Foods High In Iron

Do you want to eat more cruciferous vegetables and add low calorie soups to your diet ? So do I- This low calorie and delicious easy to make soup will fill you up while helping you lose weight! It was a cold Halloween night, so I made a fast and easy seasonal soup to keep us warm! For some reason, despite it being 75 degrees the day before, we experienced another cold Halloween. It was only 44 chilly degrees for the little ones to do their trick or treating. It's always been my custom to make soup for dinner on Halloween . I feel a big bowl of piping hot soup hits the spot before venturing out in the cold. My soup this year, was created from vegetables that I received from my organic CSA: Chinese cabbage, cauliflower, onion and fresh dill for the garnish. I blended in some white beans to give the soup some heartiness and at the same time make it creamy. My good friend and fabulous cook , Laura, who co-authored   Food No Matter What!  was visiting while I was making this soup. At he

Halloween is definitely the season for too much candy and an overload of sugar. No matter how hard we try we just can't seem to avoid it. There are some things you can do. If you are having a party at home or at school, why not focus on some Halloween type snacks that are good for you and fun too! These ideas are gluten free/ grain free and can be made vegan.  I was visiting my friend Gail and she served this adorable vegetable dip with cup up vegetables. Everyone oohed and ahhed at her easy and clever display that was totally sugar free and healthy. This could be done with humus, dip, or even guacamole. You could use any kind of cut up veggies and any color pepper. Gail used toothpicks to hold the olives in place for the eyes and nose. Gail also served these adorable bananas made into ghosts and these little tangerines made into pumpkins with just a piece of celery for the stem. She used dark chocolate chips for the eyes. She said she just pressed them in and they stuck. Along wit

It seems that everyone is drinking green smoothies. But why and why do I call green smoothies a miracle smoothie? There are basically 4 reasons.  1.  They are fast and easy to make. 2.  They are packed with nutrients, enzymes, and taste great. 3.  They help energize, rejuvenate, and heal 4. They work great for weight loss With most people's hectic busy schedules, they can begin to rely on what can be made quickly- that often translates to prepared food that they pick up on the way home for dinner. But not in this case- you can prepare an enzyme rich, alkaline, nutrient dense, antioxidant superfood smoothies in minutes.  They taste great and are filling. You can drink one for a meal or a snack. If you are looking for a powerful green smoothie that both energizes and stabilizes blood sugar,  look no further. This great tasting " miracle" smoothie is the perfect way to start your day. It is made from a variety of greens in an almond milk base. Do you ever feel stressed, over

Tis the season to be experimenting with a variety of butternut squash recipe s. One of my favorites is this medley of roasted butternut squash cubes,  pecans, and dried cranberries in a maple syrup sauce that are dusted with cinnamon and vanilla. Can you imagine??? There is something about pecans that I just love, especially when they are added to a casserole. The pecans in this dish are candied, which adds a extra sweetness to the entire dish. Paired with the tart cranberries and lots of cinnamon, the flavors are heavenly.  This could be a perfect recipe for Thanksgiving since it tastes as good at room temperature as it does out of the oven. My good friend Laura always reminds me that dishes that can be eaten at room temperature work best for entertaining since it frees up the host and the oven.  I know the holiday is still six weeks away, but it's good to start planning in advance.  This recipe was given to me by My daughter -in- law Wendy  who does a lot with roasted butternut

I love making easy seasonal soups that are both tasty and healthy. In this recipe cauliflower and kale, two cruciferous vegetables, team up with coconut milk to make a mild creamy fall soup just in time for the cooler damper weather. I adore soup and can't think of a better way to make sure I get my fill of antioxidant rich vegetables. In addition, this vegan soup has sauteed garlic, onions and turmeric , goes a long way, and is deliciously satisfying. Despite that the four vegetables are very bold flavored vegetables, the soup actually tastes mild and pleasant . It's a great way to include more dark greens into your diet, especially for picky family members who will not actually detect the taste of the kale in the soup. This time of the year, I don't mind turning on the oven to bring a little extra warmth into the house. This recipe calls for roasting a cut up head of cauliflower, which takes about 45 minutes .  Then the roasted vegetable is added to the soup pot where the

Sorrel is a leafy green that looks similar to spinach but has a powerful lemony flavor. It can be cooked and eaten like spinach or made into a soup. Either way, sorrel is tangy and delicious.  This recipe for homemade sorrel soup, or "Schav" as my Russian grandmother called it, is a simple family recipe that my grandmother made in the old country. I never thought that I would actually ever make Schav despite that my grandmother, mother, and father ate it regularly when I was growing up. I never even tried it as a child. My family ate two versions: a chilled schav or warm schav. Since it's fall, I sharing the hot version. Guess what I received at my CSA today ! You got it- close to a pound of  sorrel leaves! When I first noticed the sign saying sorrel leaves at my CSA, something clicked. I remembered them from my grandmother's soup.  So today, I made my own schav for the first time using my grandmother's recipe with the sorrel leaves, potatoes, and leeks from my

Almonds are a high energy food that are rich in minerals, fiber, and protein. They can help regulate blood sugar, provide energy, and are a healthy snack. However, you can receive the most benefit from almonds when you soak them overnight and then peel them. Soaked almonds are much more digestible and absorbable, contain more enzymes, and are easier to chew than regular almonds- turning them into a superfood! Many years ago when I was suffering from low blood sugar and adrenal exhaustion, I consulted an Ayurvedic doctor. I was very run down and was having difficulty regulating my blood sugar and energy levels. In addition to some other very helpful suggestions, the doctor  recommended that I start my day with two easily digestible super foods: soaked almonds and soaked dates in milk He explained that according to Ayurveda ( an ancient holistic healing system from India that believes in the balance of mind and body)  almonds should always be soaked before eating them. Apparently the sk

T F Got leeks and don't know what to do with them? Make these fabulous Sephardic leek patties.  If you are a reader of my blog, you may have remember that my husband is from the Middle East, and that some of their Jewish holiday customs differ from those of Jews from Eastern European descent like me. Middle Eastern Jews ( Mizrahi Jews) make a small "Seder" plate for the Rosh Hashanah ( the Jewish New Year ) dinner and use a variety of foods that take on a symbolic meaning to wish in a good new year! Leek patties are one of those symbolic foods ! They are simple to make and everyone looks forward to eating them. It is an easy gluten free vegetarian recipe that requires chopping up leeks. These chopped leeks symbolically represent  chopping up our bad habits so we can make positive changes in our lifestyle. (Ok, the original meaning was that our enemies should be chopped up and far away from us - but we have evolved.) There are as many variations for Sephardic Leek Patties

It's Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and my holiday menu includes both Jewish Eastern European traditional recipes and Jewish Sephardic or Mizrahi traditional recipes that I have changed to meet vegetarian and gluten free standards. My husband and I could be considered a mixed Jewish marriage; I am Ashkenzi ( of Eastern European descent)  and he is Sephardic/Mizrahi ( of Middle Eastern descent). Our Rosh Hashanah dinner menu reflects the rich traditions of both of our backgrounds. Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews ( Jews of Middle Eastern or Spanish origin)  celebrate the Jewish New Year dinner with a Rosh Hashanah ceremonial seder plate. Each food on the Seder plate has a special symbolic meaning assigned to it for the New Year. Some of these symbolic customs started as far back as 300 C.E. and were found in the writings of the Babylonian Talmud. Some of the symbolism comes from the meaning of the old Aramaic words. My husband's family ( with roots from Jerusalem, Egypt, Iraq and