There are a lot of things that you can do with the days’ old remains of rustic breads. You can turn them into croûtons (there is nothing like freshly made croûtons with homemade Caesar salad), you can toast them and serve with butter and jam (one of my favorites), or you can cut them into 3″ by 1″ rounds and freeze. For poor man’s hockey pucks.

(I have no doubt that although I say that in jest, there are likely a few Canadian readers out there who upon reading the puck idea had a wintertime Proustian flashback of an impromptu game of shinny.)

Editor’s note: This post is this week’s Friday Fit recipe. The idea is to try “real food” recipes that can be prepared on the weekend. If you enjoy this article, please consider subscribing to my feed. Thanks. Read the rest of this entry »

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Editor’s note: This post is this week’s Friday Fit recipe. The idea is to try “real food” recipes that can be prepared on the weekend. If you enjoy this article, please consider subscribing to my feed. Thanks.

In honor of a comment by Nico over at ProHealthBlog on my article about the terrifying truth of breakfast cereal (that’s a joke, by the way), this week’s recipe is a very simple variation on a traditional favorite – oatmeal. (You can blame my sense of humor on the jokes that I read on the back of the cereal box.)

All kidding aside, for a great article on the value of oatmeal in your diet, check out ProHealthBlog’s article on oatmeal,  Oatmeal is healthy, delicious and can help fat loss.

As I’ve mentioned before, since I’ve begun to eat real food rather than the packaged faux alternatives, I’m creating a meaningful relationship with food now, versus the dysfunctional love/hate/hate-myself-for-loving-it relationship that I used to have. And believe it or not, homemade oatmeal is the perfect example of that change. Read the rest of this entry »

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Editor’s note: This post is this week’s Friday Fit recipe. The idea is to try “real food” recipes that can be prepared on the weekend. Of course, each recipe can also be prepared during the week (that’s when I’m trying it), but with the hectic schedules of most, a recipe might be easier to try on the weekend when work is generally less of a factor. If you enjoy this article, please consider subscribing to my feed. Thanks.

Today’s recipe is a very satisfying variation on a classic tomato bisque. It is particularly well-suited for blustery late winter and early spring days, such as the ones that a lot of us in northern and central climes have been experiencing lately. That said, we have also had this soup cold as part of a picnic in the summer, and it is equally refreshing, particularly garnished with a few leaves of fresh basil.

Although the ingredients list looks a little long, its actually fairly simple to prepare. It freezes well and is best reheated in a pan rather than a microwave.

You should note that I am not using low-fat alternatives in this soup, which is on purpose. You can substitute light sour cream, for example, with little negative effect. However, the richness of this soup is meant to be enjoyed in smaller portions in line with my approach of eating Real Food in Moderation, so my view is this: go ahead and have the sour cream – just keep it reasonable.

In other words, if you have a few gallons of this at one sitting, your scale may portray your decisions in a slightly negative light. Because after all, no one likes to “peg the needle” on the scale; save that for that rental car. Just kidding, rental car lawyers.

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This post is about ways to enrich your life with good food in moderation. If this is your first time here, have a look around – the site focuses on improving your health through eating real food, just less of it. If you enjoy this article, please consider subscribing. Thanks.

It has been said that as long as there has been cooking, there has been soup. Soup is one of the oldest forms of nourishment that we have, and has a long tradition that spans cultures globally. These days most of us in Western cultures think of soup as the optional appetizer, or something that comes out of a can with some oddly preserved noodles, in a peculiar yellow-colored broth.

However, in many cultures, soup fills a central role in daily life, and is often considered vital to good health.

Variations on soups are abundant, but here are some of the more common broad categories:

- Broth, or consommé: These soups start with a clear broth or stock, and are what we think of as soups like chicken noodle soup.

- Bisque or puree: A richer opaque preparation that is often cooked first and then blended and optionally strained (though not always). Bisques and purees often contain cream components. A good example of a puree is classic tomato soup.

- Chowders: generally a seafood base that can be prepared with a wide variety of approaches; For example, New England Clam chowder is typically lighter in color with a cream and potato base, whereas Manhattan clam chowder typically uses a clear broth and is red, colored by tomatoes. Manhattan clam chowder is said to have originated as Italian clam soup. Corn chowder is another common variation.

- Sweet soups: Dessert soups and fruit soups are also popular worldwide, though not as common in North America. Ginataan for example, is an excellent coconut-based soup from the Philippines, and is served hot or cold. Norwegian fruktsuppe is also excellent cold, in hot summer locations in particular.

This is by no means a complete list – its just a quick portrait of the variety of soups that are common in the West. For a great list of dozens of categories of soup, see this Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soup.

21 tips on enjoying soup in moderation

If you are adjusting your dietary habits to move toward eating real food in moderation, soup can be one of your best friends. In fact, in the book, French Women Don’t Get Fat – The Secret of Eating for Pleasure, Mireille Guiliano cites the use of “Magical Leek Soup” as part of the traditional French diet, particularly in the effort to maintain the shape you desire. Read the rest of this entry »

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Editor’s note: This post is this week’s Friday Fit recipe. The idea is to try “real food” recipes that can be prepared on the weekend. Of course, each recipe can also be prepared during the week (that’s when I’m trying it), but with the hectic schedules of most, a recipe might be easier to try on the weekend when work is generally less of a factor. If you enjoy this article, please consider subscribing to my feed. Thanks.

Confessions of a salad hater

[To skip the witty diatribe (just get to the recipe, will ya?), click here. - Ed.]

Full disclosure: For most of my life I must admit that I hated salad – it just took up room on the plate, and it was something I rarely ate unless I was suffering through another short-lived diet fad. I know it sounds hard to believe to the readers who are completely focused on their health (and considering that eating more vegetables is one of the focal points of AlmostFit), but honestly? Eating salad before everything else was like having to go to the dentist before I went to the local burger joint (Any Kow Korner refugees out there?).

That all changed when I met my beautiful and intelligent wife, April.

In fact, when it comes to just about everything, my life changed dramatically for the better when she entered the picture. Among many other things, she completely revolutionized (and improved) my relationship with food – not the food alternatives that I had grown accustomed to, but real, whole food.

And in particular, for this week’s recipe, she has shown me the light of what a salad can be.

C’mon – how can anyone hate salad?

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Editor’s note: This post is the first of a regular series that will be appearing on Fridays. The idea is to try new “real food” recipes that can be prepared on the weekend. Of course, each recipe can also be prepared during the week (that’s when I’m trying it), but with the hectic schedules of most, a recipe might be easier to try on the weekend when work is generally less of a factor. If you enjoy this article, please consider subscribing to my feed. Thanks.

As part of the holistic approach to improving my health, I am searching for creative ways to “get into” vegetables. I didn’t grow up eating a lot of fresh greens, so finding vegetables that I like has been a long and continuous road, fraught with danger (or so I feared). However, despite my initial skepticism, I’ve found that the more well-prepared, well-seasoned vegetable dishes that I try, the more I like them, which even I find hard to believe. In my case, the key to this is how they are prepared.

This recipe is based on the principles that a) you can never get enough vegetables in your diet, so eat as much as you can, b) if you cook your vegetables, it should be done with reasonable skill and attention, and c) (and most importantly) eating vegetables should be about the pleasure of doing so because the flavor is out of this world, not simply because it’s “good for you.”

The concept of eating vegetables solely because they’re good is a nice idea, but based on my experience that is not a good enough reason for me to stick to a new dietary habit. I simply won’t eat them regularly if they don’t taste good.

Here’s recipe number 1 – I hope you enjoy it for the flavor first, the experience of cooking second, and the health benefits third. I’ve prepared these dishes side by side numerous times, sometimes in the quantities mentioned here, and other times for larger groups. Both times they turned out well, and were enjoyed by our guests (or at least I’m sure they didn’t have to spit it out ).

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