Fortify Yourself This Holiday Season

 Thanksgiving ushers in the season of eating - badly. We glut ourselves on rich main courses and party foods, finishing off with richer desserts. Yet , eating badly can make us sick and even vulnerable , especially during this holiday season. We have to eat better. We have to eat with our health in mind and not our taste buds.

After a spectacularly lousy year we feel that we want to treat ourselves with all sorts of goodies. Who wouldn't? However Covid-19 is roaring back with the speed of a bullet and the ferocity of a wild beast. It's time to fortify ourselves with the right foods and beverages. First of all  we should limit the amount of salt in our diets. Cut back on those chips and dips. You can still have a fun plate of crunchies and dip for movie night or your Zoom holiday parties. Just make them  unsalted or homemade tortilla chips and a fresh made salsa. Chop up some tomatoes and onions and add  equal dashes of cumin and chili powder for a more authentic flavor and bite. Guacamole also can be made healthier (although it is to begin with ). Mash avocados with minced red onions and jalapeno for a zingy and delicious dip. Another salt free party snack is herb popcorn. This is mixing the classic with rosemary, and thyme. Using it will make the herbs stick better to the kernels. Also cut down on such salty sauces as soy and packaged and jarred gravies. As yourself if your dish really needs them. You could switch to a low sodium version or just skip it completely. Adding water or olive oil can moisten a dish.

Sugar is another bad ingredient, yet it's really the star of the season. How do you not serve pie this Thursday or bake a ton of cookies for Christmas? Surprisingly enough you can bake a healthy pumpkin pie. It's just replacing sugar with maple syrup ,a  natural sweetener. Also use coconut sugar instead of brown and almond milk instead of whole dairy. Is there a healthy pie crust? Yes, if you use whole wheat flour instead of refined white and coconut oil instead of lard. You may want to skip the sugary sweet pecan and opt for a healthier apple one. There are some good apple pie recipes that require spelt flour for the crust and way less sugar. That all important cookie season is just around the corner. How do you make a sugar cookie without the chief ingredient? Add fruit which has natural sugars. You could sub in bananas for sweetening along with natural apple sauce.There are other sugar free versions of classic holiday cookies such as gingerbread and rolled cookie cutter cookies. If you're wondering about icing the cookies, then think of all natural Swerve, made from stevia. You can also use it for cake and cupcake icing too. If you're making the last , go easy on the sweet decorations. Use shaved dark chocolate instead for a fancy look.

We need to eat healthy this holiday season. We just have to cut down or cut out the bad stuff and sub it in for good.It'll be your best protection in being just a bit more healthier and resilient during this holiday season

The Perfect Sourdough

One of the most tastiest and most photographed  breads out there is the sourdough. What's not to love about this tangy loaf that's perfect just with butter or as the base of a sandwich? Now home bakers are taking it on, trying to create the perfect bread. All you need is a  good starter and a lot of time.

Claire Saffritz, a contributing editor to Bon Appetit Magazine, wrote this interesting article, and how to for yesterday's New York Times Food section. Sourdough is one of the hardest and possible the most difficult of breads. As she states "It's not just flour, water and yeast but time and temperature too." Regular bread making, using an oven, is time consuming, but making sourdough is days consuming. Carve out three days for the whole process. She recommends starting on Friday for fresh from the oven loaves on Sunday. You're also going to need a lot of equipment, from a glass mixing bowl to an Instant read thermometer.Then there's the fancier stuff such as bannetons, bread proofing baskets. a serrated knife and a large Dutch oven. Unlike other breads , sourdough requires parchment paper too. Then there are the ingredients - a mature starter (get it online or from friends and family), white bread flour along with whole grain rye or spelt flour.Then there's rice flour for dusting. Luckily, Stop & Shop and WHole Foods carry the flours  - although you can buy all of them on line.

After all this , then there is the process. It's feeding or refreshing your starter on Day One, then letting it sit out at room temperature. A second feeding is needed once the starter doubles in size. Day Two requires mixing the dough and letting it rest, otherwise known as the autolyse process.  This will take anywhere from thirty minutes to a couple of hours. The next step is the floater test. Drop a small spoonful into a bowl of room temperature water.It's ready when it floats (along with a dome of sudsy bubbles appearing on the starter's surface. If it sinks, let it sit for another thirty minutes. If it's ready then combine the dough and starter. Use your one hand to mix the dough while the other rotates the bowl. assess the dough and then add salt. It's then mixing and performing what's known as the windowpane test in which some of the dough is stretched and rolled out. It should be membrane thin with light shining through it. Then there's  more prep, folding and pre-shaping the dough.  The shaping baskets are then prepared with a dusting of white and rice flours combined. The sourdough is then proofed, first outside the fridge and then inside it overnight. Day Three is the actual baking day It's baking it in a Dutch oven at a fiery 500 degrees F. Prepping the dough requires dusting it with flour and gashing it with a knife or razor blade. Halfway through the temp is dropped to 450 F. The result is a crusty, tasty loaf with a tender crumb.

Perfection takes a lot of work. Creating a flawless work is not just a lot of work but time. If you have it, do it. Make  that Instagrammable loaf of bread.

A Very Vegan Spring

Spring is here and it's time to look to lighter fresher foods. One of the best way is to go vegan.It's a good time  with holiday fasting and dietary restrictions required. You'll not only feel better about yourself but also feel good about helping the planet.

The upcoming weeks are all about giving up. The Catholics, Greek and Russian Orthodox are observing fasting days right now on Wednesdays and Fridays.There is not only no meat but with the last two, no cheese,dairy eggs or even olive oil.It's a good time to try tofu which can not only offer nourishment but variety. It can be found in soft or hard, or with an in between texture. Steam it with soy , ginger and scallions. Flavor it with lemon for a healthy supper that fits all the religious dietary requirements.It can be served with one of the allowed basics such as rice or pasta.Another recipe that can work after the holidays is stuffed pepper or stuffed tomato. Use the chewier and more flavorful arborio rice, used in risotto, with garlic .Give some it color and oomph with various herbs such as basil or mint.Beans and nuts are also allowed. Think of adding them to the stuffing mixture for more protein.If you're going the salad route , then think of adding any kind of bean, such as chickpea or kidney along with pine nuts.The Greek Orthodox allow the creamy sesame seed based tahini sauce so think of making a hummus out of the two. This can be an excellent lunch or dinner.

Passover requires some fasting as well, but not as strict as the other religions. The only restriction applies to flours and yeast. Wheat, barley, corn,spelt and rye are forbidden, being replaced by matzoh. Meats are allowed but not with any kind of dairy. That means no butter milk or cheese. Tofu is also forbidden because it is made from legumes which are forbidden during this holy time. Rice is another banned food because it can be ground into a flour. How can someone go vegan without these two key ingredients in a meat free diet? Use matzoh as a stand in.Tomatoes, peppers and even onions can be stuffed with matzoh crumbs. Mix with olive oil and various herbs and bake in an oven. Any of the recipes can be used outside the holidays. It's relatively easy to switch over to a completely vegan lifestyle after the holidays. Soy meats and cheeses can fill in for the real thing.Any kind of veggie can be used as the main course  and can even translate into barbecue fare. Those stuffed peppers and tomatoes can be grilled and provide for a more filling meal. Sandwiches stuffed with grilled veggies such as eggplant, peppers and onions  make for  tasty picnic fare.

It's easy to go vegan come Spring. The holy days and holidays can jump start a compassionate diet. This leads to a compassionate lifestyle where all life is sacred.

The ABC's Of Snacking

Schools of all sorts start this week and kids from kindergartners to college seniors will indulge in that after school past time snacking. Make sure they eat sensibly. It's the key to healthy living and a healthy  student.

Those much hated veggies can be turned into a fun snack thanks to  some Greek yogurt and spices. Slice up bell peppers along with broccoli and cauliflower. Mix the lower in calorie plain Greek yogurt with different herbs and spices such as cumin for a tasty dip. Do a taste test with the kids regarding the spices.It's one way to expand their palate along with finding out what flavors appeal to them. The same can be done with cut fruits too. Have a wide variety of bite sized pieces such as grapes and strawberries along with sliced kiwis, apples , peaches and nectarines. Use vanilla flavored yogurt, again, preferably Greek as the dip. You could also start off with the plain Greek and then stir in such add ins as dark honey, cinnamon or dark chocolate chips.Another tasty dip idea is salsa with tortilla chips.Salsa is one of the easiest to make. Start with chopped tomatoes and onions along with cilantro. Have a mildly spiced one for the little guys while older kids may enjoy the heat of chopped jalapeno. Salsa can be made and packed into your dorm student's boxes for a nice reminder of home.It can also be used for topping hamburgers or accompanying grilled chicken or steak. It can also be made with such diverse fruits as watermelon and pineapple too along with mangoes, plums and kiwis.

What about that after school classic  - cookies and milk? Many parents do give in and let the kids eat the most caloric. It's' fine every once in a while but not every day.Surprisingly the national brands such as Chips Ahoy actually have less calories than the  so called healthier cookies.Homemade cookies, although labor intensive, are a better choice. Even classics like chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin can be made healthier. Sub in white flour and refined sugar with oat flour and brown sugar. Instead of butter use the lower calorie but just as silky coconut oil.Make your cookie monsters a really healthy bite like, the detox cookie. This recipe taken from A Clean Bake blog, has only three ingredients. There's creamy peanut butter (use the all natural kind for this)or for even more healthier cookies , almond butter along with cocoa powder and mashed , ripe bananas.it's only ten minutes in the oven and that's it. There's no flour or sugar to  bring on the allergies.It's also an easy enough recipe that your college kid or high schooler can bake. You can even bake healthy (!) Oreos. Use spelt flour instead of the usual white and sweeten with maple syrup instead of cane sugar. The filling is made with ground brown sugar that takes on the consistency of powdered sugar and coconut butter. Serve any of these cookies with low fat milk.

School starts with it after school snacking. Give your big and little scholars healthy but fun snacks. They'll enjoy a flavorful veggie dip or a good for you chocolate treat. They're good for everyone.

Healthy Holiday Cookies

Many think it's as rare as actually seeing Santa Claus or even an elf? What is it? A batch of healthy holiday cookies.Is there such a thing? More importantly what would they taste like?Well, there is such a thing and healthy good for you cookies actually are flavorful.

Many home bakers and cookie affectionadoes blanch at the very notion of a healthy holiday treat. After all Christmas is supposed to be a time for indulgences with buttery rich shortbreads and icing laden gingerbread men. Yet you don't have to give up flavor for a tasty plate of goodness.One of the most popular to bake during this season is the sugar cookie. One sub in white flour with spelt. along with coconut or evaporated cane sugar.Home bakers could sub in the healthier brown sugar, however this makes for a very chewy sugar cookie. Most holidays ones have a snap and crunch to them.Use a butter type spread such as Earth Balance sticks. They are non dairy yet have a buttery taste.Unfortunately the icing does have to have confectioner's sugar to create a smooth paste, however you can add skim milk or make an icing using macadamia nuts and shredded coconut.Peanut butter cookies are another holiday fave. You can sub in maple syrup for refined white sugar Applesauce can be added too along with organic peanut butter. Chocolate chip, that holiday cookie platter must have can be remade into something healthier.One, you can sub in carob chips for chocolate ones. Another sub in  -oatmeal flour  or whole heat for an extra chewy bite.Again use coconut and sucanat -which is whole cane sugar that hasn't been refined.

Of course it wouldn't be Christmas without the classic snickerdoodle. This time they can be a good for you indulgence, with the addition of organic sucanat and using Earth Balance  faux butter .sticks. Use a  lot of cinnamon when making these because the spice can help in lowering blood pressure as wekll as aiding in combating stomach flu. Oatmeal cookies are a must have. These can be made as healthy as possible., with whole wheat flour and honey along with brown sugar. An egg is used as a binder although there recipes that do use applesauce as a binder instead. Raisins are the preferred extra but you can also add dried cranberries for color and more flavor, along with dark chocolate chips. What would Christmas be without the classic gingerbread men and house?. You can still bake these  but with a better for you spin.. Use whole wheat pastry flour instead of white, coconut oil for butter and the oil dark molasses for white sugar.The last is high in potassium, iron,Vitamin B calcium and magnesium.You could use royal icing to decorate or a glaze. As for the gingerbread house, sub in healthy decorations rather than candy. Have an almond decorated roof along with Craisins around the windows and doors.Shredded coconut can be sprinkled on top to simulate snow. Another fun idea with the molasses is using it to make classic molasses snaps, using whole wheat flour and egg whites.

Yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as a healthy Christmas cookie that is delicious. You can make a whole slew of them, including the classic gingerbread house. They're a treat that's good for you.

Rediscovering Old Grains

We  think our ancestors had limited ingredients and dishes but surprisingly they didn't. Theirs were a variety of different wheat prototypes that gave them better nutrition than all those foraged nuts and berries.Now these ancient grains are making their way into  our modern dishes, boosting their flavor and nutritional value.

Melissa Clark wrote about a wide range of these grains in yesterday's New York Times Food section.Her  Good Appetite column described the array of them as well as including recipes. There is also a helpful guide included to decipher what they are. South American grain quinoa is the moat popular and most often eaten.However there is also einkorn which is the oldest grain, cultivated a whopping 120,000 years ago.It is tiny and ricelike with a nice nutty taste. Emmer is the direct ancestor of Durham wheat.They;re sort of like spelt but with a richer, earthier flavor.Use it when making homemade pasta. For soups try freekah, which immature green wheat kernals that have been smoked. which gives them a marked flavor. Of course there is barley, long a standard in soups and wheat berries. These are whole kernals with the bran intact which gives it anything from mineral and earthy taste to a mild and starchy one.

Ancient grains are exciting. There are so many different recipes that are easy to make. Ms. Clark includes some along with some suggestions . There is a whole grain granola , rich with kamut, a golden wheat like grain that has other good ingredients like dark honey,olive oil and pepitas or pumpkin seeds. This recipe can be varied subbing in rolled oats and spelt along with rye for the kamut. a tasty main dish is spelt and lamb meatballs.Spelt is a large pale colored wheat ancestor, stsrchy with a gentle flavor of both nuts and herbs. It goes well in meatballs, especially with a meat that's been around since Biblical times lamb. However you can also try it as an alternative to polenta or pilaf if you're serving kabobs. Ms. Clark also includes a grains and beans recipe.It's a mélange of the ancients , blending barley, wheat , emmer, einkorn along with rye, spelt and wheat berries cooked in chicken stock. Kidney beans and bacon are then added along with vegetables such as onions and green peppers. It's a good stew to make on a chilly Spring evening.

Everything old is new again given time and distance. This also applies to the ancient grains our ancestors ate. Discover them and their rich , nutty flavors. They're delicious and versatile.,