It’s that time of year again when we think about how to show our love to family, friends and community. Gifts don’t necessarily come wrapped in a little box to make a big difference. Consider some of these options:
How to Upgrade Your Breakfast
Breakfast is a challenging meal for many people and often gets less priority in busy mornings while rushing out the door for work or school. Luckily, a nutritious breakfast can be easy, and help us get in the habit of including nutrient-dense foods at every meal. Listed below are a few tips to help set you up for a delicious day.
Peach Melon Gazpacho
Local, tree ripened peaches are one of my favorite foods. In the late mid-western summer, they happen to be bountiful along with sweet melons and mellow cucumbers. These beauties are easy to pick up at your local farmer’s market or grocery. One benefit of deliberately eating locally and seasonally is that you are more likely to eat a wide variety of foods resulting in a greater diversity of phytonutrients vital for health and chronic disease prevention. The shorter the distance food needs to travel to reach you, the fresher and more flavorful it will be.
I hope you enjoy this recipe that combines the best of late summer fruits.
Tips to Make Your Holiday Cookies More Wholesome
Enjoying Bitter Greens: Promote Digestion and Gain Nutrients
As Americans we are sugar-addicted and bitter-phobic, but many cultures embrace bitter flavors. They are packed with vitamins A, C, K and minerals like calcium, potassium and magnesium. They are also great sources of folate and fiber. Adding bitter greens to your diet can be simple. Arugula, endive, broccoli rabe, swiss chard, dandelion greens, escarole, frisée, kale, mizuna, mustard greens, beet greens, radicchio, and watercress can all be found seasonally in the produce section of most local groceries.
Modern Edamame Succotash
Succotash is a classic culinary dish often made with lima beans and sweet corn. While I enjoy the traditional dish, I’ve given this recipe a model twist by incorporating shelled edamame in place of the lima beans and creamy ripe avocado instead of the traditional butter or lard. The result is a nutrient-dense, flavor-packed salad that is perfect for your summer picnic.
Grilled Tuna with Marinated Artichokes
5-day Winter Menu
Did you make a new year’s resolutions this year? I’m a fan of setting monthly goals instead of grandiose resolutions. If meal planning is not something you routinely do, I encourage you to consider it as a way to improve both the quality and nutrition of your meals, but also to help relieve some of the stress of making dinner throughout the week. Planning meals in advance prevents the daily challenge of answering “what’s for dinner” and also allows for fewer last-minute trips to the grocery. (This will hopefully give you a few “found” minutes for extra self-care— another worthy goal). On each Sunday, I faithfully make a meal plan for every dinner in the upcoming week. I can then fill my online shopping cart and pickup groceries on Monday mornings because this works best for my schedule. Now I will share what kind of meals make it to my planner.
Preserved Lemons
Preserved lemons require only two ingredients, lemon and salt, but together pack a tangy and bright acidic punch for your meal. This secret trick to enhancing salad dressings, dips and marinades is rich in probiotics and vitamin C, both of which can help support your immune system. You can use preserved lemons in any recipe that you would use fresh lemons. Delicious!
Relish Health Gift Guide 2020
Seasonal Agrodolce Sauce
I’ve felt inspired by the gorgeous fruit in the market recently. The plums, peaches and pluots have vibrant color and sweetness that I find especially appealing. “Agrodolce” is a traditional sweet and sour sauce in Italian cuisine. I taught this recipe in a recent cooking class. It is easy to prepare yet makes a dramatic and elegant statement. The recipe captures the flavor of the fruit to make a savory accompaniment to a variety of dishes including fish like salmon or halibut, poultry, pork or even roasted veggies like squash or cauliflower.
Back to School Breakfasts
The start of the school year means that many of us are getting back to familiar routines that may have become lax in the summer (or during quarantine). For those of us with school age children, late summer is a natural time to reset some of our habits for the upcoming year. Switching up your breakfast is an easy opportunity to increase your energy, control your cravings, encourage mental focus and potentially lose weight. These are benefits that can be enjoyed by the whole family regardless of age. If you are currently skipping breakfast or not having a healthy breakfast, consider prioritizing this meal for a month and note how you feel.
Is Bone Broth Worth The Hype?
Bone broth is a popular wellness product. The purported health benefits include being a rich source of collagen, amino acids and minerals with anti-inflammatory properties. The nutrients are extracted from the bones through a long cooking process that sometimes includes adding acid (vinegar) to the simmering stock. This is the “recipe” I follow.
Decadent German Chocolate Chia Pudding
I’ve had some extra time to be creative during COVID quarantine. Breakfasts have become slow family affairs which has been a fun time to experiment with new recipes. Chia pudding is a simple make-ahead option that is in our normal repertoire. This week I decided to make it more exciting with a decedent sauce made from whole, nourishing ingredients. Beyond breakfast, this recipe is delicious enough to be dessert!
Dairy Free, Egg free Indulgent Eggnog
Dairy-free eggnog... it’s that time of year when one of my favorite drinks is available. While you can certainly add bourbon or rum, and enjoy this classic drink by the fire; my preference is to enjoy it without the alcohol. It can be an afternoon treat, a dessert, or sometimes I add a splash in my morning coffee. Whenever I see dairy-free eggnog at my grocery I indulge because that limited time label means “buy now because you won’t see it again this season.” Last year I bought a carton before Thanksgiving and never saw it at the grocery again. In case you missed the eggnog already, I have an easy recipe below to put on repeat for the season.
How to replace butter when baking
Dairy is a delicious and nutrient-dense food, however not everyone can tolerate digesting it. Scientists estimate that 75% of the world’s population is lactose intolerant. Many other people have a sensitivity or allergy to the protein in milk and find their health is better when dairy is left out of their daily diet.
Replacing dairy milk with a nut milk and foregoing cheese are straightforward solutions to going dairy-free. However, converting a baking recipe with butter to a non-dairy alternative can be challenging. I’ve listed a few tips below to help you convert your favorite recipes with success.
Relish Health Gift Guide 2019
Happy Holidays from our home to yours! The season of gift-giving is officially here, and few things are sweeter to me than finding the perfect gifts for loved ones - gifts that make them feel known and loved. I’ve pulled together some of my favorite health-enhancing gift ideas, and hope this guide gives inspiration, relieves shopping frenzy, and enables you and your loved ones to savor the season.
Chocolate Strawberry Granola
Prepare yourself for sugar season
Halloween marks the official start of sugar season. All of the candy from trick-or-treating gets us primed for the sugar feasting that often accompanies the holidays. Of course, a little sugar is a fun indulgence and makes life… sweeter, but with all of the upcoming office parties, happy hours and family feasts it is easy for our consumption to get out of hand. Understanding sugar and its impacts on your body can be a powerful tool in controlling your health, your weight, and your mood throughout the entire year.
Below is a list of suggestions that can help you minimize added sugar in your diet.
Roasted Vegetable Tagine with Apricot Chutney and Chermoula
Diet trends come and go, but having a diet rich in vegetables has always been recognized for its ability to promote health. Getting a variety of vegetables in your diet each day should be a priority for everyone.
This recipe involves two sauces that add dramatic flavor to the veggies. They are easy to make and definitely worth the time investment. Each recipe makes a large quantity that can be frozen in portions for future use to make quick gourmet quality dinners with minimal time and effort.