My pretty new plates

These plates were a must-have at home sense. I aboslutely fell in love with them and had been searching for the perfectly shaped plate/bowl for everyday salads. These fit the bill.

The salad pictured here is one of my favourite convenience foods. It is called something like Asian Mix. It comes with dressing and those crispy noodle like things on top. I usually add toasted almond slices for added nutritional punch.

This is a piece of apple streudel. The recipe is from Dreena's Vive le Vegan. This apple streudel is a lot healthier than pie because it uses phyllo pastry. I find it best to use really fresh phyllo pastry - if it has been opened and in the freezer for a while, it is not nearly as good. The individual sheets of phyllo pastry are brushed with canola oil to make them crispy. Canola oil contains no trans fats. Trans fats raise the bad LDL cholesterol and lower the good HDL cholesterol.

On a side note I was at my doctor's the other day and he just about fell over at how low my LDL cholesterol is - 1.7, he said he has several patients that he couldn't get their cholesterol that low with cholesterol lowering medication!

Canola oil is a good source of the antioxidant vitamin E. Two tablespoons of canola oil a day will deliver about 1/4 of all the vitamin E you need to protect your body from free radical damage. Vitamin E may also reduce the risk of heart disease. Canola oil provides one of the best nutritional balance of all popular cooking oils. It contains only 7 % saturated fat, 61 % monosaturated fat, 11% omega 3 fatty acid, and 21% omega 6 fatty acid.