Healthy Oscar Noshing

Tomorrow night is Oscar night, a time to celebrate the year in film,It's also a time for parties, whether small family ones or large ones with fellow move buffs. Celebrate the way those Hollywood celebs do, with healthy dishes and snacks. It's a great way to nosh as the count down for best picture begins.

Pizza always tops the list of any Oscar party, whether it be the Vanity Fair do or the one in the family living room. Think of the chef to the stars , Wolfgang Puck, when making your own. He introduced the world to such diverse toppings as duck and shiitake mushrooms. Home chefs can easily come up with their own healthy versions. First sub in whole wheat flour  or rice flour for the crust. Just remember that it will not produce a light ,crisp one. It will be a bit dense and chewy.As for the toppings, slice up fresh tomatoes or for a more traditional one, puree them. You can add low fat mozzarella or the soy version. Toppings can be sauteed soy beef crumbles or chicken strips. Add a layer of garlic sauteed spinach or kale. Sprinkle on some mushrooms or just have sliced black olives or onions. You could also use the dough to make fancy and savory toppings. Try caramelized  onions with the cashew cheeses  or a fragrant ratatouille.Sliders are always a fun party dish  and thanks to Gardein, you can have the soy version Serve on whole wheat toast rounds with home made salsa. Have a slide of organic baked potato or sweet potato chips on the side.

Those chips will also be good with a healthy spin on onion dip. Take plain Greek yogurt and mix in some fresh diced onions along with a small pinch of sea salt. Blend thoroughly and serve with the baked chips. Another  fun dip is salsa. Finely chop up two to three (you may want to increase the amount if you have a large Oscar party) vine ripe tomatoes   and blend with finely chopped yellow onions. Bring heat to the party by adding one finely minced jalapeno pepper. Home made dumplings are another good party nosh.Make them healthy by creating whole wheat skins stuffed with shredded cabbage, ginger and carrots. Set them out with little bowls of Kikoman sauce for dipping. Popcorn and movies go hand in hand. Set up bowls of them throughout the viewing area. Have different flavors, from hot pepper to Italian style with a drizzle of rosemary infused oil. Caramel corn is always a good munch and an all natural one is an  easy make. Use melted coconut oil (try the  Lou Ana brand for this) to pop the kernels. More coconut oil i s then boiled with maple syrup, vanilla and sea salt to create the caramel. After this has been cooked it is then poured over the popped corn and tossed. Serve in popcorn boxes for extra fun.

Whether you're rooting for Leo or Eddie, Cate or Brie, sit back and enjoy healthy Oscar noshing. You'll be the winner , enjoying good for you appetizers and snacks. its your ticket to nutrition and nominees.

Paleo Muffins

Muffins are one of the healthiest ways to start off the morning. Well, they were until certain  national coffee chains turned them into sugar and fat bombs. However they can be returned to their original heart healthy goodness with adding all natural ingredients and home baking.Nothing beats a fresh from the oven muffin bursting with benefits..

Julia Moskin realizes this,being an expert home chef and baker,, and wrote about them in Wednesday's New York Times Food section. The paper dropped their breakfast issue then and it was centered on everything AM. Muffins are another aspect of the morning routine. Unfortunately most of the ones eaten are usually purchased through a drive through window and has more sugar than doughnuts and even Twinkies. As Joanne Chang, owner of several Flour bakeries in the Boston area puts it, muffins are nothing more than cake batter poured into muffin tins.How to make them paleo healthy again. By going back to paleo flavorings and ingredients. Instead of using refined white sugar, rely on maple syrup or honey. Make sure there are nuts and whole grains mixed in  Sadly muffin recipes  do need refined white flour in order for the bake to be successful. White flour gives not only taste but lightness.Its' gluten  content also allows the batter to stretch,  rise and give the muffins their rise.. Whole grain is the preferred and it can be varied with the ancient grains of millet, spelt and bran, just to name a few.Buttermilk is the preferred liquid because baking soda needs to be activated by liquid and acid. Try to use newly bought baking soda too . An older one will not give the desired effect.

What else is needed to create the perfect home baked muffin? Ms. Moskin recommends doubling up on the baking soda and baking powder to increase the size of the muffin tops.It also gives the batter a  better chance of rising correctly.Stay away from over beating. Doing such will inhibit leaveners from working. Also ignore that age old advice of not filling up the tins to the top. Do so, but remember to grease the pan's top. This will prevent the muffins from sticking and breaking after they've been cooled.Another old baker' s rule that can be broken is don't rush the batter into the oven directly  after mixing. Resting it allows the grains to soften and absorb the liquids. It produces a  tender crumb and lightness. Baker Chang stores all of her batters overnight in the fridge to get the ultimate best  texture. If you are making muffins are home, just leave the batter on the counter for an hour.Just resist the urge to stir it This will  cause  air bubbles which will expand  cause the baking powder to reactivate and the baking powder to redouble its efforts. This will cause the muffins to have a small or little rise.

Muffins can be both healthy and tasty. The secret is baking them at home, where ingredients can be monitored . Try  making a batch today and enjoy the benefits.

Lou Ana Coconut Oil - Go Coconuts For It

One of the most trending food and beauty items right now is coconut oil. It is everywhere with both home and professional chefs clamoring for it. They should buy LouAna's Coconut Oil. It's is a kitchen necessity, with uses for everything, from cooking to beauty maintenance.

The century old Lou Ana Company has jumped on this trendy bandwagon.The 122 year old company has been producing a variety of oils for Southern California kitchens and most of the US. Generations of home chefs have been using it for their family's fried chicken recipes as well as for the recently popular  holiday fried turkeys. The company started out selling  the usual every day  oils, safflower, peanut and vegetable. All  are fat free and rid of transfat. Their latest foray , coconut oil, is no different.It is non-hydrogenated, worth 0 percent transfat, ideal for frying and sauteing. It can be used for baking too. It makes for a better and relatively healthier buttercream frosting than the ones made with butter or margarine. Using it will definitely improve one's health.Coconut oils aids in heart health, being high in lauric acid which helps prevent high blood pressure and high cholesterol.It's great for those on diet because it speeds up metabolism, and helps to burn calories. Everyone knows about its' beauty benefits.It's excellent in softening rough skin and works better than fancy skin cremes in diminishing fine lines. This all purpose oil gives hair an amazing shine and is an excellent cuticle cream. (especially if you use those nail stickers  that dry out the nail bed.) LouAna has the regular coconut oil but also sells an organic kind They have just come out with a non stick spray for grills and griddles. This last can also be sprayed on poultry too, before roasting to give the bird a nice evenly browned skin.

Lou Ana has teamed with chef and The Chew host, Carla Hall for recipes. Chef Hall is a huge fan of coconut oil.It's highlighted in every one of her  dishes from main meal to dessert Her famed hot fried chicken is fried in it.  Hers is a healthier recipe than the traditional fried chicken, because she sautes the breaded pieces in the oil, rather than deep fries them. As I've found out  coconut oil gets hot very quickly and can also smoke too. Be cautious when using it,.She also uses it for crisping up her Dijon tarragon salmon and  braised short ribs. It's also in her eggplant casserole  as well as in her pear cranberry pot pie  Chef Hall even makes yummy walnut cinnamon cookies with it. I liked working with the oil however I used a bit too much the first time - not a good idea. There was a heavy oily aftertaste thanks to an over enthusiastic home chef. Some home chefs are put off by coconut oil, fearing their main dishes will taste like Mounds Bars. Not the case. The oil is tasteless and odorless having been distilled from the kernel or meat of the mature drupe, eliminating the distinct, tropical flavor. The purified oil is   then emulsified to produce the solid form. It melts at 76 F so keep in a cool place come summer.

Try Lou Ana's new line of coconut oils and coconut oil sprays.It's healthy and good , despite being trendy. Use it for delicious dishes and better baked treats.

The Breakfast Issue

The first meal is always the most important meal of the day. Sometimes, however, it can be the most boring. The New York Times Food section knows it and today's section is all about breakfast. There are how tos, recipes, and even a report on America's breakfast capitol , Los Angeles. Home chefs will love it, foodies will adore this salute to our most necessary meal.

Everyone has weighed in on the subject.There are some great how tos, especially concerning eggs. Julia Moskin gave us this , and it's an eye opener. Surprisingly many people don't even know how to scramble eggs , let alone discern the time between  hard boiling and soft boiling them. She gives the perfect recipe for eggs sunnyside  up too. It's letting the eggs sit a while from their stay in the fridge along with properly heating up the skillet. What goes with any eggs? Toast and the perfect cup of cofffee. The toast  article comes from Emily Weinstein and it is an eye opener.. we shouldn't be using  those sliced loaves from our local supermarket. Go to the bakery and get the loaves with sturdy crust and fine crumb (the interior texture). These will give you the perfect morning crunch. Those afraid that fresh, bread made with no preservatives won;t last, not to worry. Ms Weinstein suggests slicing and individually wrapping them in sandwich bags  . They're then put into the freezer. This method works well with bagels too. A perfect , delicious cup of coffee would top this off. Oliver Strand gives us this in his piece. It starts with fresh grinding the beans at home for a richer aroma and flavor. It does require buying a pricy grinder. and exact measuring. Foodies will go for this , not caring about the price of an electric grinder or the labor intensive work that comes with it.

On the trendy side there is Melissa Clark and David Tanis.Ms Clark has a good yogurt recipe in her A Good Appetite column. Yogurt is an excellent dish for breakfast, especially if it's mixed with fruit and honey. This recipe is good on it's own and it's an easy one for any home chef. Best of all - there's no yogurt machine involved. It's just  two quarts of whole milk,  a 1/4 cup of  heavy cream and three to four tablespoons of plain whole milk with live and active yogurt. Its then cooked in a hot pot and then allowing the mixture ferment in a warm area. Ms. Clark even recommends swaddling the pan with a hot heating pad or in an oven. Any warm spot will do. David Tanis gives an entirely different spin with oatmeal. His is a savory  (!) one that includes spinach, garlic  and a Bulgarian yogurt topping. Don't be surprised by this Hipsters are using all sorts of ingredients these days, from bacon to hot sauce -which Mr Tanis also uses. It would make a cool Sunday brunch plate giving guests plenty to talk about. It's  probably served in LA, this country's breakfast haven, Regular contributor Jeff Gordonier got to visit the city and experience its' AM culture. Chefs have gone wild with creating innovative morning starters such as the kimchi fried rice , adobo fried rice and mushroom toast at the famed Republique. The quirkily named Eggslut features cheeseburgers with a sunnyside up egg or the egg slut itself, a coddled egg on top of a potato puree. Moon Juice give Los Angelenos, power boosting different elixers from chef Amanda Chantel Bacon. Many chefs  add an egg to almost anything , from braised ribs like at the Post and beam to grilled kale and Jon  & Vinny's.

Breakfast can be a fun time. The ingredients are simple yet can be made a variety of ways for an exciting start to the day. Try a different AM route for your first meal. It'll make you more alive for the rest of the day.

Greek Yogurt - Yasou To Healthy Eating

For the past few years Greek yogurt has been the star of dieting. People rave about its; benefits and its's flavor. Is it a good replacement for regular milk as claimed?Is it just as tasty? Both answers are a resounding yes!

There are many benefits to going Greek.It is a probiotic which means it helps to keep producing good bacteria in your gut.it helps to lessen the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, Chrohn's disease and ulceritive  colitis.It's also good for lowering blood pressure thanks to calcium, magnesium and potassium, vital minerals needed to maintain healthy blood pressure numbers.This combo of minerals also aid in promoting strong bones and preventing osteoporosis. Many think it's just the first that helps our internal frames, but the other two are just as important.  One of the best boons to eating Greek yogurt is that it helps you to feel full and not be hungry all the time.It has double the amount of protein that regular dairy has.It takes the body twice as long to digest it then and it's great in curbing the appetite.Have it with lunch or as a part of dinner to stop those afternoon or evening munchies.Lactose intolerant people need to have this in their lives.It's lower in lactose than regular milk and the probiotics in it help to break down those lactic sugars. For those wondering why Greek yogurt is better than regular dairy the answer is in its' origins.It comes from ewes as opposed to cows, Sheep's milk is better for you on so many levels.It doesn't cause allergies  and has a greater concentration of  essential fatty acids.

What is the best Greek yogurt? I like Fage (pronounced fy-hee) myself . The plain makes a great sub for sour cream as I recently found out with a baked potato. It not only is lighter in taste and texture, it's truly delicious. It's not as overpowering as the real thing, and makes for a tastier spud. I plan on using it for making onion dip with fresh onions perfect with baked potato chips,It will also be good as a topping for homemade tacos too, as well as being added to mashed potatoes and squash  It can be used in baking too, much like sour cream.It produces a much more even crumb and even taste.Some Greek yogurt enthusiasts love Chobani. This yogurt is the more boutique of the crew with a line called Chobani Flip which  has sriracha blended with mango and chipotle mixed with pineapple. There is also another line that combines the trendy ancient grains with the yogurt as well as with fruit and spices.I'm a fan of their Indulgents, fruit and yogurt mixed with dark chocolate flakes.It's a nice alternative to any ice cream or pudding dessert. Frozen yogurt  enthusiasts will enjoy Yasso. These are made by two non Greeks that appreciate good taste and healthy food. I love their  coffee chocolate chip and salted caramel. Every bar has either ten or twenty fat calories like the salt caramel and chocolate chip.I'm looking'forward to trying their mint chocolate chip  as well as their vanilla bean.

Greek yogurt is definitely the way to go. It has so many benefits as well as having a great taste and texture. Switch to it today and get started on  a healthier , better diet.

Gluten Free Goodies

Mention gluten free and many foodies will groan. Goods baked without it  usually are have a bland taste or a funny texture. That's quickly becoming a myth thanks to several companies that have all gluten free lines. They're flavorful and best of all have a chewy or crunchy texture.

One of the best brands for anyone going gluten free, whether for health or diet, is Glutino . It   has every kind of product to help have a full and varied diet, Conscientious bakers will marvel at their many mixes from pizza dough to old fashioned yellow cake.There are also chocolate chip and brown mixes too  along with regular gluten free flour for family recipes.The Boulder , Colorado company also sells loaves of already baked breads and stuffing for holiday turkeys. My favorites are their bagel chips and Oreo style sandwich creme cookies. The bagel chips are tastier than the usual kind, with a good dusting of sea salt on them.They also have Parmesan cheese and garlic as well as a sweet cinnamon and sugar one. The sandwich cookies are so crisp with a smooth creamy filling. I can't wait to try their vanilla version along with their double chocolate chip cookies and animal crackers. Their toaster toaster pastries look as good as PopTarts and those are definitely on the to be tried list along with their pizzas.

Other brands that are getting rid of that gluey gluten are WOW and  Simply Balanced. WOW which stands for with out wheat. Like Glutino the Kent, Washington company has both cake and cookie mixes.The cookie dough is already mixed and waiting to be scooped out onto a waiting cookie sheet. The cake mixes have classic flavors such as vanilla,chocolate and spice, the last perfect for holiday baking.The cookies come in bags,, giant singles and containers. I love their buttery chocolate chip cookies that are riddled with large chips  and am looking forward to trying their lemon burst as well as their maple squares and butter toffee. Wow's secret to a good , healthy cookie is the inclusion of brown rice as well as gluten free flour. Simply Balanced is another gluten free must have snack to munch on. This is a Target in house brand, like their Archer Farms and it has a variety of healthy foods and snacks.Their gluten free sesame flavored brown rice crackers are wonderfully crispy and flavorful, They'd be good with a homemade hummus, perfecting for scooping and dipping.Target also has a flax seed one that's another must try.The store also makes a gluten free all natural fusilli, and spaghetti, which I will be making in future. Their all natural sauce will be topping it.

Gluten free doesn't have to mean taste free or lumpy. Their are brands, like Glutino, WOW and Simply Balanced that give us tasty treats to snack ad crunch on. Try them and join the gluten free revolution.

Africa's Culinary's Contribution

February is Black History  Month,and African Americans have contributed a multitude of inventions, years of service and ideas to the American landscape. They have also contributed a wide variety of food and techniques to our culinary landscape as well. It is am impressive list, with a lasting impact.

Ask most Euro- Americans what African Americans have given to us food wise and they'll all say "Soul Food." That's correct however that's only one facet . They were responsible for much of our agriculture.One of the most important staples the enslaved have given us is rice cultivation. The first seeds came to the North American from Madagascar in 1685. By the 1750's it was one of the biggest staple of the Southern colonies. Senegalese "workers" taught colonists how to plant and cultivate the crop. They also brought cattle raising as well thanks to  the Fulani or Fula people from Semegambia . They were expert cattlemen , and showed white masters the African husbandry patterns of open grazing and artificial insemination.. Our modern term cowboy comes form them. Those that worked with the steer were called such. The Fulani people  also introduced the idea of drinking milk  for sustenance, a food concept so deeply ingrained in our culture , that's it;'s a given that we give kids milk.Food contributions are legendary, from okra to black eyed peas to yams. These have all added to our diets as well as expanding our palates' worlds.Peanuts were their most famous gift, It did start off in Brazil but Portuguese sailors brought it to Africa where it was embraced by locals.

African American cooks and chefs have also contributed a multitude of delicious dishes to the American cookbook. Cornbread is one of their biggest contributions., first having been made as a mush from corn meal. This pone was also similar to a dish called Eba where we get the modern day grits. Fufu is the grandfather of our modern day hoecakes and pancakes, first having been made with palm oil and flour. The ultimate Southern dish, fried chicken comes from plantation kitchens, with the enslaved bringing the traditional deep fried cooking technique to the colonies. Deep frying is actually a preservation technique, similar to heavy salting to preserve not only fowl but also beef.Soul food , of course is another big contribution but it has sad origins. It came from the refuse that plantation owners let their enslaved workers have for sustenance. They were also given a small plot of land to grow vegetables. too. Dinners were usually hamhocks with turnip greens or collards, staples that are eaten today by all Americans.It was washed down with coffee, another African import , from Ethopia's Kaffa region hence the name. Watermelon also came over with the enslaved as did Kola nuts which gives the base for the greatest American invention of all time Coca-Cola.

Without all these contributions American cuisine would not be as tasty or as varied. The African Americans gave us a good portion of our culinary history. They should be lauded for this along with their sacrifices for America.