Homemade Potato Salad

Everyone will says this potato salad is better than any they have ever had in their life! and, it's pretty easy to make.

You'll need:

2 small/medium potatoes per person
1/8-1/4 red onion per person and depending on your preference
1-2 stalks of celery per person
1 hard boiled egg per person
Mayonnaise
Sour Cream
Ranch Dressing
Salt
Pepper

First, scrub the potatoes with a vegetable brush under running water. Just enough to get them clean but not to rub the skins off. Just under the skin is where most of the nutrients are!

Then cut the potatoes in bite sized chunks and place in pot. Cover with water, boil eggs at the same time. It take the same amount of time to cook, about 15-18 minutes.

Here we use four potatoes and two eggs. That will be a good serving amount.
While your potatoes are cooking, chop the onion and celery and put them in a container. Depending on how many servings you are making, I add a couple of dollops (spoonfuls) of mayo, sour cream, and a good heavy squirt of ranch dressing. Mix up the dressings and veggies.

When the potatoes are done (do not overcook) they will feel slightly soft when pierced with a fork, but not fall apart. The mushier the potatoes are the more you chance having a mashed potato salad instead of a nice chunky one.

Rinse your cooked potatoes (remove the eggs) and drain well. You don't want to add water to your dressing.

Carefully fold in the potatoes, you don't want to break them up or mash them.

Here's an easy way to cut up your hard boiled eggs to the perfect bite size: Hold the egg in one hand and use a "not-to-sharp" knife to carefully slice through the cupped egg. Turn the egg and slice through the other way. Then "chop" the slices into the bowl.

Again, carefully fold in the egg.
Your potato salad will taste better the longer it has to sit in the refrigerator. Making it the day before is great, but not necessary. Just try to let it get chilled for about 1/2 an hour or so before serving. This is a spectacular potato salad that will win you raves from everyone.

Nutritional Tips about potatoes...

* Red, yellow, white or brown, potatoes can provide much of the recommended daily allowance of a number of vitamins and minerals. For example, potatoes contain as much as 40% more potassium than a banana! A Russet Norkotah can have 40% of the RDA of iron. Potatoes contain 40% of your Vitamin C requirement! Basically, they are chock full of vitamins and minerals that your body needs.
* Potatoes are a source of good carbs! Your muscles and brain need healthy carbohydrates. What makes potatoes bad for you is how you cook them. French fries, for example, are not good since they are deep fried in lots of bad oils.
* Potato skins are excellent sources of fiber - in fact 3 grams of fiber is more than you may get in whole grain breads.
* There are no calories from fat, and a potato ranges from about 90 - 110 calories each. Of course, what you put on them can add a lot more calories!

Chicken Chow Mein
In China, chow mein is made with soft noodles. For crispy chow mein noodles, add more oil than the recipe calls for and cook the noodles longer to dry them out.

Ingredients:

* 1 pound mung bean sprouts
* 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 7 to 8 ounces each
* Marinade:
* 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
* 1 teaspoon soy sauce
* Salt and pepper, to taste
* 1 small piece (less than 1 teaspoon) cornstarch
* Sauce:
* 1/4 cup water or low-sodium chicken broth
* 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
* 1 tablespoon soy sauce
* Salt and pepper, to taste
* 1 tablespoon cornstarch
* 4 tablespoons water
* Other:
* 1/2 pound dry wonton noodles
* 2 medium ribs celery
* 1 pound bok choy or broccoli
* 1/2 pound fresh mushrooms
* 1 red bell pepper
* 1/2 red onion
* 1 green onion (scallion, spring onion)
* Vegetable oil for frying and stir-frying, as needed
* 1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds

Preparation:
One or 2 hours before cooking, rinse the mung bean sprouts so that they have time to drain thoroughly.

Cut the chicken into thin strips. Add the marinade ingredients, adding the cornstarch last. Marinate the chicken for 20 to 25 minutes.

The following 3 steps can be completed while the chicken is marinating:

To prepare the sauce, in a small bowl dissolve the 1 tablespoon cornstarch with the 4 tablespoons water. Whisk the water or chicken broth with the oyster sauce, soy sauce, salt, pepper and cornstarch and water mixture and set aside.

Soften the noodles by placing them in boiling salted water. Plunge into cold water to stop the cooking process and drain thoroughly.

Wash all the vegetables as needed. Cut the celery and the bok choy into 1/2-inch pieces on the diagonal. If substituting broccoli for bok choy, peel the stalks until no more strings come out, and slice thinly on the diagonal. Wipe the mushrooms clean with a damp cloth and slice. Cut the red bell pepper in half, remove the seeds and chut into chunks. Peel and chop the onion. Dice the green onion.

Heat a wok or frying pan over medium-high to high heat. Add 2 tablespoons oil. When the oil is hot, add the noodles. Fry in batches until golden. Remove the noodles from the pan.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil. Add the onion and the meat. Let the meat brown briefly, then stir-fry until the redness is gone and the meat is nearly cooked through. Remove the cooked meat and onion from the pan.

Cook the rest of the vegetables separately, except for the green onion, seasoning each with a bit of salt while stir-frying if desired. When cooking the bok choy or broccoli, add 1/4 cup of water and cover while cooking. Remove each of the vegetables from the pan when finished stir-frying. Add more oil as needed.

Give the sauce a quick restir. Add all the ingredients back into the wok, making a "well" in the middle if the wok for the sauce. Add the sauce, stirring quickly to thicken. Mix everything together. Stir in the green onions. Pour the cooked vegetable and sauce mixture on top of the noodles. Garnish the chow mein with the toasted sesame seeds. Serve hot.

GANDHI'S DIET PATTERN

GANDHI'S DIET

Gandhi followed a diet pattern that most nutritionists consider an ideal diet. But, to what extent is that diet practical for a modern individual?For Gandhi, food was not something that just satiated hunger. It was an integral part of shaping the human consciousness. Which is why he carried out a number of experiments to find the perfect diet. Though Gandhi is associated with vegetarianism and milk, he actually abstained from milk for a period of six years, considering it an animal product.In 1917, when he was bed-ridden, doctors compelled him to take milk. He, however, did not want to break his vow of not consuming cow's milk. Thus began his now-famous goat-milk diet. And the idea seems to be catching on.

According to a comparison made by Dr P.P. Bose, who has been studying dietary habits, the xanthine oxidase in cow-milk is capable of damaging the heart and arteries. On the other hand, glycerol ethers are higher in goat's milk, which is an important source of nutrition for an infant. Goat's milk also has greater amounts of vitamin A, as well as minerals, calcium, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, chlorine and manganese. Gandhi emphasized wheat and rice in a diet, with cereals holding the second place. He felt that cereals should be taken relatively dry for mastication and proper digestion. This was followed by fruits and vegetables. He stressed that fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables should be eaten raw.

A food pyramid begins with fat and oils at the top, whose consumption should be the least. Then milk and poultry products, followed by fruits and vegetables. The base represents cereals, with maximum amount of water content.
"Gandhi," explains Dr Bose, "was far ahead of his time. What he proclaimed 50 years ago is now being promoted as the ideal diet pattern."
Gandhi expressed his preference for jaggery over sugar. Because, as Dr Bose explains, "sugar goes directly into blood, raising the sugar level, and the excess sugar gets converted into calorie or fat. Jaggery, however, takes more time to masticate, thus resulting in a slower rise in sugar level".Gandhi did not think it necessary to eat pulses if milk was included in the diet. "He consumed small quantities of pure ghee," informs Dr Bose. "Since this was derived from milk, it was more like an unsaturated fat, which is not cholesterol forming."


GANDHI'S DIETARY ADVICE

· Diet must include milk and milk products such as curd, butter, ghee.
· Condiments such as chillies, pepper, turmeric, coriander, mustard should be avoided, unless prescribed by a doctor.
· Cereals, specially wheat, should be an important part of the diet. Sieving the flour should be avoided. Prefer unpolished rice to polished rice, which is more nutritious.
· Starchy foods should be eaten in a relatively dry form to ensure greater flow of saliva for mastication.
· People leading sedentary lives can do without pulses.
· Fresh leafy vegetables should be taken everyday.
· Daily diet should include seasonal fruits. The best time for taking fruits is early in the morning.
· Food should also have a certain amount of fat. It can be obtained from ghee or oil. Oil is not as nourishing as pure ghee.
· Although sweet fruits supply plenty of sugar, there is no harm in taking one or two ounces of sugar, brown or white, in a day.
· Avoid taking tea or coffee.


Gandhi said: "When food submerses the body, and through the body the soul, its relish disappears, and then alone does it begin to function in the way nature intended it to." It took Gandhi 35 long years to evolve a healthy diet that helped him to keep fit and wage a war that required all his energy and determination.