1. Cinnamon
· Reduces blood glucose level in Type 2 diabetics
· Lowers triglycerides and “bad” LDL cholesterol
· Great anti-inflammatory helping to reduce pain and discomfort, soreness, and muscle aches

2. Oregano
· Powerful anti-oxidant and cancer-fighting herb
· Phytochemcals in oregano act as anti-bacterial/viral/fungal/parasite chemicals which also aid in optimal digestive health

3. Ginger
· Powerful antioxidant properties which help to reduce damage from free radicals that causes aging and degeneration
· Helps heartburn, morning sickness and nausea/motion sickness

4. Tumeric/Curcumin
· Decreases inflammation of arthritis
· Increases immune function, healthy liver
· Research is also finding it may prevent Alzheimer’s Disease

5. Garlic
· Helps to improve immune system, improve blood sugar, improve skin conditions such as acne & warts
· Reduces triglycerides and reduce arterial plaque between 5-18%

I frequently use cinnamon, ginger and garlic in my cooking, but not so much oregano and tumeric. Note to self.

My colleagues surprised me on my birthday last spring with a cupcake party!

These little works of art come from Cupcake Cafe in Manhattan.

You could choose from chocolate cake with chocolate icing, vanilla cake with chocolate icing, vanilla cake with chocolate icing and vanilla cake with vanilla icing.  Most people don’t notice if a batch of cupcakes has one combination missing, but I do.  I feel a deep sense of calm with a complete set.

Maybe I should say frosting in place of icing?  I’m not really sure.  This stuff was really creamy, not sugary.

I’m glad I snapped a photo because let’s just say they didn’t live long.

We moved apartments one year ago Tuesday.  Because we were the first renters of a just-renovated unit, it felt brand new.  (Never mind that the building was built in 1930.)

This is a snapshot of our kitchen from before we even moved in (you can see that there were still a few remnants of the renovation).  What you see is the entire kitchen (or, to be more precise, the kitchen portion of the one room that is our entryway, kitchen, dining room and living room altogether).

So, if you’re ever puzzled by my tendency to seriously simplify recipes or invent multiple uses for one kitchen gadget, the reasoning is: four cubic feet of counter space, junior-sized appliances and cabinets that collectively would comprise just the breakfast cereal portion of most people’s pantries.

But we do think our kitchen is pretty (even if currently no longer as polished as in this photo).  Plus, I view its small size as a fun challenge- and something that bonds non-takeout-food New Yorkers together.  Not to say I don’t look forward to something bigger someday.

One of my favorite inventions this summer has been this Carrot Tomato Soup.  I started with the most basic ingredients- carrots, tomato sauce, water and salt.  And then before I decided what to add next, I tasted it: perfect.  Stop there!

Simple, tasty and healthy, it’s the perfect summer soup.

Carrot Tomato Soup

1. Boil or steam carrots until tender.  Let cool.

2. In a food processor or blender, combine carrots with tomato sauce, and water.  Blend until smooth.

3. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Put in fridge if you’d like to serve a chilled soup, or reheat on stovetop for a warm soup.  May also serve room temperature, as is my custom.  You may choose to drizzle some olive oil on top of each portion before serving.

Nothing like a four and a half month break to renew one’s blogging spirits.  Hope that goes for the readership side as well!

Summer has been going fast, as always, and has consisted of a lot of travel and great eats everywhere.  Above, a snapshot of a June breakfast with friends in Southampton: roasted vegetable omelets with cheese, fruit salad of blackberries, oranges, and bananas, and toasted La Miche bread with assorted jams.

Looking forward to catching up with many new recipes and food products in the months to come!

Fever is a new beverage that claims to produce feelings of pleasure and euphoria.

It comes in three flavors:  Kiwi + Strawberry, Pineapple + Coconut, and Mango + Banana.

I tried the Mango + Banana and I liked the flavor.  I can’t say that I felt much effect in terms of energy or mood, but I think I’m a bad judge of this kind of thing.  I also don’t feel much effect from coffee/caffeine.  And, I’m pretty much in a good mood 95% of the time.

Thanks to Lauren for sending me a bottle to sample.

Available at GNC. If you try a bottle, let me know if you feel happier or more energized.

The Eat Clean Cookbook by Tosca Reno is full of healthful, delicious recipes.  I enjoyed making many recipes in this cookbook, but there is one I return to again and again: Corn Muffins.  (Often I make it as cornbread in a loaf pan.)  Maybe it’s because I’m married to a southerner, but in our house, you can never have too much cornbread around.

Super Simple Corn Muffins by Tosca Reno

Dry Ingredients:
1 and 1/3 cups / 320 ml whole-wheat flour
1 1/3 cups / 320 ml cornmeal
1/3 cup / 80 ml skim milk powder
2 Tbsp / 30 ml Sucanat or rapadura sugar
2 tsp / 10 ml baking powder
2 tsp / 10 ml baking soda
1 tsp / 5 ml finely ground sea salt

Wet Ingredients:
½ cup / 120 ml unsweetened applesauce
2 cups / 480 ml skim milk, soured with 2 Tbsp / 30 ml lemon juice
2 Tbsp / 30 ml coconut oil, canola oil or melted butter
4 egg whites, beaten

1. Preheat oven to 425°F / 220°C. Line a muffin tin with unbleached paper liners.
2. Mix dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Set aside.
3. Place wet ingredients in a medium-sized bowl and mix together well.
4. Add wet to dry ingredients and mix just until dry ingredients are moistened. Do not over mix.
5. Fill each muffin cup 2/3 full. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until just golden on top.

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A cool thing about this cookbook is that Tosca Reno has some signature ingredient blends that she incorporates into several recipes.  Power Flour, for example, is a combination of various flours that can be used in place of regular or whole-wheat flours.  She also has a recipe for Eat Clean Cooking Spray to use in place of PAM or the like.

Thanks to Rechelle for sending me a review copy of this cookbook.  I’ll be using it for years to come.

VivAgave is a soluble fiber derived from the organic blue agave plant.  Add a tablespoon added in yogurt, oatmeal, milk, coffee or even mac n’ cheese and you’ve upped your fiber intake 40% of the recommended daily intake–in 40 calories.

VivAgave is available in 3 varieties: plain, vanilla and cocoa.  The flavor of both the plain and vanilla is very subtle (nearly tasteless, really), though the vanilla had a delicious scent.  I didn’t try to cocoa so I’m not sure about that one.

With agave’s connection to the sweet and syrupy agave nectar, I was expecting this to be sweet.  It’s not.  Which is fine, but don’t add it to a recipe as a sugar substitute or you’ll wonder why that banana bread tastes really different.   You can, however, add it as an addition to said banana bread recipe for a healthy fiber boost.

Among other selling points of the product, it’s a Prebiotic can be used to aid in the growth of “good” intestinal bacteria, it has a minimal impact on blood sugar and will not raise triglycerides, and inulin helps the body absorb calcium and magnesium.

Thanks to Isabella for sending me some to sample!

Organics are for Everyone’s Date Syrup is a delicious syrup made from dates.  Organic dates and…. nothing else.

How is it so smooth and luxurious and sweetly complex?  Truly, it’s nature’s candy.

Better than candy, it also nutritious with all of the vitamins and minerals of dates.

Here are my top 3 uses:

1. Drizzled over plain yogurt or plain greek yogurt.

2. Poured over pancakes with sliced almonds and shredded coconut.

3. Whipped with tahini (sesame seed paste) and spread over rye (or other whole grain) bread.

Check it out, buy some, no regrets.  Organic date syrup is for everyone!

My first jar was free but now I will be a loyal, paying customer.  Thanks for spreading the gospel.

Reusable shopping bags were all the rage a few years ago, and a lot of us accumulated quite a few of them.

My mom gave us some for Christmas, Whole Foods gave me one on Earth Day, an artist with a day job at Scoop gave me one outside of their store in SoHo.

Saturation of the market aside, I was really excited when Sue from what’Surbag offered to send me a couple of their bags.  They’ve carved a niche as the only FASHIONABLE, FLEXIBLE & SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE reusable shopping bag.  (what’Surbag and its-laS-tik extend their creativity into spelling and capitalization as well!)

The bags come in a dazzling array of solids, metallics and patterns.  They are manufactured in New Orleans in a factory destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and rebuilt by survivors.  5% of sales of these bags are donated to NOLA’s Hope House.

I really love using these bags.  They’re more durable than my giveaways and more flexible than the Christmas gift (but still love those, Mom!).  Sue told me that she created the graffiti style with New Yorkers in mind.  The other I have is a silver metallic (“skyline“) that has gotten compliments as my purse!

I would recommend these bags especially for city dwellers who walk home from stores since they bounce a bit as you walk which lightens the load.  I’d also recommend them for anyone looking for a more chic and durable reusable bag who appreciates helping out a good cause in the process.

With a picture like this, words seem inadequate by comparison.  Still, I’ll try.  The Republic of Tea has a beautiful and tasty new line of Hibiscus Superflower teas.  Made from Nigerian hibiscus flowers, these herbal teas are rich in Vitamin C and minerals and are caffeine-free.

There are five flavors: natural hibiscus, blueberry, key lime, vanilla apple, and pineapple lychee.

I was lucky enough to be sent a sample of the blueberry by the kind folks at The Republic of Tea.  (How could you work at a place like that and not be a kind and lovely person?)

I was delighted upon brewing my first cup to see that the color is a beautiful redish-purple.  The taste is very refreshing: a bit fruity, a bit sweet, a bit tart.  I’ve been enjoying it hot but as of today- hallelujah, warm weather in NYC!- I just tried some iced.  I am going to be drinking a lot of this come summer and I’m eager to try the other flavors.

Ready to be Tempt-ed by some great, healthy products?  Tempt is a line of delicious non-dairy “milks” and “ice creams” made from hemp seeds.  Jennifer from Living Harvest Foods was kind enough to send me a couple of coupons.

Unsweetened Vanilla Tempt Hempmilk is a delicious low-calorie beverage (60 calories in 1 cup) while also being a convenient source of healthy fats (6 grams of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fat in 1 cup) that come naturally from hemp seeds.

With my other coupon I purchased the Coffee Biscotti flavor from Tempt’s frozen dessert lineup (of which there are many tantalizing flavors).  I absolutely fell in love with this.  Not only do I love coffee ice cream (old school Coffee Toffee by Ben & Jerry’s, anyone?) but this has chocolatey cookie chunks a great mouth feel (thanks to those natural fats from hemp seeds).   Still, just 140 calories per 1/2 cup serving.

If you’ve ever tried a hempmilk-based product, I’d love to hear about it; comment below!

Olivia’s Crutons is a lovely family-based company that churns out some seriously delicious crutons.

I tried the Butter and Garlic flavor which is what first brought Olivia’s fame.

In the gourmet food product world, a Sofi Award of the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade (NASFT) is the gold standard.  See that little Oscar-looking guy in the corner of the photo above?  Yeah, Oliva’s got a Sofi Award.

But back to how good these crutons are:  they’re large, buttery, fresh, and perfectly crunchy (no threat of molar chippage). They are made from organic ingredients and not many of them: pretty much just bread, butter and herbs. No preservatives.

Perfect on salads or just out of the box.  (Did I just admit that? :/ )

Thanks to Phil and Alex for arranging the sample.  Check out Olivia’s website for recipes and the touching company story.

Organic, Shaken and Stirred: Hip Highballs, Modern Martinis and Other Totally Green Cocktails is an awesome new collection of recipes by Paul Abercrombie, published by Harvard Common Press.

I had the pleasure of being asked to look at a copy of the book and give my take here on Smorgasbite- thanks Paul!

I enjoyed sampling several of the cocktail recipes -delicious- and I enjoyed drooling over the rest.  The photography is exquisite and the ingredients- muddled blackberries, fresh mint, crystalized ginger- are, shall we say, top shelf.  That said, not too many of the recipes can be made with ingredients just lying around the house (save you tropical island dwellers, perhaps) so it pays to plan and shop accordingly.  Meanwhile, while the book calls for organic spirits (rum, tequila, etc) – regular will do.

I’m happy to be able to share with you a recipe.

Coming in Hot!

In a cocktail shaker, muddle the strawberries, 3 of the jalapeno slivers, and the lemon juice until well mashed.  Add the tequila and agave nectar, and fill the shaker with ice cubes.  Shake vigorously, then strain the mixture into a chilled martini glass.  Garnish with the remaining jalapeno sliver.

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Lastly, Paul writes a great blog about all things cocktail at, you guessed it, organicshakenandstirred.com

Living Fuel makes a line of products that have a crazy amount of nutritious things in them.

Living Fuel products contain the most potent, bioavailable, and highest quality nutritional ingredients including freeze-dried organic fruits and vegetables that are rich, natural sources of antioxidants.  The harmonious blend of these active ingredients provides diverse and balanced antioxidant protection – more so than other popular antioxidants.

I had a chance to try two of them (thanks to a nice offer from Beth) and I’m feeling all of the healthier for it.

SuperBerry Ultimate is a purplish powder that can be combined with water, juice, or milk, or mixed into a smoothie.  I tried mine two ways: with water and mixed into a smoothie with banana and blueberries.  I liked it both ways (the fruit compounds make the powder relatively sweet itself) but I would say that the smoothie was my preference.

CocoChia Snack Bars are sweet bars combined mostly of coconut, chia seeds and almond butter.  I thought it was really tasty and definitely different than most other bars.  This bar reminded me of an Almond Joy candy bar.

Check out the Living Fuel website for more information on their products including ingredient lists, nutrition facts and recipe videos.