Friday, 18 November 2011
Easy after school snack.....chocolate fondue and fruit kebabs!
A small chocolate fondue pot can be had for about $20 or so at Costco or other kitchen retailers.
Use dark chocolate square (MUCH healthier than milk chocolate) and any fruit your children like. For a special treat, buy some vegan (ie no gelatin) mini marshmallows. We like to use berries (strawberries and raspberries are especially easy to thread onto the skewer), mango, bananas, sliced apples and pineapple. Remember to buy 8" skewers -- the others are far too large for a snack! What a great way to get in a full days serving of fruit!!!
Thursday, 17 November 2011
Easy hot breakfast - Couscous in vanilla almond milk with fruit
My kids love a hot breakfast but time simply isn't always there in the morning rush. This recipe can be done in five minutes and is not only delicious but a very nutritious start to the day.
Ingredients:
One box whole wheat couscous (usually 340 grams)
Vanilla almond milk
Cranberries, shredded unsweetened coconut, crushed pecans, raisins, slivered almonds, etc.
Cook the couscous according to the box recipe. Instead of water, use vanilla almond milk (generally 2 cups of almond milk for one box of couscous). Heat milk till boiling. Add whatever dried fruits or nuts your family enjoy. Add couscous. Stir. Remove from heat. Cover with a lid for five minutes. Fluff with a fork. Add maple syrup and milk (if desired) and enjoy!
Ingredients:
One box whole wheat couscous (usually 340 grams)
Vanilla almond milk
Cranberries, shredded unsweetened coconut, crushed pecans, raisins, slivered almonds, etc.
Cook the couscous according to the box recipe. Instead of water, use vanilla almond milk (generally 2 cups of almond milk for one box of couscous). Heat milk till boiling. Add whatever dried fruits or nuts your family enjoy. Add couscous. Stir. Remove from heat. Cover with a lid for five minutes. Fluff with a fork. Add maple syrup and milk (if desired) and enjoy!
Japanese food --- sometimes a healthy choice but NOT always!!
The Dish: A chicken bento box is the saltiest dish we’ve analyzed yet
(From the Toronto Star)November 17, 2011Megan OgilvieHEALTH REPORTER
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Staying in shape after...The Dish: The sodium sinks...You're never too old for...THE DISH: How nutritious...The Buddha Bowl served at Fresh seems righteously healthy. And it could be ... The problem is the hefty dish clocks in at 1.7 pounds. That's way too much food.
DISH: Chicken supreme bento box
RESTAURANT: Sushi on Bloor
LOCATION: 515 Bloor St. W.
PRICE: $9.50
Emma has a bet to settle over a bento box.
The University of Toronto student loves going to Sushi on Bloor with her boyfriend for a cosy date-night dinner. They never mind the typical 20-minute delay for a table at the bustling Annex eatery; the food, she says, is worth the wait.
A self-described “sashimi kinda gal,” Emma always orders tuna and salmon sashimi from the à la carte menu. Her boyfriend, who is an anti-sushi kinda guy, opts for the chicken supreme bento box.
This meal — like many bento box combos — starts with a bowl of miso soup and a crispy pile of iceberg lettuce topped with a thick ginger dressing. Then, neatly arranged in the bento box, there is a selection of crispy tempura, six slices of sushi, a generous mound of steamed white rice and an artfully arrayed portion of sweetly spiced chicken Teriyaki.
“We tend to disagree on how healthy this meal choice is,” Emma wrote to The Dish. While she thinks the bento box is calorific, her boyfriend insists it’s healthier than a fast food burger combo.
“On one hand, there is a good sized portion of chicken and there are veggies in the salad and tempura. But on the other hand, the Teriyaki sauce must be deadly and I’m pretty sure deep-frying yams doesn’t count as the healthiest way to get your vitamins.
“So settle a bet: Is the chicken supreme bento box a good choice at a sushi restaurant?”
It only took a quick look at the lab results to come up with an answer: An emphatic, echoing, shout-it-out-loud “No!”
All together, this bento box combo contains 1,685 calories, 48 grams of fat and 3,861 mg of sodium.
That means it has — and listen up, Emma’s boyfriend — 645 more calories, 12 more grams of fat and 1,781 mg more sodium than a Harvey’s cheeseburger combo with a regular-sized order of fries and Pepsi.
The Dish has investigated foods that have clocked in with more calories and fat (the platter of nachos from Wayne Gretzky’s, for example) but in many cases these foods are clearly indulgences or are meant to share. The chicken bento box, while offering a copious amount of food, appears to be a relatively healthy choice with its lean chicken, salad, vegetables and small slices of sushi. Many of us would guess it to be friendlier on waist lines than fast food combos.
Registered dietitian Carol Harrison is flabbergasted by the amount of sodium — the equivalent of 1 ½ teaspoons of salt — in the meal.
“The 3,861 mg is 2 ½ days worth of sodium,” she says. “There is an entire weekend’s worth of sodium in this meal. I’d recommend people steer clear of it for that reason alone.
“It’s numbers like this that make me think we really need menu labelling so people can make informed choices. No meal needs that much sodium to taste terrific.”
(For regular Dish readers, note this meal has more sodium than any other tested so far!)
To put the meal’s calories in perspective, Harrison says people who eat the contents of the entire bento box will only be left with about 300 calories to spread out over breakfast and lunch and any snacks.
“And that’s without a drink with the bento box. And only if you drink water the rest of the day.”
Emma was speechless after hearing the nutrition numbers.
“No ... wow ... I’m floored. I didn’t know it would be that unhealthy.”
While she had expected to win the bet with her boyfriend, Emma could not believe the meal’s calories — and especially its sodium — were so over the top.
On their next visit, Emma says she will try to convince him to go for sushi instead of the bento box. But she isn’t sure her twenty-something, badminton-playing, calorie-consuming boyfriend will accept the argument.
“He’ll just take this information to mean he can go to Burger King more often.”
Verdict: This is the saltiest dish we have tested yet.
Chicken supreme bento box
SERVING SIZE 1,170 grams
CALORIES 1,685
FAT 48 grams
SODIUM 3,861 mg
PROTEIN 77 grams
CARBOHYDRATES 236 grams
RECOMMENDED DAILY ALLOWANCE
Men/Women
Calories: 2,500/2,000
Fat: 60 to 105 grams/45 to 75 grams
Sodium: 1,500 to 2,300 mg
Carbohydrates: 281-325 grams
EDITOR'S PICKS
Tuesday, 15 November 2011
Spelt (vegan!) blueberry muffins
These delicious muffins have no animal products and no refined sugar, so eat without guilt!!
Recipe adapted from Babycakes bakery in NYC
2 1/4 cups Whole Spelt Flour (available at Longo's and most major supermarkets)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup Agave nectar
1/2 cup canola oil
2/3 cup Rice milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon pure lemon extract
2/3 cup fresh blueberries (organic if possible)
Preheat oven to 325. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners (if you are making the muffins for the kids, purchase some sports-themed, floral or other fun liners).
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the oil, agave, rice milk, vanilla, lemon extract to the dry ingredients and stir until the batter is smooth. Using a plastic spatula, gently fold in the blueberries just until they are evenly distributed. If you stir too much, the berries will turn to mush.
Pour the batter into the liners, nearly to the top (about 3/4 of the way will do fine). Bake the muffins for 22 minutes total, on the centre rack of the oven. Rotate the muffins 180 degrees after about 15 minutes to ensure they are evenly baked. The finished muffins should bounce back slightly when pressed and a toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean.
Let the muffins sit in the pan for 15 minutes to cool, then transfer to a wire rack to complete cooking. They can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days, but they will be gone loooong before then!
Recipe adapted from Babycakes bakery in NYC
2 1/4 cups Whole Spelt Flour (available at Longo's and most major supermarkets)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup Agave nectar
1/2 cup canola oil
2/3 cup Rice milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon pure lemon extract
2/3 cup fresh blueberries (organic if possible)
Preheat oven to 325. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners (if you are making the muffins for the kids, purchase some sports-themed, floral or other fun liners).
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the oil, agave, rice milk, vanilla, lemon extract to the dry ingredients and stir until the batter is smooth. Using a plastic spatula, gently fold in the blueberries just until they are evenly distributed. If you stir too much, the berries will turn to mush.
Pour the batter into the liners, nearly to the top (about 3/4 of the way will do fine). Bake the muffins for 22 minutes total, on the centre rack of the oven. Rotate the muffins 180 degrees after about 15 minutes to ensure they are evenly baked. The finished muffins should bounce back slightly when pressed and a toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean.
Tuesday, 8 November 2011
Important article regarding toxic acrylamide - baked potato chips are as bad (or worse) than fried
Truth about potato chips revealed: Baked is not better than fried
....from the Toronto StarNovember 8, 2011.Are you one of those who browse the snack rack at your local convenience store looking for those “healthier” baked potato chips as opposed to the artery-clogging fried variety? If so, you may be wasting your time
Reports from the United States confirms that baked chips — although featuring a lower fat level — have high levels of acrylamide, a cancer-causing and potentially neurotoxic chemical.
It’s not an additive but is formed — as a general rule — when food is heated enough to produce a fairly dry and brown/yellow surface.
The research supports work in Canada and other countries that point to the chemical as being a concern.
According to U.S. Food and Drug Administration data on acrylamide levels in foods, baked chips may contain more than three times the level of acrylamide as regular chips.
Same holds true when you bake French fries in your oven hoping to avoid the issues of deep fat frying. That golden-brown hue contains acrylamide.
A lot of bake goods, such as toasted bread and cereal, contain the chemical but chips are notoriously high.
So high, in fact, that in 2005 the State of California actually sued potato-chip makers for failing to warn California consumers about the health risks of acrylamide in their products.
A settlement was reached when the chip makers agreed to reduce the dangerous level of the drug, thus avoiding a cancer warning label.
Health Canada scientists were among the first to demonstrate how acrylamide forms in certain heat-processed foods and both the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization have identified the chemical in food as a potential concern.
However, Health Canada says its currently not possible to determine the precise level of risk for humans.
Although acrylamide is known to cause cancer in experimental animals the agency says more research is needed before total risks can be fully understood.
It also says it’s impossible — at this time — to determine recommended maximum exposure to acrylamide but, like the American research, states French fries and potato chips typically contain the highest levels.
By the way, next time you’re munching on those designer chips that come stacked in cylinders (you know the ones we’re talking about), you just may be swallowing more than potato.
Some manufacturers use rice, wheat, corn with a sprinkling of potato flakes that are pressed into shape and then fried.
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