Vegetarianism - with a side of meat.

If you choose to eat meat, adding it as a component of a dish instead of as the main course makes a lot of sense - nutritionally, economically and environmentally.

Meat is a nutrient rich food, containing heme iron and B vitamins as well as plenty of protein.

Meat has some fancy little tricks to it too - like MFP Factor (Meat, Fish, Poultry Factor). This compound is present in yes - meat, fish and poultry and actually makes non-heme iron (the kind of iron found in plant foods) more easy for the body to absorb and use. So not only does meat add some readily absorbable heme iron, it makes the non-heme iron in the rest of the dish more usable as well. Pretty neat.

Meat is a rich food that doesn't need to be eaten in large quantities, so adding a little bit to your meal adds a lot. In our culture, meat tends to push other foods off the plate. This is likely the reason that vegetarians do better on almost all health indicators. It's what they DO eat, not what they DON'T that is the key. Meat is missing a lot of the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and all of the fibre we get from whole grains and vegetables. Again, just another reason to enjoy lots of different foods, not to worry about what to eat.

Think of the cuisine of Thailand, Malaysia and China. Noodles with bits of shrimp and pork scattered throughout... Or Latin and Italian cooking, where small amounts of flavourful meats are added to bean dishes such as my favourite Kale and Chorizo soup (below). Just one or two sausages flavours and ups the nutritional value of an entire pot of soup. This is your varied diet in a bowl, and it's economical.

Adding something you LOVE to some foods you maybe aren't quite as jazzed about is a good strategy for increasing your variety but doing it from a place of enjoyment. Now THAT's sustainable.

Read more about choosing meat and how reducing your meat intake benefits the environment here.

What's your favourite "meat as a flavour component" dish?

Portuguese Kale Soup with Chorizo and White Beans

1/4 cup olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 medium sized carrot, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 pound chorizo or other smoked pork sausage**
8 cups chicken stock
2 cups diced Yukon Gold potatoes or waxy potatoes OR sweet potatoes
1 teaspoon Herbes de Provence or chop a handful of fresh rosemary, thyme and basil leaves
1 bunch kale
1 can (28 oz) tomatoes
2 cans (18oz) white beans such as cannellini, drained
sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
fresh lemon

1) Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium low heat. Saute the onion and carrot until soften - 5 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and chorizo and cook stirring frequently, about 2 minutes.
2) Add the stock, chorizo, herbs and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer about 15minutes.
3) Rinse the kale and lay leaves on top of one and other. Slice crosswise into 1 inch ribbons or tear into bite sized pieces. Add the kale, tomatoes and beans to the soup and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 5 to 10 minutes.
4) Season with salt and pepper and lemon to taste.

** for a vegetarian version - omit chorizo and add 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
This soup freezes well!

Recipe adapted from Myra Goodman's Earthbound Farm Organic Cookbook: Food to Live By.

I hate strawberries

Ok not really - I love them - but I do dislike those monster sized, hard, white on the inside, strangely shaped, available all year round strawberries that get shipped in from California or wherever. But thankfully it is, (finally!) right now, in BC - strawberry season! Hooray!

That means perfect, little, juicy, red on the inside, strawberry shaped (yes! like in kids books!) gems - at affordable prices. sigh. Heaven. All they need is a little wash. Add some whipped cream to go over the top or my favourite - coconut milk ice cream or my new favourite - coconut sorbet! I've been buying BC strawberries almost daily because the season is short and I just can't bring myself to eat them at any other time of the year.

Strawberries are also one of the fruits with the greatest pesticide residue so buying local and organic is a good way to reduce your exposure. Both are more affordable now as well.

I think that a lot of people say they don't like fruits and vegetables because they have never tried them at the peak of their season, when they haven't traveled miles to their plate, haven't sat in storage, and haven't been picked way too early and under ripe so they never have a chance to develop their real flavour and texture.

Even me - who really dislikes raw tomatoes - actually enjoys a fresh tomato salad in the peak of summer when the tomatoes are vine ripened and bursting with sweetness. That gross, weird texture disappears and the pungent tomatoey-ness disappears under the juicy sweetness I just adore. I'm looking forward to August.

Why not check out your local farmers market and what's in season for a chance to try out what whole fresh foods really should taste like and then gorge on them while they are around?

Here is a very simple Italian recipe that highlights the extraordinary freshness of local strawberries.

Enjoy!

Positive Experiences

Here is a great article about how pleasure, enjoyment and positive associations create a healthy diet (by eating a wider variety of foods, especially whole ones).

It explains how our tastes are shaped initially, are very individual (by genes - i.e. the bitter "super taster", and exposure) and can change over time. I especially agree with the no-pressure approach mentioned - providing tastes but never insisting and the show-don't tell approach - if you truly enjoy fresh, whole and a variety of foods, your kids, spouse, friends etc. will be more comfortable trying them too.

I see this time and again in my kid's cooking classes with Sprouting Chefs. Just yesterday our 9 and 10 year olds cooked up a fabulous potato and arugula pizza and potato pancake lunch using spuds grown by Ms. Zimmerman's grade 4 class at Cherry Hill Elementary in Mission. One of the boys refused the potato pancakes, only to come back 10 minutes later claiming he "didn't get any potato pancakes". Watching his friends rave about them probably made him wonder what he was missing. He was the first to ask for seconds too. Positive peer pressure at it's finest.

I was also super impressed to see 90% of the kids eating their pizzas topped with the arugula - a peppery, slightly bitter green. Never assume kids will eat only "kid's food" - whatever that is. Kids are learning how to eat like adults - so let them have the experiences they need to do just that.

Here's the recipe for that fabulous potato pizza. You can use a store-bought base to save time. Look for a product with a short ingredients list. If you avoid gluten like me – try Pamela’s Gluten Free Pancake and Baking Mix. The bag has a recipe for pizza dough and makes 2 really delicious, chewy thin 6 to 8” crusts. You can freeze one for another day.

Finally - save prep time by using a mandoline. You can buy a cheap plastic one for around $10. I use mine all the time. It's super useful.

Rosemary Potato Pizza

Pizza Dough:

Starter

½ cup All purpose flour

2 cups Warm water

2 tsp Dry yeast

1 tbsp Honey

Combine the flour through honey in a bowl. When mixture begins to bubble move on to next step.

Dough

4 cups All purpose flour

1 cup Multi grain or whole grain or rye flour

1 tbsp Sea salt

4 tbsp Olive oil

In a large bowl measure flour and salt. Whisk to add air.

Add the starter to a large mixing bowl. Add the olive oil. Mix. Add dry ingredients 1 cup at a time and mix well with wooden spoon after each addition until mixture forms a ball and comes away from the bowl in a clean way. You may or may not need to add more flour depending on the weather (humidity)! When ball forms, take out of bowl and knead with the palms of your hands. Fold the dough in half towards you, press down with your palms away from you, fold over again, and repeat for 5 minutes. Add a bit of flour to keep the dough from sticking but do not add too much and make the dough too dry.

Let rest and rise until the dough is double in size. 1 to 3 hours.

Topping Ingredients:

2 handfuls Rocket or Arugula Leaves

50 Gr. Parmesan Cheese (optional)

4 stalks Rosemary

4 to 6 small New Potatoes

¼ cup Olive Oil

1 tsp Sea Salt

Ground Black Pepper

Preheat oven to 450F.

Rinse arugula and dry well in a salad spinner or roll up the leaves in a tea towel. Keep cold in a fridge until ready to use so they don’t wilt.

Meanwhile, prepare the toppings. Set out the cutting board. Shave pieces of parmesan cheese, using either a grater or peeler. Strip rosemary needles from stems and reserve leaves. Slice potatoes very thinly using a mandolin. Add sliced potatoes to large bowl with rosemary, olive oil, salt and paper. Toss and mix together with hands until lightly coated in oil. Oil the pizza pans with olive oil.

Press out the dough, 1 batch per tray until the dough reaches the edges and is all the same thickness. Arrange slices of potatoes on the dough overlapping as you go and sprinkling with grated parmesan (optional) leaving some for the end.

Drizzle the pizza with the last of the oil and place in the oven. Bake for 15 minutes or until the edges are very crusty and golden and the cheese is bubbling.

Once done, transfer the pizza onto a large cutting board and cut into 8 to 12 pieces.

Serve topped with a handful of the fresh arugula. Drizzle with lemon juice and olive oil if you like.

I promise you this combo is a million times better than it sounds! Amazing. Seriously. I know what I'm having for dinner.

Recipe: Stephanie Alexander: Kitchen Garden Cooking with Kids

The French Paradox

Heard of the French Paradox? It goes something like this: The French eat a lot of rich foods - butter, cream, fatty meats and luxurious desserts - adding up to more dietary fat intake than the average North American. They drink and smoke more and exercise less BUT they also have lower rates of heart disease. How is that possible?

American scientists boiled it all down to a polyphenol called resveratrol found in red wine, a staple of the French diet. First newspaper headlines told us to drink more red wine then, lucky for us, scientists created little pills of resveratrol to save us the bother of actually having to drink a glass to get the heart protective effects.

I think they missed the point entirely.

The French have a completely different relationship with food. In a study conducted to test different nation's attitudes towards food, (sample question: "The word I most associate with ice cream is (a) fattening (b) delicious"), the French rated the highest in pleasure associations (i.e. ice cream = delicious). Americans associated food most with health outcomes (i.e. ice cream = fattening) but were also the least likely to rate their own diets as healthy! I imagine Canadians are not much better off.

We are a continent of worriers carrying a lot of guilt around food and eating. All that food knowledge and nutrition info and we still don't "eat well". The French eat and make food choices based on enjoyment AND they get lower heart disease risk while they're at it? Sold!

There's a little more. The French also take time to eat. Lunches are commonly a few hours long and tend to be the largest meal of the day (right when your metabolism is most active - i.e. you use vs. store what you eat). They eat in a more relaxed state vs. eating little bits here and there between meetings and phone calls or behind the wheel. Food and time together at meals is celebrated and cherished. They value the quality and freshness of their food above all. They didn't even have a term for "fast food" until recently. All that pleasure leads to a varied diet - about the only thing nutritional science can confidently say consistently leads to better health.

A two hour lunch may not be a possibility in our culture, but taking even an extra 10 minutes to eat away from your desk or just stopping the car to eat by the side of the road will help you to relax and really enjoy what you're eating. This simple shift will do wonders for both your digestion, your metabolism and your feeling of satisfaction from your meal - you may notice less desire for treats or snacks later on when you really tune in and relish your meal. But most important of all - eating will be more pleasurable.

Let's all be hedonists for lunch - for your health.

Want to read more re: how we eat is just as, if not more important than what we eat? Here's an article I wrote about bacon, and my sexy French Canadian neighbour last year.

And here is a deliciously decadent and relatively simple French recipe to enjoy:

Tarragon Chicken

serves 4

1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 chicken (about 3 pounds/1.4 kg), cut into 8 pieces (a great how to video).
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup chicken stock
3/4 cup dry white wine
1 shallot, minced
1 cup crème fraîche (or full cream)
1/2 cup chopped fresh tarragon
Lemon juice to taste

Melt the butter with the oil in a large skillet over quite high heat. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper and fry in batches until well browned, about 5 minutes per side.

Put all the chicken back in the pan, add chicken stock and reduce the heat to medium. Cover and cook until tender, about 30 minutes.

Remove the chicken to a plate and keep warm and reduce any leftover juices until sticky. Add the shallot and wine and reduce to a thickish sauce, about 5 minutes. Add the cream and half the tarragon. Boil down again to sauce consistency, 3 to 5 minutes.

Season the sauce with salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Put back the chicken pieces, turning to coat, then transfer to a platter. Pour the sauce over, scatter over the remaining tarragon, and serve.

Recipe: Laura Calder, French Food at Home


Tarragon has a slightly peppery, mild licorice flavour and is extremely high in antioxidant activity - an added bonus. Fresh tarragon will keeps it flavour for 3 to 5 months if frozen in an air tight bag.

References:
Marc David - The Slow Down Diet
Ellyn Satter - Secrets to Feeding a Healthy Family