Pasta Salad
Pasta salads are delicious. Great for light easy, summer cooking. To maximize their flavour make sure you dress the pasta as soon as it is cooked while it is still hot. Try substituting fresh basil if it isn’t available, with dill, mint, oregano, or parsley.
For 8-10 servings:
Pasta:
2 pkts of brown rice pasta and vegetable pasta
Dressing:
2 large cloves garlic
1 tsp coarse mustard
2 Tbsp parmesan cheese
8-10 leaves fresh basil (or other fresh herbs)
1 tsp salt and pepper to taste
½ cup light Best Food mayonnaise
2 Tbsp pineapple juice with touch of cinnamon
Salad:
2 stalks celery, finely diced
1 red pepper finely diced
2 spring onions finely diced
½ cup toasted sesame seeds
Tinned pineapple pieces 125 g (unsweetened)
Boil the pasta as per the packet directions, until tender. ***
While the pasta is cooking make the dressing by pureeing the ingredients until smooth.
Drain the cooked pasta and put in a salad bowl and immediately toss the dressing through the pasta while it is still hot.
Allow to cool then toss the rest of the salad ingredients with the pasta.
*** Tip: Cook the pasta until just al dente; brown rice pasta will disintegrate if over-cooked.

To eat more healthily start by substituting healthier ingredients in your cooking, but keeping to tried and true recipes your family love. If they are particularly fussy eaters they may complain at first. Persevere though and before you know it they will eating it up, just as they did before.

In the recipe above I’ve exchanged plain old white wheat pasta with brown rice pasta, for two reasons. First, whole grains provide better nutritional value than processed grains. Second wheat based foods so predominate in the western diet that we miss out on the nutrients present in other grains, and many people have allergies to wheat and other gluten containing foods, so it’s a good idea to find creative ways of getting other grains into our diet. As we age too our bodies lose their ability to metabolise processed gluten containing grains well and this can cause a host of health challenges from easy weight gain to a tendency towards diabetes. Take home message, use whole grains, and vary them.

To reduce the number of calories in a recipe you can substitute ‘lite’ varieties of dressings as I’ve done here and help your cause of weight loss if that’s an issue for you or your family. If using canned fruit in a recipe go for an unsweetened variety for the same reason.

Using fresh herbs in your cooking as I’ve done here will increase flavour and nutritional value, because of the enzymes present in fresh produce verses cooked, canned or dried, all helping us toward our goal of optimum nutrition for better living.

The recipe above is contained in our nutrition book for more information on our products, go to www.flexibilityplus.com

Bon Appetite,
Yours in Health,
Nancy

Mexican Tortilla Tofu Stack for 12 servings

This has a Mexican flavour and is a tasty nutritious dish for any one keen on a healthy lifestyle and optimum nutrition. It may just change your mind on tofu if you’ve never quite been able to get into it.

Firstly, make the sauce:

Tomato Chilli Sauce

2 cans tomato puree 16 oz (425g) each
2 tsp ground cumin
1tsp oregano
1tsp ground coriander
1tsp sea salt
2tsp dark muscovado sugar ( unrefined sugar)
1/2tsp hot chilli sauce or to taste
Juice of 1 lemon

Combine all the ingredients in a pot and gently simmer as you prepare the other ingredients

Tofu Mixture

2 large onions
2 green peppers
4Tbsp exrta virgin olive oil
2lb (1  kg ) approx tofu firm or soft
2tsp sea salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste
12 corn tortillas
2 cans 3oz (85g) each corn (or use the same amount of frozen corn)
Tomato Chilli Sauce
1 cup grated cheese

Chop the onion and green pepper and sauté these in a large pot or pan in oil on a medium heat
As this is cooking drain and crumble the tofu

Add the tofu and seasonings to the onion and pepper mixture and continue to cook until some of the liquid has evaporated.

To assemble the whole stack, lay two tortillas on the bottom of a medium-sized oval casserole dish so they overlap as little as possible.

Spread 1/3 of the tofu mixture over these, then 1/3 of the drained corn over the tofu mixture.

Place two tortillas on top repeating the process twice more so there are three layers of everything.

Sprinkle the cheese on top and bake uncovered at 350F/180C/ Gas Mark 4 for 30 to 40 minutes. Until it is hot right through the stack

Serve with a green salad and steamed brown rice
Bon Appetite. If you like this, see our web site www.flexibilityplus.com for more tasty healthy recipes

Nancy

“We’re not talking vegetables, are we? “
“We sure are. Lots of greens – there’s no way round it!”

People with more acidic blood are more likely to be ill.
Many factors affect the acid / alkaline balance of the blood. When foods are metabolized acids are produced which are neutralized by the alkaline salts(carbonates) of calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium.
So, our intake of these mineral salts through eating the right type of foods affects our acid / alkaline balance.
Food containing large amounts of chlorine, phosphorous, sulphur and nitrogen (that is most animal products) tend to be acid forming.
While foods rich in calcium, potassium, magnesium and sodium (most vegetables) tend to be alkaline forming.
It is worth noting that exercise makes the blood more acidic though deep breathing makes blood more alkaline.
Acidic blood produces grouchiness, sensitivity, exhaustion, aches and pains, headaches, insomnia and acid stomach.
Smoking also increases acidity in the blood, and it is worth noting that cravings are reduced with a alkaline producing diet.
Nearly all fresh fruit, vegetables and pulses (beans and lentils) are alkaline forming, with exceptions being broad beans, butter beans, asparagus, olives, watercress and mustard.
On the other side - meat, fish, eggs and butter are acid forming, while milk, both skimmed and whole are mildly alkaline forming.
A few grains are acidic, including oats, whole wheat, sago & tapioca, as are hazel nuts, but other nuts are alkaline forming.
Ideally, aim to eat 80% alkaline forming foods and 20% acid forming foods.
This means eating large quantities of vegetables, especially greens and fruit and less concentrated protein foods like meat, cheese, eggs and refined carbohydrates.
Good health

Nancy Rishworth