Healthy Recipes

Have you ever played around with sriracha hot sauce? It’s that spicy red sauce you often find at south east asian restaurants in the plastic bottle with the rooster on the side. It’s sort of an “in” thing these days, a great combination of sweet, spicy, garlicky, and sour, with the consistency of ketchup. People are finding all sorts of culinary uses for sriracha, check out these mean buffalo wings with sriracha sauce from my friends Diane and Todd. For an experiment we thought we would jack up the humble hot dog with this sauce. We added a little Chinese mustard and topped the dog with asian coleslaw; it turned out great, we loved it! Even my dad, who tends to hold back on hot chilies gobbled up his. Do you use sriracha in your cooking? If so, please tell us how in the comments. Continue reading "Hot Dogs with Sriracha and Asian Slaw" »

Making your own mouthwash is easier than you think and in my opinion can be a great alternative to many store brands because it allows you to be more proactive in your personal healthcare. Besides, making your own mouthwash is kind of fun and you will always know exactly what has gone into it. (Don’t worry, I’ll include my Sage Herbal Mouthwash Recipe below so you can see how easy it is). Artificial Colors, Flavors, Sweeteners, and Preservatives Found in Mainstream Mouthwash: Many people are sensitive to the artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives commonly found in food and beverages today, but they may not realize these same ingredients are often used in our personal care products like mouthwash. If you are feeling brave you can check out the label on your current brand and do a little research to learn the origins and associated health risks that may be associated with those ingredients. I have seen mouthwashes containing many of the following ingredients, but I will spare you the health implications: Artificial Colors: such as FD&C blue no. 1 (synthetic dye made from petroleum), and red #40 (derived from coal) Flavorings and Sweeteners: Sorbitol, sucralose, saccharine Chemicals and Preservatives: Sodium benzoate, quanternium-15 (formaldehyde), benzoic acid Save Money with Homemade Herbal Mouthwash I recently started making herbal mouthwash mainly because I wanted to see if I could create a healthier more natural mouthwash at home than what I was getting at the store with my limited budget. Tip: If you can grow some of these herbs in your garden or purchase them in bulk, making your own herbal mouthwash is very affordable. In addition, I chose herbs that I enjoy having on hand anyway. Herbs have many uses and health benefits, so if you are the kind of person who enjoys a good cup of herbal tea, herbal mouthwash could be a gateway DIY adventure with far reaching possibilities! My Sage Herbal Mouthwash Recipe: (Please tweak, improvise, and share your thoughts!) Ingredients: ½ cup dried sage leaf ¼ cup dried peppermint ¼ cup licorice root 1/8th cup anise seed ~2 Cups Vodka Step 1: Combine Herbs: In a quart size mason jar, I combined the herbs listed above (sage, peppermint, licorice root, and anise seed) Step 2: Create Your Extract. That is a fancy way of saying to cover the herbs with approximately 2 cups of vodka. Step 3: Shake vigorously (after you have put the lid on, of course!) Step 4: Wait. Waiting is the hardest part. Set the jar aside on a shelf (or somewhere it will be left alone for a few days). Generally, the longer it sits, the more potent the herbal extract will become. I managed to wait 5-6 days before proceeding to the next step. It doesn’t hurt to give it a vigorous shake now and then to help speed things along. Step 5: Strain out the herbs. By now, the alcohol has stolen most of the beneficial properties away from the herbs, and it is time to get rid of the herbal remains. Retain as much of the liquid as possible by squeezing the crap out of the herbal guts. Some people use cheesecloth. I’ll do that next time. This time I just used a strainer and squeezed the herbs manually with my (clean) fingers. (For comparison purposes, I was left with about a cup of liquid). Step 6: Add Water. I added 2 cups of water to my one cup of herbal extract. The amount of water you add can vary significantly depending on your personal feelings toward astringency versus dry mouth and other health concerns (more below.) Step 7: Swish and Spit. Pros and Cons of Alcohol Content in your Mouthwash: Commercial mouthwashes often contain 20-30% alcohol content. The one I just made is a little on the strong side. Alcohol is a great disinfectant, but it is also very drying. A dry mouth soon leads to bad breath, so keep that in mind. Also, some studies have even indicated that regularly using mouthwash with high alcohol content can increase your risk of oral cancers. So, while I personally wanted to create a powerful herbal antiseptic

Everyone is ga-ga for Greek yogurt these days and many items on grocery store shelves now feature this ingredient. But are all products made with Greek yogurt healthy? Find out. ** This is only a summary of our content.**

Welcome to another edition of the Real Food Kitchen Tour. This week, we travel to San Francisco, California to tour the kitchen of Hannah Healy of the blog Healy Real Food Vegetarian. What’s a Real Foodie? A “real foodie” is someone who cooks “traditional” food. We cook stuff from scratch using real ingredients, like raw milk, grass-fed beef, eggs from chickens that run around outdoors, whole grains, sourdough and yogurt starters, mineral-rich sea salt, and natural sweeteners like honey and real maple syrup. We don’t use modern foods that are either fake, super-refined, or denatured. This includes modern vegetable oils like Crisco and margarine, soy milk, meat from factory farms, pasteurized milk from cows eating corn and soybeans, refined white flour, factory-made sweeteners like HFCS or even refined white sugar, or commercial yeast. We believe in eating wholesome, nutrient-dense foods that come from nature. So we shop at farmer’s markets or buy direct from the farmer, or we grow food in our own backyards. This Week’s Real Food Kitchen Tour: Healy Real Food Vegetarian I’m Hannah Healy from Healy Real Food Vegetarian. I live in San Francisco, CA with my boyfriend Victor and my little dog Lentil. My blog focuses on spreading the wisdom of traditional food and avoiding processed foods (including soy) as a vegetarian. I create lots of original recipes with real food ingredients like pasture raised eggs, grass fed butter, lacto-fermented vegetables, and raw milk. I also share informative articles and tips on living a real food lifestyle. It’s useful for meat-eaters and vegetarians alike! Blog Name: Healy Real Food Vegetarian Blog Author: Hannah Healy Location: San Francisco, California How Long Blogging: 6 months House or Apartment: Apartment Size of Kitchen: 7ft X 11ft Things You Love About Your Kitchen: I love that there’s a window in front of the kitchen sink so I can watch what’s going on in the neighborhood to combat the mind numbing boredom of doing dishes (did I mention I wish I had a dishwasher?) Even though my kitchen is small I can still do everything a real foodie needs to do. It seems simple, but that’s not always possible! A year ago when I was living in Barcelona to teach ESL, I had a tiny kitchen in my apartment that must have been from the early 1900’s! There’s was no temperature gauge on the oven and I had to light the fire at the bottom of the oven by hand. I always had to estimate how long to bake something and check it every 5 minutes. So, remember to count your blessings! Things You Would Change:Oh my, where do I start? Well, it would be a whole lot easier if my kitchen was much bigger with more counter space! My boyfriend Victor and I have to schedule separate times for us to be in the kitchen on weekday mornings because there’s not enough room for him to make his coffee and for me to make my breakfast at the same time. I would also love to have a bigger freezer. Freezing meals and prepared food saves so much time and money, but I can’t fit much in there! Oh yea, and I’d like a dishwasher! Favorite Tools & Gadgets: My food processor makes cooking much easier, so I’m so happy to have it. My food processor is probably 20 years old. My mom gave it to me in high school and it was already getting old then. It’s been chugging along ever since… pretty impressive huh? I use my cast iron pans just about every day. Do jars count as a tool? I love my jars for fermenting vegetables and storing grains, yogurt and kombucha. Biggest Challenges Cooking Real Food: Cleaning up afterwards. My boyfriend calls me a tornado cook. Our kitchen will start out nice and clean, then I’ll decide to cook something and the aftermath is like a tornado went through the kitchen… I’m working on it. Current Family Favorite Meal: I love making frittatas, they are easy to whip up and serve as a nice hearty meal. Sprouted Curried Lentils are another big hit in our house. We

Elizabeth Smith Our selection of meat and poultry is renowned for great taste and superior quality, and we believe that has a lot to do with the care that goes into raising the animals and the true partnerships we develop with farmers and ranchers who supply our stores. Importantly, these partnerships allow us to know how the animals were raised for the meat you’re buying, including what they ate and where they came from. Plus, these partnerships allow us to offer a wide selection — from grass-fed beef to pasture-raised chicken to organics – and support local farming and ranching, which means more local meat and poultry at your neighborhood Whole Foods Market®. Transparency, Accountability & Responsibility Our meat buyers seek out farmers and ranchers who raise animals with care, responsibility and respect in their aim for high quality, great-tasting meat. Our farmer and rancher partners are dedicated to meeting our strict standards, meaning no animal byproducts in the animal's feed, no added hormones*, no growth-enhancing drugs and no antibiotics, ever. *Federal regulations prohibit the use of hormones in raising pork, poultry, goats, veal and bison. Plus, all beef, chicken, pork and turkey in our fresh meat cases must come from producers who have achieved certification to Global Animal Partnership’s 5-Step™ Animal Welfare Rating. What does this mean for the ranchers and farmers? Third-party audits of each farm every 15 months There are about 100 species-specific standards that must be met just for a Step 1 rating. Beyond Step 1, each successive Step requires more animal-centered practices. The progressive nature of the 5-Step Animal Welfare Rating program encourages producers to evolve their practices to attain higher Step ratings. Take a look at this recent blog post where our global animal welfare coordinator explains how five of Whole Foods Market’s suppliers put the animals first. Want to meet more of the farmers and ranchers we work with? Dig deeper at wholefoodsmarket.com/animalwelfare. Great-Tasting Meat Thanks to dedicated farmers and ranchers, we can offer the tastiest, most responsibly raised selection of meat and poultry around. Now visit our meat counter and get cooking! Here are a few mouthwateringly delicious recipes for inspiration. What’s the best cut you’ve had from our meat counter and how did you prepare it?

Two years ago, Snack Girl picked on Edy’s Popsicles. Why?... continue reading

Paleo Slow Cooking by Chrissy Gower is full of healthy Paleo recipes for your crockpot. I recently received a copy of a Paleo cookbook called Paleo Slow Cooking by Chrissy Gower. Like me, Chrissy is a wife and mother of two wonderful children. Her goal as stated in this book is to “use the slow [...] The post Paleo Slow Cooking appeared first on Elana's Pantry. Click on the title to be taken to the full post at www.elanaspantry.com. Please note: This email was sent from a notification-only address that cannot accept incoming email. Please do not reply to this message.

4.61 / 5 Stars | 27 Reviews by Kimber "Fresh green beans are steamed and then canned with a clove of garlic and sprigs of fresh dill. You can substitute 1 teaspoon of dill seeds for the 2 sprigs of dill, if desired." View Complete Recipe Details and Reviews

4.3 / 5 Stars | 104 Reviews by Michaela Thomas " A concentrated creamy chicken sauce for chicken flavor through and through." View Complete Recipe Details and Reviews

4.64 / 5 Stars | 13 Reviews by steve "Bosc Pears make their own light syrup right on the stove top. Add a touch of vanilla and orange liqueur, and you have an autumn dessert that won't weigh you down." View Complete Recipe Details and Reviews