A few things to remember

Pantry Staples


Olive Oil: Use Extra Virgin Olive Oil, whenever possible. Anything else will be diluted with other oils and therefore won't posses the same health benefits as Extra Virgin, also you just can't beat the flavor.

Garlic: I fell into this particular trap for a while, jarred, chopped Garlic. Seems like a great Idea. Not so, when you consider, that garlic starts losing it's medicinal qualities once chopped, the stuff in the jar therefore does not provide many of the benefits of fresh, chopped garlic.

Sugar: This has become one of those reasons, why we try to stay away from processed 'foods'. Have you any idea as to how many products contain High Fructose Corn Syrup? It's mind boggling! Personally, I don't care how many cutesy commercials the big Companies put out to make us believe, that HFCS is not any worse than sugar, if you pay attention, you know it is! I still use regular granulated Sugar in some baking, but in many instances it can actually be replaced with Honey or Agave Syrup.

Flour: I can't think of any reason, why I would want Bleach in my food, can you? When I found out that most flour contains actual Bleach I was shocked. Many flours are also processed to death, leaving them with little nutritional value and then fortified with Vitamins and such, Go Figure! I use unbleached flour for all of my baking and honestly can't tell a difference. My favorites are: Eagle Mills All Purpose Unbleached Flour and any product by King Arthur Flour.