Heirloom Seeds - Ever Taste a Tomato Grown for Flavor Instead of Transport?

(This is a slightly modified re-post from April, 2008)

In between discussions of high blood pressure, and the upcoming dreaded first colonoscopy, those of us of the “I owned an 8-track once” generation, will sometimes sit around reminiscing about the good old days. One sunny spring afternoon recently, amidst the usual memories of the firsts- first communion, first part time job, first kiss…- one of my friends looked up at the sky, big puffy white clouds rolling by, and said “Remember the tomatoes?”

We sucked on our frozen margaritas and fell silent.

Ahhh, yes, the tomatoes of summer from the local farm stand, or if you were even luckier , your own family garden, where you would pick one off the vine, and later sit on your back steps with your father, a tomato in one hand and the salt shaker in the other, and take a bite out of what had to be positively the best tomato in the world- or so your father said.

Now, tomatoes just don’t taste like they used to. I couldn’t even grow a good tasting tomato last summer. I diligently fertilized and watered three plants. The tomatoes sure looked great. But they tasted like grocery store tomatoes in February- bred for longevity, transport and the flavor of cardboard.

I bought my seedlings at the local nursery. Not this year. I’ll be buying heirloom tomato plants through the mail. Bred to test like a tomato, not the package they come in.

The largest provider of tomato seeds- and all seeds -to the commercial agricultural farmers these days is Monsanto Agrochemical. The seeds are genetically engineered(GE) to meet commercial grower’s needs for a sturdy, pest and drought resistant tomato. Notice flavor is not a Monsanto criteria.

There’s something inherently unnatural about one of the largest toxic chemicals manufacturers in the world now also being the world’s major seed - and therefore food- supplier.

And Monsanto is so big, they have been systematically buying up their smaller competition, now totally controlling the seed market.

Luckily, there are alternatives. A growing number of traditionalists are starting organizations around the world such as The Seed Saver’s Exchange. Their purpose is to protect heirloom varieties of fruits and vegetables for future generations.

Thank goodness.

I wonder if some day Monsanto will decide to genetically engineer the flavor back into the tomato?

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Is it Weight Gain or Weight Loss This Recession? Plus 7 Tips to Avoid Weight Gain.

The recession hasn’t curbed my appetite.

I’m on a diet.

Like always.

And if I’m not careful, I find myself reaching for low cost comfort foods.

Here’s two examples of how tough times have affected the weight of many of us, with 7 solutions for the “weight gain” camp.

~~~

1)  Financial hardship has led to “recession pounds”

Less expensive foods fill you up faster.  And when I need comfort food, I don’t reach for an apple.

Wall Street tells the story.

• McDonalds and Burger King is the place to be in the stock market these days.
• “Buy stock in pasta,” advises Stockweb.com.  “Shares of AIPC ( American Italian Pasta Company) have something around 110% performance since the beginning of the year and is one of the best performing stocks this year (2008.)”

What you can do?

If you’re finding your comfort in food these days:

• pick up a copy of Dr. Judith Beck’s, The Diet Solution at the library, and learn to “think like a thin person.” Not your run of the mill fad diet book, Beck bases her suggestions on sound cognitive principles developed by her father, Dr. Aaron Beck.

• stay at the perimeter of the grocery store. That’s where most of the more nutritional foods are.

• think about it. If you eat less, you’ll spend less, and will be able to afford better food.

• HALT.  it’s ok to let yourself feel hungry for a few hours.  But a lethal combination is being hungry, angry, lonely and tired.  This is an Alcoholics Anonymous acronym that I use for everything.  To battle the hungry part, keep healthy snacks with you.

• it takes twenty minutes for your body to respond to something you eat. So eat slower, and consciously wait to feel the response.  You’ll realize how little your body needs to ward off hunger.

• follow these tips from Wise Bread’s post “How to Avoid Putting on Recession Pounds.” It’s full of great suggestions for staving off the pounds.  Here’s a great quote from the article: “It is ironic when you think that in the past, lower socioeconomic standing often resulted in people losing weight due to lack of food. In the modern era of plenty, however, obesity has now become a symptom of poverty because these highly processed foods are not only promoted vigorously and widely accessible, but they are also cheap.”

• you’ve heard it before but I’ll say it again.  Exercise! Do anything!  You’ll feel better!

2)  Companies have been tightening their belts on corporate lunches

“I can’t justify cocktails and fillet mignon when I’m laying off employees,” says one CEO.  “It’s coffee at Starbucks now.”

And when executives are springing for lunch they’re often choosing healthier options.  “Sometimes I’ll ask clients to meet me at McDonalds,” says a well known publisher.  “But often we’ll hook up at a lower priced restaurant with a good salad bar.”

According to the Boston Globe, “The thinning ranks of the region’s executives and financiers has spurred business for tailors in Wellesley and Harvard Square on Newbury Street in Boston, who report a steady stream of clients dropping off cashmere top coats, Brooks Brothers suit skirts, and Brioni trousers in need of resizing for trimmer physiques.”

They don’t want to spend the money on new clothes.  After all, the layoffs are still going strong.  Who knows if they’ll be next?

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Eating Healthy Without Being Wealthy: Sweet Potatoes and Yams

From top: Camote (sweet potato), Purple Asian Yam, Sweet Asian Yam, Yampi Yampi, Jewel “yam” (sweet potato), Sweet Potato, Garnet “yam” (sweet potato).

Ironically, yams are sweeter than sweet potatoes.

Who knew?

I’m 50 years old, and I still can’t tell the difference between them.   Turns out, not too many people can.  But one thing everyone does agree on:  they’re both a healthy and inexpensive treat.

According to Zoe at Zoe Bakes,

“sweet potatoes and yams that we find here in the States are really all sweet potatoes.”

A USA yam is really a variety of sweet potato grown in the South.  The name caught on in the mid 17th century, when  slaves originally from Africa identified sweet potatoes with the “nyami” from their native land.  The name stuck.  The true yam is the tuber of a tropical vine (Dioscorea batatas) and is not even distantly related to the sweet potato.

Slowly becoming more common in US markets, the yam is most popular in Latin America and the Caribbean, with over 150 varieties available worldwide.

Health Skinny

Like all vegetables orange, sweet potatoes are an excellent source of vitamin A.  They’re also big with  fiber, protein, vitamin C, and anti-oxidants.

Little Known Facts

Spice up your Christmas dinner conversation:

• Sweet potatoes are as American as apple pie.  Native Americans were already growing Sweet potatoes when Columbus landed in 1492.
  
• The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), based out of Washington, D.C., rates sweet potatoes as the number one vegetable for nutrition.
• The sweetest of all yams and sweet potatoes is actually a yam, and is purple.
• Yams can weigh in as high as 200 lbs, and grow over seven feet in length.
• George Washington Carver,  an American scientist of  the late 1800s/early 1900s developed 118 different products from sweet potatoes, including a glue for postal stamps, dehydrated food, and an alternative to corn syrup.  In 1896, became head of the Agricultural Department at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, where he demonstrated the value of soil regeneration by planting sweet potatoes as the rotation crop for cotton.
  
• Carver also demonstrated that an economical and nutritious diet is possible from peanuts and sweet potatoes.

Healthy Recipes

SWEET POTATO BUTTER

• 2 Garlic cloves
• Freshly ground Pepper to taste
• 2 Sweet Potatoes
• Fine Sea Salt to taste
• 2 medium Carrots
• 2 Tablespoons chopped Parsley
• 1/2 to 3/4 Cup Vegetable broth
• 2 Tablespoons chopped Cilantro (Optional)
• 1 Tablespoon extra-virgin Olive Oil

Put unpeeled garlic cloves on aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees F. in oven or toaster oven for about 10 minutes, until soft.

Microwave or boil unpeeled potatoes until done. Peel carrots, cut into large chunks and microwave or boil until soft.

Drain carrots, peel potatoes and put both in a food processor. Squeeze in the baked garlic. Add 1/2 cup broth and blend. With motor running, add oil and keep blending, adding more broth until puree is fairly smooth and full.

Add salt and pepper to taste. Dip can be made as long as a day in advance, covered and refrigerated. Bring to room temperature for serving and stir in the optional herbs right before serving with raw vegetables and bread sticks.

BAKED SWEET POTATO FRIES

• 1-1/2 lbs. sweet potatoes (about 2 large)
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. Maldon sea salt or kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp. orange zest, garlic powder or curry powder (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel and julienne sweet potatoes. Place in a large bowl. Drizzle olive oil, salt and orange zest or any combination of spices you wish over sweet potatoes. Toss with your hands to make sure they’re fully coated. Place sweet potatoes on ungreased cookie sheet and bake 30 minutes, turning halfway through.  These are also great cooked on the grill.

MASHED

Roast or boil peeled sweet potatoes until they’re tender, then mash them as you would white potatoes. Season with chopped garlic that you’ve sauteed quickly in a bit of olive oil.

ROASTED

Cube sweet potatoes, along with onions, garlic,  and a variety of other root vegetables such as parsnips, carrots and white potatoes, toss the whole pile in olive oil, salt, and pepper, and spices of choice (optional).

Spread them in a baking pan (single layer is best), and roast them at 450 degrees F.  Stir every 10 minutes until they’re nicely browned.

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Eating Healthy Without Being Wealthy: Holiday Stress Busters

Eating the right foods can help you ease those inevitable emotional ups and downs around the holidays.  Here’s some suggestions to get you through.

1)  Eat foods that increase Serotonin -

one of those feel good, calming brain chemicals.  These include:

a)  complex carbohydrates such as:

• Oatmeal,
• Whole grain bread, or
• Whole grain anything, including pastas and breakfast cereals.

Complex carbs provide a steady serotonin stream.

b) whey protein - e.g. dairy products like cheese plates - contain a stress busting ingredient called alpha lactalbumin, which boosts the body’s level of tryptophan, a building block of serotonin, by as much as 40%.  Other sources of tryptophan include:

• Beef
• Poultry
• Barley
• Brown rice
• Fish
• Soybeans
• Peanuts

c) But in a pinch, if you need a quick shot of the wonder chemical, disregard normal recommendations to avoid simple carbohydrates such as chocolate, and eat a few sweets.  The key is moderation.  Simple carbs will provide a serotonin spike that could get you out of a cranky mood - and fast.

2) Eat foods that decrease stress-inducing cortisol levels.

a) Web MD suggests that:

” If you have a particularly stressful event coming up, you may want to consider Vitamin C supplements. In one study, blood pressure and cortisol levels returned to normal more quickly when people took 3,000 milligrams of vitamin C before a stressful task.”

Here are some foods high in Vitamin C:

• Oranges, and other citrus fruits - 3/4 of orange juice has 60 mgs of vitamin C.
• Broccoli - 45 mgs in 1/2 cup.
• Tomotoes - 1 slice has 25 mgs.
• Baked potato - 1 small has 25 mgs.

b) You can also lower your cortisol levels by eating foods high in magnesium.  Avocodos, as well as foods from the list below, all contain high levels of magnesium.

Does anyone out there have any diet stress busters for the holidays?

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Eating Healthy Without Being Wealthy - Dark Chocolate and Red Wine Have More in Common Than You Think

Dark chocolate and red wine have more in common than you think.  It’s all about their Flavonoids - a clan of polyphenolic compounds that pack a powerful antioxidant punch.  Antioxidants eat free radicals, and free radicals cause many age related degenerative diseases such as cancer and heart disease.

Dark Chocolate - The darker the better.

Dark chocolate, but not milk chocolate, or dark chocolate eaten with milk, according to a recent Web MD article.  Recent evidence shows that milk puts a roadblock on much of the adsorption of the powerful antioxidants that chocolate is laden with.

Also, milk chocolate typically has only 15 percent to 25 percent cocoa.  Dr. Sheeler of the Mayo Clinic says that to gain the health benefits, the chocolate must contain at least 60% cocoa.  Dark chocolate tends to have 50 percent to 80-plus percent cocoa.

“No need to eat a whole chocolate bar,” says Dr. Sheeler.  “30 calories of dark chocolate per day provide you with all the health benefits.  And no need to buy the priciest brands.”

You just want to stay away from the really cheap brands which are stripped of the flavonols during processing.

Web MD describes one example of how flavonols work in A Dark Chocolate a Day Keeps the Doctor Away::

“Epicatechin is a particularly active member of a group of over [6000] compounds called plant flavonoids. Flavonoids keep cholesterol from gathering in blood vessels, reduce the risk of blood clots, and slow down the immune responses that lead to clogged arteries.”

So be a good do-be, and eat your fruits, vegetables and chocolate.

Red Wine - It’s in the red.

White wine is called the “white bread” wine when it comes to health benefits.

From Science Daily, Mar,2008:

“Researchers showed for the first time that a natural antioxidant found in  purple grape skins and red wine can help destroy pancreatic cancer cells by reaching to the cell’s core energy source, or mitochondria, and crippling its function.”

Graph of Antioxidant Activity

Antioxidant Activity is reported as Oxygen Radical Adsorbance Capacity (ORAC) of various foods. Note that since this chart was published in 2004, milk chocolate has been removed from the list due to the negating milk effect and low cocoa content.

Where else are flavonoids found?

In a ubiquitous  variety of inexpensive common foods such as tea, soy products, and many fruits and vegetables.  Western populations consume an average of 150-200 mgs per day.  Mediterranean diets top the list of cultural diets containing higher levels.

Here’s the top ten fruits, vegetables, and legumes:

Apples, apricots, blueberries, pears, raspberries, strawberries, black beans, cabbage, onions, parsley, pinto beans, and tomatoes.

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Death by Pre-Packaged Foods

The average American eats 3850 calories a day.  No wonder many of us are tipping the scales in the elephantine direction.

Pre-packaged foods only add to the misery.  They contain loads of empty calories.  Those empty calories impact our health and our waistline, and they’re a direct hit on our wallets, too.

The health impacts are numerous-

1. High salt - increases your blood pressure and causes you to retain water.
2. Sugar -  other names for sugar in ingredients - any word ending in -ose or syrup.  Examples include fructose, glucose, corn syrup and rice syrup.  When low fat foods became popular, the fat was substituted with walloping amounts of sugar.  This sugar messes up your blood sugar levels and can lead to diabetes and weight gain - not weight loss, as was originally predicted.
3. Partially hydrogenated oils - banned in Canada and in many cities across the United States.  Clog those arteries and pay more to do it.
4. Artificial flavors and colors - many are known carcinogens.
5. Preservatives such as the sodium nitrite in bacon or sausages = carcinogen. Or Dried fruits are often sprayed with sulfer dioxide, another known cancer causing chemical.

What the processed food industry doesn’t want you to know-

• Many additives are known carcinogens.
• Many additives that are not known carcinogens just haven’t been tested.
• Foods that have been frozen for 6 months lose 50% of their nutritional value.
• Foods that should have fat in them but don’t, like cookies and cakes, often have insanely high levels of sugar to compensate for the lack of flavor.
• Many of the vitamins in food are removed during processing, and are then put back in as powders.
• Canned and frozen foods have too much salt.

What you can do-

Read and compare the ingredients on the package.  Not all raisin bran, for example, is the same.

Buy products with short ingredients lists.  Generally, the higher the number of ingredients, the worse the product is for you.

Shop the grocery store perimeter, and stay away from the middle aisles.  The middle aisles have the really bad processed foods.

Note that words like natural and healthy can be put on anything.  These terms aren’t regulated, and are used freely to misrepresent many products.

Check out ingredients you don’t recognize.  There are websites that can help you determine the safety of these compounds.  Here’s a link I use from The Center For Science in the Public Interest:  Food Additives.

Eat only whole wheat bread and brown rice. Avoid the “whites.”

Take a look at the picture on the package, and then the actual product.  The picture is usually doctored up to make it look much better than the real thing.

If you don’t see specific foods that you know are good for you, ask your grocers if they’ll stock them. What we purchase dictates what will be available.

Save your cash and stick to real unprocessed foods.  It’s the frugal healthy thing to do.

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Better Than Fiction

 ”Man Eats 23,000 Big Macs in 36 Years“…and lives to tell about it.

This story fascinates me.  Why am I eating all that chicken again?

From CNN:

“The Fond du Lac [Wisconsin] man said he hit the 23,000 milestone last month, continuing a culinary obsession that began May 17, 1972, and is fed by his obsessive-compulsive disorder.

“I enjoy them every day,” said Gorske, 54. “I need two to fill me up.”

Gorske has kept every burger receipt in a box. He says he was always fascinated with numbers, and watching McDonald’s track its number of customers motivated him to track his own consumption.

Despite a diet some would call unhealthy, Gorske says he keeps himself in good shape. He says he’s 6-foot-2 and weighs 185 pounds, and walks as many as 10 miles a day.

He used to order fries every day in the 1980s but began to cut back in the ’90s, now eating them about once a month. He eats two Big Macs and two parfaits a day. Gorske has written a book about his experience.

“Sometimes people call me a freak but it doesn’t bother me. I just say respect people as they are,” he told The Associated Press. “I just want to make sure people understand I’m not going to change.”

He can instantly recall the eight days in which he failed to satisfy his craving. One was in 1988, the day his mother died, to respect a request she made.

“I made a promise to her and I always keep my promises,” he said. “I also promised her I wouldn’t cut my hair and in 20 years I haven’t.”

He twice failed to attack a Big Mac because of his job. A correctional-institution employee, he said a number of work emergencies kept him on the clock past midnight so he recorded those days as missed days.

Three other times he was traveling and couldn’t find a McDonald’s. He also went Big Mac-less on Thanksgiving Day 2000, and during a 1982 snowstorm that prevented the local McDonald’s franchise from opening.

“That’s when I started a habit where I kept them in the freezer,” he said. He keeps one or two burgers on hand but increases his inventory to four to five during the winter. “

A Big Mac has 540 calories, and 29 grams of fat.  If I ate 2 a day I’d break the scale.

Anyway, when I fall off the wagon, I’m a Whopper girl.  How about you?

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Eating Healthy Without Being Wealthy - Cucumber Yogurt Salad Dressing

Similar to Mediterranean Cucumber Salad, but spicier, this dressing is a delicious and inexpensive healthy alternative to commercial dressings.  Low in both fat and calories, it’s great on salads, tomatoes, steamed vegetables, or baked potatoes.

 Ingredients

• 2 medium cucumbers - peeled and seeds removed (organic not necessary)
• 1 cup low fat organic yogurt
• 2 cloves crushed garlic
• 1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
• 1/4 tsp salt, or to taste
• dash of cayenne or other hot pepper, or to taste

Grate the cucumber.  Squeeze out some of the liquid and set aside.  Mix the yogurt with the cucumber, and add the rest of the ingredients.  If the dressing seems too thick, you can add back some of the cucumber juice.

Variations - add 1 tsp of Dijon mustard.  Substitute dill or mint for the parsley.  Can also be used as a dip.

The Skinny on Cucumbers

Historians have found evidence of cucumbers in Western Asia over 3,000 years ago.  A natural diuretic and rich in fiber, cucumbers contain vitamins and minerals that contribute to the following health benefits:

• Lower blood pressure
• improved complexion
• can be used topically to hydrate skin and soothe skin irritations

Nutritional Profile

(provided by Wholefoods)

So, this summer, be cool as a cucumber, and enjoy all those fresh picked cukes and other vegetables!

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Eating Healthy Without Being Wealthy - Kale

Do you hear the word kale and run for the hills?  Well, hang in here with me.  Kale is packed with a combo of vitamins and minerals that will help keep you going for the long term.  And I have recipes that can get you through the actual flavor of it.

Why is kale good for you?

It’s anti the big three:  Aging, Cancer and Inflammation.  All green leafy veggies are.  It’s also good roughage.  You can’t ever get enough roughage.

To read more nutritional details about kale, check out the Whole Foods website.  It has a nice summary of recent scientific research supporting it’s health benefits.  And the studies were not sponsored by Kale Growers of America.

How do you cook it?

4 easy, top notch ways to make kale that even your children will eat.

1) Sauteed Kale and Onions

• Take the small softer leaves of one head of kale and chop small.
• Saute 1 medium onion in 2 Tablespoons (Tbs) of olive oil and 1 Tbs of butter ( or any ratio of oil and butter you like)  with a pinch of sugar over high heat until they start to brown.  Add 2 cloves of chopped garlic.  Saute until you start to smell the garlic (about 30 sec).
• Add the kale.  Stir and saute until kale is thoroughly cooked and onions are browned, about 10 minutes.

2)  Simple Steamed Kale- easy- you can do this same recipe with spinach, or any green leafy vegetable.

• Wash a head of kale, pull out the stems from the mature leaves only, then tear or chop all the leaves into bite size pieces.
•  Heat a large saute pan with 3-4 Tbs of olive oil.
• With the leaves still wet,  put them into the pan with 2-4 cloves of chopped garlic.
• Stir and cover, checking regularly until wilted.
• Add 2 Tbs of lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste, and serve.  Can be served hot or lukewarm.

3)  Kale and Potatoes a la Home Fries.

• Take 1 lb of smaller red potatoes cut in quarters and boil until they are easily pierced with a fork.  Cool and cut to a 1/2 inch dice.
•  Wash a head of kale, pull out the stems from the mature leaves, and chop the leaves into smallish pieces.keeping leaves wet, stir also coat with olive oil (about 2 Tbs) and salt and pepper to taste.  Set aside.
•  Chop a medium onion, and saute it in 2 Tbs of olive oil (or any combination of oil and butter) and a good pinch of sugar over high heat, stirring constantly.
• When the onions just start to brown, add 2-4 cloves garlic, and the potatoes.  Add salt and pepper to taste, and saute over med- high heat, browning the onions and potatoes.
• Add the kale, stir, cover, and lower the heat.  Stir occasionally until the kale is cooked through, 10-15 minutes

4)  Roasted Kale with olive oil.

• Wash a head of kale, pull out the stems from the mature leaves, and coat with olive oil.  Place in single layer on a cookie sheet.
• Roast in a 375F oven for 12-15 minutes, turning once.  Kale will be brittle and brown.
• Remove from oven and sprinkle with salt.

Bonus:  You can also add coarsely chopped kale leaves to soups in the last 15 minutes.

Little known facts about kale.

Kale belongs to the Brassica family, a group of vegetables including cauliflower, cabbage, collards and Brussels sprouts.

The earliest recorded existence of kale is in 600 B.C., when Celtic wanderers brought it to Europe from Asia Minor.  It is known to have been eaten by ancient Romans, and peasants of the middle ages.

Like brussels sprouts, kale tastes sweeter when picked after the frost, and freezes well even uncooked.

Ornamental cabbage is actually a form of kale.

“A whole culture around kale has developed in north-western Germany around the towns of Bremen and Oldenburg as well as in the land of Schleswig-Holstein. There, most social clubs of any kind will have a “Grünkohlfahrt” (”kale tour”) sometime in January, visiting a country inn to consume large quantities of kale, sausage and schnapps. Most communities in the area have a yearly kale festival which includes naming a “kale king“.’  ( from wikipedia)

Long Live King Kale!  And long live us, if we eat healthy.

Note: I follow the 80:20 rule - if I do it 80% of the time, I’m good.

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Eating Healthy Without Being Wealthy - Garlic

For thousands of years garlic has been hailed as a food, a medicine, and in folklore, as a powerful herb, capable of mystical feats such as warding off vampires, or keeping away evil spirits.

Most of us are familiar with the white papery type found in grocery stores, but actually there are over 600 varieties of garlic grown around the world. A member of the onion family, it will add a lovely flavor, either raw or cooked, to most any dish, and is both inexpensive and bountiful year found.

Health Benefits

• Antibiotic- combined with Vitamin C, it’s antibacterial and antiviral, boosting the immune system and helping ward off colds, flu, and yeast infections.
• Blood thinner- similar to aspirin, it can reduce the risk of blood clots.
• Reduces the chance of atherosclerosis, a cause of heart attacks and stroke.
• Reduces cancer risks.
• Anti-inflammatory, that can reduce the severity of asthma attacks, and ease the pain of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis .
• Natural mosquito repellent.
• Can assist in managing high cholesterol levels, though this last has conflicting studies.

Composition

The main therapeutic benefits of garlic come from a sulfer containing compound Allicin. A break down product of the amino acid alliin, it is activated when the cloves are finely chopped or crushed. This action activates a protein enzyme, allinase, which performs the chemical breakdown.

The finer you chop, the more Allicin is formed. After chopping, you should wait a few minutes before cooking to allow time foe the chemical conversion to occur.

History and Folklore

“One must be very suspicious of anyone who does not eat garlic.”

Roman Proverb

Garlic is rich with folklore, and well documented in history.

“The entire ancient world loved garlic - particularly the Egyptians, who used to swear on garlic in much the same way as we swear on the Bible today. Egyptian slaves were given a daily ration of garlic, as it was believed to ward off illness and to increase strength and endurance. During the reign of King Tut, fifteen pounds of garlic would buy a healthy male slave. Indeed, when King Tut’s tomb was excavated, there were bulbs of garlic found scattered throughout the rooms. When Moses led the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt (around 1,200BC), they complained of missing the finer things in life - fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic.

The Greeks had ideas of their own on the virtues of garlic. Greek athletes would take copious amounts of garlic before competition, and Greek soldiers would consume garlic before going into battle. It became custom for Greek midwives to hang garlic cloves in birthing rooms to keep the evil spirits away. As the centuries passed, this ancient custom became commonplace in most European homes.

Hippocrates (300BC) recommended garlic for infections, wounds, cancer, leprosy, and digestive disorders. Dioscorides praised it for its use in treating heart problems, and Pliny listed the plant in 61 remedies for a wide variety of ailments ranging from the common cold to leprosy, epilepsy and tapeworm.”

Soldiers of the Roman Empire in 200 A.D. were paid part of their salary in garlic. They were made to eat it daily, much like we take vitamins today. Of course, during that same time period, lawyers and judges believed eating walnuts would increase their brain power, soley because the walnut meats are shaped like tiny brains.

During World War 1, the Russian army used garlic to treat wounds incurred by soldiers on the Front Line. Although Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin in 1928 largely replaced garlic at home, the war effort overwhelmed the capacity of most antibiotics, and garlic was again the antibiotic of choice. The Red Army physicians relied so heavily on garlic that it became known as the “Russian Penicillin”.”

It’s clear that, regardless of what future studies find, garlic is a keeper in the diet. Not only does it taste great, it’ll help keep you healthy, and, when worn in a string around the neck, safe from evil.

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20 Top Hot Tips

The tips this month are on Food and Happiness. Not such a strange combination, really.

I have 10 of each. They will save you time and money or improve your health. Sometimes both.
Any thoughts on these?

10 Cooking Tips

1. If your salt is clumping up from humidity, put a few grains of rice in with it to adsorb excess moisture.

2. Freeze leftover wine or chicken broth in ice cube trays. You can use the cubes later when making soups or sauces.

3. Light a candle close to where you’re cutting onions to eliminate the tears.

4. When choosing pears, pick hard, unripe ones. Pears ripen from the inside out. By the time the outside is softening, the inside has gone by.

5. Remove tea or coffee stains from your fine china by mixing up a paste of baking soda and lemon juice. Rub the stain with the mixture.

6. Use toothpaste to shine your silver.

7. If two drinking glasses become stuck together after stacking, put a little alcohol around the stuck area. Alcohol has a lower surface tension than, water and will make the surfaces slippery. You can then ease them apart. Another way you can do this is to put ice water in the inside glass, and run hot water over the outside one. The inner glass will slightly contract, and the outer one will slightly expand, and the glasses will come apart.

8. Don’t put tomatoes in the refrigerator. The cold degrades their flavor.

9. Soak popcorn kernels in water for 10 minutes and drain before popping The added moisture helps the popcorn pop quicker and fluffier.

10. Using the dull edge of your knife when gathering chopped food on your cutting board will keep the blade sharp longer.

10 Happiness Tips

1. Read Happy News instead of the regular newspapers.

2. Breathe. Here’s a a “simple yet effective” exercise taken from Dr. Andrew Weil’s website:

“When learning how to breathe, begin by closing your eyes for a few minutes. Practice moving your breath. Keep your back straight. Begin with a deep, audible sigh, then quietly inhale and see how slow, deep, quiet and regular you can make your breathing and still have it feel perfectly comfortable. You should feel that you are getting enough air with no sense of not getting enough air. Do this for at least eight breaths, then open your eyes and breathe normally.”

3. Surround yourself with happy people.

4. Find a hobby or fun thing that you love, and do it regularly. Focusing on it to the exclusion of all else will give you a break from the immediate stress in your life.

5. Learn to compartmentalize your emotions , only accessing them at the appropriate time. By doing this, you can leave the pressures of work at work, and the pressures of home at home.

6. Accept the things you can not change. It will take a load off your shoulders.

7. Do something nice for somebody, but don’t let them know you did it.

8. Make a habit of practicing “half full” thinking rather than “half empty” thinking. Choosing to have a positive attitude is amazingly powerful.

9. Set realistic goals regularly and accomplish them. Then pat yourself on the back!

10. Exercise. This is on every list I make. It will clear your head, relax you, and provide an energy boost.

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Eating Healthy Without Being Wealthy- Avocados

I love writing about eating healthy, though I’m not always that good with its actual implementation. Better to confess this now, rather than be outed by my spouse, in a rousting comment, later on. Anyway,

At $1.19 each, avocados are a great deal.

The California Avocado’s Association states that “California avocados contain 25 nutrients, including vitamin C, folate, vitamin E, fiber and unsaturated fats. They are also naturally sodium-free, contain no trans fats and are low in saturated fat.”

Of course, all avocados, whether from California or South America, have the same nutritional value.

Don’t let their marketing spin mislead you. However, the less distance the fruit needs to be transported, the less you’ll contribute to global warming.

Avocados don’t need to be purchased organic.

That saves you a 50% mark-up over those fruits or vegetables that do. For more on this, see the post, When Eating Organic Pays Off and Doesn’t.

A one ounce, 50 calorie serving (1/5th of an avocado) give you all this:

• Nearly 20 vitamins and minerals, including 4% of the recommended Daily Value (DV) for vitamin E, 4% vitamin C, 8% folate, 4% fiber, 2% iron, and 4% potassium.
• 81 micrograms of lutein. Lutein has been shown to be concentrated in the Macula of the eye. Research indicates that eating it may help us maintain healthy eyesight as we age.
• A natural “nutrient booster,” enabling the body to absorb more fat-soluble nutrients, such as alpha- and beta-carotene as well as lutein, in foods that are eaten with it.
• Unsaturated fats ,that satisfy your fat cravings and curb hunger, while not contributing to your cholesterol levels and heart disease.

Use avocados on your salads and sandwiches.

Use them as a substitute for saturated fats in your diet.

Here’s my favorite guacamole recipe from Cook’s Illustrated.

INGREDIENTS

2 small avocados,ripe - slightly soft to the touch - and preferably Haas
1 tablespoon minced red onion
1 clove garlic, minced or pressed through garlic press
1/2 (about 1.5 teaspoons) jalapeno chile, minced
2 tablespoons minced fminced fresh cilantro leaves
salt to taste
1 tablespoon lime juice, fresh squeezed

See Illustrations Below: Dicing the Avocado

1.Halve 1 avocado, remove pit, and scoop flesh into medium bowl. Using fork, mash lightly with onion, garlic, jalapeño, cilantro, and 1/8 teaspoon salt until just combined.

2. Halve and pit remaining avocado. Using a dinner knife, carefully make 1/2-inch cross-hatch incisions in flesh, cutting down to but not through skin, (see illustrations below). Using a soupspoon, gently scoop flesh from skin; transfer to bowl with mashed avocado mixture. Sprinkle lime juice over and mix lightly with fork until combined but still chunky. Adjust seasoning with salt, if necessary, and serve.

(Can be covered with plastic wrap, pressed directly onto surface of mixture, and refrigerated up to 1 day. Return guacamole to room temperature, removing plastic wrap just before serving.)

STEP BY STEP: Dicing the Avocado

1. Use dish towel to hold avocado steady. Make 1/2-inch cross-hatch incisions in flesh with a dinner knife, cutting down to but not through skin.

2. Separate diced flesh from skin using spoon inserted between skin and flesh, gently scooping out avocado cubes.

Anyone have any good avocado recipes?

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Tyson Chicken Caught Making False Antibiotic-Free Claims

Still another blatant example of marketing deliberately meant to mislead and take advantage of consumers.

After being brought to court by competing companies, and losing their subsequent appeal, Tyson has agreed to voluntarily stop labeling their chicken products as” free of antibiotics.”

Competitors claim the Tyson ads untrue because:

• Tyson injects it eggs with antibiotics, and
• uses antibiotic molecules in its feed.

Tyson maintains its claim truthful, that the chickens are, indeed, “raised without” antibiotics.

But the courts ruled the ads misleading, stating that “raised without” in the consumer’s mind, means that they would not be exposed to antibiotics should they consume the chicken. Even though the Tyson chickens are never directly injected with antibiotics, the eggs are, and their feed is. This exposure causes the antibiotics to be present in the chicken meat itself.

Here is Tyson’s original public announcement from June 2007. Pretty convincing, don’t you think?

All Tyson® Brand Fresh Chicken to be “Raised Without Antibiotics”; Products available to mainstream consumers at an affordable price.

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Healthy Food on the Cheap

You can eat inexpensively and still eat well.

1, 2, and 3) Shop around, look for sales, and use coupons. No brainers.

4) Put aside a little prep time. Homemade tastes better, and is better for you. Make double batches and freeze for up to two months. I’ve gotten into the habit of making a double batch of different kinds of muffins, waffles or French toast on Sunday mornings. I freeze the left overs. The waffles and French toast taste great directly from freezer to toaster.

5) Buy less prepackaged foods.

• The longer the list of ingredients in a product, the less likely it is to be healthy for you.
• Frozen vegetables lose 50% of their nutritional value after six months
• Canned foods have lots of salt.

6) Don’t always buy the least expensive or the most expensive item. Read the label, and buy what makes sense for you.

7) If you have something you particularly like, indulge yourself a little. For example, I like really good Parmesan cheese from Italy.

Buy all your dairy organic ( or know the local source) when possible. The non- organic stuff is really bad for you.

9) Know what your cows and poultry are eating. Again, really important. Make sure their feed is hormone and pesticide free, that cows are eating grass. And it’s humane to think that they all can walk around during their lives. That’s called free range for cows, and cage free for poultry.

10) Do food exchanges or lunch exchanges with friends. Take turns making a lot and share. It will give each of you a break from cooking.

Healthy Inexpensive Foods

Fruits and Vegetables - can actually be a great deal, if you follow some simple rules.

• Buy local when possible. Even grow it yourself. Can’t get any more local than that.
• For fruits and vegetables only, don’t make your grocery list ahead of time. See what looks good for the money when you get there. Planning ahead can force you into buying something over priced or not healthy looking.
• Look for those grown in the USA, where farmers must comply with more stringent pesticide regulations than other countries.
• Buy the “Toxic Twelve” produce organic when possible: apples, bell peppers, celery, cherries, imported grapes, nectarines, peaches, pears, potatoes, raspberries, spinach and strawberries. Otherwise, your wasting your money.
• If you find good cheap produce, buy a lot, cook it, and freeze it in meal size portions.

Yogurt. Buy a reduced fat version. I like 1% fat. Fat free tastes like wall paper paste to me.Cottage Cheese. A low-fat protein source many haven’t tried. Either you like it or you don’t. I grew up on it, and now eat it nearly every day. Buy organic, or at least buy the type without strange sounding additives.

Canned beans - Rinse away salt, if any.

Canned tomatoes - Don’t add any salt to the dish, or get no salt added. Beans and tomatoes are two items that actually taste pretty good out of the can.

Peanut Butter - Buy the good stuff. I know it’s a pain to mix, but those additives that keep it emulsified for you are really bad.

Rolled Oats - Get a BIG container. It lasts a long time. You can make oatmeal and all kinds of baked goods with it.

Pasta - get the healthy kind when it’s on sale.

Tofu - Don’t everybody groan at once. It’s not bad if you marinate it.

Anyone want to add anything to the list?

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Remember the Tomatoes? Heirloom Seeds

In between discussions of high blood pressure, and the upcoming dreaded first colonoscopy, those of us of the “I owned an 8-track once” generation, will sometimes sit around reminiscing about the good old days. One sunny spring afternoon recently, amidst the usual memories of the firsts- first communion, first part time job, first kiss…- one of my friends looked up at the sky, big puffy white clouds rolling by, and said “Remember the tomatoes?”

We sucked on our frozen margaritas and fell silent.

Ahhh, yes, the tomatoes of summer from the local farm stand, or if you were even luckier , your own family garden, where you would pick one off the vine, and later sit on your back steps with your father, a tomato in one hand and the salt shaker in the other, and take a bite out of what had to be positively the best tomato in the world- or so your father said.

Now, tomatoes just don’t taste like they used to. I couldn’t even grow a good tasting tomato last summer. I diligently fertilized and watered three plants. The tomatoes sure looked great. But they tasted like grocery store tomatoes in February- bred for longevity, transport and the flavor of cardboard.

I bought my seedlings at the local nursery. Not this year. I’ll be buying heirloom tomato plants through the mail. Bred to test like a tomato, not the package they come in.

The largest provider of tomato seeds- and all seeds -to the commercial agricultural farmers these days is Monsanto Agrochemical. The seeds are genetically engineered(GE) to meet commercial grower’s needs for a sturdy, pest and drought resistant tomato. Notice flavor is not a Monsanto criteria.

There’s something inherently unnatural about one of the largest toxic chemicals manufacturers in the world now also being the world’s major seed - and therefore food- supplier.

And Monsanto is so big, they have been systematically buying up their smaller competition, now totally controlling the seed market.

Luckily, there are alternatives. A growing number of traditionalists are starting organizations around the world such as The Seed Saver’s Exchange. Their purpose is to protect heirloom varieties of fruits and vegetables for future generations.

Thank goodness.

I wonder if some day Monsanto will decide to genetically engineer the flavor back into the tomato?

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