Posts Tagged ‘healthy recipes’
Randy Turns into Master Chef with New Nutrition/Recipe Book
I've created more new dishes from my kitchen in the last few days than in the last few years. I'm the 'test cooker' for Diana's new recipe book filled with Powerfoods. That means I get an advance copy and see if I can easily follow all the directions and come up with great tasting meals.
The key words here are easy and practical. I've done my own cooking for a long time but I don't tend to use cookbooks because they are so fussy and particular. I find that I can go to all kinds of work getting the ingredients for just a single recipe and not use it a lot, therefore wasting the ingredients and my time. Because of this, I end up eating a limited set of meals I know I can make well and fast. It HAS to be simple, easy and useful.
It's great therefore to learn new possibilities and master new skills – and that is what this book was intended to do. It gives a new person starting into a healthy way of eating the basic knowledge and skills to get on a healthy diet. One that was easy to prepare.
Diana has carefully planned out every possible meal for more than two weeks. It includes a shopping list of easily available food items that will be used several times thought the program, special getting ready sessions that allow a person to prepare several aspects of the weekly routine ahead of time, and then the actual recipes themselves with plenty of nutritional and cooking tips included.
The reason I like this book and think it would be great for others is:
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Gives a new person an easy simple start to eating and cooking healthfully – so they don't get discouraged or overcome.
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Shopping lists filled with Powerfoods can be bought almost exclusively at the local grocery store so that a person is not spending a lot of time buying unknown (read weird) stuff that they are not sure of.
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Many of the meals are simple meals that a person has already experienced or heard about. They are included because they are already in a healthy category or they have been slightly adjusted to make them more healthy
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Carefully planned out the meals for maximum efficiency have been created by Diana. For example she plans you to make extra rice for your evening meal because she has a menu that uses that rice for the next day's salad or a dessert. This kind of efficiently saves both TIME and MONEY.
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Book is filled with nutrition tips and preparation tips.
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The meals taste great. Do I need to say more?
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Once a person has mastered these meals – there will be more advanced planners to keep it all interesting and more refining in terms of balancing the body.
Using this cookbook has even made my daughter more polite! My just-past-teenage daughter Asha usually kind of ignores or avoids my cooking whenever she can.
Just last night for example I had asked her if she wanted to eat with me but she said she was in too much of a hurry and was going to eat with her friends. As soon as she tasted the peanut sauce I had just prepared from the book though, suddenly she had lots of time to hang around the stove and dip steamed vegetables into the sauce with her fingers … and eat up a large portion of my meal! This kind of thing has happened several times since I started on the book. I'm sure she was just being polite. The only other explanation would be that these meals actually TASTE better than my own regular fantastic meals …..but that is impossible of course. Yes it's most certain that her personality has changed. It's amazing
The only problem with being the 'test cooker' is that I am no longer the 'test taster' for these meals which I used to be. Diana would cook the meals herself and I got to feast with the only requirement that I give her feedback. That was one of the better jobs in my life! Oh Well…..I look forward to the next book – the one with the more advanced recipes – with a little more gourmet quality integrated in – and more tasting! I'm also looking forward to the rest of THIS book – since Diana only gave me the first week.
This nutrition/recipe book is not yet available. We are working on it and will let you know.
P.S. Those of you who know me (Randy) know that the picture is a joke. I'm not that scary!
Dandelion Moderation & More Smoothie Tips
OK, so maybe I went a little overboard with my ‘Dandelion Madness‘, ….not with last week’s article – but with eating dandelions themselves!
It happened because I was out at the farm where the plants are so much bigger and there are SO many of them. Instead of spending 5 minutes digging up a few young plants– I can go out with a knife and in 10 seconds gather a shopping cart of mature leaves. After throwing a large bunch into the blender, and forgetting my article advise to just make the dandelions a small addition, I drank my supercharged mixture.
No I didn’t collapse, or even throw up. In fact I finished the whole thing. Those last few mouthfuls were getting very very strong though. I normally clean out the last few drops from the blender (Did I mention I was thrifty?) but this time I was glad to wash it down the sink.
I wanted therefore, to EMPHASIZE the part about moderation and add a few other smoothie hints and facts. They are as follows: Read the rest of this entry »
Meals in Minutes…..I’m Hungry!
Here's one great cooking tip and recipe – please share yours.
This is an important thing in my life. When I want to eat I want to eat within minutes so no fussy about and waiting 45 minutes for something to cook. I am hungry and simply would like to eat and something healthy is important to me.
At Real Food for Life we know we want to eat a healthy meal but there are times when we just don't want to cook. We just want to eat within the next few minutes. I would like to begin a discussion where we share our recipes and tips.
Here are some guidelines. Please share a tip or recipe that is:
1. Healthy (no heavily processed packaged food, not microwaved, no chemicals and is mostly whole food)
2. Tastes good.
3. Ready to eat with a few minutes because when I want to eat I want to eat now not wait even in 15 – 30 minutes.
I will start.
TIP: Clean All Fruits & Vegetables Before Storing
One of the things I do is clean all of my fruits & vegetables with fruit and vege rinse before I store them in the fridge, so when I want one of them quickly it is one less thing to do.
This may sound like a lot of work or being 'fussy' but really it saves you a lot of work in the end and it saves you time when you need it the most. Just do the math. Instead of spending 5-10 minutes each meal pulling out small amounts of food and cleaning them you spend just 10 minutes ONCE a week!
RECIPE: Here is one of my favourite quick, easy and nutritious sandwiches.
Tempeh or Tofu Sandwich
For the simplest, use tempeh or tofu from the health food store already marinated or one that you have already marinated. Brush both sides with sesame oil, then either sauté or grill on both sides till golden brown.
This then becomes the main ingredient for the sandwich, put on a slice of bread ( I use rice bread), spread some mustard if you like or some healthy mayo. On top of the put a few leaves of lettuce, slices of cucumber and/or tomato. Then just put the other slice of bread on top and a yummy healthy sandwich.
Scroll down for these Tofu recipes that are quick and easy to make:
- Tofu Stroganoff
- Tofu with Vegetables and Almond Cream
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 the post Meals in Minutes




