Lovin' the Winter Squash These Days

Roasted Delicata Squash with Sweet & Savory Greens

I love winter squash.  There are so many different varieties: butternut, acorn, pumpkins, delicata, and spagetti squash, to name a few.  They keep forever in your kitchen/pantry/cellar without going bad, they are incredibly nutrient dense, they're so sweet and tasty, and they are really great for you for several reasons.  Winter squashes are a great source of carotenes, vitamins B1, B6, and C, niacin, folic acid, and fiber, which means that eating winter squash loads you up on antioxidants, boosts your immunity, helps fight cancers (especially lung cancer), promotes good vision, and may help fight heart disease.  And you know what else?  Adding more naturally sweet veggies to your diet is an excellent way to reduce those out-of-control cravings for sugar.  I know that sounds a little crazy, but you'd be surprised.  So, how great is all that?  Also, you may not know it, or think it would taste very good, but you can even eat the outside skin of most winter squashes (definitely acorn squash and delicata -- you may find some of the other varieties a little tougher, but give 'em a try) and I love the texture it adds to the dishes.  Also, lots of the fiber and carotenoids are present in the skin, so eat up.  Give it a try using delicata squash in this recipe and you'll see what I mean.  Trust me!  Plus, do you really want to try peeling an uncooked squash?  That's no fun.

I just came up with this squash and greens recipe the other night because I had some delicata squash and I had a beautiful bunch of rainbow chard, and I decided to put those hands together for a healthy, tasty meal.  It turned out great.  In fact, I just ate the last of the leftovers for lunch and was reminded of how rich, savory, and sweet it was.  Yum!  Not only will you get all those health benefits from winter squash, but this recipe also ensures that you're getting your daily dose of leafy greens, which are one of the most important and underrepresented foods in the typical American diet.  Alright, on to the recipe...

Roasted Delicata Squash with Sweet & Savory Greens

Ingredients:

• 1 medium Delicata Squash (or large acorn squash)
• 1 large bunch rainbow chard (or other greens, like kale)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small sweet onion, chopped
• 2 tsp 100% pure maple syrup
• 1 generous TBSP tamari sauce
• ~2 TBSP olive oil
• salt to taste



sliced chard stalks



Making Your Squash with Greens:

(serves 3)

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. Prepare your squash --- (1) wash squash well and cut in half lengthwise; (2) remove seeds, etc. from inside, and set aside seeds for toasting; and (3) cut squash into bite-size cubes (1/2 inch).
3. In a medium bowl, mix together squash, onion, and garlic.  Coat with olive oil, but not too much, and salt lightly.
4. Move squash-onions-garlic mixture to a glass baking dish or cookie sheet and roast in oven for 30-35 minutes, or until squash is soft.
5. While squash is roasting, remove stalks from chard and slice stalks, as you would slice celery (see pic).  In a large pan, sautee chard stalks in a tsp olive oil for 3-5 minutes on medium heat.
6. Add tamari and maple syrup to chard stalks and continue cooking another 2 minutes.
7. Add chopped/torn chard leaves to sauteed stalks, combine, and continue cooking until leaves are wilted (stirring occasionally).
8. Combine roasted squash with chard mixture in sautee pan. 
9. Serve over brown rice (or quinoa) and garnish with toasted squash seeds, if you like.



sauteeing chard stalks with chard greens




Combining roasted delicata squash (beautiful skins, right?) with chard





















Eat Well.  Live Well.  Be Well.  Eat Whole Foods!

Hot Cocoa (Cacao) in the Raw

Sure, it's hot chocolate season and you should go ahead and indulge because chocolate is good for you.  You've probably heard that before, right?  Remember, though, when people say that chocolate is good for you, they're not talking about processed milk chocolate.  They are talking about dark chocolate (70%+ is the party line), or even better than that, raw chocolate.  Cacao comes from the nuts (the seed from the fruit) of the cacao tree.  Yep, chocolate grows on trees.

Raw chocolate (cocoa, cacao) is super-rich in antioxidant bioflavonoids (more than any other natural food tested so far), which can aid cancer prevention, boost immunity, and help maintain healthy blood flow (regulate BP).  Cacao is a great source of important minerals and vitamins including magnesium, sulfur, calcium, zinc, iron, potassium, manganese, and many B vitamins.  It's also a source of important amino acids and neurotransmitters (tryptophan, dopamine, and others), which promote positive mood and mental alertness, alleviate depression, and can postpone the onset of dementia.  Cacao has anti-inflammatory properties and has been shown to be an appetite suppressant.  But remember: eating processed milk chocolate is not the same thing.  You can sit down and eat a whole bag of mini-Snickers bars near Halloween and you just keep wanting more, but you wouldn't feel that same addictive need to eat a whole bag of raw chocolate.


So, by all means, have your hot cocoa, but this year DO IT RAW.  If you've been making your hot cocoa from packets or big tubs of cocoa mix, you are definitely not alone.  I think most people who make their cocoa this way do so because they think it's easier (instant!).  I'm here to tell you that making your hot cocoa from raw chocolate, natural sweetener, and your choice or milk or milk alternative is easy, fast, tasty, and so much better for you and your family. 

At the end of this post, I'll be leaving you with a recipe for making your own Raw Hot Chocolate with these ingredients: high-quality milk or unsweetened almond milk (for a dairy-free version), raw cacao powder, and 100% pure maple syrup.

But first, here are the ingredients lists for the Regular Hot Chocolate and No Added Sugar Hot Chocolate products from one of the most popular hot chocolate mixes on the market.

Regular Hot Chocolate Mix

11 Ingredients:

• sugar
• modified whey
• cocoa, processed with alkali
• hydrogenated coconut oil
• nonfat dry milk
• calcium carbonate
• salt
• dipotassium phosphate
• mono- and di-glycerides
• artificial flavors
• carrageenan

No Sugar Added Hot Chocolate Mix

14 Ingredients:

• modified whey
• nonfat dry milk
• cocoa, processed with alkali
• malodextrin
• hydrogenated coconut oil
• calcium carbonate
• salt
• dipotassium phosphate
• carrageenan
• acesulfame potassium
• sucralose
• artificial flavors
• polysorbate 60
• mono- and di-glycerides

Wow, that took up a lot of space!  And that was half my point.  You don't need all that in your hot cocoa, do you?  I don't have the space to go through each of the ingredients above, but I'll spotlight 3 of them and tell you a little bit about why they're good to avoid.

Cocoa, processed with alkali - Cocoa powder, great.  Processed with alkali, not so great.  Because it is alkaline (on the pH scale), alkali is added to cocoa powder in many processed products in order to neutralize the acidity of the raw cocoa.  The result is a milder, sweeter powder that mixes more easily with liquids.  That all sounds great, but processing cocoa with alkali also reduces the concentration of antioxidants (specifically, flavonols) in the cocoa, thus negating some of the biggest health benefits of drinking your cocoa.  That's no good.

Carrageenan - Carrageenan is a thickening agent derived from seaweed.  Hey, seaweed's great for you, so that doesn't sound so bad at first either.  The problem is that carrageenan in processed foods can easily degrade into poligeenan, which studies have linked to inflammation, gastrointestinal ulcerations, and cancer.  Why take that risk?

Hydrogenated coconut oil - Again, we start with the positive -- coconut oil is great (one of the only saturated fats that you should include in your diet).  But hydrogenated is BAD.  You always want to run, not walk, from hydrogenated oils.  If you don't already know it: whenever you see "hydrogenated" or "partially hydrogenated", you're looking at a trans fat, the worst kind of fat to ingest.  Trans fats are not naturally occurring fats, rather they are created when hydrogen is added to naturally occurring oils.  Our bodies simply don't know what to do with these foreign substances -- it's kind of like eating plastic -- and trans fats (trans fatty acids) have been linked to obesity, heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol and much more.

Now, on to the good news.  Making your own Hot Cacao in the Raw is so easy and incredibly tasty.  Give it a try this Fall and Winter.  You can probably find raw cacao/cocoa powder at your local health food store.  If not, you can definitely buy it online -- this is one of my favorite online sources of raw cacao powder (and other herbs and spices), but you can also buy from Amazon using one of the links up top. 

Hot Cacao in the Raw

(less than 100 calories per serving, when using almond milk; ~150 calories with milk)

Ingredients:

• 8 fl oz milk (high-quality/organic/raw)
  or unsweetened almond milk (dairy-free alternative)
• 1 TBSP raw cacao powder
• 1-1/2 tsp - 1 TBSP maple syrup (to taste)

Making your Hot Cacao:

1. Heat most of your milk/almond milk in a saucepan on the stove to just about boiling.
2. Leave the rest of your milk/almond milk (~2 TBSP) in the mug and mix with cacao powder and maple syrup.  It may not fully dissolve in cold milk/a.m., but once you add hot liquid, it will dissolve just fine.
3. Add hot milk/a.m. to mug and mix to dissolve cacao and maple syrup.
4. Enjoy.

Alternatively, you can combine your milk and cacao in the saucepan, whisk to combine them while heating, and finally stir/whisk in your maple syrup -- you might find that your cocoa blends more easily with this approach.

Eat Well.  Live Well.  Be Well. 

I Got Some Beautiful Bok Choy, But What Do I Do With It?

Last week I showed you pictures of all the gorgeous fruits and veggies I got at the farmers' market, and I promised you some recipes.  I'll start here by telling you what I did with my bok choy.

First off, are you familiar with bok choy?  Bok Choy is a beautiful, Asian leafy green veggie.  It's a member of the plant family Cruciferae (also called Brassicaceae), which means that it's in good company with these other cruciferous veggies: broccoli, cabbage, kale, cauliflower, turnips, radishes, watercress, and arugula, to name a few.  Bok choy has a high water content, which makes it great for eating raw and for stir frying (fast cooking) -- in fact, if you've ever ordered "Buddha's Delight" from a Chinese restaurant, bok choy was one of the main ingredients, so you may already love bok choy without even realizing it.

Leafy green veggies are sadly underrepresented in the diets of most Americans, which is unfortunate because they are packed with much-needed nutrients, as well as many micronutrients (phytochemicals) that help protect our bodies from cancer and other diseases.  Here's a short list of some of the great stuff packed into your dark leafy greens: magnesium, calcium, folacin (folic acid), flavonoids, carotenoids (like beta-carotene), and vitamins A, C, and E (which are all antioxidants).  Good stuff!  Alright, I'll stop with the "eat your greens" promotion now and show you the two things I did with my bok choy this week. 

I had one large head of bok choy and used it to make both dishes.  First, I separated 6 large stalks from the leaves and set those aside for my Bok Choy-Carrot Salad.  I used the remaining stems (~6?) and all the leaves (from ~12 stalks?) for my Stir-Fried Bok Choy with Celery and Ginger.  Both were really great.  I was particularly surprised by the subtle, and super yummy, flavor of the bok choy, celery, and ginger dish.  Enjoy.

Bok Choy - Carrot Salad

Remove the leaves and set aside for our next recipe.

Salad Ingredients:

• 6 large stems of bok choy, sliced thin (kind of like julienned)
• 2 medium carrots, julienned (you could also grate the carrot)
• 2 tiny tart apples, sliced and cut into matchsticks
• 1/3 cup raw sunflower seeds, toasted 

Dressing Ingredients:

• 2 TBSP apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2 tsp raw honey
• salt and pepper to taste

Hmmnn...I got a little spacey and forgot

to take a pic of the finished salad.  Oops.

So easy!  All you have to do is combine all your sliced/julienned salad ingredients in a large bowl.  Mix your dressing ingredients by whisking in a separate, small bowl.  Toast your sunflower seeds -- I just tossed them in a small sautee pan on med-high heat and kept tossing them until 1/2 had browned slightly.  Then...just mix it all together.  Refrigerate.  Eat it up.




Bok Choy with Celery & Ginger

(I got this recipe from a nice book called Greens Glorious Greens.  Check it out if you want to start eating more greens, but you aren't familiar with them and don't know what to do with them.  It's a great resource!)

Ingredients:

• 1 head bok choy (or the leftover leaves and stalks from your bok choy-carrot salad)
• 1/4 - 1/3 inch piece of ginger root
• 2-3 celery stalks
• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 TBSP water
• ~2 TBSP walnuts, chopped coarsely and toasted
• salt (to taste)

Directions:

• Rinse bok choy with cold water. Cut off the thickest part of the stalk from each frond and slice into pieces, ~1/3-inch wide and 3-4 inches long.  Cut the leaves into strips (or chiffonade).  Set aside.
• Slice celery into 1/4-inch diagonal pieces.  Set aside.
• Peel ginger.  Slice into thin pieces.  Set aside.
• Toast the walnuts.  Set aside.
• Preheat large wok or deep sautee pan over high heat.
• Put the oil in the wok/pan and swirl to coat the bottom and sides.
• Add the ginger first.  Stir fry for 10 seconds.
• Add the celery and stir fry for another minute, until color brightens.
• Add the bok choy stem slices.  Stir to combine with ginger and celery.  Stir while the veggies cook for about 1 minute.  Then add the bok choy leaves.  Continue stirring while cooking for another minute or so.
• Add 1 TBSP water, sprinkle with salt, and cover.  Cook for another minute -- the leaves should be wilted, but the stalks will be crisp-tender.
• Remove from heat.  Garnish with toasted walnuts.

So, there you have it.  Two yummy bok choy recipes -- one hot, one cold.  I hope you give them a try.

How do you prepare bok choy?

Eat Well.  Live Well.  Be Well.  Eat Greens.

Naturally Refreshing Drinks (Part II): Jugo de Sandia

Back in May, I told you that when I lived in Costa Rica I discovered my 2 favorite naturally refreshing drinks.  In that original post, I wrote about agua de pipa (coconut water).  And now, given this ridiculous heat wave we are experiencing, it's time to mention the other: jugo de sandia (watermelon juice).

Flashback to April 1996.  It was Easter Break and I headed to the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica with a few friends.  Our plan was to spend the week camping on the beach in Guancaste.  And we did.  The sweltering heat was not part of our plan.  It was easily over 100 degrees every day that week.  There was little shade.  The tent provided no real shelter.  And you can really only swim for so long!  The sunsets were glorious.  Not only because they were gorgeous paintings of reds, oranges, yellows and pinks, but also because we loved nighttime that week.  We would just lie down in the shallow water and stare at the moon.

But the sun always came up again, seemingly hotter than the day before.  We tried to stay hydrated, but it was tough because we had to lug all of our drinking water all the way down the beach to our campsite.  One day I was headed up the beach on a water run (Ha!  run. sure.) and I stumbled upon a little shack.  Several people were hanging around with plastic cups of something red.  They were smiling and laughing.  I wanted that!  Don't get me wrong.  I was happy.  I mean, come on, I was sleeping five feet from the Pacific Ocean.  I was happy.  But smiling and laughing were a long way off -- it was just too hot for that.  Until...

I went and ordered myself one of those cups of something red.  They told me it was jugo de sandia.  Huh, watermelon juice?  Up to this point in life, I had no desire to drink watermelon juice.  The idea of watermelon juice conjured memories of Jolly Ranchers and Tootsie Pops, rather than refreshment.   As I was laying there in a hammock in the shade, drinking my fourth plastic cup of watermelon juice, and listening to the waves of the Pacific Ocean, I thought, "How could I have been so wrong?  This is hands down the best thing I've ever had to eat or drink in my entire life!"  Maybe all those people were smiling and laughing at how wrong they had been too?  Maybe. 

Now I realize that context is king, but I still find watermelon and watermelon juice to be the most refreshing food and drink on a hot day.  I am currently having a big watermelon breakfast.  And last night, after I carved up my watermelon, I poured off the juice into a glass.  I closed my eyes as I drank it, and I swear I could almost hear the waves of the Pacific Ocean.  Good stuff!

So, there's my watermelon juice story, in honor of the power of watermelon to keep you sane during a heat wave.  It's not only refreshing, it also naturally satisfies your sweet tooth, is packed with antioxidants, and has anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties.  If you haven't already, go get some watermelon.  If you want to make watermelon juice, just chop it up, remove most seeds, and blend (or just smash by hand), strain, chill, and enjoy.

Eat Well.  Live Well.  Be Well.  Stay Cool and Healthy with Watermelon.

Have You Had Your Hibiscus Today?

Whether you realize it or not, you probably already know about Hibiscus.  Ever had Red Zinger tea?  That gorgeous red color and distinctive flavor can be mainly attributed to Hibiscus (Hibiscus sabdariffa) flowers.  Even if that tart, cranberry-like flavor is just too much for you, keep reading. You can always add a little natural sweetener (raw honey? stevia leaves/powder?) to get rid of that pucker, and it's worth it.  Here's why...

As the weather has gotten hotter and much more humid lately (except for today, which is unseasonably cool...and I'm loving it!), I have been drinking lots of iced Hibiscus tea.  Frankly, I started doing this intuitively.  I love the taste, I find it very refreshing, and drinking herbal iced tea is a great complement to drinking water to stay hydrated.  As I was drinking my third glass of iced tea one morning, it occurred to me that there are probably health benefits of Hibiscus, so I did a little research and discovered that multiple peer-reviewed studies have shown that drinking 16-24 ounces of Hibiscus tea daily can lower systolic blood pressure, helping people at risk of developing hypertension.  In fact, the blood pressure reduction from drinking Hibiscus tea demonstrated in one study was equal to the typical effect of taking a single hypertension medication. There is also evidence that drinking Hibiscus tea can prevent oxidation of low-density lipoproteins (LDL cholesterol) and lower blood cholesterol levels.  And my favorite piece of Hibiscus lore is that Hibiscus has been used in North Africa as a natural body refrigerant -- that's right! Hibiscus tea can help cool you down from the inside out when you're battling horrible hot, humid weather or hot flashes, or both.

To sum up, Hibiscus tea...

• is caffeine free
• tastes great hot and cold, distinctive and cranberry-like
• brews to a gorgeous red color (see above)
• smells fragrant
• is packed with Vitamin C and other powerful antioxidants
• keeps you cool
• lowers blood pressure and may lower blood cholesterol
• is a diuretic
• offers liver and kidney support

Several Ways to Make Hibiscus Iced Tea

1. Hot-Brewed Iced Tea from Whole Flowers - I have been making my own Hibiscus tea from whole dried flowers.  I just toss ~9-10 dried Hibiscus flowers, 1/4 cup chamomile flowers, and 1/4 cup dried peppermint into a large (8 cup) Ball jar, pour hot water over the herbs, steep it for 10-15 minutes, and strain the tea through a fine mesh collander to remove the herbs.  Let it cool down a bit, then store in the refrigerator.  If you prefer your tea sweetened, you can either add some dried stevia leaves to your tea mixture during steeping or stir in a bit of honey after straining.  If you'd like to try brewing from whole flowers, here's one of my favorite places to buy bulk herbs.

2. Hot-Brewed Iced Tea from Packaged Tea - If you don't have access to dried herbs/flowers, you can make a nice yummy Hibiscus iced tea using a packaged tea like Celestial Seasonings Red Zinger, Wild Berry Zinger, or Raspberry Zinger.  That works fine too.  Just use 1 tea bag per 6oz water, steep for ~10 minutes, remove tea bags, and cool.

3. Sun-Brewed Iced Tea - I haven't tried this yet with Hibiscus, but it can't be bad.  You may want to use more flowers for sun brewing.  Maybe 15-16 dried Hibiscus flowers in that 8-cup Ball jar.  Just add the flowers, pour cold water over top, and place the glass container in direct sunlight for at least 2-3 hours.  When the tea has brewed to a rich red color, remove the herbs, chill, and enjoy.  I once read that you can also add 1-2 TBSP of fresh lemon juice or apple cider vinegar to your herbal sun tea while it brews.  And, of course, you can always sweeten with natural sweetener if you choose.

So, now that you've heard about all those great health benefits of drinking Hibiscus tea, are you excited to brew some up?

Eat Well.  Live Well.  Be Well.