Lo Mein Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 8 oz package of lo mein noodles
- 1 medium head broccoli, cut in small florets
- 1 small Bok choy, sliced
- 1 medium/large red pepper, julienned
- 4 scallions (whites & greens) sliced
- Toasted sesame seeds (optional)
- Sliced almonds (optional)
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 1/4 low sodium tamari (soy sauce)
- Sesame oil
- Umami for drizzling
- Salt & Pepper
- Garlic powder
Instructions
Drizzle a little sesame oil in hot pan on medium high heat and add onions and peppers; sauté for about 4 minutes, add broccoli and the whites of the Bok choy; add salt, pepper & garlic powder, sauté and stir for about 3-4 minutes; add the vegetable broth and tamari. Cover and simmer until the vegetables are "al dente" tender. Add the greens of the Bok choy and simmer another few minutes. While the vegetables are simmering, cool the noodles according to package directions. Drain noodles and add them to the vegetables. Stir thoroughly. At this point, you can add more tamari, and the sesame seeds. Stir and drizzle with the Umami sauce and top with the sliced almonds. Serves 5-6
This recipe takes approximately 40 minutes and is a healthy substitute for take-out.
Tamari and Umami sauce can be found in the Asian section of your grocery store. Great to have on hand if you love Asian cuisine.
Quinoa Bowl
Bowls are a wonderful way to make healthy eating easy. You can get creative when making your own bowls, depending on how much time you have, because there isn't a set recipe!
My quinoa bowl is a favorite to make and eat, adding broccoli, chickpeas, onions, garlic, yellow or red pepper. If I make this a cold salad, I use raw broccoli, and add cucumbers and tomato to the listed ingredients. For this bowl, I made a citrus vinaigrette with white balsamic vinegar, 2 tablespoons hummus, and fresh lime juice from 1/2 lime. Salt & pepper to taste.
Building a bowl:
Step 1 - your grain base: rice, quinoa, farro, potatoes, whichever is your favorite.
Step 2 - your vegetable-raw, steamed or sauteed. Add cucumbers and tomatoes if making a cold salad.
Step 3 - your protein: any kind of beans or lentils; if you like tofu, add some cubed baked tofu (marinate it in balsamic vinegar and tamari and bake until crispy), or crumbled *tofu.
Step 4 - savory garnishes like, peppers, onions, garlic. If I am making a hot bowl, I will sauté my onions and garlic and in a hot skillet and then stir in some tamari or balsamic vinegar towards the end.
Step 5 - get spicy: salt, pepper, herbs like fresh basil or parsley, hot sauce, or whatever spices you like.
Remember: this is your bowl, get creative! Get the kids involved and make it fun.
*Tofu tips: for baking or stir frying, use firm or extra firm. Drain well and let it sit wrapped in white paper towels or clean dish cloth.
Colcannon Potatoes (cabbage and potatoes) are an Irish mashed potato recipe and usually served with lots of butter and cream. Here is a healthier alternative to this yummy St. Patrick's Day favorite that I love to make from MonkeyandMeAdventures.com
Ingredients
- 1 large yellow onion, fine diced (or green onions like the traditional recipe)
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 4 cups roughly chopped green cabbage (I like savoy)
- 1 cup low-sodium vegetable broth
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon pure maple syrup
Spices
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 3-5 lbs Russet or Yukon potatoes (depending on how much you want to make)
Instructions:
Prepare mashed potatoes: peel, cut in cubes and cook potatoes; mash using 1/2-1 cup unsweetened plant milk, salt, black pepper, 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1 teaspoon garlic powder.
Mix together the spices & herbs into a small bowl.
In a large, hot skillet, add the diced onions, sauté over medium heat until they begin to soften, stir to prevent sticking (you can add a bit of broth if they stick)
Add the minced garlic and continue to sauté for another minute, then add the cabbage and remaining ingredients, including the spice mix. Simmer for 15 minutes until the cabbage is tender.
Remove from stove. The cabbage should soak up the liquid. Fold the cabbage into the mashed potatoes.
Enjoy!
Healthy Ramen Noodles
Ramen noodles always reminds me of a college dorm room, with students eating the cheapest and quickest food to eat. Ocean's Halo Organic Ramen Noodles contains 290 mg of sodium in one packet, compared to 891 mg in the instant chicken flavored ramen found in the dorm room! Ocean's Halo contains 4 packets per box. I found them in the Asian aisle in my local grocery store. I used 3 packets for this recipe, which made enough for 2 dinners and 2 lunches for the next day.
Ingredients
- 3 packets Ocean's Halo Ramen noodles
- 1-1/2 to 2 cups veggie broth
- 3 scallions, sliced
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 2 baby or 1 medium Bok choy (slice and keep the top greens separate)
- 2 carrots, shaved with peeler
- Low sodium tamari sauce
- San-J Umami with red miso (optional, but gives the dish a wonderful flavor
- Salt, pepper, paprika, turmeric spices
Instructions
Add sliced scallions to a large, hot frying pan. Stir for a few minutes, add the whites of the Bok choy, peas, and around 1/2 cup veggie broth, a few splashes of Tamari, and a drizzle of Umami. Stir and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the greens of the Bok choy, and the carrots. Season with salt, pepper, turmeric and paprika (as much as you like) Add more veggie broth if it looks dry. Meanwhile, cook the noodles according to package directions, drain when done and add to frying pan. Add a few splashes more tamari and umami. Simmer until all vegetables are tender. Add more veggie broth if it looks dry or if you like it more "brothy". Chop sticks are optional!
The Bone Broth Craze
One of the biggest promoters is The Weston Price Foundation and its followers. The organization features a section called “Broth is Beautiful” with many unsubstantiated health claims and recipes. Health claims include that fish broth helps boys to grow into strong men; can make childbirth easier and is a cure for fatigue. The website says that Americans need healthier fast food, and suggests that “brothals” in every town would be the answer to this need. The Foundation also states that some of the best ingredients for making bone broth are hooves, feet, and heads because they are the most gelatinous parts of animals. [1]
A new book by Weston Price disciples Sally Fallon and Kayla Daniel called Nourishing Broth provides even more folklore and is advertised as including the science behind broth’s unique ingredients, and how broth can heal pain and inflammation, improve digestion, reduce allergies, cure Crohn’s disease, help people with eating disorders, and even improve outcomes for cancer patients. [2]
People have been making broth for centuries, but it seems that only recently, and at the prompting of groups like the Weston Price Foundation, that magical properties have been attributed to it. Fallon and Daniel claim that boiling animal and fish bones, skin, cartilage, tendons, and ligaments results in a gelatinous liquid that promotes the growth of collagen and builds strong bones. They also claim that bone broth is a great source of two key amino acids – proline and glycine – which are important for maintaining collagen and healthy tissues.
There are several problems with these claims, one of which is that eating collagen does not promote collagen growth. Collagen, like everything else we eat, is broken down into many things, including its constituent amino acids, and the body uses them to make many things like enzymes and hormones, as needed. Furthermore, many other nutrients are needed to make collagen, and plants are much better sources of those nutrients than bone broth. Additionally, cystine and proline are non-essential amino acids which means that they are synthesized by the body and do not need to be consumed in food.
Fallon and Daniel state that part of the value of bone broth is that it is made at home from scratch, that home-made bone broth is better than store-bought broth, and that food prepared at home is generally always better. We all agree. However, there are much safer and more nutritious things to make at home that broth from the heads of dead animals.
Safety is an issue. While the nutrient content of bone broth varies, it can be quite high in both fat and protein from animal sources. I looked at several recipes online and protein per serving was as high as 16-20 grams, and fat content was as high as 50%. Research is quite clear that diets that include copious amounts of animal protein and fat increase the risk of diseases like coronary artery disease, diabetes, and cancer.
A significantly bigger concern is the potential for lead contamination as a result of consuming bone broth. Animal bones have been shown to contain high quantities of lead, and broths made with those bones have higher concentrations of lead than the water from which the bone broth was made. [3] The deleterious effects of excess lead exposure are well-known, which provides another reason to avoid bone broth.
[1] Weston Price Library
[2] Nourishing Broth
[3] Monro J, Leon R, Puri B. “The risk of lead contamination in bone broth diets.” Med Hypothesis 2013 Apr;80(4):389-390
Do you have leftover rice?
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