Salad Dressing With a Personal Touch

Image via Wikipedia

By Juvy S. Iliwiliw


       A light French dressing (oil, vinegar, lemon juice, and seasonings) is appropriate for almost any salad. Mayonnaise, whipped cream, or cooked dressing should be used according to your own taste. Don't be afraid to experiment. Out of it you may be able to create something special.
    
       Here are the basic ingredients you may use:

• Oils. Fruity Italian oil, olive oil, or French type such as vegetable oils made from corn, cotton seeds, peanuts, soybeans, and canola.
• Vinegar. Strength of vinegar varies. That's why it is important to add vinegar to the other ingredients a little at a time until your desired taste is reached. Old-fashioned vinegar has a wild taste. For a distinctive taste in your dressing you may either use vinegar from tarragon, wine, pear, garlic, onion, or specially seasoned vinegar.
• Seasonings. Use regular table salt. Black pepper is at its best when freshly ground. Fresh garlic should be minced, otherwise, you may opt for garlic salt or powdered dry garlic. Use dried or fresh herbs sparingly. With herbs, a little goes a long way.
• Other salad staples. Keep these condiments at hand: garlic, celery, salt, onion salt, minced salt, and onion juice. Horseradish pickle relish and seeds like caraway, sesame, celery, and mustard add distinctive flavor to  both salads and salad dressings. Don't overlook fresh and dried herbs such as sage, mint, chive, basil, oregano, and dill. Use sharp table steak sauce and red pepper sauce for zesty tang. Crunchy nuts and raisins give pleasing texture and taste.

HONEY-MUSTARD DRESSING

You will need:

1/2     cup honey

2        tablespoons mustard

2        mangoes or peaches

4        tablespoons vinegar

4        tablespoons olive oil

12      cloves garlic, shelled

1        onion

2        tablespoons brown sugar

          Pinch of salt

Here's how:

1. Puree all ingredients in a blender for 3 to 5 minutes.

2. Serve with any vegetable salads.

3. Store extra in sterilized bottle and refrigerate.

Related articles

• The Basics of Salad Dressing (mamififoodblog.wordpress.com)
• Salad Days: It's All in the Dressing (sweetpaprika.wordpress.com)
• Winter salad with honey and mustard dressing recipe (telegraph.co.uk)

Lactose Intolerance

Image by chotda via Flickr

By Juvy S. Iliwiliw


       This is what Aida Cerdenola-Alarcon, a dietician shared about lactose intolerance in her Food for the Family page from Health and Home which I would like to share with you.

       Lactose intolerance is a condition which arises from a genetic inability of the intestine to digest lactose, the predominant sugar in all dairy products. The National Dairy Council reports that as much as 90 percent of Asians suffer from lactose intolerance.
       The intestinal enzyme called lactase breaks down lactose into simple sugar that the body can easily digest. Lactose-intolerant people, however, have an inadequate amount of such enzyme. In  about 30 minutes to two hours after eating lactose-containing foods, symptoms appear in varying degrees of severity, depending on the amount of lactose ingested and how much lactase is present in the individual.
       Here's a self-test to determine your lactose intolerance.
       Avoid milk and other lactose-containing food for several days. On an activity-free morning, drink approximately 14-16 oz. (about two large glasses) of skim or lowfat milk. Within four hours of ingesting the milk, developing nausea, abdominal cramps and rumbling, diarrhea, bloating, rectal gas, and flatulence means you are lactose intolerant.
      Lactose intolerance is variable. Some lactose-intolerant people are able to stomach certain dairy products in small amounts; others need to avoid them completely.
      Milk, however, is still the major source of calcium. If you are lactose tolerant, try to include milk products in your diet by following these tips.

• Take you milk with a meal or a snack.
• Drink small portions of milk throughout the day. Most lactose-intolerant people can manage up to one cup of milk a day.
• Use cheese with fruits and crackers for snacks.
• Eat ice cream. Small portions stay longer in the stomach compared to pure milk.
• Choose lactose-reduced or lactose-free milk.
• Instead of sour cream, substitute yogurt in your recipes.
• Eat yogurt if you cannot tolerate milk. It has lower lactose content. 
• If milk is totally unacceptable to you, you may opt for a low-lactose diet.

     The dietary regimen relies heavily on intake of other calcium-rich food, such as small fishes like anchovies, canned fish, salmon, mackerel, tuna, sardines, tokwa, taho, soyamilk, and all green leafy vegetables like malunggay, saluyot, ampalaya, alugbati, mustasa, pechay, and broccoli.

     Sufficient lactose can be obtained by including any of the following in the daily diet: monggo with ampalaya leaves, alugbati salad, mustasa with egg, pechay guisado, stir-fry broccoli, bamboo shoots with saluyot, tokwa and soymilk.

BAMBOO SHOOTS WITH SALUYOT

You will need:

2        cups bamboo shoots, precooked

3        cups thick coconut  milk

3        cups saluyot leaves

2        thumb size gingers, crushed

1        onion, sliced

1        cup shredded young corn

          Salt to taste

Here's how:

1. Boil thick coconut milk, ginger, and onions for 10 minutes.

2. Add bamboo shoots and cook until shoots become tender.

3. Add corn and continue cooking until corn becomes edible.

4. Add salt and saluyot. Boil for 1 minute.

5. Serve hot.

Related articles

• What Is Lactose Intolerance? (brainz.org)
• Few Reasons to Drink Soy Milk (familydailymenu.blogspot.com)
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The Right Way to Lose Weight

Image via Wikipedia

By Juvy S. Iliwiliw


     You have to read what Aileen Ludington and Hans Diehl has to say about Statistics and Waistlines.

     By switching to the optimal diet plus some walking, you can lose one to two pounds a week. That might not get you slim in time for summer, but it is a sensible health-conscious approach to long-term weight management.

     How Fiber Helps
     One of the many virtues of fiber is that it acts as a safety mechanism to keep you from overeating. It helps you feel full before you can eat too many calories.
     Fiberless foods lack this automatic shutoff. By the time you feel full, you've eaten enough calories for  a family of five. willpower is the only thing that stands between you and obesity - and we all know how effective that is!

     Low Fiber Foods
     All animal products lack fiber. They include meat, milk, eggs, and cheese.
     In addition, modern food-processing mills take the fiber out of many foods that used to have it. Sugar, white flour, oils and most packaged foods fall into this category.
     Corn oil is a good example of this process. It takes 14 ears of corn to make one tablespoon of oil. Imagine trying to eat 14 ears of corn at one sitting. Impossible! Yet it's easy to sit down and eat several tablespoons of oil in the form of salad dressings and fried foods.

     Your Challenge
     Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes are high in fiber. Eat them in abundance. Start with this lowfat, high-fiber soup. Serve it with hearty whole-wheat bread and a salad. Eat all you want. You'll fill up long before you'll flatten up.
     Eat whole fruits, with all their fiber, instead of drinking the juice.




BLACK-EYED PEAS SOUP


You will need:


1/2      cup black-eyed peas, cooked
1/2      cup oatmeal
1/2      cup carrots, diced
1/2      cup Baguio beans, chopped
1/4      cup celery (optional)
1/4      cup red and green bellpeppers (optional)
1/4      cup onions, chopped
6         cups water
           Salt to taste

Here's how:


1. Add black-eyed peas and onions to boiling water and cook until "almost tender."
2. Add remaining ingredients and cook until "very, very tender," stirring occasionally.
3. Season with salt.

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