As a vegetarian (and a female) I pay a lot of attention to my protein and iron intake since I can’t just eat a hunk of red meat and call it a day. Blacks beans are an excellent and inexpensive source of protein, iron, and fiber as well as folate and manganese.

While it’s nice to have a can of beans in the pantry, I find them to have a metallic taste and too much salt. In addition, most brands of packaged beans (the notable exception being Eden Foods) have BPA in the lining of their cans. To avoid all of these problems I like to cook a huge pot of dried beans at once then keep some in the refrigerator and some in the freezer. There are many variations on quick-soaking methods, crockpot beans, and pressure cookers. Here is my preferred and simple method using only a bowl, a pot, and the stove. (continue reading…)

ⓒ iStockPhoto - JKendall

You may have heard of Once a Month Cooking.  Once A Year Shopping works basically the same way. Buy produce now, when it’s cheap, abundant, and high-quality, and with a bit of time spent with home food preservation, you can have a winter’s worth of meal-ready fruits and veggies ready for dinners you can throw together in just a few minutes when the time comes.

Once a Year Shopping for produce doesn’t require as much advanced menu planning as OAMC. A few flexible dishes like soups, stews and vegetable bakes can use many types of produce, so you only need to pay attention to buying foods that your family will enjoy, and preserve them so you can use them in multiple dishes. (continue reading…)

©iStockphoto.com - meikla

Give me a few minutes and I’ll give you 1 great reason for being vegetarian.

While fish may serve as the main dietary way to obtain the long-chain omega-3s eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid, which were shown to be crucial in supporting brain health, low intake of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid in vegetarians will not adversely affect mood, as outlined by a new study (Nutr J. 2010;9:26. DOI:10.1186/1475-2891-9-26).

A study team from Arizona State University conducted a cross-sectional study to compare the mood of vegetarians who never eat fish with the mood of healthy omnivorous adults. (continue reading…)

Cuisinart GreenGourmet

Thanks to new green cookware options you can say goodbye to toxic Teflon pans filled with dangerous chemicals that off-gas into the air and can possibly leach into your food.

Cuisinart’s line of non-stick cookware  is PTFE and PFOA free, which means that it contains none of the nasty chemicals that Teflon and similar non-stick coatings are formulated with.

Cuisinart’s GreenGourmet pans are petroleum free, have a hard anodized interior, an aluminum alloy core, and a Cuisinart Ceramica (TM) interior which is what makes the pan non-stick.

So what does all this mean? Keep reading to find out. (continue reading…)

ⓒ iStockPhoto - adlifemarketing

Although it’s Independence Day weekend, you don’t need a holiday to have an excuse for a backyard barbecue in the summer. For a fun and healthy twist on the traditional cookout, throw a corn roast instead of the usual meat-filled barbecue.

While the meat takes center stage at most backyard barbecues, at a corn roast, the corn is the star, and the main dish. Corn may get vilified for its omnipresence in processed food, but in its unprocessed state, it’s actually a whole grain, and roasted on coals, quite tasty. With only a few minor tweaks, it’s easy to throw a corn roast that is totally vegan, without meat-loving friends and neighbors even noticing the absence of animal foods.

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©iStockphoto.com - VELEZGREENE

Anyone who has thought about ridding or lessening processed food from their menu should add Living in the Raw - Desserts by Rose Lee Calabro to their library. This cookbook provides a variety of recipes geared toward a raw desserts goal.

Desserts are usually the main treat that guests, even including the children, want to taste. Calabro provides simple recipes using no unhealthy additives or ingredients such as sugar, eggs or dairy. Instead, she uses natural or organic and raw ingredients such as coconut milk, seeds, dates, nuts and almonds. She explains organic food is, “produced without the use of chemically formulated fertilizers, growth stimulants, antibiotics, or pesticides.” Organic food is rich in vitamins, minerals, and enzymes. Another raw ingredient often used is carob, a chocolate substitute from a fruit. This means even with raw desserts the desire for that chocolate taste is possible. Ingredients for these naturally sweet desserts are available at farmers’ markets and natural food stores. (continue reading…)

ⓒiStockPhoto - stephconnell

Hang around with health-conscious people long enough, and a discussion of diet - in the sense of a holistic approach to how you eat, not a weight-loss strategy -  is nearly inevitable. You’re vegan, vegetarian, locavore, raw, seasonal, paleo, clean, gluten-free. Like weight loss diets, they all have a label and a set of rules about what you can and can’t eat “on” them.  I’m never sure how to answer the question of “What’s your diet?” since I don’t fit neatly into any of the usual healthy eating categories.

Vegetarian?

I’m sort of vegetarian, but I’ll definitely order a burger when I go out to dinner with friends. I eat meat about once a month, more often if I toss some chicken in the veggie soup. No one will ever confuse me, with my cheese and egg love, for a vegan, but I make some unintentionally vegan dishes, like lentil soup. If I really analyzed my eating habits, I might be able to wedge myself into one of the many -tarianisms (lacto-ovo vegetarian, pescitarian or flexitarian), but I never quite understood the logic of fish or chicken not being meat.

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