Real Food for Life

Posts Tagged ‘healthy recipes’

The very simplest place to start with getting greens into our diet is to eat one big salad each day and make sure it is filled with mostly greens.  

Greens are full of vitamins A, K, D, and E which are fat soluble. To absorb these vitamins make sure to add a teaspoon of dietary fat, such as butter, olive or coconut oil, nuts, cheese or salad dressing. This will make sure your body absorbs all of the vitamins in the greens. Vitamin K helps calcium and phosphorus bind onto the bone protein matrix.

  
 MIXED SUMMER GREEN SALAD  

Ingredients:
1 handful, Spinach
1 handful, Arugula
½ head, Red Leaf Lettuce
½  head, Green Leafy Lettuce
1 medium bunch of Parsley
3 Celery pieces, chopped
1 medium Cucumber, sliced in rounds
¼ cup pine nuts

Directions:
1.  Mix greens together in a bowl.
2. Top with celery, cucumber and pine nuts.
3. Serve with Mint salad dressing.

TIP:  If you are planning on this lasting for the next day, do not mix the cucumber in.  Put it in a bowl on the side and add to each serving of salad.  A mix of the basic ingredients without the cucumber will last 3 days in the fridge.

 Here is a salad dressing with greens already in it!  This is a refreshing tasty dressing with a little mint flavour.

LEMON-MINT SALAD DRESSING

Ingredients:
1 ¼ cups olive oil
¼ cup lemon juice
2 tbsp. fresh mint (or 2 tsp. dried)
Salt to taste
Few drops of stevia

Directions:
1.  Blend all ingredients.
2.  Add salt to taste and stevia to taste and re-blend.

Copyright © Diana Herrington  You are welcome to share this article with anyone who you think may benefit from this information as long as you give credit to Real Food for Life by including the link to the home page www.RealFoodforLife.com  or the direct link to this post.

I am quite fastidious about the way beans are cooked as I do not like experiencing the common thing we all associate beans with GAS!  So here is what I do.

Cooking Beans & Lentils

Ingredients:
Dried beans or lentils
Water

Directions:
  1.  Wash beans in cold water and soak overnight in three times the volume of water.
 2.  Next day, pour off the water.
 3.  Place beans in a pot and cover with water 1 inch above the level of the beans.
 4.  Bring to a boil.
 5.  Let simmer with lid ajar.
 6.  Skim off the foam.
 7.  Add more water if necessary, as the beans should always be covered with water while cooking.
 8.  Cooking time will vary according to the type, size, and age of the bean.
 9.  Most beans will need approximately 2 hours cooking time.
10.  Beans should be soft.  This is the stage that you can salt and other seasonings.  Do not add salt while cooking as above.

Adzuki Vegetable Bean Stew

Ingredients:
1 onion, finely chopped
3 sticks of celery, sliced
1 zucchini, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
2 – 5 garlic cloves, minced
1- 2 inches of fresh ginger, chopped
1 1/2 cups adzuki beans 
3 pieces of Wakame Seaweed, rinsed and broken into pieces
2 – 6 tbsp. Tamari
Few drops of stevia (optional)

Directions:
1.    Cook adzuki beans for 1 – 2 hours (time is dependant on the age of the beans) according to recipe titled ‘How to COOK BEANS’ above.
2.    When beans are soft, add Wakame and cook for another few minutes.
3.    Then add onions, celery, zucchini, carrots, ginger and garlic.
4.    Simmer for ½ hour or till vegetables are tender.
5.    Add Tamari to taste and a few drops of stevia.
6.    Serve with a whole grain. 

Check out the Nutrition Facts on a Serving Size 1/4 cup (48g) of Adzuki beans!

Calories 160                  Protein 11g
Total Fat 0.5g               Potassium 600mg
Dietary Fiber 6g            Sugars 0g
Total Carbohydrate 29g

For Vegan Chili recipe:  http://realfoodforlife.com/veganchili/

Copyright © Diana Herrington  You are welcome to share this article with anyone who you think may benefit from this information as long as you give credit to Real Food for Life by including the link to the home page www.RealFoodforLife.com  or the direct link to this post.

Lentil soup has all the benefits of lentils (see article) plus much more.  And by the way, it tastes great.

Ingredients:
1 large Onion, chopped
3-6 garlic cloves, chopped
2 pieces celery, chopped
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 cup green whole lentils, cooked with water cooked in.
1 piece Kombu*
2 carrots, diced
2 cups fresh (or tinned tomatoes but fresh is best)**
3-5 tsp salt
1 tsp each of thyme and basil
3 tsp marjoram
Fresh parsley

Directions:
1.    Sauté onion, garlic and celery in oil.
2.    Add remaining ingredients.
3.    Simmer for one hour, adding more water if necessary.
4.    Remove Kombu and chop; return to soup.
5.    Serve in bowls garnished sprigs of fresh parsley.

* Kombu makes beans more digestable but you could easily leave it out.

** Uusally I do not make this soup with tomatoes any more which makes it into a stew.

Copyright © Diana Herrington  You are welcome to share this article with anyone who you think may benefit from this information as long as you give credit to Real Food for Life by including the link to the home page www.RealFoodforLife.com  or the direct link to this post.

This is my favorite soup which I developed over a year a few years ago.  Every time I make it for friends they just love it and so do I!

KABOCHA SQUASH SOUP

Ingredients:
1 medium Kabocha* squash
1 large onion or two small onions
2 large leaves of Kale
4 to 6 cups water
2 inch piece of fresh ginger
½ tsp Cinnamon, cardamom, coriander,
1 tsp turmeric
5 drops of Sunny Dew (light Stevia)
Vege salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
1.    Cut squash in half then scoop out the seeds, then cut the squash into eight pieces.
2.    Chop onion and ginger
3.    Put squash, onions and ginger into a steamer and cook till squash is soft, remove it and let cool.
4.    Steam chopped Kale till tender, a few minutes.
5.    Sauté spices in sesame oil or coconut oil for a couple of minutes.
6.    Separate the squash flesh from the skin. Put the cooked squash in a large bowl or pot.
7.    Add 3 cups water from water used to steam the squash, stir in onion and ginger.
8.    Run the squash and onion mixture through a blender, portion by portion, until you've blended it all or use a hand blender and blend it right in the soup pot which is what I do but do be careful as it can splatter ever where.
9.    Put the blended mixture into a soup pot, adding the broth created from the steamer to make the consistency you like.
10.    Add cooked kale, spices, salt and pepper to taste.
11.    Serve with a dollop of yogurt or sour cream which can be a vegan one which is what I use.

* You may use butternut or any dark orang squash.

Note!  We did not have a personal picture of this soup so used a stock photo. Imagine that the bread is healthy rice bread!

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Copyright © Diana Herrington  You are welcome to share this article with anyone who you think may benefit from this information as long as you give credit to Real Food for Life by including the link to the home page www.RealFoodforLife.com  or the direct link to this post.