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No refined sugar, no problem - a tastier, healthier cranberry sauce

11/14/2018

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I love the holiday season and one of my favorite recipes this time of year is cranberry sauce. In my quest to remove refined sugar from my diet, however, I needed to rethink my traditional cranberry sauce recipe. This recipe uses no processed sugar and, instead, uses maple syrup (Grade B), which is full of magnesium, potassium, calcium and zinc. It has tons of antioxidants, boots your immune health and acts as an anti-inflammatory in the body.
 
If you don’t have maple syrup in your pantry, I suggest you get some. It has a very long shelf life and, if kept in a glass bottle, can last even longer.  Many people ask me what the difference is between Grade A and Grade B syrup.  Grade B is produced later in the season and has a darker color, a thicker viscosity, a more robust maple flavor, and more minerals.
 
I like this recipe because you can still taste a hint of the bitterness of the cranberries, yet its not overwhelming because it is cooked with the warm sweet flavors of cloves. The fresh orange and lime juice medley really complement the dish and allow the flavors to shine.
 
Note: You cannot replace syrup with honey in this recipe. When honey is heated (above boiling point) it becomes toxic to your body.

Cranberry Sauce
Serves 8
 
Ingredients:

  • 12 oz organic cranberries
  • 1 baking apple, (Fuji, Gala, Jonagold) peeled, cored and diced into 1 inch pieces
  • 4 cloves
  • ½ teaspoon sweet masala
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla powder
  • 1 cup maple syrup
  • 8 tablespoons of orange juice (about 2 mid size oranges)
  • 2 tablespoons of lime juice (about 1 lime)
 
Instructions:
 
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

  2. In an 8x8 square-baking dish, combine the cranberries, apples, cloves, sweet masala and vanilla powder. Give them a quick stir. Then pour in the maple syrup and stir to incorporate. Bake for 30 minutes.

  3. While baking, squeeze the oranges and lime, put the juice in a bowl, and set aside. 

  4. After 30 minutes, take the cranberries out of the oven. Using a fork, smash about half of the cranberries. Pour the citrus juice over the cranberries and stir until well combined.

  5. Cool at room temperature. The sauce will thicken as it cools. 

  6. Remove cloves and serve immediately or store in an airtight container for up to a week if refrigerated. 

Sweet Masala
 by Divya Alter, from What to Eat for How You Feel: The New Ayurvedic Kitchen (Rizzoli, 2017)

​Ingredients:

  • 1Tbs fennel seeds
  • 1Tbs coriander seed
  • 1Tbs rose petals
  • 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon chips
  • ¾ teaspoon cardamom seeds
  • ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract powder
 
Instructions:
 
Grind all ingredients to fine powder. Store in airtight container, in a dark and dry place.
 ​
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Pesticides and your food

11/13/2018

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​Clean Eating Starts with Clean Food!
 

Consider this scenario:

You are at a party and see a fresh fruit plate; you make a beeline toward the fruit. When you reach for the bright red strawberry, do you think about whether the food was washed, how it was washed, or where it was grown?
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Did you know that strawberries are one of the dirtiest fruits we ingest? They typically carry pesticides and pesticide residue. Conventional strawberries contain as much as 10 times more pesticide chemicals than organic strawberries.

While most pesticides are designed to kill “pests”, some pesticides can also impact our health. The likelihood of this impacting our health depends on the amount we are exposed to, how often we are exposed to it, the type of pesticide used, and even interactions with other chemicals that are in the products we use.


​It is time we recognize these facts and begin to consider them before we eat. Knowing where our food comes from and how it will affect us is a crucial step in taking responsibility for our health. Knowing the foods that have the highest amount of pesticides is a positive first step.
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​Check out one of my favorite websites https://www.ewg.org/ where you will find information on the “Dirty Dozen”, an up-to-date list of produce that contains higher concentrations of pesticides. While on the website, please check out the “Clean Fifteen”, a list of produce that has fewer pesticides and lower total concentrations of pesticide residues.
 
Facts:

  • An annual report by the Environmental Working Group found that nearly 70% of samples of 48 types of conventionally grown produce were contaminated with pesticide residue. 
  • More than 98% of samples of strawberries, spinach, peaches, nectarines, cherries and apples tested positive for residue of at least one pesticide.
  • A single sample of strawberries showed 20 different pesticides.
  • Spinach samples had, on average, 1.8 times as much pesticide residue by weight than any other crop.
 
Though studies have shown that washing our produce can reduce the pesticide residue, it will not eliminate them altogether. We must choose our fruits and vegetables wisely and clean our food thoroughly before we ingest it. Clean food always makes for healthier bodies!

​Chef Ryann

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    Author

    Ryann Morris is passionate about food and nutrition. She strives to inspire others to be more mindful of food and the effects it has on their bodies. She is a graduate of both the Ayurvedic Nutrition And Culinary Training (ANACT) program at Bhagavat Life and the Institute of Integrative Nutrition (IIN) where she was certified as a holistic health coach. 

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