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Quinoa Salad with Red Cabbage and Almonds

March 1, 2013 By Chef Chuck Leave a Comment

Quinoa Salad with Red Cabbage and Almonds

Quinoa and Red Cabbage Salad with Almonds

Submitted by: Devin B.

If you’re looking for a healthy snack, and you’re a vegan or vegetarian- look no further than this Quinoa and Red Cabbage Salad with Almonds! It’s also a great side dish for all you non-veggie heads.

Quinoa Salad with Red Cabbage and Almonds

Prep time: 40 minutes

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

6 cups of cooked and cooled Quinoa

1 cup finely sliced red cabbage

½ cup each chopped red and orange peppers

1 cup sliced grape tomatoes

½ cup slivered almonds

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoon fresh chopped Italian flat leaf parsley

2 tablespoon fresh cracked black pepper

1 teaspoon Kosher salt

Directions:

Place all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and blend thoroughly. Let sit covered for 20 minutes, and serve!

Thanks for the recipe Devin B!

Devin B., Chef Extraordinaire

Filed Under: Recipe of the Day Tagged With: Devin Bartolotta, healthy eating, healthy recipes, quinoa, quinoa recipe, quinoa recipes, quinoa salad, salad, salads, vegan, vegan recipes, vegetarian, vegetarian recipes

Ideas for cheap, healthy meals

October 29, 2011 By Chef Chuck 3 Comments

pasta with fresh tomatoes and basil

Ideas for cheap healthy meals

Now you may have become discouraged by what many define as diet food. Bland or with an aftertaste and just plain non-appetizing to the palette, or if you do run across some foods that are good to eat on a daily basis, they can get costly. No worries! Having Cheap Healthy Meals that you and your family can enjoy does not require any special training or fancy foods from a special store.

If you think that Spanish food is fattening, the truth is that it can be but there are changes that anyone can make so that it will be nutritious as well as filling. Take tacos, for example. You may have seen tortillas deep fried so that they will form that nice shape to hold all the fillings. After you have organized all of your fillings, just take regular tortillas to a hot pan that has been slightly oiled and let it brown for a couple of minutes on each side. Drain excess oil on a paper towel and add fillings.

Speaking of fillings, there are some corners you can cut so that they are not as fattening. Let’s start from the bottom. Ground turkey or chicken can be used instead of beef or you can try a leaner grade like 85/15 or 93/7. The bottom number represents the percentage of fat used in the ground but understand that the lower the bottom number, the higher the price.

By using refried beans in your tacos, you are getting fiber as well as sustenance. In other words, this will fill you up faster. Instead of going with sour cream and/or guacamole, try salsa and plain nonfat yogurt along with shredded lettuce. You’ll still have that same creamy texture but without the calories. These tips may be used for burritos, tostadas, quesadillas and nachos. If you must use cheese, try a reduced-fat cheddar or mix in Monterey jack with cheddar. Pepper jack cheese is a spicy option that has enough flavors so that you won’t need as much.

If you like chicken fingers or strips, there are ways to prepare this without deep frying. Let’s start with the coating. Many like to use a batter made of whole eggs and white flour. You can change things up by using slightly beaten egg whites and crushed corn flakes to dip raw chicken slices which should be cut fairly thin. In a shallow medium pan, use enough canola or vegetable oil to cover about a half inch in depth. Once oil is warm under medium heat, add covered chicken carefully. Cook on each side for about 7 minutes and let drain on towel while cooling. If you need additional cooking time, place in oven at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.

Finally, instead of having regular potato skins or chili cheese fries, cook a raw potato or two in your microwave or regular oven the same way you would bake it as a side dish. After it has cooked, slice in half lengthwise and let cool. Turn on the oven at 350 degrees. Scoop out the potato and fill with turkey or meatless canned chili. Top with shredded, reduced-fat cheese and bake in oven for 5-10 minutes.

These are just a few ideas to help keep some of those comfort foods in your daily routine without ruining your diet or your health or your wallet!

Filed Under: Food News Tagged With: cook, cooking, Dining, dinner, dinner ideas, eating, health, healthy eating, meals, menu, menu ideas, menus, vegetarian

Why Buy Organic? Here’s Why…

November 16, 2010 By Chef Chuck Leave a Comment

Over the past several years, there has been a growing trend to purchase, and buy organic foods. As consumers become more and more educated on the effects of harmful food additives, preservatives, and the harm they can do to their bodies, it is becoming increasingly popular to purchase whole, unprocessed foods. Chemical food additives can block nutrient absorption, interfere with organ function, and activate allergens. In search of larger, more profitable crops, farmers have been using large amounts of “chemical cocktails” to ensure high-yield crops. Many of these harsh chemicals remain on our fruits and vegetables even after they have been washed. The question is: What affects do non-organic foods have on our bodies in the long term? We’d love to hear what you think!

Happy Cooking!

Chef Chuck Kerber

chefchuck@pittsburghhotplate.com

The Advantages of Organic Food

You Are What You Eat

Do you really know what goes into your food? Discover the advantages of organic food on this site and see exactly what producers have been adding to your fruit and vegetables to make it less healthy than a few years ago.

In the rush to produce more and more crops to satisfy growing demand producers have had to resort to using a lethal cocktail of pesticides to control disease and insect attack.

Good news for their bank balances perhaps but not good news for your health; this is why you need to be informed of the advantages of organic food.

Did you know that if you consumed an average apple you would be eating over 30 pesticides, even after you have washed it?

The quality of food has definitely gone down since the second world war. For instance, the levels of vitamin C in today’s fruit bear no resemblance to the levels found in wartime fruit.

Organic food is known to contain 50 percent more nutrients, minerals and vitamins than produce that has been intensively farmed. Read more about this.

You will have to eat more fruit nowadays to make up the deficiency, but unfortunately that means eating more chemicals, more detrimental effects on your health eating something that should be good for you!

Also don’t forget about the cocktail of antibiotics and hormones that cattle and poultry are force fed.

What happens to those chemicals when the animal dies?

Digested and stored in human bodies is the answer, have you seen pictures of animals in severely cramped conditions in battery farms?

It just does not make sense to state that any animal kept in these conditions is healthy and produces high quality food.

If you are as worried as I am about the health of your family then you need to read the articles on this and seriously consider converting your family to the organic lifestyle with the organic food information you are going to learn on this site.

Trust me, once you try some organic produce and taste an apple the way it should be, and perhaps how you recall it tasting in your youth, you will never go back to mass produced fruit again.

Sure, there are issues with availability and cost but, with a bit of research, you should be able to find local stores who stock organic produce.

Also, don’t forget about your local farmer, I’m sure you will be able to find one that has seen the light and opened up a farm shop to supply local residents.

You should be able to get some very keen prices from these shops, why not take a look around and see who is offering produce in your area?

Some more startling facts now: Pesticides in food have been linked to many diseases including:

Cancer
Obesity
Alzheimer’s
Some birth defects

Not a nice list is it? There are probably others but if you think about it, how can it be okay for you to eat chemicals and not expect some form of reaction in your body? Our bodies are delicately balanced wonderful machines. Any form of foreign chemical is bound to cause irritation at the least.

Please take advantage of the organic food articles and information on this site and do consider taking a closer look at what you are eating. It’s for your health after all!

Virginia Louise

Source: organicfoodinfo.net

Filed Under: Food News Tagged With: chef, food news, healthy eating, organic food, Pittsburgh

Raising Kids Who Eat Well

November 15, 2010 By Chef Chuck Leave a Comment

I’ll admit it. I used to hear about parents who made their own baby food and I always thought I’d never be one of “those people.”

But then I had a revelation. It happened after I played a rather ill-advised game of “guess what the food is” at a baby shower. The game is simple in its grotesqueness. You’re required to taste food from unlabeled baby food jars–the person who guesses the contents correctly wins a prize.

I didn’t win any prizes. But I did leave with the knowledge that my kids would never eat anything that tasted like that stuff did.

So I bought books on making baby food and read a ton online. And then I realized something. Babies like the same foods we do. They like different flavors and colors. They just need them in a form they can handle.

Enter the food processor. Place a scoop of what you’re eating and a little fresh water into the processor and puree. It could be anything from grilled chicken to blueberries. Depending on the age of your child, add more water to soften the food into a more desirable consistency. And if you add too much water, just stir in some baby cereal to thicken it back up. When your baby is older, whiz together frozen fruit or vegetables with a little water–the crunchy frozenness keeps the food from totally pureeing, adding some texture to the meal.

Be sure to avoid egg whites, seafood, and honey if your child is under one year old. And use good judgment–it’s unlikely any child would want pureed pickles.

Store unused food in the fridge for up to three days, or freeze it in ice cube trays and pop out portions as needed.

Voila! You’ve just saved money, created a nutritious meal without (many) preservatives, and started your child on the path to eating more diverse foods. I found that from about 8 months on, my kids really seemed to like an added pinch of salt or Cajun spice in their food. My son, still not a year old, gobbles down pureed Indian Palak Paneer. His older sister will ask specifically for pink sea salt on top of her chili.

It makes me feel good to know exactly what they’re eating. But it feels even better to get a sincere high five from a 2-year-old who has learned that every food is worth trying.

Written By,

Rachel Handel

Filed Under: Food News Tagged With: children, exercise, family, healthy eating, healthy food, kids, nature, nutrition, nutritious