Aloe Vera Juice

Here is an article I wrote on Aloe Vera juice.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/187212-why-drink-aloe-vera-juice/

Mexican Eggplant Parm

So this recipe comes from an evening of deciding what to do with eggplant when you don't feel like making babaganoush and you don't have mozzarella or any standard canned tomato product. Examining my fridge I found cheddar cheese, salsa and roma tomatoes. So, Mexican eggplant was born and IS delicious. However any sort of Parmesan is a multi step process so it is a bit time consuming.

• Step 1: Dice and soak eggplant in salt water
• Step 2: Bread eggplant
• Step 3: Fry eggplant
• Step 4: Layer eggplant, shredded cheese and salsa in crock pot
• Step 5: Cook eggplant
• Step 6: Cook pasta
• Step 7: Eat!

Ingredients:

• Eggplant
• Egg
• Water
• Cornmeal
• Flour
• Spices: basil, crushed red pepper, salt, pepper, garlic, onion powder
• Cheddar cheese (or any cheese)
• Salsa

Directions:

• Slice eggplant and soak for 15 minutes while preparing breading
• Mix flour, cornmeal, spices in one bowl
• Mix egg and water in another
• Drain eggplant
• Dip eggplant in flour
• Dip eggplant in egg mixture
• Dip eggplant again in flour mixture making sure all sides are covered
• Spray Frying pan with butter spray
• Place in frying pan
• Fry on both sides until browned, spraying other side of eggplant when necessary

In crockpot:

• Layer salsa, one layer of eggplant and top with cheese
• Layer send layer of salsa, eggplant and cheese
• Continue layering until finished
• Top eggplant mixture with diced tomatoes
• Bake for 1-2 hours on high
• Serve over pasta
  
  
  

Enjoy!

Aerobic vs Anaerobic Exercise

http://www.livestrong.com/article/199444-efficiency-of-aerobic-anaerobic-respiration/

If you're curious the differences, here's a bit of info on the use of oxygen during exercise.

French Toast with Yogurt and Berries

This is my favorite breakfast. It's very filling and tastes like a dessert. I used home made honey wheat bread but you can use whatever you have in the cupboard. The yogurt is greek yogurt, which I also strained myself but can easily be bought. To make your own vanilla add a bit of sweetener, like maple syrup or agave syrup or honey and some vanilla or almond extract. The berries and peaches are fresh and very ripe. They are a great addition to the toast. This french toast doesn't need any additional butter or sugar. Plus these look great when made for house guests!

Ingredients:

• Sliced bread
• Egg
• Milk
• Cinnamon
• Flavored Yogurt
• Berries

Directions:

• Beat the egg and mix a small amount of milk and cinnamon for toast batter
• Soak toast on both sides
• Heat up a frying pan and spray with non stick spray
• Cook french toast until slightly browned
• Top with yogurt and berries

Serve with a mimosa or bellini

Enjoy!

Panzella

Panzella is Italian bread salad. It is great for a quick meal but even better if it can set for a few hours. Panzella can be made with fresh bread, but is much better with day old bread. Fresh bread can get too soggy if not eaten immediately. Panzella can be made with an assortment of ingredients but usually includes, bread, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions. Bread salad is dressed with an oil based dressing. Feel free to experiment with different flavors.

Ingredients:

• Cubed day old bread
• Sliced cucumbers
• Cubed deseeded tomatoes or cherry tomatoes
• Sliced scallions
• Fresh basil
• Dried garlic
• Shredded lettuce
• Olive Oil
• Basalmic vinegar
• Salt
• Pepper

Directions:

• Make dressing by combining oil, vinegar, and spices
• Mix bread, lettuce, and veggies
• Pour dressing over salad
• Let marinate for 1/2 or longer

Enjoy!

Bulgar Cucumber Maki

Sushi is one of my favorite Japanese foods to make. This time I didn't have any short grain rice, so I tried it with bulgar. White rice and brown rice have a chewer texture but bulgar will certainly do the trick for a last minute meal. Serve with soy sauce and wasabi. If you have pickled ginger it's great too!

Ingredients:

• Nori (seaweed paper)
• Cucumber sticks
• Bulgar, rice, or some sort of granular grain
• Rice wine
• Sugar
• Soy sauce

Directions:

• Steam rice/bulgar
• Slice cucumbers or other veggies into thin strips
• Lay nori flat on bamboo mat, tin foil, wax paper or plastic wrap
• Mix sugar and rice vinegar together and heat until sugar is melted
• Stir sugar/vinegar into rice mixture
• Spread rice mixture on to nori about 1mm thick
• Spread soy sauce on 1-2 mm at the end of nori to help seal roll
  
• Lay cucumber strips in beginning 1/3 of rice
• Slowly and carfully role the nori covering the cucumber and continue to roll until sushi roll can be sealed
• Reshape if necessary and cut with a very sharp non serrated knife

You may have to wet the knife and remove any rice/bulgar residue between cuts. Any residue can cause tearing or uneven cutting of nori.

Serve with soy sauce and wasabi
Enjoy!

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Chicken noodle soup is delicious, especially when it's not that instant cup of soup nonsense with ridiculous amounts of sodium. This soup has a much lower sodium content, high nutrient content and good texture. It can be made in 20 minutes if you use canned chicken or rotisserie chicken and frozen veggies.

Ingredients:

• canned or rotisserie chicken (this is already cooked)
• egg noodles
• chicken bouillon
• baby carrots
• broccoli
• celery
• salt
• pepper
• garlic

Directions:

• boil water adding in frozen veggies and egg noodles (if you use fresh veggies make sure to cook them first or your egg noodles will get soggy)
• drain water if needed, reserving enough pasta water for the soup broth
• add cubed or shredded chicken
• add spices and chicken bouillon
• cook for another 5 minutes
• serve

Enjoy!

Tofu Veggie Skewers

Skewers are fun to make and look great served over rice. These are good especially if you want to bbq something and don't necessarily want to add meat. But you can easily add shrimp, chicken or cubed steak. The ingredients can be mixed and matched depending on what you have but I think keeping onions, peppers, mushrooms and a sweet fruit is a good base. I chose to use plantains. They hold up on the grill and give the skewer a more tropical taste. Pinapple would also be great. Make sure to marinate these before you grill them and then drizzle with some left over sauce when serving with rice.

Ingredients:

• green peppers
• red peppers
• red onion
• button or baby bella mushrooms
• ripe plantains (the black/yellow ones)
• pinapple
• tofu, chicken, shrimp, beef or a mix of all
• marinade: basalmic and oil, italian, terriayaki, orange juice/soy sauce, etc
  

Directions:

• marinate veggies overnight in chosen marinade
• assemble skewers
• grill directly over flame or roast in the oven in roasting pan
• turn every 1-2 minutes to avoid sticking or burning of veggies
• drizzle extra marinade over skewers (for safety reasons if you are using seafood or meat do NOT reuse the old marinade)
• serve over white or brown rice

Enjoy!

Summer Rolls

Summer rolls are delicious and so good for you! They include lots of fresh veggies and very little fat. Most of the calories comes from the dipping sauce while most of the nutrients from the summer rolls. You can mix and match different veggies to your liking or whatever you happen to have in the fridge at the moment. These are great with a soy/rice vinegar/sesame mixture or a peanut sauce.

Ingredients:

• rice paper
• rice noodles
• julienned carrots, zucchini, red peppers, yellow peppers, avocado
• Bean sprouts
• tofu, chicken or shrimp
• soy sauce
• hot sauce
  
• sesame seeds
• rice vinegar
• peanut sauce

Directions:

• soak rice paper until soft
• center veggies sticks, bean sprouts, noodles and meat
• pour small amount of soy sauce and hot sauce over mixture
• roll into summer roll (like a burrito)
• let rolls dry slightly
• cut and serve

Enjoy!

Cardio for Special Populations

http://www.livestrong.com/article/181100-cardio-exercise-for-people-who-do-not-have-use-of-their-legs/

This article is about upper body exercise and special populations

Soy Chocolate Cappucino

I'm a huge coffee drinker and I'm also a sucker for cute espresso cups. This is really simple and is much healthier than all those 500 calorie Starbucks drinks. It provides the caffeine and chocolate you need to get through the day. And it has less saturated fat, sugar, and more protein than a regular latte.

Ingredients:

• Chocolate soy milk (or soy milk and chocolate syrup)
• Espresso
• Carmel syrup (optional)

Directions:

• Brew espresso or use coffee machine to make very strong coffee
• Steam soy milk
• Pour into espresso cup
• Drizzle with caramel syrup

Enjoy!

BMI, Body Type and Waist to Hip Ratio

Check this out if you are interested in what constitutes "normal" body size

http://www.livestrong.com/article/191824-the-ideal-measurements-for-an-athletic-woman-by-body-weight-size/

My Probiotic Article

Here is one my articles on Livestrong.com about foods containing probiotics.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/191340-what-foods-have-acidophilus-bifidus/

Homemade Cottage Cheese/Ricotta

I always read about how incredibly easy it is to make cheese. And well, it is. Homemade cheese is very fresh with a soft texture and very mild flavor. Be prepared to salt and season it. I tried two methods, the lemon methods and the yogurt method. There is also the vinegar method, though the lemon made the cheese taste lemony so I have a feeling the vinegar would do the same...supposedly you can also accomplish this with 3 tablespoons active live butter milk. I have not tried it. This is a curd cheese great to use sweet as fresh ricotta when making desserts or as a fresh cottage cheese with fruit. Or it'd be great savory in homemade lasagna, stuffed shells, etc. The higher fat content the greater amount of curds produced. I used 2% and it leaves with a LOT of left over whey. I also tried to make cheese constantly heating in the microwave, and it turned out very good for a harder cheese as you don't has as much control over the separation from the whey but it's certainly quicker.

Ingredients:

• 1 quart whole milk, half and half or cream (I wouldn't attempt anything less than 2% milk)
• 1/2-1 6 oz container plain yogurt (regular, low fat, non fat, whatever works)

Directions:

• Heat the milk until just boiling
• Add yogurt container
• Keep stirring until curd has separated
• Scoop out curds with mini strainer and put in a bowl* or
• Strain using cheese cloth*

Scooping will result in a runnier cottage cheese with a liquid base
Straining it with cheese cloth will result in a creamy ricotta type cheese

You have two options..

Sweeten for desserts

• add vanilla or almond extra
• add powdered sugar or fruit

Savory

• add salt
• add pepper
• add any other spices desired

Remember this is EXTREMELY perishable. I would eat it when 2 days though you probably have a bit more of a shelf life

Enjoy!