1.) Experts emphasize eating real food that tastes really good. Eating well does not mean flavor-less foods, and diet-concsious meals do not have to taste like cardboard. For example, consider everything that Ellie Krieger cooks. I HIGHLY recommend buying her cookbook ("The Food You Crave"), but you can also access all of her recipes online at www.foodnetwork.com ...
2.) Healthy eating regimens can be individualized. As a lifelong student and aspiring educator, there are few things in the world that irritate me more than "standardizing" anything. We are all different, and different is good. What works for the Jones's is not necessarily what works for the Smith's ... insert other kumbaya sentiments here. Even the US Dept of Agriculture has jumped on this band wagon, and instead of a one-food-pyramid-guide-fits-all approach that we all grew up with, they offer assistance in determining a more individualized approach (see www.mypyramid.gov/index.html)
Yet underlying these current nutrition trends is one steadfast rule everyone and their mother continues to agree on: for optimum health one should eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. And that is where my favorite vegetable recipe of all time comes into play. This is a Rachael Ray recipe that I make at least 2 times a week. It works wonderfully as a side dish, or as the main dish atop a bowl of brown rice. Left overs also make for a tasty egg scramble the next morning ... that is, if there are any leftovers ...
Roasted Ginger Garlic Broccoli
4-5 c broccoli florets
1 1" piece of ginger, peeled and grated (it grates easier if frozen ahead of time)
2-3 cloves of garlic
3 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 pinches of crushed red pepper OR 1/2 tsp of white pepper (my preferred spice)
Preheat oven to 450F
Toss ingredients together and season with salt and black pepper.
(or combine spices/oil in a bowl & then toss together, seen below)
Roast in bottom 1/3 of oven for about 12 minutes.
But wait! The fun doesn't stop here! Depending on what you have in your refrigerator, this recipe also works wonders on the following vegetables:
Onions (any color)
Bell Peppers (any color)
Green Beans
Cauliflower
Potato slices
Carrots
Squash
Really ... the sky is the limit with this one.
1 comment:
Oven-roasted veggies are the best and I can't wait to try this. While I'm not a baker, I am a big fan of anything I can put in the oven since the "multi-tasking" part of cooking is something I still find challenging.
Barefoot Contessa, Back to Basics: Parmesan roasted broccoli...love it!
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