Tag Archives: Atkins friendly

A to Z Challenge 2015, Breakfast & Brunch, Mexican/Spanish Recipes, Pork, Recipes

Nurture with Nopal

I have a fairly good-sized prickly pear cactus growing in my yard that arrived there by bird farmers or some other means and it has yielded a few pears over the past two years. Our neighbor’s desert tortoise is particularly fond of the pads and she often snacks on them. The Mexican name for this cactus is nopal or nopales and it is a source of food, nutrition and, possibly, medicines for humans.

Nopales are native to Mexico and spread over the Southwest in general. The root species is the Opuntia cacti. There are actually 114 known species of this cactus family and the leaves of all of them are edible. In Mexico, the cactus pads are popular in many foods dishes, using both raw and cooked pads. In the spring, the cacti produce beautiful, colorful flowers that mature into prickly pears or tunas, a seedy fruit that can be made into jam, jellies and juices or eaten fresh. The taste is described as a blend of watermelon and strawberry, but I haven’t noticed it so much. I tasted the uncooked pad and found a similar taste to watermelon with just a touch of sweetness.

Using Cacti

When dealing with this cactus, you need to take care to avoid the many little spines that inspire the name prickly pear. Gloves or tongs are very useful in handling these items. In order to use the pads or the pears in cooking, you need to carefully remove the spines. Here’s a video from Rivenrock Gardens, a company that sells Nopales, on how to clean the pads.   Cleaning Pads

The pears are equally as tricky to work with, but there is a quick trick to peeling them and using them without stabbing yourself. Using tongs or forks to handle the pear, you follow the basic directions in this video from The Produce Guy for cutting the pear, just being careful not to touch them with your hands. It helps to wear gloves. If you buy them at the grocery, they are probably already cleaned of the spines so they are safe to handle.

Here’s a tip: If you do get one of the spines in your hand, use white glue to remove it. Simply spread the glue over the sore spot, let it dry and pull it out. It will grab the hair fine spine with it.

Health Benefits

At this time, many of the possible health benefits are being researched, but it is believed to be of use in treating type 2 diabetes. It is high in fiber and pectin, which can reduce sugar absorption in the digestive tract. It is also rumored to be good for treating colitis, obesity and high cholesterol. As more research is done, it will be interesting to see if this is an effective food.

Nutrition information for 149 g (about 1 cup)
Calories:22 Fat:0 g Net Carbs:2.0 g Protein:2 g

I have only used Nopal a few times in the past couple of years, but here is a recipe from this site:

Prickly Pear and Orange Marmalade

Here’s a new recipe that uses the pads:

Nopalitos with Chorizo and Eggs

1 young Nopales Pad, cleaned trimmed, and cut into strips
1/2 cup Pico de Gallo
1 Serrano Pepper, chopped
4 large Eggs
1 teaspoon Mexican Oregano
1 teaspoon Chile Powder
1/2 cup Chorizo sausage
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar Jack Cheese
1/4 cup Queso Fresco
4 Low Carb Tortillas, 7 inch

Cook strips of nopalitos in water with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon oregano. Drain when they are tender.

In a skillet, heat one tablespoon oil, then add the nopalitos for a few minutes. Add the Pico de Gallo, Mexican oregano and Serrano peppers and continue to cook until the onions are almost done. Remove to a bowl.

Add a little olive oil to the pan, then add chorizo sausage and stir fry until it is lightly cooked. Add the vegetables back to the pan and add chile powder.

Beat eggs in a bowl, add a bit of salt and pepper and a little more oregano. Add eggs into the mixture, continuing to stir as they cook. Sprinkle cheddar jack cheese over the top and remove from the heat.

Warm up tortillas over the burner or in the oven. Serve eggs and sprinkle a little Queso Fresco over the top.

Serve with tortillas. Makes 4 servings

Nutrition Info per serving
   Calories: 339 Fat: 24.1 g Net Carbs: 6.9 g Protein: 23.3 g

* If you can’t find tortillas, you can eat them with a low carb flat bread or pita bread or without bread. Low Carb tortillas are 3 nc per tortillas, so that would be 3.9 nc for the meat and vegetables.

All comments relevant to my posts are welcome. SPAM is not. If the post has nothing to do with my site content, it will not be posted

Information for this article came from Wikipedia, Web M.D., Nopal Export, Nutrition and You.com and Rivenrock Gardens

All photos taken by R. Averett and copyright Skinny Girl Bistro

A to Z Challenge 2015, Recipes, Vegetables & Salads

Munching on Mung Beans

Well, not really. I haven’t actually seen a mung bean in my grocery store, so I suspect I will need to visit an Asian market to actually find the bean. But what I do find at the market is bean sprouts and the majority of those consumed in the United States are from the mung bean seed. Those are those delightfully crunchy sprouts that go so well in Chinese food and in salads. But as for the beans themselves, they are also mashed into a mung bean paste that is used in Asian and Indian cooking. What are we missing out on?

Actually, the bean is usually dried for use, then boiled until they are soft. The paste can be made by removing the outer hull, cooking and then pulverizing the beans until they are a dry paste. In some regions of India, the hulled beans are used to make mung dal.  Other areas of India season the whole beans with spices and fresh coconut to make sundal.

Chinese cuisine used the whole bean to make a dessert called lǜdòu tángshuǐ. Dehulled mung beans and mung bean paste are used in Hong Kong to make ice cream. Mung bean paste is used as a filling for mooncakes in East China and Taiwan. Boiled and shelled beans are used as filling in rice dumplings that are eaten during the dragon boat festival.They can also be blended into a sweetened beverage.

In Indonesia, the beans are cooked with coconut milk and ginger to make es kacang hijau, which is a porridge-like dessert. Monggó guisado or balatong is a Filipino stew of whole mung beans with prawns or fish. Again, mung bean paste is used to make a sweet pastry called a hopia that is popular in the Philippines, Indonesia and Guyana, where it is called a black eye cake.

History

Since ancient times, the mung bean has been grown in India and is now widely grown in southeast Asia, Africa, South America and Australia. It seems to have been cultivated in the United States as early as 1835 where it was known as the Chicksaw pea. Although the beans are widely grown for human consumption, they can also be used as a manure crop and as forage for livestock.Of the fifteen to twenty millions pounds of mung bean consumed annually in the US, nearly 75% is imported. The rest is primarily grown in Oklahoma.

The mung bean sprouts are what we see most often in groceries. They are high in protein, calcium, phosphorus and some vitamins as well as low calorie and low carb. This makes them very important for providing protein in areas where people don’t have many other sources.

1200px-Bean_sprouts_04
Mung Bean sprouts – Photo from WikiCommons – “Bean sprouts 04” by Anna Frodesiak – Own work. Licensed under CC0 via Wikimedia Commons

 

Nutrition information
Mung Beans 1 tablespoon
Calories: 45, Fat: 0.2 g,Net Carbs: 5.9 g, protein: 3.1 g

Bean sprouts 1 cup
Calories 31, Fat 0 g, Net Carbs: 4 g Protein: 3 g

Recipes

Asian fusion “Dirty” rice. Photo by R. Averett

Here’s a trio of recipes on Skinny Girl that use bean sprouts in them. I think I need to expand my use, although I do use them often in salads.

Egg Foo Yung
Orange Chicken
Asian Fusion “Dirty” Rice

 All comments relevant to my posts are welcome. SPAM is not.  If the post has nothing to do with my site content, it will not be posted.

Information for this article came from Purdue University – Alternative Field Crops Manual, Wikipedia, Food for Life, Food for Awakening

Top Photo from Wiki Commons, used with permission – “ചെറുപയർ മുളപ്പിച്ചത്” by Edukeralam, Navaneeth Krishnan S – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

A to Z Challenge 2015

Kooky Kohlrabi is Great!

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Kohlrabi is one of my favorite vegetables. I didn’t “discover” it until a few years ago when one of my friends in France mentioned it to me as a potato alternative. As luck would have it, my local grocery had some in stock so I tried it. Whenever I’m looking for an option to replace potatoes in a recipe, I try it two or three ways I would cook a potato, the first being to fry it. Kohlrabi handled this marvelously, frying up nicely into a tasty plank that doesn’t taste like potato, but still gives you an excellent fried vegetable with sandwiches. It also handled the roast and boil test as well as being a great sliced vegetable in salads.

America is just now finding kohlrabi, it seems, although it’s been here since the early 1800’s. I mostly hear that people have cut it thinly or shredded it and used it in their salads or that they’ve used the leaves and thrown the bulb away or fed it to farm animals . But it is so much more. I love to mix it with cauliflower and celery root and make mashed veggies with it that can replace mashed potatoes. They don’t taste like mashed potatoes, but they have such a wonderful flavor that I don’t even care.  As a side dish on its own, cooked with butter and seasonings, it is delicious. I cannot rave enough about this vegetable!

History

This is a relatively new vegetable that originated in Germany. The name is German for cabbage (kohl) and turnip (rabi). Indeed, the vegetable comes from the same root family as cabbage, cauliflower, kale and Brussels sprouts —  the wild mustard plant. Prior to about 500 years ago, there was no record or indication of either kohlrabi or Brussels sprouts. They appear to be cultivated varieties of the root stock. What is unusual about kohlrabi is that the vegetable grows into a round tuber on the stalk with long stalks of leaves coming out it. It’s almost like having a root above ground. While it looks odd, its flavor is similar to its cousin broccoli’s stalk, but milder in flavor. The leaves are also edible, although by the time the bulb reaches 3 inches or more in diameter, the leaves get a little tough. They can be cooked and used as you would turnip or mustard greens.

There are several varieties of kohlrabi, the green variety being seen most often. There is also a purple variety. I have grown some of each in my garden and I notice the purple variety tends to be more elongated. They like cool weather though and thus far, I haven’t gotten them to maturity before summer sets in.

The vegetable needs to be peeled as there are two layers of tough skin and fiber that are not edible. I find it easiest to parboil them for about three minutes, cool them down, then a paring knife removes these layers quickly.  I really urge you to try kohlrabi, raw or cooked, and enjoy this marvelous-tasting vegetable.

Recipes

kohlrabi-comp

 

Here’s a few recipes from Skinny Girl that use or feature kohlrabi:

Spicy Chicken Kohlrabi Curry
Hungarian Style Kohlrabi Rolls
Kohlrabi and Ham Casserole
Irish Style Celery and Kohlrabi
Broccoli with Mornay Sauce

Nutrition information for 1 cup (135 g) kohlrabi
Calories: 36.5 Fat: 0.1 g Net Carbs: 3.5 g Protein: 2.3 g

All comments relevant to my posts are welcome. SPAM is not.  If the post has nothing to do with my site content, it will not be posted.

References for this article include Wikipedia, Specialty Produce,  Kohlrabi and Brussels Sprouts Are European

Photos taken by R. Averett, copyright Skinny Girl Bistro

A to Z Challenge 2015, Appetizers

Join In on Jicama

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Oddly, even though I grew up adjacent to Mexico and thrived on Mexican food, jicama was something I really didn’t encounter. Not even when I moved to Southern California.  I didn’t “discover” it until about ten years ago when I spotted the odd-looking root in the grocery and decided to try it. What I found was an unusual vegetable that has a crisp, clean flavor and a bit of sweetness. It reminded me of an apple in texture and in crunch.

Most frequently, jicama seems to be cut into small sticks or grated and put into salads and slaws, where it does an admirable job. It can also be cooked, baked, boiled or fried. One of the interesting characteristics is that it doesn’t get soft. It keeps the crispness, which makes it great for a dipping chip, even if you fry it. It adds a bit of crunch to a stew while substituting for a higher carb’d vegetable.

Cultivated South of the Border

Pronounced hee-ca-ma, it is also called yambean, although it is not a yam. Jicama is native to Mexico and South America. It is part of the legume family and grows a vine in tropical and semi-tropical climates. The edible jicama root is a globular shape and has been referred to as Mexican turnip, although the flavor is nothing like a turnip, or Mexican water chestnut, which it resembles in crunch. Other names for it are bengkoang, sengkwang and yacon. The flavor suggest that it would also be good in Asian food as a water chestnut substitute. It is grown in Asia and in other tropical and semi-tropical areas, including Florida, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.

Nutrition Info per 100g (about3.5 oz)
Calories: 38 Fat: 0.19 g Net Carbs: 3.8 g Protein: 0.72 g

Jicama, how do I love thee?

Let me count the ways:

  • Peeled and cut into sticks as a snack.
  • Cut into rounds and fried as a dipper instead of potato chips.
  • Chopped and added to stir-fry.
  • Shredded and added to salad.
  • Cut into sticks and Tampura battered and fried.
  • Sliced and spread with peanut butter and sugar free jam.
  • Sliced and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar substitute.
  • Sliced and roasted, then topped with cheese and bacon.
  • Sliced and sprinkled with lime juice and a bit of chili powder.
  • Cut into cubes and mixed with strawberries and blueberries in a fruit salad.
  • Or mixed with cantaloupe and honeydew melon in a fruit salad.

There are more ways than I can count to use this versatile vegetable.   If you have other ways you’d like to share, let me know.

Here are two ways to use jicama from this site:

Root Vegetable Fries (on the Celeraic page, go to the bottom)
Sizzlin’ Hot Snacks (toward the bottom, snack options with  beets, daikon and jicama)

And here’s a new recipe for jicama for this entry:

Cinnamon Battered Jicama Sticks

12 Jicama sticks, about 3 to 4” long, 1/2 inch cubed
1/4 cup Low Carb Flour
1 Egg
1/4 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground Cardamom
2 tablespoons Sugar Substitute
1/4 cup sugar free Raspberry Jam or preferred flavor
Coconut Oil

Mix the flour, egg, baking powder, sugar substitute and spices together to make a batter.

Heat enough coconut oil in a small pan to bring it to about 1/2 inch. Reduce to a medium heat.

Dip a jicama sticks into the batter, then carefully slide into the pan of oil. Cook about three at a time until golden brown, then turn over to cook the other side to golden brown or spoon the oil over the top while cooking to brown the top. This only takes a couple of minutes. Remove to paper towels to drain. Spread with sugar free raspberry or other jam of choice.

Makes 12 snacks.

Nutrition info per snack
   Calories:16 Fat: 0.7 g Net Carbs: 2.0 g Protein: 0.8 g

All comments relevant to my posts are welcome. SPAM is not.  If the post has nothing to do with my site content, it will not be posted.

This article used the following for reference: Specialty Produce, Nutrition and You,  Natural Society Newsletter

Top photo from WikiCommons, used with permission – By Wicki (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

A to Z Challenge 2015

Horseradish Is Hot!

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No horsing around here; Horseradish has kick!

I admit that I am not a horseradish fan, not in any form. It does add hot flavor to dressings and I am fine with the spicy dipping sauce that many restaurants use with fried onions and jalapeno poppers, because they aren’t spicy enough on their own. But eat it with my prime rib? No, thanks! I know a lot of people do like it, PK being one of them. We usually have a jar of it in the ‘fridge and I generally ignore it, so don’t look for any great horseradish recipes on this site.

Having said that, here’s a little background information on this culinary hot flash. First off, horseradish is in the mustard family— now I’m very fond of mustard— but it is the less desirable cousin, in my opinion. That family line includes kale, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, wasabi and other radishes. Horseradish is well-endowed with isothoicyanate, which when combined with air and saliva, produce the hot taste.

Going back to 1500 B.C., the Egyptians knew about it and used it, although it’s not clear if it was for eating or other purposes. The Greeks used it to treat lower back pain as well as an aphrodisiac. (How did that work?) The English name of horseradish may have come about because of a mispronunciation of the German name meerrettich, which means sea radish, and with the meer becoming mare, which in turn changed to horseradish. By the 1600’s, the horseradish had spread across Europe, Scandinavia and made it to England. The English grew it at their inns and coach stations in order to make a pungent cordial to revive weary travelers and to serve with dinner.

From England, the root made the inevitable journey to the Americas where the growing of it firmly took hold in the Northeast and it even grew wild around Boston. By the mid-19th century, farmers in the mid-west had begin cultivating it in the fertile soil near the Mississippi River in Illinois.  This area is still a hotbed of horseradish production with Collinsville , Illinois holding an International Horseradish Festival annually.

Making the root into Horseradish Sauce

Once the root is harvested, it’s sold to manufacturers who have machines to grate the roots, which releases the oils that make it unique. Then the ground-up root is neutralized with vinegar and additional spices and other ingredients, such as sugar, cream or oil may be added. I do see horseradish roots in the produce department now and then, so it is possible to grate and make your own. Be warned though, this is worse than peeling onions. For more instructions on it, here’s a recipe from a horseradish-friendly site, Serious Eats.

Feeling Adventurous?  Here’s a recipe from My Recipes.com for Peach Horseradish Maple Syrup.  That actually doesn’t sound too bad.  I may have to revise my view on horseradish a bit, although I’m sure you could make this with mustard also.

Nutrition Information for 100 g (about 3.5 oz.) Horseradish.
Calories: 48 Fat:0.69 g Net Carbs: 8.0 g Protein: 1.18 g

 

The following web sites provided the information for this article: Horseradish.org,  Wikipedia, and J.R. Kelly – The Horseradish House 

Top photo from Wikimedia, use with permission – “Kren Verkauf” by Anna reg – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons