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

Kids love fresh fruit!

We all know that if we eat more than we burn off, we get fat. We also know that if we don’t eat the right foods in the right quantities and feed our body it will go into starvation mode and start storing fat as a defense mechanism. Children are at the mercy of the adults in their lives as well as advertisers who target children to get life long customers on products that aren’t healthy.

“The prevalence of obesity among our nation’s youth has more than doubled in the past 20 years, with close to 5 million youths aged 6 to 17 seriously overweight or obese. The concerns caused by overweight are more than a cosmetic issue. Childhood obesity leads to a variety of health problems, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease.1 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently found that 60 percent of overweight 5- to 10-year-olds already have at least one risk factor for heart disease, such as raised blood pressure or insulin levels”.

One organization is fighting back with information for parents on foods that children are likely to eat and are much more nutritious. Now this organization happens to be promoting a vegetarian diet. Pam and I are not anti-meat and we think you really need to look into what meat is appropriate for your children. However, we all know that we should be eating mostly vegetables and fruit. More vegetables than fruit! And this organization offers up some good information recipes to try. The site is www.kidsgethealthy.org. You can download information and order a free copy of a brochure with recipes to try out. We are what we eat (only 30% of our body type and physical appearance is hereditary, the rest is because of your choices) so help develop children into carrots and not pop tarts. Be sure to get your children up and moving with fun activities that they don’t identify with exercising. You children should not be on a diet, but enjoying a healthy lifestyle! They will thank you when they are old enough to understand that you cared enough to feed them well and keep them healthy.