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!

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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