Animal Writings

I'm inclined to come right out and say: Forget what you've read in the popular media about dairy, calcium, and osteoporosis. It's inaccurate and may dangerously—if not irresponsibly—lead you down the wrong path.

You've probably heard a thousand times how it's important to consume dairy to have strong bones and reduce your risk of osteoporosis. But the science doesn't support this. Too many studies suggest that dairy is more likely to contribute to osteoporosis rather than prevent it.

Let's look at a few recent studies which show what does and does not work in terms of protecting and strengthening bones:

...

Men who consumed the most fruit, vegetables, and cereal had denser bones than those who consumed less, according to a Tufts University study of volunteers aged 69 to 93.

80 white females, aged 12 to 22, were studied for ten years as part of the Penn State Young Women's Health Study. Daily calcium intake varied from 500 to 1,900 mg, but only exercise was identified as a predominant determinant of bone strength. (Girls develop 40 to 50 percent of their skeletal mass during their teen years.)

The Harvard Nurses' Health Study of 72,000 postmenopausal women showed that neither milk nor a high-calcium diet reduce fracture rates at all in 18 years of follow-up. Adequate intake of vitamin D, on the other hand,was associated with a lower rate of osteporatic hip fractures. Skin exposure to sunlight can serve as a major source of vitamin D. Note that the vitamin D in cow's milk is an add-in just as it is with nondairy milks.

...

Next, let's look at some populations around the world to see if there is any evidence that consuming dairy products confers some sort of protection against osteoporosis and bone fractures.

Dr. Robert M. Kradjian, Breast Surgery Chief of California's Seton Medical Center sums up what other independent researchers (unaffiliated with the dairy industry) have found: "[C]ountries with the highest intake of dairy products are invariably the countries with the most osteoporosis." The United States is near the top of the list in both per capita dairy consumption and prevalence of osteoporosis. American women have one of the world's highest rates of hip fractures, which is often used as a reliable indicator of osteoporosis. The populations of many Asian countries consume very little dairy and have a far lower rate of bone fractures than that of Americans. China is relatively dairy-free and has among the lowest incidences of osteoporosis. As mentioned above, the huge Harvard Nurses' study showed no evidence that dairy products offer any protection against osteoporosis. In fact, the volunteers who consumed the most dairy foods broke the most bones.

So dairy seems to be of no help in guarding against weak bones and osteoporosis. Later in this post, we'll find out why, and then delve into how consumption of dairy probably worsens bone health. But in the meantime...What about calcium supplements—are those helpful?

In the Penn State study cited above, researchers found that, consistent with past studies, calcium intake above 900 mg a day had no lasting effect on bone health. Regular exercise did. The government's daily calcium recommendation for women aged 9 through 18 (which covers most of the age span of the volunteers in the study) is 1300mg per day, and 1000 mg per day for ages 19 through 50.

The 36,282 postmenopausal participants in the Women's Health Initiative clinical trial were given either a 500 mg calcium supplement or a placebo. Although the group taking the supplement had a 12 percent lower rate of hip fractures, their rate of total fractures was the same as the group taking the placebo. The supplementation group also had a 17 percent increase in kidney stones.

From these and similar studies, my conclusions, which I earnestly try to follow for my own diet, are:

• We should strive to eat calcium-rich plant-based foods, such as beans and leafy green vegetables. This should be our primary source of calcium.


• A modest "insurance" dose of calcium from pills is probably fine if the diet is not as good as it should be, but megadoses may be counterproductive.

A little more about point 2...A number of studies show that consistently high levels of calcium intake interfere with the body's ability to effectively use calcium. Also, a recent study presented at a meeting of the American Society of Nutrition correlated high levels of calcium intake with cognitive impairment in the elderly.

Next, I want to get into the heart of this post, showing how animal protein intake significantly increases one's risk of osteoporosis and raises one's calcium requirements.

To be continued...

Labels: bone fractures, bone health, bones, calcium, dairy, diet, exercise, fruits, osteoporosis, vegetables, vitamin D

Jane's comment in the last post got to me thinking... There may be three reasons (at least) why we don't like a food that's new to us:

1. Some foods we just don't like. For instance, I've never liked Brussels sprouts. (I conveniently left them out of the vegetable section of this series.)


2. The quality isn't very good. For instance, the general consensus is that veggie dogs from 10 years ago generally were not very tasty, they're much better today, but will be noticeably improved 10 years from now.


3. We're not used to it. This is what I want to talk about some more.

A typical breakfast in the U.S is much different than the typical breakfast in Japan or India or Mexico. Say you were on a business trip in Chicago. Your hotel breakfast menu has an entree for fried noodles and bean sprouts, with a barley drink to wash it down. Would you order it for breakfast? Probably not if you're a typical American. If you were Malaysian, it would seem just fine. If that's all they had for breakfast (maybe you were staying at a family-run bed and breakfast), and you were a typical American (or probably even an atypical American) you might eat it, but by the fourth day you would likely be longing for some Cheerios. Or hash browns. Or pancakes—something familiar.

It's not that one breakfast is better than other. It's what you're used to. If you moved across the world and started eating the foods that are typical for that region, after a while you'd probably develop a taste for them. They would start to feel more natural. You'd eventually develop favorite native dishes and look forward to them. You'd probably make this adjustment much more easily if you were young. If you were a toddler, the switch might be effortless; you might even like the new cuisine better. (When my niece was two, she was in a small home-run day care facility where they served Persian food to the kids. She took to it right away; in fact, she even asked for it at home!)

All this is to say that when switching to a) meat substitutes, b) a more vegetable-centered diet, give your body—if not your mind—some time to adjust. A plant-based meat substitute might taste inferior at first, but after a while it may very well taste great and get you to salivating. It's not just a case of settling for something second-rate; I think your taste buds and probably other parts of your body chemistry get bonded—like memory foam—to certain types of foods and cuisines if you have them frequently enough, over a long period. In fact, some foods, such as cheese and chocolate, are known to be physically addictive, so your body and mind may have temporary withdrawal symptoms if you give them up. But after a while everything recalibrates and you're in tune with your new diet. (But don't give up dark chocolate!)

This doesn't mean that you'll like every new food you try. But unless you really can't stand a new item, or new family of foods, give it a few tries over a month or more and you may find that first impressions can be deceiving. Also, experiment with various styles of preparation—different spices or cooking methods, and so forth; that may significantly alter the taste and your satisfaction level for the food.

Regarding vegetables specifically, you may want to let your current tastes be a guide to which new vegetables to try first. If you like collard greens, you'll probably like kale. If you like cabbage, you'll probably like bok choy.

Two more things.

A typical Western-style meat-centric meal is often exceedingly high in saturated fat and calories. It overwhelms our bodies. We don't have the digestive system of a real carnivore. We don't have the strong stomach acids and quick processing action to efficiently break down uric acid and other ingredients in meat. We don't sleep half the day like cats and lions. We may come to accept that after a big dinner, feeling sleepy and needing a shot of caffeine is just normal, and in time our bodies and possibly our minds may crave that. But that's so arbitrary. Although you can make any vegan meal full of fat and calories, I would advise getting used to feeling slightly less full. Lighten the load a bit. Yes, you'll get hungrier sooner. Nothing wrong with that. After a while, you won't have the physical or psychological need to eat twice as much as you should have, and to commiserate with your fellow eaters about how full you are and about how you should have worn pants with an elastic waistband and so forth. Save those indulgences for special occasions.

Lastly, I hope that knowing that you are not contributing to the horrors of slaughterhouses becomes a life-long motivation for eating a plant-based diet. I believe that feeling good about your food choices, with no need to hide the cruelty of its sources from yourself or engage in never-quite-satisfying rationalizations, not only eases your mind but improves your digestion. And I think it makes food taste better.

Next: The series continues with a sure-fire meat substitute. I've got a crisp 20 that says if you are a meat-eater and were served this product at random, without having had this discussion first, it would not even cross your mind that it was made from plants.

To be continued...

[Addendum: I thought of a fourth reason why people may not like a certain food, particularly a vegan substitute food, and I think that merits some discussion also. I'll cover that in the next post.]

Labels: diet, meat substitutes, new foods, vegetables, veggie meats

That's a serious deficit.

Now step back a minute. How much do we spend looking for a cure for heart disease, cancer, and diabetes? Billions when you add it all up. What are our medical bills from those diseases? How much do we lose in productivity when people are stricken with these diseases? How much do we spend on long-term care? What about the emotional toll on patients and their families?

According to repeated studies in respected journals, we might cut our risk for those diseases—at least some forms of those disease—by roughly up to a third, simply by switching to a fiber-rich diet as recommended by nearly every health and medical group in the country (probably the entire world). The bottom-line net cost for this powerful preventive measure: zero.

You get fiber from a variety of plant-based foods, including whole grains, and they're as close as your grocery store shelves or local farmers market.

Why isn't the National Institutes of Health (NIH) studying ways to get people to increase their fiber intake? Maybe because there's no prestige in it?

Overwhelmingly, the commercials during prime time are for appallingly unhealthy, low-fiber foods, such as fried chicken, pepperoni pizza, and bacon cheeseburgers. The purveyors of these products know that high-fat, high-salt food is tempting, especially when they present it in the most tantalizing and inviting ways possible. You better believe they spend no small amount of time and money carefully crafting every image, every action by every actor in the commercial—everything; they want you hooked, regardless of what it might do to your health. In between these commercials are a flood of spots for drugs: heartburn pills, weight loss formulas, high blood pressure medications, you name it—conditions that may come about from eating an unhealthy, low-fiber diet. They've got you coming and going. Why doesn't the USDA or NIH promote fruits, vegetables, and whole grains during prime time, and tout these foods' heart disease-, cancer-, and diabetes-fighting potential?

Well, you don't have to wait for the government to change its policies. You can start increasing your intake of fiber-rich foods immediately. Did I say the net cost was zero? I was wrong. It's probably way less than zero once you consider that you'll probably have a much lower outlay for long-term meds and hospital procedures. And the side-effects of more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes in your diet are almost exclusively positive ones, such as more energy, lower blood pressure, improved regularity, weight loss, and overall better health. It's a no-brainer!

I hope the tips in this series for increasing your intake of high-fiber foods help you integrate these natural miracles and potential life-savers into your daily lifestyle.

Here are a couple of tools to help you approximate your individual daily fiber needs and daily fiber intake:

Daily Fiber Intake Requirement
Figure out how much fiber you need per day, roughly (no pun intended).

Fiber Content of Common Foods
Estimate your actual daily fiber intake, in grams. For foods that aren't on the list, pick something close.

Two more tips when increasing your fiber intake:

1. Do it gradually, to let your body adjust.


2. Drink more water. Fiber is like a sponge.

Labels: diet, fiber, fruits, legumes, vegetables, whole grains

There is a ton of information in this next installment of the interview...enjoy!

Gary: The next (and next to last) set of questions has to do with spices that most U.S. households are likely to have accumulated over the years, for one reason or another, even if no one does much cooking. I want to ask you if you have any simple ideas for using these spices. Again, just to limit the scope, I'd like to focus on vegetables primarily and fruits and grains secondarily, but if there is a "you must know about this" tip you'd like to share that doesn't fit into those categories, don't hold back!

OK, here goes...

Cayenne pepper or similar

Dino: Ever seen that lovely film called Chocolat? If not, go rent it now. The next time you make a cup of hot chocolate or coffee, throw in just a pinch of cayenne. You'll never be able to go back to the sickeningly sweet stuff that passes for good hot chocolate nowadays.

Barring that, there is no chilli recipe that would do without at least a pinch of cayenne. You need it for the fiery Southeast Asian cuisines of Thailand. In fact, to be honest, I find that cayenne is just a lovely addition to any sweet-and-sour combo, to offset the sweet. Say for instance, you're starting off with a mess of stir-fry vegetables, right? Suppose you start with some screaming hot peanut oil in a skillet, and add carrots, onions, peppers, bamboo shoots (from the tin; who has time to bother with fresh!?) [I cut my own bamboo and slice it into shoots, but I digress —Gary (*)], scallions, sprouts, cabbage, and whatever other vegetable stirs (haha) your imagination. Suppose you add a healthy splash of tamari, or soy sauce. Suppose then, to offset the salty taste, you add in a healthy splash of orange juice. Then, to offset the sweetness, you add a very generous splash of lemon juice. When all is said and done, you're talking basic, yummy, and vibrantly coloured food. However, there are those of us who like a bit of adventure when we're eating stuff that we've probably had before.

Enter the cayenne.

Just a light sprinkle of cayenne, along with some crushed peanuts, will transport your stodgy stir-fry from back-alley fast food into an orgy of flavour. If you can possibly imagine a fiery edge to the next batch of stir-fry you pick up from your local Chinese fast food place (which typically runs on the sweeter and saltier side), you're sure to do like my mother does, and carry a batch of hot chili powder with you anywhere you go.

Gary: Chili powder

Dino: There is the spice blend that contains (amongst other spices): cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, coriander, some tiny trace of ground chili, and other spices. This is usually what I think of when I hear "chili Powder". It's the stuff you use when making ... well ... a chili! Starting with about a kilo of onions, a kilo of carrots, and 1/2 kilo of bell peppers, and a head of garlic is the perfect beginning to a good, strong chili. In the largest pot you have, heat up a few tablespoons of oil. You might need up to 1/4 of a cup of oil. Use a neutral flavoured oil, like canola, peanut, or safflower oil.

When the oil is hot, add the onions, carrots, peppers, and garlic. Drop down the flame to as medium, and allow the vegetable combination to cook for as long as it takes to get medium brown. You want the onions, garlic, and peppers chopped into a rough chop, and the garlic to be whole (for a milder garlic flavour), or minced (for a stronger garlic flavour). When the whole lot is the colour you desire, pitch in about 1 1/2 kilos of tinned, diced tomatoes, and a good handful of Chili powder. Turn up the heat to as high as it will go, and allow most of the water from the tomato tin to evaporate. Once you're down to about 1/4 of the original liquid from the tin, add a healthy slurp of tequila or dark rum. This step is optional. Add in about 3 kilos of cooked beans (as in, they weigh three kilos when you're done cooking them; start with about 1 1/2 kilos of dry beans to get to this level, or use tinned; both are equally fine). You can use all of one bean, like pinto, black, kidney, or pink beans, or combine them in any way you deem fit. You can omit the liquid from the tin, or add it in. It depends on your preference for how thick you like your chili.

Let the whole mess come to a full, rolling boil, and let it cook for about 10 more minutes. Add one ounce or so of unsweetened chocolate, or an ounce of cocoa powder (unsweetened). Let the whole lot cook for about 10 more minutes, and eat!

Barring that, chili powder is wonderful when sprinkled onto yams, yucca, sweet potatoes, squash, eggplant, chickpeas, potatoes, or any other hearty vegetable that you fancy. To prepare, simply mix 1 tablespoon of chili powder with 1 tablespoon of oil. Toss about 1 pound of your vegetable (or chickpeas, if you're feeling adventurous!) in the spice and oil mixture. Throw it in the microwave for about 10 - 15 minutes, or in the oven at 350° F for about 30 - 45 minutes. If it's a tough veggie, let it cook longer. You now have a quick and delicious entree to dump onto bread, rice, or pasta, or eat by itself.

Gary: Cinnamon

Dino: The reason that apples and cinnamon are a cliche is because the two of them work so well together. Barring that, the next time you make the chili recipe I mentioned, feel free to pitch in a teaspoon or so of cinnamon with the chili powder. Also, any time you do sweet potatoes with maple syrup, you have to add a healthy dose of cinnamon for the taste to come out clearly. My morning oatmeal would be incomplete without cinnamon, as would my coffee, and hot chocolate.

Gary: Garlic powder

Dino: I tend to reserve garlic powder for when I want to punch up a jarred pasta sauce. I'll throw some olive oil into a skillet, throw in the jarred pasta sauce, throw in a few shakes of garlic powder, and let the mess come together in about five minutes. When it's done, I'll dump in the fresh pasta, and the taste is just as if I've been slaving over a hot stove. Additionally, whenever I am sauteeing onions for a recipe, and the recipe doesn't call for garlic, I'll throw some garlic powder into the sautee, to punch up the overall taste. Ditto this on whenever I make a coconut cream sauce. I'll start with the traditional roux (1 TB of oil, 1 TB of flour, heat over low heat until light blond, then pitch in 1 cup of coconut milk, then add a pinch of nutmeg and garlic powder), and do my magic when the sauce forms.

Gary: Onion powder

Dino: Ew. Wait, people actually BUY this stuff? Ew. Just. Ew. The flavour is far inferior to garlic powder, and onions are cheap and readily available enough that this travesty of the spice world should really go crawl into some corner and die.

Gary: Oregano

Dino: Remember the pasta sauce example? Same here. Throw in some oregano to punch it up. Same with the chili powder example, where I mention adding 1 TB chili powder to 1 TB oil? Try throwing in oregano with those veggies. Also, any chile recipe will be complemented extremely well by oregano. Simply add it with the onions and garlic and peppers. Any recipe that calls for tomatoes will do well with oregano. Any recipe with root vegetables, but not a lot else will do well with oregano. The next time you make corn chowder, try some oregano in it; your tongue will thank you. Any bean recipe will love oregano. Crumble the dry leaves in your palm before you add it to your pot, so that you release the maximum flavour.

Gary: Parsley

Dino: Any time I have a sautee going, with onions, garlic, and/or other aromatics (carrots, peppers, etc), I add lots and lots of dried parsley if I have it. Just like oregano, crumble it in your palm before adding it in. Come to think of it, pretty darn near any savoury dish does well with a healthy (and I do mean healthy!) dose of dry parsley. I find that I need about a handful or so for the impact to come through in a pot of food meant for 4 - 6 people.

Gary: Not quite as ubiquitous, but still very common:

Basil

Dino: Always use wherever there are tomatoes present. Use generously in Thai food, or any other recipe which calls for hot ingredients, or creamy ingredients (like coconut or coconut milk).

Gary: Bay leaf

Dino: Never let a soup happen without some bay leaf in it. Ever. Bear in mind, however, that bay leaves are not digestible, and need to be removed before you serve the food. Also remember that bay leaves take some serious time to impart their flavours, so use it mainly in long-cooking curries, or soups, rather than quickie foods. Will do extremely well in my chili recipe, if you add it with the sauteeing aromatics.

Gary: Cumin

Dino: Always use cumin in chili, to punch up the "Mexican" flavour. Use with refried beans to give it flavour; often the stuff in the tin or from the restaurant is fairly boring. Use generously with any root vegetable. Use with any Indian dish.

If you have cumin seeds, you are especially lucky. The next time you make a savoury dish, start like the Indians do. In a large pot, heat up a tablespoon or so of oil. Sprinkle in 2 teaspoons of cumin seeds. Wait about 30 seconds or so, and your house will fill with the mouth-watering smell of cumin. The seeds will begin to jump and pop. Add about 2 cups of uncooked, long grain rice (or any other vegetable you feel like cooking). Drop down the heat to medium heat, and gently cook the grains of rice (or vegetable) until you smell a nutty aroma (or until the veggie is browned). Add in about 4 cups of water. Increase the heat to high heat, and allow the water to come to a full, rolling boil. Let the water boil for about two or three minutes. Slam on a tight-fitting lid (or aluminum foil, if you don't have the lid), and decrease the heat to as low as it will go. Set a timer for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, turn off the heat, and remove the pot from the heat. Allow the rice (or vegetable) to rest for about 10 minutes. Uncover the pot, and dig in! It's fabulous. This same technique can be used to make split pea soup. Just add about 3 cups per cup of water, and skip the browning step.

Cumin has anti-gas properties, which is why Indians use the spice so generously whenever they make cruciferous vegetables (cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli), or beans.

Gary: Dill

Dino: To be honest, dill is one of those few herbs that I rarely use when it's dried, because the fresh and dried version are so different, that I tend to avoid the dried. When you have the fresh, it's perfect in salad, and other raw applications. Throw some onto sliced cucumbers, with a dash of lemon, for the best summer treat ever. Combine it with hummus for an unusual flavour combo. Have it with tomatoes, parsley, and lemon, and you'll never want cooked tomato again!

Dry dill, on the other hand, is a lot more sober, and subdued. I'd use it in any application where dry parsley is appropriate.

Gary: BBQ sauce

Dino: Use for dipping French cut fries, or slices of baked potato or baked sweet potato. Slather onto mature plantain, and bake in the oven for a smoky, sweet treat. Rub onto slices of eggplant, and grill. Use as a marinade for portabello mushrooms, and grill.

Gary: Soy sauce

Dino: Use in place of salt in recipes calling for salt. Switch to Tamari, if you're gluten free. Switch to low sodium, and see if you can really tell that much of a difference (why eat the extra salt if you don't have to!). Combine with various fruit juices, citrus, and/or spices to create your own marinades for various vegetables. When making tomato sauce, use a capful of soy sauce to counteract the tinny flavour of tinned tomato. When making a vegetable stock, add a few shakes to give the stock a much deeper, richer colour. Use for dipping of steamed vegetables.

Gary: Szechuan sauce or similar

Dino: It reminds me too much of snot to take it seriously. ::shudder::

Gary: Tabasco sauce or similar

Dino: Sriracha, Tabasco, and other fiery sauces should be on hand for those who like a bit of a kick with their food. Any time you do sweet-and-sour applications, have a touch of heat to offset the cloying sweetness that is so typical of the sweet and sour craze. Always have hot sauce on hand to combine with ketchup (and, in my house, freshly minced raw garlic) for a fabulous dipping sauce for French cut fries, and tater tots. (Yes, tater tots and other fried foods aren't healthy, but if you're having them, you might as well enjoy them, right!?) Add a fiery kick to your chili by adding a bit of hot sauce at the table, before you dig in to eat. If you're like my husband, you'll like to have it on pretty close to everything.

[Dino added a couple more common, useful spices to the list...]

Coriander powder:

For those who dislike, or are allergic to cumin, coriander powder is an ideal substitute. It's got the same smoky aroma, but a much more subtle flavour.

Sesame Seeds:

I would never let my kitchen exist without sesame seeds. I add them to hot oil before adding my aromatics (when I sautee aromatics). I add them to hot oil along with cumin seeds to release the flavour of both spices into the oil, before cooking vegetables. If I'm making (cooked) garbanzo beans, I always add a good dose of sesame seeds, paprika, and olive oil, before pitching the lot into the oven for 15 minutes (at 350° F). I could never dream of a soup, stew, or bean dish without some bit of sesame seeds. Because they're high in iron, I don't even feel guilty about the negligible extra fat they add.

Next: Some commentary on all this...plus we added one more small segment.

Labels: chili, cooking, Dino, sauces, spices, vegetables

The previous exchange raised some questions in my mind, plus I wanted to delve a litle further into how a beginner would experiment, cautiously, with spices. Without any further ado...

Gary: What kind of oil should I use?

Dino: The midnight oil, damnit! After using some of these techniques, you'll find yourself cooking less, and eating more. This is a good thing.

Seriously though. It depends on what you're doing. Say for example, you're adding garlic, onions, peppers, celery, carrots, or any combination (or any one of those) to cold oil, heating said oil and aromatics in a pan, and then adding other ingredients, you can use any cooking fat. What am I talking about? Frankly, fats have this wonderful way of only doing one thing rather well. For example, olive oil is really good at tasting buttery, and lending such a depth of flavour to whatever you eat. However, it's really bad at getting super duper hot. Try to set your stove on high with olive oil in the skillet, and you'll soon have a face full of smoke, and really nasty smelling living grounds. Instead, with olive oil, you add aromatics (garlic, onions, carrots, celery, etc.) to the cold oil, and set the pot on the heat. The aromatics have water, which prevents the oil from rising too much above the 212°F, which is the boiling point of water.

Mind you, this isn't a license to set the stuff on the stove and forget about it, but rather a nice insurance policy.

However, there are times when you want to really scorch the bottoms of your vegetables, and get some serious colour going. In these cases, you use an oil that can handle very high heats. Examples are canola, peanut, vegetable, and safflower oil. With these oils, you can set a pot on the stove, crank the heat up to high, add the oil, and add the aromatics, or whatever else to the pot at your (relative) leisure. You still need to act quickly, as you've got about a minute before your kitchen turns into a smoky mess, but the oil will resist the temptation to stay at the neat and pat 212°F. Instead, it will aggressively inch towards 500°F!

The point is that you want to suit the oil to your cooking situation.

HOWEVER! Don't feel afraid of starting canola, peanut, safflower, etc. oil off cold, with aromatics thrown in. Starting with cold oil, and cold aromatics, and allowing the two to come to temperature together, is a time-honoured method of withdrawing the maximum of flavour from the aromatics. Also, when you're baking or have everything ready, and you do the spice blend method, you really don't need to worry about which oil you use.

Let me handle the first scenario first. Suppose you are feeling infinitely lazy, and need to have a shower before dinner is served. You're smelling quite ribald, and feeling the need for the cleansing waters to relax. Get into your kitchen, and hack up some root vegetables to about the same sized chunks. In a small bowl, combine a couple of tablespoons of oil with your favourite spice blend, and a bit of salt and pepper. Make a loose paste of this. In a large roasting pan, combine the spice-oil mixture with the chopped vegetables. Toss the veggies with the spices and oil to combine everything evenly. Set the oven to 350, the timer to 35 minutes, and get on with your shower. By the time you get back, you'll have the kitchen smelling heavenly, and a large mess of vegetables, waiting to be served over salad greens, or in between two slices of bread. In this case, the oil doesn't matter, because you're mainly using it to be a vector for the spices, and the fact that the oven is slowly roasting your vegetables will keep the oil from burning. Frankly, the controlled temperatures are ideal for any oil.

The second scenario is if you have a quick hand, and everything waiting. Set your large stock pot onto the stove. Crank the heat up to high. Drizzle in whatever oil you choose. Wait about 20 seconds for the oil to heat. Immediately pitch in your aromatics. Because you've got everything waiting, you don't have to worry about the oil getting too hot too quickly. Otherwise, if you aren't that quick in the kitchen, follow the advice I originally gave.

Gary: What is sriracha, and can I find it in Nebraska?

Dino: It's one of those delicious fire sauces from Southeast Asia. If you can't find it in Nebraska, never be ashamed of substituting Tabasco, or whatever other hot sauce you fancy. If you don't fancy hot sauce, cheat, and add a touch of black pepper (as much as you can take!) to some ketchup, and call it a night. Nobody has to know.

Gary: How do I know if I've added enough spice? How do I prevent adding too much?

Dino: Eyeballing it works for me. If I'm looking at a piece of vegetable in the pot, and each piece has enough spice that about half of it is visible through the veil of spices, I'm good to go. If you've added too much, cheat, and pitch in some cooked pasta, potatoes, rice, or whatever other frozen vegetables you have lying around. To prevent adding too much in the first place, measure out just enough of whatever spice you're adding into the palm of your hand first. If it takes up more than a dime-sized round, you're probably going to end up with too much ... stuff in your food. Err on the side of not enough.
Worst comes to it, you can always sautee some more onions and garlic in oil, add additional spices to that pot, and mix it in with the rest of the food. Nobody has to know, and you've avoided the problems of having raw-tasting dried herbs.

Gary: If I add more than one spice, do I cut back on the amounts of each one?

Dino: Here's a rule that works for me. When I'm working with an unfamiliar spice, I'll first start with 1/2 teaspoon, and add the rest of the "normal" seasonings. For example, whenever I make a pasta sauce, I add: 1 tablespoon of Italian seasoning, 2 tablespoons of Mrs. Dash, and 5 cloves of garlic. However, I saw a recipe that used fennel seeds. I'm not sure how it'll work out in the end. Because I'm a bit nervous about a spice like fennel seeds, I'll even cut it back to 1/4 teaspoon, rather than 1/2 teaspoon. Chances are that it'll be so subtle that I won't even notice it (as I tend to make about a 6 lb tin's worth of diced tomatoes of sauce every time I bother to make sauce). If that slight hint is pleasant, I'll try to up the ante the next time. Eventually, I'll find an amount that's close enough to the new recipe to suit my tastes. Sometimes, I end up adding more. Most of the time, I add less than what others like. The point is that because I introduced it gently, I never jarred myself into dislike.

Gary: Adding OJ and lemonade is a nice touch! Do any other kinds of juice work? Pineapple? Apricot? Fruit punch?

Dino: YES! Yes! Not so much.

Pineapple juice is very easy to incorporate into different foods, because it's got a distinctly tropical feel.

Apricot juice tastes of Tradition, and Pomp. It's quite a sophisticated taste.

Fruit Punch, however, tastes of...red. I'm serious. What other flavour can you attribute to Fruit Punch? It's lovely with a hefty shot of vodka, and a splash of lime juice, but otherwise, it's best left to church picnics, with women who wear tragic parodies of fashions they saw in Better Homes and Gardens.

Frankly, I love Better Homes and Gardens, Fruit Punch, Vodka, and Apple Pie, too. However, I do feel that all of those things should be enjoyed in places where they will make the most impact.


Next: Some brief commentary on this round of Dino's information-packed replies.

Also: Later in the series, I actually plan on mentioning Better Homes and Gardens. You'll see...

Labels: cooking, Dino, juice, oil, spices, vegetables

A 14-year study of 71,768 female nurses, aged 38 to 63, showed that, after controlling for lifestyle factors, those eating the most fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat foods had the greatest protection from stroke.
A study of 519,978 subjects in 10 European countries showed that individuals who consumed the most dietary fiber had a 40 percent reduction in colon cancer risk than those who consumed the least. Fiber is found in a range of plant-based foods, including fruits and vegetables.

A 17-year study of 29,564 women, aged 55-96 and initially free of cancer, showed that increasing fruits, vegetable, and plant foods, and limiting the intake of salt, additives, fat, and meat may significantly decrease cancer incidence and mortality.

A Harvard Medical School study of about 85,000 female nurses and about 32,000 male health professionals showed that men and women who consume the most magnesium were least likely to develop diabetes. Magnesium is found in beans, green vegetables, whole grains and nuts. The benefits of magnesium were still apparent after adjusting for age, family history, exercise, alcohol consumption, and other factors that may influence the disease.

A study of 1,230 men aged 40 to 64 showed that men who ate three or more servings of vegetables per day had a 48 percent lower risk of prostate cancer compared with those who ate less. Cruciferous vegetables such as cauliflower, broccoli had the strongest effect.

Canadian researchers analyzed dietary data for 585 people with pancreatic cancer and 4,779 people without the disease. After adjusting for age, smoking, body mass index, physical activity, Canadian province, education, and total calorie intake, researchers found that men consuming the greatest amount of fresh fruits and vegetables were half as likely to develop pancreatic cancer as men who consumed the least amount of these foods. For unknown reasons, the benefit of fruits and vegetables was limited to males. Note that pancreatic cancer has one of the lowest survival rates of all cancers.

A study of 77,000 women and 40,00 men showed that those who ate the most fruits had the lowest risk of macular degeneration.

Finally, this study, which is not directly about fruits and vegetables, but which I think is astounding:

Researchers studying 44,788 pairs of twins in Scandinavia concluded that genetics only plays a 27 percent role in determining whether one gets breast cancer, while the environmental and lifestyle component is 73 percent.

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Now, to get the most disease prevention benefit from your diet, you can't only add healthy foods. You also have to get rid of the culprits—mainly, meat, dairy, and fat. I'll deal with the first two of those foods later in this series, and the third factor (fats) over a longer period.

Next: Extra-Special Bonus Pullout Section!

Labels: cancer, diet, fruits, health, prevention, vegetables

The other day, my sister-in-law said, "It's so hard to tell what's good for you and what's bad for you. Every day there's a new study that contradicts the previous one."

It's not quite that random or confusing. There are some patterns that are remarkably consistent, decade after decade. After perusing through studies on the effect of diet, it becomes abundantly, undeniably clear that fruits and vegetables lower your risk for a wide range of diseases. If there was a pill as powerful as fruits and vegetables, and with as few side effects, it would be hailed as a medical miracle. It would be front page news. And prescriptions might cost a fortune. There may be no better bargain in the world than fruits and vegetables.

Three of my neighbors have been stricken with cancer in the last couple of years. One died and another has less than a year to live, according to her prognosis. In all likelihood, neither of these neighbors will reach 60. It's gut-wrenching to see these formerly vibrant people become so worn down to the point that they can't even get out of bed some mornings. It's awful to witness them losing their color and energy and gradually withering away.

Would a change in their diet—especially if started in, say, their 20s—have prevented their cancers or improved their diagnoses? It's impossible to say. But in the aggregate, diet—and consumption of fruits and vegetables in particular—seems to have a substantial and sometimes dramatic effect on overall health. You do not want to get cancer. Improve your odds by eating a variety of fruits and vegetables. It may be a matter of life and death.

I hope that this series' introduction to these wonder-foods helps you serve them in ways that are pleasing and tasty for you. Fruits and vegetables should be a joy to eat, not medicine that you have to force yourself to take. Please avail yourself of the almost limitless cooking tips and recipes on the Net so that you can discover favorite ways to prepare and consume these amazing foods and make them a major part of your diet.

On a related note, coming up soon I'll feature an interview with my friend and accomplished chef Dino, who will let you know some simple rules of thumb for using common spices and bottled sauces to add flavor to your food (we'll focus mainly on vegetables for starters).

Here are just a few of the thousands of studies that show the health benefits of eating a sufficient quantity and variety of and fruits and vegetables. This is just a tiny sliver of the available data. Studies that reinforce the importance of fruits and vegetables in the diet are so frequent and plentiful, you can practically pluck them from the air. They're everywhere.

All of the following studies are recent and medium- or large-scale.

(Note: Let me know if you want the precise information—full journal name, volume, issue, authors, and so forth—on any of these studies to enable you to look them up. In the meantime, it's much quicker to just list the journal abbreviated name and issue year.)

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The Netherlands Cohort Study tracked 62,573 women and 58,279 men, aged 55 to 69, for over six years. The more fruits and vegetables they ate, the lower their chance of lung cancer.

Of 18,000 men, those who had detectable amounts of isothiocanates, a chemical found in cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli and bok choy, had a 36 percent lower chance of developing lung cancer than those without detectable amounts of the chemical. A number of compounds in cruciferous vegetables—some perhaps not yet discovered—work in tandem, and researchers warned the public not to rely on a pill form of the chemical.

A study of 103 breast cancer patients in Australia found that those who ate the most fruits and vegetables had the best chance for survival.

A study of more than 90,000 men and more than 240,000 women showed that for every 10 grams of fiber in the daily diet there is a 14 percent reduction in coronary events (e.g., heart attacks) and a 27 percent reduction in coronary deaths. Fiber is found in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes, but not animal products.

A study of 4000 men and women adults found that the those who ate the most dietary fiber had the lowest amount of concentrations of C-reactive protein (CRP) in their blood. A high CRP number is used as a predictor of future coronary events.

In a study of 1294 men with prostate cancer and 1451 men without the disease, men who ate the most fiber from vegetables in particular were 18 percent less likely to develop prostate cancer than those who ate the least.

A study of 900 men and women between the ages of 69 and 93 found, among other things, that men who ate the most fruits, vegetables, and cereral had the highest bone density. Bone health is a lot more than just calcium!

To women who are breastfeeding or pregnant, or who may be pregnant in the near future: According to research at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, when mom eats vegetables during pregnancy or if breastfeeding, baby is more likely to eat his or her vegetables. This is a profound finding, in my judgment: What you eat during this critical period could affect your child's eating habits, and thus overall health, for life.

Dad, your diet may have a major influence, too. If you say "Yum, these carrots taste great," I think that will have a far different effect than "Yuck, carrots again? Do we have to eat these?" The former will show your children that vegetables are tasty and appreciated; the latter response will teach your children to resent vegetables. Your children pick up and perpetuate your attitudes. Even better: Make the vegetables yourself and/or let the kids help. Even better still: Grow a little organic vegetable garden in the back yard and get the whole family involved. Experience shows that kids enjoy vegetables they grew themselves.

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You may want to share some of these findings with your family members and loved ones. We may not be able to prevent cancer entirely, but we may be able to prevent over half of its occurrences—that's huge. Mainstream medical groups estimate that up to 70 percent of some cancers are preventable by lifestyle changes alone. And we'll see later on that that success rate may improve even more for diabetes and heart disease. Granted, you could do everything right and still get cancer or heart disease. Sometimes people are born with a genetic abnormality or heart defect, or other insurmountable conditions. But in most cases, our most common deadly diseases are not just something that happens to you when you get older. What you eat may determine whether you are stricken with them. Please take this to heart.

Next: A few more studies on the importance of making fruits and vegetables a major part of your diet, to drive home the point.

Labels: cancer, diet, disease, fruits, vegetables

The Non-Cook's Intro to Cooking Vegetables From A to Y

Asparagus

Baby Bok Choy

Beets

Beets (Encore Performance)

Broccoli

Carrots

Cauliflower

Cauliflower (Continued)

Collard Greens

Green Beans

Kale

Parsnips

Peas

Spinach

Squash

Spaghetti Squash

Sweet Potatoes / Yams

Next: Lots of stuff!

To be continued...

Labels: cooking, diet, vegetables

Sweet Potatoes (Or Yams)
For our purposes, sweet potatoes and yams are the same thing. They're also the last vegetable in this part of the series. And they're mighty tasty. And nutritious.

The easiest way to cook sweet potatoes is to nuke them. Scrub the potatoes, poke them several times with a fork, place them on the microwave rack wrapped in paper towels, cook for a few minutes, depending on your microwave. You want the potatoes steaming hot and nice and tender.

Take out the potatoes, and top with Earth Balance. Smush it in there a little. Don't overdo it—tempting as it is.

You can also top the potatoes with cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, or allspice. Here's a nice variation: Add some pineapple rings during the last 30-60 seconds of cooking. Yum! Super super-simple, ultra-tasty, *packed* with nutrition, goes with anything. There's no reason not to have a sweet potato or two or three this week.


Sweet Potato Fries—Three Ways!
I downsized this recipe to two servings. One large or two medium sweet potatoes will do the trick. I peeled the potatoes because I don't care for sweet potato skin, but in doing so I missed out on some valuable nutrients in the skin, so—your call.

Hey—don't forget to preheat the oven to 400°F.

The thinner you slice the sweet potatoes, the quicker they'll cook; that's the tradeoff. I cut mine into average-sized french fry pieces.

A lot of the reviwers of this recipe recommended shortening the microvwave pre-cook time and lengthening the oven cook time, so I went with that. I nuked the sweet potato pieces for 3 minutes. Then the fun begins.

I spread the fries-to-be (even though I was baking, not frying) on a baking sheet and drizzled some olive oil on them. Then I roughly divided the fries into three groups. For the first group, I added the spices as prescribed in the recipe. For the second group and third groups I added spice blends recommended by two respective reviewers. The idea was to try all three variations of seasonings.

On group 2, I added salt, pepper, paprika, and chilli powder. For group 3, I sprinkled on garlic powder, onion powder, and parsley. Both of these were reviewer's suggestions.

After 45 minutes, the potatoes were ready. They were crisp on the outside and mushy in the middle. Which seems to be how sweet potato wedges bake.

The verdict? All three groups tasted great, and we had no trouble polishing them all off. My favorite was group 2. I liked the hint of hotness. My wife liked group 1 and 3. There you have it.

This ends our vegetable-by-vegetable section. Next, I'll post a quick index to each of the vegetable posts in this section. Then, it's onto whole grains, with a few diversions to mix it up.

To be continued...

Labels: cooking, food, sweet potatoes, vegetables, yams

Squash (Slight Return)
We could easily spend a month on squash; there are so many varieties—and I encourage you to try lots of them. But I wanted to move things along, and get to other sections of this series.

Nonetheless, I really should mention spaghetti squash. It's so unique.

Here's how you cook it. (Microwaving is by far the quickest way.)

As useful as that linked page is, it doesn't go far enough. The excitement begins after you've cooked it.

Scrape out all the innards (sans seeds) with a fork. The entire fleshy part of the squash turns into strings. You eat them! Get them all out, and onto your plate or a serving bowl, until you reach the rind. Then --- use any topping you would use for spaghetti. Ragu, a fancy sauce from the gourmet store, diced tomatoes with a mix of Italian herbs, whatever.

Spaghetti squash is great dish for a second date, or for getting the kids involved. Just two examples. It's definitely the funnest type of squash. You can use it as a main dish. It's a great, extra-healthy alternative to spaghetti once in a while. Give it a try!

To be continued...

Labels: cooking, diet, spaghetti squash, vegetables

Squash
There are so many different kinds of squash. Yellow squash and zucchini are the easiest to work with, so let's start there.


Grilled Yellow Squash
This is your basic squash dish. It won't rock your world, but it's a nice side dish for just about anything. It's great on the grill, but you can use a frying pan, like I did. You can also cut this recipe in half or more, as well as cut back on the oil somewhat, especially if you're using a non-stick pan.

There's really not much to it. You can cut the squash horizontally, or a slightly on a slant. I heated the oil and threw in the minced garlic. Then I plopped in the squash slices, slid them around a little, and flipped them so both sides were coated with oil and garlic. From then on, I cooked them over medium heat—about 5 minutes on the first side, and about 3 minutes on the second side. I sprinkled a very small amount of salt and pepper on the whole thing just before serving.

As you might expect, squash is super-healthy. Really, if you can incorporate these vegetables into your diet, you'll be doing your body a great favor. Make them tasty and you're way ahead of the game.

Note: I'll be at the United Poultry Concerns conference tomorrow through Sunday. I'll see you all again Monday. Have a great Friday and weekend.

...I meant Tuesday :) The UPC conference was great. My head is filled with stimulating ideas, I talked with impassioned and knowledgeable animal advocates, and I got to meet the wonderful rescued chickens, turkeys, ducks, and peacocks at the UPC sanctuary. Time permitting, I'll share some thoughts from the conference shortly down the road. But first, back to food...


Grilled Summer Squash and Zucchini
Let's continue with easy grilling, kicking it up a tiny notch. Except for the squash, you might have all the ingredients on hand already. For the mustard, I think you can use any good-quality or fancy mustard. Details tonight!

Well, I liked this a little better than the previous dish, because, to me, the sauce made it more interesting. I used two yellow squash, so I multiplied everything else in the recipe by one-third. I used a skillet inside instead of a grill outside—but everything tastes better on a grill.

There's hardly any chopping with this recipe, since you cut the squash lengthwise down the middle. I cut each of the long slices in half, too; I just thought the pieces should be smaller.

Preparation is a snap, and so is cooking. I cooked the coated squash sections over medium heat, in a lightly oiled pan. Each piece of squash had sort of three sides; I flipped them to the right after about three minutes, and then about every two minutes thereafter, so each surface would get cooked evenly.

The sauce was simple. Proportionally, I used a little more mustard than called for; I like the taste of mustard in sauces and marinades.

Eventually, the squash was browned on all sides, and ready to eat. I poured some sauce over the squash, and then sprinkled some dried thyme, as suggested by one reviewer.

Again, this is probably not going to wow you, or convert a squash-hater, but it's a tasty and satisfying side dish that goes with just about anything.


Basic Boiled Butternut Squash
We could go on and on with yellow squash (and zucchini). It's so easy to find and easy to cook. Quick recipes for yellow squash abound on the Internet.

But let's move on to butternut squash. Butternut squash has a nice, rich, pumpkiny taste, and appearance. It may look imposing to cut up, but really it's pretty easy.

This first recipe is simple, but, to be honest, if you eschew cooking, it works best if you can find already cut-up squash. Luckily, more and more grocery stores are selling pre-cut squash pieces.


1. Boil a quart of water in a large pan.


2. Boil the squash (one squash's worth of pieces) for about 15-20 minutes, until tender.


3. Drain.


4. In the same pot (or a serving bowl) add about 2.5 tablespoons of Earth Balance and 2 tablespoons of brown sugar to the squash. Then add 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. Mash the squash mixture until there are no more lumps. You don't have to get the squash to a puree state.


5. Serve. The squash should be sweet and creamy, but not too much of either.

This is another very tasty dish that goes with a huge variety of meals.


Basic Baked Butternut Squash
That last dish made a lot of squash, and we've been out a lot, hence the delay before getting to the next dish. Baking squash is easy, even if you never cook. Don't be intimidated by the relative monstrosity of some butternut squash specimens. Cutting them up for baking is way easier than you think; it takes a minute or so and requires no strength or skill.

Well, you do need one thing: a sharp, decent-sized knife. Carefully and unhurriedly cut lengthwise through the entire squash. Don't worry; you don't have to make the cut right in the center; it's ok if you end up with two unequal-sized halves.

Then scrape out the seeds, which are congregated in the fat end of the squash. I use a spoon and roughly scrape out the seeds and as many of the strings as I can get. I don't mind a few here and there. If I had one of those special grapefruit spoons, with the teeth on the end, that probably work even better.

You can bake the squash in a pre-heated 400° oven for 40 minutes or so. Or you can nuke it in the microwave for about 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the size of the squash and the power of your microwave.

Test the squash for doneness by poking the part you'll eat with a fork. It should be tender. I'd much rather overcook it than undercook it.

If the two halves of the squash are uneven in size, the smaller half will be done first. If you want, you can take it out when it's done and cook the larger half until it's ready.

I like to mash the squash up a little with a fork—your call.

Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper on the squash. Maybe 1/8 teaspoon of each (distributed between the two halves). This is approximate; adjust to your taste. Then sprinkle about a tablespoon of brown sugar on each half. Then slather about a tablespoon of Earth Balance (or equivalent) on each half. Finally, add a thin coating of cinnamon, maybe 1/8 teaspoon per half.

Now you're ready for a super tasty and satisfying side dish. This really hits on the spot on a chilly autumn night—but it's good all year round.

Next: the final entrant in our vegetable sweepstakes. Plus special bonus sections.

To be continued...

Labels: cooking, diet, squash, vegetables

Spinach
Spinach these days is widely available as pre-washed, ready to eat baby spinach, so it's one vegetable that you can use fresh nearly as easily as frozen.

I know this part of the series is about cooking vegetables, but I'm going to backtrack just a bit and offer a tasty and almost-too-easy spinach salad.


Spring Strawberry Spinach Salad
You can't miss with this combination. And the timing could not be more perfect.

I will say -- I found this recipe on a Disney site, and it was tagged as vegan. I was afraid if you had "Disney" and "vegan" on the same page there would be some sort of explosion, but no, everything worked out fine.

There's really nothing to it. You can use a blender for the dressing, but you don't need to; I didn't. Just make sure you stir vigorously so the dry and wet ingredients thoroughly mix together.

The finished product is very colorful and enticing. The strawberries are the kicker. A great way to start off a meal.


Foolproof, Works-Every-Time, Money-Back Guarantee Way to Cook Spinach—In Five Minutes!
What you'll need:


• One bag of spinach


• A lemon, or lemon juice


• Freshly-ground pepper


• A large pot


• Something for stirring, like a wooden spoon


• A colander or strainer

Here's what you do:


• If you're using a lemon, cut off the top and make a few vertical cuts that are about half the height of the lemon. I recommend trying this recipe with real lemon juice at least once; you'll taste the difference.


• Even though the spinach is probably pre-washed, dump it into a colander and give it a quick rinse. Let a little water drip off, but that's it. Basically, keep the spinach wet.


• Transfer the spinach into a large pot. Turn the heat to medium.


• Start stirring. You want to make sure that the spinach leaves get cooked evenly.


• After a couple of minutes or so, most of the leaves will be wilted. You want to stop cooking when the leaves are just wilted, not beyond that. The leaves should still be bright green. Sometimes when the spinach is almost done, I'll turn the heat to low, for more control.


• Liberally squirt the lemon juice onto the spinach.


• Sprinkle several grinds of pepper over the spinach.


• Put a heaping serving on your plate. Yum! Enjoy this succulent, flavor-packed, and SUPER-healthy dish.


Cameroonian Fried Spinach

This looks good. After perusing the reviews, I think I'll use actual garlic, not garlic powder

You should be able to find shiitake mushrooms in most (though not all) grocery stores. In any metropolitan area, region with a decent Asian population, or college town, they should be easy to find. If you don't fin them with the fresh mushrooms, check the "international" section of the store to see if you can find them in dried form (in which case you reconstitute with water).

(Later that night...) This is very good. I recommend it! The chopping part was easy. The mushrooms were quartered (and de-stemmed) and the onions were "roughly chopped." No problem.

I slightly wimped and cooked the onion/mushroom mixture at medium-plus heat.

I used frozen spinach instead of fresh, so instead of waiting until the onions and mushrooms were halfway done, I put the spinach in a little before that. I guessed what they meant by done, for the onions, was tender and translucent. That takes about five minutes on my stove, so I put the spinach in after about two and a half minutes. I added the equivalent of about two cloves of garlic.

I tasted the dish when it was almost ready. It wasn't bad...yet it needed something. Which leads to our "Special Section."


* Special Section *
I wasn't sure what to add to the spinach. I didn't want to mess it up by introducing horribly clashing flavors or by overwhelming the dish with a new, dominating ingredient.

I thought it could use just a bit of saltiness. But instead of salt, I decided to go with soy sauce. Soy sauce goes with a wide range of sauteed foods; I knew from past experience that it tended to blend well with greens. I like its combination of sweetness, tartness, and saltiness.

So I added a few drops of soy sauce to one corner of the spinach, and tasted it. Not bad. but still the dish wasn't quite there. Maybe it needed a touch of hotness, I thought. I had an old jar of cayenne—not real strong cayenne for whatever reason. I shook a few flakes onto one spot of the spinach, and gave it a taste. Pretty much right on the money.

I applied the soy sauce and cayenne to the dish as a whole and let the flavors blend for a minute on low heat. I served it up and it hit the spot.

Adding a spice or sauce not because it's on a recipe but based on your own discerning or feel sort of marks the transition between following directions and making the dish your own, customized per your preferences, style, creativity, and even moods. Knowing how to improvise when cooking opens up a world of almost unlimited flavors and textures at your fingertips.

But how do you start? If you've hardly ever cooked, how would you know whether to add lemon pepper, lemongrass, or lemon juice to your boiled potatoes? Can you add hot sauce to green beans? Garlic to tomato soup? When do you add basil to something? How does the addition of cumin affect a dish? Should you add two or more spices? Does that work better?

My friend Dino, author of Alternative Vegan, is a devotee of experimenting with culinary ingredients and finding your own style. I'm going to ask him if he wouldn't mind being interviewed for a post entitled "How do I figure out which spice to use?", which will present rudimentary tips on using seasonings to make food more interesting and to your liking. Stay tuned...


Five Minute Vegan Creamed Spinach
This wasn't real creamy, but it was delicious.

The first thing you want to do with this recipe is cut it in half. Two bags of frozen spinach? No way.

I used a bag (actually half a bag) of onion soup mix; that worked fine. I couldn't find onion mushroom soup mix.

I had about half a bag of frozen spinach, plus some fresh spinach. So I added the frozen stuff first, and after it was unfrozen—which took about a minute and a half—I poured in the fresh.

The recipe could not have been easier. And it came in at close to 5 minutes. My wife and niece loved it. Come to think of it, I could have made the full recipe and we would have gobbled it up. Highly recommended.

Next: Squash!

To be continued...

Labels: cooking, diet, spinach, vegetables

Peas
We're talking frozen peas, of course. You can add peas to almost anything. Toss them into salads (after you've defrosted them or nuked them for about three minutes and cooled them), drop them into soups, mix them into stir-fries, plop some in the pasta water about halfway through, and dump them into rice that's cooking about 5 minutes before the rice is ready.

Sure, you can have peas on their own. They're good with onion powder and a little salt and pepper, and they're wonderful with mint. But since peas are such a great mixer, let's look at various types of dishes in which peas play a substantial role. We'll start with a rice dish—rice and peas are a classic combination.


Holiday Peas and Rice
Speaking of rice, here's a very tasty and non-taxing rice and peas combo. I like basmati rice, and light brown basmati rice even better, but any rice that cooks in about 20 minutes will do—it's all good. By "rubbed sage" I guess they mean rub the leaves with your fingers to bring out the flavor. But I used dried sage anyway; about a guarter of a teaspoon. Instead of chicken broth I used vegetable broth. You can also find veggie chicken broth in most large grocery stores. Imagine Foods makes a good one. Amy's I think makes one, too. You'd have to be a borg to be able to detect the difference in the final dish. If this is your first time buying pimientos, they're usually by the olives.

The recipe is uncomplicated. It uses a well-known method of first sauteéing the rice and herbs in oil, then boiling the rice. Remember, with rice:


• Use a tight cover once everything's come to a boil and you turn down the heat and simmer.


• Set the timer. Try not to peek.


• But you can peek once or twice after 15 minutes, to see if you need more water or have too much water (in which case you can turn up the heat a little and cook uncovered).

I was able to add the peas after about 18 minutes of simmering, and I didn't need to cook them quite for 10 minutes.

The final product is a hearty and pleasant-to-look-at side dish. The red pimientos, green peas, and golden rice give the dish a festive look. But it's really an "any day" recipe. While rice is cooking is a perfect time to whip up a green salad. Enjoy!


Minty Peas and Onions
Another festive-looking dish (check out the photo in the link.) Peas and onions go great together.

The first thing you probably want to do, unless you're cooking for a large group, us cut the recipe in half. Maybe more, if you're only cooking for one or two people.

Cutting an onion into wedges is easier than dicing. Here's how I did it:

1. Cut off the ends of the onion as usual.


2. Cut the onion in half, width-wise, as usual.


3. Peel the onion as usual. The skin should practically fall off after steps 1 and 2.


4. Place one onion half, wider side down, on the cutting board. Cut it in half, from north to south. Then cut it in half, from east to west. The onion half should still be holding together, but be cut into four quadrants. Then make two more cuts, so that each of the quadrants is cut in half.
   
5. Do the same to the other onion half. Done.

For red bell pepper, you could buy a jar of roasted peppers. Or, you could use up the rest of the pimiento from the previous recipe. Just trying to save you time and work.

Instead of fresh mint, which would have worked great, I used dried mint—about a quarter tablespoon.

The cooking part is almost effortless; you can just coast from here on out.

The finished dish looks very nice, and the mint gives it a fresh, pleasing flavor. This would be a welcome addition to any meal, and it takes less than 15 minutes. Plus it's healthy. Enjoy!


Peas Amandine
Tired of peas yet? Come on.

Three pea recipes from the same site—a three-peat! Peas and almonds: sounds good, but I don't know what to expect.

Yum—a very tasty combination. Cut the recipe in half unless you're cooking for a large group. The toasted almonds and sauteed mushrooms and onions really make for a nice combo. I just nuked the peas. I had some frozen chopped onions in left over, so I used those; they worked great. Earth Balance did superbly as our "butter."

By now, you should be an old pro at these quick veggie side dish recipes. The basics of chopping, sauteing, steaming, and so forth, are really easy, and, fortunately, there's some margin of error. Not that you can be too lackadaisical. But for very little effort, you can fill up your plate with super-healthy foods, and with just a little bit of dressing them up and variety in their preparation, you can make vegetables a very welcome part of the meal—not a chore, but something you'll enjoy! To repeat from a past post: When we get rid of the saturated fat, accumulated toxins, and cruelty of meat, we want to replace it with nature's goodness; health- and spirit-building foods, not crap. Even though it's ok to totally junk out every now and then in small doses.

Next up: Let's see...I'm going to come back to potatoes later, because they make up a huge category that deserves a section of its own. Potatoes are really healthy, by the way, especially if you keep the skin on—a ton of vitamin C and potassium, among other things. But for now, let's turn to one of my all-time favorite vegetables—spinach.

To be continued...

Labels: cooking, diet, peas, vegetables

Parsnips
Parsnips are the forgotten step-siblings of carrots. Maybe because of their pale pallor. But they're quite tasty and—you guessed it—healthy.

In cooking, parsnips are often part of a roasted vegetable ensemble. We'll get to that later, when we do some multi-vegetable extravaganzas. In the meantime, I want to present some easy non-roasting options for partaking in parsnips.


I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Fried Parsnips
Granted, this isn't the healthiest way to have parsnips, but it sure is good. Here's the tasty recipe.

I veered from the plan somewhat. I cut the recipe by a third, so I used 4 parsnips instead of 6. I used whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour (I guess it's not "all purpose," then), for a little extra fiber and health. For "butter," I used Smart Balance Light. Actually, I did a 50-50 mix of non-butter and olive oil.

I peeled and cut the parsnips as specified. Then I cut the strips in half the other way to make them shorter. I kind of ad-libbed during the next part. I melted some Smart Balance Light/oil in the pan, threw the parsnips in, and tossed them long enough to be well-coated. Then I transferred them to a Tupperware bowl and sprinkled in the flour and seasoning salt (Mrs. Dash to the rescue), put the top on, and shook vigorously. The I put everything back in the pan and fried away.

Man, they were good. They were like veggie French fries. Off the beaten path—but easy.


Lemon Crumbed Parsnips
I decided to put the link to the recipe in the sub-title. This recipe has parsnips and parsley—a perfect match.

This was good, too. If you can find whole wheat bread crumbs, I recommend using them. I used the same pan for the bread crumbs and "butter" / parsnip mixture. I dumped the toasted bread crumbs onto a plate until it was time to add them back into the pan. These also reminded me a little of French Fries, but with the parsley and bread crumbs they were a little too "French" for French fries.

One thing about parsnips: If the fat end of the parsnip is really fat, the core might be too tough; just cut around it and discard the bottom end of the core.

Two parsnip recipes is probably enough for a series aimed at non-cooks.

Next: a really bad pun as we give peas a chance.

To be continued...

Labels: cooking, diet, parsnips, vegetables

Kale
Kale is a such a great vegetable, you can't afford not to eat it. It packs a wallop of vitamin C, and also has decent amounts of calcium and other nutrients. It's similar to collard greens, but cooks more quickly, and has a hearty taste all its own.


Steamed Kale
Our first recipe is very basic, suitable for a weeknight, and this is it.

Once again, we're going with a minute of chopping to save up to 15 minutes off the cooking time. I cut off the stems, because the recipe forbade me to use them, and then I tried the "stack and roll" technique that I learned back in collards. Kale, because it's so curly, doesn't stack as neatly as collards, but you can still manage it. I cut across, then cut perpendicularly, then flailed a bit just for good measure.

From there on out, it's practically auto-pilot. In this recipe, because I know kale graciously accepts strong-flavored spices, I added a little more soy sauce and garlic than called for in the recipe. I used a wide pan with fairly high edges. Maybe it was my stove, but I cooked the kale for a couple minutes more than the recipe specified. After 10 minutes, the texture was perfect. I had the kale and some roasted red potatoes that I bought at the deli counter as a snack—what a great combination!


White Beans and Kale
Kale blends exceptionally well with rice, pasta, or beans. I decided to go beyond just a straight vegetable dish on this one, and add in a legume. The recipe is very easy, has few ingredients, and makes a nice hearty side dish. Here it is.

I cut the recipe in half. About the only veering I did was add a touch oil in which to saute the onion—just barely enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Force of habit, maybe. Bet it added to the taste, though.

To chop the kale, I tore the leaves off the stems, loosely stacked and bunched, and went to town. Again, I stress: Don't stress over chopping; at this level, it's painless and over quickly.

I also added the garlic before the onions had been in there 3 minutes; I'd say I added them after 2 minutes.

I have this old jar of Italian seasoning (which you can find in any grocery store). I can't even place the decade in which I bought it. Maybe it conveyed with the house. Anyway, while looking for it, I came across the dried dill, and added a few shakes of that. Then I spied the oregano and added a few shakes of that. Then I added the specified amount of Italian seasoning—more or less.

This is a great-tasting dish. Very pleasing blend of flavors. The soy sauce gives it just a bit of a salty bite, and the seasonings work their magic. It's also super-easy and quick. My wife and I each had seconds.

I could see where rice would be an excellent match-up for this dish, as recommended by the recipe author.