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A Longevity Diet? Learning From the Blue Zones | Senior Planet

Summary:

  • high carbohydrate diet centered on whole grains
  • beans
  • eat less
  • eat more earlier in the day, less at night
  • drink alcohol
  • socialize

In my 20’s I was vegetarian for about a year and a half.  I managed to drive everyone around me crazy with my soapbox rants about how eating fast food burgers were the root cause of rain forest clearing for livestock grazing in Central America.  I’ve mellowed with age and no longer rant endlessly about the health benefits of a plant based diet.  I eat almost anything I want, just more of some things and a lot less of other things.  On a weekly basis, approximately two thirds of my meals are meatless.  Bean burritos are a staple, along with homemade bean soups and hummus.  Plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, complex carbohydrates, some good craft beer.  I eat differently than I did growing up.  But I guess that’s obvious given my history of losing over 200 pounds.

Good article and audio.  Check it out.

via A Longevity Diet? Learning From the Blue Zones | Senior Planet.

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Marinara Sauce Number Two

I have a lot of cookbooks and one of my favorites is Cooking from an Italian Garden by Paola Scaravelli and Jon Cohen.  There are over 300 vegetarian recipes in this book.  Over the years I’ve made virtually none of the recipes in the book.  Yes, virtually zero.  This cookbook remains a favorite because it is inspirational.  You can prepare simple healthy meals without animal proteins.  The section on sauces alone is worth the price of admission.

The following is my adaptation of a flavorful marinara sauce that I recently prepared for a Stack Project recipe.

  • 1/2 medium sweet onion, diced
  • 1 carrot diced
  • 1 stalk celery diced
  • 2 T extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 15 oz can crushed tomatoes
  • 1 14.5 oz can stewed tomatoes
  • handful fresh basil, chopped (or healthy pinch of dried basil if fresh is not available)
  • handful fresh parsley, chopped ( or dried, if fresh is not available)
  • Salt
  • Sugar
  1. Saute the vegetables until wilted.
  2. Add the canned tomatoes, herbs and simmer uncovered for one hour.
  3. Salt lightly and add just enough sugar to cut the acidity of the tomatoes.
  4. Done.

Tips

Garlic???  By all means if you have to have garlic, use some.  The quality and acidity levels of canned tomatoes vary tremendously.  Use sugar only when necessary.  This sauce freezes well.

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Lasagne Stacks

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I know, it’s been a while since I posted a recipe.  The problem is that the original intent was to post family recipes from a time long long ago so that they would be preserved for future generations to enjoy.  But I ran into some problems.  I can’t remember what I cooked 25 years ago.  Sometimes I can’t remember what I fixed yesterday.  Life changes and you change too.  I can’t remember the last time I made lasagne.  If I made a tray of lasagne now, we would be eating it for a week.

Then I discovered a unique concoction called the lasagne stack.  For the noodle layers you use those refrigerated won ton wrappers that you’ve never bought before because you vowed at one point in your life never to make won tons from scratch.  But the wrappers are just pasta.  And you don’t have to boil them first.  You layer, bake, eat.

I feel guilty about never progressing past six or seven dishes you can make with a cooked chicken.  So I’m not numbering these recipes.  And the kids never ate anything similar to this dish when they were little.  I made this up because I was in the mood for lasagne and for the first time in my life, bought won ton wrappers.  Welcome to the first recipe in The Stack Project.

Quantities are for four stacks.

  • 24 won ton wrappers – six per stack
  • a handful of fresh spinach leaves
  • 1 cup bechamel sauce
  • 1 cup ragu
  • grated parmesan
  • shredded mozzarella
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. In a baking dish large enough for the number of stacks to be made, cover the bottom with several spoonfuls of ragu.
  3. Arrange four won ton skins in the baking dish. Leave enough space between each so when fully baked they won’t all glump together.
  4. Start stacking.  Spread some sauce, spinach, cheese on each wrapper.  Add another won ton wrapper and repeat.  Alternate between white and red layers.  Get creative.
  5. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake for 20-25 minutes.
  6. Uncover, add more mozzarella to the top of each stack and bake for another five minutes or until the cheese melts.
  7. Enjoy.

This dish came into being because I had leftover homemage ragu and an urge for lasagne.  I wish I had this concept when the kids were little.  Including prep time, this took all of 45 minutes.

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