A litle bit of this, a little bit of that

My classmate McKenzie wrote a wonderful essay about dinner with a 2 year old. She taught him with ease and gentle nudges to eat a balanced diet and let go of good and bad food labels by having a little bit of everything on his plate, even some ice cream. I think we could all use that nudge at times. I'll add a new saying to my favourite (Small Acts Add Up):

A little bit of this and a little bit of that.

A good example of how this makes sound nutritional sense is the concept of raw foods vs. cooked. There are many different diets claiming the benefits of raw foods or cooked foods over the other.

I say, some cooked some raw.

Some nutrients are made more available (bio-available) by cooking, while others are destroyed by cooking. Some are only available when there is a fat source included with them. Others leach out into the cooking water making soup a perfect way to access them, but boiling (and tossing the water) not so helpful. This to me makes another case for balance. Some cooked, some raw.

Tomatoes for example, are full of lycopene, a potent antioxidant and well-studied anti-cancer compound. It is most usable by our bodies when the tomato is cooked in some kind of fat, say a fruity, extra virgin, monounsaturated fat packed olive oil (hint hint). Tomatoes are also little vitamin C bombs. Cooking a tomato pretty much decimates all of that powerful Vitamin C power. So what to do? Do both.

Really that's pretty easy to do, because if you are like me, sometimes I want to eat something raw, crunchy and fresh and sometimes I crave warm, caramelized softness. So again, try both - eat it all, in every way.



Most Succulent Red Peppers -
Another great way to get your lycopene...

Olive oil
Red Peppers, about 1/2 inch slices
Sea salt
a cast iron frying pan
a lid
a bit of time and patience

Heat a good blub of olive oil in the frying pan over medium heat. Add the red peppers in a single layer, they should sizzle a little. Toss to coat them in the oil. Sprinkle liberally with sea salt. The salt pulls out moisture from the peppers, along with dissolved sugars that caramelize and brown, which is the key to this dish. Cover with a lid and leave them be. The goal is to slowly cook and caramelize them in their own juices, until they are oozingly soft, about 20 minutes or more. When they are done they will be soft enough to almost spread them.

If by some amazing feat you manage not to eat them all in one go, you can pack them into a jar, drizzle olive oil over top and refrigerate them for future use. Try them on pizza, a sandwich, layer them on a spinach salad with some salty olives or savoury cheese, in rice with some fresh herbs, or on a piece of toast with a bit of pesto or nothing more than a grind of fresh black pepper.

delightful.