Enlightened Eater

The appearance of rhubarb leaves peeking through the ground in my garden is one of the first signs of spring sets my heart aflutter:  it  brings anticipation about the bounty of local produce soon to come. Local rhubarb, along with asparagus and strawberries, is just one  of the treats that start off the parade of […]

While it may be smart for us to follow safe sun practices and use sunscreen, we can still reap the vitamin D benefits of sun exposure. Just eat vitamin D mushrooms. Mushrooms, like humans, produce vitamin D when they are exposed to ultraviolet light of a certain intensity. They are the only naturally occurring plant-based […]

At one time, nutritionally speaking, mushrooms and their exceptionally low caloric content was their only claim to fame. They were a dieter’s best friend as they could fill you up with minimal caloric damage – provided, though, that they weren’t sautéed in a sea of butter or paired with cream in a soup. But mushrooms […]

Nothing says spring like bunches of asparagus for sale at your green grocers. Asparagus, like leafy greens,  is not only a taste treat, it’s packed with a wide assortment of  nutritional goodies. Here are the top six reasons to enjoy this vegetable: •    It’s packed with folate, the B vitamin linked to  a variety of […]

Have you heard about The Kale Project? It began as an initiative to reintroduce this nutrition-packed leafy green vegetable to Paris. Reintroduce? It seems that the French had too much of these vegetables during the time of food shortages during World War II. The French might want to take a lesson from the Mediterranean Diet. It, […]

For the majority of you reading this post, the temperatures outside are frigid. It’s definitely frost-bite territory. A mug of hot cocoa is a perfect reward for making from the outdoors. And if the right kind of cocoa, it provides a bevy of health perks too. It’s the cocoa component of dark chocolate that has […]

While making soup from scratch used to be nothing out of the ordinary for most cooks, nowadays the thought of it can be very intimidating to many. In reality, though, cooking up a pot of soup doesn’t require much in the way of culinary skills.  But the real deal does require some good ingredients and […]

In Sunday’s New York Times Magazine, esteemed food writer Mark Bittman talks about how to make an Indian dal that tastes as authentic as if you were eating it in India.  He writes, “although you can cook any beans using these techniques and spices, you’re not likely to get the ideal consistency unless you shop […]