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Tea & Toast or Milk & Oats–which is the better brekky?Tea & Toast or Milk & Oats–which is the better brekky? There’s nothing better first thing on a cool morning than a nice hot cup of tea and some grainy toast with homemade grapefruit marmalade. Or is there? The cup of tea gives me a small shot of caffeine...

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What summers are all about in New Zealand...What summers are all about in New Zealand... Apples didn’t feature in my Christmas/New Year menus. Why would they? It’s summer and apples are an autumn fruit. But there they were – languishing at the bottom of my fridge and desperately...

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Muesli to kick start your resolutely healthy New YearMuesli to kick start your resolutely healthy New Year The last day of 2009 - New Year’s Eve and the inevitable new year’s resolutions. In anticipation that some of us will wake up tomorrow resolving to eat less, drink less, grouch less, exercise more,...

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On the second day of Christmas: make biscotti as gifts!On the second day of Christmas: make biscotti as gifts! On the second day of Christmas… make biscotti as gifts. Today I made biscotti, or to be precise, the Provencal version called croquettes. When I hear the word ‘croquettes’ my mind conjures visions...

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On the third day of Christmas: take a goodie basket!On the third day of Christmas: take a goodie basket! On the third day of Christmas… Going to a pre-Christmas lunch or BBQ? Take a goodie basket. Boy it’s great being a food writer – especially when you belong to the NZ Guild of Food Writers. We...

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Scallops and Riesling

Posted on : 08-02-2010 | By : Cindy | In : On my plate, Seafood

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I just had to take a photo of the delicious scallops I cooked on the weekend. I heated some olive oil in a small fry-pan and dumped them in along with finely chopped garlic, ginger and coriander root. “One minute each side, turn them over only once and don’t over-cook them,” the helpful man at my local fish shop ordered me. I obeyed the orders and they turned out perfectly. For NZ$15 we had a smoked kahawai and 12 scallops – more than enough for three of us to eat.

“When I was a kid, scallops just washed up on the beach,” my father-in-law reminisced. They don’t do that now so we headed off to what I think is the best fish shop in Auckland – Marsic Brothers in Glen Innes.

Keep your eyes healthy with sweet corn

Posted on : 06-02-2010 | By : Cindy | In : Colourful taste, Eyes, Super-healthy...er...stuff, Vegetables

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It’s great to buy fruit and vegetables in season. Right now we’re eating heaps of sweet corn. It’s so easy to cook: three minutes per cob (husk on) in the microwave. My son and I munch ours straight off the cob but my husband loves his smeared with butter and salt. He’s succumbed to skinny milk, cup-cake sized steak, couscous and lentils so I figure he’s allowed the odd indulgence!

Corn gets its rich yellow colour from the family of phytochemicals (natural plant chemicals) called carotenoids. Yellow, orange, red and dark green vegetables such as spinach, carrots, tomatoes and pumpkin get their colour from carotenoids. Corn is especially high in two carotenoids – lutein and zeazanthin. The macular region of the eye has a high concentration of these substances which implies that they play an important role in keeping our eyes healthy. It’s thought that they protect against light-induced damage to the eye and help prevent macular degeneration, cataracts and other eye problems.

When fruit and vegetables aren’t good for you!

Posted on : 01-02-2010 | By : Cindy | In : Allergies & hypersensitivities

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The phone call to our good friend, Mike, started off the usual way: “Hi. How have you been?” The response was not so usual: “Terrible! Last week my lips and then my whole face swelled up! It must be something I ate but I can’t figure out what.” When it’s hard to pinpoint a specific food culprit, chances are it’s an intolerance to salicylates, amines or MSG (monosodium glutamate).

Salicylates are natural chemicals found in a wide range of fruit, vegetables, nuts, herbs & spices, jams, honey, tea, coffee, juice, beer and wine. Aspirin is also part of the salicylate family. Amines are formed by protein breakdown or fermentation. Like salicylates they are found in more tasty food such as avocados, tomatoes, bananas, cheese, chocolate, wine and beer. And MSG isn’t just confined to Chinese takeaways. It’s naturally found in tomatoes, cheese, mushrooms, meat and yeast extracts, sauces and stock cubes.

On our most recent catch-up Mike told us he had cut out tomatoes (“I was eating heaps of them”)and thankfully suffered no more puffer fish face episodes! Tomatoes are high in all three natural chemicals so avoiding them would certainly drop the levels in your body – hopefully to under your natural threshold level.

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