Pasta

Watkins Pasta Recipe

Here’s a good one I adapted from WatkinsOnline.com recipe section.

Ingredients:

• Cooked Whole Grain Angel Hair Pasta (8 oz.)
• 2 Tbsp of “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter”
• 1/4 Tsp Watkins Black Pepper
• 1 Tsp Watkins Garlic Liquid Spice
• Watkins Sea Salt to taste
• 1/3 cup Vegan grated Parmesan Cheese
• Garnish with Watkins Organic Basil

Cooking Directions:

Toss pasta w/ “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter”, salt, pepper & liquid spice. Top with “cheese” and organic basil. ~Enjoy  :)

4 servings

To order Watkins online click here.

David Blalock Jr.
Bronze Trailblazer Consultant #386886
E-mail me

Healthy Vegetables

Vegetarian 101

This is day 7 of my grand experiment of being a vegetarian for the month of March. Why would I want to test the waters of vegetarianism? Working on a Cardiac IMC unit in the hospital I noticed some “Common Denominators” of the patients that come to the floor.

The The “Top 3″ were:

1. Overweight (moderate to severe obesity)
2. Diet (high saturated fat)
3. Exercise (lack of)

Seeing these common connections between people with heart problems (coupled with heart disease in my family) & a few other reasons; in April 2009 my wife and I changed our eating habits. I avoid using the word “Diet” intentionally. I’ve been on “Diets” before. They are typically short term & ineffective. I did some research and chose a “Program” to follow. In our case the “Swank Diet” is the eating regimen we chose to follow. What did we give up? The main changes to our diet were the elimination of fried foods and the reduction of saturated fat. *Side note: Be careful what you make fun of. I used to laugh at people in the grocery store that read product labels; now I’m that person! So how much saturated fat is o.k.? We went with avoiding anything with more than 2.5 grams of saturated fat. The results: after three months we had both lost 30+ pounds (and have kept it off for 11 months & counting). While our reasons for changing our eating habits was not to lose weight, but instead to eat healthier; it’s still kinda nice wearing clothes that 10 years ago wouldn’t fit. I have a low-fat simple recipe site here: Recipe Resource. Most of them are “Swank Friendly”, but they are all tasty, simple to prepare and low-fat.

Healthy food is yucky! This is what I used to believe. You know, to eat healthy it’s all celery sticks & tasteless rice cakes. Boy was I ever wrong. We found a community of people committed to following the “Swank Diet” who generously and selfishly shared their favorite tasty recipes. Now the Swank Diet was designed for a specific medical condition that I wont go into here. And while the medical evidence for it’s benefits aren’t overwhelming, we knew that the healthier lifestyle change was something we wanted to adopt. The health benefits from eating delicious healthy food was our primary goal, and in this we succeeded.

Watkins Natural Products

October 2009 I was introduced to Watkins. I received some samples in the mail and was flabbergasted. I was one of those people that had never really heard about Watkins Vanilla, Watkins Black Pepper & Watkins Cinnamon. OMG!, this stuff was awesome. Seriously, just doing a simple cinnamon taste test between the cinnamon I had in the cupboard vs. Watkins Cinnamon opened my eyes to a world of flavor I had been missing. I had no idea that there could be such a difference in the flavor and quality in spices. Now, 5 months down the road with my involvement in Watkins, I’ve found that all of their products are top notch. They feature natural and green products that are good, and good for you and your family. It was great when I realized that a simple change from chemical laden shampoo, soaps & deodorants to natural Watkins products would be better for me and the environment. With over 350 products, Watkins has something for everyone.

7 Days as a Vegetarian

So how did I end up experimenting with vegetarianism? A little soul searching and a lot of fact finding. Just as before when I went with the Swank Diet, I did some research. I remember years ago hearing about a Dr. Dean Ornish who had a revolutionary way of reversing blockages to the heart WITHOUT surgery. The parallels I saw between his Clinically Proven way to reverse heart disease (eat low-fat vegetarian diet & exercise) and the patients I see coming to the Cardiac unit (unhealthy diet, overweight & no exercise) were an epiphany. “Yeah but”, why does it have to be vegetarian? Why not? #1 it’s proven medically to reverse blockages to the heart. Secondly, have you ever considered why it is you have the eating habits you do? Just because that’s the way you were raised should not be the one thing that stands between you and living a healthier life. “Beef: It’s What’s for Dinner” Ever heard that one, or have you ever got a McDonald’s jingle stuck in your head. Could we as a society be so malleable as to be susceptible to the marketing marvels who promote an unhealthy diet? I was. What vegetarian recipe could compete with McDonalds? Check this out if you love the McRib.

Vegetarian Recipes

After researching more about Dr. Dean Ornish and his “Eat more & lose weight” healthy heart eating regime, I decided to see if I could find any good recipes. Yep, sure enough I did! Here are a few great resources to try. AllRecipes.com then search for vegetarian recipes. Another awesome site for info on vegetarianism and recipes is goveg.com. Start here with Vegetarianism 101. Being a guy, I’m a visual creature. That’s just one of the reasons I love VegTV.com. They have videos showing you how to prepare some wonderful vegetarian and vegan recipes.

In conclusion. I’m not trying to scare or guilt anybody into being a vegetarian. My goal is to supply share our story and offer resources. I’m looking for helping the person who has an open mind & is looking for better health. Thanks for stopping by.

To order Watkins online click here.

David Blalock
Bronze Trailblazer Consultant #386886
E-mail me

Apple, Raisin Stuffed Chicken Breast

Stuffed Chicken Breast Recipe

This is one of those cool recipes that is actually two in one. While it is simple (only takes about an hour) the results are marvelous. While the chicken bakes, the sauce and rice are prepared, resulting in a flavor explosion!

Ingredients:

Stuffed Chicken Breast:
6  chicken breast halves (boneless, skinless)
1 cup diced apple
1/2 cup golden raisins (Don’t skimp, get Sun Maid)
1/2 cup/ sliced toasted almonds
1 tbsp Watkins Parsley
Freshly-ground Watkins Sea Salt and Watkins Black Pepper, to taste Watkins Paprika
1 cup plain yogurt (low fat or no fat)
1/2 tbsp Watkins Curry Powder

Curried Rice:
1 tbsp Watkins Original Grapeseed Oil
1 medium white onion, chopped
1 tsp Watkins Curry Powder
1/4 tsp Watkins Purest Ground Cinnamon
2 tsp Watkins Chicken Soup & Gravy
2 cups water (filtered)
1 cup Basmati rice
1 to 1-1/2 cups reserved stuffing (from above)

Cooking Directions:

Stuffed Chicken Breast

Preheat oven to 350°F. Pound chicken breasts with meat mallet to increase size by 1/2. Mix apple, golden raisins, toasted almonds, parsley, salt and pepper. Place a spoonful of stuffing in center of each breast & roll up. (There will be stuffing left over; save 1 to 1-1/2 cups of this for rice.) Place breasts seam side down on baking sheet coated with Watkins Cooking Spray. Sprinkle with Watkins Paprika and bake 40 to 50 minutes, or until chicken tests done. Meanwhile, prepare sauce: Stir curry into yogurt; set aside to let flavors develop. Prepare rice.

Curried Rice
Heat oil in heavy, lidded saucepan. Add onion, Watkins Curry powder and Watkins Cinnamon; sauté until tender. Add Watkins soup base & water; bring to a boil. Stir in rice; cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer until liquid is absorbed; about 20 minutes. About 5 minutes before rice is done, stir in reserved stuffing.

Place rice on serving platter; top with sstuffed chicken breasts. Spoon or pour yogurt sauce over chicken; sprinkle with Watkins Paprika to add color.

Serves 6.

To order Watkins online click here.

David Blalock
Bronze Trailblazer Consultant #386886
E-mail me

Watkins Black Pepper

Watkins Black Pepper since 1895

While cinnamon & vanilla are two of the more “prestigious” Watkins products, I find that my wife and I are using Watkins Black Pepper pretty much on a daily basis. Of course many of the recipes call for black pepper, but as that little “extra” something to our rice, vegetables or Cous Cous, it does the trick. We have a “store brand” black pepper grinder that is now sitting idle because the difference in flavor is so noticeable. Why is Watkins Black Pepper different? Let me tell you.

First is the peppercorns. Watkins uses Lampong and Malabar peppercorns: They are the preferred for processing because they retain so much more flavor. Lampong is from Indonesia; and the Malabar variety comes from the coast of India. But the quality of the peppercorn is only part of what makes Watkins Black Pepper the “Gold Medal Winner for Highest Quality”. After choosing the peppercorns with the strongest flavor Watkins next carefully screens out stems and debris to ensure the purest pepper flavor. The final step is the true “secret”. Watkins uses an “exclusive” granulating process that granulates each berry. Using Watkins Black Pepper for the first time and you will immediately notice the difference. Granulating the berries instead of crushing or grinding them into dust is measurable. The “Watkins Process” process doesn’t create as much friction, which can evaporate the essential oils by generating heat. The result is better flavor retention. (Samples upon request) 

A couple of cool facts:

• Originally introduced in 1895, Watkins Pure Black Pepper was awarded the Grand Prize with Gold Medal for Highest Quality at the International Exposition, Paris in 1928.
• If you stacked all the containers of Black Pepper sold by Watkins since 1895, it would be 35,106 times taller than the Empire State Building.

Now I know your asking yourself: “What would be a great recipe to highlight my new found discovery of Watkins Black Pepper?” Thought you would never ask! 
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Swirled Watkins Black Pepper Bread

1 16 oz. package  hot roll mix
3/4 tsp Watkins Basil
1/4 tsp Watkins Garlic Granules
1/4 tsp Watkins Onion Granules
2 tbsp butter, softened (or for less fat & calories “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter”)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, finely-grated
1 tsp/5 mL Watkins Black Pepper
Melted butter
Prepare hot roll mix dough according to the package directions for bread. Add the basil, garlic granules & onion granules to dry mix. Let rest as directed for five minutes.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into an 18×9 -inch rectangle. Then, spread dough w/butter (or butter substitute) and sprinkle with cheese and pepper. Roll tightly, ala jelly-roll fashion, starting from a short side. Pinch the edges and ends to seal. Place in a greased 9×5 inch loaf pan. Cover w/clean towel & let rise 15 to 20 minutes. Bake @ 350°F for 35 to 40 minutes or until loaf
sounds hollow when lightly tapped. Remove from pan & brush w/melted butter. Let cool on a wire rack.
Makes 1 loaf, 10 servings.
(Recipe courtesy of WatkinsOnline.com)

David Blalock
Watkins Independent Associate #386886
Order Watkins Products
E-mail me

Free samples & catalog upon request.