Leila's Commonplace Blog

Unhappy Meals

Reader Alison suggests: Unhappy Meals - Michael Pollan - New York Times.

Proper nutrition is quite simple, food writer and researcher Pollan says:

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

Also, Pollan says be suspicious of any food that makes health claims.

That's about it. Food is defined as anything that is unprocessed and would have been recognizable to your great-grandmother. Power bars, vitamin water and Lunchables are not food. Eggs with added Omega-3s should be viewed with suspicion.

Pollan goes into detail about the relationship between food and ecology, and gives good solid reasons why everybody ought to eat smaller quantities of better quality food that costs more.

I practice this principle when buying meat. I buy hamburger or stew meat that is grass-fed or organic, and I eat smaller portions. Only rarely do we splurge on a steak (grass-fed and hormone-free). Even then I remember to eat a 3 oz. size portion. But meat-eating isn't my downfall, it's late-night snacking on processed grains (pretzels? Cheerios?) while surfing the internet. Also I don't get enough exercise - ever since I got a car ten years ago. I try to shop on foot and walk 30-35 minutes per day but it doesn't always happen. Sigh.

Anyway - thank you Alison for tipping us to this valuable article.

Related discussions - Rebecca Blood tips us to a Salon article exposing Annie's mac-n-cheese as no better for your kids than Kraft day-glo orange glop. I'm not surprised. My kids have been eating pasta with store-bought grated parmesan*, olive oil and sometimes plain yogurt since infancy. Sometimes I put a little leftover lentil soup in it. That's it. Why is this harder than a box of Annie's? It's certainly less processed.

*The kind that's relatively fresh-grated, in a plastic tub; *not* the cardboard filings in the green cylindrical shaker! If I were a true foodie I would grate the cheese myself, but soon after the birth of my second child I got sick of juggling cheese graters and children, and have used pre-grated cheese ever since.

And another, off-line bit of advice from Marion Nestle, the great food advocate, corporate gadfly, and nutritionist: since commercially flavored yogurts are so laden with sugar, fillers and dyes that they are more like bad desserts than "healthy" food, why not serve your children plain yogurt flavored with a bit of jam or even some white sugar? They'll be eating far less sugar than they normally would in the typical serving of flavored yogurt. This is from her book, What to Eat.

I've been feeding the offspring plain yogurt with a dot of vanilla and a half teaspoon of sugar for dessert. They think it's such an amazing treat...

                                               

	amount	calories
lo-fat plain yogurt	8 oz	154
sugar	1 tsp	16
vanilla	drop	0
Total home sweetened yogurt	8 oz	170
Lo-fat vanilla yogurt	8 oz	208
Lo-fat fruit yogurt	8 oz	250

Just sayin'...

Black-eyed Peas and Spinach

Claudia Roden furnished the recipe - New Book of Middle Eastern Food. I doubled it.

Cook 8 oz. dried black-eyed peas in water according to package directions (Roden said 20 minutes, my package said 90 minutes, I used the pressure cooker and had to make a guess - they were slightly overdone). I used a bay leaf because I always do. Salt and pepper at the end.

Meanwhile, chop two onions and sautee slowly in olive oil until translucent and golden. While onions are sweating, stem and thoroughly wash two pounds of fresh spinach. (you could use frozen spinach - two 14 oz. boxes) When onions are cooked, add spinach with the water clinging to its leaves; salt; put the lid on and let the spinach wilt - a few minutes or less.

Drain beans and add to spinach mixture, heat through. (I added spinach to beans - the frying pan was getting too full). I also added the juice of half a lemon - it could have used a little more. I thought about adding fresh cilantro to the spinach - my Lebanese auntie from Maghdouche would. Next time.

This was a terrific New Year's Day dish, vegan if you care. My husband the meat eater wolfed it down. Black-eyed peas unite my Southern American and South Lebanon heritages and this dish is going to be a standard in my repertoire.

For bonus points, I made a wild rice blend using the drained blackeyed pea liquid and some dried shiitake mushrooms. The rice mix is sold bulk and contains wild rice, brown rice short and long, and maybe something else. It is dense, nutty, flavorful, and exquisite with the mushrooms. I put a little plain yogurt on it. Don't know what you call this combo of North American "wild rice", Arab yogurt, and Arab black-eyed peas and spinach. I call it good....

Spiced Turkey

Reader Maloof writes in comments that he put the spiced chicken marinade on his Christmas turkey and it worked out well.

Then for a New Year's potluck he used Cornish hens - also a success.

I'm just delighted that folks are actually cooking recipes I post. And REALLY delighted that you all like the spiced chicken recipe -- even though it's not "mine." I take credit for rescuing it from the archives of Gourmet magazine.

Roast Beef

Three bone prime rib, grass fed beef for New Year's Eve supper. Hubby wanted it, and told me not to worry about the price. I used this recipe from Epicurious: pink and green peppercorn crusted prime rib. Yorkshire pudding, roasted beets with fresh dill, big salad, and oven fried potatoes.

Yes, it was delicious. Happy New Year to all...