Food – Page 18 – Green Lifestyle Market

How to Pickle Anything Like a Pro – Infographic

Did you pick a peck of peppers with Peter Piper this summer? Pickling your summer harvest will not only preserve your bounty, but will also give it an entirely new and delicious flavor – not to mention all the added health benefits.

Pickling vegetables is a relatively easy task, but there are a few tips and tricks you can use to ensure pickling perfection. For starters, it is very important that you follow the recipe exactly. If you alter the quantities you risk the spread of spoilage-causing bacteria. It is also important to clean all cooking utensils and jars in hot, soapy water.

There are also some ingredients that are better suited for pickling than others. If you don’t have access to garden-fresh vegetables, make sure you select produce that appears blemish-free and crisp. Keep in mind if you wish to pickle cucumbers, there are different varieties. Pass on salad cucumbers or ones that are waxed and look for pickling cucumbers.

When making pickling brine, opt for pickling salt over standard table salt. The iodine found in table salt will darken your pickles and the anticaking agents can cause your brine to appear cloudy. Using cider and malt vinegars can also darken light-colored vegetables. You can avoid this by using commercial white vinegar with less than 5% acidity. If you prefer your pickles sour, use vinegar with 7% acidity.

Once you have gathered all the necessary ingredients you can begin the pickling process. Stainless steel bowls and pots are best suited for these recipes. You want avoid containers and utensils with copper, iron, zinc, or brass because they may react with the salt and acidic vinegar.

Use our easy-to-follow guide below to ensure you don’t land yourself in a pickling pickle. Don’t forget to send a jar to Peter; he did do all the picking, after all.

Infographic and Article courtesy of Fix.com

Craving Carrots

It’s a beautiful colorful fall here and I’m happily celebrating root vegetable season! I always love how the Earth provides what we need in each season exactly as we need it.

Root vegetables are more energy dense than most vegetables that are ripe in summer. This extra energy provides the nutrients and extra calories we need for the winter months. (This was especially true back in the days before our modern conveniences.)

These roots bring us closer to the Earth and ground our energy, reminding us to turn inward and slow down along with the natural cycle of the planet, the nature of this season, and the months to come. While most root vegetables are available year round, the season in which they have the very best flavor and highest nutrient density is the late summer and fall.

Examples of root vegetables include carrots, rutabagas, sweet potatoes, russet potatoes, parsnips, and beets. Root vegetables are delicious and can fulfill the natural sweetness you might be seeking this time of year.

Carrots

Carrots are a familiar root vegetable that is popular with both adults and children. This familiarity makes it an easy vegetable to add to a variety of dishes and a good vegetable to experiment with by trying new recipes.

Carrots are a great source of Vitamins A, K, C, Potassium, B6, Thiamin, and Niacin. They also offer a variety of carotenoids, which are amazing antioxidant phytonutrients.

When choosing carrots in the grocery store or farmers market, select firm, crisp vegetables that are bright in color. The depth of the orange in a carrot is directly related to the carotenoid nutrients found.

Store carrots in your refrigerator for up to two weeks in an airtight container or plastic bag.

Do not wash prior to storage and store them away from apples, pears, and potatoes to extend their shelf life.

When preparing your carrots for any recipe, consider scrubbing them rather than peeling. The outside skin will have protective qualities, though it will be slightly more bitter than the sweet inside.

How to Cook Carrots

I love to eat carrots raw and plain. They are filled with a crispy sweetness that satisfies most of my sweet and crunchy cravings. There are, however, a wonderful variety of recipes that include carrots or feature them as the main ingredient.

One easy and flavorful way to try carrots is in a salad mixed with other vegetables such as this easy recipe.

Carrot & Zucchini Salad

6 medium carrots, thoroughly scrubbed and ends removed
2 medium zucchini, peeled and ends discarded
½ cup of scallions
¼ cup cilantro
¼ cup parsley
Approximately 3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, or avocado oil
Juice from 1 lemon

Grate carrots and zucchini. Finely chop herbs. Toss all ingredients together and then toss with oil and lemon juice.

Serve and enjoy!

Cooked Carrots

The best, most nutrient-preserving cooking method is a light steaming for no longer than five minutes. The steam will tenderize the carrots a bit, but leave most nutrients intact. For added flavor, toss your freshly steamed carrots with a few tablespoons of feta and dill.

You can also add your carrots to any soup or stew or toss with olive oil and roast at 425°F with other roots until tender, typically about 40 minutes.

You can see many reasons to increase carrots in your diet! These are healthy and great for adding sweetness to your plate in a fun and colorful way!

Growing Chili Peppers at Home – Infographic

Chilies make a beautiful and satisfying crop. The colors are stunning: reds, purples, yellows and oranges, and there is a chili to suit every taste, from the delicate and fruity to the heart-stoppingly fiery. You can grow them all yourself as long as you can find a sunny corner for them. They are great plants for growing in pots on a warm patio, and will be even happier in a conservatory or cool greenhouse.

Hot History

Chili peppers, or “chili peppers” in the UK, originated in South and Central America, traveling to warm parts of Europe and Asia from around the 16th century onwards. They have become a huge part of many Asian cuisines and varieties have developed independently wherever they are grown. Chilies contain natural chemicals called capsaicinoids, which when eaten, cause a burning sensation. Increased heart rate, perspiration, and a rush of endorphins follows. The heat of a chili pepper is measured on the Scoville Scale, a method of measurement created by American pharmacist Wilbur Scoville in 1912. The test is not entirely accurate, depending as it does on whether the heat in dilutions of the particular chili can be detected by a panel of tasters (the higher the figure, the higher the dilution at which it was sensed), but it gives a rough idea of the pepper’s relative fieriness.

Growing Chilies

Chilies are not the easiest plants to grow, but if you can master their cultivation you will have grown a crop that is packed full of flavor and that will improve a wide array of meals. The problem for many growers is that chilies originate from such warm places, where the season is long and hot and the plants have more time to grow, flower, fruit, and ripen.

Those of us who can’t expect these kinds of conditions have to use a few tricks to fool them into flourishing. These tricks are designed to lengthen the season, even where the season is naturally short and cool. Start sowing early in the year. It feels like an odd time to be sowing the seed of such heat lovers, but they really do need to be sown in February or March if you hope to see many fruits. The need for heat starts early; your seeds will struggle to germinate if they are in a cool or temperature-fluctuating environment. A heated propagator creates the perfect environment. These small closed cases are cheap to buy and to run. They are plugged into an electrical outlet and emit a gentle but constant heat that seeds find irresistible. If you don’t have a heated propagator, then a sunny windowsill may be your next best bet, though the fluctuation between night and day temperatures is not ideal, particularly on cold nights. You may get better results if you move your pots of seeds to a warmer spot at night.

Once you have germinated seedlings, pot them up into individual pots and keep them somewhere warm and sunny. A greenhouse or a conservatory is ideal but if you have neither of these, then a sunny windowsill will do until the weather warms. It is important to pot your chilies into larger pots regularly: other plants such as tomatoes and cucumbers make it obvious when they need to be potted on, growing leggy and over-balancing their little pots, but chilies do the opposite – they sit and wait for a bigger pot before they grow. So keep on potting on and prompt them into growth. Their final pot should be generous. You can also plant them directly into the ground in polytunnels and greenhouses.

When all chance of frost has passed and the weather is reliably warm, you can plant the chilies out in the open ground. Ideally they should be protected from cold nights by a glass cloche. All plants that have been started indoors will need a period of hardening off to slowly get them used to being outdoors. Start with a few hours outdoors during the day for a few days, then leave them out a full day, followed by a day and night as long as they are well protected. Chilies should not be outdoors unprotected at night until June, and even then, they will be happier with night-time protection.

The Five Chili Species

Domestic chilies are cultivars originating from 5 species

Capsicum annuum (e.g. Jalapeno, Chipotle, Cayenne)
Capsicum frutescens (e.g. Tabasco, Thai)
Capsicum chinense (e.g. Habanero, Ghost Peppers, Carolina Reaper)
Capsicum pubescens (e.g. Rocoto)
Capsicum baccatum (e.g. Aji)

With luck and a sunny summer your plants will grow happily. Don’t be tempted to prune them – some gardeners nip out the first shoots to encourage their chilies to bush out. There is really no need and you will just delay the development of the first fruit. They have a naturally bushy habit, so let them develop it. However, they may not prove to be entirely self-supporting as they grow, and can benefit from having a stout cane pushed into the ground near the base. Tie the main stem to the cane to prevent toppling.

Keep plants reasonably well watered over the summer (but not waterlogged) and start feeding with a high-potash fertilizer once the flowers appear. A high-potash fertilizer is one that encourages flower and fruit production. Tomato fertilizers are good examples and will work perfectly for chilies. It is worth feeding your plants with them regularly, at least once every week.

Once the fruits start to ripen up, you have the choice of whether to leave them on the plant to grow to their full sweetness or remove them and encourage more fruits. Those removed will carry on ripening, but they do it best on the plant. You have a race to ripen: just as seedlings need protecting at the beginning of the season, so will plants be affected by the colder weather towards the end. In a greenhouse or conservatory, plants will go on into autumn but outdoors they will start to suffer. Any fruits that are hit by frost will turn to mush. Protect outdoor-grown plants with horticultural fleece or cloches, and carry pot-grown plants indoors to a sunny room.

Drying Chilies

One great way to preserve chili peppers is to dry them out. Drying works best with waxier peppers, and they will stay for years. You can also pickle your peppers, make jellies, and more! Below, we cover three awesome ways to dry your chilies.

Once the fruits start to ripen, the real fun begins: you will have chili con carne and curries to your (slightly faster-beating) heart’s content, and the knowledge that you grew the most important ingredient yourself.

WRITTEN BY

Lia Leendertz is an award-winning garden writer based in the UK. She is a regular writer for The Guardian and The Telegraph and for most of the major gardening magazines. She has a town garden and an allotment in Bristol, England and loves growing flowers, vegetables, and fruit. – Author Profile

20 Ways to Get Sugar Out of Your Life

(DrFrankLipman – Frank Lipman) As the saying goes – everyone is talking about sugar, but what are they doing about it? It’s my fervent wish that they – and you – are working on quitting the stuff. Why? The short answer is that sugar is an extraordinarily destructive substance that most people eat far too much of. The longer answer is that virtually every day, more studies are proving what we in the optimal health community have always believed: that sugar plays a pivotal role in the development of many of the devastating illnesses we fear most, namely heart disease, cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer’s to name a few.

Granted the body does need trace amounts of sugar to function, but the average American is eating sugar by the pound, not the molecule. Some estimates put the average adult intake at close to 130 pounds of sugar a year – an astonishing amount of any substance, much less one which such disastrous health implications. So what do we do now? In a nutshell: kick sugar to the curb – your life absolutely depends on it.

Here are a few thoughts on how to break free and get sugar out of your life now – so you can live the sweet life for years to come:

1. Eat regularly. Eat three meals and two snacks or five small meals a day. For many people, if they don’t eat regularly, their blood sugar levels drop, they feel hungry and are more likely to crave sweet sugary snacks.

2. Choose whole foods. The closer a food is to its original form, the less processed sugar it will contain. Food in its natural form, including fruits and vegetables, usually presents no metabolic problems for a normal body, especially when consumed in variety.

3. Do a detox. My experience has been that when people do a proper detox, not only does it reset their appetites but it often decreases their sugar cravings. After the initial sugar cravings, which can be overwhelming, our bodies adjust and we won’t even want the sugar anymore and the desire will disappear.

4. Have a breakfast of protein, fat and phytonutrients to start your day off right. Breakfast smoothies are ideal for this. The typical breakfast full of carbs and sugary or starchy foods is the worst option since you’ll have cravings all day. Eating a good breakfast is essential to prevent sugar cravings

5. Try incorporate protein and/or fat with each meal. This helps control blood sugar levels. Make sure they are healthy sources of each.

6. Add spices. Coriander, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and cardamom will naturally sweeten your foods and reduce cravings.

7. Take a good quality multivitamin and mineral supplement, omega 3 fatty acids and vitamin D3. Nutrient deficiencies can make cravings worse and the fewer nutrient deficiencies, the fewer cravings. Certain nutrients seem to improve blood sugar control including chromium, vitamin B3 and magnesium.

8. Move your body. Exercise, dance or do some yoga. Whatever movement you enjoy will help reduce tension, boost your energy and decrease your need for a sugar lift.

9. Get enough sleep. When we are tired we often use sugar for energy to counteract the exhaustion.

10. Be open to explore the emotional issues around your sugar addiction. Many times our craving for sugar is more for an emotional need that isn’t being met.

11. Keep sugary snacks out of your house and office. It’s difficult to snack on things that aren’t there!

12. Don’t substitute artificial sweeteners for sugar. This will do little to alter your desire for sweets. If you do need a sweetener, try Stevia, it’s the healthiest.

13. Learn to read labels. Although I would encourage you to eat as few foods as possible that have labels, educate yourself about what you’re putting into your body. The longer the list of ingredients, the more likely sugar is going to be included on that list. So check the grams of sugar, and choose products with the least sugar per serving (I teaspoon of sugar is roughly equivalent to about 4 grams). Become familiar with sugar terminology and recognize that all of these are sweeteners: agave, corn syrup, corn sugar, high fructose corn syrup, sucrose, dextrose, honey, cane sugar, cane crystals, fruit juice concentrates, molasses, turbinado sugar and brown sugar.

14. Sugar in disguise. Remember that most of the “complex” carbohydrates we consume like bread (including whole wheat), bagels and pasta aren’t really complex at all. They are usually highly refined or act just like sugars in the body and are to be avoided.

15. Scare yourself straight. While I won’t say our national love affair with sugar is all in the mind – there is a strong physical component to sugar addiction – one way to kick off your sugar-free journey is to re-frame the way you think about sugar. Treat it like an illicit drug, a kind of legal form of heroin, a dark force to be avoided, and a substance whose use leads to physical ruin. Next, take a look at CBS’s 60 Minutes “Is Sugar Toxic?” story – it’s a potentially life-changing report for anyone who needs just a bit more inspiration to help them kick sugar.

And if you have acute sugar cravings, try these:

16. Take L-Glutamine, 1000-2000 mg every couple of hours as necessary. It often relieves sugar cravings as the brain uses it for fuel.

17. Take a “breathing break”. Find a quiet spot, get comfortable and sit for a few minutes and focus on your breath. After a few minutes of this, the craving will pass.

18. Distract yourself. Go for a walk, if possible, in nature. Cravings usually last for 10-20 minutes maximum. If you can distract yourself with something else, it often passes. The more you do this, the easier it gets and the cravings get easier to deal with.

19. Drink lots of water. Sometimes drinking water or seltzer water can help with the sugar cravings. Also sometimes what we perceive as a food craving is really thirst.

20. Have a piece of fruit. If you give in to your cravings, have a piece of fruit, it should satisfy a sweet craving and is much healthier.

The Benefits of Sunflower Seeds

Sunflower seeds have the power to nourish the entire body. They are a rich source of easily digestible and assimilable protein which is essential for the repair of tissues, nerves, and cells. Sunflower seeds are an excellent source of Vitamin D, B-complex, Vitamin K, and Vitamin E. Vitamin E, also known as tocopherol, is an antioxidant that can protect cells from free-radical damage and aid in preventing heart disease, cancer, and eye degeneration such as cataracts.

Sunflower seeds are also high in selenium, magnesium, zinc, and iron which helps to strengthen the blood and immune system. They also contain lignans, phenolic acids, and tryptophan making them an ideal food to eat for those who are seeking better sleep and weight loss. Sunflower seeds have also been known to help prevent asthma, atherosclerosis, stroke, heart attack, clogged arteries, and osteoarthritis.

They contain no cholesterol and are very low in saturated fats making them highly beneficial for the cardiovascular system. Raw sunflower seeds also contain pectin which has the unique ability to bind to radioactive residues and remove them safely from the body. Sunflower seeds can help to relieve sensitivity to light, eyestrain, and farsightedness.

They also are highly beneficial for strengthening hair and nails. Raw sunflower seeds or sunflower seed butter are a healthy and nutrient rich snack that should be included into the diet for a wide range of benefits. Try grinding a cup or two of sunflower seeds in a food processor with some garlic, lemon juice, and fresh herbs. It creates a delicious nutty spread or dip that can help boost your immune system and fuel your body with real energy and nutrition.