Funny and healthy ideas!

Berries buttermilk cake

This bread type cake is very versatile. You can make it not only with berries, but with any fruit you have on hand. The buttermilk replaces a lot of the sugar and oil you'll need in similar cakes. I used unbleached white flour, but you can also use a mix of half whole wheat pastry flour and half unbleached flour.

Recipe:

- 1 cup of all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tbsp softened butter
2/3 cups of sugar
1 egg at room temperature
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 cups blackberries, raspberries or any fruit you have.

1) Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
2) Using a mixer beat the butter with the sugar for three minutes. Add the egg and vanilla extract. At low speed beat in the buttermilk and dry ingredients. Do not over mix. The batter will be lumpy. Over mixing will cause toughness and may cause holes to form inside the cake.
3)Gently fold the batter just until blended, then scrape into the pan and smooth the top. It is a good idea to use parchment paper inside the pan and butter the paper.
4) Put the fruit into the butter lightly pressing them in. Sprinkle the remaining a little of sugar on the top and bake for about 30 minutes in a preheated oven at 400.

5) Transfer the cake to a rack to cool 

It is possible to make muffins instead of a spread cake, but you'll have to modify the timing accordingly. 

Tomato sauce

Although it takes some time to do this sauce, once you taste its freshness and flavor you won't  go back to the prepared ones. It is a good idea to prepare a large amount of the sauce and freeze it in jars of different sizes.

The good thing is that tomatoes are not only a nutrient dense vegetable, but they are also rich in lycopene, a powerful antioxidant responsible of their red color, which is especially abundant in cooked tomatoes products.

The sauce can be made with whole tomatoes or just the flesh. I prefer the latter, but it will take some time to prepare the tomatoes. If you don't have that extra time, start directly in step 3.

You'll notice that there are no amounts in the recipe, everything is to taste.

1) Start by peeling the tomatoes. The easiest way to do this is to cut and X in the top or bottom of the tomatoes. Blanch them for 25 seconds and very quickly put them into an ice water bath. Now it will be very easy to peel the tomatoes.

2) Remove the seeds from the tomatoes. You can either cut them in four pieces and remove the seeds one by one or you can make a cut in one side of the tomato, turn the knife and cut around the center pulp and seeds removing the flesh in one long strip. Then cut the strips into smaller pieces.

3) After that you'll just need to sauté onions in olive oil for approximately 5 to 8 minutes. Remember to salt the onions when you are sautéing them because this will release all the water from the onions and they will cook in that liquid. Add chopped garlic and sauté for 30 seconds and add the tomatoes. As soon as you ad the tomatoes add salt, pepper, oregano (dried or fresh as you prefer), bay leaves, sometimes I add some red wine and anything you want to condiment the sauce. Add some sugar (a tablespoon) to cut the acidity.

4) The sauce should be cooked in a covered pot over low heat for one or two hours.  Don't use aluminum cookware since the high acid content of the tomatoes may interact with the metal. If you have a slow cooker you can cook the sauce there (but you need to sauté the onions with the garlic and tomatoes before) in the slow setting for 4 hours or more. The longer you cook the sauce, the sweeter it will be.

5) Puree everything in a food processor, let it cool, fill glass containers and put them in the freezer. It is a good idea to use different sizes of jars so you have tomato sauce for different recipes. Once you thaw them it is not a good idea to re-freeze.

I use this sauce in lots of different dishes as pasta, pizza, rice, polenta and quinoa, and depending on the use sometimes I add fresh basil, black olives, more onion, meat, etc. It is a nice way to introduce more vegetables to the snacks and lunches that we bring to school.

Traces of melamine in dinnerware after eating hot meals

A new study from researchers in Taiwan has concluded that after eating hot foods from melamine bowls, the levels of this chemical in urine were greater than the levels of those who ate the same food from ceramic bowls.

The FDA has stated that the levels found in those tests fall below the levels they considered a risk for people's health, but anyway they recommend to avoid heating food in melamine containers, even in the microwave.

To see the complete story: http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-melamine-bowls-soup-20130121,0,2109938.story or http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/GeneralPrimaryCare/36951

Naan bread

This is a very healthy and easy recipe to prepare and have it as a snack.

Ingredients:
All purpose flour (2 cups)
Water (1 cups)
Salt to taste

Start by mixing in a big bowl the water, salt and flour until you have a dough that doesn't stick to your hands or to the countertop. You need to slowly add the water to a hole in the middle of the dry ingredients.
The amount of water and flour is not exact, depending on the flour and ambient humidity.
Knead until you have a dough without lumps.

Separate the dough into three balls and let it rest for five minutes.

After five minutes add a little of flour to one of the balls and roll it until it is 1/4 of an inch.

Cook it on a skillet (no need to use oil) until it changes its color to opaque white. Then pick it with tongs and burn it over direct flame moving it constantly until it is crunchy but still flexible.

Then add butter or olive oil and it is ready to eat!

Another version is to prepare one with a filling. In this case Emilse made a kale and garlic filling.
You need to sauté the garlic and kale, add a little of lemon zest and fill one of the balls with it. Then roll and cook it as the previous one.

AAP Makes Recommendations to Reduce Children's Exposure to Pesticides

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has just released a new policy statement named Pesticide 

Exposure in Children stating that "Prenatal and early childhood exposure to pesticides is associated 

with pediatric cancers decreased cognitive function and behavioral problems". 

They also address the need of pediatricians to work with parents, schools and government agencies to 

advocate for the least toxic methods of pest control, inform communities when pesticides are being used 
in the area and offer guidance to parents about safe storage and  the use of the least toxic methods of 
pest control. 

You can read the abstract here and the full statement here. 

Roasted Pumpkins Bowls with Polenta Thyme Risotto and Toma Cheese

This recipe was created by Emilse Pereira Beck. She is a Pastry Chef and has a Holistic Nutrition Certification. You can read more about her at the bottom of this post. 

I wanted to give you this great recipe before this Halloween weekend, so you have it as an option to offer to your loved ones in a potluck or in a dinner at your home. The pumpkins I’ve chosen for this recipe are “jack be little” because they look great once they’re cooked and the skin is soft enough to be eaten. It is better to pick the ones that are taller rather than wider to have more space to fill up.

Mini pumpkin bowl:
Cut a thin slice from bottom of 3 mini “jack be little” or sugar pie pumpkins to give them a nice stable base. 

Set them on a rimmed baking sheet; rub with olive oil, than sprinkle with sea or pink salt and pepper. 

Bake in a 400 oven until tender, (40 to50 minutes). Cut off 2 inch-wide-lid, carefully scrape out seeds with a small spoon. 

Polenta with Toma cheese and vegetables.

• 1/3 cup of polenta
• 1 shallot
• 4 mini organic bell pepers
• 1 small onion
• 1 garlic
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3/3 cup of chicken/vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• salt and pepper to taste

Polenta’s most important rule is: 1 part polenta x 3 parts of liquid. The liquid could be, broth (beef bone, chicken, fish, vegetable), milk, wine, carrot or orange juice, or even a combination of these liquids. To make a thick soup consistency, add 1 more part of liquid to the equation. 

Using the risotto technic, cut bell peppers, onion, garlic, shallots in mini pieces and sauté with olive oil in a pot over medium heat until tender. Add the polenta grits and toast them just a little, stirring all the time for 3 minutes. Add the broth, salt and pepper and keep stirring until the polenta absorbs all the liquid. Keep cooking for 10 min and mix in the cheese with the thyme. Last but not least fill up the pumpkins and enjoy it with a glass of red wine. Bon Appetite!



Roasted Pumpkin Bowls with Polenta Thyme Risotto and Melted Toma Cheese from julieta arias on Vimeo.

The nutritional highlights:

Pumpkin is a excellent sours of of carotenes-the richer the color, the richer the concentration. Carotene is a provitamin A, which is important in maintaining the health and structure of your skin. Many skin disorders, including acne and psoriasis, are often responsive to vitamin A (Murray, 2005). In addition to cancer and heart disease, diets rich in carotenes also appear to offer protection against developing type 2 diabetes, with pumpkin consumption being the most protective.

Emilse is a Pastry Chef who has worked at different high-end restaurants in Argentina, London, Miami and California. She recently finished a Holistic Nutrition Certification which shapes most of her latest creations. She is dedicated to improving people's quality of life through food without leaving behind delicious flavors. She is currently teaching healthy cooking and nutrition seminars to a group of mothers at Compass Family Services. To know more about her story check out her blog at Pastry girl without borders.wordpress.com (for her blog in spanish click here) or contact her at: emilsepbeck@gmail.com