Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Pasta Salad

INGREDIENTS:1 (8 ounce) package small rotini pasta
2 hard-boiled eggs
3 ounces cooked ham, cut into small pieces
1 (10 ounce) package frozen English peas, thawed
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
green onions, chopped
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1 teaspoon paprika

DIRECTIONS:
Cook pasta by directions.
In a large serving bowl, toss together the pasta, egg, ham, peas, and Swiss cheese.
In a separate bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, sour cream, green onion, mustard, mustard, and hot pepper sauce. Stir until well blended.
Pour 3/4 of the dressing over the pasta, and mix. Spread the remaining dressing evenly over the top of the pasta salad, all the way to the edge of the bowl. Sprinkle with paprika, cover tightly, and chill 4 hours, or overnight for best flavor.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Spinach and Strawberry Salad

INGREDIENTS
2 bunches spinach, rinsed and torn into bite-size pieces
4 cups sliced strawberries
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 tablespoon poppy seeds

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, toss together the spinach and strawberries.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, vinegar, sugar, paprika, sesame seeds, and poppy seeds. Pour over the spinach and strawberries, and toss to coat.

Bob Delp
http://www.all-salad-recipes.info

The Basics of Traditional Barbecue

The two basics of authentic barbecue are a low cooking temperature and plenty of wood smoke.

You need enough heat to cook the meat (which is the difference between smoke curing and barbecuing) but you need to keep the temperature a bit above the level that meat will register inside when done.

So, let's take pork for example; it needs to be cooked to an internal temperature of at least 160 degrees Fahrenheit, so you must barbecue it at 180 degrees to 220 degrees Fahrenheit. This same principle works very well for other foods as well.

Grilling is what many inexperienced, "want to be pit masters" call barbecuing. Actually, grilling in concept is the opposite of barbecuing because of heat. Much of the time you want the highest temperature achievable in grilling, because the purpose is to sear meat on the outside to make it crispy and brown on the surface. This method is best when used with tender cuts, such as a good steak or chop, which are pretty much free of connective tissue. Usually, meat used to barbecue is really tough. Spareribs, beef brisket, as well as other cuts require slow cooking at low temperatures to break down their stubborn tissues. This is the exact reason why they are ideal for barbecuing in the first place. When you barbecue steaks, fish, or vegetables, you do it to add smoky flavor and not because the slow cooking is needed for tenderness.

The smokiness that you desire in barbecue should come from smoldering wood, not from fat or oil dripping on coals or hot metal.

The use of water or other liquids is a bit controversial in barbecue circles. People in the past didn't add water to their pits in any fashion, and many experts don't like the idea today. They say that barbecuing has to be a dry cooking process. The truth is that most methods of barbecuing have always involved the circulation of moisture laden air over food. This makes the process much wetter than cooking in a traditional oven. Water has a proper place in barbecuing, depending on how it's used and what you're cooking.

Traditional barbecue meats benefit from losing moisture as they cook, shrinking their size, but many non traditional foods can benefit from increasing humidity inside the smoker. As long as you avoid cooking the food with steam instead of smoke, extra moisture can help to prevent lean meat and fish from getting too dry.

Bob Delp
http://www.all-salad-recipes.info

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

ARMENIAN POTATO SALAD

4 med White potatoes
1 tsp Salt
1 tbs Dried mint
1/2 lg Purple onion, sliced
1/4 cup Salad oil
1/4 cup Fresh lemon juice

Boil potatoes. Slice when cool.
Add all the ingredients.
Toss and chill.
Serves 4

What? Eat Seaweed? Why?

Have you ever thought of eating seaweed as a healthy nutritious food? Probably not. Grocery store isles are not exactly brimming with shelves stocked with seaweed. Quite the contrary, you would be lucky to find any seaweed product there. So it would be no wonder if this item were missing from your kitchen cupboard at home, and how many recipes in your cookbook are there that calls for seaweed as an ingredient. You won't find it in your average menu plan. It is not something people usually consider when thinking about food unless they are into sushi, which is often served with seaweed.

Statistics show that the people of Japan have better health than people living in the United States. Seaweed is a staple food of the island country of Japan and diet is often the factor determining good health and longevity. Seaweed has the high-fiber of vegetables, more protein than meat, and more calcium than milk. Eating seaweed is not a bad idea at all.

Replacing the fat of fast food burgers with the fiber of seaweed would go a long way to improving the way we eat. It could be done using seaweed extract without the burgers tasting much different.

A lot of modern food is over-processed and grown in depleted soil. That is not so if you eat seaweed. The ocean floor is rich in nutrient material and seaweed is a concentrated source of minerals. Supplementing your regular diet with seaweed is a good way to be sure you are getting the quantity and variety of trace minerals and vitamins you need.

There are many types of seaweed. You can find them in health food stores as well as stores that sell Asian food. Look for Agar, Dulse, Hijiki, Irish Moss (which saved thousands of people from starvation during the potato famine of 19th century Ireland), Kelp, Kombu, Laver, Nori, Sloke, and Wakame. Put them together and you have a low calorie sea-vegetable salad! Seaweed can also be used in seasonings, soups, teas, and assorted food recipes.

Seaweed may not be the name we want to call this food with such value. Sea plants, sea vegetables, marine flora, or ocean herbs may be more appropriate titles. Many scientific studies have been done on the medicinal properties of these ocean herbs.

Limu Maui is an exotic name, which translated means brown seaweed. There is a substance in brown seaweed called fucodian which a Japanese researcher claims to be similar to mothers’ milk in its effect on the human immune system. PubMed is a service of the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health and is a good place to look-up studies on fucodian, laminarin (also an immune-booster found in brown seaweed), or anything else. It is available at either pubmed.gov or pubmed.org on the world wide web.

If you have no inclination to eat vegetables let alone sea vegetables, you can still benefit by getting them in easy to take supplement form as in tablets, capsules, or liquid extract. In that way you can also get the smaller algae forms of seaweed like chlorella or spirulina. You would be getting plenty of beta-carotene, vitamin C, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, and iodine. Again, studies on these can be found at PubMed.

Seaweed is a wholesome food that adds variety to your diet and is good for your health.

Bob Delp
http://www.all-salad-recipes.info

Monday, February 12, 2007

Carrot, Orange & Radish Salad

Ingredients:
1 lb Carrots, peeled & shredded
2 tb Lemon juice
1 Onion, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 tbs Orange juice
3/4 cup Radishes, thinly sliced
1 dash Cinnamon
1/2 cup Cilantro, chopped
Salt & pepper
3 tbs Olive oil

Mix carrots, oranges, radishes with cilantro in bowl.
Mix olive oil, lemon juice, orange juice, water, cinnamon,
salt & pepper to taste & pour over the salad.
Cover & chill at least 1 hour

10 Tips to Avoid the Holiday Bulge and Inner Thoughts About Them

Do you find it almost impossible to stay conscious and contentious about weight and nutrition during the holidays? Of course you do. More than half of all Americans are overweight. All American's are in this together.

You can take heart from a new government study which shows most Americans gain about a pound over the holiday. You're not alone. The study shows that during the holiday period, for the people in the study, two main things influenced the holiday weight gain: level of hunger and level of activity. Those who reported being less active or more hungry had the greatest weight gain.

If you can stay focused on dealing with just those two things, you'll probably win.

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of weight gain," according to Dr. Samuel Klein. He is Director of the Center for Human Nutrition as Washington University in St. Louis, MO. "Preventing the increase in weight is a lot easier and better than actually gaining weight and then trying to get it off again."

The answer is simple. Eat less and exercise more.

The good news is that most of the people overestimate how much they had gained. Fewer than 10% gain 5 pounds or over.

The bad news is that although the one pound gained seems like a small amount, that weight WAS NOT LOST during the rest of the year and those single pounds accumulate over the years and add up to obesity.

Here are some helpful hints and tips put together by skinny people to help you avoid the tiny little weight watching issues you face during this joyous season [along with the thoughts going through weight watcher Wanda's head as she listened to the skinny people happily chirping out their advice. NOTE: Wanda isn't her real name.]


1)."You SHOULD stay active, darling. The best thing for you to do is to stick to your regular schedule and routine." [Routine? Wanda's family doesn't have no stinking routine in November and December. Wanda doesn't have no stinking time for her regular yoga classes, workouts at the gym, long dog walks, you ninny, because in addition to shopping, home decorating and cooking, Wanda has to take every one of the kids to EXTRA practices and activity for pageants, concerts and freaking fund raisers! Wanda's too ACTIVE to stay active, darling.]

2). "Don't let yourself get hungry. Don't arrive at the party starving. Be sure you eat your normal, healthy meals, especially breakfast. A protein rich breakfast "resets" the body and starts it off not hungry. Don't starve yourself, thinking you can "save up" calories. Fill up before the big holiday feasts with healthy vegetable snacks." [Normal? There ain't no stinking "normal" in November and December, and Wanda's not sure she ever has normal, healthy meals. She's got a life to run. Wanda doesn't't't know where YOU'RE having Thanksgiving, but Wanda's family's appetizer table has God's own Cheese Puffs and Ruffles with sour cream/onion dip, Brie on sourdough and 80 plates of cookies and bowls of peanut M&Ms on every available surface! There is nary a vegetable snack in sight.]

3) "How can you keep the pounds off at calorie rich parties? Stay away from the food! Literally ... stay on the other side of the room from the buffet table or appetizers tray. [Wanda liked this one. She'll just go plant herself in the bathroom and lock the door. Maybe she can find a place under the pile of coats in the back bedroom. A nap sounds nice.]

4). "Wear clothes which are slightly tight and your favorites. You'll think twice about the third helping if you can't let your belt out a notch. Always remember there's about 8 pounds between dress sizes." [What skinny sadist came up with this bright idea? Wanda bets she's a size 2, and hides an eating disorder!]

5). "Portion size is the real secret. Keep salad portions large and all other portions extra small. When it comes to sweets, think quality, not availability. Just because the candy corn is there doesn't mean you have to eat it. Don't be afraid to cut off "just a bite" of a high calorie treat. Put the rest back on the serving tray. If you're the hostess, pre-cut high calorie items into tiny portions to help your friends. Just a bite may be plenty to satisfy you. [Just a bite! Just a bite? Wanda's stressed to the max and darn it, Wanda DESERVES a candy treat ... and a WHOLE one. Heck, Wanda's double stressed, so she deserves ...]

6). "You don't need to be stressed. Take Time for You. Get a massage or a nice facial. Sit down and slip your shoes off." [Don't you know Wanda's facing a month and a half on shopping overdrive and the only place to sit down is at the mall's fast-food court? McDonald's doesn't have a massage spa. If Wanda slips her shoes off, she'll NEVER get them back on again, you fool.]

7). "Keep up your food diary ... every day of the holiday ... it will help you pinpoint your special weaknesses. Just one 150 calorie chocolate chip cookie each day will add up to an extra pound in only 3 weeks." [Wanda can't even find her food diary in chaos house. And, she really needed the information on the cookies. Thank you very much. Wanda just ate three, and she doesn't need any food diary to pinpoint this little weakness.]

8). "Only eat things you really want and care about. So what if your neighbor brought okra au gratin everyone's raving about? Use that space on your plate for a homemade roll, hot from the oven. Put real butter on it. Life is choices. Treat yourself to what you want and LEAVE THE REST IN THE SERVING DISH."[Good advice. How thankful do you think Wanda'd be after a feast of Brussels sprouts and tofu salad while she's passing the yams, potatoes and gravy to Aunt Lucille? Wanda bets Lucille's glad she got granddad's wiry build instead of those wonderful wide childbearing hips from grandma's "peasant" stock!]

9). Drink water instead of alcohol which has empty calories and lowers will power. Avoid sugary sodas which throw your metabolism into pendulum swings. [You didn't mention eggnog. Eggnog is OK, then, right?]

10). "Don't eat while you cook. Those little "tastes" can turn into 1000 calories before you've blinked." [Wanda just spent 304 hours in the kitchen, cooking. She HAS to taste everything before she serves it, or they'll hate it and won't love her any more. And besides, cookie dough doesn't have any calories, does it?]

Well, that's all 10 pieces of holiday advice. Here's just one parting thought from Wanda.

[Santa's fat and everybody loves him! The baby Jesus is fat, too. The turkey is so fat it can hardly stand up! Nobody buys a skinny Christmas tree, do they? Get a grip. Get a life. Have a HAPPY holiday.}