Blog : Nutrition

Recipe of the Month - Russian Potato Salad

From Smashed, Mashed, Boiled and Baked by Raghavan Iyer.

Serves 4

For the Salad

  • 1½ pounds new red potatoes
  • 6 medium-size to large red radishes, scrubbed, trimmed, and thinly sliced
  • 4 ribs celery, leaves discarded, thinly sliced
  • 1 large English cucumber, peeled, cut in half lengthwise, seeds discarded, and thinly sliced
  • 4 scallions, beards trimmed, green tops and white bulbs thinly sliced
  • ¼ cup baby capers, drained
  • ¼ cup finely chopped fresh dill
  • ½ cup finely chopped fresh chives

For the Dressing

  • 6 anchovy fillets
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 2 large cloves garlic, crushed
  • ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • ¼ cup canola oil
  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 teaspoon coarse sea or kosher salt
  • ½ teaspoon coarsely cracked black peppercorns

Instructions

  1. To make the salad, scrub the potatoes well under running water, cut them in half, and place them in a medium-size saucepan. Cover them with cold water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Briskly boil the potatoes, uncovered, until they are just tender but still firm, 12 to 15 minutes. Take care not to overcook the potatoes.
  2. Drain the potatoes in a colander and rinse them under cold running water to cool them down. Give the colander a few good shakes to rid the potatoes of excess water, and transfer them to a large bowl. Add the radishes, celery, cucumber, scallions, capers, dill, and chives to the potatoes.
  3. To make the dressing, place the anchovy fillets, egg yolks, mustard, and garlic in a blender jar and puree, turning off the blender and scraping the inside of the jar as needed, until smooth. Combine the two oils together in a small bowl. With the blender on low speed, drizzle the oils through the hole in the cover in a steady stream. Once the oils are added, you will have a thick emulsion, which is your own homemade mayonnaise. Add the Worcestershire, lemon juice, cayenne, salt, and peppercorns and pulse the dressing to ensure a smooth mix.
  4. Pour the dressing over the salad and give it all a good toss. Serve at room temperature, but because this is a mayonnaise-based salad, do not leave it at room temperature for long periods of time.

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Recipe of the Month - Indian Spiced Eggplant

Indian Spiced Eggplant

Prep Time: 20 min.
Cook Time: 25 min
Serves: 4

Ingredients
2 1/2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp turmeric
1 1/2 cups water
2 tblsp coconut or other sugar
2 tblsp red wine vinegar
2 medium eggplants (about 1 1/2 lbs)
1/4 cup unsalted butter or Earth Balance Buttery Spread
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Basmati Rice

Directions:

  • In a small bowl combine the garam masala, coriander and turmeric.  In a measuring cup combine water, sugar and vinegar.  
  • Cut eggplant into 2 inch peices.
  • Heat the butter in a large skillet over med. heat.  Add the spices and cook, stirring until fragrant - about 1 minute.  Add eggplant and salt and toss to coat with the spice mixture. 
  • Stir in vinegar mixture and simmer covered, without stirring, for 10 minutes or until eggplant is just tender. 
  • Uncover skillet and cook at a rapid simmer, without stirring, until most of the liquid is evaporated - about 15 minutes.  
  • Remove skillet from heat and let sit for 5 minutes.  Serve over basmati rice and sprinkle with cilantro.   

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Eat Your Veggies

Vegetables & Preparation Methods

By now everyone knows that eating more vegetables and fruits is beneficial for our health. The World Health Organization estimates that nearly three million lives would be saved each year if more were eaten, and that low intakes may cause nearly 20% of gastrointestinal cancers, 31% of heart disease, and 11% of strokes. Most “standard” dietary recommendations suggest at least five servings of vegetables and fruits daily, however many studies show that more is better. The benefits of eating a wide variety of vegetables and fruits are many, including:

  • Reduced obesity and hypertension
  • Reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes
  • Improved mental/cognitive performance
  • Improved lung function, particularly those with COPD
  • Reduced adverse effects of environmental pollutants
  • Reduced risk of cancer

What to look for

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What to Eat - Part 2 - Legumes

Continuing with “What to Eat” as a part of a healthy diet, we look at legumes. Beans, peas, lentils, and peanuts are a source of high quality nourishment, and have often been called the poor man's meat. When served with whole grains and a small amount of animal protein with good quality animal fat, we are talking about an ideal, low-cost diet.

Legumes contain protein, fiber, with boatloads of minerals, such as magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, iron and molybdenum, as well as B vitamins such as folate and thiamine. Legumes also contain both omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, with kidney and pinto beans particularly high in omega-3. They are particularly good for the heart given the soluable and insoluable fiber that helps keep artery clogging cholesterol in check, and the magnesium and potassium that are frequently lacking in the American diet yet are vital for the normal functioning of the heart and circulatory system. These minerals help to regulate blood pressure as well as electrical impulses of nerves and muscle (including heart) contraction. Legumes, particularly lentils, contain high amounts of B vitamins which convert homocysteine in the bloodstream to a form that is not harmful. Homocysteine which is a byproduct of protein metabolism can damage arterial walls and is a very predictive marker of heart disease.

So why do we hear that legumes are bad? Well, if you go back to our article on grains, some of the same caveats apply. Like grains, legumes contain anti-nutrients such as phytates and trypsin inhibitors, and some have specialized complex sugars that can wreak havoc on our gut without proper preparation. Phytic acid also prevents the proper absorption of some minerals, especially iron and zinc. The good news is that we clever humans devised ways to prepare legumes so they are safe, savory and nutritious.

How to Prepare Legumes

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What To Eat - Part 1 - Are Grains Good or Bad?

Last month we looked at “how we eat” and this month we move on to “what to eat”. The question of “what to eat”, unfortunately, has become overly complicated. There are so many diets that proclaim to be “the perfect diet”. Research studies (many that are flawed) about “superfoods”, foods that will kill us, and those that will heal us abound. There's the high protein/low-carb diet, many variations of the Paleo diet, the low-fat diet, the gluten-free diet, as well as vegan and detox diets. It's just downright confusing to try to wade through all of the hype to know what you should really be eating. With this and future articles, we are doing a deep dive into the various components of a healthy eating plan in hopes that we can help you sort it out.

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How We Eat - 5 Things You Can Do To Improve Your Health

In this series of articles, we are focusing on nutrition. Chinese medicine has long understood that diet is fundamental to health and longevity. In fact it has been viewed as a branch of medicine in it's own right. As early as the Zhou dynasty (11th - 3rd centuries BCE) , medical services classified dietary medicine as the highest form of practice. We are frequently asked for advice on what foods should be eaten or avoided to help with a condition or disorder. In this series we will look at nutrition from several different perspectives. First we'll look at how we eat. Later we'll look at the specifics of what we eat and other aspects of living a healthy lifestyle. You can find some information that we've posted in the past regarding diet here and here.

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Diet Tips for Spring

Spring represents a new beginning and a time to refresh the mind and body. The organ systems associated with spring is the Liver and Gallbladder. Spring is the perfect time to bring more self-awareness to your body and the toxins that are ingested on a daily basis. Since your liver is responsible for eliminating toxins, pay closer attention to your diet and get rid of processed foods. eliminate alcohol, saturated fats, coffee, and chemical additives.

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How Does Chinese Medicine Work? A Pathway to Better Health and Fighting Disease (Part I)

Chinese medicine is a science and medicine in its own right, with its own stringency and strictness of diagnosis and treatment similar to Western medicine, with procedures and protocols based on centuries of observation of how the universe works The ways of understanding the body's relationship to health and disease are very different between Western Medicine and Chinese Medicine. Chinese medicine focuses on increasing health to unseat disease, and supporting the body's inherent qualities to regain health.

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