Food, Health & Nutrition

Peter’s Christmas Pudding For Peter Valder, Christmas just isn’t Christmas without a traditional, homemade pudding, and the same recipe has been used in the Valder family for generations. The good news is that Peter has decided to share his recipe with...

Weight Loss In Australia 64% of men and 47% of women are overweight. Many of those overweight people are all too familiar with the yoyo syndrome. They go on low-carbohydrate diets, lose weight quickly but put it all back on again soon afterwards. Nutritionist Rosemary...

Preserving Lemons Lemons are a great source of vitamin C and they also contain important bioflavonoids. However at this time of year they are so plentiful that many people are at a loss to know what to do with the excess. Rosemary Stanton suggests making lemon...

Rice Rice is a starchy grain which is high in carbohydrates, and an excellent source of ready energy. It feeds more of the world’s people than any other food. The main varieties available in Australia are: Short grain/Calrose used in Japanese and Spanish cooking...

In medieval times basil was used as an indicator plant. If a girl touched a basil bush and it withered, it meant she was not a virgin! Jackie French tested the theory using a sacred basil plant, with very dubious results – she concluded that perhaps it was the...

Keeping Cookies Crisp If you have trouble with biscuits going soggy, try this kitchen tip from Geoff Jansz. Place some rice in a microwave-safe glass bowl and microwave for two minutes, stirring every now and then. Allow the rice to cool, and then spread it over the...

Kids’ Snacks Rosemary looked at snack foods promoted for kids, and found that most of them are of concern from a nutritional point of view. The information provided on the labels of some of these products is also a problem. Rosemary thinks it would be a good...

Lactose is the sugar found in the milk of all mammals. It is normally broken down in the small intestine by an enzyme called lactase. Most mammals stop producing lactase after weaning, but many humans continue to produce the enzyme and can digest milk throughout life....

Almost all kids like junk foods – how could they help it when advertisers spend millions of dollars selling it to them? But kids don’t only like junk food. After all, the biggest selling breakfast cereal – by far – is Weetbix, and it’s...

Lazy Stew Peter Valder has a simple approach to cooking. Preparation should be easy, the food should be high in fibre and low in fat, and it should taste good! This “lazy person’s” stew is a perfect example of one of Peter’s quick, healthy...