June 9th, 2016 Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Blog, Breakfast, Cereal, Cycling Food, Fruit Comments Off on Adapting to Specific Dietary Needs: 2 Easy Steel Cooked Oats Picture Book Recipes

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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May 31st, 2016 Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Blog, Fitness/Health Comments Off on Why Eat Anti-Inflammatory Foods?

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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April 28th, 2016 Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Blog, Fitness Food, Salads & Salad Dressings Comments Off on Fresh Garlic Ginger Salad Dressing Picture Book Recipe

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

April 18th, 2016 Blog, Breakfast, Special Recipes Comments Off on Breakfast Yorkshire Pudding 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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April 11th, 2016 Blog, Cycling Food, Special Recipes Comments Off on Yorkshire Pudding Picture Book Recipe

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 »

April 5th, 2016 Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Blog, Salads & Salad Dressings Comments Off on Fresh Low Fat Kefir Salad Dressing Picture Book Recipe

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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March 23rd, 2016 Blog, How To & Tips Comments Off on How to Grate or Chop Fresh Ginger Picture Book Directions

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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February 16th, 2016 Blog, Nutrition, Vegetables, Videos Comments Off on Microwave Cooking Broccoli: Best for Flavor & Health Benefits – In Pictures & Short Video

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 »

February 8th, 2016 Blog, Fitness/Health Comments Off on Listening to the “Get a New Bed!” Scream From My Back

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 »

January 28th, 2016 Blog, Breakfast, Fruit, Nutrition Comments Off on Fresh Fruit vs. Dried Fruit Nutritional Value

Fresh Fruit vs. Dried Fruit Nutritional Value

Fresh vs. Dried Fruit An extraordinarily friendly woman I check out with almost everytime I take a run through BJ’s Wholesale Club in Northborough, MA, noticed a bag of mixed dried fruit along with containers of fresh fruit in my shopping cart and asked, “What’s better for you, dried or fresh fruit? I’ve tried looking it up online, but I can’t find a good answer.”

Bottom line: fresh fruit is by far better for the following three reasons:

  • vitamin and nutrient content in dried fruit is diminished through the fruit drying process, more so when that fruit is dried more aggressively commercially instead of more gently dried at home either in the oven or in a food drier
  • ounce for ounce, dried fruit contains more sugar and calories than fresh fruit (that makes sense as most of the weight in fresh fruit is water, and that water is removed through rapid evaporation when the fruit is dried leaving only the fruit flesh behind)
  • though fresh fruit may not be free of chemicals due to pesticide use depending how that fruit is grown, fresh fruit does not contain preservatives the way some fresh fruits do to enhance color and shelf life

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