Choosing the oil that you generally cook with is an important contribution to your diet and health. In this post, I share some principles about evaluating, and if desirable, changing your cooking oil. The top four vegetable cooking oils consumed in the United States are soybean, canola, palm, and corn oil. These oils are referred […]

Truly, it’s a rare occasion at my home, for the temperatures to be in the 50s and 60s during February – I have plans to breath in some of the warmer air during the next 10 days. I’ve lived in the mountain west for enough years (15) to realize that winter is not over, based […]

Holiday eating is filled with a mix of emotions. Some of the emotions are positive; the anticipation of eating Mom’s finest recipes – memories of happy times together with family and friends blanketing the experience. Just looking forward to the traditional recipes that our individual families take pleasure in is part of the enjoyment of […]

We nutritionists and dietitians are often encouraging the consumption of fish; the reason is that it’s generally a very low fat, low calorie source of protein, with an added bonus of omega-3 fatty acids. But because shrimp is so low in total fat, it isn’t a great source for omega-3 fatty acids. But before you […]

It seems pretty clear that eating more fruit and vegetables is a very important part of keeping humans healthy. It’s not a colossal shocker when we read headlines notifying us that eating seven or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day will reduce our risk of death by 42 percent. The latest headlines based […]

Eating a plant-based diet, not only protects your waistline, but it also guards your purse. It’s interesting that so many people erroneously espouse the idea that eating fruits and vegetables is terribly expensive. I’m fortunate in that I’ve shopped and cooked for many decades and in my experience, fresh fruit and vegetables do not have […]

For several years, I planted basil in our herb garden; it never flourished. Then for several more years I struggled to keep it healthy and happy in pots on the shelf outside my kitchen window – only moderate success! Basil wants just the right amount of water; I never got it just right. In addition, […]

Here in the mountain west, autumn has put her nose under the tent, and like the camel in the old story, will soon nudge herself all the way in. In our town, we blessedly haven’t had frost yet; but up on the mountainside we can see the trees and shrubs beginning to change to their […]

Some years ago, I enjoyed a conversation with a school food service director from the city in which my family and I lived. I’ve never forgotten her explanation of the challenges she faced in taking advantage of using the whole foods available from the USDA surplus school nutrition commodity program. She explained that when she […]

Thirteen plus years ago I moved to the mountain west from southern California; among the many differences that I noted, were that there seemed to be more people that didn’t eat fish. What I really mean is that I’ve met many people who had not even tasted fish – ever. Growing up with a grandfather […]