Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity.
~Voltaire

I was born a Phillips and one of the genetic gifts handed down by my forbearers is a love of eating. Savoring food is one of my life’s greatest pleasures. I love preparing food with my husband, working in the kitchen side by side, creating fresh and healthy dishes as we chat and reconnect after a busy day. I love the family rituals that revolve around the dinner table: the gathering and sense of belonging that accompanies Sunday roast and potatoes. I love sharing good things to eat with friends at barbeques and parties. I get a thrill out of learning about food: where it comes from, how to prepare it, and how it works to benefit my health. The process of preparing and consuming food is as much a spiritual and social endeavor in our home as means of sustaining life.

Unfortunately, in today’s market place, saturated with confusing nutritional information, pleasure in food is somewhat difficult to come by.

“What should I eat?” is a question most Americans have trouble readily answering.

How blessed we are to live in an era of abundance. Gone are the days when humans spent the majority of their time finding and preparing food, living literally hand to mouth. Today there is almost no limit to the quantity or variety of food or food like products readily available in the average supermarket. Add to variety, the constant bombardment through media sources of conflicting theories, information and recommendations about what we should put in our bodies.

I believe the overloading of food products and data is an influential contributor to the decline of general health and the increase in degenerative diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer that plague the western world. How? People make poor diet choices for many reasons, but certainly one reason must be that healthy eating seems too demand too much time, energy, or money.

This year, I am making a goal to explore in greater depth my love affair with food and nutrition. In addition to forcing my husband to listen to my endless speeches, I will use this blog as an outlet and a place to record and experiment. My aims are:

1. To share my love of food
2. To try new foods and new methods of preparation
3. To show that eating a healthy, balanced diet is achievable for almost anyone
4. To distill and simplify food information

I hope you enjoy this journey with me!

One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.
~Luciano Pavarotti and William Wright, Pavarotti, My Own Story

Me Want Miso!

It’s December in Salt Lake City and I’m cold. Sitting at my desk with my space heater cranked on high, looking out at the snow, I’m cold. I want to bundle up under a big fluffy blanket with a bowl of warm soup. What I’ve been craving lately is miso soup: that steaming bowl of deliciousness served at Japanese restaurants.
Thankfully, our budget doesn’t really allow for fine dining right now. Mr. Wilde and I were “forced” to use the dual miracles of Google search and Youtube to learn to make our very own miso soup. And I must say, we were quite successful! Even Little E agrees, as evidenced by his signing “more,” “more,” “more,” after every spoonful.

Besides learning how to make own easy soup, we learned how incredibly and amazingly good for you miso is. This stuff is perfect for keeping healthy during the holiday season! Here's a quick run down of some of the benefits of miso:

• Packed with antioxidants, vitamin E, and vitamin B12!
• Boots immunity
• Helps regulate the hormone oestrogen in women (a hormone that can cause tumors)
• 1 bowl of miso a day reduces the risk of breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, and colon cancer
• Beneficial bacteria help regulate the digestive system
• Linoleic acid, an essential fatty acid, keeps skin healthy

**As a bonus, the wakame seaweed used in miso soup helps reduce blood pressure and cholesterol**

for more information on the health benefits of miso soup, visit one of these web sites:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/31554/the_health_benefits_of_miso_soup_japanese.html

http://www.bodyecology.com/07/02/15/miso_health_and_anti-aging.php

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=114

So, what is miso, you may ask, and what makes it so great?
Miso is made from ground soybeans, fermented with koji, a yeast mold.

from bodyecology.com:

"Fermented foods and drinks ... help build your inner ecosystem. When your inner ecosystem is healthy, it is full of friendly microflora (beneficial bacteria in your intestines), that help you digest and assimilate nutrients and boost your immunity.
While it was once thought that soy was the reason for the low rates of heart disease, breast and prostate cancer in Asia, more evidence is now showing us that it is the consumption of traditional fermented soy products (usually eaten every day) that are providing the real benefits."

Miso soup is simple, healthy and versitile. It will probably require a visit to a local asian market, but the ingredients are inexpensive and easy to find. Visit one of these websites (by clicking on the picture) for some great variations on the classic tofu/green onion combination: