Amira Ayad, PhD
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12 Creative ways to add vegetables to your diet

16/8/2017

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  1. In breakfast: add spinach to your eggs... tomatoes, carrots, broccoli, mushrooms, oregano, rosemary, tarragon, basil...
  2. In sandwiches: add fresh herbs, romaine lettuce, leafy greens, fresh or sundried tomatoes, cucumber, carrots, roasted veggies like zucchini and eggplant...
  3. In pasta & noodles: add herbs to the sauce (like oregano, thyme, rosemary, basil, peppermint…), or veggies like colored pepper, tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms, grated carrots, grated zucchini...
  4. In rice: cook with vegetable stock, add nuts & seeds on the top during serving (not exactly vegetables but still very healthy addition), add peas, carrots, colored pepper or mushrooms during cooking
  5. Add veggies to stir fried meat and chicken. Try broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, peas, green beans, non-GMO sweet corn, colored pepper, grated cabbage, herbs
  6. Grill or roast root vegetables and non-GMO sweet corn with roasted meat and chicken
  7. Offer oven roasted veggies as side dish. Try eggplant, pumpkin, zucchini, sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips, fennel, bok choy…
  8. Make a big bowel of salad with every meal
  9. Add lots of veggies to your soups. Try minestrone, mushroom, beans, asparagus, broccoli, peas, mixed vegetables soups.
  10. Prepare dips using veggies. I love adding chopped spinach and peppermint to my yogurt dip; avocados, roasted beet or pepper to beans and hummus dip. You can also try Mexican salsa dip or baba ganoush eggplant dip. Eat them with vegetable crudité like celery, carrots, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower...
  11. Start your day with green smoothies. Use almond or coconut milk as your base, add wheat grass or barley grass, fresh baby spinach, kale, mixed green and lots of berries. you can also add peach, mangoes or pine apples.
  12. Juicing. If you are new to vegetable juice start light with 2:1 fruit to vegetable ratio, then increase your veggies till you have 2:1 vegetable to fruit ratio. Good fruit choice: berries, apple, mangoes, banana, pineapple. Good vegetable choices: any green leafy vegetables like spinach, kale, collard, lettuce… Other vegetables you can try are fennel, celery, bok choy, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, beet…
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Salad Jars

19/3/2017

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Salad Jars are one of my best tip to get a healthy lunch every day at work in minimum time. If you use mason jars with their tightly fit lid, your salad could be prepared up to 5 days ahead of time taken freshly to work, college or school everyday.

Layering here is very crucial for the salad to remain fresh.
  • First layer: at the bottom of the jar, put the dressing: 1 Tbsp olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper with any herb or spice you fancy: oregano, rosemary, peppermint, sumac... It is important to avoid mixing this bottom layer with the remaining of the salad (especially the green leaves and sprouts) until just before serving.
  • The second layer should be hardy vegetable that will withstand being in the oil/vinegar dressing for 2-5 days. Basically any vegetable that can be pickled is good to add here: baby carrots, cherry tomatoes (whole not cut), zucchini, turnip, sun dried tomatoes...
  • After that comes any other still hard vegetables (cucumber, celery, broccoli, cauliflower...), beans or fruits (pomegranate, cranberries -fresh or dried),
  • Following layer is the protein. This could be animal-based protein like left over chicken, veal, tuna, salmon, smoked salmon, shrimps, eggs... Or, plant-based protein like lentils, beans, quinoa, nuts and seeds.
  • you can still add perishable vegetable on top of that if you have place: cut tomatoes, bell pepper, avocados...
  • the final layer should take at least 1/3 of your jar and this should be the green leafy vegetables and some sprouts if you want.

​At time of serving you can just put the jar upside down for 2 minutes for the dressing to infuse the whole salad. Then eat straight from the jar. Or, you can empty the whole thing in a big bowl. Mix and serve.

Bon Appetit.


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5 Must Eat Foods! 

4/1/2017

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Hello!
Are you up to a food challenge... There are 5 foods that you MUST add to your diet... Let's start 2017 on a healthy tone... I will post one every week on our women community on Facebook and your challenge is to eat this one at least 3 times this week...

You can join the conversation with our women community on Facebook here

This week's addition: LEAFY GREENS & CABBAGE FAMILY!
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You can find some of my favorite broccoli recipes here.

And, this is my favorite cauliflower recipe:

Cauliflower Couscous

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Ingredients:
  • 1 medium cauliflower
  • 1 cup diced tomatoes
  • 1 cup diced carrots (I used a mix of orange, yellow and red carrots)
  • 1 cup diced avocado
  • 1 cup diced celery
  • 1 cup chopped cilantro
  • For the dressing:
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 2 tsp. lemon juice
- 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
- ½ tsp. cumin powder
- Salt, pepper to taste
 
Preparation:
  • Process the cauliflower in the food processor till it gets to couscous consistency.
  • Prepare the dressing by placing all ingredients in a jar and shake well till well mixed
  • Mix all ingredients and refrigerate for 2 hours before serving

​Bon Appetit!

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To learn more about the 4 other 'Must Have' healthy food you can join our FREE Heal your body Nurture your soul 2 week health challenge HERE
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5 ways to integrate more herbs into your diet

7/9/2016

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Herbs are magic healers… but they do not work like pharmaceutical medications… for them to do their magic they need time, they need patience, they need consistency… They need to be part of your everyday life… they need to be integrated into your everyday cooking…
 
Most people I meet underestimate the power of their kitchen herbs… this is because they basically expect the herbs to work like pharmaceuticals… they expect their symptoms to vanish with 1 or 2 ‘doses’… Unfortunately herbs do not work this way… herbs heal your body from inside out…
 
I can’t say that taking an herbal tea or an infusion can deal with a fever or joints aches for instance as quick as an NSAID or cortisol tablet. No they don’t. Herbal remedies and natural healing in general do not tackle the symptoms as much as they deal with the root cause to achieve total body healing and this takes some time to restore your health, your energy, strengthen your power to fight disease, heal your wound or turn off the inflammation furnace…
 
Many people find it easier to swallow a pill or pop up a capsule than rest and take some hot broth or tea. It’s your choice certainly. Sometimes we need it to be fast to control our symptoms or ease our pains, but we still need to work on the healing power of the body… And, here comes the magic of our kitchen herbs…
 
By adding herbs to your daily life, I certainly don’t mean the sprinkle of oregano hidden under the pile mozzarella  on your pizza or the spring of parsley that decorate your dinner steak… For them to work you need way more than that… Here are my 5 most essential ways to add herbs to your daily diet:

1.Add herbs into your Soups and stews. 

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  • You can thicken soups with brown rice, oat, quinoa or millet.
  • You can add cardamom, star anise, rosemary, basil, parsley, coriander, thyme, or nettles to the broth.
  • You can add some cubes of roots and rhizomes like burdock, dandelion, sweet potato, or pumpkins to the recipe. 

2.Try herbal teas.

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  • Herbal teas like Peppermint, caraway, and anise are great for your digestion. They help with gas and bloating, abdominal spasms and irritable bowel.
  • Cinnamon tea is great anti-microbial, warming, anti-spasmodic and blood-sugar regulating.
  • Lemon balm tea is calming and mood lifting.
  • Passionflower, lavender and chamomile help you sleep smoothly.
  • Sage is great for your memory and helps reduce night sweat and hot flashes in menopause
  • Fennel is great for both your digestion and respiration. It also helps balancing female hormones
  • Thyme and linden are great for the lung and respiratory problems.


You can also have cold herbal teas:
  • Liquorice soothes the digestive tract, raises low blood pressure, and reduces inflammation in the body.
  • Sumac is great for inflammation and for urinary tract disorders.
  • Hibiscus lowers high blood pressure.

3. Add herbal powders or dried herbs to muffins, pancakes, paratha, focaccia and breads.

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  • You can add olives, sundries tomatoes, garlic, rosemary, nettles... to your dough
  • You can add sumac or oregano on your pita bread.
  • You can add a Tbsp of marshmallow root or slippery elm to any flour blend you are using. Marshmallow root and slippery elm are demulcent and soothing to the digestive tract.
  • You can also use 1 tsp of astragalus powder with any flour mix. Astragalus is a Chinese herb that has been used for centuries as immune booster.

4. Prepare herbal vinegars and use them in your salad dressing or meat and chicken marinade

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To prepare herbal vinegar
Add 1 to 4 ounce of herb (30-120 g) to 8 ounce (240 ml) apple cider vinegar. Steep for 2-6 weeks, then filter and store in dark container at room temp.
 
Some great herb vinegars to experiment with are:
 
  • Sage vinegar. Sage is a good anti-microbial and has regulating effect on the sweat glands so it is very effective for night sweats and excessive perspiration.
  • Thyme, oregano, marjoram are digestive aid and appetite stimulant.  They are also great anti-microbial especially for respiratory tract issues.
  • Nettles vinegar is very rich in minerals like iron, which is good for your blood. It is also rich in calcium, which is good for your bones and teeth.
  • Garlic is a known anti-microbial, immune booster and cardiovascular support.

5. Herbs can also be added to rice, pasta sauces, stir fired vegetables and bean recipes

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  • Cumin, kumbo seaweed, garlic and onions can be added to the boiling water when preparing beans, legume and lentils.
  • Cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, clove and nutmeg make good addition to rice especially wild and brown basmati rice.
  • Basil, thyme, oregano, and peppermint can be added to pasta sauces
  • Lemon grass, rosemary, and tarragon go well with stir fried vegetables.
 

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These are just few ways you can integrate herbs in your everyday life… start experimenting, be creative, try new recipes… the sky is the limit… the more you add them the better your food will taste and the more healthful it gets.
 
Bon Appetite

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The Healing power of food

19/12/2014

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I see many of my clients while still in their thirties or forties suffering from gut disturbances, joint aches, arthritis pains and all sorts of inflammations. Conventional medicine often offers anti-inflammatory cortisols and analgesics that just suppress the symptoms but fail to address the underlying cause. These synthetic pharmaceuticals come with their share of side effects crippling the  patient with compromised immunity, edema, hypertension, and upset stomach.
Traditionally, our grandmothers would have prepared their famous broth that held all needed healing and nourishing powers.
Broths were once integral parts of any healthy kitchen. The famous bone broth is prepared by boiling bones (chicken, turkey or beef bones with their cartilages) with onions, garlic, cabbage, ginger, and celery and 2-4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar for 6 to 8 hours till the bones are tender and the stock is thick and gelatinous. Then, the broth is strained and half a cup is consumed every day. The bones in the broth are natural source of glucosamine, chondroitin, and hylurenic acid; and the added vegetables supply the needed natural sulfur.
As anti-inflammatory, fish broth, with its rich omega 3 fatty acids content, were prepared using fish carcasses and head, celery, garlic, ginger, onion, carrots, bay leaves, frankincense, cardamom, and turmeric. The ingredients are also boiled with ¼ cup of vinegar to release all the calcium and nutrients from the bones. The added vegetables and herbs have additional anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant action in their own right.

Don't under estimate the healing power of food. Let your food be your medicine and your kitchen your dispensary.

Have a great day!

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Immune Booster in the cold...

11/2/2014

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This is my first winter in Canada... And, it is soooo cold!!! I never imagined that one day I'll refer to -8 degrees as "Wow! I's a warm day toady!" 
I can't deny, though, that I love the white blanket of snow that covers everything, I kind of enjoy the fluffy texture and the reflection of the sun on the far-reaching horizon.

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 After my first experience of freezing rain, I took my camera and spent the whole day outdoors capturing the amazing splendor of frozen nature... The trees, branches and grass blades were elegantly wrapped in a thin layer of transparent crystal ice... Needless to say, I spent the next 2 days in bed with sore throat and aching bones... I learnt my lesson! Now, I know that I need to melt my winter cold away with daily doses of warming soups and immune boosting teas... Here is one of my favorite recipes...

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In a pint mason jar, put 3 staranise, 1 cinnamon stick, 4-6 clove buds, 2 black cardamom pods (green will do if you can't find the black ones). Add freshly cut ginger root and 2 freshly sliced strawberries. Add boiling water to fill the jar, cover, and shake. Leave to steep for 30 minutes to an hour... then, enjoy drinking your immuno-boosting infusion and munching on your strawberries. 

Personally, I do not filter it, I drink it straight from the jar. You can add honey or maple syrup to flavor, although I find the sweetness of the strawberries just right. You can also experiment with other fruits like peaches, oranges or lemons.

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The spices used are all warming spices and each has its own immune booster touch. Ginger is anti-inflammatory and known for its respiratory tract and sinus decongestant power and its healing digestive properties. 

Cinnamon is a powerful antioxidant, it balances blood sugar levels and has its own antibacterial effects. Clove buds are rich in phytonutrients, and known for their anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial actions. Black cardamoms are loaded with healing essential oils, they also show antioxidant, expectorant, tonic, antiseptic and digestive actions. 

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Star anise is rich in shikimic acid, the precursor of oseltamivir- the antiviral medication sold as Tamiflu. Although research has yet to prove the anti-viral properties of the shikimic acid itself, Chinese medicine has been using it for centuries to treat respiratory tract infections and digestive disorders.

The strawberries, lemons and oranges are rich in vitamin C and bioflavonoids with powerful antioxidant, immune booster, anti-inflammatory and mucous membrane protective actions.
Peaches also come loaded with beneficial nutrients like vitamin C, bioflavonoids and beta-carotene.

Enjoy!
 


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Food For Thought

11/12/2011

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I am currently reading a very interesting book called: “Nourishing Traditions” by Sally Fallon. It’s a  nutrition and cook book that, as the author says: “challenges politically correct nutrition and diet dictocrats”. And, indeed challenges it does!

This book challenges almost every idea, theory and concept I’ve been taught in my nutrition and natural health studies. It also challenges all fad diets and commonly popular beliefs. I can’t say I totally agree with all what the author has to say; but I can’t totally disagree with her either. She surely offers amazing ‘food’ for thought.

Nourishing traditions is based on honoring time-tested old traditional ways of cooking and eating. Natural, whole food cooked with butter, ghee, meat and fat; along of course with fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs. The author urges us to acknowledge our grand mothers’ ways of cooking and preparing foods. She advocates fermentation and pickling, as well as preparing bone broth, germinating sprouts and making nut butters. Reading this book brought memories of my grandmother’s and great grandmother’s kitchens. My grandmother is in her late nineties now, and she still enjoys perfect mental abilities, she never suffered from degenerative diseases, never tested her cholesterol nor blood pressure. She never thought she needed to.

Our ancestors died from just ‘old age’. They lived naturally and frugally, yet they ate and cooked with fats, meats, broth, and ghee as Fallon described in her book. Where did we go wrong? Why degenerative and chronic diseases, diabetes, heart problems, and cancers are on the rise? Is it really, as she states, because we drifted away from this frugal way of eating?
  Natural, whole, chemical-free food, we all agree is our way to health. But what is natural food? Aren’t butter, cereals, meat, shell fish, honey, eggs and milk also natural foods? Questions Fallon.

  Here is a food for thought:

 Nowadays I see many people still in their thirties or forties suffering from joint aches and arthritis. Conventional medicine offers anti-inflammatory cortisols and analgesics that do nothing but suppress the symptoms crippling the patient with side effects of compromised immunity, edema, hypertension, and upset stomach.

Natural medicine, on the other hand, offers supplements of glucosamine, chondroitin, and hylurenic acid that help build and support the cartilages and bones and restore the synovial fluid (The fluid lubricating the joints); the patient is also given MSM, source of organic sulpur essential for building healthy cartilages and connective tissues, and  omega 3 fatty acids supplements in form of fish oil, flaxseed oil and/or EPA capsules to reduce inflammation.
Traditionally, though, the patient is fed on natural bone broth. The broth is prepared by boiling bones (chicken, turkey or beef bones with their cartilages) with onions, garlic, cabbage, ginger, and celery and ¼ cup of apple cider vinegar for 4 to 5 hours till the bones are tender and the stock is thick and gelatinous. Then, the broth is strained and half a cup is consumed every day. The bones in the broth are natural source of glucosamine, chondroitin, and hylurenic acid; and the added vegetables supply the needed natural sulfur.
  As anti-inflammatory, fish broth, with its rich omega 3 fatty acids content, could be prepared using fish carcasses and head, celery, garlic, ginger, onion, carrots, bay leaves, mastic, cardamom, and turmeric. The ingredients are also boiled with ¼ cup of vinegar to release all the calcium and nutrients from the bones. The added vegetables and herbs have additional anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant action in their own right.

As I told you, I am not totally supporting all the ideas in the book, but some of them brought such ‘food for thought’. I would love to hear your opinions and comments.

I have to leave you now to check on my bone broth simmering on the stove!!!

Have a great day!


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Let Your Food Be Your Medicine: Apples

26/8/2011

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Scrumptious fruits. Available almost all year long in many colors, shapes and sizes. As the saying goes: “one apple a day, keeps the doctors away”
So what does apple have for us?
Apples are rich source of fibers especially pectin, a soluble fibre with cholesterol lowering action. It also regulates intestinal motility helping in both constipation and diarrhoea.
Apples are rich source of flavonoids phytochemical, the most abundant in them is quercetin, a powerful anticancer and anti- inflammatory.
 Apples also supply lots of the B vitamins, vitamin C, iron, Beta carotenes and potassium.
 Apples help in detoxifying the body, protecting against cardiovascular diseases, lowering cholesterol and Blood pressure, stabilizing blood sugar levels and maintaining gastrointestinal and lung health.
They are useful for people with high blood pressure, high serum cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, asthma and disturbed bowel movement.
 Apples are delicious and most nutritious when eaten raw with their skin. They form great addition to both fruits and green salads, they can be sliced with other crudités and served with cheese and healthy dips, or cut into cubes with added, raisins, nuts and cinnamon, an amazing antioxidant in its own right.

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Still, apples preserve a great deal of their potassium an fiber content when cooked. They make great apples pies and tarts. Their jams do not need jelling agent due to their high content of pectin. They can also be stir fried with onions, carrots and potatoes or added to steaks at the last stage of cooking as a savory side item. Dried apples are healthy kids snacks, but choose the preservative- and- sulfur-free brands. 



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Broccoli

11/4/2011

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Broccoli is a very nutritious vegetable. It is rich in beta-carotene, the famous anti-oxidant and the precursor of vitamin A in the body. It is also rich in Vitamin B2 and Vitamin C.
Broccoli is a sulfur-containing vegetable, along with many other members of the crucifer family (like Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, mustard greens, radishes and turnips), it is well known for its detoxification and cancer-protective actions.

Still, Broccoli has a bad reputation especially among children. I think the problem lays within its cooking methods. Broccoli needs minimal cooking time, it has to stay crunchy and fresh otherwise it becomes mushy and loses lots of its flavor along with its nutritional value.
Here are some of my favorite broccoli recipes, I hope you enjoy them.

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Greek-style Broccoli:
I first got this recipe from a Rhodesian cooking book I bought during my honeymoon . I modified it and changed it a bit over time.
You’re going to need:
· 1 large onion cut in thin circles
· 1 large tomato diced into small cubes
· ½ kilo of broccoli cleaned and cut into bite-size florets
· Salt, pepper, mixed spices
· 1-2 tablespoons olive oil

Fry the onions in some olive oil on low heat till welted. Add the tomato. Add salt, pepper and mixed spices to taste.When the sauce from tomato is absorbed, add the broccoli florets and stir fry for 2 minutes on high heat.
Serve immediately with white rice.

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Broccoli with Talliatelle or spaghetti:
Ingredients:
· 1 packet of talliatelle/ spaghetti or any other macaroni type of your choice.
· ½ kilo broccoli cleaned and cut into bite-size florets
· ½ cup of each: Green peas and carrots dices into small cubes
· 2 tablespoons olive oil
· For the white sauce: 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour, 1-1 ½ cup milk, 2 tablespoons olive oil
· Salt, pepper
· Grated Parmesan and/or cheddar cheese (optional)


-Boil the macaroni till aldente, drain well
-Stir fry the peas and carrots in olive oil for 5 minutes then add the broccoli and continue stir frying on high heat for another 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. And mix with the macaroni.
-prepare the white sauce by stirring the flour in olive oil, add salt and pepper, then add the milk and mix well. When it starts to bubble, add the cheddar cheese and stir just for it to start melting.
-serve the pasta topped with the sauce and garnish with some grated parmesan cheese.

Stir fried broccoli with veal:
Ingredients:
· ½ kilo veal cut into fine strips for stir fry.
· Veal marinade: Shredded onion, mustard, ginger powder, soy sauce, salt and pepper.
· ½ kilo broccoli cleaned and cut into bite-size florets
· 1 of each: green, red and yellow bell pepper cut into bite-size squares.
· 1 large carrot cut into thin circles.
· 1 tablespoon corn flour dispersed in 1 cup of water.
· 2 tablespoons olive oil.


-Marinate the veal for 1-2 hours (if you are in a hurry it’s okay to proceed immediately). Then, stir fry it in 1 tablespoon olive oil. Reduce heat till it is done.
-Remove the meat from the pan. Add the other spoon of oil and stir fry the vegetables for 2 minutes. Season to taste.

-Add the meat back to the pan and add the corn flour dissoved in water. Adjust seasoning with salt, pepper, mustard and heat through till it starts to bubble.
-Serve immediately with white rice or noodles.

Variations:
-You can use chicken or shrimp instead of the veal.
-You can add mushroom to the recipe. Fry them for 2 minutes in olive oil before adding the vegetables.
-You can also add cashew nuts by stir frying them with the vegetables.



Stir fried broccoli and vegetables:
Ingredients:
· ½ kilo broccoli cleaned and cut into bite-size florets
· 1 of each: green, red and yellow bell pepper cut into bite-size squares.
· 1 large carrot cut into thin circles.
· 2 courgettes (zucchini) cut into thin circles
· A handful of baby corn
· ½ cup snow peas
· 2 tablespoons olive oil.
· Salt pepper, ginger, mustard

- stir fry the vegetables for 2 minutes. Season to taste.
-Serve immediately with white rice or noodles.
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Broccoli with béchamel:
Ingredients:
· ½ kilo broccoli cleaned and cut into bite-size florets
· 1 large carrot cut into thin circles.
· 2 tablespoons olive oil.
· For the béchamel: 2 heaped tablespoons whole wheat flour, 2 cups of milk, salt pepper, 2 eggs (optional).
· ½ cup cheddar and/or mozzarella cheese


- stir fry the vegetables for 2 minutes. Season to taste.
-prepare the béchamel by stirring the flour in olive oil, add the milk, season and whisk well till bubbling. Add the eggs one at a time whisking vigorously after each addition.
-arrange the broccoli and carrots in an oven dish. Sprinkle with cheese. Top with the béchamel.
-Bake in a hot oven for 15-20 minutes.



Broccoli chicken curry:
Ingredients:
· ½ kilo chicken breast skinned and deboned and cut into strips.
· 1 cup mushroom cut thinnely
· chicken marinade: Shredded onion, mustard, ginger powder, curry, salt and pepper.
· ½ kilo broccoli cleaned and cut into bite-size florets
· 2 tablespoons olive oil.
· For the sauce: 2 heaped tablespoons whole wheat flour,1 cup of milk, 1 cup chicken soup, salt, pepper, curry powder, a touch of turmeric (curcumin).


-Marinate the chiken for 1-2 hours (if you are in a hurry it’s okay to proceed immediately).
-Stir fry the mushroom in 1 table spoon olive oil. Add the chicken. Cover. Reduce heat till done.
-Remove from the pan into an oven dish.
- Add the other spoon of oil to the pan and stir fry the broccoli for 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Mix with the chicken.
-prepare the sauce by stirring the flour in olive oil, add the milk and the soup , season and whisk well till bubbling. It should be of watery consistency.
-Add the sauce to the oven dish and bake for 15-20 minutes.
-Serve with white rice or noodles.

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Fresh Green Salad

16/3/2011

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I love salads. They are actually my speciality at any dish party. This one is a very healthy fresh salad. As I will share more of my recipes with you, you will notice that I don't like to actually measure the ingredients, I hate accurate measurement in cooking. It makes me feel like I'm preparing medicine again in my long forgotten pharmacy labs. The amounts of ingredients are totally up to you. I believe that cooking should be fun. For me, it is relaxing and enjoyable. If I start measuring, it loses its charm. I prefer to play, mix and match and see how it ends up (fortunately, it usually ends up fine). I rarely cook the exact same dish twice. Most of my recipes are very simple and need minimum time and effort. As I believe that we should eat healthy, I also believe that we shouldn't spend most of our life in the kitchen. As Molière said it: "Il faut manger pour vivre et non pas vivre pour manger (We should eat to live and not live to eat)."


Ingredients and method of preparation:
Dressing: olive oil, red grape vinegar, salt, pepper, finely shredded fresh mint, dried oregano leaves, mustard powder, mustard, teaspoon honey ---shake well in a jar and leave to percolate and infuse for at least 2 hours.
Salad:
Cut  and mix together fresh lettuce, cabbage, dill, and parsley
Dice some tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, colored bell pepper, and raddish  into small cubes. Add the to the leafy vegetables.
Add some pomegranate seeds and a can of sweet corn.

mix the ingredients well together and add the juice of ½ lemon.
Dress the salad just before serving.

Bon Appetit

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    About the Author

    Hi, I'm Amira... I'm all for simple, natural, uncomplicated life... My core values are derived from my Islamic faith... My definition of wellness includes lots of smiles, human interactions, delicious food, music, joy, colorful paint, Mediterranean sunshine, blue sky and turquoise sea, care, love, compassion and deep heart-felt peace.
    I love learning… I love books and art supplies… And, I am saddened by human conflict and intolerance.
     
    I am an introvert who loves being around people... I love building communities and gathering around the kitchen table... I am a teacher at heart... I simplify complex health science and speak openly about heart and soul stuff...

    I've been helping people on their health and healing journey for more than 20 years now and I am committed to be authentic, caring and a beacon of love and peace.

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My wellness coaching, workshops, teachings, and all the services I provide are at all times restricted to education, teaching and training on the subject of natural health matters intended for general natural health well-being and do not involve the diagnosing, prognosticating, treatment, or prescribing of remedies for the treatment of any disease, or any licensed or controlled act which may constitute the practice of  medicine. 
Any questions? Please email me at info@amiraayad.com 

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