First of all, it is the taste and amount of sauce that will make the perfect salad. The sauce should reach every leaf, but an excess of sauce cures the salad, and it loses its crispiness. Too little sauce will leave the leaves bland. 

Second, you can use olive oil, but only on the condition it is of gentle taste. If not—use a simple neutral oil or a special oil like peanut oil or walnut oil.

Wine vinegar is most often used and sometimes also spiced vinegar such as raspberry vinegar.

When seasoning the sauce, first add a little sugar or honey or maple to moderate the sourness. Then add salt, pepper and if desired—a clove of crushed garlic. 

For a Mediterranean-style sauces also add capers and anchovies, and for an Asian-style sauces add chili, ginger and soy.

To mix the dressing, mix the ingredients well with the help of a blender or whisk or by vigorously shaking in a jar or a dedicated tool for making a sauce.

The post Perfect Dressing For A Green Salad appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.

Improves Alertness

This is probably the main reason why we drink coffee. Caffeine, the stimulant in coffee, improves alertness and concentration, but its effect is especially great among people who do not get enough sleep.

Improves Our Mood

Studies have found that caffeine improves our mood. People report feeling happy and energized after consuming caffeine.

Improves Athletic Performance

Caffeine is known to improve performance in a variety of types of aerobic exercise—such as running, ball games, and swimming.

Acts as a Pain Killer

Caffeine can relieve pain, especially headaches. While we feel a headache, the blood vessels in the brain dilate, and caffeine causes the blood vessels to constrict. That is why many painkillers also contain caffeine.

Helps Bowel Activity

If after drinking coffee you feel the need to visit the bathroom, it is not by chance. Caffeine promotes the contraction of the intestinal muscles and thus affects intestinal motility.

The post Why You Should Drink More Coffee appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.

Bananas contain vitamins, magnesium, folic acid and antioxidants, as well as iron, proteins, carbohydrates, fats, and fiber. You can find a little of everything you need nutritionally in one banana.

Bananas are known to aid in the digestive process. Vitamin B6 found in them contributes to the digestive processes, because it helps break down carbohydrates and fats. This also helps in eliminating harmful chemicals from the liver and kidneys and maintains the health of the nervous system in the body.

Eating bananas contributes to the healthy function of the heart and nervous system. The potassium found in this yummy yellow fruit supports the muscles that contract in the body—including the heart—and helps maintain regular pulse and low blood pressure.

Bananas can help prevent weight gain, because they provide the body of both adults and children with more energy. They contain dietary fiber that optimizes digestive processes. One banana contains 12 percent of the recommended daily fiber ratio!

The post Why Bananas Are Good For You appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.

The freezer is a very effective tool for preserving fruit. Almost all fruits—from melon, banana, plum, peach, apple to strawberries and berries—cope well with freezing, with the exception of citrus fruit.

The home freezer works at a very low temperature. Low enough, to turn water to ice. Fruit that freeze and thaw will always be more soggy than their fresh counterparts. This is because of the process of freezing water in the fruit freeze in the form of crystals, which cause fluid loss during thawing.

So, freezing fruit means the most appropriate use of them should be chosen in advance. To get the most of frozen fruit, group pieces of fruit you like into several bags, with each bag containing enough fruit for one serving of smoothie.

Freeze the bags and just pull one out and grind in a blender every morning with water, orange juice, yogurt—or any liquid that will help you get a yummy start to your day.

The post The Best Way To Freeze Fruit appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.

Ingredients

Truffles

3 packs of excellent and vegan dark chocolate
1 can of coconut milk (20% fat or more)
1 tablespoon Agave or date syrup
Cinnamon (optional)
Spicy chili powder to taste (optional)

Coating

2-3 tablespoons cocoa powder or ground coconut or crushed nuts

Instructions

In a small pot, melt all the truffle ingredients (without the coating ingredients). 

Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and refrigerate for at least three hours to allow the mixture to fully set.

Remove the mixture from the refrigerator, and using slightly moist hands, form small balls about the size of a strawberry. Coat the balls with coconut, cocoa, or nuts.

The prepared truffles can be stored in the refrigerator or freezer. To eat, take them out of the freezer 10 minutes before serving. 

The truffles will go great with a cup of tea, hot chocolate, coffee, or a glass of sweet dessert wine.

The post Vegan Chocolate Truffles appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.

The most important thing for making tomato soup is the tomatoes. If you don’t have any good fresh tomatoes at hand, do not hesitate to use quality canned Italian tomatoes that have a wonderful taste.

Ingredients

8 cups chopped tomatoes
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 chopped onion
1 carrot, chopped
1 stalk of chopped celery
3 cloves of garlic
2 and a half cups of stock or water
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Heat oil in a large pot and sauté onions, carrots, celery, and garlic over a medium-low flame, until they soften.

Add tomatoes, cook, and mix together for about 8-10 minutes. When the tomatoes soften, add the stock or water. Season with salt and pepper, bring to a boil, and cook for another 20 minutes over medium heat.

Mash the soup to a smooth texture using a blender. Serve immediately with thyme and rosemary-flavored croutons and some grated Parmesan cheese.

The post This Delicious Homemade Tomato Soup Will Warm You Up in the Cold Days to Come appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.

It is very friendly for the home cooks, inexpensive, and widely available in supermarkets. This is the spaghetti squash. 

It is quite easy to grow spaghetti squash in a home environment, as it can be grown both in a planter and in the garden. This squash should be  planted in the spring and harvested in the fall.

Spaghetti squash is often eaten in its baked form. It is sometimes served after it has been heated in the microwave, boiled in water, or cooked by steaming.

The seeds of the spaghetti pumpkin are also edible after roasting.

To make a delicious spaghetti squash easily, just cut it in half, drain the seeds and cook it in the microwave for 10-15 minutes until its contents are soft and separate from the peel.

Mix the contents of the cooked squash with olive oil, fresh thyme, and oregano, and serve on cooked pasta with lots and lots of parmesan, as a side dish or even on fresh sourdough bread.

The post Get To Know The Spaghetti Squash appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.

If you have acquired the initial skills of basic stuffed veggies, you will be soon able to stuff almost any vegetable. 

The basic filling of Mediterranean-style stuffed vegetables contains half-cooked rice, lots of herbs, cooked black lentils, spices such as smoked paprika, cinnamon, white pepper, cumin, and chili.

The sauce is a velvety combination of tomato paste, fresh tomatoes, lots of garlic, onions, and water.

The best vegetables for stuffing are those that have a built-in “pocket”—like peppers, pumpkin, and squash. But almost any vegetable can be stuffed.

Try emptying ripe tomatoes, zucchini, or eggplant and filling them with the rice mixture. It is possible and recommended to also stuff cabbage leaves, vine leaves, and even white onions.

Each vegetable requires a different cooking time, but the vegetables can be cooked together in a large pot over low heat for many hours. Stuffed zucchini will be especially tasty after a short time in a hot oven.

The post Tips For Making Delicious Stuffed Vegetables appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.

A pasta machine is a relatively inexpensive investment for a home kitchen and will last you for years—provided you have purchased a good quality machine.

When it comes to buying a pasta machine, first of all make sure the machine is made in Italy. Try to avoid unfamiliar brands, as the machine may not be of a good quality and can rust, break or just not work.

Second, make sure the machine is stable, and you can connect it to your work surface in your home kitchen.

Now, it’s time to play. Choose the add-ons you want to attach to your pasta machine. Such add-ons include cutters in different shapes for pasta and more.

Fresh pasta is a matter of trial and error but also luck. There is no doubt that practice makes perfect in this case.

The post Everything You Need to Know About Buying a Home Pasta Machine appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.

Eating clean means eating consciously and thoughtfully. First of all, we need to understand where the food on our plate came from. This is the first step.

After checking where our food comes from, it is suggested to choose food products that have gone through as little intervention as possible along the way. Leave behind processed, industrial, and packaged food.

Eating clean also means keeping a clean environment. Therefore, it is highly recommended to choose local food that did not come from the other side of the world. This also contributes to the consumption of fresh food but also reduces the carbon footprint and helps support local farms.

The downside of this is we will not always have apples or bananas, but on the other hand we can explore food and raw products we would not otherwise consume and diversify our shopping list.

The last step, and perhaps the most difficult, is to remove harmful foods from our diet. That is, avoiding processed sugar, saturated fat, and processed grains.

The beginning may be difficult, but the local and health effects of clean eating are worth it.

The post Why You Should Practice Clean Eating appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.

First of all, it is the taste and amount of sauce that will make the perfect salad. The sauce should reach every leaf, but an excess of sauce cures the salad, and it loses its crispiness. Too little sauce will leave the leaves bland. 

Second, you can use olive oil, but only on the condition it is of gentle taste. If not—use a simple neutral oil or a special oil like peanut oil or walnut oil.

Wine vinegar is most often used and sometimes also spiced vinegar such as raspberry vinegar.

When seasoning the sauce, first add a little sugar or honey or maple to moderate the sourness. Then add salt, pepper and if desired—a clove of crushed garlic. 

For a Mediterranean-style sauces also add capers and anchovies, and for an Asian-style sauces add chili, ginger and soy.

To mix the dressing, mix the ingredients well with the help of a blender or whisk or by vigorously shaking in a jar or a dedicated tool for making a sauce.

The post Perfect Dressing For A Green Salad appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.

Improves Alertness

This is probably the main reason why we drink coffee. Caffeine, the stimulant in coffee, improves alertness and concentration, but its effect is especially great among people who do not get enough sleep.

Improves Our Mood

Studies have found that caffeine improves our mood. People report feeling happy and energized after consuming caffeine.

Improves Athletic Performance

Caffeine is known to improve performance in a variety of types of aerobic exercise—such as running, ball games, and swimming.

Acts as a Pain Killer

Caffeine can relieve pain, especially headaches. While we feel a headache, the blood vessels in the brain dilate, and caffeine causes the blood vessels to constrict. That is why many painkillers also contain caffeine.

Helps Bowel Activity

If after drinking coffee you feel the need to visit the bathroom, it is not by chance. Caffeine promotes the contraction of the intestinal muscles and thus affects intestinal motility.

The post Why You Should Drink More Coffee appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.

Bananas contain vitamins, magnesium, folic acid and antioxidants, as well as iron, proteins, carbohydrates, fats, and fiber. You can find a little of everything you need nutritionally in one banana.

Bananas are known to aid in the digestive process. Vitamin B6 found in them contributes to the digestive processes, because it helps break down carbohydrates and fats. This also helps in eliminating harmful chemicals from the liver and kidneys and maintains the health of the nervous system in the body.

Eating bananas contributes to the healthy function of the heart and nervous system. The potassium found in this yummy yellow fruit supports the muscles that contract in the body—including the heart—and helps maintain regular pulse and low blood pressure.

Bananas can help prevent weight gain, because they provide the body of both adults and children with more energy. They contain dietary fiber that optimizes digestive processes. One banana contains 12 percent of the recommended daily fiber ratio!

The post Why Bananas Are Good For You appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.

The freezer is a very effective tool for preserving fruit. Almost all fruits—from melon, banana, plum, peach, apple to strawberries and berries—cope well with freezing, with the exception of citrus fruit.

The home freezer works at a very low temperature. Low enough, to turn water to ice. Fruit that freeze and thaw will always be more soggy than their fresh counterparts. This is because of the process of freezing water in the fruit freeze in the form of crystals, which cause fluid loss during thawing.

So, freezing fruit means the most appropriate use of them should be chosen in advance. To get the most of frozen fruit, group pieces of fruit you like into several bags, with each bag containing enough fruit for one serving of smoothie.

Freeze the bags and just pull one out and grind in a blender every morning with water, orange juice, yogurt—or any liquid that will help you get a yummy start to your day.

The post The Best Way To Freeze Fruit appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.

Ingredients

Truffles

3 packs of excellent and vegan dark chocolate
1 can of coconut milk (20% fat or more)
1 tablespoon Agave or date syrup
Cinnamon (optional)
Spicy chili powder to taste (optional)

Coating

2-3 tablespoons cocoa powder or ground coconut or crushed nuts

Instructions

In a small pot, melt all the truffle ingredients (without the coating ingredients). 

Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and refrigerate for at least three hours to allow the mixture to fully set.

Remove the mixture from the refrigerator, and using slightly moist hands, form small balls about the size of a strawberry. Coat the balls with coconut, cocoa, or nuts.

The prepared truffles can be stored in the refrigerator or freezer. To eat, take them out of the freezer 10 minutes before serving. 

The truffles will go great with a cup of tea, hot chocolate, coffee, or a glass of sweet dessert wine.

The post Vegan Chocolate Truffles appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.

The most important thing for making tomato soup is the tomatoes. If you don’t have any good fresh tomatoes at hand, do not hesitate to use quality canned Italian tomatoes that have a wonderful taste.

Ingredients

8 cups chopped tomatoes
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 chopped onion
1 carrot, chopped
1 stalk of chopped celery
3 cloves of garlic
2 and a half cups of stock or water
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Heat oil in a large pot and sauté onions, carrots, celery, and garlic over a medium-low flame, until they soften.

Add tomatoes, cook, and mix together for about 8-10 minutes. When the tomatoes soften, add the stock or water. Season with salt and pepper, bring to a boil, and cook for another 20 minutes over medium heat.

Mash the soup to a smooth texture using a blender. Serve immediately with thyme and rosemary-flavored croutons and some grated Parmesan cheese.

The post This Delicious Homemade Tomato Soup Will Warm You Up in the Cold Days to Come appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.

It is very friendly for the home cooks, inexpensive, and widely available in supermarkets. This is the spaghetti squash. 

It is quite easy to grow spaghetti squash in a home environment, as it can be grown both in a planter and in the garden. This squash should be  planted in the spring and harvested in the fall.

Spaghetti squash is often eaten in its baked form. It is sometimes served after it has been heated in the microwave, boiled in water, or cooked by steaming.

The seeds of the spaghetti pumpkin are also edible after roasting.

To make a delicious spaghetti squash easily, just cut it in half, drain the seeds and cook it in the microwave for 10-15 minutes until its contents are soft and separate from the peel.

Mix the contents of the cooked squash with olive oil, fresh thyme, and oregano, and serve on cooked pasta with lots and lots of parmesan, as a side dish or even on fresh sourdough bread.

The post Get To Know The Spaghetti Squash appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.

If you have acquired the initial skills of basic stuffed veggies, you will be soon able to stuff almost any vegetable. 

The basic filling of Mediterranean-style stuffed vegetables contains half-cooked rice, lots of herbs, cooked black lentils, spices such as smoked paprika, cinnamon, white pepper, cumin, and chili.

The sauce is a velvety combination of tomato paste, fresh tomatoes, lots of garlic, onions, and water.

The best vegetables for stuffing are those that have a built-in “pocket”—like peppers, pumpkin, and squash. But almost any vegetable can be stuffed.

Try emptying ripe tomatoes, zucchini, or eggplant and filling them with the rice mixture. It is possible and recommended to also stuff cabbage leaves, vine leaves, and even white onions.

Each vegetable requires a different cooking time, but the vegetables can be cooked together in a large pot over low heat for many hours. Stuffed zucchini will be especially tasty after a short time in a hot oven.

The post Tips For Making Delicious Stuffed Vegetables appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.

A pasta machine is a relatively inexpensive investment for a home kitchen and will last you for years—provided you have purchased a good quality machine.

When it comes to buying a pasta machine, first of all make sure the machine is made in Italy. Try to avoid unfamiliar brands, as the machine may not be of a good quality and can rust, break or just not work.

Second, make sure the machine is stable, and you can connect it to your work surface in your home kitchen.

Now, it’s time to play. Choose the add-ons you want to attach to your pasta machine. Such add-ons include cutters in different shapes for pasta and more.

Fresh pasta is a matter of trial and error but also luck. There is no doubt that practice makes perfect in this case.

The post Everything You Need to Know About Buying a Home Pasta Machine appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.

Eating clean means eating consciously and thoughtfully. First of all, we need to understand where the food on our plate came from. This is the first step.

After checking where our food comes from, it is suggested to choose food products that have gone through as little intervention as possible along the way. Leave behind processed, industrial, and packaged food.

Eating clean also means keeping a clean environment. Therefore, it is highly recommended to choose local food that did not come from the other side of the world. This also contributes to the consumption of fresh food but also reduces the carbon footprint and helps support local farms.

The downside of this is we will not always have apples or bananas, but on the other hand we can explore food and raw products we would not otherwise consume and diversify our shopping list.

The last step, and perhaps the most difficult, is to remove harmful foods from our diet. That is, avoiding processed sugar, saturated fat, and processed grains.

The beginning may be difficult, but the local and health effects of clean eating are worth it.

The post Why You Should Practice Clean Eating appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.