Versatile Smoothie Recipe

October 27, 2011 By

I start every day with a nutrient dense, quick and easy smoothie.  Smoothies are great because you can experiment and customize them to your own taste.  Use this recipe for the basic proportions.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup frozen organic fruit (If you use fresh fruit, add a few ice cubes to make it cold and slushy.)
  • 1/2 cup organic almond milk
  • 1/2 cup coconut water (Coconut water is a great source of potassium and electrolytes.  Alternatively, you could use filtered water.)
  • 1 serving protein powder
  • 1 serving of a greens powder (Greens powders provide whole food nutrients that help fight free radicals and promote total body wellness.  I use Amazing Grass Green Superfood Raw Reserve, or Vibrant Health’s Green Vibrance, both of which also contain helpful probiotics.)

Blend and enjoy!  Makes one serving.

  • Note:  If you use 1 cup filtered water instead of a mix of nut milk and water, then be sure to add some sort of healthy fat like 2T nut butter, 1/4 avocado or a healthy oil like 1T flaxseed oil.

 

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Heirloom Tomato Soup

October 10, 2011 By
Heirloom Tomato SoupAutumn is here, and that means that gourds, persimmons and pears will soon be making their appearances at Farmer’s Markets.  While I love fall, I would be hard pressed to think of a more delicious soup than Tomato Soup, especially one using ripe and juicy Purple Cherokee tomatoes.  On a recent trip to the Mountain View Farmer’s Market, I was excited to learn that Monte Bello Farms will be growing and selling these organic tomatoes through October.  So not only will I be making this soup through October, but, since it defrosts so well, will be sure to make extra to freeze.  Then during a rainy evening in February, I will enjoy my summer/fall soup again.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large sweet onion, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 large carrots, finely chopped in the food processor
2 1/2 pounds ripe heirloom tomatoes, cored and quartered
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

  1. Heat olive oil in a large pot until shimmery.  Add onion and cook over medium heat until soft, around 5 minutes.
  2. Add chopped garlic and carrots to onion and cook over medium heat for a few minutes, stirring frequently.
  3. Add quartered tomatoes to the pot, and stir to incorporate ingredients.  Add bay leaf.  Reduce heat to medium/low, cover, and continue to cook for 30-40 minutes.  Remove bay leaf.
  4. Blend soup until smooth, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Did you know?  Tomatoes are an excellent wrinkle-fighting food! Tomatoes contain lycopene, one of the best skin-damaging free radical scavengers.  Lycopene is twice as effective at fighting wrinkles than Vitamin A (beta-carotene).  To get the most benefit from the lycopene, tomatoes should be cooked.  And to be most fully absorbed by our bodies, they should be eaten along with some healthy fat, such as olive oil.  (Tannis 2009, 52-53).

Serves 4

Nutritional Analysis per serving: 155 Calories, 4g Protein, 21g Carbohydrates, 8g Fat (1g Sat.), 5g Fiber, 46mg Sodium
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Pappardelle with Chicken, Broccoli and Sun Dried Tomatoes

August 28, 2011 By
Pappardelle with Chicken, Broccoli and Sun Dried TomatoesOvercooked.  Soggy.  Flavorless.  Those are the words that come to mind when I think of the broccoli I was given as a child.  Needless to say, I never asked for more than one serving.  I love broccoli now:  broiled, steamed, sauteed, or just plain raw, it is delicious.  Packed with vitamins A and C, calcium, fiber (and more!), it is a powerhouse of nutrition.  I love to give it to my young sons, and they love to eat it.  They particularly enjoy the way it is prepared below, and I can happily say that they always ask for seconds.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 pound broccoli florets
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup Julienne sliced sun dried tomatoes in olive oil, drained and rinsed
1 teaspoon oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup freshly shredded basil
freshly grated Parmesan cheese
8 ounces Pappardelle pasta

Directions

  1. Cut chicken breasts into strips, approximately 1/2 inch thick.
  2. Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium/high heat.  Add chicken to pan, 5-6 strips at a time.  Be careful not to crowd pan.  Cook chicken until cooked through, about 3 minutes/side.  This may require 2-3 batches.  After cooking, transfer strips to a plate lined with a paper towel.
  3. Reduce heat to medium, and do not clean pan.  Add broccoli and cook for a few minutes, stirring frequently.  Add broth, and continue to cook over medium heat until broccoli is tender, but still crisp.  Increase heat to medium-high, and add wine and tomatoes.  Cook for a few minutes stirring frequently.
  4. Reduce heat to medium, and return chicken to pan, stirring carefully.  Continue to cook over medium heat until broccoli passes your taste test.  Only you know how crunchy you like it!
  5. Serve chicken over cooked pasta, topping with a little extra broth, shredded basil and grated cheese (optional).

Serves 4

Buon Appetito!

Nutritional Analysis per serving: 510 Calories, 46g Protein, 55g Carbohydrates, 10g Fat (2g Sat.), 82mg Cholesterol, 7g Fiber, 442mg Sodium
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Globe Squash Stuffed with Ground Beef and Vegetables

July 31, 2011 By

Globe SquashOn a recent trip to France, I frequently joined my mother-in-law on her outings to Farmers’ Markets. (How I love going to Markets in foreign countries!!) One day, she purchased some globe squash, and that night my husband and I dined upon fresh, local squash stuffed with seasonal vegetables and ground beef. They were so tasty, that I swore I would recreate them back home in California. I did, and they were just as delicious as those prepared by my Belle Mere.

Ingredients

  • 4 medium globe squash
  • 1 pound lean, organic ground beef
  • 1 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 medium carrots, peeled and finely diced
  • 1-28 oz can chopped tomatoes

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350. Pour can of tomatoes into 8″ square glass baking dish. Set aside.
  2. Steam squash until a knife can be easily inserted and removed, about six minutes. Squash should still maintain shape. Run under cold water and allow to cool.
  3. Brown and crumble ground beef in large skillet over medium-high heat. Place cooked beef on a plate lined with paper towel to drain a bit of the fat.
  4. Return skillet to stove, and heat olive oil until shimmering. Saute garlic for 1-2 minutes. Add carrot to pan and cook until tender, but still firm, about 4 minutes. Return ground beef to pan, stirring to incorporate all ingredients. Remove from heat.
  5. Cut top off squash and remove flesh so that skin and remaining flesh are about 1/2 inch thick. Finely chop or puree squash flesh. Add this to meat mixture and stir well.
  6. Spoon meat mixture into hollowed squash and nestle in tomatoes. Bake for 20 minutes. Serving idea: sprinkle with parmesan cheese (optional) and a side dish of cooked orzo or brown rice.
Did you know? Grass fed meat has higher nutritional quality, and is more healthful than industrial-raised grain fed meats. A diet of grass means healthier fats (more Omega-3s, Conjugated Linoleic acid, CLA, and less Omega-6s and saturated fat) and higher levels of vitamins and antioxidants. Look for the words “pastured”, “grass finished” or “100% grass fed”. To find local sources of grass fed meat, check out Local Harvest. (Pollan 2011, www.michaelpollan.com)
Nutritional Analysis per serving: 254 Calories, 26g Protein, 20g Carbohydrates, 8g Fat (2g Sat.), 60mg Cholesterol, 5g Fiber, 549mg Sodium
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Awesome Fitness Smartphone App

July 12, 2011 By

Last winter I installed the free RunKeeper app on my iPhone 3G. RunKeeper uses GPS technology in your iPhone to track your fitness activities, and I thought it would be a great way to keep track of my cross-country skiing and mountain biking trips.

Unfortunately, the GPS receiver in the iPhone 3G didn’t work that well, and I found GPS apps such as RunKeeper and Navigon (for driving directions) to not be usable. This spring I upgraded to a Verizon iPhone 4, and an unexpected bonus in the upgrade is a hugely improved GPS function, making these previously unusable apps work extremely well.

My first test of RunKeeper on the iPhone 4 was a hike in nearby Foothills Park. RunKeeper tracked the entire event, recording my position, elevation, pace and giving me audio coaching on my pace and speed at quarter mile intervals. It reminded me of my old high school track coach yelling out interval times on the quarter mile track, but with a more pleasant voice!

When you’re done with your activity RunKeeper will upload your event from your iPhone to its web site. You can then view your route on a Google Map, along with a graph showing your pace, elevation and speed, along with a table of split pace/elevation recordings. Plugging in your age, weight and gender will also let RunKeeper estimate the number of calories you burn on each event.

I recently used RunKeeper to record a road bike ride and found it to be a great pacing coach. I had my iPhone in my back shirt pocket, and RunKeeper would tell me every time I did another mile, what my total time was, and my pace. And when I came back home to my starting point and hit “Save Activity” on my iPhone the event was immediately uploaded to runkeeper.com.

There’s a lot more to RunKeeper then what I’ve mentioned here – I’m looking forward to using it on mountain bike rides, downhill skiing days, and snowshoe hikes. I recently used it on a backcountry ski adventure at Carson Pass near Kirkwood and it proved really useful as I forgot to bring my GPS navigator.

More serious athletes may want to try RunKeeper Elite – the paid version of RunKeeper. RunKeeper Elite adds a bunch of interesting features such as Fitness Classes – classes that you take with other RunKeeper users following training programs developed by expert coaches.

Overall I’ve found RunKeeper to be an incredibly useful app to help me analyze and keep track of my distance-related fitness activities. And it’s free!

Click to view RunKeeper activity on the Web

RunKeeper is available for the iPhone as well as Android and Windows Phone 7 phones. Download it here.

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New Recipe! Chard with Garlic Chips, Olives and Chevre

June 30, 2011 By
Chard Photo

Mal Murphy photo

For years, I walked by the bunches of green chard at Farmer’s Market, preferring to stick with the veggies of my childhood:  broccoli and green beans.  Then, one day on a whim, I decided to try some and it has since become one of my favorite greens.  Most of the time, my children and I like simply to saute it in olive oil and sprinkle it with a bit of salt.  But occasionally, we like to dress it up, like in this recipe, for a nutrient-packed dish that steals the show.

Ingredients

  • 1 pound chard:  washed, drained and roughly chopped
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • 1/2 cup Kalamata olives:  drained and lightly rinsed
  • 1/2 ounce chevre

Directions

  1. Peel the garlic cloves and slice thinly.  Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers.  Saute the cloves in the oil until lightly browned, about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Be careful not to burn.  Carefully spoon the cloves out of the pan and place on a paper towel.
  2. With burner on medium heat, cook the chard in the remaining olive oil in skillet.  Add chard gradually if it does not all fit at once.  Gently turn chard over so that it is evenly cooked until slightly wilted.
  3. Set chard on serving platter.  Sprinkle with garlic chips, olives and crumbled chevre.  4 servings.  Bon Appetit!
Did you know? Chard (also known as Swiss chard) is an excellent source of carotenes, vitamins C, E and K, dietary fiber, and chlorophyll. It is also an excellent source of many minerals including magnesium, potassium, iron and manganese. The combination of nutrients and soluble fiber makes it one of the most powerful anticancer foods, especially against digestive tract cancers. And one cup of cooked chard provides a whopping 388.9% of the daily value of Vitamin K – important for maintaining bone health. (Murray 2005, 239).
Nutritional Analysis per serving: 161 Calories, 3g Protein, 7g Carbohydrates, 15g Fat (1.5g Sat.), 2mg Cholesterol, 2g Fiber, 679mg Sodium* (*rinsing the olives will lower the sodium significantly)
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Special Offer ~ Complimentary Diet Review!

June 5, 2011 By

Have you ever wondered just how healthy your day-to-day diet really is?  Would you like to find out?!

To accept this invitation, download the Food Journal form, keep track of what you eat for 3 days, and email it to me no later than July 31, 2011.  Once I receive your completed journal, I’ll contact you to set up a 20 minute phone session to review your diet, look at what’s working well and identify possible changes for the future.

Now is a great time to renew and refresh your commitment to your health.  I look forward to hearing from you!

Filed Under: Nutrition Tagged With:

Cool New iPhone App

June 1, 2011 By

Backround

Eating better is a goal that I share with just about everyone I know.  But on a day to day basis it can be challenging to choose the healthiest meal options, and to get past the confusing ingredient lists, nutrition labels, health claims and marketing hype that the food industry throws at us.  That’s where the new Fooducate iPhone app comes in.

Founded by a tech entrepreneur, foodie, and father of three young children, Hemi Weingarten started Fooducate as a way for people to learn about the food industry and decode labels.  Fooducate started as a blog and has now launched a free iPhone app with the mission of helping people choose healthier groceries while shopping.  I installed the app on my iPhone 4 and went to Whole Foods Market to give it a try.

iPhone Screenshot of Fooducate App

Test Drive

The Fooducate iPhone app lets you scan a product bar code in a grocery store or at home.  I was surprised how fast the bar code scanner locked on to the various bar codes and successfully scanned the items I tested.

Fooducate gives a letter grade of A – D to summarize the health value of each product you scan.  It also shows up to five healthier alternatives, and lets you A/B compare two similar products.  I started with a box of Casbah Rice Pilaf, which Fooducate gave a grade of C, which was below average for the category it was in.  160 calories per serving didn’t seem all that bad, but Fooducate pointed out Casbah Rice Pilaf contains MSG or an equivalent (yeast extract in this case), had natural and artificial flavors added, and also contained Maltodextrin, a polysaccharide used as a bulking agent. Fooducate also didn’t like the term “Natural” in the label “All Natural Mix”, noting that “Natural” is an unregulated term.

Ok, well that’s a lot of information for a quick bar scan!  But now that I know what I thought was a fairly healthy “All Natural Mix” box of rice contained an MSG equivalent, as well as an evil sounding polysaccharide, and term “Natural” was meaningless, what were better alternatives?  I clicked the Alternatives tab in Fooducate and it displayed what it thought were five better options.  The top rated alternative, with a rating of B+, was Kohinoor Hyderbad Vegetable Pilaf.  It was interesting that this choice was 248 calories per serving compared to the 160 calories of the Casbah product.  I brought up the product details on the Kohimoor product and it warned me it was VERY high fiber – 40% DV.  It also was high in vitamins A and C, and calcium from real food, not a fortified ingredient.

But what about the big calorie difference?  Fooducate popped up a message telling me to “See serving size for true calories per portion”, so maybe the Casbah product simply had a smaller serving size.  Overall I was impressed!

I next scanned a box of Whole Foods Market brand Orecchiette Rigate. Fooducate rated it A-, and mentioned the product was minimally processed.  That’s better!

Database and Comparison Feature

Scanning various Whole Foods branded products showed that Fooducate found some, and didn’t know about others. Fooducate claims to have a database of over 200,000 items.  When you scan a product not in its database Fooducate asks you to help it out and prompts you to snap photos of the label and ingredients so they can add the product to their system.

Now it was time to try out the comparison feature.  I like having Wallaby yogurt for breakfast, and have never been quite sure what the differences were between the “low fat” and “nonfat” versions of the same flavor.  So I scanned the low fat vanilla bean, hit the compare tab, and then scanned a container of nonfat vanilla bean.  The verdict?  The low fat had 10 more calories, but otherwise Fooducate thought they were similar enough to not bother choosing one over the other in terms of nutritional value.

Verdict

I had a lot of fun playing with the free Fooducate app on my iPhone.  And I quickly learned about the nutritional basics of some foods I regularly buy or considered buying.  Assuming the data that Fooducate gives you is accurate, it’s a fun and convenient tool to help you make healthier food choices.  Highly Recommended!

 

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