Carefree Gourmet

Well, researching the benefits of cardamom has been a bit challenging. There are all sorts of claims, from improving digestion, relieving gas, stimulating metabolism, treating halatosis…. the list goes on. But only two sources of information appeared credible to me. Dr. Perricone simply stated that cardamom provided anti-oxidant protection. But he never stated how much you needed to consume. James A. Duke, PHd, recommends cardamom for treating a sore throat or laryngitis. This is because cardamom is the richest source of cineole which is both anti-laryngitic and anti-pharyngtic. Ok, I had to look those words up! They simply mean good for a sore throat or laryngitis! One article also suggested that cineole helps break up chest congestion. So I suppose the best way to take cardamom if you have a sore throat is through tea. Although a chai latte may sound good, dairy is never recommended when you have a throat condition or a cold!

I keep cardamom on hand for my hot spiced chai drink and rice pudding. If you would like recipes using cardamom seeds, sign up for our newsletter at www.carefreegourmet.com and once you do, you will have access to all of our recipe archives. Check out the January 2010 Indian Flavors party.

Garbanzo beans (also known as chickpeas or Bengal gram) are one of the three most important pulses in the world! They are used extensively in the cuisines of many countries. I have enjoyed chickpeas in chili, stews, curries, on salads and most especially made into hummus. In fact, I have included my recipe for hummus below. I spread it on everything and am delighted that chickpeas are so good for you!

They have been around for over 7,500 years traced back to Hacilar, Turkey. The made their way into the Mediterranean in 4000 BCE and on to India by 2000 BCE. They were brought to the New World by the Spanish and Portuguese but never became as popular there as in other countries.

A chickpea is a legume and an excellent source of the trace mineral manganese, which is an essential nutrient for both energy production and antioxidant defenses. They are also a low-glycemic-index food (which means they won’t spike sugar levels in the blood which is especially important for diabetics or those on their way to becoming diabetic). They are rich in folic acid, potassium, zinc, iron, folate and soluble fiber. In fact, one cup of chickpeas will give you 15 grams of fiber. This little legume gets 25% of its calories from protein and is high in calcium and vitamin C. They are low in fat, calories and sodium. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Guide Pyramid has chickpeas in two important places: the first is with high-protein foods such as meat, eggs, poultry and fish, and the second is with vitamin-rich vegetables. Chickpeas protect against heart disease, colon cancer, and circulatory problems. Who knew chickpeas were so good for you??

So toss some chickpeas into your soup, stews, salads, casseroles and curries. Better yet, make a homemade hummus that you can season to your tastes. Serve on sprouted tortillas, fresh veggies or pita bread.

Ingredients

4 cups garbanzo beans, drained
1/4 cup tahini paste (ground sesame)
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon chopped jalapeño chile (optional)
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1 tablespoon sea salt

Although you can use a blender to make hummus, I think you can blend it better in a food processor. You will really want to smooth out the consistency and break down the garbanzo beans. Mix all the ingredients together. I play with the tahini and olive oil to get the right consistency and taste. Be careful not to put in too much lemon, don’t just squeeze it in, measure. Otherwise you will be fighting that tart flavor. Store hummus in an airtight container. I prefer to use glass storage containers. When serving, top with more olive oil and paprika.

Here is a recipe that incorporates the following superfoods:

- Sweet Potatoes
- Tomatoes
- Ginger
- Turmeric
- Alums (Onions)

This recipe was based on a recipe found in the November 2009 issue of Cooking Light. I usually make a vegetarian curry with coconut milk. This recipe intrigued me because of the beautiful colors. Of course, I had to adapt it to my taste and preferences. Which is what you should do as well! I served it over Quinoa (Keen Wa) and Buckwheat Groats. I don’t eat white rice, but if you do, feel free to serve it over the traditional Basatmi rice.

Sweet Potato Chicken Curry
2 tsp of hot curry powder (you can get mild too!)
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp ground red pepper
1 bay leaf
2 TBL grape-seed oil
1 1/2 lbs organic free range chicken breast cut into 1 inch pieces
2 medium white or yellow onions sliced
2 tsp peeled, minced fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves
5 cups of organic chicken or vegetable stock
1 (14.5 ou) can of diced tomatoes, including liquid
2 cups (about four small) sweet potatoes (the orange ones add better color) cut into 1/2 cubes
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
3/4 cup of frozen peas
1 TBL fresh lemon juice

Combine the spices and place in a small bowl (curry, coriander, turmeric, black pepper, red pepper & bay leaf)

Heat oil in a heavy sauce pan or dutch oven over medium heat. Add the chicken and brown (about 5 minutes), stirring occasionally. Remove chicken from pan and reduce heat to medium. Add the sliced onions and cook until tender (about 10 minutes), stirring frequently. Increase heat to medium high add chicken, ginger and garlic stirring continually for 1 minute then add the curry spice mixture and cook 2 more minutes, continuing to stir. Add broth and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to simmer and add the sweet potatoes and chickpeas cook for 45 minutes. Add the frozen peas and cook 5 minutes. (Don’t over cook the peas, they turn an ugly color and shrivel up!). If you are not going to serve this right away, wait to add the peas until you are ready to serve. Just reheat the chicken curry and then add the peas to heat through. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice.

While curry is cooking, check the cooking direction on your quinoa, buckwheat groats or rice and time them to be ready when the curry is finished.

Enjoy!

I love cinnamon. Once my Mom taught us how to make cinnamon toast I was hooked! And it has been a staple in my pantry ever since. I grew up thinking cinnamon only went into sweet dishes; cookies, rice pudding, mulled ciders etc. But alas, it is used widely in savory dishes in other cuisines.

Cinnamon dates back to 2000 BCE, making it one of the first known spices. It originated in Sri Lanka and was burned as incense, taken medicinally and used in the embalming process. And of course, is widely used in culinary fare. Cinnamon is the bark of the cinnamon tree and is cultivated by pruning a tree that can grow up to 56 feet severely producing numerous shoots that are then stripped of their bark.

Again, I was shocked to learn about the medicinal value in cinnamon, especially for people with diabetes. Research has shown that cinnamon stimulates insulin receptors and helps increase the cells ability to use glucose. Now this is exciting for people suffering from adult-onset diabetes where cinnamon may significantly normalize their blood sugar levels. According to Dr. Perricone, less than half a teaspoon per day of cinnamon reduces blood sugar levels in those with adult-onset diabetes. It has also been found to reduce cholesterol and triglyceride levels as well. Cinnamon also helps to reduce inflammation, is effective in preventing oxidation, and is used by ayurvedic and traditional Chinese medicine in treating colds and flu due to its warming qualities. Simply smelling cinnamon enhances the brain’s cognitive processing, including attention, memory, and visual-motor speed, (Dr. Perricone, The Perricone Promise).

Its getting a little chilly on this January afternoon…. a chai tea latte with a cinnamon stick sounds really good right now. I need to go find cardamon pods……

Ever have heartburn? That terrible burning sensation? Or how about nausea? Ginger is another ingredient in recipes that I never knew had so many health benefits. According to Dr. Andrew Weil, ginger can also be taken to treat arthritis, bursitis; motion sickness, relief of chest congestion; and is a natural anti-inflammatory agent. It has also been documented to successfully treat bacterial dysentery, malaria, coughs and migranes. Ginger extracts have been found to improve blood cholesterol levels, elevated low blood pressure and prevent cancer in animals. It has also been found helpful in treating pain and fever as well and colds and flu viruses. (Edible, National Geographic)

Historically, ginger has been used in cooking and for medicinal purposes dating back to ancient civilizations. Its use has been documented back to 650 BCE (according to Edible, National Geographic). Numerous cultures embraced this rhizome including the Egyptians, Roman and Greek empires as well as the peoples of Southeast Asia and Ancient China. In fact, during the 13th and 14th centuries it was one of the most commonly traded spice across Europe. And even though ginger is one of the few spices to have virtually all of its medicinal claims verified, American doctors tend to be unaware of these studies.

When you were a child, did your mom give you ginger ale when you stomach bothered you? See, your mom did know best! Be sure to look for ginger ale with ginger in it. If you can’t find it, you can make your own with ginger syrup and seltzer water. Ginger comes in many forms including crystallized , powdered , honey based syrups, and fresh all of which have health properties. Dried ginger actually has more powerful anti-inflammatory properties than fresh. Therefore, you might want to use more than one form of ginger in your diet. I especially like ginger tea and a local Thai restaurant that my friend Lori and I frequent make a wonderful ginger tea. I have tried making it at home, but it never tastes quite a good! I nibble on crystallized ginger, although it can be quite pungent, it satisfies the sweet tooth. I cook with fresh ginger and find that I keep a piece in my refrigerator. It will last quite some time! Check out our sweet potato chicken curry dish which includes ginger. Yum!

While ginger is non-toxic and you cannot consume too much, be aware of taking the powdered form on an empty stomach. According to Dr. Andrew Weil, it may actually cause heartburn!

How can a spice be a superfood? Why does Dr. Andrew Weil, Dr. Nicholas Perricone, and Oprah all praise this little spice best known for seasoning up curry dishes and making our well known hot dog topping, mustard, yellow? It is one of the best natural anti-inflammatories you can consume right next to ginger! And in fact, it is part of the ginger family. It is Turmeric!

It has an interesting history, dating back 4000 years used as a coloring for fabric, paper, wood, skin and food. It was first used by the Vedic culture in India as a culinary spice for religious ceremonies. It was used as a substitute for the very expensive saffron spice, even though it is not in the same family of spices strictly because it was both yellow and cheap! Medicinally it has been used by ayurvedic physicians to treat gastrointestinal and inflammatory ailments as well as applied topically to enhance skin health and tone. Topical ointments have been used in India to “treat joint pain, bruises, and a variety of skin disorders including infections, inflammation, blemishes, wounds, acne, boils, burns and eczema.” (Dr. Nicholas Perricone, The Perricone Promise

One of the special components of turmeric that is the antioxidant wonder is curcumin, which scientist refer to as curcuminoids. Curduminoids may prevent oxidation of blood fats better than synthetic antioxidant BHT based on test tube studies. Turmeric also contains a peptide called turmerine, a free-radical scavenger. And in studies where animals were fed curcuminoids, they found higher blood levels of glutathione-S-transferase, a key player in the body’s detoxification system.

What I found even more remarkable is that James A Duke, PhD, a highly respected ethnobotanist, identified turmeric as a better solution to preventing and alleviating serious diseases of Alzheimer’s, Arthritis, and Cancer than traditional pharmaceuticals!

* Alzheimer’s disease: Duke found more than 50 studies on turmeric’s effects in addressing Alzheimer’s disease. The reports indicate that extracts of turmeric contain a number of natural agents that block the formation of beta-amyloid, the substance responsible for the plaques that slowly obstruct cerebral function in Alzheimer’s disease.
* Arthritis: Turmeric contains more than two dozen anti-inflammatory compounds, including six different COX-2-inhibitors (the COX-2 enzyme promotes pain, swelling and inflammation; inhibitors selectively block that enzyme). By itself, writes Duke, curcumin – the component in turmeric most often cited for its healthful effects – is a multifaceted anti-inflammatory agent, and studies of the efficacy of curcumin have demonstrated positive changes in arthritic symptoms.
* Cancer: Duke found more than 200 citations for turmeric and cancer and more than 700 for curcumin and cancer. He noted that in the handbook Phytochemicals: Mechanisms of Action, curcumin and/or turmeric were effective in animal models in prevention and/or treatment of colon cancer, mammary cancer, prostate cancer, murine hepatocarcinogenesis (liver cancer in rats), esophageal cancer, and oral cancer. Duke said that the effectiveness of the herb against these cancers compared favorably with that reported for pharmaceuticals. Dr. Andrew Weil, DrAndrewWeil.com

There is so much more information about the significant value of turmeric on the body that I could practically write a book! But I can’t, Pam and I already are busy doing just that! Bottom line, you want to add turmeric to your spice rack and USE it!! Our curry recipe is just one of the many recipes available that use this spice. Google it and get cooking!

Chicken, chicken and more chicken. For those of us who gave up on red meat, chicken became the source of our protein. It is lean, once the external fat is removed, can be prepared a bagillion different ways (yes, that is a made up word), can be found at any market and has been touted by the “experts” as a much better choice than beef, pork, duck etc. The only protein to get better reviews was fish. But that’s another post.

Not too long ago, however, chicken came under fire. Large corporations wanted bigger chickens at a faster pace and less loss. So they required their farmers who supplied with the chickens to use hormones and antibiotics. At first, everyone was excited! The consumers too! Why? Because they could have fat, juicy chickens that were cheap! And so, chicks were crammed into small houses and cages, fed hormones and given antibiotics. Well, it was later brought to the public’s attention that those hormones and antibiotics were still in the flesh when we consumed it (You are what what you eat eats too!). Research found links to early breast development in girls and hormonally driven cancers like breast cancer.

Now for those of us consuming a great deal of chicken thinking we were giving our bodies something healthy, had to re-evaluate our choice. Do we give up chicken? Eat only fish? Grab tofu and go vegetarian? Well, there is still a choice when selecting chicken. Free Range. No hormones. No Antibiotics. More and more you can find this at your better supermarkets. Or you can order online and have it shipped to your home. Some of the suppliers require you to order 10-20 pounds at time. This makes for more efficient ordering and saving on cost of shipping, but you do need to eat chicken that has been frozen within 6 months, so don’t order too much! You will pay a bit more for organic free range chicken because they take longer to bring to market (8-10 weeks versus 6 weeks of conventionally raised chickens) but they are much more nutritious. According to Dr. Andrew Weil, in his book, The Healthy Kitchen, “The fat from free-range poultry has a better spectrum of fatty acids, and the flesh tastes better.”

Be sure to read the fine print on both the labels at your supermarket or the website that you are looking to order. “Free range” doesn’t necessarily mean running on a grassy meadow. It may only mean access to a dirt patch. Or, as in the case of one farm in California, the grassy area is provided, but the chickens stay inside the “house”. Why? Well, since the chickens aren’t fed antibiotics, they are susceptible to disease. The farmers don’t want to lose their flock, so they keep them inside for 5 weeks, then they open the gate to allow them to stroll outside on the grassy lawn. They don’t venture out to that scary part of the yard. They stick inside, close to one another in the familiar space. They only have a few more weeks to live anyway….. So look for the “pastured” on your free range chicken packages. That means they truly were pecking away outside on the grassy knoll.

You may think of sweet potatoes or “yams” only at Thanksgiving. I used to think that you only served them from a can and mixed with brown sugar and topped with mini marshmallows. Wrong! My husband Rod likes them so I started buying them and baking them like I would a baked potato. I had heard they were better than potatoes, but I didn’t know why.

In researching for our next book, I came across information about the sweet potato being a superfood. “Whether orange or white, sweet potatoes contain phytonutrients that promote heart and eye health and boost immunity. They’re flush with beta-carotene (thought to lower breast cancer risk) and vitamin A (which may reduce the effects of smoking).” Dr. Perricone, Oprah Magazine. It has also been identified as one of the more alkaline tubers for those seeking to maintain a balanced pH. According to National Geographic, Edible, “Medicinally, sweet potatoes have been used to treat diabetes, parasites, and asthma.”

Sweet potatoes already contain natural sugars and so it can be used in both sweet and savory dishes. My friend, Christina Avaness, author of Living Beyond Organic has a terrific recipe for yam pie, called EZ-Yam Pie. What I like about it is that it is not too sweet. If you pack on a lot of butter and brown sugar, you pretty much overwhelm the goodness of the sweet potato (kinda like drowning your salad in bottled dressing). Another friend, Barbara Choudhuri, author of Acid Busters has three recipes that include sweet potatoes, Stuffed Sweet Potatoes, Spicy Mexican Bean Soup and Leek and Root Veggie Soup.

So how to do you select and store a sweet potato? Well, choose firm, dark, smooth sweet potatoes without wrinkles, bruises, sprouts, or decay. Even if you cut away the decaying spot the whole sweet potato may have already taken on an unpleasant flavor. Sweet potatoes spoil rapidly so you need to store them in a dry, cool (55-60°) place such a cellar, pantry, or garage. You don’t want to store them in the refrigerator as they will develop a hard core and an “off” taste. If stored properly, sweet potatoes will keep for a month or longer. However, at normal room temperature, they should be used within a week of purchase. Feel free to brush off any excess dirt before storing, but don’t wash them until you are ready to cook as the moisture from washing will rapidly increase their spoilage.

With all the benefits of consuming sweet potatoes and “yams”, try adding them to your diet regularly and not just during the holidays. In next week’s cooking video, Pam and I will be demonstrating how to make a sweet potato curry dish that is scrumptious!

Note: You may be wondering why I put “yams” in quotes. That is because most “yams” labeled “yams” are not really yams at all! Sweet potatoes come in a range of colors. The skin color can range from white to yellow, red, purple or brown. The flesh also ranges in color from white to yellow, orange, or orange-red. True yams are a completely different plant, not even in the same family as a sweet potato and you will likely only find them in an international market. The US Department of Agriculture requires “yams” to also include sweet potato on packaging to properly identify what you are consuming. So most likely, most of us have never eaten a true yam!

If you are interested in Living Beyond Organic or Acid Busters, visit our website.

Nutritional Value of the Sweet Potato: Serving size 1/2 cup, baked
Calories 90, Calories from Fat 0, Total Fat 0g, Saturated Fat 0g, Cholesterol 0mg, Sodium 35mg, Total Carbohydrate 21g, Dietary Fiber 3g, Sugars 8g, Protein 2g, Vitamin A 380% of daily recommended allowance, Vitamin C 35% of daily recommended allowance, Calcium 4% of daily recommended allowance, Iron 4% of daily recommended allowance. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Provided by the Center for Disease Control.

Pam and I are back from our hiatus! Yes, we took a couple of months off the web, while we promoted our book, Carefree Gourmet Buffets, in person during the holidays. We had great fun meeting so many wonderful fellow foodies!

We also spent time outlining the direction of our new book. The title is TBD, but the focus will change slightly but maybe significantly. We will still be creating party menus and recipes that are fast, easy, and simple. However, based on feedback from our readers and fellow entertaining mavens “carefree” is now going to also me healthier. No, this is not a diet cookbook. It is a party book that you will find your friends and family will love because the recipes won’t clog their arteries, rocket their sugar levels up or put pounds on their hips. We promise, however, that they will be tasty!

We have outlined 12 parties for this book, yes, Pam is looking at me with raised eyebrows. We have 6 months to get this baby created, edited and to the printer. And our last book, well, it took us years to complete. But we don’t have years this time! We hope to be in the holiday issue of Sunset Magazine and want our new book in place when the publicity hits!

So our blog for the next year is going to be a little different. Each week we will focus on the food that we are testing and provide one demo/cooking video per week on one of the recipes we are testing. We would love your feedback and any contributions to our menu. In fact, if your recipe gets selected, it will be printed in our book with full acknowledgment to YOU!

Our book is going back to real food. Superfoods from the earth. We will be selecting a variety that complements the palate as well as providing balanced nutrition.

This month, our focus is on getting in shape, staying in shape, we’ve nicknamed it The Buff Party. That name will change of course, but we like catchy names during development. So what do body builders eat? They eat lots of protein, no sugar, and need lots of vitamins, minerals and enzymes to build muscle. Yes, we are going to build a fun party full of tasty recipes that your figure conscience friends will love! I have started working out… slowly. I am a work in progress and hope in a few months to be able to flex some muscle myself!