February 27, 2013 | 11:50 am

Choosing tomatoes [VIDEO]

Posted by Elana Horwich

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To see more Meal and a Spiel how-to videos or to take cooking classes with Elana, please visit www.mealandaspiel.com

February 22, 2013 | 1:05 pm

Vigor Trigger: Lemons

Posted by Elana Horwich

Contrary to popular belief, lemons are actually alkaline, helping to restore your body’s balance to lower levels of acidity. (It is believed in the alternative health world, and now even in much of the western medical world, that disease cannot live in alkaline environments.) But not only! Lemons are replete with other positive benefits for our bodies too. These delicious fruits add so much to many of our recipes. Lemons:

• are the great liver detoxifiers and tonifiers- keep in mind when drinking alcohol or nursing a hangover.
• help to digest fat and protein, thanks to the aforementioned positive effects on the liver. (hence, squeezing lemon on fish and meat makes sense for your palate and your belly.)
• should be your first “go-to” remedy for a cold or flu since they are antimicrobial and, unlike other citrus fruits, are “anti-mucus.”
• alleviate flatulence and indigestion.
• promote weight-loss.

To see more Vigor Triggers, click here. 

To take cooking classes with Elana, visit www.mealandaspiel.com

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February 21, 2013 | 9:00 am

A cure for the hangover [VIDEO]

Posted by Elana Horwich

 

 

Since many have asked where to buy my final trick to cure the hangover, here it is: I like E3 Live Brain On in capsule form. Click here to buy from Amazon. Here is the E3 Live Website.

 

Live in LA and wanna take cooking classes with me? Visit www.mealandaspiel.com

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February 14, 2013 | 9:00 am

A man’s guide: How to create romance in the kitchen [VIDEO]

Posted by Elana Horwich

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February 13, 2013 | 1:19 pm

Vigor trigger: Dark chocolate

Posted by Elana Horwich

The chocolate most of us grew up on wasn’t really chocolate. It was brown creamy sugar bars with chocolate flavor. As a Vigor Trigger, I am referring to the good stuff, to either pure cacao or artisan dark chocolate made of at least 60% cacao. Hershey’s Special Dark is not on this list. Be forewarned: Even the best and darkest chocolate bars do contain sugar which is not good for our bodies which is why my “Once You Go Black” dessert series is made of mostly very dark chocolate and only minimal sugar. Cacao (Dark Chocolate):

The Good…

• contains loads of flavonoids which prevent clogged arteries.
• the fat contains some oleic acid, the same heart-healthy fat found olive oil.
• makes you feel good and perks up your brain

The Bad…

• is highly acidic which creates a pH level in the body that welcomes disease as well as heartburn and an acidic stomach.
• also stimulates Candida growth.
• may become addictive.

Learn more about the health benefits of foods, what we call vigor triggers, at Meal and a Spiel.

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February 1, 2013 | 9:00 am

Gluten-Free and Less-Guilty Mac N’ Cheese (RECIPE)

Posted by Elana Horwich

While preparing for a “food that will impress your man” cooking class, I polled men on facebook. “What food would you most love a woman to cook for you that would inspire you to want to give back to her?” I asked with genuine curiosity. You got it. Macaroni and Cheese. Who knew?

This must be why I am still single.  I would have said steak. Right? But that was not even in the list of responses. Second in line was enchiladas. Another shocker that confirmed my bachelorette-hood.

I clearly did not learn from my slender, grilled-fish-eating dad that creamy comfort food seems tp soften the stress of manhood.  And no wonder so many married women I know have the same complaint: “I wish I could get my husband to lose weight, but he just won’t stop eating junk.”

(Of course many husbands would like to see their wives slim down also,  but no man would risk verbal castration by saying such a thing publicly.)

Let’s face it. If you are reading this recipe, chances are you already feed - your kids, husband, self - Mac n’ Cheese from a box which involves powdered orange cheese. ( Powdered orange cheese? I mean, please, don’t even get me started. It's not even cheese!)

Or if you don’t fall in the boxed Mac N’ Cheese category, perhaps - you, your kids, your husband - are ordering gourmet Mac N’ Cheese at restaurants to satiate a deep creamy, carb-y urge which is not being fulfilled at home. Honestly, your kids can get away with it, but chances are you and your hubby cannot.

This macaroni and cheese exemplifies the real food of dudes and is dedicated to all the women who want an un-tubby hubby and to be hot-mama matrons themselves. This less-guilty recipe was invented based on the following simple criteria.

1. It must be easy to make. I’m lazy and chances are, so are you.

2. Quinoa pasta would replace white-flour pasta to make a yummy gluten-free meal. Quinoa pasta is white and has a neutral taste so you can fool whoever you want, including your kids.

3. No cream. Empty calories.

4. No breadcrumbs on top. Empty unneeded calories and also prevents a gluten free recipe.

5. There would be no besciamel sauce used.

6. Besciamel is a pain in the ass to make. The women I teach to cook do not want to measure flour on a typical Tuesday night. I avoid flour at all costs, primarily because it means an inadvertent mess I won’t want to clean up. Creaminess is added instead with the addition of mascarpone.
7. Without this butter, flour and milk concoction, this mac and cheese is gluten-free, less rich and has less empty calories.

6. It must be elegant enough for sophisticated adults but still a favorite of children. If your child asks why this mac n’ cheese is not orange, start telling them the truth now: Milk Is Not Orange, So REAL Cheese Cannot Be Orange!!!

7. Must be elegant enough for sophisticated adults, but un-sophisticated enough for a football party.  Dude Food.

    

Ingredients:

4 people

To read health benefits of ingredients, what I call Vigor Triggers, click on them.

• 1 box quinoa elbow pasta- 1 pound
• 2 cups grated White Sharp Cheddar Cheese
• 1 ounce of freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
• ½ cup Gruyere grated (for children, add more cheddar cheese)
• 4 oz Mascarpone
• hefty groundings of the pepper mill
• ¼ nutmeg nugget, freshly grated

• Set a pot of water to boil.

• Preheat oven to 350 F

• Grate or chop cheddar cheese in the food processor.

• When water is boiling, throw in a handful of kosher salt. This is the Italian way.

• Cook pasta until 2 minutes before al dente, still quite a bit chewy.

• Reserve a cup or so of cooking water ( I just dip in a mug and get some out). Drain pasta.

• Return pasta to pot and add in the mascarpone, the cheddar and a little of the cooking water, just enough to help melt cheese.

• Mix until all mostly melted.

• Add pepper and nutmeg. Taste and adjust if needed.

• Put in baking dish or in small ramekins. Kids love mini-anything. Use ramekins for them!

• Top with Parmigiano and Gruyere (or more cheddar). You can refrigerate until ready to bake.

• Bake in oven for 20 minutes until top is very melted, longer if you had refrigerated it first.

• Put under broiler for a minute if you want top to be brown.

   

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