Cranberry sauce is so easy to make, yet so many people take the easy way out and buy canned cranberry sauce. This is so much better than the canned stuff! It is slightly tart and spicy and sure to impress your guests!
In the spirit of fall it's time to make borscht! This was my favourite childhood soup that my grandma always made. There are so many different recipes out there that when I was checking out recipes, I decided to experiment and make use of what was in my fridge already. Most recipes call for cabbage and green pepper, however I decided to make use of the beet stalks, leaf greens and some green beans from my garden. Seems to make sense to me if you have them!
Struggling with ideas of what to do with all that zucchini from the garden? Here's a healthy twist on lasagna that is just perfect for those larger zucchinis! Cut them into thin length wise strips and use as noodles!
For those with gardens or balcony gardens (in my case), basil is almost certainly among the herbs you are growing. You’ve been diligent all summer plucking the buds off the plants to prevent it from going to seed, and now it is time to reap your rewards. Every fall I look forward to making pesto with almost all of my basil. A few years ago I found the tastiest recipe ever for pesto and I want to share it with you. Funnily enough it is called The Best Pesto Ever, and I have to agree. I make it as is, without any modifications and it is delicious! Enjoy!
Spicy and tasty protein bar, that looks like a granola bar without all the fat!
Below are some of my long time favourite food items, that I always have on hand in my kitchen.
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Lundberg Rice – A tasty blend of ‘brown’ rice that is very healthy and flavourful. |
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Manitoba Hemp Seeds – A great way to add protein and omega 3 and 6 to any meal. Excellent on salads, pasta, in smoothies, and baked goods. |
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Artesian Acres Kamut Pasta- Any pasta from this company is great. Kamut pasta is smooth, unlike the gritty texture of whole wheat pasta. The rotini noodle just happens to be my all time favourite noodle because it versatile. I tend to put a lot of veggies in my pasta dishes so the noodle size works nicely with the veggies. Plus don’t forget pasta salads! |
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Salba Seeds – An ancient grain packed full of fibre and omega 3. Great mixed with yogurt, salads or in smoothies. |
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Chia Seeds – From the chia plant, it is high in protein, fiber and antioxidants. Goes well with yogurt, salads and smoothies. |
I have been on my candida ‘detox’ journey for the past four months. Learning that candida was wreaking havoc on my system has been a major learning curve about food and my relationship with it. When I first started out the sensitivities test showed it at an 8/10. This is very high! My diet has been constantly changing since. The first month diet was very strict and pretty bland, but my perseverance paid off.
Changing my eating habits, and more importantly my love of sugar hasn’t been easy. Each month I anticipate improvement, but that hasn’t always happened. As mentioned I started at 8/10, after one moth of very strict eating I managed to drop to 5/10. Success I thought, until I learned that I needed to get to 2/10. The next month however I had a little holiday with friends planned, which wreaked havoc on my diet, and I went up a level to 6/10 on the candida meter. Once back in my own environment I was able to gain control again after a bit of sugar detox and reached 4/10 six weeks later.
I still have sugar cravings, now and again. They seem to emerge more uncontrollably after enjoying something with sugar in it. My naturopath says the cravings should not be happening at this stage, and it indicates I still have a ways to go as a result. The other foods that candida loves (yeasty breads, mushrooms and fermented foods) I don’t crave or desire at all. To me this really drives home the fact that so many of us are addicted to sugar and don’t even know it. I honestly thought beforehand that I didn’t eat that much sugar, now I realize that I did.
In an effort to continue to reduce the sugar I consume I have been working on my own protein bars! Stay tuned in the next few weeks for the perfected recipe!
Quick, simple and tasty early summer pesto delight! The garlic scape is the curly flowering portion of a garlic plant. Harvest them in the early summer, so the plant can focus on sending its nutrients to the garlic bulb you are so anxiously waiting for at the end of the season. This is a great way to make the most of your garlic plants in your garden! Garlic scapes can also be purchased at your local farmer's market!
Electro dermal screening is a non-evasive test for sensitivities where the patient holds an electrode in one hand that is connected to a machine holding a concentrated vile of fluid to be tested, while the practitioner completes the circuit by touching a probe to an acupuncture point on the patient’s finger. Based on the patient’s sensitivity to the matter being tested the machine gives an audible beep, and displays a metered reading. The higher the reading the greater the sensitivity.
When people inquire about the tests I have had for my sensitivities, I am faced with a lot of skepticism. Many feel this is not a reliable method for testing, it is hocus pocus etc. However, having gone through the process, I am convinced there is some truth to it. When I was first screened, I was tested for over 200 sensitivities to foods, and candida. I came out with 77 items I either needed to avoid completely, or could eat at minimum once a week. Though a list of 77 items seems outrageous, if I ate meals I made, I actually had a lot of options. If anything that first month my food was a little bland, as many spices were on my ‘avoid’ list. During that first month, there was a few times where I did consume an item that was on my ‘avoid’ list, and did find that I reacted to them! Nothing confirms that better than watching your belly bloat after eating a meal with one naughty ingredient!
Most notably the electro dermal screening gave a reading of my candida level. My first recorded level was 8/10. I asked the naturopathic doctor performing my screening what the ‘normal’ was and she informed me that 2-3/10 was normal. (Yikes!) I now had something to work towards. Every 4-6 weeks I have been going in to chart my progress. Without electro dermal screening, I do not think I would be able to stay motivated to continue the changes to my dietary lifestyle. Like anything (ie weight loss), at first you notice immediate changes, but slowly those taper off, and you are unsure if you are making headway. Getting the results of this test is a nice reminder of my efforts and the goal I am working towards.
