Bright Eggs and Beets

We went shopping at the local Food Co-op this week, we were nearby and had read an article in the newspaper about local eggs. The article talked about organic, pastured eggs. A little more research piqued our interest as these eggs are supposedly more nutritious and tasty. A little more creativity and we had a very delicious breakfast; a combination of kale salad, eggs and fresh mushrooms from our Co-op, a perfect combination.

If you are interested here is what we learned:

The typical grocery story egg ("conventional" in the egg business jargon)- chickens are caged and do not have access to grass, bugs and sunshine. Pastured eggs are the most expensive and the birds get sunshine and bugs if they can find them (that's a good thing!).

A visit to the American Egg Board’s website turned up nothing about pastured eggs but did have definitions of cage free, free range etc. They did have a nice jingle Press here for Jingle website.
A visit to the American Pastured Poultry Association (APPA) didn’t turn up anything controversial. The most interesting thing we found was in the local Co-op’s newsletter which quoted from a 2007 Mother Earth News article about egg testing that stated that pastured eggs can have:

• 1/3 less cholesterol;
• 1/4 less saturated fat;
• 2/3 more vitamin A;
• 5 times more vitamin D;
• 3 times more omega-3 fatty acids;
• 7 times more beta carotene;

than a conventional egg (http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/2007-10-01/Tests-Reveal-Healthier-Eggs.aspx#ixzz2IGhoQ0HM).

We would also like to mention two tasty salads we ate this week, the first is a beet salad - low in calories and highly nutritious: rich source of B-complex vitamins, minerals such as iron, manganese, copper, and magnesium. Beets are also known as “cardiovascular health friendly" root vegetables -certain unique pigment antioxidants in the root as well as in its top greens have found to offer protection against coronary artery disease and stroke, to lower cholesterol levels within the body, and to have anti-aging effects. With all that said beets also have a wonderful sweet taste when cooked. The red juice can and will be messy and will paint everything in a beautiful red color including your insides ;)
This wonderful salad can be made in advance as the flavor strengthens with time (hours to one day).
For this salad combine 4-8 small beets, fresh cilantro and parsley leaves, one stalk of celery chopped, 2- 3 green onions and 1/2 hot green pepper or to individual taste, lemon juice, olive oil and salt.

Our second salad is fresh colorful garden salad with sauerkraut and olive oil for dressing!



That is all worth sharing now, off we go to enjoy the rest of this beautiful spring sunny Sunday. We would love to hear back from you - so leave a comment if you like.
Bob and Yifat

Cravings

Winter Sky

The winter is dragging on and we are hoping that spring is around the corner, at least we have convinced ourselves that it is. It is the time that a little bit of laziness creeps in, not enough sunshine, too much cold and dark. It is the perfect time for comfort food. At least this is what you tell yourself. My all-time favorite comfort food is potato chips, I think Yifat's is chocolate, but it isn't fair since chocolate is good for you. I can't say the same for potato chips. I think next to potato chips it is a hamburger and I know this is high on Yifat's list. Cravings are centered somewhere deep in our DNA telling us to eat more fat and protein. There are better people than me that probably can ignore them, I can't all the time; but there is hope. This difficulty we have staying away from fats is backed up of course in scientific studies and general knowledge of ourselves.

There was a study released in February entitled Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease with a Mediterranean Diet http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1200303#t=abstract. The study finds an inverse relationship between a Mediterranean Diet and the cardiovascular risk. The Mediterranean diet is defined by Wikipedia as” inspired by the traditional dietary patterns of southern Italy, Greece, and Spain The principal aspects of this diet include proportionally high consumption of olive oil, legumes, unrefined cereals, fruits and vegetables, moderate to high consumption of fish, moderate consumption of dairy products (mostly as cheese and yogurt), moderate wine consumption, and low consumption of meat and meat products.” The study has been criticized because (read the comments) lack of control on the “low fat group”, funding by “food companies” and general weak statistical significance.
We think a more interesting take is that it is difficult to stay on a low fat diet for a long time and there is a growing body of evidence that consumption of fats are important to overall health. For example a good summary article about Omega 3 fatty acids (http://www.ecmaj.ca/content/178/2/177.full) explains that “Consumption of recommended intakes of omega-3 fatty acids may lead to a general increase in the overall health and well-being of the population.” Ok why all the science? In the end it is about making decisions everyday about what to eat and knowing that in a world in which you are surrounded by bad choices you will occasionally make a bad choice. I have found a substitute for my beloved hamburgers, which is so good I barely miss the real thing. The Portobello burger which I have been eating for years and generally curbs my desire for a meat burger.

 

The way to cook this burger is simple - heat a pan with olive oil until hot- add Portobello and sear on both sides. Reduce heat and cover. In the meantime tart toasting the bun with olive oil. The Portobello should be done in 5 minutes after searing. We chose goat cheese, sundried tomatoes and red onion for our toppings.

That's all for today! Bob and Yifat