Cooking With the Hip Chick...

Many women I meet who are interested in learning more about healthy diet and lifestyle often tell me they feel overwhelmed with all of the information out there. One magazine says to eat this, one diet says to eat that - there are so many philosophies and ways of living that claim to the be "RIGHT" way.

To these women, I have recommended one book. One book to start them on a healing journey - to open their minds and give them a basic understanding about healthy food and lifestyle - and to do it all with humor, wit and intelligence. This book that I recommend is written BY an exceptional woman, FOR exceptional women. Once I got my hands on a copy, I really couldn't put it down. It is not only fascinating, but so well explained that it allows the readers to easily grasp the concepts and apply them to their own lives.

This book is The Hip Chick's Guide to Macrobiotics. It is always my go-to book for women just starting out and wanting to learn the in's and out's of macrobiotics.

Get a copy - even if you already have a deep understanding of healing through natural diet and lifestyle and the energetics of food, this book is a valuable resource to add to your own collection of cookbooks. It features over 80 delectable recipes that are good for you AND taste good!

Also, if you ever have the opportunity to learn from the Hip Chick herself, Jessica Porter, grab it! She has a wealth of knowledge about food, health and life and her classes are sure to be educational as well as entertaining.

For more information about Jessica Porter and The Hip Chick's Guide to Macrobiotics, check her website and blog:

www.hipchicksmacrobiotics.com

www.hipchicksmacrobiotics.com/blog/

Extra! Extra! Read All About Cooking for Summer.

For fun and fresh Summer cooking ideas, check out the latest issue of Bitayavon Magazine. This beautifully photographed magazine is all about delicious, kosher gourmet food. The pictures in this mag are so fantastic - be careful not to drool while flipping through its pages...


The Summer issue features articles and tips for Summer picnics, healthy smoothies, sizzling summer desserts, and out-of-the-box grilling ideas. It also features an article and three recipes on scrumptious summer salads and health tips throughout the magazine, all written by yours truly! I am so glad to have my article featured in this magazine and get my message of eating well and enjoying it to a larger audience.


The recipes I featured are perfect for cooling down, relaxing and energizing your body during the hot summer months. I also introduce "exotic" ingredients like ume plum vinegar and dried daikon radish, as well as one of my favorite salad recipes, Southwestern Salsa & Black Bean Salad with "Sour Cream" Dressing. Oh yeah.


To get your copy, check your local kosher supermarket, judaica store, some Shoprites or Barnes and Nobles. To order a copy online, go here: http://bitayavon.com/

For more info and kosher, gourmet inspirations, find Bitayavon Magazine on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/bitayavonmagazine

Also, stay tuned for the upcoming Fall Issue of Bitayavon... I will be writing more healthy tidbits, plus tips on how to have an easy fast - perfect for the upcoming High Holiday of Yom Kippur, this September 26, 2012. Looking forward to sharing more info with you soon!

Summer Treats: Frozen Chocolate Covered Bananas

I recently took on the exciting job of Kitchen Coordinator for a summer camp. One of the things I love about this kind of work is that I get to do a lot of problem solving. For some reason, I find it thrilling and fun to work under time constraints and stress. Something about having to deal with difficultly staring me in the face, makes me rise to the occasion and somehow accomplish what I did not think was possible. I also love learning and figuring out how to be creative to accomplish the tasks at hand.

One of the most recent challenges that came up was bananas! Literally. We had a HUGE amount of leftover bananas and they were very, very ripe. One more day and they would have been a mushy mess. A few people mentioned that we should make banana bread/cake. Something with chocolate swirled into it and sprinkles baked into the batter. This SOUNDS fun, but in reality, I was not fond of the idea of making a large amount of bread using non-organic, conventional ingredients; white sugar, flour eggs, etc. And I also did not want to spend so much time with a hot oven in the summer. Those of you who know me know how I feel about baked flour products...

So we came up with another idea...

Frozen Chocolate Covered Bananas on a Stick.

Now we're talkin'!!! What a great idea. So I had the staff peel and cut in half, like, a million bananas. By the end, they never wanted to see another banana again, but, we saved the bananas and took care of our snack prep for a day. We are feeding over 700 people each day in camp, so that's a whole lot of chocolate covered bananas.

Here is the recipe. Of course, you can make yours at home, for friends and family to enjoy. If you get organic bananas and vegan chocolate, you will be in pretty good shape! I like to use really ripe bananas, because they taste sweeter and creamier when frozen. You can dip the bananas (once covered in chocolate) in anything you like - crushed roasted peanuts, granola, shredded coconut or any other kind of fun topping you can think of.

Happy Summer!

Frozen Chocolate Covered Bananas on a Stick
4 bananas
2 bars vegan chocolate - I used this:
http://chocolatebar.com/products.php?product=3oz.-All%252dNatural-Supreme-Dark-Chocolate
2 Tablespoons sunflower oil
a pinch of salt
popsicle sticks

1. Peel the bananas and cut them in half.
2. Stick a popsicle stick into the cut side of each half and place the bananas onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. 
3. Put the bananas into the freezer for 30 minutes.
4. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Mix in the sunflower oil and salt.
5. Take the bananas out of the freezer and dip them in the chocolate to cover them completely. If you want to make it easy to coat the banana, transfer the chocolate into a cup and then dip the banana into the chocolate for an even coating.
6. Sprinkle the chocolate covered banana in whatever topping you like.
7. Place the bananas back on the parchment lined cookie sheet and freeze them until the chocolate sets and the bananas are fully frozen, about 3 hours.

Check Out This Flick: No Impact Man

Need some inspiration on going green and staying green?

We all know that making the choice to live lightly on our planet makes sense, but making a deeper commitment to environmental sustainability can be difficult when we lead busy lives. Sometimes we need a little push, to feel inspired and to remember why we do what we do.

This movie came out a while ago, but I think it's a great reminder for people who want to renew their commitment to living lives with respect to environmental sustainability.

The movie is about a man and his family embarking on a journey to living cleaner and greener lives. The film follows this family as they make changes to their lifestyle. Everything from buying only locally grown foods at their farmer's market to getting rid of electricity usage from lights by switching to using candles, to even washing their clothing in their bathtub! Some of this stuff is pretty far out there, but it is cool and inspiring to see how far people will go to live in line with their values.

The good thing is that you can watch this film and let it inspire you to make small changes, and to live a life that is more mindful of how all of our behavior, actions and spending habits truly do effect the people around us.

Check out this movie and let it change your life for the better.

http://noimpactproject.org/movie/

http://noimpactproject.org/

http://noimpactman.typepad.com/