Collard Greens (Collards)

Collard greens – like all greens – are among the most nutrient-dense foods. Collards are loaded with vitamins, minerals (including calcium), and phytochemicals that help our bodies fight cancer.

This table gives the USDA National Nutrient Database values for calcium in collards, kale, and milk. Look! Collards are a great source of calcium!

Note: It’s hard to understand why the calcium in frozen/cooked collards and kale are higher than the calcium in fresh/cooked collards and kale. (I wrote to the USDA and asked them. I am waiting for an answer. When I find out, I’ll post the response here.)

COLLARDS, KALE, MILK – Calcium content

Food	Portion size	Calcium (mg)
Collards, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt	1 cup – 190 grams	266
Collards, frozen, chopped, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt	1 cup – 170 grams	357
Kale, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt	1 cup – 130 grams	94
Kale, frozen, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt	1 cup – 130 grams	179
Milk, lowfat, fluid, 1% milkfat, with added vitamin A and vitamin D	1 cup — 244 grams	305

Note re lowfat milk: I put lowfat milk in this table because it tends to be higher in calcium than whole milk. That’s because manufacturers add milk solids (dry skim milk) to low fat milk in order to make it taste creamier.

ORGANIC
I always buy organic collards (and kale), and that’s because these two veggies are listed on the Environmental Working Group’s list of the 12 most contaminated fruits and veggies.

LIGHTLY STEAMED COLLARD GREENS

I make a batch of collard greens at least twice a week. In fact, they’re one of my go-to vegetables for lunch or dinner AND breakfast – where I serve collards along with scrambled eggs, made with with fresh turmeric and black pepper!

This recipe for lightly steamed collard greens is as simple as it gets – just a few pointers on technique!

Directions:
Roll the collard leaves lengthwise tightly. Slice the leaves crosswise into rolls of ribbons about 1/2-inch wide and slice the stems into 1/4-1/2-inch pieces. Cut the ribbon rolls in half, and then in half again, if desired. Wash the cut pieces by putting them into a bowl of water and swishing them around; drain off the water and repeat washing with fresh water once or twice more.

Take a large pot with a large steamer basked (a pasta pot, for example) and place the washed and drained collards into the steamer section. Pour 2 cups of boiling water over the collards in the pot. (This helps cook the collards evenly as the collards on top of the steamer basket are touched by the boiling water that you pour on, and the collards on the bottom of the steamer basket are more directly in contact with the boiling water below the basket.)

Let the collards steam, covered, for 1-2 minutes. Use a pair of tongs and toss the collards; replace the lid; continue to steam the collards for another 30 seconds to a minute. The collards should be bright green when cooked!

Save the nutrient-rich liquid at the bottom of the steamer pot and use it in cooking, for example in making soups!

More information about collard greens and nutrition, including a few cautions about oxalates and calcium absorption:

• World’s Healthiest Foods re collard greens.
• National Osteoporosis Foundation re calcium.
• EatToDefeat (cancer) - See the videos and check out the database about foods that prevent cancer through anti-angiogensis! THIS IS MY NEW FAVORITE SITE about foods to prevent cancer!!!! Check it out!!!!

Collards like all green leafy vegetables are high in nitrates.

Learn about the nutritional importance of nitrates (and the cancer causing problems of certain nitrates/nitrosamines).

Nutrients important in bone health…

An excellent overview of the the the role of nutrition in bone health: from the Melio Guide website: Nutrition for Bone Health: There’s More Than Just Calcium 

Bone Architect’s blog gives entire article from Journal of Environmental and Public Health, October 2011 . Definitely worth reading if you are concerned about osteoporosis!

By the way, the beautiful photos in this post were taken by Jillian Lopina of Secondhand Exposure Photography (found here on Facebook  and a blog).

THANK YOU, Jillian!

STOCK – Made with Chicken and Beef Bones and More

I woke up this morning to the wonderful aroma of stock simmering on the stove. It’s been simmering for 14 hours and I intend to let it do so for another 5 or 6 hours. After a total of 19 or 20 hours, great flavor and lots of bone-building minerals and collagen will have leached out of the bones and into the stock.

I’m really obsessed with making stock making these days! It’s so healthy! And it brings me back to the days when my mom made stock in the “deep well” in our gas stove and my grandmother made a clear chicken soup (stock) flavored with dill for every family gathering.

I am excited to share with you my basic bone stock recipe and and a few tips that I have picked up from reading and experimenting these past few weeks.

RECIPE FOR STOCK

• 1 part bones
• 1 part vegetable “formula” (shown below)
• A few additions (shown below)
• Cold filtered tap water to cover contents of pot with 2 inches of water

Note: I use a mixture of bones. In the stock pictured below, I had beef marrow bones, oxtails, chicken backs, and chicken necks. In the future, I would like to add knuckle bones and also chicken feet because they are excellent sources of collagen (which my doctor who is an expert in osteoporosis says is good for bones, though I have not found much literature on this yet). And, if available, I get bones from grass-fed beef and the most humanely raised chickens that have not been given antibiotics or hormones.

For 16 cups of finished stock, I used: 1.5 pounds chicken backs and necks, 1.5 pounds beef marrow bones, and 1 pound oxtails.

Beef marrow bone

VEGETABLE FORMULA

2 parts yellow organic onions
Note: I remove and discard the first layer of the brownish onion peel. Then I remove the inner layer(s) of the brownish onion peel and toss those into my stock pot. Next, cut off the two ends of the peeled onion, and then roughly chop the onion.
1 part carrot, sliced
1 part celery (including the flavorful leaves), sliced

For 16 cups of finished stock, I used: 1 large onion, 3 medium carrots, 2 stalks celery.

Onion skin goes in too!

ADDITIONS
The amounts of these additional ingredients should be proportional to the quantity of stock you are making.

Bay leaves
Whole black peppercorns
Organic lemon, cut in half with seeds removed. Squeeze the juice into the pot, and toss the remaining lemon halves into the pot. Lemon peel is nutritious and flavorful! If you do not have an organic lemon, you can use apple cider vinegar. Note: The lemon (or vinegar) adds acid which helps leech the calcium and other minerals out of the bones – and does not give a lemony or vinegary flavor – unless you use too much.

For 16 cups of finished stock, I used: 1 fresh organic lemon (and next time I’ll try 2 lemons), 2 large bay leaves, and 6 whole peppercorns.

Lemon helps to leech minerals from bones!

DIRECTIONS for making stock — could not be easier — all you need is a big pot and patience

• Bring the contents of the pot to a boil.
• Turn the heat down to a simmer and let the pot simmer, covered, for about 20 hours.  Note: If you do not want to leave the pot simmering on the stove, you can always put it in the oven. For a discussion on the correct oven temperature for simmering stock, see Chowhound. Or if you prefer, use a slow cooker as they do for this chicken stock recipe.
• When the stock has been simmering for hours and the marrow bones will give up their marrow easily, insert a chopstick or blunt knife into the marrow and let the marrow slide out and into the stock.
• When the cooking time is up, remove the bones, most of which will not have much meat on them anymore. I used a pair of thin tongs to remove the dainty chicken bones, but next time I might just tie the chicken (or at least the chicken necks) up in cheesecloth so I would not have to fish out all those little neck bones.
• Pick the remaining meat off the bones and add it back to the pot, or if you wish, reserve the meat for another use.
• Remove the bay leaves, lemon halves, and onion peel, and discard after you have squeezed the stock out of the lemon halves. (See tip below.)
• In the interest of food safety, cool the stock down as quickly as possible (See “Cool Your Stock” shown below.)
• Refrigerate the stock in glass containers, for no more than 2 or 3 days. For longer storage, freeze.
• Right before you are ready to use the stock, remove the layer of fat on top of the stock. (If stock is frozen, warm it just a little in microwave so you can remove the fat.)

The stock making directions in this post do NOT make a clear stock. If you want a clear stock, you need to modify the directions so that you:
SKIM THE FOAM(scum) that forms at the top of the simmering soup and discard the foam. (I read that contrary to wham a lot of chefs say, the foam doesn’t have an affect on the flavor…and since I can’t find any effect, I don’t skim it off.)
Simmer stock UNCOVERED and add water as needed.
STRAIN OUT all the vegetables and REMOVE the meat.

DIRECTIONS FOR COOLING AND STORING STOCK – be sure to read!
Since stock is a nutrient rich medium (a great place for bacteria to flourish), so it’s important to cool your stock quickly.

COOL YOUR STOCK
For food safety reasons, cool your stock quickly! To do this, I  put empty glass storage bowls into a big pan. Then I add ice cubes to the pan scattering them around the bowls. Next I ladle the hot soup into the bowls. Then, I pour cold water over the ice to make an ice-water bath that the bowls with the soup sit in.  After about 1 minute, I stir the stock. After another minute or two, I stir it again, and let it sit until it’s cool enough to refrigerate or freeze.

And when I make a lot of stock at one time – and I mean a lot (about 10 quarts), putting even warm stock into the refrigerator and freezer, is not that great for the refrigerator or freezer ,and it will temporarily raise the temperature of the refrigerator so it’s a bit higher than the safe temperature (40 degrees F and under). That’s not a great idea. So what to do?

So here’s a nifty trick: Throw a few ice cubes of frozen stock from your freezer into each bowl of your freshly made stock that’s been cooled by the method I’ve just described. And, if you are making stock for the first time, use ice cubes of store-bought chicken or beef broth. This ice cube trick helps bring the stock temperature down even more before you freeze it. Just one word of caution about this ice cube trick… For food safety: Always make your ice cubes out of a fresh batch of your homemade stock or an unopened container of store bought broth!

Cool hot food QUICKLY for food safety!

STORE STOCK IN REFRIGERATOR OR FREEZER
Cover the cooled stock and and refrigerate the stock, for no more than 2 or 3 days.
For longer storage, freeze.

I like to have small portions of stock available for later – to use in cooking or as a base for making a single serving of soup. So I always freeze some of the stock in silicone muffin pans. Details of how I do this are given in the post, Silicone Muffin Pans – A Kitchen Staple – But Not For Baking!

NOTES

• Remove the layer of fat on top of your stock right before you are ready to consume the stock as is or use it in cooking.
• Some people make stock in a slow cooker (crock pot) and others make it in a pressure cooker.

MORE INFORMATION

• Chowhound discussion board:  information about making chicken stock ,  making chicken broth from bones ,and beef bones used for stock.
• International variations on chicken stock recipes: whats4eats.
• Tips on making chicken stock, see About.com.
• Chicken feet – for making stock that’s full of gelatin and extra delicious. Here’s how to prep chicken feet for your stock pot.
• Beef – recipe based on Michael Ruhlman’s stock recipe as given in his book, Ratio.

WHAT CAN I DO WITH STOCK?
Just about everything! In upcoming posts, I’ll tell you what I’m doing with mine…

Note to my regular readers – What’s Cooking with the Monamifood Blog

I have not been posting much for a while and that’s because I have been devoting a lot of my “spare” time to reading* and thinking about nutrition. What have I learned? For starters, that a healthy diet is plant based (with an emphasis on whole lower carbohydrate foods) but also with adequate amounts of meat, fish, chicken, and eggs.

In other words, I think it’s healthy to eat eat lots of low carbohydrate veggies and some low carb fruits (especially berries) and to put meat, fish, chicken, and eggs back on the plate in reasonable amounts.

So on the continuum of veg and non-veg, mine is a “hedge your bets” style of healthy eating. I think this makes good common sense. After all, the science of nutrition is constantly changing and evolving. In addition the official doctrines put out by the government (any government) and American Association of This or That are by their very nature influenced by special interest groups. And…even the scientific research published on the pages of prestigious journals depends, at least in part, on the currently held doctrines of the field (as expressed by the editorial boards).

So…making all the right food choices is impossible because we don’t have, and can’t possibly have, all the information we need to choose the most wisely.

In addition we are all genetically different, so there is no one-size-fits all diet.

Still I think there are a few absolutes to guide food choices today:

• Many whole foods are very healthy (especially vegetables) and we should eat more of them.
• Some things we think of as foods are not foods at all – just packages of refined junk with advertising to make us want what’s not good for us.

In the future on this blog you will find some delicious and easy to make veggie and non-veggie recipes that are nutritious – at least for most people given what I understand of what we know today about nutrition.

I can’t wait to share the next post I’m working  on — about making delicious and nutritious stock. It’s a winner of a recipe! Coming soon! I promise!

* If you are interested to read the book that turned my mind around and convinced me that a vegetarian diet is not ideal, read The New Atkins for a New You by Eric Westman, MD, MHS, (associate professor of medicine at Duke University Health System and director the Duke Lifesytle Medicine Clinic), Stephen D. Phinney, MD, PhD, (professor of medicine emeritus at the University of California Davis School of Medicine), Jeff S. Volek, PhD, RD, (associate professor and exercise and nutrition researchers in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Connecticut).

* If you are interested to know more about choosing healthier carbohydrates (lower in glycemic index and high in nutrients), check out  the information contained in the website for the GI Database hosted by the U of Sydney Australia. Also, I highly recommend you listen to two People’s Pharmacy podcasts which feature Jennie Brand-Miller’s (known for her work with GI index) and Dariush Mozaffarian (author of recent study on diet and weight gain published in The New England Journal of Medicine). 

 

Chopped Salad and Sardines

My lunch often consists of a large chopped salad and some canned sardines that have been rinsed with water and splashed with lemon juice (so no one at work can smell the sardines)! I love chopped fresh veggies, and I often prepare enough for a few days and store it in the refrigerator at work. Especially in the summer – but anytime of the year as well – I enjoy this healthy and low-carbohydrate lunch!

For more information on what I put into one of my favorite chopped salads and why I chose these veggies, see the short video/podcast that I did with my sister – who was kind enough to agree to participate without any notice at all. In fact, as soon as I called her on her cell phone to ask if she would work with me on this, she pulled over in her car and we did this video/podcast with her on her cell phone and me on my regular speakerphone.  So this video/podcast is totally unrehearsed, and yet I think it came out really well! I’m still amazed!

Since we did this podcast, I have come up with another idea I want to share with you. If you do not like sardines that much, you can get used to eating this very healthy fish, gradually. For example, you could bake a mild fish like Dover sole; let it cool; and then mix it in with the sardines. Over time, you can add more sardines and less sole. I made this half-half mixture and added LOTS of chopped fresh dill, and it was great!

Kitchen tips on how to do some of the things mentioned in the video:

Zest lemons or limes (and freeze the fresh juice in small quantities for use later)

One way to cut a ripe avocado into chunks and another way to cut a ripe avocado into chunks

Note: Wash the avocado before you cut into it!

Enjoy and be healthy!

~Leni

Thyme and Lime Flavored Blueberries with Tofu Avocado Cream

Blueberries are BEAUTIFUL…DELICIOUS…and HEALTHY! No wonder they are one of my favorite foods!

For a comprehensive and authoritative summary of the many health benefits of blueberries, see the excellent Huffington Post article (published online in 2011) by Leo Galland MD.

This post is about an awesome blueberry dessert — one that reminds me of a mixture of blueberry pie and key lime pie – but guilt-free! And, yes, this recipe involves parchment paper, which might make it seem difficult and complicated, but trust me, working with parchment paper is easier than wrapping a present! And the results are dramatic and delicious! This dessert will delight you and wow your guests! I guarantee it!

And…if you have kids at home…you might want to ask them to help you — or let them make it all by themselves. This recipe is really EASY and FUN to make!

So let’s get cooking!

Thyme and Lime Flavored Blueberries with Tofu Avocado Cream

Serves 4

Ingredients
4 cups fresh (or frozen) blueberries
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons fresh squeezed lime juice
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons honey
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons cold tap water
3 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, chopped

1, 10-ounce block of firm tofu
1/2 medium-size, ripe Hass avocado
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

For garnish: fresh blueberries and fresh thyme leaves

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cut 4 pieces of parchment paper, each 12 x 12 inches. Place each square of parchment paper over a small bowl (for example, a cereal bowl). Carefully place 1 cup of the blueberries into the center of each piece of parchment paper. (Note: This takes two hands, because with one hand you need to make a well in the center of the paper for the blueberries.) Set bowls with blueberries aside.

In a cup (or small bowl), mix lime juice, honey and water until fully mixed. Spoon 2 tablespoons of this mixture over each serving of blueberries. Then sprinkle the fresh thyme leaves evenly over the blueberries.

Using 4, 18-inch pieces of raffia or kitchen twine, tie each bundle of blueberries tightly and finish it off with a little bow.

Place the 4 packets of blueberries onto a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F. (Note: I tested the time with frozen blueberries, and it was the same!)

While the blueberries cook, place tofu, avocado, honey, vanilla extract, salt, and thyme leaves (2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves) into the work bowl of the food processor fitted with the metal blade. Process for 30 seconds; scrape down the sides with a spatula; process again for 30 seconds to 1 minute; scrape again, and process again if needed, until fully blended and smooth. Using a spatula, remove the tofu avocado cream from the food processor and place the cream in a small bowl. Garnish with fresh blueberries and a sprinkling of fresh thyme leaves.

When the blueberry packets have finished baking, remove the baking sheet from the oven and let the packets of blueberries cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes.

To serve, place each packet of blueberries in a small shallow bowl and then place each bowl on a plate. As you can see, the packets are very dramatic and beautiful! So this is how I like to serve them at the table. But to make it easier to eat, it’s good to trim the packets to within about an inch of the tie. So I pass a pair of scissors around the table and let everyone do their own trimming.

After a little trimming — and a lot of laughing about how this reminds everyone of kindergarten — it’s time to open the packets. (Be prepared for “oohs” and “ahs”!) Then pass the bowl of Tofu Avocado Cream so everyone can top their blueberries with a dollop or two.

Ingredient notes

• Blueberries –  This recipe should be made with highbush (cultivated) blueberries (not the small wild blueberries).
• Lime juice – If you don’t have fresh limes, use store-bought organic lime juice which comes packed in glass jars. A really nice product to have on hand!
• Thyme leaves – You can store fresh thyme leaves (on stems) in your freezer so it’s ready when you need it.
• Tofu – For this recipe, use the tofu that comes packed in water and found in the refrigerated section.

Equipment notes

• Parchment paper – The unbleached parchment paper (kraft or light brown color) can be found at health food stores and it is a much better choice than the bleached (white) parchment paper. Who wants bleach leaching into their food?!
• Raffia – I like the look of raffia (what you see in the photos) but plain kitchen twine will do. If you choose raffia, make sure it’s the natural raffia – not plastic. Plastic will melt in the oven.

Recipe note

• I have entered this recipe into the “Make It – Blog It – Win It! Blueberry Recipe Contest for Bloggers.” Results will be announced on or before 20 September! (I will let you know how it turns out…) Meanwhile, if you would like to leave a message about this recipe, please do. I’m sure the contest judges would like to know what you think!

Enjoy and be healthy!

~Leni

BREAKFAST and EXERCISE — good food and bone-building exercise

Chocolate Banana Gelato

Chocolate Banana Gelato with Blueberries

This gelato is made from frozen bananas. You may wonder: Why feature a recipe made from bananas when bananas are not one of the more nutritious fruits? According to the ANDI scoring system of nutrient density, bananas rate a mere 30, while strawberries are 212, and cantaloupe comes in at 100. Why do bananas score so low? Because they’re not chock-full of fiber, vitamins, minerals, or phytochemicals.

In addition, per unit weight, bananas are quite high in sugar, and very respected medical nutrition experts have been waving the red flag against sugar.

But what if bananas came packaged with cocoa – which is rich in antioxidants, proanthocyanidins, and many polyphenols? Then the ANDI scoring system would surly give bananas a much higher score! So…

• Step one: Add cocoa to bananas as we do in this recipe.
• Step two: Enjoy this gelato at the end of a meal – especially at the end of a meal loaded with fiber — not as a snack all by itself (as explained by the medical nutrition experts who caution against sugar, as mentioned above).

CHOCOLATE BANANA GELATO
I absolutely love this desert! And it’s a lot healthier than the square of dark chocolate I used to eat after dinner. After all, compared to even just a small piece of a dark chocolate bar, this Chocolate Banana Gelato is very low in fat and saturated fat. Just take a look at this table to see how cocoa and dark chocolate compare.

Each serving of Chocolate Banana Gelato contains 2 tablespoons of cocoa. A 1-ounce serving of bittersweet chocolate has about 1 1/2 tablespoons of cocoa, if made according to the recipe provided by Joy of Baking. So Chocolate Banana Gelato is a great low-fat way to get the health benefits of cocoa without all the saturated fat that comes with a chocolate bar!

Serves 2

Method 1 – food processor

Ingredients

1 large very ripe banana, peeled, cut into triangular chunks, and frozen (See ingredient note below.)
1/4 cup high quality cocoa (See ingredient note below.)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
a little freshly grated nutmeg
2 – 3 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk (See ingredient note below.)
Your choice of berries for garnish

Directions
Place the frozen banana chunks, cocoa, vanilla extract, and nutmeg into the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Wait a minute or two to let the banana thaw ever so slightly (makes it easier to process the bananas). Then place the almond milk into the feed tube of the food processor and process the mixture until it’s smooth and creamy.

Method 2 – Vitamix (heavy duty blender)

I don’t quite have the quantities down, but you can wing this on your own. Just use about 4 frozen bananas broken into 1-2-inch pieces (they do not have to be pre-cut into triangles). Put the bananas into the Vitamix along with all the other ingredients (in about four times the amounts shown above). Be sure that the almond milk comes up to right over the blades; if not, add more almond milk. If you have to add a disproportionately large amount of almond milk in order to cover the blades, then add about 1/2 of a ripe avocado. That will keep the resulting gelato nice and creamy!

Freeze for later

You can freeze this yummy desert for later, too.  Just freeze in individual serving dishes or in silicone muffin pans. If you are using the muffin pans, then remove the frozen individual servings and store them in a plastic bag for the freezer.  When ready to enjoy, just microwave (set on defrost) to bring the frozen gelato to the right consistency.

Ingredient notes

Banana - cut into triangular pieces

Bananas – For food processor only: Cut the banana into triangular pieces as shown in the photo so that there is more surface area for the blades of the food processor to grab onto, which helps the processor process faster and better.  Also, when you freeze the banana pieces, spread them out on a baking sheet so that they freeze individually, not clumped together. This will make it a lot easier for you to remove just the quantity you want when you are ready to make your gelato.

Note: Click on photo to read details

Penzeys High Fat Cocoa – Be sure to choose a pure cocoa powder – not a cocoa mix that contains sugar and other ingredients! I like Penzeys Natural High Fat Cocoa, even though it has more fat than cocoa not labeled “high fat.” But the Penzeys product is still not high in fat when you compare it to chocolate itself! And this Penzeys Cocoa is also not Dutch processed, which is good because Dutch processing (adding alkalizing agents) destroys some of the antioxidants in the cocoa.

Almond milk – It’s best to use almond milk rather than dairy milk because dairy foods interfere with the absorption of the antioxidants in cocoa.

Enjoy and be healthy!

~Leni

Crispy Seasoned Okra – a great appetizer or snack!

Okra -- ready to microwave

Okra -- ready to eat!

Okra doesn’t have to be slimy! In this fat-free recipe, the okra is crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside.

Okra is available at well-stocked supermarkets and Asian markets. At Asian markets, you can also pick up besan (gram) flour. Made from ground chick peas, besan flour is a great gluten-free substitute for wheat flour when used for coating foods with seasonings. Just remember that because besan is ground up chickpeas, it naturally contains the oil of the chickpea and therefore it’s best to store besan in your freezer to maximize the shelf-life (keep the oil from going rancid).

I highly recommend you give this recipe a try! It’s delicious and easy to make!

Ingredients

14 ounces okra
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon besan flour
1 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 1/4 teaspoon ground corriander
1/2 – 1 teaspoon red chile powder
pinch asafoetida
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions

If the glass go-round in your microwave is removable, take it out of the microwave, clean it (if needed), and place it on the kitchen counter. If the go-round is not removable, find a large, microwave-safe plate; set it aside.

Rinse the okra; do not dry. (The water clinging to the okra after rinsing, helps the seasonings stick.)

Cut almost all of the stem off each piece of okra and then slit each piece of okra in half, lengthwise; set okra pieces aside.

Into a large bowl, place remaining ingredients – the seasonings. Mix the seasonings with your hands (be sure that your hands are dry) until well mixed. Add reserved okra and, using your hands, mix the okra around so that it gets evenly coated with seasonings.

Place seasoned okra directly on the microwave go-round (or large microwave-safe plate), with cut end facing up and stem end facing out. Scrape the last bits of seasoning out of the bowl and scatter the remaining seasoning over the okra.

Place okra-filled microwave go-round (or plate) back into microwave oven. Heat on high for 8 minutes.  Check for doneness — which in this case means crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. It will probably need another 2-4 minutes, depending on your microwave.

BE CAREFUL: The microwave go-round gets hot!

Enjoy and be healthy!

~Leni

Quick and Delicious Dal

Tandoor Chef’s Dal Rajasthani

I had company coming for dinner the other night, but had no time to cook the chana dal recipe that I had planned to make. So I simply combined a few packages of Tandoori Chef’s Dal Rajasthani with some plain cooked chana dal. Delicious!

Plain Cooked Chana Dal

At the table, each person topped his or her dal with chopped fresh onion, chopped fresh tomato, and chopped fresh cilantro. We also passed the Cilantro  Chutney for those who wanted a bit more spiciness.

Tandoor Chef’s Channa Dal (available at Whole
Foods and some supermarkets in the frozen food section)

Ingredient list:
water, split lentils (moong, toor, channa, urad & masoor dals), onions, diced tomatoes (tomatoes, tomato juice, salt, citric acid, calcium chloride), canola oil, spices, tomato pasts (tomato past, water, salt, citric acid), garlic, sea salt, turmeric, curry leaves, fenugreek leaves, oleoresin of paprika, bay leaves.

Nutrition information, per 5 ounce serving:
6 grams fat
0 grams saturated fat
0 mg cholesterol
470 mg sodium
14 g carbohydrate
5 g protein

And…after you mix the Tandoor Chef dal with your plain cooked chana dal, you end up with a delicious dal that’s lower in fat and sodium and has a lower glycemic index than Tandoor Chef’s Rajasthani Dal. So easy! So delicious! And so nutritious!

Enjoy and be healthy!
~Leni

Simply Roasted Kale

Raw kale ready to roast

According to the ANDI Scores – one of several indexes of nutrient density (nutrients per calorie) – kale and collards are the highest rated foods, meaning they are considered to be the most nutrient dense foods. In addition, kale is a member of the cabbage family and so it contains all the anti-cancer benefits that come packaged in cruciferous vegetables.

So including more kale (and collards) in our diets, is a no brainer. But how?

My favorite kale recipe these days is as simple as it gets: Simply Roasted Kale. Roasting kale makes kale slightly sweet and really delicious! And you can use roasted kale in salads, as a side dish, or just to decorate the dinner plate!

To make roasted kale, you just bake raw kale in the oven and remove it from the oven when some of the edges of the kale get brown and crisp.

Ingredients

1 bunch curly (preferably organic)

Note: I think curly kale works better in this recipe than dinosaur kale. It’s sweeter and doesn’t burn so easily.

1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Remove the woody stems from the kale and reserve the stems (freeze) to use in making a vegetable soup stock; leave the tender stems attached to the kale leaves. Wash the kale and then rinse it well. Place the kale in a salad spinner and spin it just a little. You want to leave some moisture on the leaves. Tear the kale into generous pieces. (The pieces collapse a bit when roasted so you will have smaller pieces after roasting.) Place the kale pieces into a bowl and toss them with just a teaspoon of olive oil, until all the leaves have a touch of oil on them.

Place the pieces of kale on a baking sheet (as shown above).

Bake the kale at 375 degrees F for 12  minutes. Use tongs and turn the kale pieces over and bake for about another 8 minutes.

Serve the roasted kale fresh from the oven.

If you need to store the kale, that’s OK, but it will lose the slight crispness that you get when it’s fresh from the oven.

And…if you want to make kale chips, here are some good recipes:

• Kale chips from babble.com
• Kale chips from roostblog.com
• Kale chips from smittenkitchen.com

Enjoy and be healthy!

~Leni