The Only Thing You Need to Change in Your Kitchen to Improve Your Cooking

Salt is an incredible commodity and was for centuries been used as a measure of wealth. The Assyrians would lay salt on conquered cities to eliminate any curses preventing re-inhabitation; brave and successful Roman soldiers were rewarded as they were deemed 'worth their salt'

Other references:

The word 'salary' is derived from sel; used as a metaphor in the bible, Matthew 5:13, Jesus said, "You are the salt of the earth"; Liverpool, once a small English port grew to become a major salt exporting port for the Cheshire salt mines; Jacques de Langre, the 'Salt Doctor' established that unrefined sea salt can even lower blood pressure, flush out the kidneys and eliminate many poor health conditions.

Fleur de Sel: The Master Bakers and Chef's first choice

Fleur de Sel, flower of salt, is one of the last great unadulterated ingredients on this planet. It takes a year from being gathered until it is ready for the table, but from then on it keeps indefinitely.

Fleur de Sel is an unpredictable salt to harvest. François Lecallo, former President of the Guerande Producers Cooperative advises "If the winds are too strong, the crystals sink. If the direction changes, the crust breaks up. When it rains the crystals don't form. You can have an average sel gris harvest and almost no 'flower'.

Lecallo is apaludier, a man of the marshes, or salt farmer. He farms two salines, mazes of channels, drains and ponds where the salt evaporates. One of the salines has not changed since it was built in 1536. He is not a fan of commercially produced salt: "Industrial salt" he says "is bitter. It deforms the taste of food, whereas an unrefined salt adds to it."

Fleur de Sel is so rich in taste that most people cut their consumption of salt when they switch from commercial salts to unrefined salt.

There are basically three kinds of salt: 

1) Sodium Chloride. Normal table salt. This is toxic and bad for your health, as you have been told.

2) So called "natural sea salt". This should be good for you but unfortunately it has been processed and many of the valuable minerals removed. It's not much better than normal table salt.

3) "Celtic Sea Salt" - hand-harvested, sun-dried sea salt. This is delicious! We NEED salt - REAL salt. Our bodies thrive if given essential minerals every day. Unrefined salt - no processing; no additives; dried by the sun and the wind!

Together with his wife Phylipa, Graeme Dinnen runs Resources For Life, a natural health centre in Chichester, West Sussex. They first discovered Celtic Sea Salt in 1997 and have used it daily since.

For more information: http://www.resourcesforlife.net/product.asp?product=11
or watch the short film clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UIKGGXItqI

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French Ingredients, Statistics And An Extra Three Years To Your Life?

What do you tend to think of when someone mentions French ingredients? Most likely you might well imagine succulent dishes served up with enough calories to last at least a week. Cooking a chicken? Don't forget to use a good half pound of butter. This is often one of the images people have of French gourmet ingredients, but the statistics actually reveal something rather interesting.

For all the reputation they have, French cooks come up with some astonishingly varied, and healthy dishes. We're not talking about healthy here being simply the portion size. If a dish has around 300 calories per serving, cutting the portion sizes in half and adding a spring of basil on top isn't likely to help if you're looking to lose weight. But the truth is that when you look at the national statistics it does beg a question if people are still imagining that French ingredients must necessarily be high fat, high calorie and very rich.

For example, in the UK we enjoy being in 3rd position on the global league table for obesity. I'm not sure if 'enjoy' is the right word, but the fact is that 23% of all people in the United Kingdom are officially obese. Now if you compare that to France you'll notice that they languish very much further down the league table, with only 9.4% of their population obese. That means that in the UK we have more than twice the number of obese people, which might seem odd if you imagine that French cooking means doing exactly the opposite of what your doctor advised at your last cholesterol test.

Here's another statistic for you: In the UK our average life expectancy is 78. Hop over to France and start wolfing down some of their gourmet cooking and you could see your life expectancy increase by almost three years. That's three more years in which to enjoy fantastic cooking. Or watch your favourite soap.

So how is this possible? Clearly there's a good deal more going on than food alone, but since food is pretty relevant when it comes to looking at obesity, it's worth understanding that the main reason for the marked difference in health and life expectancy is that the French enjoy their food. That's not to suggest that we in the UK don't enjoy our food, but the meaning of the word 'enjoy' is perhaps used with a slightly different emphasis.

In the UK we enjoy eating food. We enjoy eating quite a lot of it, and wherever we go. It's offered to us on a plate, or in a box, or in a bag, and is readily available. This is a form of enjoyment which is slightly different from across the water. The French enjoy food in the same way one might enjoy a fine wine. You wouldn't guzzle down an expensive bottle of red wine as though it was water. Instead you would savour it, take your time with it, and perhaps find out more about it, appreciate where it has come from, and think about what it would go well with.

This is the same difference as far as food is concerned. In the UK we have a tendency to guzzle most things irrespective of their quality. The French tend to enjoy their food more, with more home cooking, more gourmet ingredients of high quality, with a clear understanding of where it has come from, and what to do with it.

If you could do with a little more savouring in your life rather than plain guzzling, then perhaps it might be worth thinking about those extra three years you could have. French ingredients are today readily available online, which means you don't even have to move to France and buy your own cow in order to enjoy good food!

For a wide selection of French ingredients visit The Good Food Network, for gourmet ingredients delivered direct to your door.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Justin_Arnold

Raw Food Recipes for a Food Dehydrator

By Lucille Patterson

If you are considering or already on a raw food diet, you may find one of your best allies is a dehydrator. With tons of recipes available for your food dehydrator that are excellent for a uncooked food diet, you will not only get delicious, fresh and healthy meals that are part of the diet, you will save money and easily preserve your raw foods for future meals. Even if you are not on a raw diet, these dehydrators are great for vegetarians and vegans as well! One of the best brands on the market is the Nesco food dehydrator.

Crackers

Crackers are great to make in a Nesco food dehydrator and some of the most delicious and healthy are flax crackers. Tasty flax seed crackers are a perfect snack for those on an unprocessed diet and taste great with salsa or hummus. A perfect recipe for these flax seed crackers is as follows: in a bowl, soak 2 cups of whole flaxseeds in 2 cups of water for about 1 � hours. When the time is up, it should look like goo. Stir in � cup of Bragg's Liquid Aminos, a pinch of sea salt and 1 tablespoon of raw fresh herbs. Spread this mixture on the Nesco food dehydrator teflex sheets and dehydrate for 4-6 hours at 110 degrees F. Turn the mixture over and dehydrate for an additional 3-4 hours. Break your crackers into pieces and enjoy with some homemade dip or put into soups.

Kale Chips

An amazing super food, kale is the superstar of the raw fare diet. Making kale chips in your dehydrator is an excellent way to get enough of this amazing green in your diet. To make kale chips: tear small pieces of kale onto your mesh dehydrator tray. You should use approximately a bunch of green, leafy kale. Sprinkle the kale with � tsp of sea salt and place in your Nesco food dehydrator for an hour at 145 degrees F. Turn the trays around after the 1st hour and lower the temperature to 115 degrees F. Check them at this point. If they are at the desired crispiness, remove, cool and eat. If not, put them in for another hour. You can further spice them with salt, pepper, or your own mix of favorite seasonings.

Fruit Leather

A great and healthy snack that is not only uncooked but a hit with kids is fruit leather. They are extremely easy to make, taste great and you can customize them to your own tastes. For a mixed fruit leather made in your Nesco food dehydrator: Cut up and puree 4 apples, 2 mangoes and 2 bananas. Make sure it is extremely smooth with no chunks of any kind. Spread the mixture on a teflex sheet and dehydrate for about 8 hours at about 115 degrees F. Both you and your children will love these!

Raw Food Cookies

On to raw rations dessert, making cookies in your Nesco food dehydrator that are uncooked is a favorite of many on the raw diet. Here is a recipe for lemon cashew cookies: Process 2 cups of raw cashews in a blender until it is a fine powder. Add the juice of 2 lemons, 1 � cups of raw shredded coconut and 2 tbsp of raw honey. Stir and drop onto teflex trays and dehydrate at 115 degrees F for about 6 hours. These cookies will be a hit at any party or just to keep around the house to nibble on.

There are many recipes that are fantastic for a diet such as this. A quick trip to your local book store or a browse on the internet will give you many recipes in addition to the ones shared above. There are recipes for any occasion and those to please any palate.

If you are on the raw food diet and in the market for a great food dehydrator, try the Nesco food dehydrator. For more information see this website: http://www.nescodehydrator.com/.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lucille_Patterson


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How to Make Fun Salads in Five Minutes

Salads are rich in colour and nutrients and make the main part of diet of any health conscious person. They are also great for anyone looking for a quick snack. Here are a few quick and delicious salad recipes that take only 5-10 minutes to make:

1. Cold Cucumber Salad

Cucumbers are low in calories and high in nutrients. They are rich sources of vitamin A and C. Here are the things you need to make a delicious cucumber salad:
• Cucumber 1, medium sized
• Red onion 1, small sized
• Ripe tomato OR 1, small sized
• Cherry tomatoes 3-4
• Red bell pepper 1, small sized
• Lemon juice 1 teaspoon
• Olive oil ½ teaspoon
• Sal & black pepper to taste

Remove seeds and dice the cucumbers. Leave the peels on to make your salad visually appealing. Peel the onions and slice them. Slice all the other vegetables. Mix in a bowl. For dressing, take lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix these well and then add the dressing to the salad just before serving.

2. Indian Chickpea Salad

This salad is known in India by the name of "Channa Chat" and is a famous snack. You can boil the chickpeas at once and freeze them for future use. Here is how to make this spicy salad:

• Boiled chickpeas 1 cup
• Tomatoes 1
• Onions 1
• Green chilies 1
• Tamarind pulp 1 tablespoon
• Red chili powder 1/4 teaspoon
• Fresh coriander few leaves
• Salt

All the ingredients should be cold. Dissolve the tamarind pulp in three tablespoons of water to make and pass this paste through a sieve to remove the insoluble material. Dice the onions and tomatoes. Finely chop the green chilies. Now, in a bowl, mix the chickpeas, onions, tomatoes, and green chilies. Add salt and red chilies to taste. Now add the tamarind paste. Serve in a dish and garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

3. Tropical Fruit Salad

This is a very colorful and quick, fruit salad. This recipe makes three servings. Here is how to do this:

 • Black or green grapes ½ cup
• Oranges 2
• Strawberries ½ cup
• Kiwi fruit 2
• Apple 1
• Lemon juice 1 tablespoon
• Honey 1 teaspoon

Wash all the fruits. Dice the apples and the oranges. Slice the kiwi fruit and the strawberries. Add all the fruits into a bowl. For the dressing, mix lemon juice with honey and add the dressing to the salad. Mix well and serve.

4. Chicken Pineapple Salad

Chicken Pineapple Salad is great as a side dish for any meal. To make this salad, you need:

• Boiled chicken ½ cup
• Pineapple, cut in cubes ½ cup
• Sliced almonds 1 tablespoon
• Mayonnaise 1 tablespoon
• Fresh cream 1 tablespoon
• Chopped celery ½ cup
• Honey 1 teaspoon
• Salt and black pepper to taste

All the ingredients should be cold. Cut chicken, celery, and pineapples and place into a bowl. Then add mayonnaise, fresh cream, almonds, honey, salt, and black pepper, and mix all the ingredients together. Garnish with more chopped almonds and a pineapple ring and serve.

For more information on food and recipes, please visit: Chicken Salad Recipes and Chicken Salad.

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