Eat the Rainbow

Eat a rainbow of produce each day, that is.  I feel like I've seen that advice in a dozen places recently, so maybe it is the latest catchy phrase in the health and nutrition industry.  Or maybe that advice has been given for many years and is recently enjoying a resurgence?  Either way, the point is that in order to maximize the nutrients in your diet you need to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables, and selecting those options in many different hues will supply your body with a greater variety of nutrients.

Ever interested in excelling in all that I do, I took this advice to heart and started with a very colorful vegetable I'd never prepared before: beets.  Beets are an excellent source of phytonutrients that provide antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and detoxification support to your body.  Seemed like a good place to start in my opinion, and since I found an interesting recipe in my new cookbook I was all the more excited.  When I told my sister I was trying out a recipe from the cookbook she gave me, she excitedly asked which recipe.  Her enthusiasm wavered a bit when she heard the recipe that excited my interest was Braised Beets.  Thankfully she responded that as long as I was eager to try it, she was happy for me.  (I certainly have a very excellent sister!)  I braised the beets in my slow cooker with orange zest, freshly squeezed orange juice, rice vinegar, thyme and a little salt and freshly ground black pepper.  I was a little nervous by the vigorous smell of the vinegar, but I was not going to admit defeat even if the beets turned out rubbery and reminiscent of the slimy cold things you can get on a salad bar.

Something interesting I did not know about beets is they have concentric rings that are visible when you slice them across the middle.  Add that to their bright, beautiful color and at least they have visual appeal going for them.  I paired my braised beets with a tasty salad of arugula, walnuts, shaved Locatelli cheese and a fresh orange vinaigrette (how many colors of the rainbow am I up to at this point?!).  Alongside my veggies I served a skewer of grilled chicken.  Overall the chicken was a trusty, dependable sort of element, but the warm beets over the bed of orangey-dressed arugula was delectable! My mouth was so pleasantly surprised by how fresh and delicious each bite turned out to be.  The walnuts added a nutritious crunch and the Locatelli gave a hint of salt- Yum!  If this is what eating the rainbow is all about, count me in.

Magazine Treasures

People who know me know that I love food.  As a result, happy food surprises tend to come my way from time to time.  One such surprise was an issue of Everyday with Rachel Ray that contained an article on Lidia Bastianich.  I really love Lidia.  I have two of her cookbooks and so the opportunity to be inspired by new recipes and ideas made me excited.  In an article devoted to yummy sauces that deviate from the traditional Italian marinara, I found one for Almond Pesto Trapanese.  For most of you, making fresh pesto in February may not seem ideal due to the availability of high-quality fresh ingredients.  In the heart of winter with one cold weather event after another stopping in for a visit, you can't blame a girl for wanting to eat fresh food reminiscent of summer's bounty.   There is something about pesto that livens the senses and brings beautiful character to so many types of dishes.  This pesto is not your run of the mill basil, pine nut, garlic, parmesan, olive oil combo.  Rather than pine nuts, Lidia introduces almonds along with fresh cherry tomatoes.  And while my cherry tomatoes were not fresh from the Farmer's Market and my basil came from the produce section of the grocery store rather than my sister's bountiful summer plants, this sauce was a delightful breath of fresh air.  Despite the chill in the air, as I whirled the ingredients in my food processor my senses were happily transporting me to warm and wonderful.  You can find the pesto recipe here: http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/recipe/13072_Lidia_Bastianich_s_Almond_Pesto_Trapanese_over_Seared_Chicken/index.html

The article suggests searing chicken breasts and serving the sauce over it, but since I was already so enamored with the sauce I decided pasta would kick up the comfort food rating another notch.  I did incorporate chicken- I poached it, shredded it and then added it in with some lightly sauteing fresh mushrooms and red bell peppers.  I added fresh broccoli florets in with the whole wheat pasta shells during the last minute of cooking and saved some of the pasta water before draining.  After draining, I returned the pasta and broccoli to the pot and stirred in the chicken-mushroom saute followed by the pesto.  It needed just a bit of the cooking water to make it more fluid in the pan.  I topped it off with more sliced basil and freshly grated Locatelli cheese.  Comforting and also refreshing.  A little ray of sunshine on a gray winter day.

  

Cookie Make-over

I'm a runner.  I'm probably not as good as I could be because training tends to be inconsistent no matter how careful my planning is.  One aspect of my training that I take very seriously however, is fuel.  If you put garbage in the tank then your performance is going to suffer.  An avid Runner's World reader, I was excited to read the Baked Goodies article in the February 2014 issue because even though good fuel is extremely important to me, sweet treats satisfy on a deeper level.  Old fashioned oatmeal raisin cookies, so wonderful with their buttery, brown-sugary goodness, seem like a challenging classic to reinvent in a healthy way but I decided to give the Lemony Almond-Oat Cookies a try.   The recipe, along with the other four dessert make-overs in the article, can be found on the Runner's World website: http://www.runnersworld.com/nutrition-for-runners/healthy-dessert-makeovers.

The ingredient list certainly has a promising sound to it- oats, almond meal, flaxseed, honey, applesauce!  There is no oil or refined white sugar, and the traditional oatmeal cookie recipe's two sticks of butter is reduced to only three tablespoons. The smell of the batter is quite delicious and since there is no raw egg, it's okay to go ahead and lick the spoon!  Baking the cookies for the recommended 14 minutes resulted in a treat more like a soft granola bar than a cookie.  Even so, you'll find no disappointment here because the taste of the lemon zest, oats, almonds and tart cherries is outstanding.  What a delicious way to eat your daily nutrients and satisfy your sweet tooth at the same time.