Monday, February 14, 2011

Delicious health food


nom nom ... Kale ... nom ... chips ... nom nom ... are the ... nom nom ... best ... nom nom nom ...

I'm serious. Kale has been in the news a lot lately. At least, I've been seeing it all over the internet. In particular, how to make kale chips.

Making kale chips is so very easy. You take a bunch of washed kale, remove the thick stems, toss the leaves with some olive oil and salt (sea salt is the best), lay them on a baking sheet and bake at 300 degree for 20-30 minutes, until crisp. They taste a lot like regular chips, especially when they are fresh out of the oven. And if you eat a big ol' bowl full ... it's okay! Kale is a super food, and as a leafy green veggie, it's almost impossible to eat too much (unless you continue to eat when you are full, which you should never do, of course).

I made kale chips for my husband and me one evening. We couldn't stop eating them. I had a very large bunch, though, so we did have a good bit leftover. We had friends over for a game night the next day and everyone loved them. I dipped mine in homemade hummus. The day after that, some of us went skiing, and someone said as we were driving home, "You know what I really want right now? Kale chips."

(I did notice some of the kale chips were chewy rather than crisp the second day. I'm wondering if this is because I put some still warm chips in a plastic bag to store. I think this may have lead to some condensation which de-crisped some of them.)

A great way to get some raw kale is to mix it in a smoothie. This is a good recipe.

Why should you put some kale in your diet? Kale is high in beta carotene, vitamins K and C,  lutein and is also a good source of calcium. As with other brassica vegetables (such as broccoli and cauliflower), kale is high in indole-3-carbinol, a chemical which boosts DNA repair in cells. This chemical may also block the growth of cancer cells.

Nom nom!

Monday, February 7, 2011

Valentine Sale!

Gift certificates for couple’s massage lessons and aromatherapy massage are 20% off until 2/14/2011. Print or email certificates instantly, or have a physical certificate mailed at no additional charge. Click here for more details and to buy!

Thursday, February 3, 2011

The cumulative effects of massage

Aah...you finally got in for your massage. As you relaxed, your headache or low-back pain receded. You also may have noticed your anxieties weren’t hammering at you like they were when the massage began. 

Like many of us, you may have experienced those times when a single massage provided amazing, short-term relief from pain or stress. But as you returned to your normal activities, the chronic pain and tension came creeping back over time, contributing to headaches or flare-ups of fibromyalgia, TMJD or old injuries.

Your chronic discomforts and conditions can actually improve long term with a series of massage sessions. With regular massage, you may also notice that you don’t feel the effects of excess stress as much or that, due to increased body awareness, you use your body in ways that cause less strain. You may observe that your old pain patterns aren’t kicking in to the degree that they used to. Gradually, you may enjoy an increased sense of overall well-being and the awareness of what it feels like to be truly relaxed.