Savor the Flavor of Eating Right #NNM #GardenCuizine Tell me your favorite Flavors to Savor

Mark your calendar for National Nutrition Month^® (NNM) 2016, which is sponsored by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. NNM is held every year throughout the month of March to focus attention on the importance of Eating Right. 

In South Jersey, Inspira Health Network will be offering a public cooking class at the Fitness Connection in Vineland, NJ on March 10, 2016. Watch for the details from Inspira's PR department to be released soon!

Help us in planning our specific tastes and recipes for this fun cooking class: What does Savor the Flavor mean to you? What are your favorite flavors?
 
I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you!

Diana

Logo Copyright (C) EatRight.org Academy of Nutrition - used with permission.

Baked Heirloom Beans. Fiber Superstar! #GardenCuizine #HealthyCooking

Baked Heirloom Beans
Christmas Limas

dietary Fiber Superstar!

Resolve to eat more beans in the New Year! Beans provide excellent dietary Fiber and minerals and are a low cost, lean protein for healthy eating. Christmas Limas have a pleasant chestnut texture. Prepare them as you would any bean. You'll notice that after cooking, the beans will become huge - up to the size of a quarter!

Prepare heirloom beans into a vegan or vegetarian main course or side dish; or enjoy Christmas Limas any time of year as a side to compliment a lean protein (tofu, chicken, fish, pork, etc.). We served Christmas Limas last night as a side dish with grilled chicken and a salad. As you can see in the photos, the beans become more brown when cooked.

We haven't tried growing limas yet, but have heard that they are easy to grow. You can look for dried heirloom Christmas Lima beans from local gourmet suppliers or online from suppliers like Rancho Gordo, which is where we bought ours.

Lima beans are indeed a bean, but they are also starchy, so rather than classifying them in the bean (legume) category, the DGA classifies Lima beans in with starchy vegetables like potatoes, green peas, corn, plantains and cassava. Beans are unique; because of their excellent protein content, 1/4 cup of cooked beans can count as one ounce of protein. 

Research shows diets rich in high fiber foods, such as beans, may reduce cholesterol and the risks of heart disease, obesity and type 2 diabetes. 

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups dried Christmas Limas 
water
small piece dried kombu seaweed - optional

1/2 cup onion, diced
1 Tablespoon (Tblsp) olive oil
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tblsp molasses
1 teaspoon (tsp) dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon minced hot pepper
1 small sweet pepper - optional (we happened to have some frozen from summer) 
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tsp cider vinegar
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
pinch black pepper

Putting it all together

• Place dried beans in a stock pot. Top with water to cover by an inch or so. Let soak for 3 hours (or whatever works with your schedule; there really is no set time).
• Drain water. Refill pot to cover beans by 2 inches. Add small piece dried kombu seaweed. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer partially covered until tender. Drain and set aside so beans don't overcook - SAVE bean liquid. Remove and discard kombu.
• Saute onion in 1 Tblsp olive oil. Add peppers. Stir and cook until onions are translucent. Stir in molasses, dry mustard and sugar. Add ketchup, Worcestershire and liquid then beans. Stir gently to combine ingredients. Stir in cider vinegar, salt and black pepper. Bring to a boil.
•  Transfer to a baking dish and bake covered 30 minutes at 375 deg. Uncover, reduce heat and cook another 15-30 minutes. 

Related Links
Heirloom Christmas Limas - my article on Dave's Garden
Nutrient Profile Beans
Beans top the charts as a Fiber Superstar! Today's Dietitian
Benefits of Beans and Legumes 
Baked Limas with Tomatoes and Peppers 
Blog post Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

We all need Dietary Guidelines #GardenCuizine @EatRight

We All Need
Dietary Guidelines

From the time of your birth, the need for adequate nutrition was born. We all need dietary guidelines to thrive and grow. Adequate food and nutrition helps keep us healthy with a balance of nutrients to prevent chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes. Today the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the USDA released the long awaited, new 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines to encourage healthy eating patterns for disease prevention.

If you or someone you know needs science-based dietary advice, make an appointment to speak with a registered dietitian nutritionist like myself. We base our expert advice on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Dietitians can be found throughout your community: at your local hospital, some doctor's offices, super markets, schools, community centers, work, retirement homes or in private practice. 

All ages should focus on Healthy Eating. Your choices matter!
Focus on Portion Control, variety and nutrient density 
Limit calories from sugars and saturated fats
Reduce Sodium
Make Healthier Food choices and Rethink Your Drink!
Be a Healthy Eating Role Model for your family and friends

Best wishes for a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Related Links 
Support Healthy Choices for All Americans 
ChooseMyPlate.gov 
Comparison of 2010 and 2015 DG
Blog post and photo Copyright (C)Wind. ALL rights reserved.

Nigerian Ewa Dodo for a New Year's Good Luck #recipe #GardenCuizine

Nigerian 
Ewa Dodo
Black-eyed Peas and Plantains

low sodium

Celebrate the New Year with this Nigerian good luck meal featuring black-eyed peas and plantains. We grew black-eyed peas last year for the first time and found them fun and easy-to-grow. I saved some dried to use for a special recipe to ring in the New Year. Last year we made Hoppin' John. 

This recipe is my version of Ewa Dodo. Ever since I learned how to cook beans from macrobiotic cooks back when I had my health food restaurant, to this day, I still add a small piece of dried kombu seaweed to the bean pot. I also add a splash of vinegar to bean dishes when they are cooking. 

For flavor, adding garden herbs and hot pepper enhances the recipe without adding extra salt. I also added a few sweet peppers because we had a bountiful fall harvest and have a freezer full! Stews are like soups - you can be creative and use up ingredients that you may have available.
 
Serves 4

Ingredients
fish or shrimp (can be salmon, tilapia or we used grilled Chilean Sea Bass)
2 ripe Plantains
Vegetable oil enough for frying
1 1/2 cups dried black-eyed peas
small piece dried kombu seaweed

1 cup chopped onion
1-2 small sweet peppers, chopped
dried hot pepper, minced (however much you want to add)
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/8 teaspoon minced ginger 

2-3 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

Putting it all together
Decide how you want to cook the fish: in the stew or cook it and then add it to the stew. Traditional Nigerian stew cooks the fish directly in the stock pot. We used sea bass and grilled it before adding it to this New Year's dinner.

In a stock pot, rinse and soak the black-eyed peas for 2 hours. Drain and refill with fresh water add a small piece of dried kombu seaweed. Bring to boil, reduce to simmer, partially cover and cook until tender. Drain (to stop cooking), saving cooking liquid and set aside.

 
Fry the Plantains
Peel ripe plantains (ripe plantains have black sections all over skin), slice on bias (diagonal), and fry plantains in veggie oil until golden. Place on paper towels to cool and blot off excess oil, set aside.

In stock pot, heat olive oil; saute onion and peppers; stir in garlic and ginger. Add seasonings and tomatoes, stir. Add beans and saved bean cooking liquid - add as much as desired. You may or may not use all of it, depending on how much water you cooked your beans in. Use your judgement. Stir in vinegar, fish and parsley; cover and simmer to blend flavors. 

Note: this was our first time frying plantains, we fried yellow plantains and found them to taste starchy and dry so we added them in with the stew rather than serving as a side. We learned that you should wait until the plantains get some blackening on the skin before peeling and frying. 

Happy New Year!
Related Links
Beans, Beans, They're Good for your Heart...
Recipe, photos, video and blog post Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

Plantain Nutrition and Questions about Plantains versus Bananas #GardenCuizine

Plantain Nutrition
Good Source dietary Fiber

Today, Harry and I had some food photography fun shooting some fresh fruit on the table. In the arrangement we included plantains. Plantains (Maduros) are enjoyed in Latin America and many parts of the world; including the USA, Africa and throughout the Caribbean. Our family never really bought them before. Questions that we had were:

1) Do plantains taste like a banana?
2) Can you eat plantains raw?
3) Do you eat plantains green?

Plantains have thicker skins and are larger than bananas. Like bananas, plantains are a carbohydrate food, but unlike bananas, they are not as sweet so plantains are usually served as a starch rather than a fruit and are cooked before being eaten. Most people do not eat plantains raw. 

As you can see in the photo, plantains can be pretty green compared to the bright yellow lemons. Go ahead and cook them when green, but they taste better if allowed to ripen. At any stage of ripeness, plantains can be boiled, fried or grilled*. To peel plantains, cut off each end then score the thick skin lengthwise with your knife. The skin can then be easily peeled off.

Since we are still celebrating the New Year, we plan to fry our plantains and serve them with black-eyed peas for good luck!

Best Wishes for a Happy and Healthy New Year!

*update: 1/4/15- last night we made Nigerian Ewa Dodo with fried plantains. In just one day after I took the above photo, the green plantains turned yellow. We should have let them ripen a few days longer. After cooking the yellow plantains, we thought they tasted too starchy and dry. We learned that for best flavor, allow plantains to ripen to the point of showing black spots before peeling and cooking. 

GardenCuizine Nutrition Data Plantains
Good Source: dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, Potassium

1/2 cup cooked mashed Plantain 100g = 116 Calories; total Carbohydrate 31g; dietary Fiber 2.5g (9% DV); Protein 1g; Vitamin A: 909 IU (18% DV); Vitamin C: 11mg (18% DV); Vitamin B6: 0.2mg (12% DV); Folate: 26 mcg (6% DV); Potassium 465mg (13% DV) 

For Comparison 1 small Banana raw = 101g; 90 Calories; total Carbohydrate 21g; dietary Fiber 3g (11% DV); Protein 1g; Vitamin A: 65 IU (1% DV); Vitamin C: 9mg (15% DV); Vitamin B6 0.4mg (19% DV); Folate 20mcg (5% DV); Potassium: 362mg (10% DV)
Photo and blog post Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

Bad Kitty! Noooo biting the Church Village under the tree! #feralcats #cats @meowmix

Feline Fright Under Our 

Christmas Tree!

This should be a commercial for Meow Mix® Irresistibles!

Merry Christmas!

Record high warm temps today in our NJ December Garden #gardenchat

Hanging Baskets with Petunias continue to bloom here in Jersey!

Today in Our Gardens
December 14, 2015

Just planted some cosmos seed along our veggie garden fence. No wonder some of us are getting garden fever - according to the NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE, MOUNT HOLLY NJ 4:39 PM EST MON., DEC 14, 2015 we had RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE TIED AT MOUNT POCONO, PA TODAY... THE TEMPERATURE REACHED 58 DEGREES AT MOUNT POCONO, PENNSYLVANIA TODAY, WHICH TIES THE RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE FOR DECEMBER 14th. THE DAILY RECORD FOR THE DATE WAS SET PREVIOUSLY IN 1901. 

It was 70 degrees here at home in South Jersey today. Mom and I went out Christmas shopping without coats. And, at church yesterday, children of parishioners were in shorts and short sleeves! 

Happy Holidays!

Is Junk Food to Blame for Obesity? hell yeah #getreal

Is Junk Food to Blame for Obesity?

Hell, yeah - get real. And so are excess portion sizes. As an outpatient dietitian working with patient after patient across the lifespan struggling with obesity, it is no surprise that when it comes to being truthful in verbal diet recalls or written food diarys, individuals simply do not report all that is consumed when first asked. It takes many visits before an individual or family shares their real eating patterns. When I read studies published by PhD's stating that intake of fast foods, soft drinks and candy is unrelated to body mass index of 95% of American adults, it reminds me of headlines in the past (1988-1990 in particular) that touted the anticholesterol benefits of oat bran.

Professionals need to use common sense and discretion before making confusing claims to the public based on data reported to the CDC's National Health and Examination Survey. Do you think that those interviewed by strangers were truthful with regards to frequency of eating fast foods, soft drinks or candy? 

Furthermore, studies that suggest that clinicians and practitioners examine overall eating patterns of their clients are preaching to the choir. Any RDN involved who counsels obese patients would be following professional protocol and evaluating food intake, including snacking, as well as physical activity.

Those in healthcare and academia should strive not to confuse people, but rather to help prevent and treat diseases such as obesity by encouraging eating less junk food and limiting excess portions.

Happy Holidays! And, best wishes as you strive for a healthy diet and lifestyle in the New Year. You can do it. Exercise as medically able and eat a balanced diet of lean protein, fruits, vegetables, whole grains and calcium rich foods and beverages.
Blog post Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

Zucchini Noodles Alfredo #GardenCuizine #Zoodles

Zoodles Alfredo

This new family favorite Zoodle side dish was inspired from BariatricEating.com. I just made a few adjustments to their recipe including adding more olive oil and less salt and saturated fat. It's creamy goodness will give all ages across the lifespan a good reason to eat their veggies! Besides being tasty and quick to prepare, it is low in cost making it another Cooking Healthy on a Budget recipe.

Yields 3 regular servings: or 6 bariatric smaller servings

Ingredients
2 medium Zucchini
2 Tablespoons Olive oil
1 teaspoon minced Garlic
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese
1/2 cup Ricotta Cheese
pinch hot peppers, minced

Putting it all together
1) Spiralize the zucchini into Zoodles onto a plate. Use culinary sheers and snip the pile in 3rds to shorten the zucchini strands.
2) Heat the oil in a skillet. Add hot peppers and garlic. Add zucchini 'Zoodles' and stir to combine.
3) Stir in cheeses. Add fresh ground black pepper and a pinch sea salt. Turn off heat and cover until ready to serve. Season to taste with salt and fresh ground black pepper.

Enjoy as a healthy veggie side dish

Buon Appetito!

GardenCuizine Zoodles Alfredo Nutrition Data:  
Good Source: Protein, Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Folate and Potassium
Excellent Source: Vitamin C and Calcium

1/3 recipe regular serving: Calories: 193; Total Fat: 15g; Saturated Fat: 5g (24% DV); Monounsaturated Fat 8.2g; Polyunsaturated Fat: 1.3g; Sodium: 192mg; Total Carbohydrate: 7g; Dietary Fiber 1.4g (6% DV); Protein 9g; Vitamin A 456IU (9% DV); Vitamin C: 22mg (37% DV); Riboflavin: 0.3mg (18% DV); Vitamin B6: 0.3mg (15% DV); Folate: 44 mcg (11% DV); Calcium: 224mg (22% DV); Potassium 404mg (12% DV)
 
Blog post and photo collage Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

Herald the Holidays with fresh Hawaiian, Maui Protea #Gardenchat #SeasonofAloha

Hawaiian Holiday Wreath
made with fresh Protea from Maui

Besides the alluring, fragrant smell, my excitement over a recent arrival of a Christmas table centerpiece lured Mom into the kitchen to take a peak. Being so petite (less than 5-feet tall), she needed to grab a stepping stool to raise her up to better see this creative wreath from Maui, Hawaii. 

 

I fell in love with Protea (Protea cynaroides) at first sight this year. A fellow church member took some in to our Flower Guild for a special farewell dinner arrangement we were making for our retiring Rector and his wife. One of our very special friends remembered that I loooooved it and sent us a Protea wreath for the holidays. The blooms look quite unusual and will make an exquisite holiday centerpiece.

The Maui florist grows 25 different varieties. Some must be fragrant, because the wreath has a very pleasant aroma. 

I'm learning the names of some of the varieties. King Protea's look large and urchin-like (shown above). Ours measures 6-inches. 

Pink Mink (shown) is another unusual Protea bloom. Pink Mink feels soft and has feathery black tips; we've never seen anything like it. 

Proteas grow native in South Africa and must grow pretty well in Hawaii too, which is where ours were grown. Our beautiful wreath was handmade by AnuheaFlowers.com - the second largest Protea farm in Maui. The arrangement included flower buds, eucalyptus and textured greens picked from their farm in Olinda on the slopes of Haleakala.

Blog post and photos Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved. Thank you Audrey, Helen and Rachel!