April 3rd, 2019 
Blog, Cooking Technique, Fitness Food, Grains, How To & Tips 
Comments Off on Microwave Cooked Quinoa Alfredo – Fast and Flavorful 
Last post showed how to microwave oven cook quinoa. Like rice and pasta, quinoa, with it’s nutty flavor and snap-and-pop texture is incredibly versatile
Here’s one of my favorite fast and flavorful quinoa meals: microwave cooked quinoa Alfredo, Read more »
March 31st, 2019 Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Blog, Breakfast, Cycling Food, Grains, How To & Tips Comments Off on 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.
March 17th, 2019 Blog, Breakfast, Cycling, Cycling Food, Fitness Food, Fitness/Health, Food & Health, Grains, How To & Tips, Nutrition Comments Off on How to Cook Quinoa on the Stove Picture Book Directions 
Quinoa (pronounced “keen-wah”) is one of my favorite…seeds. Yah, right away, that’s one of the things that makes it stand out. Quinoa is not a member of the true grain family, like wheat, barley, rye and other “grass grains”. Instead, quinoa, which comes in white, red, and black color variations, is really a seed, and, specifically, it’s the seed of the goosefoot plant shown below.
Goosefoot gets its name from the shape of its leaves and is related to spinach and Swiss chard. Quinoa grows in the South American Andes Mountains, mostly in Chile, Peru, and Bolivia, where it’s been cultivated for over 5000 years. Historical legend has it that Incan armies sustained themselves during long marches on “war balls” made of quinoa mixed with fat. Yes indeed, EMMMMM… Actually, after what I’ve recently learned about fat and how good a lot of it is for us, the idea behind those “war balls” makes good sense.
As you’d probably expect from a relative of spinach and Swiss chard, both exceptionally nutritious leafy greens, quinoa also packs a potent nutritional punch. It has about twice the protein content of barley, corn, and rice. Quinoa is gluten free and easily absorbed by the body. It’s a good source of manganese, magnesium, iron, copper & phosphorous making it particularly noteworthy for people affected by migraine headaches, diabetes, and atherosclerosis. It’s also exceptionally high in dietary fiber and is rich in “good” unsaturated fats like Omega-3. Here are the numbers I got regarding quinoa’s nutrition from a U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) table.
My favorite way to prepare quinoa is to make a batch with what you see below that yields about 2 ½ – 3 cups cooked quinoa. I then put the lion’s share of what’s left over in a sealed container either in the fridge for at least a week, or in the freezer where it lasts like any other frozen food.
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Click any picture on this page for a complete, easy to follow step-by-step picture book “How to Cook Quinoa” recipe.
February 18th, 2019 Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Blog, Breakfast, Cycling Food, Dessert, Fitness Food Comments Off on 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.
January 27th, 2019 Blog, Cycling Comments Off on Food for Life: Actively Advocating for Traffic Safety in the MA State House 
Distracted driving, especially texting and driving, is killing an average of nine people a day in the US. That’s horrible for both those hit by cars and drivers themselves who have to live with the consequences of a completely avoidable life-taking crash.
It was therefore a great day last Wednesday in the Massachusetts State House joining my good buds at MassBike and a dedicated core of fellow proponents from Liveable Streets, Walk Boston, Best Buddies, Text Less Live More, Crash Not Accident, AAA, and many more advocating for legislation intended to decrease pedestrian and cyclist traffic-related injuries and deaths.
Though many of the bills have been on the books for years, the key to success this legislative session is leadership support. That support was clearly evident Wednesday when Governor Charlie Baker, pictured above, and Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito, just to the left of the table, stood out front, shoulder-to-shoulder in support of both legislators’s bills and their own comprehensive traffic safety bill. Those bills include SD. 847: An Act to Reduce Traffic Fatalities, a bill sponsored by regular State House cycling commuter Sen. William Brownsberger along with a house bill sponsored by active cyclist Rep. Dave Rogers, seen at the lectern below, as well as other bills that do not yet have links as the legislative session has just begun.
You can, however, stay updated by checking in on the Massachusetts Legislative website and clicking the “Bills” section shown with the arrow below.
Massachusetts, always the leader in revolution, is primed for revolutionary traffic law change intended to save lives on the road across the board. If you’re a Massachusetts resident, please advocate with your representative and senator for support of these much-needed bills. Together we can make a real difference to those on the road and those loving those on the road!
January 21st, 2019 Blog, Cycling Food, Fitness Food, Poultry, Seasonal/Holiday Recipes Comments Off on Roast Turkey – Warm, Fully Flavorful Feast Any Day 
With all that it has to offer: its signature warm smell while it roasts, terrific comforting flavor fresh out of the oven, incredible leftover versatility, and much more, especially when it’s cold out, why have roasted turkey just on Thanksgiving?
I’ve roasted two turkeys since Thanksgiving: one to have leftovers at home after Thanksgiving, which I’m still enjoying in portions out of the freezer, and another to prepare for a Bicycles Battling Cancer dinner at the American Cancer Society’s Hope Lodge in Boston last week.
If you’ve never roasted a turkey, you might think it’s a real chore.
It isn’t. In fact, it’s stress-free easy.
The keys to roasting a turkey beautifully successfully are roasting the turkey without stuffing (which otherwise will lead you to overcook the bird to cook the stuffing safely), using a meat thermometer, and doing most of the roasting with the turkey’s most delicate meat, the breast meat, cooked out of direct contact with the heat, which means roasting the bird mostly breast side down as shown in the top left picture below.
Click either this link or any picture on this page for complete, easy to follow fully flavorful stress-free roast turkey directions.
December 9th, 2018 Blog, Mind Food, News, Videos Comments Off on Truth About Cell Phone and Wireless Radiation Video 
There are more than 5 billion cell phones and well over 7.2 billion mobile devices in world. The number of those devices collectively has shot from zero to more than the number of people on Earth in just 30 years.
I came to the cell party a bit late ten years ago, and I’ve since been a big fan. I can talk with people just about anywhere on the planet – instantly. I can look up facts with incredible speed. My phone’s my go-to device to learn foreign languages – everyday – and there’s much more.
But what about the health risks associated with these devices? After all, mobile device technology is an offshoot of radar and microwave technology, and we know that direct exposure to electromagnetic energy is not what the surgeon general recommends.
I’ve search just a bit for mobile device health related information online – I just did that again now – and have found nothing more than “research continues with no conclusive proof”.
Sound familiar?
Then, last night I watched a much more conclusive video delivered by renowned Phd. epidemiologist, Dr. Devra Davis, who was one of the key drivers pushing for the smoking ban on airlines. To me, Dr. Davis’s 2015 video, “The Truth About Mobile Phone and Wireless Radiation”, comes with the same wake up punch as UCSF pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Robert Lustig’s eye opening 2009 “Sugar: The Bitter Truth” video about the severely negative health effects of sugar.
That video significantly changed my life.
The most significant consideration to bear in mind regarding mobile devices is that their energy does not treat all ages and sexes equally. Kids are most vulnerable, and men women are affected differently.
I already barely use my cell phone directly with my head. I use wired ear buds instead or talk on speaker phone. Beyond that, I’ll now make sure to keep my phone out of my pocket whenever I can.
Please give the video a look and then make up your own mind about how you plan to interact with your mobile devices.
All the best,
November 12th, 2018 Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Blog, Cycling Food, Nutrition, Salads & Salad Dressings Comments Off on Anti-Inflammatory Fresh Ginger Cilantro Kefir Salad Dressing Picture Book Recipe 
October 15th, 2018 Blog, Food & Health, Nutrition Comments Off on Life Changer: Sugar’s Bitter Truth Video and More Last post showed how to make killer flavorful fresh lemonade using either the traditional amount of sugar, 2 tablespoons of sugar with 2 ounces of lemon juice, or with less sugar using a mixture of 2 teaspoons sugar and 1/3 teaspoon stevia (plant derived sweetener) for that same 2 ounces of freshly squeezed lemon juice.
Why the sugar-reduced version?
As I’ve mentioned before, until 5 to 6 years ago I thought using as much sugar as I wanted was fine as long as I kept my weight down and stayed in good shape – not always easy. I’d have sugar in cereal, put it in my fruit pancakes, pour 2 tablespoons in every cup of coffee I drank, and much more – until I saw a stop-me-in-my-tracks video – and read the suggested book in that video.The video (nearly 8 million views – for good reason!), which you can see by clicking the title here or picture above – Sugar: The Bitter Truth, by UCSF Pediatric Endocrinologist Dr. Robert Lustig. The book – Pure, White and Deadly, by Dr. John Yudkin.
Both the video and book had an immediate, profoundly positive effect on me. I cut back to almost no added sugar in everything I ate, which, admittedly was a struggle for the first month or so. Now I use sugar only in very limited, conscious doses, and I feel better for it physically and mentally.
I very much wish the same for you!
August 19th, 2018 Blog, Cycling, Cycling Food, Drinks, Drinks (no alcohol), Reduced Sugar Comments Off on Turning Lemons into Lemonade: Figuratively and Literally 
