Beetroot

Beetroot, health benefits

Since I have garden I enjoy fresh, organic beets.

Whether you roast it whole, blend into a classic soup or drink as juice like the Olympians do - beetroot is low in fat, full of vitamins and minerals and packed with powerful antioxidants - a health-food titan.

Beetroot is of exceptional nutritional value; especially the greens, which are rich in calcium, iron and vitamins A and C. Beetroots are an excellent source of folic acid and a very good source of fibre, manganese and potassium. The greens should not be overlooked; they can be cooked up and enjoyed in the same way as spinach.


Smoky Beetroot Hummus


(Vegan) 

Serves 4 to 6

3 small beets,

about 1/2 can chickpeas, 

rinsed and drained
 juice of 1 lemon


2 tablespoon tahini


2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced


1/2 – 1 teaspoon sea salt


1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika


1/4 teaspoon chile flakes

1/4 cup shelled pistachios, coarsely chopped


2 tablespoons chopped dill
,


Crackers, for serving

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Rinse the beets. Pierce them a few times with a fork, place in a small, greased baking dish, and cover with aluminum foil.

Roast until tender, about 45 to 60 minutes. Set aside to cool.

While the beets roast, add the chickpeas, lemon juice, tahini, pressed garlic, sea salt, paprika and chile flakes to the bowl of a food processor. Don’t combine yet. Set aside.

When the beets are cool enough to handle, peel them. Dice the beets and add to the food processor.

Puree until a smooth (or chunky, if you prefer) puree forms. You may need to add a tablespoon or two of olive oil to thin. (I didn’t.)

Serve in a wide, shallow bowl, garnished with the pistachios and dill.

Vegan recipe

here

Make your own beetoot smoothie or try mix with carrot and celery.

• clean and build the blood
• lower blood pressure
• improve circulation
• calm the nerves
• improve the health of the liver, kidneys, and bladder
• clean the intestines
• fight cancer
• improve menstrual problems
• cure anemia

Tip:


If your hands become stained during preparation and cooking beetroot, rub some lemon juice over them to help remove the colour.

Beetroot burgers

(dairy free) 

Ingredients

Makes six to eight burgers.

3 cups grated beets (about 4 to 5 beets)

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

2 tablespoons olive oil (cold-pressed)

2 organic eggs

1 1/2 cup rolled oats (gluten-free, if you prefer)

7 peaces of firm tofu

1 handful fresh basil, leaves picked

1 pinch sea salt and black pepper

2 tablespoons coconut oil, ghee, or olive oil, for frying

Directions

Peel and grate beets, onion, and garlic on a box grater, or use a food processor with the grating blades attached. Place the grated vegetables in a large mixing bowl. Add olive oil, eggs, and rolled oats and mix everything well. Add tofu, basil, salt, and pepper, and stir to combine. Set aside for about 30 minutes, so the oats can soak up the liquid and the mixture sets (this step is important for the patties to hold together).

Form 6 to 8 patties with your hands. If the mixture is too loose, add some more oats. Grill the burgers a couple of minutes on each side — or fry them in a frying pan by heating a knob of coconut oil or ghee and fry until golden on both sides. Serve with grilled sourdough bread and toppings of your choice (lettuce, cabbage
, mango, avocado
, tomatoes
, sprouts, and onions).

here

All recipes are dairy free

Year of the horse

The Wood Horse

The wood horse year is a time of fast victories, unexpected adventure, and surprising romance. It is an excellent year for travel, and the more far away and off the beaten path the better. Energy is high and production is rewarded. Decisive action, not procrastination, brings victory.

Lucky colors for the year of the horse are green and brown!

In Chinese astrology, Horse year is considered a fortunate year that brings luck and good things. Magical Horse has supernatural powers, is heroic, strong, and can even fly!

People born in Horse years (2014, 2002, 1990, 1978, 1966, 1954, 1942, 1930, 1918, 1906) are bright, cheerful, popular, and fun loving. They find people and crowds exciting, and love parties. Horse’s childish innocence, sunny disposition, and natural charm attract many friends. Horse is a highly intuitive animal, so people born in Horse year follow their hunches. Their keen judgment and natural intuition often help them make the right decisions throughout their life. Usually they don’t need to struggle in order to succeed and obtain the fine things life has to offer.

Casual and outdoorsy Horse year is about freedom, returning to nature, and enjoying life and life’s adventures. You won’t always want to focus on work because it’s easy to be distracted by fun, good times, and parties in sexy Horse year. 

Whatever the stars foretell, you stay positive, smiling and be good to yourself and to others!

Astrolog: Susan Levitt

Pic: Pin

Decor

Interiors that inspires 

Giving myself a nice space to live and work in is important for me on a number of levels. First and foremost, doing so helps me focus better, it makes me happier to live in a well-decorated space, and it also reduces stress. Decorating your home is about more than just spending a lot of money to do so or trying to impress people. Decorating your home is important to make it feel cozier and more rewarding.

Here some...

Entrance hall of a Melbourne residence by interior designer Thomas Hamel

I love gray and natural wood color 

Chinise year of the horse

 Pic via here , Elle Decor, Steve Leung Decor , Thomas Hamel 

Winter favorites

Gorgeous clothes

It's a cliché as old as the house of Chanel: Fashion people love cold weather. Warm, fuzzy scarves;

bulky-but-cute sweaters; miniskirts with woolly tights.

Fireplace

Yes, winter goes with fireplace. Warm and welcoming.

Scents

To me, scented candles are inevitable ingredients for the perfect home atmosphere during cold winter days and long chilly nights. To warm me up, I enjoy the woodsy scents or cinnamon – orangey..

Hot drinks and winter cocktails

         Mulled wine by Jamie Oliver

     2 Clementine’s

         1 lemon

         1 lime

         200 g caster sugar

         6 whole cloves

         1 stick cinnamon

         3 fresh bay leaves

         1 whole nutmeg, for grating

         1 vanilla pod, halved lengthways

         2 star anise

     2 bottles Chianti or other Italian red wine

This is dead simple to make and tastes like Christmas in a glass. It's a lovely celebration of those traditional festive spices like cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg. If you've got your own favorite spices, then feel free to add those to the pot too. Let everything cook away and warm up gently so the flavors have time to mingle with the wine. I like to leave my mulled wine ticking over on a really low heat and just ladle some into glasses as and when guests pop in. peel large sections of peel from your Clementine’s, lemon and lime using a speed peeler. Put the sugar in a large saucepan over a medium heat, add the pieces of peel, and squeeze in the clementine juice. Add the cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaves, and about 10 to 12 gratings of nutmeg. Throw in your halved vanilla pod and stir in just enough red wine to cover the sugar. 

Let this simmer until the sugar has completely dissolved into the red wine and then bring to the boil. Keep on a rolling boil for about 4 to 5 minutes, or until you've got a beautiful thick syrup. The reason I'm doing this first is to create a wonderful flavor base by really getting the sugar and spices to infuse and blend well with the wine. It's important to make a syrup base first because it needs to be quite hot, and if you do this with both bottles of wine in there you'll burn off the alcohol. 

When your syrup is ready, turn the heat down to low and add your star anise and the rest of the wine. Gently heat the wine and after around 5 minutes, when it's warm and delicious, ladle it into glasses and serve.

 Winter food

 The ideal roasted chicken recipe will leave your chicken golden brown and gleaming, tender and juicy. The crackle of chicken as it roasts and the wondrous aroma that perfumes the kitchen provoke a feeling of satisfaction and fulfillment, specially when the chicken was grown in my own farm here in Lozen.

2 whole chickens,

Kosher salt

Freshly ground pepper

1 large lemon, thinly sliced

2 small onions, peeled and trimmed

1 bunch of fresh thyme

4 tablespoons of softened butter

1 cup of chopped carrots

1 cup of chopped potatoes

1 cup of chopped parnish (Pasternak) 

1/2 cup of chopped onions

I like to salt my meat for at least a few hours and up to a day before I roast it to maximize the flavor-boosting potential.

An hour before you’re ready to cook the chickens, take them out of the fridge to come to room temperature. At the same time, put your butter on the counter to soften, and preheat the oven to 250 C.

Once the chickens are no longer chilly, dry them off with a paper towel and stuff the cavities with lemon slices, onion, and thyme.

With a piece of string, tie the drumsticks together…place the rest of the vegetables 30 min before the chicken in ready.

I like to roast my chicken in a heavy stoneware crock covered for about 2 h. and another 30 min with open lid just to get golden brown.

(Julia Child's classic roast chicken recipes) 

Cozy evenings

To enjoy completely an idyllic winter evening, we need to be relaxed and totally present, which is often just an unattainable dream for most of us, while rushing from one task to another. Instead of blaming this wonderful period of the year for our bad mood, it is better for us to slow down a little bit and capture the infinite beauty of nature. Before moving on to the next, it is important to use every free moment to relax.

Snow sports

Ask ten people why they love snow sports and you're likely to get ten different answers: the spectacular beauty of the mountains, the exhilaration of hurtling down the slopes, the food, the après-ski, the off piste, the rustic mountain huts or simply being in picture-perfect villages surrounded by glistening snow. Once regarded the domain of the wealthy, snow sports have now become accessible to people of all budgets and all abilities. Holidays in the mountains should be as much about relaxing on a sun terrace admiring some of the planet's most spectacular scenery, taking long lunches in cozy restaurants and whooping loudly as you bag fresh tracks on a powder day as it is about perfecting your technique!

So, my dear friends,… I hope I gave you warm and cozy feeling and I believe you are inspired to make your own winter days and nights unforgettable.
We only live once, make it worth it!

Pic : Heremes, Botega veneta, here

Dairy Free

Why dairy free?

I often receive the question “Why dairy free?”

For me, it started when I gave birth to my daughter and soon after that she was diagnosed lactose intolerant. Pediatrition suggested to switch to Friso pep (adaptive milk).

Well, I continued breastfeeding for 1 year but I became strictly dairy free myself. I’ve read tons of articles and I made all kind of medical tests to make sure it was healthy. After 5 years of being dairy free I truly recommend it.

But there are many different reasons to explore the benefits of a dairy-free diet.

Top 10 Dairy-Free Benefits

Clear Skin

Just ask the millions of people who’ve seen their acne vanish as one of the many dairy-free benefits, and they will tell you that pizza face isn’t a myth. I’ve received hundreds of emails from readers professing that a dairy-free diet banished their acne. Some had been battling the dreaded eruptions for decades, with quick resolution once they cut out every drop of milk and slice of cheese. The exact link is not known, and there may in fact be a few. Some physicians state that it could be a milk allergy or sensitivity causing inflammation; others suggest the hormones in milk are aggravators; while one study points to lactose, butterfat, or perhaps excess iodine in milk as the culprit. Whatever the reason, an increasing number of dermatologists are now recommending the dairy-free diet as a first step in treating acne.

Asian food is dairy free 

Preventing Milk Allergy and Sensitivity Reactions

Milk allergy is real. Dairy repeatedly ranks high in prevalence on the Top 8 food allergen list in the U.S. and Top 11 in Canada. The severity of milk allergy ranges from life-threatening (anaphylaxis) to relatively mild (hives), and researchers have discovered other pathways in which milk can cause an immune response. FPIES (Food Protein Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome) and EoE (Eosinophilic Esophagitis) are two types of allergic conditions (commonly linked to dairy) that affect the gastrointestinal tract specifically and can have a delayed reaction, making them difficult to diagnose. Note that milk allergy can appear at any time in life. Though “traditional” dairy allergy has a higher prevalence in infants and young children, EoE is being diagnosed in an increasing number of adults.

 

Dairy free apple strudel

Healthy Digestion

I could go on and on in this category. For starters, lactose intolerance spurs a myriad of digestive symptoms in millions of people, including stomach pain, cramps, bloating, flatulence (yes, gas), diarrhea, and nausea. It has been estimated that 70% of the world’s population has some degree of lactose intolerance, which is perfectly normal. After weaning, humans no longer “need” the ability to digest their mother’s milk, so they naturally begin losing lactase, the enzyme that helps to digest lactose in dairy milk. Lactase persistence, or the ability to digest lactose as we age, actually appears to be a relatively new phenomenon in our evolution. Dairy has also been labeled as a key trigger in IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) and various other digestive conditions, from the EoE and FPIES mentioned above to chronic constipation.

For Baby

As mentioned, infant milk allergy is a real concern for millions of parents. But the need to be dairy free doesn’t usually end with the little one. Pediatricians often recommend that breastfeeding moms of milk-allergic babies go completely dairy free themselves. It is speculated that milk protein consumed by mom passes to her little one via her own milk supply. Interestingly enough, many moms opt to remain milk-free even after breastfeeding, due to the dairy-free benefits they end up enjoying themselves. That’s my case.

Weight Loss

For those who are milk allergic and have had issues with low body weight, a milk-free diet can actually help them to absorb nutrients and potentially gain healthy weight. But for the rest of the population, weight loss is a real possibility with the dairy-free transition. It isn’t uncommon for me to see posts of “I went dairy-free, with no other changes in my diet or lifestyle, and 15 pounds simply melted away!” Why? A few hypotheses emerge in the studies included on Obesity and Milk, and in the consumption patterns outlined in Obesity in the Cheese Generation.

Miranda Kerr is famous with her dairy free diet

Stronger Bones

Believe it or not, there is a large body of science that directly combats the promoted connection between dairy milk and bone health. According to the landmark Harvard study of approximately 78,000 female nurses, women who consumed greater amounts of calcium from dairy foods had a significantly increased risk of hip fractures, while no increase in fracture risk was observed for the same levels of calcium intake from non-dairy sources. To further these findings, study and population reviews have shown that the countries with the highest rates of osteoporosis are also the largest consumers of dairy products.

Helping or Resolving Medical Mysteries

Whether backed by research or thousands of personal success stories, many people are squashing daily headaches, migraines, rashes, stuffy sinuses, chronic infections, arthritis pain, and even narcolepsy when they cut out all dairy foods. Still others are finding a notable reduction in behavioral issues with conditions such as ADHD and Autism when they eliminate dairy, and sometimes gluten (though believe it or not, a large report found that dairy-free has a bigger impact!).

Vegan Living and the Environment

Vegans avoid all animal products, which includes dairy. In doing so, they make a stance against animal cruelty, shun the extensive use of antibiotics and hormones in our food supply, and lessen their environmental impact. Milk production has been shown to have a substantial footprint on air quality (greenhouse gas and nitrogen emissions), water quality (run-off of fertilizers, pesticides, antibiotics, hormones, and pathogens), and the soil and surrounding ecosystems (land use, cropping practices, fertilizers, and pesticides). But be sure to choose your dairy-free milk alternatives wisely. You may lessen the dairy-free benefits if you aren’t aware of the GMO issues.

Cancer Prevention

Numerous research studies have shown a direct correlation between dairy intake and several hormone-related cancers. In fact, strong ties have been identified between milk consumption and both ovarian and prostate cancers. One very large study showed that women who consumed just 1 or more servings of skim or low-fat milk daily had a 32% higher risk of developing any ovarian cancer and a 69% higher risk of serous ovarian cancer when compared to women who consumed 3 or less servings per month. Another cohort study showed that men with the highest dietary intake of dairy foods were 2.2 times more likely to develop prostate cancer than men with the lowest intake of dairy foods.

Vegan cake

Reducing Exposure to Added Antibiotics and Hormones

Antibiotics are given in mass quantities to dairy cows to help prevent infection, but great concern has been raised over the consumption of these antibiotics through the milk supply and antibiotic resistance. Also, back on the topic of cancers, there are two primary sources of hormones in our milk supply: BGH (Bovine Growth Hormone), a natural occurring hormone in cows that stimulates the production IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor-1), and a synthetic version, rBGH, used in conventional dairy farming to help stimulate milk production, which further increases the levels of IGF-1. The consumption of cow’s milk has been shown to increase the serum level of IGF-1 in humans by 10%. Consequently, higher levels of IGF-1 in humans have been linked to a significant increase in the risk of prostate, colon, lung, and breast cancers. Fortunately, dairy-free milk alternatives do not contain added antibiotics or hormones since they are plant-based!

Who needs to drink milk..when we have wine !!!

The information provided above is based upon our research, experiences, and feedback from the community. It is for informational purposes only. Never undergo any change in diet without first consulting a physician. Every person is different.

More info here