Posts tagged: Food Nutritional Facts

Often Nutmeg’s most intriguing encounters start at the market and end in a DATE!

…a date plantation in Indio, California.
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Recipes & Travel:
California Date Production, California Travel Guides, Food Nutritional Facts

A trip to the grocery store can be confusing. How do you choose between farm-raised, wild, organic, omega-3, free-range, local, grass-fed, pesticide-free and all natural?
And that is just for eggs.

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Recipes & Travel:
Books, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Facts about Olives, Food Nutritional Facts, Olive Oil, Provence

Hot Sauce (Nutmeg’s Mum) loves bananas, she grew up in the West Indies on an island that produces bananas for export, so it was best to love them…
Bananas are considered a super-food:

Potassium-rich; studies show foods with high levels of potassium can reduce the risk of stroke by as much as 40%
High levels of the antioxidant phenolic compounds work to detoxify cancer-causing agents
Although not specifically high in calcium can help in the absorption of calcium
They reduce stomach acidity and in some cases may even reduce nausea (more…)

Recipes & Travel:
Banana bread recipes, Easy baking recipes, Easy healthy snack recipes, Food Nutritional Facts

Thanksgiving, it certainly feels like fall in Southern Alberta and in parts of France.  The mornings are crisp and more clothing layers are required for dog walks.  Nearby mountain peaks have some early season snow at the higher levels, and the leaves on the trees are starting to turn their autumn hues.  Nutmeg is not really a fall person, although she has many friends who embrace the transition season between summer (her favorite) and winter (skiing, second favorite). (more…)

Recipes & Travel:
Alberta Farmers Markets, Alberta Organic Produce, Easy Casseroles, Food Nutritional Facts, Recipes with Potatoes, Vegeterian Recipes

Back in August, Nutmeg published a blog post on Nu-Roots Nutrition in Canmore.  In the past few weeks, she has had the pleasure of getting to know the three ladies involved a little better; Sam, Tori and Joanne.  These three ladies offer a winning business combination of holistic nutrition (individual and corporate) and a storefront where they sell fresh small batch quantities of gluten free, raw food.
If that sounds strange or yucky, think again….  Nutmeg has tried the “Nutella” spread and it is too die for AND good for you.  The granola comes in two varieties a buckwheat and a cacao version both delicious.  There are all sorts of other great things including; decadent brownies.  Want to learn more?  The store is open Tuesday – Friday and they offer raw cooking classes about every two weeks.  Below is an article from their most recent newsletter and a really easy recipe.  BE TEMPTED! (more…)

Recipes & Travel:
Cobbler Recipe, Easy healthy desserts, Food Nutritional Facts, Healthy Apple Recipes, Raw food

Nutmeg is a “greeniac” (just ask Ginger)… she turns out lights before she leaves a room, recycles everything, uses the rain barrel to water her plant pots,  faithfully composts greens and browns, buys eco-friendly cleaning products – but she does NOT believe in global warming!  On August 29th, Ginger and Nutmeg awoke to slightly above freezing temperatures and a very clear view of snow a third of the way down the nearby mountain peaks.  Yes it is true, the rest of the country, and possibly the world is suffering with heat stroke, water restrictions and cool blended drinks.  Al Gore be damned according to Nutmeg, there is no global warming in Southern Alberta, it is soup time! So out comes the Corn and Crab Chowder (check out the recipe below).
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Recipes & Travel:
Corn and Crab Soup, Food Nutritional Facts, Seafood Recipes, Soup Recipes

Eve may have tempted Adam with an apple, or so the story goes, although it could just have easily been a pear.  The pear grows on trees in cooler temperate climates.  There are about 30 varieties of pears, although in North American grocery stores we may see 3-4 at the height of the season.  Pears (or the equivalent in local languages) have been cultivated since prehistoric times.  There is evidence of the use of pears in Roman times, as well as in parts of Africa and in Asia. Historians have traced the growth of pears in China back 3000 years.

Worldwide production is about 20 million tonnes, of which China produces over 12.5 million tonnes.  Generally, the harvest season for pears is late summer and early fall.  Pears are picked while they are still green, if left to ripen on the tree they turn yellow and starchy.  A single pear has about 100 calories, 6grams of fibre and 10% Vitamin…

Recipes & Travel:
Food Nutritional Facts, Pear Muffins, Recipes with Pears

Nutmeg was curious, in December she and Ginger had fresh squeezed orange juice every morning from the tree outside the door in Palm Desert.  However, in June no decent oranges, lemons or grapefruits for any juice.  The trees are still very healthy and there are signs of fruit to come, although not anytime soon…
So Nutmeg wondered: do the trees only bare fruit once a year? The answer is yes, unfortunately.
Is California really the place for citrus?  The answer is yes although it is not the leader in US production.  The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) publishes monthly results and forecasts by state and by type of produce; oranges “non-Valencia”, oranges “Valencia”, grapefruit, tangerines, tangelos, lemons etc.  Florida by far has the largest production (131 million boxes – forecast for 2010), followed by California (59 million), Texas (1,6 million) and Arizona weighs in with some minor production.  Total US production forecast for 2010 is 192 million boxes. Interesting to…

Recipes & Travel:
California Citrus, California Travel Guides, Food Nutritional Facts, Travel Palm Springs

So Nutmeg has this friend,  Mr. High Maintenance (or “the lighting guy”) who he claims that he does not like Cilantro.  We have all thought for years that he is well; Mr. High Maintenance – you get the picture.  So today on the step-mill at the gym Nutmeg was stunned to find out that apparently it is true!! There is a study that has been done to understand the link between DNA and dietary preferences. 
You can read the full article in Maclean’s Magazine (May 17, 2010).  The study has been co-authored by Dr. Oz (yes his real name). The field is called “nutrigenomics” which is the pursuit of identifying the right diet for your genes. The theory is that people may not process and digest food in the same way due to unique gene make-up.  Apparently, via a simple mouth swab, they can determine what kind of diet you should be on. 
In addition, a study has been done by…

Recipes & Travel:
Facts about Cilantro, food info, Food Nutritional Facts

Quinoa pronounced “keen-wha” is a really old grain.  It is classified as a pseudocereal, which means it is not a cereal or a grain.  Quinoa is a chenopod, so it is the same family as beets and spinach.  It was a sacred grain for the Inca’s, who called it chissaya mama “mother of all grains”.  It has been cultivated for over 6000 years in the Andes.  It does not grow like a rice; quinoa has a long growing season, likes well drained soil and easily grows at high altitudes up to 4000 meters.  The Spanish conquistadors (really bad guys) who called it “food for Indians” forbade the production and strongly encouraged the farming of corn (maize).  Quinoa is also really good for you, it is gluten-free, high in phosphorus, magnesium, iron and it is high in protein.  Best of all it cooks in 15 minutes or less.
Ginger hates quinoa but he is away…. so Nutmeg (who loves it) got…

Recipes & Travel:
food info, Food Nutritional Facts, Healthy Salads, Quinoa Recipes, South American Food