Steak has a bad rap in some food circles and while many restaurant portions far exceed what is necessary, consuming it occasionally in moderate amounts can provide some important nutrients. Some restaurant tricks for great steak are using cuts that are very marbled, with thick white veins of fat running throughout the meat to provide extra flavor and juiciness, and to baste it in butter as it cooks. However, there are a few tricks that can be used at home to create a lighter, healthier option Continue Reading →
Poached Eggs Over Dukkah Vegetable Hash
Dukkah is an Egyptian blend of nuts, seeds and spices usually containing hazelnuts, sesame seeds, cumin and dried hot peppers. It is crunchy, slightly smokey, spicy enough to be interesting and has a richness from the nuts that most spice blends don’t. Nuts and seeds are good sources of several minerals and unsaturated fats and using them in a spice blend like this makes them easy to incorporate into dishes- simply throw it over eggs, salads, seafood, meat or lentil or bean dishes. Continue Reading →
Jalapeño Crusted Halibut with Mango Pineapple Salad
This is one of my favorite derivatives of globalization- local fish and herbs with tropical fruit. Halibut is a great source of protein and it is very low in fat, though a decent percentage of the fats it does have are essential omega-3 fatty acids (for comparison, it has around 1/4 to 1/3 the amount in wild salmon). It is also rich in several B vitamins, including B 12 and the minerals selenium, magnesium and phosphorus. Halibut has a mild taste and smell (if it smells quite fishy it’s not fresh) that goes well with a wide range of flavors and has a rich, buttery flesh that is not very flaky, making it easy to cook with. Continue Reading →
Lemon Pasta
Shellfish, in this case prawns and scallops, provide high concentrations of some minerals that can be hard to find amply in other sources, like selenium. It acts as an antioxidant, meaning that it is part of a defense network for the body that helps prevent or combat oxidation and cell membrane damage, issues that can lead to a whole host of diseases. Selenium is also important for healthy immune function and it is a component needed for several different proteins and enzymes in the body. Continue Reading →
Rainbow Roast Chicken Meal
Traditional meals with my family are centered around the meat, and there is always lots of it. Then, in keeping with a strict shades of white and beige theme, there are piles of white flour buns, ground meat stuffing and mashed potatoes with a very small side of rather lackluster vegetables that get drowned in gravy. I know better than to mess with this formula on special holidays, but when I am putting on a family meal otherwise I like to transfer the emphasis to a rainbow of fruits and vegetables, with the meat as more of a side dish, and include some nuts and/or seeds any maybe whole grains like brown rice or quinoa. Continue Reading →
Guacamole Salad with Roasted Chickpeas
Unblended guacamole is basically a salad, and definitely becomes one if you add some lettuce and a light lime vinaigrette. Instead of fried tortilla chips I added in some sautéed chickpeas for extra protein and fiber. Continue Reading →
Pink Soba Noodles in Creamy Peanut Dressing
This dish is a combination of soba noodles and several different vegetables cut down to noodle thinness and smothered in a peanut sauce, the inclusion of a beet gives all the rainbow colored ingredients a naturally vibrant pink hue. Soba noodles are traditionally made from buckwheat, a seed that has been cultivated for thousands of years, and despite the name it is actually not related to regular wheat and is completely gluten-free. Continue Reading →
Balsamic Salmon Quinoa Lettuce Cups
When you just do not feel like a salad lettuce cups are a good way to sneak in some leafy greens. With a warm, cooked filling like this they can be very substantial and grounding. Any larger greens like romaine lettuce, kale or collard greens make great bases but I prefer iceberg lettuce, it does not have as many nutrients but the leaves are a good size, very pliable and barely have any taste so the filling shines through. Even though it has less than the darker greens, iceberg still does offer a decent amount of nutrients including fiber, vitamins A and K, folate and potassium. Continue Reading →
Simple Tomato Sauce
Growing up, I learned about cooking by watching the Food Network, it would enthrall me for hours on end and I sometimes even faked a sick day if one of my favorite chefs was making something I wanted to learn about (this was before the days of YouTube). No matter their background or what type of cuisine they were creating, the chefs emphasized building a dish in stages and layering the flavors- this is especially obvious in sauces and soups. Continue Reading →
Coconut Lime Tamari Stir Fry
Coconut oil has a mild coconut flavor and it is one of the few plant oils to contain enough saturated fat to stay stable at high heats, making it ideal for stir frys. Tamari is a Japanese soy sauce with a richer but less salty flavor than regular soy sauce and it is generally made without wheat. Freshly squeezed lime juice is a great source of vitamin C and it really brightens up the flavors of a dish when squeezed on at the end. To get the most juice out leave the limes at room temperature then roll them firmly between your palm and the counter a few times before slicing and squeezing. Add these three ingredients together and you get a light sauce with some sweetness, some saltiness, a slight acidity and a fresh tropical flavor. Continue Reading →