Anti-Inflammatory Foods | Gotta Eat, Can't Cook

Archive for the ‘Anti-Inflammatory Foods’ Category

April 23rd, 2019

Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Beans, Cycling Food, Fitness Food, Vegetables

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Quick Bell Pepper, Cilantro Pesto-Hummus, and Cheese – All in Pictures

Last post showed how to make fresh Cilantro Pesto-Hummus, a combination of cilantro pesto and hummus. Great stuff to lay on bread, toss with pasta or grains, mix with cooked vegetables, top on salads, and much more. Imagination is your only limit. Here’s a link to that recipe.

What you see above is a quick fresh meal I put together last night: bell pepper, “pummus”, and cheese. I started with 1/3 fresh orange bell pepper that I sliced into thick strips just so the pepper would spread out mostly flat on a plate. I then laid on a good spread of pummus and topped that with some leftover cooked grains (pearl barley, stone cut oats, and quinoa). For sure, what made this dish so quick for me to put together was having most of the ingredients already pre-made. Please use what you see below as a guide. That’s exactly what I do with just about every recipe I come across.

Next, I spread out a good layer of shredded mozzarella and provolone cheese and put the plate in the microwave oven for 1 minute at 100% power – just long enough to start melting the cheese.

After that quick warm in the microwave, I topped the pepper, cilantro pesto-hummus, and cheese with a good pour of fresh ginger cilantro kefir salad dressing, which you can either see how to make by clicking either this link or the picture below or just use your own favorite salad dressing.

I finished by adding a good blast of chopped hot peppers (jalapeños shown here), chopped fresh cilantro,…

…chopped sun-dried tomatoes, a good shot of kefir, and a mix of chopped nuts and ground flaxseed (I make a jar of nuts and flax every week – very easy & versatile – I’ll show how to do that next time I make it.)

Now make it yours & enjoy!

April 8th, 2019

Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Beans, Blog, Snacks, Special Recipes

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Cilantro Pesto-Hummus Picture Book Recipe

I’m a big fan of rich basil-flavored pesto and cilantro infused hummus. The “pummus” (pesto + hummus) recipe you see here combines those flavors by substituting fresh cilantro for fresh basil and then really pumping up the herb flavor of bean-based hummus.

Here’s what you need to make pummus, which goes great with vegetables, on pasta, with rice, on bread – your imagination is your only limit.

Click any picture on this page for an easy-to-follow picture book recipe.

March 31st, 2019

Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Blog, Breakfast, Cycling Food, Grains, How To & Tips

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Microwave Cooked Quinoa Picture Book Directions

Quinoa (spelled as is but sounds like “Keen-Wah”) is killer excellent for nutrition, flavor, and versatility. Have it as is, add it to yogurt, use it instead of pasta or rice. Here’s how I’m having it now: combined with steel cut oats, bulgar wheat to make a multi-grain pancake covered with a fresh fruit topping, almond butter, a good shot of kefir, a squirt of honey – and a bucket of coffee (did I mention coffee?) – before rippin’ out for a gorgeous early spring Sunday road ride.

Last post showed how to cook quinoa on the stove.This post shows how to cook quinoa in the microwave oven – all as easy as it can be.

Here’s what you’ll need to cook quinoa in the microwave oven:

Click this link or any picture on this page for an easy to follow step-by-step picture book recipe.

February 18th, 2019

Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Blog, Breakfast, Cycling Food, Dessert, Fitness Food

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Warm Fruit Topping to Fuel a Winter Training Ride

Pre-cold weather ride “goose fat” (homemade oil combo) on face & warm fruit topping for breakfast

Yes, it’s February, but any day cycling the road sure beats a day on the living room trainer, especially when there are sights like those below before the snow blew in last night.

Bottom line: Weather’s a state of mind. Just be prepared.

For me that means, step one, “goose fat” (homemade mix of avocado oil, coconut butter, shea butter, and a shot of honey) on the face and something warm to fuel me up for a good hop in the saddle.

Click this link or the picture above or below for a complete, easy to follow step-by-step picture book recipe that shows how to make a fruit topping that goes great on warm cereal, French toast, pancakes – your imagination is your only limit! As always, a quick nod and smile to Bicycles Battling Cancer and Springfield Police, Fire, and new this year, military vets, Ride to Remember.

November 12th, 2018

Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Blog, Cycling Food, Nutrition, Salads & Salad Dressings

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Anti-Inflammatory Fresh Ginger Cilantro Kefir Salad Dressing Picture Book Recipe

If you’re an athlete or physically active at all, you know how inflammation exhibited in joint or muscle pain inhibits how you move your body. Inflammation is also a key contributor to diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and much more.

The very easy to make, fully-flavorful fresh low fat salad dressing you see here goes great on any salad as shown below – or anything savory – and contains kefir (a good bacteria, yogurt-like fermented milk drink), fresh garlic, fresh ginger, fresh cilantro, ground turmeric, mustard, apple cider vinegar, ground black pepper, and honey – all of which are rich with anti-inflammatory benefits.

A Friend’s Genuine Cancer Note and Fresh Ginger Mint Tea – Super Easy Hot or Cold

The tea you see above: great stuff I drink just about everyday and look forward to after rides preparing for a now annual Bicycles Battling Cancer, Ride to Remember, and other rides that add charitable purpose to my daily joy of cycling – and now, running.

Regarding cancer charity efforts, I’m not a big Facebook guy, but last year about this time a Westborough friend I’ve known since our kids were in elementary school laid down a post that, as soon as I read the first few words, made me want to read what you see below, all of which she wrote beautifully.

“After chemotherapy treatment, it’s true that it takes years to feel alive… with the side effects of the chemotherapy and radiation, you will never be back to 100% because of the weakened immune system.
Sure, in the most difficult moments of life you realize who your real friends are or the people who really appreciate you.

Unfortunately, like most friendships, FB friends will leave you in the middle of a story. They’ll publish an “enjoyed” for the story, but unfortunately they don’t really read your message when they see it’s long.

More than half may have stopped reading. Some may have gone to the next post on your news feed.

I have decided to publish this message in support of the families of friends and relatives who have fought this terrible disease until the end…

Now, I focus on those who take the time to read this message until the end… a little test, if you like, just to see who reads, and who shares it without reading.

If you’ve already read everything, choose “like” so I can thank you on your profile.

Cancer is a very invasive and destructive enemy of our bodies. After the end of the treatment, the body remains devastated. Recovery from the damage caused by the treatment of the disease is a very long process.

Please, in honor of a family member or a friend who died of cancer, or still fighting cancer, copy and paste this as a post on your FB.

How many times have we heard others say: “if you need anything, don’t hesitate to call me, I’ll be there to help you”. so i bet most people who saw this post (maybe even Reading until the end) will publish, to show your support to the family / friend who can wrestle.

Copy and paste – do not share this message.

I’d like to know who I can count on to take a minute of your day and really read this. When you finish this, you write “done” in the comments. Done for a friend.”

That was the post: clear and written with true courage and strength. I can’t tell you I know what it’s like or how she feels. All I can do is offer help to enable you to empower yourself to take charge of your life by enjoying life-promoting foods – there are tons of them that taste amazingly good – and promoting moving your body. Diet and exercise are the two primary contributors to improved quality of life and disease prevention.

Here’s a recipe for ginger mint tea that I drink daily – sure, I vary the flavor by adding other anti-inflammatory ingredients, just as you can.

Ride, run, and, most importantly, live on!

May 28th, 2018

Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Breakfast, Fitness Food, Special Recipes

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Almond Butter with Dried Cranberries, Flaxseed and Toasted Coconut Picture Recipe

Flavor rules – always!

Cool thing about making almond – or any nut – butter on your own is that you can add anything you want to it to make it all yours.

Homemade Almond Butter: Training Food Extraordinaire – All in Pictures

I’ve always been a big fan of almond butter: great flavor and texture, terrific energy sustainer. Years ago, when my favorite vendor of that almond butter – and many other favorite food products, Trader Joe’s, experienced a recall and then was only able to dole out cases of new almond butter the way Apple doles out new versions of its iPhone, a Trader Joe’s salesman I’d gotten to know asked me quite bluntly, “Do you have a food processor?”

Chewy Whole Grain Pancakes – All in Pictures

Last post showed how to make the best of a cooking fail as I tried to develop a whole grain pancake recipe that I’d forgotten I’d already developed last year. Memory’s great – when it works.

Here’s how that chewy whole grain pancake turned out last year.

Then, I topped a piece of that pancake with nut butter and a pre-cooked fruit topping along with…

…fresh and dried fruit, and then…

…kefir, ground flaxseed, and a good shot of honey.

Click any picture on this page for a complete step-by-step picture book recipe – and then lay whatever you want on that finished pancake to make it all yours.

May 6th, 2018

Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Blog, Breakfast, Cooking Technique, Cycling, Cycling Food, Fitness Food, Grains, How To & Tips

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Microwave Cooked Oatmeal: Great Move Your Body Food!

Want fuel move your body: prep for a good ride on the bike, run, workout, or to feel fully alive to start your day? Oatmeal’s a great favorite of mine – packed with complex flavorful carbs and fiber, and both those attributes can be well enhanced if you oppose them (i.e. supplement them) with protein or healthy fat.

More about opposing real soon. But first, click the picture above to learn how to cook oatmeal as quickly and easily as possible and that means cooking it in the microwave oven.