Category: Cooking
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Bask in the Benefits of Culinary Therapy
We all know stress reduction is essential to stay healthy. What better way to enjoy a heart-healthy lifestyle than to cook a delicious meal and relax in the process? More and more health experts are recognizing the therapeutic benefits of cooking. Research published in 2004 showed that mental health patients benefited from baking classes, helping…
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Peaches and Pastry
Peach season is one of my favorites—whether I am baking a peach pie or crisp, dicing peaches for salsa to accompany chicken or simply biting into a blushing peach out of my hand, with the juice running down my arm. According to tradition, each summer I bake a peach pie for Dan, whose birthday falls…
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Heart Health: Balancing the Straight and Narrow
A friend shared recently that her cousin had a heart attack. Several months later, he was regularly hitting the drive-through at his favorite fast-food chain. “What could he be thinking?” she asked. I nodded as I listened. I understood all too well. When someone puts you on an austere diet and tells you that you…
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Sniffing Out Stealth Sugars
After I gave a talk on holiday health pitfalls, one of the attendees asked about healthy coffee creamers. Although I’m not a coffee aficionado, my husband is. After his heart attack, he began using fat-free half-and-half. However, I hated to admit that it does contain corn syrup. When searching for low-fat and fat-free alternatives, you…
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Salade Niçoise a la Dan
Since retiring a few years ago, Dan has taken over some of the meal preparation at dinnertime, which is a relief on days when I’m working on deadline. As I finish work for the day, I’ll often hear clattering utensils, cabinet doors opening and closing, and strains of Andrea Bocelli drifting from the kitchen as…
La Dolce Vita: Our Heart-Healthy Culinary Journey 