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Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.
-Harriet van HorneIf you're like me, you might lust after the beautiful greens at the summer farmers market. When I saw this recipe, I knew it would be a wonderful way to incorporate all of those greens in a healthy, savory dish. Recipe comes from the book "Integrative Nutrition: Feed Your Hunger for Health & Happiness" by Joshua Rosenthal.
1/2 bunch mustard greens
1/2 bunch kale
1/2 bunch dandelion greens
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/3 cup raisins
Directions
1. Toast pine nuts on a cookie sheet in a 325 degree oven for 5 minutes. Set aside.
2. Wash and chop greens.
3. Heat olive oil.
4. Add greens, sea salt and raisins. Stir and cook for 5 minutes
5. Turn off heat, add in pine nuts and transfer to serve dish.
6. Sprinkle with lemon juice before serving.
Note: I've made this several times with only kale and added lots of lemon juice.
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Serves: 6
Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity. -Voltaire
For those who want to be more adventurous in the variety of grains they use, or for those with wheat/gluten allergies, this is a delightful porridge to try. Recipe is from "Integrative Nutrition: Feed Your Hunger for Health & Happiness" by Joshua Rosenthal.
1/2 cup polenta
1/2 cup amaranth
3 cups water
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup pine nuts
1-2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup milk (or non-dairy milk)
Directions
1. Heat water with salt to boil.
2. Add polenta and amaranth.
3. Reduce heat and simmer, covered about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. After 20 minutes, stir in cranberries.
5. Taste to see if it's done. It should be soft and creamy.
6. Add pine nuts, honey and milk and enjoy!
Note: I made it without the cranberries and pine nuts and added cinnamon. The texture is different than a more traditional porridge but overall it's more nutritious and fun for the taste buds to try something new.
There is no sight on earth more appealing than the sight of a woman making dinner for someone she loves. -Thomas Wolfe
After a recent trip to Alaska which involved a full day of fishing, my sister wowed me with this recipe (which she took from the New Alaska Cookbook) to turn our fresh catch into a sumptuous dinner. After replicating it, I fell in love with the salsa and found that you can add it to a variety of dishes for added flavor. Let me know what you think!
Tomato-Arugula Salsa
8 Roma tomatoes, cored and diced small
3/4 cup chopped arugula
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup capers
Salmon
1 3/4 pounds salmon fillet
1/2 cup herb olive oil*
kosher salt and pepper
Herb Olive Oil
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons basil
2 tablespoons parsley
2 teaspoons marjoram
1 teaspoon thyme
Directions: Puree the oil and herbs in a blender
Directions
1. To make the salsa, combine all the ingredients and refrigerate.
2. Preheat the grill
3. To prepare the salmon, skin, trim, and remove the pin bones from the salmon fillet. Divide into 4 equal portions. Brush the fish with the herb olive oil and season lightly with salt and pepper.
4. Grill on a very hot grill until just done. Baste with more herb olive oil during the cooking.
5. When done, place each piece of fish on a warm plate, top with 1/4 of the salsa and serve.
My note: as with any recipe, fill free to use creativity to customize as desired.
"The wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings. Let food be your medicine." - Hippocrates
As Obama and Congress attempt to reform the U.S. health care system, I hope that we seriously consider the need for nutrition and preventative medicine to be integral components of health care. Bill Clinton once said that we don't have a health care system in the U.S., we have a sick care system. We practice medicine by prescribing drugs to people that are sick rather than promoting health through nutrition and preventative medicine. It seems like it should be common sense so it's surprising that it can be such a tough sell. From both a productivity and fiscal standpoint, we would be enormously better off if we were a nation of healthy and vibrant people. The integration of nutrition and lifestyle choices can begin with doctors and hospitals. Consider the dreaded hospital food, which is almost on par with airplane food for its popularity. Certain foods have been scientifically shown to have a positive affect on the immune system and reducing inflammation, the cause of almost all disease. And yet, in cancer hospitals we find that patients are being fed food that actually aggravates their condition.
Further, if the goal is to improve the health of our nation, while lowering costs, we should consider the cost of a healthy diet and if needed, subsidize the cost of fruits and vegetables (rather than the meet and dairy industries) in order to all for people of all incomes to have a diet rich in fruits, vegetables and healthy grains. While this might sound like an added expense, the public already pays for the medical expenses of chronic health conditions associated with a poor diet, such as diabetes and hypertension. Why not lower costs by improving health through diet.
In the meantime, I am taking my health into my own hands in the hopes of reducing my need for traditional medical care. I look forward to the day when health care does not mean prescription drugs, insurance companies and
