Author Archives: Maria

About Maria

Maria's Italian roots run deep, and she learned a love of cooking from her grandmother. She enjoys making low fat versions of her grandmother's classic recipes.

Vegan tuna salad – for salad or sandwich

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Nutritional information is included at the bottom of this recipe.

Nothing fishy going on around here!

We’ve got a very quick and simple vegan tuna salad recipe that’s super low in fat and satisfyingly delicious. We can’t take all the credit for it though. The recipe was inspired by Mimi Loureiro’s incredibly yummy and hugely popular “Chuna Melt” at her O2 Vegan Cafe in Cambridge, MA.

vegan tuna salad sandwichThis vegan tuna salad is one of our go to meals when we are feeling super hungry but don’t want to cook. It literally takes minutes to prepare and always Continue reading →

Healthy, strong, and 100…what’s the secret?

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He still drives, helps with the yard work, doesn’t have a single ache or pain in his body, and he’s 100 years of age…so far! He’s retired heart surgeon Ellsworth Wareham and he credits his good health largely to his plant based, vegan diet which he adopted mid-life. CNN’s chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta sat down with the centenarian for an enlightening interview:

By simply staying away from animal products he has managed to keep his blood cholesterol level extremely low, thereby virtually eliminating any risk of a heart attack. Because of all the knowledge he gained in his decades as a heart surgeon, he says, “I’m dealing in an area that I understand”.

Hopefully his common sense approach will inspire others to follow his simple secrets to a long, healthy life.

Processed food and soda health food? Dieticians paid to say yes!

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I’m lucky we didn’t have soda or processed foods in the house much as a kid. It just wasn’t part of the Italian/Albanian cultural way of eating I grew up with. We ate a lot of simple, healthy foods like pasta e fagioli (beans), homemade pizza with tomatoes and olives (and no cheese), escarole and white beans, and lentil soup. The only “processing” I can think of was my grandmother asking me to go through the huge pile of uncooked lentils on her table to look for stray pebbles.

lovelowfat-lentils

On holidays we’d have my Italian grandmother’s homemade cookies, or my Albanian grandmother’s homemade baklava. On very rare occasions we had a soda, either root beer or cream soda, as a treat. But that’s what sugar should be, an occasional, festive treat. Yet for many it’s Continue reading →

Sugar industry not so sweet

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lovelowfat-sugar-bowl

In a story that’s eerily reminiscent of the tobacco industry, recent documents have shed light on the sugar industry’s history of manipulating public information to maximize profit at the expense of public health. 

Finally, the word has been getting out. If you haven’t already seen them, we highly recommend the documentaries King Corn and Fed Up. Each film in its own way elaborates on how refined sugar is everywhere, and is one of the leading causes of obesity and other related illnesses. And if that’s not bad enough, the politics behind it will really make you sick!

 

Eat your grains!

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According to a large new long-term study from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, it has been found that consuming whole grain foods is associated with up to 9% lower overall mortality and up to 15% lower cardiovascular disease (CVD) related mortality: “For each serving of whole grains (28g/day), overall mortality dropped by 5%, and by 9% for CVD-related mortality.”

whole-grain-bread

Replacing refined grains and red meats with whole grains is also likely to lower mortality, according to the study. “Swapping just one serving of refined grains or red meat per day Continue reading →

UtiliTEA kettle by Adagio

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I have a handy little trick to save time when cooking something on the stove that requires hot water. When I prepare things such as soups, hot cereal, pasta or potatoes I usually speed the process along by pre-heating the water in an electric tea kettle. I like doing this because it’s faster than boiling it on the stove, it doesn’t take up a burner, and it doesn’t heat up the kitchen.

The one we have is the utiliTEA kettle by Adagio. It’s a 30 oz. variable temperature electric hot water kettle.

We’ve had our utiliTEA kettle for several years. We use it numerous times a day, and it’s still going strong. We love it! We did loads of research before buying our Continue reading →

SodaStream review – better for you, and your piggy bank

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I’m always trying to get myself to drink more water. I’m not a huge fan of flat water, and I think buying bottled water is such a waste of resources.

sodastream-bubbly-water

However, I used to buy bottles and bottles of carbonated water/seltzer. And since I try to grocery shop as Continue reading →

Nutribullet review, and our daily smoothies

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There are very few kitchen gadgets I use on a daily basis, but there’s one item I use every single day. It’s the NutriBullet.

Actually, more often than not I use it twice a day, and so does my partner. In fact he even bought another just to keep at his work. After having used it steadily for over two years, I figured it’s finally time for a NutriBullet review!

We use it primarily for smoothies. Ever since we learned how important it is to eat lots of leafy greens, we found the Nutribullet to be the best way to make that happen. That’s because it’s quick, it’s easy and it’s reliable. I like Continue reading →

Bialetti Ceramic Cookware

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In our quest to find the perfect nonstick pan, we decided to try out Bialetti ceramic cookware. Ceramic coating is a great alternative to PTFE. Bialetti ceramic cookware is also free of PFOA and cadmium.

Bialetti ceramic cookware package back

Bialetti has many options to choose from. We finally settled on the Aeternum sauté pan. We purchased the 10” size, but it comes in a variety of sizes and shapes, including a square griddle, a covered sauce pans, and a five quart Dutch oven.

The pan

It’s a very nice looking pan and seems quite solid. The outer surface of the pan, which in this is case red, continues to the smooth bottom surface of the pan. The handle is matching red silicone. The cooking surface is white “nano” ceramic. For some reason Continue reading →

Ozeri Cookware’s Ceramic Nonstick Pan

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Even though I have a number of PTFE coated non-stick pans that have worked well for me, I really wanted to explore chemical free coatings. I think it’s better not only for me and my family, but for the environment as well. Ozeri Cookware’s Green Earth Textured Ceramic Nonstick Frying Pan is the most recent one I’ve tried. It’s 100 percent free of PTFE and PFOA.

Ozeri Cookware Green Earth Textured Ceramic Nonstick Frying Pan

Instead of a chemical based coating, the nonstick surface on Ozeri cookware is made of “Greblon”, a ceramic coating manufactured in Germany. The pan itself is not made in Germany, only the nonstick coating is. What attracts me to ceramic nonstick coating is that it does not release harmful fumes or toxins when cooking, even at high temperatures. Chemical based PFOA and PTFE coatings such as Teflon do.

Ozeri Greblon coating

Ozeri cookware is moderately priced. It’s not the cheapest, yet not the most expensive either. The pan arrived well packed Continue reading →