Carefree Gourmet

Fresh Kale Sprinkled with Roasted Pine Nuts and Dried Cranberries

You’ve read the labels, you checked in with granny, you’ve hit the farmers market (what are all those strange veggies?). What is the best real food to eat? I have been researching this quite a bit this last year and everything I read and hear turns me toward plants. Vegetables, Fruits, Leaves, Seeds. In all the diet information out there, the one area of consensus is that a plant-based diet is beneficial. The bottom line recommendation is Eat More Plants! We have all heard the term “antioxidant” until we are blue in the face! Plants are full of antioxidants and the more kinds of them you consume, the more types of toxins your body can disarm!

Pollen found that in countries where people consume a pound or more of fruits and vegetables a DAY, the rate of cancer is HALF what it is in the United States.… Wow! What else do you need to know? What a statistic! Focusing on a plant-based diet will result in consuming fewer calories too! Some of us, me included, need to lose a few inches that have snuck up on us over the past couple of years… One thing to be aware of us that seeds/nuts also part of the plant, are high in energy and that equates to calories. They are still really good for you, you simply have to eat them in moderation!

But, but, but, what about meat? Well, we don’t really need it… but, tomorrow we will discuss better options for consuming meats than picking up a steak at your local supermarket.

Here is a fast and easy recipe featuring kale, a great real food, from Elana’s Pantry a website that features gluten-free recipes. Elana and her son both suffer from celiac disease and can’t eat gluten.

Kale with Cranberries
2 bunches kale
¼ cup pine nuts
¼ cup dried cranberries
3 tablespoons olive oil

1. Steam the kale until it is bright green
2. Meanwhile, in a cast iron skillet, toast the pine nuts
3. Allow kale and pine nuts five minutes to cool, then toss together in a large bowl
4. Add dried cranberries and olive oil
5. Toss and serve

Serves 8

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!