Frozen Mocha Frappuccino

Frozen Mocha Frappuccino

What an unbelievably refreshing treat!!!

1 cup soymilk (regular or vanilla)
1 tbsp instant coffee crystals (regular or decaf)
squirt of Hershey's chocolate
2 tbsp sugar or honey
1 tbsp ground flax
handful of fresh spinach (optional) (You really can't taste the spinach)
2 cups ice

Combine all ingredients except ice and mix in blender or VitaMix for 1 minute.
Add ice and blend on high until ice turns to slush.
Makes 2 servings.

OK, so maybe it's not the MOST healthy thing you could drink, but it sure beats soda or iced tea!!

(whipped cream optional)

More recipes available at http://www.veg4health.com.

There were worms on my Baby Bok Choy!

Last night I had my taste buds all prepared for a nice side dish of stir-fried baby bok choy. I could taste the sesame garlic bok choy already as I started to open my bags and clean it. I was quite surprised to find that I had unexpected guests in my baby bok choy who were quite happily indulging themselves in a fine feast. All of the inside leaves were covered with worm droppings and had quite a few holes nicely carved out. What’s a mom to do when faced with worms in her next side dish? Well, I have to admit that I was in too much of a hurry last night to face the daunting task of de-worming my baby bok choy; too concerned that my eight year old would happen into the kitchen and discover that we are not the only creatures of God who devour leafy greens; and too overwhelmed by the sheer number of tiny, happy, munching green worms. So, I tossed the bok choy, opened my freezer, grabbed the nearest green vegetable I could find and went back to finishing my dinner preparations.

What would you do if faced with worms on your fresh produce? Would you toss the produce or use it? Normally I just smile, feel blessed that my produce is not too drenched with pesticides to support life, quickly remove the worms, wash thoroughly and quietly use the vegetable. (I say quietly, because if my darling daughter who has an enormous aversion to worms ever found out that she has eaten a dish of raspberries that had once hosted a large green worm, she would never eat fruits or vegetables again!) Perhaps it seems a little odd to use food that once hosted other life forms, but it’s really quite natural and should be reassuring. Living food which is grown in living soil should not be devoid of insects and we shouldn’t be discouraged from using it. I have seen my share of insects and worms from having handled literally tons of produce every month when we owned a large produce business. What really bothers me is when I examine some really nice produce and find it completely devoid of any evidence of living creatures. Saturating a field with pesticides, fungicides and other chemicals may create a beautiful looking harvest, but is it really healthy? Perhaps a little worm isn’t a bad thing after all!

How to Make your Bread Machine More Useful in Your Kitchen than it is as a Boat Anchor or a Doorstop!

I love my bread machine. I mean it – I really do LOVE it! That may be hard for some of you to believe – but I do. I am amazed at how often I talk to people who have given up on their bread machine and left it our for the garbage men or left it in their garage to collect dust. In our house, there is nothing like a nice warm loaf of fresh bread to fill out our dinner menu or to fill hungry tummies when the main course doesn’t appeal to everyone’s “delicately fine-tuned” taste buds. When I was growing up, there was always a jar of peanut butter and a plate of sliced bread on the table. We always had to try what was prepared, but bread and peanut butter were often what filled our tummies.

I used to make bread by hand – totally by hand. No mixer or food processor or bread machine – simply a big bowl and a large spatula. When we opened our produce store, I knew that homemade, handmade bread was no longer going to be an option. So for Christmas, my wonderful mother-in-law blessed me with a breadmaker. Wow, I thought! No more work, just wonderful bread, made hot and fresh daily! After my first two weeks of trying to produce an edible and attractive loaf of bread, I was ready to toss the breadmaker out with my Salton food dehydrator. (That’s another story for another day!) But, I persevered. I checked out bread books from the library, I visited hundreds of cooking websites, and I started my own science laboratory – all to discover how to have my life made easier with my bread machine. It was not love at first sight. It wasn’t even close. Annulment, divorce or permanent separation was looking like my only option. Thankfully, we made it work.

How? Go to http://www.veg4health.com/Articles/howtomakeyourbreadmachine.html for the rest of the story and my great bread recipe.

The "New" Fat

As Trans-fats are systematically eliminated and outlawed, don’t expect processed foods and take-out to automatically get healthier. There is a new fat on the horizon which is worse than trans-fats. Manufacturers and food outlets love it, but the human body doesn’t. The new fat is call interesterified fat and recent research shows that it lowers insulin levels, raises blood glucose levels and adversely affects HDL levels. The Food and Drug Administration recently ruled that food companies can label products containing these new fats as "high stearate" or "stearic rich" fats, or as "interesterified fats," thus avoiding the politically negative buzz word, "hydrogenated," which is associated with transfats. What’s a person to do? I’m going to continue eating as many fruits and vegetables as I can, as close to how nature made them. I’m also going to continue to be very wary of all processed foods and most anything served at a restaurant which is fried.

Menu Planning 101

Trying to drive to Alaska from Florida without a road map is pretty impossible. Trying to eat healthy without a menu and a plan is pretty impossible also. After a busy day at work or field tripping with my children, I need to be able to come home and prepare dinner without having to think. I need to move quickly and with forethought in order to get a healthy and delicious meal on the table in 30 minutes. If I didn’t take the time earlier in the week to plan our meals, I would be lost and the quality of our food would suffer. Not just the taste, but the healthiness as well. If there was one thing I would strongly recommend it would be to make the time each week to sit down and develop a menu for the week. It doesn’t have to be rigid and inflexible and it doesn’t have to be elaborate. It just needs to take into account your family’s schedule, taste buds and budget.

Healthy eating doesn’t just happen. It does require some planning and forethought, but it doesn’t have to be complicated or boring. Often people ask me, “If you don’t eat eggs, meat or dairy, just what DO you eat?” My response is always the same. “There is not enough days in the year to make all of the delicious foods God’s provided for us.”

Go to http://www.veg4health.com/Articles/menuplanning101.html for 5 easy steps.