Dairy free rice pudding

I had another instance of leftover rice last night....so I made my dairy-free rice pudding. Which is healthier than standard rice pudding. It's hard to get a good custard with rice or soy milk without using some kind of thickener.
I came up with this recipe by accident...I was actually making some food for my sick dog last year and came up with the idea.
I think it tastes great and has more vitamins than standard rice pudding. Make it for yourself and let me know. You can substitute the soy creamer with milk, I just think it adds a little more richness to it. You can also use fresh sweet potatoes, just cook thoroughly in oven and scoop out meat of potato.

Recipe:
2 cups cooked rice (white or brown)
1 16 oz can sweet potatoes (drained and mashed)
1 cup soy or rice milk
1/2 cup vanilla soy creamer
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Combine the mashed sweet potatoes with rice milk and soy creamer in saucepan over medium heat using electric beaters until almost smooth. (It's hard to get all the sweet potato lumps out). Heat for 10 minutes, add vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix then add rice. Heat for another 10 minutes. If its not sweet enough you can add a splash of agave nectar.

my favorite olive oil

We all know that olive oil is good for us, but have you ever really tasted it?

Last year we went to Napa and stopped at the Olive Press ( http://www.theolivepress.com/ ) for an olive oil tasting (sounds gross I know). Until that point I thought all olive oil tasted the same...boy was I wrong. We tasted all their oils and vinegars and ended up bringing enough home to last me until the other night. So last night when we had some french bread with dinner and we used plain old olive oil from the store to dip it in I was disappointed. You could totally taste the difference! I had to call and order some today. I swear that once you try it you'll never go back..and if you have the chance to visit I highly recommend it. The olives in our olive oil had been picked and processed right their at the winery just a couple months earlier. Our favorite is the Arbequina. I sent some to my mom and got her hooked on it too.

Anyway, enough promotion...why is olive oil better than others?

Olive oil is the highest oil in monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA). When monounsaturated fats replace saturated fats in the diet it will lower total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol (bad), and triglycerides with little effect on HDL cholesterol (good). If MUFA replaces carbohydrates there is little change in the above numbers.

Other oils such as safflower, sunflower, and soybean are higher in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) which if replacing saturated fat will lower LDL and HDL cholesterol. Most people don't want to lower their HDL levels because this helps to prevent heart disease. However, if you are replacing carbohydrates with PUFA you will lower LDL and raise HDL cholesterol (both desirable).

Here's a comparison of oils and their ratio's of different types of fat. Check it out...and try to choose the oils lower in saturated fats.

http://www.exrx.net/Nutrition/FatComparison.html

yummy turkey meatballs

I've been all about trying to add more fiber to my diet....I felt like experimenting tonight so I made turkey meatballs with my own little twist. Instead of the standard breadcrumbs and egg I used mashed cannellini beans and ground flaxseed. The can of cannellini beans added 18 grams of fiber and the flaxseeds added another 6 for a total of 24 grams of fiber (about 1.5 grams per meatball) that wouldn't have made it into the recipe before. For some more fiber you can use whole wheat pasta too...afterall we are supposed to get about 25 grams per day. And fiber is good at keeping you full longer, preventing some cancers, and losing weight.

I wasn't sure how it would turn out but they came out really good as evidenced by Matt's "Oh, I wish I could take this for lunch tomorrow." They came out great except they were a little soft...so if you can eat eggs then you might want to substitute 1 egg for the olive oil to help bind them together a little better.

Here's the recipe:

1 lb lean ground turkey
1 can cannellini beans, mashed

3 tbsp ground flax seeds

2 tbsp chopped fresh basil

1/4 cup diced onion

1/4 cup roasted red pepper puree

2 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves chopped garlic

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Salt and pepper to taste

Drain and rinse the cannellini beans then mash with a fork. Add all the other ingredients. For the roasted pepper puree I used a jar of roasted red peppers and pureed them in the blender. Mix together and shape into small meatballs ( i made about 15). Spray a frying pan with olive oil and cook the meatballs on medium/high heat until cooked through and browned.

You can use any sauce, but I made that too.

Recipe:

1 can crushed tomatoes

2 tbsp olive oil

1/4 chopped onion

2 tbsp fresh chopped basil

2 cloves chopped garlic

2 tbsp agave nectar (or sugar)

1/2 cup of the roasted red pepper puree from above

salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper to taste

Combine in sauce pan and simmer for at least a half hour...i let mine go for about an hour and a half. YUM!

your waistline and your dog

I read an article in the Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/18/AR2009051802184.html today about exercise and man's best friend.



If you are looking to lose weight, dogs are a great addition to the family. My two furry friends definitely motivate me to get out and exercise. I've never had a friend motivate me as much to go to the gym or hiking as they can. Just seeing me put my sneakers on sends them into a flurry of excitement. They can also remind you about that mindless eating you maybe doing. It's hard to ignore the excitment from a dog everytime you go to the fridge or grab a snack from the pantry. It may just stop you from getting that snack you really don't need.



So if you have a dog get out their and exercise with it, it's way better than being in a stuffy gym and it's not only good for you but for your dogs mind and body too. If you have kids send them outside to exercise the dog, you'll have more well behaved dogs and your kids will be getting exercies too.
Matt and Mochi exploring secret passages at Valley of Fire

get out in the sun for your daily vitamin D

There has been a lot in the news about vitamin D recently...which really isn't suprising since we all slather on sunscreen and don't eat much of the foods that contain vitamin D.

Vitamin D is unique in that it isn't a vitamin, it's a hormone, and the body can produce it through exposure to sunlight. Vitamin D is important to bone growth as well as many other organ functions in the body. Some studies suggest that vitamin D intake during pregnancy can help prevent MS in children. Other studies suggest it can help prevent cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.

The average adult needs approximately 400 IU of vitamin D a day. This can easily be obtained by spending a little time outdoors (10-15 minuts) before sunscreen is applied. Foods that contain vitamin D include fortified milks and cereals as well as fatty fish like tuna and salmon. I wouldn't recommend supplementing your diet with supplements unless you don't drink milk and can't get outside a couple of times a week. The body stops producing vitamin D when the needs are met to prevent toxic levels from sun exposure however when taking supplements you could exceed the recommended levels. Toxic levels of vitamin D raises the level of calcium in the blood which could lead to kidney stones and calcification of blood vessels.