Some of the most essential fatty acid rich foods are:

• Avocados
• Cold water fish
• Olive oil
• Coconut
• Raw nuts

What are your favorite omega-3 rich foods?

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch asparagus
• Juice of 2 lemons
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 to 3 tablespoons Parmesan
• salt
• pepper
• chili flake (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Wash Asparagus and trim ends

3. Marinate Asparagus in mixture of lemon juice, Parmesan, olive oil, minced garlic, salt, pepper and chili flake. You can do this overnight or for 30 minutes.

4. Lay asparagus on a tinfoil lined baking pan. Cook until slightly crispy.

How do you serve your favorite health foods?

I’ll admit it: blush frightens me.

The fear of unwittingly replicating Raggedy Anne’s look is ever present. Blush is so…subjective. Where, exactly, does the blush go? And what color does one use?

And as if those questions were not are vexing enough, we haven’t even gotten to talk of the canvas. Once placement and pigment are accounted for, the considerations of the skin need to be addressed.

Rachel and I concluded that skin looks best when dewy. Our moisturizers, like Face Finishing Moisturizer, leave skin dewy and glowing. So, we thought that by combining our favorite blush (Orgasm by Nars) with our favorite moisturizer (Face Finishing Moisturizer from Perricone MD) that we could make an easy to use and flattering cream blush.

To our delight, it worked- and we wanted to share this demo with you. Try it out and let us know what you think!

What are your do-it-yourself makeup secrets?

For the Salad:

• 1 cup pea shoots
• 1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
• ½ cup kalamata olives
• 1 cup parsley leaves
• 1 cup sliced radishes
• 2 cups chopped cucumber
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tbsp tahini
• 1 clove garlic, crushed or finely minced.
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Prepare the chick pea croutons (see recipe below) and set aside.

2. Toss the first 6 salad ingredients together in a bowl. In a jam jar or sealable container, mix remaining ingredients together. Dress the salad right before serving and top with croutons.

Tip: Croutons and dressing can be made up to 3 days in advance; note that garlic flavours will intensify as dressing rests.
Chickpea Croutons

• 1 medium carrot, grated
• 1 large clove garlic, finely minced
• 1-1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp coriander
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp water
• 1-19 oz/540 ml can chick peas, drained and rinsed or 2 cups of cooked chick peas
• 1/4 cup hemp hearts
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. In a food processor, combine grated carrot, spices, olive oil, lemon juice and water. Pulse until carrot is coarsely pureed.

3. Add chick peas and hemp hearts and pulse a few times to combine ingredients, but not puree the chick peas. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

4. Create croutons by forming about 2 teaspoons of the chick pea mixture into balls or square shapes. Place on a baking sheet lined with a silicone nonstick mat or parchment paper.

5. Bake until golden, approximately 30 minutes, turning baking sheet once through baking. Allow to cool.

What are your healthy alternatives to croutons?

Enjoy in good health!

Desiree & Heather

Heather McColl is a registered dietitian, chef and food stylist in Vancouver, Canada with a reputation for offering practical nutrition advice that focuses on the enjoyment of food. In her day to day work, Heather helps consumers cook and eat healthy meals through educational programming, media, and marketing. When she’s not in the kitchen creating delicious recipes, you’ll find Heather hiking the local mountains. You can follow Heather on Twitter.

Desiree Nielsen is a registered dietitian and nutrition operations manager for a small chain of organic and natural food stores in Vancouver, Canada. Passionate about plant-based diets for more vibrant health, Desiree believes that food should not only nourish your body but also feed the soul. When she isn’t chasing around after her toddler, Desiree is a sought-after speaker and blogger. You can also follow Desiree on Twitter

Chickpeas, like all beans, are a nearly perfect food: packed with detoxifying fibre, plant-based protein, calming minerals and energizing and slow-release carbohydrates. The synergy of nutrients in chickpeas helps keep you going (and glowing!) all day long.

• A key anti-inflammatory food, chickpeas help to control blood sugars and provide a boost from anti-inflammatory phytochemicals kaempferol and quercetin.

• Cleansing chickpeas help sweep the digestive tract with plenty of insoluble fibre but they also support detoxification pathways in the liver with a dose of the phytochemical chlorogenic acid.

• And finally, this beautiful bean keeps your cells energized and you, glowing! Manganese and copper, two trace minerals in chickpeas help support the function of mitochondria, your cell’s tiny energy factories.

Enjoy chickpeas and other beautifying beans daily – roast them for a snack, mash them for a dip or sandwich spread, stir into soups and sautés or enjoy them on salad!

Perriconista Alesha discusses her 3 picks for dry skin.

My skin tends to be combination/oily in the T-zone, but prone to dryness, irritation and the occasional breakout- so I demand a lot from my products. Here are my top 3 picks for dry skin:

1. Nutritive Cleanser- Never makes my skin feel tight or dry. I use it with my hands and also my Clarisonic.

2. Deep Moisture Therapy- This moisturizer has saved my skin! Leaves my skin hydrated and soft. I’m prone to dry patches around my nose and mouth, which Deep Moisture Therapy has totally gotten rid of. It makes my face literally glow.

Tip: This product is concentrated so use very little. I like to heat the product between fingers and palm and press into the skin. Layer over any Perricone MD treatment.

3. Hypo Firming Eye Cream- I originally bought it for my husband but after using it, its become an essential part of my eye care- I love it over Acyl Lid! Amazing combination.

What are your top Perricone picks for your skin concern?

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds
• 1 lb mixed mushrooms, sliced (use crimini as a base and add shiitakes and other exotic varieties as availability and budget allows)
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 tbsp minced fresh ginger
• 1 bunch lacinato (black) kale, sliced into 1 inch pieces
 (or your favourite green)
• 1 litre low sodium veggie stock
• 1 can (540ml) no-salt added white beans, or 2 cups cooked beans

Salt to taste*

1. Heat oil in a large soup pot over medium heat; add onion and cumin seeds and sauté until onion glossy and transparent, about 5 minutes.
2. Add mushrooms and continue to sauté until mushrooms release their liquid, about 3 minutes. Then, add garlic and stir frequently until most of the liquid is evaporated.
3. Deglaze the pot with white wine or water; when most of it evaporates, add the veggie stock and bring to a boil.
4. Add 1 litre fresh water, return to boil and add ginger, kale and white beans and reduce heat to simmer for at least 20 minutes. The longer the soup simmers, the more the flavours will come together.

*We suggest salting to taste at the table instead of adding salt while cooking, in hopes of keeping salt content as low as possible. But if the salt is what you need to indulge in healthy foods, go for it. Try and keep it to 1/4 – 1/2 tsp.

Enjoy in good health!

Enjoy in good health!

Desiree & Heather

Heather McColl is a registered dietitian, chef and food stylist in Vancouver, Canada with a reputation for offering practical nutrition advice that focuses on the enjoyment of food. In her day to day work, Heather helps consumers cook and eat healthy meals through educational programming, media, and marketing. When she’s not in the kitchen creating delicious recipes, you’ll find Heather hiking the local mountains. You can follow Heather on Twitter.

Desiree Nielsen is a registered dietitian and nutrition operations manager for a small chain of organic and natural food stores in Vancouver, Canada. Passionate about plant-based diets for more vibrant health, Desiree believes that food should not only nourish your body but also feed the soul. When she isn’t chasing around after her toddler, Desiree is a sought-after speaker and blogger. You can also follow Desiree on Twitter

Growing in dark, dank places with nary a rainbow hue to hint any nutritional value – we often think mushrooms lack nutritional value. That is where you would be wrong!

Mushrooms are a unique source of a vitamin D1 and special polysaccharides that help modulate the immune system and calm inflammation. To delve into the super food side of mushrooms, it is time to go beyond the basic button.

Shiitake mushrooms, as discussed by Dr. Perricone in Forever Young, are rich in bioavailable iron, B vitamins and the beauty-boosting anti-oxidant selenium. This delicious variety have been well researched for their promising health properties. Lentinan, a polysaccharide found in shiitakes, has even been studied for potential anti-cancer activity.

Crimini mushrooms (the brown buttons) also appear to have powerful anti-inflammatory properties. Rich in selenium and skin-clearing zinc, criminis help raise energizing glutathione levels in our cells. Crimini mushrooms also provide copper, which supports the anti-oxidant superoxide dismutase (SOD) to help squelch free-radical damage from urban living.

Mushrooms provide a rich, meaty texture to dishes and a beautifying boost to any meal. Tomorrow, we’ll explore new, exotic varieties in a recipe to get  you glowing.

What are your favorite mushroom tips or recipes?

Did you know?

• To minimize our product’s carbon foot print, we’ve produced cartons for all Perricone MD products that are fully recyclable.
• Our packaging is manufactured using wind power.
• Our packaging is printed in a carbon neutral facility.
• Our products are formulated without parabens.

• New to Perricone? Take our Skin Quiz
• Looking for new products? Check out our new Best Sellers
• Sensitive? Meet our new Hypoallergenic line
• Need treatment, coverage and SPF? No Makeup Makeup is here!

 Which products are on your list? For a personalized consultation, please call our Customer Care Team at 888.823.7837.