Healthy Kale Stir-Fry

Tags

cabbage, carrots, cooking, Food, healthy, kale, recipe, stir-fry, vegetarian

Nothing cooks faster than a stir-fry dish and nothing is healthier than kale. So when I am busy and hungry, my quickest solution is to do a quick kale stir-fry that satisfies my stomach and my body.

The recipe below is pretty easy and only takes about 15 minutes to cook from preparation until serving. I added eggs in my dish, but you can also cook without them if you want an vegan option.

Ingredients: (serves 3)

• 1 tbsp of coconut oil (you can also sub it with olive oil)
• 1 bunch of kale, chopped
• 1 cup of cabbage, thinly sliced
• 2 Carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp of tumeric
• 1 tsp of chili oil
• Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Wash and chop all the vegetables.
2. Heat a large wok or a frying pan with the coconut oil in low-medium heat.
3. Add the sliced green onions into the wok, then break the eggs into the wok.
4. Slowly let them cook until the egg white congeals. Stir the eggs occasionally like you are making scrambled eggs
5. Add kale, cabbage, carrots into the mix.
6. Season the mixture with salt (~1 tbsp) and tumeric. Gently mix and stir the content of the pan to mix the seasonings.
7. Cover the pan and let it simmer for 1 minute
8. Add pepper and chili oil into the mix and stir-fry x 5 seconds.
9. Serve hot!

-NZ

Vegetarian Thai Curry

Tags

carrots, coconut milk, cooking, curry, healthy, kale, onions, pumpkin, recipe, vegetarian dishes, zucchini

We did a post a awhile ago on easy vegetarian recipes, where you can use vegetables readily available to you and customize the spice to your own preference. The vegetarian thai red curry is another example of such dish.

I use zucchini, carrots, onions, and mushrooms in the recipe. However, you can adapt this to whatever you prefer, such as adding potatoes or pumpkins for zucchini, or you can substitute with some hearty greens like bok choy or kale.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 2 tablespoon red curry paste
• 1 can of coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon Thai Kitchen® Premium Fish Sauce
• 1 cup onions, cubed
• 1 cup of carrots, chopped
• 1 cup of zucchini, chopped
• 1 cup of mushrooms, chopped
• ¼ cup of fresh cilantro, chopped
• Spices: curry powder, basil, cayenne pepper (~1 tbsp each)
• 2 cup of brown rice

Directions:

1. Cook brown rice in rice cooker, or a medium pot (~1 hr)
2. Heat coconut oil in a large skillet on medium heat.
3. Add chopped onion and carrots to the skillet, cook for ~5 minutes
4. Add the rest of vegetables, and coconut milk. Cook in medium heat until coconut milk boils.
5. Stir in the red curry paste, bring to simmer on medium heat.
6. Stir in the other spices and cook for another 1 minute, then add the cilantro.
7. Remove from heat and serve hot over rice, Enjoy!

-NZ

Vitamin A and Your Skin

Tags

acne, basil, beta carotenes, butternut squash, carrots, dark leafy greens, dry skin, herbs, retinoic acid, retinol, skincare, vitamin A

It’s common knowledge that vitamin A is important for your eyes, but did you know that it’s vital for your skin as well?

Vitamin A (a.k.a. retinol or retinoic acid) suppresses oil production in your skin and helps prevent acne. It also helps protect and repair your skin from other types of skin damage such as sunburn, dry skin, and psoriasis. In fact, many existing medical treatments for acne prescribe topical creams that are made from different forms of Vitamin A and its metabolites, such as tretinoin and retinoic acid.

It’s important to note that you can overdose on vitamin A, which can lead to things like vitamin D deficiency and yellowing of skin. Because maintaining your body’s vitamin A levels is a delicate balancing act, the best approach is to eat foods that contain it in pre-vitamin A forms such as beta-carotene. Your body only converts beta-carotene and other carotenoids to vitamin A on an as-needed basis, thus avoiding risk of excess levels.

One key way to achieve healthy and clear skin is to incorporate more vitamin A rich foods in your diet. In general, look for foods with a vibrant orange-y color, such as butternut squash, canteloupe, and apricots. Color is often a strong indicator of beta-carotene content. Dark leafy greens such as kale, collard greens, and spinach are also great sources of carotenoids. Another great way to get plenty of vitamin A is through dried herbs, such as basil, parsely and oregano. Foods such as liver (often served as liver pate), hot peppers (e.g. cayenne, chilli, paprika), and carrots (of course) are all some of the best sources of vitamin A.

Try and incorporate some of these foods into your diet for clear and vibrant skin!

-NZ

Cruciferous vegetable cups with peanut sauce (recipe)

Tags

broccoli, carrots, cooking, cruciferous, egg roll cup, receipe, vegan receipe, vegetable cup, vegetable dish, vegetarian receipe

I dreamed up this recipe on that fateful night when Hurricane Sandy hit towns all over NJ. Hubby and I needed a warm meal to get ourselves through the aftermath, and since we were lucky enough to have electricity, I spent my day in the kitchen roasting and sauteeing hearty cruciferous veggies.

Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, collards and bok-choy get their name from the fact that they have four branches coming off the stem, making a cross-like shape. They have gotten some impressive press for having cancer preventive properties. Check out my upcoming post on cruciferous veggies!

This recipe has 4 components, which can either be combined for an awesome presentation or enjoyed individually as components of other meals.

Carrot and Broccoli Slaw Stir-fry

Ingredients

For the stir-fry in egg-roll cup:

1 Package broccoli slaw

1 package shredded carrot

4 cloves garlic and 1/3 in piece ginger mashed or blended together into a paste

1 package mushrooms

2 tbsp Olive oil

Egg-roll wrappers

1/4 head of Broccoli, cut into florets

Braggs liquid aminos or soy sauce

Herbamare or other salt

Black pepper

Toasted sesame seeds, Garlic powder optional

Turmeric 1/4 tsp

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil. Add ginger, garlic and mushrooms (in that order).
2. Saute mushrooms till they shrink and the moisture has mostly dissipated.
3. Add carrot and then broccoli slaw, followed by the black pepper, turmeric braggs and salt. Saute for 4-5 minutes or until the desired crispness is achieved.
4. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds.

Spoon the stir fry into a bowl and leave the remaining liquid in the pan. Add the broccoli, with some garlic powder and black pepper and a small amount of the stir fry. Put a lid on the pan, turn off the stove and let the broccoli steam while the brussels sprouts and egg-roll cups are roasting.

Roasted brussel sprouts

(Note: broccoli and asparagus can also be roasted this way, though asparagus would require a shorter roasting time.)

Ingredients

Package of brussels sprouts

2 tbsp Olive oil

Salt (to taste)

Black pepper (to taste)

Garlic powder (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 420 degrees. While the oven is heating, set up the egg-roll cups as described in recipe below, as well as the brussels sprouts. You can also use this time to make peanut sauce.
2. Put brussels sprouts in a gallon size ziploc bag.
3. Add all the seasonings from the above ingredient list.
4. Close ziploc bag. Rub the ingredients in the bag together to distribute evenly.
5. Line a baking sheet with foil.
6. Once done preheating oven, put oil and spice coated sprouts on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.
7. Turn the sprouts over and roast for another ten minutes.

Egg-roll cups

You can get pretty creative with these. I’ve seen them done in muffin tins, but I used ramekins.

1. Grease the ramekin with a good amount of olive oil, put the egg-roll wrapper over it, fold the edges over and stick them together by sealing with water. Brush the molded egg-roll wrapper with olive oil.
2. 
   Bake for twenty minutes in the oven or until the desired brownness is achieved. Take the pan out and leave to cool.
3. Pry off the hardened shell from the ramekin, but do so carefully so the shell doesn’t break.

Final Vegetable Assembly

1. Put the brussel sprouts at the bottom of the cups.
2. Then spoon in the stir-fry until filled to the top.
3. Drizzle with peanut sauce, which you can buy or make using this recipe. Serve with broccoli on the side, also drizzled with peanut sauce.

-DS