Showing posts with label red. Show all posts
Showing posts with label red. Show all posts
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Recipe for Spicy Slow Cooker Soup with Ground Turkey Pinto Beans Red Bell Pepper and Green Chiles
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| A spicy slow cooker soup, with Hatch Green Chile Enchilada Sauce adding some heat. |
(For Phase One Fridays I highlight Phase One recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites, and this Spicy Slow Cooker Soup with Ground Turkey, Pinto Beans, Red Bell Pepper, and Green Chiles is a tummy-warming soup that includes green enchilada sauce to add lots of flavor. I love this sprinkled with grated cheese, enjoy!)
Ever since I made the Layered Mexican Casserole with Chicken and Green Chiles I find myself grabbing a few cans of Hatch Green Chile Enchilada Sauce whenever I'm at the grocery store. There are other good brands of green chile enchilada sauce, but Hatch brand seems perfect to my tastebuds, and when I wanted to spice up this spicy ground turkey and pinto bean slow cooker soup the Hatch enchilada sauce plus a can of diced green chiles gave me just the right amount of heat. I loved the soup with a little grated cheese sprinkled on top, and for those who'd like even more heat, Green Tabasco Sauce is the perfect thing to add to your soup at the table.
Ever since I made the Layered Mexican Casserole with Chicken and Green Chiles I find myself grabbing a few cans of Hatch Green Chile Enchilada Sauce whenever I'm at the grocery store. There are other good brands of green chile enchilada sauce, but Hatch brand seems perfect to my tastebuds, and when I wanted to spice up this spicy ground turkey and pinto bean slow cooker soup the Hatch enchilada sauce plus a can of diced green chiles gave me just the right amount of heat. I loved the soup with a little grated cheese sprinkled on top, and for those who'd like even more heat, Green Tabasco Sauce is the perfect thing to add to your soup at the table.
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Whole Wheat Orecchiette Pasta Salad Recipe with Roasted Asparagus Red Bell Pepper and Mushrooms
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| Whole Wheat Orecchiette Pasta Salad with Roasted Asparagus, Red Bell Pepper, and Mushrooms is a perfect salad for Meatless Monday. |
Today the temperature in Utah is supposed to get above 90F so we've definitely entered the season for warm-weather eating, and lately I've had pasta salad on my mind. It seems like there are a lot of ho-hum combinations that give pasta salad a bad name, but I like the challenge of coming up with something that's really good, and I loved the Whole Wheat Spaghetti Salad I made recently. Then I excitedly discovered Delallo Organic Whole Wheat Orcchiette at the store in my new town, and my mind started spinning with thoughts of making a really drool-worthy vegetarian pasta salad. This Whole Wheat Pasta Salad with Roasted Asparagus, Red Bell Pepper, and Mushrooms has wonderful flavors from roasting the vegetables, and then I added this fun pasta shape, sliced green onion, chopped parsley, kicked-up Italian dressing and coarsely grated Parmesan to make a truly fantastic salad. If you can't find the whole wheat Orecchiette I used, just use any smallish whole wheat pasta shape, even macaroni. And if you're seeing this at a time of year when asparagus is not going to be available or you're not an asparagus fan, I'd just increase the mushrooms and red peppers and you'd still have a delicious salad. (If you skip the Parmesan and use a vegan dressing, this salad could easily be vegan.)
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Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Recipe for Slow Cooker Pork Sirloin Tip Roast with Balsamic Vinegar Rosemary and Red Onions
Inexpensive pork sirloin tip roast gets tender and delicious when it's cooked in the slow cooker with balsamic vinegar, rosemary, and red onions.
Food blogging can be pretty frustrating at times, but especially when you've made a recipe that tasted great, but the photos didn't really make the food look good. I made this Slow Cooker Pork Sirloin Tip Roast with Balsamic Vinegar, Rosemary, and Red Onions for the second time and the final photos still weren't anything I was happy with, when I noticed this photo of the pork roast in the slow cooker. I decided that although it's a pretty casual photo it did show how tasty the pork roast looked when it was done. And since I still have a broken arm (two more weeks, fingers crossed) I decided to share this delicious slow cooker pork roast with the photo I had. No worries, right?
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Recipe for Roasted Green Beans and Red Bell Pepper with Garlic and Ginger
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| Beautiful roasted green beans and red bell pepper for Thanksgiving or Christmas! |
(For Phase One Fridays I feature Phase One Recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites, and these Roasted Green Beans and Red Bell Pepper with Garlic and Ginger are not only beautifully red and green for the holidays, but they're delicious!)
I came up with this recipe as an idea for my collection of Low-Glycemic Thanksgiving Recipes, but these green beans are so festive and colorful that they'd be perfect for anyone who's looking for a holiday side dish for Christmas dinner as well. The beans and peppers roast at high heat for a short time, so they can cook while you're coming up with the final touches on the meal.
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Saturday, March 7, 2015
Vegan Kabocha Squash Coconut Curry With Peas Red Bell Pepper And Israeli Couscous
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| Kabocha squash is also known as Japanese pumpkin Follow Foods For Long Life on FACEBOOK! |
When you take a Japanese pumpkin, add Indian curry to tropical coconut milk and stir in Israeli couscous, you may just want to wave that zippo lighter while breaking out in a chorus of "We are the World"! I love "fusion cuisine" where you mix different types of cooking. Yesterday, I think I found my new favorite restaurant, "Avatars" in Sausalito. I will do a proper restaurant review of this amazing eatery in the future, but they feature dishes that combine elements of both Mexican and Indian cuisine. The owner surprised me with a vegan curried pumpkin enchilada with a drizzle of mango sauce! Do you have any favorite combinations of ethnic dishes or ideas for some? Write a comment!
Kabocha Squash
Also known as "Japanese pumpkin", this lovely squash has bumpy, dark green skin and is a bit sweeter and denser than a sugar pumpkin. It almost has the consistency of a sweet potato. I really love everything about this squash, especially the fact that you dont have to peel them! Just pull out the seeds, dice them up and throw them in a curry - so easy! I will warn you, however, if you leave the skin on when making a pumpkin pie, youll end up with a pretty unattractive brown pie!
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| A 2.5 pound kabocha squash or Japanese pumpkin |
I find it almost impossible to write up a curry recipe for you because there are an infinite number of curry blends using ingredients like turmeric, cumin, coriander, cayenne, ginger and other spices. I usually keep a "sweet curry" and a "hot curry" in my spice cabinet and blend them together in different ratios depending on how spicy I want the dish. So the amount of curry in this recipe is merely a suggestion.
I like adding the curry when I am sautéing the veggies as it seems to mix in more easily.
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| Sautéing the veggies in a 5 quart Dutch oven |
Larger than regular couscous, Israeli couscous are really just small, round balls of pasta. I love their size and texture. Unfortunately they are difficult to find in "whole grain". There are a few on the internet but read the reviews carefully before you order. Roland, sold on Amazon, has some bad reviews claiming the couscous tasted "stale". If you have had luck finding a good whole grain couscous, let us know!
Vegan Kabocha Squash Curry with Israeli Couscous
[makes 6 servings]
A 2.5 pound kabocha squash, seeds removed and cut in 1/2 inch cubes
1 cup dry Israeli couscous
2 cups or more water with a pinch of salt
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons sweet curry, or to taste
1 teaspoon hot curry, or to taste
1 cup frozen peas, rinsed in hot water to thaw
One 15.5 ounce can light coconut milk
1 cup veggie broth or water
1/2 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
Steam kabocha squash for 5 minutes or until barely fork tender. Do not overcook. Remove from steamer and set aside.
In a small saucepan, bring water to a boil, add couscous, lower heat and cook for 10 to 12 minutes, or until done but still firm. Stir while cooking to prevent pasta from sticking to the bottom. Add more boiling water if needed.
In a 5 quart Dutch oven, heat olive oil and sauté onions and peppers for 5 to 8 minutes until tender.
Add sweet and hot curry and mix thoroughly.
Add peas and cook for several minutes.
Add coconut milk, broth and salt and bring to a boil.
Lower heat and mix in cooked kabocha squash and couscous and heat for several minutes.
Serve immediately.
Per serving: 242.2 calories, 6.3 g fat, 3.8 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 6.4 g protein, 39.6 g carbohydrates and 3.6 g dietary fiber.
Can Fries Be Healthy You Bet! Try These Garlicky Baked Sweet Potato Fries Serve With Spicy Red Pepper Aioli
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| Garlicky sweet potato fries make a great Super Bowl snack. Follow Foods For Long Life on Facebook and Pinterest. |
Game Day can be Healthy
Ive been working on a few healthy recipes this week for Super Bowl Sunday. I was inspired by the many TV commercials that are pushing their chicken wings, candy, chips, soda, and other crap that is usually associated with watching football. There are so many delicious recipes that you can serve at football parties, I wouldnt think of serving my guests the types of food (and I use the term loosely) Ive seen advertised.
Now Im not suggesting that you pass around kale smoothies or do a group liver cleanse on game day. Im just saying that there are plenty of fun dishes that you and your family can enjoy without regret. After all, you probably made New Years resolutions to get back in shape, shed the holiday weight, and take better care of yourself in 2014. Its still January and way too soon to break out the Velveeta Queso dip!
Healthy Fries - an Oxymoron?
Its game day, lets splurge a little with some fries dipped in that delicious, Spicy Red Pepper Aioli I shared with you on Tuesday. But can fries be healthy? Well, maybe not as healthy as a raw salad, but lets say these are much healthier than traditional ones.
By using sweet potatoes rather than russets, you get twice the fiber and tons of vitamin A. Each ounce of the orange spud provide 79% of the daily required vitamin A while russets provide none.
Baking versus deep frying produces fries with a lot less fat. A four ounce serving of my baked sweet potato fries contain one third the calories and only twenty percent of the fat of regular French fries. Each serving is only 130 calories with only 1/2 gram of saturated fat!
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Garlicky Baked Sweet Potato Fries
Vegan, Gluten Free
[makes 4 servings]
Requires a cookie sheet covered with aluminum foil and a large metal cooling rack
1 teaspoon organic cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 pound sweet potatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and set a metal cooling rack (that is smaller than the cookie sheet) on top of it. Cooking the potatoes on a rack allows you to cook the fries without turning them.
Mix the cornstarch, salt, pepper, and garlic powder in a large bowl and set aside. Adding a little cornstarch helps the baked fries crisp up.
Cut the sweet potatoes into 3/8 inch fries and place in the bowl. Using your hands, mix until they are completely and uniformly covered with the seasoning.
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| Mix potatoes with the cornstarch and spices. |
Drizzle the oil over the fries and mix them with your hands until they are completely and uniformly covered in oil. Place on the rack leaving enough space between the fries so that they cook evenly.
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| Place fries on the metal rack over the foil lined cookie sheet. |
Place the potatoes in the oven away from the broiling coils. Bake at 425 degrees until they start to brown and look a little caramelized, about 30 minutes.
Remove from the oven and serve with Spicy Red Pepper Aioli or with ketchup.
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| A little of this spicy dip goes a long way. |
Per serving: 130 calories, 3 g total fat, 0.5 g saturated fat, 27 mg omega-3 and 346 mg omega-6 fatty acids, 0 mg cholesterol, 2 g protein, 23 g carbohydrates, 3 g dietary fiber, and 207 mg sodium.
For additional delicious and health recipe ideas, download my eBook, Health Begins in the Kitchen, available on Amazon and iTunes.
Friday, March 6, 2015
Red Meat Breast Cancer Dietary Protein Sources in Early Adulthood and Breast Cancer Incidence 22 Risk Increase for Red Meat Eaters Substituting Poultry Normalizes Risk
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| Red (meat) breast cancer alert! |
Well the truth is that we are dealing with yet another prospective epidemiological study which does not have the power to reveal causal links between parameter (a), in this case the dietary protein sources in early adulthood and parameter (b), which is the incidence of breast cancer.
Learn more about meat at the SuppVersity
Meat-Love: You May Eat Pork, too!
You Eat What You Feed!
Meat & Prostate Cancer?
Meat - Is cooking the problem
Meat Packaging = Problem?
Grass-Fed Pork? Is it Worth it?
not just unrelated to breast cancer, in postmenopausal women, a high poultry intake was even associated with a -27% reduced breast cancer risk.
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| Energy intake and cancer risk expressed relative to lowest intake quintile for red meat (Farvid. 2014) |
Unlike the fooled readers of the press release, the researchers are obviously aware of the weaknesses of the study, in the discussion of the results, Farvid et al. point out that "potential limitations need to be considered":
- participants were predominantly white, educated US adults, they cannot determine whether our findings are generalizable to other race or ethnic groups
- dietary intake was assessed by food frequency questionnaires, some degree of measurement error is inevitably present, and thus to reduce measurement error they used the cumulative average of
multiple measurements in a sensitivity analysis - residual confounders are always of concern in any observational studies; although they adjusted for a wide range of potential confounders for breast cancer, they still could not rule out the possibility that other unmeasured or inadequately measured factors have confounded the true association
- they only estimated the effects of substitution of legumes, poultry, and other protein sources for red meat on risk of breast cancer, when trials on dietary modification would be ideal to support these substitutions
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| Page from the original questionnaire | What? You dont know the margarine brand you have been using, when you were in highschool? Must be Alzeimers due to all the red meat! |
So instead of panicking, it would be wise to file this study next to the other "pizza salami is meat and meat is bad" studies Ive written about in the past (read more) - and remember: The "Harvard" label may stand for excellent research, but it also stands for the support of lobbyists and interests groups.
- Farvid, et al. "Dietary protein sources in early adulthood and breast cancer incidence: prospective cohort study." BMJ 2014;348:g3437 doi: 10.1136/bmj.g3437
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