Posted by kathryn in Blogging

This week I’ve set myself the challenge of eating from the cupboards. It’s easy to be constantly buying new ingredients and stocking up the fridge. However I wanted to find out how well I could last with what’s in the house. Without sacrificing the health value of what I’m eating. A couple of days in and I’m going well. I did buy some fruit and a couple of tins of tomatoes. And I have had lunch out once. Apart from …

Read more 11 comments 30 July, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Uncategorized

On my list of things to do today is some grocery shopping. In my head “we’re out of food”. But if I stand in my kitchen and look in the fridge, freezer and pantry, this is plainly a ridiculous statement. There is actually plenty of food in the house. I have dried beans, rice, quinoa, noodles and pasta in the cupboard. My spice rack is full, plus there’s olive oil, soy sauce and a number of spice pastes in …

Read more 6 comments 28 July, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Legumes, Dinners and Ethics & Sustainablity

• Fuel prices vs food prices: Interesting read from Crikey. While we’re concentrating on rising fuel prices, it’s food prices which are more worrying. * Easy fish: Another of Mark Bittman’s easy recipes – this time grilled fish with fennel. Only six ingredients and takes about 20 minutes. * Beer-baked beans: One recipe I’m going to make very soon is Cassie’s beer-baked beans from Veggie Meal Plans. * Filo samosas: Wendy from A Wee Bit of Cooking has been …

Read more 5 comments 25 July, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Uncategorized

I’m working from home today. Which means I can stop and make something different for lunch. Not having done any meaningful shopping for a while, there’s an odd mixture of goods in the cupboard. This always happens towards the end of the week. While it sometimes leaves me uncertain about what to eat, I usually enjoy the challenge. Can I make something delicious and healthy with what’s in the house? It would be easy to go out for lunch …

Read more 16 comments 24 July, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Blogging

Thanks to all who weighed in with thoughtful comments on what I should do with the Limes & Lycopene newsletter. I really appreciate hearing from you. h3. The next newsletter After reading through and thinking about my work commitments, I’m going to keep it a monthly bulletin. And the next one will be sent out later this week. I’m still working out the final format – but it will include a homework exercise. This was definitely the most popular …

Read more 2 comments 22 July, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Breakfast, Salads, Dinners and Ethics & Sustainablity

• The Great Big Vegetable Challenge: The Great Big Vegetable Challenge has charted one family’s attempt to convert vegie-phobic children into vegetable lovers. They’ve come to the end of the alphabet and are challenging you to make a vegetable face. * Strawberry salad: I love the strawberry salad on this post from Just Braise_. Leaves, kohlrabi, fresh herbs, strawberries and goats’ cheese. Light and delicious. * Sustainable food: Interesting debate on "_The Gobbler":http://the-gobbler.blogspot.com/2008/07/is-there-food-related-culture-war-going.html about the possible backlash against eating …

Read more 7 comments 18 July, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Labels & advertising

Last week I blogged about some of the tricks and traps of food labelling – the marketing that’s used to make a product look better than it actually is. There are many, many examples of this. Some more obvious than others. While spiderman chocolate breakfast cereal is a true Frankenstein food, it’s pretty obvious this product is not healthy. Instead it’s the more sneaky products that drive me up the wall. And the top of my most hated list? …

Read more 22 comments 17 July, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Blogging

If you look in the right hand sidebar you’ll see a little envelope button, which asks if you want to subscribe to the Limes & Lycopene newsletter. It’s supposed to be a monthly newsletter. But I haven’t sent it out for a considerable number of months. h3. What happened? Problem was, I really didn’t feel I was hitting the mark before. If I’m asking you to give up inbox space, plus your precious time and attention, then it has …

Read more 21 comments 16 July, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Myths

For the readers here in Australia – tonight Channel 10 is showing Jamie Oliver’s programme Eat to Save Your Life. It’s all about what junk food does to your health. It looks at the history and evolution of mass produced, processed foodstuffs and exactly what this food does to your body. It’s a hard-hitting programme, aimed at shocking people into improving their diet. But as well as the negatives, it promises simple and easy steps you can take to improve …

Read more 42 comments 16 July, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Salads, Dinners and Ethics & Sustainablity

• A week of salads: Over at Food Stories Helen Graves has celebrated her blogging anniversary with a week of posts on salads. My two favourites are the zucchini with cornichons, herbs and capers and the glorious looking beetroot, pumpkin & haloumi. * Rhubarb with lentils: I’ve been buying the most glorious rhubarb recently. Once a week an organic shop near my clinic has vegetables picked that morning. At the moment it’s rhubarb. With this week’s bunch I’m making …

Read more 11 comments 11 July, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Uncategorized

Today I’m very pleased to be doing something new. New for Limes & Lycopene anyway. We have a guest blogger, Ali from The Office Diet. If you read my Quicklinks posts you’ll know I’ve recently become a fan of this site and it’s commonsense approach to eating well at work. Over to Ali . . . If you work in a desk-based job, sometimes making it to five pm at all can be a challenge, let alone getting there …

Read more 12 comments 10 July, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Labels & advertising

Food shopping used to be simple. You’d buy meat from the butcher, vegetables from the greengrocer, milk from the milkman. But that’s not the case anymore. Now food comes in boxes and wrappers. It’s covered in words and phrases which promise a lot. It may be “a delicious snack the whole family can enjoy” or “full of the goodness of wholesome grains”. Other products have a “fresh chopped taste” or even a “new formula with fruit pulp”. Sounds good …

Read more 16 comments 08 July, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Salads, Dinners and Ethics & Sustainablity

• Eating well with limited resources: Really like this post from The Simple Dollar. It’s all about making your diet better when you have minimal space, equipment and dollars. * The Cheese Guide: Good information on cheeses. Which have the most fat, calories and calcium. Thanks to Sophie. * Ethical fish: Fascinated to read Kale for Sale’s review of Bottomfeeder – as she says it’s the Omnivore’s Dilemma of seafood. I’m going to look out for a copy of …

Read more 3 comments 04 July, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Uncategorized

It’s been a bumper edition, but Q & A Thursday is now over for this month. Today I’ve answered questions on: * reheating rice * whether it’s possible to eat too much fruit * the connection between milk and acne * the biological value of protein and it’s impact on diet * LSA and whether you need to grind up seeds to get all their nutrition * do cooked vegetables lose their nutrients * fasting If you have a …

Read more 4 comments 03 July, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Uncategorized

The last question for today’s Q & A Thursday is about fasting. A reader asks: bq. do you believe in the claim that fasting allows the body to detoxify and heal any parts of it that are ill? And do you believe there are any long-term ill effects that might be associated with doing a 24 hour fast once a week? Up front I need to say I don’t have a lot of experience with fasting. It’s not a …

Read more 3 comments 03 July, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Vegetables

The next question in Q & A Thursday comes from Tian: bq. I just had lunch of chilli chicken and veg. Because it was already packed in the tupperware, the green veg was no longer green. When veg lose their colour do they lose their nutrient content as well, making them not worthwhile eating? From the moment vegetables are picked they start losing nutrients. Therefore the shorter the distance and time between harvest and you eating them, the better. …

Read more No comments 03 July, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Fats & oils

The next question in Q & A Thursday comes from Zoe and it’s about LSA – does grinding the seeds make the nutrients more accessible? h3. What is LSA? LSA is a mixture of linseeds (or flaxseeds), sunflower seeds and almonds – all ground together to form a finely powdered mixture. It’s available from health food shops and some supermarkets. Many people use LSA as a dietary supplement, as it’s very high in nutrients – particularly the essential fatty …

Read more 3 comments 03 July, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Uncategorized

Next on Q & A Thursday Chloe wants to know about the biological value of protein – what it is and how to use this information. This is a tricky concepts. It’s hard to explain and an important nutritional principle. But (thankfully) it can also be translated into simple dietary guidelines. Stuff you can follow, without tracking numbers and doing complex calculations. I’m mostly going to answer this question by linking back to a previous post. In a previous …

Read more No comments 03 July, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Uncategorized

The next question is a follow up to my post on milk and acne. A reader has asked if it’s better to use non-dairy “milks” like soy or rice milk if you’re trying to reduce acne. The short answer to this question is it depends on the person . . . * Research has indicated there may be a link between cow’s milk and acne. I’ve blogged about this before here and a copy of one of the research …

Read more No comments 03 July, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Fruit

Another reader has asked about fruit: how much is too much and can eating fruit increase your risk of diabetes? h3. How much fruit should you eat? Here in Australia the dietary guidelines recommend two serves of fruit and five serves of vegetables every day. Both are important to your health as they provide vitamins, minerals, fibre and antioxidants. While fruit and vegetables are rich in nutrients, fruit also contains more kilojoules. So eating more than two serves of …

Read more 1 comment 03 July, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Uncategorized

The first question in today’s Q & A Thursday is from Caroline: is it safe to reheat cooked rice? Raw rice naturally contains a bacteria called Bacillus cereus. In large amounts this bacteria can cause vomiting and diarrhoea. Bacillus cereus spores survive the cooking process and are not killed off when rice is reheated. So the safety of rice is dependant on how you handle the rice once cooked. The temperature range of 4°C – 60°C is considered the …

Read more 6 comments 03 July, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Uncategorized

It’s Q & A Thursday. I have some excellent questions to talk about, covering a wide variety of topics. Usually I continue to accept questions during the day of Q & A Thursday and post answers. However I have plenty of topics to get through already – so I’m not taking accepting any more questions. I’ll get cracking soon. First up it’s food safety and reheating rice.

Read more No comments 03 July, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Uncategorized

The beginning of the month, so it’s time for the regular list of what’s in season in Sydney. h3. Fruit: * Apples: the best apples this month are are Golden Delicious, Red Delicious Granny Smith, Jonathon’s and Pink Ladies. * Avocadoes: Hass are in season * Bananas * Blueberries: from Coffs Harbour – they’re beautiful but pricey * Cumquats * Custard apples * Dates * Dragon fruit * Grapefruit: yellow grapefruit are in season and rubys are on their …

Read more No comments 02 July, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Desserts, Miscellanea and Dinners

The latest issue of Life etc magazine is out, complete with my Ten Minute Kitchen recipe column. This month the three recipes all feature ricotta: * Lemon chicken with pea & ricotta puree * Lentil, ricotta & rocket tarts * Toasted brioche with warm fruit salad The magazine is available from newsagents and ABC shops. You can also download the recipes from the Life etc website – simply click on the link about half way down the right hand sidebar. …

Read more 1 comment 01 July, 2008