Tag: secret

The secret of happiness? Eight glasses of water – Italian Cuisine

A new study finds that those who think they drink enough water regularly are three times more likely to feel "very happy"

The secret of happiness: drink water. A new study reiterated the importance of proper hydration, not only for the health of the body, but also for the well-being of the mind. For the research, conducted by One Poll, 2000 people were interviewed, who had the task of reporting how much water they drank each day and how happy they felt, in general.

Despite most doctors recommend drinking almost two liters of water, or eight glasses, per day, on average, study participants said they only drink about five glasses a day (wrongly claiming it to be the recommended daily amount).

The water of happiness?

Regardless of the liters of water that each participant had the habit of drinking every day, 67% of those who declared to consume a quantity "More than enough" he assured him he felt "very happy". Instead, only 21% of those who admitted not to drink enough said they were equally fulfilled by their lives.

It would therefore seem that the key to happiness is believe to drink enough water, even when, technically, it consumes a little less than doctors recommend. Of the participants who reported drinking 10 or more glasses of water a day, as much as 80% said they felt "very happy", and only 18% "a little happy".

The real benefits

But let's not forget the benefits of hydration for the body: most of those who drank more than 10 glasses per day reported feeling "Very energetic" (82%). Two thirds of the people in this group also called themselves "successful".

At this point it should not be surprising that the group of those who said they practically did not drink water was the one most inclined to call themselves "not very happy": they are 24 out of 100 people. "With the demands of everyday life, sometimes succeeding to maintain a healthy lifestyle can be a challenge, Explained Anat Levi, CEO of O. Vine, the beverage company that commissioned the study. "Staying hydrated is part of this."

We often drink little

Why don't you drink enough water? Many of the study participants (75%) said they were simply too busy to do it. Others said they were not so thirsty (44%), they preferred other drinks (42%), they forgot to drink (33%), they didn't want to spend on bottled water (25%) and they didn't trust tap water (22%) or, again, not appreciating the taste of water (19%).

But over half (54%) also said they felt less productive at work when they were dehydrated. According to the large majority (75%) of study participants, drinking enough water every day is also a sign of maturity.

The secret to a really good chia pudding – Italian Cuisine

In New York we discovered an ingredient that changes everything: coconut milk. And here is our recipe with lots of tips

I have prepared the thousand times chia pudding for breakfast and snack, but never, I never say I had made a good one like the one I tasted a couple of weeks ago in New York in a delightful little place south of Manhattan.
The special ingredient was the coconut milk.
Needless to say, as soon as I returned to Italy I ran to the supermarket to buy all the supplies to do it and so here is my recipe.

Only three ingredients

The label of the jar that contained this delight reported only three ingredients: coconut milk, chia seeds and agave syrup as a sweetener. Then there were raspberries as decoration.
It was not specified which coconut milk was used, whether dense or very liquid, so I doubted I did a mix of the two.
My advice is to do not use the canned one which is practically almost butter / cream because the fats are concentrated and separated from the liquid part. That's perfect for making coconut whipped cream, which I'll maybe tell you in another recipe.
The ideal is the combination of the one in tetra packs that is generally used for desserts, mixed with the vegetable one for breakfast which is very watery and tasteless.

chia-pudding-to-coconut

My recipe for chia pudding with coconut milk

Ingredients

(use any glass as a measuring cup)
Half a glass of chia seeds
Half a glass of liquid coconut milk
Half a glass of thick coconut milk
2-3 tablespoons of agave syrup
Fresh raspberries to decorate

Method

Pour all the ingredients, except the raspberries, into a glass jar with the lid.
Stir and then close properly.
Shake the mixture for a couple of minutes and then let it rest in the refrigerator for at least three hours.
I usually prepare it in the evening before going to bed so it's ready in the morning.
After this time the chia seeds will have released a sort of gel that will make everything soft and creamy like a pudding.
Prepare two single-portion cups and decorate the pudding with fresh raspberries.

More or less creamy depends on you

I like it quite creamy, then scarce with milk. Half a glass yes, but not really.
If you want it lighter instead the half glass must be abundant.
I would not say "by eye" because it would be unprofessional, but I will say "feeling", so to speak.

If I don't have the agave?

Coconut milk is already very tasty if you choose one of excellent quality, but if you want to add a little sweetness and you don't have agave syrup you can use the honey or, much better, it Maple syrup.
But be careful not to overdo it with the quantities because the agave has a very delicate taste while the honey is much more intense syrup.

A greedy variant

To turn chia pudding into a real dessert to end a meal I suggest you add a little teaspoon of bitter cocoa in the mixture before placing it in the refrigerator and decorating with raspberries, dark chocolate chips is coconut flakes.

The secret for Antonella Clerici's perfect veal with tuna sauce! – Italian Cuisine

The veal with tuna sauce, an ideal dish for the summer, has a simple preparation but could lead to errors. Antonella Clerici told us her secret to make it perfect

The vitello tonnato it is a perfect dish for the summer, easy to make and delicious for young and old. There are those who bring it to the table as an appetizer, those who prefer it as a second course, the important thing is to taste it fresh and tasty. An apparently simple preparation based on a soft piece of well-chosen meat and a creamy sauce at the right point. Just when the passages are relatively few, the possibility of small errors hiding the satisfaction of those who applied themselves in the kitchen with disappointment of those at the table are hidden. Or there are those, like Antonella Clerici, who made the vitel tonné (as she calls it) his main dish … so much to make his Vittorio fall in love!

A few months ago, we met Antonella Clerici in Milan when he received the Award Orio Vergani 2019 "for enhancing and promoting traditional Italian cuisine"FromItalian Academy of Cuisine. On that special occasion, the historic presenter of The cook's test she let herself go to memories and small confidences, including the secret of her vitello tonnato.

If for you too the problem of veal with tuna sauce is the sickening sensation brought by sauce, then Antonellina's suggestion is precious to you. As usually happens, the trick comes from the mother: put the carrot in the sauce leaving it slightly lumpy. The instructions are very easy: boil the magatello with carrot, celery and aromas, then blend them together with mayonnaise, then add capers and anchovy paste or fresh anchovies. The winning blonde has no problem even confessing the use of mayonnaise already prepared as a practical solution, just like a real cook of the XXI century. The secret of Antonella Clerici for the perfect veal with tuna sauce lies precisely in the carrot, which gives it that slightly sweet taste by removing the acidity of mayonnaise. "Then I like it with a lot of sauce … I like vitel tonné salsoso!" The journalist comments. Next to "petaloso", will the Accademia della Crusca consider this new term in the Italian dictionary?