Archive for June, 2008

Healthy diet tips

June 26, 2008 at 4:09 pm · Filed under health, nutrition, summer

Hi, my name is Maggan. Welcome to Maggan’s kitchen!

When H and I were down in New Zealand a year and a half ago, I got acquainted with Patrick Holford’s The New Optimum Nutrition Bible. This bible introduced me to Higher Nature—maker of quality and reliable health supplements.

Let me now introduce you to Higher Nature by sharing their healthy diet tips.

  • Drink plenty of spring, mineral, filtered water, herbal teas.
  • Dilute fruit and vegetable juices 50-50 with water.
  • Reduce caffeine by cutting on coffee, tea, chocolate and some painkillers
  • Reduce intake of sugary foods, sweets, cakes, biscuits, chocolate. Eat fresh fruit instead.
  • Check for hidden sugars in processed foods like sauces soups cereals. Choose unsweetened alternatives or make your own.
  • Add less salt to food or switch to low-sodium salts.
  • Eat more fibre like wholemeal bread, brown rice, whole-wheat pasta, oatmeal, quinoa, millet, corn, flax seeds.
  • Drink less beer, spirits and white wine. Red wine contains potent antioxidants so an occasional glass is acceptable.
  • Eat plenty of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated oils from fish oils, borage seeds, flax seeds, hemp seeds, olive oil, sunflower seeds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, grape seeds, avocados.
  • Cut down on saturated fats in junk food, ready-made meals, takeaways, red meat, sausages, burgers, tinned meats.
  • Avoid harmful trans fats in chips, crisps, food fried in polyunsaturated oils.
  • Eat at least 5 portions of fresh fruit and vegetables a day (1 portion is about the size of an apple)
  • Avoid hydrogenated fats in margarine, biscuits, sweet snacks.
  • Eat fruit and vegetables in a variety of colours.
  • Avoid artificial preservatives, colours, flavourings
  • Eat organic fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry, dairy and eggs where possible.
  • Try milk alternatives like oat, rice, soy, almond, or sheep milk and goat milk products.
  • Snack on nuts like brazil, almond, cashew, macadamia, walnut, pecan, pine, pistachio.
  • Eat a little piece of protein at each meal.
  • Avoid known allergenic foods and drinks.
  • Stop smoking and avoid people who smoke and places with people who smoke.
  • Take daily supplements that basically include a multi-vitamin and mineral formula, Vitamin C, fish or flax seed oil and starflower or hemp seed oil.

The last point reminds me of my recent vacation at Ed’s and Claire’s. Aside from the 4 daily supplements, I was taking additional supplements. I beat Claire in the number of pills and capsules that they take every day. I was close to beating Ed.

My supplements sure took up a lot of space in my luggage. No, I didn’t have smaller containers and didn’t transfer the supplements in plastic bags because the original containers were good and protected the pills and capsules. Well, that’s Maggan travelling as she gets older.

In addition to the above points, I would recommend reading Patrick Holford’s The New Optimum Nutrition Bible and Dr. P. J. d’Adamo’s Eat Right 4 Your Type. These make for good reading especially when you’re resolved in starting to live a healthy lifestyle and you need a push.

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Banana-walnut bread or muffins

June 22, 2008 at 7:17 pm · Filed under baking, cooking, food, fruits, health, nutrition, summer

Hi, my name is Maggan. Welcome to Maggan’s kitchen!

Oops! Don’t read if you’re blood type A or AB. Continue if you’re blood type O or B.

I made banana-walnut muffin the other day. I didn’t get enough and made banana-walnut loaf this morning for brunch. Aside from the difference in shape, the former is sweet bread and the latter is more like meal-bread.

This recipe is taken from Dr. P. J. d’Adamo’s Cook Right 4 Your Type. In terms of health benefits, it is categorized as neutral for blood types O and B and should be avoided by blood types A and AB. I’m and O. I hope H is neither A nor AB.

Ingredients for 10-12 muffins:

  • oil for pans (or paper muffin cups)
  • 2 cups white or sifted spelt flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda (Silly me! I didn’t read carefully and assumed the recipe said baking powder.)
  • 1 cup brown or raw sugar or Demerara sugar
  • For type O 2/3 cup or 157 millilitres canola oil (Ideally cold pressed but the usual canola oil is fine.) For type B, replace canola oil with butter
  • 2 large bananas, cut into chunks
  • 3 eggs, beaten
  • 1/2 cup or 125 millilitres chopped walnuts
  1. Pre-heat oven at 180 degrees Celsius.
  2. Oil the muffin pans. Or use paper muffin cups.
  3. In a bowl, mix all dry ingredients except walnuts.
  4. In another bowl, mix the wet ingredients.
  5. Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl of wet ingredients.
  6. Blend them together by folding. Don’t overdo it to get a smooth dough. (The charm of muffins is the rough texture and rustic look.)
  7. Add walnuts for last few turns with the spoon.
  8. Fill the muffin pans or cups 3/4 full.
  9. Bake 25-30 minutes or until your stick or small knife comes out clean when you poke a muffin.
  10. Let muffins cool on rack.

Now, wasn’t that easy? Well, the baking powder didn’t do any damage. The muffins turned out beautiful. The taste was delightful. I didn’t have baking soda but resolved to fill my kitchen supply for future use.

Jeez! I only had 3 paper muffin cups left. Before I could panic, I was able to improvise. I used up the remaining paper muffin cups and the rest of the batter went into my narrow rectangular mould. Wonderful! I’d have 3 banana-walnut muffins and a banana-walnut loaf. Moist and just-right sweet, perfect for tea or unsweetened soy milk.

This morning’s banana-walnut loaf was the unsweet version. Ideal to spread marmalade or honey on. I’ll bring some to work tomorrow for a good energy kick during our coffee break. A slice or two of banana-walnut bread should keep me feeling full for 4-5 hours.

According to the book Cook Right 4 Your Type, muffins offer many possibilities of combining different dried and fresh fruits, as well as nuts and seeds. I definitely agree. I think I’ll try apple. Then I’ll try cherry. Then blueberry. Maggan’s planning the future. The book further suggests to feel free to substitute other fruits, nuts and seeds according to your blood type.

Note: For wholegrain banana bread, replace 1 cup white or sifted spelt flour with 1 cup whole-spelt flour. This means, use 1 cup white or sifted spelt flour plus 1 cup whole-spelt flour.

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Bulgur salad with dried fruits

June 14, 2008 at 6:02 pm · Filed under appetizer, cooking, food, salad, summer, vego

Hi, my name is Maggan. Welcome to Maggan’s kitchen!

What is “new year” in Persian or Iranian? This was the contest by the magazine Food and Wine in March. I e-mailed the correct answer to the magazine Food and Wine and won 3 cookbooks: Party Cakes, Table Arrangements and Maria’s Persian Buffet. I received my prize 2 weeks ago. Thank you!

I still have a lamb hangover. In one of the later issues of Food and Wine in May, there is a salad recipe that is perfect for grilled lamb kebabs. Remember my baked lamb sausages? I imagine they’ll make a great couple too. And I’m almost certain that nobody will complain if this bulgur salad is paired with grilled fish and other seafood. If you can do without protein, eat the salad plain.

Here is the recipe for the north African-inspired bulgur salad with dried fruits. It may be luxurious with the dried fruits but, hey, we deserve some luxury every now and then.

Ingredients for 4 persons

  • 2 decilitres bulgur (Choose the coarser or big-grain kind.)
  • 1 tablespoon turmeric
  • 1 decilitre parsley
  • .5 decilitre extra virgin olive oil (I found this too much. I would suggest to use only half this amount.)
  • fresh juice from 1 whole lemon
  • 100 grams dried figs, cut into pieces
  • 50 grams dried cranberries
  • 100 grams whole roasted almonds
  • 50 grams yellow or golden raisins
  • 1 clove garlic, pressed
  • salt and black pepper for seasoning
  1. Cook the bulgur according to the instructions on the pack with added turmeric.
  2. When the bulgur is done, strain it in the collander and lightly rinse with cold water. (This is to wash some of the color from the turmeric, I guess).
  3. Let the bulgur drip and dry because wet salad is not fresh to the taste.
  4. In a big salad bowl, mix the bulgur with the rest of the ingredients.

Serve this bulgur salad with a mix of greens on the side and lamb kebab or sausages on top. Now, that looks like a real winner. Healthy, lovely and delish.

I wonder if I won the second contest that I joined and if the prize, a hand-carry luggage, is just delayed. I’m entering a third one, by the way.

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From Moroccan burgers to lamb sausages

June 12, 2008 at 5:11 pm · Filed under baking, cooking, food, meat, summer

Hi, my name is Maggan. Welcome to Maggan’s kitchen!

Tuesday, 10 June, around 3:45 PM. Breathe in 2-3-4-5-6-7-8. Breathe out 2-3-4-5-6-7-8. Breathe in 2-3-4… If it’s not obvious, I’m catching my breath. You see, I just came from HomeBuy for the second time to get the pots of herbs that I had bought and forgotten to pack in my earth-friendly Bliss bag. 5-6-7-8. Breath out 2-3-4-5-6-7-8.

Present. Two weeks ago, HomeBuy had a special on lamb mince. H and I didn’t pass up on that chance and bought 2 packs at a kilo each. The other day, I used the second pack to make Moroccan burgers—the very reason for the pots of cilantro, parsley and water cress. The water cress didn’t go into the lamb. We ate it with our salad.

I had been studying the Morrocan burger recipe the day before the day before I was going to make it. The recipe was published in ICA’s magazine several years ago and it had been yellowing in my kitchen files. Never done it. And so the longer I looked at the ingredients list, the stronger the urge to make and taste it.

Ingredients for 4 portions

  • 1 small yellow onion
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 cm fresh ginger
  • 2-3 tablespoon fresh coriander (also called cilantro) or parsley ( I used both. The more the merrier.)
  • 6-8 pieces dried apricots
  • 400 grams lamb mince or ground lamb meat (may be replaced by beef mince or ground beef) (I used 1 kilo of lamb mince, which means increased ingredient measurements by 2.5.)
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 1 teaspoon coriander (I thought I didn’t need this since I already had fresh coriander.)
  • half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • freshly ground black pepper for seasoning
  • 4 pieces pita bread
  • iceberg lettuce
  • tomato slices
  • cucumber slices

They taste good, don’t they? Mild spice, fresh herbs and fruit sweetness. It couldn’t get any better, I thought.

The morning I was going to make Moroccan burgers, I switched the plan. The recipe asks for a grill pan which I didn’t have. And no, it’s not the same as a regular flat frying pan. Another thing that bothered me was the frying. I didn’t want to fry, especially lamb mince since it already had 15% fat in it.

I felt a light bulb switch on top of my head. Then I knew what to do with the lamb mince. I’d bake my lamb burgers instead. However, In terms of form, I didn’t think baked patties would look good. And so I decided that instead of patties, I’d roll them into small sausages, like the good-looking fresh lamb sausages I had seen in New Zealand that I never had the chance to taste for many reasons. 

Procedure

  1. Pre-heat the oven at 175 degrees Celsius or higher, but not more than 200 degrees Celsius. You have a choice between moderate baking or slightly aggressive baking. The difference will be the baking time.
  2. Oil the baking dish  or form with olive oil or any cooking oil. Set aside.
  3. Peel and chop the onion, garlic and ginger.
  4. Put them in the food processor.
  5. Add in the coriander or parsley or both.
  6. Chop them finely using the food processor.
  7. Cut the  dried apricots into small pieces. (My machine is vintage and cute. I chopped the apricots manually. From hereon, I did everything manually.)
  8. Put them in the food processor.
  9. Add the de-frosted lamb mince, spices, salt and pepper.
  10. Blend all the ingredients using the food processor. (Again, vintage. I did this manually in a large bowl.)
  11. Shape the mince into 10 or 12 balls.
  12. With the palm of both hands, roll each ball into a long oval, like a sausage.
  13. Lay them in the oiled baking dish or form.
  14. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes.
  15. Take the dish out of the oven.
  16. Turn the sausages so the bottom ones get the chance to be on top.
  17. Bake for 10-15 minutes only as the top side is already half done.

Taking a cue from my Italian meatballs, I added .5 decilitres of water to my mixture of lamb mince. This makes the meatballs, or sausages in this case, juicy when done.

While from my experience in making meatloaf, I learned that working the meat too much will result in a compact meatloaf when done. Neither soft nor juicy. This is, of course, when blending the ingredients manually, which I always do. However, when blending the ingredients in the food processor, I have no idea if the machine can ”work the meat too much.” 

Well, H and I were very pleased with the result of the Moroccan burgers that had become lamb sausages. Tender, juicy and tasty. We stuffed our pita breads with these warm lamb sausages, salad, tomatoes, tzatziki.

Whatziki? That’s tzatziki. That was what became of the cucumber. Well, like hamburgers or any sandwich, our pita sandwich needed a mild-tasting vinegar-less dressing. So, mayonnaise, chili sauce and ketchup were out. Besides, these condiments would ruin the mildness of the recipe.

Tzatziki is basically made of unflavoured cooking yogurt with diced cucumber without the seeds. Spoon off and throw the seeds. Or try rubbing the seeds on your face like a natural facial wash to feed the skin as bonus  treat for the skin.  

Ingredients for tzatziki

  • 2.5 decilitres yogurt
  • 1 medium size cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • dash of dried tarragon for seasoning
  • pinch of salt
  1. Pour the yogurt in a bowl.
  2. Add the seeded and diced cucumber.
  3. With a garlic crusher, crush the garlic and add into the bowl.
  4. Season with salt and tarragon.

Ensure you make the tzatziki at least 1 hour before serving time to ensure a more flavourful yogurt. Tastes better.

I just had 1 pita sandwich. I swear and cross my heart. My second helping was naked lamb sausages with all the trimmings—salad, tomatoes and tzatziki. Party! No, H and I didn’t eat the whole kilo of lamb mince (36 baked lamb sausages). 22 pieces are in the freezer for a meal (or 2 meals) next week.

Now, here’s a math challenge. How many lamb sausages did Maggan and H have?

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The basics of Omega oils 3, 6 and 9

June 7, 2008 at 7:32 pm · Filed under health, nutrition, summer

Hi, my name is Maggan. Welcome to Maggan’s kitchen!

Not all fats are bad. The truth is, we should get more good fats or oils, such as fish oils and certain vegetable oils. These healthy oils are also known as omega fatty acids. Bad fats or oils, on the other hand, are known as saturates and trans fats.

Trans fats are commonly contained in most processed foods as hydrogenated fat or oil from vegetable or non-vegetable sources. They are in the ingredients list of cookies, biscuits, chips, chocolates, frozen pies, frozen foods and other foods that have a long shelf life.

The problem is, we get more of the bad fats than the good ones in the modern diet. It takes more effort to ensure that we’re getting the right balance of good oils. It also costs more.

So what are these omega oils or omega fatty acids really? How are they beneficial to our health and well-being?  Christine Morgan explains about omega oils in an article published in the May 2008 issue of Nutrition News. I’d like to share it with you.

Omega-3 oils

These are polyunsaturate fatty acids. There are 3 types of Omega-3 oils: alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

ALA is an essential fatty acid. Our bodies cannot make it. The only way to get it is by eating ALA-rich foods and supplements. Once in our system, a certain amount of the ALA is converted to EPA and DHA.

ALA comes from certain plant foods, the best source being flax seeds or flax seed oil. Other sources include rape seed oil, soya bean oil, pumpkin seeds and pumpkin seed oil, walnuts and walnut oil.

While some ALA is converted to DHA and EPA, both DHA and EPA can be directly obtained by eating oily fish such as salmon, fresh tuna, mackerel, sardines, herring, trout, and anchovies.

Scientists believe that ALA has anti-inflammatory properties. It blocks the formation of compounds in the body that promote inflammation, which is linked to many chronic illnesses including heart disease. Several clinical studies suggest that DHA and EPA are essential for a healthy heart. They are also vital for pregnant women for the development of the baby’s eyes and brain. DHA and EPA may help relieve arthritis and menstrual pain.

Omega-6 oils

These are polyunsaturates like their cousin Omega-3. There are different types of Omega-6 oils: linoleic acid (LA) which is an essential fatty acid that our bodies cannot produce, gamma-linoleic acid (GLA) which is converted from LA, and arachidonic acid (AA) which is also converted from LA.

LA is found in seeds and nuts such as hemp and pumpkin seeds and oils. It is also found in sunflower oil, corn oil and sesame oil. LA’s daughter, the GLA, is found in evening primrose, blackcurrant and borage, also known as starflower. LA’s second daughter, the AA, comes from egg yolk and certain meats.

GLA and AA are believed to produce prostaglandins. These hormone-like substances are important for hormone balance, nerve function, immunity, circulation and healthy skin. GLA can help prevent nerve disease in diabetics, as well as dry-eye conditions. In women, GLA help relieve pre-menstrual syndrome-related breast tenderness. Many women take GLA supplements in the from of evening primrose oil or starflower oil.

Omega-9 oils

These are monosaturated oils unlike their cousins Omega oils 3 and 6. The most important Omega-9 oil is the oleic acid.

Oleic acid is abundant in olive oil, rape seed oil and peanut oil. It is also rich in peanuts, cashews, macadamia nuts and avocados. Starflower oil or borage oil contain oleic acid besides mega-6 oil GLA.

Oleic acid is important for heart health because it can help lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries, and stroke. Olive oil, which is rich in oleic acid, when taken moderately has been shown in studies to help lower blood pressure. This is the reason why the Mediterranean diet, which uses olive oil,  is believed to be healthy for the heart.

Other studies suggest that oleic acid may play a part in protecting women against breast cancer by the way it acts on a gene involved in the development of the disease.

Omega oils are sensitive to heat. Heat kills the essential fatty acids in the oils so it is not ideal to use them in cooking. The best and surest way to get the omega oil nutrients in our bodies is by using cold-pressed oils (pumpkin, walnut, rape seed, sunflower, flax seed) in our salad dressing, eating nuts and seeds we’re not allergic to or taking omega oil supplements.

Ensuring that we eat foods that are rich in omega fatty acids can hurt our budget. It eats our wallets. Cold-pressed oils, omega oil supplements, fresh salmon are not cheap. It also takes time to get used to these foods. I personally suggest to incorporate gradually the omega oil-rich foods that suit your taste into your regular fare. Don’t make a total switch overnight. Ouch!

When you’re not craving for chips but still want to eat something while watching a good movie, try some nuts. Chips are not cheap anyway. Make your own salad dressing using cold-pressed oils. Have a meal of salmon at least once a week. Spending on a diet rich in omega fatty acids cannot be any more expensive than spending on medications to manage a chronic illness.

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