A food memoir of weight loss, family recipes, digital cookbook and nutrition information for family and friends
Here’s another post in my nearly world famous Electronic Sticky Note series.
Posting the link here as summer is starting soon and I need better salads than the prepacked kits I tend to buy and eat.
Click for the recipe https://thefirstmess.com/2023/05/24/hummus-crunch-salad/
This is a poor man’s meat sauce: the vegetables are cut smallish to simulate the texture of ground beef. The inspiration for my version comes from a cookbook I’ve had since 1986. I wasn’t happy with a number of my sugo sauces until I started using stewed tomatoes instead of 100% plain crushed tomatoes. Then finally, Chinese-Italian success!
Saute the vegetables in olive oil until soft and fragrant.
Add dried basil and parsley (if using dried) now.
Add the stewed tomatoes and simmer over low heat uncovered until the tomato chunks start to break up. Smash the rest of the tomato chunks with a wooden spoon. You want somewhat chunky but not super chunky.
Add the can of crushed tomatoes, mix well, and simmer over low heat for at least one hour.
Add salt, pepper, a little sugar, butter and parsley (if using fresh). Adjust seasonings until you get that perfect balance between salt and sweet.
You’re ready for pasta.
This sauce freezes well. Half of the sauce was enough for Baked Rigatoni with Ricotta and Parmesan (no recipe for this, yet).
This pasta sauce will be invaluable when your kid turns into a teenager, comes home and announces she has stopped eating meat to save the planet.
Trust me on this.
It kind of looks like chicken – https://carolinas.eater.com/2023/2/9/23592586/chick-fil-a-tests-fried-cauliflower-sandwich
The link – https://www.vegetariantimes.com/vegan-vegetarian-recipes/weeknight-pasta-recipes/
And yet another post/link in my extremely sporadic electronic sticky note series. The quick veggie olive oil and garlic pasta dish I make has reached “in a rut” status. 2023 will the year where I develop the ability and experience to make more than one vegetarian pasta dish.
Happy New Year!
The link – https://www.vegetariantimes.com/vegan-vegetarian-recipes/best-butternut-squash-recipes/
Here is another post/link in my periodic electronic sticky note series. I may have one or two butternut squash recipes I return to every year. And when one of those recipes is oven roasted butternut squash and the other is Butternut Squash Enchilada Casserole it’s time to find some new recipes.
Wait. I found another butternut squash recipe in my vast (3) collection of favorite butternut squash recipes, the classic Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagne.
Classic.
Are you looking for a better understanding of non-HFSS foods? Do you want to know which brand is thriving? Brave is a UK plant-based snack brand. They have recently developed a grain-free, sugar-free breakfast cereal product made from chickpeas and peas. This product is known as Super Hoops (available in Original and Cinnamon flavours) and,…
Start-up of the month: non-HFSS cereals (Brave) — The Food Science Addict
HFSS = (High in Fat, Sugar, and Salt).
A small step in the right direction. But you still have to get consumers to buy, try, and buy again. Changing habits can be very hard to do.
Eggs are a rich source of dietary cholesterol, but they also contain a variety of essential nutrients. There is conflicting evidence as to whether egg consumption is beneficial or harmful to heart health. A 2018 study published in the journal Heart, which included approximately half a million adults in China, found that those who ate eggs daily (about one egg per day) had a substantially lower risk of heart disease and stroke than those who ate eggs less frequently*. Now, to better understand this relationship, the authors of this work have carried out a population-based study exploring how egg consumption affects markers of cardiovascular health in the blood.
eLife. “How eating eggs can boost heart health.” ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220524124839.htm (accessed May 25, 2022).
Results – Egg consumption was associated with 24 out of 225 markers, including positive associations for apolipoprotein A1, acetate, mean HDL diameter, and lipid profiles of very large and large HDL, and inverse associations for total cholesterol and cholesterol esters in small VLDL. Among these 24 markers, 14 were associated with CVD risk. In general, the associations of egg consumption with metabolic markers and of these markers with CVD risk showed opposite patterns.
Conclusions – In the Chinese population, egg consumption is associated with several metabolic markers, which may partially explain the protective effect of moderate egg consumption on CVD.
Pan et al. investigated associations of self-reported egg consumption with plasma metabolic markers and these plasma metabolic markers with the risk of cardiovascular diseases. In general, there was some impact on metabolic markers which could protect against CVD. The paper will interest scientists in the field of nutritional epidemiology.
Association of egg consumption, metabolic markers, and risk of cardiovascular diseases: A nested case-control study — https://elifesciences.org/articles/72909
To review the study shortcomings hop over to the full study and read the editorial decision letter.
“How did you make this?”
The last time I wrote about zucchini was back in 2019 when the same question was asked (probably by the same friend) which motivated me to write down how I make Zucchini, Corn & Red Pepper.
This super simple recipe is the perfect side vegetable when you have your grill fired up and ready for your perfectly seasoned chicken using the world famous Iki Marinade. Three squash will be enough for six side servings.
Tips and Otherwise Random Thoughts
You’ll note that the black pepper, basil, and cheese are added after grilling. I do this so that these ingredients don’t get burned/grilled off in the cooking process. For the Veganistas out there, leave off the cheese. I happen have a preference for Spanish extra virgin olive oil. The private label brand I buy sneakily substituted EVO from Portugal instead of Spain. Now I like Portuguese olive oil too. I specifically used a baking dish to hold the squash before grilling because I did put the veggies in the oven to keep warm.
The next time I grill zucchini I plan on grilling twice the number of squash. I’ll use the leftover squash in a pasta dish.
New research published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes [EASD]) finds that the consumption of healthy plant-based foods, including fruits, vegetables, nuts, coffee, and legumes, is associated with a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D) in generally healthy people and support their role in diabetes prevention…The study found that compared with participants who did not develop T2D, those who were diagnosed with the disease during follow-up had a lower intake of healthy plant-based foods, as well as lower scores for PDI and hPDI. In addition, they had a higher average BMI, and were more likely to have high blood pressure and cholesterol levels, use blood pressure and cholesterol drugs, have a family history of diabetes, and be less physically active.
Diabetologia. “New study reveals that healthy plant-based diets are associated with a lower risk of developing diabetes.” ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220410110753.htm (accessed April 11, 2022).
Journal Reference: Fenglei Wang, Megu Y. Baden, Marta Guasch-Ferré, Clemens Wittenbecher, Jun Li, Yanping Li, Yi Wan, Shilpa N. Bhupathiraju, Deirdre K. Tobias, Clary B. Clish, Lorelei A. Mucci, A. Heather Eliassen, Karen H. Costenbader, Elizabeth W. Karlson, Alberto Ascherio, Eric B. Rimm, JoAnn E. Manson, Liming Liang, Frank B. Hu. Plasma metabolite profiles related to plant-based diets and the risk of type 2 diabetes. Diabetologia, 2022; DOI: 10.1007/s00125-022-05692-8
The link – https://www.vegetariantimes.com/vegan-vegetarian-recipes/vegetarian-dumpling-recipes/
And yet another post/link in my sporadic electronic sticky note series. I may have made dumplings once or twice in my entire life. There are some recipes here I want to try if and when I get into a dumpling mood.
Happy New Year!
garyskitchen.net 