Monday, October 29, 2007

 

Gmail - [Copyblogger] Six Common Punctuation Errors that Bedevil Bloggers

Gmail - [Copyblogger] Six Common Punctuation Errors that Bedevil Bloggers

 
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Thursday, October 11, 2007

 

Dessert without the guilt

Watching your weight but can't resist the sweetest of temptations? Go easy on the guilt with this fruit-filled parfait. Rather than sugar, it is made with the low-calorie, sugar-free sweetener Equal.

weight watcher
Mixed fruit parfait
Ingredients (serves 8)
Creme anglaise
3 to 4 cups of assorted summer fruit, sliced (for example, mangoes, kiwi fruit, strawberries and peaches)
2 tbs toasted almond flakes

To make creme anglaise
11/2 cups of low-fat milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 large egg yolks
1 tbs cornflour
1/3 cup of Equal sweetener
200g low-fat ricotta

Method

Warm milk and vanilla essence in a small saucepan until mixture just boils. Set aside for five minutes to infuse.

Beat together egg yolks, Equal and cornflour until light and creamy. Slowly pour the milk and vanilla over the egg yolk mixture, whisking all the time.

Return mixture to the saucepan and cook over a low heat, whisking continually, until the mixture thickens.

Transfer mixture to a bowl, cover and chill. Whip ricotta and stir it through the creme anglaise mixture before assembling the parfait.

Place equal quantities of fruit in eight tall glasses or parfait dishes. Spoon creme anglaise on top, and garnish with the toasted almonds.

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Is there an ideal time to eat fruit?

Many have asked when is the ideal time to eat fruit, but many of them agreed that due to the digesting system, fruit should be eaten before meal. This is based on the digesting system, where harder food need longer time to digest while fruit need a shorter time to digest.

I think the question and the answer below clear the doubt, because this is answered by an expert.

mix fruit

Q My wife insists on eating fruit about two hours after lunch and dinner and no sooner than that. She read somewhere that it is not good or healthy to eat fruit immediately after lunch or dinner. If you eat them immediately after meals, the absorption of vitamins from the food is hampered.
I have to follow suit, but I find it uncomfortable eating fruit (especially oranges) around 10pm. I suppose that is due to the acidic conditions in my stomach.
Is there an optimum time to eat fruit in order to obtain maximum benefit, yet minimise undesirable side effects?

A In healthy adults, fruit can be eaten at any time of the day - before, with or after a meal and as a snack. There is no scientific evidence supporting the claim that fruit should be eaten two hours after a meal for the purpose of maximising nutritional benefits.

For those who are significantly overweight, try to monitor your intake of food during meals, if having fruit afterwards is a must.

On the other hand, having one portion of fruit as a snack between meals is healthy and can help prevent excessive food intake during meals, thus reducing total caloric intake.

Since you seem to experience discomfort - like heartburn - after eating certain fruit (for example citrus fruit such as oranges), you may want to choose non-citrus fruit instead: apples or pears, for example. If the discomfort persists, you should seek medical attention.

NATALIE GOH IS A NUTRITIONIST AND FULL MEMBER OF THE SINGAPORE NUTRITION AND DIETETICS ASSOCIATION

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Wednesday, October 10, 2007

 

Dragon Fruit


Also known as the Dragon Fruit, the Pitaya is a stunningly beautiful fruit with an intense colour and shape, magnificent flowers and a delicious taste. The fruit, apart from being refreshing and tasty, contains a lot of water and minerals with many different nutrition ingredients. It tastes light sweet and it's good for liver, laxative, supplementing fibre and very suitable for diet.

Besides, dragon fruit is also good for person who has a high blood pressure. According to popular experience, obese person who has eaten dragon fruit regularly can reduce his/her weight naturally and have a beautiful balanced body but it does not influence on his/her health. Moreover, eating this fruit can stop and reduce diabetes. Hence, dragon fruit is a favorite fruit of many people especially Asian.

Benefits of eating the Dragon Fruit
1. Enhance the body metabolism (Protein)
2. Improve digestion (Fibre)
3. Reduce Fat (Fibre)
4. Improve memory (Carotone)
5. Maintain the health of the eyes (Carotone)
6. Strengthen bones and teeth development (Calcium)
7. Tissue development (Phosphorus)
8. Help to metabolise carbohydrates and produce energy (Vitamin B1)
9. Improve appetite (Vitamin B2)
10. Moisturise and smoothen skin and decrease bad cholestrol level (Vitamin B3)
11. Improves the immune system and promotes healing of cuts and bruises (Vitamin C)

USEFUL TIPS:
How to Select and Store
They should be full-colored and free of moldy spots. Dragon Fruit should be refrigerated, unwashed, for up to 5 days. Serve chilled.

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Wednesday, October 03, 2007

 

Healthy Asian Salad

Fruit Salads
Papaya and mango bring the sunshine to your table in this Asian salad that's laced with sago pearls which have been soaked in palm sugar syrup spiked with a dash of rum. -- FRANCIS ONG

Red and gold sunrise in salad of surprises
From lemon grass and sago pearls to a dash of soursop pulp or Cointreau, Sylvia Tan concocts tart but healthy Asian salads that also delight the eyes

Fruit salads have come a long way. Remember the days when we all ate fruit salad, sweetened invariably with heavy syrup, from a tin?

While some families still resort to such canned conveniences, fruit salads these days are hopefully healthier - just fresh chopped fruit, sweetened perhaps with light syrup.

In my home, fruit salad is what we serve more and more often after a meal in these diet-conscious days. Yet while it is healthy, it can also be interesting.

The choice of fruit makes a difference. I like to add strawberries and mangoes to the mix for a touch of tartness and fragrance. Crunch could come from the hard fruit - apples or pears or even guava. Colour also is important and these days, we have a wide choice of green fruit - kiwis, green apples and grapes or just a scattering of mint leaves - to give a lift to the colour palette.

And there are still more ways to add interest to basically just cut fruit.

Adding a flavoured syrup, for example. I like to infuse the syrup used with lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves to give a fresh citrusy flavour to the bowl. And sometimes, I spike the syrup. My standby dessert during Chinese New Year is a mandarin orange salad which I marinate lavishly with Cointreau or another orange-flavoured liqueur.

Beyond syrups, I like to add unexpected ingredients to the bowl. And so sometimes, I scatter gold raisins or ruby red dried cranberries over the cut fruit. To ring in a change and a bit of creamy tartness, I may scoop out some passion fruit or soursop pulp and drizzle some of that on top. And while crunch in a fruit salad traditionally comes from the hard fruit, no one says you cannot used caramelised nuts.

In this Asian version of a fruit salad, the added interest comes from sago pearls that have been marinated first in delicious palm sugar syrup, spiked with a bit of rum.

I wanted the luscious colour and sunlit taste of the tropics in this fruit salad, so I used only papaya and mango. They make a lovely red and orange picture, the colours of sunshine, shot through with some translucent pearls!

Fruit salad has indeed come a long way.

But this fruit salad is not just a pretty picture. As hinted at by their vibrant colours, the two fruit are chockful of nutrition.

Papaya and mango have no cholesterol nor saturated fat and aside from the carbohydrates, they both contain vitamin A, calcium, iron and fibre that is good for the digestive system and the heart.

In addition, they are rich sources of antioxidant nutrients such as carotenes, vitamin C and flavonoids. Mangoes also contain a wealth of vitamin E and beta-carotene, which promote the health of the cardiovascular system and also provide protection against colon cancer.

And since neither is cooked, all these nutrients are preserved. It makes a wonderful advertisement for this tropical fruit salad, aside from taste, that is.

Sylvia Tan is a freelance writer.

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