In 2013, it is a goal of mine to try new things in the kitchen. There are so many foods that have been created for the purpose of making us healthy, and I would like to take advantage of the medicinal properties in such foods. The feature food for January is ginger. Since I literally rung in the new year sick on the couch with a stomach thing, it was appropriate to start off with an ingredient that helps with such ailments. It was something that I've rarely used in the past, it would force me to try some new recipes, and it would offer some health benefits that I was missing out on by neglecting this herb (yes, apparently it's an herb). To learn more about the benefits of ginger, the
National Institute of Health has some information here.
I made two tasty treats from the
True Food cookbook that has inspired my 2013 experimentation. The first is a ginger-lime drink called "The Natural". I put some chopped ginger with some hot water in a blender to really get the nutrients into the water. Then, I strained out the ginger pieces, mixed the liquid with lime juice and agave nectar, and poured over ice. I filled the rest of the cup with some soda water and had myself a great afternoon drink.
I also made lemon-ginger sorbet/frozen yogurt. If you click on the picture, it will take you to the recipe. (I used the recipe in the book which is pretty much the same thing only without buttermilk). It did not work in my ice cream maker--which was my mistake, but I just froze it and it tasted great!
It's time to start realizing that foods can taste good while being medicine to our bodies. After all, that is part of why God created it for us to eat. Be adventurous and try something new, too!
