Archive for the ‘Blog’ Category
Spice up your plate and excite your palate with the fabulous flavor explosion of mango chutney. This sweet, spicy and savory condiment transforms your plate into an exotic adventure. I love this chutney served along with a main dish meal or one of my favorite ways of eating it is spread on crackers. It pairs well layered with hummus or almond or cashew cheeses as well. Chutney is used in a similar way that pickles or relish is used. Great on burgers, sandwiches and I have even used it successfully as a pizza topping. Get creative with it and add a touch of the unexpected. It is a wonderful flavor enhancer that livens up any plate. || Read more
This raw version of Pad Thai is close to the authentic, and very popular, Thai dish. It is made with tamarind and has all of the distinctive flavors of the original. The big difference is in the noodles. I like to mix softened kelp noodles with flat peeled zucchini noodles for my Pad Thai, and include strips of carrot, red pepper and other vegetables to fill it out also. Pad Thai is a dish that excites all of the taste buds at once as you experience all of the flavor sensations; the sweet, sour, salty, tangy and spicy. This dish is a favorite and a wonderful taste sensation. || Read more
Today we are heading to a tea plantation, called Suvirun, which is located in the province of Chiang Rai in Thailand. Tea is harvested here every 6 weeks and from the leaves oolong tea is made. Oolong tea is made from the leaves of the camellia sinensis, like black, green and white teas. What differentiates it is the way that it is processed and of the 4 types, oolong is the most difficult one to process. || Read more
This luscious creamy chocolate pudding is not only delicious but wonderfully good for you and is made with all high-nutrition natural ingredients. Raw cacao is one of the greatest of the superfoods and is easily found in most health food stores. It comes in a powder form, like cocoa, and is very easy to use. The avocado is completely undetectable in the finished pudding and is what makes the pudding so rich and creamy. It is loaded with heart healthy natural fats and rich in nutrients. For the milk you can use your favorite type of milk. I like to use my homemade almond milk, which is unpasteurized and still has all the enzymes and nutrition of the raw almonds. For the sweetener, I chose maple syrup as I love the taste of it together with chocolate and in addition it is rich in minerals, but honey or agave would substitute well. Cinnamon has a great blood sugar stabilizing quality to it and is considered a superfood of the spice world. So, think of this as a superfood chocolate pudding and one you can feel really good about eating! || Read more
Tomorrow is Christmas eve and we are busy getting ready for it around here. Christmas is mom’s favorite holiday and time of year. She used to start shopping for it in January and every year our tree was the best tree ever! She was always the happiest person around. That’s mom’s nature anyway and I am really blessed that she has this wonderful positive nature. This year, like last, it is harder for her to get ready for Christmas in the same way she used to. Her stroke left her with not being able to drive and even just going out and buying things is a challenge, but she is doing it as well as she can. She has an inner strength that is rare, and I wonder if I could even rise to the challenge as she has with this one. So we are doing our best to make the season bright over here and I have found that it’s really the little things that make all the difference. || Read more
This biscotti is delicious and very festive and pretty with all of the flecks of red from the cranberries and gojis and bits of green and brown from the pumpkin seeds, hazelnuts and chocolate. It is just very lightly sweetened with maple sugar. If you are a chocolate lover and wanted to get very festive after they are dehydrated you could dip one end into some melted chocolate and sprinkle with almond pieces. I love the idea of doing this but I never have as I love the taste of them as they are just plain and they always get eaten before I get around to trying this. || Read more
This workout is made up of 2 rounds of intervals that are preceded, separated and followed by rounds of side burpees. The intervals are filled with exercises that are great for the abs and core, especially strengthening the obliques and also the supporting stabilizing muscles which get worked as you hold your balance in the side planks. These exercises create great cat-like sleek lines in the body! And burpees are great for just about everything! They are a full body exercise working most of the major muscle groups of the body and adding cardio in too. || Read more
