I’m more of a fan of avoiding anything in a package altogether … but if you’re going to buy something packaged, this rule from Michael Pollan is a great one!
Archives for September 2014
Turmeric Green Tea – Antioxidant Blast!
This super-simple green tea adds a blast of flavor and healthy antioxidants with a shake of ground turmeric … delicious and oh-so-healthy!
Preferably, use a tea strainer (like this) with loose green tea – the tea is less expensive this way, and causes less waste. If you don’t have one, it can be made with tea bags also.
Simple Instructions (makes two cups);
Add green tea and about 1 tsp (more if you like) powdered turmeric to a tea strainer. Bring water to a boil, take off the heat and wait a minute or two to let it cool just a bit. Put the tea strainer in the first cup and pour water over all. Let the tea brew in the cup for about 2-3 minutes. Then remove the strainer and move to the second cup to repeat the brew, adding about a half of a tsp of turmeric to make up for the parts that strained into the first cup. Again, brew for about 2-3 minutes.
On the choice of green tea: any type will be good, but recent tests among common brands have shown Teavana Gyokuro Imperial Loose-Leaf Green Tea to have the highest levels of EGCG (the antioxidant in green tea believed to be most responsible for its health benefits).
Six Ways to Hook Kids on Real Food
With the world (meaning, food marketers) trying their best to hook your kids on their junky packaged foods, you’ve got to fight back hard! And we know – you’re already busy just trying to get your kids to school/practice/lessons/play dates/etc. … you don’t have time to give them food lectures (and lectures don’t work, anyway)!
Here are 6 fun, simple ways to help break the hold the food companies have on your kids, and instead hook them on healthy, amazing, REAL food:
1. Grow Food: Even if you only have room for a small pot of herbs in a city apartment, involving a child in growing has been shown to pay lifetime dividends in vegetable consumption. A child who helped grow the parsley will HAPPILY urge the whole family to taste their very own parsley salad.
2. Introduce kids to “ingredients” in their native form: If you’re making soup, keep little bits of the raw ingredients aside for a “tasting session,” then have them try to identify the celery, the onion, the carrot, etc. in the soup. Discuss how cooking changes the texture and flavor of the ingredients.
3. Keep herbs/spices and interesting condiments on the table, and encourage experimentation: I learned this when I left cinnamon on the table, and my son added it to an almond butter sandwich. It turned out to be a great flavor combo, and he gobbled down the sandwich that “he” had made. Hot sauces, flavored oils, fun spices like ginger and vanilla, and other tasty add-ins will help build interest and creativity around the whole foods you’re serving, and help kids personalize their food.
4. Build a family cookbook: Encourage kids to take pictures of their favorite meals/dishes (get family members in the pics, too!), name the dishes together, and keep them in a photo album. Keep it in the kitchen as a frequent reminder of the great real food family times you’ve had, so your kids learn to associate real food with great moments.
5. Celebrate with Real Food! Don’t fall prey to the seductive marketing message to use celebrations as an excuse to eat junk. That sends exactly the wrong message: that these foods are “rewards,” and these false “rewards” become anchored in the pleasure centers of your child’s brain. Instead, celebrate by making extra-beautiful, extra-fresh meals together during the holidays and other special days.
6. COOK TOGETHER: Nothing else will make your child more immune to the marketer’s siren song about “convenience” than this. When your child knows that an egg can be cooked, a salad can be tossed, a veggie can be braised, or a smoothie can be blended in literally minutes, you give them the tools and the tastebuds they need to resist the call of the microwaved Frankenfood that marketers want them to buy.
Most of all, make real food a centerpiece of loving family moments, and kids will grow up associating real food with great family feelings.
Six Ways to Hook Kids on Real Food, by Jennifer Silverberg, Eat Yourself Well
Michael Pollan
Super-Healthy, Low Carb Potato Cauliflower Salad
If a picnic’s not a picnic without potato salad … but you’re avoiding overdoing the potatoes, not to mention mayonnaise … give this simple recipe with a healthy kick of turmeric a try!
Super-Healthy, Low Carb Potato Cauliflower Salad
Ingredients
1 large head of organic cauliflower, or two small ones
5-6 organic red new potatoes – medium-sized, like a small plum
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp coconut oil
t tbsp turmeric
1 bay leaf
1 tsp salt
Ground pepper to taste
Arugula for base
Optional: Something pickled, like cucumbers or turnips
Cut cauliflower florets away from the stalk, and cut potatoes into about 6 pieces each. Peel and roughly chop the garlic. Add in a single layer to a 12″ fry pan, pour about 1/2 cup water over all. Add coconut oil, turmeric, and the bay leaf, then cover, and cook over medium-high heat until the veggies are almost fork-tender, about 10-15 minutes.
Remove lid and continue cooking until water is gone and potatoes are just beginning to break apart, about 4 more minutes. Remove from heat.
Note: everything will turn a lovely shade of yellow from the turmeric – that’s good, because it makes you feel like eggs have been added for a more traditional potato salad at the end. Also, when warm, this mix has a sort of voodoo loveliness and you’re going to want to eat it now … and that’s fine if you want a warm salad side … but keep going if you’d like a potato salad stand-in!
Put whole mixture (remove bay leaf) in fridge and let cool. When cool, chop into smaller bits – I love to use Toss & Chop salad scissors for this, but if you don’t have them, just use a good knife and break down the pieces so that they mix really well. If you like the taste of something pickled in your potato salad, chop it up and add it now, and maybe a teaspoonful or so of the brine also.
Plate the potato salad over some fresh arugula or other lettuce and serve! You’re eating mostly cauliflower, but your palate will taste potato. Add some fresh coleslaw for a fantastic summer picnic feast!
Summer Watermelon Salad Bites
There are only so many days of summer … celebrate them ALL! These Summer Watermelon Salad bites provide a blend of unexpected flavors that combine to say SUMMER!
Ingredients
Organic Watermelon
Tiny bit of Ricotta Salata
Fresh mint leaves
Juice from half a lemon – preferably a Meyer lemon
Fresh ground pepper, to taste
Slice watermelon into one-to-two-bit bits (squares, circles, or whatever you like – use cookie cutters if you like) and arrange on platter. Squeeze Meyer lemon over the watermelon; some of it will remain on the plate – that’s fine, the watermelon will soak it up. Place a mint leaf and a tiny bit of Ricotta Salata on each watermelon bite – seriously, a small bit – you want this to be a little salty, but not have the cheese overwhelm the mint and watermelon. Grind just a bit of pepper over all of it, and serve!
Nick’s Summer Ratatouille – Delicious!
For me, it’s not summer without ratatouille … and I usually just take the shortcut of dicing and sauteeing the veggies, throwing on a few herbs along the way. However, this recipe was perfected by the young son of a friend – and it takes my “casual” version up about 5 notches! I think Nick has a future in the kitchen, don’t you :-)?
I love this hot or cold, as a side dish with just about anything, and it’s a great dish to take to a gathering – trust me, it’s so delicious that no one will realize that what they are eating is actually super-healthy!
Nick’s Summer Ratatouille
How to make:
Add to pan over medium heat:
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 tsp butter (for a vegan version, eliminate butter and double the olive oil)
1 tsp olive oil
Cook for ten minutes.
Then add the following to this mixture, cook for three more minutes.
2 green chili pepper, charred, peeled, seeds and ribs removed.
1 clove garlic
salt (pinch)
pepper (to taste)
Next, add the following, cook until bubbling (stirring occasionally), then reduce temperature and cook for 20 minutes.
28 oz crushed organic tomatoes – be sure not to buy the kind with added sugar!
2 pinches of thyme
While the sauce is cooking, mix the following in a small jar or glass:
4 tbsp organic olive oil
2 tsp minced or crushed garlic
2 tsp thyme leaves, chopped
pinch of salt
ground pepper, to taste
When the sauce is ready, let it cool until it is safe to handle, then place in food processor with 2 pinches dried basil, or 5-6 leaves of fresh, and puree until thick. Pour into bottom of dutch oven or other large casserole dish.
Layer vegetables on top of sauce in dutch oven, starting with tomatoes, zucchini, squash then eggplant.6 Roma tomatoes, sliced thin
2 yellow squash, sliced thin
2 zucchini, sliced thin
2 japanese eggplants, sliced thin
Gently and fairly evenly pour about half of the oil mixture over the vegetables.
Cook covered at 280 degrees for three hours. Pour remainder of olive oil mixture over dish, refrigerate until next day.
When ready to serve, warm for 45 minutes at 280, then drop to 225 degrees for another 45 minutes. Delicious served warm, or cooled.