With the rush of getting those last minute gifts for everyone on your list, it’s nice to remember that—if you’ve been incorporating organic food into your diet—you’ve already been generously giving good health to your family. We’re going to send you a series of short notes over the coming days to let you know you are giving your family the best in heath and taste with Wild Oats organic food.

Take our tomatoes, for example. The organic tomatoes used in Wild Oats’ canned tomatoes, soups and salsas contain nearly double the levels of two important antioxidants, according to a 10-year study conducted by the University of California, Davis. Those tomatoes also have less than half of the amount of the toxic metal cadmium than the tomatoes grown on conventional farms.

And, organic tomatoes and other crops have four times less pesticide residues than the crops grown on conventional farms.

That’s certainly something to feel good about this Holiday season.

With the Holidays on the way, it’s the perfect time to plan which “mocktails,” or non-alcoholic beverages are the right choice to add to your celebrations. Here are a couple of my favorite mocktail ideas from The Healthy Honeys that are simple, festive and feature healthy ingredients.

Zingy Cranberry Cocktail

• 1-2 Tbs. Apple cider vinegar
• 2 Tbs. Cranberry Juice
• 1 1/2 C. Water
• 2 tsp. Maple syrup

Stir together and drink.

Note: I love the addition of cranberry. Cranberries are loaded with antioxidants. They also are beneficial to urinary tract, digestive, and heart health.

Old-fashioned Sweet Blaster

• 1 1/2 C. water
• 1-2 Tbs. Apple cider vinegar
• 2 tsp. Black strap molasses

Stir together and drink.

Note: This recipe not only gives you the awesome benefits of ACV, but you also get the much-needed nutrients like; iron, magnesium, manganese, and calcium, that are in molasses. Molasses is good for your hair, and a safer sweetener for diabetics.

 Tomato Cider Slinger

• 1 1/2 C. Fresh or canned tomato juice
• 1-2 Tbs. Apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp. Sea salt
• A few drops of hot sauce (optional)

Stir together and drink.

What I like about all of these drinks is that even if you don’t want to make your own vinegar, the ingredients are pretty basic and you won’t have to go too far out of your way to try them.

There is also really nice recipe for a Cherry Balsamic Shrub (or mocktail) in the link to punk domestics (below) that has cheery and sweet written all over it. Could keep you off the naughty list, and Santa might like it too.

drinking vinegar – punk domestics

http://thehealthyhoneys.com/5-recipes-drink-apple-cider-vinegar

homemade drinking vinegars – pinch and swirl

If you just know rosemary from a spice jar, you’re missing out on a beautiful, fragrant plant that is especially fun to have in the house during the holidays. Rosemary is right up there with other Christmas herb traditions like mistletoe and frankincense.

Rosemary is in the mint family, with “leaves” that look a lot like pine needles. Run a branch through your fingers and its wonderful spicy fragrance will fill a room.

For a fun little Christmas “tree,” you can buy a rosemary plant in most any garden store – I found one in the supermarket – and decorate it (gently) with little bows and ornaments. Try to find one that hasn’t been “shaped” too much into a tree look and that has bright green needles. Also check to make sure it isn’t standing in water in the foil it’s wrapped in.

And don’t leave it in a cold car while you shop! When you get home, place your rosemary tree in a sunny location and be sure to check the soil to see if it needs water several times a week.

But rosemary is much more than just a cute decoration.

It has been used for centuries as a medicinal herb (as well as an amazing spice in cooking).

Like other curative herbs, rosemary contains a whole host of beneficial oils, antioxidants and compounds that contain anti-inflammatory and anti-fungal properties.

One of these is a component called cineole (see Chelsea’s post on rosemary and brain function, and also how to make your own rosemary-infused olive oil here.)

Cineole is also sold as an essential (concentrated) oil, and said to help purify the mind and spirit, a well as to help with concentration and mental fatigue.

Other amazing health benefits of rosemary include iron, fiber, copper, calcium, a host of B vitamins and the super important mineral manganese, which is a very potent antioxidant.

Now for cooking, there are even more ways to use fresh rosemary than dried. And that’s because you can add whole sprigs, or branches, to certain dishes like roasted meats, inside a whole roasting chicken, or as a topping when baking fish.

To use chopped fresh rosemary in a recipe, simply cut a branch off and pull it through a fork (you can also take off the needles with your fingers). Then just chop the needles as you would any other herb. (Rosemary is one of the best additions I’ve ever added to homemade bread. Not only will your bread taste like it came from a fancy restaurant, but the fragrance of rosemary – intertwined with the aroma of fresh bread – will fill your home!)

Rosemary also makes a classy addition to lemonade and cranberry juice drinks. Just add a whole branch in as a “stirrer.”

Or, try adding a sprig of rosemary to your gift wrappings to give a festive flare.

Once you’ve “adopted” a little rosemary plant and used its sprigs in cooking, you’ll never again want to be without this amazing, and delicious herb!

Pasta Carbonara is one of my most favorite pasta recipes because it is such a versatile dish. The sauce is egg based and it’s made with ham, so it makes a fantastic brunch dish. Or, you can have the leftovers for breakfast if you cook it the night before! I use organic whole wheat spaghetti and peas in my carbonara recipe, for added nutrition and to create an Earthy taste.

Pasta Carbonara is one of the four traditional Roman pasta dishes (the three others are amatriciana, cacao e pepe and grecia). During my masters studies in food culture in Italy, I was lucky enough to live in Rome for about 8 months, and learned how to prepare this delicious pasta from my Italian friends who really know how to cook (and eat) well!

Carbonara sauce is super easy and inexpensive to make, and I have adapted the recipe using Wild Oats ingredients.

Power-Up with Wild Oats Pasta Carbonara with Sweet Peas Recipe

Prep time 15 minutes, Serves 4

½ box Wild Oats Marketplace Organic Whole Wheat Spaghetti

½ can Wild Oats Marketplace Organic Sweet Peas

1 whole large organic egg

3 large organic egg yolks

½ cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese

4 ounces diced or cubed ham

1 Tablespoon Wild Oats Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Whisk together whole egg, egg yolk, cheese, and pepper.

Sauté ham in the extra-virgin olive oil over medium heat until browned and all the liquid has evaporated, about 5 minutes.

Cook pasta al dente. In the last minute of cooking, add peas to the boiling pasta. Drain. Very quickly transfer the pasta back to the warm pot and add egg mixture and diced browned ham. Toss rapidly.

Transfer pasta to a large serving bowl and serve promptly so it doesn’t turn soggy. Delicious!

We all remember our first time… to cook a turkey, that is!  I lost my turkey-ginity in 1999.  And oh, boy, was it a disaster.

Picture, if you will, 14 people in a 1200 square-foot condo, with no apps and plenty of vodka, waiting for a 20lb bird to cook in a 30-year-old oven with only one working element.

Did I say disaster?  I meant armageddon.

By 5 pm, with a mostly raw bird and a sotted family on the verge of an epic Southern brawl, I concocted a dip made mostly of potted ham from our emergency/earthquake kit and threw it, along with some stale crackers from the back of my pantry, onto the coffee table.  It was positively Dracula-esque. Carrion birds descending on a kill.

Eventually, my father-in-law sloshed over with an inelegant, if timely, solution to end what everyone was calling “the great turkey embargo.”

“Nuke it,” he said.

“Bingo!” I said. So I cut that turkey up and zapped it.

Finally, at 7:30, we sat down to a mummified turkey-jerky that we ate with the delight of refugees. And all was right with the world.

I share this pitiful tale because I want to help all of you.  Learn from my mistakes, dear friends, and heed these chicken-nuggets I’ve learned in the turkey-trenches.

5 Thanksgiving Turkey Tips

• A smaller, unstuffed turkey cooks faster and uses less energy, no matter how you cook it. Plan extra time to get the turkey ready for the oven, and to let it rest when it comes out of the oven. This is paramount for your sanity and your guests’ hungry bellies.
• Choose sides that can cook along with the turkey. It saves time and energy. Plus, everything will be ready at the same time, so you’re not waiting for the rolls to come out of the oven before you can serve dinner.
• Brining is usually unnecessary, so save the water. Coat your bird with olive oil or butter prior to roasting and you’ll have a crispy-on-the-outside, juicy-on-the-inside bird without brining.
• Choose a fresh, organic turkey over a frozen one. It’ll taste better. You may pay a bit more per pound, but you’ll ultimately get more actual meat since it won’t be puffed up with the salt water solution that processed turkeys get.
• Always, always have a back up plan in case of a turkey disaster.