Eating Healthy
Apple Muffins: Best Breakfast On-The-Go
While it is easy to grab baked goods at the grocery store or a bakery on the way to work that is not always the healthy option. They may taste delicious, but do you really know how much of each ingredient goes in them?
For an easy and healthy alternative that will also save you money here is a delicious Apple Muffin recipe to try.
The Truth About Acai Berry Diet Programs
Can You Really Lose Weight With Acai Berry Diets in 2009?
During this time of resolution-making, many Americans are searching for the best diet to help them reach their weight loss goals for the coming year. While the weight loss scene over the last few years has seen a variety of diets ranging from the low carb varieties, such as the Atkins and South Beach Diets, to the managed pound reduction programs like Nutri Systems and Jenny Craig, to a variety of detox diets — including those rapid weight loss programs popular with many Hollywood Celebrities, this year the star diet of the weight loss world is a small berry from South America, the acai berry.
Unlike other foods and gimmicks that have graced the diet scene, this little berry just might be a superfood that lives up to all the hype, but can it actually help you lose weight? In this article, we’ll uncover the truth about the acai berry diet programs which are sweeping the Internet, reveal to you what Dr. Oz REALLY thinks of the acai berry diet frenzy, and possibly save you hundreds of dollars in the process.
Apple Walnut Raisin Bread Recipe
The Most Moist Apple Walnut Raisin Bread Recipe You’ll Find
Get your apple a day in this yummy moist quick bread. It is delicious warm from the oven as a healthy snack or smeared with cream cheese for breakfast. It is a favorite in our house.
1 1/2 cup of diced apples. I use organic and leave the skin intact
1 cup applesauce (adds moisture and more apple flavor)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup oil
2 eggs
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 teaspon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup walnuts – chopped
Mix eggs, oil, applesauce, sugar, brown sugar, yogurt and vanilla in a large bowl.
Mix dry incredients in a separate bowl.
Pour the wet incredients into the dry ones and mix.
Fold in the apples, raisins, and walnuts.
Pour batter into a 9×5 greased loaf pan.
Cook at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or when toothpick comes out clean.
Enjoy. This makes a delightfully different bread that everyone will love.
If you like this recipe, you might also like to try our easy and healthy Banana Nut Bread recipe. It was my mom’s and is another favorite. I keep a loaf or two in the freezer so I can have it handy when unexpected guests drop by. Its also treat with ice cream.
New Year’s Resolution Diet Tips
The Key Relevance Factors for Grading Honey
What are the key relevance factors for grading honey?
Honey is nature’s perfect food: it is the only food that humans eat that harms neither plant nor animal in its production and consumption.
Honey is derived from plant nectar, with each individual honeybee contributing perhaps only 1/12 of a teaspoon to the hive’s honey production during her entire lifetime. Because there are so many different nectar sources being visited by a single hive of bees, even a single pound of produced honey will contain nectar from thousands and thousands of different flowers. In order to standardize the sale of honey, the USDA developed a set of standards for grading honey. As of 1985, these Standards are now in their fifth issue. According to the National Honey Board, honey is graded, on a voluntary basis, using these USDA standards.
There are 6 relevant factors in evaluating the honey’s grade (5 quality factors and color):
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Pinto Bean and Barley Soup
Low fat, inexpensive, and delicious!
It’s October, and we’re starting to feel the crisp bite of fall. Unfortunately, many of us are also feeling a painful bite in our wallets as prices rise. The US Department of Agriculture reported in August that food prices this year will show the biggest annual increase since 1990. And there’s no end in sight.
Struggling to get your food budget under control? Remember the humble pot of soup. It’s a wonderful cold weather meal that’s easy to make, and relatively inexpensive if you start with basic raw ingredients like dried beans.
Here’s one of my favorites: Pinto Bean and Barley Soup. It’s a chewy blend of common kitchen staples that freezes well. Add a salad and warm bread and you have a delicious – yet inexpensive – meal.
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Easy Guacamole Dip Recipe
On a trip to Austin, TX this summer, we enjoyed a terrific lunch at a local contemporary Mexican restaurant that also sports the label of “one of the ten best tequila bars in the country.”
Nobody in our party tested that last part. It was lunch, after all. But we did savor the restaurant’s other specialty: fresh guacamole mixed table-side and served with tortilla chips. It’s quite a production. The waiter brings a beautifully appointed tray filled with fresh avocados, oranges, chopped jalapenos, onions, and other goodies. As we watched, he concocted the absolute best guacamole we’d ever had. The menu’s claim that “it doesn’t get fresher than this!” was right.
Naturally, this is something I craved after we arrived home. Our homemade Mexican food just wasn’t the same without it, and that store-bought stuff? Yuck. It was a pale imitation of the Austin restaurant guacamole. Since we aren’t moving to Austin anytime soon, the only solution was to create our own recipe.
Should I Buy Cage Free, Free Range, Organic, or Just Plain Eggs?
Tips for Decoding Egg Carton Labels
New York Times writer, Catherine Price, recently wrote an interesting article about one of the most common kitchen staples: the egg. As she says, in the past, “an egg was an egg.” Your only choice was size.
But now, consumers can choose from what some foodies call “designer eggs.” Some producers claim to treat their hens more humanely than other producers. Other cartons boast of extra health benefits from their eggs, such are more Omega-3 fatty acids.
Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of regulation of some of these terms; animal welfare groups warn consumers to pay careful attention when they buy.
Here’s a brief explanation of the controversy, a glossary of terms, and some tips for wading through the competing claims.
A Brief Guide to Drying and Storing Herbs
or…. what happens when you pick a pound of basil leaves and dry them?
Home-dried herbs are less expensive than the commercial variety and taste better too. Fresh-dried herbs have a more intense flavor, brighter color, and are less likely to have been irradiated.
Most herbs are extremely easy to grow and hard to kill – kind of like weeds. They grow well in the garden or in a group of pots arranged on a sunny windowsill. Delicious fresh, herbs are also easy to dry and store. Homegrown and dried herbs also make great gifts.
Learn the basics of sun-drying or air-drying as we follow an entire pound of fresh basil leaves through the picking, washing, and drying process.
Purslane: Not a Weed, but a Wonder Plant
Facts and Recipes on Purslane
Condemned by some as an unsightly, pervasive weed,” purslane is also a free backyard source of protein, vitamin E, vitamin C, and the best source of Omega 3 fatty acids of any leafy plant.
There’s no reason to spend money on fish oil supplements if you have this tasty food source growing in your backyard or vegetable garden.
Whether you eat it raw in salads, stir-fried, or added to soups and sauces, purslane is a delicious addition to many recipes. It’s easy to grow, tastes great, and – best of all to anyone struggling with rising food prices – it’s free.
I Can’t Believe It’s Not Bacon!
Use Herbs and Spices to Get a Smoky Taste Without Smoked Meat
Southern cooking, also called “country cooking” or “soul food,” often describes foods loaded with fat, salt, and pork – sometimes all three in the same dish! Traditional dishes include fried chicken, fried okra, fried green tomatoes, and fried squash. See a pattern? Fried, fried, fried. What’s not fried is likely to be cooked with bacon or a chunk of fatback as “seasoning.”
That “seasoned” taste is so common that many people can’t imagine cooking beans without side meat. As Scarlett O’Hara notes in Gone With the Wind: “Black-eyed peas are no good without bacon. There’s no strength to them.”
Here, as in so many areas, Scarlett was wrong.
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Chocolate, the misunderstood health food
Chocolate, the misunderstood health food
Five Good Reasons You Shouldn’t Put Down the Chocolate Bar
1. Antioxidants:
Dark chocolate is high in antioxidants which destroy the free radicals your body digests or is exposed to in the environment.
Free radicals come from pollutants in the air, medicines and processed food. It’s no wonder we haven’t been taught more about free radicals as they are the cause of heart disease and different types of cancer.