Wednesday 27 October 2010

Simple recipe and its nutritional value

Here is one of the many symple recipes with its nutritional value:
Mediterranean salmon (taken from good housekeeping booklet, modified)

Hands on time 15 min – plus marinating. Cooking time 12 min. – serves 2 –

Ingredients

2 x 125g salmon fillets, skinned

1 tbsp pesto

10 g sun dried tomatoes, chopped

40 g black olive

Organic lemon (as the zest need to be used is better to use an organic lemon)

Preparation and cooking

- Mix the salmon, pesto, olives and sun-dried tomatoes in a bow. Sprinkle over the zest of ½ lemon. Cover and chill for 30 min. You can set up this part the night before or two days before.

- Preheat oven to 200 degree C (180 with fan) mark 6. Arrange the salmon in ovenproof serving dish, spooning over the marinade.

- Cut the lemon into 3 wedges and put around the salmon. Cook for 10-12 min or until the fish flakes when pushed with a knife.

Health benefits of the ingredients:

Salmon = source of omega 3 essential oil, proteins, potassium, selenium, vitamin B12, wild Alaskan salmon has got a higher content of omega 3 and less heavy metals and pesticides residue.

Pesto = contains mainly basil benefits includes helping the digestive system, is a mild sedative for relaxation, has been used for kidney support and slow circulation.

Pine nuts: (this is another ingredient of pesto, as well as the garlic and the parmisan cheese or pecorino cheese) contain more protein than any other nuts and in 100g of nuts it contains about 24g of protein, is a source of goo fiber, and some fat which is mostly monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, which are the good fats, only 10 percent is saturated. Pine nuts also contain b vitamins, vitamin E, zinc and potassium.

Garlic: Garlic nutritional values are amazing. Garlic is an anti-fungal, anti-microbial activity, it has been researched into his lowering of cholesterol, and it seems to increase the immune system activity and therefore helping with fighting colds and flue. The sulphur compound are the main active ingredients such as allicin, diallyl disulfide and diallyl trisulfide, which are released when garlic is crashed. Garlic also contain a good amount of vitamin B6, manganese, selenium, vitamin C, phosphorous, calcium potassium, iron and copper.

Cheese: Parmesan cheese and pecorino cheese are a good source of protein, calcium and other minerals but the amount that would be in pesto would not count as much for their real benefit.

Sun dried tomatoes = Tomatoes are low calories food, and the main benefit of the tomatoes is its content of antioxidants such as beta-carotene and lycopene. Tomatoes also contain biotin, vitamin C (if fresh not sun-dried), vitamin K, B6, B5, niacin, folic acid and fiber.

Black olive = Olives like the tomatoes and cucumber are fruits, and not vegetables. But they are the source of monosaturated fats which are one of the good oils or fats. The black olives are the same as green but at different degree of ripeness. Usually black olives that are less bitter are soaked in brine straight away and for longer. Olives are a good source of omega 9 which is one of the monosaturated fatty acids and vitamin E.

Lemons = Lemons are a good source of vitamin C, vitamin B6, potassium folic acid, flavonoids and the phytochemical limonene (this can help the liver for some parts of detoxification)

Enjoy the cooking and eating. This can be done when you have little time or it can be taken for the next day lunch.

http://www.nutritionhealth.net/


Tuesday 19 October 2010

Jamie's Oliver revolution

Well, watching  the programme last night, again I was amazed at the problem that Jamie faced. Again they still had rubbish food in the freezer and the dilemma is 'what to do with it'. Sincerely I would say gave it to the dogs, but I think that would be very cruel. I would not give that food to the dogs or homeless as that would be animal and human cruelty. I cannot believe that the US government still does not get it, how can you feed that rubbish food to the children? how can you let your kids eat the rubbish in the brown bag that I saw. What are the parents thinking? that their child will grow healthy with sweets and bright colorant??? I think parents and teachers as well as the kids should try to get that any, any junk food is bad for you. How can you go back to have your child not eat the healthy food and compare the junk food such as chocolate milk to real milk?? The children will adjust to anything, is the parents that don't and I have seen it with some of my clients. So parents and adults please think of what you eat. Because what you eat is how your body function. All the vitamins, minerals, good fats, carbohydrates, proteins are the ones that makes your body function well or bad (if you eat junk food or sugary foods).  And the healthier and nutritious your food is the better your child is going to grow, which should be healthy, not tired, not too hyper and not overweight and obese..
http://www.nutritionhealth.net/

Tuesday 5 October 2010

Jamie's Oliver USA

Well, watching Jamie's Oliver programme last night, I was so glad that the radio presenter finally saw the reality of his town and the other side of the coin. It was not just about him wanted to keep eating his junk food is saving his town from dying young and badly.... Well done to Jamie Oliver for not giving up even though he had so many obstacle, and I suppose after he trying UK he knew how to get the people finally. Great in involving the University with the dancing... He made cooking fun and enjoyable and obviously well done to the teachers and the students that did it so well.... Great hopefully now that Jamie is out of there the town and a lot more towns in America will take up cooking lessons and keep up with the healthy eating. It just means that McDonald and all the other junk food chain will earn less money... Great!!! So for anybody else keep staying healthy and have fun trying new recipes.....