Barley: star-quality rice-substitute

I was drawn to this article about rice substitutes, and wanted to share that I think barley is the most accessible for most people to try as a healthier alternative for rice or pasta. We want more nutrient-dense and low-glycemic load meals so that we can maintain healthy weight and feel great. Quinoa (keen-wah) was listed at the top and can be very tasty, but some people don't like the taste of quinoa or have issues digesting it. Barley is somewhat "old school" and works well as a pilaf and has a nutty chewy texture that is more widely accepted especially for beginners not confident about cooking healthy.

My favorite way to eat barley is to mix in mushrooms, peas, veggies, onions and parsley to cooked barley so that I'm getting a rainbow of nutrition and a lot of flavor. And some like to make it creamy like risotto, if you cook it with broth. A warning about barley in soup: If you're packing leftovers, be sure to separate the barley from the soup or your leftovers will no longer be soup but actually become barley mush. Barley loves to soak up the liquids!! Here are some ideas for barley recipes.

The nutrition graphic here shows a terrific mineral profile for barley. Many of us hear about how we need to improve our selenium intake in our foods to boost our optimal health, an important anti-inflammatory mineral that is no longer rich in our agricultural soil. It's found to be helpful for lowering risks of cancer, cardiovascular disease, cognitive decline, and thyroid disease. International standards are higher than in the US and selenium can improve your immune health as well as vision health. Other sources of selenium can be found in Brazil nuts, some seafood, animal protein, eggs, beans. The NIH page  or WHFoods page offers suggestions of foods that you can incorporate. If you don't eat foods like Brazil nuts or barley daily (who does?), I like to take this high-quality multi-mineral as my backup so that I get enough of my minerals daily, as my insurance for optimal health.

Chicken Barley and Pea Soup

Soup is a great way to use up your veggies and get your nutrition all in one bowl! Pre-make the soup so you have something ready-to-eat when you're too busy to cook. Total cooking time was about 30-45 minutes, depending how quickly you chop. Full of vitamins, protein and fiber, and covering the rainbow nutrition with peas, red onions, mushrooms and basil.

Outline of the recipe:
Crimini mushrooms (sliced), chix broth, frozen peas, carrots, sweet potatoes (and parsnops if you like 'em), 10-minute barley (cooks faster!). Put in more of what you like! I like extra mushrooms so I put in more.

New tasty healthy foods

Since I have figured out that I am sensitive to lactose, especially with uncooked milk (it makes my stomach blow up a few extra inches!), I've been looking for a solution to my yogurt cravings. If I'm going to have milk products, I should really be taking my digestive enzymes which have lactase to break down the lactose. I like to carry a travel pack of the digestive enzymes in my purse for protecting my stomach while eating out, for the times that I can't avoid the lactose.

For those who are lactose-sensitive, yogurt is less irritating, but why have any irritation? I have newly discovered this brand of yogurt that has lactase in it so that it becomes lactose-free AND it has a good collection of probiotics! Happy tummy!

On other snack foods, I'm sensitive to the varying levels of vinegar found in most olives. Olives are so good for you, but it's simply easier for me to get them into my diet if they are already mixed in with something like hummus. You can find these pre-made at your local grocery store like Trader Joe's or Whole Foods. This is a great substitute for those of us who like cheese and want a healthier low-fat savory snack.

And to satisfy my sweet tooth, I'm defrosting a cup of frozen wild blueberries. The wild boreal blueberries are smaller and have so much more flavor than its conventional cousins. With frozen fruit at my disposal, I can have tasty fruit year-round conveniently at less than 1/2 the cost of the fresh kind. I would prefer fresh fruits, but sometimes it's helpful to be easy on the budget and my shopping schedule!

Ez, Tasty, Healthy Cooking Workshop

If you're busy and you need some easy, tasty, and healthy foods you can cook at home and use a on-the-go snacks, this is the cooking workshop for you! Want weight loss? Don't know how to eat more veggies in your week? I've got lots of ideas for you! The recipe for these turkey-veggie meatballs shown in the photo here got approved by an anti-veggie teen who is a picky eater.

Click on the event registration link quick so you can reserve your seat. It's a small class size so you can really learn. Tell your friends even if you can't make it, because this is a rare opportunity you get to see this foodie chef in action and teaching you how you can do it yourself!

Cut the sugar, get rid of some unhealthy weight

I'm happy that a food magazine like Eating Well is posting this article about sugar for us. All these years we were misled to think that low-fat diets would be the answer, while processed food companies got us addicted to sugar.

Simple tip: If you can cut down processed food and cook your own food, you'll automatically cut down your sugar. I tried to find a frozen entree I could keep as backup for the nights I'm too tired to cook dinner. I spent a good 20 minutes in the grocery aisle reading the boxes of Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice, Marie Callendar's and more brands I can't remember. I'm sorry to report I could not take advantage of any of the frozen food sale items of what I used to think were healthier options. Instead, I'm now resolved to pack my leftovers as my personally designed "frozen food."