Earthly Eating

1. The Chef’s Knife: A 8-to10-inch chef’s knife is a must in any kitchen. It works for everything from cruching garlic with the side of the blade, to chopping spinach. The large blade provides plenty of surface area for dicing potatoes or a bunch of herbs, plus plenty of sharpness and stength to tackle hard-to-slice items such as a head of ice berg lettuce. If you have smnall hands or don’t feel comfortable wielding a big knife, try a 6-inch or a santoku-style knife. Look for a high-carbon stainless steel is the material of choice for a chef’s knife. It really is the best of both worlds. High -crabon stainless knives are rust-resistant but still hold their sharpness.

2. The Pairing Knife: With its 3 1/2 to 4-inch blade, this petitie kitchen wonder can slice, dice, mince, and peel-although you will probably want to use a chef’s knife for big choppoing jobs like stir-fries and grain salads. Look for a stainless steel model with a smooth blade. Avoid cheap pseudo-serrated knives, but do look for bargans. Because of their size, paring knives can get lost in a pile of peels and accidentally thrown out.

3. The Serrated Knife: Alternate called a bread, carving, deli, or utility knife, this model is defined by its toothly blade that does just as well sawing through a crusty loaf of bread as it does slicing delicate tomatoes and citrus without crushing the insides. Look for 6-to-7-inch blade ones. You don’t need a 10-inch carving knife. The other provides plenty of slicing surface and is much easier to store in your kitchen chopping block.

**Do you love vintage anything? Over at Bead Arts Cindy Lavin has a bracelet that you would just love. It’s a vintage button bracelet and it’s as easy to make as sewing on a button. Read how to make the bracelet here.**
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Earthly Eating Recipe- Count Down To Christmas Recipe Of Sweets-20

Rabanadas
Serves: 4

1 cup milk
1 tbs. sugar
1/2 baguette of French bread, sliced into 2-inch thick pieces
3 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar (to taste)
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon (to taste)

Measure the milk and sugar. Mix together in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Beat the eggs in another medium bowl. Set aside. Wash your hands every time you handle eggs.

Measue the confectioners’ sugar and cinnamon. Mix together in a third bowl. Set aside.

Dip each slice of bread into the milk mixture, soaking each side competely.

Use a spatula or tongs to dip both sides of the soaked bread into the eggs.

In a large frying pan, heat the oil on a medium-high setting. Fry the bread until browned on each side.

Once bread is fried, use a fork or clean tongs to dip each piece int the bowl of confectioners’ sugar and cinnamon to coat. And serve.

Happy Eating!

Decoding the labels from conventional to organic to soy milk can be over whelming. To help you choose the healthiest and most delicious milk, here’s some hints in the different categories so you can choose just the right one for your family or yourself.

• Conventional: Cow’s milk is an excellent source of high-quality protein and eight vitamins and minerals: Calcium, niacin, phosphorous, potassium, riboflavin, and vitamins A, B12, and D. It is recommended that every person more than two years old drink skim or one percent milk in order to limit the consumption of artery-clogging saturated fat. An eight-ounce serving of whole milk contains 150 calories and eight grams of fat. Two precent milk contains 120 calories and five grams of fat. One precent milk contains 100 calories and 2.5 grams of fgat. And skim milk contains just 80 calories and 0 grams of fat. Skim milk is also less likely to contain toxins as well. The bottom line: This milk is the cheapest, but the savings may be hard to justify if you are concerned about health issues and the welfare of animals.

• Made Without Artifical Hormones: This means that the cows were not given the synthetic bovine growth hormones rbST to incease production. The bottom line: You may pay a bit more for artifical-hormone-free milk and you won’t taste a difference, but the quality is better. Healthier cows, give healthier milk.

• Organic: Organic milk comes from cows that are not treated with synthetic growth hormones and antibiotics and whose feed is free of animal by-products, prohibited pesticides, and animal waste in their feed product. The bottom line: You will pay up to twice as much per gallon as for conventional milk because most organic dairies are small-scale farms that don’t have the capacity to mass produce. But you will notice a difference in taste and you will get a big nutritional boost.

• Soy: Made with the liquid extracted from soybeans, this milk has a taste that varies from beany and thin to sweet and velvety, depending on the brand and flavor (it’s available in vanilla, mocha, and strawberry, to name a few). The bottom line: Just like soy burgers, soy milk is an appreciated taste. But the nutritional value over cow’s milk is there and will be noticed within the health of your whole body over all. Introducing soy milk into your diet is wise and to start, try adding soy milk flavors to your coffee or even bran cereal in the morning.

**Are you looking for that alternative to the everyday run of the mill, “You Cut” trees? Over at Earthly Garden here at 451 Press, Susan Walsh has some splendid ideas on that very topic. Live trees are beginning to become more popular in homes, and it helps the earth as well. Check out her posting and bring a live tree into your own home this season.**
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Earthly Eating Recipe:

Confetti Breakfast Burrito
Serves: 4

2 large eggs
4 egg whites
2 tsp. olive oil
1 medium tomato, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup diced green pepper
1/4 cup diced red pepper
1/4 cup diced yellow squash
1/4 cup chopped green onion
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Cayenne pepper, to taste (optional)
4 tbs. soy bacon bits, to taste (optional)
4 whole-wheat tortillas, room temperature or warmed

1. In a medium bowl, beat egg with egg whites. Set aside.

2. Heat olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. When oil is hot, add tomato, peppers, squash, and onion. Cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly.

3. Add eggs and scramble with a fork.

4. Add salt, pepper and cayenne pepper, if using.

5. When eggs are cooked, stir in soy bacon bits, if using them.

6. Divide eggs evenly onto tortillas. Roll up tightly, burrito style, and serve immediately.

Happy Eating!

Thanksgiving is the day of the year when we eat so much that most of us afterward need a good long nap to feel better. Eating healthy and indluging don’t really go hand and hand on this day either. But, eating reasonably healthfully isn’t a loos cause on this day of thanks. Here’s how to keep in check and not go over-board with eating.

• FOWL: If the choice is between glazed nitrate-cured ham or traditional big bird, opt for the poultry. Although the dark meat has a higher fat content, it’s also richer in iron and zinc, two important minerals most Americans don’t get enough of. A smaller portion will take you farther nutrionally than an equal portion of white meat.

• SIDES: Most of your holiday sides are where the nutrition actions is, at least they’re done right. Winter squash, squash as butternut squash and pumpkin, is loaded with vitamin A as beta-carotene and other antioxidants to help prevent heart disease and cancer. They’re also a good source of potassium and brimming with fiber. Fiber helps prevent a number of cancers while acting as a probotic and feeding the helpful microorganisms in the digestive tract.

• YAMS/SWEET POTATOES: Like the other yellow, orange, and gold root veggies, they have the vitamin A, calcium, potassium, and fiber. But they also are one of the best sources of food energy. Boiled or steamed sweet potatoes and yams are one of the healthiest foods people can eat. The low-heat cooking helps them retain more nutrients and provide the type of carbohydrates most suited for weight management and blood-sugar control.

• THE COLOR RED: Red fruits and vegetables are some of the best sources of vitamins and antioxidants. Berries contain proanthocyanidins that can prevent the adhesion of various bacteria associated with urinary tract infections, gum disease, and stomach ulcers.

• DRIED FRUITS: Look to dried fruits such as dried plums, dried figs, raisins, and dried cherries, for more than iron, zinc and other minerals. They have plenty of calcium, too. And of course, they are loaded with fiber and potassium. You can make pies from most of them, add them to stuffing, sauces, and compotes, or eat them just they way they are with some nuts.

**Toys-R-Us makes a statement about the many recent toy recalls. Read the statement made by a Toys-R-Us spokesperson over at Reviewing Toys. While you are there Eliza Ferree has posted many reviews of other toys, so before you buy read some of her postings to see if the toy is a good buy or not.**
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Earthly Eating Recipe: Day 5 Of Low-Fat Eating

Guilt-Free, Low-Fat, Healthy Snacks For You And Your Family

• Just Vegetables: Dehydrated niblets of corn, carrots, peas, tomatoes, and bell peppers make eating veggies almost as satisfying as eating popcorn. There is nothing added, so all you get is phytochemicals, fiber, and vitamins A and C. Plus a mild, slightly sweet flavor. Find them at natural foods stores everywhere or click here for an online company distribution.

• Dried Fruits: Here is a snack that’s packed with potassium, antioxidants, and fiber. Granted, dried fruit is high in sugar, but that actually makes it a food choice when you need a little pick-me-up. You can munch a cup of dried blackberries and take in just 90 calories and a whopping 9 grams of fiber in them.

• Edamame: A traditional snack in Japan, edamame, or blanched soybeans in pids, are becoming increasingly available in the United States. The sweet, nutty-tasting beans are loaded with soy protein, which has been shown to help lower cholesterol. A half cup of chelled beans has 125 calories and 4 grams of fiber. Look for unsalted edamame in the frozen foods section.

• Sliced Raw Vegetables: Make you own mini-party platter with sweet red peppers, baby carrots, celery, and a bit of hummus. The fiber in the veggies and creamy bean dip will fill you up, withgout loading you down with calories.

• Rice Cakes: Whole grains are the prixe here. Diets rich in whole grains ,ay reduce your risk of diabetes and some cancers. Unsalted rice cakes can be cardboardly; if you’re eating them unadorned, opt for ones with a littel salt. Quaker’s Lightly Salted rice cakse are satisfying crunchy and are made with only two ingredients, whole grain brown rice and salt. Two cakes, deliver 70 calories and a scant of 30 milligrams of sodium.
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Lime and Ginger Custards
Serves: 5

1 tsp. lime zest
1/3 cup fresh like juice
1/2 cup cup sugar
4 eggs
1/2 cup 2% milk
1 tsp finely grated ginger

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.

2. Whisk together all the ingredients in a large glass bowl.

3. Place five 4-ounce custard cups in a large baking dish. Fill cups 3/4 of the way from being full with the mixture.

4. Carefully pour hot water into the baking pan until it comes halfway up the sides of the custard cups.

5. Place baking pan in the oven and bake for 30 mintues, or until just about set. The centers should be slightly liquid.

6. Remove pan from the oven and let custard cool in the water bath.

7. Chill and serve.

Happy Eating!

I did a posting on your bodies pH level a few days back. Click here to read that posting. The most through benefit you can give your body and to a healthy heart is to keep your pH level in balance. When the pH level in your body is in check the rest of your body is in check and works as a team to continue to keep you healthy. Once you know what foods tend to be acidic or alkaline, you can make smarter choices on whether you should be dining in or can splurge for a night and dine out. Here is a great guide to help you get on the right path to eating healthier.

° ACIDIC FOODS:

• Vegetables: Cucumber, eggplant, string beans, sauerkraut.

• Fruits: Pineapple, quince, kiwi, kumquat, citrus, berries, apples, apricots.

• Grains: White flour.

• Legumes: Baked beans in a sweet sauce or tomatoe sauce.

• Dairy Foods: Yogurt.

• Animal Products: Dry sausage, beef, pork.

• Sweetness: White sugar.

• Condiments: Vinegar, mayonnaise, pickles.

• Beverages: Colas, wines, juices such as citrus, apple, and tomato.

• Chinese: Sweet an sour soup, deep fried pork in sweet sauce.

• Italian: Green salad with vinigrette dressing, pasta bolognese.

• Mexican: Ceviche, carne asada with refried beans.

° ALKALINE FOODS:

• Vegtables: Mushrooms, cauliflower, corn, broccoli, peas, onions, sweet potatoes, squash, asparagus, carrots, spinach, sweet peas.

• Fruits: Melon, papaya, avocado, dates, figs, persimmons.

• Grains: Whole grains, buckwheat, hominy, millet.

• Legumes: Soybeans, lima beans.

• Dairy Foods: Most cheese, milk, butter.

• Animal Products: Seafood, eggs, duck.

• Sweetness: Maple syrup, brown rice syrup, honey.

• Condiments: Dutch processed chocolate, garlic, hot peppers.

• Beverages: Mineral water, tea, beer.

• Chinese: Egg drop soup, stir-fried vegetables with tofu.

• Italian: Prosciutto and melon, linguine with clam sauce.

• Mexican: Guacamole, chicken mole with stewed beans.

Knowing what is alkaline and what is more acidic will keep your body and health in check. If you feel you are more alkaline then eat more acidic foods, and visa-versa.

**The kids of Kid Nation are getting bored. In the latest episode they all laid down in the road out of borem. I hope this means the audience doesn’t get bored as well. Over at TV Bender, Eliza Ferree talks about how bored the kids are getting. Read the rest of the story by clicking here.**
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Earthly Eating Recipe: Day 4 of Low-Fat Eating

Low-Fat Dieting

Forget flip-flpping with diets, stick with these eight basic principles for a healthy, low-fat diet plan.

1. Replace bad fats with good fats.

2. Use meat sparingly.

3. Learn to love beans, grains and nuts.

4. Eat fish at least twice a week.

5. Load up on greens and veggies.

6. Kick the potato habit.

7. Go for the whole grains.

8. Satisfy your sweet tooth with fruits and try to stay way from refined sugars.
(Source: Health Journal 2006)
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Braised Eggplant with Chickpeas
Serves: 6

2 tbs. olive oil
1 large onion, diced ( about 1 1/2 cups)
6 medium Japanese eggplant, halved lengthwise and cut into 2-inch pieces
1 clove of garlic, minced (about 1 tsp.)
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1 cup marinara sauce
1 tbs. red wine vinegar
1 15-oz. can chickpease, rinsed and drained
2 large mint springs, plus 2 tbs. chopped mint additionally

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-heat. Add onion, and sauté 7 minutes, or until soft. Stir in eggplant, and cook 5 minutes or until beginning to brown. Add garlic, allspice, and cumin, and cook 1 minute more.

2. Stir in marinara sauce, vinegar, and 2/3 cup water, and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer 5 minutes. Removed from heat, and stiry in chickpeas. Season with salt and pepper. Lay mint springs on top of eggplant mixture, cover, and transfer pot to the oven. Cook 45 to 50 minutes, or until eggplant is tender. Remove mint sprigs, and stir in chpped mint. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Happy Eating!

The Truth About Folic Acid:
Foods to which folic acid has been added (like cerals and pasta) are what’s really responsible for the recent improvements in folic-acid blood levels not in dietary supplements found in common form which is unfortified items as recently thought.

How To Build Your Own Food Pyramid:
If the food pyramid was based on your eating habits instead of the ideal diet from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), what would it look like? Go to USDA/CNPP. Click on the link under the “Healthy Eating Index” , register and list your lastest meals. In return, you will get a non-hold-barred analysis of your diet, including a personalized pyramid. If it’s a little off, don’t fret. You can record up to 20 days’ worth of eating habits, so you have the opportunity to build a better pyramid.

Organic: What It Really Means:
Don’t give up if you don’t know the difference between products labeled “organic” and “100% organic.” Though the U.S Department of Agriculture just implemented its national standards, the word is still slow in getting out on what the many newly defined terms actually mean. To learn more, check out A Practical Guide to Understainding Organic by Stoneyfeild Farms.

**MAC’s newest holiday collection is more than just shiney it’s almost antique. Marco Felgueiras over at Hot or Not Beauty has the entire story on how popular it is and where you can get your own MAC’s shiney collection. Read how here.**
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Earthly Eating Recipe: (Day 3 of Low-Fat Eating)

Low-Fat Milk And Your Diet:
Drinking low-fat milk before or with a meal helps you feel more full sooner and eat less the next time. The lighter the milk, the greater the effect. That is, fat-free milk works better than 1 precent, and both work better than 2 precent. Going low-fat also takes a load of calories out of your diet. Nearly every successful strategy for cutting fat from your diet includes drinking lower-fat milk.

Low-Fat Frozen Desserts:
Many people keep eating until the have had something sweet. Fortunately, that doesn’t have to be bad. Frozen desserts are a good way to satisfy a sweet tooth without piling on calories. A Creamsicle® weighs in at just 100 calories, and a Tofutti Cutie® vanilla or wild berry sandwich is only 120 calories. A half-cup of chocolate frozen yogurt adds a modest 115 calories to your dinner. Of course, people who have gotten used to this appraoch can use another treat. Have a satisfying amount of low-energy density food at your meal and then for dessert eat one piece of the most delicious chocolate you can find.

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Raspberry-Orange Smoothie
Serves: 2

1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup frozen raspberries
1 orange, peeled, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup raspberry or orange flavored yogurt

In a blender, combine all ingredients and blend until smooth. Pour into glasses that are fluted and serve.

Happy Eating!

Most of us look to calcium and vitamin D to protect our bones and teeth, but the benefits of these nutrients are more than just that. Taking calcium in preganancy may help reduce the risk of high blood pressure in your children.

Premenopausal women with higher intakes of vitamin D and calcium also have lower risk for more aggressive forms of breast cancer. WIth calcium and almost three times the recommended daily amount of vitamin D3 of their age group are 60 precent lower risk factors for common cancers.

Most women should take a calcium supplement with vitamin D when they hit the ages of 18-21 and continue to take these supplements the rest of their lives. Taking a calcium supplemts with vitamon D in it helps promote the effective absorption of calcium. Beyond that, get your bone building necessities from vegetables, fruits and whole grains as well.

Calcium can also help cut your blood pressure, sheild you from colon cancer and ease or end PMS symptoms. It can also help keep you slim. Lots of food, from beans to sardines, are rich in calcium. But, few people eat enough to hit their daily goal.

Caffeine can rip away at the calcium storages of women who are already running short. One of every two American women will at some time in her life suffer and osteoporosis-related bone fracture without the caffeine taking away what every women needs already.

How Much Calcium Do You Get?

Food:

• Yogurt, low-fat (1 cup): 447 mg
• Orange juice, calcium-fortified (1 cup): 350 mg
• Sardines, canned (3 ounces): 325 mg
• Milk, 1 precent (1 cup): 300 mg
• Cheese, Swiss (1 slice): 272 mg
• Spinach, cooked (1 cup): 245 mg
• Tofu, firn (1/2 cup): 204 mg
• White beans, cooked (1 cup): 161 mg
• Figs, dried (1/2 cup, or about 5): 143 mg
• Parmesan cheese (2 tbs.): 138 mg
• Frozen yogurt (1/2 cup): 103 mg
• Breakfast cereal, calcium-fortified: 100 mg
• English muffin, toasted: 98 mg
• Broccoli, cooked (1 cup): 72 mg
• Almonds (1 ounce, or about 24 nuts): 70 mg
• Green beans, boiled (1 cup): 58 mg

**Over at Joss Stone-Fan, KiKi writes about the recent breast cancer charity event Joss Stone participated in. Frosted Pink Benefit, Joss sang “Bruised but not Broken”. Read and watch the video of Joss Stone here.**
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Earthly Eating Recipe: Day 2 of Low-Fat Eating

Low-Fat Diet

With so many diets out now and the pressure to be thin by the media, what diet will work best for you?
The Atkins Diet?
The Zone?
Weight Watchers?
Or do you even need a diet plan at all? Give yourself point for each of the following questions that you answer yes to. If you score six or more, you may want to reevaluate your eating habits. Talk to a nutritionist if you need additional diet help.

1. Do you spend more than three hours a day thinking about healthy food and planning or shipping for your meals?

2. Do you often dwell on tomorrow’s menu today?

3. Do you care more about the virtue of what you eat than the pleasure you receive from eating it?

4. Has the quality of your life decreased as the quality of your diet has increased?

5. Do you keep getting stricter with yourself?

6. Do you sacrifice experieces you once enjoyed to eat the food you believe is right?

7. Do you feel an increased sense of self-esteem when you are eating healthy food?

8. Do you look down on others you don’t?

9. Do you feel guilt or self-loathing when you stray from your diet?

10. Does your diet isolate your socially?
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Herb Pesto At Home
Makes 3 cups

1 cup watercress leaves
1 cup Italian parsley leaves
1 cup basil leaves
1/4 cup thyme leaves
1/2 cup oregani leaves
1/2 cup chopped nuts (such as macadamia nuts, almonds, walnuts or pine nuts)
4 garlic cloves, rouhgly chopped
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 cup olive oil
Black pepper, to taste

Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender, and process until combines but still fairly coarse. Use with breads, high-end crackers, or even. Keep in the freezer for about six months to enjoy pesto anytime of the year.

Happy Eating!

You think hemp is illegal? Well it isn’t. It’s the most untapped nutritional source on the earth too.

You have heard of hemp clothing and hemp jewelry, but have you heard of hemp food? Actually, hemp has been cultivated for over 6,000 years and can be made into more than 25,000 environmentally-friendly products. But the real deal is that hemp seed, which looks a lot like a flax seed can be found in all kinds of natural products. Most of which are sold at natural foods stores world-wide.

Hemp is an great source of fatty acids, mainly omega-3s. Its seeds contain the highest precentage of protein as well as iron, of any plant and three times the amount of vitamin E than flax seeds. The seds can be make into milk products, tahini and guacamole. An easy way for your family to benefit from this nutritional powerhouse is by sprinkling seeds in smoothies, pancake batter, salads, yogut or muffin mix. Another is to buy hemp-based products such as Nature’s Path Hemp Plus Waffles.

Try this hemp seed recipe:

Hemp Banana Bread
Serves: Makes 1 loaf of bread

2 eggs
1/3 cup applesauce
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup Hemp Seed Flour
2 3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup mashed very ripe bananas (about 3 medium)
1/4 cup Shelled Hemp Seed
1/4 cup chocolate chips (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix first 3 ingredients with mixer at medium speed until pale yellow.

2. Add dry ingredients alternately with bananas to mixture. Mix at medium speed until well blended.

3. Pour into greased or sprayed loaf pan (9 x 5 or 8 1/2 x 4 1/2). Bake 45-60 minutes, until cake tester comes out clean and dry.

4. Let cool in pan 20-30 minutes before turning out onto rack.

Store shelled hemp seeds in a cool, dark place like a freezer or wine cellar. When stored in these conditions you can assure that the quality of the omega-3s, they contain are kept at the best quality possible. Once you open a bag of hemp seeds, they will stay about eight weeks in a cool, dark environment. To prolong their life, the ideal place is a freezer.

**You think celebrities are over-spenders on somethings? Over at Frugal Mania, Allison Goines talks about how the women of The View of wearing outfits that cost under $100 in their Budget Week. Well, I have to agree with Allison, make a show based on REAL LIFE budgeting, where an outfit cost under $40 and better yet make it under $20. Read the rest of the story here.**
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Earthly Eating Recipe: (Day 1 of Low-Fat Eating)

Low-Fat Cheese Facts:

• Cheese is a great source of calcium. An ounce of low-fat Swiss gives you 272 milligrams; a tablespoon of Parmesan gives you almost 70 milligrams of calcium. But think twice about cottage cheese, which conbtains enough sodium to actually harm your bones.

• Buy full-flavored cheese, and you won’t crave those second and thrid servings, You will be more satisfied if you eat smaller anmounts of the ones you enjoy over just eating any that is availiable.

• If your favorite cheese shapr Cheddar, mild Jak, tangy chèvre, crumbly Parmesan, or creamy Brie? If you choose low-fat, you can enjoy all of these cheese varieties without the guilt.

• A light sprinkle of finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano delivers less fat and far more flavor than a shower of shredded mozzarella.

How To Make Your Own Curry Blend
Makes about 1/4 cup

1 1/2 tbs. coriander seeds
1 tsp. cumin seeds
1 tsp. yellow mustard seeds
1 tsp. fenugreek seeds
1 tsp. peppercorns
6 whole cloves
1 tbs. turmeric powder
1 tsp. cayenne powder
1 tsp. ginger powder

Combine coriander, cumin, mustard seeds, fenugreek, peppercorns and cloves in a coffee grinder or food processor, and process till finely ground. Place the spice mixture in a small bowl; stir in turmeric, cayenne and ginger. Store in an airtight container.

Happy Eating!