Krill Oil

If you haven't heard of Krill Oil, it's time to Google it. In fact, type in "Krill Oil Benefits", and you'll see around 224,000 posts.

Sadly, I need to do my better-paying job right now, so I can't write about it in great detail, but here's an interesting article. It discusses allergies, some benefits, the environmental impoact (real or imagined), and several other things.

I've been taking it consistently for around a month and a half, and I've noticed some interesting benefits. Then again, I've been taking all of my vitamins consistently for the last several months, and I truly believe I see, and feel, the difference.

More about this later.

LiveStrong.com

I just discovered a new website: www.livestrong.com. It's fantastic! I often look up calories, nutrients, etc. online, and keep track of these things on my own spreadsheet, but this website is so easy to use that I will just use it now. I'm so impressed.

Recipe - Oatmeal Fruit "Muffins"

The "Muffins" is in quotes, because it's a muffin recipe I made in a cake pan.

This is a modified version of a recipe I found in one of my favorite cookbooks: "No Red Meat" * by Brenda Shriver and Ann Tinsley.

I've started juicing recently, and I was looking for a way to use all that leftover fabulous fruit pulp.

Now, without further adieu, here we go:


Ingredients

2 cups unbleached or all purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 cups oats, quick or regular, uncooked

1/4 cup oil of choice

3 egg whites, slightly beaten (I used 1.5 tablespoons [4.5 teaspoons] liquid egg whites)

2 cups skim milk

3/4 cup fruit pulp of your choice


Directions

Preheat over to 400.

"Grease" 9 x 13 cake pan with olive oil

In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and oats.

In a small bowl, combine oil, egg whites and milk.

Pour over dry ingredients all at one time; stir until mixed.

Fold in fruit pulp. Do not over mix (I did it all by hand - no mixer).

Pour batter into the cake pan. Bake 30 minutes or until lightly browned. A toothpick should come out clean.

Cool aout 5 minutes before serving.


Good Things to Know

I learned today that you can bake with olive oil! Thank goodness, because that's all I had handy. :-) "They" (the experts) suggest using extra light olive oil if you're going to bake with it, because of it's mild taste.

The original recipe called for a cup of raisins or chopped fruit. I used 3/4 cup of pulp, because pulp is so much more dense than raisins. However, since my juicer is so efficient, the pulp is very dry. When I make this again I'll use a full cup.

Two egg whites equal one full egg. It's easy enough to figure out, unless you're using liquid egg whites. For some reason my egg white container doesn't tell me what measurement equals one egg white. :-) Simply do this: if the recipe calls for three egg whites, find out what measurement equals 3 eggs and halve that.

Because the original recipe was for 18 large muffins, I used a 9 x 13 pan. If I were converting a recipe for 12 muffins, I'd probably use an 8 x 8 pan, or a large loaf pan.

The fruit pulp I used was from my morning juice: 2 apples, 1 orange, 2 stalks of celery and 3 carrots! Believe it or not, it was good.


* I used an Amazon.com link to display the book, because - let's face it - it's a great website that's wonderfully organized. However, Amazon.com sells animal fighting publications, despite the facts that thousands of people have begged them to stop AND it's illegal to do so in every state! (They've found some sort of loophole.) Although I wish I could, I do not buy anything from Amazon.com, and I hope you'll consider boycotting them as well.

Food - Nutritional Yeast

I just tried nutritional yeaast for the first time tonight, and it's delicious! It reminds me a little bit of chicken boullion, but it's less salty.

Three rounded tablespoons (One Serving) has 80 calories, 1 gram of fat, 14 grams of carbohydrates, 5 grams of fiber, and 9 grams of protein.

The directions on the container say to mix three rounded tablespoons with water or broth as a snack. There are also some great recipes on my favorite recipe website, Recipezaar.

One of the more interesting sounding recipes suggests processing 1/4 cup of nutritional yeast, 1/4 cup sesame seeds and 1/4 teaspoon salt, and using this as a parmesan cheese replacement.

Another dish I'll be trying soon is Tofu with Nutritional Yeast.

Recipe - How NOT to Make a Smoothie

In my quest to make the perfect smoothie (nutritious and delicious) I just made a truly horrible smoothie. No, really - horrible.

1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 cup vanilla soy milk
1/2 cup plain, fat-free yogurt
1/2 cup frozen banana slices
1 scoop plain protein powder
(and I think this is where I went wrong...)
1 T, 1.5 t nutritional yeast


I just tried nutritional yeast for the first time tonight, and it's so good! It's just definitely not meant for anything (in my opinion) other than savory dishes: soups, casseroles, veggie burgers, etc. I also read a recipe tonight where someone ground it up with sesame seeds and salt and used it as a Parmesan cheese replacement.

Aside from that, the smoothie would have been a little bland tasting. I can live with "bland" if it's healthy, but more fruit is definitely in order.

Real Age: Curb Hunger Pangs with This Oil

Here's another great article from Real Age. We've known for some time that olive oil was the source of "good fat", but now we learn that it actually suppresses our appetite. Whoohoo!


Click here to read, "Curb Hunger Pangs with This Oil"

Real Age: Another Good Reason To Go Organic

Here's an article from RealAge.com with another very good reason to use organic foods (as if you needed more reasons). By the way, Real Age is one of my favorite websites. It's full of excellent information for good living.


Click here to read "The Good Stuff That's in Organics" on RealAge.com