Best Way to Ripen, Cut, & Preserve an Avocado
Either in guacamole, as a replacement for mayo on a sandwich, or just plain with a little bit of salt, avocados are delicious and nutritious! Full of fiber, potassium, folate, vitamins K, C, B6, E, and monounsaturated fat, avocados are great for blood pressure and blood sugar control, as well as for keeping belly fat down. Do you need any more reasons to indulge?
Make Your Salads Healthier!
My challenge this month is to eat leafy greens every day. Even though this month is almost over, don't stop eating those greens! Make it a habit for life to help decrease cognitive decline as you age, boost your health, and keep body fat off.To help with this challenge, this week's Tuesday Tip addressed some tricks for making salads more nutritious. Here are the tips in a nutshell:
Judes' Healthy Choices at Restaurants
This post is the first of a new miniseries I call "Lunch Date" that demonstrates my healthy choices at various restaurants. As you see my healthful choices, hopefully, it will help you in your restaurant decisions.
Amazing Vegetable Avocado Soup
If you're busy and enjoy high-quality delicious food, you'll want to try this month's meal hack. You'll be surprised at how well a little salsa and avocado can enhance the flavor of purchased vegetable soup from the refrigerator section at Costco or your grocery store. A delicious, hearty soup that is quick and fun!
Southern Okra Fun
Okra is full of valuable phytonutrients, vitamins, and minerals, and you don't need to fry it to make it delicious! Instead, try roasting it to create an appealing texture so you can enjoy this delicious southern vegetable.
Build a Bowl: Easy Grain Bowl Formula
Are you in a rice, pasta, or potato rut, and searching for delicious, simple ways to eat more whole grains? Grain bowls, the west coast's healthy obsession, are a perfect solution! These aren’t too unfamiliar, given that Chipotle’s best-selling item, their burrito bowl, is just a Mexican version of a grain bowl. These bowls are the ideal way to make a fast, tasty DIY meal using leftovers and ancient whole grains, any time of the day. Cooked whole grains like farro, barley, brown or black rice, or quinoa keep for about five days in the refrigerator, so you can prepare them in advance in a rice cooker or on the stove top and use them throughout the week as the base ingredient of this tasty new trend, in various combinations.It's so easy for quick, causal restaurants to put together a burrito bowl or a rice bowl right in front of you – you tell them what you like, and they throw it in a bowl. It's not much harder to do this at home, and it may just become your go-to weeknight staple. Make variations using one or a mixture of whole grains as a base, and then top it with ingredients that combine different textures and a balance of flavors between salty, sweet, and acidic. In other words, use my simple Grain Bowl Formula below to build the best bowl ever!
Barley to the Rescue
Are you in a rice, pasta, and potato rut? Pull yourself out of it with barley! It is easy, delicious, and super nutritious. In fact, barley has great protective effects against heart disease, diabetes, cancer, obesity, and even gallstones. Ancient Greek and Roman athletes ate barley for strength. They were on to something! It's time to go out of your comfort zone and try some powerful barley.
Colorful Carrots
Carrots aren't only orange. In fact, purple, red, and yellow carrots are commonly eaten around the world. We have been a little slow in America to take advantage of these inviting, rainbow-colored carrots. It's not too late to join the fun and cash in on all the different phytonutrients that these various colors offer.
Simplified Stir-Fry Formula
Stir-fry is a tasty way to eat more vegetables, but I am often asked how to make the stir-fry sauce. The trick is knowing a few key sauce ingredients, and then learning how to tweak the basic recipe to make your favorite type of stir-fry sauce like sesame, sweet & sour, or my favorite, lemon. Then you have the flexibility to combine your sauce with a variety of vegetables and protein choices. You make it easily, because I've broken it down into a few simple formulas.
Pomegranates: The Crown Jewel of Superfoods
Pomegranates are a part of many cultures around the world and are often symbolic of good fortune, abundance, and as in Persian wedding ceremonies, a joyous future. That seems fitting, since they contain so many powerful nutrients that improve health for a happier future.
Purple Potatoes: Royal Super Spud
Americans' love affair with potatoes has added to our weight problems, but purple potatoes may be the super spud we need to negate the downside of white potatoes while improving our health. No matter their size or shape, purple potatoes have royal benefits.
Farro: Pharaoh's Wheat
Farro is an ancient grain belonging to the wheat family. It gave rise to durum wheat, from which pasta flour is made, and spelt, but was replaced in modern times by ordinary wheat because modern-day wheat is easier to harvest and has a higher crop yield. Yet farro has twice the fiber (5 g/serving) and protein (7 g/serving) of modern wheat. It's also high in minerals: iron, magnesium, selenium, and zinc, as well as B vitamins and vitamin E.
Oatmeal: Breakfast of Champions!
If you are looking for a great-tasting food that can help you begin your day with lasting energy, lose weight, fight disease, and stabilize your blood sugars, eat oatmeal! It's high in dietary fiber, quality protein, and vitamins and minerals, as well as phytonutrients. It is the breakfast of champions!
6 Tips for Spectacular Smoothies
When a sweet treat is called for, smoothies seem to fit the bill. They can be healthy, filling, refreshing and delicious all at the same time!