February 20, 2009 Recipes for Health from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/health/20recipehealth.html
Japanese Spinach With Sesame Dressing By MARTHA ROSE SHULMAN
This cold spinach bathed in a nutty sesame dressing is my all-time favorite Japanese appetizer. Recipes for it vary; some call for rice wine vinegar, others for dashi, a soup stock. Most versions are much sweeter than this one.
Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. Fill a bowl with ice water. Blanch the spinach for 10 to 20 seconds in the boiling water and transfer to the ice water using a deep-fry skimmer. Drain and gently squeeze out water. Chop coarsely.
Make the dressing. If your sesame seeds have not been toasted, heat a dry skillet over medium heat and add the sesame seeds. Stir and shake the pan constantly, and as soon as the seeds turn golden and smell nutty, transfer to a suribachi mortar and pestle or to a spice mill. Allow to cool. Grind the seeds just until crushed.
Combine the soy sauce and sugar in a small bowl and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Add the sake and water, then stir in the ground sesame seeds. Thin out with water. Toss with the spinach and stir together until the dressing infuses the spinach. Be careful not to bruise the spinach leaves. Divide into four small bunches and place in the middle of four small plates or bowls. Drizzle on a few drops of sesame oil. Serve at room temperature.
Yield: Four small servings Advance preparation: You can blanch the spinach up to a day in advance. The dish can be assembled and refrigerated several hours before serving.
Also from: http://realnutritionsupplement.blogspot.com/2008/07/gods-pharmacy.html
It’s not likely that when you look at a fruit or vegetable you see how much it looks like a body part. I never noticed it before I saw it several months ago. It’s true, many fruits and vegetables do look like certain body parts and they may help those body parts.
The doctrine of signatures is an ancient European philosophy that held that plants bearing parts that resembled human body parts, animals, or other objects, had useful relevancy to those parts, animals or objects.
And / Or
It’s been said that God first separated the salt water from the fresh, made dry land, planted a garden, made animals and fish. all before making a human. He made and provided what we’d need before we were born. These are best & more powerful when eaten raw.
A sliced Carrot resembles the human eye including the pupil, iris, and radiating lines. Science indicates that carrots help protect the vision, especially night vision. WHFoods: Carrots
A Tomato has up to four chambers and is commonly red. Tomatoes are rich in lycopene and helps prevent heart disease, prostate cancer, breast and more. Tomato juice can also reduce the tendency toward blood clotting. WHFoods: Tomatoes
Grapes hang in a cluster that resembles the shape of the heart. The stronger the color of the grape is, the higher the concentration of phytonutrients. Grapes prevent heart disease and reduce platelet clumping and harmful blood clots. WHFoods: Grapes
Walnuts resemble the brain, mimicking the wrinkles and folds of the neocortex.Research suggests that walnuts may reduce the risk or delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Walnut – Wikipedia The high concentration of omega-3 fats in walnuts promotes healthy brain function. WHFoods: Walnuts
Kidney Beans, true to their name are kidney shaped. They provide nutrients that are helpful to the human kidneys. Kidney beans contain molybdenum, which helps sulfite oxidase to form and is responsible for detoxifying sulfites WHFoods: Kidney beans.
Oranges, Grapefruits and other Citrus fruits have been compared to the appearance of female mammary glands. These fruits contain nutrients that are helpful in the fight against breast cancer. Health Benefits of Citrus Limonoids Explored
Sliced Onions resemble skin cells and contain quercetin. Studies have shown when treated with a combination of quercetin and ultrasound at 20 kHz for 1-minute duration, skin and prostate cancers show a 90% mortality within 48 hours with no visible mortality of normal cells. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Celery has a bone like appearance and is rich in silicon and Vitamin K, which are needed for healthy joints and bones Gillian McKeith You Are What You Eat
Avocados were used by the Aztecs as a sex stimulant and the Aztec name for avocado was ahuacatl, meaning “testicle” History of Avocados. An extract of avocado impedes the growth of both androgen-dependent and androgen-independent prostate cancer cells. WHFoods: Avocados Today’s research shows that when a woman eats 1 avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? …. It takes exactly 9 months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).
Figs have a rich history and often been referred to as a sexual food, this is partly symbolic due to the appearance of the fruit. Figs are loaded with seeds and when halved, many note a resemblance to female genitalia. The Hindu name for fig is anjeer and research has shown that anjeer is helpful for sexual weakness Ficus carica – medicinal plants. Figs have also been mentioned as a source helpful for male fertility and motility. Health-info.org
Was traveling in China and found that it was pretty challenging to be a vegetarian as people would kindly show their “disagreement” and generosity by providing and insisting that you taste their best dishes which almost always come with meat or fish.
Finally back on my healthy routines, and try to cook several times a week. This soup I’m about to introduce to you is very simple, and definitely can be a key showcase in your own 30-min meals
Key ingredients:
fresh baby spinach
glass noodles (either thick or thin is fine, best made of green beans and mixed with some wild veggies)
what I used today was mixed with fiddlehead fern – a very healthy green wild veggie, hehe
one tomato diced
mushroom (the thin type like golden mushroom)
what I used today was a kind with brown-ish heads, imported from Korea
a can of vegetable broth
Steps:
In a saucepan, pour the vegetable broth and add equal amount of water or a bit more and bring it to simmer
Drop the diced tomato
When the tomatoes become soft, add mushroom and the glass noodles
Check on the glass noodles every once in a while so it’s not too soft or sticky
Put the spinach only a couple minutes before you turn off the heat, and let the soup sit for a minute before serving