When it comes to busy weeknights, help is always welcome in the kitchen.  A crock pot is like having a second set of hands in your kitchen.  Prepare it in the morning before work and it’s ready for you when you come home. 

Now that Fall is here, there is no better way to warm your insides than to prepare a crock pot chili recipe.  Now there are so many chili crock pot recipes you can use.  Some add alcohol, some use cocoa and others use black beans instead of kidney beans.

My favorite recipe is for easy crock pot chili and very healthy too!  Tomatoes are extremely rich in vitamin C, vitamin A, potassium and iron.  They are also high in lycopene-an antioxidant that neutralizes harmful free radicals.  Locopene has twice the antioxidants of beta carotene and helps prevent against prostate cancer.  Black beans are rich in dietary fiber which helps lower cholesterol.  Black beans are also high in antioxidants which protect us against cancer and aging.  Onions are rich in fiber, sulfur compounds, vitamin C and chromium.  Low-fat beef or turkey is a great way to get your protein and keep you full for a long time acting as an appetite supressant.  Bite for bite, this chili packs a powerful nutritional punch!

 Black Bean Crock Pot Chili

1 pound low fat ground beef or turkey

1 medium sweet onion

1 -32 ounce cans diced tomatoes

1-2 cans black beans (depends on how many you like)

1 packet chili powder or 2 tablespoons

*cayenne pepper to taste

First thing is to saute the ground beef until cooked.  Near the end throw in the onions to soften a little.

Put the gound beef and onions in the crock pot.  Add diced tomatoes and black beans.  Stir in chili powder.

Let cook all day on low.

Top with shredded cheddar cheese and/or sour cream.

Bon Apetite!

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The first thing to do is gather up all our old vegetables.  I always have celery, carrots and onions on hand.  I believe the basics of almost any soup is onions, carrots and celery.   Chop them up small and start sauteing them in 1-2 tablespoons of  coconut oil or olive oil and garlic.  The more garlic the better as far as I am concerned. 

When the onions start to look translucent, add about 8 cups of water.  I then add chicken boullion according to the package. 

Add your chicken.  If I have a leftover roast I will add every last bit of meat I can get off of it, or I will add a package of chopped chicken breast.  Costco is now selling bits of chicken breast vacuum packed at a great price.  I keep a package in my freezer at all times. 

Now I add the rest of my vegetables.  I love to use broccoli, zucchini, pea pods, potato (use the skins)-whatever I have and need to use.

This is also a good time to add whatever starch you want-noodles, wild rice, pasta.  I like to use extra wide egg noodles.  I also use a russet potato or two to give an earthy flavor.  Let it simmer for a while, but keep on eye on it.  You may need to use extra water or add some more bouillon.  This is where you can make the soup a chicken noodle soup recipe, a chicken and rice soup recipe, or even a chicken corn soup recipe!  You choose.  I find the best chicken soup recipe is always the one you make with love and your imagination!

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Almost every major city in the western world has an Asian food store where you can buy the ingredients for your own home-cooked Asian food recipes. Although, nowadays you can find almost any ingredient you want with a quick search online. Online shopping is increasing year by year, and this is especially so when it comes to sought-after ingredients which are hard to find. Asian food supplies sometimes fall into this category, especially if you want to delve into realistic Asian cookery.

Japanese cuisine is some of the healthiest food in the world. To make authentic Japanese cuisine, you must source your ingredients very carefully. A lot of them are not going to be readily stocked in your local supermarket. But, if you are willing to go the extra mile to source your ingredients you will find that the end product will give you great satisfaction. Japanese foods tend to use a lot of rice or noodles as a base and they also are great believers in using fresh vegetables and raw fish. The Japanese have a culture of preparation which is very meticulous, the attention to detail in Japanese cooking makes it feel almost ritualistic, and it is as much about form as is any French cuisine.

Chinese cuisine is another form of food which we are all used to seeing in our towns and cities. Yet, it is again heavily modified towards the western palate. Also, there are many distinct regional variations throughout Chinese cookery, as there are throughout the Asian food market. Every region in China seems to use it own ingredients and its own cooking processes.   Like every other respectable cuisine in the world, the best Chinese cuisine only utilizes the ingredients which are available at the time and which are in season which makes it very healthy. This makes Chinese food, as well as Asian food in general, some of the most popular in the world.

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The cabbage soup diet is a popular diet which gives the overweight person an opportunity to lose weight and improve their overall system. Obesity is a big problem in the western world these days. The reasons for weight gain are many. Some people blame the pace of life, everybody needs a lot more hours in the day, and most people just don’t have the time to cook properly. While this may be true, the implications of being overweight mean that there is a much higher risk of heart problems, liver and kidney problems, and blood problems, to name but a few. Using the cabbage soup diet is a good method of starting off your weight loss plan.

Soup diets are highly recommended for people who are trying to lose weight. The cabbage soup diet plan involves making cabbage soup. You prepare the soup and eat only the soup three times a day for a period of seven days. One week is sufficient for this diet. The reason that this diet works is because it contains negligible amounts of calories. There are many other health benefits to eating a cabbage soup diet recipe. There are many recipes and some of them involve eating some combinations of food which can at times be quite bizarre. Some forms of this diet will allow the dieter to only consume water, as much of the soup as they can handle, and a selective number of other foods. Other forms of the cabbage soup diet allow for a wider range of other foods. The thing that a lot of dieters like about this dieting plan is that they can eat as much of this type of food as they want. Most cabbage soup diet recipes involve the addition of other low-calorie vegetables as well. The whole mixture can be flavored with an onion soup mix, tomato juice, and/or vegetable bouillon. Beef is even allowed on the first day with some of the recipes.

The 7 day cabbage soup diet is also good for helping with urinary dysfunction. Other common health issues that can be helped with this diet are headaches, digestive disorders, and insomnia. Drinking plenty of water with this diet also helps a lot. The cabbage soup makes people want to urinate more. This has an enormous impact on a person’s body during the diet is because of the high level of toxins which are released during weight loss.

Apple Pie can arguably be one of the best and healthiest desserts if you make it that way!  Apples are sooo good for you and cinnamon lowers blood sugar.  The combination makes for a healthy, low fat dessert that is super delicious!  The best apple pie recipe also happens to be an easy  apple pie recipe too!

Apple Crumb Pie

This  recipe for apple pie has a special crumb crust and topping that go great with the filling.  Almost any kind of apples will do, but tart work the best.  

Most apple pie recipes are laden in fat.  We use honey and less butter for the curst which reduces the fat.

It taste great a la mode with nonfat frozen yogurt.

Crust

2.5 cups whole-wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 cup unsalted butter

2 tablespoons honey

Filling

8-9 tart apples sliced thinly

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour

2 tablespoons vanilla

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 425*.  Oil a 9 or 10 inch spring form  pan.

Crust:  Mix sugar, flour and cinnamon in a large bowl.  Cut in  butter and honey with a food processor to form fine crumbs.  Pat two-thirds of the mixture on the bottom and up the sides of the pan.

Filling:  Place the cut apples in a large bowl.  Add sugar, flour, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Toss to coat the apples.  Spoon the filling into the crust and bake for 25 minutes.  Remove the pie from the oven and top with the remaining crust crumbs.  Pat the crust down gently and sprinkle with more cinnamon.  Bake for another 20 minutes until golden.  Cool 45-60 minutes before removing the sides of the pan.

268 calories per serving, 5 grams fat, 5.6 g. dietary fiber

Apple Crisp

Apples, cinnamon and raisins are surrounded by a delicious granola like crust.

Filling

8 tart sliced apples

juice of 1 lemon

3/4 cup raisins

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons whole-wheat pastry flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1  teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

Crust

2 cups rolled oats

3/4 cup oat bran or bran

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup wholw wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons honey

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly coat 13×9 baking pan with no stick spray. 

Filling:  Mix the apples, lemon juice, raisins, sugar, flour,cinnamon, nutmeg,vanilla,cloves and allspice.   Set aside.

Crust:  Mix the oats, bran, butter, flour, sugar, honey and cinnamon.  Pat half of the crust mixture on the bottom of the prepared baking pan.  Pour filling evenly over crust.  Pat remainng crust on top.  Cover the pan with foil and bake for 45 minutes.  Uncover and bake another 15 minutes or until golden.  Cool.

190 Calories per serving, 3.9 gram fat, 39.6g. carbohydrate, 2.7 g. fiber.

Dreamfields also has a great website where  you can buy low carb pasta and low carb pasta sauce online.  You can search their data base of low carb pasta recipes and plan your dinners.  It takes alot of the hassle and work out of planning recipes.

Supermarkets  have payed attention to this low carb craze and now stock up on great low carb replacements for beer, pasta and candy.  Always read the labels to be sure what your eating.  Some of these products can fix your sweet tooth or carb craving without sacrificing your waistline!

The way your internal systems work together develops over time, and with that, you end up storing toxins from food that hasn’t been completely digested, and plaque from fats that haven’t been passed through your bloodstream properly. When this happens, you usually end up suffering from a heart attack, or kidney and liver problems. The way to solve this though, is by getting the natural antioxidants, and chemicals found in the raw food diet that help your body to push the toxins out. This is why it is considered a detox diet, when in reality, it is just a natural diet that helps your body function the way it is supposed to. When you don’t have all of these leftover toxins stored up, you are going to feel better, look better, and generally have a better outlook on life all together.

When you are beginning the raw foods diet you probably aren’t going to notice much of a change, but as you gradually insert more and more of this diet plan into your life, you are going to notice that your hair is shinier, your face glows, your teeth feel whiter, there are so many benefits to eating natural foods, instead of man processed meats and frozen vegetables. The same goes for your animals as well, the dog raw food diet is great to keep their skin and coat healthy, remove that odor that follows them around, along with getting rid of bad breath. To top all of this off, eating natural vegetables is going to clear the enzymes and free radicals that build up in your blood stream, allowing both of you to live longer, happier healthier lives. If you haven’t taken a look at the raw food detox diet, what are you waiting on? There are some great raw foods diet recipes available where you won’t even believe you are eating raw food!  You can also incorporate the benfits of raw food throught drinking wheatgrass everyay.  Wheatgrass benefits are a great addition to a regular diet if you don’t want to go completely raw.   Either way, incorporate raw food into your diet as much as you can for a healthier body.

Not all chocolates are made equal though. It is only spoke about that dark chocolate is good for you, whereas milk, and white chocolate don’t have the same health benefits of dark chocolate. They all contain sugar, but the active chemicals inside of dark chocolate set it apart from its relatives. It’s for this reason that so many physicians and doctors are telling patients to eat more chocolate. Other then the bars that you see in gas stations, convenience, and grocery stores, there are couple other types of dark chocolate, that can have even more health benefits for you.

The first being organic dark chocolate. This stuff fetches a decent penny at the health food store, or the Native Sun grocery stores, but it is well worth it. Everything inside of the bar is natural, grown without pesticides, herbicides, or growth hormones, giving you the most natural chocolate you can taste. It does come with a price tag though, so save this bar for those rare occasions when you really need a good pick me up.

The other type is sugar free dark chocolate. Since most of the craving is actually for the chocolate itself, you probably aren’t going to miss out much by going with sugar free instead. The reason this type of dark chocolate is considered healthier for you is because of the way your body processes sugars. They aren’t natural to your body, and getting rid of them wherever possible is a smart decision. So for a true guilt free pick me up, next time you should consider some sugar free dark chocolate.

Splenda is another sweetener that was promised to be the next best thing, but is now coming under scrutiny for its safety concerns.  Splenda is suppose to be as sweet as sugar with none of the calories.  Unfortunately, long term studies of Splenda have never been conducted and evidence against its good benefits is mounting.  Artificial sweeteners as food additives are not subject to the same strict regulations as pharmaceutical drugs by the FDA.  Most testing of artificial sweeteners are funded by the food industry which obviously has quite a vested interest in it’s success.  Foods with these artificial sweeteners also spike your blood sugar and deliver empty calories which leave you hungry soon after you have eaten them.

The best diet foods for weight  loss  are whole, healthy foods. When you eat whole foods, you are not always hungry because you are not eating chemicals and high fructose corn syrup that keeps you addicted and hungry.  Whole healthy foods are like mother nature’s appetite suppressant.   Whole foods are also a benefit to diabetics.  Foods that are grown in the earth, not manufactured in a factory.  Many good diet foods include fresh fruits and vegetables that you can eat as much as you want.  They are loaded in fiber, anti-oxidants, vitamins and minerals that your body needs to burn and break down fat cells.  A whole food diet consists of whole grains like brown rice, quinoa, and whole wheat pasta, and lean proteins like turkey, chicken or lean cuts of beef.  Substituting heavy creams and oils with applesauce, riccotta cheese and yougurt is also a great way to lighten foods up.  I like to visit my friend’s  site to learn tips on lightening up Italian food - my favorite!   A good rule of thumb to follow is if mother nature didn’t make it, don’t eat it.  A whole food diet will give you energy, vitality and all the nutrients you need to get you through the day in top form.