Health Benefits Onions

Cut Onion Without Crying-Peeling Onions

Kids love to cook and they hate to peel or cut onions. Not many adults can peel and cut an onion without crying, so needless to say, at the last children’s cooking class I had on Souper Soups we had a lot of tears in the room. We made Willy-Nilly Chili and Flew The Coop Soup. Both are simple from-scratch recipes for kids and I am sure you can figure out what each one is. Of course both recipes require cutting onions.

As a person who can peel and cut most onions without crying, the only tips I can give to avoid crying while cutting onions are:

• Don’t talk. Keep your mouth closed.
• Stand facing the fan or window or stove with the cutting board between you and the fan, window or stove. This is as opposed to you being in the path of the air flow.
• Stand up straight. Don’t bend over your cutting board.
• Don’t touch your face.

Health Benefits of Onions

A powerful onion has more powerful health benefits. So if you are crying a lot, it may mean that you have a good onion! A sulfur-containing compound is responsible for the onion’s strong odor and also its healthy benefits to you. Onions have been cultivated worldwide for over 5000 years. In Egypt they were used as money to pay workers building the pyramids, so were frequently the staple food of poor people.

Benefits of Onion

Over the years many health benefits have been attributed to the onion. They have been used as diuretics, to cure measles, to cure liver disease and as a benefit to the lungs. Today we know that onions are rich in chromium, which assists our body in insulin responses, as well as high in vitamin C and many other nutrients including dietary fiber and triptophan. The more onion in a diet, the lower the level of glucose found during oral or intravenous glucose tolerance tests.*

Other healthy benefits that modern science has attributed to onions are:

• Anti-Inflammatory
• Anti-Bacterial Activity
• Boost Bone Health
• Protective against Ovarian Cancer (due to flavonoids)
• Protective against Many Cancers
• Support Gastrointestinal Health
• Cardiovascular Benefits

Healthy Onion Soup Recipe

This is my healthy variation of your favorite restaurant baked onion soup recipe. When you make this healthy version you will get all the health benefits of onions without the calories of eating out.

Classic French Onion Soup
1 Tbs. olive oil
2 lb. sliced onion
3 tbs. fresh rosemary-minced
3 Tbs. fresh thyme-minced
2 cloves garlic-pressed
1 Tbs. Wondra™ flour
½ cup Madeira
1 quart rich chicken stock
1 quart beef stock
¼ tsp. salt
½ tsp. black pepper

Per Person:
1 ½ oz part skim mozzarella-sliced
1 Tbs. fine quality fresh parmesan cheese
1 pc. whole grain bread

1. Heat oil in bottom of heavy sauce pot.
2. Add onions and caramelize thoroughly on medium heat. Onions should be very brown on all sides but not burnt.
3. Add herbs, flour and garlic. Sauté 1 minute.
4. Deglaze pan with Madeira, stirring particles up from bottom of pot.
5. Add stocks, gradually. Heat to a boil and simmer for 45 minutes.

At Service:
In broiler proof bowl, top each bowl of hot soup with 1 piece of bread and cheeses. Parmesan goes on last. Broil for 5 minutes or until brown.

*Ali M, Thomson M, Afzal M. Garlic and onions: their effect on eicosanoid metabolism and its clinical relevance. Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids. 2000 Feb;62(2):55-73. Review 2000.

Holidays Turkey – Turkey Recipes

Holiday Turkey Recipes

As we all get ready for the holidays turkey recipes are the ones I get the most requests for.  Holiday turkey is one of the easiest meats to roast as Americans start to think about their holiday feast.

How To Cook A Turkey

As I do every year at this time I am re-posting the electronic talking cookbook called Healthy Holiday Feast. This cookbook outlines exactly how to cook a turkey and also how to cook everything else that goes with it.  You can create a healthy holiday feast by cooking the turkey in a healthy way.

Cooking Holiday Turkey

Turkey is a very healthy meat choice.  It is considered one of the top super foods by many food experts because it is nutrient-dense and low in saturated fats compared to other holiday choices.  When cooking  holiday turkey most people tend to surround it with over-abundance and over-indulgent foods.   This cookbook includes recipes to make your entire holiday dinner fun, fast and also healthy.

Turkey Recipes

Download this electronic book with the recipes for the turkey and the rest of the meal from main course to dessert. A “talking” cookbook means that there is a recording embedded in the file so that I can guide you step-by-step as you prepare your holiday feast. The book also includes recipes for your leftovers too!

To get your electronic cookbook just fill out the form below.  After pushing submit you will be redirected to your healthy holiday feast.

We promise to never sell your information or share it with anyone. We hate spam as much as you do so we promise to only send you valuable information. Usually, the recipe of the month is sent to you at the beginning of each month and that is the only mailing you get. The only exception is that this time of year we do send about three mailings per month with extra healthy holiday recipes and quick tips or sales that you may be interested in.  This mailing list is 100% voluntary and you can opt out anytime if you feel you are not getting enough value. I am sure you will love this e-book that talks!!

How To Cook Turkey

This video will give you a good idea on how to cook turkey and the electronic book will provide you with the exact turkey recipes.

Turkey Breast vs Turkey Thigh

Here are some turkey quick tips:

• Turkey breast is only 2 calories less than turkey thighs per ounce when you remove the skin, so if you like dark meat then enjoy it!
• The optimum size turkey to buy is 15 to 16 pounds.  After that your bone to meat ratio goes up. Your price for the edible portion increases because you are paying for more bone.
• Most people overcook turkey.  Cook your turkey to 155-160 degrees and then let it “rest” for 30 minutes before cutting.  The heat that is in it continues to cook it after it comes out of the oven.

Healthy Holiday Feast Turkey

Your family deserves a long and healthy life. There is no better time to give your family the gift of good health than at the holidays. Make your family the healthy holiday feast by accompanying your turkey with and all healthy trimmings! Have a great Thanksgiving!

Home Made Pizza-Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

Home Made Pizza Sauce, Pizza Crust, Whole Wheat Pizza

Dear Deb, We make pizza at home frequently now. Everybody loves it. They like it much better than pizzeria pizza. We put all kinds of different toppings on it. Thanks for getting us started! Love, Jessica

I am teaching two healthy cooking classes next week called Pizza, Pizza, Pizza! So I thought I would share the healthy recipes for home made pizza sauce and my favorite whole wheat pizza crust. Both are fun, fast and healthy. If you want to make it even healthier increase the whole wheat flour and decrease the white flour. You may not be able to get away with that if you are serving kids though as the crust is much denser.

Make The Best Whole Wheat Pizza With Kids

Children love to cook and are even willing to try new foods when they have a hand it in. Your kids may be willing to try and even like whole wheat pizza when you have fun making it together! This is the best whole wheat pizza crust to make with kids as you will see in this video.

Do you like this video and these recipes? There are literally 100’s of recipes and tips to improve your family’s health on the Wow! You Are Really Lucky website. (That means Wow! you are really lucky that you are healthy!) Your family and friends deserve to live a long and healthy life! Please link to this page, send the url to your friends, bookmark it or otherwise spread the word!

Home Made Pizza Sauce Recipe

This home made pizza sauce recipe is fun and easy to make. The sauce is delicious and easy even using canned tomatoes so that your pizza sauce recipe comes out the same all year-round.

½ medium onion-diced
2 (14 ½ oz.) can cut tomatoes
1 Tbs. brown sugar
3 cloves garlic
1 Tbs. fresh chopped oregano
1 Tbs. fresh chopped thyme
¾ tsp. salt
1 Tbs. fresh chopped basil

1. Lightly spritz pan with olive oil, and heat until hot.  Add onion and cook on medium heat until caramelized.
2. Add all other ingredients except basil.
3. Cook gently, stirring occasionally for ½ hour.
4. Add basil and cook for 15 more minutes.  Chop using Food Chopper or in blender.

Homemade Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

Making home made whole wheat pizza dough from scratch is not as hard as you may think.  Give this recipe a try, watch the video above for some quick tips and enjoy some family time while you make your pizza dough.

1 pkg. (1 Tbs.) dry yeast
2 tsp. honey
1 ½ cup luke warm water
1 ½ cup AP flour
1 ½ cup stone ground wheat flour
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. olive oil

1. Put yeast, 1 tsp. honey and ½ cup warm water in small bowl.  Stir gently till dissolved.  Allow to ferment for 3 minutes until foamy.
2. Place flours and salt into large bowl and blend.  Make a well in the center.
3. Pour balance of honey, warm water and olive oil into well.  Stir till combined.
4. Dump out onto floured table top and need with flour for 5-7 minutes.  Add more flour as needed.  Dough should be elastic when finished.
5. Return dough to greased bowl, cover with damp paper towel, and saran wrap.
6. Proof for 45 minutes or until double in bulk in a humid 75º proof box, or if you prefer overnight under refrigeration.  (This is the way I usually do it)
7. Divide into 3 balls.  Freeze or refrigerate those you will not use today.
8. Stretch dough into a 13” pizza and top with the desired toppings.
9. Bake in a 500º oven for 5-7 minutes.

Lose Weight With Healthy Whole Wheat Pizza Recipes

The healthy natural weight loss Wow! diet program features a variety of healthy recipes (like this pizza whole wheat pizza recipe) that are good-for-you and easy to prepare.  A diet is a way of life and the Wow programs give you a system of living healthy so that you never have to worry about weight loss again.  Healthy diets include all foods that are fun, fast and healthy like these pizza recipes so that you can enjoy life and still maintain your ideal weight.