Posted by Sylvia on December 31st, 2007 — Posted in Tips
Did you make resolutions for the new year? “Lose weight” has never worked for me and “lose 5 pounds” sort of backfired when I lost 5 and gained 15! So this year, I’ve gone for a different sort of resolution.
Dance more.
Losing weight is a question of changing your lifestyle and there’s no question that I’ve become much more sedentary as time goes on.
I like to boogie when no one can see me although it’s not something I have ever thought of as “exercise”. But why not? I mean, a good track (especially something from my teen years) can have me bouncing all over the room and panting for breath at the end of it.
So I’m making myself a play-list of songs, called BOUNCE, which I’m filling up with tunes that make me want to dance. I was planning to borrow my son’s ipod to play the songs while I’m doing the housekeeping or cooking, although he’s just informed me that dancing to the B52s “Loveshack” while I’m waiting for the kettle to boil is not motherly behaviour, so maybe that’s out. I can always use the laptop, anyway.
Help me out! Recommend songs that are guaranteed to get these toes tapping and I, uh… well, I promise to update Endiet with my dancing escapades. What a deal 
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Posted by Dom on November 21st, 2007 — Posted in Links
With Christmas approaching fast and our American friends celebrating Thanksgiving this week, I thought it might be a good idea to scour the web for some healthy, low fat turkey recipes.
We all tend to have turkey meat left over after Christmas/Thanksgiving, but there’s so much more you can do with it than making sandwiches.
Here’s a few ideas:
That should be enough to get you started!
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Posted by Dom on October 26th, 2007 — Posted in Links
It’s that time of year again and pumpkins are everywhere. But rather than just carve them, why not be a little more creative and actually eat them this year!
Pumpkin is a great source of vitamins and minerals, and as Alanna at A Veggie Venture points out, cooking it couldn’t be simpler. Throw it in the oven.
But if you’re looking for a few more ideas, try these for size:
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Posted by Sylvia on September 27th, 2007 — Posted in Tips
Tis the season to gain weight: traditionally we’d be making the best of the harvest to put on a bit of fat to get us through the winter. That may not be necessary for most of us anymore, but there sure is a glut of good food to choose from. There should be no problem at all getting your 5-a-day servings of fruit and vegetable during this wonderful season.
My favourite food in the whole world is in season right now: mushrooms! I had chanterelles at almost every meal during a recent trip to Germany, if you can find these small wild mushrooms, I highly recommend them. iVillage has posted ‘Shroom 101: The shopper’s guide to mushrooms with three pages of helpful tips and tricks, followed by a set of mushroom recipes. Go get inspired.
And then there is another favourite of mine: artichokes. Steam them gently and then just serve, letting everyone dip the leaves in home-made mayonaisse or just plain melted butter for a good and fun starter.
Fennel is an oft overlooked autumn vegetable: slice it thin and serve it in salads, cut it into chunks and add it to your soups, braise it whole or even roast it alongsie the root vegetables: it’s very versatile and gives a lovely accent to any meal. Squashes are starting to appear which you can roast or mash or even grill. Leeks and onions are in season now too and late season sweet corn is, in my opinion, at its sweetest and juiciest right now. Don’t get the shrink-wrapped stuff, find it fresh, still in the husk. I love to eat this off the barbecue: pull of the husk and remove all the strings, then wrap the cobs back up in the husks and put them on the coals (or under the grill) for 10 minutes. Yum!
My least favourite food is in season this month too, just to balance things out: parsnips. These are commonly roasted and sometimes cut into squares to allow the unsuspecting guest to believe they are roast potato. Cruel practice, and I recommend none of you do such a thing. I’ll concede they aren’t bad in a stew, but that’s all.
This is also a great time to go out and pick your own: blackberries, damnsons, elderberries and greengages are all ready for picking and often you can find them there for the taking in the English countryside.
This is also the time to stock up on apples. Leave them lying around as a tasty and healthy snack. As the weather starts to get a bit chillier you might find yourself inspired to make hot apple pie - especially if you take a look at this American site about making the perfect apple pie.
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Posted by Sylvia on September 4th, 2007 — Posted in Recipes
My boyfriend and his mother suddenly came down with summer colds, coughing and spluttering all around the house. I went off in search of something simple yet filling to offer them for dinner, using various search terms, including “healing”. It was a good search, I ended up on a site I probably would not have paid attention to normally: Karina’s Kitchen - “recipes from a gluten-free goddess.”
No one in our household needs a gluten-free diet but the dish, A Healing Curry, sounded just right: vegetables and garbanzos (chick peas) and lots of broth, just the thing for my unhappy patients. I don’t have a crock pot but cooked it at a very low simmer on the stove, which worked just fine. The only other change I made is to use home-made chicken broth instead of vegan broth, hoping for some more goodness to combat the evil viruses around the house.
The curry was a hit, even my carnivore boyfriend asked for more. And from my point of view, it was great to be able to prep everything in the morning and then just throw in in the pot. I cooked it for just over 3 hours, stirring it now and again during the evening. The next day I reheated it again and it was just as good, so the next time I’ll make a double batch so I have a pot full to freeze.
This was a timely reminder that “restricted diet” doesn’t have to be a dirty word and specialist sites can have some wonderful recipes too. I’ll be spending more time on Karina’s site!
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