Archive for the ‘Blog’ Category

Chop And Mix Fresh Salsa Step-By-Step Picture Book Recipe

Chop and Mix Fresh SalsaDig salsa? I sure do, especially when it’s zesty crisp and fresh. Here’s how to make it on your own quickly, easily, AND much more flavorfully than what you find at the store.

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Adapting to Specific Dietary Needs: 2 Easy Steel Cooked Oats Picture Book Recipes

Steel Cut Oats with Nut Butter, Fresh Fruit & Kefir (AID)Steel Cut Oats with Nut Butter, Fresh Fruit & Kefir

Adapting recipes to specific dietary needs doesn’t have to be hard at all – and best of all – can be done with NO COMPROMISE IN FLAVOR. You bet!

Here are two very easy-to-make steel cut oats breakfast recipes that are very much the same – with just one slight exception. The recipe on the left is made completely with ingredients that are anti-inflammatory (AID in the title=Anti-Inflammatory Diet). The recipe on the right contains raisins, which can be substituted by any choice of dried fruit. Dried fruit, however, can cause discomfort to those with irritated digestive tracts. Removing the raisins/dried fruit is an easy fix.

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Why Eat Anti-Inflammatory Foods?

AID Foods

Inflammation: it’s a double-edged sword.

Acute inflammation, meaning inflammation, or swelling, that lasts for a short period of time, is usually very good for you. Think of a cut you get on your finger, hand, or anywhere. Everyone’s had a cut. But what happens when you get cut? First, your body works to restrict blood flow by tightening blood vessels, your blood itself uses clotting agents to stop bleeding, your white blood cells and other antibodies work to fight infection, and all of that leads to swelling, or inflammation, which, over days or maybe weeks, depending on the severity of the cut, is actually responsible for healing the cut. That kind of inflammation is entirely healthy.

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Fresh Garlic Ginger Salad Dressing Picture Book Recipe

Fresh Garlic Ginger Salad Dressing

Not too long ago, I showed how to grate or chop fresh ginger and then how to make a fresh low-fat kefir salad dressing packed not only with full-on flavor but also packed with anti-inflammatory ingredients that included ground turmeric, mustard, apple cider vinegar, ground flaxseeds, ground black pepper, and honey. Great stuff!

The fresh garlic ginger salad dressing you see here is a little twist on the fresh low-fat kefir salad dressing in that it substitutes kefir (a fermented milk, yogurt-like drink that’s packed with beneficial – or good for you – bacteria) with olive oil and also adds freshly chopped cilantro.

Here are the ingredients you need to make fresh garlic ginger salad dressing.

Fresh Garlic Ginger Salad Dressing IngredientsClick any picture on this page for a complete, easy-to-follow step-by-step picture book recipe.

Fresh Garlic Ginger Salad Dressing Picture Book Recipe

Breakfast Yorkshire Pudding Picture Book Recipe

Breakfast Yorkshire PuddingApril 19th is Patriots’s Day, the day the first shots were fired in 1775 in Lexington, Massachusetts, between British troops and American colonists. On that day, and all through the Revolutionary War that lasted 8 years, all Americans were still considered British subjects.

Why the brief history? Because I think it’s an enlightening backdrop to breakfast Yorkshire pudding, which as easy to make as they are fantastically flavorful to eat.

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Yorkshire Pudding Picture Book Recipe

Yorkshire PuddingI first made Yorkshire pudding a couple years ago when the Tour de France raced through Yorkshire province in England. Yorkshire pudding, as you can see in the picture above, is nothing like the pudding we’re used to in the states. Instead, it’s more like a combination of muffin and dinner roll made with equal parts flour, egg, and milk and seasoned lightly with salt and ground black pepper as shown in the ingredients picture below.

Yorkshire Pudding ingredients Read more »

Fresh Low Fat Kefir Salad Dressing Picture Book Recipe

Fresh Low Fat Kefir Salad DressingHere’s a great way to substitute freshly grated ginger and freshly chopped garlic for the powdered version of those two ingredients to create a fresh low fat kefir salad dressing that’s as fully flavorful as it is full of anti-inflammatory ingredients. Great stuff all around!

Here’s a picture of the ingredients.

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How to Grate or Chop Fresh Ginger Picture Book Directions

How to Grate & Chop Fresh Ginger

Fresh ginger. A staple of eastern cooking. Fantastically flavorful – I use it almost as much as I use fresh garlic…and almost always with fresh garlic. Ginger is the thick root of the tropically grown ginger plant with a great reputation for its anti-inflammatory properties that include easing stomach discomfort, improving digestion, and stimulating blood circulation.

The only problem: how to get a piece of ginger root from this…

…to this as quickly and easily as possible.
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Microwave Cooking Broccoli: Best for Flavor & Health Benefits – In Pictures & Short Video

Microwave Cooked BroccoliAside from its fantastic flavor – quick & easy preparation makes all the difference – broccoli has uniquely potent anti-inflammatory, heart health-promoting, cancer-fighting, body detoxification, and antioxidant properties. To get the most of both flavor and health benefits, it’s best to cook broccoli either by steaming it briefly or cooking it quickly in the microwave oven. You can see how to cook broccoli in the microwave oven (my preferred method for speed, ease, and best flavor & nutrition) by clicking either or both short step-by-step video or easy-to-follow step-by-step picture book recipe links.

Microwave Cooked Broccoli Ingredients & PIcture Book Recipe Read more »

Listening to the “Get a New Bed!” Scream From My Back

Back & Bed Title Shot Chronic lower muscular back pain has been a part of me since I took a knee-buckling zap in my back raking leaves in the backyard almost 20 years ago. Since then, I think I’ve managed the pain pretty well despite quite a few intense flare-ups every year that, for a few days at least, require me to throw clothing for my lower body on the floor first to have them snagged with my feet and then maneuvered where they belong by rolling gingerly on my back and using a combination of gravity and some ridiculous looking anti-gymnastics. If you’ve had or have back pain, you know the deal.

Two days ago, after many months of steadily ramped up “regular” pain and a good dose of “get a new bed” personal advice, I woke up with a painful lower back stab and knew I had to make a change –  now!

First thing I did – after a tortured session of less intense stretching than I normally do – was to go online to research “best beds for bad backs”. The first article I read from WebMD described my situation dead-on perfectly. Read more »

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