Dr. Gourmet Newsletter:
April 9, 2007

Chef Tim Says...

I have recently moved to New Orleans and my new neighbor from across the street greeted me with two pints of fresh strawberries. He explained that he had picked them up at a stand on his way back from a trip out of the city. It was a juicy coincidence that I had been working on strawberry desserts, having picked up berries in the market labeled “local.” Most berries don’t come to market until later in the spring, so it has been a nice surprise having delicious and amazingly fresh berries this early in the year. Strawberries

Featured Recipes

Strawberry Shortcake
The angel food cake is a great substitute for making your own shortcake and has fewer calories and less fat. The best part is that you don’t have to spend time cooking the shortcake. While the angel food cake keeps pretty well in the freezer the result is less fluffy (but it is a little more like the texture of shortbread).

All of this including the sauces can be made the day before for a dinner party and is so simple but elegant and a great dessert at under 200 calories. The Chocolate Strawberry Sauce adds a new twist to this comfort food recipe but it’s well worth the added 25 calories (you’ll want to lick the plate).

Strawberry Chocolate Sauce
Don't be fooled by the fact that this is only 43 calories per serving. It has all the chocolate flavor you crave but the slight fruitiness of the strawberries makes this an almost perfect sauce. Use it on almost any dessert.

Strawberry Sauce
Simple, straightforward. The best sauces don’t require hours of time in the kitchen or dozens of ingredients. This sauce is perfect over a scoop of ice cream or even as a topping for fruit, but was was designed for use in my Strawberry Shortcake recipe.

Ask Dr. Gourmet

Is there any interaction between Golgi or noni juice and warfarin?

Dr. Gourmet Says....

I have looked and looked and spoken with a few people about this and cannot find any information about the Vitamin K content of this product.

I have encountered Golgi (also known as Noni) juice with a few of my patients. None were on Coumadin so I hadn't really looked into the Vitamin K issue. I did, however, look at the claims made by those marketing this product (which in my opinion appears to me to be a pretty fancy pyramid scheme) and find little to support that it's much better than orange juice. At a price in the $100.00 per gallon range I think that it's a waste of money and have simply taken this posture with my patients. Coumadin and Golgi Juice