The Serotonin Salad: Nourish Your Mental Wellness

Feel-Good Fuel About 90% of our serotonin is created in our stomach and intestines. It’s synthesized through the essential amino acid tryptophan which is sourced from our diet. It’s commonly found in chicken, eggs, dairy, fish, peanuts, pumpkin and sesame seeds, turkey, and soy products. Consuming high levels of tryptophan and other choice vitamins is a great way to improve mood stability and experience more joy. Talk about feel-good food! Based on these principles, I created The Serotonin Salad. It features ingredients high in tryptophan and a few other vitamins, minerals, and other compounds known to improve mental health. Let’s go over each featured ingredient and its effect on the brain. But First: What is Serotonin? Serotonin, A.K.A “the happy hormone,” is a neurotransmitter that sends messages between your nerve cells. It acts as a natural mood stabilizer. In addition to managing our emotional state, serotonin also plays a role in our ability to learn, form memories, control bowel movements, heal wounds, and regulate sleep and body temperature. Sourcing B-12 and Folic Acid B-12 and folic acid are essential vitamins...

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Baking with Olive Oil: Your Essential Guide

Baking with olive oil can be tricky. Let’s go over the ground rules. Baking is temperamental and precise. I don’t enjoy the process; I find it tedious and restrictive. So many rules, less opportunity for customization. I know there are a lot of chefs/home cooks that would agree with me on that one! Customizing baking recipes is always a gamble– one small adjustment and the entire recipe is thrown off. It’s food science; One must understand the ingredients, their properties, and the role they play in the recipe before swapping out this for that. Let’s talk baking with olive oil! Here are the fundamentals: You can almost always swap oil for oil. Extra virgin olive oil is a fantastic heart-healthy alternative to vegetable or seed oil. Swapping EVOO for another oil will have no effect on the final texture of whatever dish you’re creating UNLESS the oil you intend to replace is Crisco or lard. Since they’re saturated fats and solid at room temperature, it’s not a good swap. Olive oil will perform differently due to density. Only use EVOO...

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Valentine Date Night Guide

  How to Host a Romantic Italian-Style Dinner The Pasolivo Valentine Date Night Guide There's no better to way to show affection than by cooking a meal for that special someone. Food is love, after all. Show your Valentine how much you care by putting together a beautifully romantic, thoughtful meal they'll never forget with a little bit of help from Pasolivo. Follow along to learn the ins and outs of hosting a formal, romantic dinner for your S.O. You'll be a pro by the end of this article!   Setting the scene Ambiance is everything. Creating the mood is the first and arguably most important part of hosting a dinner for your valentine. Here's some tips for establishing the Italian dinner party vibe:  No overhead lighting– stick to candles and lamps. You want to create a soft, ambient glow. These mini candles fit perfectly on the dinner table, and add a layer of warmth to the scene. Pull your best table cloth out of the linen closet– or how about one of these Parisian table runners as featured above? These are...

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Cooking with Your Child at Every Age

How old is old enough to let that special child in your life help you in the kitchen? The answer might surprise you. A couple weeks ago, we published an article on 5 habits that cultivate a love of cooking and good food in your children. The response to the article was so encouraging that we've decided to write some more family-focused pieces. It doesn't matter if the children in your life are your children, your grandchildren, nieces and nephews, or some other relational dynamic. Giving those young spirits experiences in the kitchen early and often has been shown to have a direct impact on their views of healthy food and their ability to navigate around a kitchen well into adulthood. Kids are very capable helpers in the kitchen, and it is that shared time learning about preparing food that they get their first tastes of feeling grown-up and confident in their self-sufficiency. Here is a list of widely regarded age-appropriate kitchen responsibilities, broken up in general stages. These are purposefully broad because every child is different, and it's important to take...

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5 Habits to Help Your Kids Love to Cook

Studies show that children who help with cooking and meal preparation go on to lead healthier lives and consume more fruits and vegetables than kids who do not. Cooking with your children is a romantic ideal conjuring up images of smiling children with their hands in a pristine bowl of baking dough. In reality, it's often kitchen floors covered in unrecognizable goo, hand mixer mishaps, and high blood pressure. Here are a 5 cooking habits that will make the culinary experiences with your child more enjoyable with effects that ripple long after the memory fades. Engage with Your Child at the Grocery Store The earliest and often the best places to start a love of cooking and good food is at the grocery store. Even one way conversations about what makes one bundle of tomatoes more desirable than another, how delicious properly cooked asparagus is, or having them help to decide whether to have chicken or pork on Wednesday all sets the stage for them making the same decisions for themselves later in life. (more…)