Food

Friday's Steak

This recipe was not a favorite, Steak & Roasted Carrots & Onions.  This is probably because I am not that good at cooking steak and we were in a rush to get out of the house for the weekend.  If we had been staying in and enjoying a glass of wine with it, I could see where it would be a nice Friday night dinner, or if we had a grill...  My desire to improvise took precedence here and I landed up making a salad instead of roasting the vegetables.

Ah, the excuses...it at least gave us good fuel for wake-boarding the next day! 

Anyhow, here is the photo and you can click on the name above for the recipe.

Pork Cutlets with Spicy Noodles

Pork Cutlets with Spicy Noodles

MAKE THIS DISH!!!!

This dish is full of flavor!  I don't typically eat pork, but an exception is made.  I was excited to learn how to cook Udon Noodles to give them flavor.  You cook them in chicken broth with ginger and then add shitaki mushrooms which I have always wanted to cook with but never used!  The chili pepper gives it a punch of spice!

I have to run off and teach class now, so not much more to report, other than, I will definitely be making this dish again!!!  This one is a favorite for both of us!!!

Mint & Eggplant

Penne with Eggplant, Tomatoes and Mozzarella was the dish for tonight.  Limit the mozzarella to lessen the calories and buy whole grain pasta for higher nutrient value (check the ingredients, don't rely on the package advertising). 

Mint was the herb in this dish that caught my attention.  Its easy to grow on your own and adds a very fresh taste to the dish.  Mint can help with stomach aches and chest pain.  It has also been used to whiten teeth and is found in everything from tea to shampoo. 

This dish was very tasty, juicy from the tomatoes, flavorful from the red pepper & garlic!  There are lot's of colors and that's what I look for in my food, it makes it taste better, look better and I just know its full of vitamins and minerals!

Plant mint near a door to drive ants away or take it camping to repel mosquitos.  This plant has many uses, from culinary to practical!!! 

 

Do you know these nicknames?

Maybe you already avoid high fructose corn syrup.  Good!  But do you know its other names???

Other names: Corn syrup solids, fructose, corn syrup, glucose

Let's learn a few terms:

Fructose is found natural in fruit & honey (which also contains fiber and other nutrients needed in the body & biochemical properites that help us digest it better).

Sucrose is table sugar (you should limit to <6 tsp/day)

Lactose is milk sugar and  Maltose is malt sugar.

Glucose is formed in the blood by sugar breakdown in the body & signals the pancreas to release insulin to uptake the glucose for energy.  (A malfunction here can lead to diabetes)

There is no need to add fructose or glucose to your diet in an unnatural form, as fructose is in fruit & glucose is made within the body!  You know that too much sugar is bad!  Just because we recognize the name on the food label, doesn't mean it is good for us.  Sure!  It might be "natural", but it might not be complete and its might not be necessary!!!

Corn sounds healthy, right?  Sure - everything in moderation.  But corn syrup?  Genetically modified food (corn) is altered so it can grow bigger, the problem is it also makes us grow bigger!

Put it in Perspective
Eating all fruits & vegetables all day will amount to about 15 grams of sugar
1 can of soda will equal about 35 grams of sugar! 

High Fructose Corn Syrup is only digested by the liver, yet the liver cannot digest it, so transforms it into fatty deposits.  Furthermore, no Leptin (satiety) is released when you ingest HFCS, so there is no signal that you are full.  Hmmmm.... 

Did I hear childhood obesity & diabetes??? 

 

Suggestions:

Use raw sugar (brown just has molasses in it, its not really healthier)

Steevia or Agave

Honey, has enzymes that are healthy for us

Eat fruit when you have a sugar craving, add it to oatmeal or squeeze some fresh lemon/lime/orange into sparkling water!  It will taste "healthy" at first, but you will get used to it!  Just like you got used to the High Fructose Corn Syrup or other sugar that you ingest.

The Taste That Kills!

Cooking with preservatives does not reduce harm as it does with bacteria in food, it makes the chemicals more harmful, the heat adds more effects. Your body and fruits both produce some of the ingredients in your food already - which makes them seem harmless, but in larger amounts these become deadly: glutamante, phenylalamine, sulfates.