I wish every parent and parent-to-be would be familiar with Alan Greene, M.D.! His work about nutrition for kids is so important for the health of today’s kids and future generations!
I learned about Dr. Greene by listening to a podcast on the People’s Pharmacy. The link to that podcast, Dr. Greene’s TED talk, and Dr. Greene’s website and books — are all given at this link to the People’s Pharmacy page.
Enjoy and be healthy!
Peace,
Leni
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:
Collards like all green leafy vegetables are high in nitrates.
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!
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
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
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
MORE INFORMATION
WHAT CAN I DO WITH STOCK?
Just about everything! In upcoming posts, I’ll tell you what I’m doing with mine…
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:
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).
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
Equipment notes
Recipe note
Enjoy and be healthy!
~Leni
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…
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
General directions for cooking chana dal
- just plain chana dal to use in recipes that call for cooked chana dal
This recipe is for 3 cups of uncooked (about 8 cups of cooked) chana dal. I like to make a lot of chana dal at one time and freeze what I don’t use right away.
Ingredients
3 cups uncooked chana dal
cold tap water (for rinsing)
6 cups cold tap water (for cooking)
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda (sodium bircarbonate)
Step I: Inspect and pick over chana dal
Inspect the chana dal for foreign matter. Discard foreign matter and grey shriveled-looking chana dal, if any.
Step II: Rinse chana dal
Place the chana dal into a strainer (or small collander) and place the strainer into a large bowl. Fill the bowl with cold tap water and, using your hands, mix the dal around; discard the rinse water. Repeat this rinsing process 3 or 4 times until the water runs almost clear. Discard the final rinse water out of the bowl.
Rinsed and drained chana dal – ready for cooking
Step III: Soak chana dal
Place the strainer with the rinsed chana dal back into the empty bowl and add cold tap water to cover the chana dal with 2 – 3 inches of water. Let the chana dal soak at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours. Then remove the strainer with the dal from the water in which it was soaking. Discard the water.
Step IV: Add water, baking soda and cook
Place the chana dal that has been soaked and drained into a large pot, and add 6 cups of cold tap water to the pot. Add the baking soda and mix it around with a large spoon.
Bring the water to a boil and then turn the heat down to gentle boil (almost a simmer). Gently boil for 10-12 minutes, uncovered, or until the chana dal is cooked through but not mushy. Note: While cooking the chana dal and water mixture will froth quite a bit, but that’s OK.
Chana dal cooking – lots of froth at first
Chana dal cooking – less froth later
Yeild: About 8 cups cooked chana dal and some liquid you can use in cooking or making soups.
Storage: Store your cooked chana dal in your refrigerator or in freezer.
Why baking soda?
Adding some baking soda when cooking beans or dal (split beans) is traditional in many South Asian recipes. It helps soften the bean/dal in less time than it would take without the baking soda. In my experience, the baking soda cuts the cooking time in half. Also adding baking soda, makes the resulting food more alkaline-producing and there is scientific evidence that this is good for bones. I am NOT saying that you should start ingesting baking soda to help prevent osteoporosis! But it you are interested to learn more about an alkaline- vs. acid- producing diet and its effect on bones, see: Origins and evolution of the Western diet: health implications for the 21st century. Starting on page 349 of this American Journal of Clinical Nutrition article, you will find a short discussion of the health implications of an acid- vs. alkaline-producing diet.
A recipe for chana dal: Mark Bittman of the New York Times offers this recipe for chana dal. I would make this recipe by first soaking the chana as mentioned above. Soaked chana will take less time to cook than chana that’s not soaked, so you will want to adjust the cooking time. Also, you can always add a little baking soda to Bittman’s recipe if you like. And I would use olive oil instead of the oils he has suggested.
Enjoy and be healthy!
~Leni
Brenda Davis, R.D.
In her one-hour presentation, “Designing an Optimal Plant-based Diet,” Brenda Davis (a registered dietitian who works in nutrition research) puts it all together — the BIG picture — the many things we need to consider in order to eat for optimal health. While she does not talk about diet and cancer prevention per se, she talks about the key features of an optimal plant-based diet. And, bottom line, a healthy anti-cancer diet is a plant-based (or mostly plant-based) diet that’s provides all the nutrients we need, and within that context, specifically incorporates foods known to have anticancer properties and avoids foods and cooking methods that promote carcinogenesis.
The key points from Brenda Davis’ talk, “Designing and Optimal Plant-bassed Diet,” are given in her slides and are posted on her website! The slides for her other presentations, can be found there too!
While those of you who visited this blog earlier know that I planned to post the key points of her talk here, I see now that there is no need for me to do so. It is far ar better for you to get the key points from Brenda herself!
Video of another great presentation by Brenda Davis: Reclaiming Your Health: Lessons from the Marshall Islands. This video focuses on how diet has been shown to prevent and even reverse type II diabetes!
To learn more, check out Brenda Davis’ website and books….
To find all of Monamifood’s “Check it out!” posts (and the great video and audio programs that these posts point to), just go to the search box and enter “Check it out!”
Enjoy and be healthy!
~Leni
Hot and Soup Soup with Extra Veggies
Here’s one of my favorite – easy to make soup meals. It’s so easy you don’t need a recipe!
Start with hot and sour soup from a Chinese restaurant that makes good quality soup (not loaded with corn starch and msg).
Then at home, add plenty of vegetables plus some tofu — and you have a great, light soup meal!
So this is how I made our soup tonight…
I put the hot and sour soup from the restaurant into a pot on the stove over medium heat. (Our microwave is broken or I could have done this in the microwave in either one big bowl or in individual soup bowls.)
To the soup in the pot or bowl, add:
Heat the soup until the cabbage is tender crisp.
Top each serving with:
If you add a lot of veggies and tofu like I do, then the resulting soup will be like a bowl of veggies in a little broth – a nice light meal!
Enjoy and be healthy!
~Leni
