Trying new things What's YUCA?

No one else is going to make the choice for you to make a difference in your life. Whether its your attitude, health, finances, love etc. Only you can make the choice to make that first step. I have devoted the last few months of my life to living a healthier life. So to begin I'd like to start sharing some of my recipes. What works for me may not work for you but I hope that it will inspire you to try something new.

Let's start with Yuca. Remember, that with any new food you try always find out the benefits of that new vegetable or fruit. Learn and carry Super Foods in your house, they are essential to your daily diet. If you don't like to try new foods, be open minded, give it a try. We always tell the girls that they have to at least try it before they say NO.

Yuca, or also know as Root, is a gluten free vegetable. Who would have know, I've been eating Yuca since I was a kid. If you can find Yuca leaves, which I haven't see in the US, it's good source of dietary proteins and vitamin K. Vitamin-K has a potential role in bone mass building by promoting osteotrophic activity in the bones. It also has established role in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease patients by limiting neuronal damage in the brain.

It also has a moderate source of some of the valuable B-complex group of vitamins such as folates, thiamin, pyridoxine(vitamin B-6), riboflavin, and pantothenic acid.

How do you cook it. Two methods are, one in soup and one is fried. Here is what I do.

How to prep:
Take a medium size root, peel the dark brown bark off the root. It's much easier to cut the root in 2 inch sections and then peel each on individually. Put the root in a pot, cover with water, add some garlic and salt. Let it boil and when yuca is tender it is ready. The root is cooked when it's not a hard white color, it should me soft and tender.

Drain your water, cut the root pieces in half and then into smaller pieces. Here's the next step, you can either pan fry it like french fries using vegetable oil OR you can season with salt, pepper and olive oil and then stick in the over to roast. Either way it taste AMAZING.

Last but not least you can always throw in the raw root, but up into smaller pieces and toss straight into a soup like you would a potato.

Happy Eating!

Changing Seasons

As I watch Joel Osteen and listen to Father at mass, I finally realized that all the changing and flood of blessings I keep hearing about, has not only been right in front of my face, but it was me realizing what I had in front of me and me changing my approach. So I like to say that 2013 has finally arrived in my life. I see life with no blinders on and even if I get hit with any obstacles, I know it's going to be okay.

I also have learned that people have to be willing to change and people have to be willing to accept that people can change. We have to open minded to forgiving people for the wrong they have done by knowing that their acts of kindness and positive change is to better all the relationships in their life.

If we all took the time to see life in a different way, if we chose to be more positive and if we decided to be better listeners than maybe just maybe we will overcome all the negativity that surrounds us. But it all starts with us looking at life differently.

How do we do that you ask? Well look at yourself first and what do you need to change? What do you need to do to make yourself feel better about you first before you conquer the world? Take that first step and following it by many and what what you can do?

Be Positive!