Water - Borrowed from Facebook

Are you drinking enough water daily?

Recommend daily consumption: for men is roughly 3 liters and women is 2.2 liters.

Borrowed from 

We Are All One on Facebook

4/14/2012

Pan Roasted Cherry Tomato Marinara

This is a recipe, that I conceptualized with my buddy Jim while hanging out one evening a couple of years ago or so and had originally posted on my first blog, Skip's Recipe Box. He made it the other evening for a date and both he and her were thoroughly impressed! He says, when he wrote down exactly what he did, to serve with favorite pasta and to invite Skip over for dinner to thank him... So if you try it and like it, just let me know. LOL!

Pan Roasted Cherry Tomato Marinara


2 pints of Cherry Tomatoes washed and drained.


Blanch and peel if a less rustic sauce is desired.


3 cloves Garlic, peeled, crushed and finely minced


2-3 medium shallots, finely minced


1 pinch Sea Salt (more if desired)


2 tbsp Rustic Tuscan Seasoning mix. (see recipe for Tuscan Seasoning Mix)


Large pinch of sugar.


Small tomato sauce (12 oz or less)


2c Semi sweet red wine. (I prefer Sangiovese or Chianti)


Red pepper flake to taste


1/2 tsp of fresh Black Pepper, coarse ground





Sweat the shallots with the sea salt in olive oil until clear and tender.

Add minced garlic and heat until fragrant.

Do not brown or burn or the garlic will be bitter.

Add tomatoes and gently heat until they burst.

Stir to break up the tomatoes.Add Tuscan Seasoning, pepper and sugar.

Add wine to De-glaze pan, let reduce by half.

Add Tomato Sauce and continue over medium heat about 20 minutes, reducing until thickened.

If to thick, thin with a little more wine.

This recipe is vegan as written, may add thinly sliced mushrooms if desired.



Serve over your favorite pasta and enjoy and garnish with a Fresh Basil and freshly shaved Parmesan Cheese. (optional or use a Vegan Alternative to Parmesan) 

May also add, Chicken, Shrimp, Bacon, or Italian Sausage for additional flavors. (this is for any meat eaters who read this)

I recently added this to my Master Cook program, here is the nutrition facts: (without meat)

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 180 Calories; 5g Fat (34.3% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 19g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 2746mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 2 Vegetable; 1 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.

Nutrition Warnings:

shallots: MasterCook assumes an average 'whole' size of this ingredient.
Tuscan seasoning mix: MasterCook uses fluid weight to scale this item. Nutritional calculation will be off to the degree that it differs in density from water.

Mediterranean Pasta with Roasted Vegetables

Mediterranean Pasta with Roasted Vegetables

By Skip Graden in Central Illinois Vegans and Vegetarians 

Servings: 10

Picture by Amanda Coffin-Farr
(She was my test cook on this and used Rotini Pasta)

12 ounces whole wheat pasta, penne, prepared as directed

1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil, more or less as needed

1 large Red Bell pepper, julienned

1 large Yellow Bell pepper, julienned

1 pound Asparagus, cut in 2-inch pieces red onion, Thinly sliced from root to stem

1 medium zucchini, julienned

1 whole yellow bell pepper, julienned

8 ounces baby Bellas, diced

1 can cannelini beans, canned and drained

1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, oil-packed, rough chop

2 garlic, minced Sea Salt , to taste Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1/4 cup chardonnay

2 lemon, whole, zested and juiced

2 teaspoons Tuscan Seasoning Mix

4 leaves basil, fresh, chiffonade, garnish

1/8 cup Parmesan cheese, or as needed, may use Vegan alternative

Directions:

1. Prepare vegetables for marinade in oil. Reserving mushrooms, beans, onion and tomatos.

2. Prepare marinade by mixing oil, wine, 1 1/2 tsp of tuscan seasoning mix, 1 clove of garlic, juice and zest of one lemon, sea salt, and pepper.

3. Mix vegetables and oil/wine mixture and dust with Parmesan Cheese or Vegan Alternative. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

4. Prepare pasta, cooking to al dente.

5. While pasta is cooking place marinated vegetables in oven to roast on a sheet pan in a single layer and lightly saute the mushrooms, beans, onion and tomatos with the remaining garlic clove in 2 tbs of olive oil. Season with salt, pepper, and tuscan seasoning mix to taste.

Sauteed Vegetables

Oven Roasted Vegetables

Pictures by Amanda Coffin-Farr

6. Drain pasta and reserve a 1/2 cup of the liquid.

7. Lightly toss the vegetables into the pasta, drizzling the remaining olive oil and water to get the consistancy you want.

8. Garnish by sqeezing the juice of the final lemon and zest onto the pasta in a large bowl. Dust with 1/2 tsp of tuscan seasoning mix, sea salt and black pepper to taste, and parmesan cheese or Vegan alternative.

9. Just before service, sprinkle the chiffonade of fresh basil on top of dish.

Suggestion: Toss a handful of sliced Black or Green Olives on top of the finished dish before service.

Good Movie - Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead

This is one of the first diet documentaries that I watched and now own in my collection.  I am on over 13 pills a day morning and night due to high blood pressure, MS, gastric reflux, asthma, allergies, and over grown prostrate. Over the last 4 years, I have spent approximately 80-90 days and how many countless hours in a doctors office due to my health issues.  Time to wake up and consider my diet and possible causes to my health issues.
Sure cannot hurt to eat healthier?






This video was uploaded to You Tube and following is the description:

Uploaded by FatSickandNearlyDead on Mar 7, 2011

100 pounds overweight, loaded up on steroids and suffering from a debilitating autoimmune disease, Joe Cross is at the end of his rope and the end of his hope. In the mirror he saw a 310lb man whose gut was bigger than a beach ball and a path laid out before him that wouldn't end well- with one foot already in the grave, the other wasn't far behind. FAT, SICK & NEARLY DEAD is an inspiring film that chronicles Joe's personal mission to regain his health. With doctors and conventional medicines unable to help long-term, Joe turns to the only option left, the body's ability to heal itself. He trades in the junk food and hits the road with juicer and generator in tow, vowing only to drink fresh fruit and vegetable juice for the next 60 days. Across 3,000 miles Joe has one goal in mind: To get off his pills and achieve a balanced lifestyle. While talking to more than 500 Americans about food, health and longevity, it's at a truck stop in Arizona where Joe meets a truck driver who suffers from the same rare condition. Phil Staples is morbidly obese weighing in at 429 lbs; a cheeseburger away from a heart-attack. As Joe is recovering his health, Phil begins his own epic journey to get well. What emerges is nothing short of amazing - an inspiring tale of healing and human connection. Part road trip, part self-help manifesto, FAT, SICK & NEARLY DEAD defies the traditional documentary format to present an unconventional and uplifting story of two men from different worlds who each realize that the only person who can save them is themselves.

Good video - Hungry For Change

I watched a great video last night.  Lately, I can not seem to get enough documentary films about food.  If you ever see one that you think that I may enjoy please share it with me.  Over the next few days, I am going to add trailers to the films that I have enjoyed and found in anyway interesting and helpful.

The first one is the one that I watched last night...

As uploaded on You Tube by FoodMattersTV on Feb 24, 2012

Their description of the movie is as follows:

A Documentary Film About Creating Lasting
Weight Loss, Abundant Energy and Vibrant Health
"This inspiring film has the power to transform your health!" - Anthony Robbins, World Renowned Peak Performance Expert. 

Join the world's leading experts in Nutrition and Natural Medicine in this FREE Worldwide Online event. So what is stopping us from getting this?

From the creators of the groundbreaking documentary FOOD MATTERS comes another hard-hitting film certain to rock your world.

HUNGRY FOR CHANGE exposes shocking secrets the diet, weightloss and food industry don't want you to know about. Deceptive strategies designed to keep you craving more and more. 

Could the foods we are eating actually be keeping us stuck in the diet trap?

In this free online premiere event you'll discover: How to navigate your supermarket - what to buy and what to avoid The real truth behind "DIET", "SUGAR-FREE" and "FAT-FREE" products How to overcome food addictions and cravings Why fad diets dont work What food additives to avoid and how to read labels What is fat and cellulite and how do we get rid of it for good The most effective detox and cleansing strategies, and How to eat for clear eyes, glowing skin and healthy hair

Find out what's keeping you from having the body and health you deserve and how to escape the diet trap forever.

Featuring interviews with best selling health authors and leading medical experts plus real life transformational iestories from those who know what it's like to be sick and overweight. 

Learn from those who have been there before and continue your health journey today.

Register below to watch the film online during the Free Worldwide Online Premiere, March 21-31, 2012. 

The DVD will be available for purchase exclusively on this site from March 21st onwards. By registering your details below you'll be notified when the DVD goes live.

"This film is vitally important to you, your family and the future well being of our nation. Watch it and apply what you learn. It may save your life."

- Jack Canfield, Co-author of 'Chicken Soup to Inspire the Body and Soul' & featured teacher in 'The Secret' 

Go to http://www.hungryforchange.tv/ to sign up for a FREE WORLDWIDE ONLINE PREMIER of the movie. it is showing from March 21 - 31, 2012.

Self Nutrition Date: Know What You eat

Self Nutrition Date: Know What You eat 

Interesting website that a friend shared with me.  Lots of tools, so have some fun playing with it!

Harvard’s Meat and Mortality Studies

Harvard’s Meat and Mortality Studies 

                               (click on title for full article)

Yet more studies showing a plant based diet is better for you than the traditional meat diet that most people consume including myself until the last year or so.  This is what I am questioning????