We are in grilling season and corn is inevitably on the grill. I have two favorite summertime foods: key lime pie and corn. I like my corn with pink peppercorns and butter slathered on the corn and covered with the husks, another cover of foil and roasted on the grill for 45 minutes.

We also have that word..GMO to  think about when buying corn. Read about the myths of avoiding corn. This article says it all. Not all corn is genetically modified, and as a  gluten free starchy vegetable, it does provide 110 calories per ear without butter. Corn has thiamine, riboflavin, folic acid, magnesium and phosphorus with a glycemic index of only 56 . Not bad for a nutrition packed food. A slice of white bread is a GI of 100 for raising blood sugars.

So Happy 4th and enjoy your corn.

 

 

We are back with the series for healthy skin. Another great food is salmon packing  omega 3’s the good fats and the new kid on the block- the carotenoid astaxanthin, a powerful antioxidant extract from marine algae which prevents aging in the skin. Wild salmon especially sockeye,  has 400 times more astaxanthin than farm raised and we should add this into the category of anti inflammatory molecules. It’s that singlet oxygen quenching, we want to have by consuming a diet of carotene, in bright orange vegetables, salmon and fruits. A 6 ounce portion of salmon provides 3.6 miligrams of astaxanthin but consumed a couple of times a week with bright orange and yellow  vegetables and fruits will provide a healthy dose of good skin nutrition.

Away from the chemistry let’s get cooking; I found a French recipe called a rillettes ( pronounced reyette), A recipe of flaked salmon with shallots, butter or olive oil, fresh tarragon and white wine.

• 1 lb or 2 filets of sockeye salmon
• 2 shallots
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil or 1 tablespoon of butter
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh tarragon leaves

Pre heat oven to 375 degrees. Salt and pepper the fillets. Place in a ceramic dish or lined cookie sheet with foil and splash a little olive oil over the fish. Bake for 25 minutes until fish flakes with a fork. Remove from the oven. Let cool. In a medium sauce pan, saute chopped shallots and butter or olive oil until soft about 3 minutes and add the vinegar, lemon juice and white wine, reduce by half., another 5 minutes. Mix with the salmon and flake with a fork or place in a food processor and lightly mash for 30 seconds. Serve with toasted bread rounds, pita or crackers as an appetizer.

APRICOTS:  Here is a fruit that has all the nutrient properties for great skin: Low in calorie at 17 calories per apricot, has Pro- Vitamin A, called betacarotene in fruits, which is an antioxidant. According to the  National Institute of Health, we need about 3,000 IU ( International Units)  per day of Vitamin A  and 3 apricots provides around 1926 IU’s. We can just enjoy and know our inner skin is getting better.  Who doesn’t want to look good.  I am inspired Dr. Nicholas Perricone a dermatologist,  whose suggests a quick facelift “from the inside out” by consuming  fruits and vegetables  with Vitamin A. What better way than in apricot season in order  to begin this plan.

Also included in the skin group are cantelopes, salmon, oranges and yellow and orange bell peppers, and blackberries.

The next recipe is a smoothie including all the important nutrients, Vitamin A and Vitamin C to build and maintain collagen and avoid crosslinking of skin fibers due to sun, smoking and inflammatory foods.

For snacking , getting some Vitamin A is found in  1/2 cup of orange juice or a small orange ( 1/2 of a naval orange)  For diabetics, the orange juice is a 15 gram serving.   Also in 3 apricots which  are 12 grams of carbohydrate. 1  1/4 cups blackberries are a 15 grams of carbohydrate or CHO exchange. Below is a smoothie which incorporates these power fruits.

Healthy Skin Smoothie

• 5 fresh apricots with pits removed or 8 dried apricot halves 0r 4 whole dries  apricots  soaking in a few tablespoons of water for an hour
• 2/3 cup  of fresh orange juice or made from frozen concentrate
• 1/2 cup of blackberries
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 1 cup of water

Place all ingredients into a blender and process for 3-4 minutes on high. Serves 2-3 cup servings.

Chill for a hour.

Next Blog: Part 2 of the Healthy Skin Series: Salmon

 

 

 

 

What are those pink to reddish stalks anyway that we see in the produce shelf? It is not celery…so what do you do with them? It is time to revisit the vegetable/fruit  in my previous blog last year on Rhubarb-( a vegetable that thinks its a fruit).  I can’t help it. I love this stuff. It makes strawberries more flavorful, and adds flavor with a small amount of sweetness. Can be used in savory dishes as in Middle Eastern recipes with beef or  lamb.

Rhubarb can be made into a sauce for ice cream and is great with pork chops. Quick cooking with only 27 calories to a cup, 5 grams of carbohydrate /cup and 0 fat, rhubarb is sweetened  with a small amount of honey, coconut sugar or granulated white sugar. Great in baked goods, like crisps and tarts adding nut flour and oats, as substitute for flour,  that is lower in sugar spiking for diabetics too.

Don’t consume the green tops, they have toxins called oxalic acid.  Only goats love the tops! So cut off the tops and discard and you have great stalks to chop up and add to other fruit. Trust me they are safe to eat!

Since impromptu is sometimes the best,  I made a low fat, low carbohydrate quick munch- a cluster of rhubarb, shopped strawberries, unsweetened coconut, honey with oats, ground almond flour and a small bit of all purpose flour.   Add a drop of vanilla extract and  allspice (the secret to making rhubarb … well more rhubarb tasting).  A touch of fat with butter or soy based spread is added to the mix.  Here’s the recipe.

1 cup of  almond flour ( almonds ground to a flour consistency)

1 cup of chopped rhubarb

1 cup of sliced strawberries

1/4 cup of shredded unsweetened coconut

1/4 cup of brown sugar or coconut sugar

2 additional teaspoons of sugar

4 pats of unsalted butter

1/4 cup of all purpose flour

2 drops of vanilla

2 pinches of ground allspice

1 egg beaten

2 tablespoons of honey or maple syrup

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl except for the 2 additional teaspoons of sugar, until well combined and form into irregular mounds, like clusters about 2 inches wide. Place 10 clusters on a cookies sheet with a 2 inch separation between each one. Sprinkle with the additional sugar on the clusters and baked until the fruit is oozing out and the tops are golden.

 

I had Meyer lemons in my vegetable bin. Sitting there amidst some forlorn apples from a happy fall, now spring, this is what came to mind.  Besides using lemon wedges with fish, I thought lemon curd would be great as a jam or a filling in a tart.

It’s a keeper in the refrigerator for 1 month. Great on English muffins, biscotti or toast. This recipe a crostata,  is two step so you can do in advance. Dough and lemon curd-The dessert utilizes almond flour, which are pulverized almonds into a flour consistency. This is a higher  protein lower carbohydrate crust. Yes you can do it…Make a dough!  Here’s the recipe:

• 3/4 cup of almond flour (bought in a supermarket where rice flour and other flours are)
• 1  1/2 cups of flour
• 1/2 cup of cornmeal
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1  1/2 sticks or 12 teaspoons of  unsalted butter
• 4 tablespoons of sugar
• 3 tablespoons of ice water
• 1 teaspoon of lemon zest

Mix all ingredients together in a food processor except the ice water .

Pulse 5 -6 times until the mixture resembles tiny peas, and add the ice water a tablespoon at a time. Pulse another 2-3 times until the dough forms a semi solid mass like a ball but not as firm. Divide into 2 separate mounds of dough.  Place the mounds  on 2  separate waxed papers and place a layer of wax paper on top of each  dough.  Let dough rest for 1/2 an hour or up to 3 days in the refrigerator.

Roll out into 2 disks with a rolling pin keeping the waxed paper or saran wrap on the disks- cleaner that way! -until thin or 1/8 inch thick. Place on a cookie sheet and refrigerate for 1-3 hours. Now go shopping, pick up the kids or whatever.

Come back – make the lemon curd:

• 4 eggs
• 1 cup of sugar
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• zest of whole lemon zest
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup of lemon juice ( take a fork and turn it in the pulp of the lemon  )

Add the ingredients together in a saucepan and mix together until smooth. Turn on medium heat and cook for 5-10 minutes until custardy smooth and the back of the spoon is coated. Take off heat and cool.

Place the 1 disk of dough into a 9″ spring form pan and press with your fingers until smooth and up the sides of the pan about 2 inches. Pour the lemon curd into the pie crust.

Roll out the other disk and cut into strips and form a lattice top layer.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool. Serve with a dusting of confectioner’ s sugar if desired.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well I had to do it…make a casserole, but todays casserole has a  non starchy vegetable-the green bean, which means low blood sugars and good for diabetics too. The green bean has a very low to 0 glycemic index! 1 cup of green beans is 30 calories, and has tryptophan, good for regulating mood swings as in blood sugar levels.

The key is the onions and yes I know the canned fried onions are the favorite but try this:: saute sliced onions quickly in pan until brown with some shallots- the fancy small version of an onion. I added grated gruyere cheese to the topping with breadcrumbs but any cheese including soy cheese will do. I substituted milk  for the binding sauce with yes…cream of mushroom soup low sodium (1/2 the can)  for a cream factor with added organic mushrooms. The creaminess satisfies our craving for fat and the green beans are high in fiber and you don’t miss a starch. That mean lower blood sugars, easier on the waistline.

The recipe:

• 1 lb green beans
• 1 medium onion  sliced into rounds
• 1 shallot chopped
• 1/2-2/3  cup shredded gruyere or other soft  cheese
• 2/3 cup panko breads crumbs or other bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup whole milk, half and half  or heavy cream
• cracked black pepper
• salt to taste
• 1 can of low sodium cream of mushroom soup
• 1 cup of fresh mushrooms sliced
• olive oil
• white wine 1/4 cup (optional)
• 1 sprig of fresh thyme

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Blanch green beans in boiling water for 1 minute and rinse with cold water. Set aside. Saute in a medium frying pan, the onion and shallots in 1 tablespoon of olive oil until golden and slightly crispy.  Lay on a paper towel and in same pan saute the mushrooms until soft, 2-3 minutes in the other 1 tablespoon of olive oil.

Mix together the green beans and mushrooms together, add the 1/2 can of  the soup, salt and pepper to taste, a dash of white wine, thyme leaves with the milk or cream in a bowl and pour into a 8×9 baking dish.  Sprinkle top of green beans with the breadcrumbs, a tablespoon of olive oil over the crumbs and the shredded cheese. Place the onion shallot mixture over the casserole, cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes, uncover remove foil and continue to bake until bubbly,  another 20 minutes.

 

I thought I would feature some spring vegetables as a dinner side, and also to provide alternatives to the renal diet using lower potassium vegetables. Everyone benefits from vegetables- Good sources of Vitamin A and folic acid.

The casserole featured today is a Tian or gratin, a dish of spring vegetables: mushrooms, asparagus, carrots and spinach with leeks bound with a little cheese, cream, fresh thyme and vegetable broth. Carrots now come in tricolored varieties and I find the reddish purple ones are sweeter tasting.   All these vegetables are an appropriate choice for renal diets and a fancier way to showcase them too. Asparagus (150-190 mg /1/2 cup) and fresh peas which are low in potassium and along with carrots that are boiled and drained ( 192 mg of potassium per 1/2 cup) are welcomed for any diet.  Cream and parmesan cheese are low in phosphorus- a pleasant  surprise for anyone on a renal diet. Here’s the recipe:

4 medium size carrots, 6-8 baby carrots or  1  cup of frozen carrot slices preboiled

1 /2 lb of thin asparagus

1 leek

1 small onion thinly sliced

2  small shallots chopped

2/3 cup of frozen or fresh peas

3 cups of fresh spinach leaves

1 cup of any type of mushrooms chopped

3-4 tablespoons of heavy cream

1/4 cup white wine (optional)

1-2 sprigs of  fresh thymes leaves

1/2 cup of grated parmesan or shredded gruyere cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut off the green leaves of the leek only leaving the white botton part for slicing lengthwise. Chop shallots and saute with sliced leeks and onions in a saucepan with a teaspoon of olive oil until translucent, and add the thyme leaves. Boil and drained or steam baby carrots or slices. Set aside. Break the asparagus at their natural break point and discard the bottoms.  Slice asparagus into 2 inch pieces and mix with the carrots, frozen or fresh peas, fresh spinach and sliced mushroom, shitake or white mushrooms.

Add the wine and heavy cream with broth to the onion mixture and let evaporate while cooking for 5 minutes. Take off the heat and add to the vegetables and mix. Pour into a baking dish and bake until bubbly about 30 minutes, remove from oven and sprinkle Gruyere or Parmesan cheese over the dish and bake for an additional 15 minutes. Serves 4.

Even though I write on nutrition and food in my blog, I still consider wine as an integral part of enjoying good food. Those polyphenols from red wine are filled with antioxidants. Cooking with wine adds a dimension to dishes of course and pairing it with foods can be a perfect tango.

I chose wine with chocolate even though chocolate usually works well with coffee and found that a Cabernet mix with some Merlot, dry but light and fruity can compliment chocolate  greater than 72% cocoa. In this blog I feature a red Bordeaux from a  house that I have become a fan of,  Les Portes de Bordeaux and one of my favorite picks for chocolate, Green & Black organic 85%.

Red wine contains Resveratrol  an antioxidant found in vine plants, including grape skins of Malbec and Pinot Noir.  Chocolate contains polyphenols.  So a polyphenol pairing of chocolate and wine can have a healthy benefit!

In the previous blog, I used this chocolate in the bark.  Super smooth with a great hint of sweetness, this chocolate with low dietary sugar matches this wine perfectly.

You don’t have to get sugar loaded chocolate to enjoy this treat, which is packed with antioxidants, and good fats. The following, is a recipe for chocolate bark using dark chocolate, dried cherries, pistachios, dried organic pineapple and apricots.

Most chocolate we eat is milk chocolate and semi sweet chocolate. Here is a quick lesson in chocolate. The higher the percentage of cocoa mass, (>60%)  the healthier the chocolate. We are talking 72%-85% cocoa having more nutritional bang.  Lot less sugar is added and more nutrients like flavanoids are available to you. Milk cancels out antioxidants, so milk chocolate or hot chocolate with milk will not have any nutritional effect. Fat? We have 0 cholesterol in chocolate and yes, stearic acid is a saturated fat but has no effect on raising  cholesterol. Health benefits? Lowering of blood pressure, and preventing artery plaque buildup are a few of them.

1 ounce of 72% chocolate has around 170 kcals and 5-6 grams  of sugar.  I discovered Green & Black’s chocolate to be creamy rich with a hint of sweetness.  Great for making bark with dried fruit added to the mix.

Dark Chocolate Bark with Dried Fruits and Nuts

• 6-9 ounces of 72% dark chocolate or 85%  (preferably Green & Black’s Organic ) or other chocolate
• 1/4 cup dried cherries, apricots and pineapple or any combination of dried fruit.
• 1/2 cup pistachios or other nuts
• parchment paper or waxed paper
• 1 cookie sheet

Chop up  the chocolate and place the pieces into a stainless steel or other heat resisitant  bowl.

Prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper covering the entire surface.

Heat up to simmer 3/4 cup of water in a shallow pan, and place the bowl of chocolate over the water and melt until smooth. Remove from the heat.  Pour the chocolate onto the parchment paper to cover approximately a  10 inch by 6 inch rectangle. Sprinkle the fruits and nuts of any combination over the chocolate and  keep in the refrigerator to cool for 1-2  hours. Remove from the refrigerator and peel away the paper and break into small pieces.

Don’t turn the page… Yogurt can be tasty too! Today we feature yogurt cream cheese with fresh herbs and roasted garlic. This post is a continuation of the last one which spoke about prebiotics. In this post, we discuss Probiotics, which are found in yogurt, kefir and miso. These organisms enable the enteric system, which is our immune system in the gut to create resistance (like a militia!) to pathogenic or bad bacteria. Lactose intolerant may tolerate yogurt for the lactose is broken down.  The probiotic also fights inflammation in irritable bowel syndrome.

Another way to eat your yogurt is to enjoy labne or yogurt cheese, which is part of Middle Eastern cuisine. Any pain yogurt can be used.  Dannon’s  plain yogurt, low fat or whole milk  or my favorite, Mountain High yogurt. This is a great spread, additive fee and low in calories.

• 2 cups of plain yogurt
• 12 inch square of cotton towel, fine mesh cloth or paper towels
• a colander
• 2 tablespoons of chopped chives
• a sprig of fresh thyme leaves
• cracked black pepper taste
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder or 4 garlic cloves roasted

Line a colande with a towel and place over a bowl. Add 2 cups of plain yogurt and cover with the flaps of the towel.

Place the yogurt in the refrigerator for overnight and let drain of the whey. There will be  about 1/2 cup of fluid. When the yogurt appears like cream cheese, remove the cloth and remold into a serving bowl. Add salt, herbs, cracked pepper and serve with crackers or pita bread.

Note: To roast garlic cloves, coat a 1/2 bulb of garlic with olive oil, wrap in foil and place on a cookie sheet to bake for 20-30  minutes at 375 degrees. Remove from the  oven, cool and press on the skins.  They will peel away revealing the creamy and very smooth paste of  roasted cloves of garlic.