Archive for the ‘Food’ Category
Posted by terrepruitt on March 24, 2012
Since breakfast is so important I have been looking for an easy and healthy thing to eat before I rush off to teach Nia. I don’t always have a chance to eat before my Nia class, but I have been looking to try to change that. Oatmeal is always touted as being one of the best breakfast foods. I do not like oatmeal. I recently found a recipe for granola that is basically just oats and I started to wonder if oats cooked that way are as good as oatmeal. Here are some nutritional facts on oats:
The fiber contained in oats is known in studies to have a cholesterol lowering effect. Since high cholesterol is associated with buildup of plaque in the blood vessel walls the lowering of cholesterol helps with heart disease. In addition to oats special fiber that helps lower cholesterol scientists have also found an antioxidant compound in oats that help lower the risk of cardiovascular disease. Studies have also shown that postmenopausal women can greatly benefit from eating oats at least six times a week. The study showed that the antioxidant slowed the progression of narrowing the arteries. In addition oats have been shown to improve or enhance the body’s immune system’s response to infection. They were mentioned in my post Some Foods Can Boost Your Immune System. Oats also help stabilize blood sugar.
You have probably heard a lot of talk about flora in the intestinal track and how important it is to keep the guts healthy. Oats also contain phytochemical the gets converted to friendly flora and a healthy gut contributes to a healthy digestive system which helps the body in so many ways. If your digestive system is healthy it allows you to absorb the nutrients you need and eliminates the stuff you don’t need.
Oats are also gluten-free which is very helpful since it is a whole-grain and it can be used as a serial and it can also be used ground as a flour. So it can be a very healthy substitute for gluten containing cereals and flours.
The oats I bought show that 1/2 cup of uncooked oats have:
Calories 190
Total Fat 3.5 g
Cholesterol 0 mg
Sodium 0 mg
Total Carbohydrates 32 g
Dietary Fiber 5 g
Protein 7 g
Of the Daily Values there is 2% calcuim and 15% iron.
A lot of fiber and a lot of protein and the benefits of a whole grain. I am thinking that I might even just like the oats toasted and eaten as a cereal without adding all the extra stuff as called for in the granola recipe. Since I have this whole bag I might just try that. Of course I will also have to use some of this bag for the Banana Oatmeal Walnut Cookies.
Oats do contain tryptophan so if you get sleepy after eating them it could be more than just because you might think of oatmeal as a comfort food.
With the large amount of fiber and protein this is a great food to start the day with, both fiber and protein help keep you full. So you can start the day off energized and satisfied. Oats are an incredible whole grain!
Are you including this whole grain as part of your breakfast?
Posted in Food, Oats | Tagged: antioxidants, Banana Oatmeal Walnut Cookies, cholesterol, filling breakfast, GF, gluten free, healthy gut, high in fiber, high in protein, lower cholesterol, Nia, Nia class, oatmeal, oatmeal cookies, oats, tryptophan, Whole grain | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 22, 2012
It is important to eat breakfast. I don’t always have a chance to eat before my Nia class, but I have been looking to try to change that. Oatmeal is always touted as being one of the best breakfast foods. I do not like oatmeal. I used to not like granola, but I have found a few I like, but most often than not they have canola oil in them so I have been looking for recipes where I can make my own. I found a recipe that looked simple and quick and had ingredients I could live with. Oats is a main ingredient in granola so I can get my whole grain oats in granola instead of oatmeal.
Do you ever wish that you would have followed your instincts? The first time I make a recipe I follow it. Then after I make any adjustments. Well, with this one I made a few measurement adjustments and as I was cooking it, I had a feeling that I should also make some procedural adjustments, but I didn’t. I thought, “No, I will do what it says and it will turn out fine.” Honestly it DID turn out fine if you want crumbly granola and that is what this recipe is. So had I really thought about it I would have realized that I wanted more like bars.
I am not sure where I got this little booklet from but the recipe on the website is a little different from the one in the booklet, but that is the beauty of it you can add whatever you want to your granola. I opted for plainish because that is one of the things I don’t like about granola and granola bars they often have dried fruit in them. I don’t like dried fruit.
I altered the recipe to be:
Granola:
3 1/2 to 4 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup olive oil
a little over 1/4 cup raw honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
a round heaping 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon**
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 1/2 cup roasted almond slivers
(you can add in anything you’d like)
Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Mix together the oil, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt.
Pour over the oats and mix well.
Spread the coated oats onto the baking sheet. Stir every 5 minutes. Bake about 20.
Then let cool completely then mix the oats with your add-ins. Store up to 2 weeks.
Well, I will probably use less salt or omit it all together (YES! ME, saying I will use LESS salt or remove it all together . . . . hmmmmm . . . . ) And I will cook it less than I did. I think I cooked it for more than 20 minutes. I won’t do that, but it didn’t look like it was cooking at all. I will put my add-ins BEFORE it cools, maybe even before I bake it. Depends on what they are.
I am also going to try using less oil and sugar.
Anyway, this is a granola recipe I like — finally– after I made my own adjustments (I use olive oil instead of canola and more oats). With this recipe after a bit more tweaking I can experiment with anything now. Now that I have a really simple basic recipe I can go from here . . . . or not. I is really good on its own. I can see having it warm as a hot cereal. Not quite making it oatMEAL, but making it a meal of oats. 
Do you like granola? Do you like oatmeal? Do you eat oatmeal? What type?
**As I was making this today and using my posted recipe I realized I typed this incorrectly! It is NOT a full teaspoon of cinnamon, but a 1/4 of a teaspoon!!!
Posted in "Recipes", Food, Oats | Tagged: Canola Oil, dried fruit, eat breakfast, granola, granola bars, granola recipe, hot cereal, Nia, Nia class, oatmeal, oats, whole grains | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 20, 2012
Have you ever heard of Meatless Mondays? I thought about it when I was talking to my Nia student who is about to go vegan. Seems as if we always try to make things sound neat or nice. The double M has a nice ring. MEATLESS MONDAY. It is just a tool that someone thought up to help and encourage people to eliminate meat from their diet. I guess the thought process is that people eat meat every night for dinner so one night would be good to not have meat and why not make it Meatless Monday. I always thought it was just for dinner, but I guess you could have a whole day of non-meat. The reasons for eliminating meat from the diet range from health to environment. We don’t have a meatless Monday in our house. What we have is a oh-snap-I-forgot-to-take-any-meat-out-for-dinner-so-we-aren’t-having-any kind of meatless dinner. Or sometimes I just decide I am not going to cook meat and I figure something else out. We do not have meat every dinner.
Sometimes I just don’t feel like meat. It was a few years after we had been married that my husband gave me the go ahead regarding meatless dinners. I probably was whining about having meat every night and he said he was ok with not having meat for dinner. WAHOOO! That was a happy, happy, happy day for me. Meat for us primarily consists of chicken breast or ground turkey. Yes we do have pork every once in a while. Beef even less often. But actually more than we used to. Just not having to have meat every night was so freeing. Because having that freedom meant to me that we could have less meat. So sometimes we can still have meat but instead of having a piece of chicken each we can split one. Since he is ok with not having meat than having less is ok too, right?
But we do have meatless dinners. Having the added help of quinoa to get a seedy/grainy protein is nice. Because I am not a fan of beans I usually don’t substitute beans for meat. Sometimes I do during the summer when we are having a bean salad, but not always. Sometimes we will just eat soup for dinner. If we are not having soup or bean salad then we are filling up on a ton of veggies.
Tonight we had a green salad, roasted eggplant, and mushrooms with broccoli thrown over pasta. It was pretty good. Between the pasta and the mushrooms I am ok with the amount of protein. We don’t have just pasta every night. (I took pictures because I actually thought, “Hmm, I might blog about this.” And they didn’t come out. I mean my computer is giving me that little question mark in a red box. Hmmm. Oh well. You would have drooled.)
Even though I might be having meatless dinners for other reasons there is still the same benefits that some people are doing it for. It seems as if it is a “movement” and it is for those that truly do eat red meat every night. That is probably why when I first heard about it I didn’t really get it, because we rarely eat red meat and we don’t even eat meat every night. I can see how it can help people that do, although I didn’t know that people did eat red meat every night.
What about you? How often do you eat red meat/beef? Do you eat meat every night? Do you have a Meatless Monday (or one night a week that you plan to not have meat)?
Posted in Food | Tagged: bean protein, bean salad, beef, chicken breast, ground turkey, meat substitute, meatless dinner, Meatless Monday, Meatless Monday movement, Nia, Nia student, quinoa, red meat | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 13, 2012
I like tea. Do you like tea? I like to have tea to warm me up during the day when I don’t want to have caffeine or when I don’t want to just make a hot cup of spices. I also drink it at night for the same reason. Herb tea in itself is said to be good for you. Green tea is supposed to have all kinds of benefits. I like tea and I do believe that herbal tea has benefits depending on what herb you are drinking. Echinacea tea would fall into that category. For instance I whole heartedly believe in Echinacea being helpful when you feel you might be catching a cold. I believe it can help you not get the cold or help make it less severe. In the same vein I think it can help you get better faster if you are sick. Echinacea is one of those herbs that helps with immune systems. Whenever my husband mumbles he is not feeling well, I make sure he has a cup of Echinacea tea. I also tend to believe in the teas that claim to help with certain things (help you sleep, boost your immue system, etc).
Last October we used up the last of our Echinacea tea. Funny I remember when it was exactly because the studio I teach Nia at had just moved. I found myself looking around the new area one day in November. Normally I wouldn’t remember when I bought tea but this I remember. I wandered into a health food store. They had a large selection of herbal tea. My friend and I had just been having a conversation about green teas so I was looking for green teas. I wanted something to replace my Echinacea tea. There were two I could not decide between. But then I spotted another one and wanted that. So I ended up getting Green Tea Triple Echinacea and a Green Tea “Super Antioxidant”. Not sure I believe that one, but I did believe it was green tea and thought, “Well, what the heck.”
Well, they taste green. If you are conscious of green taste you know what I mean. I don’t think my other Echinacea tea was green tea because it didn’t taste like green. They are ok, I like them but I kind of just save them for when I think I need them. When I want a yummy cup of tea they are not what I think of. Plus they have caffeine.
Not all herb tea is decaffeinated. Green tea has caffeine. So if you are not drinking coffee because you don’t want the caffeine and you are drinking green tea instead, you you could still be getting caffeine. Unless it says it is decaffeinated it has caffeine. Sometimes I don’t mind the caffeine, in fact I will drink it because of the caffeine. But lately it has been cold here at night and I don’t want the caffeine at night. I wanted some decaffeinated tea. While I was buying my calcium I clicked on their tea section and found some interesting looking tea. It is Echinacea Immune Support. It was on sale so I took a chance. Ahhhhh! I am so glad I did.
It has Echinacea root and Cinnamon Bark in it. Also Cardamom Seed, Rose Hip, Ginger Root, and Elderberry Extract among other things. This is not a green tea, but it has other things I like, for instance a yummy taste. It is really good. This tea is one that I think of drinking when I want to have a warm cozy cup of tea. The moment I ripped open the little package I was intrigued by the delicious smell.
Echinacea is good for fighting colds. Cinnamon and cardamom are anti-inflammatory spices. Rose hips is high in Vitamin C so it has anti-oxidants. Ginger can help with chronic inflammation and digestion. And I just learned about Elderberry being an immune system boost. So, with all the ingredients in here that I am familiar with I can concede its claim to be Immune Support. Even if not, it is a good cup of tea.
Do you drink tea? Do you drink herb tea? Do you drink herb tea for health benefits? What is your favorite tea?
Posted in Food | Tagged: anti-inflammatory, Coffee, cold fighter, cold night drink, Echinacea Immune Support, Echinacea root, Echinacea tea, ginger, green tea, Green Tea Triple Echinacea, herb tea, herbal tea, immune systems, Nia, Nia Teacher, Super Antioxidant, vitamin C | 10 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 3, 2012
Not too long ago on Facebook a friend of mine posted a list I found to be very interesting. It was a list of food people crave (from Naturopathy Works). The list was an explanation and a counter to the craving.. If you crave this . . . . your body needs that. I thought it was awesome. I love the idea. The food craving or behaviors listed are generally “unhealthy”, the list then shows the thing that is needed; sometimes a vitamin, a mineral, or something along those lines. Then to be ultimately helpful there is a list of suggestions as to what to eat or do, in order to help with the craving or behavior. Isn’t that marvelous. Isn’t it interesting? I thought so.
If you crave Chocolate, your body needs magnesium so you could substitute a healthy alternative of raw nuts and seeds, legumes, fruits. Oh honestly, as I typed this I heard the collective future groan of the chocolate lovers that read this. I know there are people who believe there is no substitute for chocolate. And sometimes, there isn’t. If your heart, head, and mouth are dead set on chocolate, there usually isn’t anything that will suffice, but if you are actually willing to forego it and try something else to satisfy your craving there is a healthy alternative.
For some of the food cravings there is a list of things you might really need, coffee or tea for instance. If you are craving coffee or tea the list states you really need phosphorous, sulfur, NaCl (salt), iron. I would suggest that you then think about your diet and what you have eaten and decide what you might really need. For me I can honestly say I doubt I EVER need salt. I think I get quite enough of it in my diet. So I wouldn’t need to try the substitutions for salt which are: Sea salt, apple cider vinegar (on salad). I might want to try the chicken, beef, liver, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy, nuts, legumes for the phosphorous, or the meat, fish and poultry, seaweed, greens, black cherries for the iron. But I don’t think I would need the garlic, onion, cruciferous vegetables for the sulfur, but maybe the egg yolks, red peppers, and muscle protein. If you read my blog you know I get a ton of garlic and onion (my only flavorings!) and cruciferous veggies. But I am not big on protein, so I am sure that is where I would get the help if I were to look for a substitute.
As I said this list has food cravings and behaviors, as in “General Over Eating” and for that the items needed are silicon with a substitution of nuts and seeds, but a behavior or elimination of avoiding refined starches. Other things this list states a body might need if it is over eating is tryptophan so try cheese, liver, lamb, raisins, sweet potato, spinach, vitamin C supplements or orange, green, red fruits and vegetables for tyrosine.
I found this interesting and helpful. I haven’t had much time to put it to use, but I plan too. A healthy alternative is often a great way to go. But then there are times I feel it is ok to give into the craving, but the key is moderation. Do you find this interesting? Would you give it a try? Let us know if any of this helps satisfy a craving.
Posted in Food, Helpful Hints | Tagged: crave chocolate, crave fatty foods, crave oil, crave salt, cruciferous veggies, Facebook, Facebook Friend, food cravings, healthy alternative, I want chocolate, Naturopathy, substitute for food cravings | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 1, 2012
In a post about an article I read about boosting your immune system I mentioned elderberries. I think it is funny how things get brought to your conscious. Last year I went to a Yelp Event where one of the vendors serving was St Germain. St. Germain is a French liqueur made from elderflowers. I had never heard of it, but when first hearing of the event my friend had told me it was her favorite. After tasting it in their signature cocktail I understood why. That was my first conscious memory of hearing about elderberries. Then I read the article and it mentioned elderberries. So I decided to do a few searches on Elderberries and as is the case with most things Wiki has a wealth of information. First off the Elderberry is kind of the category of 5 to 30 shrubs or trees.
It seems as if most countries and peoples use the elderflowers to make syrups. The syrups can be added to pancakes or diluted with water and used as a drink. Or what the french had done and made a liqueur. Seems as if the berries are used in the tradition of many berries, in wines, james, jellies, marmaldes, and fruit pies. Every site I have seen says that the flowers are often dipped in batter and fried. Elderberries.com states that they believe it is best not to eat them raw.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture: “Only the blue or purple berries of elderberry are edible. Edible berries and flower are used for medicine, dyes for basketry, arrow shafts, flute, whistles, clapper sticks, and folk medicine. The active alkaloids in elderberry plants are hydrocyanic acid and sambucine. Both alkaloids will cause nausea so care should be observed with this plant. Elderberries are high in Vitamin C. The red berries of other species are toxic and should not be gathered.”
The USDA site also states that folk medicine considered the elderberry a very valuable healing plant. And it sounds like it could do almost anything. The flowers have flavonoids which some say are thought to help prevent cancer and improve immune function. The tannins are a help with reduction of bleeding, diarrhea, and congestions.
The flowers can also be made into a tea to aid in breaking “dry fevers and stimulate perspiration, aid headache, indigestion, twitching eyes, dropsy, rheumatism, appendix inflammation, bladder or kidney infections, colds, influenza, consumption (bleeding in lungs), and is helpful to newborn babies (Hutchens 1991). Used as a wash, the flowers or leaves are good for wounds, sprains, and bruises, as well as for sores on domestic animals. The leaves, which are stronger, have a slightly laxative property. Applied externally, leaves, flowers, bark and twigs are excellent as a poultice, mixed equally with chamomile, for soreness, inflammations, joint stiffness, and to reduce the swelling of bee stings. The flowers and berries, employed as a diuretic, can aid arthritis and rheumatism. Steeped in water, the flowers are used externally to aid in complexion beauty, tone and soften the skin, and lighten freckles or spots. The berry juice made into salve aids burns and scalds. The juice taken internally will act as a purgative.’
Wow, huh? Sounds like the entire plant can pretty much do anything. But I haven’t seen the berries sold anywhere, have you? I have to admit I have not LOOKED for them, but since they sound like they can take care of some many things I would think they would be more popular.
Since the actual genus name is Sambucus, it probably wouldn’t surprise you to know that the Italian liqueur Sambucca is comprised of oil from the elderflower. Aside from the liqueur versions and the jam versions, it really sounds as if the flowers and the berries are very good for you. They have a lot of vitamin C and a good amount of vitamin A. And according to folk medicine they do a heck of a lot. I am going to look for them in September. That seems to be the season for Elderberries.
After reading they can help boost your immune system AND all the other stuff listed here, do they interest you? Do elderberries sound like something you would like to add to your diet? Do you want to try some elderflowers?
Posted in Food, Fruit | Tagged: boosting your immune system, elderberries, elderberry tea, elderflowers, folk medicine, French liqueur, improve immune function, lighten freckles or spots, prevent cancer, St Germain, tannins, tone and soften the skin, United States Department of Agriculture, USDA, vitamin C, Yelp Event | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 28, 2012
My family has always eaten mushrooms. I have not. I remember a time when I didn’t like them. I remember that I started liking them. Not too long after I started liking them, my grandfather, who was the one that cooked them how I liked them, starting his bizarre food behaviors. The way he cooked the mushrooms by which I started liking them was sauteing them with browned butter and a ton of garlic. Then he started adding all types of things, things that might not actually belong mixed together. But my grandfather’s decline is not the subject of this post. Neither is the fact that he was the one that introduced me to mushrooms. The subject of this post is mushrooms. There was a time and I mentioned it before in my Some Foods Can Boost Your Immune System post, when mushrooms were not thought to have much nutritional value. In fact, I remember my mother and I talking about that. We had thought that mushrooms were pretty much nationally void. But now-a-days that is not the case. Mushrooms are not a superfood, but they do have nutritional value.
Mushrooms are a fungus. There are many kind, I know, but I am talking about the plain white variety. The ones that really go with almost anything savory. I mean the other kind are good, but some of them have a very strong flavor so they might drown out a delicate sauce or flavor. But the white ones are pretty plain, so you can make them any flavor you’d like — pretty much. At the same time receive their nutritional benefits.
Mushrooms can be eaten raw or cooked. When I eat them raw it is usually in a salad or in as part of a veggie tray with dip. Oh, we also do use them as a dipper when eating cheese fondue.
Per the USDA Nutrient Database the nutritional value for about 3.5 oz of mushrooms is:
about 27 Calories
Carbohydrates 4.1 g
Fat 0.1 g
Protein 2.5 g
Thiamine (vit. B1) 0.1 mg (9%)
Riboflavin (vit. B2) 0.5 mg (42%)
Niacin (vit. B3) 3.8 mg (25%)
Pantothenic acid (B5) 1.5 mg (30%)
Vitamin C 0 mg (0%)
Calcium 18 mg (2%)
Phosphorus 120 mg (17%)
Potassium 448 mg (10%)
Sodium 6 mg (0%)
Zinc 1.1 mg (12%)
So with that information we can see there is a good amount vitamin B in mushrooms. It seems that mushrooms can be forced to make vitamin D. The process can be compared to how we convert sunshine on our skin to vitamin D. Mushrooms have a chemical called ergosterol, which, when exposed to UV light is converted to vitamin D.
Wiki states: “Testing conducted by the Pennsylvania State University showed an hour of UV light exposure made a serving of mushrooms contain twice the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s daily recommendation of vitamin D. Testing by the Monterey Mushrooms Company demonstrated 5 minutes of UV light exposure made a serving of mushrooms contain four times the FDA’s daily recommendation of vitamin D.”
Which is funny to me because I thought mushrooms preferred dark.
On Fresh Mushrooms their antioxidant contents is cited. Antioxidants are good for the immune system. They help protect the cells from damage from free radical, which are thought to be the cause of many diseases. Mushrooms contain the antioxidant Ergothioneine and the mineral Selenium which works as an antioxidant.
I love mushrooms. I am happy that they are more than just good tasting, they are good for me. We eat a lot of mushrooms. Do you? How many times a week would you say you have mushrooms? How do you prepare them? Do you eat them raw or do you cook them?
Posted in Food | Tagged: antioxidants, browned butter, Calcium, cooked mushrooms, garlic, immune system, mushrooms, protein, raw mushrooms, sauteing, superfood, vitamin D | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 16, 2012
If you’ve read a few of my “recipes” you have probably figured out one of my go-to meals is ground turkey. It is so easy to cook with and to make into almost anything, using any flavor. I cook it with whatever vegetable I have around or new one I want to experiment with. I usually start by sauteing an onion then I add food accordingly. I find that most of the time I need to cook at least one of the veggies first. I feel some vegetables need to be cooked more than turkey, like mushrooms. But broccoli is one that gets added when the turkey is almost cooked. My latest veggie to add to my turkey is a leek. I was in Campbell this weekend signing the studio contract where I am going to have my new evening Nia Class and the city of Campbell has a great farmer’s market. While I was walking down the aisle I saw leeks and I thought, “I should add that to the turkey.” 
So I bought one. I have never cooked with a leek before. I was thinking I would saute a little bit of onion then put the leek in then saute it then add the turkey. But when I chopped up the leek it smelled so onion-y I decided I didn’t need to use an onion. I mean leeks do belong to the same family as onion and garlic. After cooking the turkey until it was almost done, I added some broccoli. When the broccoli was almost done I added a couple of tablespoons of whipped cream cheese with chives. The leeks have such a great flavor I loved them. I am going to cook with them more often.
According to WHFoods vegetables in the same family as leeks, such as onions and garlic supply their nutrients better if they sit for about 5 minutes after cutting before cooking. Furthermore since they all belong to the same family leeks have many of the same health benefits.
Leeks have a lot (over 50% of the daily value) vitamin K. They also have a large quantity of vitamin A. They contain vitamin B1 (thiamine), vitamin B2 (riboflavin), vitamin B3 (niacin), vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid), vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), and vitamin B9 (folic acid). They also have a flavanoid shown in research to help protect our blood vessel linings from damage. Leeks also contain compouds that convert to allicin and this has been shown to help relax blood vessels by producing of nitric oxide (NO). With all this good stuff they do for our blood vessels it seems logical they will add to cardiovascular health.
Since leeks are so onion-y for me it will be easy to include them in our diet either cooked right into our food to add an additional layer of flavor and nutrition or even chopped and raw. We can add them to our kale salads or throw them in with our quinoa. I am definitely going to add them in my soups. I think the more vegetables I add to our soups the better.
I really was impressed with the flavor that the leeks add to this dish. I thought they were amazing!
(I took this picture to post to Streamzoo just to show our dinner fixings. I didn’t know I was going to post about leeks until I tasted them and loved them. the leeks are the green things chopped up on the right.)
Do you include leeks in your diet? How? Do you cook them? Do you eat them raw?
Posted in "Recipes", Food, Vegetables | Tagged: Campbell in Nia, cardio class in Campbell, flavanoids, folic acid, Kale, leek nutrition, leeks, Nia, Nia Campbell, Nia class, Nia class in Campbell, nitric oxide, NO, quinoa, vitamin K | 13 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 14, 2012
Our local warehouse store puts out a magazine, it is called The Costco Connection. In the February 2012 issue there was an article about “Foods to protect your immune system”, by Carl Germano. The magazine said that Whey Protein, cultured yogurt, mushrooms, elderberry, garlic, and oats helps protect the immune system.
Whey protein is a by-product of cheese from cow’s milk. So it could cause allergic reactions to people with milk allergies. But the article said it is the only protein that contains powerful substances called immunoglobulins. Funny that they use that word instead of the more familiar “antibody”. Antibodies are the much needed part of our immune system that guard against infections by fighting off bacteria and viruses. Antibodies are also made by our immune system in response to foreign objects in the body.
I had always been told to eat only yogurt with “live cultures” (eww, that grosses me out just like yeast!). But back in the day they were not publicly called probiotics and it was not the latest marketing trend. Although, I am thinking that other people also have an aversion to the term “live cultures” and that is why marketing has used “probiotics”. Probiotics help keep the balance in your gut (intestines). And a healthy gut is an important part of the immune system.
Mushrooms are a healthy fungus. This article made me feel much better because all my life I had thought mushrooms didn’t have any nutritional value. This article said “once thought to be nutrient void”. I knew it! I knew they were thought to be “nothing”. They deserve their own separate post! According to Wiki the actions are not understood, some clinical trials are showing results that mushrooms might help fight diseases. I think that anything that fights diseases qualifies as something that helps the immune system, right?
The University of Maryland has information regarding the Elderberry, saying that it has been used to treat wounds for centuries and it is used to treat colds and respiratory issues. Those things alone can point to immune boosts, right? I mean, if it treats a wound it probably helps fight against infection – which is an immune function. If it helps fight colds and respiratory issues – that sounds like something helping the immune system.
ALL MY LIFE, I have been told about the benefits of garlic. My family is huge on eating garlic. My grandfather used to fry it. It is pretty good that way. Strong, but good. (Not deep fried, just fried in a pan.) Garlic is a natural antibiotic. Eating it can help fight bacteria. And Dr. Oz has stated that putting a clove in your ear can help fight off ear infections.
Oats are the cholesterol-lowering food. Oats also have a lot of fiber which we know helps the body maintain balance. According to the article ”studies have shown that beta-glucans, powerful immune-regulating compounds . . . . have positive effects in animals and humans.”
So if you eat these things as part of your diet you are helping your immune system. If you don’t, you might want to include them in your diet. If you include them in your diet already, how do you do it? I am really curious about Elderberries in the diet.
Posted in Food | Tagged: antibiotic, antibodies, boost immune system, cholesterol-lowering, Costo, elderberries, garlic, immune system, immunoglobulins, live cultures, milk allergies, probiotics, The Costco Connection | 11 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 11, 2012
I have heard about kale chips for I don’t know how long. I know I have heard about them for a long time. I had just never gotten around to making them until recently. After I completey burned beyond salvage, the first batch, I carefully baked the second batch. I was not impressed. They were ok, but not something I would actually want to eat enough to make them. But one of my blog readers, Mike over at Perception is Reality Corner, asked about eating kale raw. I told him that I had seen information about some nutritional differences between cooked kale and raw kale so that probably means it can be eaten raw. It is so close to a lettuce (it is considered part of the cabbage family) but it is all the same, right? I asked him to report back after he had tried it. He said it was a little bitter, but he liked it. So on my next trip to the store I bought another bunch of kale. We have been eating it a lot lately.
With the second batch I bought, I mixed it with a bit of lettuce we had and we ate it in a salad. It might be bitter raw, but some of the lettuce in the batch was bitter anyway so I couldn’t tell the difference. I am used to eating lettuce that is bitter so to me it didn’t matter if I was eating bitter lettuce or bitter kale.
At the store where I have been purchasing the kale it comes in a rather large bunch so I can use a lot and still have a lot left. My next dish was a bunch of veggies; mushrooms, onions, zucchini, broccoli, carrots, and kale mixed with quinoa. Because I think quinoa lacks any type of flavor and I didn’t add enough flavoring to the water when I cooked it, I threw some feta on top of this dish to add an additional layer of flavor. The vegetables were packed with flavor, but not enough to withstand the nothingness of the quinoa.
Next kale dish was left over rice that I cooked with some zucchini and chicken. I put the kale in last because I don’t like it really soggy. I like for my leafy greens to still have a little form to them when I eat them. They might not have any crunch left, but they are not just a soggy green mess on my plate. This dish was really yummy. I put a little bit of feta on it and some chopped water chestnuts. It was so good that my husband was happy I didn’t go out to get bread because I sent the leftovers to work with him for his lunch. I always talk about when I was “on my home from Nia” because I tend to run all my errands when I am on my way home from my Nia class. So if I don’t have a class I don’t always get out to the store when we need something. So breadless, my hubby got our leftovers. He didn’t mind because it was really good.
Since then I taught a Nia class and I went to the store and bought bread and what? Yes, MORE kale. So today when I couldn’t think of what to have for lunch I decided to use up some leftover steak in a sandwich. I made a sandwich that I cooked in my panni press. I thought to take a picture, but I didn’t because I wasn’t going to post about it but then . . . here I am. Anyway, I put cheese, steak, and a pile of kale in the sandwich. This was not so great. While the flavor was good–of course, what wouldn’t be good meat and cheese—I didn’t rip up the kale enough so as I bit the sandwich the kale came out in big pieces. I was not able to bite through it. So to fix that, next time I will tear up the kale into little pieces. But using kale on a sandwich just like lettuce worked.
Then tonight – and this is why I decided to blog about cooking with kale - I added kale to our meal again. This time I used mushrooms and pasta instead of zucchini and rice. And it was just as good. I cook the base vegetable first, the one I want to cook the longest, in this case the mushrooms, then I add the chicken (it was already cooked so I was just warming it), then I rip the washed kale into pieces and toss it in the pan. I even turn the heat off at this point.
So that is how I am adding another green to my diet. How about you? Have you made the kale chips? Have you eaten it in a salad? Kale in your pasta? What are you doing to add kale to your diet?
Posted in Food, Vegetables | Tagged: bunch of kale, cooked kale, Kale, Kale chips, kale salad, kale sandwich, Nia, Nia class, Nia Teacher, Perception is Reality Corner, quinoa, raw kale, roasted kale | 2 Comments »
Terre Pruitt
