This week on Real Nutrition I showed you a new way to celebrate with food over the holidays.  Did you like the idea of making the Holiday Candy with carob and some fun new ingredients?  I hope you learned something new, and that you’re feeling inspired to get into the kitchen.

Remember, you can still enjoy your holiday favorites while using good sense around too much sugar.  With this candy recipe, you are getting good sources of healthy fats in the nut and seed butters, and of course you know I love to create with honey and maple syrup!  Thankfully, this recipe calls for small amounts of both, so super easy on the blood sugar, while satisfying that holiday sweet tooth.  Make these for your kids’ Halloween parties, or serve them at elegant dinner buffets…they are sure to please any palate.

Carob Holiday Candy

Ingredients:

3/4 cup tahini (sesame butter), sunflower butter, peanut or almond butter
1 cup Barbara’s brand brown rice cereal (or other puffed rice cereal)
1/8 cup of carob powder (or unprocessed, unsweetened cocoa powder)
1 Tablespoon honey
1 Tablespoon maple syrup
Coconut flakes – finely shredded for coating

Put all ingredients in a food processor and combine until it forms a workable dough.  You can also combine all the ingredients in a big mixing bowl, but just know that the rice cereal will be more noticeable in the balls, which is also a crunchy addition.  Once mixed, form into balls about the size of a ping-pong ball.  Put the coconut flakes on a plate or waxed paper, and roll the balls in the flakes until covered.  Place on a waxed cookie sheet and place the balls in the fridge until chilled.  Serve chilled or at room temperature.

If you’re not a coconut fan, you can also roll the balls in shaved chocolate. For more fun flavors check out the Frontier brand of flavorings at your natural foods store or online at www.frontiercoop.com. Sometimes I’ll add 1 teaspoon of the peppermint or maple syrup flavor to this recipe for a tasty variation.  You could also add orange flavoring for a Tootsie-Roll flavor..yum!

Today on Real Nutrition Q & A, I talked about how to make food a celebration!

How is it that people believe good-tasting food must be bad, and good-for-you food must taste bad?

This stems from personal experience.  If you’re eating high-fat, high-sugar, and overly processed foods, your palate will adjust to these tastes.  When this happens, fresh, natural foods seem less palatable.  When you start experimenting with REAL food – rather than the trans-fat, sugar-free convenience foods – you will learn to appreciate (and adore, quite frankly) the essence of maple syrup, the richness of real cocoa, and the creaminess of non-dairy tofu.

Imagine making a fabulously decadent dessert, with all natural ingredients, and serving it to your friends and family.  Wouldn’t it feel good knowing you were serving them something healthy?  What if you then received raving reviews, and everyone wanted the recipe?  Even better!

Be the superstar and follow this super simple recipe for Decadent Chocolate Mousse.  Then share it with your loved ones ~ they will thank you!

Ingredients:

2 containers of silken tofu (10 1/2 oz. each)

1/4 cup real maple syrup

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 teaspoon coffee flavoring (Frontier brand)

1 tablespoon vanilla flavoring (Frontier brand)

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/3 packet of stevia powdered sweetener (optional)

This is so easy!  Just put everything except the stevia into a food processor and blend until super creamy.  You can then taste the mousse to see if it’s sweet enough for your taste buds.  If not, add the stevia for extra sweetener.  Pour the mousse into a bowl and refrigerate. Serve chilled and top with 3 raspberries and a sprig of mint.  Or feel free to top with the fruit of your choice, including sliced banana, a few blackberries, or sliced strawberries.  You can also substitute the coffee flavoring with orange or mint flavorings for a Tootsie-Roll mousse or Chocolate-Mint version.

More optional toppings:

Shredded coconut

Sliced almonds

Crumbled graham crackers

Crumbled gluten-free ginger-cookies (I like the Pamela’s brand)

Shaved dark chocolate

Crystalized ginger

You can serve this mousse as dessert, an afternoon snack, or a lunch-box treat. Heck, I even have one family who eats it for breakfast – much better than those sugary cereals with all the dyes!

Remember, food is fun…enjoy!

1) Less is More – some of the best recipes have only 4-5 ingredients, allowing the true flavors to come out.  This way of cooking is also less intimidating and more affordable!

2) Don’t Make it Pretty – focus first on flavor, and deal with presentation once you’ve mastered the basics!  If the dish tastes fabulous, nobody cares what it looks like AND it’s all about having fun.

3) Plan to Fail – when you and your loved ones start tinkering with the basic sauces below, expect to have some flubbed dishes!  Andrew made many, many batches of Gumbo before he figured out what worked – it’s all part of the adventure, so laugh a little and make the necessary adjustments.

4) Share the Experience – invite your husband or significant other to join in – give them the 3 x 5 card (see below) with some quick instructions, and let them try their hand.  This also goes for kids – cooking together is truly a celebration and worth the time.

5) Use Your Time Wisely – if your excuse is that you don’t have time to cook, remember that when your chicken, stock or tomato sauce is roasting or simmering, you can use this time to do homework with the kids, take a shower, catch up on emails, etc.

Here are examples of 3 x 5 cards with basic sauce ingredients:

Put 2 t. canola oil is a saute pan, and cook diced onion and garlic until soft.  Throw in canned tomatoes and sauce a let simmer.  This is a basic tomato sauce that you would buy in a can at the grocery store.  Now you can add a pinch or two of oregano and/or basil for a tasty pasta sauce, or add 1/2 a can of tomato paste (or more for your desired thickness) to make a pizza sauce.  Throw in a couple handfuls of sliced mushrooms for a heartier sauce and flavor.  Remember the basic tomato sauce is the first place to start!

When your done eating your roasted chicken, throw all the ingredients above into a stock pot and cover with water.  Simmer over low heat for 7-8 hours and voila…a delicious, healthy, natural chicken stock without all the sodium and preservatives.  Feel free to add a pinch or two of salt and pepper to taste.

Melt the butter in a saucepan.  Over low heat stir in flour to make a thick paste.  Then slowly pour in the milk while stirring to make a creamy sauce.  Keep the temperature low and continue to stir until it’s creamy so that you don’t get clumps.  Use this sauce in place of high-sodium cream-of-mushroom soup.  This is also a wonderful base for homemade mac ‘n cheese or a light pasta sauce with lots of veggies.

MagicBullet Basic Marinade:

1 cup low-sodium Tamari

1 heaping Tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 heaping Tablespoon honey

1 Tablespoon canola oil

Put all ingredients in the MagicBullet and blend until smooth.  Throw this on top of some chicken, fish or beef in a bowl or plastic bag, and stick in the fridge for the day to marinade.  You can also use this as a stir fry sauce, or the basis for a yummy salad dressing.  Remember to play around and see what works.  I sometimes add a dash or two of hot sauce to spice this up, or I’ll add the juice of 2-3 oranges to make a yummy dressing for roasted veggies and brown rice.

If you missed today’s show, Click Here to watch the taped version.

Please enter your comments and any other ideas for getting your man into the kitchen – the saucier the better!

Have a wonderful day ~

JOIN Real Mom TV Nutritionist, Julie HammersteinThrough her own experience, Jeanne has presented a case for what Woman’s Day magazine has hailed the “just good enough” dinner that is both accessible and actually doable. This is not a cookbook but a strategy guide filled with expert advice from moms just like you. And yes, take-out counts.

Julie and Jeanne will discuss how to:

• Turn off the TV and get back to the table (without a revolt)
• “Shop” your pantry
• Buy smarter – and save money
• Nourish kids of all ages
• “Feed” your soul (aka eat in peace)
• Foolproof recipes to get you started
• Hundreds of ways to answer the question “What’s for Dinner?”

Tune in Friday at 9am PT/12pm ET for “Real Life, Real Nutrition” for fun give-aways and tons of great information!

To learn more about Jeanne and her book, please visit www.busydinnerformoms.com, or www.jeannemuchnick.com.

Confused about what to eat during pregnancy?

My general rule is to listen to your body and use it as a guide.   There is an inherent wisdom at work here, and your body’s intelligence will send strong signals when it’s not getting what it needs.

Now, having said this, that doesn’t mean you should give-in to cravings for a greasy burger, passing it off as, “but my body said so!”  In reality, the need for comfort foods may just be your body telling you to relax.  Better to take a warm bath or get your significant other to rub your feet!

Cravings for greasy food may also indicate your need for more fat.  So let’s opt for the healthy kind.  Foods like walnuts, avocado, and olive oil can serve this purpose.

There are also foods that become more valuable to you and your baby at various stages of your pregnancy.

Although you should be eating a variety of healthy foods throughout, it’s best to put an emphasis on the following foods during your first, second and third trimesters:

First Trimester

During your first trimester, your baby is beginning to form. Her heart starts to pump blood, while her head, neck, fingernails, genitals and toes take shape. During this stage, it is important to eat foods rich in folic acid, which can be found naturally in green leafy vegetables such as kale, spinach and romaine lettuce. Other foods high in folic acid include asparagus, turnip greens, beans, sunflower seeds, pineapple juice, honeydew melon, grapefruit, strawberries, bananas, some cereals, beets, broccoli, and bok choy.

Second Trimester

Important landmarks for your baby are the development of bones and fat accumulation. Because this process takes increased blood flow from you, it is important to get enough iron and vitamin C (which helps iron to absorb into your body). Some iron rich foods include red meats, salmon, beans, iron fortified cereals, kale, spinach, broccoli, Swiss chard, chicken, nuts, and egg yolks. To boost your vitamin C levels, increase intake of foods like citrus, tomato, papaya, mango, red and orange peppers, kiwi fruit, and broccoli.

Third Trimester

Calcium is important throughout your pregnancy, but because your baby’s bones are growing rapidly during the third trimester, it is especially important to increase your calcium intake.  You can get plenty of calcium from non-dairy foods, so don’t feel like you need to drink gallons of milk.  Spinach, peas, sesame seeds, almonds, and bok choy all contain loads of calcium.  If you choose dairy, choose the low-fat varieties such as plain yogurt or kefir.

During my pregnancy, my favorite morning meal was oatmeal or hot rice cereal mixed with strawberries, 1/4 of a banana, a sprinkling of almonds, sunflower seeds and a little bit of honey.  It was a bit tough for me to eat during my first trimester, so I would get most of my fruit by drinking smoothies with Kefir and protein powder. Vegetables were sketchy – I could really only tolerate spinach, broccoli and roasted yams, and butternut squash – so I ate them lightly cooked and mixed into warming brown rice.

By my second and third trimesters my appetite was back to normal and I loved salads and tons of fresh food at every meal.  As a result, my son’s first food was pureed butternut squash and he LOVED it!

If you’d like ideas on how to fit the recommended foods into your diet, please leave a comment below and I’ll make sure to get back to you with some recipes and meal ideas.

Have a wonderful day and Live Your MaxLife!

She shared some great ideas on how you and your kiddos can successfully deal with food allergies and intolerance.

I’ve listed some of the cookbooks she shared, along with my favorite brand names to look for on your next grocery trip.  I’ve also included some helpful websites to explore.

Cookbooks:

The Gluten-Free Gourmet – by Bette Hagman

Wheat-Free, Worry-Free – by Donna Korn

The Allergy Self-Help Cookbook, – by Marjorie Hunt Jones, R.N.

Five Years Without Food – by Nicolette Dumke

Brand Names:

Amy’s – great frozen meals and kid-friendly mac ‘n’ cheese

Barbara’s – wonderful pancake mixes, cookies and other baked goods

Mary’s Crackers – fabulous gluten-free crackers that everyone will love!

Bob’s Red Mill – gluten-free bread mixes and grains – packages include recipes

DeBoles pasta – you really can’t tell the difference with this rice-based pasta

EnviroKids – tasty gluten-free cereals for kids – a portion of the proceeds go towards wildlife funds.

Glutenfreeda – www.-glutenfreeda.com – this is a MUST see website for recipes, products and the Glutenfreeda line of foods (including healthy frozen burritos and oatmeal).

The Gluten-free Mall – www.glutenfreemall.com – a robust online store for everything gluten-free an more.

Udi’s bread – this is the only GF bread that I have found so far that actually tastes and feels like wheat bread!

Cow’s milk alternatives – rice and almond milk (Pacific brand), along with goat milk and yogurt – easier to digest

Van’s waffles – found in the freezer section at most grocery stores – taste like the real thing!

You can also go online and search gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, egg-free, corn-free and sugar-free products and you’ll find a TON of resources and items that you can order online.

Lastly, go to www.csaceliacs.org.  Even if you don’t have full-blown celiac disease, but believe you are sensitive to wheat and/or gluten, this is an unbeatable resource for everything gluten-free!  They also have great resources for other food companies that address food sensitivities.

If  you or your children are dealing with a food sensitivity, and need some guidance, please feel free to contact me at 303-885-1818, or email at juliehammerstein@gmail.com with your questions.

Have a wonderful day and Live Your MaxLife!