“We cannot live better than in seeking to become better.”  Socrates

How do you respond when introduced to a new and different food?  Why is that?

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. (Ja 1:17; NIV)

Tabouli or (Tabouleh) is a Middle Eastern Arabic salad dish.  It is traditionally made with bulgur wheat, fresh parsley, tomatoes, and onions with an olive oil and lemon juice dressing.  As our final picnic food for the month of June, I’d like to introduce you to tabouli, with a twist.

Rather than using the traditional bulgur wheat, today’s recipe uses a grain called quinoa.  Quinoa, pronounced KEEN-wah, is an amino acid-rich grain that has a fluffy, creamy, slightly crunchy texture and a somewhat nutty flavor when cooked.  Years ago when I was ill and was allergic to most common foods, I discovered quinoa as something I could tolerate.  I ate a lot of then.  It’s only in recent years that it has become more well-known and easy to find.  You’ll find it in the health food section of your grocery store along with other grains such as oats and bulgur.

Not only is quinoa high in protein, but the protein it supplies is a complete protein, meaning that it includes all of the essential amino acids.  Quinoa is also a good source of manganese, magnesium, iron, copper, and phosphorus, all of which are vital minerals our bodies need.

Here are some tips for preparing quinoa.  A substance called saponins coats the quinoa seeds.  Even though cultivation and processing removes much of the saponins, I find it is still necessary to thoroughly wash the grain to remove any remaining residue.  I place the grain in a mesh strainer and then run water over it for a few minutes, gently rubbing the grains together with my fingers.  Then I place the quinoa in a bowl and cover it with “good” water and allow it to soak for a few hours.  I then drain that water off when I’m ready to prepare and cook the grain.  This soaking makes it easier to digest and reduces the cooking time.   Cooking directions are in today’s recipe.  When cooking is complete, the grains become translucent, and the germ of the grain will partially detach itself, looking like a spiraled tail.  It has a mild flavor and can be used as a breakfast cereal or in place of rice in other dishes.  Enjoy!

Prayer Power
Father, we continue to be amazed at Your goodness and Your mighty hand of provision for us.  We thank You for your moment by moment blessings.

Link of the Day
Quinoa Tabouli

Blessings on you as you experiment with eating tabouli and/or quinoa.

“Chicken salad has a certain glamour about it. Like the little black dress, it is chic and adaptable anywhere.”  Laurie Colwin

What one thing can you do this week to make a positive deposit in your health?

Solomon’s daily provisions were thirty cors of fine flour and sixty cors of meal, ten head of stall-fed cattle, twenty of pasture-fed cattle and a hundred sheep and goats, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks and choice fowl.  (I Kings 4:22-23; NIV)

Continuing with our picnic theme this month, today’s recipe highlights chicken salad.  Most people enjoy chicken salad and many people have a favorite recipe.  I can still recall the first time I had “gourmet” chicken salad on a fresh croissant at an upscale restaurant in downtown Rochester, New York.  I’m not sure if the elegance of the surroundings made it so memorable or if the chicken salad really was that good.  Chicken salad can be simple and it can be elegant.

According to Wikipedia, chicken salad was first made by Liam Gray in the New England state of Rhode Island in the late 1800s. His original recipe consisted of leftover chicken, chicken drippings, an oil/egg mixture and small seedless grapes.  In one form, diced or shredded chicken (dark or white meat, or a combination of both) is dressed with mayonnaise, mustard , or sour cream. Fruits and vegetables may be added such as diced onions, bell peppers, celery, grapes, or apples. Some cooks add other seasonings, which might include curry powder or dill pickles.

I’ve varied the ingredients I’ve used in chicken salad throughout the years.  A few years ago, I discovered the delight of adding curry powder to chicken salad.  If you enjoy the taste of curry powder, you’ll like the distinctive flavor it brings to chicken salad.  Grapes add sweetness to the salad and pecans add a nice crunch.

As a side note, I always try and buy organically grown grapes as commercial grapes, especially imported ones are sprayed heavily with pesticides.    If you can’t locate organic grapes, then wash the grapes with a produce wash found in health food stores or in your local grocery store.  I use one called Bi-O-Kleen Concentrated Produce Wash.

Prayer Power
We thank You Lord for Your wonderful provision for us each and every day.  We thank You that Your mercies are new every morning.

Link of the Day
Curried Chicken Salad

Blessings on you as you enjoy some chicken salad.

“A fruit is a vegetable with looks and money. Plus, if you let fruit rot, it turns into wine, something Brussels sprouts never do.”  P. J. O’Rourke

How many servings of fruit are you eating each day?

In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.  (Rev. 22:2; NKJ)

Most everyone, young and old enjoys fruit salad.  Where did fruit salad come from originally?  In ancient times, combinations of various fresh, dried, candied, and stewed fruit were used to create the salad.  The ingredients and recipes used depended on what was available during the different seasons, the specific country of origin, and the socio-economic status of the people.

Fruit salad, as we know it today is a product of the mid-19th century, with one of the most popular examples being Ambrosia.  The name “fruit cocktail” was developed when fruit was mixed with sugar and alcohol.  Non-alcoholic versions of fruit cocktail were very popular in the 1920’s. Also popular in the 1920’s were jellied fruit salads. How many of us remember all the various “jellied” salads?  Believe it or not, I could have been the “Jell-O Queen” in the 1970’s, until I began to see the light about real food!  In case you’re wondering, a Jell-O salad is not considered real food for those interested in living a healthy lifestyle.

Today we have so many varieties of fresh fruit available to us all year that we can enjoy fruit salad in any season.  However, there are times when certain fruits are more plentiful and thus a little less costly.  Although we’ll soon be entering the most prolific fruit season, today’s recipe is more designed for the winter months when we don’t have access to as many fresh fruits.  The recipe uses some fresh fruit and some canned pineapple and mandarin oranges.  Feel free to make substitutions with any of the fruit listed.  I’ve created a sauce that makes the salad creamy and rich, but it’s good without it too.

Always buy pineapple in it’s own juice as opposed to heavy syrup.  I’ve also found mandarin oranges packed in pear juice as opposed to heavy syrup.  Coconut is a nice addition to this salad.  Always buy unsweetened coconut, preferably organic and unsulfured.  Sulfur dioxide is a preservative added to commercial coconut and not something that I recommend consuming.

Prayer Power
Lord we’re so grateful for all of the many wonderful fruits that You have created.  Thank You for the beautiful color, texture and taste of it all.

Link of the Day
Easy Creamy Fruit Salad

Blessings on you as you enjoy your Easy Creamy Fruit Salad.

“Cooking is not a requirement for healthy eating. I found such amazing health results as an outcome of raw food that there was no turning back.”  Dr. Douglas Graham, Healthful Living International

How many raw vegetables are you eating each day?

The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden.  (Deut. 11:10; NIV)

I know I’ve mentioned the many benefits of eating raw food, on more than one occasion.  There are people who eat a diet of 80-100 % raw, uncooked food.  There are countless books and several websites dedicated to raw food eating.

There have been times in our lives when we’ve cycled through eating primarily uncooked food.  Even now, as our chronological age increases J (and as the price of groceries continues to climb), I’m preparing more and more raw food for us to eat.  Spring, summer, and early fall are the easiest times to eat more raw food, especially living on the east coast in the mid-Atlantic states.  For those Floridians and Californians in our midst, you’re blessed with abundant produce throughout the year.

Today’s recipe is a mixture of raw vegetables without it being a “regular, green salad.”  Different varieties of raw vegetables can be mixed together with a bit of olive oil and a favorite vinegar and labeled a “salad.”  The recipe today contains avocados, which are a wonderful food.  Actually, avocados are the fruit from the Persea Americana, a tall evergreen tree that can grow up to 65 feet in height.  Also known as the Alligator Pear, reflecting its shape and the leather-like appearance of its skin, avocados are a rich source of mono unsaturated fatty acids including oleic acid, which has recently been shown to offer significant protection against certain serious diseases.  The fat in avocados is a good, God-given fat.  Don’t think of avocados as a “fattening” food that needs to be avoided.

A ripe, ready to eat avocado is slightly soft but should have no dark sunken spots or cracks.  I cut it in half lengthwise and then gently twist the two halves to get it apart.  I then cut each half again lengthwise and then peel each quarter.  The pit will usually come out without much difficulty.  Then the quarters can be cut into pieces for a salad such as today’s recipe, or mashed with a fork to make Guacamole!  Other vegetables used in today’s recipe are cucumbers, which can be purchased all year round.  However, I’ve been buying the English, hothouse grown cucumbers this winter as they are grown without pesticides and herbicides.  I’ve recently found colorful peppers and tomatoes that are also hothouse grown without herbicides.  Even though they’re not grown organically, they are the next best choice for this time of year.  Feel free to experiment with tossing various vegetables together.  Have fun and enjoy!

Prayer Power
Lord, we thank You for all of the wonderful, colorful produce that You created for our enjoyment.  May we partake of more of Your created foods and less of man-made foods.

Link of the Day
Raw Veggie Salad

Blessings on you as you purpose to eat more raw vegetables.

“Cole slaw (cold slaw) got it’s name from the Dutch ‘kool sla’ — ‘kool’ is cabbage and ’sla’ is salad — meaning simply, cabbage salad.”  John Mariani

When was the last time you enjoyed homemade coleslaw?  How soon can you make some?

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.  (2 Peter 1:3; NIV)

Perhaps you’ve heard about the wonderful benefits that cruciferous vegetables provide for us.  Or, perhaps you’re one of those who aren’t sure what constitutes a cruciferous vegetable.  Cruciferous vegetables, (also called Brassica vegetables) are nutrient dense and include vegetables such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, collard greens, kale, and cabbage.

Cruciferous vegetables are brimming with vitamins such as vitamin C and folate, along with potassium and selenium for minerals.  They also contain antioxidants, flavonoids, carotenoids, isothiocyanates, sulforaphane, and indole-3-carbinol.  Sulforaphane and indole-3-carbinol are most concentrated in cruciferous vegetables and they are both associated with reducing the risk of certain cancers in the body, as well as metabolizing toxins from smoke and lowering the risk of tobacco-related cancers.

Today’s recipe features a common cruciferous vegetable, cabbage.  Cabbage is a staple food in many cultures.  It’s also very economical.  The recipe calls for both red and green cabbage.  Red cabbage has a higher antioxidant value than green cabbage.

Many people like coleslaw but say they’ve never made it before.  It’s very easy to make, especially using a food processor.  And I’m finding there are as many variations of recipes as there are cabbage leaves in a head of cabbage!  Most recipes (mine included) are not exact with amounts and proportions.  Some folks like it sweeter and some like it sour.  Experiment with flavors.

One caveat associated with eating cruciferous vegetables raw is the fact that they are goitrogens.  Goitrogens are naturally occurring substances that can interfere with function of the thyroid gland.  These substances in cruciferous vegetables appear to reduce thyroid function by blocking thyroid peroxidase, and also by disrupting messages that are sent across the membranes of thyroid cells.  Ongoing research reveals that cooking does help to inactivate these substances.  So, it can be confusing for the health conscious consumer.  We’re told to eat more raw vegetables–yet there are certain ones that might not be best for us.  We still do enjoy coleslaw but I don’t make it as often as I have in the past.

Prayer Power
Lord, we are so thankful to You for our health and our minds.  May we work in conjunction with You to do the very best that we can in taking care of our bodies.

Link of the Day
Colorful Coleslaw

Blessings on you as you enjoy some coleslaw this week.

“But why should not the New Englander try new adventures–not lay so much stress on his grain, his potato and grass crop, and his orchards–and raise other crops than these? Why concern ourselves so much about our beans for seed, and not be concerned at all about a new generation of men.”  Henry David Thoreau

When did you last enjoy an unusual type of salad?

The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.  (Gen 1:12; NIV)

Have you noticed how people everywhere are talking about the cost of food?  It seems we’re getting less and less food for more and more money.  However, there are still many healthy food choices available at relatively low prices.  Beans are at the top of the list. Today’s recipe features black beans.  Black beans also called turtle beans are one of God’s finest creations.

Black beans are high in fiber and protein.  Research published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry indicates that black beans are also rich in anti-oxidants.  The darker the beans color, the higher the level of anti-oxidant activity.  Black beans are also good sources of folate, magnesium and manganese all of which are important nutrients for our bodies.

Black beans are available in the dried form as well as canned.  Dried black beans need to be soaked before being cooked.  Place about two cups of dried beans in a large bowl and cover the beans with water.  Allow to soak in the water overnight.  The next morning, drain the beans and then begin cooking them in fresh water.  You can add a bay leaf or onions and garlic for flavor.   The time required to cook dried beans can vary according to the size and the age of the beans.  It may take several hours until they are done.  They should be soft but not mushy. Using dried beans is very economical.  However for the sake of convenience, organic beans already cooked are available in cans.  Today’s recipe uses the cans.

Often times when I mention beans to clients, they make a face and say that beans give them “gas.”  Flatulence (or gas) from eating beans is telling us that your body needs some help with digestion.  Many people have difficulty breaking down the fiber in the beans.  Food enzymes to the rescue!  If you have trouble digesting beans, feel free to contact me about what you can do to change that.  You don’t have to avoid eating beans, nor do you have to suffer in agony.  There is help!

Prayer Power
Lord we thank You for our bodies and that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.  Thank You for wisdom on how to care for our “temples.”

Link of the Day
Black Bean/Corn/Red Pepper Salad

Blessings on you as you enjoy a different kind of salad.

“Lives are snowflakes–forming patterns we have seen before, as like one another as peas in a pod, and have you ever looked at peas in a pod?  I mean, really looked at them? There’s not a chance you’d mistake one for another, after a minute’s close in.”  Neil Gaiman

When was the last time you enjoyed having green peas?

They also brought wheat and barley, flour and roasted grain, beans and lentils…  (2 Sam. 17:28b; NIV)

We had our month of vegetables and side dish recipes in February.  March brought main dishes.  For April, we’ll look at various salad recipes.  Some recipes may be rather common and others may be new to your family.

Pea salad is one of those recipes that cause some folks to turn up their noses.  They either don’t like peas or the thought of making a salad with them doesn’t cause culinary salivation.  When most people think of peas, they remember them as the food that they loved to hate when growing up, yet one that was extremely fun to play with (mixing them in their mashed potatoes) on their plates! There are many varied pea salad recipes, and I make variations of my own recipe depending on what ingredients I have on-hand.

Green peas are a member of the legume or bean family.  According to The World’s Healthiest Foods, legumes are plants that bear fruit in the form of pods enclosing the fleshy seeds we know as beans.  There are generally three types of peas that are commonly eaten: garden or green peas, snow peas and snap peas.  Garden peas have rounded pods that are usually slightly curved in shape with a smooth texture.  Inside are green rounded pea seeds that are sweet and starchy in taste. Snow peas are flatter than garden peas. Snap peas, a cross between the garden and snow pea, have plump pods with a crisp, snappy texture. The pods of both snow peas and snap peas are edible.

Abundant with nutrients, green peas offer us good sources of vitamins, minerals, and fiber.  Green peas are a good source of vitamin K1, important for maintaining bone health.  They also are a good source of the various B vitamins with a key one being folic acid, along with vitamin C.

I never recommend buying canned peas, as the majority of nutrients are destroyed from the canning process, and the sodium content is much higher.  Fresh garden peas in the summer are wonderful, however most of us don’t have access to fresh peas.  Frozen peas are readily available.  I buy organically grown frozen peas and notice a sweetness and flavor unmatched in commercially grown peas.  Peas can be added to various salads such as chicken salad or a green salad for a pretty accent.  For such uses, I place them in a bowl of very warm water for several minutes, and then drain them instead of actually cooking them.

Enjoy the salad.

Prayer Power
Lord, thank You for Your goodness and love for us.  May we continue to seek ways to glorify You with every word we speak, every breath we take, and every meal we eat.

Link of the Day
Tasty Pea Salad

Blessings on you as you enjoy some peas this week!

“The Indians and English use them much, boyling them with Sugar for Sauce to eat with their Meat, and it is a delicious sauce.” John Josselyn, while visiting New England in 1663

How can you make your Thanksgiving meal healthier?

And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.  (Gen 1:11; KJV)

Since this is the first week of November, there are three “recipe Tuesdays” before Thanksgiving.  Each week I’ll feature a recipe that can be made for your Thanksgiving meal.  We’ll begin with the cranberry.

The name “cranberry” derives from the Pilgrim name for the fruit, “craneberry”, so called because the small, pink blossoms that appear in the spring resemble the head and bill of a Sandhill crane. European settlers adopted the Native American uses for the fruit and found the berry a valuable bartering tool.

Contrary to popular belief, cranberries do not grow in water. Instead, they grow on vines in beds layered with sand, peat, gravel and clay. These beds are commonly known as “bogs.”   However, the bogs are flooded in the fall to facilitate harvest and again during the winter to protect against low temperatures.

Cranberries contain bacteria-blocking compounds that are believed to be helpful in preventing urinary tract infections, and in blocking the bacteria responsible for ulcers and certain oral bacteria that can lead to gum disease.

In addition to their urinary tract health benefits, cranberries also contain phytochemicals that assist in maintaining health.  Some of these phytochemicals act as antioxidants, compounds that help neutralize harmful free radicals in the body. These antioxidants reduce oxidative damage to cells that can lead to cancer, heart disease, and other degenerative diseases.  For example, anthocyanins, compounds that give cranberries their red color, are powerful antioxidants that may be stronger than vitamin E.

When buying or drinking cranberry juice, it’s important to buy only pure, unsweetened cranberry juice, usually found in health food stores.  The “cocktail” varieties are loaded with high fructose corn syrup and sugar, negating any positive benefits from the cranberry.  If you need to add any sweetener, try adding some organic apple juice to the pure, unsweetened cranberry juice.

You’ve heard me mention over and over how beneficial it is for us to eat more raw fruits and vegetables.  Most of our Thanksgiving meal consists of cooked food.  So, today’s feature recipe is a raw cranberry relish using some other wonderful fruits as well.  Enjoy.

Prayer Power
Father, thank You for Your grand design and for not only making wonderful tasting foods but ones that are pretty to the eye as well.  May You be glorified as we begin to reflect on what we are thankful for during this time of year.

Link of the Day
Cranberry Relish

Blessings on you as you look for ways to have a healthy Thanksgiving meal.

“What most moved him was a certain meal on beans.”  Robert Browning

When was the last time you tried a new or different food?

They brought sleeping mats, cooking pots, serving bowls, wheat and barley flour, roasted grain, beans, lentils, honey, butter, sheep, and cheese for David and those who were with him.  (2 Sam. 17:28,29a, NLT)

When Jerry and I first met and married, I was eating a vegetarian diet.  Intrigued with my “Bohemian” lifestyle, he was eager to try some of my “odd-looking” food.  He soon gave up his burgers and fries and began eating lots of vegetables, tofu, and beans.  Oh, we had lots of beans; all colors, kinds, and shapes.  He used to laughingly say that whatever leftover beans we had from dinner would end up in our pancakes the next morning.

This proved to be important training for when God called us to Virginia Beach for Jerry to attend seminary at Regent University nearly twenty years ago.  Jerry received a “buy-out” from his position at Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester, New York.  So, while Jerry attended Regent, the Lord allowed us to stretch that “buy-out” for the three years he was in school, enabling him to fully concentrate on his studies.  We ate a LOT of beans!  (Beans are very cheap, in case you’re a non-bean eater.)  I learned to be quite creative in making various bean dishes.

Today we’ll feature one of the least known beans called garbanzo beans.  Also known as chickpeas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickpea), they have a delicious nutlike taste and buttery texture.  They provide a good source of protein that can be enjoyed all year-round and are available either dried or canned.  A very versatile legume, they are a noted ingredient in many Middle Eastern and Indian dishes.  I used to only buy dried beans, soak them in water, and then cook them on top of the stove or in the crock-pot.  However, cooked garbanzo beans from a can work well for making hummus.  I always buy the organically grown beans–believe me there is a great difference in taste.

Prayer Power
Lord, we thank You for the vast multitude of healthy and tasty foods that You provide for us from all parts of the world.  We also thank You that we live in a time when it is practical for those delightful foods to be shipped to markets near our home.  You truly have thought of everything for our well-being.

Link of the Day
Hummus

Blessings on you as you as you try something new and different this week that you’ve not eaten before.

“Regardless of how broccoli is prepared, peeling the stems is the secret to even cooking and tasty broccoli.”  Marian Morash

When was the last time you made a healthy salad and everyone clamored for the recipe?

I have given them to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables.. (Gen. 9:3, NLT)

We all know that eating vegetables is a healthy thing to do!  We also know that more than likely, we’re not eating enough of them in our daily diets.  I’ve chosen a salad that features the pretty, green tree-like vegetable called broccoli.

The name “broccoli” comes from the Latin word brachium, which means “branch,” or “arm.”  Americans have grown it in their gardens for less than 100 years.  The first commercially grown broccoli was grown and harvested in New York, then planted in the 1920’s in California.  This vegetable is highly recognized for its anti-cancer nutrients.  It is a cruciferous vegetable and member of the cabbage family, which is helpful in preventing certain types of cancer.

Broccoli is a good source of vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium, folic acid, iron, and calcium.  It also contains some important phytochemicals, such as beta-carotene, indoles and isothiocyanates.  Phytochemicals prevent carcinogens (cancer causing substances) from forming.  They also stop carcinogens from getting to target cells and help boost enzymes that detoxify carcinogens.

When shopping for broccoli, choose bunches that are dark green.  Good color indicates high nutrient value.  Florets that are dark green, purplish, or bluish green contain more beta-carotene and vitamin C than paler or yellowing ones.  Choose bunches with stalks that are very firm.  Stalks that bend or seem rubbery are of poor quality.  Avoid broccoli with open, flowering, discolored, bud clusters and tough, woody stems.   I always buy organically grown broccoli knowing it’s grown without pesticides and herbicides.  However, organically grown broccoli just plain tastes better!  This salad is colorful and will delight even your “picky” eaters.

Prayer Power
Father, we continue to be thankful for the overflowing bounty of wonderful, healthy foods that You have given to us.  Thank You for Your grace as we become obedient to follow You with our whole hearts!

Link of the Day
Broccoli Salad

Blessings on you as you continue to incorporate more healthy vegetables in your diet.