Essentials

It takes barely any time to cook dinner at my house. This isn't because I have a freezer loaded with Swanson meals and frozen pizzas, or cupboards jammed with instant rice. It's because I have an arsenal of healthy, nutrient-dense ingredients that allow me the versatility to cook quick, tasty meals. The best advice I can give to anyone trying to eat healthier is this: Don't buy junk food. If it's not in your cupboards you can't eat it!
The U.S.D.A. has released a statement saying that produce in our country is losing nutrients. When I read that it made me think about how all food is not created equal. I want to make sure that I'm getting the most out of what I'm eating, because empty calories lead to obesity. When your body is nourished the cravings disappear!
Here's a list of ingredients I like to keep on hand, and a little something about what makes them so great.

1.Butter: Real butter. Preferably from a local creamery. It's chalked full of vitamins a, d and e as well as potassium, phosphorus and calcium. Why should you ditch the margarine? It's a hydrogenated fat that your body doesn't know how to process and it is completely void of nutrients.








2. Brown Rice: I cook it in the rice cooker every time. Sometimes I cook it in chicken stock if I have it on hand. I usually add a little bit of butter, a clove of garlic and a few sprigs of fresh thyme. Brown rice hasn't been stripped of all it's nutrients, and it tastes just as good as (if not better than) white rice. And the beauty of the rice cooker is that you don't have to pay too much attention to it. Just set it and come back in 20 minutes to beautifully cooked rice!
3. Garlic: I pick up a fresh head of garlic every time I go grocery shopping. The best way to use it is to peel the clove and then crush it with the back of your knife. Let it sit for about 5 minutes because this allows two of the enzymes present in garlic to react with each other in order to provide maximum health benefits. It's a strong anti-viral and anti-cancer food.

4.Honey: This has to be local! Local honey is a great weapon against allergies. It is also important to support local bee keepers! I rarely use sugar at home. I substitute with honey whenever possible. This is an easy way to add nutrients to your diet. Sugar is full of empty, useless calories. Honey is an antioxidant that has B vitamins, iron and manganese.






5. Cold-expeller Pressed Oils: I always have three oils in my cupboard; grapeseed oil when I'm looking for a neutral flavor in a vinaigrette or when I need to fry something; olive oil for marinating and salads; and sesame oil (quickly becoming a favorite) for it's unique flavor. Most cheap vegetable oils are rancid before you even pop the cap because they are extracted at a temperature that is too high. This causes the production of more free radicals in your body and weakens your cell walls.
6. Medjool Dates: I always keep a package of these in the fridge. Sure, they are ridiculously expensive. But you can't imagine how many times these little things have kept me from driving to the grocery store in the middle of the night for ice cream! Considering the fact that it's a healthy choice that manages to completely satisfy my sweet tooth, I think that it's worth it!

7. Redmond Salt: Throw the bleached salt in your cupboards away and switch to a salt with a high mineral content. My favorite brand is Redmond. It's speckled with 60+ trace minerals, it's completely unrefined and 100 percent natural.








8. Fresh Fruits and Vegetables: I get these locally whenever possible because I know that the fresher my produce is, the higher its nutrient content. Because I usually know the person who is growing my food I don't have to worry about the organic labeling so much.

Winter Tip: There are a great variety of root vegetables available now. There are potatoes, sweet potatoes, parsnips, rutabagas, celeriac, carrots, and more. The easiest way to prepare these tubers is to roast them whole in the oven. This actually concentrates the natural sugars and leaves you with a sweeter tasting product. Scrub them, pierce them with a fork a couple times, wrap in foil and put them in a 350 degree oven until they are tender. When they cool a little bit you can slice them open. Add a little salt, butter or even sour cream and you've got a delicious meal; or you can peel them and puree them with some heavy cream for a tasty alternative to mashed potatoes!