COOK YOUR OWN FOOD FOR HEALTH, ADD HERBS AND SPICES FOR COMPLEXITY AND HEALTH part 1

Today I want to talk about adding complexity when you cook by using herbs.
I love using fresh herbs when I can. I love the way fresh herbs smell, which increases the pleasure of cooking with them.
Choose complexity; every day, eat as many colors as possible. And the more you eat real food, plant foods, the healthier your body. Your body craves all the photonutrients that it gets from real live organic food. Eat the rainbow – a wide variety of colorful vegetables, like green leafy vegetables, collard greens, arugula, kale, and spinach as well as broccoli, bok choy, cauliflower, peppers, radishes, cabbage, onion, and leeks. Next, eat starchy veggies, but not too many. Add complexity by adding herbs.
And how do I chop up the herbs to use them in my cooking? I hate to chop. (Fortunately my hubby loves to chop) but my trick is to use my mini chop or mini food processor. I love it. I wash the herbs, put them in the cup and let the machine do the work. Fabulous.
I use it for all of the herbs on the memes below and for garlic and onion and shallots.
 
I also make salad dressing is it, with olive oil and lemon juice or vinegar (I love apple cider with the mother, or red wine vinegar or unseasoned rice vinegar), onion, garlic, shallots, and sea salt and pepper. Add a little water or non soy mayo (Veganaise, green label) and yummy salad dressing. adjust seasoning to taste.
The mini chop is available in stainless, white, pink and red on Amazon.

Oddly enough, many of my sensitivities are herbs. But for most people they are super healthy. Grow your own if possible. I grow rosemary, thyme, parsley, oregano and cilantro. I use a lot of fresh ginger. Sage, basil are now off my list, but I love using fresh herbs when I can. I love the way fresh herbs smell, which increases the pleasure of cooking with them.

Choose complexity; every day, eat as many colors as possible.

I suggest you eat three different veggies each night as a minimum.

Eat half your veggies raw and half your veggies lightly cooked. Steaming veggies for 2-3 minutes, many release their gifts to a form easily utilized by the body.

Three-quarters of your daily food should be plants, preferably organic.

Roasting vegetables brings out their best flavor. Shake in a bag with a little ghee, organic garlic, and organic onion powder and pepper (I used Primal Palate Steak mix, yum) spread out on a baking sheet (I use parchment paper underneath) and cook at 400 until roasted. Leave them slightly crunchy.

Make good partnerships with your food using healing spices in your cooking. As an example, the combination of turmeric, black pepper, and olive oil releases all its pain-reducing healing properties. Spices also make your food infinitely more interesting

Add ginger when stir-frying for its healing and pain-reducing properties. I also love to make ginger tea. Just cut off a slice and let it brew in hot water. Add a little raw stevia, and it’s delicious.

Adding rosemary or thyme protects you from cancer.

 Cinnamon reduces blood sugar.

Add parsley, which is exceptionally high in lutein, and great for eyesight. When I was a little girl, I already had tons of allergies. (I believe now that they were actually sensitivities.) I couldn’t eat the cookies and snacks that other children could eat, so my Mother would give me a handful of parsley to munch on. To this day, I love parsley. I will sit in a restaurant and ask permission to eat the parsley off everyone’s plate. I love, love, love it.

Avocado not only has excellent oils for the body but is a powerhouse for fiber and lycopene, which encourages heart health.

Eat foods high in quercetin (onions, berries, apples, and capers) for its antiinflammatory characteristics healing the kidneys, the gut, the liver, and reducing allergies. Remember, quercetin is also very good for the brain.

The key is to use them all and to mix them together for optimal health.

Mix it up, find new foods, and eat them often.

Finally, eat plants several times a day.

Add a handful of spinach and onion to your morning eggs. Add berries (frozen or fresh) to your morning organic oatmeal. Make colorful salads for lunch. Use fruit as your afternoon snack. Find as many ways as possible to incorporate multiple colors of fruits and veggies in your daily food plan.

Your body will celebrate.

 

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