good facts about chocolate and promote them.
Many people tout that carob has less fat in it. However, in order to make it palatable in a candy bar, lots more oils and fats must be added to it, or it tastes chalky and dry.
Carob tastes different than chocolate. It is naturally quite sweet and tastes a little like malted chocolate. It can be used one to one More >
Making Substitutions
Feb 25th
It never fails. You open up your cookbook to try out a new recipe and you find one that sounds absolutely divine, but you’re missing several ingredients. You groan and move on. Not so fast! With just a few hints you can find substitutions that will help you retain most of the flavor that the original chef intended.
In preparing to make Seviya Keer, an Indian dessert, I found that I was missing several ingredients. Of the 8 ingredients listed I had only 4 of them. These were the main ingredients though. I looked at the other 4 and brought to More >
Simply Delicious Muesli
Feb 13th
If you’re looking to add some enzymes to your diet, here’s an excellent way to do it. Muesli has so much life force energy in it that when Kirlian photography is taken of it, it glows like a ball.
The reason for this is that the grains are soaked, then crushed, then dried at low enough temperatures that the enzymes are preserved.
Muesli if very good for women going through menopause. It helps to regular the thyroid, which can be a major cause of mood swings and seeming memory lapses.
Here’s a super simple quick, raw muesli.
To make a batch:
- 2 cups organic oatmeal
- 2 More >
Ridiculously Simple Delicious Cake
Feb 10th
As a vegetarian one thing that was a problem was a cake that could be used for various celebrations, like birthdays. The problem was solved with this recipe, which is a variation on one given on the Oprah Winfrey show by the late Linda McCartney.
Chocolate Cake Recipe
- 3 cups whole-wheat flour
- 2 cups Sucanat (or other whole sugar)
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/3 cup chocolate or carob powder
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 2 tsp. lemon juice
- 3/4 cup oil, no flavor is best
- 2 cups water
Put all the ingredients in a 9”x13” pan. Mix thoroughly with a fork. Bake at 350˚ for 35 minutes.
One variation:
Carrot cake – More >
Romantic Valentine’s Meal At Home
Feb 6th
For many people it’s tradition to go out to a nice restaurant for Valentine’s Day. However, with dining out becoming more popular, and expensive, dining at home may be more romantic in the long run.
Why not start a new tradition, preparing a delicious gourmet meal at home! There are several things you can do to make this an extra special meal.
First and foremost is to keep the meal simple. That doesn’t mean boring. Just pull out the dishes you both love the most, that are also easy to prepare. This could even be pizza, or some other dish that has More >
The King of All Blenders
Feb 3rd
What can chop, mix, blend, pulverize and even make flour? A Vitamix. I’ve been using a Vitamix for years and have found it to be an amazing asset in the kitchen. You can whip up sauces, soups, even bread dough. They’re made like tanks and last for a very long time (at least our has).
Why pay top dollar for a smoothie, when you can make it at home? During the summer you can make delicious cold soups in it, like gazpacho, too.
We use it in place of a juicer. The juice comes out a little thick, because the pulp is More >
Eating More Raw and Enjoying It
Jan 28th
One of the ways that I’ve included more raw in my diet is to do a mix of cooked and raw. For instance I’ll make rice or pasta, which are cooked, but then top it with something raw. Below is an example of one of my hybrid dishes.
Sketti & Fresh Veggies
Serves: 4 Prep Time: 30 min
- Spaghetti
- 2 Tbsp. Olive oil
- 1’ piece ginger, minced
- 1-2 stalks celery, chopped
- ½ cup water
- 1 Tbsp. miso
- 2-3 cups chopped veggies: Tomatoes, red pepper, sunchokes, zucchinis, kale
- Toasted Sesame oil
- Tamari or soy sauce
- Shredded coconut
Prepare pasta. Heat oil in pan. Sauté celery, and ginger in oil until tender. Add water. Mix More >
Some Like It Raw
Jan 13th
Right now raw foods are all the rage and for good reason. They are highly nutritious. One of the key components that are looked at in the raw food mania is enzymes. You need enzymes in order for your body to function. There are over 55,000 enzymes in our body. Even the smallest things, like blinking, require enzymes.
Enzymes are destroyed if they are cooked at too high a temperature. In other words, cooked foods contain no enzymes. If we need enzymes for all our bodily functions, then it would seem that eating a lot of foods with enzymes in them More >
Using Your Nose
Dec 18th
Most of the time we’re told to use our heads, to work out a problem, but in the kitchen it pays to use your nose. When adding flavors to a dish one way to decide what flavor it needs to make it a showstopper is to smell the dish, then smell what it is you are planning on adding to it.
For instance, if you’re making a pasta dish, most people would immediately reach for their Italian herb mixture. But that’s not the only way to flavor your dish. Try adding some wonderful roasted and dried pepper, either mild or hot, More >
Herbs & Spices – The Heart Of Gourmet
Dec 9th
My kitchen has over 50 herbs and spices in it and I’m continually adding more. The reason? The right herbs or spices can make even the most mundane dish gourmet.
There is a story of a group of young people traveling through Europe with little money. They were so poor they could only afford rice. Every night they added different herbs and spices to the rice and never got bored.
Herbs are pretty simple to use. Almost none of them can be overdone. Tarragon can impart a soapy taste if you get too much.
Spices, on the other hand, need to be handled More >