Carefree Gourmet

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.

Wall of Cereal Boxes Making Health Claims

Grandma recognizes it, it spoils, the ingredients are easy to understand and few in number. What about food products that make a health claim? Hmmmm. First thought… it is in a package… why? It is more likely to be processed if it is in a package…. and large corporations tend to have the “wherewithal to secure FDA-approved health claims, ” according to Pollen. And now the farmers are jumping on the bandwagon by touting the benefits of certain fruits and nuts! Well, yes, that is the whole point in consuming fresh foods…. they are full of antioxidants (of different varieties which is why you need to eat a variety of real food) so yes, studies are likely to find health benefits. That makes sense.

But the cranberry council and the prune council aren’t the ones we need to be especially careful of when listening to their health claims. It is the bold health claims made by companies selling foodlike products that we need to question. As we all need to remember, at one time margarine was touted as being healthier for us than pure butter! Oops! How many of us consumed globs of trans-fats assuming we were being healthy??

And watch out for the cereal aisle! High fiber, heart healthy Cocoa Puffs, Trix and Lucky Charms try to charm their way into our grocery basket and kids have caught on too! “Hey mom! My favorite cereal full of sugar is good for me see, it says so right on the box!” How is a mother to win this battle?

So be wary of radical claims that just don’t make sense. And next time we will discuss how to shop in store so you can avoid those confrontations with marketing slogans and your own common sense!

Processed Foods Line the Grocery Aisles

Pam and I struggle with the whole -”what is ok to eat” syndrome. We are sure most of you do too! Why? Because there are so many diets and information being released about the latest food craze and what was once considered health law, for example, “eat low fat” is now in question.

I recently read In Defense of Food by Michael Pollen, journalist and Knight Professor of Journalism at Berkeley in my own search to find out what I should be eating. And I really like what I read. Maybe because it is not so complicated, maybe because it was logical and possibly because it finally answered “what can I make for dinner tonight?”

So I wanted to share with you Pollen’s discovery in researching what we could all have for dinner tonight. And the first and foremost point is… run from the current Western diet! Much of what we consume in the United States is processed. And so one of the first things you want to avoid is processed foods. But it is more than just boxed, canned, bagged stuff taking over your grocery store….. it is in the meat and fish you purchase. How? Simply by the fact that ranching has become industrialized and our steer are fed the Western diet, waste products, antibiotics and hormones. Yuck!

So this is going to take a bit of time and effort on our parts to choose a quality meal for our families. And this is going to be a culture shock to most of us who are used to zapping packaged foods in the microwave, grilling up cheap cuts of industrialized meats or “god forbid” eating from a fast food chain in the car on our way to our next appointment.

But back to basics here. Step number one: Eat real food. That’s it. Simple right? Well, not when we are being bombarded with 17,000 new foodlike substitutes a year at our grocer. But, real food can still be found! It may feel like a treasure hunt, but I always them really fun!

What is real food? If your grandmother or great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize it… don’t eat it!

Think about that one today. Open your refrigerator, cupboard, pantry…. do you see things granny wouldn’t know what to do with? Hmmm…. more tomorrow!

Julie & Julie Movie Photo

Pam and I went with some friends this week to see Julie and Julia at the movies.  We dined first – of course, gathering with friends and NOT eating is NOT allowed!  One of Pam’s friends brought a bottle of wine to share.  The restaurant didn’t have a corkage fee.  She was SMART and called ahead of time to check. I would have never thought to do that.  I will now!

Back to the movie…. it was funny, smart, and inspiring.  At least for us in the food business… it took Julia and her partners over 8 years to get the book Mastering the Art of French Cooking published.  And, they had to rewrite it (the first edition had over 700 recipes).  I enjoyed the movie immensely and so did the crowd – male and female as we all chuckled through the entire movie.

Pam and I tried to see Julia Child when she was speaking at the Getty before she passed away, but didn’t and boy, did we miss an opportunity!  And so I was delighted when Pam arranged to interview Graham Kerr, the Galloping Gourmet on our radio show yesterday… he has such a great sense of humor!  More about him in our next post!

***** 5 stars for Julie and Julia