food superstars

hi all,

i created a cheat-sheet of food superstars that i don't eat as much as i should for my fridge, so i am encouraged to eat/shop healthier. (by no means is the list exhaustive.)

i try to incorporate several of the items in my diet everyday. it's easy to! for example, i throw in a a clove of finely minced garlic and a touch of turmeric in my eggs. you could also toss in flax seeds and honey into your oatmeal.

food superstars:

produce: nuts/grains:

- pears - steel cut oats

- apples - barley

- garlic (1 clove daily) - flax seed

- pomegranate - brown rice

- blueberries - almonds

- kiwi - lentils

- red grapefruit - quinoa

- beets - red kidney beans

- cabbage - edamame

- swiss chard

- blueberries

- spinach

- seasonal squash

omega 3's: misc:

- wild caught fish - unsweetened apple butter

- sardines - pumpkin seeds

- avocado - green tea

- prunes

spices: - raw, local honey

- cinnamon

- turmeric

any smart ideas on how to incorporate pumpkin seeds or sardines into your normal diet?

a spoonful of honey

so, like many americans i suffer from seasonal allergies. growing up, i remember my family mentioning the mention of honey in the Qur'an. my aunt has been touting the brilliance of honey for various ailments.

so this past summer i decided to try eating a spoonful of LOCAL, RAW honey every day in hopes of lessening my symptoms. i dunno about everyone else, but i can certainly say that my seasonal allergies have DRAMATICALLY decreased! if not causation, there is definitely a correlation between the two for me.

here is some lit on the benefits of honey:

http://apitherapy.blogspot.com/2009/10/raw-honey-helps-with-pollen-allergies.html

http://www.reallyrawhoney.com/healthfacts.php

if you're in philly, the Bee Natural stand sells loads of local, seasonal and raw honey at Reading Terminal Market.

i encourage you to at least try it out. what do you have to lose?

food wasteland

eek. scary statistics.

i've been thinking of composing for a while. any urban dwellers who do it? any reccs?

raw strawberry pie

a few weeks ago, jo, hoodes and i assembled a strawberry pie. i saw the recipe in domino mag a while ago, and have been meaning to try this fresh, summery dessert! i love recipes that can do double duty...a big batch of the crust can be modified and used to make homemade larabars. here is my adaptation of this adaptation :)

ingredients:

- 2 pounds fresh strawberries, tops removed, quartered (the more strawberries the better.)

- 1 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice (1/2 lemon)

- 1/4 cup brown sugar

- 2 cups almonds, ground

- 1 3/4 cups pitted medjool dates

method:

1. in a bowl, combine strawberries, lemon juice, and brown sugar. Mix well and put in refrigerator.

2. grind the almonds and put them in another bowl and start working on dates. (if you are like me and without a food processor, you could go ghetto and 'grind' the almonds a la peanut butter jar lol!) Remove pits, flatten the dates and mince them into little bits. Place minced dates into the bowl of ground almonds.

3. use your hands to mix and knead the dates and almonds together into a dough. Form a ball.

4. place the date-almond ball into a pie pan (if you are worried about things sticking, put a little bit of canola oil on the pie pan and grease thoroughly) and mold it into the pie pan as best as you can. Take the strawberries out of the fridge, and using a slotted spoon, pile berries into the crust, leaving liquid behind. (you can use the liquid later in a sparkly drink or perhaps reduced down to a glaze..?)

5. place pie in the fridge to set for two hours.

6. enjoy the awesomeness of fresh strawberries, lemon juice, and sweet sweet dates!

happy (rainy) summer!

eat for the earth

happy earth day everyone!

take a look at what Mark Bittman has to say:

"the key to helping reduce global warming and avoiding the lifestyle diseases that plague many of us (myself included) is the same key to saving money on food: Go to the source. Eat more plants, fewer animals and less processed food." (click to read more)

hat tip: Jodut!