Healthy Recipes 360

Archive for the ‘Core Foods’ Category

Here is a quick and easy recipe for a chlorella green drink with berries. You will need chlorella powder, spirulina powder and black raspberry powder plus some bee pollen (keep in the freezer), some frozen organic blueberries, some raw organic honey and (optionally) some stevia extract if you don’t want to use too much honey.

The stevia extract we have been using comes from Trader Joe’s. It comes in one gram packets and it is fairly inexpensive. Chlorella and spirulina powder is very common and easy to find from health food suppliers. The black raspberry powder we use is Virgin Extracts Black Raspberry Extract Powder. It is made by FoodsSuper.com and is available from Amazon.com and other places.

We use Jarrow Formulas "Yaeyama Chlorella" (1 kg) and Starwest Botanicals Spirulina powder. We buy both of these from from VitaCost.com.

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This is a quick and easy recipe that you can make in about 10-15 minutes. I like Alaskan Wild Salmon because it isn’t farm-raised. We are able to get ours from Trader Joe’s here in Southern California.

Typically, a 1 to 1 1/2 lb package will make about 3-4 servings. We like to serve it with brown rice and sliced vegetables or with a green salad. This meal is made from good, whole, natural foods.

This is my recipe for homemade refried beans. There are numerous recipes for refried beans. The traditional fat used has been lard. Finding a good source for healthy lard is not easy. You need to know a butcher that can get it for you. Refried beans are excellent for healthy eating or for losing weight.

First you will need to cook the pinto beans. You should soak the beans in water overnight, then on the following day it takes about 3-4 hours to cook them. This recipe uses some chili powder, oregano and other seasonings to add spice. You will sauté some chopped onions in a little lard, butter or coconut oil, then add crushed or minced garlic, then add seasonings to gradually infuse more and more flavor. At the end of the cooking you will add some fresh squeezed lime juice. You add it at the end to keep from cooking away the flavor.

Pinto beans are among the most common staple foods in many cultures. They are very healthy and inexpensive. Pinto beans are the most highly consumed dried bean in the U.S.A. and the are very easy to cook. Pinto beans are an excellent source of protein – especially when combined with rice. Proteins are composed of amino acids. The body can produce all but 10 amino acids. These 10 amino acids are called “essential amino acids”. Foods containing all of these essential amino acids are called “complete proteins” and foods lacking in certain essential amino acids are called “incomplete proteins”. Some vegetables lack certain essential amino acids but when combined in the same meal with other vegetables containing the missing amino acids, a complete protein will result. Thus, certain combinations of vegetables with incomplete proteins balance each other out to form complete proteins. Beans and rice is one such combination.

In a recent Oprah Winfrey show, Dr. Mehmet Oz and freelance writer Dan Buettner discussed the “blue zones” – areas of the planet where people often live to be 100. Dan Buettner emphasizes what he calls the “Mesoamerican trifecta” — the predominant diet in much of Central America for the last 3,500 years. Mr Buettner states that “The diet consists of lightly salted corn tortillas, beans and squash” … which is “arguably the best longevity food ever invented.” Pinto beans are good for heart health, they are very high in fiber and help to stabilize blood sugar levels, thereby keeping you from getting hungry.

This is a recipe for split pea soup that I accidentally came up with. It started out as a recipe for Green Dal that was printed on a package of split peas. Green Dal is an Indian soup. I was not familiar with Indian cooking at that time. One of the ingredients was Garam Masala. I never bought Garam Masala before. The store was out of Garam Masala that particular day, so I bought Tikka Masala instead. That was a fortuitous accident because the result was really good. Tikka Masala goes really well with really split peas.

This is a very easy soup to make. It takes about an hour and a half. The split peas take an hour to cook, plus another 15 minutes to blend the cooked onions plus some time to chop the onions and prepare the ingredients. This is also a very healthy recipe. It will give you lots of energy without making you hungry.

If you like brown rice and if you like curry dishes, then you can spice up a bowl of plain brown rice with a little curry powder and a dash of salt. It’s just a simple thing you can do to add a little variety.

Milled flaxseed is a good natural food product that is high in Omega 3, Alpha linolenic acid and fiber. I prefer to buy Northern Edge brand because it comes in a vacuum-packed, air-tight re-sealable bag. Once the flaxseed has been flaked, it can become rancid very quickly. This particular brand is carefully milled at a cool temperature to preserve the nutrients.

For example, when making oatmeal, I will add the milled flaxseed after cooking. I will never add it to the boiling oatmeal during cooking.

Bananas are a great food you can eat either as a snack or with cereal or even in cooked dishes. They are very high in potassium. They always make me feel feel relaxed. Plus they are a good, high energy food. Bananas are perfect for a healthy eating plan.

Brown rice is one of the staple foods for a healthy eating plan. Many cultures throughout history have recognized its nourishment value and you will easily find many delicious recipes that use brown rice. We decided to buy a rice cooker (see photo to left) because making rice with a rice cooker is very easy. You simply add measured amounts of rice and water, turn it on and it will cook perfect rice every time – automatically. This is an older model made by the Zojirushi company (a Japanese manufacturer). This model was about $80 several years ago. It has a built in "keep warm" cycle and has push button controls for brown rice and white rice.

Most rice cookers nowadays are fully automatic with a built-in warmer and timer with cooking options for brown rice and white rice. We recently purchased one at Costco as a gift for someone for about $30. That was a pretty good deal, but we don’t have any actual experience with it. Just reading some of the online reviews, Zojirushi models seem to be the best.

If you don’t want to buy a rice cooker, then you will have to use a regular stainless steel cooking pot with a good sealing lid. You add measured amounts of rice and water (approx 1.5 cups of water per cup of rice), then you set the flame high to boil the water and rice. Then you will turn down the flame and partially cover the rice (allow a gap in the lid) to allow steam to escape. After the rice has been cooking for a few minutes, open the lid and look for gaps or holes ("craters"). At this point, put the lid on tight and turn the flame way down low and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Do not open the lid during this time. Keep it on tight. When the rice is done, open the lid and fluff the rice.

Oatmeal is one of the healthiest foods you can make for breakfast. Studies have shown that it can help reduce cholesterol. It is loaded with fiber and high quality complex carbohydrate. Make sure when you buy oatmeal that you buy whole oats – not instant oats. Instant oats are pre-cooked and much of the fiber and nutrients are lost in the process. Also I prefer rolled oats, not steel cut oats. Besides the fact that I prefer the flavor of rolled oats over steel cut oats, it’s been my experience that steel cut oats takes 20 – 30 minutes to cook, while it only takes 5 minutes to cook rolled oats.

You can add toppings to your oatmeal to make a more delicious meal. I try to keep a supply of frozen fruit and berries, plus some fresh fruit like apples or bananas. Blueberries are great because they are loaded with antioxidants. Other good toppings are all natural apple butter (made without sugar), unsweetened shredded coconut and raw nuts (raw almonds, pecans or walnuts – halves or chopped). Remember to always use raw, uncooked nuts and natural products made without sugar. Roasting nuts introduces trans fats which are bad for you. Raw nuts contain good, healthy fats.