Win a delicious prize and support our troops!
Hey guys! This seems like a pretty good contest. I'm going to enter my favorite breakfast recipe which is... I better keep it a secret. But you can find when you browse through the recipes at cookmore.com
What's your favorite breakfast recipe?
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
dreamfields vegetarian pasta recipe
Dreamfields Beet-Infused-Pasta with Butternut Squash Sauce
By: Chef Cristian Feher
www.tampabaychef.com
I made this recipe with the Spring season in mind. Spring is a time of colors, warmth, and renewal - which most of us call "spring cleaning". And although you can enjoy all foods throughout the year, meat-lovers can agree that a few days of vegetarian meals to start off the season can be like a spring cleaning for the body. Especially when you make it using a low-digestible carbohydrate pasta like Dreamfields.
This visually appealing dish is not only good for you, but is easy to make. I used natural beet juice, from canned beets, to give the Dreamfields rotini paseta a funky purple color, and made a beautiful yellow-orange sauce using organic butternut squash, garlic, fresh herbs and carrots. The contrast of the purple pasta and golden sauce is a real eye-catcher!
It took about 8 cans of sliced beets to give me enough juice to cook the pasta in, but at $0.69 per can, it was very affordable. By "juice" I mean: a. The purple water that is inside of the can, or b. the purple water that results in boiling beets yourself. I used the sliced beets to make a really refreshing salad with cherry tomatoes, and a garlicky vinaigrette.
I used organic chicken stock in this recipe, but it can be easily substituted with vegetable stock for a truly vegetarian meal. You can use canned or jarred beets if you're short on time (like I did) and don't want to take the time to cook fresh beets, which can take quite some time.
Ingredients:
- 4 to 6 cups of juice (from cooked beets)
- 1 box Dreamfields Rotini Pasta
- 4 cups Butternut squash, diced (or you can use frozen squash)
- 1 small onion, diced
- 4 medium carrots, chopped
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 tbsp parsley, chopped
- 1 tbsp thyme, chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
- shredded parmesan cheese
- extra virgin olive oil
Instructions:
1. Coat the bottom of a sauce pot with a little olive oil and begin to cook the onion, garlic, carrots, and herbs for 7-10 minutes until the onion becomes soft and jelly-like.
2. Add the squash and the stock. Bring to a simmer, cover the pot, and cook at medium low until the squash is very soft.
3. Use a blender, immersion blender, or food processor to puree the sauce. Transfer back into the pot and season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside and keep warm.
4. Fill a pot with the beet juice and bring to a boil. Cook the pasta in the beet juice (follow the cooking times listed on the box instructions). Drain and serve with the squash sauce, top with some fresh shredded Parmesan cheese and enjoy!
By: Chef Cristian Feher
www.tampabaychef.com
This visually appealing dish is not only good for you, but is easy to make. I used natural beet juice, from canned beets, to give the Dreamfields rotini paseta a funky purple color, and made a beautiful yellow-orange sauce using organic butternut squash, garlic, fresh herbs and carrots. The contrast of the purple pasta and golden sauce is a real eye-catcher!
It took about 8 cans of sliced beets to give me enough juice to cook the pasta in, but at $0.69 per can, it was very affordable. By "juice" I mean: a. The purple water that is inside of the can, or b. the purple water that results in boiling beets yourself. I used the sliced beets to make a really refreshing salad with cherry tomatoes, and a garlicky vinaigrette.
I used organic chicken stock in this recipe, but it can be easily substituted with vegetable stock for a truly vegetarian meal. You can use canned or jarred beets if you're short on time (like I did) and don't want to take the time to cook fresh beets, which can take quite some time.
Ingredients:
- 4 to 6 cups of juice (from cooked beets)
- 1 box Dreamfields Rotini Pasta
- 4 cups Butternut squash, diced (or you can use frozen squash)
- 1 small onion, diced
- 4 medium carrots, chopped
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 tbsp parsley, chopped
- 1 tbsp thyme, chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
- shredded parmesan cheese
- extra virgin olive oil
Instructions:
1. Coat the bottom of a sauce pot with a little olive oil and begin to cook the onion, garlic, carrots, and herbs for 7-10 minutes until the onion becomes soft and jelly-like.
2. Add the squash and the stock. Bring to a simmer, cover the pot, and cook at medium low until the squash is very soft.
3. Use a blender, immersion blender, or food processor to puree the sauce. Transfer back into the pot and season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside and keep warm.
4. Fill a pot with the beet juice and bring to a boil. Cook the pasta in the beet juice (follow the cooking times listed on the box instructions). Drain and serve with the squash sauce, top with some fresh shredded Parmesan cheese and enjoy!
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Lose weight like a diebetic
Lose Weight Like a Diabetic!
By: Chef Cristian Feher
www.tampabaychef.com
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. These statements are my unqualified opinions only and should not be construed as medical advice. If you have questions about diabetes please consult your doctor.
Now, I'm not suggesting that diabetes be the next trend in weight loss, but the condition of diabetes does prompt a person to make pretty effective life and diet changes. I recently worked with Paula Deen and learned first-hand about her incredible weight loss.
Before I tell you what I learned from Paula, a crash course in diabetes is in order. Too much, or too little sugar in your blood stream is not a good thing. In the case of too much sugar, your body has an organ called the Pancreas which regulates the amount of sugar in your blood by using a hormone called insulin. When your pancreas sense too much sugar in your blood stream, it sends out insulin. This chemical signal tells your body to get rid of that sugar - either by converting it to fat or by getting rid of it in your urine. But diabetics have Pancreas that don't work at all, or only some of the time. So when they eat too much sugar, without insulin to help, they can get sick, go into shock, or even die!
So you're probably wondering what the point of all this is, right? I'll get to it. Most diabetics, like Paula Deen, have to adopt a diet where they step in and take the place of their pancreas by a. Controling their sugar intake, or b. Taking insulin when their blood sugar is too high.
We all know Paula from years of television, magazines, recipe books, newspaper articles and cookware products - especially when it came to cooking fatty, sugary, Southern food - she was the undisputed queen of decadent Southern cuisine. I actually started to notice that no matter where i go, I can usually find her face printed in some fashion or another on some sort of product or media!
Now that Paula has been diagnosed with diabetes, she has had to adopt a complete lifestyle change: Her Southern cooking had to become "healthy" and she had to change the way she ate. Her weight loss over the last year has been phenomenal, and I learned that it wasn't all that hard. She stuck to a few key activities which made it happen.
1. Exercise. But not the kind you dread! You don't have to be a runner, swimmer, or cyclist. You don't have to do mud runs or zombie-thons. All you have to do is walk. Paula walks 1 to 3 hours per day. Even with her busy lifestyle she finds time to walk on hotel treadmills for an hour at the least.
2. She stopped eating sugar and high-fructose corn syrup.
3. Moderation. She can still have some of her favorite butter-fried foods, but it has to be in moderation. A little bit here and there. And white refined starches such as white bread, flour, pasta and rice, are now low-glycemic options like whole wheat bread (not often), sweet potato and vegetables.
The key to her weight loss has been regular exercise and keeping her blood sugar under control, which is what a healthy person has to do to lose weight. If you can keep your blood sugar low (by not eating sugar and refined carbs) your body doesn't have the chemistry to store fat.
Eat like a diabetic, and you not only can lose weight, but you can also avoid diabetes in the first place!
By: Chef Cristian Feher
www.tampabaychef.com
 |
| Chef Cristian Feher with Paula Deen |
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. These statements are my unqualified opinions only and should not be construed as medical advice. If you have questions about diabetes please consult your doctor.
Now, I'm not suggesting that diabetes be the next trend in weight loss, but the condition of diabetes does prompt a person to make pretty effective life and diet changes. I recently worked with Paula Deen and learned first-hand about her incredible weight loss.
Before I tell you what I learned from Paula, a crash course in diabetes is in order. Too much, or too little sugar in your blood stream is not a good thing. In the case of too much sugar, your body has an organ called the Pancreas which regulates the amount of sugar in your blood by using a hormone called insulin. When your pancreas sense too much sugar in your blood stream, it sends out insulin. This chemical signal tells your body to get rid of that sugar - either by converting it to fat or by getting rid of it in your urine. But diabetics have Pancreas that don't work at all, or only some of the time. So when they eat too much sugar, without insulin to help, they can get sick, go into shock, or even die!
So you're probably wondering what the point of all this is, right? I'll get to it. Most diabetics, like Paula Deen, have to adopt a diet where they step in and take the place of their pancreas by a. Controling their sugar intake, or b. Taking insulin when their blood sugar is too high.
We all know Paula from years of television, magazines, recipe books, newspaper articles and cookware products - especially when it came to cooking fatty, sugary, Southern food - she was the undisputed queen of decadent Southern cuisine. I actually started to notice that no matter where i go, I can usually find her face printed in some fashion or another on some sort of product or media!
Now that Paula has been diagnosed with diabetes, she has had to adopt a complete lifestyle change: Her Southern cooking had to become "healthy" and she had to change the way she ate. Her weight loss over the last year has been phenomenal, and I learned that it wasn't all that hard. She stuck to a few key activities which made it happen.
1. Exercise. But not the kind you dread! You don't have to be a runner, swimmer, or cyclist. You don't have to do mud runs or zombie-thons. All you have to do is walk. Paula walks 1 to 3 hours per day. Even with her busy lifestyle she finds time to walk on hotel treadmills for an hour at the least.
2. She stopped eating sugar and high-fructose corn syrup.
3. Moderation. She can still have some of her favorite butter-fried foods, but it has to be in moderation. A little bit here and there. And white refined starches such as white bread, flour, pasta and rice, are now low-glycemic options like whole wheat bread (not often), sweet potato and vegetables.
The key to her weight loss has been regular exercise and keeping her blood sugar under control, which is what a healthy person has to do to lose weight. If you can keep your blood sugar low (by not eating sugar and refined carbs) your body doesn't have the chemistry to store fat.
Eat like a diabetic, and you not only can lose weight, but you can also avoid diabetes in the first place!
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