Roasted Cabbage

Roasted Cabbage

Just in time for a fall…another recipe from pinterest….I wasn’t kidding when I said it was addicting. This is a super easy side to make for two reasons 1) you probably have all ingredient for the marinade already 2) it takes minutes to throw together. As we’ve have an abundance of cabbage in our CSA lately, we’ve had this several times. It’s a great way to use the “other half” of a cabbage. I find that when using cabbage I rarely use the whole thing and then I need to find something to do with the rest. This has become a “go to” for using up cabbage. For the two of us we’ll have a wedge a piece but for a larger family you could cut the wedges in half and serve another veggie with it. I didn’t change anything from the original recipe I saw online. However, I’ve made it using soy sauce instead of Worcestershire and I’ve left the lemon out when we didn’t have any on hand and it was still tasty! I also think you could play around and add different spices to change it up a bit. The original blogger talks about making it on the grill but I’ve never tried it that way.

Let me know if you come up with another variation!

Roasted Cabbage

Ingredients for marinade

 

1 tsp olive oil

2 tbsp real bacon bits (I used 2 strips of crispy bacon for half a cabbage)

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Cabbage Quartered

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper (more or less to taste)

1 Medium Head of Cabbage quartered

 

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Mix the olive oil, bacon bits, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper to make the marinade.

Marinade with Bacon

Prepare the cabbage. Rinse it under water and remove any yucky loose leaves. Cut into quarters.

Lay each wedge on a sheet of aluminum foil large enough to wrap it up in. Spoon about 2 tbsp of the marinade on top making sure to get it in all the nooks and crannies.

Spoon marinade on top and wrap up.

Wrap each wedge and bake for 20-30 minutes for crunchy cabbage and 30-45 for a softer cabbage. (We’ve done it both ways!)

 

Note: To make a whole head of cabbage I would double the recipe above. The amount above is what I’ve used for a half a cabbage.

Mexican Eggs

Mexican Eggs

This recipe was inspired by many things so I’ll try to be brief. Back in May our local Mexican restaurant, Gusanoz, was made over by the Food Network’s show Restaurant Impossible. Essentially, when a restaurant is failing they appeal to the show to come and make over their establishment to help turn things around. On Wednesday night the show aired on the Food Network and Dr. Court and watched. Let me just say sometimes it’s better to NOT know what’s going on behind the scenes in a restaurant. Anyway, we were inspired to go back last night and see what the “new” Gusanoz was like. As it turns out the food was fresher, the décor clean, albeit a little stark for a Mexican restaurant, but overall a very pleasant experience. I also happened to bring home a doggie bag which leads me to the next piece of inspiration for this recipe.

Our friend and fitness coach Ben Dearman of KDR Fitness had mentioned that putting black beans in your eggs was really good. I’ll admit that the first time he said it I thought he was crazy. (I should give him a little more credit as he has written a chapter on fiber in a book that was just released, Results Fitness.) As we were sitting in the “old” Gusanoz for dinner I watched him place an order for extra black beans to take home and thought I’d give it a try with my few leftover black beans. As it turns out my eggs were awesome the next morning!

Here we are. Last night I had some black beans leftover from my dinner at Gusanoz so I asked to have them boxed up. We don’t usually eat a lot of beans but you can hardly eat Mexican and not have beans and rice (although I never eat the rice). This morning as I was making our breakfast I thought the beans would be fantastic with tomatoes and onions and cheddar cheese. I was right! They were amazing! Check them out and let me know what you think!!!

Mexican Eggs

Butter

Ingredients you need…

Chopped onion

Chopped tomato (I used half of an heirloom tomato I had leftover and some organic cherry tomatoes, sliced in half)

1 Tbsp of black beans

Garlic powder

Cumin

Salt and Pepper

Red pepper flakes (optional)

Eggs

3 Tbsp of cheddar cheese

Melt the butter in a small skillet.

Add the onions and tomatoes and sauté until the onions are starting to soften then add the black beans.

Sauté another minute or two adding the garlic powder, cumin, salt and pepper to taste.

Add your eggs to the pan (I have 2 and Dr. Court usually has 3) and cook through.

Mix in the cheddar cheese until melted.

Transfer to a plate and enjoy!

I just want to mention that I’ve never tried this by just opening a can of black beans and putting some into the eggs. While I am sure that would be good, I think part what makes this great is that the black beans from the restaurant have been seasoned with garlic, onion, cumin, cilantro etc. If you don’t have a Mexican restaurant near you I would suggest making a batch of beans using these thing and then adding it to your eggs. Also,this recipe would also be great with some green or red peppers but I didn’t have any on hand at the time.

The Best Weight Loss Diet Is?

New information confirms what I have been telling people for years.  A low fat diet is bad for your health and a low glycemic diet is the best diet for weight loss.  The recent study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.  For more information, watch the short video below.

Summer Veggie Bake

Hello Summer! It’s been a while since I lasted posted a recipe. I have to admit that I was in a new recipe funk and couldn’t come up with something interesting to share with you. We were in our easy rut of grilling our meat and veggies for dinner, Veggies Scrambles for breakfast and lunch was usually leftovers or salads since we’ve had a TON of lettuce from our CSA. However, in the last week I have tried a couple of new recipes that I am really excited to share with you because they are super easy and delicious. Today’s recipe is a Summer Veggie Bake.  We recently had a version of this at dinner party and I thought it was fantastic so I came home and tried to recreate it. I happened to have a bunch of fresh herbs on hand from other recipes and some fresh tomatoes from a local farm stand.  I think it’s turned out pretty well maybe even a little better than the one we had at the party, if I do say so myself! 😉

Give it a try and let me know what you think. What other veggies could you add to change it up a bit? Herbs?

 

Summer Veggie Bake serves 4

1 large organic yellow squash

2 small – medium organic zucchini

2 tomatoes

1-2 shallots

Fresh basil, parsley, and oregano

Salt and pepper

 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Grease an 8×8″ pan. (I freeze the butter wrappers so I used that to lightly grease the pan.)

3. Thinly slice the tomatoes, zucchini and yellow squash into rounds. Also, slice the shallots so they create thin rings.

4. Chop about 1/4-1/2  a cup each of fresh basil, Italian parsley and oregano.

5. Place a layer of tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash in the pan. Top with some shallots and herbs and a dash of salt and pepper. Continue to layer in the pan until you are out of ingredients.

6. Bake covered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until the veggies are tender.

7. I cut the 8×8 dish into quarters and served a slice to each of us. You can top with Parmesan cheese if you would like.

Note: I would make my slices thinner the next time I make this dish. It still tasted yummy but it would layer a little better and cook more evenly if they were more uniform.

Dijon Walnut Chicken

This recipe is a favorite at our house for a couple of reasons. 1. It’s soooooo easy! 2. It’s so good! This recipe has essentially 3 ingredients that we almost always have on hand making it perfect for those evening when we need a quick meal. I originally heard about it from our receptionist Linda and have since seen a number of versions on the internet and in cookbooks but I’ve found this one perfect for us. I like to make enough to have leftovers because it’s great on a salad for lunch too.

Dijon Walnut Chicken

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Dijon mustard like a Grey Poupon

Walnuts, finely chopped

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Using a hand chopper or food processor finely chop the walnuts. The amount you need will depend on how many  chicken breasts you are using. Place the chopped walnuts in a shallow dish.

Place chicken in a large Ziploc bag and coat with Dijon mustard. Make sure each piece is covered in mustard.

Remove the chicken and roll in the walnuts to coat. Place in a 9×13 pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes.

 

Seriously, it doesn’t get much easier than that! While the chicken is baking, steam some fresh broccoli to serve with it. Top your broccoli with some extra virgin olive oil  and salt and pepper and you have a delicious meal!

Burgers and Grilled Portabella Mushrooms

Every Sunday we try to prepare a bunch of food to ensure that we always have good, healthy options available during the week. We have found that this is a great way to stay on track. It keeps us from eating something that’s not very good for us or skipping meals. One of our favorite things to eat when the weather is nice is burgers. We tend to make a whole bunch of them on the grill because they make great lunches, dinners, snacks…you name it. But, we don’t make plain burgers. I try to load them up with as much stuff as possible and I’ve found that loading them up makes them really good! Now, you might be thinking, “Burgers? But I thought you didn’t eat bread?” We don’t eat bread. We don’t use a bun. Oh, we have all the toppings like pickles, tomato, onion, avocado, ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise but, no bun. I do it so much I forget that most burgers come with buns and usually have to ask the waitress for no bun when I order them in restaurants. Yup, I’m that girl! I love burgers but don’t love the way buns make me feel.

Here’s the thing with my burgers, they are never the same but I think that’s why we love them so much. Let me know what you think. There are tons of varieties to make. Sometimes we add chopped portabella mushrooms, shredded zucchini, sun-dried tomatoes, feta or blue cheese to name a few.

 

Spinach, Red Onion, Garlic Burgers

2 lbs ground beef (preferably grass-fed, organic)

¼ of a large red onion, finely chopped

1 package of chopped frozen spinach, defrosted (I usually recommend only fresh veggies but this works great for the burgers)

4 cloves garlic, finely minced (or as much as you like)

Salt and pepper to taste

 

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.

Mix with your hands.

Make patties. (2 lbs will make ~8 hearty burgers)

Once the patties are made and lying on a platter, sprinkle them with a bit more salt and pepper.

Grill to your preferred level of doneness. (We like ours medium.)

Enjoy!!

Serve with grilled portabella mushroom caps and a green veggie.

 

Grilled Portabella Mushroom Caps

4 large Portabella Mushroom caps

2-4 Garlic cloves, finely diced

Butter

Salt and Pepper

 

Place the mushroom caps on a platter.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Add equal servings of garlic to each cap.

Place ~2 tsps of butter divided 3 ways in each cap.

Place on the grill until the mushroom caps are tender.

If you place your burger on top of the mushroom and load it up with toppings you’ll also forget that you used to eat buns with your burgers!

 

For more information on why we don’t eat buns check out these posts:

The New Food Guide Pyramid

Why Eat a Paleolithic Diet?

What’s all the hype over wheat and milk allergies anyway?

For more information about salt check out this post:

Big Bad Salt- take that with a grain of salt…

Smoked Cauliflower and Beef Casserole

Cauliflower (Photo credit: Island Vittles)

Hi All,

I have some making up to do. Due to a super busy week last week, I wasn’t able to post a recipe so this week I’ll do two.

My sister-in-law sent me this recipe which she copied from one of my mom’s low-carb cookbooks. My bacon-obsessed brother was quoted as saying, “I’m in love with this,” and “it makes me think I’m eating bacon”. That’s not a bad place to start. I made it as the recipe directed the first time. We really liked it but then I thought I could make it even better. Here’s the recipe…I suggest you double it because you’re going to wish you had more if you don’t.

Smoky Cauliflower & Beef Casserole

1 medium head cauliflower

½ large white onion, diced

4 garlic cloves, diced

1 pkg (8oz) cream cheese, softened

1lb ground beef (preferably grass-fed, organic)

4 oz smoked Gruyère, Swiss or any other smoked cheese, shredded

1 tsp garlic powder

Salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 350.

Cut up cauliflower & steam until tender. Coarsely mash the cauliflower.

Brown the ground beef with the onion and garlic.

Add the cream cheese and cauliflower to the beef mixture and stir until creamy. Add garlic powder and salt and pepper to taste.

Spread half the cauliflower mixture in a 2 qt casserole dish.  Top with half of the shredded cheese.  Add remaining cauliflower & top with remaining cheese.

Bake until bubbly (about 30 min).

I usually serve another vegetable as a side preferably a green veggie like asparagus or broccoli.

Let me know what you think. Give it a try and leave a review. If you have a variation, share it with all of us. I know I’m always looking for a new recipe.

Safe and Natural ways to Prevent Heart Disease

Yesterday we brought you a blog on which cholesterol tests you should add to the standard lipid panel.  Today we tell you what to do about them.  The best part?  The solutions are natural, safe and effective.  Enjoy!

Refined Carbs Boost Heart Disease in Women

A new study conducted in Italy showed that women who ate more processed carbohydrates such as rice, white bread

High glycemic foods cause a sharp rise and fall of blood sugar (and insulin). This makes it difficult to regulate appetite, weight and many other health factors.

and pizza have 2.25 times the risk of developing heart disease.

Interestingly enough, this trend was not seen in the men involved in the study.

The study lead by Sabina Sieri of the Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, a national institute for cancer research in Milan, Italy analyzed data from a large, ongoing study of nutrition and cancer risk. The researchers surveyed roughly 48,000 Italian adults about their diets in detail, noting the amount and types of carbohydrates they consumed on a regular basis. (People with diabetes, who have abnormal levels of blood sugar and insulin, were excluded.) Not surprisingly — the study was conducted in Italy, after all — bread, pasta, and pizza were common sources of carbs.

They found that high glycemic foods were highly associated with heart disease in women.  The glycemic index of a food measures the affect it has on blood sugar and, therefore, insulin.  A food with a high glycemic index causes a very rapid and steep spike in blood sugar and insulin and a low glycemic food causes a slow, more gradual effect.

Glycemic Scores

The glycemic index ranks the food with a numeric scale.  It ranks on a scale from 1 to 100 how quickly (or slowly) carbohydrates affect your blood-sugar levels. (White bread scores 100.) Foods that rank below 55 are considered to have a low glycemic index and produce only small fluctuations in blood glucose and insulin levels; foods that rank above 70 are said to have a high glycemic index and tend to cause unhealthy spikes in blood sugar. Along with these spikes of blood sugar come spikes in insulin as well.

This study followed participants for a span of 8 years and found a relationship of refined carbohydrates and heart disease in women but not men.  Why?  I have a couple of theories.

Why Didn’t It Affect Men?

It is known that refined carbohydrates lower HDL levels (good cholesterol) and raises blood fats called triglycerides.  It is also known that this occurs slower it men than it does in women.  It is likely that the period in which they followed the participants was not long enough to produce heart disease in men.  I suspect if this was a 25 or 30 year study we would see similar rates of heart disease in women and men attributed to refined carbohydrates.

Secondly, men have significantly higher muscle mass than women do.  Why is this important?  This muscle mass serves as a reservoir for sugar in the body.  It stores sugar in the form of glycogen for use later.  It does not store days worth of energy, more like hours.  However, it may be enough to offset the effects of higher glycemic foods over shorter periods of time.  This effect, however, is likely minimal over intervals of time like 25 or 30 years.  Eight years is probably not enough time to offset this advantage that men have.

High GI foods are known to be detrimental to health.  Documented studies have shown that high GI foods increase the risk of several chronic diseases including diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers.

If you’ve read this blog before you know that I am not a huge proponent of carbohydrates.  I believe that they should be a smaller portion of the human diet and that when they are consumed, they should be of the low glycemic variety.

What are the benefits of low GI carbs?

• Low GI diets help people lose and manage weight
• Low GI diets increase the body’s sensitivity to insulin
• Low GI carbs improve diabetes management
• Low GI carbs reduce the risk of heart disease
• Low GI carbs improve blood cholesterol levels
• Low GI carbs can help you manage the symptoms of PCOS
• Low GI carbs reduce hunger and keep you fuller for longer
• Low GI carbs prolong physical endurance

What are examples of low glycemic foods to consume?

• Ezekiel Bread
• Lentils
• Raw Apples
• Quinoa
• Barley
• Chickpeas
• Grapefruit
• Couscous
• Raw milk
• Sweet potato

The above list is, of course, not all encompassing.  There are many more foods that fit in this category.  I always recommend, however, that my patients never make any of the above their entire meal.  It should be roughly 30%-40% of their meal.  The remaining calories should be from protein and healthy fats.

Keeping your carbohydrates low in the diet is the best way to stay healthy.  Study after study continues to confirm this.  If you are looking to lose weight and improve your health you should go after those carbs and get the high glycemic ones out!  You may leave the low GI carbs in, but always in balance with protein and healthy fats.

75 Teaspoons of Sugar Recommended Daily for “Healthy” People!

I recently came across a website that promised to tell me how many grams of carbohydrate I needed to consume in one day.  I was intrigued because I was sure that it would entirely overestimate my need for carbohydrate.  If you want to check it out for yourself here is the link.

It began by asking some simple questions.  Age, height, gender, frame size (small, medium or large) and activity level.  Through these simple questions it came up with the number of grams of carbohydrates I ‘need’ to consume in one day.  The number?  376 grams!  Yes, 376.  Just in case you can’t quite put your finger on what this means, let me put this into perspective for you.  Five grams of carbohydrate is equal to one teaspoon of sugar in your blood.  So if I were to consume 376 grams of carbohydrates in one day that would be equal to 75 teaspoons of sugar!

Now, the website does stress that there are different kinds of carbs.  They mention complex vs. simple and that when consuming carbohydrates as many of them as possible should be complex.  While this is true, if you consume 376 grams of carbohydrates per day it won’t matter if they’re simple or complex.  You will not be healthy.

Just in case you still can’t wrap your head around just how much 376 grams of carbohydrates are I have posted a list below of food that would fit into my ‘diet’ if I chose to heed this ridiculous advice.

I could eat…

• 20 raw, medium apples or
• 19 raw, Florida oranges or
• 14 bowls of Cheerios or
• 17 bowls of Special K or
• 25 pieces of whole wheat bread (more than a loaf) or
• 13 whole breakfast bars

I could go on and on, but the list above just shows how much you would have to eat in one day in order to consume 376 grams of carbohydrates.  Apples are good for you, don’t get me wrong.  But 20 apples in a day would not be.  The sugar content would lead to problems down the road for sure.

The website where I found this touts that it is for “Consumer Health News, Information and Resources Updated Daily.”  In a country where obesity is a major problem and the biggest cause is over consumption of carbohydrates, this website only feeds the problem.  The amount of carbohydrates they advise people to consume is not only ridiculous but it is unhealthy.

When I have patients in my office and they want to improve their health I will routinely recommend that they get no more than 60 grams of carbohydrate per day.  People often say, “But don’t you need them for energy?”  The answer is no.  The body is perfectly capable of burning fat for energy.  There is no such thing as an essential carbohydrate. Fats and proteins are considered essential nutrients meaning they must be obtained from diet.

If you want to be healthy, limit your carbohydrate intake and eat a diet that is filled with protein and healthy fats.  The carbohydrates that you get should be from fruits and vegetables.  Keep grain products low in your diet.