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Wine and Health

Until the 18th century, wine was featured heavily in medicine. It was only in Victorian times that wine was seen as "evil." The French consume an incredible amount of saturated fats, smoke, and rarely take exercise. They still have only 33% as much heart disease as Americans. Is their large consumption of wine the reason? The French drink wine regularly, especially red wine.

A couple of glasses of red wine a day have been proven to cut your risk of heart disease up to 50% because its flavanoids act as antioxidants. Resveratrol is also found in red wine. This blocks cancer cell formation, lowers the risk of Alzheimer's, boosts the immune system, and is thought to lower the risk of strokes, stomach ulcers, and colorectal tumors. So, not only is wine delicious but it is good for you too!

Learn More About Wine>> California Wine Country Mini Articles are spread through out the site get a list of articles at this link.

Photo Description:

A Picture of delightful Greek Chicken Recipe with Tomato Noodles. This recipe uses chicken breast as a substitution for the more traditional Greek chicken which actually uses roooster instead of chicken.

Greek Chicken Recipes

Chicken is very popular and if you fancy something different, you might want to try a Greek chicken recipe. The following recipe is healthy and very simple to prepare. You can use homemade tomato sauce or store-bought tomato sauce in this recipe.

Greek Chicken Recipe with Tomato Noodles

Ingredients -

¼ cup olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic
4 chicken breasts
3 cups noodles
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon oregano
1 ½ quarts cold water
1 jar of homemade tomato sauce

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 425ºF. In a roasting pan, sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil for 3 minutes. Place the pieces of chicken, which have been seasoned with oregano, salt and pepper, in the pan. Cook uncovered for 35 minutes. Add the noodles and water. Cook for 20 minutes more. add the tomato sauce and cook for 35 minutes more.

Serves 4

Homemade Tomato Sauce Recipe

Ingredients -

10 ripe tomatoes, peeled, skinned and seeded
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
2 stalks celery
2 carrots, chopped
¼ cup fresh basil, chopped
¼ cup Burgundy wine
2 tablespoons tomato paste
¼ teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 green bell pepper, chopped

Preparation:

Chop 8 of the tomatoes and puree in a blender or food processor. Chop the other 2 and set them aside. In a large pot over a medium heat, cook the pepper, onion, carrot and garlic in the butter and oil until the onion starts to soften. This will take about 5 minutes. Pour in the pureed tomatoes. Stir in the chopped tomato, Italian seasoning, wine and basil. Black the whole celery stalks and bay leaf in the pot.

Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to low and simmer for 2 hours. Stir in the tomato paste and simmer for 2 more hours. Discard the celery and bay leaf. This sauce keeps well in the refrigerator if you have some over from the Greek chicken recipe

Wine Suggestion:

Which Wine to Serve with This Recipe

Greek chicken recipes are usually rich and tasty so you will need to serve them with a smooth, medium-bodied red. Good examples include Burgundy, Merlot, Shiraz blends or Zinfandel. These wines should be served at about 60ºF.