Quinoa is SUPER

Not only is quinoa delicious, it is high in protein, fiber and iron, and it’s gluten free.  Quinoa has every one of the nine essential amino acids. These nine essential amino acids are the ones that your body cannot synthesize in quantities sufficient to sustain good health, so they need to come from food sources.  It is also reported to help migraine headaches, because it is a great source of magnesium, a mineral that helps relax blood vessels, preventing the constriction and rebound dilation characteristic of migraines.  Low dietary levels of magnesium can also lead to hypertension, ischemic heart disease, and heart arrhythmias.  Quinoa is good for the heart.

Many people think that quinoa is a type of grain, but it’s not. Quinoa is actually the seed of a plant related to spinach. This food staple is grown in the mountains of Ecuador and was once called “the gold of the Inca’s” because it increased stamina. At that time, the Incas didn’t know about quinoa’s nutritional facts or amino acids.

So now that you know how super quinoa is for you, try one of these unique recipes.

Pineapple Quinoa Boat

1 1/2 cup fresh pineapple, diced

4 cups cooked quinoa

1/2 red onion, diced

1 cup Shiitake mushrooms

1 cup kale, shredded

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1/2 tsp dried jalapeno

1/2 cup finely diced pineapple

2 Tbsp mint, chopped

2 Tbsp Tahini

3 Tbsp pineapple juice

to taste: splash of tamari, fine black pepper, and pinch of salt

• Cook your quinoa. I used 1 1/4 cups dry quinoa + 1 cup water + 1 cup veggie broth + pinch salt. Set cooked quinoa aside.
• Put Quinoa, diced pineapple (not the finely chopped), red onion, shiitake mushrooms, 1 Tbsp mint, kale, nutritional yeast and jalapeno to the pan with a splash of safflower oil. Turn heat to high and cook for about 3 minutes – moving quinoa around so it cooks on all sides. A few crisped bits of quinoa is a good thing. Add a splash of tamari, black pepper and salt to taste. Transfer the fried quinoa to a bowl. Set aside.
• Quickly sauté the 1/2 cup finely diced pineapple to add as a garnish later. Just brown the edges a bit. The pineapple will pick up the flavor left in the pan. Set aside.
• Mix the tahini, pineapple juice, and chopped mint for the sauce, and set aside.
• To plate you spoon in the quinoa mix into a pre-hollowed pineapple. Then add the pineapple garnish over top. Sprinkle 1 Tbsp fresh chopped mint on top. You can serve with the dressing on the side or you can add right over top this dish.

Italian Quinoa Cakes

2 cups cooked quinoa

1 flax egg (1 tbsp of ground flaxseed with 3 tbsp of hot water)

1/2 cup almond flour

2 green onions sliced thinly

2 Tbsp sun-dried tomatoes, chopped

8 fresh basil leaves, chopped

1/2 cup Daiya mozzarella Cheese-Style Shreds (or “real” mozzarella if that floats your boat)

1/2 tsp sea salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper and 1/2 tsp cayenne

1 tsp olive oil, for cooking

• Place all ingredients in a large bowl and stir well to combine.
• Form compact cakes with about 1/2 cup of the mix per cake.
• Heat a frying pan over medium heat with 1 tsp olive oil.
• Place quinoa cakes in the pan and cook about 4-5 minutes per side, until golden brown.
• Serve over a bed of salad.

 

Quinoa Brazil Nut Paella

 

1 cup whole grain quinoa

1 1/2 cups vegetable broth

1/2 orange, juiced (about 1/4 cup juice)

1/2 orange de-seeded and diced

2 tsp orange and lemon rind zest

1 lemon, juiced

1 bag frozen mixed organic veggies (peas, corn, carrots)

1 large onion, chopped

2 white button mushrooms, chopped

7 cloves garlic, chopped thickly

1/2 Serrano pepper, roasted, de-seeded and chopped

1/2 cup Brazil nuts, chopped

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp vegan buttery spread

2 bay leaves

1/4 teaspoon saffron strands

1 tsp cayenne

generous black pepper

sea salt to taste

Prep:

• Rinse and dry quinoa with cold water. Set aside.
• Juice, chop and zest the orange.
• Juice and zest the lemon.
• Chop onion, garlic, mushrooms and Brazil nuts.
• De-seed and slice Serrano pepper. Roast strips of pepper.
• Microwave frozen veggies for two minutes (or thaw on counter prior to use)

In soup pan:

• Add oil, vegan spread, a pinch of salt and pepper.
• Turn heat to high-until oil sizzles.
• Add onion, garlic, pepper, Brazil nuts and bay leaves.
• Saute for a few minutes, on medium heat.
• Add chopped orange and orange zest.
• Saute uncovered for an additional few minutes.
• Fold in 3/4 package of frozen veggies (thawed or warmed).
• Add lemon juice.
• Saute on medium-high for five minutes, stirring constantly.
• When all ingredients are cooked through and slightly browned, remove 1/2 of veggies from pot. Set aside, covered.

Quinoa:

• Turn heat to high and add veggie broth, cayenne, saffron and orange juice.
  Bring to boil.
• (Yes, half the portion of veggies will still be in the pot.)
• Add dry quinoa and stir.
• Reduce heat, cover pot, and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
• Stir occasionally.
• When quinoa has absorbed all the liquid, remove cover and fold in remaining veggies to pot.
• Re-cover and allow to cook on low heat for five minutes. (This should add a nice browning effect to the bottom layer of quinoa.
• Fluff finished quinoa with fork.
• Remove bay leaves before serving.

• Serve hot. Garnish with grated/chopped raw Brazil nuts.

 

Thanks to http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2009/03/recipe-vegan-quinoa-brazil-nut-paella.html for the paella recipe. 

 

ALL Red Meat is Bad For You

It is sad but true, ALL red meat is bad for you.  Too long has the American public been brainwashed into believing their bodies need beef to be healthy, when in fact it is quite the opposite.  Consuming any amount of red meat whether it is beef, pork, or lamb, will hasten mortality.

This LA Times article released yesterday is late, but late is better than never.  This is a huge step towards re-educating Americans about what is really healthy.

By Eryn Brown, Los Angeles Times

March 12, 2012, 4:28 p.m.

Eating red meat — any amount and any type — appears to significantly increase the risk of premature death, according to a long-range study that examined the eating habits and health of more than 110,000 adults for more than 20 years.For instance, adding just one 3-ounce serving of unprocessed red meat — picture a piece of steak no bigger than a deck of cards — to one’s daily diet was associated with a 13% greater chance of dying during the course of the study.Even worse, adding an extra daily serving of processed red meat, such as a hot dog or two slices of bacon, was linked to a 20% higher risk of death during the study.

“Any red meat you eat contributes to the risk,” said An Pan, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and lead author of the study, published online Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Crunching data from thousands of questionnaires that asked people how frequently they ate a variety of foods, the researchers also discovered that replacing red meat with other foods seemed to reduce mortality risk for study participants.

Eating a serving of nuts instead of beef or pork was associated with a 19% lower risk of dying during the study. The team said choosing poultry or whole grains as a substitute was linked with a 14% reduction in mortality risk; low-fat dairy or legumes, 10%; and fish, 7%.

Previous studies had associated red meat consumption with diabetes, heart disease and cancer, all of which can be fatal. Scientists aren’t sure exactly what makes red meat so dangerous, but the suspects include the iron and saturated fat in beef, pork and lamb, the nitrates used to preserve them, and the chemicals created by high-temperature cooking.

The Harvard researchers hypothesized that eating red meat would also be linked to an overall risk of death from any cause, Pan said. And the results suggest they were right: Among the 37,698 men and 83,644 women who were tracked, as meat consumption increased, so did mortality risk.

In separate analyses of processed and unprocessed meats, the group found that both types appear to hasten death. Pan said that at the outset, he and his colleagues had thought it likely that only processed meat posed a health danger.

Carol Koprowski, a professor of preventive medicine at USC’s Keck School of Medicine who wasn’t involved in the research, cautioned that it can be hard to draw specific conclusions from a study like this because there can be a lot of error in the way diet information is recorded in food frequency questionnaires, which ask subjects to remember past meals in sometimes grueling detail.

But Pan said the bottom line was that there was no amount of red meat that’s good for you.

“If you want to eat red meat, eat the unprocessed products, and reduce it to two or three servings a week,” he said. “That would have a huge impact on public health.”

A majority of people in the study reported that they ate an average of at least one serving of meat per day.

Pan said that he eats one or two servings of red meat per week, and that he doesn’t eat bacon or other processed meats.

Cancer researcher Lawrence H. Kushi of the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland said that groups putting together dietary guidelines were likely to pay attention to the findings in the study.

“There’s a pretty strong supposition that eating red meat is important — that it should be part of a healthful diet,” said Kushi, who was not involved in the study. “These data basically demonstrate that the less you eat, the better.”

UC San Francisco researcher and vegetarian diet advocate Dr. Dean Ornish said he gleaned a hopeful message from the study.

“Something as simple as a meatless Monday can help,” he said. “Even small changes can make a difference.”

Additionally, Ornish said, “What’s good for you is also good for the planet.”

In an editorial that accompanied the study, Ornish wrote that a plant-based diet could help cut annual healthcare costs from chronic diseases in the U.S., which exceed $1 trillion. Shrinking the livestock industry could also reduce greenhouse gas emissions and halt the destruction of forests to create pastures, he wrote.

Your child will live a life 10 years shorter than yours

Diet related disease is the #1 Killer in the United States of America. We are one of the most unhealthy countries in the world.  

The last 4 generations of adults have blessed our Children with the destiny of a shorter lifespan than their own parents. Your child will live a life 10 years shorter than yours.

We can change. It starts at home with our families.  The power of food has a primal place in our home.  We need to teach our children how to eat healthy.

Jamie Oliver is on a mission to educate us about food and he is doing an amazing job.  If you don’t know about him, click on his name, and be prepared to be impressed.  His TED talk below will inspire you, educate you, scare you.  It will show you just how little our children know about what they eat.  You need to know.  We need to change.

OPEN YOUR EYES AND WATCH:

Causes of Death in the USA Chart from Jamie’s presentation

USA Killers

Causes of death in RED are diet related.  Heart Disease, Cancer, and Stroke are the top 3 killers in the USA.  They are preventable.

Cure Yourself

An amazing movie (documentary) claims the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting animal-based and processed foods.  Quit the meat, quit the dairy, and you can cure yourself?  Watch Forks Over Knives.

I am a believer, and I have been since 1997 when I went Vegan.  My sources back then were not as well prepared and entertaining as Forks Over Knives.   This movie is so easy to watch; it flies by.

Myths, old-wives tales, and greed driven propaganda are dispelled so absolutely it will blow your mind.  Degenerative diseases like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and even several forms of cancer, could almost always be prevented, and in many cases reversed, by adopting a whole foods, plant-based diet.   But do you want to believe it?  I bet you don’t, because it’s just too hard….to give up your meat.

(Forks Over Knives is currently showing on HBO, as well as free-streaming on Netflix.)

Wishing you happy enlightenment my friends.  Be good to yourselves.