Worth Your Butter

It was during Thanksgiving that I went to the grocery store, buying the ingredients for the big non-turkey roast that we did...Non-turkey because our family is not the biggest fan of turkey in general, and as a result, turkey leftovers may stay in the freezer for a year!  So, we did duck instead, which turned out great. But, in my grocery hunt, I came across pasture-fed butter by Kerrygold.  I know that pasture-fed anything (or I should say, any animal that should feed on grass) is always a better choice.  In general, I don't eat a lot of butter, and have never tried pasture-fed butter.  I decided to give it a whirl.

Boy oh boy, have I been missing out!  It is a similar experience to when I first tried grass-fed milk, the taste was out of this world different!  There was actual aroma to the taste of the milk.  You can read more on my previous post: Got Milk?.  This butter from pasture-fed cows in Ireland was so aromatic.  In my opinion, worth its double in price, especially when you want to spread it on bread or use it for dipping.  Baking, not so much.

We decided to go big one night and bought a couple of lobsters.  Steamed the lobsters, and I used the grass-fed butter for the dipping sauce with garlic and lemon.  I went bonkers.  Lobster and pasture-fed butter, an incredible combination.


Picture source: Kerrygold

Peeling Garlic Like a Pro

I saw this on a fellow blogger's site: www.kitchenlore.com

It is too awesome to not share. Garlic stardom.


How to Peel a Head of Garlic in Less Than 10 Seconds from SAVEUR.com on Vimeo.

Garden Bounty

Last night, I couldn't sleep because I realized that I am really happy.  I had a knee injury almost two years ago, and am still in recovery and all, but I sense a new place in life.  I feel so healthy these days, relish the food I eat, and learn from one of the greatest pleasures that God gives us from the earth, the garden.

An organic garden and healthy food are synonymous, as I see it, and I have such a great privilege of tasting the fruitful yield of hard labor (many times, not of my own.*boy am I spoiled*). 

For one, I really believe that most of us don't understand just how hard it is to grow food.  For instance, we'll take the tomato for our point of discussion.  This year, we tried growing more than 12 tomato plants.  Throughout the summer, the tomatoes got increasingly annoying.  We watered so much, took note to avoid watering the leaves (otherwise you can kill the plant), and tried all sorts of ways to 'save' the plants.  For most of the summer they looked like they were going to die, and many did.  All in all, thankfully, we had a few plants that survived (keep in mind that when you grow a plant, if it dies, you basically end up with nothing, this is why gardeners don't call it quits so easily).  Here's a picture of our prized possession.

And of course, with no delay, we took a few of those brightly ripened sweet tomatoes along with the basil and yellow squash that is also from our garden, and I made a delectable tomato based sauce with chicken.  The flavor in this dish totally surprised me.  The sweetness of organically grown tomatoes REALLY came out and the garlic and other herbs added so much body to the sauce.  [Isn't this what they eat in Italy on a daily basis?  Man, I need to go back.]  Spooned this sauce over a bed of noodles because we were out of pasta (obviously, I am not Italian). 

I wish I could give you a spoonful of this over the internet, the organic vegetables and ingredients were really so good.  Healthy and nutritious.  That's the way life should be.

"I look upon the pleasure we take in a garden as one of the most innocent delights in human life." –Cicero

Detox and Cleanse

What about those detox and cleansing diets?  I think detox is important because it means helping, reviving and feeding your liver.  The liver is at the center of good health.  Detoxification of the body is absolutely necessary, and the liver produces biochemicals necessary for digestion.  Also, the liver is our powerhouse.  Our liver gives us energy.  Take too much energy and don't give the liver what it needs to regenerate, that person will age, be prone to disease, and feel tired all the time.  If you feel tired all the time, it isn't "normal."  Yes, most people in this country feel tired all the time, which is not indicative of a healthy life.  Stress, lack of sleep, dehydration, alcohol, terrible diet, etc. may be causes, but at the end of the day, the person's liver is taking the hit.

For the last few years, my poor liver has taken a hit.  Dehydration was a problem, stress, injury, diet were also contributing factors.  I have been doing lots of research on how to rebuild my liver.  I will share here and in future posts about what I have learned.

For one, diet.  I did a detox diet for 6 days a few years ago.  I was feeling tired and just not well before it, and after six days of eating mostly detoxifying food, I could tell a huge difference.  Not until you do one, will you see and become a believer that what you eat really makes a difference.  If you attempt, do research before you start.

Here are a few foods that help the liver, that is aid detoxification:

1) Water.  Number one factor that will help revive and sustain your liver health.  Proper hydration is ABSOLUTELY key.  Every body requires different water amounts, but 2 liters a day is pretty average.  Drinking room temperature water is best; cold water takes energy from your body in order to warm it up.

1) Artichokes.  This green vegetable is amazing when it comes to detoxification.  Even a few bites of artichoke can significantly increase bile production.  From what I found, it is one of the top foods that increases bile production.  Bile helps digestion of fat, elimination of toxins, and bowel movement.  Get the toxins out!

2) Garlic and onions.  These babies solve so many problems for us!  Garlic contains allicin that helps the liver for detoxification.  
 
3) Brussel sprouts.  Really great for the liver.  You can roast brussel sprouts or saute them with onions and garlic.  With proper amounts of salt and pepper, these are really yummy.  Takes a few tries when cooking before you get the hang of it, but well worth the trial and error.

4) Cabbage.  Personally, I never knew or quite understood the properties of cabbage.  Cabbage is really good for the liver and has anti-inflammatory properties.  Please don't boil!  Saute, please. :)

Inflammed?

Toxins inflame.  Obesity inflames.  Sugar inflames?  A ravaging beast of the 21st century: inflammation.  Inflammation is our bodily reaction to harmful stimuli, protecting our body by removing injurious stimuli and initiating healing (taken from the Wikipedia entry on inflammation).  Without inflammation, our wounds would not heal.  We need the response.  But longer term, chronic inflammation leads to unnecessary "bystander" damage to tissue when the initial "removal" response is no longer needed.  Why is this important?  Because what we eat can either propagate the occurrence of inflammation or what we eat can help fuel our anti-inflammatory body reaction.  Without an anti-inflammatory response, cellular destruction results, and disorders and disesases like cancer follow.  And, I read in an abstract (I pasted the link below) that obesity (read: extra fat) represents a state of chronic low-level inflammation.  Which explains why studies are linking obesity to major diseases.

I want more anti-inflammatories!  What should I eat? (btw, I made up that term anti-inflammatories)

A top contender on the anti-inflammatory list is turmeric.  It is the yellow powder used in curry.  Turmeric is a powerful anti-inflammatory, and has been used for generations in India.  Eat curry!  I make it in chicken, potatoes and carrots - yum - in a Chinese curry sauce.  Other anti-inflammatory foods include garlic, onion, cruciferous vegetables, fennel, ginger, raspberries, blueberries, goji berries just to name a few.

I typically saute the vegetables - eat them fresh and eat them often. 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1783744/