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I found Farm Fresh To You at Whole Foods. Their kale was wonderful!

Winter kale salad with goji berries

This winter salad is a real surprise. You can find the recipe on Eco-Hearth web site. This recipe uses kale which is a winter green that is packed with anti-inflammatory compounds and Vitamin A. While making this salad I added the oil and salt to the leaves and they turned bright green within seconds. Stunning salad! Wonderful crunchy taste from the pistachios and the goji berries. Be careful with the agave nectar. I added it drop by drop.

EcoHearth is a parent's dream because they offer so many things to help a family go green!

Early Childhood Diet May Influence Future Health

There is a direct connection between an adult's propensity to put on weight and our early childhood diet.

Raspberry Buttermilk Cake

Smitten Kitchen does it again!

Raspberries are the fat bursting fruit.

You can just ignore the word “raspberry” ...and swap it up with any which berry you please, like blackberries or blueberries or bits of strawberries or all of the above. This is a good, basic go-to buttermilk cake (not unlike a lemon yogurt cake before it) — moist and ever-so-light — a great jumping off point for whatever you can dream up.

New Red Raspberry

The new variety boasts of high yields of large, uniform size, bright red berries, suitable for consumption as early season high-grade fresh berries.

One cup is 40 percent of the vitamin C you need for a day. Linked to reduction of esophageal and colon cancer and some of the ill effects of tobacco products.

Plums Poised To Give Blueberries Run For The Money

“We suggest that consumers take seriously the recommendation to eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables – or even more – every day and to make sure that plums are part of that,” Byrne said.

Food 'Tattoos' An Alternative To Labels For Identifying Fruit

I knew there was a sane use for tattoos! It's a carbon laser that does the trick. If you should get ill from eating this product the laser will make the identification of the origin of this fruit flawless. Finally! If your child announces that he/she wants a tattoo just steer that child to the lemon bin or perhaps to the kiwi shelf in your local grocery store. "So, you want to look like a fruit?"

During the past 15 years, the global cocoa industry has confronted a trio of devastating fungal diseases that cost growers an estimated $700 million in losses annually.

Sequencing The Cacao Genome To Safeguard Chocolate

The global chocolate market is worth $75 billion annually. Scientists report that the three most important and damaging cacao diseases are black pod, frosty pod, and witches' broom. Black pod occurs worldwide and has the largest impact, while frosty pod and witches' broom are restricted to tropical America.

cappuccino fudge cheesecake

Smitten Kitchen does it again!

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best cocoa brownies

Sets the perfect stage for your own expression of Valentine's Day. Add a little heart shaped treat on top of each brownie with a message from your heart.

 

Chocolate, Wine And Tea Improve Brain Performance

All that chocolate might actually help finish the bumper Christmas crossword over the seasonal period.

 

How Fish Is Cooked Affects Heart-Health Benefits of Omega-3 Fatty Acids

"Our findings can help educate people on how much fish to eat and how to cook it to prevent heart disease," Meng said.

Tips of where to buy fresh catch on the docks

...it's entirely possible to find boats loaded with rock cod, halibut and the occasional sole or tuna at Pillar Point Harbor in Half Moon Bay. For a fraction of the market price, you can purchase a whole fish from the fisherman.

Identifying sustainable seafood can be a fishing expedition

Seafood is the most direct way consumers connect to the life of the ocean. Conservation groups such as the Monterey Bay Aquarium encourage the consumption of sustainable seafood - meaning seafood caught in a way that doesn't harm the ocean or deplete the supply.

 

 

Blue Ocean Institute

This wallet sized card helps consumers educate themselves. When I go out to eat I take this little card with me. The key that is used separates the various kinds of fish according to its abundance and damages caused by the way it is farmed.

 

The best coating for crispier calamari

This chef knows his oil and his coating for seafood. The calamari is coated with a nicely sprinkled layer of panko crumbs and fried in soy oil. Why panko crumbs? Because these crumbs are made with bread only and not the crusts. That way you get a crispier coating and it is lighter than the traditional Western style coating used for deep frying.

831-626-3626

Sea Harvest Fish Market and Restaurant is located in the Crossroads Shopping Center off of Rio Road and Highway 1 (just south of Carmel Valley Road)

lobster rolls

Smitten Kitchen does it again.

You could substitute other shellfish if you want to. How about crab? Shrimp? And the mayo can be substituted with yogurt and a sprinkle of apple cider vinegar.

 

Sustainable Fisheries Needed for Global Food Security

Eco-lableing raises the price for some seafood but this only causespeople to look for lower price seafood that the poorer people are eating. Then the lower priced seafood goes up in price. What would you do?

 

Soft-Shell Crabs Created On Demand?

National Geographic video is excellent!

To read more on molting go to:

Clues that the miracle of molting is near

 

The culinary academy--The Moss Room brings green cuisine to an eco-conscious science museum.

Grilled Monterey squid, entangled with chickpeas and Swiss chard, rises to the gentle heat of jalapeño pesto. The ultragreen building hosts exhibits that point out the costs of our consumption.

 

Is it red snapper? What's red snapper? Palumbi lab checks the DNA

Join Dr. Steve Palumbi of Stanford University and Lynne Rossetto Kaspar, host of "The Splendid Table", as they use DNA to solve the Case of the Counterfeit Fish.

 

Boosting Coastal Economics With Crustacean Molting On Demand

Ever go to the fish market for crab and there isn't one to be found? "They are molting," you are told. Now, scientists are discovering how to manipulate that process and generate new jobs and insure profits in the blue crab fishing industry, an industry that is valued at nearly $50 million a year in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. Soon we will be able to buy blue crab all year round with its soft, easy to eat exoskeleton!

Seafood platters: Surf's up!

low in calories is the best nutritional fact here. Iron and zinc are in clams and mussels. Shrimp and clams are low in mercury. FDA recommends you have at least two meals a week of fish and shellfish.

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Palumbi Lab

Calorie Restriction: Scientists Take Important Step Toward 'Fountain of Youth'

"Our hope is that the discovery that reduced calories extends the lifespan of normal human cells will lead to further discoveries of the causes for these effects in different cell types and facilitate the development of novel approaches to extend the lifespan of humans,"

Western Diets Turn on Fat Genes:

a diet that is high in fat and in sugar actually switches on genes that ultimately cause our bodies to store too much fat.

pear bread

The only thing I would change in this Smitten Kitchen recipe is the sugar. I use honey in all my breads because its sweeter than table sugar so I take in less calories than if I used table sugar.

Eat The Weeds

Ready for nettles and dandelions on your plate? Langdon Cook talks foraging, the next (cheap!) step in local food

 

When you think of changing a lifestyle, you may think it is too hard to do. But, that is not so. Here, research shows one thing and if you incorporate that one thing into your child's diet then you can help him/her not become a victim of diabetes. Just add spices to the meals you offer your family. One quick and sure way to be successful at this is to grow spices in your kitchen window, or your garden so your child can watch them grow.

 

Try Thai Or Rosemary When Spicing The Meat To Curb Carcinogens

It's no secret that the Mediterranean diet is one of the healthiest diets known to modern man. Fish plays a huge part in this diet. Salmon is now known for its health benefits that stem from its high amount of omega 3 fatty acids. But, if you are grilling meats, even fish, you come up against a little known danger, carcinogenic compounds known as heterocyclic amines (HCAs). These compounds are born when grilling meats. New research shows these HCAs can be significantly inhibited from forming if Thai spices or rosemary are present. Why? We are not sure. But it has been proven that rosemary far outperforms Thai spices in inhibiting the formation of HCAs during grilling.

 

The Spice Route

Take your child to this spice store. He will learn about different spices form different counytires. This is a great way to get your child interested in other countries, where they are located, what foods they produce etc. Dwnload the pdf for cinnamon blueberry muffins

garlic-mustard glazed skewers

Mediterranean marinade for meats

If you don't care for rosemary, then try some other spice you like. But, make sure you put a spice into this recipe and let it do its thing!

Ristorante La Dolce Vita in Carmel knows this and that's why they marinate their salmon fillets in a rosemary and olive oil marinade before grilling. They serve the healthiest, tastiest Salmon Caesar Salad in town.

Getting to the Root of the Great Cilantro Divide

" 'Supertasters' is actually a term that was originally envisioned to describe people who were particularly sensitive to a very restricted class of bitter compounds," explains Dr. Danielle Reed of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia

Spices May Protect Against Consequences Of High Blood Sugar read more

Apparently, spices have potent inhibitors of tissue damage and inflammation caused by high levels of blood sugar. Read this article carefully. It is important for you to know about this. Do your child a favor. Make a small change. The results will be huge.

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Early Childhood Diet May Influence Future Health

Green beans give your child essential antioxidants. Don't boil them; instead, grill them, microwave them, griddle them, fry them or bake them.

Cookbooks offer eats kids are sure to love

A new group of books offers advice and recipes for cultivating a genuine love of good food — not hiding the broccoli in the brownies.

Let Them Eat Sugar: A New Guide For Feeding Kids

Matthew Amster-Burton, the author of the new memoir-style cookbook Hungry Monkey, says there's no reason a baby shouldn't eat sushi, bacon-jalapeno pizza or chocolate malt milkshakes.

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Bringing it all back home

Five servings of fruits and vegetables a day? That's what the nutritionists tell us our children need. This is much easier to fill when a group of young passionate entrepreneurs are working hard to deliver all those veggies and fruits to our homes. Planet Organic's fresh locally grown sweet potatoes and acorn squash, fuyu persimmons (the other orange) are a few of the seasonal picks this month Planet Organics can deliver to your door . Try them.

'Food Beware': Vive La (Local Food) Revolution!

"It's bizarre that the prduce manager is more important to my children's health than the pediatrician." Meryl Streep

Food Beware review

crisp rosemary flatbread

Smitten Kitcchen has simplified the making of flatbread. Here is their rendition for rosemary flatbread that goes well with soups and salads.

During the summer parents want simple meals. So much is going on with the children. Often times a mother hasn't got much time to plan a meal. Flatbreads that are flavored with fresh herbs are one tasty route to take when served with healthy salads and soups.I have never met a child who doesn't like flatbread. Have you?

 

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Cooking With Herbs

"If I'd stuck with the standards, however, I wouldn't have discovered the affinity peaches have for rosemary, or that a tiny pinch of cayenne pepper boosts the appleness of an apple pie." Kevin Weeks

Bell Peppers Stuffed With Feta And Dill

The great thing about these peppers is they're good hot, at room temperature or cold. They also make a bright, colorful display on a platter. I like them best with the feta, but I've also made them with chevre (goat cheese), and although I prefer dill, I've used other herbs such as thyme, basil and oregano.

Remember moms, red bell peppers are loaded with beta carotene. This one molecule helps keep skin healthy, the immune system hardy and eyesight keen.

Death by Mint Oil: Natural Pesticides

SafeShield. The $9.99 indoor insecticide spray contains active ingredients thyme oil and “geraniol,” a substance found in geranium, rose, lemon and other plants.

'Killer Spices' Provide Eco-friendly Pesticides For Organic Fruits And Veggies

Mention rosemary, thyme, clove, and mint and most people think of a delicious meal. Think bigger…acres bigger.

Murray Isman, Ph.D., of the University of British Columbia, who is developing these pesticides.

 

Mango Seeds May Protect Against Deadly Food Bacteria

mango curd

Smitten Kitchen hides this curd between layers of a wedding cake. But there are many more uses of mango curd than that. I have used it in ice cream toppings, and between pancakes or inside of parmesan shells with other fruit. It's great when you mix this curd with fresh strawberries and blueberries too.

Dishing Up Multipurpose Mangos

Can you believe there are 150 different kinds of mangoes?

Crab, Mango, and Avocado Salad with Citrus Dressing

With this recipe you can use chicken, tofu, or other proteins sources.

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Carmel, California

831-626-0430

Peanut Sesame Noodles

For peanut dressing
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup warm water
1 tablespoon chopped peeled fresh ginger
1 medium garlic clove, chopped
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons Asian toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes or a splash of the hot sauce or chili paste of your choice

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New Method Used To Detect Antibiotics In Honey

The researcher points out that European legislation today establishes a "zero tolerance" policy when it comes to the presence of antibiotic residues in honey, and the analytical methods devised by the study help to identify these compounds at the lowest levels possible.

Honey Adds Health Benefits, Is Natural Preservative And Sweetener In Salad Dressings

A surprise finding was the action of the antioxidants on the oils in salad dressing. The antioxidants in honey protected the quality of the salad dressings for up to nine months while sweetening them naturally."

* Honey possesses antimicrobial properties.
* It helps in promoting autolytic debridement.
* It deodorizes malodorous wounds.
* It speeds up the healing process by stimulating wound tissues.
* It helps in initiating the healing process in dormant wounds.
* Honey also helps in promoting moist wound healing

Court Finds Bear Guilty Of Stealing Honey

What do bears eat?
Although they are classified as carnivores, or meat-eaters, bears are really omnivores, like we are. They eat meat and plants. About 90% of the diet of eastern black bears is plants — grasses, leaves, buds, flowers, mushrooms, berries and other fruits, and nuts, including acorns. Most of the meat they eat is insects. So, it isn't the honey that bears are after. It is the insect and the larvae that the bear wants to eat.

Kid's questions

Making Pizza Healthy?

Pizza is notoriously unhealthy. With the high sodium and fat content of most pizzas we have never recommended feeding children pizza.

But, now we know more about the nutrients in a pizza with a whole wheat crust. Research has shown that altering a few things while making a whole wheat crusted pizza may increase availability of antioxidants, which may reduce the risk of aging-related chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease.When you look closely at the recipe for the crust you can see the lab gang used some healthy ingredients such as honey instead of sugar and whole wheat flour instead of white flour. Looking even closer you realize the rising time for the dough was way beyond normal. Instead of letting the dough rise for a few hours, they put the dough into the refrigerator for 18 hours. This extended time gave the whole wheat dough more time to release its antioxidants. Also, the lab gang baked the pizzas in a hotter oven than usual. All this resulted in a significantly higher antioxidant count.

Twix and pizza — are these really diet foods?

Antioxidants play an important role in deactivating the free radicals inside the body that cause cellular damage and several deadly diseases. Antioxidants are known to slow and prevent the onset of cancer, and help to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease by deterring the collection of plaque on arterial walls.

Better to Be Fat and Fit Than Skinny and Unfit

This article will surprise you!

read more

 

This one activity can start your child understanding fractions, food science and more.

 

Recipe from Smitten Kitchen

The photographs on this food blog are outstanding!

'little arms'

'Tis the season for chocolate. Chocolate pretzels, that is. In his Astronomia Nova, Johannes Kepler states that if we assume that the Earth is the center of the universe, we must accept that the planets travel in a loopy path "with the appearance of a Lenten bread ('panis quadragesimalis)" i.e. a pretzel.[2]

Smitten Kitchen

 

Energy is in a kiss

Twenty-Six Calories Can Lift an SUV

If this is so, no wonder many children in this age of high tech are suffering from obesity. They aren't 'walking the walk', literally!

This is a furnace, just like your body. It burns matter and releases energy. When you eat, you break molecules apart and release their energy to do work for you. You use this energy to walk around, run, jump, sleep, digest, play — just get through each day. In order to appreciate how much energy is in food, some scientists have decided to link the idea of how many calories it takes to lift an SUV off the ground with the number of calories in a food. This is called the concept of equivalence. This equivalence goes like this: There are 26 calories in one chocolate kiss. This is equivalent to the amount of energy it takes to lift 1 SUV off the ground.

As you read the number of calories in each of McDonald's foods, or any food, you can get an idea of the vast amount of energy in food by making an equivalence between the number of calories in the food and the number of SUVs you can lift with that amount of calories. For example, once you know that 26 calories is equivalent to lifting 1 SUV above the ground, then you can figure out how many SUVs you can lift by eating 1 260 calorie hamburger from McDonald's. 260/26 = 10 SUVs can be lifted off the ground.

As StarChild Science teaches, 'There is nothing between us and nature but energy and information'. Unfortunately, the amount of energy in food is huge. That is why it is important for us to exercise often to get rid of the extra energy in thefood that we have eaten that we don't use. If we don't run it off, then we store it as fat. And that is where obesity comes from.

Throughout this site you will often see the expression 'energy conservation'. It is an expression that is currently everywhere in the news, connected to many different arenas. We read it in articles about ethanol production, alternative fuel research, heating costs, food science, dieting, obesity, agriculture, fashion, airline industry, housing industry, forestry, ocean health, just to name a few.

The graphic above showing the temperature of water inside the box rising as heat is released from food should be on all science sites and in all classrooms, no matter what grade level. This is a fundamental depiction of the conservation of energy. Energy in nature is conserved meaning it is kept in some form or other, work or heat. Energy does not just vanish in nature like your money in your bank account can do. It is kept in some form at all times, in all circumstances. Most importantly, this conservation law is what keeps us living systems alive.

Lycopene is the star here. What is it? you ask...

 

Tomato Nutrition Facts

A review of 72 different studies showed consistently that the more tomatoes and tomato products people eat, the lower their risks of many different kinds of cancer. The secret may lie in lycopene, the chemical that makes tomatoes red, said Dr. Edward Giovannucci, Harvard School of Public Health, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Among the studies he reviewed, 57 showed that the more tomatoes one ate, the lower the risk of cancer. “The evidence for benefit was strongest for cancers of the prostate, lung, and stomach,” he reported.

The typical American diet is rich in protein, cereal grains and other acid-producing foods. In general, such diets generate tiny amounts of acid each day.

Plant Foods For Preserving Muscle Mass

With aging, a mild but slowly increasing metabolic "acidosis" develops, according to the researchers.Acidosis appears to trigger a muscle-wasting response. So the researchers looked at links between measures of lean body mass and diets relatively high in potassium-rich, alkaline-residue producing fruits and vegetables.

studies show that after six months, frozen cherries have lost as much as 50 percent of anthocyanins, the healthful compounds found in the pigment of red and blue fruits and vegetables. Fresh spinach loses 64 percent of its vitamin C after cooking. Canned peas and carrots lose 85 percent to 95 percent of their vitamin C, according to data compiled by the University of California, Davis.

Finding the Best Way to Cook All Those Vegetables

boiling was better for carrots, zucchini and broccoli than steaming, frying or serving them raw. Frying was by far the worst..

Still, there were tradeoffs. Boiling carrots, for instance, significantly increased measurable carotenoid levels, but resulted in the complete loss of polyphenols compared with raw carrots.

Watering Tomato Plants With Diluted Seawater Boosts Levels Of Antioxidants

This is the kind of news every coastal community wants to hear. With the growing shortage of fresh water we are looking closely at our gardens' sosuce of water for growth. It so happens that tomatoes grown in seawater have a higher amount of antioxidants in them than those grown in fresh water. They show a higher level of vitamin C, vitamin E, dihydrolipoic acid, and chlorogenic acid. These are antioxidants found to help protect against heart disease and prostate cancer. Tell your local community garden or the ogranic growers association about this news.

Cauliflower creamy soup good for you in many ways!

click on cauliflower graphic to go to Nell Newman's wonderful web site

Cauliflower is sweet if not cooked too long. It is full of nutrients and shows significant protection from breat cancer. In fact, the photonutrient in cauliflower, sulforaphane, lowered the occurance of breast tumors in lab animals by almost 40% in a John's Hopkins Medical School study.

Cauliflower also contains vitamin C and folate. Folate helps the blood work more efficiently and is often recommended for preventing anemia. Folate is also essential for proper tissue growth and not getting enough can make you succeptible to many diseases down the road such as cancer and heart disease.

Nell Newman has a wonderful cauliflower and parmesan soup recipe on her web site Try it. It is outstanding!

Wasting Energy Rather than Dieting

"When you make the mitochondria inefficient, the muscles burn more calories," a metabolic increase that could be at least a partial substitute for exercise, said Clay Semenkovich of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

By making the skeletal muscles of mice use energy less efficiently, researchers report that they have delayed the animals' deaths and their development of age-related diseases, including vascular disease, obesity, and one form of cancer.

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CHOPPED CHICKEN MANGO SALAD

Bahama Billy's Island Steakhouse

Carmel, California

831-626-0430

This is the best menu around for fresh salads that surprise you with mangos, pineapple, nuts, and fresh ginger. Their seafood creations are also highly recommended.

 

 

Monterey Farmers Markets

 

 

 

Peach Salsa with Balsamic Drizzle

 

Contra Costa Certified Farmers Markets

 

 

Carmel Farmers Markets

 

The Palumbi Lab

Salinas Farmers Markets

 

 

 

 

 

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Animation of the dragon seen on this page is licensed to StarChild Science by "animated.gif(c)KittyRoach"

All right reserved- Judy Wilken, MS-2010