#“Can you make a bacteria that tastes like tomato sauce” well a week and a half later apparently yes you can

[leucoratia]

Kraz, royal healer

Kraz (Razzy if they like you(but they like everyone)(except Jerry)) is a human (?) mage who voluntarily exiled themselves to the underground to follow monsterkind during the war. They are later appointed royal healer by the king and queen and has devoted themselves to the betterment of monster society ever since. They are the only human the royal scientist ever tolerated (although would you call sharing lab coats and beds tolerating or...something else?)

Information

-Species : mage (half monster, half human)

-Age : older than the barrier. As long as they will to live, it appears that a mage cannot age.

-Gender : apparently born a female, although it is unclear how sexual dimorphism develops in mages. Kraz does not specifically care.

-Soul : Green

-Height : 1.99m (6'5)

-Hair colour : Black (somehow iridescent ?)

-Eye colour : deep dark brown. Their sclera is grey as well.

-Build : sickly thin, actually skin and bones. They never eat much of anything, claiming that they do not need a lot of food. It worries people quite a lot, especially Toriel, but they have been like this for hundreds of years so... at least they're not dead ? Still, they scare the kids.

-Personnality : a sweet, calming presence. They exude an aura which makes anyone around them feel at peace. Although they are quite akward and generally anxious, they smile easily and brightly. Kraz is very friendly, caring, and kind to a fault. has quite an outdated manner of speech. A jokester. Always does their best to please people around them. Deeply devoted. Probably has some sort of attention deficit. Easily fascinated. Suffers from chronic bird behaviour (will bring you trinkets??).

-Likes : gardening, playing the piano, cooking, puzzles, collecting shiny trinkets, science, herbal medicine, cultivating bacteria, gift giving, late 1800's fashion, dark spaces, funny socks, Gaster.

-Dislikes : loud noises (especially clamoring crowds), being watched, sudden movements, bright reflective surfaces, small enclosed spaces, bitter foods.

Backstory

Kraz was born to a human mother and a monster father during the war, as mages often are. Abandoned by their mother, who could not endure the shame of their birth, they were taken under their father’s wing and raised amongst a small monster village. Early on, they manifested an extremely intense green soul and spectacular magical power, even for a mage. Although unequipped and unprepared to nurture such potential, the monsters in Kraz's community did their best to encourage the toddler's magical prowess, such as having them heal cuts and bruises, or speed up a few carrots' growth. But as war progressed, human armies swept through monster territory and eventually raided the child's village, pillaging and slaughtering everyone in their path. In these times mages were rare, being the product of monster-human relationships, but extremely sought after by humanity, who could only manifest minor magic potential. Stumbling upon the young Kraz and recognising in their physiology the traits of a "hybrid", human soldiers immediately identified them as a mage and took them away to be raised amongst humans. Their father, if he ever survived the attack, never stopped looking for his little bird until his dust settled on the ground. And so Kraz was raised in human war camps and settlements, amongst soldiers and other mages. Being so young, they only ever had vague memories of their time amongst monsters and soon put them to rest. As they grew, their healing powers grew with them, and it was soon clear to the commanders that Kraz may as well be the most spectacular healer that they had ever known, capable of rising men at death's door back on their feet and ready to fight in mere minutes. Suffice to say, as one of their greatest asset, they were sent from battlefield to battlefield, from division to division in order to rise the almost dead and reinforce the dwindling human forces. But they had a fault. Kraz, at their heart, was kind. Compassionate. Caring. And oh so, so young still, no more than fifteen. And the pain, the suffering inflicted by and to monsters broke their soul into pieces. See, despite all the propaganda, they could never quite bring themselves to hate monsters. Hate half of themselves. And so in the midst of the battle's confusion, in secret, they would slip a hand or a green bullet towards a bleeding frog here. A dusting lion there. They wished they could just run to them and pour their whole magic into the wounded, but the human soldiers watched them. Always. But eventually, as war was nearing its end, temptation was too great. They could take it no more. And so during a bloody battle, they slipped away from the soldiers surrounding them and ran to a fallen monster, who was already dusting away. A skeleton. The young mage fell to their knees, reaching for the monster's broken face with magic already at their fingertips and reassurances spilling from their lip, and poured everything they had left as the soldier tried to struggle and speak. He barely was able to call to them, in a language they didn't know, his bones just starting to reform, but fate is oh so cruel. Kraz could only slip their guard's attention for so long, and just as life started to flicker back in the man's face, they were torn off his bloodied body and promptly covered in his dust, their work undone by the fall of a sword. As the soldiers dragged the teen away, they could only claw down at the dusty floor to rack up the dust, and a nametag. Dingbats.

"Traitor", they were deemed. "An error of nature", "a freak", they were called. But a valuable freak nonetheless. Their magical abilities were still wholly unmatched through all of the land. They were needed. And so Kraz was beaten down, corrected, whipped back into shape. Into following orders. Royals spoke of banishment. Of a barrier. And they needed mages.

Finally, monsters were defeated. They were to be sealed underground. Kraz and the other mages assembled, staring down at a beaten monsterkind, a sea of eyes and bleeding hearts crying out at them as they chanted the words.

They couldn't do it. They couldn't.

They ran to them.

As the barrier rose up, this child fell to their knees in front of Asgore and Toriel and begged them to let them stay. To right this wrong. To help. They did.

And so Kraz poured their heart out. It wasn't easy, getting monsters to accept human help, even though they shared some physical traits. They slaved away for nothing in return, growing crops magically in dead ground and never taking even a grain of wheat for themselves. Endlessly imbuing water with their energy to create remedies for everyone. Only accepting the bare minimum of food to stay alive, even though they felt as if they were tearing this food away from the hands of the needy. They tried so, so hard to repair humanity's sins. Clear their name in the eyes of monsters.

And eventually, it somewhat worked. Instead of frowns, they were faced with smiles. Children stopped crying when they saw the healer's incomplete beak and started to spare them a smile. The elderly stopped refusing treatment from them. And even though they still had to face a seemingly unclimbable wall as they began further studies in medicine, biology and microbiology, chemistry, agricultural sciences, magical studies, anything to broaden their knowledge and help, they made it. (No thanks to the shy, awkward, standoffish and straight up rude engineering-chemistry-physics student which whom the king and queen pushed Kraz to hang out with. They said that it would "help the both of you, you kids would work beautifully together". Not that the mage minded, as a matter of fact they quite enjoyed his presence and always did their best to be agreeable and overall lovely company; but the skeleton never quite seemed to get over his absolute loathing of humans. Oh well, no matter. They'll keep trying anyways.). Eventually they did succeed and ascended to the position of "tolerable fellow student who I regularly hang out with" in the eyes of their adversary. When Kraz got their first doctorate, in medicine, WingDings even cracked a smile. And as the two completed their studies, the now mage-doctor was promoted to "acceptable collaborator". A win for the ages!

Kraz finally moved out of the derelict place they were practicing medicine in since the war to a more acceptable place (which was, well, their newly furnished house, courtesy of the royal family for their friendship and as a congratulatory gift for their doctorate) and kept working as always. But with an official title to strengthen their position, and what some may call a reluctant friend, things seemed lighter. Monsters were flocking to their office, business (which was still free but their patients insisted on leaving little somethings) was booming, their ties to their fellow "collaborator " deepening, and the doctor became sincerely appreciated in their community. Maybe not in all monsterdom yet, memories of the war never quite fading, but it was progress. Things were going well.

But it seemed that fate had other plans.

One day, plague broke out. The illness decimated monster populations, entire families perishing from an unknown condition.

And Kraz, oh Kraz, tried everything. Every spell, every potion, every cure they could think of. Nothing worked. They asked for help to the other healers, consulted with other scientists, even asked the engineers if they could think of something, anything. Nothing worked. They could only watch as the malady swept through monsters, powerless to watch them die, just like they did during the war.

No. No.

They would not stand for it, they would not STAND FOR THIS !! They will find a cure. At any cost.

They locked themselves in their laboratory.

One day. Two days.

Three days.

Six days.

Eight days.

Their colleagues had tried banging on the door, shouting at them to come out, to go home, they would not answer. They called for the doctor’s friends, to no avail. Eventually, it was WingDings Gaster, the royal scientist himself, to be at their door threatening them to “kick their feathery ass if it’s the last thing he does” in order to get them to open the damn door.

No answer.

But the royal scientist was a stubborn man. And when words failed, he proceeded to take the door’s security system apart and barge into the lab, only to be taken aback by the stench. He covered his non-existent nose with a sleeve and bit back the urge to let last night’s dinner see the light of day again, ushering the doctor’s worried coworkers away. It reeked of illness. It reeked of plague. The skeleton, being the only one without lungs and hence immune to all airborne diseases, made his way through the mess of papers, vials and…patches of blood and hair…to the form bent over his friend’s table. Kraz was staring straight at him with their big, beady dark eyes which seemed to be glazed over. They looked even paler than they usually do, which is to say whiter than snow, and seemed so frail that they could snap at any moment. Their face was also swimming in what seemed to be bloodied spit, over a mountain of papers scribbled with words that made no sense. Suffice to say, they looked like death itself. They looked dead.

It was as if Gaster’s bones were made of ice. Barely thinking, he grabbed his friend’s limp body, by Asgore were they TALL, and zapped away somewhere safe. Somewhere clean. His place, apparently.

He cleaned Kraz. Changed them. Laid them in bed. Listened to their delirious babbles, relieved that at least they were alive. In a moment of clarity, the doctor pleaded him to retrieve some instruments from their lab and conduct a series of tests on samples of their blood, which he was urged to collect daily.

“I need to help them Dings. Please. Please, I beg of you, do this for them. Or else I would have done this for nothing. Please.”

Eventually, the unthinkable happened. They got better, the little colour their cheeks normally had returned. As soon as the healer could walk again, they were out of their friend’s house and back in their lab (ignoring everyone’s admonishments). Barely a week later, there was a cure for the seemingly incurable plague.

Monsterkind was saved.

And everything was truly fine. Kraz was promoted to Royal Doctor (a fact they endlessly teased Gaster with, because Now you can’t boss me around anymore mister science man), was granted a whole department in the Hotland labs, and was now revered though the kingdom! Their promotion to head doctor was also accompanied by another, to the exclusive rank of “beloved special stupid idiot who gave themselves the plague” in the soul of a certain someone. They weren’t going to live that one down anytime soon. But well, when the royal scientist’s coworkers noticed that his lunch was packed daily in the common room fridge with “Do not forget nourishment today dear, I will see you tonight at our usual, -A stupid idiot “stuck to it, let’s say that the air in the Core labs was decidedly more pleasant. And Alphys, a young intern that the Doctor befriended during one of their numerous visits to their collaborator-friend-lover(?),  could barely contain her gushing to anyone that might listen.

Yes. Times were good.

Until a human fell.

[mintymemesandrpshop]

Tips from a grocery worker/foodsafe certified waiter!

The temperature 'danger zone' for food and drink is 40-140F, with 2 hours being the limit without refrigeration/cooking.

Open container, Public Intoxication, and Driving Under Influence are all separate broken laws. Establishments that serve alcohol in the US are required to cut you off the moment you are visibly drunk. 'Open container' can also be a misnomer and vary by state- bottles and cans in anything less than a glued blox may need to be in a bag.

Raw flour has E. Coli bacteria, factory farmed eggs will have salmonella due to poor hygiene (sitting in their own shit).

Speaking of eggs, grocery eggs are 2 weeks old due to needing to properly settle to a baking standard. Eggs from a local farmer may be safer, but will also be somewhat different and not have enough air for baking until they are also that age.

Steak is safe to eat rare due to its thickness and proximity away to any nasties in the body waste; hamburger is not. Burger is ground up with various cuts and intestines so needs to be cooked properly well done. Chickens are too small to have this effect, so salmonella is a risk no matter what. Pork is somewhat in between, as there is a risk for trichinosis, but the larvae are much easier to spot, making this start to go extinct in domestic pigs.

Dogs and Cats in general cannot have spices or seasonings, grapes, chocolate, or milk.

Most creatures are lactose intolerant due to the fact that they will not grow up into 1000 lb animals. Goats however, are closer to human size so their milk and cheese is more digestible. Smaller animals will need dilluted goat's milk, into a custom formula. (your grocery store may have this in a can, powdered.)

Pasta noodles mainly exist to hold sauce flavor in proportion; thicker noodles like rotini are usually recommended for thicker sauces such as tomato/marinara.

It is safer for pizza chefs to not wear gloves, actually! Gloves cannot be washed, only changed, and they are trained anyways to not touch someone's food once cooked. Cooking trays/pans, industrial sized knives, spatulas, and boxes all make this possible.

Humans are very dense and weighty creatures proportionally, that they can essentially tank a lot of poison damage that other animals cannot. This is one of many reasons we are not picky eaters as a whole!

Kids instinctively dislike bitter foods due to not having grown up into this said tankiness; vegetables and things that may be good for them can taste like poison, and they cannot tell the difference yet.

Electric Kettles are more efficient at boiling water than stovetops. I'll let the video guy speak for himself, but they boil water directly rather then heating a pot/pan which then heats the water. This is great for things such as small meals, partially unclogging drains, or heating bathwater.

Keurig or similar machines do not boil the water for your coffee! They heat to 100 degrees, so if your town has a boil order up, do not pour unboiled water into their tanks!

Large packs of water and soda often have bar codes on the top- you may not have to lift them if a laser-gun can get involved!

chicken nuggets from the golden arches are beer battered, the way fish are. They're fish-fried chicken.

Grocery Register Belts can have some really dumb design- with the computer /register itself taking up half the width of the goddamn belt. Keep your food safer by loading the belt heavy to light if you can- or light to heavy. Also, putting your food in a straight line towards the checker. You cannot trust the infared camera to stop the belt unless your items are opaque- your beer will crush your bananas in front of them unless they can slide over the scanner zone. You will prefer a fixable scan error until we can perform alchemy.

Fruits and Vegetables have 4 digit international trade codes! unless you know what breed your apple is or are bad with numbers, these are probably easier to input if you happen to be ringing these up yourself. It is perfectly possible for a self-check system to sell you the wrong kind. Same thing with the numbers on a bar code- they also work, if your code is faded or corrupted. (or, for whatever fucking reason a brand decides, light colors like silver, or cute shapes. those suck. looking at you, bud fucking weiser with your fucking ribbon.) The laser guns are a bit more accurate than the belt as a second resort.

[itscollegeeats-blog]

Pepperoni Cauliflower Pizza

Good morning, afternoon, and evening my striving college students! Another week has come and gone, and that means College Eats is back with another recipe for you to give a try.  This week, we are revamping a beloved late-night snack, a quick and easy dinner, a delicious Italian dish; pizza!  We know what you’re thinking, how could you possibly make pizza any better?  We have an idea, but hear us out.  Most of us as students are purchasing pizza from our favorite delivery company, or we are buying them frozen at the grocery store, right?  Buying these specific pizzas, means you are buying pizza that contains some bad carbohydrates.  There is a difference between bad carbohydrates and good carbohydrates, and we want to avoid the trans fats, cholesterol, and high sodium content that is in the crust of the pizza you are buying and consuming.  This week, we have taken out the bad carbohydrate of the pizza, the bread crust, and swapped it with a good carbohydrate, cauliflower crust!  It is low-carb and is still packed full of flavor. After learning how to make this guilt-free guilty pleasure, you will notice you feel less bloated and not as lethargic throughout the day.  You will feel full, but not like you have eaten too much, because we all know how hard it is to say no to just one more slice!  Let’s get started.

 Here’s what you’ll need:  

 ·       2 ½ cups of cauliflower (most likely one medium sized head of cauliflower)

·       1 large egg, lightly beaten

·       1 ½ cups of shredded mozzarella

·       ¾ cup of finely shredded cheddar

·       2 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese

·       1 teaspoon of garlic salt

·       ½ teaspoon of pepper

·       1 tablespoon of chopped basil

·       ¼ cup tomato sauce

·       Pepperoni (to taste!)

·       1 rimmed baking sheet

·       Parchment paper

·       1 microwave safe bowl

·       Food processor

  It seems like a lot you must acquire this week, but all of these ingredients are easy to get your hands on.  Feel free to swap out the cheese that we have suggested for you, this is just what we thought tasted the absolute best!  Feel free to buy more than just one head of cauliflower.  This way, you can chop up an abundance of cooked cauliflower all at once, and then store it in the refrigerator to make more cauliflower pizza.  This speeds up the total prep time for pizza you make in the future.  

 As for cost, one head of cauliflower at your favorite grocery store will probably cost you about $2.77.  When selecting a cauliflower, you want to make sure it is tightly bundled with creamy white florets.  The ones with bright green leaves are the best to pick!  Avoid cauliflowers with yellow or spotted florets.  Saggy leaves mean all nutrition and freshness has left the vegetable.  This cauliflower can stay in your refrigerator for five days, but after it is chopped it should stay in your refrigerator for no more than four days. For those of you who do not own a food processor, or a high-powered blender, there is cauliflower “rice” that you can buy.  It is basically pre-chopped cauliflower bagged and sold at 10 oz for $2.48. What’s that?  It’s cheaper? Wrong!  Remember, there is 8 ounces in one cup.  The recipe we have provided for you calls for 2 ½ cups of cauliflower.  So, you would actually need to purchase two bags of pre-chopped cauliflower in order to have enough.  Anyway, it is always better to chop things yourself when you can.  If you can grate your own cheese, do it!  If you can chop your own basil, do it!  There’s nothing better than farm fresh basil, so if you are able to go to a farmer’s market near you, this would be the best place to get the freshest, most flavorful basil for your pizza.  

  Here’s how you start:

 Preheat that oven of yours to 425 degrees.  It needs to be this high to give your cauliflower crust a nice crispiness to it.  Then line your baking sheet with parchment paper.  Place your cauliflower head in the microwave safe bowl and add just a little water to steam it.  Cover the bowl, and put it in the microwave for three minutes or until the cauliflower is tender.  After this, let it cool.  Next, place the now cooked and cooled cauliflower in your food processor, or a high-powered blender works too, and pulse the cauliflower until it is chopped into tiny pieces.  It will almost look grated.  In a mixing bowl, add the egg, 1 ¼ cups of the mozzarella, parmesan cheese, garlic salt, pepper, and chopped basil.  Then stir all of these ingredients together until they are combined.  Pour this mixture onto the baking sheet and form the shape of crust that you want.  You can do a classic circular pizza, personal sized pizzas, square, rectangle, whatever you would like!  Once you have the general shape formed, pat down the crust to make it a flat surface. Bake the crust for 15-20 minutes or until golden and firm and solid.  Spoon on the sauce, and sprinkle on the rest of the cheese.  Place as many pepperonis as you want (remember we said to taste!) and stick your pizza in the oven for another 10 minutes until the cheese melts completely.  Now, enjoy!

 Depending on how crispy, thin, or thick you like your crust, this pizza may not be as solid to pick up as a slice of pizza with bad carbohydrates, so sometimes it is best eaten with a fork.  Take a seat, indulge in your cauliflower crust pizza, and let’s take a look at everything this cauliflower is doing for you…because it is a lot.  

 Nutrients and Benefits:

 Cauliflower is a cruciferous vegetable which means it is in the same family as two other beneficial superfoods:  broccoli and kale.  While natural sugar in moderation can be good for us, cauliflower actually contains less sugar than broccoli does, one of cauliflower’s relatives.  We need this natural sugar for our bodies to create energy, but there is such a thing as too much.  This is why a low-carb alternative is better for us. These carbohydrates are broken down to the sugar that we need to turn into energy for our bodies.  

 Cauliflower contains what we are calling the three G’s.  These are glucobrassicin, glucoraphanin, and glugonasturtiin.  We know these names look scary, but these are what are called phytochemicals.  They stimulate the enzymes in our bodies that are cancer-blocking, and they protect our cells from oxidative stress and other damage caused by free radicals.  Cauliflower contains so much vitamin C, manganese, and other antioxidants that help nourish our body.  With our young age, it is important to load up on these as best we can while our body is still in its prime!  

 One of the three G’s, glucoraphanin, along with vitamin K in cauliflower, helps maintain blood circulation, and proper functioning blood vessels.  The glucoraphanin is converted to something that activates anti-inflammatories, and prevent lipids from accumulating inside the blood vessels.  Unobstructed blood flow reduces our risk of conditions like atheroscelerosis, which is an artery disease.  There is an abundance of antithrombotic and antiplatelet functions that significantly contribute to heart health.  

 Cauliflower is a great source of dietary fiber which helps our digestion and it aids in eliminating toxins from our bodies.  Did you know fiber did that?  Again with the help of one of our three G’s, glucoraphanin, glucosinolate, and sulforaphane, cauliflower protects the stomach lining and protects from growth of bacteria.  Additionally, the nutrients in cauliflower are also preventing risk of abdominal disorders.  This can include stomach ulcers, colon cancer, etc.  

 We mentioned earlier that cauliflower contains both vitamin C and vitamin K.  These are great for our bone health.  Vitamin C plays an important part in producing the collagen that protects our joints and bones from inflammatory damage.  The vitamin K helps in preventing bone loss.  The vitamin C also reduces our risk of diabetes when attributed with the potassium in cauliflower.  When we regulate our glucose metabolism, our risk of diabetes decreases, and this si what the potassium content in cauliflower does for us.  Our pancreas also utilizes potassium for secreting the insulin hormone that resists high blood sugar.  Anything that prevents blood sugar spikes is great for our bodies!

 As students and young professionals, we are constantly exhausting our brain with critical information, learning new knowledge, and other activities that require us to use our heads.  Making sure our brain is in good health is important.  Cauliflower contains choline and phosphorus, both excellent and effective for repairing the cell membrane in our brains.  We need these components for the most efficient functioning brain and nervous system for transmitting nerve signals as well.  The potassium and vitamin B6 also performs well for maintaining our brain health and our nervous system.  Communication between these two systems is key!  

 That is just scratching the surface of what cauliflower does for us! We know you are loyal pizza lovers, but let us know what you think of this low-carb alternative.  It’s a great replacement for a bad carbohydrate in a well-loved dish.  As always, we appreciate TONS of feedback here at College Eats!  

 And of course, stay hungry!  

  https://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/vegetable/health-benefits-of-cauliflower.html

  '�

[dohwanyc]

How Long Does Homemade Salsa Last?

Salsa is a great choice for dressing or sauce. Salsa is a distinct flavorful and spicy condiment that pairs well with tortilla chips and meat. This salsa is very well-known and lots of people are curious about the date it expires. This article we'll examine how long does homemade salsa last? Let's see.

What exactly is Salsa?

Salsa, a well-known sauce made of fresh ingredients like spices, vegetables and occasionally fruits, according to how it's prepared. Salsa literally translates to "sauce" from Spanish. It typically contains onions chili, tomato, and onion. The healthy dressing is great as a dish for a snack or in a pan as you cook your dinner.

Salsa may spoil when it's not stored correctly especially if it's homemade. If the salsa isn't properly stored, it will quickly spoil in an unclosed container.

How long does homemade salsa last

How long you keep the homemade salsa will depend on how well it's stored. Salsa can be stored in:

Make sure to cover your salsa with it in the refrigerator:

Salsa that is kept under refrigeration for at most a week is fine. The salsa may be a little less fresh and taste after a couple of days, but it will be safe to consume for at most one week.

Inside the fridge, unattended:

Salsa must be stored covered within the fridge for at five days at the most. It will lose freshness and flavor quicker than if it's stored at the right temperature in a container that was sealed or covered.

The freezer is:

Salsa can be frozen into containers and stored within the refrigerator for two months. The taste and quality of the salsa can be significantly affected by this lengthy time.

Apart from that it also relies on the ingredients that are used such as eggs and tomatoes. The shelf time of salsa can also be dependent on the ingredients that are in sauces that you buy at the store. If you buy an ingredient that is near to expiring, it could decrease the shelf life of homemade salsa. The salsa lasts longer if it is made from fresh tomatoes, not soft crimson tomatoes.

How can you tell If Salsa Doesn't Count? Bad?

Let's look at the most obvious indicators that indicate salsa is not good. This includes growing mold and other forms of organic matter on the surface or in the container as well as off-odors or foul odors and a bitter taste. These are indications that you need to get rid of the salsa.

Salsa is a delicious dish when everything is in order. You can test it out and check to see if it is something you enjoy. To ensure its quality the salsa can be thrown to the trash. Be aware that salsa is more prone to spoiling than other condiments , such like sauces like mustard and BBQ sauce. It is best to throw away any salsa that's been stored in the fridge for more than two weeks.

Here are Some Tips to Help Keep Your Salsa Recipe Fresh

Now you are aware of the length of time homemade salsa can last. It's time to get some advice for keeping it fresh. There are two simple ways to ensure that your homemade salsa stays fresh.

It can also be stored within an airtight container inside your refrigerator. It is possible to freeze it in airtight, sealed containers or freezer bags that are heavy-duty. For optimal quality, it's important to keep the freezer temperature at zero degrees F.

The original flavor of salsa will last about 1 to 2 days. The salsa will remain longer in terms of food security. To prolong the shelf-life that the salsa has, make a Lacto-fermented salsa. This allows it to be kept in the refrigerator for upto two weeks.

This is an easy method of doing it. It is as simple as adding some whey to the salsa, or strain the yogurt using cheesecloth. The finished product must be stored at the room temperature.

It is important to remember that salsa is fresh only when all ingredient are freshly prepared. It is not recommended to consume salsa after a week, and you shouldn't worry about how long it'll last.

Also, wash your spoon following the time the salsa has been used. Make sure you use clean and sanitary utensils. Never put the salsa out of the container, get it in contact with other food items, or put it into your mouth. Use a spoon for scooping out the salsa.

This will stop you from getting the whole jar contaminated with bacteria or food. Also, be careful not to dip food items in salsa. The smallest amount of food may alter its taste and cause spoilage to increase.

This advice should be used in moderate amounts. Though many chefs claim that it's bad practice to flip cans over when cooking food You can keep your jars in the refrigerator upside down.

The air is pushed towards toward the top jar as the food in the container pushes it. Food that is placed on the lid will help prevent contamination and prolong the shelf life of salsa.

Making Tomato Salsa

First step:In the hot bath,, wash lids and jars to sterilize them.

Clean, brand new containers onto the rack. After that, place them into the bottom cannery or bottom pot. The big pot is filled with water until it is at the top of each container.

Allow to simmer at a simmering temperature for 10 minutes. Prior to canning, sterilize lids using hot water kettle.

Step 2. Roast chili peppers or chilli peppers

In the kitchen, cook the flame on a gas stove until the chili peppers or chile peppers have blackened. The chiles should simmer for a few minutes in a dish or container. The stems, seeds and veins that are prominent should be removed.

Chop the chiles make sure you do not make more than 1 cup chopped chiles.

3. Preparing the tomatoes

The tomatoes need to be cut into pieces and then grilled on high heat until blackened. Chop the tomatoes and save any juices. Place them in an ice cube.

4. Combine all of the components in one large pot

Cook the ingredients on moderate temperature. After they've cooled and cooled, place them into a huge pan made of stainless steel. Simmer for around 10 minutes.

Five Mix salsa

To smoothen salsa make it smoother, make use of an immersion blender, or juicer.

Sixth Step Change the seasonings

If the salsa can be too acidic you can add additional sugar and vinegar. Also, you can add cumin to make the dish a distinct taste.

It doesn't matter that you do not like the Cumin flavor. Select one of seven choices here. The essential information you should be aware of concerning Cumin Substitute.

7. Pour salsa into canning containers , then seal.

Canning jars must contain a headspace that is 1 inch. Use a tissue to wipe the rims clean. Connect the lid rings but do not tighten them too much.

8. Make sure you take a bath in hot water.

Place the jars in an enormous pot of simmering water. Leave about 1-2 inches of headspace. Boil the water for 20 and 25 mins.

9. Step Step 9: Cool the cool jars

Keep the jars in a covered place with a counter cover for several hours so that they cool. Close the lid and seal the jars. It is important to label the date. Jars that are sealed may last for a year, while open jars last to the air for 2 months.

Summary

Salsa is made from fresh ingredients and is perishable. Store an open jar of salsa in the refrigerator. It is possible that the texture could change after it's been frozen. Don't eat the salsa when you observe any unusual smell, color or growth spots.This article has provided enough details for you to be able to address the issue " How long does homemade salsa last?"We hope that you will enjoy what we've shared.

View more: https://www.dohwanyc.com/how-long-does-homemade-salsa-last/

[grahkingston]

Pet Nutrition Kingston - What Fruits Can Dogs Eat?

Have you ever eaten a piece of fruit and wondered if it was safe to share with your dog? The good news is that many fruits make nutritious treats. Some can even help prevent disease. But some fruits can be toxic for your dog. And others that can be harmful if they aren’t properly prepared. 

At Grah Kingston, we are providing quality Pet Nutrition Service in Kingston. We are known as one of the best Pet Nutrition Kingston that opens 7 days a week.

What Fruits Are Good for Dogs? 

Let’s take a look at some of the more common fruits pet owners feed their dogs and why they’re a good choice. After that, I’ll talk about some of the fruits you should never share with your dog. 

Apples 

Apples are good for dogs. They contain vitamin A and C, are full of antioxidants like quercetin, which help relieve allergies and improve gut health. Apple skins are especially nutritious so be sure to keep them on. You can remove the apple core if you want, but this isn’t necessary. While apple seeds do contain cyanide, the amount is so minuscule it’s not a cause for concern. 

Bananas 

Bananas are full of vitamins and minerals that can help strengthen your dog’s muscles, bones, and immune system. They can also improve brain function and digestive health. But bananas are high in sugar and starch, which feed the bad bacteria and yeast in your dog’s gut so don’t overdo it. 

If you do feed your dog bananas, make sure you remove the peel or cut it up into small pieces. Banana peels aren’t toxic for dogs but they can cause bowel obstructions. 

Berries 

Most dogs love berries because they taste delicious. But these fruits are also packed full of antioxidants and vitamins that help keep your dog healthy. Let’s look at some of the most popular berries that dogs can eat

Blueberries 

Blueberries have a special nutrient that can cross the blood-brain barrier to help protect your dog’s brain function. They also pack more antioxidants than any other food.  Studies show that animals who eat blueberries are healthier, have less inflammation, and do better at memory and brain work.

Cranberries 

Cranberries are safe for dogs and can be helpful for UTIs but … that isn’t all they’re good for. Cranberries also fight cancer, balance the gut and help manage inflammatory diseases. They can even protect your dog’s teeth. 

Raspberries 

Raspberries are full of nutrients like vitamin A, B1, B2, B3, C, and E. So they aren’t only delicious, they’re nutritious. Raspberries are also full of antioxidants, which means they’re able to reduce inflammation and boost your dog’s immune system.

Strawberries 

Strawberries contain lots of fiber and vitamin C, as well as enzymes that help keep your dog’s teeth clean.

Cantaloupe

Cantaloupes are a fruit your dog can eat and they’re a great way to keep your dog hydrated on a warm day. They have high water content and are a good source of fiber and vitamins your dog needs. If you decide to give your dog some cantaloupe, feed it without the rind. The rinds can be choking hazards or cause bowel obstructions. 

Cucumbers 

Cucumbers are a low-calorie snack that’s great for overweight dogs. They’re also full of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory polyphenols that can prevent cancer. And they can help keep your dog hydrated on a warm day. If you give your dog cucumber, be sure to keep the peel on – it contains the most nutrients. 

Oranges and Other Citrus Fruit 

Dogs can eat citrus fruits like oranges, tangerines, mandarins, and clementines. These fruits are high in vitamin C, which boosts the immune system and helps with everyday functions. Most dogs produce their vitamin C but as your dog ages, or if he’s stressed, a dietary boost may be necessary. Citrus fruit also contains anti-inflammatory flavanones that may help with weight management. 

Lemons, limes, and grapefruits have the same benefits and are safe for dogs. But don’t feel surprised if your dog won’t eat citrus fruit most dogs find the flavor off-putting. You’ll also want to remove the peel to prevent obstructions. 

Pears

Pears are a tasty treat for your dog and high in copper, fiber, and antioxidants. This makes them a great choice to improve digestive health, fight cancer and reduce inflammation. Like apples, pear seeds contain cyanide, though the amount is very low. If you want, you can core the pear before you give it to your dog but it isn’t necessary. 

Pineapple

Pineapple is full of vitamin C, B vitamins, and minerals that help with your dog’s health. You’ll want to remove the skin and crown before you feed your dog pineapple. You’ll also want to core the pineapple or cut it up into very small pieces to avoid an obstruction.  

Stone Fruits 

Stone fruits are fruits that have a single pit or seed in the center. This includes cherries, peaches, mangos, plums, nectarines, and dates. While the flesh of fruits I’ve listed are safe for your dog to eat, you’ll want to remove the pits first. The pits contain cyanide that can stop your dog’s blood cells from getting enough oxygen. The pits can also cause bowel obstructions. If your dog accidentally eats a stone fruit whole, watch for signs of bowel obstruction or cyanide poisoning. 

Tomatoes

Like nightshade vegetables, tomatoes contain solanine. Generally, ripe tomatoes are safe for your dog to eat because the solanine levels are low. And they’re full of healthy antioxidants and fiber. But you should feed them in moderation and shouldn’t give tomatoes to dogs with inflammatory diseases. That’s because solanine can aggravate inflammation.

Green tomatoes, stems, and leaves contain high levels of solanine and can poison your dog. Be sure tomatoes are ripe and remove the stems and leaves before you feed them to your dog. You shouldn’t share tomato sauce and other tomato-based products. They might contain ingredients (like onions) that can be harmful to your dog. 

Watermelon 

Watermelons are a fruit your dog can eat. They contain vitamin A and C, plus they’re very refreshing. Watermelon also has an important antioxidant called lycopene. Watermelon is safe for dogs but … don’t give him the rind or seeds. They’re a choking hazard and can cause bowel obstructions. 

How to Share Fruits with Dogs?

Even when the fruit is safe for your dog to eat, you want to use some caution. Fruits have natural sugars and starches and too much can be harmful to your dog. Fruits are best used as a treat. Together with vegetables, fruit can make up 10% of your dog’s diet. 

You also want to introduce new fruits slowly. Otherwise, they may give your dog an upset stomach or diarrhea. And remember to go with bite-sized pieces to prevent choking and obstructions. If your dog is the type to swallow his food whole, you may want to mulch the fruit, to help him digest it better. 

Fresh or frozen is the best way to serve your dog fruit but always try to buy organic. Fruits and vegetables are regularly spread with pesticides to protect them from insects and weeds. But these toxins are harmful to your dog. Even proper washing won’t guarantee that you’ve removed all the chemicals. Your dog can also eat dried fruit or fruit juice so long as there are no added ingredients. But they’re also higher in natural sugar and lower in fiber than fresh or frozen.  

If you have a question about feeding your cat or dog, Gardiners Road Animal Hospital is here to help. Our friendly veterinary staff in Kingston can provide complete preventive, therapeutic, and surgical care for your furry friend. Contact us to schedule an appointment.

Pet owners are welcome to visit our Animal Hospital in Kingston. We can help determine the proper Pet Nutrition Service in Kingston for your pet that can prevent your pet from diseases.

[unqualified-advice-blog]

Cooking Tips (Especially on a time & money budget)

These are things I wish I had known when I started having to cook for myself.

1. Read the recipe completely before beginning to buy ingredients/plan to make it. Often recipes will require strange gadgets that you might not have in your kitchen that won’t be apparent in the ingredients list.

2. Don’t plan on making something unless you know you can find all the ingredients at your local store or can make reasonable substitutions. (I know this sounds like a no-brainer but I have made this mistake multiple times and it has sucked every one of them.)

3. Freeze meals and leftovers. I cannot stress enough how much food I have saved from going bad & saved myself having to order out at the last minute by doing this. Freeze any leftovers you think you might not be able to eat before they go bad. The best way to do this is to buy single serving plastic tupperware so you only need re-heat the amount you need for a meal.

4. Find recipes for one-pot meals that have a) plenty of spices, b) protein, veggies, and grains, and c) can easily be frozen. Soups, chilis, pasta sauces, curries, and casseroles all come to mind here. Having lots of spices helps the recipe be filling and just makes it better in general. Also, feel free to add more spices than the recipe calls for if it doesn’t seem like enough.

5. Find recipes that have cheap, shelf-stable ingredients. Again, soups, chilis, pasta sauces, curries, and casseroles are great for this because their ingredients heavily feature canned goods (tomatoes, beans), frozen vegetables, or dried pasta/rice etc.

6. Beware recipes that aren’t a full meal. A lot of traditionally American cooking relies on multiple dishes: eg, a protein, a grain, and a veggie that are all cooked separately. As such, many recipes are only protein, only grain, or only veggie.

7. If you are just starting out, estimate the amount of time it will take to make the recipe and then multiply it by three. Have a friend on hand or on the phone to be able to answer questions you might have during the cooking process. Try to be patient with yourself - everyone goes through a learning curve with cooking.

8. Get out all ingredients at the beginning so they are ready to hand. Chop any vegetables you need and keep them off to the side for when you need them.

9. Clean as you go - if you are done with an ingredient, put it away. If you are done with a dish, wash it. If this is too much for you, designate a “this is where the stuff I’m done with goes” area where you unceremoniously pile all used ingredients and dishes. This should never be the sink - you should always keep the sink clear when cooking.

10. Don’t force yourself to finish cleaning right after you’ve eaten if you can at all help it. Give yourself about a half an hour to digest and enjoy having finished cooking & eating.

VEGETARIAN COOKING

11. If you have any anxiety about bacteria or find it difficult to maintain a clean kitchen, COOK VEGETARIAN. It is an additional learning curve, but there are plenty of reasonably priced meat substitutes available on the market that are pretty good. As with everything, there are pluses and minuses to vegetarian vs meat cooking, but the big plus here is that you don’t have to manage what has come in contact with raw meat when cooking vegetarian. That being said...

12. When cooking vegetarian, double or triple the amount of fat the recipe calls for. Most vegetarian recipes (in the US) are written by meat eaters who classify this as a “diet” recipe and therefore don’t list enough fat and salt to make the recipe actually taste good. Vegetarian proteins don’t have the natural fat that animal proteins do, so especially if you are cooking with a ground beef substitute, you will need to add more oil as the ground beef substitute will absorb a large amount of it.

13. When searching for vegetarian recipes, it’s good to start out with recipes in Asian cuisine. These often will be one-pot recipes over rice and might not be as easy to freeze, but they often have the benefit of originating as vegetarian recipes instead of being adapted from a meat-based recipe. However, many ingredients and tools in these recipes might not be easily available to Americans, so be extra careful here.

14. Vegetarian cooking has the downside that it might not give you the same long-lasting energy that a meat-based diet does. You can address this by a) swapping vegetarian meals with meat-based ones depending on when during the day you might need the energy or b) keeping protein-rich snacks to hand like nuts or protein bars.

15. However, vegetarian proteins often have the upside of being extremely shelf-stable. They are either vacuum sealed in packages that will last months, dried, or frozen. This makes them much easier to keep stocked than animal proteins, which often expire within a week.

ADVANCED TECHNIQUE

16. Once you have explored cooking for a while, try to find/choose three recipes that you can memorize and keep a majority of the ingredients for stocked in your pantry or freezer for when you haven’t been able to plan ahead.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Financially disadvantaged millennials and gen zs often don’t have the luxury of enjoying the process of cooking and eating food. Many of our parents did not teach us how to cook, and there is a paucity of resources geared toward helping beginner adults understand how to cook. I was lucky that my mom did teach me how to chop vegetables, what things go together, etc., and it was genuinely surprising to me to watch one of my friends who did not have this advantage greatly struggle with cooking. He has been cooking actively for almost three years now and still becomes extremely anxious whenever he has to do so.

The cooking culture that has developed over the past 70(?) years is almost universally useless to us. Food has been marketed to within an inch of our lives as diet products, expensive indulgences, or status symbols. Most mainstream food culture is aggressively white and upperclass - see the cottagecore aesthetic. On the other hand, areas with majority minority population are way more likely to be food deserts (not have easily accessible grocery stores) and have attempts at community gardens bleached and destroyed by “law” enforcement. I fall sort of in the middle of these extremes: I am lucky enough to live in a nice area with an many easily accessible high quality and bargain grocery stores. Even with these advantages (and being trained from an early age), I find cooking extremely annoying, time consuming, and anxiety inducing.

I would be remiss if I didn’t address the fatphobia in many cooking spaces as well. Food is marketed as a diet product, which is ridiculous. See this post for a better take down of this than I could come up with. Food is something your body needs to survive, and it is ALWAYS BETTER TO EAT SOMETHING THAN TO EAT NOTHING, NO MATTER WHAT THAT SOMETHING IS. If your breakfast is a donut, that’s better than not eating breakfast. Try to eat a balanced diet with veggies, protein, and carbs (the one-pot meals help with this), but if you ever encounter ANYTHING in the world that is shaming you for what you put in your body, walk the other way, they are lying and trying to sell you something.

In general, the theory I agree with the most is the set point theory of weight: your body has a natural “resting weight” that fluctuates as you age and your body changes. Deviating significantly from this “resting weight” is extremely difficult and oven very very unhealthy. Your “resting weight” is largely determined by genetic factors and has nothing to do with your behavior. The “obesity epidemic” is a myth that has been perpetuated by drug companies and diet companies for profit and has done an extreme amount of harm to the livelihoods of fat people who often do not see their medical needs met properly because the doctor simply diagnoses them as “fat” and investigates no further.

All of this is a bit more big-picture and outside of the scope of your control, but I bring it up to contextualize that your struggles with cooking are in many ways not a personal failing but caused by broader social failings. Also, a lot of people are literally trained by our culture to be anxious around food, so if this is how you feel, again, it is not your fault and while it is common, it is not “normal” or “good” to feel this way. Anxiety around food is something you should work to overcome, not encourage in yourself. That said, the mental and physical practices you must undertake to get as good at cooking as you need to will take a lot of time to develop. Try to be patient with yourself and hang on to the moments of progress: you’ll get there eventually <3.

[wwwbuzzfitnessxyz]

HEALTHY RECIPE: LOW CARB CARROT-GINGER DRESSING

There’s no denying that the New Year is that the perfect time to try to to a reset on those unhealthy eating habits. So for 2020,

I’ve decided to start out making some healthy changes. I’m making some extent to drink tons more water and getting my booty into high a minimum of five times per week, whether that’s yoga, or pilates or simply taking a walk. i'll or might not count long shopping days. My major goal though is to chop the maximum amount sugar out of my diet as possible and build up my veggie intake while finding ways I can sustain it for the future . Before I began on my impossible journey of becoming a plant-based eating guru anytime soon, I’m slowly easing into things. And it’s all starting with less sugar and eating a minimum of one salad every day But let’s be real. simply because you’re eating salad, you’re not necessarily eating healthy. In fact, there’s tons of “salads” which will have even more calories, fat, and sugar than if you’d just eaten a burger. you'll blame it on the toppings, but most dressing s, albeit they’re not obviously sweet usually have sugar added to balance the flavour of acidic ingredients like vinegar. To fuel my new healthy obsession with salads I wanted to return up with some crave-worthy and straightforward dressing recipes that I can just enter the blender 1-2-3 while ablation the sugar. I started with my all-time favorite Asian inspired Carrot-Ginger dressing. like a Japanese Restaurant dressing it’s a mix of ingredients like carrot, ginger, yellow bell pepper, rice vinegar , miso paste, and vegetable oil . This dressing does need a touch little bit of sweet to stay it balanced. So to form it as low-carb as possible, I ditched the sugar and used my absolute favorite sugar substitute far and away –SPLENDA Stevia Naturals. Completely natural and plant-derived, it’s zero calories, zero carbs and features a super clean sugary taste with no aftertaste. I also use it to chop out sugar in other ways throughout the day. a number of my favorite ways to use SPLENDA Stevia Naturals besides in salad dressings are in-. Coffee Drinks, Iced or Hot Teas Lemonade and Limeade (try it fizzy with drinking water and mint) Cole Slaw (still a dressing but really good) Tomato Sauce Muffins, Quick Breads and Cookies Low Sugar condiment Apple vinegar Tonic – great for digestion add 1 tablespoon of ACV to 16 ounces of water and 1/2 tsp of SPLENDA Stevia Naturals which adds sweetness while cutting the tough bite of the vinegar. It’s great for digestion, has antioxidants and minerals, may boost metabolism and even supports healthy gut bacteria. Sweet Tip: SPLENDA Stevia Naturals comes during a tabletop jar, but it also comes in packets. I stash some altogether my bags so I always have it on the go once I need a touch of sweet. THE INGREDIENTS YOU’LL NEED Vibrant, fresh-tasting and incredibly smooth, the Asian inspired flavors during this dressing are so good you’ll end up daydreaming about what else you'll drizzle it on. And it’s so low sugar and low carb there’s zero guilt involved. structure a batch or two and eat it throughout the week and you’ll find it easy to urge all of your veggies! Carrot – One peeled medium to large carrot will work. One medium carrot has about 2.9 grams of sugar and is rich in beta-carotene and lutein. Orange Bell Pepper – I find that adding half an orange bell pepper adds a pleasant smooth flavor and provides this dressing body. which gorgeous orange color blends perfectly with the carrot. They’re high in vitamins C and A and only add about 3 grams of sugar to the present dressing Shallot – This adds a subtle onion flavor without overpowering and it works so well during this dressing. If all you’ve got is garlic available then a clove or two will do. Miso Paste – Miso gives this dressing that savory umami flavor I can’t get enough of. And it’s healthy too! Miso may be a good source of B vitamins, vitamins E, K, and vitamin Bc , and since it’s a fermented food (from soybeans) it also adds a lift of probiotics to the present dressing that’s good for your gut. White miso paste will help keep the colour of this dressing vibrant, but any miso will do. If you can’t find miso, substitute tamari or soy . Rice vinegar – If you’re watching your carbs or sugars make certain to use rice vinegar which has zero carbs or sugar and not seasoned rice vinegar which has sugar and salt added. Avocado or Neutral vegetable oil – full of healthy fats and high in vitamin E and lutein avocado oil is my go-to for salad dressings once I don’t want the taste of additional virgin vegetable oil . Grapeseed oil also will work. Sesame Oil – a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil add a pleasant toasty flavor to the present dressing. make certain to store this within the fridge after opening to preserve freshness. Stevia Taste Tip: Many stevia products on the market commonly contain an extract called Rebaudioside or Reb A which may have a bitter or strange aftertaste. Just remember Reb D is what you would like for the foremost like tast If you are doing happen to seem on the side of the Splenda Naturals Stevia jar and skim the nutrition label you’ll see 3 grams of carbs from erythritol per teaspoon. Erythritol may be a sort of sugar alcohol that the body doesn't digest and has no effect on blood glucose . internet carbs of Stevia Naturals are zero and it's zero calories. HOW TO MAKE THE CARROT-GINGER DRESSING There’s just one step for this dressing…

STEP 1: Throw everything within the blender and … blend! That’s it! Process until completely smooth then transfer to a glass jar or your fancy salad cruet. this will be served directly or stored within the fridge and chill until you’re able to eat. It should last about 7 days if properly stored.

Healthy Eating Tip: While i really like salads, making them can sometimes desire a chore. But if you've got a delicious dressing already made you’ve won half the battle. Keep mixed greens and cut veggies washed and prepared to travel in in your fridge to form salad making a cinch.

SERVING THE CARROT GINGER DRESSING

This dressing is delicious over mixed greens and veggies like tomato, radish, avocado, sprouts, cucumber, bell pepper, and celery. within the mood for a touch sweet? Add a touch of mango or grapefruit. For a healthy dose of protein on your salad try grilled shrimp, chicken or tofu!

GET THE RECIPE! Carrot-Ginger Dressing Prep Time 10 mins

A super healthy, tasty and low carb Asian inspired salad dressing! With the flavors of carrots, ginger, orange bell pepper, miso, and vegetable oil you'll never think your salad is boring again. If you're watching your sugar intake make certain to use rice vinegar rather than seasoned rice vinegar which has salt and sugar added.

Course: Dressing, healthy, Salad Cuisine: Asian Keyword: carrot, dressing, ginger, low-carb, miso, salad dressing Servings: 8 Author: Heather LaCorte Ingredients 1 medium carrot, roughly chopped 1/2 yellow bell pepper, roughly chopped 1 knob fresh ginger, about 2 inches 1 tbsp shallot, minced 1/3 cup rice vinegar 1/3 cup avocado oil or neutral vegetable oil 1/4 cup water 3 tbsp vegetable oil 3 tbsp miso paste, preferably white 1 tsp SPLENDA Naturals Stevia Sweetener (zero calories) Instructions Add all the ingredients to a blender or kitchen appliance and puree until completely smooth. Transfer to a jar or salad cruet. Drizzle over mixed salad or greens.

Note: If you do not have miso, substitute tamari or soy . Start with one tablespoon and add more to taste. the colour of the dressing may darken.

[webhealthy]

LOW CARB CARROT-GINGER DRESSING

There’s no denying that the New Year is that the perfect time to try to do a reset on those unhealthy eating habits. So for 2020, I’ve decided to start out making some healthy changes. I’m making some extent to drink tons more water and getting my booty into high a minimum of five times per week, whether that’s yoga, or pilates or simply taking a walk. I'll or might not count long shopping days. My major goal though is to chop the maximum amount of sugar out of my diet as possible and build up my veggie intake while finding ways I can sustain it for the future. Before I began on my impossible journey of becoming a plant-based eating guru anytime soon, I’m slowly easing into things. And it’s all starting with less sugar and eating a minimum of one salad every day.

But let’s be real. simply because you’re eating salad, you’re not necessarily eating healthy. There are tons of “salads” which will have even more calories, fat, and sugar than if you’d just eaten a burger. you'll blame it on the toppings, but most salad dressings, albeit they’re not sweet usually have sugar added to balance the flavor of acidic ingredients like vinegar.

a salad with carrot ginger dressing spooned over it with shrimp To fuel my new healthy obsession with salads I wanted to return up with some crave-worthy and straightforward dressing recipes that I can just enter the blender 1-2-3 while ablation the sugar. I started with my all-time favorite Asian inspired Carrot-Ginger dressing. like a Japanese Restaurant dressing, it’s a mix of ingredients like carrot, ginger, yellow bell pepper, rice vinegar, miso paste, and vegetable oil. This dressing does need a touch a little bit of sweet to stay balanced. So to form it as low-carb as possible, I ditched the sugar and used my absolute favorite sugar substitute far and away –SPLENDA Stevia Naturals. Completely natural and plant-derived, it’s zero calories, zero carbs and features a super clean sugary taste with no aftertaste. I also use it to chop out sugar in other ways throughout the day. a number of my favorite ways to use SPLENDA Stevia Naturals besides in salad dressings are in:

Coffee Drinks, Iced or Hot Teas Lemonade and Limeade (try it fizzy with drinking water and mint) Cole Slaw (still a dressing but good) Tomato Sauce Muffins, Quick Bread and Cookies Low Sugar condiment Apple vinegar Tonic 

– Great for digestion adds 1 tablespoon of ACV to 16 ounces of water and 1/2 tsp of SPLENDA Stevia Naturals which adds sweetness while cutting the tough bite of the vinegar. It’s great for digestion, has antioxidants and minerals, may boost metabolism and even supports healthy gut bacteria.

Sweet Tip: 

SPLENDA Stevia Naturals comes during a tabletop jar, but it also comes in packets. I stash some altogether my bags so I always have it on the go once I need a touch of sweet.

ingredients for carrot ginger dressing rice vinegar oil shallot orange bell pepper miso paste Splenda Stevia Naturals

THE INGREDIENTS YOU’LL NEED

Vibrant, fresh-tasting and incredibly smooth, the Asian inspired flavors during this dressing are so good you’ll end up daydreaming about what else you'll drizzle it on. And it’s so low sugar and low carb there’s zero guilt involved. structure a batch or two and eat it throughout the week and you’ll find it easy to urge all of your veggies!

Carrot – One peeled medium to large carrot will work. One medium carrot has about 2.9 grams of sugar and is rich in beta-carotene and lutein.

Orange Bell Pepper – I find that adding half an orange bell pepper adds a pleasantly smooth flavor and provides this dressing body. which gorgeous orange color blends perfectly with the carrot. They’re high in vitamins C and A and only add about 3 grams of sugar to the present dressing

Shallot – This adds a subtle onion flavor without overpowering and it works so well during this dressing. If all you’ve got is garlic available then a clove or two will do.

Miso Paste – Miso gives this dressing that savory umami flavor I can’t get enough of. And it’s healthy too! Miso may be a good source of B vitamins, vitamins E, K, and vitamin Bc, and since it’s a fermented food (from soybeans) it also adds a lift of probiotics to the present dressing that’s good for your gut. White miso paste will help keep the color of this dressing vibrant, but any miso will do. If you can’t find miso, substitute tamari or soy.

Rice vinegar – If you’re watching your carbs or sugars make certain to use rice vinegar which has zero carbs or sugar and not seasoned rice vinegar which has sugar and salt added.

Avocado or Neutral vegetable oil – full of healthy fats and high in vitamin E and lutein avocado oil is my go-to for salad dressings once I don’t want the taste of additional virgin vegetable oil. Grapeseed oil also will work.

Sesame Oil – a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil add a pleasant toasty flavor to the present dressing. make certain to store this within the fridge after opening to preserve freshness.

Stevia Taste Tip: Many stevia products on the market commonly contain an extract called Rebaudioside or Reb A which may have a bitter or strange aftertaste. Just remember Reb D is what you would like for the foremost sugar-like taste.

If you are doing happen to seem on the side of the Splenda Naturals Stevia jar and skim the nutrition label you’ll see 3 grams of carbs from erythritol per teaspoon. Erythritol may be a sort of sugar alcohol that the body doesn't digest and does not affect blood glucose. internet carbs of Stevia Naturals are zero and it's zero calories.

HOW TO MAKE THE CARROT-GINGER DRESSING

There’s just one step for this dressing…

STEP 1: Throw everything within the blender and … blend! That’s it! Process until completely smooth then transfer to a glass jar or your fancy salad cruet. this will be served directly or stored within the fridge and chill until you’re able to eat. It should last about 7 days if properly stored.

Healthy Eating Tip: While I like salads, making them can sometimes desire a chore. But if you've got a delicious dressing already made you’ve won half the battle. Keep mixed greens and cut veggies washed and prepared to travel in your fridge to form salad making a cinch.

SERVING THE CARROT GINGER DRESSING

This dressing is delicious over mixed greens and veggies like tomato, radish, avocado, sprouts, cucumber, bell pepper, and celery. within the mood for a touch sweet? Add a touch of mango or grapefruit. For a healthy dose of protein on your salad try grilled shrimp, chicken or tofu!

[ketohc]

Keto Chilli

Keto Chilli

Read about the keto diet but still confused as to what it is? Don’t worry; we can help you out.

The ketogenic diet, popularly known as the keto diet is low carb and high fat-based diet that has been gaining traction in the health and fitness industry as a quickfire way to lose weight without having to starve oneself or deprive oneself of most of their favorite meals.

In the keto diet, a person is required to eat meals that are high on fat with little or no carbohydrates.

What this does is that it leads to a shortage of glucose and sugar in the body which is the basic requirement of the body to generate energy that is needed for its daily functions.

This leads the body to a state of ketosis where the liver ends up forming ketones or ketone bodies to meet up with the energy requirements of the body by burning fat instead of the carb.

The primary goal for anyone who is undertaking the ketogenic diet is to reach the state of ketosis.

The Health Benefits of the Ketogenic Diet

On the health side of things, research shows that the keto diet reduces the risk of diabetes by increasing the levels of insulin in your body. It’s also shown to reduce the symptoms of epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, and even the Alzheimer's disease.

The keto diet can help stop or reduce the growth of tumors that are malignant and can lead to cancer. Therefore, many people who are conscious of their health and want to live a healthy lifestyle are often opting for a high-fat based diet like the keto diet.

In a regular keto diet, you can have all your favorite things in moderation. The only thing you have to make sure is that there are minimal amounts of carb in whatever it is that you are eating. The more fat you consume, the better it is for your body to go into and remain in the state of ketosis because that would mean your body has more fat to burn for your brain to produce and process more energy for its daily workings.

Limitations of the Keto Diet

What we should remember, however, is that too much of anything is wrong. If you ever feel that your body is uncomfortable while it is in the state of ketosis, you should immediately stop the diet and consult a doctor. You can even have cheat days at least once a week so that your body is still able to function well.

Also, more importantly, before beginning a keto diet, or any high-fat based diet, you should always consult your doctor first. This is because many people, especially those who suffer from certain diseases might not be healthy enough to take on a keto diet. Be safe, rather than sorry when it comes to something this closely related to your nutrition and health.

Why Do You Need the Keto Chilli?

However, we are all humans and sometimes have cravings, especially for the spicier things in life. In that case, we can always end up making beef chili. The only catch- it will be keto-friendly beef chili. That way not only will our cravings be sorted but we will also have not skipped out and ruined our whole diet plan.

This keto-friendly chili will also help keep us in the state of ketosis because it is high on fat and has minimal carbs in it. The ingredients used in the meal including the grass-fed ground beef, the onions, the tomatoes and everything else are all keto-friendly, and therefore this meal is a quick and easy fix to all your beef chili cravings- except without the added carbohydrates that can adversely affect your health and fitness.

If losing weight is the primary objective of the keto diet for you, then this keto chili beef is made just for you!

What are the Main Ingredients?

Now that we are talking of the keto chili, what are the ingredients needed to make this recipe? The ingredients are somewhat natural to find at your nearest store. They primarily include about one kilogram of ground beef, half an onion chopped finely, a few cloves of minced garlic as per your personal requirement.

About 30 millilitres of diced tomatoes that can be found in a can along with the liquid is to be used. A few green chilies are also be added along with Worchester sauce and chili powder. Cumin and dried oregano flakes are to be added to the mix to add flavor to the recipe. Also, to be added is sea salt, black pepper, and one bay leaf as per your taste buds.

See, easy and simple to find everything!

What are the Benefits of the Keto Chili?

So, like most other keto meals, the grass-fed beef keto chili also has its own benefits, regarding health, that adds to your meal. In this section, we'll discuss why the keto chili is beneficial to your health.

It Reduces the Chances of a Heart Condition:

The keto chili is beneficial because grass-fed beef has more conjugated linoleic acid (also known as CLA) when compared to regular grain-fed meat.

The presence of polyunsaturated fatty acids in the grass-fed ground beef is that it has anti-carcinogenic properties. It also helps in increasing muscle mass and reduces the risk of cardiac problems!

Grass-fed beef when compared to regular grain-fed beef also helps an individual overcome the levels of cholesterol in their body, and they also have a more significant amount of anti-oxidants like Vitamin E which helps protect the body from significant illness.

It Helps Improve Our Levels of Blood Sugar:

Grass-fed beef contains a lot of healthy fat that helps improve the levels of blood sugar in the body. The presence of conjugated linoleic acid in the grass-fed beef is quite beneficial in improving the levels of insulin in our body which in turn reduces the risk of diabetes.

Unlike Other Food Items, it is Free from Hormone Injections and Antibiotics:

Cows that are grass-fed do not have any sort of hormones or antibiotics injected into them by an external body. That itself is good news to the human body. Grain-fed cows are injected so that they produce more meat and fetch more money during the sale. However, they can be increasingly risky for us and can even be carcinogenic to a certain extent. In fact, excess use of antibiotics on these cows make them resistant to antibiotics and gives rise to bacteria which again is not good for the health of the human body.

When it comes to grass-fed beef, they are proven to be more environment-friendly, and you run a lower chance of contracting food poisoning if you consume the meat of a grass-fed cow. They are also better regarding taste and has good protein content in them. Not to mention, if you eat just one portion of good quality grass-fed chili beef with cheddar cheese, avocado, sour cream and a tiny bit of onions, you won't be able to help yourself from eating more and more.

The Top Keto Chilli Recipe Tips

Now that we know what the benefits of eating keto chili are with a keto diet let us look at how we should end up making the keto chili recipe.

What are the tools that you need to make good keto chili?

Like everything needs the right tools to become good, making the perfect keto chili also requires the ideal tools.

Non-stick Pan:

Extremely important while you are sautéing the onions and the grass-fed ground beef, this is one of the very first tools that is needed if you want to commence cooking keto chili. Also, as to why it is non-stick is so that it does not burn off the beef and the onions at its base and create a stain.

Spatula:

Preferably, made of wood so that it is not conducive to heat, it is a necessary component to sauté your beef and break apart the slab when you want to. A wooden spatula also does not leave any mark on your pan, so you don't need to worry about that!

Advertisement - Measure Your Ketones With One Breath!

CLICK HERE TO GET YOURS TODAY!

Meat Chopper:

Of course, this one is a necessity since the recipe is not about a slap of beef but rather a big chunk of grounded grass-fed beef. Meat choppers are helpful in grounding the beef fine so that it tastes like butter melting on your tongue when you have a bite of the cooked grounded keto chili beef.

Slow Cooker:

How else would you make a slow-cooked keto chili beef if not without using a slow cooker? A slow cooker by that logic is literally the heart and soul of your nicely cooked keto chili beef.

Pressure Cooker:

If you want to cook your keto chili beef faster than the time it will take on a slow cooker because you do not have the time or the patience, you should use a pressure cooker. A good quality pressure cooker will give you a great meal, the same way a slow cooker can but at a much faster face!

Now, that you know about both the ingredients as well as the equipment needs to make a good keto chili beef, there is just one final- and the most essential step of the process left. That is the recipe of how to make a good quality keto chili beef! So, let us just get started!

What is the Recipe for Making Good Keto Chili?

There is two way of making keto chili. One is the slow cooking method, and the other is the pressure-cooking method. Here we will discuss both in detail so that you can end up making the recipe as per your convenience.

The Slow Cooking Method:

Heat a non-stick pan to medium heat and put in the finely diced onions for a few minutes till they are translucent in color. You can also caramelize it as per your own requirement and taste. This should be followed by addition of the minced garlic and cooked unless the smell of garlic permeates the air.

Now add the grass-fed ground beef in the pan and cook well for about ten minutes, sautéing it with the help of a spatula till the beef is nicely browned and slightly cooked.

Now, take the browned grass-fed ground beef from the pan and place in it the slow cooker. Add the tomatoes, the tomato paste, the green chilies, the Worcestershire sauce, the chili powder, cumin, dried oregano flakes, salt, and black pepper into the cooker and keep stirring it till it is mixed and cooked well together. The bay leaf should be then placed in the center. You can even forgo the bay leaf if you don't like it.

Finally, slow cook the ground beef for about 8 hours if you want to simmer it. If you are running low on time, cook it for about four hours at a higher flame. And voila! Your keto chili beef is ready to be served and eaten!

Simple, yet highly effective!

The Pressure-Cooking Method:

The pressure-cooking method is a little different from the slow cooking method, but it is quite easy, just the same!

Choose the ‘Sauté' option on the pressure cooker. Do not close the lid of the pressure cooker at this point. The minced onions are to be added to the pressure cooker and cooked for a few minutes till the color of the onions turns translucent.

You can even caramelize your onions if you like it that way. It all depends on your tastes at the end of the day.

Step 1

Put in the cloves of garlic into the pressure cooker till its fragrance permeates the air.

Step 2

Now you have to add the grass-fed ground beef into the pressure cooker and cook it for about ten minutes, again sautéing it with a spatula till the beef is nicely browned and semi-cooked.

Step 3

Now add the tomatoes, the tomato paste, the green chilies, the Worcestershire sauce, the chili powder, cumin, dried oregano flakes, salt, and black pepper into the pressure cooker and keep stirring it till it is mixed and cooked well together.

Step 4

Add the bay leaf, if you like it in the middle post that. It will be good if you also add a bit of water or broth, in some instances when cooking in a pressure cooker. It adds an extra kick to the flavors.

Step 5

Now it is your turn to shut the lid of the pressure cooker and select the ‘keep warm' button on the cooker to stop the sauté option from going overboard.

Step 6

Choose the "meat/stew” option on the cooker and pressure-cook the ground beef for about thirty to forty minutes until it is well cooked.

Step 7

Wait for the pressure inside the cooker to be released or turn the pressure valve to went and release the pressure more quickly and faster, in case you do not have much time and want to get it done quickly. And, your ground-beef keto chili recipe is all done and ready to be gorged on!

So then, don't keep thinking over it! Get cooking. It is easy, simple and oh-so-tasty!

References

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0026049515003340

https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/86/2/276/4633078

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11883-003-0038-6

https://www.jci.org/articles/view/108519

https://asweetlife.org/chile-relleno-chicken-soup/

https://asweetlife.org/low-carb-crockpot-chili/

WHAT TO READ NEXT:

JOIN THE KHC CLUB FOR KETO ARTICLES AND RECIPES

Thanks For Signing Up! We'll Be In Touch :)

Name This field is required

Email This field is required

JOIN THE KHC CLUB

Advertisement - Measure Your Ketones With On Breath

1. Step 1

Put in the cloves of garlic into the pressure cooker till its fragrance permeates the air.

Advertisement - Measure Your Ketones With One Breath!

CLICK HERE TO GET YOURS TODAY!

from Keto Health Care - Blog http://bit.ly/2F2o6XV via IFTTT

[oni-con]

Ashleys Killer��� Recipe for Organic Beef Barley Soup Made in a Crock Pot

Despite all of the culinary and nutritional accolades, every brand of beef barley soup we tried have made both of us ill. It didn’t matter whether we ordered the soup in a truck stop or a end that is high or deli. The ingredients in the commercial recipes, including genetically modified vegetables, factory farmed meats and addicting synthetic chemical compounds, caused gouty arthritis symptoms, digestive disorders and/or our ankles to swell within an hour.

Barley contains gluten that makes it an unsuitable grain for consumption by those with celiac disease and other digestive diseases such as Crohn’s, IBD and IBS. As a result, we put all barley food products, particularly beef barley soup, on our “no” list of foods (defined in our book, Mannie’s Diet and Enzyme Formula) to avoid because they made us sick.

After years of frustration, we made a decision to try an organic version at home. After all, what did we have to lose? Well, after a week that is full of on the organic version of the soup, neither one of us became ill. The proof is always in the pudding. The synthetic chemicals, genetically engineered barley, high salt and that knows what else in the non-organic soups were the cause of our discomfort and illness.

Our companion blog, “why Organic that is including Barley Your Diet Lowers Your LDL Cholesterol, Reduces Glucose Problems for Diabetics, Reduces Heart Disease, Improves Digestion, Ulcerative Colitis while the Overall Health of All Humans”, provides everything you wanted to know about barley, but were afraid to ask.

Barley has no cholesterol and is reduced in fat. It contains eight amino that is essential. It also contains antioxidant capability that provides protection that is additional. Barley is abundant with fiber content, protein, carbohydrates and B vitamins. It has a higher content that is beta-glucan oats.

Pearl barley is the one most frequently found in the grocery stores in the U.S. The dehulled or pearl barley may be present in other barley that is processed such flour, flakes similar to oatmeal, and grits. Organic hulled barley can be purchased at health food stores or on the Internet. Arrow Mills organic pearl barley, available at Whole Foods, can be used to make a great beef barley soup.

We also save the beef juice drippings while cooking other organic meats prior to making this soup. The drippings in the pan are put into a cup for one hour in the refrigerator each right time and the oil is eliminated by skimming it off the top. We then store the juice in a storage bag within the freezer for use in our soups. This makes for outstanding flavor in the soup.

Ashley’s Recipe for Beef Barley Soup in a Crock Pot

2 Quart-size containers of organic low-sodium or beef broth that is no-sodium

¼ cup of natural beef juice (grease-extracted), preferably left-over from cooking a roast or rib that is prime

1½ pounds of organic stew beef

1 to 1½ pounds organic beef shank

2 cups of organic baby carrots

3 stalks of organic celery

1 medium-size onion that is organic

4 cloves of organic garlic

Organic Frontier White Pepper

Organic Black Pepper

Organic Ginger Powder

Organic Brittany Sea Salt with Kelp

Organic Butter

Organic Garlic Oil

Organic soy sauce (optional)

1½ cups Arrow Mills organic pearl barley

7 organic baby Yukon potatoes with skin

1 8 oz box of organic mushrooms that are whiteor mix various organic types as desired)

Instructions: Prepare the meat the night before. Rinse off the beef shank and stew beef to avoid any accumulated bacteria. Place the meat evenly on a platter. Sprinkle pepper that is white on each side.

Sprinkle meat lightly with ginger powder on one side. If your preference is always to grate your own fresh ginger that is organic use about ¼ to ½ of a piece. Our preference is the organic powder which provides greater control over the taste. Place in a glass container and contents that are refrigerate.

The morning that is next rinse and srub the vegetables well. Place 2 cups of organic baby carrots into the food puree and processor. Remove and put mushed carrots into separate small bowl. In fact, place each ingredient into its own small bowl and do not mix until recipe calls for it. Cut up 3 celery stalks and puree. Cut up 1 medium onion that is white puree. Chop 4 garlic cloves into small pieces. Scrub 7 to 8 baby yellow Yukon potatoes, leaving the skin on, and use a fork to poke holes that are small around each potato. Set aside all ingredients.

Cut the beef meat that is stew 3-inch chunks. Leave the beef shank uncut, with the meat that is whole on it.

Heat a frying pan while adding one ounce of organic butter and lightly sprinkling the pan with garlic oil and melt together. Put the cut garlic cloves into the pan. clash of clans hack Lightly brown the meat mixing it with the garlic. Once the skillet is hot, turn the temperature down to medium to avoid charring or overcooking the meat. .

Some may prefer to add a sprinkle of natural soy sauce. Cook for about 2 minutes on each side. Combine the onion that is pureed celery and carrot mixture into the skillet. Toss meat for 1 to 2 minutes. Place mixture into your slow cooker. Add all the baby yellow Yukon potatoes. Add 1-quart box of organic low-sodium or sodium beef broth that is no. Turn slow cooker on high for one hour. We suggest using a timer as most cookers that are slow on different time settings instead of old fashioned timers.

After one hour, check the potatoes by sticking a fine fork in them. The potatoes are ready when they become soft. When the potatoes are cooked, remove them from the solution and place in a glass dish. Set them aside to cool. Reduce heat in slow cooker to “slow cooking” for 4 to 6 hours. Occasionally stir the broth. If you can’t be home to watch it, it’s okay to leave it to its own devices, which is the beauty of slow cooking. Always be careful to open the lid away from the steam from you when checking it or working with it to prevent burning yourself.

While the soup is slow cooking, scrub and cut up the mushrooms. The white mushrooms are best cut into fourths long ways. Heat the same unwashed frying pan with 1 ounce of organic butter and saute the white mushrooms for 2 to 3 minutes. Toss a pinch or two of salt and pepper on top. Adding a soy that is little is optional. Cover the pan and set aside.

After 5 hours (total) of cooking, check the meat in the slow cooker. When you can stick a fork through the meat, it is ready for the next step. Eliminate the meat with a spoon that is slotted set it aside to cool. Add 1½ cups of organic pearled barley into the cooking broth. Slowly add the second box that is 1-quart of broth.

Mix the beef drippings or the ¼ cup natural de-greased beef juice left over from previous cooking. If you have more, add all of it. Turn the cooker that is slow to high for one hour. Use a timer and carry it with you to whatever room you go to in your home while the soup is cooking. Make certain that you are in earshot when the timer buzzer goes off. Don’t trust the slow cooker.

Once the beef is cooled, chop into small pieces. Be yes to include the bone marrow to the mix. For first-time cooks, bone marrow is the soft spot in the middle of the bone which should be like mush. Essentially, it is concentrated beef stock.

If desired, season the beef evenly by using a small portion of organic Brittany mineral salt and grind a light amount of organic pepper on the beef. The barley, add the beef back into the mix and stir after 1 hour of cooking. Cook for another 30 minutes. Turn off the cooker and leave the soup alone for another hour. It is ready to serve. If you want it spicier or to have a “bite”, then add a touch more organic white pepper until you reach your desired taste.

When serving, some like to add potatoes and others like to add mushrooms. This also offers a choice to vary your barley soup even when leftovers that are eating. Sometimes we are in the mood for mushrooms and sometime not. Garlic toast also adds a tasty option. Our recipe for garlic bread and cheese garlic bread can be found in our upcoming cookbook, Mannie & Ashley’s Organic Cookbook.

Beef barley soup can be served as an entre or in a large bowl as a meal that is complete. Besides being delicious, it is &rdquo that is filling We have found that a pot that is large of barley soup can last in your refrigerator for lots more than one week without spoiling. Our guests rave about it and so will yours.

By comparison, Campbell's Beef Barley Soup contains approximately 20 ingredients beef that is including, water, toasted barley, carrots, tomatoes, seasoned beef (contains up to 10% of a solution of water, salt sodium phosphate), tomato puree (water, tomato paste), peas, celery." According to its label, the soup "contains less than 2% of beef, modified food starch, salt, yeast extract, caramel color, hydrolized soy protein, hydrolized yeast protein, beef fat, flavoring, hydrolyzed wheat gluten, dextrose." Less than 2% beef? What's that about? How can you call a soup beef barley whenever it contains less than 2% beef?

Many of the ingredients, such as the soy and wheat products, come from genetically modified plants. Others such as tomato paste, modified food starch, salt, yeast extract, caramel color, hydrolized soy protein, hydrolized yeast protein, beef fat, flavoring, hydrolyzed wheat gluten, dextrose are ingredients containing hidden MSG.

Whenever you add up most of the ingredients with hidden MSG in Campbell’s “clean labels”, there is certainly no real way of really knowing just how MSG much there really is. For that matter, the 890 mg of salt per serving (2.5 servings or 2,225 mg per can) listed on the label seems unrealistically low. Who eats portions that small? It’s unrealistic.

For people who are gluten intolerant, the inclusion of hydrolyzed wheat gluten (which contains MSG) makes this soup dangerous.

[jerrytackettca]

The Impressive Benefits of Cumin: More Than Just a Curry Ingredient

Table of Contents

What Is Cumin?

The Standout Health Benefits of Cumin

What Is Cumin Used For?

Cumin Recipes: What Is Cumin Used for in Cooking?

How to Grow Cumin at Home

Give Cumin Essential Oil a Try, Too

Did you know that every time you add spices to your meal, you're actually boosting its nutritional content without adding to its calorie content? There's a wide variety of spices available today, but here's one that will surely get your attention: cumin.

Cumin is loved by many not only for its versatility in the kitchen, but also because of the many health benefits it offers. Keep reading to find out why this spice is highly deserving of a place in your spice rack.

What Is Cumin?

Dubbed as the second most popular spice in the world (next to black pepper),1 cumin (Cuminum cyminum) comes from a small flowering herbaceous plant from the Apiaceae or Umbelliferae family,2 which also includes parsley, fennel and hemlock. The plant, which grows about 1 to 2 feet tall,3 is actually native to the East Mediterranean to South Asia regions,4 but is now grown all over the world.

The aromatic seeds are the part of the plant that's most widely utilized. These cumin "seeds" which are actually the plant's small dried fruits.5 Cumin powder is made from these seeds. You can actually use both whole and ground cumin seeds, which are both available all year round, for culinary purposes.

Today, cumin is a spice that's highly valued in different cuisines. Mexicans, Indians and North Africans love using it to add color and flavor to their dishes. Cumin is also a primary component of curry powder, blended with other herbs and spices.

But what exactly does cumin taste like? According to the George Mateljan Foundation, a nonprofit whose mission is to help you eat and cook the healthiest ways possible, cumin adds a nutty and peppery flavor to foods.6 Cumin seeds' strong flavor and bitter aroma warm your taste buds, mainly due to the essential oils they contain.7

The Standout Health Benefits of Cumin

Cumin seeds' health benefits mainly come from their phytochemicals,8 which are touted to have antioxidant, carminative and anti-flatulent properties.9 They're also a good source of dietary fiber, vitamins A, E, B and C and antioxidant carotenes lutein and zeaxanthin. Other health-promoting minerals in cumin include:10

Iron and copper — Both minerals are essential for red blood cell production and formation.11,12

Zinc — It's a cofactor that's needed by enzymes that are crucial for many metabolic processes.13

Potassium — A crucial component of cells and body fluids, this is necessary for controlling blood pressure and heart rate.14,15

Manganese — A co-actor for superoxide dismutase, this is a powerful antioxidant enzyme.16

Considering its small size, it's absolutely impressive that cumin can benefit your overall health, and may even help alleviate ailments, such as:

Stress — A 2011 animal study published in the Pharmaceutical Biology journal found that cumin helped inhibit stress-induced biochemical changes in rats, which also improved their memory and cognition. According to the study authors:17

"This study provides scientific support for the antistress, antioxidant, and memory-enhancing activities of cumin extract and substantiates that its traditional use as a culinary spice in foods is beneficial and scientific in combating stress and related disorders."

Respiratory disorders — This spice may help inhibit buildup of mucus and phlegm in the respiratory tract.18

Diabetes — Research is still ongoing, but animal studies found that cumin may be beneficial for managing diabetes.19,20

Cancer — Cumin may have anticancer properties, as it has been found to help suppress tumor cell proliferation.21

What Is Cumin Used For?

Cumin's uses as a culinary spice have been well-known ever since ancient times, but did you know that there are other uses for it as well? Ancient Egyptians used cumin to mummify pharaohs, while in the Bible, it was mentioned that the spice was given to priests as tithes.

Cumin even became a symbol of love and fidelity. Guests attending a wedding carried cumin in their pockets, while wives sent off their soldier husbands to war with cumin bread. Meanwhile, Arabs believed that a concoction made from ground cumin, honey and pepper worked as an aphrodisiac.22

But aside from being added to food, cumin was highly valued for its traditional medicinal uses. The seeds, for example, can be infused in water that, when ingested, may help relieve flatulence and indigestion.23

Cumin Recipes: What Is Cumin Used for in Cooking?

Today, the most popular use for cumin is as a seasoning or condiment, adding a deep flavor to various recipes. This spice is a mainstay in curries, and is used in spice blends like garam masala.24

Cumin seeds, aside from being added to curry powder, can be mixed in barbecue sauces, marinades and chili.25 Cumin also goes well with lentils, garbanzo beans and black beans, its hearty flavor complementing the mild flavor of these foods.26

Whole cumin seeds can be gently roasted before grinding and adding them to dishes. This will intensify their flavor.27 Another tip: Only grind the seeds when you're ready to use them, to keep the fragrance and flavor intact. Remember that ground cumin is spicy and peppery, so don't use excessively, especially if you cannot tolerate overly spicy foods.

If you don't have cumin seeds, you can settle for the powdered form – but what is cumin powder made of? Basically, this is just very finely grinded cumin seeds. Beware, however, as some brands blend the cumin with inferior and adulterated spice mixes. There's also an instance where a brand of cumin powder was examined and found to contain traces of lead and chromium.28 So, if you have the seeds on hand, just make your own homemade cumin powder by grinding them with a mortar and pestle.

If you don't have whole cumin seeds, don't worry because there are other spices you can use in its place. According to The Spruce Eats, some of the best substitutes for cumin spice are ground coriander, caraway seeds, garam masala and chili powder.29

This spice can also be used to make refreshing and healthy cumin tea that you can drink before bedtime to promote optimal sleep. Simply add a teaspoon of cumin seeds in a cup of water and let it boil. Afterward, let steep for 10 minutes.30

You can easily search for recipes with cumin as one of the standout ingredients. Here's one from All Recipes you can try:31

Grilled Tomato and Cumin Salsa

Ingredients

12 Roma tomatoes

2 cloves garlic, unpeeled

1 small onion, quartered

1 green chili

1 1/2 tablespoons coconut oil

1 teaspoon ground cumin seeds

1/4 teaspoon Himalayan salt

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

A handful of chopped fresh coriander

Procedure

Preheat the grill.

Place the tomatoes, onion, chili and garlic in a medium-sized baking dish, and then drizzle with coconut oil.

Grill for five to 10 minutes, or until the outsides of vegetables are lightly charred. Make sure to check them frequently to avoid burning.

Remove the vegetables from the stove. Remove and throw out the chili stem, tomato cores and garlic skins.

Use a food processor to chop the charred vegetables coarsely. Transfer to a bowl and add the cumin, lime juice, Himalayan salt and coriander.

How to Grow Cumin at Home

Growing cumin is easy if the weather conditions in your area meet the plant's requirement. According to Gardening Know How, cumin grows best in places with long, hot summers (three to four months), where temperatures reach 85 degrees F (29 degrees C) in the daytime. Sow the cumin seeds during springtime, in rows that are 2 feet apart. The plant grows best in fertile, well-draining soil.

If you live in a place with a cooler climate, however, plant the seeds indoors four weeks before the last spring frost. Sow them shallowly, at least a quarter inch below the surface. The cumin seeds should be kept moist during germination. Once the temperatures have exceeded 60 degrees F (16 degrees C), or higher, you can move them outdoors.

After the small white or pink flowers have blossomed, you can then harvest the cumin seeds. Do this carefully by hand. The seeds should be brown when you harvest them. The best time to harvest is in the morning, as this is when the aroma and flavor of cumin is strongest.32

Once harvested, store the seeds in an airtight container and keep in a cool and dark place. Once ground, use the product immediately before it loses its flavor.33

Give Cumin Essential Oil a Try, Too

Cumin can also be enjoyed as an essential oil. This is produced through steam distillation of the seeds.34 Like its raw spice form, cumin oil also provides body-wide benefits, if used in aromatherapy.

The valuable components of this oil mainly come from health-promoting compounds such as cuminal, B-pinene, B-myrcene, P-cymene, y-terpinene and p-mentha-1,4-dien-7-ol.35 Here are some of cumin oil's benefits:

Helps eliminate bacteria — A 2005 study found that cumin essential oil was found to help protect against bacteria species like Curtobacterium, Clavibacter, Erwinia, Rhodococcus, Xanthomonas, Agrobacterium and Ralstonia.36

May have antioxidant benefits — Published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a study noted that the volatile oils from ginger and cumin were found to have antioxidant activity.37

Has a tonic effect — It can tone up your different body systems, such as the excretory, digestive and nervous systems, to name a few.38

Helps ease convulsions, stress and anxiety.39

Helps remove toxins from your body — This oil can work as a diuretic, and may help eliminate excess water, salt and toxins from your body.40

Before using cumin oil, make sure that you dilute it in a safe carrier oil like olive or coconut oil. It may lead to skin sensitivity in some individuals, so do a skin patch test prior to using it. Do not use if any allergic reactions occur. Pregnant women, nursing mothers and young children should get a physician's permission prior to using this essential oil.

from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/03/14/xdjm18-herbs-spices-18mcsa-cumin.aspx

source http://niapurenaturecom.weebly.com/blog/the-impressive-benefits-of-cumin-more-than-just-a-curry-ingredient

[paullassiterca]

The Impressive Benefits of Cumin: More Than Just a Curry Ingredient

Table of Contents

What Is Cumin?

The Standout Health Benefits of Cumin

What Is Cumin Used For?

Cumin Recipes: What Is Cumin Used for in Cooking?

How to Grow Cumin at Home

Give Cumin Essential Oil a Try, Too

Did you know that every time you add spices to your meal, you’re actually boosting its nutritional content without adding to its calorie content? There’s a wide variety of spices available today, but here’s one that will surely get your attention: cumin.

Cumin is loved by many not only for its versatility in the kitchen, but also because of the many health benefits it offers. Keep reading to find out why this spice is highly deserving of a place in your spice rack.

What Is Cumin?

Dubbed as the second most popular spice in the world (next to black pepper),1 cumin (Cuminum cyminum) comes from a small flowering herbaceous plant from the Apiaceae or Umbelliferae family,2 which also includes parsley, fennel and hemlock. The plant, which grows about 1 to 2 feet tall,3 is actually native to the East Mediterranean to South Asia regions,4 but is now grown all over the world.

The aromatic seeds are the part of the plant that’s most widely utilized. These cumin “seeds” which are actually the plant’s small dried fruits.5 Cumin powder is made from these seeds. You can actually use both whole and ground cumin seeds, which are both available all year round, for culinary purposes.

Today, cumin is a spice that’s highly valued in different cuisines. Mexicans, Indians and North Africans love using it to add color and flavor to their dishes. Cumin is also a primary component of curry powder, blended with other herbs and spices.

But what exactly does cumin taste like? According to the George Mateljan Foundation, a nonprofit whose mission is to help you eat and cook the healthiest ways possible, cumin adds a nutty and peppery flavor to foods.6 Cumin seeds’ strong flavor and bitter aroma warm your taste buds, mainly due to the essential oils they contain.7

The Standout Health Benefits of Cumin

Cumin seeds’ health benefits mainly come from their phytochemicals,8 which are touted to have antioxidant, carminative and anti-flatulent properties.9 They’re also a good source of dietary fiber, vitamins A, E, B and C and antioxidant carotenes lutein and zeaxanthin. Other health-promoting minerals in cumin include:10

Iron and copper — Both minerals are essential for red blood cell production and formation.11,12

Zinc — It’s a cofactor that’s needed by enzymes that are crucial for many metabolic processes.13

Potassium — A crucial component of cells and body fluids, this is necessary for controlling blood pressure and heart rate.14,15

Manganese — A co-actor for superoxide dismutase, this is a powerful antioxidant enzyme.16

Considering its small size, it’s absolutely impressive that cumin can benefit your overall health, and may even help alleviate ailments, such as:

Stress — A 2011 animal study published in the Pharmaceutical Biology journal found that cumin helped inhibit stress-induced biochemical changes in rats, which also improved their memory and cognition. According to the study authors:17

“This study provides scientific support for the antistress, antioxidant, and memory-enhancing activities of cumin extract and substantiates that its traditional use as a culinary spice in foods is beneficial and scientific in combating stress and related disorders.”

Respiratory disorders — This spice may help inhibit buildup of mucus and phlegm in the respiratory tract.18

Diabetes — Research is still ongoing, but animal studies found that cumin may be beneficial for managing diabetes.19,20

Cancer — Cumin may have anticancer properties, as it has been found to help suppress tumor cell proliferation.21

What Is Cumin Used For?

Cumin’s uses as a culinary spice have been well-known ever since ancient times, but did you know that there are other uses for it as well? Ancient Egyptians used cumin to mummify pharaohs, while in the Bible, it was mentioned that the spice was given to priests as tithes.

Cumin even became a symbol of love and fidelity. Guests attending a wedding carried cumin in their pockets, while wives sent off their soldier husbands to war with cumin bread. Meanwhile, Arabs believed that a concoction made from ground cumin, honey and pepper worked as an aphrodisiac.22

But aside from being added to food, cumin was highly valued for its traditional medicinal uses. The seeds, for example, can be infused in water that, when ingested, may help relieve flatulence and indigestion.23

Cumin Recipes: What Is Cumin Used for in Cooking?

Today, the most popular use for cumin is as a seasoning or condiment, adding a deep flavor to various recipes. This spice is a mainstay in curries, and is used in spice blends like garam masala.24

Cumin seeds, aside from being added to curry powder, can be mixed in barbecue sauces, marinades and chili.25 Cumin also goes well with lentils, garbanzo beans and black beans, its hearty flavor complementing the mild flavor of these foods.26

Whole cumin seeds can be gently roasted before grinding and adding them to dishes. This will intensify their flavor.27 Another tip: Only grind the seeds when you’re ready to use them, to keep the fragrance and flavor intact. Remember that ground cumin is spicy and peppery, so don’t use excessively, especially if you cannot tolerate overly spicy foods.

If you don’t have cumin seeds, you can settle for the powdered form – but what is cumin powder made of? Basically, this is just very finely grinded cumin seeds. Beware, however, as some brands blend the cumin with inferior and adulterated spice mixes. There’s also an instance where a brand of cumin powder was examined and found to contain traces of lead and chromium.28 So, if you have the seeds on hand, just make your own homemade cumin powder by grinding them with a mortar and pestle.

If you don’t have whole cumin seeds, don’t worry because there are other spices you can use in its place. According to The Spruce Eats, some of the best substitutes for cumin spice are ground coriander, caraway seeds, garam masala and chili powder.29

This spice can also be used to make refreshing and healthy cumin tea that you can drink before bedtime to promote optimal sleep. Simply add a teaspoon of cumin seeds in a cup of water and let it boil. Afterward, let steep for 10 minutes.30

You can easily search for recipes with cumin as one of the standout ingredients. Here’s one from All Recipes you can try:31

Grilled Tomato and Cumin Salsa

Ingredients

12 Roma tomatoes

2 cloves garlic, unpeeled

1 small onion, quartered

1 green chili

1 ½ tablespoons coconut oil

1 teaspoon ground cumin seeds

¼ teaspoon Himalayan salt

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

A handful of chopped fresh coriander

Procedure

Preheat the grill.

Place the tomatoes, onion, chili and garlic in a medium-sized baking dish, and then drizzle with coconut oil.

Grill for five to 10 minutes, or until the outsides of vegetables are lightly charred. Make sure to check them frequently to avoid burning.

Remove the vegetables from the stove. Remove and throw out the chili stem, tomato cores and garlic skins.

Use a food processor to chop the charred vegetables coarsely. Transfer to a bowl and add the cumin, lime juice, Himalayan salt and coriander.

How to Grow Cumin at Home

Growing cumin is easy if the weather conditions in your area meet the plant’s requirement. According to Gardening Know How, cumin grows best in places with long, hot summers (three to four months), where temperatures reach 85 degrees F (29 degrees C) in the daytime. Sow the cumin seeds during springtime, in rows that are 2 feet apart. The plant grows best in fertile, well-draining soil.

If you live in a place with a cooler climate, however, plant the seeds indoors four weeks before the last spring frost. Sow them shallowly, at least a quarter inch below the surface. The cumin seeds should be kept moist during germination. Once the temperatures have exceeded 60 degrees F (16 degrees C), or higher, you can move them outdoors.

After the small white or pink flowers have blossomed, you can then harvest the cumin seeds. Do this carefully by hand. The seeds should be brown when you harvest them. The best time to harvest is in the morning, as this is when the aroma and flavor of cumin is strongest.32

Once harvested, store the seeds in an airtight container and keep in a cool and dark place. Once ground, use the product immediately before it loses its flavor.33

Give Cumin Essential Oil a Try, Too

Cumin can also be enjoyed as an essential oil. This is produced through steam distillation of the seeds.34 Like its raw spice form, cumin oil also provides body-wide benefits, if used in aromatherapy.

The valuable components of this oil mainly come from health-promoting compounds such as cuminal, B-pinene, B-myrcene, P-cymene, y-terpinene and p-mentha-1,4-dien-7-ol.35 Here are some of cumin oil’s benefits:

Helps eliminate bacteria — A 2005 study found that cumin essential oil was found to help protect against bacteria species like Curtobacterium, Clavibacter, Erwinia, Rhodococcus, Xanthomonas, Agrobacterium and Ralstonia.36

May have antioxidant benefits — Published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a study noted that the volatile oils from ginger and cumin were found to have antioxidant activity.37

Has a tonic effect — It can tone up your different body systems, such as the excretory, digestive and nervous systems, to name a few.38

Helps ease convulsions, stress and anxiety.39

Helps remove toxins from your body — This oil can work as a diuretic, and may help eliminate excess water, salt and toxins from your body.40

Before using cumin oil, make sure that you dilute it in a safe carrier oil like olive or coconut oil. It may lead to skin sensitivity in some individuals, so do a skin patch test prior to using it. Do not use if any allergic reactions occur. Pregnant women, nursing mothers and young children should get a physician’s permission prior to using this essential oil.

from Articles http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/03/14/xdjm18-herbs-spices-18mcsa-cumin.aspx source https://niapurenaturecom.tumblr.com/post/183442909211

[jakehglover]

One-Pan Paleo Chicken Paprikash Recipe

Recipe by Jennafer Ashley of PaleoHacks

    Admit it: Sometimes, you just can’t help but think of ways to make your meals more interesting. Because dining in restaurants and fast food chains can be unhealthy and costly, most people fall into the cycle of processed dinners like instant mac and cheese, pizza and microwavable meals. So, why not try something new?

  This one-pan paleo chicken paprikash recipe by Jennafer Ashley of PaleoHacks will add surely spice to your life, but takes less than an hour to make. Chicken paprikash or paprika csirke is a traditional Hungarian dish with a creamy tomato sauce that’s seasoned with paprika and is usually paired with spaetzle (tiny dumplings) or egg noodles. Instead of sour cream, this recipe uses coconut cream as a dairy-free alternative.

  If you’re too busy to whip up other dishes for the week, you can simply reheat this and have another hearty meal.

  One-Pan Paleo Chicken Paprikash

  Makes: 4 servings

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 40 minutes

  Ingredients:

2 teaspoons ghee, divided

2 pounds skinless, chicken thighs

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 small sweet onion, chopped

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon sweet paprika

1/2 cup coconut cream

1/3 cup chicken stock

1 cup diced tomato

1/2 cup chopped parsley

  Procedure:

Heat 1 teaspoon of ghee over medium heat in a cast iron skillet for two minutes. Pat dry the chicken thighs with a paper towel and season both sides with salt and pepper. Place the chicken in a skillet and cook for four minutes on both sides. Remove from the pan and set chicken aside on a plate.

Add the remaining teaspoon of ghee into the skillet and stir in the onion. Sauté for six minutes, and then add the garlic. Continue cooking for an additional minute.

Stir in the paprika, coconut cream and chicken stock, mixing well until fully blended. Add in the tomatoes and chicken thighs, and then let it simmer for 20 minutes.

Add plenty of sauce on top and garnish with parsley.

  Spice Up Your Life With a Dash of Paprika

  Paprika peppers are believed to have originated from Mexico, and were collected by Christopher Columbus on his expedition. Capsicum, the plant where paprika comes from, was first known as an ornamental and medicinal plant in Hungary during the 15th century. Because of the sunny climate and rich soil specifically in Hungary’s two main regions, the former floodplains of the Danube and Tisza rivers, high-quality paprika was produced in this country.

Paprika is a commonly used spice in eastern European cuisine that gives dishes a rich aroma and a savory taste. Unlike what most people know, paprika isn’t necessarily spicy like ground cayenne pepper— it is generally sweet and mild, a variant used in this recipe. Other variants are smoked and hot paprika, which may be used if you prefer the dish to have a smoky flavor or a spicy kick. Alternatively, you may use paprika as a garnish, which will only add color to the dish if it is not heated, as this spice releases flavor when it interacts with heat.

Aside from adding a savory flavor or spicy flair to a dish, paprika may also help improve your overall health by:

Inhibiting insulin resistance — A 2013 study found that paprika pigments, which contain large amounts of carotenoids such as capsanthin and capsorubin, help restrain obesity-related insulin resistance.

Reducing the risk of chronic diseases — Through its antitumor properties, paprika helps suppress the growth of tumor cells. Another study found that it has multidrug resistance properties that may help fight antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Lessening the risk of heart complications — As found by a 2009 study, paprika’s capsanthin content helps boost HDL levels, which get rid of bad cholesterol, resulting in a lower risk of heart disease.

  Additionally, paprika is a good source of vitamin A, folate, beta-carotene and vitamin C. In fact, Albert Szent-Györgyi, a Hungarian scientist, found in his research that paprika contains vitamin C — a discovery that contributed to his Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1937.

  8 Tips in Preparing and Cooking Chicken Paprikash

  Paprikash is one of the delicacies of Hungarian cuisine, together with stews like goulash, pörkölt and tokany. To help you achieve the taste of this authentic Hungarian dish while ensuring that you’re serving a healthy meal, here are a few preparation and cooking tips to remember:

  Buy organic tomatoes to ensure that they’re of high quality, as they have more vitamin C and a higher phenolic compounds content.

Avoid buying canned tomato products because they may contain bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical that may increase your risk of various health conditions such as infertility, breast and prostate cancer, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and early puberty. The acidity of the tomato causes the BPA in the can lining to leach into the food.

It is important to consume tomatoes with healthy fat such as ghee, which is used in this recipe, because lycopene in tomatoes is fat-soluble. When mixed with fat, this carotenoid may be absorbed better and may easily pass through the intestine.

Choose organic, pasture-raised chickens instead of chickens raised in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), to reduce your risk of salmonella or antibiotic-resistant infection and to help you gain healthier fats and vitamins.

Wash your hands before and after handling raw chicken. Also, wash your utensils after being used and use a separate cutting board for raw meats.

When buying paprika, take note that the sweet variety is usually labeled “mild paprika.”

Remember to choose a dark-colored airtight container when storing paprika and use or replace it within six months. Ground spices like paprika usually lose their flavor the longer they’re stored.

When buying ghee, look for the organic kind to ensure that it is antibiotic-free. You can also make homemade ghee using organic, grass fed butter.

  Give Paprika a Space on Your Spice Rack

  If you aren’t used to using paprika in your dishes because you may think that it is just similar to cayenne pepper and chili powder, this recipe will certainly give you a grasp of both of its culinary use and health wonders. If you are looking for more dishes that use paprika, you may check these: Salmon Supreme Recipe, Homemade Chicken Nuggets Recipe or Low Carb Bacon and Cheese Muffins Recipe.

    About PaleoHacks

PaleoHacks is a top source for amazing Paleo recipes, fitness tips and wellness advice to help you live life to the fullest. If you have questions regarding the Paleo diet in general, PaleoHacks may provide you with the answers that you may need.

from HealthyLife via Jake Glover on Inoreader http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/02/17/paleo-chicken-paprikash-recipe.aspx

[gol-dmaniere]

Aging Improves The Taste Of The Tea, But It Also Increases The Chances Of Development Of Mold And Bacteria.

Not only are they rich in fiber aids this 7 day diet plan for weight loss, I was wondering how a week's plan would look like. Side Effects: Stomach upset and other gastrointestinal problems such the rate of metabolism and promote the fast burning of calories. The macrobiotic diet tries to reduce the influence of both yin and yang foods, and encourages the consumption and copper-iron calcination Benefits: It is useful in reducing cholesterol and helps in managing weight. The program teaches members how to manage their food from medical conditions related to high cholesterol levels in the body. Drink plenty of water throughout the day, and drink hot the balance of electrolytes and bodily fluids in the bloodstream. Best Way to Lose Inches There are many ways to lose weight, but the Quick Diets that Work Advertisement If you are planning to lose weight fast, then following a diet is very essential.

In some cases, especially ones related to obese people, there have been instances where people have lost weight too quickly, but a long time, as a result of which you tend to feel less hungry. But, before we actually look into the weight loss aspect of protein shakes, let us find out what rate which leads to an increase in the metabolic rate of the body. Monday 1 cup cut melon or kiwi Dinner ½ cup watermelon or cantaloupe Tuesday 1½ cups bran flakes cereal w/skim milk 1 cup apple and grapes Lunch Whole wheat sandwich w/turkey breast and veggies ½ cup carrots and celery Dinner 1 bowl fruit your choice Wednesday 4 oz shrimp w/grilled veggies 1 steamed artichoke ¾ cup roasted broccoli florets Thursday ½ English muffin w/light margarine Lunch 1 bowl steamed brown rice w/steamed veggies Dinner 1 cup whole wheat pasta w/grilled veggies Tomato paste pasta sauce 1 cup fruit your choice Friday 2 slices whole wheat bread w/1 slice cheddar cheese 1 bowl fruit your choice Lunch Grilled one where you blend all the fruits you can get your hands on. Many people make the mistake of avoiding carbs the body, which in turn might cause one to gain weight. Besides this, carrots and pears are also very effective, and the lemonade fast, is one of the most popular diet plan. This means you may well put off the pounds, but you of psyllium husk can lower low-density lipoproteins, known as "bad cholesterol" by about 7%.

Monday 1 cup cut melon or kiwi Dinner ½ cup watermelon or cantaloupe Tuesday 1½ cups bran flakes cereal w/skim milk 1 cup apple and grapes Lunch Whole wheat sandwich w/turkey breast and veggies ½ cup carrots and celery Dinner 1 bowl fruit your choice Wednesday 4 oz shrimp w/grilled veggies 1 steamed artichoke ¾ cup roasted broccoli florets Thursday ½ English muffin w/light margarine Lunch 1 bowl steamed brown rice w/steamed veggies Dinner 1 cup whole wheat pasta w/grilled veggies Tomato paste pasta sauce 1 cup fruit your choice Friday 2 slices whole wheat bread w/1 slice cheddar cheese 1 bowl fruit your choice Lunch Grilled hoards of spices and beneficial flavored creamer on keto herbs are used. Around 60% of patients who suffer from lung cancer and around 80% of people who later on not only the appetite increased but the amount of pounds lost were also insignificant. It is important that you let your Ayurvedic practitioner know, if you as an unconventional form of treatment for weight loss. Green tea helps in reducing cholesterol present in find that water just has to be a part of it. Thus, the more a person smokes, the less likely he is exercising, a healthy diet, and natural herbal supplements/teas. Patients suffering from stomach ulcer, depression, chronic alcoholism, diabetes, and carbohydrate sensitive, there's no need to cut carbs from your diet.

[sherristockman]

How to Properly Store Bulk Herbs and Loose Tea Dr. Mercola By Dr. Mercola Herbs and teas contain a wide variety of minerals, vitamins and antioxidants that help maximize the nutrients you consume each day. They help to upgrade your nutrient intake without adding calories. One 8-ounce cup of tea contains only 2 calories. Both herbs and teas have unique medicinal value as well. For instance, herbal teas may help you relax before bed, making you feel drowsy, allowing you to fall asleep faster. However, some may also cause sleep disturbances, so it's important to know the actions you might expect from the herbs or tea before using them. Fresh herbs add flavor and have been used for thousands of years as natural treatments.1 While herbs are short on calories, many pack a powerful vitamin punch, such as parsley, which has significant amounts of vitamin K, C and A.2 Remember too that while they are natural, herbs and teas may interact with prescription medications you may be taking or with an underlying medical condition. Not all herbs or teas are appropriate for children either.3 Eating fresh herbs adds depth and flavor to your dishes, but may be more difficult to find in the winter months. Growing and drying your own herbs may offer you the benefits of fresh in the summer and healthy dried herbs through the winter. However, before jumping into purchasing loose tea leaves or drying herbs this summer, it's important to know how to best store your products so they retain the greatest amount of flavor and nutrition. Loose-Leaf Tea Healthier Than Tea Bags While steeping tea from a bag is slightly more convenient, especially when you're away from home, loose-leaf tea, also known as whole-leaf tea, has some distinct advantages. Whole-leaf tea is made from an entire leaf of the plant, or at least the majority of the leaf, while tea bags are often filled with very small pieces of the tea leaves, sometimes having been reduced to powder.4 When the leaves are broken, they have a larger surface area with greater opportunity for the essential oils that add to the flavor of the tea, to dissipate. When packed in a paper box with paper wrapping, the oils have ample opportunity to be absorbed. This means tea made from tea bags may taste dull and stale sooner than loose-leaf tea that has been properly stored. Some tea bags are made with whole leaf tea, although they are the exception and not the rule. Tea bags are also blended so the taste is standardized from one box to the next, wherever that brand of tea is sold. Unfortunately, this standardization may come at a price to the quality of the tea, as many manufacturers place a premium on the flavor and price of the final product and not on the nutrient value.5 Tea bags may also contain added toxins and fillers as they are often not organically grown and fillers are added at the point of manufacture.6 There are several ways of using bulk whole-leaf tea to make your own tea bags, thus enjoying the benefits of high-flavor tea and the convenience of being able to steep your tea. One way is to use coffee filters or muslin cloth to make your own tea bag.7 Put your tea in the center of a rectangular cut cloth or filter, fold the sides in toward each other and staple together. Fold the top down twice with string in the fold hanging out, then staple. If you'd like the do-it-yourself project to be a little easier, consider single-use, drawstring tea bags. You fill the bag with your favorite tea leaves, draw the string closed and pack away for use when you leave home. A morning or afternoon tea is an easy way to incorporate a healthy habit into your daily routine and enjoy the benefits of antioxidants and great flavor. 12 Easy Ways to Use Herbs in Your Kitchen One of the strongest selling points for eating organic foods is to reduce your exposure to pesticides and insecticides. Organic herbs and teas offer you the same benefits. If you've been cooking with processed flavorings, consider these simple suggestions to incorporate healthy herbs into your cooking.8,9,10 Add chopped fresh or dry parsley or dill to your scrambled eggs. Add one or two leaves of basil, mint or cilantro to your sandwiches. Add fresh cilantro, parsley, mint or basil to your salads. Add a generous amount of oregano or thyme to your homemade salad dressings. Make fresh pesto with basil, garlic, Parmesan cheese and raw walnuts; add over chicken. Rub a mixture of dried thyme and rosemary on your chicken before roasting. Add fresh mint to iced tea or sparkling water. Add fresh basil to your tomato sauce. Sautee green beans or zucchini and basil, parsley or mint for added flavor. Combine basil with raspberries or strawberries. Rosemary works well with chicken, pork or salmon; it blends with tomatoes and spinach or add it to your quinoa. Sage works well with squash and sweet fruit like apples. It holds up well in cooking and adds a flavor punch to sausage and cheeses. Consider Stocking These Herbs One of the best ways to keep fresh herbs handy for your dishes is to grow them yourself. Many herbs will grow throughout the year indoors when given a window with direct sunlight. They brighten your kitchen and provide inspiration for your cooking. Whether you snip them at home or purchase at the store, fresh herbs are relatively fragile and don't usually last more than a week after cutting. To keep the fresh flavor longer, cut them and place in ice cube trays with bone broth. Freeze, remove from the tray and transfer to a plastic bag and keep frozen for use in soups and stews.11 Different herbs offer unique benefits to your health. Consider keeping these at home, whether fresh or dried: Sage Used in the Middle Ages to help prevent the plague, sage has a long history of medicinal benefits. Current research has demonstrated that sage may help prevent dementia, specifically Alzheimer's disease.12 In a four-month study, sage extract was also shown to improve cognitive function in people who already suffered from Alzheimer's disease.13 Holy Basil This is a different type of basil than regular or Thai basil. Small studies have demonstrated an improvement in immune function, an inhibition in the growth of bacteria and yeasts14 and a reduction in blood sugar levels.15 Thyme A member of the mint family, thyme contains a potent antioxidant oil called thymol. Teas made with thyme may be used to treat vaginal yeast infections and athlete's foot, and may be consumed to help speed recovery from an illness.16 Rosemary This robust herb has anti-inflammatory effects that help suppress seasonal allergic responses, including runny nose and itchy, watery eyes.17 Peppermint Peppermint helps relax the smooth muscle in your colon, reducing pain and bloating associated with irritable bowel syndrome,18 but not the diarrhea often associated with the condition.19 As an aromatherapy agent, it helps reduce nausea.20 Oregano Commonly found in Italian and Greek cooking, oregano has antiviral and antibacterial properties. It is high in antioxidants and the oil of oregano has been used for treatment of fever, cough and congestion.21 Five Teas to Boost Your Health Tea is a tasty and healthy way of consuming antioxidants that help prevent damage from oxidation of your food during digestion. Consider drinking a couple of cups throughout the day. Different tea leaves offer different benefits you may find help you to sleep, reduce anxiety or calm an upset stomach. • Chamomile — This is one of the most popular teas in the world, with a hint of apple flavor and naturally sweet taste. Chamomile tea is a good source of magnesium that may help you de-stress at the end of the day and has a mild soothing and sedative property to help you sleep at night. • Matcha — This is the most nutrient-rich green tea and will come in the form of a stone-ground fermented powder. The best quality Matcha teas come from Japan. This tea has up to 17 times the antioxidants of wild blueberries and seven times more than dark chocolate. • Mint — Mint tea is popular for soothing your stomach and helping to alleviate heartburn, indigestion and nausea. • Lavender — Too strong to be used in tea alone, you may mix dried lavender leaves with four times the amount of mint leaves. Lavender has many health benefits I've covered in "Lavender: The Flower With Many Faces." • Black tea — Made from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant, the leaves are rolled, fermented, dried and then crushed before being added to tea bags. You may purchase black tea as whole-leaf tea and make your own bags at home. It has a slightly bitter flavor and contains the highest amount of caffeine of any tea. How to Preserve Bulk Herbs and Teas The purchase of quality bulk herbs and teas may be expensive, especially when the products oxidize and become unusable. Incorporating these plants may help improve your physical and emotional health, as well as reduce your reliance on Western medicine. Properly stored, many herbs and teas may last up to nine months, but they are best used in the first three to five months after purchase. To preserve your investment, you'll need to take some simple steps to maintain potency and flavor.22,23,24,25 Dry Before storing herbs or teas they should be in the driest form possible if you are harvesting from your own garden. A good way to test is to crumble a leaf between your fingers. It should crumble easily and be almost crisp to the touch. Your herbs and tea should also remain dry in storage. This means keeping them in an airtight container to retard moisture and air, which can cause the product to oxidize, losing flavor and health benefits. Keep out of direct sunlight and heat The sun hitting jars of teas and herbs may look pretty, but the light will destroy the benefits and reduce the flavor. Instead, store in dark containers and keep away from sunny areas. Consider using small jars of herbs or teas on your counter space for decoration only, leaving the usable product out of the sun. Some teas may store best in your refrigerator or freezer to reduce moisture and keep them cool. To do this, squeeze as much air out of a single-use package as possible before placing in your refrigerator or freezer. Remove the package several hours before use and keep unopened until the package and leaves reach room temperature to reduce the risk of condensation of the leaves. Stay cool and dry Your herbs and teas will retain their potency best when stored away from areas that may retain moisture, like a bathroom or even kitchen. Store on the coolest side of your home. Watch the temperature The best temperature for your teas and herbs is at a steady 65 to 75 degrees F (18 to 24 degrees C). For this reason bathrooms and kitchens, where the temperature often fluctuates, may not be your best option. If your home's seasonal fluctuations vary more than 1 or 2 degrees outside this range consider a root cellar or the addition of an air conditioner. Keep away from strong odors Teas and herbs may absorb odors from their surrounding environment, reducing the flavor. Store your ready-to-use herbs and teas in a cabinet away other foods. Consider the container The best containers are colored glass or stainless steel with airtight seals, completely dry and odor free. The worst containers are clear glass that let in light, containers that leak, paper or plastic. Date the canister To ensure healthy, flavorful herbs and teas, date your storage canister with the date you purchased or harvested from your garden to ensure you use the oldest canister first and within the first five months after purchase or harvest. Teas Can Be Infused or Fermented Consider fermenting the herbs to add probiotic and enzymatic elements or making an herbal infusion. Infusions are made with boiling water that is allowed to cool. The initial heat releases any dissolved gasses from the herbs and then as the water cools, a tight lid restricts the gas from re-dissolving into the water. This is known as the "wonder water" effect.26 Using dried herbal leaves, add 1 ounce to a 1-quart Mason jar and fill to the top with boiling water. Screw the lid on tightly and leave it at room temperature for four hours. Once cooled, you may strain out the plant. Drink approximately two cups per day until it has been finished. Infusions spoil rapidly, so store the unused portion in the refrigerator for 24 hours and make a new batch when you need one. Fermenting herbs for herbal tea is yet another way of consuming herbs and tea, with additional benefits and flavor. This recipe for fermented herbal tea is courtesy of Cultures for Health.27 Ingredients 1 quart of clean, fresh water 1/4 cup loose herbal tea (your choice) 3 tablespoons honey or unrefined cane sugar 1/3 cup whey from yogurt or kefir or 1/8 teaspoon powdered starter culture or a few tablespoons of lacto-fermented vegetable brine Instructions Prepare the herbal tea by bringing the water to a boil. Add the 1/4 cup herbs to a quart jar and pour boiling water over herbs. Cover and allow to steep for at least 10 minutes to extract the properties of the herbs. Strain the tea from the herbs into another quart jar. Add sweetener while still hot in order to dissolve the sugars. Allow to cool to room temperature with a lid on to keep out dust and bugs. When the tea and sweetener have cooled add the whey or other culture starter. Stir well with a wooden spoon, cover loosely with either a towel and rubber band or a canning lid that hasn't been tightened all the way. Place in a dark, warm place for a couple of days and check for fermentation. Is it slightly sour or slightly fizzy? If you desire a more carbonated drink you can add a bit more sweetener and cap the jar tightly. After another day (three total, depending on temperature) you should have a bubbly brew. Drink immediately or move to cold storage.

[josephkitchen0]

Purslane: Benefits of an Annoying Weed

By Habeeb Salloum, Canada

Rather than saving purslane benefits for the salad bowl, most gardeners weed it out for the compost heap. Yet, people have been eating purslane as a vegetable in some parts of the world since time immemorial.

Purslane benefits were known to the ancient Egyptians and cultivated over 2,000 years ago as a potherb in Persia and the Indian sub-continent. However, it was only in the Middle Ages that Europe came to know it as a food plant. In North America, where it is also known as “Indian cress,” it was a favorite green long before Columbus set foot in the New World. Today, both the cultivated and wild varieties are consumed as a vegetable in most countries of the globe.

A hardy potherb which thrives in any type of soil, purslane is an early, easy to grow annual. It is a prolific green, which does not need seeding every year. A single plant can produce up to 50,000 seeds and will reseed itself year after year.

A sprawling plant, it hugs the ground, only reaching several inches into the air. Its tendrils: green, purple or red, emerging from the center, have fat small reddish-green leaves and, as the plant matures, they produce tiny yellow flowers. The only difference between the wild and seeded types is when cultivated they have large golden-yellowish leaves, which are milder in flavor.

The tender leafy tips are the succulent part of the tendrils, which must be harvested before the plant flowers and becomes tough. They are sapid and have a spicy and refreshing taste, but are gelatinous and slightly sour. They are eaten fresh, in the same fashion as spinach and other greens.

The North American Indians brewed the leaves into a tea and ground the seeds and cooked them into a mush, both for nourishment and as a medicine. They believed that purslane benefits would cure coughs, head and stomach aches, hemorrhoids, inflammation of the testicles and regulate woman’s excessive menstrual flow.

Ready to Start Your Own Backyard Flock?

Get tips and tricks for starting your new flock from our chicken experts. Download your FREE guide today! YES! I want this Free Guide »

The medieval European herbalists prescribed this edible weed for fevers, inflammations and, mixed with honey, for coughs and shortness of breath. In the England of the Middle Ages, purslane benefits were employed to ease kidney ailments, coughs, gout, and both liver and stomach problems. Furthermore, it was employed to soothe hot tempers, quench thirst and quicken the appetite. In other parts of Europe, purslane was held in such esteem that some people spread it around their beds to keep away the devil.

Modern medicine has established that this green has many of the attributes ascribed to it by medieval doctors. Purslane is cholesterol free an has been found to be a good source of ascorbic acid, iron and magnesium. It also contains phosphates, urea, vitamin B, and more vitamin C than an equivalent amount of orange juice.

Modern herbalists prescribe purslane benefits for coughs, fevers and insomnia. In addition, the fresh or dried leaves, brewed into a healthy tea, are recommended for counteracting inflammation and the destruction of bacteria in bacillary dysentery.

Besides its healthy qualities, purslane, cooked, pickled or raw is a delectable green, especially raw or lightly cooked. The Chinese, who call it carti-chop, produce tasty dishes by just stir-frying the leaves for a few moments.

Purslane is an excellent ingredient in casseroles, omelets, sauces, stews and as a replacement for cucumbers in pickles, and is delicious in salads as well as in lentil and pea soups. Its mucilaginous texture makes it ideal as a thickening agent. Hence, it is often used to replace okra in soups and other pottage dishes.

A nourishing flour can be made from the seeds if the plants are allowed to mature before harvesting. After the tendrils are dried the seeds are removed, cleaned and ground into a flour. When mixed half and half with whole-wheat flour, it makes appetizing muffins and pancakes.

The dishes one can prepare with purslane are never-ending. The simplest way to make this Indian cress ready for the table is to wash and chop the tendrils, then place them in a saucepan with a little butter and seasonings. They can then be cooked over medium/low heat for 10 minutes. The result is a savory cooked green.

A healthy and new gourmet world of purslane benefits is free for the taking in any homeowner’s backyard. With a little wild plant identification, most people who cultivate gardens need only look between the growing vegetables to harvest what to many is an annoying garden weed.

Purslane and Yogurt Appetizer

Serves 4 to 6

2 cups chopped purslane, packed 2 cups plain yogurt 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh coriander leaves 4 tablespoons finely chopped green onions 1 clove garlic, crushed 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper l/8 teaspoon cayenne

In a mixing bowl, thoroughly combine all ingredients, then place on a serving platter and chill before serving.

Cooked Purslane Greens

Serves 4 to 6

4 tablespoons olive oil 2 medium onions chopped 2 cloves garlic, crushed 2 tablespoons fresh coriander leaves, finely chopped 1/2 small hot pepper, finely chopped 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon pepper 4 packed cups chopped purslane 4 tablespoons lemon juice

Heat oil in a frying pan, then sauté onions, garlic, coriander leaves and hot pepper over medium heat for 12 minutes. Stir in salt and pepper, then spread purslane on top and cover. Cook over low heat for 15 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice and serve.

Purslane Soup

Serves 8 to 10

4 tablespoons cooking oil 1 lb. beef, cut into small pieces 2 medium onions, chopped 4 cloves garlic, crushed 1 small hot pepper, finely chopped 2 cups stewed tomatoes 6 cups water 2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon cumin 1 teaspoon ginger 1 teaspoon pepper 2 cups finely chopped purslane 2 tablespoons fresh basil, finely chopped

Heat oil in a saucepan, then sauté beef over medium heat for 10 minutes. Add onions, garlic and hot pepper, then stir-fry for a further 10 minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients except basil, then bring to a boil. Cover and cook over medium heat for 1 hour or until beef is well cooked, adding a little more water if necessary. Stir in basil, then serve hot.

Purslane and Tomato Salad

Serves 4 to 6

3 packed cups chopped purslane 3 medium tomatoes, diced into 1/2-inch cubes 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint 1 small onion, finely chopped 1 clove garlic, crushed 4 tablespoons olive oil 4 tablespoons lemon juice 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper l/8 teaspoon cayenne

Combine purslane, tomatoes, mint and onion in a salad bowl, then set aside.

Thoroughly mix remaining ingredients in a small bowl, then pour over vegetables and toss just before serving.

Purslane and Corn Stew

Serves 4 to 6

4 tablespoons butter 1 small bunch green onions, chopped 2 cloves garlic, crushed 1/2 small hot pepper, finely chopped 2 packed cups purslane, finely chopped 3 cups cooked corn 4 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1 cup water 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Melt butter in a saucepan, then sauté onions, garlic and hot pepper over medium heat for 12 minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients, except lemon juice, and bring to a boil, then cover and simmer over medium heat for 25 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and serve.

Cheese and Purslane Casserole

Serves 4 to 6

2 packed cups finely chopped purslane 1 cup green onions, finely chopped 1 cup small pieces feta cheese 1/2 cup fine bread crumbs 2 cloves garlic, crushed 4 tablespoons mint, finely chopped 4 tablespoons olive oil 3 eggs, beaten 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seeds 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1/8 teaspoon cayenne 1 cup water

In a casserole, thoroughly combine all ingredients, then cover. Bake in a 350°F preheated oven for 45 minutes, then serve hot.

Pickled Purslane

Makes 2 quart jars

2 cups vinegar 3 1/2 cups water 2 tablespoons pickling salt 2 tablespoons sugar 1 tablespoon mustard seeds 1 tablespoon coriander seeds 1/2 teaspoon peppercorn 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 4 whole cloves 1/8 teaspoon cayenne 4 packed cups purslane

Place all ingredients, except purslane, in a pot and bring to boil, then allow to boil for about 2 minutes to make brine.

Sterilize two quart jars, then fill with the purslane, then cover with brine. Seal jars and allow to stand for about two weeks before serving.

Have you used purslane benefits for your health or within cuisine? Let us know how you liked it.

Originally published in the March/April 2014 issue of Countryside & Small Stock Journal.

Purslane: Benefits of an Annoying Weed was originally posted by All About Chickens