NYDiscovery

Kashi products being recalled! Did I poison my husband?

Life in the 21st century didn't get easier but more complicated despite all the cool new gadgets!

As a food conscious consumer, I am cooking everything from scratch and try to live as healthy as possible. Granted, working full time and leading a happy but pretty busy life in New York City, I am turning to some factory made products.

One of my staples are "Kashi Bars", granola bars that have the best nutrients and seem(ed) to be overall well made. Every single day I give Oliver one for his lunch break together with an apple or some nice seasonal fruit, 15 almonds, some fat reduced yoghurt and carrots. Pretty healthy, huh? WHO would have thought that these Kashi bars could contain - or are actually containing, the FDA still investigates - salmonella? As a precaution, Kashi recalled some of their products, the ones Oliver used to eat!

The sheer thought that it is me who could have poisened Oliver (I don't eat kashi bars) drives me crazy!!! From all what I've heard and read by now however, if he didn't get ill so far, he shouldn't get ill later either. Can't wait to throw that stuff all out. And never, ever buying it again! I am also angry with Freshdirect whose new search engine is pushing the Kashi products as my "favorites" on me with every single purchase I make. That's pretty irresponsible. I am looking forward to hearing what the Freshdirect customer service rep will have to say...

-- By Elke

Picture taken in Munich, December 13th 2008

Especially in New York City, apples are very readily available. Every corner deli carries them, every fruit cart has them and certainly also every posh grocery store. And there's not just one kind but plenty different varieties offered. Identifying your favorite can be easy too when you make it one of the city's greenmarkets because the farmers there will provide you with plenty of samples. Look out for them especially in the fall!

While I am not particularly fond of fruits, I am more a vegetable lover, I need to find easy and pleasant ways to consume more fruits. And one of the easiest recipes is the following:

• Cut an apple in 4, 8, 16 quarters, use one of these apple cutters and corers
• Arrange the pieces nicely on a colorful plate
• Sprinkle plenty of aromatic cinnamon on top of it

That's it! This works best with semi-sweet apples.

I remember, when Oliver and I had this super simple and healthy snack for the very first time during a vacation in Greece. On the island Naxos, at the bar Fragile. The owner Georgios was offering easy, healthy and delicious bar snacks like freshly cut carrots marinated in lemon&salt water. And while blogging, I quickly searched for the bar and low and behold, I did find the Fragile

And with that, I already gave you yet another superfoods easy snack! Stay tuned for more superfoods recipes and ideas.

By Elke

Superfoods from A to Z - Learn more about the "A"s

Not afraid of the cold:

• Almonds
• Apples
• Asparagus
• Avocados

Almonds impress with their calcium and vitamin E content. They are such an easy, healthy snack. Nibble on up to 15 per day and you don't add more than 100 calories, and they might even lower bad cholesterol besides of tasting nicely.

A highly versatile, inexpensive and easy obtainable fruit (at least in New York): the Apple! Aside from several vitamins, apples contain a special antioxidant that may even reduce the risk for lung cancer. An apple a day keeps the doctor away seems to be still valid.

There are Asparagus lovers and haters, it's quite a polarizing vegetable. Less so the green version but the white one certainly is. Half a cup of Asparagus provides 50% of vitamin K, which is needed for proper bone building.

There's more to Avocados than Guacamole! It's most likely their most known usage and it also tastes sooo good but there's a reason for it! Yes, Avocados are very "fatty" but all the "healthy fat" the one that keeps you satisfied and helps you absorb other nutrients better. In addition, Avocados are a great source of vitamin C, potassium and lutein which is beneficial for your eye health. Granted, one Avocado comes with roughly 280 calories but simply share it with somebody and then each of you is enjoying 140 calories of pure deliciousness.

These are the As. Stay tuned for some super easy recipes and tipps with these A Superfoods to come...

Staying healthy in 2009 with superfoods from A to Z

This is the time of the year when magazines and newspapers look deep in their drawers, respectively hard drive directories to shell out some "foods that are good for you". Nothing wrong with that! I want to know what's good for my body and my soul and if it helps me loosing weight, even better!

What these articles usually lack though are recipes or easy to follow ways how to incorporate these good-for-my-body-foods into my every day diet. To make matters worse, a simple list of 20 great foods is as appealing as a slice of 9 days old bread regardless the toppings!

That's why it occurred to me, in order to get something out of these lists and knowledge hat I've collected over the years, I have to take matters in my own hands. That's what blogs are for. And so I announce the start of SUPER HEALTHY FOODS FROM A to Z. The year's still young, resolutions haven't been broken yet and so my goal is to keep this going throughout the year. One letter at a time - even if I have to borrow it from another language. [In my case from German because "zuchini", the usual English "z" is not exactly a "superfood" but "Zitrone" (lemon) and "Zwiebel" (onion) are!]

What to expect?

• A fun overview about natural food in alphabetical order that distinguishes itself from the rest by being especially effective for staying healthy and loosing weight.*
• Tips on storage and preparation.
• Intelligent and meaningful serving sizes, calories, nutrition facts and health benefits.
• Easy recipes for breakfast, snacks and dinner.
• In a 2nd run-through, more sophisticated recipes and combinations of these extra healthy foods.
• Lots of food pictures where I'll try some things out.

Coming next: Superfood that starts with "A"!

* DISCLAIMER: I am not associated with any weight lost plan or particular research. This all is based on life long experience and gained knowledge!

What tastes good, looks good!

It's such an easy, quick dish to prepare and it tastes as good as it looks! 

In a large pot boil water with a pinch of salt, put in thin spaghetti and cook for no longer than 6 minutes to prepare them "al dente". Remove from the stove, strain and keep them warm in the pot together with a little bit of good olive oil.

While the spaghetti are cooking, heat a pan, add about 5 table spoons of your favorite olive oil (there's no other fat on this dish, so go ahead and splurge!), add garlic slices (3 or more gloves) and small shrimp (with or without shell, depends on your likings). Season with very little salt (to be careful on your blood pressure) and lots of pepper or use cayenne pepper if you like it hot. To bring out the flavors, add a good handful of chopped fresh cilantro.

Add the cooked spaghetti to the pan, toss everything. Heat it through. If needed, add some more olive oil and finish everything up with some freshly squeezed lime juice.

Did you prepare a side salad, while the water was heating up? Bene! Now dinner is ready! Serve and enjoy :)