Posts Tagged ‘healthy recipes’
Greens Are Good for Us
The very simplest place to start with getting greens into our diet is to eat one big salad each day and make sure it is filled with mostly greens.
Greens are full of vitamins A, K, D, and E which are fat soluble. To absorb these vitamins make sure to add a teaspoon of dietary fat, such as butter, olive or coconut oil, nuts, cheese or salad dressing. This will make sure your body absorbs all of the vitamins in the greens. Vitamin K helps calcium and phosphorus bind onto the bone protein matrix.
MIXED SUMMER GREEN SALAD
Ingredients:
1 handful, spinach
1 handful, arugula
½ head, red leaf lettuce
½ head, green leafy lettuce
1 medium bunch of parsley
3 Celery pieces, chopped
1 medium cucumber, sliced in rounds
¼ cup pine nuts
Directions:
1. Mix greens together in a bowl.
2. Top with celery, cucumber and pine nuts.
3. Serve with Mint salad dressing.
TIP: If you are planning on this lasting for the next day, do not mix the cucumber in. Put it in a bowl on the side and add to each serving of salad. A mix of the basic ingredients without the cucumber will last 3 days in the fridge.
Here is a salad dressing with greens already in it! This is a refreshing tasty dressing with a little mint flavour.
LEMON-MINT SALAD DRESSING
Ingredients:
1 ¼ cups olive oil
¼ cup lemon juice
2 tbsp. fresh mint (or 2 tsp. dried)
Salt to taste
Few drops of stevia
Directions:
1. Blend all ingredients.
2. Add salt to taste and Stevia to taste and re-blend.
Copyright © Diana Herrington You are welcome to share this article with anyone who you think may benefit from this information as long as you give credit to Real Food for Life by including the link to the home page www.RealFoodforLife.com or the direct link to this post.
Cooking with Beans
I am quite fastidious about the way beans are cooked as I do not like experiencing the common thing we all associate beans with…GAS! So here is what I do:
Cooking Beans & Lentils
Ingredients:
Dried beans or lentils
Water
Directions:
1. Wash beans in cold water and soak overnight in three times the volume of water.
2. Next day, pour off the water.
3. Place beans in a pot and cover with water 1 inch above the level of the beans.
4. Bring to a boil.
5. Let simmer with lid ajar.
6. Skim off the foam.
7. Add more water if necessary. Beans should always be covered with water while cooking.
8. Cooking time will vary according to the type, size and age of the bean.
9. Most beans will need approximately 2 hours cooking time.
10. Beans should be soft. This is the stage that you can salt and other seasonings. Do not add salt while cooking as above.
For Vegan Chili recipe: http://realfoodforlife.com/veganchili/
For Aduzuki Bean Stew recipe: http://realfoodforlife.com/adzuki-bean-stew/
Copyright © Diana Herrington You are welcome to share this article with anyone who you think may benefit from this information as long as you give credit to Real Food for Life by including the link to the home page www.RealFoodforLife.com or the direct link to this post.
Vegan Salad Dresssings
- Mix 1 tablespoon of lemon juice at a time with Tahini in a jar.
- Add soya sauce and enough water till creamy.
- Season with favorite herbs.
- Serve on top of fresh green salad of lettuce or watercress.
3 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. fresh basil (or ½ tsp. dried)
1 tbsp. fresh chives (or 1/2 tsp. dried)
Few drops of stevia or a little honey
Braggs to taste
Directions:
- Put in all ingredients in a blender and blend till smooth.
- Add Braggs and stevia to taste.
Copyright ©Diana Herrington You are welcome to share this article with anyone who you think may benefit from this information as long as you give credit to Real Food for Life by including the link to the home page www.RealFoodforLife.com or the direct link to this post.
Lentil Soup/Stew
Lentil soup has all the benefits of the mighty powerfood lentils 
plus much more. And it tastes great.
Ingredients:
1 large onion, chopped
3-6 garlic cloves, chopped
2 pieces celery, chopped
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 cup green whole lentils, cooked in 3 cups of water
1 piece Kombu*
2 carrots, diced
2 cups fresh (or tinned tomatoes, but fresh is best)**
3-5 tsp salt
1 tsp each of thyme and basil
3 tsp marjoram
Fresh parsley
Directions:
1. Sauté onion, garlic and celery in oil.
2. Add remaining ingredients.
3. Simmer for 45 minutes, adding more water if necessary.
4. Remove Kombu and chop; return to soup.
5. Serve in bowls garnished sprigs of fresh parsley.
* Kombu makes beans more digestible but you could easily leave it out.
** I tend not to make this soup with tomatoes anymore, which transforms it into a stew.
Copyright © Diana Herrington You are welcome to share this article with anyone who you think may benefit from this information as long as you give credit to Real Food for Life by including the link to the home page www.RealFoodforLife.com or the direct link to this post.
KABOCHA SQUASH SOUP
This is my favorite soup which I developed a few years ago. Every time I make it for friends they just love it and so do I!
KABOCHA SQUASH SOUP
Ingredients:
1 medium Kabocha* squash
1 large onion or two small onions
2 large leaves of Kale
4 to 6 cups water
2 inch piece of fresh ginger
½ tsp Cinnamon, cardamom, coriander,
1 tsp turmeric
5 drops of Sunny Dew (light Stevia)
Add salt & pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Cut squash in half, scoop out the seeds, then cut the squash into eight pieces.
2. Chop onion and ginger.
3. Put squash, onions and ginger into a steamer and cook till squash is soft. Remove and let cool. Save the flavourful water left over from steaming.
4. Steam chopped Kale a few minutes or until tender.
5. Sauté spices in sesame oil or coconut oil for a couple of minutes.
6. Separate the squash flesh from the skin. Put the cooked squash in a large bowl or pot.
7. Add 3 cups of the leftover water used to steam the squash and stir in onion and ginger.
8. Run the squash and onion mixture through a blender, portion by portion, until you've blended it all. You can also use a hand blender and blend it right in the soup pot, which is what I do, but do be careful as it can splatter everywhere.
9. Put the blended mixture into a soup pot, adding the broth created from the steamer to attain the consistency you like.
10. Add cooked kale, spices, salt and pepper to taste.
11. Serve with a dollop of yogurt or sour cream. I use vegan choices.
* You may use butternut or any dark orange squash.
Note! We did not have a personal picture of this soup so used a stock photo. Imagine that the bread is healthy rice bread!
Feel free to share this by email or Facebook or Twitter by clicking on the "bookmark and share" below. We also love comments.
Copyright © Diana Herrington You are welcome to share this article with anyone who you think may benefit from this information as long as you give credit to Real Food for Life by including the link to the home page www.RealFoodforLife.com or the direct link to this post.
Special Vegetarian Dinner
This special occassion vegetarian dinner is easy to prepare and a balanced meal in terms of acid/alkaline and food combining. The most time consuming is the nut loaf but it is so delicious that it is worth it and does not take as much time as cooking a turkey. Also, it is full of protein from all of the nuts and seeds…even my non-vegetarian friends and family like it.
NUT LOAF
Ingredients:
½ cup cashews
½ cup almonds
10 almonds for decoration
2/3 cup sunflower seeds
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
½ cup walnuts (chopped)
1 cup short grain brown rice
1/3 cup soya flour
4-6 tbsp soya sauce
1 onion
2 pieces of celery
¼ cup water
2 tsp basil
2 tsp. marjoram
2 tbsp flax meal
Directions:
1. Lightly roast cashews, almonds, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds in the oven.
2. Chop and sauté onion and celery.
3. Chop all the nuts and seeds.
4. Mix all the ingredients together and moistening with water.
5. Pat mixture into a well-oiled bread tin.
6. Decorate top with 10 almonds and line bottom of tin with grease proof paper.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 minutes.
Serve with mushroom or onion gravy.
Usually the problem with cranberry sauce is that it is full of sugar. Here is my version of the popular Cranberry Sauce without any sugar which is no easy thing when is comes to cranberries as they are so tart.
CRANBERRY SAUCE (sugar free)
Ingredients:
1 Package whole, organic cranberries (fresh, not frozen)
1 Organic Apple, cored and chopped
1 Cup Apple juice
1/4 Cup Organic, Brown Rice Syrup
1 tsp Stevia (Sunny Dew is best)
Pinch of salt
Directions:
1. Put all ingredients into a sauce pan and let simmer for a few moments.
2. Remove and let cool.
3. Taste and add more Stevia or Brown Rice Syrup if you like it sweeter.
Nutritional Tips: Cranberries are high in vitamin C, and have antioxidant and antibacterial effects in the body.
In clinical studies cranberries have been shown to help maintain a healthy urinary tract and be especially beneficial to the eyes (significantly improve symptoms of cataracts, macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy)
ASPARAGUS WITH LEMON JUICE
Ingredients:
1 pound asparagus, washed, trimmed, and cut diagonally into 2 inch lengths
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 lemon juiced
Dash of Spike seasoning
Directions:
1. In a large frying pan over low heat, heat the olive oil
2. Add Asparagus and cover and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Add Spike and stir cook an additional 1 minute.
4. Add lemon juice stir well and serve.
Nutritional Tips: Asparagus is full of nutrients! It is a very good source of vitamin K, the B vitamin folate, vitamin C, vitamin A and also numerous B vitamins (B1, B2, B3 and B6) as well manganese, copper, phosphorus, potassium and protein.
Here is a simple dish to make and have in the oven at the same time as your nut loaf.
BAKED SQUASH WITH VEGETABLES
Ingredients:
1 medium squash
2 sweet potatoes
2 medium carrots
2 parsnips
10 very small onions
3 – 7 cloves garlic, sliced (optional)
1 tsp rosemary
3 tbsp. vegetable oil or butter
Salt to taste
Directions:
1. Cut carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes and squash into 2 inch pieces.
2. Remove skins from onions and leave whole.
3. Place all vegetables into a glass casserole dish.
4. Mix in sliced garlic, rosemary, vegetable oil, and sprinkle with salt.
5. Bake in 450º F. oven for 35 to 45 minutes till tender.
6. Stir occasionally while baking.
Copyright © Diana Herrington You are welcome to share this article with anyone who you think may benefit from this information as long as you give credit to Real Food for Life by including the link to the home page www.RealFoodforLife.com or the direct link to this post.
A Revolutionary Simple Approach To Healthy Eating
