New 2010 Dietary Guidelines

Good morning everyone, I hope everyone is having a great Wednesday. We are almost half way to the weekend. ;-) I live for the weekend and more time with the hubby.

Proposed New Dietary Guidelines:

I was catching up on my nutrition and health reading this morning and saw this article about the new dietary guidelines (from USDA and HHS) and thought some of you may find it interesting since I did. If you want to read the guidelines in their entirety here is a link. You will notice the sodium recommendation has been lowered to 1,500mg of everyone not just those with health concerns and a corresponding increase in potassium. Additionally the guidelines are calling for a further reduction in saturated fat consumption and increased consumption of a plant based diet.

Per the report, “On average, Americans of all ages consume too few vegetables, fruits, high-fiber whole grains, low-fat milk and milk products, and seafood and they eat too much added sugars, solid fats, refined grains, and sodium.” While I disagree with the milk and seafood comment I think the rest of the statement is spot on.

The report goes on to say, “Plant proteins can be combined to form complete proteins if combinations of legumes and grains are consumed. Plant-based diets are able to meet protein requirements for essential amino acids through planning and offer other potential benefits, such as sources of fiber and nutrients important in a health-promoting diet.” This was strong language for an agency that has been pushing meat and milk consumption for decades.

While I don’t think the guidelines go far enough, particularly if the article is right that 70% of this country has diabetes, heart disease or is obese, I think it is a reasonable start. I can’t imagine the government telling American’s to eliminate meat or dairy due to the power of those industries and their lobbyists. But if people begin to make the connection between nutrition and health, and eat accordingly, I think we will see a huge change in the overall health of this country.

Obviously these recommendations aren’t going to make any changes in our diet since we have already taken it much further. However, I wanted to post these links so that you can share them with your loved ones that are still consuming the standard American diet.

Unrelated Note:

Today I am still working on the magazine project and making good headway. I go through my magazines every year or so and each time I do I am shocked by how many I have accumulated. I will need to space out taking them to the doctor’s office so they don’t get overwhelmed. *shakes head*  I always wonder why I don't purge these more often. ;-)

Dinner last night was a quick 20 minute dish. I had to whip it together quickly which means I didn’t measure or photograph it but I wanted the share the method for those times when you need healthy food fast. I water sautéed onion, garlic and fresh ginger. In approximately 3 minutes I added quinoa, water, turmeric, freshly ground black pepper and powdered ginger and put the lid on and brought the water to a boil then reduced it to a simmer. While the quinoa cooked I prepped veggies to go with the quinoa (I used French green beans and julienned bell peppers. I added these to the pot when there was 5 minutes remaining so they would steam on top of the quinoa. I finished the dish with cashews and cilantro (parsley would be good too). This would have been good with a few cooked beans as well. If you are going to add them do so with the veggies in the last five minutes since you only need them to heat them through.

I need to get back to my to do list but I will be back tonight with a dinner recipe post. My plan is to make dinner early so it doesn’t matter how late Dan gets home from work.  Wish me luck, LOL. Talk to all again soon.

Black Bean Dip/Spread – No Oil

I hope everyone is having a great Tuesday. My day started early today but is slowing down now. Sorry I disappeared on you yesterday. I had a nasty headache that had me down for the count. Yesterday I spent most of the day rearranging my library. While this doesn’t sound like a big task it is at our house. I have a ridiculous cookbook collection in addition to my health and nutrition books. Since I was running out of book storage room Dan put in two more bookcases for me. I needed the extra storage but it necessitated a lot of rearranging. Previously my book were stored by category but now I have one bookcase devoted to my most frequently used cookbooks, and one for health and nutrition books. Even I am a little surprised by how many books I turn to regularly for inspiration.

While I was rearranging bookcases I decided to make bean dip. The other evening night I got an email from Laura asking about sandwich fillings. That question must has stuck because the next thing you know I was soaking black beans. I haven’t made a black bean dip in ages and thought it was time.

Black beans are high in antioxidants which means they are good to use whenever you can. This dip/spread is very similar to my other bean dips. The only change I made was to use salsa instead of wet hots. I was surprised by how much salsa I needed in place of the wet hots (aka: hot crushed or pickled peppers). Here is what I made yesterday afternoon:

Black Bean Dip/Spread – No Oil
Makes 12 servings – approximately a fat ¼ cup each depending on how much cooking liquid you add

Ingredients:

2 cups dried black beans, soaked overnight (or quick soaked)
8 cups water
3 bay leaves (said to help with bean digestibility)
1 cup salsa
1 lime, zested and juiced (more if desired)
2 cups reserved bean cooking liquid (I added about 1 cup slowly until I got texture I wanted)
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon paprika (either sweet, hot or smoked)
1 teaspoon chili powder
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Combine soaked beans, water and bay leaves. Simmer the beans until they are tender. Reserve a couple cooks of cooking liquid and drain the rest of the liquid from the beans. Place the drained beans (bay removed) in your food processor or blender. Add the salsa, lime zest, lime juice and ½ cup of the reserved cooking liquid and process. Add more cooking liquid as necessary to get the texture you like. Remember it will thicken a little when it is cold. Add the cumin, paprika, chili powder and garlic and process until well combined. Now add fresh ground black pepper to taste and refrigerate until needed.

This can be used a bean dip for crudités or pita wedges. It is also a good stand in for refried beans. I tend to use bean dips on our salad with salsa as dressing. I also like it on a veggie wrap (using collards of course) with julienned veggies.

Nutritional Information (for 1/12th of the recipe):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 116.58
Calories From Fat (4%)-  5.04

Total Fat-  0.6g
Saturated Fat-  0.1g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 140.53mg
Potassium - 557.09mg
Total Carbohydrates-  21.87g
Fiber-  8.31g
Sugar - 1.44g
Protein - 7.14g

Comments:

Comments this is more of a concept than a recipe. Season it any way you choose. I like dips like this because they have flavor but not added fat. When you are trying to keep your fat intake low any place you can add protein without fat is great in my opinion. That is one reason I make beans so often.

Each serving of this bean dip/spread contains approximately 70mg of calcium, 3.5mg of iron, 125mcg of folate, 150mg of phosphorus, and 60mg of magnesium.

Making a Healthy Salad:

As I have mentioned before we eat a lot of salad. In fact we have salad every day at least once. Today for lunch I made myself another salad. It occurred to me that I have a loose set of rules that I tend to incorporate with each salad that I make. I thought you might find this interesting. Here is what keep I mind when making salads:

1. Lots of dark leafy greens (baby spinach, kale, collards, beet greens). If you julienne the greens it changes the texture.

2. Healthy fats to help with the absorption of fat soluble vitamins (either seeds, nuts or avocado) .  Typically I add a few nuts or seeds, maybe a tablespoon, but today I was in an avocado mood which makes a salad much more decadent in my opinion.

3. Something crunchy for textural variation (cucumber slices, julienned carrots, julienned bell peppers, etc,)

4. Protein (cold baked tofu cubes, cooked beans, bean dip)

5. Low or no fat salad dressing (salsa is my favorite but nut based dressings are also good)

6. Cooked grains or starches (this is optional but does add a nice textural element to a salad and more calories if you need them)

My salad today contained baby spinach, cucumber, ½ avocado, cold cooked green beans, black bean spread, and salsa. I considered adding some cooked wheat berries or cooked sweet potatoes but decided that I had enough calories in this particular salad.

Unrelated note:

After spending the day yesterday rearranging books today I moved to magazines. What a chore this has turned out to be. I am collecting a pile to take to the doctor’s office. I hate throwing the magazines away but by dropping them at the doctor’s office I feel like I am doing something for others.

I have included pics of the newly filled bookcases. If you are interested in any of the books or DVDs and have questions let me know I am happy to answer.  Most of the books I have read more than once. There are one or two that I still need to read which is why I placed them where I would see them more often. These are book cases in my family room.

For now I need to be back to my pile of magazines. Talk to you all later.  I hope Tuesday is treating you well. ;-)

Spring Inspired Two Pea Soup with Artichokes

Since I had no idea what today was going to bring I decided to make a very simple soup. I liked the idea of making something that required little attention from me. Soup is always a great low involvement dish. Both lentils and split peas are fast cooking and provide a good amount of protein as well as being filling. I decided green split peas would be a good choice for today. We picked up some fresh shelled peas at the farmers’ market this morning. I thought I wanted to include both dried and fresh peas since it is hot outside after all. Artichokes always make me think of spring too and they go so well with peas I knew I wanted to add them to the soup. I also added a few raw cashews to mimic cream and add a little of the “fatty mouth feel” that I thought the soup needed.

I get a lot of questions about how I develop recipes. This is actually much easier than you think. In many cases I am replicating omni recipes I have eaten or made in the past. But when I don’t have a particular recipe in mind but I do have an ingredient I want to use I turn to Culinary Artistry. This is book that I have used for years. It is probably the most used book in my cookbook connection. For almost every ingredient you can think of the book gives a list of things that go with that ingredient. For example for peas the book lists: almonds, artichokes, bacon, butter, carrots, chervil, chives, cream, fennel, garlic, ham, leeks, lemon, lettuce, mint, mushrooms, nutmeg, onions, parsley, prosciutto, rice, risotto, rosemary, sage, salt pork, savory, shallots, sugar and vinegar. The artichokes, chives and cream jumped out to me. I almost used mushrooms too but they remind me of cold weather dishes so I left those out today. Here is what I made for lunch:

Spring Inspired Two Pea Soup with Artichokes
Serves 4 generously

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups split peas, dry
7 cups water
2 cups yellow onion, peeled and finely minced
6 cloves garlic, smashed and minced (allow to stand 10 minutes before heating so allicin can develop)
½ cup raw cashews, soaked and drained
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
10 ounces frozen defrosted artichokes cut into pieces that will fit on a spoon
1 cup cooked wheat berries (I cooked these yesterday and had them in the frig)
1 cup fresh or frozen peas
1 lemon, zested and juiced
¼ cup chives, finely minced
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Combine the split peas, water, onion, and garlic and bring the pot to a boil then reduce to a simmer and cook for 45 minutes. Now taste to see if the split peas are soft. If the split peas are soft add the cashews and puree the soup using an immersion blender or your regular blender. Return the pureed soup and fennel seeds to the pot and bring it back to simmer. Add the wheat berries and peas just before serving. You only need them to warm up. Check the texture of the soup; you may need to add liquid to thin it out a little. When you are ready to serve turn off the heat add the lemon juice, and reserve the lemon zest to top the soup. Stir most of the chives into the soup reserving a few for garnish. Top the soup with chives and lemon zest.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 353.35
Calories From Fat (15%) - 52.78

Total Fat-  6.32g
Saturated Fat - 1.1g
Cholesterol-  0mg
Sodium - 129.98mg
Potassium - 973.2mg
Total Carbohydrates-  60.57g
Fiber - 18.99g
Sugar - 9.61g
Protein - 19.52g

Comments:

This soup is light in flavor. The fennel is intentionally subtle so that it would not overwhelm the pea flavor. We thought the flavor was complex and blended well. It was a good compromise between a hearty and light soup. The soup is very filling and makes a meal with a side salad.  The wheat berries add a nice chewiness that I like. Adding the fresh peas at the last minute keeps them tender so they still have that fresh pop.  Even Dan, who isn't crazy about split pea soup, enjoyed this and said it was very good. 

Each serving of soup contains approximately 1,60IU of vitamin A, 110mg of calcium, 190mg of folate, 320mg phosphorus, 120mg magnesium, and 16mcg of selenium.

Unrelated Note:

To go with the soup I made a quick salad of julienned bok choy and spinach with diced mango. I dressed that with a miso and mirin dressing. While I am certain Dr. Fuhrman would think the salad had too much sodium we enjoyed it. Since I don’t add salt to most of our food unless I am using miso or a little liquid aminos I think our overall sodium intake is fine.

I have no idea what I am making for dinner tonight. I will depend on what we are in the mood to eat later. As you have noticed I have been in a mango mood the last two days. I really love mangos, probably more than I should. ;-) We bought a dozen mangos a few days ago with the intention of freezing some of them but at the rate we are going through them they may be gone soon. I had planned to try to make some mango sorbet using frozen mango chunks. Have any of the Vitamix owners made mango sorbet, how did it turn out? I have the feeling it will get rich and creamy like banana soft serve.

I am going to go sip my tea and read more in my new nutrition book. With a little luck I will be finished reading “Nutrition in Clinical Practice” in the next few days. When I do I will write up a review. So far it is a very good read.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. Talk to you soon

Quick Update and Mango and Black Bean Salad

Sorry that I disappeared on you guys yesterday. My mom pulled a muscle in her back and I was called into duty. As an only child when help is needed I am the obvious choice. A heating pad and Tylenol seemed to help a lot. But I expect to be called into service again today. But I will try to post later today or at least tomorrow.

I delivered food to the folks and made something very quick and easy because I didn’t have time for anything else. I didn’t have the time to measure like I normally do but I think the amounts below are very close. Here is what I made:

Mango and Black Bean Salad with Mung Bean Noodles
Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 cup black beans cooked (or 2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained)
8 ounce bag Cellophane Noodles (made from mung beans and water)
boiling water sufficient to cover the noodles
3 collard leaves, finely julienned (I used the small ones that are too little for collard wraps)
½ pound raw spinach, julienned
2 carrots, julienned
1 red bell pepper, stem and seeds removed and julienned
3 mangoes, diced
1 cucumber, julienned
¼ cup mint leaves, julienned
¼ cup cilantro, julienned
2 limes, zested and juiced

Directions:

If using dried black beans cook them until tender and refrigerate until you are ready to make the salad.

Boil the water for the cellophane noodles. Pour the boiling water over the noodles and allow the noodles to stay in the water for 15 minutes. Then drain the noodles and rinse with cold water. You want to the noodles to be cold in the salad.

Combine all the ingredients, toss and serve.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories-  424.68
Calories From Fat (3%) - 11.09

Total Fat - 1.32g
Saturated Fat-  0.28g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 94.44mg
Potassium - 1109.39mg
Total Carbohydrates - 101.01g
Fiber - 12.04g
Sugar - 28.51g
Protein - 8.1g

Comments:

Dan and I enjoyed this salad. I have not heard what my parents thought of it. The lime juice and fresh herbs are necessary to give this salad flavor. I had initially wanted to make these ingredients into summer rolls (fresh spring rolls) but didn’t have the time to make them with all the activity yesterday.

Each serving of this salad contains approximately 15,200IU of vitamin A, 125mg of vitamin C, 160mg of calcium, 245mg of folate, 335mg of vitamin K, 175mg of phosphorus, 115mg of magnesium and 7 mcg of selenium. I was quite happy with the vitamin A, C and K in this recipe. The mango added a nice sweetness to the dish. The cellophane noodles added texture and calories. Black beans were also included for calories and protein.

Unrelated note:

As usual we went to the farmers’ market this morning and came home with an absurd amount of produce for two people. Sometimes I wonder how we manage to eat it all, but we do. Our CSA had garlic scapes today! I was practically doing the happy dance at the market. I grabbed two bags so I can make a little garlic scape pesto, one of my favorite things. I will share that with you all soon.

I need to run for now so I can check in on my parents. Talk to you all soon. I hope everyone is having a great weekend.

White Bean Stew with Quatre Epices and Smoked Seitan Sausage plus Fun Facts Friday

Those of you that have been reading a while know that I love beans. We eat them everyday sometimes more than once. I am always looking for new ways to serve beans. Sometimes even I get tired of bean purees and want something warm and comforting. The beauty of bean stews is that they are not only easy to make and reheat but you can season them is in so many ways making them totally different from the last recipe. To this stew I added a little sliced smoked seitan. The chewy texture of the seitan adds nicely to the overall dish. I used more quatre epices to mimic the flavor of the sausage. Here is what I did:

White Bean Stew with Quatre Epices and Smoked Seitan Sausage
Serves 6

Ingredients:

2 cups navy beans, dry
8 cups water to soak the beans
1 large yellow onion, peeled and finely minced (approximately 2 cups)
6 cloves garlic, smashed, peeled and minced
¼ cup water to sauté the aromatics
6 cups water to cook the beans (or what you need to just barely cover the beans)
3 bay leaves
2 cups peeled diced tomatoes
14 ounces tomato sauce, no salt added
1 ½ teaspoons quatre epices, or to taste
2 smoked seitan sausages with quatre epices, sliced thinly

Directions:

Soak the beans overnight in water. In the morning drain and rinse the beans.

Water sauté the onions and garlic until tender, about 3 minutes. Add the beans, water and bay leaves to the pot and bring the water to a boil. Then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook the beans until they are tender the exact time will depend on the age of your beans. Add the remaining ingredients and cook uncovered for approximately 30 minutes to evaporate some of the liquid and concentrate the flavors.

Refrigerate the stew until ready to serve. Like all soups and bean dishes this is better if you make it the day before which allows the flavors to marry.

You can serve this stew over a cooked grain or as is. This would also be good finished with fresh minced parsley or cilantro and a little fresh lemon or lime juice.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories-  380.12
Calories From Fat (5%) - 17.18

Total Fat - 2g
Saturated Fat-  0.23g
Cholesterol-  0mg
Sodium-  30.59mg
Potassium - 1383.17mg
Total Carbohydrates-  62.94g
Fiber - 20.53g
Sugar - 9.78g
Protein - 30.31g

Comments:

If you like bean dishes and are looking for something a little different I hope you give this a try. The flavor added by the quatre epices is hard to describe but is very pleasant while still being a bit unusual. I like to finish soups and stews with fresh citrus juice and this one is no different. We used lemon tonight but lime would be just a good. Minced herbs on top add a nice freshness to the dish. If you need to add more calories this is good served over a cooked grain, either bulgur, brown rice, millet, or quinoa would all work. If you plan to serve the stew over a grain then you should add more seasoning since adding an unflavored grain will reduce the overall flavor of the dish.

Each serving of this stew contains approximately 920IU of vitamin A, 170mg of calcium, 5.9mg of iron, 285mcg of folate, 410mg of phosphorus, 165mg of magnesium, and 15mcg of selenium. Definitely not as nutritionally dense as a meal full of green veggies but better than what most people eat. We had this tonight over quinoa with lemon and cilantro. After dinner we also had fresh veggie and fruit juice and Dan had mixed berry and kale ice cream, his new favorite treat.

Fun Facts Friday:

I almost forget today was Friday. Sometimes I can be such a ditz, LOL. Since it has been a rough week I thought I would keep fun facts Friday upbeat. Here are my questions:

1. What is your favorite movie of all time? This one is so easy for me. Hands down my favorite movie (and Dan’s) is “When Harry Met Sally”. I have seen this movie so many times and I still laugh even though I know most all the lines by heart. This movie came out the year Dan and I met and was one of the first movies we went to see together. We have seen it so many times that we will use lines from the movie regularly. For example someone said something about “Kelly Small” one day and in stereo Dan and I said, “Of the Coney Island Smalls?” We both started laughing and the other person thought we had lost our minds. Do you have any movies you love so much you know the lines by heart?

2. Other than your family (spouse, children, siblings, etc) is there someone in your life that means the world to you that you can’t imagine life without? This question is so very easy for me. It has to be my friend Louis. We have known each other a long, long time after meeting at work years ago. When things have gone wrong in my life Louis has always been the first one there to help. There have been quite a few rough patches that I don’t know what I would have done without Louis there to help me stay sane. Since I know you read this Louis, I want you know how very much you mean to me and how much I appreciate you always being there and in particular putting up with my neuroses. ;-) Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the things you do!

3. Do you like your first name and have you always; do you have any nicknames? I have to say I used to hate, hate, hate my first name. Teachers never pronounced it correctly and it used to drive me nuts (short trip). My parents pronounce it like Alicia Silverstone pronounces her name but almost no else does. The variations I have heard of my name are simply ridiculous. I can’t tell you how many times I have been called Alice? Ugh, I can’t think of many names that would be worse. As I have gotten older I learned to appreciate my name but it took me a long time and now I answer to anything that is remotely close (except Alice, you have to draw the line somewhere, LOL). In college a lot of people called me Ali; it was the era of Muffy and Chip so by comparison Ali isn’t so terrible. That is the reason I sign many of my replies Ali it was an old nickname that stuck.

What about all of you? I can’t wait to read your answers.

Unrelated Note:

Since today is Friday it means two days of relaxing with Dan (I hope he won’t be working *sigh*) and a couple of midday meal with the folks. I am planning to spend a little time in the garden if the weather cooperates. But mostly it is going to be a nice relaxing weekend.

I have a few ideas in mind for things I want to do in the kitchen, more experiments that have been in my head for a while. If time permits I hope to at least get to at least one of those this weekend. The smoked seitan sausage with quinoa has inspired me to make some of my other “crazy” ideas.

I will talk to you all later!

Smoked Seitan and Quinoa Sausage Seasoned with Quatre Epices

I made these seitan sausages last night to be used today with the remainder to go into the freezer. Dan loves my seitan so I try to keep it on hand in the freezer. If you are new to seitan you should know one of the best things about it is that freezing and thawing doesn’t hurt the texture. Recently I have been making mostly seitan sausages as we have cut back on our overall consumption of seitan. I like to use it occasionally but it is definitely a sometimes food at our house.

Last week when I made the quatre epices the idea I had in mind was seitan sausages. I have been so busy enjoying the weather that I didn’t make time for the sausages until yesterday. Since not everyone has a pressure cooker I decided to make these without it so I could share the instructions. Because I was in an experimenting mood I used whole quinoa in the sausages to see what that does to the interior texture of the sausage. Here is what I did:

Smoked Seitan and Quinoa Sausage Seasoned with Quatre Epices
Makes 8 seitan sausages

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked quinoa
2 cups water
3 cloves smoked garlic (from the smoked tomato dressing recipe)
1 ½ teaspoons quatre epices (next time start with 2 teaspoons of the spice mix)
Approximately 3 cups vital wheat gluten
salt to taste, if you choose (in the past I would have probably added 1 tablespoon of salt to this much seitan)
½ cup’ish wood chips (I don’t actually measure these I am estimated it is ½ cup could be more)
2 cups water

Directions:

Place the quinoa in a large mixing bowl. Combine the water, garlic and spice mix in your blender and process until smooth. Pour the wet ingredients over the quinoa. Add the vital gluten ½ cup at a time until it is mostly combined. There will be some grains of quinoa (maybe a tablespoon) that will not be absorbed into the dough. Knead the dough for a few minutes until it is firm. Next move the dough to a cutting board and cut into 8 roughly equal portions. Tear off 8 sheets of aluminum foil to wrap the seitan into a sausage shape. Place 1/8th of the seitan dough on a sheet of the aluminum foil and form it into a rough sausage shape. It is will look lumpy and wrong but don’t worry the uneven texture will be corrected in the rolling and steaming. Now roll the seitan up like a large tootsie roll as tightly as you can. Now twist the ends to form the sausage shape.

If you have a steamer insert place that in the bottom of a pan with a lid and fill the pot with water to the bottom of the steam, add the sausages and put the heat on high and cover the pot with a lid. Check the pan every 15 minutes to make certain you don’t need to add more water. After 30 minutes move the sausages so the bottom ones come to the top. Steam for one hour.

If you don’t a stem insert you can use a wadded up aluminum foil to keep the seitan links from sitting in the water. The rest of the method is the same. This is the method I used today to test my theory and it worked fine.

If you have a pressure cooker add a steamer basket and cook the sausages for 30 minutes on high. Everything else is the same.

While the sausages are cooking soak the wood chips in plenty of water.

Now cool the sausages until you can remove the aluminum foil without burning your fingers.

Set up your smoker as I did for the smoked tomatoes here. Place the unwrapped sausages on a piece of aluminum foil (so they don’t stick to the rack). Heat the pan on high for 5 minutes then reduce to low for 40 minutes. These smoke longer than the tomatoes since they are more dense and will take longer to absorb the smoke flavor. Allow the sausages to cool in the pan until you can handle them. Wrap each sausage in aluminum or plastic cling film and freeze until needed.

Nutritional Information per link (1/8th of the recipe):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 231.9
Calories From Fat (7%) - 15.86

Total Fat - 1.77g
Saturated Fat-  0.13g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 18.82mg
Potassium - 131.85mg
Total Carbohydrates-  16.99g
Fiber - 1.72g
Sugar - 0.01g
Protein - 37.38g

Comments:

This recipe was an experiment all the way around. I always make my sausages in the pressure cooker but it worked fine in a regular pan, I just doubled the time. Additionally I had not used whole quinoa is seitan before and that also worked. The whole quinoa gave the seitan a little bit of texture that was reminiscent of the nubby bits in real sausage. At least in these I know exactly what those bits are. *shivers* My only complaint about this sausage is that I would like it to have a little more flavor. Next time I am going to add another ½ teaspoon of the quatre epices to start. I will probably also make a tester next time to confirm the seasonings. That is something that I used to do but have been neglecting recently. I should definitely go back to that.

These sausages are huge. I gave the nutrition per sausage but ½ of one is more than enough for either Dan or me. Tonight’s dinner is going to be a bean stew using slices of these sausages. I have been simmering them for 30 minutes in the stew to make certain the texture would hold up and it has. The remaining sausages are going into my freezer for later. I tend to use seitan sausages sliced and incorporated as an enhancement to dishes. We don’t eat seitan sausage whole on a roll. That seems like too much gluten to me now. I prefer to keep our intake of gluten on the moderate side since it is a processed food. However I do like the “meaty” texture it adds to dishes.

Unrelated notes:

Last night I watched an interesting DVD on Netflix. I was called “Killer at Large” and was about the problems obesity causes for both individuals and society. I learned a few interesting bits of information from the documentary. The one thing that struck me was about the calorie content of a happy meal versus a quarter pounder meal at McDonalds. According to the documentary the happy meal contains 700 calories, and the quarter pounder meal 1,700. What child needs a 700 calorie meal from McDonalds? There are many meals where I don’t eat 700 calories as an adult. I found this information very sad and a little depressing. No wonder so many of our children are overweight and obese.

I will be back later with the white bean and seitan sausage stew I made for us for the weekend. I have not had a chance to photograph it yet for the post but it tastes and smells really good.

I am off to run my errands now. I will be back later with the stew recipe.

Indian Spiced Mushrooms and Spinach Sauce in Lettuce Wraps

Last night I wanted to make something Indian inspired for dinner. Mushrooms are something I like to use as a stand in for meat. I decided to marinate the mushrooms similarly to how I would treat tofu. The lemon juice and spices add nice flavor to the mushrooms. The sauce is thickened and richened with nut better. Instead of whole wheat wraps I used romaine leaves as the food delivery system. You could also use collard leaves if you prefer. Additionally you can serve this as a salad. Here is what I did:

Indian Spiced Mushrooms and Spinach Sauce in Lettuce Wraps
serves 2

Mushroom Ingredients:

1 ½ pounds crimini mushrooms
½ lemon, juiced
½ teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted and ground
¼ teaspoons coriander seeds, toasted and ground
¼ teaspoon black mustard seeds, toasted and ground
½ teaspoon turmeric
freshly ground black pepper to taste (the piperine improves the absorption of the turmeric so be generous)

Sauce Ingredients:

1/4 pound raw baby spinach
2 tablespoons reduced fat peanut butter
½ cup cilantro
2 cloves smoked garlic (or one small raw garlic clove)
¼ teaspoon turmeric
¼ teaspoon black mustard seems
¼ teaspoon coriander seed
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Additional Ingredients:

1 head romaine
1 cup cherry tomatoes cut into bite size pieces

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Combine the ingredients and toss to coat all the mushrooms. Bake the mushrooms for 20 minutes.

To make the sauce, combine everything in your blender and process until completely smooth. Taste for seasoning and adjust the spices to your taste.

To serve top the romaine leaf with the Indian mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, and the spinach sauce.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 266.9
Calories From Fat (26%) - 69.55

Total Fat - 7.91g
Saturated Fat - 1.13g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 128.35mg
Potassium - 3003.6mg
Total Carbohydrates - 36.62g
Fiber - 12.48g
Sugar - 11.34g
Protein - 18.23g

Comments:

This is in essence a salad you pick up to eat. We eat salad so often I like to change how we eat it. For some reason I like being able to pick up salad and that changes it for me. The smaller center romaine leaves I cut into small pieces and we had our second helping as salad to be eaten with a fork. The only change I would make would be to add some whole cilantro leaves to this. While the sauce had cilantro flavor I think the pops of flavor from the whole leaves would have been nice.

The peanut butter was added to the sauce for richness and to thicken it a little. If I had not made this sauce I would not have known it contained peanut butter. Now I did use the reduced fat peanut butter which has less peanut flavor. If you are using regular peanut butter I would use no more than 1 1/3 tablespoons of it.

Each serving of this recipe contains approximately 24,700IU of vitamin A, 120mg of vitamin C, 260mg of calcium, 7.5mg of iron, 615mcg of folate, 595mcg of vitamin K, 590mg of phosphorus, 150mg of magnesium, and 93mcg of selenium. Who wouldn’t like that nutrition?

Unrelated Note:

Today is Friday which means I have errands to run. I made some seitan sausages yesterday and plan to use two or those in a bean stew for dinner tonight. The sausages contain whole quinoa so they are a bit of an experiment which I hope worked. I will let you know if I have a winner.

For now I need to get moving so I can get some things accomplished. Talk to you all later today. I hope everyone I having a great Friday.

Smoked Tomato Dressing with Raw Sunflower Seeds

Today I am spending a little time in the kitchen to cheer myself up. Yesterday the gray and rainy weather combined with not feeling well did a number on my food. The rain has departed but I am still not feeling 100% so I decided that a little therapeutic kitchen time was in order today.

Since the weather is nice and I have the windows open I decided to break out my indoor smoker to make a little smoked tomato salad dressing. Eating salad everyday means I need to come up with different dressings often so we don’t get bored. Smoked tomatoes make a wonderful soup so I thought why not a salad dressing. Here is what I did:

Smoked Tomato Dressing with Raw Sunflower Seeds
Makes approximately 1 ¼ cups or 20 tablespoons

Ingredients:

½ cup wood chips (I buy the ones sold for outdoor smokers)
2 cups water to soak wood chips
1 ½ cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half so they will absorb more smoke flavor
1 head garlic, smashed and peeled (I used three small cloves for this dressing), save remaining garlic for future use)
1 pinch thyme, dried
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons raw sunflower seeds (soaked and drained if you aren’t using a high speed blender)
1 tablespoon tarragon vinegar

Directions:

Soak the wood chips in water for at least 30 minutes. When you are ready to smoke pour the wood chips and water through a paper towel lined sieve and squeeze as much water from the chops as possible.

Line your smoker with aluminum foil and place the wood chips oil the foil. Place the plan inside the smoker and add the cut tomatoes and garlic cloves. Sprinkle the tomatoes with a little dried or fresh thyme and black pepper. Cover the smoker and turn the heat on high for approximately 5 minutes which should be enough to get the chips smoking, then turn the flame to low and smoke the veggies for 25 to 30 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow the veggies to cool inside the closed smoker to cool.

After 15 minutes move the tomatoes, pine nuts and vinegar to your blender and puree until smooth. Add garlic and clove at a time, puree and taste. Stop when the garlic intensity is right for you.

Refrigerate the salad dressing until needed.  It will thicken some as is chills.

What to do if you don’t have a smoker:

You will need a pan (preferably with a lid) and a wire rack that fits into the pan. I have used a roasted pan or a wok in the past as a make shift smoker. The wok worked better because it had a lid and I had a rack that fit into the wok. If you don’t have a rack you can use a bamboo steamer that you reserve for smoking only since it will absorb the smokiness. If you plan to use the pan for something other than a smoker place aluminum foil (a double layer) on the bottom of the pan and put the soaked chips on the center of the foil. This will keep the wood from scarring interior of the pan. Fit the rack over the chips and add the food to be smoked and cover with a lid. You want to start the pan on high to get the wood smoking, then turn the flame down so you don’t risk catching the wood on fire. I have not had that happen, but better safe than sorry. If the pan you are using doesn’t have a lid cover the top of the pan securely with aluminum foil to keep the smoke in.

Nutritional Information for 1/20th of the recipe or approximately a tablespoon:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 8.63
Calories From Fat (47%) - 4.07

Total Fat - 0.49g
Saturated Fat - 0.04g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 1.27mg
Potassium - 35.14mg
Total Carbohydrates-  0.97g
Fiber - 0.24g
Sugar - 0.03g
Protein - 0.32g

Comments:

This dressing is both light in calories and flavor. The smoke is intentionally subtle so that it doesn’t obscure the fresh tomato flavor. I love dressings like this that I can use liberally without overwhelming a salad.

If you don’t want to smoke your own tomatoes and garlic you can add a ¼ teaspoon of liquid smoke (or less) or add a few smoked dried tomatoes to this dressing. I would suggest you use both of those sparingly to start.

Unrelated Note:

Last night we ended up going out to eat with our friends Walid and Jackie. It was a nice to see them since it had been a couple of months since we had gotten together. It would have been better had I felt 100% but life doesn’t always work that way. We were trying to catch up with them before they went to Egypt to visit Walid’s parents. It was a bonus that Aimee was working last night as it is always wonderful to see her as well.

Because I wasn’t feeling too hungry Dan ordered dinner on his own. Here is what he choose with a little help from Aimee:

Whole wheat pizza with asparagus, zucchini, onions, roasted red peppers, dried apricots, olives and a balsamic glaze. Dan did a good job I think. I liked the sweetness of the apricots and balsamic glaze with the veggies.

To go with the pizza he also order sugar snaps with garlic and onions.

It used to see so odd to me to have pizza without cheese when we first went vegan. Strangely it seems completely normal now and I don’t miss the cheese, which I never thought would happen I might add.

For now I want to get back into the kitchen. I am going to make some seitan sausages next using quinoa instead of bread crumbs. Since the smoker is out I thought I would smoke them after they are pressure cooked to add another layer of flavor. I will be back with that recipe later this afternoon.

Black Bean and Brown Rice Burrito in a Collard Leaf Wrapper

Today has been another glorious weather day at our house. There is nothing better than spending time outside when the weather is nice. Of course I spent quite of bit of time reading about nutrition, you are shocked I know, LOL. I spent so much time engrossed in my book I lost track of time. Again this is nothing new since I frequently lose myself in a nutrition or health book. I get so engrossed reading about nutrition that time seems to stand still.

After hearing about a raw burrito earlier today from Courtney I was craving one. Raw was out of the question because I didn’t have anything on hand that I could use for filling. But I knew I could make a cooked variation so that is what we had tonight. Here is what I made:

Black Bean and Brown Rice Burrito in a Collard Leaf Wrapper
Serves 2 generously

Ingredients:

1 ½ cup cooked brown rice
1 ½ cup cooked black beans
1 cup raw asparagus, cut into thin coins
2/3 cup salsa (for filling), or to taste
¼ teaspoon cumin seed toasted and ground
¼ teaspoon chili powder
¼ teaspoon oregano, dried
¼ teaspoon paprika
6 collard leaves, stems shaved flat and end removed
6 tablespoons vegan cheese sauce, for garnish
3 tablespoons scallions thinly sliced for garnish
3 tablespoons salsa, for garnish
3 kalamata olives, for garnish
3 tablespoons cilantro, for garnish

Directions:

Combine the black beans, rice, asparagus, salsa, and spices and stir to combine. Warm to approximatley room temperature and taste for seasoning, adjust as necessary for your taste. Heat the filling to the temperature you desire before filling the wraps. Take 1/6th of the bean mixture and roll it into each leaf. Top the filled collard with warm vegan cheese sauce, salsa, slivered olives and cilantro.

Serve it with a knife and fork. If you prefer you can julienne the collards and use them as the greens on the bottom of the filling as a salad. Dan prefers the salad option and I like the filled leaves. This would also be good with some tofu tahini sauce if you happen to have that on hand. Sliced avocado would also be a good addition but I didn’t want to add the fat since Dan was going to be having dessert after dinner. ;-)

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 465.05
Calories From Fat (12%) - 54.4

Total Fat - 6.39g
Saturated Fat - 0.95g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 775.69mg
Potassium - 1335.28mg
Total Carbohydrates - 85.91g
Fiber - 20.89g
Sugar - 6.67g
Protein - 21.44g

Comments:

This wrap has a lot of flavor and is easy to put together if you keep cooked rice and beans on hand. For me this came together in very quickly. There is nothing like a meal that ready in minutes to make me happy.   This is a very filling recipe. I was only able to eat two of the three wraps which means lunch for tomorrow is in the refrigerator.

Each serving of this recipe contains approximately 5,200IU of vitamin A, 30mg of vitamin C, 200mg of calcium, 6.8mg of iron, 340mcg of folate, 330mcg of vitamin K, 430mcg of phosphorus, and 215mg of magnesium. In my opinion this is decent nutrition for such a quick and easy meal.

Unrelated Note:

I didn’t spend as much time in the kitchen as I had planned to but instead decided to enjoy the weather while it lasts. However I did find time to make black beans and rice for the refrigerator inventory for later in the week. I also made another batch of the reduced fat peanut butter. I tried a little of the peanut butter before I drained the oil and whipped water into it and I can safely say I really prefer this reduced fat method.

Dan came from work tonight with the nicest compliment from one of the guys he works with. Apparently Dan’s lunch is appealing to omnivores, or at least one omnivore. Thank you Jason, I really appreciate the compliment and liked your idea. ;-) According to what I heard from Dan his raw Mexican macaroni and cheese was appealing to Jason.

That is going to be it for me tonight. It is time for me to clean up the kitchen and relax. I hope you are all having a good evening. Talk to you tomorrow.

Mixed Berry Soft Serve with Kale?

I know some of you saw this title and thought I have finally lost my mind. But you should know this is now my husband’s favorite evening snack and he had it this morning for breakfast. The kale adds a lot of nutrition and you can adjust how much you add to the soft serve to suit your taste. You will need a high powered blender for this recipe but it is not only good but good for you. I cannot take credit for this idea it came from my nutritionist friend Courtney. Thanks Courtney for sharing this brilliant idea! Here is how I make the soft serve:

Mixed Berry Soft Serve with Kale
Serves 1

Ingredients:

1/3 cup dry oatmeal (for protein)
2 tablespoon walnuts (for healthy fat)
2 ½ cups frozen berries (I used a combination of 2 cups strawberries and ½ cup blueberries)
¼ teaspoon cinnamon (to help the body process the natural sugar)
¼ teaspoon powdered ginger (for the anti-inflammatory benefits)
¼ teaspoon lemon extract
2 kale leaves (finely julienned) – start with one and work up as many as you like
½ cup water
stevia, to taste

Directions:

Place the dry oats and walnuts in your high speed blender and process until you have a powder. Now add the kale and water and process until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and use the plunger to get the mixture completely smooth. Taste for sweetness and add stevia as necessary for you taste. I suggest you start with one kale leaf and work your way up. Dan finds two kale leaves to be the most he likes. I have made this for me with more kale but that does add a little bitterness at higher levels that not everyone finds appealing. ;-)

Nutritional information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 532.87
Calories From Fat (23%) - 122.07

Total Fat - 14.6g
Saturated Fat - 1.67g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 39.92mg
Potassium - 1307.33mg
Total Carbohydrates - 94.89g
Fiber - 19.27g
Sugar - 27.8g
Protein - 15.77g

Comments:

Courtney shared this recipe with we me late last week and I have made it every day since. Dan adores this recipe. As written this recipe contains approximately 10,500IU of vitamin A, 270mg of vitamin C, 215mg of calcium (go Kale), 7.5mg of iron, 140mcg of folate, 570mcg of vitamin K, 430mg of phosphorus, and 190mg of magnesium. Pretty amazing nutrition for something that comes together this quickly that my hubby considers dessert.

Unrelated note:

The weather here is glorious again. The morning air is cool (mid 60’s) and a little crisp. I love it when the day starts out like this. :-)

Today I have a few things I need to get done in the morning. But I should have time for a post this afternoon before dinner. We have finished all our panelle and polenta toast. I am going to make another batch this time all panelle so I can compare it to the hybrid recipe I developed. Dan also wants me to make him some sun-dried tomato pesto for the “toast” so that is also on my agenda today.

Talk to you all again soon. I hope you are having a great Tuesday and that your weather is as nice as ours.

Book Review: An Evidence Based Approach to Dietary Phytochemicals

This is the first book I read from the group that arrived on Friday. I did not want to put this one down. Now I am going to say this book is not for everyone but if you are a nutrition geek, like I am, this book is great! If I had been by myself this book would have been finished in one sitting. The chapters are as follows:

1. Fruit and Vegetables
2. Cruciferous Vegetables
3. Legumes
4. Nuts
5. Whole Grains
6. Coffee
7. Tea
8. Carotenoids
9. Chlorophyll and Chlorophyllin
10. Curcumin
11. Essential Fatty Acids (omega-3 and omega 6)
12. Fiber
13. Flavonoids
14. Soy Isoflavones
15. Isothiocyanates
16. Indole-3-Carbinol
17. Lignans
18. Organosulfur Components from Garlic
19. Phytosterols
20. Resveratrol

The chapters are organized very similarly. The phytochemical chapters (8-20) discuss: bioavailability and metabolism, biological activities, disease prevention, disease treatment, sources, safety, recommended intake and references. Each chapter is well laid out and clearly written. While some of the science is “over my head” I found that I was able to understand each section after a careful reading.

If reading the chapter headings brings any question to mind post a comment or send me an email. I will be happy to let you know the answer if the question you have is covered by the book. This book answered questions I didn’t know I needed an answer to, which is the sign of great reference book to me.

If you have a serious interest in nutrition I think you will really enjoy this book. I found it to be full of interesting bits of information. As an example of the types of information the book contained I want to share what I learned about coffee. Coffee contains cafestol and kahweol which have been found to raise both total cholesterol and LDL. But these compounds are largely removed by paper filters. Meaning my beloved espresso, Turkish coffee and French press coffees are the ones to avoid if you have high cholesterol or LDL. According to the meta-analysis (statistical summary of studies) those consuming unfiltered coffee experienced an average increase of 23 mg/dL in total cholesterol and a 14mg/dL increase in LDL. Additionally the polyphenols in coffee can bind to nonheme iron (plant sources) and inhibit its intestinal absorption making coffee a bigger problem for vegans than omnivores. Knowing this will make it easier for me to stay away from espresso. Darn it!

The book is full of facts like this. If you are information junkie I highly recommend this book. I know it will be a great reference that I will turn to often. As usual this is something I purchased, it was not sent to me for review.

Unrelated note:

The weather today has been absolutely glorious. The temperatures didn’t get out of the 70’s and there has a been a gentle breeze all day. It was so nice to open the windows! I was quite tired of having the air conditioning on. I spent some time outside today and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Later I spent quite a long time chatting electronically with my buddy Alexandra who is in Lima, Peru. She just got back from Machu Picchu and wanted to check in so I knew she was safely back to her hotel. I can’t wait to hear her stories in person and see the pictures she took. She thoroughly enjoyed herself and there were no incidents which I happy to hear. Something tells me Dan will be happier than I was to hear this. ;-) Other than a little food poisoning from some street food her trip has been good thus far.

Because I spent so much time goofing off today there won’t be any recipe to speak of to post. For dinner we had quinoa, raw julienned collards, and salsa with spiralized zucchini and raw cheese sauce and more salsa on the side. For nights when I don’t have things planned I make things like this often. Quinoa is quick cooking and salsa adds flavor to meals without fat. I added julienned collards because they are part of the cruciferous vegetable family and are therefore healthier when consumed raw. Spiralized zucchini with sauce is another easy food to prepare. I love the texture of the spiralized veggies so this is a summer staple for us.

Talk to you all tomorrow. I am off to spend a little time with Dan.

Quick Macadamia Nut Cheese and Tomato Tarragon Cashew Dressed Salad

There definitely seems to be a lot of doom and gloom in the blogosphere these days that seems to be contagious I really hope I don’t catch it. Generally I am a happy person and I would like to keep it that way. Those of you that know me know that I have plenty that I could get depressed about but I choose to look on the bright side. I hope those of you that are down find something to smile about very soon. I really hate to see nice people be glum.

After lunch yesterday Dan and I moved our enormous existing television downstairs. This is where exercising comes in quite handy. Not that it was why I started strength training but it did make it much easier to move that behemoth thing down the steps.

After the original television was in its new home Dan started working on installing the new TV. Binky (aka Nicco) is definitely in a mourning period at the moment. He wants his old TV back where it was with a cat tree on each side so he can climb and run ove the top of the TV. It looks like the cat mommy and daddy will be in trouble for some time over this transgression. Dan wants to lose the cat trees from the family room completely but something tells me the cats are not going to allow this. We will see who wins. My money is on the cats, LOL.

Dinner last night was nothing worth blogging about, so I didn’t. After moving the TV I was not in the mood for anything complicated in the kitchen.

This morning we made our usual trip to the farmer’s market downtown. We left about 30 minutes later than normal and arrived at 7:30am. The market was a mob scene. Needless to say we learned our lesson and will be back to our regular schedule next weekend. This is what happens when we you stay up too late watching a movie. ;-)

Since it is a weekend we had a mid afternoon meal with my parents. I think yesterday’s meal was just a tad too healthy for them so I added some fat in the form of nuts to this meal. I made a quick macadamia nut cheese to top the panelle and polenta triangles from yesterday and a tomato raw cashew dressing for the salad. Here is what I made:

Tomato Tarragon Cashew Dressing
Makes approximately 17 tablespoons

Ingredients:

1 cup cherry tomatoes, washed
juice of ½ lemon
¼ cup raw cashews
2 olives, pitted
2 tablespoon tarragon, fresh
1 small garlic clove
black pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine everything in your blender and puree until completely smooth. Taste and adjust the seasoning as you desire. Refrigerate until needed.

Nutritional Information (for 1/17th of the total recipe):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 12.45
Calories From Fat (49%)-  6.12

Total Fat - 0.73g
Saturated Fat - 0.13g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 5.2mg
Potassium - 49.64mg
Total Carbohydrates - 1.35g
Fiber - 0.23g
Sugar - 0.13g
Protein - 0.47g

Comments:

This dressing is light but also rich in flavor. It would make a nice dip for veggies as well as a dressing. I added the olives for salt as well as background richness. If you aren’t an olive lover you can substitute capers for the olives. Tarragon is something I don’t cook with often so I was trying to find ways to use it more and it works well with tomatoes so it was good here. The cashews made the dressing creamy without an overly fatty feel. Be careful not to add a huge clove of garlic as this could easily overwhelm the sauce. Overall this is a good dressing that I will be making again.

Next recipe:

To go with the salad I decided to add a few of the panelle and polenta toasts with some nut cheese. I wanted to make something different to show how quick and easy nut cheese really is. I soaked the macadamias briefly and only added a few seasonings. Everyone liked this including my mother who is always the hardest sell in terms of healthy food. Here is what I did:

Quick Mac Nut Cheese
Makes approximately 16 tablespoons

Ingredients:

1 cup macadamia nuts, soaked for 30 minutes and drained
1 tablespoon mellow white miso
1 small garlic clove, peeled
1 lemon zested, juice from ½ of the lemon
white pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine everything in your food processor or blender and process until smooth. Refrigerate until needed.

The nut cheese will be thick it is easier to remove from a food processor than it is from a blender. You can also make it with a mortar and pestle but that is much more work.

Nutritional Information (for 1/16th or approximately 1 tablespoon):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 63.31
Calories From Fat (85%) - 53.69

Total Fat-  6.41g
Saturated Fat - 1.02g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 40.55mg
Potassium - 37.35mg
Total Carbohydrates - 1.76g
Fiber - 0.84g
Sugar - 0.51g
Protein - 0.82g

Comments:

Using macadamia nuts is quicker than using almonds since they don’t need much of a soak, though they are easier to process if you remember to soak them. I was busy at home today and forgot to soak the macadamias until there was only 30 minutes or soak time available, but that wasn’t a problem.

Nut cheeses are something that I make often. These nut cheeses are how we incorporate fat into our diet since we hardly use any oil. While we could just eat nuts, they are much more interesting as a cheese, in my opinion.

This cheese is neutral but lemony, if that makes sense. I particularly liked the flavor. It is very rich though so you don’t need much to be satisfied.

How to get your potassium:

After I posted the blurb on sodium and potassium I went back to look at where we get our potassium and found that normally we would be short without our veggie and fruit juice. Lately I have been making a fresh juice with the following:

Ingredients:

1 beet including beet greens
2 kale leaves
1/3 pound spinach
1 red delicious apple (they are highest in antioxidants)
5 carrots
3 celery stalks
½ lemon
1 inch ginger

Directions:

I run these all through the juicer and add two frozen wheat grass shots to the juice to chill it. One half a serving of this juice contains 2,640mg of potassium. We have this juice morning and evening so we have no difficulty reaching our 4,700mg of potassium per day.

Unrelated Note:

Have any of seen the new Cooking Channel? I didn’t bother to check it out until this weekend because I thought it was going to be like the Food Network. As you can tell I am not a fan of the Food Network. After you have seen the fifth “celebrity chef” prepare a dish it gets really old and tiresome. Not to mention watching clearly unhealthy people swoon over fat and sugar is not what I call fun, call me crazy. With this in mind, I actual have enjoyed the Cooking Channel this weekend. They seem to have mostly “real chefs” not cooks with TV shows. There are two shows that have stood out to me. They are “Chuck's Day Off” and “David Rocco’s Dolce Vita”. I will admit that the appeal of the David Rocco is the setting. Who would expect me to love a show filmed in one of my favorite cities on the planet, Firenze (Florence), Italy?

Since we had a late mid day meal with the folks dinner will probably happen here until after 8:30. But I will get it posted tomorrow morning if I think you will like it.

I am signing off for now to make dinner. Talk to you all later. I hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Shitake and Crimini Pate and Lemony White Bean and Veg Salad

When I made the quatre epices yesterday I had some ideas of what I wanted to do with it, but they were only ideas. I thought it might be nice to use cooked mushrooms as a stand in for meat in pate. Our chef friend Ian has put pate back on the regular menu and each time we stop in the words pate and cognac leap off the menu and get my attention. This used to be one of my favorite appetizers. I really wanted to make something that was reminiscent of pate but was also healthy.

Since I didn’t want to serve this on the traditional toast (flour) I baked a batch of my panelle and polenta triangles. Those really do come in handy when you need a food delivery vehicle. I modified it a little from the first recipe which I will tell you about below.

All I can say is what took me so long to try mushrooms in pate? This is both really good and healthy! I will be making variations of this very regularly. It reminds me of meat pate much more than it does mushroom. The flavor of this pate is complex and bright. This may just the best new thing I have made this month. Here is what I did:

Shitake and Crimini Mushroom Pate
serves 4

Ingredients:

½ large yellow onion, peeled and finely minced
1 clove garlic, smashed and minced
¼ cup water to sauté onion and garlic
¼ pound fresh shitakes, stems removed (save in the freezer for mushroom stock) caps roughly chopped
½ pound crimini mushrooms, roughly chopped
½ teaspoon quatre epices, or to taste
salt, to taste

Directions:

Sweat the onion and garlic in the water until translucent (about 3 minutes). Add the mushrooms and quatre epics and cook until the water from the mushrooms has evaporated. Getting the water out of the mixture is important so you don’t have a watery topping. Allow the mixture to cool for a few minutes, until you can safely move it to your food processor bowl. Pulse the mixture until you achieve the texture you like. I wanted my pate to have a little coarse texture like a country pate so I pulsed the food processor about 8 times. Taste for seasoning and add salt and additional quatre epices, if desired. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 44.69
Calories From Fat (3%) - 1.47

Total Fat - 0.17g
Saturated Fat - 0.04g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 5.89mg
Potassium - 373.84mg
Total Carbohydrates - 8.66g
Fiber - 1.96g
Sugar - 3.27g
Protein - 2.52g

Comments:

This is definitely a winner all the way around, healthy and flavorful. Not to mention it is so low in calories you can eat a mountain of it and not feel guilty. I am going to try this with dried mushrooms. Next time I may add a few chopped pistaschios for texture. I think this has a lot of options that will work. Also you may want to serve this with a little Dijon mustard.

If you still eat oil you may want to drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil over this on your toast. We didn’t do that but it would be tasty that way.

We had this on another variation of my panelle and polenta triangles. I was short on polenta so I increased the proportion of chickpeas to polenta. It worked fine and made a “toast substitute” that is just as flavorful but has more fiber. Also I bake these at 350 degrees until they were firm (about 45 minutes) then flipped it over and baked the second side for 15 minutes. That variation was worked fine. The most difficult part was peeling the parchment paper off the bottom of the toast after I flipped it. To make it easier to flip use a baking sheet the same size as the one you baked the “toast” in. Place the cool sheet on top the hot one and flip it over with the two pans together. Slide the polenta back to the hot pan and bake. The parchment will release more easily once the top (previously the bottom) has dried out a little. We use the panelle and polenta crisps very often at our house.

Next recipe:

When I was thinking of the pate I knew I wanted something more substantial to go with the pate. Beans are a wonderful source of fiber and protein so I try to eat them at least twice a day. Years ago I used to make this salad with tuna and plenty of extra virgin olive oil. But other that those two omissions this is a salad that I have made for decades. Here is what I did:

Lemony White Bean Salad
serves 6

Ingredients:

1 ½ cup dry cannellini beans
5 cups water to cook beans
2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
3 bay leaves (to improve the digestibility of the beans)
1 -2 lemons, zested and juiced (if not organic don’t use the zest) if you really like lemon use 2
1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut into ¼’s or ½’s depending on their size (about the size of the beans)
1 English cucumber or zucchini/summer squash, cut into cubes approximately ¼ inch or you can spiralized it and use it as a bed to nest the bean salad into (which is what I did)
1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and flesh finely diced
2 tablespoons brined capers, drained
2 tablespoons kalamata or oil cured olives, sliced or slivered (no pits)
¼ cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons fresh oregano, leaves only, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons fresh thyme, leaves only
spinach or mixed greens for serving - optional

Directions:

Cook the beans in the water with the bay leaves and garlic until tender. Drain the beans and remove the bay leaves and discard. Add the lemon juice and zest to the hot beans so they will absorb more of the lemon flavor. Refrigerate until cold. Then add the remaining ingredients, except the fresh herbs, toss and return to the refrigerator. Add the fresh herbs just before serving and toss to combine, or sprinkle the herbs and olives on top (which is what I did).

Serve on a bed of lettuce or baby spinach. If you also are serving a separate green salad you can also serve this without the greens on the bottom.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 326.07
Calories From Fat (8%) - 26.89

Total Fat - 3.04g
Saturated Fat - 0.26g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 270.94mg
Potassium - 1816.52mg
Total Carbohydrates - 58.75g
Fiber - 14.73g
Sugar - 4.52g
Protein - 19.89g

Comments:

This salad is very fresh and flavorful. It is one of my favorite bean salads. You can also make it with chickpeas if you prefer. You can make this salad with any combination of vegetables that you like. The trick to getting a lot of flavor is to add the lemon to the hot beans so they beans will have a bright flavor throughout. Also the addition of fresh herbs makes a huge difference in the flavor.

Unrelated Notes:

Dan has been busy today with the new TV installation and set up. He didn’t want the deliver people to install it he prefers to do things like this himself. I think he enjoys using power tools and being handy. Must be a guy thing I would have been happy to allow the delivery people to take care of the installation beginning to end. ;-)

Meal time with the folks was uneventful. I have to say I am always surprised when they like my food because I know how darn healthy it is and needless to say that is not a description of their usual food habits. The fact that my parents seem to enjoy my food never ceases to amaze me. They seemed to like the mushroom pate the most. I have to say that was my favorite as well.

I have not planned dinner tonight so that will be a surprise for everyone, including me. If I come up with something post worthy I will be back with an update tonight.

Talk to you all tomorrow if not sooner. ;-)

Fun Facts Friday and New Additions to the Library

TGIF, Woo Hoo! Can you tell I am happy it is Friday? I love my weekends, LOL. ;-) The weather here is unpleasant, but it has been worse so I am not complaining. On the bright side the UPS man brought me a nice surprise a little while ago. I will tell you all about that is a few minutes but let’s start with fun facts Friday instead.

Fun Facts Friday:

As usual I am going to ask you all to answer a few questions so we can get to know each other better and I will go first.

1) Do you have any pets and if so are they part of the family? As you all know we have three very spoiled little Turkish Angora felines that live with us.

The oldest by a few months is our only female, Luca Belle (her name means beautiful light in Italian). She is clearly the queen of the house with a diva attitude a mile wide. She definitely has the attitude of a big sister that would rather her little brothers go away because they bother her.

Then there is Massimo who is definitely a momma’s boy. He is named after my favorite wine Masi. Don’t judge, LOL. Masi has the most gentle and loving personality. He is the first one to snuggle with you when you don’t feel well. Sorry for the picture quality I took this one with my phone so I could get at least one pic with his eyes open. He has the most beautiful eyes.  Don't they look human?

Finally the bad baby of the house is Nicco (aka Binky), daddy’s little man. Dan loves Nicco, they are best friends. We call Nicco our little sweet tart because he is either being really sweet or really tart.  No in between moods for this little guy.  He is all or nothing all the time.

When Dan comes home the boys greet him at the front door every evening. Luca Belle waits for Dan is sit down then she plops in his lap. They have distinct personalities and are very much their own individuals. Spoiled doesn’t even begin to describe them. Needless to say they are an integral part of our family and we would have it no other way. Dan and I often say they didn’t get the memo that they are cats. All three of them love people and are normally either on us or within a few feet of us at all times.

2) Are you an optimist or a pessimist? This is an odd one for me because I used to be a pessimist but have become an optimist since the cancer. If you had told me this a few years ago I would say you were nuts, but it is true. I think cancer has a way of putting things into perspective for me. Things that used to bring me down like appointments that started late, people being incompetent, mean or lazy just doesn’t matter to me any longer. It takes a lot to fluster me now. My glass is definitely half full these days. I must say it does make it much easier to deal with life when the universe seems to want to teach you patience and tolerance.

3) What is on your summer reading list? Do you like to take books to the beach or the pool? I read all year long so the idea of summer reading list is somewhat foreign to me but I have lots of friends that read more in the summer. I always have 10 or books in the queue to be read. I added three more to the “pile” today in fact. I will get into that in a separate section.

New Additions to the Nutrition Library:

This will come as no surprise but I bought three more nutrition books two days ago and the UPS man delivered them today. I must say I love Amazon. Things just show up at your door which I think is great. Obviously I have not had a chance to read this books since they only arrived about an hour ago but I will get through them in the next week or two and let you know what I think. Here is what I bought:

First I ordered “An Evidence-Based Approach to Dietary Phytochemicals”. Sounds like a page turned doesn’t it? LOL, I love this sort of thing. I am such a nutrition geek.

Next I picked up “Nutritional Science From Fundamentals to Food”.

Finally I added “Nutrition in Clinical Practice” to my nutrition library. This one I flipped through first. I had to read what the doc had to say about diet and cancer. I only skimmed that chapter but it appears we are right on track. That made me very happy.

I realize that most of you don’t read nutrition textbooks for fun. This is something that I used to do either. But now I find them to be a very enjoyable read. Dan thinks I need to go back to school to get my Masters in Nutrition. I am seriously considering it but with my educational background I would have a lot of science courses to get out of the way first. This coming semester I may take a course or two to see how I do in chemistry. Since I have not had a college level science class (computer science doesn’t count) I don’t know if I can hack it or not. One of our young friends, Aimee is thrilled that I am considering going back to school and has offered to help me should I need it. Since she is a 4.0 student I don’t think I could ask for a better tutor. Thanks again Aimee for all your encouragement!  We will see what happens. I decided to get a jump on the process by reading everything I could this summer with the idea in mind that it will help me make the decision on whether to go back to school this coming fall or not.

Unrelated notes:

I have finished my errands and checked on the parents, like any typical Friday around here. Now it is time to spend a little quality time in the kitchen. Nothing mellows me out more than cooking. There is just something therapeutic about it for me.

I will be back later with a recipe or two. I hope Friday is going well for all of you. Talk to you soon.

Green Tea Extract Helps to Keep Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) in Check

Years ago I thought food was just something you ate for enjoyment. It took me a long time to realize that food has an enormous impact on health. Many of our friends are supportive of our diet but I know that they think we have gone a little too “granola”, as our chef friend Ian likes to say. But I believe an uber healthy diet is critical when you are faced with a life threatening disease.

This article published at the Mayo Clinic website discusses the impact of green tree extract on CLL progression, not prevention but progression! When you think that something as simple as green tea can control cancer progression in most people that really is huge. Green tea has been discussed for years as being helpful in terms of cancer prevention but this clinical study shows it can slow and reverse progression. Yay green tea!

Now I don’t know about you but we are going to continue to drink our green tea as often as possible. Our regular intake is 6 - 8 cups per day. Don’t forget that you get the maximum EGCG from Japanese green tea that is steeped for 10 minutes, consumed within 2 hours of brewing and that adding ascorbate C helps you to absorb more EGCG.

Talk to you all later.