Healthy happy you.
Looking for a new way to spice up your cooking life? Try pomegranate molasses, a dark liquid used to impart a tangy, sweet flavor in dishes, particularly those of Middle Eastern origin. Despite the name, pomegranate molasses isn't truly molasses, which comes as a byproduct of cane or beet sugar processing. Rather, this deep purple reduction, which has the consistency of maple syrup, is made by Read more
It's a cozy weekend afternoon, and you're baking brown sugar caramel frosted cupcakes. You reach for the brown sugar and suddenly realize that it's become so hard there's no way you can possibly use it. Why is it, you wonder, that brown sugar hardens? Brown sugar is refined white sugar with anywhere from 3.5 to 6.5 percent molasses syrup, which is a sweet, viscous byproduct of sugarcane or beet Read more
Do you know where to find your recommended daily intake of 18 milligrams of iron? The Popeye cartoon leads us all to believe that spinach is the ultimate source for iron. It does contain a decent amount. A half a cup of raw spinach will provide you with 2.7 milligrams of iron, but you have more powerful options out there. There are a wide variety of sources, so take a look and see. Source Read more
We all know that white sugar is like the devil. It's got zero nutritional value and rots our teeth. It also makes us feel crappy when we eat it because it makes our blood sugar level spike up and then come crashing down. Have you heard of Sucanat? It stands for Sugar Cane Natural. It's sugar in its most natural form - pure cane juice with only the water removed. This process preserves all Read more
You either love it or hate it. Nutritional yeast has a very yellowish color, vegans who often miss the taste of cheese often add it to food. Which is smart since the meatless dairyless vegan diet can be low in B12 and nutritional yeast is a great source for that vitamin. You can find it in most health food stores, sold in shaker containers, or in bulk. Some brands, like Red Star make Read more
If you've ever tackled a recipe that calls for honey or peanut butter, you've undoubtedly felt the pain of trying to scrape every last bit of gooey goodness out of your measuring cups. Last week, I faced the challenge of accurately measuring out 2/3 cups of goopy sourdough starter — a task rendered unbelievably easy thanks to my adjustable measuring cup! This cylindrical tool measures both wet Read more
All that holiday gifting is only half the merriment of the holidays. The rest of it — in our opinion, at least! — comes from the joy of making and savoring special holiday treats that only come once a year. The minute Thanksgiving passed, we move on to dreaming about all the holiday dessert possibilities, and there are simply too many on our to-make list to name. From gingerbread cookies to Read more
Too tired to hit the gym? You may not be getting enough iron in your diet. Healthy adult women need 18 milligrams a day (if you're prego, up that amount to 27 mg). If your diet doesn't offer the appropriate amount, fatigue will impair your ability to do physical work (like exercise). Iron also helps carry oxygen from our lungs to the rest of our body, helps muscles store and use oxygen, and is Read more
Ever since we had a detailed discussion in the office about how much we love lamb, I've been in the mood for it. Because I don't make it all that often, I want it to be something special — yet not too expensive. That's why I decided on a distinctive recipe for kofta, or ground meat kebabs, that calls for lamb, silky crème fraîche, delicate shallots, and pomegranate molasses for a complex yet Read more
A timely sale at the supermarket recently had me forgoing granulated white sugar in favor of the caramel-colored raw kind. But it was only after I'd begun using it in everything from agrodolce sauce to cocktails that I realized I didn't truly know what turbinado sugar really is. Is it brown sugar? Or simply a less processed version of the white stuff? A little digging revealed that the answer is, Read more
