Making Healthy Salads With Root Vegetables

Although root vegetables are not the most visually appealing foods you have to choose from especially where fruits and vegetables are concerned, they certainly offer quite a bit of flavor not to mention a selection of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients to benefit from.

The autumn months are the most ideal time to enjoy freshly harvested root vegetables including beets, carrots, parsnips, and radishes. Besides borscht, beets are great baked, boiled, or steamed and they can also be used in salads sliced or grated.

Carrots are members of the parsley family and these inexpensive vegetables can be used in a wide variety of ways. When buying this root vegetable, look for those that have the brightest, orange color and try to buy bunches without any cracks or slits running up and down the length of the carrots. You can buy carrots with the greens still attached, already trimmed, or completely trimmed and peeled.

Keep your carrots in a plastic bag for up to two weeks in the refrigerator. If the carrots are no longer crisp and you need them raw cut or grated for salads, immerse them in ice water for 30 minutes before using.

Parsnips are related to carrots and these whitish, ivory colored root vegetable are simply perfect for using in hot salads after being baked, boiled, roasted, or steamed. You can also mash parsnips much like you would potatoes and then use them in soups and stews. To enjoy fresh parsnips, choose the youngest, smallest ones and grate them or slice them thinly and mix with dressing and salad greens.

Keep your parsnips wrapped a perforated plastic bag for as long as one month in the crisper in the refrigerator.

Radishes are not only good to eat but they are great for adding color and interest to many types of salads. There are numerous varieties of radishes that vary by size, color, and the length they take to mature with the Cherry Belle variety being one of the most popular. Radishes can be eaten raw although the tougher varieties are best when steamed.

Root Vegetable Slaw Recipe
What You Need

• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 cup parsley, chopped
• 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 large carrots
• 2 medium parsnips
• 1 small celery root
• 1/2 Daikon radish

How to Make It
Using a blender or food processor, combine the mustard, salt, sugar, red wine vinegar, and the chopped parsley and process for about 30 seconds or until well mixed. Scrape all the ingredients to the bottom of the blender or food processor and slowly add in the olive oil. Puree or process on the highest setting for 1 minute.

Peel the vegetables using a sharp knife or vegetable peeler. Using a coarse grater or peeler, shred the vegetables into a large mixing bowl.

Toss the vinaigrette dressing with the shredded vegetables to coat everything well.
Refrigerate the root vegetable slaw for 30 minutes before serving.
Serves 4.

A flank steak marinade can be sweet, spicy, or subtle depending on your personal preferences. Even a great steak marinade only needs a few ingredients to add flavor to the meat while making it more tender and succulent.
Easy Steak Marinades Help Make a Truly Mouthwatering Meal - EasySteakMarinades.net

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How to Make a Healthy Salad Dressing

Dressings are usually loaded with calories, fat and sugar; not such a surprise when you realize there is oil in a dressing. The other stuff is there to make it palatable. The low-fat or low-calorie dressing choices are not a good idea because they contain substitutes that are known to cause health problems. Diabetics are commonly told to use things like aspartame and sucralose instead of sugar but those are two things that should NEVER be consumed! Ever...by anybody. Listen, if you want to be healthy, you have to eat foods that are natural and unadulterated. That's the bottom line and there's no changing it. Like it or not, human beings are mammals-animals, okay? Nature produces plenty of good things to eat that are good for us; Man produces things that are unnatural, expensive, addictive, synthetic, harmful and that interfere with our natural processes.

Make your own dressings. All a salad dressing is-basically-is oil and vinegar, with a bunch of spices and maybe something creamy thrown in. It's not rocket science, people. Start with a good basic vinegar and add whatever form of oil you like; there are plenty to choose from. There is the basic olive oil (which is monounsaturated and good for you), avocado, apricot, walnut, sesame, pumpkin-just to name a few. There are lots of flavored vinegars too and if you want to do it yourself, go get some raw apple cider vinegar or some rice wine vinegar and go to it. Save the balsalmic and red wine vinegars for heavier spices and avoid anything 'brewed' and especially white vinegar.

Add water or fruit juice for the bulk of the dressing, then the appropriate amount of oil and vinegar to taste. Then start mixing up the spices, which will depend on what you plan to put the dressing on. Garden salads do best with garlic, onion, parsely, cilantro, celery salt, cumin, salt and pepper. Fruit salads do better with more cream, less vinegar and just a little oil, plus nutty flavors and maybe some cinnamon, cloves or allspice. Pasta salads can use the same as garden salads and a meat or chef's salad would do better with the heavier vinegars (balsalmic and red). Some dressings need mayonnaise, cream or yogurt. Experiment, use someone's favorite recipe, or buy the dry packaged dressings. Try different things; you might find something terrific that becomes your signature dressing. The bottom line when feeding yourself is this: make it something you like. If there are other people involved, make it something edible for them too.

©2010 Dr.Valerie Olmsted All Rights Reserved

Dr. Valerie Olmsted is an author, naturopathic physician, metaphysician, internet entrepreneur, artist, speaker, and lover of life. Traveling with the Quantum Vortex Experience, she has helped thousands of people reach the inner connection they are seeking and has contributed to the discoveries of manifestation practices via quantum physics applications.
http://www.BeWhoYouReallyAreCoach.com
Contact: Dr.Valerie Olmsted
2370 W. SR 89A
Ste.11-#121
Sedona, AZ 86336
928-257-3290

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Healthy Salad Dressings - Delicious Homemade Salad Dressings

Choose light, healthy salad dressings to enhance your summer salads. Try these healthier homemade alternatives to the traditional vinaigrette dressing.

A salad simply isn't a salad without some dressing - but how can you avoid dousing the whole lot in high-fat dressing, thus ruining any attempt at healthy eating?

Home-made dressings are always a better bet than mass-produced, because you can control exactly what's in them. Many bottled dressings are very highly sweetened, and contain a hefty portion of additives. Keep your dressings pure and simple by making them yourself - they'll taste better, too.

• Use low fat ingredients. If you want a creamy dressing for your salad, use low fat mayonnaise, or low fat or fat free yogurt or fromage frais as a base. Try blending 3/4 cup mayonnaise with 1/4 cup fromage frais for a lighter flavor. Whisk in 2 tbsp vinegar, and flavour with a dash of Dijon mustard, some Worcestershire sauce or fresh chopped herbs.
• Try different oils... Olive oil is a good, healthy choice, but the flavor can be very dominant. Consider lighter oils, such as sunflower and groundnut, or sample a oil extracted from nuts. Walnut and hazelnut oil each have a distinct but subtle flavor which marries well with many different ingredients. To reduce the amount of oil you use, try substituting one-third of the oil with vegetable juice.
• ...and different vinegars. Fruit flavored vinegars, like raspberry, make excellent dressings. Herbal vinegars are also good, or try a variety that contains chilli or garlic. You don't need to use vinegar at all, because citrus juice emulsifies just as well with oil. Try lemon, lime, orange or grapefruit juice. Each one has its own special qualities that add zing to your dressings.
• Measure the quantity. It's all very well making your own delicious, additive-free dressing, but that's not an excuse for sloshing it on with an over-liberal hand. One tbsp of oil-based dressing could add up to 80 calories to your salad, so aim for a light drizzle, rather than pouring it on with abandon.

Next time you make a salad, make the dressing part of the whole dish, not an afterthought. The beauty of home made dressings is that they're very quick to put together. Make healthy salad dressings a regular part of your salad repertoire.

Elizabeth Martyn is author of a great little ebook: 50 Healthy Salad Recipes. On her site Healthy Eating Made Easy, she strives to answer the perennial question – "What shall we eat tonight?" – with information, tips and recipes. This article may be published electronically or in print in its entirety as long as the author by-lines in the resource box are included and urls kept live.

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How To Prepare A Healthy Salad

We all think of salad as a healthy meal choice, especially when we are trying to lose weight or get fitter. But just because something is put on a salad, it does not automatically mean that it is healthy and good for you. Let me show you the most nutritious salad items to put on your plate, and the salad foods you should be wary of.

Salad Foods To Avoid
Salad foods are generally perceived as healthy, but some of them are laden with fat and calories. You should consider avoiding the following foods or eating them in very small quantities. Another option is to swap these foods with like for like healthy low fat / reduced fat alternatives.

Here are some salad items to be very wary of if it is your intention to lose weight and adopt a healthier diet:

• Salad dressings and oils.
• Cheese.
• Cottage cheese.
• Coleslaw
• Potato Salad
• Salad Cream
• Croutons
• Mayonnaise

Healthy Salad Choices
Your salad plate should be mostly made up mainly with healthy greens which have a high water content, and leave you full and satisfied. Your salad should include some of the following:

• Lettuce.
• Cucumber.
• Spinach.
• Red Cabbage.
• Tomatoes.
• Green Beans.
• Onions.
• Beetroot.
• Peppers.
• Mushrooms.

Add Protein To Your Salad
Adding some protein to your salad can give it some real taste and variety as well as keeping hunger at bay for hours afterwards. The following foods are low in fat and a great source of protein:

• Sliced ham or turkey.
• Tuna (stored in water)
• Grilled Chicken.
• Egg Whites.
• Boiled Shrimp
• Grilled Salmon
• Walnuts

Add Nutrition With Fruit
Adding some fruit to your salad will not only pack more nutrition into your salad, but it may even satisfy those cravings for sweet treats. Get a little creative with your salad and add one of the following fruits to your salad:

• Strawberries.
• Orange Segments.
• Apple Slices.
• Melon.
• Kiwi Fruit.
• Cranberries.
• Grapes.

Beware Of Creamy Dressings
Salad dressings (especially those that are sour cream or mayo based) can turn the healthiest of salads into a high calories disaster. It is very hard to control our calorie intake when we drizzle these high-fat dressings all over our salad. They are very high in saturated fat, raising cholesterol levels and increasing the risk of heart disease. If you have to have one, carefully measure out a serving and avoid pouring or dipping into a pot throughout your meal. You could look for a reduced-fat dressing, but be careful to check the sugar and calorie content as it may not be as healthy as you think. You could always use lemon juice or balsamic vinegar to create your own healthy dressing.

You could also use a healthy portion of green salad as a substitute to fries with a meal. Now you know how to prepare a healthy salad and which salad foods to avoid, make salad a regular part of your diet and healthy lifestyle.

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Amazing and Unique Recipes for Pumpkin Bread

By Klemen Suko

Making Peanut Butter Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin as well as peanut butter are indeed a special and luscious pairing. This recipe is an improved rendition of the original. It's revised based on the most valuable reviews on the original recipe. Now, in this recipe, the resulting pumpkin bread has a good sweetness and consistency. It's not just rich with the one of a kind flavor combination of peanut butter and pumpkin, it is also incredibly smooth, light as well as fluffy.

If you desire to prepare pumpkin muffins from this recipe, work with extra flour or whole wheat flour. Just simply manipulate the amount based on your courage to create a heavy batter. Another thing, in stuffing the muffin tins with all your batter, always make sure to fill in just -2/3 full since the batter grows a whole lot when baked in the oven. Keep in mind that, this pumpkin bread has the most unique great flavors you'll actually experience.

Prep: 10 min. Bake: ten minutes Yield: 32 Servings, 2 loaves (16 slices each).

What you will need:: 1 cup sugar,

1 (15 ounce) can solid pack pumpkin,

four eggs,

1 cup vegetable oil,

3/4 cup water,

2/3 cup peanut butter,

3 cups all-purpose flour,

cup whole wheat flour,

two teaspoons baking soda,

1 1/2 teaspoons salt,

two teaspoons ground cinnamon,

2 teaspoons ground nutmeg,

1 teaspoon vanilla,

teaspoon pumpkin pie spice,

The Making:

Pre-heat the oven to 350 F and then evenly spread two 9-in. x 5-in. loaf pans with butter or cooking spray.

With a mixing container, bring together sugar, pumpkin, oil, eggs, water and peanut butter. Whisk well. Using one more mixing bowl, stir in flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and then nutmeg. Pour this dry mixture to the pumpkin mixture little at a time.

Stir properly to blend the two mixtures. Pour batter into the greased loaf pans. Bake in pre-heated oven for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted through the middle of your bread is released clean. Let it cool for 10 minutes in loaf pans and move the freshly-baked breads into the wire rack for cooling thoroughly.

About the Author:

The author is fond ofbaking quick breads and his favorite is the tasty pumpkin bread. He has a Website all about unique pumpkin bread recipes. Take a look at this article and make peanut butter pumpkin bread for a unique twist. Or visit this blog for additional unique pumpkin bread recipes.

Why we Eat Pancakes on Shrove Tuesday

By Ben Panny

Previously Christians used to visit church to confess their sins and had been absolved from them. This was called "Shriven" or "Shrive". Later this was shortened to Shrove. That's why these days Pancake Day is identified as Shrove Tuesday. But why do we consume pancakes on Shrove Tuesday?

Christians think that Lent celebrated Jesus' 40 days in wilderness and that is why they mark this period by fasting. Shrove Tuesday was the perfect day to use up the ingredients that were given up for Lent: butter, milk, flour and of course eggs. Pancakes were a dish that could use up all the eggs, butter and milk within the home with just the addition of flour. A pancake was, in those calorie-starved days, deemed a luxury.

In United Kingdom the custom of creating and consuming pancakes on Shrove Tuesday falls in between 2nd of February and 9th of March. The date of Shrove Tuesday depends on the date of Easter. Shrove Tuesday is celebrated in many countries. New Orleans as an example has Mardi Gras, and Rio de Janeiro equally raucous carnival. Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Tuesday is known as 'Fasnacht' in Germany what means the night of the fast. In Italy it is actually named 'Carnivale' from the Latin for 'goodbye to the flesh'. Mardi Gras is celebrated not merely in New Orleans but in Brazil and Australia.

Catholics created huge tradition around Shrove Tuesday. It has become colourful variety of Carnivals around the globe. And also the word 'carnival' is linked to fasting for Lent. One particular interpretation of this word says that it came from the Latin 'Caro Vale' that implies "Farewell Meat". And not merely eating pancakes on a Shrove Tuesday is a popular tradition. At St. Columb Major in Cornwall, rival villages have a custom of playing 'Hurling the Silver Bell', making use of a ball of applewood covered in silver. In Scarborough, local folks enjoy the customs of 'Ringing the Pancake Bell' and 'Shrovetide Skipping'. Folks arrange long skipping ropes across the promenade and up to ten individuals have to skip at one time.

In Venice the tradition of Carnival is extremely old. Carnivals have already been taking place because 1268 only with a couple of centuries interruption. Carnivals in Venice are incredibly well-liked primarily due to the tradition of wearing masks. These masks have even longer history than the Carnival. Masks were the symbol of protest against oppressive circumstances in this small city. The Carnival nearly vanished in the 18th century nevertheless it was once again celebrated immediately after new masks were marketed in the shops in the 1980s.

Germany has its very ritualistic Carnival and featuring parades, funny speeches and floats. Today, German Carnival is becoming more and more well-liked tourist attraction. It is actually even at times compared to Munich's Oktoberfest. German Carnival is so unique also because it begins at November 11th at 11:11. Carnival could be cancelled. Last time it was cancelled in 1991 to show the protest against the US war in Iraq.

About the Author:

The author is interested in homemade pancakes and features a whole webpage dedicated to it. It features recipes and pancake facts like eating pancakes on a shrove tuesday among others. For more of homemade pancakes, click celebrating national pancake day.

Perfect Pasta Salad Recipes

There are recipes that use a combination of pasta and salads, making it a healthy and nutritious everyday meal.

Macaroni Salad with Eggs and Ham
Ingredients:

1 ½ c cooked ham, diced
6 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
2 c macaroni, cooked, cold
1 dill chopped pickle
½ c celery, chopped
¼ c pimiento-stuffed olives, chopped
Salt
Pepper
Mayonnaise
Mixed Salad greens
Procedure:
1. Mix the following ingredients: ham, chopped eggs, macaroni, chopped pickle, celery, and chopped olives
2. Add mayonnaise and stir to moisten the salad.
3. Season with pepper and salt.
4. Serve this on top of your mixed salad greens

Creole Macaroni Salad
Ingredients:
2 c tomatoes, diced
8 oz macaroni, rinsed, drained and cooked
¾ c Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese
¼ c stuffed olives, sliced
1 c mayonnaise
2 tbsp grated onions
1/8 tsp cayenne
1 clove garlic, small, finely minced
Lettuce leaves

Procedure:

1. Chill the macaroni, and then measure about 4 cups.
2. Combine the macaroni with the remaining ingredients.
3. Serve this on some lettuce leaves, with dressing.

Tuna Macaroni Salad

Ingredients:
½ tsp dried tarragon or thyme, crumbled
½ c mayonnaise
3 c cooked macaroni, chilled
1 can white tuna (7 oz, in water), broken up and drained
2 celery ribs, sliced
1 ½ c frozen carrots and peas, cooked
Procedure:
1. With a big bowl, mix some tarragon and mayonnaise.
2. Add the celery, tuna and pasta.
3. Carefully stir in the carrots and peas.
4. Cover and serve with some lettuce.
5. Top this with salad and garnish, if preferred.

Tuna Salad with Fettuccine

Ingredients:
¼ c olive oil
2 cans of tuna in oil
1 clove garlic, large, minced
1 c broccoli florets or small cauliflower
4 oz mushrooms, fresh, chopped
1 yellow summer squash or small zucchini, diced
2 tbsp fresh parsley or basil, minced
1 red bell pepper, small, sliced
8 oz fettuccine
1 tsp lemon juice
¼ tsp black pepper
Lettuce leaves
Cherry tomatoes
4pz mild cheddar or Swiss cheese

Italian salad dressing

Procedure:
1. Drain the oil from the tuna and put it in a large skillet.
2. Place the tuna inside a large bowl.
3. Separate this into chunks and set aside.
4. Add some olive oil onto the skillet.
5. Heat and add the following:
Minced garlic
Cauliflower or broccoli
Mushrooms
Red bell pepper
Zucchini
6. Cook this over medium to low heat.
7. Stir occasionally for approximately 5 minutes. Make sure the vegetables become tender.
8. Add parsley or basil, stirring it a few times and removing it from the heat.
9. Allow cooling of the vegetables while you are still cooking the noodles.
10. Cook some fettuccine. Follow the directions on the package. Make sure you drain it well.
11. Add some noodles to the mixture and mix it with tuna, and cooled vegetables.
12. Add some lemon juice and pepper.
13. Gently toss the ingredients to blend.
14. Cover this and place inside the fridge for about 30 mins. Make sure it is thoroughly chilled.
15. Prior to serving, taste it again and adjust the seasonings.
16. Using a platter, line it up with lettuce leaves, and then sprinkle with cheese.
17. Lastly, garnish this with cherry tomatoes and serve with the Italian dressing.

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