Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Keen on Quinoa


Quinoa gets a lift from crisp summer veggies in this simple, satisfying salad. By Deborah Willoughby
The ideal summer meal is cool, light, tasty, and bursting with garden-fresh vegetables. A main-dish salad is a good option, but if it’s missing a high-quality protein, you’re likely to find yourself casting about for a snack in an hour or two. But build a salad around quinoa and you’ll have a dish with staying power that’s still light enough for a summer day.
With a fluffy texture and a nutty flavor, quinoa is often thought of as a grain because it cooks like one, but it’s actually the seed of a leafy plant native to the Andes. It was prized by the Incas for its stamina-boosting effects and because it’s easy to grow—the plant thrives in poor soil, requires little water, and coats its seeds with a bitter substance unpalatable to birds and other predators. In addition to supplying a high concentration of all nine essential amino acids—making it a complete vegetarian protein—quinoa is high in iron, magnesium, phosphorus, and riboflavin. On top of that, it’s naturally gluten-free and easy to digest.

A Yogi's Dessert


A Yogi's Dessert
Satisfy your sweet tooth with kheer—a creamy rice pudding delicately flavored with saffron, cardamom, and nuts.
By Jon Janaka

Ayurveda's Guide to Boundless Beauty: Food for your Body, Food for your Face


India’s inside-out approach to skincare lets you toss the toxic cosmetics, luxuriate in herbal treatments, and tap into the source of true beauty.


Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Top Ten Reasons to Go Vegetarian :-)



From GoVeg.com-visit the site and they'll walk you through it step by step :)

Many people's New Year's resolutions include losing weight, eating better, getting healthier, and doing more to make the world a better place. You can accomplish all these goals by switching to a vegetarian diet, and you'll enjoy delicious, satisfying meals as well. Here are our top 10 reasons to go vegetarian:


1. Slim Down While Feeling Good

Is shedding some extra pounds first on your list of goals for the new year? Vegetarians are, on average, up to 20 pounds lighter than meat-eaters. And unlike unhealthy fad diets, which leave you feeling tired (and gaining all the weight back eventually), going vegetarian is the healthy way to keep the excess fat off for good while feeling full of energy. 

2. It's the Best Way to Help Animals

Every vegetarian saves more than 100 animals a year from horrible abuse. There is simply no other way that you can easily help so many animals and prevent so much suffering than by choosing vegetarian foods over meat.

3. A Healthier, Happier You

A vegetarian diet is great for your health! According to the American Dietetic Association, vegetarians are less likely to develop heart disease, cancer, diabetes, or high blood pressure than meat-eaters. Vegetarians get all the nutrients they need to be healthy (e.g., plant protein, fiber, minerals, etc.) without all the nasty stuff in meat that slows you down and makes you sick, like cholesterol and saturated animal fat. 

4. Vegetarian Food Is Delicious

So you're worried that if you go vegetarian, you'll have to give up hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, and ice cream? You won't. As the demand for vegetarian food skyrockets, companies are coming out with more and more delicious meat and dairy product alternatives that taste like the real thing but are much healthier and don't hurt any animals. Plus, we have thousands of tasty kitchen-tested recipes to help you get started! 

5. Meat Is Gross

It's disgusting but true: Meat is often contaminated with feces, blood, and other bodily fluids, all of which make animal products the top source of food poisoning in the United States. Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health tested supermarket chicken flesh and found that 96 percent of Tyson chicken was contaminated with campylobacter, a dangerous bacteria that causes 2.4 million cases of food poisoning each year, resulting in diarrhea, cramping, abdominal pain, and fever. Learn more. 

6. Help Feed the World

Eating meat doesn't just hurt animals; it hurts people too. It takes tons of crops and water to raise farmed animals-in fact, it takes up to 16 pounds of grain to produce just 1 pound of animal flesh! All that plant food could be used much more efficiently if it was fed to people directly. The more people who go vegetarian, the more we can feed the hungry. 

7. Save the Planet

Eating meat is one of the worst things that you can do for the Earth; it's wasteful, it causes enormous amounts of pollution, and the meat industry is one of the biggest causes of global warming. Adopting a vegetarian diet is more important than switching to a "greener" car in the fight against global warming. 

8. All the Cool Kids Are Doing It

The list of stars who shun animal flesh is basically a "who's who" of today's hottest celebs. Joaquin Phoenix, Natalie Portman, Tobey McGuire, Shania Twain, Alicia Silverstone, Anthony Kiedis, Casey Affleck, Kristen Bell, INXS lead singer J.D. Fortune, Benji Madden, Alyssa Milano, Common, Joss Stone, and Carrie Underwood are just a handful of the super-sexy vegetarians who regularly appear in People magazine. Check out our recent "World's Sexiest Vegetarians" poll for more hot, compassionate celebs. 

9. Look Sexy and Be Sexy

Vegetarians tend to be thinner than meat-eaters and have more energy, which is perfect for late-night romps with your special someone. (Guys: The cholesterol and saturated animal fat in meat, eggs, and dairy products don't just clog the arteries to your heart; over time, they impede blood flow to other vital organs as well.) Plus, what's sexier than someone who is not only mega-hot, but also compassionate? 

10. Pigs Are Smarter Than Your Dog

While most people are less familiar with pigs, chickens, fish, and cows than they are with dogs and cats, animals used for food are every bit as intelligent and able to suffer as the animals who share our homes are. Pigs can learn to play video games, and chickens are so smart that their intelligence has been compared by scientists to that of monkeys. Read more about these amazing animals.

Indoor Farming Year Round



Grow your own Farm inside your apartment!  The organization, windowfarms.org (grown in Brooklyn, New York) has begun a movement that is spreading into crowded cities all over the world! Check out the videos to learn more about how you can become a window farmer yourself and get fresh, organic vegetables year round in your very own apartment!   at 

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Super Shakti's Spanikopita

1 hour prep/ 40 min cooking/ 9X13'' caserold dish

1 1/2 lb Tofu, extra firm, crumbled

1 pkg Phyllo sheets, spelt variety

6C spinach, rinsed well

2C Onion, diced

2 tbl Olive oil

3/4 C Garbanzo beans, cooked, drained and mashed

3/4 C Tahini, roasted

1/2 C Kalamata olive, chopped

1/4 C Garlic, minced

1/4 C Nama shoyu, or to taste

2 Tbl Italian parsley, minced

2 Tbl Basil, minced

1 Tbl Nutritional yeast

1 1/2 tsp Oregano, minced

1 1/2 tsp Thyme, minced

1 tsp Rosemary, fresh minced

1/2 tsp Sea Salt, or to taste

1/2 tsp Black pepper, ground to taste

1/4 C Corn or olive oil for basting

Prep

1. Steam spinach lightly for 3-5 minutes 

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Palce 2 tbl oil in large pot on med high heat. Add onions and garlic, cook 5 minutes, stirring frequendly. Add the tofu and cook for 10 minutes, stirring requently. Add the reamining ingredients, except the phyllo dough and corn oil, cook an additional 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. 

3. Lightly oil a 9X13 casserold dish. Place 1/3 of the phyllo dough (7 sheets) on the bottom of the dish one sheet at a time, lightly oiling each sheet with olive oil using a small pastry brush. Place half of the tofu mixture on top of the phyllo dough. 

4. Repeat step 2 using 7 sheets of the phyllo dough and the remaining 1/2 tofu mixture. Top with the remaining phyllo dough, lightly brush with oil, and bake until phyllo is golden brown, approximately 20 minutes. Allow to cool 10-15 minutes before serving. 

From Vegan World Fusion Cuisine by Mark Reinfeld and Bo Rinaldi

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Eating Raw- Getting Back to Our Roots


Photo by: Amanda DiGiovanna

"What if you could live disease-free, lose weight and keep it off all while enhancing natural beauty and reversing the aging process? Sign me up, right? Well, you can do all these things by simply adding raw/living foods into your diet.


Raw food, what? Um, I promise it’s not what you think! There’s more to going raw than grazing on the grass in your backyard. Yes, it involves going back to our primal culinary roots—eating organic plant-based whole foods in their pure, natural state, as nature intended. But these foods can still be presented as culinarian AND sexy, and are delicious!

Raw foods are what we here at Regeneration Raw like to categorize as being in the “un” group: uncooked, unprocessed and unaltered food. We believe foods that heal shouldn’t lack in the taste department. Forget the health food adage: “Food that’s good for you can't taste good.” This, thankfully, doesn’t apply to raw foods. Actually, it’s almost impossible for raw foods not to excite and awaken your taste buds. Think about it, if you eat food before cooking the life and vitality out of it, the flavor profile is abundant—bottom line is that YOU CAN EAT FOOD THAT TASTES GOOD AND IS GOOD FOR YOU!
Get "Un"cookin!

Eating raw is easy. Besides, its “rawkin” taste, raw foods heal your body & soul both physically and mentally. Seriously? Yes! “Raw” regenerates you at the cellular level, reshaping and restructuring your body from the inside out by ridding your cells of toxins and unwanted stored fat."-- Excerpt from How2EatRaw.comBy Regeneration Raw’s owner, Andrea McNinch

Visit her site for raw food lessons and in person trainings. 

HOW TO DO IT AT HOME??? Your online resource here.

Check out Living-Foods.com For Articles, recipies, and community recources!

Teaching Every Child About Food


Sharing powerful stories from his anti-obesity project in Huntington, W. Va., TED Prize winner Jamie Oliver makes the case for an all-out assault on our ignorance of food.

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Secret to Longevity: Restricting Calories?




Secret to Longevity: Restricting Calories?

18 November 2005 - Called “undernutrition without malnutrition,” caloric restriction has been shown to extend both the maximal and average life spans of worms, insects and mice. Researchers at the University of Washington have recently found that the link between caloric restriction and longevity is related to a genetic pathway in yeast cells. They report their results in the 18 November issue of the journal Science.

The theory behind caloric restriction is based on metabolism rates. Imagine every individual is given a set amount of life to live. The more you eat, the higher your metabolism and the faster you burn through your life, shortening your lifespan. Conversely, the less you eat, the lower your metabolism and the slower you burn through your life, as a consequence extending your time here on earth....continued

Vegan Devil's Food Cake!


This cake can go from "merely delicious" to "extraordinary" by splitting the layers as described in the Cherry-Filled Lemon Cake recipe and making four cream-filled layers. If you do this, be sure to double the Mocha Cream Filling recipe. 

12 servings 

CAKE INGREDIENTS:

2 Tbs. flaxseeds

1/2 cup unfiltered apple juice
2 cups unbleached white flour
1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 Tbs. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups soy milk
1 1/4 cups maple syrup
3/4 cup canola oil
2 Tbs. pure vanilla extract
1 Tbs. cider vinegar

MOCHA CREAM INGREDIENTS:

Ingredients

Makes 2 1/4 cups 
1 cup unfiltered apple juice
3 1/2 Tbs. agar-agar flakes
1 Tbs. kudzu
2 cups vanilla soy milk
3 Tbs. maple syrup
2 Tbs. pure vanilla extract
2 tsp. almond extract
2 Tbs. almond butter
2 tsp. coffee granules
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground cardamom

MOCHA CREAM DIRECTIONS:
In small saucepan, mix apple juice and agar-agar flakes. Let stand 10 minutes. 
Bring mixture to slow simmer over medium heat, whisking occasionally, about 5 minutes. Cook, whisking often, 10 minutes, lowering heat if necessary (do not boil). 
Meanwhile, in medium bowl, dissolve kudzu in 1/4 cup soy milk. Whisk in remaining soy milk, maple syrup, both extracts, almond butter, coffee, salt and cardamom. 
Whisk kudzu mixture into apple juice mixture and cook over medium-low heat, whisking often, about 15 minutes. Pour into shallow dish and cool to room temperature. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Transfer to food processor and puree before using.

ICING INGREDIENTS:

Makes 2 2/3 cups 
2 Tbs. unfiltered apple juice, or more if needed
1 Tbs. kudzu
10 oz. dairy-free chocolate chips (1 1/2 cups)
1/3 cup rice syrup
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

ICING DIRECTIONS
Place chocolate chips in top of double boiler over barely simmering water over medium heat. Stir until melted. Stir in rice syrup and vanilla extract until blended. 
In cup, dissolve kudzu in apple juice; stir into chocolate mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, until creamy and cloudiness has disappeared, 2 to 3 minutes. If icing is too thick to spread easily, stir in a little more apple juice. Use immediat

CAKE DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans. In coffee grinder or small food processor, grind flaxseeds. Transfer to blender along with apple juice. Let mixture soak 5 minutes. 

Meanwhile, in large bowl, sift both flours, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.  

To mixture in blender, add soy milk, maple syrup, oil, vanilla extract and vinegar and blend thoroughly. Gradually add maple syrup mixture to flour mixture and mix well with rubber spatula. 

Divide batter between prepared pans. Bake until cake pulls away from sides of pan and is firm with a little spring to the touch, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes in pan. To remove from pan, run knife around edge of pan and turn cake out onto wire rack. Cool completely.

Reserve best cake layer for top. Place other layer upside-down on serving plate andsmear thick layer of mocha cream.

Top with remaining layer and gently press into place. Pour Glossy Chocolate Icing onto center of cake. Using metal spatula, spread icing over sides and top of cake. Let stand 10 minutes to set.

ENJOY!

(adapted fromVegetarian Times Issue: May 1, 1999 p.49)

Macaroons


Makes 30 cookies 

1 2/3 cups (9 oz.) whole blanched almonds

1 1/3 cups confectioners’ sugar

3 1/2-oz. pkg. almond paste

1/3 cup (2 to 3 large) egg whites

1/2 tsp. almond extract

1 tsp. honey


Directions:
Preheat oven to 325°F. Line several baking sheets with foil.

Spread the almonds in a baking pan and toast in the oven, stirring occasionally, until the nuts begin to turn brown, 7 to 8 minutes. Let cool. Increase oven temperature to 350°F. 

In food processor, combine cooled almonds and sugar and process until almonds are ground to a powder, 1 to 2 minutes. With machine running, add almond paste through the feed tube, processing until mixture is smooth. Add egg whites and continue processing until mixture is well blended, about 1 minute.

Transfer the mixture to a large heavy saucepan and place over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring constantly until mixture thickens slightly, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in almond extract. Let mixture cool 15 minutes or until slightly stiff but not firm.

Drop batter by level tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart.

Bake until cookies are just beginning to turn brown, 11 to 14 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand on foil until cool. Then carefully transfer them to wire racks to cool completely. 

Store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.

The Balancing Act- a Dosha balancing diet


The Dosha Balancing Diet

The Ayurvedic approach to eating allows us to make intelligent food choices, avoid cravings, and satisfy our hunger. 

By Miriam Hospodar

Why do we gobble down a chocolate bar when our stomach is pleading for us not to? What makes us reach for a third helping when we are already full? According to Ayurveda, when we are in balance, we automatically desire foods that are good for us. But if our mind, body, or spirit is out of sync, our connection to our body's inner intelligence goes awry. The modern afflictions that affect our eating habits, like excessive consumption and fast-paced living, can be looked at through the lens of the ancient science of Ayurveda.

TAKE THIS QUIZ TO DETERMINE YOUR DOSHA-The DOSHA QUIZ

Healing with Food- The Ayurvedic Lifestyle


Healing with Food

According to Ayurveda, an illness indicates that one's constitution, or dosha, is out of balance, a condition that can be exacerbated or improved by eating certain foods. 

By Lizette Montgomery

When Chocolate and Chakra's Collide


When Chocolate and Chakra's Collide

Food culture is infiltrating yoga, and not everyone is happy about it. By Julia Moskin