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Issue #001 May 16 2006
www.healthy-eating-made-easy.com

Contents

• What’s new at Healthy Eating Made Easy
  
• Seasonal suggestions
  
• Recipe of the month
  
• Healthy eating for kids

What’s new at Healthy Eating Made Easy

Chocolate Recipes
Who can resist it – and yes, you can enjoy chocolate in a healthy diet. Chocolate-dipped strawberries, light chocolate mousse, mango with chocolate meringue – delicious and healthy (in moderation!)

Meat Facts
Many visitors to healthy eating made easy ask whether they can include meat in a healthy diet. The answer – a qualified ‘yes’. Find out which meats are the healthiest, and what are the best ways to cook them.

Healthy Meal Planning
Loads of tips on here, about how to tackle that chore of planning the week’s menus.

Junk Food Facts
The industry’s up to every trick in the book, to get you to eat more junk food. Read about their methods here, and find out just why junk food is so very bad for you.

Seasonal Suggestions

Asparagus
The season is tantalizingly short, the flavour delectable – asparagus is a food to savour, and imported asparagus just won’t be as good. As the season progresses, the stalks tend to become more fibrous, but the flavour is still excellent.

• Nutrition: Asparagus contains folic acid – vital for pregnant women – potassium, and vitamins A and C.
• Storing: Eat as soon as possible. If you must store, keep in the bottom of the fridge. Wrap a damp kitchen towel around the cut ends and eat within two days.
• Cooking: If your asparagus is very young and tender, you can eat the thinner stalks raw - yes! try it - or plunged briefly into boiling water for 3-5 minutes. Otherwise, cook in an asparagus steamer, microwave covered in a flat dish with 1 tbsp water for 2-3 minutes, grill or roast.
• Serving: drizzle with melted organic butter or olive oil and lemon juice. Try it roasted, served with a poached egg on top – let the yolk run over the tips. Also good in quiches and flans, soups and cooked and chopped into salads.

Strawberries
The very first of the English strawberries have appeared in the shops this week. Imports can’t match them for flavour, because they’re picked when under-ripe to avoid damage during transportation. Trouble is that strawberries don’t ripen any more once picked, so an import can never have that same luscious juicy sweetness of a fully ripe strawberry. Strawberries absorb water easily, so choose organic for least risk of contamination from pesticide sprays.

• Nutrition: High in Vitamin C and cancer-fighting anti-oxidants.
• Storing: Very perishable, so eat them as soon as you can. Don’t put strawberries in the fridge as their flavour taints other foods. Keep covered in a cool place.
• Serve: Dress simply with a little balsamic vinegar to bring out the flavour. Add to cereals, salads, fruit platters, or try these strawberry recipes. Enjoy them as often as you can while the season lasts.

Recipe of the Month

Prawn and Pepper Stir-fry with Spinach

• Prepare the ingredients: peel and thinly slice 4 garlic cloves, core, deseed and thinly slice 1 large red pepper, rinse 200g (4 cups) baby spinach leaves, defrost 400g (2 cups) prawns (or use fresh).
• Heat a wok until the heat rises. Spray with sunflower oil, add garlic and stir fry until crisp. Remove from pan and drain on kitchen paper. Stir fry pepper for 1 min, then remove from pan.
• Spray wok again with oil, stir fry prawns for 2 mins until starting to brown. Add 4 tbsp soy or Thai fish sauce.
• Toss spinach into pan and stir fry until it wilts. Return peppers and garlic to pan, stir well and serve with boiled rice or noodles.

Healthy eating for kids