Posts Tagged ‘vegetarian’

What I usually find with date squares is that they are too sweet. So I have made my own version which are less sweet and taste even better. Find it hard to stop at only one.

DATE SQUARES Wheat-Free

Ingredients:
1 large apple finely chopped
2 cups dates, chopped
1 cup water
Juice of ½ lemon
½ cup vegetable fat or butter
1/3 cup rice syrup
1 tsp. salt
1 ¾ cups rolled oats
¼ cup potato flour
¾ cup Brown Rice flour

Directions:
1.   Simmer apple water till soft.
2.   Add dates and simmer till soft.
3.   Mash well.
4.   Add lemon juice and set aside.
5.   In a separate bowl, mix vegetable fat, rice syrup and salt.
6.   First add flour; mix in.
7.   Then add oats, mix well.
8.   Pat 2/3 of the mixture into an 8 X 8 pan.
9.   Spread the date mixture on top of the oat mixture.
10.  Then sprinkle the other 1/3 of oat mixture on top of the dates.
11.  Lightly press down.
12.  Bake in preheated oven at 400º F. for 25 to 35 minutes.

• Oats have lots of manganese, are a very good source of selenium, vitamin B1, dietary fiber, magnesium, protein & phosphorus.
• 1 bowl of oatmeal a day (3 grams of soluble oat fiber) typically lowers total cholesterol by 8-23%.

OK, so maybe I went a little overboard with my 'Dandelion Madness', ….not with last week’s article – but with eating dandelions themselves!  It happened because I was out at the farm where the plants are so much bigger and there are SO many of them.  Instead of spending 5 minutes digging up a few young plants– I can go out with a knife and in 10 seconds gather a shopping cart of mature leaves.  After throwing a large bunch into the blender, and forgetting my article advise to just make the dandelions a small addition, I drank my supercharged mixture.

No I didn’t collapse, or even throw up. In fact I finished the whole thing.  Those last few mouthfuls were getting very very strong though. I normally clean out the last few drops from the blender (Did I mention I was thrifty?) but this time I was glad to wash it down the sink.

I wanted therefore, to EMPHASIZE the part about moderation and add a few other smoothie hints and facts.  They are as follows:

1.  Keep the taste agreeable. This is not just an obvious statement that only madmen (like myself) might ignore but touches on a safely concern that some hard core raw food enthusiasts take seriously (see Below).  If your body loses its attraction for a particular food that you have been eating a lot of,  just ease off.  You don’t know specifically what your body is telling you but it’s a good thing to follow anyway.  This is one of the main principles of regeneration – to keep in touch with your body.

2.  Apples are IN, Mangoes are OUT. This could be an entirely subjective preference but again there is some logic behind this choice.  I’ve seen many people demonstrate green smoothes with mangoes and sometime bemoaned the fact that its hard to find good mangoes in Canada.  Recently the mango season was ON in Edmonton so I got a chance to try out some really good ones but they just don’t work that well with greens in my opinion; Mangos seem just too sweet.

3.  Salty Smoothie Soup. Trish Holder doesn’t like any kind of fruit so she substitutes apples with raw ONIONS  and sometimes a clove of GARLIC.  Since this is the ingredients for vegetable soup she then adds a tablespoon of salty MISO plus celery.  She also makes sure her soup is warm enough by using quite warm water.  I can’t testify to the taste of this mixture because I can’t handle raw onions or garlic but Trish is one smart lady who has helped a lot of people with her knowledge of food. 4.  Add some Zing with Ginger. At Real Food for Life we have promoted the benefits of ginger many times.  Here’s a chance to add some zing to your smoothie and beef up your digestion at the same time. Even one tablespoon of raw ginger is plenty.

When are greens TOO much?

Leafy green vegetables contain along with their abundance of minerals the possibility of traces of organic substances called alkaloids.  There are many different kinds of plant alkaloids but the famous ones are nicotine, cocaine, morphine, and caffeine. As you might notice these compounds have STRONG effects on the body and because of this they tend to give this class of compounds a bad reputation. Used properly alkaloids can have good effects but most people would rather not take chances.  Different plants produce different kinds of alkaloids. Therefore if you are eating a LOT of greens (as in ONE TO TWO POUNDS A DAY  as some raw foodists do) you are recommended to ROTATE your greens so you don’t get too much of any particular alkaloid.  Those large tubs of spinach are just one pound so you only have to concern yourself with this if you are going through at least one of those a day …which would be 4-8 smoothies.   Rather than concern yourself with all these small risk factors you can easily stay safe JUST by noticing your bodies reaction,  and as we stated above, IF you start not wanting a particular food than back off.

Share YOUR favorite smoothie!

I'm sure you have your own unique ingredients with smoothies.  Feel free to share them below in the comment section.  Also, feel free to share this article with anyone you feel might enjoy it!

It is Asparagus season and that means it is Spring!

Did you know that asparagus is a member of the lily family?!   Do you know what other common foods come from the lily family?

The first person to give the complete list in the comment section below will be announced next week as the ‘Vegetable Smartie’.

Besids being yummy the asparagus plant is very long lived, lasting up to 15 years!

Ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans liked asparagus as much as we do and ate it when in season.

Asparagus root is used  to treat urinary as well as kidney and bladder stones. In Ayurvedic medicine a type of asparagus is used as a tonic.  It has a reputation of being an aphrodisiac so it is known as “lady with the 100 husbands”.

Asparagus is one of the most nutritionally balanced vegetables; it is full of nutrients!  It is a very good source of vitamin K, the B vitamin folate, vitamin C, vitamin A and also numerous B vitamins (B1, B2, B3 and B6) as well manganese, copper, phosphorus, potassium and protein. It contains No Cholesterol or Fat, is low salt and has less than 4 calories per spear.

One of the special things about asparagus is that it contains a carbohydrate called inulin that we don’t digest but the friendly bacteria Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli, do. Good amounts of inulin promote the growth and activity of these friendly bacteria thus making it difficult for unfriendly bacteria to grow in our intestines.

• The easiest way to get asparagus into your diet is to eat it raw; simply cut it up and add to your salad.
• Another simple thing to do is to just steam it for a few minutes and it is done.

Here is a simple recipe from my next e-book which we will be releasing soon. Be on the lookout!

Asparagus with Lemon Juice

Ingredients:
1 pound asparagus, washed, trimmed, and cut diagonally into 2 inch lengths
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 lemon juiced
Dash of Spike seasoning

Method:
1.   In a large frying pan over low heat, heat the olive oil
2.   Add Asparagus and cover and cook for 5 minutes.
3.   Add Spike and stir cook an additional 1 minute.
4.   Add lemon juice stir well and serve.

This recipe combines the GOODNESS of asparagus with all the good nutritional benefits of LEMON. Lemon is so good for you that we will be creating its own posting soon.

Feel free to leave your comments – and your answer to our ‘lily’ question below.

 

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 the post. Asparagus Season

Have you heard about the vegetable-eating dog who lived to the ripe age of 27? That’s 189 dog years!

The dog “Bramble”, a Chocolate Labrador, lived in the UK and held the Guinness World Record for being the oldest living dog at the time.

What’s most amazing about this story is that the dog actually lived on an exclusively vegetarian diet of rice, lentils and organic vegetables.

He ate once a day this vegetarian meal, and exercised a lot.

The owner of the dog Anne Heritage, was a vegan herself, and she just fed Bramble that big bowl of vegan fare every evening.  She explains that Bramble “is an inspiration and just goes to show  that if you eat the right things and keep on exercising you can extend your life”.

The age of 189 years comes from the common usage of counting 7 human years for every one dog year.  Just so you know this number is controversial but any way you count it – Bramble is an old dog.

You might be wondering… aren’t dogs carnivores?

Mostly they are, but perhaps many of you have already have or have heard of a dog which was vegetarian.  This story just goes to show that that diet can actually be good for them.  Carnivores traditionally are the shortest-lived animals in nature.  Frugivores are the longest-lived ones  Dogs are much more physically adapted to eating meat than man so certainly this indicates than man can live a long and healthy life eating LOT of vegetables and fruits.

This story was first alerted to me by a person who worked for a high end dog food company. What this company knew was that the best way to help a dog to live longer was by lowering the protein content in the dog’s diet, particularly as they get older.

You could feed your dogs a low-protein diet and see them live a long time.

But this “dog diet” also works for humans! In fact, it works great for humans because we are not natural carnivores. Shen Lang a famous Chinese herbalist eat hundreds of plants each day and he lived to 180 years old. Although this is not ‘verified’ I do know that the body is capable or remarkable feats of regeneration and maintenance if we only treat it right.

If a dog can live 189 years, what makes you think we can’t?

Yours for health and success,

Randy and Diana

p.s.  Feel free to pass this onto anyone you feel would benefit from this information