Fun With Curry!

Boy, I had a good time experimenting with things for supper tonight. I created a plate with a serving of couscous* (cooked in plain water) topped with chopped steamed collard greens topped with SWEET RED LENTILS topped with CURRIED YELLOW SQUASH topped with COCONUT YOGURT.  The combination was Excellent!

SWEET RED LENTILS
Flexible serving sizes, but at least eight

16 oz. can diced tomatoes with juice
1-2 cups red lentils (they are tiny and cook very quickly)
2 T. dried minced onion
2 T. diced dried pineapple
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon cloves
water sufficient to cook lentils and mostly cook off by the end -- 1/2 to 1-1/2 cups

Combine all ingredients with 1/2 cup of the water and bring to a boil, then a simmer, until lentils are done, about ten minutes, adding water as needed to keep lentils submerged but not soupy at the end.

Verdict: Excellent, especially with the other items mentioned above. The sweetness works beautifully with the heat of the curry.
 
CURRIED YELLOW SQUASH
Flexible serving sizes, but about four

2 teaspoons oil
2 small onions, diced
1/2 green pepper, chopped
2 large crookneck squash, cubed
2 teaspoons red curry powder

Saute onion, then pepper, then squash and garlic in oil until slightly softened and browned on the edges, then stir in curry powder and cook on low until desired texture--not too soft!  Serve over a grain or lentils or chopped steamed greens or whatever you have!

Verdict: Excellent.  The heat of the red curry powder (McCormick) was just right, especially in combination with the things below.


COCONUT YOGURT
Topping for 4-6 servings

1/2 cup plain lowfat yogurt
1/8 - 1/4 cup shredded coconut
1 teaspoon minced candied ginger

Combine and serve as the final topping on a hot and savory curry.

Verdict: Excellent. Just the thing to cool the dish and provide a little sweetness.


*I know rice would be the expected ground for this creation, but I didn't have 90 minutes to wait on brown rice in my rice cooker, and couscous takes just five minutes. :-)

Southern Comfort Food

Today I'm enjoying for lunch a combination that perhaps only a gal from Dixie could love, but it's nutritarian friendly and I highly recommend it!

SOUTHERN COMFORT GRITS, 'PEAS, AND GREENS

In Three Parts:

• Bob's Red Mill Yellow Corn Grits (Polenta)--1/4 cup cooked in 3/4 cup water
• Black-eyed Peas--about 3/4 cup
• Turnip Greens (or other chopped cooked greens like collards or mustard greens)--1/2 - 1 cup

Arrange these three components in three divisions of a large, wide bowl, then dress with chopped onion and a little vinegar (I like the malt type) on the greens.  Eat in a variety of combinations of grits and peas, peas and greens, greens and grits . . . you get the idea.

Verdict:  Excellent.  I am quite hungry this lunchtime, and I had the greens and peas on hand, already cooked. The grits cook up in no time, and they're 130 calories, 2 grams of fiber, 2 grams of protein, 27 grams of carb for this size serving.

This recipe reminds me of a "favorite" cookbook whose cover always makes me laugh:

Ginger-Apple Oatmeal and Three-Month Progress Report

This morning it was four degrees below zero and I wanted a warm and comforting breakfast, so I made this:

GINGER-APPLE OATMEAL
Serves 2


1 cup water
1 large Braeburn apple, cut into chunks
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
tiny sprinkle of salt

Start the water boiling in a small pot on the stove, and cut up the apple into the water, then add the oats and stir occasionally, cooking on low until the oats are the desired consistency.  Add ginger and spices near the end of cooking. 

Verdict: Very Good.  Simple, sweet, and ginger-spicy.  I topped mine with roasted unsalted pistachios.  I have oatmeal two or three times a week, usually. It's best fresh, but I often make extra and just reheat quickly for subsequent breakfasts.  This is typical of my usual method, though I have done variations with dried blueberries, dried peaches, fresh pears, frozen blueberries, frozen peaches, and occasionally some sliced banana. I change the spices to match the fruit--including the above seasonings as well as nutmeg, allspice, cloves, and occasionally a dash of vanilla.  For the top I try different nuts (cashews, pecans, walnuts, almonds), usually toasted, and usually about half an ounce.  Dr. Fuhrman counsels that those trying to lose weight have no more than a cup of grain and an ounce of nuts/seeds per day.  This breakfast (one serving) provides half of that allowance of each, leaving some leeway in the rest of my day to enjoy grain or nuts.

I've spent the last three months pursuing a nutritarian lifestyle based on these daily parameters outlined in Dr. Fuhrman's book (recently updated) Eat to Live: The Amazing Nutrient-Rich Program for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss 

one ounce nuts or seeds
one cup (200 calories) whole grain or starchy vegetable
goal of one pound raw veggies
goal of one pound cooked veggies
goal of one cup beans
at least four fruits
1 T. flax seed meal

(I add 1-3 oz. animal product--usually fish or chicken--zero to three times a week, and though Dr. F. allows up to 2 oz. avocado per day,  I usually have only 1-2 oz. per week.)

No or absolutely minimal added oil, salt, sugar, white flour

I do still drink coffee (mostly decaf) with a little 1% milk in it, and I usually have 50-100 calories of "extras" in a day--a little feta cheese, a bit of ham in the beans I cooked for the family, a little jelly on a cracker, a dollop of lowfat plain yogurt on a curry dish.

I also had several weeks of indulgence--limited ones for a couple of days at Thanksgiving and more treats for a couple of weeks at Christmas/New Year's.  That stalled my progress in weight loss, but by a week into the New Year I was basically at the same point I'd been a few days before Christmas, and that was okay.

In three months of nutritarian eating, with reasonable deviations, I have lost 25 pounds. I have not felt uncomfortable hunger and always have the option to have more beans, greens, or fruit to help with that. I exercised regularly at the beginning of that time but schedule and weather have gotten me out of it lately. I look forward to more regular exercise in the weeks to come.  And I plan to keep losing weight, because I need to.

Feta Fusion Rice and Beans

I had my first outing to a Whole Foods Market in Pittsburgh the other evening and brought home a number of lovely things, including golden and regular beets I made into a beautiful dish last night with a recipe from Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites: Flavorful Recipes for Healthful Meals. It calls for a simple dressing of vinegar, lemon, and toasted sesame seeds, and the beets were gorgeous in wedges.

This evening I needed a quick supper while grading final exams, so I brainstormed this:

FETA FUSION RICE AND BEANS
Makes 1 serving

1/2 cup rice (I used white but would usually use brown)
1/2 - 1 cup black beans (another color would work fine, too)
1/2 tomato, diced
1/3 cucumber, diced
1 scallion, chopped
2 T. Mediterranean Feta Salsa (from Whole Foods Market--a blend of feta, oregano, onion, tomatoes, kalamata olives, etc.)
2 T. hummus (I used Whole Foods Lemon Hummus), optional

Heat the rice and beans, then toss in the rest of the items and enjoy!

Verdict:  Excellent.  I really enjoyed this satisfying supper.  This includes no more than 1 Tablespoon of feta--I believe in the nutritarian option of using small amounts of animal products to enhance mostly-veggie dishes. Dr. Fuhrman says that if 90% of our calories come from whole plant foods, we can have these variations on the side.

Breakfast Salad?

I am a traditionalist. I like breakfast in its recognizable forms, especially--hot or cold cereal, eggs and grits, waffles, citrus fruits, cheese toast, bagels, that kind of thing.  On a nutritarian life plan only the hot cereal and citrus fruits make the cut.  So I have oatmeal two or three times a week and green fruit smoothies the other days, and that works pretty well.  I've thought "yuck" when I've seen other nutritarians' breakfast reports including leftover chili, big salads with tomatoes and vinegar dressings, and so forth.

What's a girl to do?

Well, I think about what I expect from breakfast--warm comfort or bright flavors--and I go from there.  Several times I have actually made a breakfast salad, based on what sounds good as I approach the kitchen, and one successful recipe, Apple-Carrot Salad, was a good option a time or two--my recipe was accepted on the Member Center recipe collection on drfuhrman.com . 

This morning I probably had that recipe in mind when I put together this one, a nice variation, that sneaks in some green veggie as well:

PEAR BREAKFAST SALAD
(Serves one)

1 cup broccoli slaw
1/2 cup shredded or matchstick carrots
2 dried apricot halves, snipped (optional)
2 tablespoons plain lowfat yogurt or substitute
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon powdered ginger (fresh would be fine, better, probably!)
1 pear, diced
1/2 oz. toasted slivered almonds (optional)

Combine broccoli, carrots, and apricot snips. Top with yogurt and spices, stirred together on top of the salad and then combined.  Dice the pear over the top and stir to combine, then top with the almonds.

Verdict:  Excellent.  The veggies and nuts are crunchy, the pear meltingly cool and sweet, and the occasional apricot bits chewy and sweet. This is kind of like a deconstructed smoothie, with broccoli instead of greens. I added my daily flax seed meal to this, and it blends in nicely.

Clean-the-Kitchen Curry

Since October I have been living a pretty consistent nutritarian lifestyle, but I have also been quite busy. Many times the foods I have made have not really qualified as "recipes," and sometimes I have but I just haven't been able to post them.  I do keep this blog in mind and hope to begin posting more frequently.

For supper tonight I made a spectacular curry, if I do say so myself! :-)  I'm going to type up the recipe as I recall it, for posterity.

Clean-the-Kitchen Curry

2 teaspoons peanut oil (I actually used 1 T. but could have cut it)
3 cubed small potatoes
1/2 cup baby carrots
1/2 chopped onion
3 medium cloves garlic, sliced
12 oz. frozen green beans, chopped into one-inch pieces
1 cup cauliflower florets
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
2 cups stewed tomatoes (mine were from our garden, reduced, with basil)
1 teaspoon coriander
2 teaspoons cumin
1-2 T. red curry powder
small dried hot pepper
1/2 cup light coconut milk (75 calories -- I used 2/3 cup but could have cut it)

Saute potato, carrot, and then onion and garlic in oil, add green beans and cauliflower, then pepper, and when nearly tender add tomatoes with spices and hot pepper.  Near the end, taste and correct seasoning, then add coconut milk.

Serve over rice or lentils, with condiments like raisins, green onion, apple with lemon and fresh ginger, toasted coconut, toasted almonds, and diced tomatoes. (I had mine on lentils and offered the family a dish with roasted pork to add to theirs.)

Not counting the condiments or the base (rice or lentils), the recipe analyzes as follows:
1100 calories
41 grams fat (13 saturated, 11 polyunsaturated, 16 monounsaturated)
175 grams carbs (35 grams fiber)
26 grams protein

Per serving (1/4 of recipe makes a LARGE serving)
253 calories
10 grams fat
44 grams carbs (9 grams fiber)
7 grams protein

RDAs
Vitamin A - 40%
Vitamin B6 - 53%
Vitamin C - 106%
Vitamin E - 13%
Calcium - 9%
Copper - 45%
Iron - 11%
Manganese - 33%
Niacin - 23%
Pantothenic Acid - 21%
Phosphorus - 20%
Potassium - 23%
Riboflavin - 17%
Selenium - 2%
Thiamin - 23%
Zinc - 12%

Interesting that that serving also contributes 400 grams of water, or about 1-1/2 cups :-)

The 2/3 cup of lentils I had this on top of raises the one serving by
150 calories
1/2 gram fat
25 grams carbohydrate (10 from fiber)
12 grams protein

The lentils also add significant (more than 20% RDA of) potassium, phosphorus, iron, and manganese, with more than 10% of thiamin, vitamin B6, copper, magnesium, and zinc.

That's a pretty powerful supper!  400 calories, 10 grams fat, 70 grams carbs (19 from fiber), 14 grams protein

OK, I've analyzed that to death. I just have to do that from time to time. :-)

Green Salad With Pineapple and Dried Tomato

Today I got home late for lunch and had been dreaming up a nice salad along the way, inspired by a visit to a Harry and David store.

GREEN SALAD WITH PINEAPPLE AND DRIED TOMATO
Makes one nutritarian-sized lunch or up to four small side salads :-)

Six cups mixed greens (I had leaf lettuce, spinach, and confetti slaw)
1/4 cup red onion, sliced into rings
1/2 cup fresh pineapple, cut into tidbits
1/2 small yellow (or other color) bell pepper, chopped
2 Tablespoons crumbled dried tomatoes
1-2 Tablespoons juice from fresh pineapple
1 Tablespoon Harry and David Charred Pineapple Relish (or a pineapple salsa)
3/4 cup canned white beans, rinsed (optional)

Combine greens, onion, pineapple, and pepper. In a small dish combine dried tomato and pineapple juice and microwave, adding water if needed, to soften tomato. Top salad with white beans, then tomatoes and relish, and toss to combine.

Verdict--Very good. I enjoyed this thoroughly, and I am sure it would be good with fresh tomatoes and canned pineapple if necessary, or rinsed black beans instead of the white. The relish was leftover from Christmas and had just a nice zing of heat to intensify the salad.  A more nutritarian version could substitute a bit more pineapple and a hot pepper for the relish. In any case, the relish was only 25 calories for that amount, similar to what a low- or non-fat dressing might be, and the salad was lovely without any additional dressing.

AWOL

Just wanted to note for those who read here that I'm going great guns with the Six-Week Holiday Challenge at drfuhrman.com .  I'm spending a lot of time posting there, especially my daily food lists, and though I'm trying some recipes, I just have too much else going on to put them in here.  Progress so far--in eight weeks of pretty dedicated nutritarian principles, I've lost 19 pounds, and that's a boost over Thanksgiving and leading up to Christmas! 

Last night I made a good salad dressing with a big over-ripe pear, 1/2 cup cashews, 1/3 cup Riesling vinegar, and a half a kumquat I threw in at the last second (a bit of lemon would do the trick, too, with rind).  It was very nice! And one quarter of the recipe is a good amount of dressing for less than an ounce of nuts.

In general I have the following:

Breakfast--green smoothie with about two fruits and a handful of kale or spinach OR a half cup of oatmeal with fruit and a few nuts

Lunch--big salad (six cups of greens and such) with  tahini-based dressing or a lowfat Italian or salsa for a Mexican bent, and with beans, or with bean soup on the side, and a piece of fruit

Snack--fruit with nuts

Supper--cooked veggies (usually two different ones, a cup or so each), more beans if needed, a couple of times a week a couple of ounces of fish or  chicken or even beef, and any fruit or nut or grain left for the day

Doctors Discuss "Best Weight"

Arya M. Sharma, M.D., and Yoni Freedhof, M.D. both deal extensively with weight management in their medical practices, and both blog on these topics in intelligent, compassionate, science-based, reality-based ways.  They've now come out with a publication for physicians to be used in advising patients about weight management.  Dr. Sharma is going to be sharing excerpts on his blog, and here is the first.  Highlights in my own words:

• A patient's "best weight" is that weight he can maintain while still enjoying his life.
• Exercise should be encouraged but not to the point of exhaustion, injury, obsession, or neglect of other important things in life.
• If there is no room for celebrations, for resting, for comfort, for pleasure, then any weight management strategy is too restrictive and cannot be maintained.

It seems to me on the one hand that these ideas make sense, and on the other hand that some of us need stricter life guidelines for weight management.  For me, eating nutritarian feels good, tastes good, and IS good for me nutritionally. And I know I have to be very careful with celebratory foods--had just a bite or two of most Thanksgiving treats last week, for example.  But I don't want to come to the dangerous place of calling foods "forbidden."  A little here and there of meat, oil, sweets, even chips is not deadly. However, it can be dangerous to me, since indulging even a little CAN trigger me into losing control.

It's always balance, isn't it, and knowing ourselves, and applying wisdom?

Copyright Law/Ethics and Recipes?

I have been posting cookbook recipes to this blog when I have found them, or their near-equivalents, already posted online.  But today when I was looking up a couple I started to have a qualm about it.  I'd appreciate your thoughts about what to do in such a case.

For example, you can Google the names of the two recipes I made today from the Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites: Flavorful Recipes for Healthful Meals book I bought several weeks ago, and you'll find the exact recipes (one even seems to be a pdf from another version of this book!).

For now I'll just name the recipes, mention the main and interesting ingredients, and give a review. That should encourage you to buy the book, and then I'm doing the publishers a favor, right?

First up is SOUTHEAST ASIAN COCONUT ZUCCHINI, which is a sauteed mixture of cubed zucchini, garlic, turmeric, a hot pepper, and coconut milk, with accents of fresh basil, mint, and lime juice.  It was very pretty and very good (if spicy) over brown rice for my supper. And it used up one of our many remaining zucchini from the summer.

Then I tried JAPANESE SESAME SPINACH, but with Swiss chard, a very simple dish of the steamed green dressed with a paste of toasted and ground sesame seed, sugar, and soy sauce. Excellent.

Third in my veggie trio was my own concoction and something to get in part of my bean allowance for the day:

GREEN PEAS AND MUSHROOMS

6-8 ounces quartered mushrooms (I used baby Bella)
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 12-oz bag frozen peas
2 "ice cubes" of frozen stock

Dry saute the quartered mushrooms and garlic, then add the frozen peas and the stock and simmer until the peas are done. Or overcook and have the family say that slightly-charred peas aren't so bad after all!

Verdict: Very Good.  What a simple, filling staple

Supper tonight was hearty servings of all these items with a half cup of brown basmati rice. Very nice.

Just for the sake of recording it, I'll provide the rest of my food for today:

Breakfast--half cup of oatmeal cooked with pear, a banana, and 1/2 oz. toasted almond slivers

Lunch--can of Amy's organic minestrone soup (180 calories, 6 g. fiber, 6 g. protein) fortified with extra water, 1 cup of home-cooked pinto beans and about three ounces of fresh spinach, with a little garlic powder, dehydrated onion, and marjoram.  I intended to eat all of this but stopped at about 3/4. Also had an orange.

Snack--big Jonagold apple

And that makes a nutritarian day:
At least 1 cup beans
At least 1 lb. cooked veggies (had more like 1.5 pounds)
At least 1 lb. fresh veggies (skimpy on that today! But I had giant six-cup spring mix salads every day for most of the last week.)
At least 4 fruits (I've had about 3.5 today, so if I quit being full before bedtime I'll have a bit more)
No more than 1 cup grain/starch (was a little over today, which can make up for the calories but not the nutrition of that bit of extra fruit)
No more than 1 oz. nuts