Wednesday, January 29, 2014

The Nutritious and Delicious Sweet Potato!

Beautiful, voluptuous sweet potato, oh how I love thee! How your color dazzles my eyes and your taste tantalizes my tongue with sweet bliss... OK I am getting a bit carried away huh? Seriously though, I have always loved the sweet potato but never incorporated it into my diet. I seem to only eat it during the holidays when I save it for last, or on the rare occasion when a restaurant may serve it as an appetizer. Crazy to think how much I enjoy this root and how little I actually eat it. Well, that is going to change as of now! I was reunited with the sweet potato during a nutrition and cooking class that I volunteered for to educate teens on healthy cooking and eating habits. The kids made Cajun spiced sweet potato and russet potato "fries" which were dipped in a garlic yogurt sauce. Oh, yea baby! The kids did such a great job and it tasted so yummy that I went home and made them myself. But, I used only sweet potatoes for the "fries" and I made a few changes to the dip and they came out as equally delish! Check out the recipe below and also my first ever cooking video on how to make this beautiful, sassy recipe.

A little background on the sweet potato: it is a member of the Morning Glory family and not the potato family; and the orange sweet potatoes here in the U.S. are sometimes called yams, but are actually not true yams. Sweet potatoes come in a variety of lovely colors such as orange, yellow, red, white and even a vibrant purple. They have antioxidant capacities and are an excellent source of beta-carotene, vitamin C, B6, iron, manganese, copper, potassium and fiber. Other nutrients found in good amounts are B1, B2, B3, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, pantothenic acid, folate, and amino acids. I also read that they may actually help stabilize blood sugar levels and improve the body's response to the hormone insulin. Not bad for a cheap, scrumptious, sweet, and easy to prepare food.

When shopping for sweet potatoes look for ones that are firm and have little bruising or discoloration. The darker the orange the higher the beta-carotene content, but the purple ones are known to have higher antioxidants. Store these roots in a cool, dark, well ventilated place for up to 10 days, but do NOT refrigerate or buy ones that have been refrigerated. To prepare simply rinse, peel if desired, and bake, boil, fry, broil, microwave, can or freeze them. There are tons of recipes available online for sweet potatoes used in desserts, baked goods, stir-fries, casseroles, etc. Use your imagination and try to incorporate the nutritious and delicious sweet potato into your standard diet for health and happiness. Now let's start cooking!

Cajun Spiced Sweet Potato Fries - makes about 2-3 servings
*you can alter the spice amounts to your tastes*
2 medium peeled sweet potatoes
2 Tablespoons olive oil
3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut the peeled sweet potatoes into thick strips. Place strips in a bowl and coat with olive oil. Mix the seasonings together and sprinkle on the strips to coat evenly. Do not touch your eyes, as the cayenne is hot! Place them on a baking sheet and bake for about 20-25 minutes turning them half way through baking. They are done when tender and lightly browned. Prepare dip while potatoes are baking.

Garlic & Herb Yogurt Dip - serves about 3
*again you can alter the seasonings to your taste and likes*
1 large clove of garlic
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh green onions
1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup thick Middle Eastern Lebneh or Greek style plain yogurt.

Finely mince the garlic. Sprinkle the salt over the garlic and mash with the flat end of chef's knife to form a paste. Add garlic salt paste, parsley, green onions, and lemon juice to yogurt and blend well. Taste and adjust seasonings to your likes. Serve with Cajun Spiced Sweet Potato Fries and enjoy.

Please watch the premier of the Fascinated By Food cooking show on www.youtube.com to see how easy this recipe is to make.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TAiBOq8V4Q

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

The Joy of Eating

Today's blog is different from the others as this is something I wrote while I was recovering from major oral surgery a few years ago. I was on a diet of pureed foods for almost 3 weeks and had plenty of time to be quiet and contemplate. This is one of my journal entries from that week of introspective and suffering...

"I sit here full of pain and silence. Contemplating the intricacies of life and the complexities of humanity. Silence gives you introspective time. Talk is cheap and can at times fill the air with such negative energy. Silence is priceless and allows you to feel the positive energies constantly around you, letting you be still, letting you hear all that happens around you every moment that usually is cluttered with talk. Look at the bright side of this painful and uncomfortable week of swollen mouth. Rest, relax, be gentle, walk slowly, breath, feel, listen, and watch.
Watching life has been interesting to me these past few days. Watching life when you have very little of it makes you really appreciate it. Combine that with not being able to eat solid foods and you really begin to see and feel things differently. The beauty of a grilled, plump veggie burger loaded to the brim with toppings, being bit into and enjoyed is amazing. It is hard to describe my moments of watching and yearning for the everyday tastes of ordinary foods. I watch the burger being quickly devoured, I listen to the crunch of the toasted bread and notice the lost pieces of lettuce that fall to the sides before making their way into the mouth. The strength of the human jaw and teeth to tear apart this structure and digest it into a form of energy makes me awestruck! The sheer joy of eating is one that we all too quickly ignore.
Oh how I miss biting into a warm slice of gooey jelly coated toast or a creamy yet sharp piece of cheese or feeling the crunch of cereal crackle amongst my teeth. The feel of salty peanut butter stuck to the roof of my mouth while I try fervently to remove it with my undulating tongue. The sweet juice of a fresh strawberry that bursts out upon my bite into it and the residue that taints my front teeth a pale pink. The crispness of an apple while my teeth barrel through its initial tough exterior only to reveal a surge of sour delight.
Sweet teeth, how I love you so madly. I truly appreciate your strength and fortitude and helping me in this human form enjoy the beautiful art of eating. The tastes, the textures, the smells, the lusciousness of it all. Oh how I miss you right now and pray for your rapid recovery. No longer will I take advantage of you hard working little teeth and I will constantly thank you dearly for your efforts!"

Just a simple reminder to be thankful everyday for your amazing body and for being with health, and to appreciate the art and joy of eating.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Orange You Glad!

The first week of the new year started with me getting a little winter cold. But, luckily, one particular family came to my rescue and helped me get healthy quick...the Citrus family. Mr. & Mrs. Orange, Auntie Clementine and Little Tangelo were all eager to provide me with ample amounts of Vitamin C, antioxidants, minerals, B vitamins and fiber. How nice of them! In honor of this wonderful family of fruits I decided to do some research and share what I found with you all. I focused my research on the orange and mandarin groups since that is what I have been indulging in the past few days. (Sorry lemons and grapefruits, you'll have your chance to shine another time!)

First of all there are three main types of oranges: bitter oranges, sweet oranges, and mandarins. Bitter oranges are used mainly to make jams, jellies, marinades, or in liqueurs. Sweet oranges include Navels, Valencia, and blood oranges. Naval oranges are the common easy to spot orange that is large, thick skinned, bright true orange in color and looks like it has a bellybutton on it, hence the term naval. Valencia oranges have a yellower tone, are smaller, have a thin skin that is difficult to peel and are perfect for making freshly squeezed o.j. Blood oranges are the smallest, have an orangy red skin, no seeds, and are sweeter and less acidic than other oranges. The unique thing about these natural beauties is that the flesh is either orange with red veins or a blood red color. When orange flavor is needed, yet you want to dazzle your guests, blood oranges are perfect to add to your culinary repertoire. Last, but not least, mandarins include a wide variety of fruits such as the tangerine, tangelo (cross between a grapefruit and a tangerine), and clementine. This group has a smaller fruit and a thin skin that comes off quite easy.

Currently in Florida, the ambersweet orange, naval orange, pineapple orange, orlando tangelo, sunburst tangerine, dancy tangerine, and minneola tangerine are all in season. When you purchase an orange look for ones that have healthy, vibrant, glossy looking skins and feel heavy for their size. The heavier they are the juicier they are. (Those of you with dirty minds, can chuckle over that sentence.) Store at room temperature for juicer fruits that will be eaten soon. If not eating soon, store mandarins in the fridge unwrapped up to 1 week and oranges up to 2 weeks. So now that you know a little bit more about these nutritional, aromatic, and vibrant delicacies, let's discuss how you can enjoy them.

Oranges are really versatile, and aside from the tasty, quick snack or morning beverage, can be used in many dishes. Try these salad variations by combining the following ingredients with a citrus vinaigrette:
Greens-watercress, arugula or spinach
Red onions - thinly sliced
Dried cranberries or fresh pomegranate seeds
Blue cheese or goat cheese
Toasted walnuts, almonds or pecans
Make a roasted red and golden beet salad, with sectioned oranges, fresh herbs, arugula, spinach, goat cheese, and balsamic reduction. Also, try a fresh fruit salad with a citrus honey glaze, toasted coconut shreds, dates, and grated cinnamon. Or how about a Moroccan carrot salad made of shredded carrots, plump raisins, toasted pumpkin seeds, and an orange vinaigrette.
In Morocco, they use oranges in a lot of their recipes and also use orange blossom water which is made from orange blossoms. Try an orange almond shake made of blanched, peeled almonds blended with milk, sugar to taste and orange blossom water. If you want to cook an exotic meal try using the traditional Moroccan flavors of oranges, dates, almonds, cinnamon and honey in some recipe. Or go more Asian and create a variation of udon noodles in peanut sauce by adding orange juice to the sauce. Try marinating tofu in a marinade of orange juice, soy sauce, sesame oil, fresh ginger, grated zest, and cayenne, and then pan searing it. Serve a top of jasmine rice or soba noodles with sauteed snow peas and carrots.
The ideas are limitless with this versatile, delicious, and nutritious family which will treat your taste buds and your body to lots of love. When your feeling under the weather, or just want to transport your mouth to paradise, experiment with oranges and see how you feel. Orange you glad that you did!

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Blender Mania

"Oh my goodness, this is awesome! Let's go make something!" were the exuberant words that jumped from my mouth after opening the gift of a Ninja Blender this Christmas. Pretty much everyone who knows me knows that I have been jonesing for a Vita-mix for a while now. But, as those cost upwards of $500, the next best thing is a Ninja. And I am now a proud owner of one, Yahoo! (Sorry, but I still can not contain my joy!)

As soon as I opened the box, my friend and I ran into her kitchen to see what we could make. Eggnog was the first thing we saw, so we looked at each other with devilish grins and said "What the heck, it's Christmas!" We decided to brew a quick batch of coffee which was poured into the blender along with eggnog, rum, and ice. We turned it on (and oh it was like a Ferrari engine purring), watched it shoot out the top because we overfilled it in our excitement, cleaned up the mess while laughing, poured the concoction into fancy glasses, and then tasted heaven. I would say it was a successful launch to a lifetime of happy blending. But, for those of you who have also contracted blender mania, I would like to comment that coffee, eggnog, rum shakes should not be drunk on a daily basis. Remember friends, its all about balance!

So on that note, a good blender can create delicious and nutritious smoothies that can be consumed every day in addition to a well balanced whole foods diet. It is quite easy to find smoothie recipes on the web or even on the back of frozen fruit bags and yogurt containers, so I am not going to discuss that here. But I will list the plethora of fun nutritional supplements that can be added to your smoothies to make it a power meal (all can be found at a grocery store, health food store, and surprisingly at discount stores like Job Lots, Christmas Tree Shops and Homegoods):

Blackstrap Molasses - excellent healthy sweetener; loaded with iron and calcium; use sparingly
Chia Seeds - excellent source of fiber and essential fatty acid Omega-3; high in protein; thickening
Coconut Oil - quick source of energy; contains antioxidant, antibacterial, and anti-fungal properties; boosts brain function; may help in reducing cholesterol and aid in weight loss; tastes like the tropics!
Coconut Sugar - healthy form of sugar that contains fiber and some minerals, but use sparingly
Dates - best healthy sweetener; loaded with fiber; source of iron, potassium and minerals
Flax Seed or Flax Seed Oil -
excellent source of fiber and essential fatty acid Omega-3
Hemp Seeds -
extremely high in easily digestible protein and essential fatty acids (mostly Omega-6); contains all essential amino acids
Maca Powder -
umm, aphrodisiac, enough said, LOL!; also contains protein, B vitamins, and many minerals; balances hormones and increases energy/stamina
Nutritional Yeast -
high in B vitamins; good source of protein, fiber and minerals; strong cheese like rich flavor so use in moderation as to not overwhelm the flavor of your smoothie
Nuts (including coconut) or seeds -
added protein, vitamins, minerals, fiber, and flavor depth
Protein Powder -
my naturopathic doctor recommends whey protein powder; buy pure form
Spirulina -
amazing source of protein, minerals, antioxidants, color pigments, vitamins, and Omega's; Caution - it tastes like the ocean, makes your drink look like a sea creature may be lost in there, and can clean your bowels out, so start with only a 1/2 tsp per blend and work your way into this supplement.  It is frickin awesome for you though, so learn to love it!
Raw Cacao -
high in iron, fiber, antioxidants, and protein; source of calcium, potassium and zinc
Wheat Germ -
loaded with the antioxidant Vitamin E; adds toasty, nutty flavor

I hope this inspires you to make yummy Power Smoothies a part of your diet and keep the uber rich, dairy/sugar/caffeine/alcohol laden ones an occasional delicacy.   Now start blending!!!  

Friday, January 3, 2014

Kale


The beautiful, hearty, dark leafy green known as kale is an amazing vegetable that some people have not formed a culinary relationship with. This relationship desperately needs to be cultivated as this member of the cabbage family is a highly nutritious, versatile, lovely, and delicious vegetable. Kale can be found in the vegetable section usually near other greens. You may see a few different varieties of kale such as curly kale (ruffled, deep green leaves), dinosaur kale (dark blue-green embossed leaves), or ornamental kale (green, purple, or white leaves). Each has a different taste and texture so experiment with all the varieties to see which one you like best. Kale is available year round although its main growing season is fall, winter and early spring. It is also easy to grow if you feel inclined to plant some in your garden (eat really local!!).

Kale is chock full of nutrients such as vitamin A, B, C, E, K, iron, potassium, manganese, magnesium, folic acid, and copper. It is also a great source of fiber, protein, omega-3 fatty acids, chlorophyll, and phytonutrients. Kale is known for its anti-cancer properties and for its excellent calcium supply.

When purchasing kale look for fresh looking leaves that have no signs of insect damage, yellowing or wilting. Store in the crisper section of your refrigerator, unwashed, in a perforated plastic bag or a damp towel. It will keep for several days if stored properly. When ready to consume, rinse off any dirt or buggies, dry, then chop as desired. You can eat the stems, but I prefer to cut them off by taking a knife and slicing the whole center stem off from top to bottom.

Kale can be enjoyed in a variety of ways such as raw in salads, cooked in soups, added to pasta or other dishes, sauteed, steamed, or even baked. Allrecipes.com has a lot of nice recipes including this one for Baked Kale Chips. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Baked-Kale-Chips/Detail.aspx. Yes, it sounds odd so of course I had to try it out. You slice up the kale and drizzle olive oil, salt and pepper on it, then place the "chips" on a cookie sheet and bake. Amazingly they tasted yummy! They sort of melted in my mouth, but also had the crunchiness and saltiness of a potato chip. Kind of a fun side dish or snack.

Once again, I can not emphasize enough how amazingly nutritious this vegetable is, so I highly recommend adding it to your culinary repertoire. It really is beautiful and delicious too, and is super easy to cook. Most times I just lightly saute it with garlic, olive oil, red chili pepper flakes, salt, pepper, and sesame seeds, and toss it with some brown rice or quinoa. Makes me feel healthy and happy! Enjoy!

Please note: research has suggested to avoid raw kale if one has thyroid or kidney stones, so you may want to talk to your doctor about that.