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Seitan Stew

Wed, 17/03/2010 - 15:58 — Healthy Flavors

Stew is such a good cold weather dish. Served with a crusty bread and a nice salad this is a delicious hearty and heart warming meal.

Serving Size: 4

Ingredients:

  • 8 ounces of seitan in bite sized pieces
  • 1 lg. onion, chopped
  • 1 Tbs, oil
  • 1 celery stalk, sliced
  • 5 med. carrots peeled and cut into bite zed chunks
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 cup mixed mushrooms, sliced
  • 4-5 potatoes, cut into bite sized chunks
  • 2 small turnips, peeled and cut in pieces (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon rosemary
  • 2-4 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 cups vegetable stock or the broth from making seitan
  • 1 cup dry red wine
  • 1-2 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1/4 cup fresh parsley mince
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Heat the oil in a large pot.
  2. Saute the onion and celery pieces, as they become glassy, add the garlic.
  3. Add the mushroom pieces and mix.
  4. As the mushrooms begin to cook, add the seitan pieces.
  5. Add the vegetable stock and the herbs and bay leaves.
  6. Add the carrots and potatoes and if using turnips as well.
  7. Add the wine, and place a lid on the pot.
  8. Cook on a low heat until the carrots potatoes and turnips are soft but yet, al dente.
  9. Shortly before serving, take a soup ladle amount of the stock out of the pot and mix with the cornstarch to dissolve the cornstarch to a smooth liquid.
  10. Add the cornstarch liquid to the stew and mix well. Bring the heat up and stir until the liquid becomes clear.
  11. Season to taste with salt and pepper and any additional seasonings that you enjoy.
  12. Before serving remove the bay leaves.
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Source: Vegalicious Recipes

McDonald’s Teams Up With Weight Watchers

Tue, 16/03/2010 - 20:02 — Healthy Flavors

We all know that McDonald’s has a real image problem when it comes to weight loss and health. The problem is their food plain and simple. But now, as part of a broader effort to shed their unhealthy reputation, in Australia and New Zealand McDonald’s is teaming up with Weight Watchers to offer some menu items as healthy options that fit into the diet program’s points system.

McDonald menus will bear the Weight Watchers logo on certain meals. Right now that means chicken nuggets, the Filet-O-Fish and a chicken wrap are included, and the weight loss program will promote those meals as options for its dieters.

So there ya go. If you felt that Weight Watchers was questionable before, now they leave no doubt that they are a scam.

[Time]




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Source: Healthy Reader
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Medicinal Marijuana by State

Tue, 16/03/2010 - 19:54 — Healthy Flavors

It’s not just for Cheech and Chong anymore. Though illegal, Marijuana may relieve symptoms of certain chronic illnesses. It has been proven to treat nausea, vomiting, and lack of appetite, and it may also ease pain in some users. It’s illegal in the U.S., but now certain states allow it to be used as medical treatment.

Click the link below for a handy state-by-state guide to medical marijuana use. The dark green areas on the map represent states that allow medicinal marijuana, while the light green shows states with marijuana-friendly laws or pending legislation. Alaska and Hawaii also allow medicinal marijuana.

[health]




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Review: Moroccan style broad bean salad

Mon, 15/03/2010 - 21:54 — Healthy Flavors

We enjoyed this tasty Moroccan style broad bean (fava beans) salad with soy yogurt and crunchy bits tonight.

It’s a delicious and a very flavorful salad from Jamie Oliver. Fresh board beans (fava beans) are nice, but if you can get frozen ones then it’s not so much work to prepare. Of course we used soy yogurt to make it, but otherwise it is a vegan recipe.

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Source: Vegalicious Recipes

#73) Peach Partinis

Sun, 14/03/2010 - 14:43 — Healthy Flavors

This recipe has a sordid past...

1) You know how when you come across a great ingredient you need to find a recipe that really showcases it? Well, that was how this recipe started - my fiance came home with farm-fresh eggs... Now we all know I am more of a baker than a cook, and that I have a somewhat dependant relationship with chocolate...

2) Also, I was recently invited to join the cooking/baking community over at Cook Eat Share. (I have seen plenty of online communities, but I find this one easy to navigate and full of delicious recipes with helpful reviews.)

So between my new farm-fresh eggs and Cook Eat Share membership, I thought, well I will find a great recipe in my new community to showcase these eggs... And boy did I! I am not sure how many of you are familiar with French patisseries, but they are a little bit of Heaven here on Earth, and most serve this decadent, fudgey flourless chocolate cake... It consists of lots of chocolate and lots of eggs... We're off to a good start right?

Have I mentioned fiance and I live in two different towns, separated by 285 km of gravel highway? Yeah, we are. And we drive this nearly every weekend. This means half of my kitchen supplies are in one kitchen, while the rest are in the other...

Pitfall #1 - my round cake pans are in the other kitchen.
Oh, that's fine! Let's make mini versions in the muffin pan. Great@

Pitfall #2 - fiance's oven is on steroids and burns everything in record time, including my pretty little mini cakes :(
Oh, that's fine! Let's cut off the burnt bits and use the middles for something else.

That's how these Peach Partinis were born. Thank goodness, too, because they were fantastic!!! Our friends ate them up, as you can see :)

Ingredients

12 ounces chocolate (I used semi-sweet)
2/3 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
5 eggs, separated

Canned peaches (in water)
Cool Whip

Steps

- Preheat oven to 350 F

- Spray pan (9" round or 15 muffin tins) with spray oil.

- Melt the chocolate, butter and granulated sugar together until the ingredients are thoroughly blended. Set the mixture aside to cool.

- Whisk the egg yolks into the chocolate.

- Beat the egg whites in a large bowl just until they form peaks; do not over-beat egg whites.

- Add one-third of the egg whites to the chocolate batter and mix vigorously.

- Gently fold in the remaining whites. Do this slowly and patiently. Do not over mix, but be sure that the mixture is well blended and that no streaks of whites remain.

- Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s). Bake until the cake if firm and springy, 35-40 min.

- If you want the parfait dessert just layer Cool Whip, chocolate cake pieces, and fruit until your dessert dish is full :)

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Source: Sweet Treats

Pasta with Pumpkin and Pistachios

Fri, 12/03/2010 - 21:19 — Healthy Flavors

We really enjoyed this colorful recipe. Pumpkin puree makes a really nice pasta sauce and the nuts added a nice crunch.

Serving Size: 2

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 onion, chopped fine
  • 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped fine
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1 vegetable bouillon cube
  • 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • dash of red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 3-5 fresh sage leaves (optional)
  • 1/2 lb. penne, fusilli or other pasta
  • 3 TBS. minced fresh parsley leaves as optional garish
  • 1/3 cup finely chopped pistachios

Directions:

  1. Saute the onion and red pepper in a small frying pan.
  2. When the onion becomes soft and glassy, add the garlic and lightly saute it also.
  3. Place the pureed pumpkin in a pot and add the sauteed vegetables.
  4. Add the vegetable bouillon, red pepper flakes, nutmeg and water.
  5. Optionally add the sage leaves if desired.
  6. Cook the mixture until it is warmed.
  7. Puree he mixture once again to form a smooth consistency.
  8. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper.
  9. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to boil.
  10. Add the pasta and cook until it is al dente.
  11. When the pasta is ready, drain and return to the pot.
  12. Mix 1/2 the pumpkin mixture into the pasta and stir to evilly coat the pasta.
  13. Serve the pasta garnished with pistachio nuts and optionally minced parsley leaves.
  14. Serve the other 1/2 of the sauce in a “gravy boat” for people to add on top of their serving.
  15. Optionally if you would like a creamier flavor you can add soy cream.

Notes:

Butternut squash can also be used for this recipe. Our favorite pumpkin is known as the red kuri, uchi kuri, or hokkaido. It grows to a medium small size which is good for a family of four. The pumpkins store very well over the winter months as well. As we were using a fresh pumpkin for the recipe, we had enough to steam some pumpkin pieces to add t the sauce to make it a bit chunkier.

Adapted from http://www.recipezaar.com/Penne-With-Pumpkin-Sauce-100336

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Source: Vegalicious Recipes
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Papaya Could Be a Cancer Fighter

Fri, 12/03/2010 - 18:03 — Healthy Flavors

If you love Papaya, you may be getting more than just a flavorful exotic fruit. Researchers are reporting that an extract from dried papaya slows the growth of cancer cells in the laboratory. It’s not clear if it will have the same effect on cancer in people, however.

University of Florida researcher Dr. Nam Dang and Japanese colleagues report that the papaya extract appears to affect the regulation of the body’s immune system and doesn’t cause side effects by harming normal cells.

“Based on what I have seen and heard in a clinical setting, nobody who takes this extract experiences demonstrable toxicity; it seems like you could take it for a long time — as long as it is effective,” he said.

Great news. Further study might be needed, but it sounds promising.

[MSN]




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Taxpayers Footing Bill for Military Cosmetic Surgery?

Thu, 11/03/2010 - 19:47 — Healthy Flavors

Even though there was a ban imposed five years ago, some American service members are receiving breast augmentations, tummy tucks and other elective cosmetic surgery at taxpayer expense, according to a Pentagon audit. The study found lackluster accounting practices and record-keeping at 13 military hospitals in the U.S. and overseas.

A fact sheet summarizing the findings said the hospitals couldn’t produce billing and payment records for almost 75 percent of their cosmetic surgeries, even though troops are supposed to pay for the procedures in advance.

The Pentagon declined to release the full report, citing a federal law protecting the confidentiality of “medical quality assurance records,” including the number of surgeries performed and the hospitals surveyed.

No big surprises here. Just our government at work. Spending our money on useless crap.

[AOL]




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Review: Stir-Fried Tofu, Red Cabbage and Winter Squash

Wed, 10/03/2010 - 23:05 — Healthy Flavors

We recently came across this nice recipe from the New York Times. As we still have a couple of pumpkins from last year’s harvest to eat up, we were happy it find it.

This makes a very tasty dish. We served it as a main meal, but without rice or pasta. We had so much pumpkin that the meal was plenty , without putting it over something more. We did add a fresh apple, chopped in bite sized pieces, as we enjoy apple with cabbage.

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Source: Vegalicious Recipes

Supermarket Lighting May Alter Nutrients

Wed, 10/03/2010 - 19:23 — Healthy Flavors

I bet you don’t think about supermarket lighting very much. Me either. But it turns out that fluorescent lighting in grocery stores might increase the nutritional value of fresh spinach, according to a new study.

Many stores display fresh spinach in clear plastic containers, which are kept at around 39 degrees Fahrenheit in coolers exposed to fluorescent light 24 hours a day. In the study, researchers exposed fresh spinach leaves to continuous fluorescent light or darkness for three to nine days.

After three days, the spinach stored under the lights had higher levels of vitamins C, K, E and folate, as well as higher levels of lutein and zeaxanthin, which are healthful plant pigments. After nine days of continuous exposure to the lights, the levels of folate increased 84 to 100 percent. Vitamin K increased 50 to 100 percent, depending on the spinach variety.

In darkness Spinach had unchanged or lower levels of nutrients. The study sheds some interesting light on nutrients. Pun intended.

[Health]




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