Archive for the ‘Health’ Category

Lots of Ways to Cook an Oat

June 21st, 2010

oats-280wMy husband doesn’t really like oatmeal. But, I like it and it’s usually cheap so I make it. Lately, I started getting creative with my oatmeal preparations in the hopes of finding ways to cook it that my husband would like better than the traditional oatmeal gruel. Well, it’s been pretty successful and definitely fun in the process. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far.

First, start off by soaking your oatmeal. Here’s a short helpful article about why it’s important to soak oatmeal. And as a bonus, here’s a wonderful post from one of my favorite bloggers about why boxed cereal isn’t healthy for us and why soaked oatmeal is a better alternative.

Here are the basic directions for soaking oatmeal…
Soaked Oatmeal:

  • 1 cup Oatmeal
  • 1 cup Water
  • 1 Tablespoon whey, yogurt, or Kefir (you can also use vinegar if you have a problem with milk)

Mix everything together and allow it to sit at room temperature for 12-24 hours. NOTE: you can easily double or triple the ingredients for this recipe.

How I make Regular Hot Cereal Oatmeal or Oatmeal Gruel:

  • Soaked Oatmeal
  • Enough water to cover

Place oatmeal in a pan with enough water to cover and simmer until it cooks down to desired thickness.

Baked Oatmeal:

  • 3 cups soaked oatmeal (not cooked yet)
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cups milk
  • 3 Tablespoons cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 Tablespoons maple syrup or unrefined cane sugar/Rapadura
  • a pinch of unrefined sea salt

Optional Add-ins:

  • Nuts or seeds of your choice
  • Dried Unsweetened coconut
  • A mix of dried fruit
  • Fresh fruit – apples, peaches, blueberry’s, cherry’s, or whatever else  you want
  • Ground flaxseed
  • Ground Cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves (or other sweet spices of choice like ground ginger)

Beat eggs a bit and then add in all the other ingredients and mix well. Place all ingredients in a greased baking dish and bake at about 350 degrees F (or just under 200 degrees C) for about 30 minutes or until the top is slightly golden. Serve with a drizzle of maple syrup or honey and some yogurt or cream.

Baked Oatmeal French Toast Style:

Here’s a fun way to reheat baked oatmeal after it’s been in the fridge. Get a frying pan hot and add a little bit of butter or coconut oil. Cut a piece of Baked Oatmeal and sear it in the pan with the butter/oil until its warm and slightly browned on each side. Serve with maple syrup. It’s so yummy!!

Oatmeal Breakfast Cakes:

  • 2 cups cooked oatmeal (you could use soaked oatmeal that hasn’t been cooked yet as well, but I like to make this with the cooked leftovers from another morning)
  • 2-3 eggs
  • ½ cup milk (you could also use cream or buttermilk)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla (optional – but it does add a great flavor)
  • sprinkle of cinnamon (optional – I used nutmeg instead because cinnamon gives me a bad headache, but cinnamon would be really great in these)
  • pinch of salt

Mix all ingredients together and spoon onto a hot frying pan with butter or coconut oil (just like you would for pancakes). Cook until golden brown on both sides. Serve with pure maple syrup, a drizzle of honey, jam, or fresh fruit.

Oatmeal Scramble or Fried Cereal:

Use the recipe for the Oatmeal Breakfast Cakes but instead of spooning cakes onto the pan and cooking them like pancakes, pour some of the batter into a hot frying pan and scramble like you would for eggs. You can take this off the heat when the oatmeal mixture is just slightly golden and the consistency of scrambled eggs or you can cook it until brown and a bit crispy. You can serve it warm or you can spread it out on a paper towel and allow it to cool and drain a bit. You can serve it as a scramble and top it with some maple syrup, or you can serve it as cereal with milk or yogurt (I recommend yogurt) and dried fruit. It’s sort of a weird way to have oatmeal, but I really liked this one.

Soaked Oatmeal Granola:

  • 2 cups soaked oatmeal
  • ¼ to ½ cup coconut oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • ½ cup Unrefined Cane Sugar or maple syrup

Optional Add-ins:

  • Nuts or seeds of your choice
  • Dried Unsweetened coconut
  • A mix of dried fruit
  • Ground flaxseed
  • Ground Cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves (or other sweet spices of choice like ground ginger)

Mix all ingredients together. Spread the mixture out on a cookie sheet and bake at roughly 100 degrees C until it’s dried up and turned a nice golden brown. Allow it to cool and then serve with milk or yogurt. You can also top this with fresh berries for a summer feel.
If none of these ways to cook oatmeal tickle your fancy check out this WONDERFUL recipe for Whole Wheat Sourdough Oatmeal Bread from Sarah at Heartland Renaissance.

Enjoy!


Rejoicing in the journey-
Beth Stedman

This post has been entered in the following carnivals:
 Two for Tuesdays
 Slightly Indulgent Tuesday
 Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
 Tuesdays at the Table
 Tuesday Twister
Delicious Dishes Party
Click on the links and check out all the other GREAT food posts from around the web.

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If you like this post please consider buying me a cup of tea (Suggested: $3 a cup)



Sugar Part IV: Natural Ways to Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth

June 18th, 2010

This post is part of my series on sugar. You can find the other blogs in this series here:
Sugar Part I: High Fructose Corn Syrup
Sugar Part II: The Problem with Artificial Sweeteners
Sugar Part III: Refined White Sugar

Alright, so here’s the post all of us sugar fiends have been waiting for. If we shouldn’t have HFCS, or artificial sweeteners, or refined white sugar, what can we have? Well, here’s the list. I broke it down with a little info about each one.

Before we jump in though, it is important to note that even these natural sugars can be overdone and end up being detrimental to our health. These sweeteners are still sugar sources and sugar isn’t really good for us. The great thing about these sweeteners is that they contain vitamins and minerals that ARE good for us. So, enjoy them without guilt, but enjoy them in moderation (something I’m personally still working on… so, trust me, we are all in this boat together!)

Better Ways to Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth:

Honey:

This one is obvious and for me it was the one I was most comfortable with when I first started looking into natural sweeteners. But, as I’ve looked into natural sweeteners and honey more I’ve learned that not all honey is created equal. Honey carries the flavors and nuances of the flowers used to make it. This is a wonderful thing about honey as it can vary quite a lot in taste and different tasting honeys work well in different types of dishes. I also learned that darker honeys are higher in antioxidants than lighter colored honeys which is good to note as you are choosing which honey to buy.

The most significant thing I learned though is that in order for honey to be truly healthy it SHOULD NOT BE HEATED. Most store bought honeys in America are processed and pasteurized. This destroys the enzymes which give honey it’s most significant health benefits. According to Ayurveda (an ancient science of health and medicine which originated in India) honey even becomes toxic when heated. I’ve never seen a study done by modern science which proved the toxicity of heated honey, but I tend to think that doesn’t mean that this ancient belief isn’t accurate. Either way, honey DOES loose important enzymes when heated, thus losing some of its health benefits over other natural sweeteners.

The take away from this is that it’s best to by RAW honey. Honey that has not been heated over 117 degrees F. Raw honey is the healthiest form of honey for you and is packed full of amylases http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amylase and other helpful enzymes. When cooking it’s a good idea to also avoid heating honey as much as possible and especially avoid using it in high heat cooking.

As for substituting honey in recipes:

1 cup sugar = roughly ½ cup honey (reduce the liquid in the recipe by ¼ cup)

Maple Syrup:

Maple Syrup is another natural sweetener that many of us in the states are very comfortable with. And it is a great substitute for sugar because it’s full of healthy minerals which many of us don’t get enough of in our normal diets – minerals like zinc and manganese. But, again, not all maple syrup is created equal. Many of the maple syrups you find in stores aren’t really maple syrup at all – they are just artificial maple flavored substitutes. So, the first thing to look for is pure 100% maple syrup.

The other concern I learned about is that some maple syrups are processed with formaldehyde and other toxic chemicals. In the US it is now illegal to use formaldehyde in processing, but other processing concerns have yet to be addressed. Organic maple syrups are held to a higher standard, though, making this a good example of when it’s worth buying organic.

1 cup sugar = between ½ and ¾ cup Maple Syrup (reduce the liquid in the recipe by ¼ cup)

Maple Sugar:

This sugar is made by evaporating the liquid out of maple syrup. I haven’t tried it, but it’s supposed to have a very nice maple flavor without being quite as strong as unrefined cane sugar. It is, however, pricey (which is why I haven’t tried it!). So, if you can afford it and want to check it out, go for it! If not then there are lots of other options.

1 cup sugar = roughly 1 cup maple sugar

Rapadura/Sucanat (Unrefined Cane Sugar):

Rapadura and Sucanat seem to be essentially the same thing although there may be slight differences in the processing. From what I could learn Sucanat is the brand name that first sold whole, unrefined cane sugar in the US. That’s basically what these two sweeteners are –unrefined cane sugar. There are a lot of other unrefined cane sugars on the market, but these two seem to be the least processed.

Here’s what Heidi at 101 Cookbooks says about choosing a cane sugar:

“I generally look for cane sugars that are moist and similar in appearance to brown sugar with a fine grain echoing the size of standard white sugar grains. More often than not they’ll have some combination of the following words on the packaging: natural, raw, unrefined, whole, and/or unbleached.”

One of the great things about these sugars is that they are fairly easy to use and substitute.

1 cup sugar = a little less than 1 cup unrefined cane sugar

Turbinado and Raw Sugar:

Ok, so these sugars are better than white sugar, but basically not as good as unrefined cane sugars like Rapadura and Sucanat. The reason being, that they still undergo quite a lot of processing. Oh, and they are not really “raw”. They do contain more nutrients than white sugar though and are a better choice than refined white sugar. Although if you are going to use a natural sweetener instead of white sugar I would say, why not go all the way and use rapadura or some other higher nutrient sweetener.

1 cup sugar = 1 cup Turbinado/raw sugar

Molasses:

Molasses is a byproduct of making white sugar. It contains most of the vitamins, minerals and nutrients that are removed from the sugar during processing. It is particularly rich in iron. Molasses has a strong, concentrated robust flavor, which can add depth to many baked goods.

An interesting thing to note about Molasses is that it comes in different grades depending on which boiling of the sugarcane it comes from (first, second, third, or fourth). Blackstrap Molasses is from the last boiling and is thus very concentrated in flavor and nutrients. It’s worth it to buy organic when buying blackstrap molasses because of how concentrated it is.

1 cup sugar = 1 and 1/3 cup molasses (reduce the liquid in the recipe by 5 Tablespoons)

Sorghum:

This is syrup made from sorghum grains. It is very similar to molasses and is in fact called molasses or sorghum molasses in some parts of the U.S. Like molasses it’s a good source of iron, calcium and potassium. Also like molasses there are different types and grades of sorghum, varying in color and flavor from light to dark. It can be a great substitute for corn syrup.

1 cup sugar = 1 and 1/3 cup sorghum syrup (reduce the liquid in the recipe by 1/3 cup)

Coconut Sugar/Palm Sugar:

Coconut sugar is a sweetener made from the coconut flower. Palm sugar is made from the palm flower. These two sugars are often used interchangeably – sometimes a sugar made from the coconut flower will be called palm sugar for example. You can get it in dry blocks, as a paste, or in granulated form. The flavor can vary a bit depending on the process used to make it and the form it is in. Generally it has a lighter flavor than cane sugar and other stronger sweeteners.

Coconut sugar is full of minerals and nutrients and most significantly it has a low glycemic index. So, it might be an acceptable sugar for diabetics. You can read more about the glycemic index of coconut sugar and the minerals it contains here.

I couldn’t find a conversion for how much coconut sugar should be used in place of white sugar. I would probably guess it’s about a 1:1 ratio but I have no idea really. Does anyone else know??

Stevia:

This sweetener has been widely used in Japan for the past 30 years and seems to be gaining some attention in the US now as well. Although it’s availability is currently restricted in the US. It is really an herb and you can just use the ground dried leafs, but you can also get it as an extract. Supposedly, it can have a bit of an herby taste.

The great thing about stevia is that it is very low in calories and does not negatively affect blood glucose like sugar does. It’s even said to have various health benefits – for example reducing high blood pressure and aiding in weight control. The extracts can be up to 300 times sweeter than white sugar, so a little bit goes a long way.

Because stevia comes in a variety of different forms I’m going to just direct you to this chart for conversion information.

Agave:

Ok, this one has some controversy around it. I have never used Agave syrup, but I was definitely familiar with it and thought of it as a healthy natural sweetener. I’m realizing lately that might not be the case. Since many people have written very detailed and helpful articles on this topic already I’m going to just direct you to them to learn more about Agave syrup:

Date Sugar:

Ok, this isn’t really a sugar at all, it’s just a dried fruit. It is made by grinding dehydrated dates. It contains all of the nutrients, vitamins and minerals of the fruit itself. To me this seems like the purest, most unprocessed choice for a natural sweetener. It has a sweet rich flavor, but it isn’t always a good substitute for sugar because it clumps and doesn’t melt. It’s also expensive, so…

1 cup sugar = roughly 1 cup date sugar

Fruit:

Ok, if you want the healthiest way to satisfy your sweet tooth this is probably it. Have an apple, a pear, some fresh berries, a peach, plum, tangerine, orange, banana… Oh, the list of yummy sweet fruity goodness goes on and on. You can use fruits to sweeten recipes or just eat them on their own. Bake or dehydrate them to intensify their flavor and sweetness.
The above list of natural sweeteners is of course not a complete list of natural sweeteners, but hopefully it gives you a start and introduces you to the wide variety of sweet flavors available.

If you want to try using a natural sugar, here are some recipes to get you started:

HONEY:
Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream
Honey Hibiscus Lemonade
Baked Custard

MAPLE SYRUP:
Parsnip Dumplings with Maple-Balsamic Sauce
Maple Syrup Scones
Nikki’s Sweet Potatoes

RAPADURA:
Not Your Typical Macaroon Cookies
Apple Banana Muffins/Cupcakes
Gluten Free Almond Cookies

TURBINADO:
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Lactation Cookies
Sparkling Ginger Chip Cookies
Blackberry Limeade Recipe

MOLASSES:
Molasses Custard
Old Fashioned Gluten Free Gingerbread
Old-Fashioned Blueberry Cake

SORGHUM:
Blender Gingerbread Pancakes
Sorghum Pecan Pie
Baked Apples

COCONUT/PALM SUGAR:
Yellow Plum Sorbet
Pumpkin & Coconut Pie (Gluten Free, Dairy Free)
Coconut and Raw Cacao Pudding

STEVIA:
Blackberry Kefir Smoothie
Lady Apple, Grapefruit and Crème Fraiche Salad
Better Barbeque Sauce

AGAVE:
Gluten Free, Sugar Free Almond Butter Cookies
Red Quinoa Bread
Amazing Black Bean Brownies

DATE SUGAR:
Purple Sticky Rice Tart
Gluten Free Spice Muffins
Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Tart

PS – None of these recipes are from me, so check out the great sites they come from and take a look around while you’re there.

Well, I hope this post is helpful for all of you who love your sweets as much as I do. If you are interested in some further reading on this topic, see the list bellow.

Today may you find true deep satisfaction from the sweetest things in life – a child’s laughter, a shared kiss, the hug of a friend, and whatever else makes you smile the sweetest of smiles.

Rejoicing in the journey -
Beth Stedman

Further Reading and References:

This post has been entered in the following blog carnivals:
Wholesome Whole Foods
Friday Food
Food on Fridays
Fight Back Friday June 18th
Vegetarian Foodie Fridays
Please visit these great links to find LOTS of other blogs all about food.

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Two for Tuesday AWARD Ceremony

June 17th, 2010

I led some beautiful women in yoga again today. We did a variation on this routine. It’s a yoga routine to the Psalms of Ascent. Check it out if you that’s something you’re interested in.

OK, now on to some FUN.

I finally got a chance to read all of the wonderful Two for Tuesday links posted so far (the linky is still open so if you are still interested in participating go HERE and add your real food blog post). We had so many people participate already!! I was blown away! And a little overwhelmed. But, It was so much fun to read through these posts and meet so many new bloggers. I can’t wait for next week.

So, as I was reading I thought it would be fun to do a little Award Ceremony here at the blog – maybe I’ll even make it a weekly tradition.

So, now, please, allow me to roll out the red carpet, turn on the bright lights and introduce you to my own personal stars from this week’s Two for Tuesdays Blog Hop.

“The Recipe I am most likely to make THIS WEEK” Award:

Sourdough Pockets… at Real Food For Less Money

“The recipe I think my husband would most enjoy” Award:

Fully Dressed Scones… at Etherwork.net

“The recipe I love, but I’m most intimidated by” Award:

Steak Tartare… at A Cook’s Library

“The recipe I would most like to modify and play with” Award (for example making it with soaked flour or natural sugar, or substituting one ingredient for another because of allergies):

Danish with Lemon Ricotta Filling and Kumkwat Jelly… at Cooking for My Peace of Mind

“The post that made me laugh the most” Award:

Strawberry Shortcakes with Balsamic and Black Pepper Syrup… at Eats Well With Others

“The Ingredient I’ve Never Used Before” Award:

Agua de Tamarindo… at girlichef

“My favorite Pictures” Award:

Do These Tacos Make my Butt Look Big??… at Sweet Life

“My favorite Summer Time Recipe” Award:

Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream… by Heartland Renaissance

“My all around personal Favorite” Award:

Sausage and Swiss Stuffed French Toast… at Food Renegade

There were SO many more wonderful recipes contributed this week. So, please go check out all the others, HERE. With Lobster Rolls, a Banana Date Shake, Moroccan Pea Soup, and so many other wonderful recipes contributed you really won’t be disappointed.

Hope you all enjoy this weeks Two for Tuesday as much as I did. Join us next week and maybe your blog will win one of my awards. Oh, and just to keep you on your toes the awards may be totally different next week… hehe. ENJOY!

Rejoicing in the journey-
Beth Stedman

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Onion and Rice Noodle Soup

June 16th, 2010

Side Note: Two for Tuesdays was a great success yesterday! We’ve had 45 people participate so far! Check out the links for lots of great recipes and if you haven’t added your post yet, the linky is still open, so feel free to join in!

I used to eat a lot of Top Ramen in college. I know now how horrible it was for my health, but at the time I had no money and no time and Top Ramen was super cheap and easy. It has now been years since I had Top Ramen, but sometimes it still sounds good to me. This soup doesn’t really taste like Top Ramen, but when I’m craving some Top Ramen this is the soup I make. It’s really pretty simple and easy, it’s definitely cheap. It just tastes warm, and comforting, and hits the spot when I want a broth and noodle soup.

Ingredients:

Bone Broth (I use homemade chicken broth – it isn’t hard to do and it’s cheaper and better for us than buying store bought chicken broth)
2-3 Onions
2-3 cloves of Garlic
Mushrooms (I used maybe 12 mushrooms)
1 package long, thin rice noodles
Green Onions for topping

Place onions, garlic and mushrooms in a large pot and sauté them in a little bit of butter (or coconut oil) until soft. Add as much Chicken broth as you desire – more broth will make it soupier, less broth will make it more like a noodle dish. Simmer for maybe 10 minutes or so and then add the rice noodles and cook them for however long the package says they need. Serve sprinkled with green onions. That’s it! Maybe not as easy as Top Ramen, but still super simple!

Rejoicing in the journey -
Beth Stedman

This post has been entered in Real Food Wednesdays blog carnival. So, go say hello to Kelly The Kitchen Cop and check out all the other Real Food Wednesday links.

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The Two for Tuesdays Blog Hop is Here!

June 14th, 2010

twofortuesdaysTwo for Tuesday Blog Hop starts today! I’m so excited and I hope you are too! I can’t wait to read all of the wonderful food posts you all will share! If you missed yesterdays post about this exciting new blog hope check it out. You can learn more about Two for Tuesdays from my fellow hosts:

Alex at a Moderate Life
Heather at girlichef
Michelle at Health Food Lover

Here’s a quick review of how to play along with us:

  1. Write a post having to do with real food.
  2. In your post, add a link back to THIS PAGE (or any of my fellow blog hosts Two for Tuesday posts for this week) and add one of the badges below (if you want).

    3. BethStedman.com

    24TbadgeBethStedman

  3. Add URL for your POST (not your blog home page) to the list using the Linky bellow (or the Linky on Alex, Heather, or Michelle’s site).
  4. Leave a comment too and let us know what you are contributing this week.
  5. Hop around and enjoy all the great content gathered in one place!!

Alright, on your, mark, get set… LINK, LINK, LINK!!

Here’s my contribution to today’s Two for Tuesdays: Stuffed Bell Peppers and/or Stuffed Zucchini

These two meals have been staples for us over the past few years. They are what I cook when I just don’t know what else to make for dinner. This is a super easy recipe that doesn’t require a lot of thought. It’s simple and warm and yummy.

You can easily make it more interesting, by adding various seasonings to it, chopping in some green onions, or tomato, or add a little freshness by shredding some carrot and celery root and other veggies into it. Really this recipe tastes great on its own and I often make it without adding anything, but it’s also a great base recipe if you want to play around and get creative. Enjoy!

Ingredients for the Stuffing:

  • Ground Meat (1 package)
  • Cooked Rice (I use maybe 2-3 cups or so – sometimes more sometimes less) (NOTE: you could also use quinoa, or another grain in place of the rice if you want)
  • Onion (I use 1-2 onions)
  • Garlic (I use 2-4 cloves)
  • Salt and Pepper to taste

Sauté the meat, onion and garlic until the meat is cooked. Mix the ground meat mixture with the cooked rice. Add a bit of unrefined sea salt and pepper.

For Stuffed Bell Peppers:

Cut the top off of the bell peppers and take out the seeds. Stuff enough of the ground meat and rice into each of the peppers to completely fill them. Place standing up in a baking dish and put in an oven preheated to about 350 degrees F. Cook for about 20 minutes or until the bell peppers start to soften. Remove them from the oven and top them with fresh mozzarella cheese. Place them back in the oven until the mozzarella has melted. Serve warm with a side salad.

For Stuffed Zucchini:

Open up the zucchini by cutting it in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and a bit of the middle section. Drizzle with olive oil and place in an oven preheated to about 350 degrees F for roughly 15-20 minutes. Then stuff the hollowed out middle section with the meat and rice mixture and place back in the oven for about 15-20 minutes. Once the zucchini is very soft top with mozzarella cheese and place back in the oven long enough for the mozzarella to melt. NOTE: You do not have to pre-cook the zucchini before adding the filling, but we like our zucchini really soft so I usually do.

Rejoicing in the journey -
Beth Stedman

This post has been entered in the following carnivals:
Two for Tuesdays
Slightly Indulgent Tuesday
Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
Tuesdays at the Table
Tuesday Twister
Click on the links and check out all the other GREAT food posts from around the web.

And, of course, LINK UP to Two for Tuesdays!

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If you like this post please consider buying me a cup of tea (Suggested: $3 a cup)