When they’re in season, load up on delicious,
low-calorie asparagus. Photo of grilled
asparagus with romesco sauce* courtesy
California Asparagus Commission.

Many people make New Year’s resolutions about general health and appearance: Dieting is Americans’ #1 resolution. But how about brain power?

Many recent studies indicate that certain nutrients can positively affect the brain—specifically in areas related to cognitive processing. They promote stronger blood flow which leads to mental sharpness, and reduce the risks of heart disease and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Several studies led by Fernando Gómez-Pinilla, Ph.D, a leading neuroscientist at UCLA, show that the super fats your brain needs most are omega-3 fatty acids. Your brain converts them into DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), which enhances neuronal communication and promotes neuronal growth.

In other words, the right nutrients can help our health, aging process and more efficient brain-body functioning.

To boost your brain power, eat these foods recommended by Michael Gonzalez-Wallace, the author of Super Body, Super Brain and the website SuperBodySuperBrain.com.

NIBBLE ON THIS LIST OF BRAIN FOODS

Salmon and succotash. Photo courtesy McCormick.com. Here’s the recipe.

 
“Life is about choices,” says Gomez-Wallace. “Selecting the right nutrients can play a key role in your health.”

It’s easy to include several of these brain foods in your daily meal and snacking plan. Just keep a list with you to remind you of why, for example, an apple a day instead of a pear keeps the doctor away.

 
*Romesco sauce (salsa romesco) is a nut and red pepper-based sauce that originated in Catalonia, Spain. It is typically made from roasted or raw almonds, pine nuts, and/or hazelnuts, roasted garlic, olive oil, bitxo chiles and/or nyora peppers (a small, round, variety of red bell pepper). Other common ingredients can include roasted tomatoes, red wine vinegar and onions. It is a popular sauce with seafood (with fennel or mint leaves added) and anything from poultry and lamb to vegetables.

Plain Greek yogurt substitutes well for sour
cream and whipped cream. Photo courtesy
Salad-In-A-Jar.com, which offers a recipe for
homemade Greek yogurt.

The new year means new beginnings. That’s why we have the tradition* of New Year’s resolutions: to set goals, make lifestyle changes, accomplish big projects, and so forth.

Dieting is on the New Year’s resolutions list for many people, and was always at the top of ours for most of our life, significant weight loss was at the top of our list. And it rarely was achieved.

So 10 years ago, we revised our resolution strategy and instead chose to make one healthy food change each year: a simple and easy switch of one food for another. There’s no sacrifice; just a trade in of one food for a different, equally tasty food. We’re very pleased with the results.

So our tip of the day is: Make one healthy food resolution this year. Here’s what we’ve done so far: 16 great trades. Please contribute your own favorite food switches.

Mix equal amounts of pasta and vegetables for a healthier Pasta Primavera. Photo courtesy FatFreeVegan.com. Here’s the recipe.

Even if you love broccoli or spinach, for example, they can lose their charm if they’re on the table every night. Pick a “vegetable of the month” and add it to your repertoire. You may find that you adore chard, kale and turnips, for example.
 
Not a resolution, but a good thing to do in the new year:

 
*The practice of making New Year’s resolutions developed partially from Christian Lenten sacrifices, but the tradition goes way back: Ancient Babylonians made promises to the gods at the start of each year. The Romans began each year by making promises to the god Janus, for whom the first month of the year is named. Medieval knights took the “peacock vow” at the conclusion of each Christmas season that re-affirmed their commitment to chivalry. Some Christian groups created watchnight services, held late on New Year’s Eve, preparing for the year ahead by praying and resolving. During the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, through Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, Jews reflect upon their wrongdoings over the prior year and seek and offer forgiveness.

Make your daily chocolate nibble fairly-
traded. Photo of Equal Exchange Minis by
Elvira Kalviste.

This year, we went Fair Trade for Halloween. That means that the chocolate we handed out was ethically produced.

While you won’t see many articles about it, cacao is an agricultural product that uses child slave labor in the fields. Just search for “chocolate slave labor” and you’ll read all about it.

Start with this article from CNN. The journalists document that “child labor, trafficking and slavery are rife in an industry that produces some of the world’s best-known brands.”

So, with a small effort to help make the world a better place, we buy Fair Trade/fairly traded products whenever we can. Especially for Halloween, we don’t want to give kids chocolate that enslaves other kids.

Equal Exchange chocolate is a producer/packager of chocolate, cocoa, coffee and tea, supporting small-scale farmers and their families in the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Panama and Peru.

All of the products are organic as well as fairly-traded. The company motto: “Small Farmers, Big Change.”

Fair Trade ensures that farmers are paid fair value for their beans. In more than a few situations, brokers buy up crops for less than it costs to produce them, keeping small farmers in an endless loop of poverty.

Fair value affords money for adult labor (enabling the farmers’ children to go to school instead of working in the fields), a minimum standard of living and sound agricultural practices that protect both workers and the environment.

This issue impacts mass-marketed chocolate brands. In the case of the expensive gourmet chocolate, the chocolate makers are already paying top dollar to the best farmers (those fortunate to have the land in the areas that produce the best beans) to secure the limited supply of the world’s finest cacao (so you can feel good about paying $6.00 or more for that chocolate bar).

“Fair Trade” is a trademarked term authorized by TransFair USA, a nonprofit organization that audits transactions between U.S. companies offering Fair Trade Certified™ products and the international suppliers from whom they source. TransFair is one of 20 members of Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO). Read more on the issues of Fair Trade.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FAIR TRADE & “FAIRLY TRADED”

Only products certified by TransFair USA can use the trademarked term, “Fair Trade.” Products certified by other organizations must call themselves “fairly traded.”

EQUAL EXCHANGE HOLIDAY GIFTS

If you want to buy products that are ethically sourced, Equal Exchange and other producers are more than happy to provide them.

Equal Exchange has candy bars for stocking stuffers, boxes of minis (single bites of chocolate) for those who like to nibble and tins of cocoa, along with tea, coffee and gift baskets.

Shop online at Shop.Equal.Exchange.com.

And spread the word about Fair Trade.

Equal Exchange’s fairly traded, organic candy bars. Photo by Elvira Kalviste | THE NIBBLE.

You’ve heard that chocolate is good for you, but those claims leave out two key points:

 
If you want to try a healthier chocolate, check out Gnosis Chocolate (gnosis is the Greek word for knowledge).

Gnosis celebrates “the origins of cacao, the well-being of our society, and Earth’s natural majesty.” This specialty line:

Healthier chocolate for Halloween. Photo courtesy Gnosis Chocolate.

The bars are available plain or flavored with popular herbs and spices (chili, coconut-almond, hazelnut, mint, sea salt) as well as nutrient-dense superfoods (cashew-fig, cinnamon-goji, pomegranate-açaí).

Some bars have holistic and ayurvedic ingredients rarely found in chocolate: camomile essential oil, chaste berry, dong quai, evening primrose oil, goldenberry, Inca berry, hemp seed, mulberry, yumberry, schizandra berry, shatvari, Sunwarrior Protein Powder (vegan) and valerian.

In addition to chocolate bars, Gnossis makes truffles, hot chocolate and trail mix.

The products are certified kosher, organic and vegan and are free of soy, gluten, and dairy. The bars are wrapped in PCW* recycled, biodegradable packaging printed with vegetable inks.

Gnosis was founded by Vanessa Barg, a board certified holistic health counselor, who began making chocolate in 2006 as gifts for her clients. In her search for raw, unadulterated cacao, she studied the beans, working on cacao farms and processing beans from the pod. She personally visits the sources and works with growers to assure bean quality and working conditions and to support the growth of organic farming.

Learn more and shop online at GnosisChocolate.com.

*Post consumer waste.

Snack on raisin walnut bread made with the
more nutritious whole wheat flour. Photo
courtesy U.S. Apple Association.

For some reason, a lot of people don’t like the idea of whole wheat. They think that refined white flour tastes better.

But whole wheat is more flavorful in a good way—not to mention much more nutritious. Give it a try, whether you choose whole grain pretzels for snacking or whole grain flour for baking.

Whether it’s your famous apple pie, blueberry muffins, brownies, or cupcakes of other baked delights, you can up the nutrition by switching to whole wheat flour. Before you think you won’t like it, try it.

Here’s why we all need more whole grains in our diets.

HOW TO SUBSTITUTE WHOLE WHEAT FOR WHITE FLOUR

RECIPE: WHOLE WHEAT QUICK BREAD WITH WALNUTS & RAISINS

This tasty recipe from the U.S. Apple Association is a treat for breakfast, brunch, snacks and the dinner bread basket or cheese plate. It’s a cousin of carrot bread and other healthier alternatives.

While the original recipe didn’t include dried fruit, we love raisin-walnut bread so added raisins. You can use blueberries, cherries or cranberries, or cut up larger dried fruits such as apricots and dates.

This bread is delicious with almost any cheese, and makes delightful tea sandwiches with cream cheese.

Ingredients

It’s easy to find whole wheat flour in natural food stores. Photo courtesy Bob’s Red Mill.

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9×5 loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, bran flakes, wheat germ, allspice, baking powder, baking soda and cloves. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.

3. In a small bowl, mix the apple juice, applesauce, yogurt, honey, oil and eggs. Beat well and pour in to the center of the dry ingredients. Stir to combine without over mixing.

4. Fold in the nuts and raisins and spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes; turn out of the pan onto a wire rack. Cool completely before cutting.

Yield: 12-15 slices.

Find more apple recipes from the U.S. Apple Association.

Pickle Me: a recipe with six grain rice,
avocado, carrot, gobo, and pickled daikon.
Photo courtesy Beyond Sushi.

In our book, to say you were a contestant on the Gordon Ramsay bleepfest TV show, Hell’s Kitchen, is not a status credential. The majority of cheftestants, who can curse expertly but can’t consistently cook a simple piece of fish or beef, engender incredulity that they hold down professional jobs.

But Guy Vaknin, who was eliminated early on in the show’s recently concluded Season 10, proves that a Ramsay reject can open an inspired specialty eatery and do a terrific job. Who can get excited about Hell’s Kitchen’s pasta or scallop dishes when there’s Vaknin’s innovative sushi to be had?

No Fish

Beyond Sushi, the vegan sushi restaurant in New York City created by Vaknin (who was previously a kosher chef/caterer), offers an aesthetic alternative to traditional sushi. Yes, there‘s no fish in this sushi. Sushi simply means vinegared rice: su = vinegar, shi = rice.

The fare is an inspired approach to sushi that just happens to be low in sodium: No soy sauce is used. Instead, Chef Vaknin uses flavored vegetable purées as sauces for the sushi.

Vegetarians, vegans and omnivores alike will be charmed by these vegetable and fruit beauties. If the idea excites you, visit Beyond Sushi’s Facebook page, check out the photo gallery and roll your own.

No White Rice

There’s also no white rice in Vaknin’s sushi. In the name of nutrition, flavor and aesthetics, Chef Vaknin employs black Chinese forbidden rice and a six grain rice made from rye berries (the whole kernel, which is ground to make rye flour for baking), two types of barley, black rice, brown rice and red rice. (Check out the different types of rice in our Rice Glossary, along with an overview of whole grains).

No Soy Sauce

Vaknin also cuts down on the sodium inherent in classic sushi, via the soy sauce. Even low sodium soy sauce has more than a meal’s allotment of sodium (Kikkoman’s low sodium soy sauce, for example, has 575 mg sodium per tablespoon, compared with 920 mg for its regular soy sauce).

Instead, all rolls are served with sauces made from tofu or veggie purée, such as carrot-ginger, jalapeño-wasabi, mango-chili, shiitake-teriyaki, toasted cayenne and white miso.

Vegetarians, vegans and omnivores alike will be charmed by these vegetable beauties, some with fruit accents. If the idea excites you, visit Beyond Sushi’s Facebook page, check out the photo gallery and roll your own.

Then, serve your beautiful and healthful creations for lunch, dinner, snacks and cocktail fare. It will have special fans among:

THE VEGAN SUSHI MENU

Vaknin scours farmers markets for the inspiration to combine great flavors, colors and textures. On the Beyond Sushi menu you’ll find:

Black rice, avocado, cucumber, mango and spicy veggies, topped with toasted cayenne sauce. Photo courtesy Beyond Sushi.

 
There are also a special Rolls Of The Month. You can enter your idea for the chance to win dinner for two. Some recent winners:

 
September’s special roll is black rice with Dijon-crusted roasted celery root and peaches topped with a blend of red cabbage, cilantro and celery and finished with celery root purée and whiskey marinated mustard seeds.

Are you ready to roll?
 
HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW YOUR SUSHI?

Check out our Sushi Glossary.

Next time, try grass-fed beef. Photo courtesy
KateDeering.com.

America is raising its beef consciousness. People in the know are seeking out grass-fed beef, which offers benefits over the now-conventional grain-fed beef.

You can find grass-fed beef on store shelves and in better restaurants—even burger bistros, such as Thunder Burger and Bar in the tony Georgetown section of Washington, D.C. Executive Chef Ryan Fichter explains:

“You haven’t enjoyed a great tasting burger until you have had a grass-fed beef burger. There’s simply no comparison and once people try it, they always want that standard. It’s a better burger all the way around.”

Fichter continues: “There are just so many benefits to eating grass-fed beef, it really makes you wonder why you would ever not want grass-fed beef.”

5 REASONS TO CHOOSE GRASS-FED BEEF

Taste. Those who buy grass-fed beef prefer the flavor. All cattle grazed on grass before the industrialization of the beef industry led to feedlot farms and antiobiotics. See The Meatrix.

Health. Grass-fed beef produces a healthier meat: three times higher in heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin E and around 10 times more beta carotene. And that’s just the beginning of its superior nutrition.

Clean Eating. Clean eating means trying to steer clear of chemicals and additives, such as the antibiotics and hormones given to conventionally raised cattle. Grass-fed beef is a natural product.

Environment. Grass-fed beef is better for the planet: It produces less waste and helps to create a healthier ecosystem. As opposed to feedlots, which pollute water tables, grass-grazing cattle provide natural weed control and help to cycle nutrients in the soil. Plus, the grass they feed on grows naturally, whereas vast amounts of resources are used in raising the grain eaten by conventional cattle.

Humanity. Cattle that are grass-fed typically live a more natural and enjoyable life. They eat what nature intended them to eat and have the opportunity to roam stress free, as opposed to the stressed lives of tightly-penned-in cattle.

So, the next time you buy or order beef, if there’s a grass-fed option, try it. Let us know what you think.

How many different cuts of beef have you had? Check out our Beef Cuts Glossary.
 
  

Fruit drinks, doubly spiced. Photo courtesy
Prometheus Springs.

Prometheus Springs is an exciting new line of juice drinks. You might call it the hottest line around, thanks to delectable blends of fruit juice, hot spices and capsaicin, the component that gives the heat to hot chiles. As a bonus, it’s certified organic and kosher.

There’s a big market of people who love spicy foods. They’ll love these terrific, refreshing, spicy drinks, which make great cocktail mixers as well.

We love every one of the six flavors:

 
In addition to the spices in each fruit, capsaicin—the heat component of hot chiles—is added for double sizzle.

But the drinks are “mainstream hot.” We prefer mild salsa, for example, and found the heat levels to be just fine.

Check out the full review, and perhaps send some Prometheus Springs to a spicy-hot loving friend.

Or, use them to add sizzle to your Labor Day bash.
 
Find more of our favorite beverages: reviews and recipes.

Since this week’s Top Pick is the Veggie Patch vegetarian line, our weekly video recipe follows suit.

These delicious vegetarian sausages are billed as vegetarian in the video, but they’re actually vegan—no animal-based ingredients are used. Even the special flavoring, Bill’s Best Chik’Nish Seasoning, is vegan.

The meatless sausages are made with a base of gluten flour and garbanzo bean flour, plus all of the traditional Italian sausage seasonings: garlic, onion, chili flakes, fennel seeds, oregano, pepper and paprika.

You don’t have to stuff sausage casings, either. Because the flours act as bonding agents, the ingredients form a dough that is hand-rolled into sausage shapes, then steamed.

Make them for yourself, or as a gift for a vegetarian or vegan friend.

People who are diagnosed with a food allergy have to give up some favorite foods or turn to less-than-tasty substitutes. But enough Americans are diagnosed with allergies that businesses are rising to the occasion to make good-tasting alternatives.

Often, allergen-free products are made because a family member develops the condition. In one of the more ironic situations, the Coffins, a Montana farm family that has been dairying for generations, had to remove all dairy products from the diets of mom and the kids.

After trying the less-than-satisfactory alternatives the family began to create their own substitutes, tasty enough that everyone—including the non-allergic—could enjoy. The WayFare line of puddings, cheese spreads (regular, Mexican and smoked, our favorite) and sour cream was the happy result. Ice cream is currently under development.

The “secret” ingredient in the line is certified gluten-free, whole grain oatmeal. In the course of using oatmeal to replace the body of milk, the products also became cholesterol free and vegan.

The line is 100% dairy-free, soy free, cholesterol free, trans-fats free and non-GMO. The products are certified kosher by Star-K.

WayFare lactose-free puddings. Photo by Elvira Kalviste | THE NIBBLE.

So how do they taste?

The butterscotch and chocolate fare well; the vanilla, to us, doesn’t have significant vanilla flavor and works better as a hard sauce or creamy topping.

There’s a store locator on WayFareFoods.com, and information for retailers who want to amp up their lactose free foods.

FOOD ALLERGY FACTS

There’s an economic opportunity in products that address food allergies. Anheuser-Busch makes a gluten-free beer, the Girl Scouts sell three varieties of milk-free (lactose-free) cookies and General Mills reformulated Rice Chex earlier this year to be gluten-free. Kellogg’s makes its Pop-Tarts in nut-free factories. If vodka is your drink of choice, look for products distilled from non-grains, such as grapes and potatoes.

An estimated 12 million people in the U.S. have food allergies; 2 million more have celiac disease, a potentially deadly form of gluten allergy.

Medical experts don’t know why the number of people with food allergies is increasing. Theories include reduced contact with germs, exposure to certain environmental pollutants and, in the case of peanut allergies, the way peanuts are processed and at what point they are introduced into a person’s diet. Much research is needed; there is very little of it, even though allergic reaction to food causes about 30,000 emergency room visits and 150 to 200 fatalities each year.

Statistics from the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) reveal that in the U.S.:

 
So read the labels, and look for more good food coming from allergen-free manufacturers.