Christmas Archives - Sensory Nutrition

Gluten-Free for the Holidays and Everyday

(November 8, 2013 NOTE: This blog post has been significantly updated since originally posted. You might want to also see these related blog posts: Holiday Baking- Does Your Choice of Flour Really Matter? Gluten-Free Update January 2012 Including Apps Gluten-Free Update Potpourri Gluten Free Update June 2012 November 2012 Potpourri: Gluten; Diabetes; 2013 Women’s Heart Health ) The holidays are exciting and everyone looks forward to them, although if you need to follow a special diet, it may be a bit disconcerting to think about how to handle a wide range of holiday situations. How do you deal with invitations to

Good-for-you Qualities of Spices and Herbs

When it comes to spices & also herbs, potency is everything! As a rule, the higher the potency of the spice, the higher the price it can command in the marketplace among knowledgeable commodity buyers. Think of aromatherapy and how you can have an immediate change of mood when affected positively by soothing aromatherapy. Well, potency of spices can also provide an element of satisfaction with a much smaller ingestion of an actual food item–thus you get more bang for your calorie buck. Another way in which good-for-you qualities of spices & herbs can be measured might

Healthful Holidays–Christmas Tea Anyone? Part 3 of 3

Why not grab a cup of fragrant not-too-hot tea and we’ll wrap up this blog series on Christmas tea and how it can contribute to helping you and yours to stay healthier during the holidays. We’ve already mentioned in Part 1 of this series how tea can contribute valuable flavonoids to your diet, and then in Part 2 of this series shared some thoughts concerning brewing tea and its caffeine content as well. Now we’d like to share some other potential health benefits of drinking a not-too-hot cup of freshly steeped tea and mention just some of the supermarket accessible brands of

Healthful Holidays–Christmas Tea Anyone? Part 2 of 3

It’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season and inadvertently forget about setting aside time to help keep yourself healthier during the holidays. Sometimes you need to just stop, catch your breath, and maybe even sit down and treat yourself to a wonderfully aromatic warm cup of tea! It’s important to keep up your antioxidant intake during the winter months and as we noted in Part 1 of 3 of this blog series, especially green and/or black tea made from the tea leaves of the Camellia senesis plant can be an excellent source of important

Green Beans with Almonds and Rosemary

Sometimes called Green Beans Almondine, this is a classic vegetable side dish that has increased herb pungency and added punch to it with the inclusion of some fresh or dried rosemary sprigs. (Image of 1# of steamed green beans/haricots verts courtesy of webmaster ©2011).

Savory Cheese Rolls

I use the Red Star Yeast Savory Cheese Rolls recipe. This is a batter dough method yeast roll recipe, so requires NO kneading! Once the dough has risen in the bowl, you beat it down, fill muffin cups, allow the dough to rise again, then simply bake it off. If for some reason you don’t like celery seed, but do like fennel seed, then you could probably add 1 tsp dried Herbs de Provence to this roll recipe in place of the celery seed if desired (and IF you aren’t making a bread stuffing recipe as well for the Thanksgiving Holiday–bread stuffing

Herb & Spice “Holiday Check-Up”

A blog reader sent in an email and asked, “How can I tell if I need to replace any herbs and spices before I start doing more cooking and baking during the holidays?” So I thought just in case anyone else would like to do an herb and spice “holiday check-up” of their collection, I’d offer some suggestions to help anyone do just that to make the most of any holiday cooking and baking efforts. Time to especially use your senses of sight, smell and taste!

Flavorful Gift Baskets for the Holidays

Sometimes a gift basket can be the just right gift to give to others at holiday time. Santa Face with “Fuzzy Fleece” beard is the “Applique Santa” design (Single 3) from www.adesignbylyn.com used with permission. (Fuzzy Fleece is also sometimes known as Silky Fleece). You can pick a basket size from small to extra large and include in it whatever suits your fancy and seems appropriate for the sentiments you wish to convey to the recipient at holiday time, no matter what the holiday may be. Contents of a gift basket can be whimsical to practical to inspirational.

BÛCHE De NÖEL (Yule Log/ Holiday Log Cake/Chocolate Cream Roll aka Sponge Cake)

This particular cake recipe dates back to my childhood in terms of my own recollection, but the Yule Log aka BÛCHE De NÖEL has been a holiday favorite for centuries. Before moving out to the suburbs, my mother worked in the city–New York City to be exact. There was a famous and unusual eatery there called the Horn & Hardart “Automat” where sometimes, for a splurge, on a vacation day she would go and get a rare lunch out, or sometimes just a dessert. Other images of the Automat from that time can be found here. The last New York

Holiday Baking Pointers & Tips Series Kickoff

Who doesn’t love the smell of something yummy baking in the oven? The sensory impact of cookies baking is one many of us can remember fondly from childhood if anyone in our families baked regularly or if we just walked by an open bakery door. Today’s blog post will kick the work week off by focusing on an overview of cookies and their ingredients and mention where to find a wonderful sugar cookie recipe worth making.