Foods High In Iron

Leftovers can be recreated into something special! I was in a hurry and used three leftovers to create a quick and tasty quinoa salad. I found out that tossed salad, leftover cooked quinoa , and homemade lemon dressing taste great together. Sometimes you discover something by accident that turns out to really work well !   That's what happened to me today. I had leftover salad from last night's dinner, leftover bold lemon salad dressing, and leftover red quinoa. I was looking for a quick, yet healthy lunch and decided to combine all three of them together in one bowl. I mixed, ate, and really enjoyed!  My creation tasted great, involved no prep, and was satisfying!   What more could I ask for? Although this salad is a simple idea, it's gluten free, vegan, and nutritious! There's not much more to say! All you need is 1/4 cup of leftover red quinoa per serving, a cup or two of any salad per serving, and a tablespoon of any homemade salad dressing! ( scroll down for 8 home

There is something very special about this bold lemon salad dressing. It is made using the entire lemon including the entire lemon peel. The peel really gives it a kick!! It is a refreshingly flavorful dressing that adds a powerful citrusy zing to any salad, vegetable, or rice dish. In our house, we like this tangy dressing on everything. Blended with olive oil, fresh mint, basil, parsley, red onion and the whole lemon, this sensational dressing has a classic Mediterranean flavor. Interestingly, I recently discovered that the peel of the lemon is extremely rich in nutrients and antioxidants, even more so than the just the juice of the lemon. What a shame that we normally discard the peel when it has so much to offer! But not in this recipe. We use the entire peel ( I use an organic lemon) and it is absolutely delicious, gluten free, and vegan. How I found out about the nutritional and medicinal value of the lemon peel Lemon Essential Oil: When I became a Young Living Essential oil dis

There is no better time to make flavorful salads than during the summer when the produce is ripe off the vine, juicy, and plentiful. I like to use tomatoes in the summer as the base of my salads instead of lettuce.  I had company last night, and I made this amazing summer salad! I used most of the veggies that I received from my CSA this week:  tomatoes, cucumbers, fennel, cabbage, celery, red onion, fresh basil, fresh mint, plus I added some sliced black olives and thick slices of avocado sprinkled with cumin. The salad was pretty to look at and absolutely delicious to eat. If you want to make a meal out of it, you can add in a some chickpeas! Too hot to even eat outdoors I made this salad in the morning, covered it well and didn't dress it until we came to the dinner table. It was 97 very hot and humid degrees today and remained about 88 and humid even into the evening! Way too hot to heat up the house ; Way too hot to eat on the deck. This cold salad with my powerful tangy citru

According to Dr. Sarah Hallberg of Indiana and Dr. Jason Fung of Cananda,  who are both diabetic medical doctors, Type 2 Diabetes can be reversed. These Board Certified medical doctors ( and many other doctors)  are able to take people off of insulin and medication using a different approach to eating and self care. Too many people that I know are either pre-diabetic or have been diagnosed with full blown diabetes. The abundance and quality of American food is literally making people overweight and sick. Statistics indicate that diseases like diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure on the rise to astronomical numbers in the US, despite our sophisticated medical information and medical care. One area that seems to always be in controversy is diet- the food we eat. What is the best way to eat? Does what, when, and how much we eat make a difference?  Those of us who buy gluten free breads, pizza, cookies, cakes, crackers, cereal, etc. need to be particularly interested. Just because

Tortilla soup is one of my favorites!  Whenever I go to Cancun, Mexico on vacation, I am jealous of everyone eating and raving about the tortilla soup. It always looks so good, but it is made with chicken and chicken broth, and I am a vegetarian. I've searched for a vegetarian tortilla recipe, but have never really found one I liked until today. Today, I found a good recipe on    A Year of Slow Cooking    that looks just like the soup in Mexico and guess what? It's made in the crock pot! Does it get any better than that? Yes, it's gluten free, vegan, and made from real food ingredients. I knew I was going to like this one.  I love the ease of crock pot recipes and that everything is in one pot and there is so little mess. I also love that once the ingredients are assembled and in the slow cooker, I can walk out of the kitchen and do other things. The timer calls me when dinner is ready!  Although this recipe uses a 6 quart slow cooker, I'm sure you could make it on th

This is a tasty way to serve cauliflower. I never thought I would be making an authentic Indian cuisine recipe.  Cauliflower Aloo Gabi is a flavorful vegan side dish that is both beautiful to look at and outrageously delicious. Indian spices are rich and pungent adding quality nutritive value to this great side dish! ( Did you know that spices are high in antioxidants and nutrients?) I've never made Indian cuisine before. As much as I love it, I've only eaten Aloo Gobi in an Indian restaurant. Did I mention that this recipe is also gluten and grain free, making it perfect for my gluten free diet. Yes, it is real food, just the way I like it. Easy Easy Easy-    Can you steam and saute? That's all you have to do. The most difficult part of this recipe was getting the spices. I always have turmeric and cumin in the house, and last year I invested in garam masala ( which is a combination of cumin, cardamom, coriander, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg- I keep it in the

Got yellow summer squash? Try this easy recipe that can be made into a quick summer soup or a delicious summer salad! Today I received 5 pounds of golden yellow summer squash from my CSA. In addition, I received 3 pounds of carrots, two different kinds of lettuces, chard, 2 pounds of string beans, a pint of raspberries, lots of cucumbers, 2 eggplants, scallions, etc. When you belong to a CSA you need to be ready to prep, cook, and freeze on the day you bring everything home. Otherwise, you run the risk of the vegetables deteriorating! I love the simplicity of fresh vegetables right from the farm. They taste so good that they very little seasoning. From the Farm Add caption I decided to cook the carrots and squash together in a large sauté with some onions.  I then divided the sauté in half and made two different recipes from that one sauté.  Of course both recipes are gluten free and vegan. Recipe 1 : Yellow Squash Quinoa Salad ( eaten hot or cold as a quinoa salad) Recipe 2: Quick Y

Does Your Home Need to Detox?  Did you ever notice that every home has "it's unique aroma" that  greets you and your guests when they enter your front door. It's the odors from the food we cook, the pets we have, the bathrooms, our cleaning products etc.-   If you are using store bought cleaning products ( and who isn't?)  to clean your house or get rid of odors,  these products are probably   the most toxic items in your home. These toxic cleaning products may be  affecting you and your family members and you may not even know it.  After getting a strong whiff of a strong bathroom cleaner I was using, I realized that it couldn't be good to be inhaling it. I started to look for better alternatives. Does it Matter? Yes! Cleaning Products are labeled"Caution, Warning, or Poison" because they contain harsh chemical and toxins that we don't want to be exposed to! Toxins may be inhaled into our lungs, our children's lungs and our pet's lungs T