Most Americans don’t buy rice in bulk, but if you do it is amazingly cheap. Go to Costco, Sam’s Club, or a local asian store and you can pick up enough rice to feed you for a year for $25! And all you have to do is add some simple flavoring (chicken broth?), vegetables or meat when you boil the rice and you have a simple meal in a pot. Add a few more exotic spices (cumin, tumeric, etc.), and you can have a delicious as well as healthy meal.  Here are a bunch of rice recipes to get you started. http://cookeatshare.com/recipes/browse/ingredient/rice . Eating well and saving money can go hand in hand!

 Best Sources of High Antioxidants Foods

With Oprah’s new show out on eating healthy, I thought I’d share the results of the FDA study done in 2003 on high Anti-Oxidant foods.  Antioxidants aren’t the only thing important to consider when choosing foods.  Dr. Joel Fuhrman, author of Eat To Live http://www.drfuhrman.com/ says you should choose foods based on their total Nutrient Value divided by Total Calories.  The higher the nutrients per calorie, the better the food for your long term health.  That said, eating a healthy variety of high Antioxidant foods is a no brainer.  So here are the foods with the highest anti-oxidants.

1. Fruits
   Berries (Cherry, blackberry, strawberry, raspberry, crowberry, blueberry, bilberry/wild blueberry, black currant), pomegranate, grape, orange, plum, pineapple, kiwi fruit, grapefruit.  Dried fruits, especially prunes and raisins, are powerpacked.
2. Vegetables
   Kale, spinach, mustard and other greens, chili pepper, red cabbage, peppers, parsley, artichoke, Brussels sprouts, russet potatoes, red beets.
3. Legumes
   Broad beans, pinto beans, soybeans.
4. Nuts and seeds
   Pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, ground nut, almonds, sunflower seeds.
5. Cereals
   Barley, millet, oats, whole wheat, corn.
6. Spices
   cloves, cinnamon, oregano, tumeric

The antioxidant content of top 20 foods are given below.

Best Antioxidant Foods

All foods are not equally good if we consider their antioxidant content. Some foods are better than the others. USDA recommends top 20 best sources of food antioxidants as measured by their total antioxidant capacity per serving size. These antioxidant rich foods are generally absorbed better by your body than antioxidant vitamins and supplement.  That doesn’t mean you should necessarily avoid supplements (I take them), but don’t take them in addition to, not instead of, these high quality foods.

List of 20 Best Foods High in Antioxidants

In the table below, the foods antioxidant power is given as per their serving sizes.

Rank	Type	Food item	Serving size	Total antioxidant capacity per serving size
1	Beans/Legumes	Red Beans (dried)	Half cup	13727
2	Fruit, Berry	Wild blueberry	1 cup	13427
3	Beans/Legumes	Red kidney beans (dried)	Half cup	13259
4	Beans/Legumes	Pinto beans	Half cup	11864
5	Fruit, Berry	Blueberry	1 cup	9019
6	Fruit, Berry	Cranberry	1 cup (whole)	8983
7	Vegetable	Artichoke (cooked)	1 cup (hearts)	7904
8	Fruit, Berry	Blackberry	1 cup	7701
9	Fruit	Prune	Half cup	7291
10	Fruit, Berry	Raspberry	1 cup	6058
11	Fruit, Bery	Strawberry	1 cup	5938
12	Fruit	Red Delicious apple	One	5900
13	Fruit	Granny Smith apple	One	5381
14	Nut	Pecan	1 ounce	5095
15	Fruit, Bery	Sweet cherry	1 cup	4873
16	Fruit	Black plum	One	4844
17	Vegetable	Russet potato (cooked)	One	4649
18	Beans/Legumes	Black beans (dried)	Half cup	4181
19	Fruit	Plum	One	4118
20	Fruit	Gala apple	One	3903

Scientists at the USDA have developed a rating scale that measures the antioxidant content of various natural plant foods. The scale is called ORAC, which stands for Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity.

Fruits	Antioxidant Value ORAC units per 100 grams	Vegetables	Antioxidant Value ORAC units per 100 grams
Prunes	5570	Kale	1770
Raisins	2830	Spinach	1260
Blueberries	2400	Brussels sprouts	980
Blackberries	2036	Alfalfa sprouts	930
Strawberries	1540	Broccoli flowers	890
Raspberries	1220	Beets	840
Plums	949	Red bell pepper	710
Oranges	750	Onion	450
Red grapes	739	Corn	400
Cherries	670	Eggplant	390
Kiwi fruit	602
Grapefruit	483

Conclusion

USDA recommends to eat foods containing at least 3,000 ORAC units a day. CookEatShare has tons of recipes that are high in these special foods. I’ve create a CookEatShare group called Eat To Live and added many of these healthy recipes to that group. Click on the link or go here to see. http://cookeatshare.com/groups/eat-to-live-2

When I looked at the finalists for the CookEatShare-KitchenAid Thanksgiving Recipe contest, there was one that I thought had little chance of winning.  How could a simple cranberry sauce, with only seven ingredients, possibly stand up to some of the other complex and interesting recipes?  Well, I was as surprised as the other judges when I voted Connie McMillan’s Cranberry Yogurt Relish as the grand prize winner.  Simply put, it is a unique and delish take on a classic Thanksgiving side dish.

Try it this year and you wont’ be disappointed.  Cranberry Yogurt Relish Recipe

See the other winnng recipes here:  CookEatShare - KitchenAid Thanksgiving Recipe Finalists

Think you’ve got the world’s best cranberry sauce or pumpkin pie recipe?  Put it to the test in the CookEatShare’s first annual Thanksgiving Recipe Contest.  You’ll have a chance to win one of several must-have prizes from KitchenAid.

Now through Sunday, November 9th you can submit your recipe by going to the KitchenAid Thanksgiving Recipe Contest page on CookEatShare.  Finalists will be chosen based on the number and quality of ratings each receives on CookEatShare.  So make sure you invite friends and family to vote for you!

Once the top eight recipes are selected through visitor-votes, a team of professional chefs will prepare the winning recipes for an exclusive tasting event and judging panel hosted by Chef Alex Marsh at San Francisco’s popular Brick Restaurant on Tuesday, November 11th.  The tasting and judging will feature a panel including Chef Marsh, Chef Nate Appleman of A16 fame, Chef Jeremy Cheng of Town, and Chef Bill Hutton of Draeger’s Cooking School.

Enter now at http://www.cookeatshare.com/contests/1

It’s St. Patrick’s Day today. Having grown up with a Scottish Irish grandfather, I am a huge fan of traditional corned beef and cabbage! My grandmother made a delicious version of it, and my wife has her own special Japanese-American version of it. As it turns out, corned beef and cabbage is similar to various stews served in Japan, so Japanese-Americans are very fond of it.

My grandmother traditionally served the corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, onions, carrots, and sometimes other root vegetables like turnips, parsnips, etc. on a plate with just a little bit of juice and butter. She served mustard on the side for the corned beef. My wife, on the otherhand, serves the whole mixture in a large bowl with spicy brown mustard on the side. It took me a while to get used to this stew/soup version of corned beef and cabbage, but now I am a huge fan of it. If you haven’t tried it before, you really should. She typically will also make a pot of mixed brown and white Japanese rice, and put a scoop of rice in the bottom of each bowl before spooning the soup/stew over it. Personally, I leave the rice out (that’s just straying too far from tradition!). But my kids love it with the rice in.

In fact, as I’ve learned, Corned Beef and Cabbage seems to be more of an American invention, though from Irish roots, than a true part of Irish culture. Read an interesting description here.

If you don’t already have a great family recipe, or are looking to try something new, give one of these recipes a shot.

http://homecooking.about.com/od/beefrecipes/r/blbeef156.htm
http://www.jimsdeli.com/food/corned-beef.htm
http://happywonderer.wordpress.com/2008/03/15/corned-beef-and-cabbage-recipe

For an added bonus, here is a great Irish Soda bread recipe I found on Elise.com. This makes a great side dish to corned beef and cabbage if you haven’t had it yet.

I’ll add a link to our family Japanese-American corned beef and cabbage recipe soon. In the meantime, enjoy your St. Patrick’s Day!