Cooking The Grand Way

During this busy time of year perhaps you should consider "pre-making" some of the food and treats you'll enjoy in the coming days and weeks.  Here's a way to do just that.

  Take a close look HERE.

Grandma's Homemade Wine

Country Beef Stew

One of the things I love about the cold Winter months is that it means it is time to break out the rib-sticking recipes and start to share them with my family.  Here's one of my all-time favorites Country Beef Stew.  It's quick to prepare and makes the kitchen smell oh so good.

INGREDIENTS:
3 Tablespoons of Ms. Dash Garlic & Herb Seasoning Blend
1 pound of beef sirloin cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
8 ounces of frozen vegetable medley mix
1 14.5 ounce can of salt-free diced tomato
1 tablespoon of canola oil
2 tablespoons of flour

PREPARATION:
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees heating a dutch oven pan for 15 minutes
Toss the meat with canola oil then dredge in flour mixed with Ms. Dash Seasoning Blend
Place the beef in a pan and bake for 30 minutes turning the meat twice
Remove the pan and add remaining ingredients.  Stir
Lower the oven heat to 325 degrees.  Place a lid on the pan and slowly bake for 2 1/2 hours or until the meat is tender.

Fettuccini With Broccoli And Garlic

For a simple yet delicious meal that takes very little time to prepare you should try this delicious recipe.  Fettuccini  With Broccoli And Garlic.

INGREDIENTS:

4 cloves of garlic, crushed
3 cups broccoli florets
3/4 cup of vegetable bouillon
1/4 cup white wine
3 tablespoons of fresh basil, chopped
1/4 cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
1 pound of fettuccini
A dash of salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste.

PREPARATION:
Put garlic, broccoli and bouillon into saucepan.  Bring to a simmer and cook for 3-4 minutes or until the broccoli is tender-crisp, stirring occasionally.
coarsely chop broccoli. Add white wine, basil and parmesan.  Toss to mix, then season with salt and pepper to taste.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, cook your fettuccine until al dente and drain well.  Toss half of the broccoli sauce and transfer to serving plates.  Top with remaining sauce and garnish as desired.
This meal is great to serve with a simple salad of romaine lettuce and tomato slices drizzled with virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Enjoy!

No Chocolate? NO WAY!

An enormous percentage of women crave sugar, carbohydrates, or alcohol. In most cases, these food cravings are not true eating disorders, but instead are signs of hormonal imbalance caused by a lack of healthy nutrition.
Your personal issue may be the afternoon snack (often chocolate or candy or a food that’s also heavy in carbohydrates), too many potato chips, the extra glass of wine at night, or a hundred other variations. But the underlying mechanism, and the way to curb cravings, is the same. And it has nothing to do with willpower, or your lack thereof!
Food cravings mean that the body has its signals mixed up. When we are exhausted or blue, we have low blood sugar and/or low serotonin, and the body signals the brain that it needs a pick-me-up. This signal causes a sugar craving or carbohydrate craving.
Serotonin is our basic feel-good hormone. If serotonin is low, we feel sad or depressed. And hormonal imbalance or weak digestion can lead to low serotonin. Unfortunately, sugars and simple carbohydrates release a short burst of serotonin — we feel good for a moment, but soon return to our low-serotonin state — then crave more sugar and simple carbohydrates. It’s a downward spiral.
If you eat a low-fat diet in the hope of losing weight, you unintentionally make the problem worse. If, like millions of women, you have eaten a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet for many years, or followed fad diets, the odds are good that you have become at least partially insulin resistant.
Insulin is responsible for maintaining stable blood sugar levels by telling the body’s cells when to absorb glucose from the bloodstream. Being insulin resistant means your body stops responding to insulin, and instead grabs every calorie it can and deposits it as fat. So no matter how little you eat, you will gradually gain weight.
At the same time, your cells cannot absorb the glucose they need, so they signal your brain that you need more carbohydrates or sugars. The result is persistent food cravings.
Even worse, insulin resistance leads directly to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Many experts believe it is the root cause of the epidemic of those diseases in America today. And a low-fat diet makes it far more likely you will suffer from this condition.
Millions of American women are now trying the Atkins Diet or the South Beach Diet. While these diets are an improvement over the conventional low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet, they can worsen your metabolic problems, because dieting itself is stressful to the body. So many women need to heal their metabolism first before even considering weight loss.
Another cause of food cravings is adrenal imbalance. If you are under a great deal of stress, or suffer from insomnia or sleep deprivation, you are probably exhausted much of the time. This situation causes your body to call upon your adrenal glands for more stress hormones to act as a pick-me-up, but over time, your adrenals become less able to respond appropriately. You may resort to sugar or carbohydrate snacks or coffee during the day and carbohydrates or alcohol at night, all of which exacerbate the problem.

How to curb cravings

Women who blame themselves for their food cravings only worsen their mood and increase their need for serotonin. That’s when a pattern of emotional eating can develop. Remember, there are biological causes of sugar cravings, and your carbohydrate craving is rarely just a behavioral problem. The root problem is more likely inadequate nutrition.
How to break this vicious cycle? To reduce food cravings, the body needs real support — and lots of it. We have seen over and over that eating healthy foods, adding pharmaceutical–grade nutritional supplements and moderate exercise can almost miraculously curb cravings. Your metabolism will heal itself when provided with the necessary nutritional support. If it has been damaged, the process can take some time, but it will happen. The good news is — you don’t have to give up chocolate!

Steve's Famous Wheat Bran Muffins

Sometimes you just have to blow your own horn and this is one of those times for me.  I make the absolute best bran muffins in the world!  Don't believe me... well, here's my recipe.  Give it a try and let me know what you think.





INGREDIENTS:
2 Cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cut wheat bran
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup low fat milk
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup applesauce
2 eggs

PREPARATION:
Combine all dry ingredients.  Then combine all of the liquid ingredients. and blend both together.  Place in muffin cups or sprayed muffin tin.
Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 15 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes then sink your teeth into these wonderfully delicious muffin creations.

You can also add raisins or dates to this recipe and make it even better.
Happy Eating
Steve

Perfect Eggs Every Time In 30 Seconds Or Less

I recently learned a little secret about how to cook eggs without having to fire up the stove, dirty a frying pan and silverware.
It's a simple thing really and I don't know why I didn't learn this long ago.  Here's what you do.
Into a small bowl or ramiken break your egg.  First though coat the inside of the bowl with a light spray of Pam or whatever brand of no-stick cooking spray you use.  Break the yolk but don't scramble the egg.  Now simply place the bowl into your microwave for about 30-35 seconds.  That's it.  When the timer beeps you have a perfectly cooked egg suitable for putting on your sandwich bread, croissant, english muffin or whatever... even just on your plate with toast on the side.
Now how simple was that?
Enjoy this little hint and return often for more recipes, hints and tips.
Steve & Kim