Food for Real

I have an addiction…

It’s quinoa, pronounced “keen-wah.” I’ve always liked this food, but lately, my love is growing deeper for it.

Love #1: It’s incognito and kind of mysterious.  What do I mean? Glad you asked. Quinoa is a grain-like food. It looks like you’re typical whole grain cereal, and you would assume it was closely related to brown rice or barely. Wrong! It’s actually more closely related to beets and leafy green vegetables like spinach and swiss chard.

Love #2: Not only does quinoa contain a lot of protein (about 8 grams per cup), but it’s a complete protein with a nice balance of amino acids. This is especially great news for vegans who may be concerned about complete protein intake.

Love #3:  Quinoa is a good source of magnesium, which is a mineral that has been shown to help relax blood vessels. Why are we happy about this? Well if you’re like my roomie Julie and get frequent migraines, this is good news for you. Increased intake of magnesium has been shown to be related to a reduced frequency of migraine headache episodes, so try adding it to your diet and see if those pesky headaches subside!

Love #4 (I think I’ll stop here, because I could probably go on for a lot longer, but we should get to the recipes):  Even though quinoa is closely related to vegetables, it’s still considered a whole grain. Research has shown that eating this type of food  has been linked to protection against atherosclerosis, ischemic stroke, diabetes, insulin resistance, obesity, and premature death. A study from the  American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that eating at least 3 servings of whole grains daily is ideal for a protective and healthy diet. With that being said, here are a few things you can do with Quinoa:

Lately, I’ve been using red quinoa, because I think it gives autumn dishes a little something extra in terms of color. I usually cook 1 cup of quinoa in either water, chicken broth, mushroom broth, or vegetable broth depending on the dish. Boil the water or broth, then add quinoa and lower heat, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes or until fluffy.

First: Quinoa with the three B’s: Brussels Sprouts, Broccoli, and Beans

Cook the quinoa with vegetable broth for this one.

Add minced garlic and olive oil to skillet and brown garlic on low heat.

Steam the sprouts

Add broccoli and cover for about 3 more minutes.

Add bean medley (I like to use Trader Joe’s marinated bean salad)

Add steamed sprouts to pan for about 2 minutes.

Spread quinoa over bottom of the plate, and top with the contents of the pan, and you’re done! Quick and easy, healthy and delicious!

Second: Wild Baked Hake with Quinoa and Garlicky Kale

Ingredients:

Hake: Bread crumbs, Basil, Lemon Juice, Olive Oil, Basil, Pepper Salt

Kale: Garlic and Olive Oil

Quinoa: Mushroom Broth

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 F. Cover baking sheet with tin foil and coat lightly with non stick spray. Put hake in the dish and spread olive oil and lemon juice over hake. Lightly sprinkle bread crumbs over the fish. Add chopped basil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until fish is flaky and opaque.

Cook 1 cup quinoa in 2 cups mushroom broth.

Add garlic and olive oil to pan and brown for about 2 minutes. Add washed kale and cover until kale is wilted and bright green.

Sometimes its nice to combine the red and white quinoa for some extra color! I usually will do this when I am cooking tofu dishes, and I use 1/2 cup white quinoa and 1/2 cup red quinoa. Quinoa is also great for making salads and mixed dishes.

Be well and enjoy the day!

What’s your favorite food right now? Do you have any quinoa recipes you’d like to share?

Autumn is my favorite season. The Fall weather, colors, fashion, foods – I love it all. The wide variety of fruits, vegetables and spices make this season one of the best for cooking. Here are a few of my favorite autumn foods:

Apples: You know the saying! An apple-a-day keeps the dietitian happy…or something like that. Apples contain antioxidants known as flavanoids…most specifically anthoxanthins (the white pigment). These little gifts are great anti-inflammatory properties and help prevent disease. One apple can contain anywhere between 60-115 calories depending on the size and about 6 grams of fiber (mostly found in the apple skin made of pectin). But really, who cares about any of this stuff anyway? Apples are just delicious and so we should eat them!

Cranberries: These juicy red fruits are in their best form in the months of September – December. Cranberries are packed with anthocyanins – the antioxidants that play an important role in cancer prevention and are responsible for deep red and purple colors in fruits and vegetables. Cranberries are also thought to aid in the treatment of gum diseases, mouth and stomach discomfort, and urinary tract infections. Plus, it’s my favorite color.  (But don’t forget about pomegranate! They both have similar properties and are both excellent autumn fruits).

Pumpkin: Over the weekend, I enrolled in a challenge with my roommate Julie, her boyfriend Thom, and his roommates: We will keep track of how many Shipyard Pumpkin beers we can drink and try to reach one thousand before Thanksgiving! I know, I know, not very nutritiony of me, but it’s still delicious and fun! But pumpkins in general are an excellent fall food. I’m loving  the Folate, Magnesium, Phosphorous, and Beta-Carotene content of this food – all great food components that help maintain electrolyte balance, folic acid stores (especially important for mothers-to-be), and our best friends,  antioxidants.

Cinnamon: I sprinkle cinnamon on almost everything during the Fall. And it’s not just the anti-inflammatory properties that I love about this spice. It’s just comforting, and the smell reminds me of Christmas at my parent’s house. I use it in drinks, soups, oatmeal, stir fries, salad dressings & marinades, tea, coffee, you name it!

Kale: I eat Kale year-round, because I personally think it’s the most powerful food ever. However, this deep green, leafy vegetable is most available during the autumn season. In my opinion, it tastes best sauteed in olive oil and garlic with roasted shallots. I like to serve it with sweet potato and  wild salmon. It’s strong nutritional components make it a great healthy choice and can help you fight off those common colds that start to rear up during the Fall season.

Root vegetables: One of the prettiest dishes you can make is a root vegetable medley. It’s somewhat difficult to peel, chop, and roast the vegetables, so it’s probably not an ideal dish to make if you’re in a rush. But if you’re free one lazy Sunday afternoon, try cutting up your favorite root vegetables (mine include beets, rutabagas, carrots, parsnips, and turnips), steam them first for about 6 minutes, then cover them in olive oil, rosemary and thyme, a little lemon juice, salt & pepper and roast them at 400 F for about 35 minutes. Not only is the dish colorful and pretty, it’s also packed with essential vitamins and minerals, and the olive oil gives it a heart healthy kick.

What are some of your favorite Fall foods?

We are ten weeks away from finishing up our Masters degree in Science and Nutrition (we being myself and some of my friends)! As I look back on the last two and a half years of my life, I think about what nutrition and health mean to me and why I decided to make this my career path. When I decided to go back to school, I was working at The Castle Group, a public relations agency in Boston. Having majored in Journalism at UMass as an undergrad, applying for a Masters in Science was no easy task. But there was something about a promised life as a health professional that made me buckle down and learn things about Organic Chemistry and Human Physiology, even though at the time, I am pretty sure I was fuzzy on almost all biological concepts (I kept a Biology for Dummies book on my nightstand for a few months).

So what does it mean to be healthy? A medical definition of “healthy” is “the absence of disease.” But this is way too cut and dry for most people. My own definition of “healthy” is more similar to a Holistic approach: Well being in mind, body an spirit…a well rounded health I suppose you could say. One thing I’ve realized, though, is that keeping all three of these parts in top shape can sometimes compromise the other. For example, my spirit’s health may depend on the connections I make in my life, and so I may want to go out with friends which will most likely leave my body feeling a little less “healthy” the next day…In this scenario, I sacrifice the health of my body for some fun in order to maintain the health of my spirit. The next day, I may turn down an invitation to go out for breakfast, because in order to get my body feeling healthy again, I will want to eat a healthy homemade breakfast and go for a run. In this scenario, it’s the reverse. Then the day later, I may decide to stay in, order pizza, and read a good book instead of cooking with friends, simply because I feel like my mind needs a little TLC. So I suppose my point is, this thing we call “health” is actually a balancing act! We sacrifice parts of it for others and continue on a cycle that makes us feel better than we did before.

It’s easy to mistake these cycles for failures. For example, sometimes when I am out with friends, someone will say to me, “Wow, I didn’t know dietitians could drink like that!” Pshhh! Then I start to wonder if I am the only dietitian on the planet who likes to have a little fun (ok a lot of fun), and this sometimes makes me worry about my reputation as a health professional. But the truth is, it’s necessary to go out and live a little, whatever that means for you as an individual. It’s important for your health.  Other times, when I opt to study instead of party, my friends will say/think, “I didn’t realize how disciplined you were!” Do we always have to be one person or the other? We are onions..layers of versions of ourselves that we peel back and reveal or fold up and hide depending on our moods or needs. If we ignore the layers in an attempt to become what we think we “should be,” we’re not giving ourselves a chance to be fully happy, and I truly believe that within happiness you will find healthiness.

Just a few thoughts for the day… What do you think?