Happy Saturday everyone! I hope you have had a great week and are looking forward to Fourth of July! After our family survives working in the world of retail tomorrow, we will gather for a meal together and celebrate our freedoms and blessings from the past year. Tonight will be part three of our series “Super Substitutions.”
Ginger. Ginger is a root vegetable. The pulp and juice are used in many food preparations, especially Asian-style dishes. Grated fresh ginger is preferable to powdered ginger. Try adding it to stir fry recipes. Ginger has been found to inhibit the production of immune system compounds called cytokines. Cytokines are neurochemicals that function as a kind of molecular memory that conditions the nervous system to produce pain and tension. Since ginger inhibits the production of cytokines it reduces pain and swelling. Ginger also reduces inflammation, stimulates blood circulation, and eases indigestion and nausea. Tip: You can use ginger to protect plants by spreading it on the ground around the plants as a barrier, it will stop snails, slugs and ants from crossing.
Rice. There are many different types of rice available. The best is brown rice. Try substituting brown rice for potatoes with meals. It is by far one of the most nutritious foods that can be found, and is very high in the B-complex vitamins. There are three types of brown rice. Short-grain brown rice is higher in nutritional value and lower in calories than the long-grain type, but it clumps together more than the long-grain variety. You may wish to use long-grain brown rice for company meals and short-grain brown rice for everyday use. Another good type of rice is sweet rice, which is slightly softer, sweeter and stickier than the other varieties. Sweet rice has been traditionally in Japan to make special holiday cakes. When toasted, sweet rice puffs up like popcorn. Tip: if you dislike the flavor of brown rice or sweet rice, a great option is basmati rice!
Cane sugar, corn syrup, dextrose, glucose, and sucrose are all items that should be eliminated from your diet, whether on their own or as ingredients in food products or recipes. In recipes you can replace ordinary white sugar with uncooked, unfiltered raw honey, using 1/2 cup honey instead of 1 cup of sugar and reducing the amount of liquid called for in the recipe by 1/4 cup. Or you can substitute pure maple syrup, unsulfured molasses, or fruit juices, purees, and juice concentrates. Undiluted apple juice concentrate is good in a lot of recipes where sweetener is called for, such as in cobblers and pies, and is also good in other dishes and baked goods. Other acceptable substitutes for sugar are barley malt syrup, rice malt syrup, and, to a lesser extent, fructose.
Healthy Equivalents:
1/2 cup of cottage cheese. Substitute 1/2 cup of tofu mashed.
1 egg in baked recipes. Substitute 2 egg whites, or 1/2 teaspoon baking powder and 1 tablespoon soy flour, or 1 tablespoon or arrowroot powder.
1 clove of garlic. Substitute 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder.
1 cup of white sugar. Substitute 1/2 cup of maple syrup, or 1/2 cup of apple juice concentrate, or 1/2 cup of barley malt syrup or 2 bananas mashed and blended.
RECIPES:
Raw Honey Garlic Sauce. This recipe is super easy and is great on grilled chicken, rice or stir fried vegetables. Take 1/2 cup of raw honey, 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce and 2 cloves of garlic minced. In a small saucepan heat all ingredients on low heat for about 1 minute. Stir well until they are a smooth and even consistency.
Easy Honey Lemonade. Take 1 cup of lemon juice, freshly squeezed is best (about 1 pound of lemons), 1/2 cup of raw honey, if you like your lemonade sweeter you can add a little more, 3 cups of water, 1 cup of ice cubes. Place all ingredients in a blender. Puree for 30 seconds to 1 minute to mix and dissolve honey. Serve immediately or store in the fridge until ready to serve.
Have a very safe, happy and joyous Fourth of July! Next week will be the conclusion of our series. Look forward to next week!
“When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears.”
Lemon and Rosemary 