Many people have heard of the glycemic index (GI), but they are not exactly sure what it means, or how it works. A low glycemic index diet is thought to significantly lower your risk of type 2 diabetes, obesity, coronary heart disease and even certain cancers. This is probably true, but not for the reasons people think. Continue reading
Category Archives: Vegetables
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Three Delicious Salad Dressings
Have you ever noticed how so many different cuisines include a dish that pairs some type of greens with some type of fat? Whether it’s lettuce and olive oil, cabbage and mayonnaise (cole slaw), sauteed greens + pignola nuts, spinach with bacon dressing, or deep-sea fatty fish and seaweed (sushi), parsley salad with tahini dressing, you are apt to find green leaves combined with fats over and over again. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Zucchini Fries
If you’ve never eaten chickpea (garbanzo bean) flour, this is a great recipe to start with! Not only is it super flavorful, imparting a wonderfully nutty flavor to these zucchini fries, but chickpeas are also packed with protein and fiber, for a dish that sticks to your ribs and makes your heart sing for joy. Continue reading
Let the Growing Season Begin!
The first time I joined a community-supported agriculture (CSA), almost ten years ago, its kickoff late on a Thursday afternoon sent me racing out of the office at the end of the day. The first week’s bounty included lettuce greens, herbs, onions, kohlrabi, radishes. Adults chatted and children hopped around like happy rabbits as we waited for strawberries to arrive. After a long winter, we all hungered for fresh food. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Red Cabbage Salad With A Buzz
It’s a red-green party, lunch for a week with spicy, crunchy, sour power! Make some for you, or your gang, or your office potluck! When I saw this recipe I knew it was for me. Generally speaking, cabbage is one of those foods that is very underrated — especially the red kind. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Slow Chicken & White Beans
In honor of the upcoming marriage of HLJ to ESS:
Here’s a magnificent recipe, inspired by the fact that this year is the #Year of the #Pulse! You know how much I love beans and the flavors developed by slow cooking! Try putting it up right now, and you’ll have a very special, delicious and nutritious meal for dinner tonight. Of course, if you’re me, you might decide to make it tonight instead of in the morning, so it will be ready just in time for breakfast tomorrow.
Whenever food cooks in our slow cooker through the night, it gives me delicious dreams. Sometimes it even wakes me up, a few times for a few moments, to savor the smells. Then, when morning comes, I can barely get myself up and dressed fast enough in my hurry to get downstairs to eat my yummy breakfast from the crockpot! I’m not kidding — consider yourself forewarned.
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Golden Cauliflower Soup
I’m thrilled to share with you this incredibly flavorful recipe for a gorgeous, golden cauliflower soup. It is filling, delicious and satisfying, not to mention beautiful. Pack a small thermos and pour yourself a mugful! Along with a handful of carrot and celery sticks, it makes an absolutely perfect lunch! Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Glazed & Braised Onions
Sometimes, especially around the holidays, more than one family member stops at the supermarket to pick up a few things before heading home at the end of the work day. Sometimes, unbeknownst to one another, each family member picks up precisely the same item, and then that’s how you end up with three large bags of onions. And sometimes the kitchen counter fills up with a number of mostly empty bottles of wine. Here’s what to do when this happens to you. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Roasted Carrot & Fennel Soup
Please meet one of my favorite new food writers, Jessica Fechtor, who writes on her blog Sweet Amandine and whose first book, Stir, reached the NYTimes bestseller list in recent weeks! What a grand success for a newly published author! Yes, I read it and, yes, it was wonderful! Stir, by the way, is not just about food. It’s about how finding her way around the kitchen was how Jessica found her way back to living after a brain aneurysm and its aftermath left her overwhelmed and unsure of absolutely everything. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Roasted Butternut Squash Extraordinaire
If I were to pick a single food that best embodied the fall season, it would definitely be squash. And if I were to consider how best to prepare that squash to make it taste as delicious as possible, showing off its very best qualities, then this is the recipe I would choose. I would definitely recommend that you give this recipe a shot! Now (speaking of shots), you should feel free to try it with or without the whiskey. In case you were wondering, the alcohol burns off with the cooking, leaving behind that little extra dimension of flavor. But if it doesn’t appeal, just skip it. Continue reading