If you want to listen to my melodious voice… I’ll be interviewed by Nicole Taylor in her Radio show HOT GREASE today @ 3:30PM Eastern Time. You can listen to us LIVE on www.heritageradionetwork.com.
We’ll be chatting about Halloween in Puerto Rico, Vegetarian Candy and many other interesting topics. Hope you guys tune in and enjoy it.
Recently I had to go on a wheat-free, corn-free diet and being the bread/cereal lover that I am, I was crushed. I went to my local health food store and bought a few things so I wouldn’t feel deprived, especially during breakfast.
I love fruits for breakfast… in a fruit salad or a smoothie, but it’s not enough for me. I always need to supplement my breakfast with something heartier. Something that will keep me feeling fuller longer.
Enter the Food for Life English Muffins… OMG!! I am now obsessed with these. They’re crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside. They have super delicious texture, in my opinion. It has even the “nooks and crannies” of that other more popular brand.
I like to eat them with cream cheese (ahem, Tofutti’s Better than Cream Cheese if you’re vegan ) and preserves – strawberry or apricot. YUM!!! I even had a few of these for dinner a few nights.
You find them in the frozen food section of your health food store. I just take them out of the freezer and warm up in a 350F oven for about 10 minutes. To be honest I never time it, but the muffins begin to split a bit when they’re ready.
With options like these, anyone can easily go gluten-free, even if it’s just for 30 days!!!!
Onions and peppers are two staples in my kitchen… they’re the basis of most dishes I make. They are the basis of sofrito… and I use them in almost anything I make – antipasto, stewed potatoes, stewed chayotes, anything really…
And as strong a foundation they are, they can also shine as a course in and of themselves…
I love to sauté onions and peppers and have them as a cooked side dish for many things. I used to cook them with veal steaks once in my former omnivore life. Now, I love to serve them a top various “viandas” – potatoes, carrots, yautía blanca or lila, malanga, sweet potato, white sweet potato, chayote…
This is sooooo simple… hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
ONIONS AND PEPPERS
1 medium yellow onion, sliced –but you can use your favorite onion… ½ green bell pepper, sliced 1 clove of garlic, smashed Olive Oil Kosher Salt and Freshly Cracked Black Pepper Juice of ½ lime or lemon(optional)
Serve on top or on the side of mashed potatoes or even green bananas. Do you enjoy it too???
My dear friends Angie and Ana are taking these cooking classes on Wednesday nights… I am not participating because these classes are not vegetarian and I would not be able to cook or actually taste almost anything they make. But the ideas their teacher shares are quite good sometimes and I like to vegetarianize them to be able to enjoy them.
Such is the case with a croissant idea filled with chorizo and apricot jam… Refrigerated croissant dough does not come in whole wheat form, unfortunately. So I decided to make-over the recipe given to me by Angie into a quesadilla.
Never been too fond of Mexican chorizo… I much preferred Spanish chorizo. But this Soyrizo tastes like the Mexican version with strong cumin notes. I take it easy with this soyrizo because after my first trip to India, I developed a strong aversion to cumin. For years I was not able to taste cumin or even smell it up close. Now I’m better, but I am still not a cumin fan.
What I do love about this recipe is the salty/sweet combination… and it has a very rich flavor, so be prudent and don’t over stuff your quesadilla.
SOYRIZO APRICOT QUESADILLA
1 FlatOut flatbread or whole wheat tortilla 2 handfuls of shredded cheddar cheese 1 ½ tbs of apricot jam About 2 inches of soyrizo 2 large scallion, chopped finely 2 tbs softened butter 2 tsps brown sugar Butter-flavored spray Olive oil
I did this with 2 tortillas and the flavor was too rich for me. But I encourage making it with two tortillas if you are sharing.
The scallions are my addition to this recipe and I feel they help cut a bit of the oiliness of the cheese and soyrizo plus it adds some freshness.
Try it… and tell me if you like it or not. What are your favorite quesadilla ideas???
This is part of a series on how our food can help certain organs that resemble their same shape. I already shared with you how carrots benefit the eyes, how tomatoes and grapes benefit the heart and how walnuts are essential for brain health.
Celery, rhubarb and bok choy, among others, are stalky and long… just like our bones. These foods specifically target bone’s health because they’re both 23% sodium – bones are 23% sodium and so are these foods. When you lack sodium in your system, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak. These foods replenish and maintain balance to the skeletal needs of the body.
Celery and rhubarb also contain calcium… but its better absorbed when eaten with other calcium rich foods, such as yogurt or cheese.
I don’t use celery all that much in my cooking and have never eaten rhubarb in my life, but here are some recipes where you can incorporate celery and bok choi into your diet:
It’s October… and in the interest of celebrating everything Halloween, here is a list of my favorite pumpkin recipes.
Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese
I have made this mac and cheese with pumpkin too, especially when making in large quantities for the Yoga Center.
Hope you like these pumpkin delicious ideas to celebrate Halloween, or even as turkey-free Thanksgiving ideas.
What are YOUR favorite vegetarian pumpkin recipes or ideas??? Please share…
Oatmeal for me was an acquired taste. I was always a Cream of Wheat lover when I was a kid. I LOVED when my grandma made cream of wheat or farina for us for breakfast. We used to pour cold milk around the rim of the bowl to cool the cream enough to be eaten.
I did not like the texture of oatmeal too much… until I had to work for Quaker Oats. Oats, as I learned thru lots of consumer research, is a very polarizing food. Some people love it, some people hate it. Some people, just like me, grow to love it. I worked on the brand just when the news broke out that the soluble fiber in oatmeal helps lower bad cholesterol. It was one of my favorite accounts to work on and I got to travel to Jamaica and Guatemala because of it.
I remember talking to consumers that some people did not like preparing oatmeal in hot cereal form or “creams” as we call it locally in Puerto Rico because they believe they need to stand in front of the stove stirring the oatmeal all the time to avoid it getting lumpy. Well… allow me to get into a little secret. That’s not necessary AT ALL.
Making hot oatmeal cereal is super simple and all you need is time and something else to do… as the saying goes, “a watched pot never boils.”… The same applies to oatmeal. The least you tend to it, the better it is.
This is more a method than a recipe… you can certainly add or subtract or change any ingredient as you see fit. But this is my basic formula for making oatmeal as breakfast in the morning… although I highly encourage you to have some oatmeal for lunch or even dinner too. Just like some people eat cold cereal as a light and east to put together dinner alternative, hot oatmeal can be a great “hot something” for the soul now that the weather up north is getting nippier. I sold this idea to Quaker once… I hope you buy it from me too.
ALMOND MILK OATMEAL
1 ½ cups almond milk 4 tbs of steel cut quick cooking oats 2 tbs brown sugar 1 tsp vanilla powder A pinch of salt powdered cinnamon (optional)
NOTE… I cook this in an electric stove, which I believe retains the heat longer than gas stoves.
I like oatmeal on the loose side… but if you want thicker oatmeal just add a few tablespoons more of oats. Adjust the amount of oats and seasonings to your liking.
I did this almond milk version for the first time to watch Princess Kate and Prince William Wedding with my mom… the home-made almond milk gives it a nice creamier, more luxurious touch, but store-bought almond milk will do too.
Ahhh, and almond milk, just like soy or regular milk, WILL BOIL OVER if left completely unattended. I have cleaned my stove way too many times to vouch for that…
This is part of a series on how our food can help certain organs that resemble their same shape. I already share with you how carrots benefit the eyes, how tomatoes and grapes benefit the heart. Now it’s walnuts turn…
Why are walnuts so good for the brain?? The main reason is because walnuts are rich in omega-e fatty acids. These types of fats are important for many functions of the body, but particularly critical for proper brain and nervous system performance. Research has lead to believe that omega -3 fatty acids help to prevent and treat Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia in elderly.
When a deficiency of omega-3 fatty acids exists, a bunch of complications start to arise: ADHD, hyperactivity, depression, learning disabilities, memory loss, sleep disorders, poor problem-solving skills…
So start eating more and more walnuts so we can all be productive and memory-sharp adults when we grow older… And look at its shape… it looks just like a little brain. Doesn’t it???
Here are some walnut recipes you can try soon:
This is one of my favorite recipes nowadays… I can safely say this is what I am cooking to impress new boyfriends (yes, there is more than one…) these days. Boyfriends and girlfriends too… OK, friends overall!!!
The first time I made this recipe, or idea/concept really, was at my friend’s Melissa. I was bored, wanted to cook but not just for me, posted on FaceBook and Melissa offered her kitchen for me to cook away. FaceBook is a wonderful, wonderful thing. It connects you with friends online and offline too…
I say this is a concept or idea more than a recipe because I have done this about 5-6 times already and every time I make it differently. And every time the end result is still delicious… I am sharing with you the BEST combination of them all. But you can certainly mix and match, omit or add any ingredient you deem appropriate.
ROASTED STUFFED TOMATOES OVER BROWN RICE PASTA
4 ripe beefsteak tomatoes, preferably organic and washed well with a vegetable cleanser 3 button mushrooms, chopped ¼ onion, chopped 1 garlic clove, chopped ¼ cup breadcrumbs 1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated or shredded ¼ cup goat cheese or goat cheese crumbles 2 tbs flat leaf parsley, chopped A few sprinklings of Italian Seasonings Salt and Freshly Cracked Ground Pepper to taste Extra-Virgin Olive Oil 2 tbs white balsamic vinegar 1 tbs water or vegetable broth Brown Rice pasta – fettuccini or penne… your choice
The way to go about this is that the stuffed tomato becomes, when you cut it while eating, the tomato sauce you eat the pasta with. The cheeses and mushrooms and breadcrumbs in the stuffing create this savory mixture with the tomatoes that is just spectacular.
Melissa has already requested I make this in her home again for company… Walter and David were positively impressed when they tasted it. My mom also… I am telling you, this recipe is a true hit. And a tad bit more figure-friendly than my usual impress-new boyfriend-recipe Baked Pasta with 4 Cheeses.
I have made this recipe with Roma tomatoes, large tomatoes and even those small vine-ripened tomatoes you find at Costco. I just use 3 tomatoes per person when using either Roma or the smaller ones.
Hope you like it too… How would you make this recipe your own???
This is part of a series on how our food can help certain organs that resemble their same shape. I already share with you how carrots benefit the eyes and how tomatoes benefit the heart. But tomatoes are not the only heart-healthy fruit…
Grapes, when hanging in their clusters, also resemble the shape of the heart and provide additional benefits. According to the research I did, the benefits of the grape are found mostly in the skin and the seeds of the grapes. Components in grapes help with the suppression of blood clots, inhibition of LDL cholesterol and anti-atherosclerotic properties. Grapes also promote the relaxation of blood vessel walls and reduce blood pressure levels. The oil inside the seeds of the grapes, grapeseed oil, is said to strengthen capillary walls.
Grapes can be eaten fresh, dried in raisin form or in a juice. You can also enjoy them in a jam, jelly or even as non-alcoholic wine.
When eating them fresh or to prepare them for cooking, it’s important to wash grapes well using a fruit/vegetable cleanser or using a natural soak – like water mixed with a little salt and vinegar – to get rid of any wax and pesticide residues on the skins.
Here are a few grape recipes you can try soon:
