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To Your Health: Pomegranates
In Season, Colorful, Tartly Sweet, Versatile and delightfully healthy.
“Pomegranates are a good produce choice for December,” says Marisa Moore, a registered dietitian in Atlanta and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. “They’re in peak season, and you can store them in the fridge for up to two months.”
Consider Pomegranate Chutney: easily made & wonderfully flavored: …try this recipe.
The fruit’s vibrant red seed sacs, which hold a hard kernel surrounded by juice, offer a bit of Vitamin C and potassium, Moore says, and a half-cup serving provides a healthy 3.5 grams of fiber. Thanks to the antioxidants they contain, pomegranates may help fight some cancers and possibly slow the growth of prostate cancer.
Moore suggests adding the tangy-sweet pomegranates seeds to Greek yogurt; tossing them with golden beets, goat cheese and salad greens for a winter salad; or reducing the juice to create a sauce for chicken or pork. Simply prepare as with cranberries:
- one to two cups in a small sauce pan over low/medium heat until tender;
- add a teaspoon of flower or corn starch then reduce heat to simmer;
- put the lid on & allow to thicken (ten minutes or so);
- add a dash of dry agave & few drops of fresh lemon to enhance robust flavor
Part of the beauty of Stainless Steel cookware is retention of Nature’s Honest nutrients. ENJOY!
Pomegranate juice is tasty but not as good a choice as the seeds. Half a cup of juice has [about] 70 calories, just like half a cup of seeds, but most people drink more than half a cup, and eight ounces adds up to [about] 135 calories. The juice contains little to no fiber so much is lost without the seed.
To separate seeds from pod, Moore suggests cutting the fruit into quarters and placing the pieces in a bowl of water. “The seeds will fall to the bottom, and the rind and pits will float to the top.” You can freeze the seeds in an airtight container for up to three months. Handle them with care; they can stain hands and clothing.
Cook healthy, eat honestly, and thrive…
Greasless Fried Chicken
Retaining Mother Nature’s honest nutritive values, tastes, aromas and texture is easily preserved with Stainless Steel Waterless cookware; but the phrase itself, ‘Waterless Cooking’ can just as easily be misunderstood. For example, a question from a new user:
Comments/Questions:
My instruction book for waterless cookware has a recipe for greaseless fried chicken but it says to keep turning the chicken. I thought you were supposed to keep the top on and now I’m lost. How do you cook greaseless fried chicken?
Response:
The beauty of Stainless Steel Waterless pots & pans is that you have the option and capability to use the waterless cooking method if you want to; but that doesn’t mean you have to cook waterlessly. You can use these utensils in ways more familiar to you as you learn and become comfortable with waterless cooking.
We use the lid when searing meats to capture and keep the natural fluids (fats, oils & water) inside the pot or pan. I recommend keeping the lid on during the searing process to optimize the capture of these savory fluids. Once the sear is completed (3 to 4 minutes at medium heat), the lid can be removed to ‘fry’ meats. I again prefer to leave the lid on because doing so reduces cooking time and retains the natural moisture, but it’s not necessary.
I know the waterless cooking method recommends ‘no peek’ cooking—but that’s a common misnomer. Feel free to remove the lid, turn your chicken. Reapply the lid if you wish—but you don’t have to. Without the lid, some of the natural moisture is lost, and foods require a bit more cooking time. But this is not a huge concern. Over time, you will notice the difference between foods cooked without the lid (less moist, tender, savory & flavorful) and foods cooked with the lid on. Simply a matter of befriending your new cookware, becoming familiar with it over time and adjusting your technique to fit your tastes.
In the meantime, understand that you can cook conventionally with these fine utensils (the way most of us learned to cook), but you also have the capability to cook using the waterless method which has a host of tasty & nutritional benefits.
Cook healthy, eat honestly, and thrive
The Milky Roux
Common to a home cook’s basic menu is the Roux—a one-to-one stir of flour & oil mixed with a variety of meat/vegetable stocks or dairy to form the essential base of many a flavorful sauce.
Our kids love the Milky Roux, seasoned with white pepper & real parmesean cheese, ladled over a bed of whole grain pasta and chunks of chicken (spiced during sauté with a dash or grated lemon peel, chives & a leafy spice—summer savory, basil, etc.). Top the dish with fresh peas, lightly steamed green beans, broccoli, or schrooms–the choices are many).
Roux of course serves many a purpose, from flavorful gravies to tasteful thickenings for soups and stews, from chocolate brown roux for gumbo & Cajon bouillabaisse to richly lightened sauces spread over steamed veggies, breads, eggs & more.
In 1902, Frenchman Auguste Escoffier formalized three fundamental sauces—one of which retained a slight reddish tinge and thus the name Roux. A pale yellow roux of whole wheat flour and milk called Bechamel became the creamy white sauce that finds many a use in our home menus.
The beauty of roux of course is the ease of its making. Simply melt butter (oil or substitute—2 tbl sps), add flour (2 tbl sps), stir until the mixture begins to puff with steam. For Bechamel, add milk (start with one cup) and stir during the cure. More, or less milk determines final consistency. For our parmesean Bechamel, a more fluid sauce is desired as the added cheese will thickened slightly.
From the fundamental Roux, a cook can produce innumerable tastes simply by finishing the sauce with different seasonings and enrichments.
Critical to the ease and perfection of Roux is even, sustained low heat. A multi-ply Stainless Steel utensil designed specifically for even distribution of low, sustained heat is the favored choice of professionals and home cooks alike; the ideal sauce pot for creating creamy, richly smooth Roux.
Embrace the journey into the varied tastes of this essential sauce and enrich your menus. Treat your family to an important history in fine dining.
NOTE: The French are commonly granted acclaim for the Roux, but here’s a German recipe from medieval times (circa 1533):
How to Cook a Wild Boar’s Head, Also How to Prepare a Sauce for It
A wild boar’s head should be boiled well in water and, when it is done, laid on a grate and basted with wine, then will it be thought to have been cooked in wine. Afterwards make a black or yellow sauce with it. First, when you would make a black sauce, you should heat up a little fat and brown a small spoonful of wheat flour in the fat and after that put good wine into it and good cherry syrup, so that it becomes black, and sugar, ginger, pepper, cloves and cinnamon, grapes raisins and finely chopped almonds. And taste it, however it seems good to you, make it so.
–Das Kochbuch der Sabina Welserin, 1533, transl> Valoise Armstrong (courtesy of Harold McGee: On Food and Cooking: the Science and Lore of the Kitchen. Scribner 2004 ed. Page 618)
Cook healthy, eat honestly, and thrive.
I don’t have the time…
Healthy cooking doesn’t take more time, or effort, or money. Healthy meals are simpler than that; beginning if you will with recognition of unchallenged habits that keep healthy change at bay.
‘Simple’ is the primary ingredient of healthy family menus—the simpler, the better.
If you have yet to become part of the simple cooking community, here’s a blog we highly recommend: Cook With What You Have. “Herbs to the Rescue” is a healthy start.
Healthy meals are just a change away. ENJOY the change. Cook healthy, eat honestly, and thrive.
Pantry Principle: “…dinners from scratch are a snap”
When last we saw Leslie Cole (staff writer for The Oregonian FoodDay section), she was on her way home with a stack of new cookbooks under her arm and a story to write. Her hunch was that good taste & nutrition shouldn’t take hours at the stove.
Her aim was to banish the tired, the empty and bland from weeknight meals, and do so in less than 20 minutes (revisit Cooks on the GO). What she discovered were some novel, time-saving and nutritious cooking strategies that quickly and easily relieved the rush and fret of weeknight family dining.
Three common principles in the ‘quick & easy’ cookbooks Leslie reviewed are these:
- Cook from scratch
- Cook what you have
- Revitalize your pantry
The backside of these principles, Leslie now reports, is common to many of us on any given weeknight as we look to our pantry for inspiration: “In their first six years of marriage, Dan and Leah Bader’s idea of a home-cooked meal was opening a jar of pasta sauce to pour over spaghetti.” But that’s not a pantry.
The Weeknight Menu: we all get stuck now & then on ‘What to cook tonight?’ Not to worry. Enjoy Leslie’s latest FoodDay article, “The Pantry Principle—thanks to staples on hand, dinners from scratch are a snap.”
The Pantry Principles: Leslie finds the three principles alive & well in Katherine Deumling’s lusciously informative website Cook With What You Have. Katherine’s practical approach to Good Taste will have you rethinking what you buy and put in your pantry (for all the right reasons).
Katherine’s latest March 8 blog (Winter Squash x 4) reminds us that at least four nutritious and easy meals have been resting in the potato bin since November—not the potatoes, but that Squash. Try Katherine’s simple and timely Onion and Squash Panade for example.
…or our Butternut Squash Soup in “Harvest the Nutrition of Fall Squash.”
Katherine’s Advice: revisit your pantry & review your buying habits—healthy foods don’t come in cans, and fresh foods don’t bulge your budget either. Fresh whole food is the best source of natural balance & nutritive complexity. Remember to use cookware designed to retain the wholesome goodness of nature’s honest efforts—Stainless Steel Waterless Cookware.
Cook healthy, eat honestly, and thrive.
Waterless Vegetables: Quick Start Guide to Health
A healthy diet requires multiple daily servings of fresh fruits and vegetables. Natural foods fulfill complex bodily needs. ‘Complex’ because dietary supplements just don’t provide the natural food constituents essential for efficient and thorough digestive absorption of nutrients.
But fresh produce does! Known fact: to efficiently and thoroughly absorb vitamins, the body human requires a variety of minerals–minerals naturally present in fresh fruits and vegetables.
Today’s factory-farm fruits and vegetables contain substantially less nutrient value than produce grown in the 1930’s (80% less studies show). Retain as much nutritional value from the produce you buy and serve to your family:
> raw fruits & vegetables are best.
> boiled/baked fruits & vegetables lose 60% to 80% of nutrient value.
> Waterless Cookware retains 98% nutrient content–proven fact.
Value natural sources of Health and Vitality every day, served as part of a Balanced Diet (40% natural Carbohydrate, 30% protein, 30% fat). Here’s a few Waterless Cooking Tips:
General Directions
- Wash, remove blemishes, retain vitamin/mineral rich skin unless recipe calls for removal
- Loosely fill pan (too much empty space is detrimental)
- Freshen vegetables in water to revitalize moisture and garden crispness (5-10 minutes)
- Lightly drain (don’t allow to dry)
- Cover and cook over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes (create vapor seal)
- Reduce heat to low/simmer, continue cooking…
…for specific vegetable cooking times (& waterless cooking info): > visit ChoiceCookery’s Waterless Cooking Tips/FAQ’s.
RELATED POSTS:
Vegetables: the Minerals of Health
Nature’s Goodness: Honored and Retained
Is Organic Worth It?
Monday Mornings: …a Story Behind the Numbers
Eat Your Veggies?
Veggie Wars
Cook healthy, eat honestly, and thrive
Pork Loin: Served Sweet & Tangy
A Family Favorite dinner: basket of crispy French Fries surrounded by a bevy of thin cut Pork Loin sautéed in molasses and cayenne, served with a dollop of peach salsa. It’s so easy, and so quick!
Ingredients: frozen crispy French Fries, inexpensive Loin Chops with bone (thin cut), unsulphured molasses, cayenne pepper, peach salsa.
1. Fries: heat as recommended on package (oven is good, but we prefer oil-free stove top).
2. Chops: heat a large waterless fry pan until a sprinkle of water dances on the cooking surface (use no more than medium heat). Lay chops on the hot surface and turn heat to low/simmer—sear chops, covered with a vapor-sealing lid for 3-to-4 minutes (please, no added oil, fat or grease).
3. To Complete: uncover, turn chops over to sear other side, adding molasses and shakes/pinches of cayenne to taste. Turn heat off and cover pan with lid. Chops will take another 5 to 7 minutes—adjust cooking time to your preferred doneness.
The unique heat-retentive constitution of quality 5-ply (or 7-ply) Stainless Steel Fry Pans will complete the cooking process without continuous heating. The quick & easy result: tender Chops with a ‘fried-in’ sweet & spicy sear. Chops are ready when the fries are—8 to 12 minutes in all. Use some of the thinned molasses remaining in the fry pan to sprinkle lightly over fries.
Serve creatively, informally—these fries and chops are kid-friendly finger food at their best. Don’t forget to top the chops with peach or berry salsa, and serve a fresh nutritious citrus beverage too–for vitamins, minerals, fiber, and to help a body better manage those hyper-glycemic starch-laden potatoes.
ENJOY.
Cook healthy, eat honestly, and thrive.
Cooking for 40
During my last semester of college, one of my friends thought it would be a great idea to host a big home-cooked meal for our 40-member service organization. Everyone was eager to attend. We divided up the dishes between a few of the senior girls and I wound up making vegetarian matzo ball soup.
The day of the event I borrowed my father’s giant 30 qt stock pot to make enough soup for the crowd. With the help of my roommate, carrots were chopped, celery, onions, potatoes, tomatoes–all simmering in what seemed like gallons of vegetable broth and my special blend of seasonings. Our small home filled with the tangy sweet scent of vegetable and spice.
Everyone enjoyed the hot soup and we all had a blast negotiating the logistics of fitting 40 people into one college apartment.
Yam & Ham Bone Soup
Roasting a sliced ham is always opportunity to plan a host of meals to follow. We carve prime cuts from the bone for separate storage–another ham dinner, breakfasts (egg & ham on muffins or omelets for example), lunch plate sandwiches and so forth. We also freeze at least 2 cups diced ham for savory rice, egg and veggie bowls prepared weeks or months later.
During dinner, the ham bone and trimmings slow cook (low heat) in 2 to 3 qts of water. After dinner, bone and grizzle are easily removed and a variety of veggies are prepared and added to the broth. Split the broth for two soups prepared later: navy bean & potato for example, and a tasty yam & ham to include:
- 4 cups chunked yam (sweet potato)
- 1 cup thick diced celery
- 1 cup carrot (thick diced or baby whole)
- 1 cup snapped green bean
- ¾ cup red sweet onion
Allow soup to stew in a covered pot (@ 20 minutes at low simmer) until yam chunks soften slightly—avoid overcooking. The blend of yam and brushed molasses from the ham roast lends a mild sweetness sure to please—especially the kids. The orange colors of carrot and yam are vibrant and inviting.
Be Creative:
Russet or new red, or a more exotic variety and color of sweet potato for change–from a basic recipe awaits a world of tastes to explore using unique vegetable and spice combinations.
Storage:
Stainless Steel bowls are ideal freezing containers—chemically inert, no metal taste to foul foods, easily thawed by simply placing the bowl in or atop a standard Stainless Steel stock pot for quick steam heating. A few Stainless Steel Waterless cookware sets include bowls with lids–the Chef’s Secret KT28 for example, or consider a complete Chef’s Secret Stainless Bowl Set .
The Bottom Line:
Savor the versatile goodness of a single ham over many different meals, over many different days.
Cook healthy, eat honestly, and thrive.
“…to the Best of 2010″
As we turn this last page of 2010, we raise a toast to those blog posts most read by you. Of tens-of-thousands of reader ‘votes’ (number of times a particular post was read), we revisit and renew the top 15 in order of popularity.
There’s a healthy mix of interests in the numbers, from recipe basics to how-to’s using waterless cooking methods and retention of nature’s fresh nutrient values. Without doubt, VALUE (measured by cost, nutrition, cooking and cookware ease of use) sews your interests together into a vibrant fabric of holistic, healthy intentions.
We hope you have enjoyed this year’s tasteful journey as much as we have. We genuinely invite you to stay tuned as we turn to 2011 and explore the truer values of this bountiful planet, entrusted to us from the very beginning: “…to till and to keep.”
As always: Cook healthy, eat honestly, and thrive.
1. Stir Fry Basics: a recipe and links to uncommonly tasty creations.
2. Summer Fajitas: backyard changes in latitude and attitude.
3. Rice–the long & the short: If rice isn’t turning out the way you want, it isn’t you. It’s the rice.
4. Debunking the Bunk: a real Chef would know better.
5. A Story Behind the Numbers: the honest value of foods
6. Corn on the Cob: waterless cooking tips
7. What’s in a Ply: the unmatched constitution of quality cookware
8. Is Waterless Cooking really Waterless? …what about pasta?
9. Black Rice – the new Brown: vital nutrients and imperial taste unite.
10. Harvest the Nutrition of Fall Squash: value the fall abundance and savor throughout the year
11. Cooks Illustrated Review: …on the best cookware set under $250
12. The $2500 Cookware Set? …what are you really paying for!
13. A Perfect Wedding Gift: …note from Mom & Dad…priceless!
14. Waterless iPhone: …what do the Brits know? (…or more apt, are the Americans coming?)
15. Is Organic Worth It? This post is just two days old, but in 24 hours, over a thousand folks accessed this page. We believe these #’s reflect our enthusiastic embrace of a healthy and genuinely engaged future. Thank YOU for being part of our embrace.
…a last curious note: of all the posts for 2010, our favorite here at the blog didn’t make the top 15. Veggie Wars …the truth never tasted so good!
BE SAFE! Take Good Care, be Humble and of Good Cheer.
Happy New Year
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