Real People Real Results - Understanding how food, fitness and mental attitude affect weight loss
We eat beans a lot at our house because they are packed full of nutrients, high in fiber, and are very low in fat and calories. Basically they fill you up so you don’t want to eat a lot of other stuff that might not be as good for you. This Red Bean Cake recipe fits the bill perfectly!
Dark leafy greens have the highest nutrition density scores based on identified phytochemicals, antioxidant activity and total vitamin and mineral content. We should be eating dark leafy greens with each meal or at least a few times per day for optimum health.
According the Dr Joel Fuhrman, author of Eat to Live
Now, knowing that, do you eat them on a daily basis?
Would you know Kale if you saw it on your plate?
Or do you even eat vegetables at all?
It’s a good question and the source of this week’s poll.
[poll=8]
Taking vegetarianism out of the picture for a moment. If you choose to eat meat (I do, on occasion), does this mean that you forgo including an abundance of dark leafy greens or other vegetables? or do you round out your meat consumption with high fiber vegetables and the nutrient dense vegetables as suggested above?
I’m curious.
Salsa is the Italian and Spanish word for sauce, from Latin salsa “salty”, from sal, “salt”. Mexican salsas were traditionally produced using the mortar and pestle-like molcajete, although blenders are now more commonly used. There are many forms of Salsa including Guacamole, but this Salsa recipe is based on Salsa roja, “red sauce” using cooked tomatoes. Salsa using raw tomatoes is called Salsa Crude (“raw sauce”), also known as pico de gallo (“rooster’s beak”), salsa picada (“chopped sauce”), salsa mexicana (“Mexican sauce”), or salsa fresca (“fresh sauce”): made with raw tomatoes, lime juice, chilli peppers, onions, cilantro leaves, and other coarsely chopped raw ingredients.
There are several variations – make it different every time.
– small handful of cilantro leaves (I used 1/2 a bunch, I love the stuff)
– 1 onion: red or white
– 1 can 24oz of tomatoes (no salt!) or equal fresh ones
– 1-4 cloves of garlic, I used 6
– 2 serrano chillies or 1 jalapeno
– lime juice
chop onions and tomatoes finely
chop garlic, chillies and cilantro very finely – or use a food processor (if doing this I blend the onion, garlic and cilantro first, then tomatoes last – then I add some chopped fresh ones after)
to make thicker add a can of crushed tomatoes or paste
Optional
– oregano to taste
– tbsp olive oil
– corn or black beans
Make sure to get baked chips or pitas to dip – I love to take a pita 1/2, spread this on it, mush 1/2 an avacado put some cilantro leaves on top – fold in half and eat as a quick snack. If you have hummus – put a layer of that too. Depending on your metabolic type, you may want to avoid wheat chips or wheat pitas which would take your inner biochemistry out of balance. Sugar Burner Metabolic Type would be well advised to avoid wheat
Care should be taken in the preparation and storage of salsa, since many raw-served varieties can serve as a growth medium for potentially dangerous bacteria, especially when unrefrigerated. In 2002, a study appearing in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, conducted by the University of Texas-Houston Medical School, found that 66% of the sauces tested (71 samples tested, sauces being either: salsa, guacamole, or pico de gallo) from restaurants in Guadalajara, Jalisco and 40% of those from Houston, Texas, were contaminated with E. coli bacteria, although only the sauces from Guadalajara contained the types of E. coli that cause diarrhea.[1] The researchers found that the Mexican sauces from Guadalajara contained fecal contaminants and higher levels of the bacteria more frequently than those of the sauces from Houston, possibly as a result of more common improper refrigeration of the Mexican sauces. (Salsa information from Wikipedia)
Salsa Recipe Photo Credit: Her View Photography
Quinoa originated in the Andean region of South America, where it has been an important food for 6,000 years. The Incas, who held the crop to be sacred, referred to quinoa as “chisaya mama” or “mother of all grains”, and it was the Inca emperor who would traditionally sow the first seeds of the season using ‘golden implements’. During the European conquest of South America quinoa was scorned by the Spanish colonists as “food for Indians”, and even actively suppressed, due to its status within indigenous non-Christian ceremonies. I hope you enjoy this Kale Soup With Quinoa.
1/2 Cup Green Lentils
1/2 Cup Quinoa (I like to use half-and-half)
1/2 Medium Onion, finely chopped
4 Tbs Olive Oil
1 Small Bunch Kale
5 cups water (or make your own veggie soup stock and use it in place of water and bullion cube)
1 Vegetable Bullion Cube
3 Tbsp Tahini
2-3 Tbsp Tamari or Soy Sauce (I used Bragg’s all purpose seasoning)
Spices
1 tsp Cumin, heaping
1/2 tsp Curry Powder
Wash and de-stem kale (I use kitchen scissors to cut along the sides of the stems)
[***Note: I used the stems too], tear the leaves into smallish pieces. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat, and add quinoa and lentils. Sautee for a few minutes, add spices and kale. Mix well. Add water and bullion cube (or your own stock) and bring to a boil. Cover and turn down heat to low. Simmer for 35-40 minutes.
Carefully blend the hot soup in a food processor or blender and return to pot. You can skip this step or blend only half of the soup if you want some texture, but I think it’s nicest smooth.
Add tahini and tamari to taste.
To garnish, mix 1-2 Tbs of tahini with a small amount of water until it becomes smooth and bright. Drizzle on top of the soup and serve.
Quinoa was of great nutritional importance in pre-Columbian Andean civilizations, being secondary only to the potato, and followed in third place by maize. In contemporary times this crop has come to be highly appreciated for its nutritional value, as its protein content (12%–18%) is very high. Unlike wheat or rice (which are low in lysine), quinoa contains a balanced set of essential amino acids for humans, making it an unusually complete foodstuff. This means it takes less quinoa protein to meet one’s needs than wheat protein. It is a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron. Quinoa is gluten free and considered easy to digest. Because of all these characteristics, quinoa is being considered as a possible crop in NASA’s Controlled Ecological Life Support System for long-duration manned space flights (from Wikipedia)
How To Pronounce Quinuo:
This crop is known as “quinoa” in English and is pronounced with the stress on either the first or second syllable (keen-wa)
For Quinoa nutrition profile see Nutrition Data
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Recipe Photo Credit: Her View Photography
Recipe Idea Credit: Vegan Yum Yum
Red curry paste is the most common of all the curry pastes. It is used widely in many dishes that you are familiar with such as tod mun and satay. Red curry paste is a mixture of dry chili pepper, shallot, garlic, galangal, lemon grass, cilantro root, peppercorn, coriander, salt, shrimp paste and kaffir lime zest. This red curry vegetables recipe was made using Thai Red Curry Paste available at your favorite grocery or through Amazon in cases of 12. Feel free to prepare this meal with or without the chicken.
For best flavor, use organic vegetables when possible.
– Vegetables (use your favorites such as: carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, mushrooms, peppers)
– 1 medium onion
– red curry paste
– 1 can coconut milk
– Bragg’s all-purpose seasoning
– Stevia
– 1 chicken breast (or firm tofu if vegetarian) chopped into cubes
Stir fry vegetables until tender, add pre-cooked chicken or tofu and heat through. Add red curry paste to suit your tastes (they vary in hotness, you may have to experiment). Stir in one small can of coconut milk, add 1-2 tsp of Braggs (adds salty flavour) and 1/8-1/4 tsp Stevia (adds sweetness). Heat and allow flavors to merge.
Serve with steamed brown rice.
About Curry Powder: Curry powder is a mixture of spices of widely varying composition developed by the British during their colonial rule of India.
Most recipes and producers of curry powder usually include coriander, turmeric, cumin, and fenugreek in their blends. Depending on the recipe, additional ingredients such as ginger, garlic, fennel seed, cinnamon, clove, mustard seed, green cardamom, black cardamom, mustard seed, mace, nutmeg, red pepper, long pepper and black pepper may also be added.
Subscribe to my recipes by email: Make sure you get my recipes emailed to you every weekend by subscribing to my recipe email service. Every weekend, one new whole food recipe posted for you to enjoy and then comment on.
Recipe Photo Credit: Her View Photography
