Week of June 25, 2006

Frozen Fruit and Yogurt Treats

Fruit pops aren't just for kids. These refreshing treats are a cool way to enjoy your daily fruit and yogurt. Fresh ripe fruit is the main ingredient in the ice pops below. They are minimally sweetened and contain no dyes, or preservatives like commercial pops.

If you do not have an inexpensive plastic pop mold, you can use small flat-bottomed paper drinking cups with a capacity of 3 or 4 ounces. Wooden ice cream sticks can be used for handles, but wait to insert them until the fruit mixture has frozen to a slush thick enough to hold the sticks upright.

Choose a yogurt flavor that is the same as your fruit or choose complementary flavors with contrasting colors of yogurt and fruit. Use pureed fruit, (peel and seed the fruit if needed) but add a few chunks diced fruit if desired.

2 cups yogurt, any flavor

1 cup pureed fresh fruit, such as strawberries, blueberries, ripe bananas, apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums, kiwi, papaya or mango

Mix yogurt with fruit. Pour into plastic molds or small paper cups. If using wooden sticks for handles, freeze until mushy before inserting sticks. Freeze until pops are hard.

Week of June11, 2006

Natural Ways to Raise Your Good Cholesterol

1. Aerobic Exercise just 20 to 30 minutes a day can jump-start your HDL in the right direction.
2. Stop Smoking. Quitting smoking can raise your HDL levels by about four points.
3. Lose weight. Losing 10 pounds can increase your HDL by one and a half points.
4. Choose the right fats in your diet. Decrease saturated and trans fats in your diet. These substances increase the bad cholesterol while decreasing your good cholesterol. Instead use products containing unsaturated fats (olive, canola, flaxseed, etc.). These may raise your HDL levels. Use in moderation; remember you still have to watch the calories!
5. Cut back on simple carbohydrates. Cakes, cookies and highly processed cereals and breads are high-glycemic foods that can lower your HDL and raise the levels of another fat in your bloodstream, triglycerides.
6. Drink alcohol only in moderation. If you don't drink, don't start, however some studies have found mild alcohol consumption (one drink per day for women, two for men) can raise HDL by up to four points. NOTE: Alcohol may be harmful to those with liver or addiction problems. In these cases, the risks certainly outweigh the benefits.
7. Eat cold-water fish. Eating salmon, mackerel or other fish from icy waters several times a week can have a very positive effect on your HDL levels. They contain omega-3 fatty acids, which may help to explain their health benefits.
8. Add fiber to your diet. The soluble fiber found in fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains might boost your HDL.
9. Avoid anabolic steroids (muscle-building). These decrease your HDL levels, as well as increasing other health dangers.

Week of June 4, 2006

Flavorful Marinades for Grilled Foods

Grilling a chicken breast with a little salt and pepper tastes fine, but you can greatly alter the flavor by marinating that same chicken breast in a spicy aromatic mixture. The flavors that you can add to your marinade are limited only by your imagination and the spices you have on hand. Just use ingredients go well together. It can be fresh or dried herbs and spices or fresh and dried chili peppers, onions, shallots, garlic, ginger and citrus zest. Condiments of mustard, ketchup, plum sauce and marmalades can also be added. Do not EVER use salt in your marinade. Salt will bleed out the moisture, so do not add salt to the meat or poultry until just before cooking.

When you add sugar or sweet ingredients to the marinade, the sugars on the surface of the meat will caramelize when exposed to high heat, giving the meat a nice browned color and rich flavor as well as a tinge of sweetness. Use sugar, marmalades, jellies, corn syrup, honey, fruit juice and sodas (colas, etc.) for this purpose.

Even a very small amount of oil in a marinade will add moisture to foods. Use pure olive oil, sesame, walnut or chili oils. These work best.

The two most popular types of marinades are acidic (made with citrus, vinegar, or wine) and enzymatic (made with ingredients such as pineapple and papaya). Although both types work primarily on the surface of the food, they bring about different results: highly acidic marinades can actually toughen food; while enzymatic marinades can turn the surface of the food to mush (meat tenderizers you buy are enzymatic).

Dairy products are the only ingredients that can actually tenderize meat all the way through while retaining the original texture. Buttermilk and yogurt work especially well for this. Yogurt is slightly acidic and helps break down protein tissues in beef, fish, chicken and other meats, and allows absorption of flavors from herbs and spices.

Yogurt marinades work faster than oil counterparts. When deciding how long to marinate, consider the texture of the meat or fish. Open-textured flesh like fish fillets needs only a few minutes of soaking (Fish will take as little as 20 minutes). Food with a tighter texture, such as chicken or pork, can tolerate several hours in a marinade, even one that's mildly acidic. Marinate chicken for no more than 4 hours. Marinate beef for 6 hours, turning once or twice. DO NOT EXCEED recommended time as the meat will toughen as the acid actually "cooks" the protein.