Risotto of buckwheat groats with beets and garlic porcini mushrooms

Risotto of buckwheat groats with beets and garlic porcini mushrooms Quinoa is normally on my grain speed-dial, but lately I've been experimenting with Buckwheat Groats (also called Kasha). Though kind of saddled with an unfortunate name, Buckwheat Groats  are actually delightfully nutty, gluten-free seeds that rate low on the glycemic scales (no wheat or gluten in sight). On the healthfulness front Buckwheat is great, surpassing rice, wheat and corn on many levels. Because those three are especially  high on the glycemic scale, they provoke a quick spike in blood sugar levels and promote systemic inflammation. I try to avoid rice, wheat and [...]

Quinoa cranberry stuffed mini-pumpkins with shitake mushrooms

Quinoa cranberry stuffed mini-pumpkins with shitake mushrooms Autumn is my favorite time of year and one of the reasons is the masses of pumpkins available everywhere. Pumpkin is such a potent food for health. It can improve your love life, help you look younger, fight heart disease, and improve your eyesight among many other benefits. This year I vowed I wouldn't let pumpkin season go by without eating my fill of them. Besides being really cute, these mini pumpkins were crying out to be stuffed with something savoury. I had a flashback of an unforgettable lunch in Tuscany where the pumpkin gnocchi was gloriously doused [...]