Weekly Specials

Yesterday was A's birthday. I celebrated by cooking him a dinner that had not a trace of fibre, vegetable or protein in it. Instead, it was full of butter, white flour and cheese. Oh, the cheese! It was insanely indulgent yet effortlessly simple in a way only the Italians can do. I'm talking spaghetti Cacio e Pepe, and you can get the recipe right here. Trust me - you will die happy. Perhaps a little early, but happy.

And now, back to the Wholesome side of things:

If you haven't seen AllergyKids Founder Robyn O'Brien's TEDx talk on why allergies are more prevalent now than when we were kids, it's a MUST watch. Really - this is 18 minutes that will change the way you live.

Also, you should read her explanation about why organic is better than conventional in light of the Stanford Study at HuffPo.

Fooducate explains why you can lose 9 pounds by reading food labels. 

Run out of eggs for the muffins you're baking? Here's a quick replacement (via The Faux Martha)

And have you gotten your grocery list pimped yet? That' right, send me your grocery list, and I'll give it a free healthy makeover! Details are here!

Weekly Specials Aug 23, 2012

Well, there's been a lot of debate about eggs lately thanks to this UWO study, which claims that egg yolks are almost as bad as smoking. The author of the study, Cardiologist Dr. Spence, had released a study in 2010 suggesting that the cholesterol in one egg yolk is worse than a KFC Double-Down sandwich. (Love to hear that my alma mater is respected for studies that don't sensationalize.) However, deeper investigation shows that the study had some serious problems, and most experts agree that you can continue enjoying eggs! (Phew.)

General Mills in the US is being sued for claiming its products are 100% natural when some of them are not.From the New York Times article: 
“I’ve figured out now that something can say it’s 100 percent natural on the outside and not be 100 percent natural,” Ms. McKendrick said. “I want to make sure other people making purchases understand that, too.”
Oh, just wait until i do my Supermarket Survival Guide on the Granola Bar Aisle. It is truly scary.

This broke my heart, but I suppose it had to be said. The Food Babe dishes on the ingredients we don't know are in our sushi.

Everyone knows how I love my ricotta (I even included it in my Top 5 Hidden Gems at the Grocery Store.) Now, my favourite combo of fresh peaches, ricotta and maple syrup can be made into a galette! via The FauxMartha

Another one of my all-time favourite recipes is my Slow Roasted Tomato Basil Spaghetti, so of course I can't wait to try this soup! (via Naturally Ella)

Tweet of the Week:

Of course, as we celebrated Julia Child's birthday last week, I had to tweet one of her amazing quotes.
(You can follow me on Twitter here.)

Pin of the week: 

I'm turning to soups lately in anticipation of fall: This one has me dying to try it out.
(you can follow me on Pinterest here.)

Also, I've finally gotten around to putting together a list of my popular posts, food facts as well as recipes (you can find it below the Wholesome Hedonist banner.) Check out what you've missed here!

Weekly Specials

Welcome to my weekly picks from the great big internets:

Recipes:

It can perhaps be said that I am a tad overenthusiastic at times. This extends often to my cooking, so that when I make a beet recipe, say, I make a  whole lot of that beet recipe, until I have stacks and stacks of ruby red Ziploc bags in my freezer. So I really didn't really want a beet to darken my path for a very, very long time. Until I saw this genius recipe from Pink Kitchen, that is. Beets with pear and cardamom and ginger? Yes please! I can't wait to give this a go.

I have a deep and abiding love for anything cakey, crumbly and full of carbs. Cakes, loaves, muffins, cookies, you name it. As I've mentioned here before, I have tried to slim down some of my favourite baked goods, but the results have not been pretty. So I am super excited to try Two Peas and Their Pod's recipe for Chocolate Fudge Zucchini Cookies, which contain zucchini and greek yogurt. Could these possibly be my dessert salvation? My fingers are crossed...

Resources:

How do probiotics really work? The jury's still out on this one. Which means that all those products that you see with probiotics on the label - from bread to yogurt to juice - may or may not do anything for your digestive system. My advice? Ignore the claims (as always) and choose the products based on the list of ingredients and nutritional panel instead. (via NPR)

This is a concise primer on antibiotics in farm animals: why they are used, why it's a problem and what the consequences are to us. I know it's hard - and expensive - to switch to organic (believe me, I've picked up grocery store meat in a pinch too) but this article makes me more committed than ever to switch to organic and other protein sources.(via NRDC)

Are superfoods worth the super price tag? Not according to the Dietitians of Canada. Bust that myth and 38 more on their website (It's woefully unreadable, but the info is good.) 

Pin of the week:

I'm all about inspirational quotes and sayings. This one really spoke to me this week. 

Tweet of the Week:

My thrown together lunch was inspired by all the peaches in my parents' backyard!

Weekly Specials

Every now and then I like to do a round up of interesting food-related items I've seen on the web. For those of you who follow me on Twitter or Pinterest, you may have seen some of the links below, but a lot of them I never got around to posting (the tide of social media is just too much to keep up with sometimes.)

Here's yet another example of not judging a book by its cover: this New York Times article argues that the flavour has been inadvertently bred out of supermarket tomatoes in favour of a luscious red appearance (my solution is to roast them.) 

In my constant quest to assure people that fat is not bad for them: this concise article explains the difference between good fat and bad fat (from Women's Health Magazine) 

Confused about what to eat after a workout? this should help (via the kitchn). To paraphrase Chandler Bing, I try to go to the gym 3 times a week...but I've missed the last 837 times.

What the heck is a garlic scape? This post will enlighten you and give you some ways to use these ubiquitous farmer's market finds (plus, I love Alana's reflective and quietly funny writing style.)

And if you're wondering what the heck to do with kale - Amanda has some great ideas (personally I can't wait to sneak some kale into those chocolate muffins!)


For the moms and dads out there: 

Some of the foods on my top overrated foods list made it onto this list of popular baby foods to avoid. (Tip: just because they come in cute shapes doesn't mean it's good for kids)

An interesting article on how shaping flavour preferences starts in the womb  (via @CandidRD)