The Healthy Cooking Coach

Got Pears? Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth in a Healthy Way!

Did you know that pears date back to ancient times? Some varieties date back thousands of years.  Archeologists have unearthed convincing evidence that pears were used by Stone Agers, including ancient lake dwellers of Switzerland.

The Greek poet Homer (850 BC) referred to pears as “gift of the gods.” The Romans grafted more than 50 varieties of pears and the Roman conquerors spread them throughout Europe.

Between 3000 and 5000 varieties of pears are grown worldwide with more than 100 grown in the U.S. Most people are familiar with only a handful of varieties. Check your local farmers’ market for exotic and heirloom varieties.

Photo Credit right: from Wikipedia

What’s in a pear
Satisfy your sweet tooth with a fresh pear.  They are a good source of Vitamin C, potassium, and dietary fiber. 100 calories per serving. A small (3.5 ounce) pear provides 15 grams of carbohydrate, 3 grams of fiber and 7% of the daily value for vitamin C and 4 %of the DV for potassium, all for only 60 calories. Double that for a medium large pear weighing in at 7 ounces. Pears also contain trace minerals.

How to pick a pear
Check the Neck for Ripeness!

Here are some tips from the Pears USA website:  Photo from Pears USA
Pears are a unique fruit that ripen best off the tree (without getting technical, pears that ripen on the tree will be gritty), they are meant to be ripened after purchase. The other reason you might rarely find ripe pears in the store is that ripe pears are fragile, so it's better to have them ripen at your home rather than in the store.

Most pears don't change color as they ripen. The Check the Neck™ technique is the most accurate ripeness indicator for non-bartlett pears.

Choose pears that are fragrant with a fruity aroma and free of blemishes (bruises and soft spots). For cooking, choose fruit that is still quite firm. Press gently on the stem or near the blossom. The fruit should yield slightly to the touch.

Pear season
Their season runs from late July until early summer, depending on the variety.

How to store pears
Store them at room temperature until ripe, then refrigerate in a bowl, paper bag, or a crisper bin lined with a cotton towel or place mat. You don’t need to keep them in plastic bags.

How make pears ripen faster
Here are some tips from the Pears USA website: http://www.usapears.com/pears/default.asp
If you are faced with a bunch of hard pears, follow this easy 1, 2, 3 process to get your pears to their ripe and juicy perfection.

1.   Place hard pears in a paper bag or a covered fruit bowl, leave at room temperature.
2.   Every day, "Check the Neck for Ripeness"™. To do this, apply gentle pressure to the stem end of the pear with your thumb. When it yields to the pressure, it's ready to eat (this process usually takes a few days).
3.   Enjoy your ripe, juicy pears now, or store them in the fridge until you're ready to use them. The fridge will slow down the ripening process, but won't stop it. Ready to eat pears will stay fresh in the fridge for between 3-5 days.

To peel or not to peel
You don’t have to peel them; however, I think they look prettier if peeled before baking or poaching. If you peel them more than 5 minutes before adding them to a salad, fruit crisp, fruit plate, or other dish, toss them with apple, orange, or lemon juice to coat to keep the flesh from browning. 

Here's one of my favorite pear recipes from my recent book, The Ice Dream Cookbook: Dairy Free Ice Cream Alternatives with Gluten Free Cookies, Compotes, and Sauces. I make it  throughout the fall, winter, and early spring.

Poached Pears with Raisins & Dried Apricots

Hands-on: 20 minutes/ Cooking: 25 to 30 minutes/ Yield: 12 servings

Don Matesz, my co-author on The Garden of Eating, created the prototype for this recipe more than 15 years ago. I’ve tweaked it several times since then to arrive at this version. Raisins and dried apricots sweeten this dessert without refined sugar, providing extra antioxidants and color.

Serve these pears warm or close to room temperature, unadorned, or topped with chopped toasted nuts (try pecans pistachios, or walnuts), a generous drizzle of macadamia nut butter, raw coconut butter (not the oil), or scoops of homemade Ice Dream from the Ice Dream Cookbook (try Cinnamon, Ginger, Vanilla Lite, Dark Chocolate or Cocoa flavor).

Note: If possible, use Turkish dried apricots; they taste sweeter than other varieties of dried apricots, eliminating the need for added sweeteners in this dessert. Look for them in natural foods stores and specialty markets. If you must use a conventional variety of dried apricots, which are very tart, use the higher volume of dried fruit listed below and replace the water with apple, peach, pear, apricot, or white grape juice to produce a sweet flavor.

Ingredients:      
1/3 to 1/2 cups raisins, depending upon desired sweetness
1/3 to 1/2 cup dried, pitted, unsulphured (preferably Turkish) apricots, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons apple pie spice, pumpkin pie spice, or cinnamon (see variations below)
6 medium-size ripe, fragrant, but firm, unblemished pears (2 1/2 to 3 pounds total): 
    Bosc, Comice, Bartlett, Spartlet, Anjou, or other variety
Coarsely grated zest of 1/2 orange or tangerine, colored part only, optional
1 1/3 cups filtered water, divided
1 tablespoon arrowroot powder

1 recipe (1 to 1 ½ quarts) Vanilla, Cocoa, Dark Chocolate, Chocolate Hazelnut,  Cinnamon, or Ginger Ice Dream (see The Ice Dream Cookbook for recipes), optional

1.  Chop or cut dried apricots into 1/4- to 1/2-inch pieces with kitchen shears or a knife. Combine them with the raisins and spices in a 3- to 4-quart pot or a shallow 12- to 13-inch sauté pan. Wash and peel pears, then cut in half from end to end. Scoop out and discard the seed center with a teaspoon or melon baller.
2.  Arrange pear halves cut side down over the dried fruit. Add the optional citrus zest and 1 cup of the water. Cover and bring to boil over medium heat without stirring. Reduce heat and simmer until fork tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Meanwhile, dissolve arrowroot in 1/4 cup of cold water. Set aside.
3.  With a slotted spoon, transfer the pears to a platter, 12 serving bowls, or 3 to 6 Pyrex containers, leaving the dried fruit and juices in the pan. Stir the arrowroot mixture, then add it to the pan. Simmer over medium-high heat and stir until thick and saucy, then spoon over pears. Serve warm or allow to cool, then cover and refrigerate.
4.  Spoon 1 or 2 pear halves onto each serving plate with some of the sauce. Top with a scoop of Ice Dream and serve. Refrigerate the leftovers and use within 4 days.

1 pear half without topping: 75 calories, 0 grams protein, 17 grams carbohydrate (2 grams fiber), 0 grams fat, 15 milligrams calcium, 0 milligrams sodium 

Variations:

*  Make your own pie spice: Combine 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/3 teaspoon dried ginger, 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg, and 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves.

*  Poached Pears with Raisins, Dried Apricots & Anise:  Replace pie spice with 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon.

*  Poached Pears with Raisins, Dried Apricots & Anise:  Replace pie spice with 2 teaspoons of whole anise seeds or ground anise powder for a licorice-like flavor.

*  Poached Pears with Dried Apricots, Prunes & 5-Spice: Replace raisins with thinly sliced, pitted prunes, and pie spice with 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons Chinese 5-spice powder.

Source: © Copyright 2008  The Ice Dream Cookbook: Dairy Free Ice Cream Alternatives with Gluten Free Cookies, Compotes, and Sauces By Rachel Albert Matesz

How many different foods do you eat in a week?

How many different foods do you eat In a month? More than 10 different foods in a day? At least 30 different foods in a week? More than 50 different foods in a month?

I’ve counted at various times and I usually eat 40 to 60 different foods in a week. Last week I ate eight different fruits, seventeen varieties of vegetables, six different animal products, seven different nuts, seeds, and oils, two kinds of beans, three different grains, and two kinds of sea vegetables. That’s 45 different foods; 60 if I also count the many herbs and I used to prepare my meals.

Here’s my challenge to you
Keep a log every week for a month, write the name of each kind of food you eat and count how many varieties of fruits, vegetables, animal products, nuts/seeds/and oils, beans, grains, sea vegetables (if you eat them; if you don’t now’s a great time to try them), herbs and spices you eat.

Make it a point to try new foods every week
Now challenge yourself to try at least one new fruit; one new vegetable; a new kind of meat, poultry, fish, egg, or dairy product (skip the dairy challenge if you’re intolerant or choose to avoid dairy); a new bean, legume, or whole grain; new herbs and spices, or try new foods in several categories. Before long you’ll have made friends with many new foods and broadened your culinary repertoire. If you focus on nourishing whole foods you will also add more vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants to your diet.

Name that vegetable
Here’s an unusual vegetable you won’t find in supermarkets or fast food eateries. Can you recognize it? I frequenlty buy it from Bob McClendon at a farmers’ market I freqent (Town & Country Farmers’ Market on Wednesdays in in central Phoenix; Bob also sells his fabulously fresh produce at the Downtown Scottsdale Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings ). 

This vegetable is related to a common vegetable I’m sure you’re familiar with. It tastes a little spicy when raw and more mild when cooked. I like to slice and steam or blanch it and serve it with a dip or spread, like my Cashew-Dill Dip, Spicy Peanut Sauce, Lemon Tahini Sauce, or hummus.

Do you give up? It’s a watermelon radish! Don’t be shy, give it a try and some other new foods. Remember, you have the upper hand when trying new foods. You can bite them but they won’t bite you! Try at least three bites of any new food. Try it at least three times and in at least three different recipes before deciding that you don’t like it. Even then, don't give up. You may just need to improve the quality and freshness of the food and the recipe you choose to wow your taste buds.

Baked Polenta

Cornmeal mush, also known as polenta, is one of the national dishes of Italy. It emerged in its original form as the field ration of the Roman soldiers. Food historians say it was originally made from millet or spelt (cornmeal was unknown to ancient Romans and Italins and only later imported to Europe).

I love the creamy smooth texture of polenta and its versatility. It makes a great breakfast, lunch, or dinner side dish. You can serve it with beans, poached or fried eggs, red sauce with meatballs or lamb or turkey sausage, or a side of fish. It pairs well with a crisp green salad, blanched broccoli with cauliflower, carrots, and bell peppers, or sautéed leafy greens.

The downside is that polenta usually requires 20 to 30 minutes of continuous stirring to keep it from getting lumpy or sticking to the bottom of the pot. This alone can discourage even the most enthusiastic cook from making it.

This recipe takes away our excuses. It makes life (and meal preparation) easy. You assemble most of the ingredients. Place the pan in the oven. Give it a stir 40 minutes later. Add the last few ingredients, and bake it for another 10 minutes.

How do you reheat the leftovers? You can steam heat slices of polenta in a heatproof glass container on a rack or steamer tray over rapidly boiling water (you must cover the steamer) or by placing the heatproof container in a toaster oven at 300˚F for 10 to 15 minutes.

Creamy Baked Polenta 

Prep: 5 minutes     Cooking:  50 minutes      Serves: 4 to 6

I didn’t invent this technique for baked polenta. It came from Sara Moulton's book, Sara’s Secrets for Weeknight Meals.

Note: Look for organic cornmeal or polenta to avoid genetically modified corn.

Ingredients:
4 cups filtered water
1 cup yellow cornmeal (not instant) or coarse polenta, organic if possible
2 tablespoons hormone-free butter, thinly sliced  (extra-virgin olive oil also works)
1 teaspoon unrefined, mineral-rich sea salt (I changed the kind of salt)
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
2 ounces hormone-free provolone cheese, grated (I’ve used part skim mozzarella)*
2 ounce hormone-free parmesan cheese, finely grated (I’ve made it w/only 1 ounce)*

1.  Preheat oven to 350ºF.  
2.  Combine water, cornmeal, butter or oil, and salt in an oiled 1 1/2- to 2-quart baking dish (9x9x2 or 8x10x2. Do not cover.
3. Bake uncovered, on the top shelf of the oven for 40 minutes.
4.  Remove polenta from the oven, stir, and bake for another 10 minutes.
5.  Remove polenta from the oven again, and this time stir in the pepper, and provolone.
6.  Let stand for 5 minutes before serving. Serve topped with the Parmesan cheese.

© 2007 Recipezaar. All Rights Reserved. http://www.recipezaar.com

Rachel’s Variations:

*   For Cheese-Free Polenta: Omit both cheeses. Prepare as directed above.

*   Breakfast Polenta: Steam heat and serve cheese-free polenta and serve with organic milk or plain yogurt with fresh raw or cooked fruit, or top plain or cheesy polenta with w/a couple of fried or poached eggs or serve with lamb breakfast sausage and a side of cooked leafy greens and fresh fruit.

*    Replace provolone with part-skim mozzarella.

Sajna Indian Eatery

Jason and Elissa, the network chiropractors I go to at Living in Line, enthusiastically recommended Sajna, a new Indian restaurant near their office on Chandler Blvd. We have similar taste in food (I used to cook for them in their home) so I thought I’d give it a try. Now that I have a blog I like the idea of going out at least once a month and trying new restaurants. That usually inspires me to try new recipes at home.

I met at my friend Heather at her house for a two hour walk and talk. We love to walk and the time goes quickly when we're talking. A long walk is guaranteed to give us a great appetite too. We showered, changed, and headed to Sajna for lunch. Located at 4804 E Chandler Blvd # 108 in a strop mall on the NE corner of Chandler Blvd and 48th st, this family run restaurant is easy to miss if you don’t know what you’re looking for. They’re in the process of getting a sign up on the street.

I thought we’d order off the menu, then Heather suggested the buffet so we could get a better sampling of dishes. For $8.99 each we received an amazing amount of food.

We put a little bit of everything on our plates: white rice, vegetable rice, tandoori chicken thighs, Tikka Masala Chicken (tender chunks of chicken breast marinated in yogurt and exotic spices and cooked in a clay oven), daal (a soft, spiced lentil puree), chickpeas, saagh paner (creamy cooked spinach with homemade soft cheese), and what I think was Aloo Gobhi (lightly baked cauliflower and potatoes sautéed with bell pepper, onions, and light spices; I’m not sure if it had potato or eggplant). We had so many interesting flavors, colors, and textures on our plates.

We returned to our table and received our appetizer: fried vegetable pakoras made from vegetables (cauliflower, eggplant, and mushroom) dipped in chickpea flour batter and deep fried and served with a pungent cilantro relish. We each sampled a piece, then saved the other couple of pieces for the next day. I rarely eat deep fry––just once or twice a year at most, almost always in an ethnic restaurant (Chinese, Thai, or some other). I preferred the cilantro relish to the fried veggies and ended up using it to dip my bread in.

Leavened, freshly baked naan (Indian flat bread) was the next thing to appear on our table. Heather ordered plain and I ordered garlic flavored, which came garnished with finely shredded cilantro. We each received a basket with two large pieces, enough to take some home. We thought the bread was amazing. I hadn’t eaten wheat bread in many, many months. Once I saw it I knew I had to try it. I’d read about naan but never eaten it. I loved the texture, crunchy on the bottom, puffy and soft in the middle with a slight crust around the edges. I was immediately inspired to create a gluten-free naan. I’ll let you know how my experiments go when I have more time to tinker with new recipes.

They served rice pudding for dessert, but I was comfortably full and didn’t want to eat any more. I tried one spoonful. Heather tried a few and I let her take the rest home for her husband.

We really liked the food, the attentive service, and knowing that we were supporting a small, local, family owned and operated restaurant. We talked briefly with the owner, a young man, and met his sister, who joyfully prepared all of the food from scratch.

I asked about the ingredients he uses and whether he could accommodate people who follow wheat-free and gluten-free diets. I explained about this and he said that he doesn’t used wheat or flour to thicken the curries and sauces. If you have Celiac Disease, I recommend that you call ahead to make sure that the buffet dishes are prepared without wheat and that you clearly explain what you need.

If you like or love Indian food, do try Sajna. I plan to go back again and so does Heather. They’re open 7 days a week with a lunch buffet from 11 am to 3:30 pm and dinner service from 3:30 to 9:30 pm (10 pm on Friday and Saturday). Phone: 480-961-2086

Making a Fresh Start

Excerpt from The Garden of Eating: A Produce Dominated Diet & Cookook by Rachel Albert-Matesz & Don Matesz (Planetary Press, 2008) and an article that appeared in the Jan/Feb 2003 issue of Herbs for Health Magazine.

Many people start the New Year with resolutions to lose excess body fat. This often leads them to search for  some magic bullet supplement to help with fat loss, or to embark on whatever might be the latest food-restriction fad.

Although the intention is good, usually this approach produces little or no loss of body fat. If it does produce some fat loss, in 95 percent of cases the individual eventually abandons the supplement(s) or restrictive diet. This almost invariably results in a regain of weight, and the gain is usually larger than the loss!

This approach consistently fails because it focuses on quantity, not quality, of food consumed, and fails to effect a permanent change in food choices and activity habits that cause accumulation of excess fat. This year, try a fresh approach. Instead of focusing on restricting the quantity of food you consume, focus on improving the quality of the foods you eat. Most people will lose much of their excess body fat simply by taking this step toward better health.

Here are some suggestions:

1. Stop eating processed vegetable oils, hydrogenated oils, margarine, and shortening.
Substitute extra-virgin olive oil, unrefined coconut oil and coconut butter, ghee (clarified butter), and butter, and use them in moderation. 

Processed fats and oils, including refined and most polyunsaturated oils, are unwholesome promoters of heart disease, cancer, obesity, and diabetes. In contrast, the natural fats and oils (above) have nourished humans for millennia, and there is no evidence that they are harmful when used in moderation.

2. Minimize or avoid refined white-flour products and white rice.
Replace them with 100 percent whole-grain products that have been soaked, sprouted, or naturally fermented. Replace spongy white wallpaper-paste bread with 100 percent whole-grain breads produced without yeast, using traditional desem or sourdough methods.  Dimpflmeier and French Meadows are examples of brands of this style of bread, sold in natural foods stores and the freezer section of some supermarkets. Try 100% sprouted whole grain breads such as Ezekial and Food for Life.

Note: If you follow a gluten free diet, buy brown rice tortillas or try making your own gluten free bread or serving brown rice, quinoa, or wild rice as side dishes instead of bread.

Replace cold cereals with non-instant oatmeal
Oatmeal is less refined, richer in soluble fiber, and better at controlling your appetite, blood sugar, and energy levels than are cold cereals. 

For the cost of one box of cold cereal, you can buy enough rolled or steel-cut oats to make 30 or 40 large bowls of oatmeal! Better yet, replace bread, pasta, and rice with a wide assortment of colorful fresh vegetables and fruits, which have a higher nutrient and lower calorie density, so you will take in more vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants and be able to eat more food volume for fewer calories!

3. Eat a protein- and produce-rich breakfast or brunch every day.  Numerous studies have confirmed the importance of a nourishing breakfast, linking it to lower cholesterol and body fat levels, increased attention span, better blood sugar control, and longevity. 

What you eat also counts. Protein and healthy fats and oils (from free-range eggs, nuts, olive or coconut oil, or butter), and the fiber-rich fresh vegetables and fruits provide greater satiety and insulin control than high-carb, low-protein breakfasts of bread, cereal, or pastries. 

4. Eat at least five 1-cup servings of fresh vegetables each day.
Every week, try at least one new vegetable, until you are regularly eating at least two dozen different vegetables. Also experiment with new fruits and new varieties of your favorites. 

5. Eat at least one serving of dark, leafy green vegetables per day, work up to two or three.
One serving equals 1/2 cup cooked or 1 cup raw greens. Eat at least one serving of one of dark-green leafy vegetables—kale, chard, spinach, collards, mustard greens, turnip greens, bok choy, or broccoli—every day and rotate these so that you aren’t using only broccoli or spinach!

6. Replace sugar-laden desserts with fresh, frozen, or dried organic fruits.
Enjoy a cup of sliced fresh raw, poached, or stewed fruit drizzled with raw coconut butter or sprinkled with chopped, toasted nuts. Go light on the nuts, think of them as condiments for your fruits and veggies. One handful (half a cup) packs 350 to 400 calories.

7. Eat at least two servings of fruit per day.
One serving equals 1 small apple, banana, or orange, 1/2 cup berries, 1/2 cup cooked fruit, or 1/4 cup dried fruit. Add fresh or dried fruit to a green salad or a bowl of oatmeal. Have a piece of fruit for a snack or appetizer. Add fresh or frozen fruit to a smoothie for breakfast.

8. Replace fatty, conventionally-raised meat and poultry with naturally raised, preferably pasture-raised (grass fed), meat and poultry. 
You’ll enjoy safer, cleaner, lower-calorie meat that packs more vitamins, antioxidants, and essential fatty acids and avoid hormone, antibiotic, and pesticide residues. 

Check your local natural foods store or farmer’s market. Do a google search for grassfed meat in your state.

Get a copy of Jo Robinson’s book Why Grassfed Is Best or Pasture Perfect (Vashon Island Press, 2000, 2002) or visit Jo's web-site for a directory of pasture-raised animal producers in your area ().

9. Replace anemic supermarket eggs with eggs from free-ranging chickens, or DHA-rich eggs. These eggs will have more color and flavor and provide more vitamins, antioxidants (such as lutein) and essential fatty acids.

10. Avoid eating after 7 p.m.
The digestive system is at its lowest energy level after this time, until morning. From a Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective, eating late can cause indigestion, food stagnation in the intestines, and promote phlegm formation and disorders (including tumors and cysts), insomnia, obesity, and circulatory diseases. This is a major cause of morning sluggishness and lack of appetite for breakfast.

 If you eat three meals a day and fast after 7 p.m., you are more likely to wake up with a hearty appetite for breakfast!

Changing your tastes
Many will say that they don’t like the taste of some of the natural foods I mentioned above. Realize that your tastes are not engraved in stone for eternity, but are just conditioned habits. They will change if you are persistent. In fact, although your mind might prefer processed foods, your body certainly does not.

Your body prefers foods with real flavors that come with a high nutrient density. The problem is that due to the effects of advertising and familial habits, your mind is out of harmony with your body. So remember, it’s only your mind that must be trained to accept natural foods. If you practice eating natural foods, you will grow to like them so much that you may rarely if ever want anything else.

So I always recommend this: Whenever you try a new food, try at least three mouthfuls and do that at least three days in a row, and make sure that you try this with at least three different recipes using that food. If that seems too difficult, then every time you try a new food, eat at least three mouthfuls and try the food on at least three days in a row, then try the food again in at least two other recipes. Want a simpler approach? When you first try a new food, try at least three mouthfuls, savoring each mouthful, then try it three days in a row—then find at least two other ways to prepare it and try it again.

Yes, I did just repeat myself several times. The reason is that there is only one way to change your habits—just do it. Ultimately, if you want better health, you have make food choices that meet your body’s nutritional needs. Of course some things will be unfamiliar, but your body will thank you eventually for making the switch to natural foods.

Excerpt from The Garden of Eating: A Produce Dominated Diet & Cookook by Rachel Albert-Matesz & Don Matesz (Planetary Press, 2008) and an article that appeared in the Jan/Feb 2003 issue of Herbs for Health Magazine.

Lava Lake Lamb Burgers and Lamb Sausage

 If you read my last post you know how excited I am about Lave Lake Lamb–––the way the animals are raised on pasture,  never given growth hormones, antibiotics, or grain, how this makes the lambs healthier and their meat more nutritious and better for us, the way their ranching practices preserve wildlife, encourage biodiversity and conservation of resources, and that all of their profits support habitat restoration. I also love the flavor of their lamb.

Great Lamb Burgers
I used Lava Lake ground lamb to make some of the best lamb burgers I’ve ever had. Check out Cat Cora’s Moroccan Lamb Patties

They have other lamb recipes on their web site that sound great too.

That's a baked white sweet potato on the right. I bake them with the skin on in a toaster oven at 400˚ F (no oil, no foil, no water; do put them in a baking pan to catch the juices) until squish soft. I take the skin off before serving.

Note: I replaced the breadcrumbs with 3 tablespoons powdered shan yao (radix Dioscorea), a dried Chinese herb, plus 3 tablespoons of water the first time. The second time I used rolled oats. Powdered gluten free cracker crumbs also work. I didn’t have any Harissa (Moroccan hot sauce) so I omitted the Harissa Mayonnaise.

I cooked the burgers in a skillet. After browning the burgers on both sides, I added a splash of homemade chicken broth and covered the skillet, cooking them until they were medium rare.

Lava Lake Lamb Sausage
This lamb sausage is wheat-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, free of nitrates, nitrites, and fillers. they don't make other sausages on the same equipment, so if you're sensitive to milk or wheat, you'll want to order some to try. 

I was pleasantly surprised that it didn’t ooze fat, the way most sausages do. They were lean, tender, and nor at all greasy. Of the four flavors Traditional Chorizo, Hot Italian, Rosemary Garlic, and German, I liked the Hot Italian and German best. I cooked them in a grill pan one time, on a steamer rack once, and several times in a skillet with a splash of homemade chicken broth. That produced great results with easy clean up.

I served the sausages like I would any piece of meat or chicken––with a green salad or cooked leafy greens and an orange, yellow, or red vegetable or fruit or a whole grain. This made some great breakfasts, brunches, lunches, and  dinners. I especially liked it with a crisp green salad and roasted sweet potato, cauliflower-potato mash, or gluten free banana muffins I had leftover from recipe testing for an article I’m writing on Montina flour, made from a wild grass similar to wild rice. The article will appear later this year in Living Without Magazine.

That's my Cauliflower-Potato Mash next to the sausage. It's mostly caulflower with a little potato. I use coconut milk in place of milk or cream. Really delicious. Click here for the recipe.

This sausage makes a healthy convenience food. It cooks quickly and provides plenty of protein without a lot of fat and it goes with so many things. I don’t think you’ll find organic, grassfed lamb sausage like this in many stores. I think it’s worth mail ordering. Click here for the Lava Lake Lamb website

Turtle Mountain So Delicious Bars

When I was a kid
If you’re like me, you grew up eating ice cream, including Eskimo Pie© Ice Cream Sandwiches and Ice Cream Bars. You begged your mother to buy them from the supermarket or give you a a nickel (or was it a dime?) so you could get one from the ice cream man when you heard his truck round the corner in your neighborhood.

Healthier ice cream bars?
I haven’t eaten commercial ice cream sandwiches or ice cream bars in years, but I’ve  knock off products in natural foods stores. Don’t assume they’re healthy just because you find them here. For example, Tofutti Cuties look like something I grew up eating, albeit smaller. Yes, they’re milk free and lactose free, but  I don’t recommend them. After water, the first tow ingredients are sugar and corn syrup solids (that means sugar makes up the largest volume). They also contain caramel coloring and unbleached wheat flour (off limits for celiacs and others who are intolerant of gluten).

Dairy free frozen dessert
When Turtle Mountain introduced their Purely Decadent coconut milk-based ice cream alternative, my students wondered what I thought. After the release of my new book, The Ice Dream Cookbook: Dairy-Free Ice Cream Alternatives with Gluten Free Cookies, Compotes and Sauces in July, I became the person to ask about healthy frozen desserts, something like the Accidental Ice Dream Queen.

I tried Turtle Mountain’s Purely Decadent coconut-based vanilla frozen dessert last summer and gave it a big thumbs up. I consider it one of the best ice cream alternative on the market. It’s lactose and dairy free, soy free, gluten free, trans fat free, contains less than half the fat of premium ice cream, contains organic ingredients, and gets its sweetness from agave nectar, a low glycemic sweetener, rather than refined sugars found in most frozen desserts. It tasted delicious to me.

FYI: Their cookie dough and mint chip flavors contain beet sugar in the cookie and chocolate parts. Their new the bars and ice cream sandwiches contain agavé nectar in the fillings. The chocolate candy coating and cookie coating contain beet sugar.

Are they gluten free?
I checked with Turtle Mountain's Quality Control Manager. He assured me that their frozen desserts sold by the pint are all gluten free. The chocolate coating on their ice cream-like bars are also gluten free and run on production lines that do not contain gluten (so, no wheat, barley, rye, or oats). They're ice cream-like sandwiches, however, do contain wheat flour (a source of gluten).

The taste test
So here we are in December. I know it’s kind of chilly (in Phoenix) to be eating frozen desserts. Still, I wanted to taste their two new barsand ice cream-like sandwiches two weeks ago so I could tell you what I think.

Rating Delicious Mini Sandwiches
I liked the size (small) of Turtle Mountain’s frozen mini-sandwiches and the fact that they contain only 100 calories and 7 grams of sugar each. Not too much sugar in one sitting. I like the purity of ingredients, although I would like to see them make a gluten free cookie outside.

I occasionally eat wheat, but I prefer eating gluten free and so many of my cooking students and clients must eat that way exclusively. I believe gluten free eating will become even more popular, and important, over the next 10 years, as more children are diagnosed with autism, Celiac Sprue, and more people discover they have autoimmune disorders that are aggravated by gluten.

But back to the cookie sandwiches... I liked the coconut (vanilla) flavoredbetter than the banana split flavor. give it a 7 out of 10. one Still, I prefer my homemade gluten free Ice Dream Sandwiches so I’m comparing their product to my recipes in The Ice Dream Cookbook. I know it’s not easy to create a preservative-free product with a long shelf life and I commend them for creating an alternative product. I rate them good, but not great.

The banana split flavored ice cream-like sandwiches contains real strawberry purée (a plus), but I couldn’t get past the banana flavoring that reminded me of the artificial banana flavored products I ate as a child. I'd give that one a 5. I know real banana purée would be hard to stabilize; it discolors so easily. Maybe they could try a strawberry only filling w/no banana or do a chocolate, strawberry, vanilla filled ice-like cream sandwich.

Rating So Delicious Mini Bars
The mini bars, which run smaller than typical ice cream bars, contain 10 grams of sugar per serving and 150 calories (vanilla flavor) and 170 calories (coconut almond). The flavor and texture reminded me of the bars I ate as a kid. However, I found both of them too sweet for my tastes (I don’t like things as sweet as I used to or as sweet as most people do) from the beet sugar used in the chocolate coating. Most people would probably find the sweetness just right. They're also gluten free (another plus).

If you’re looking for a non-dairy, chocolate covered ice cream bar or healthier ice cream sandwich, give them a try….preferably after the weather warms up. If you must indulge now when during winter. drink a hot cup of spicy tea (try ginger) or Teeccino, an herbal coffee alternative, with it to warm your digestive system.