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Potato

Hot Potato, Hot Potato

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Did you know that there is a world wide potato shortage going on? Before you start to panic, the shortage is specifically related to the processed potato chip variety. Phew!

But wait. This means that frozen potato chips aka oven fries are off the menu. It also means that fish and chip shops everywhere, are operating with restrictions on the amount of chips that can be ordered and some not allowing solo chip orders, without other items in the order. The trusty $3 worth of chips is well and truly over.  I do have some secret intel into this, as 3rd child is currently working at a fish and chip shop. Alternatively, if you would prefer the scientific facts, they can be found here.

Thank goodness that chips are not the only way to enjoy the humble potato.  The media has painted this tasty vegetable as the devil incarnate for years but it is simply not true. In the nutrition world, it is a serious nutrition powerhouse in so many ways. 

Potato Nutrition Goodness

Despite myths to the contrary, our human bodies need carbohydrate for energy and our very essential brain can’t function without it.  Carbohydrates with lots of fibre are vital for good gut health too.  Roasting potato, cooling it the fridge and then eating it cold in a salad (or however you like) the next day, gives you a boost of resistant starch, essential fuel for the healthy bacteria in our gut.  This resistant starch is just the best and can be found in foods that might already be in your pantry.

Potatoes are also virtually fat free and a handy source of Vitamin C, folate and B vitamins too.

You may have heard that white potato is BAD for you and instead, you should be eating sweet potato.  First of all, there is no such such thing as a BAD food, all food is just food. Secondly, while sweet potato is very healthy choice, so is the white variety .  For all the facts, WA Potatoes is most definitely the go to.

I have some favourite ways to cook these little goodies and here they are!

 

Baked Sweet Potato

Ingredients

1 whole sweet potato (size depending on the number you are feeding)

40g feta cheese

Method

1. Give your sweet potato a good scrub with water and trim off any bits that are grubby (you know THOSE bits on the potato).

2. Place your sweet potato baby into a moderate oven (180 C) and bake until a fork easily goes through the skin.  You will also notice that the natural sugars in the sweet potato have started to ooze from the skin and caramelise – yum!

3. To serve, cut carefully down the centre of the potato lengthways and crumble feta on top. 

 

French Onion Potatoes

Ingredients

5-6 medium white potatoes (choose your favourite variety) or 1 small bag of baby potatoes

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons salt reduced French Onion dry soup mix

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to (180C).

2. Wash and dry potatoes.  If using medium potatoes, cut each potato into 3cm pieces and place into a bowl. If using baby potatoes, leave them whole or cut them in half.

3. Drizzle the oil and French Onion soup mix over the potatoes and mix until the potatoes are well covered.

4. Place potatoes onto a lined baking tray and bake in the oven for approximately 45 minutes.  Alternatively, you can also cook the potatoes in an air-fryer for approximately 25 minutes.

 

By the way, if you are still wanting a crispy chip, cut your favourite potato variety into long thick (or thinner) wedges, brush with a little oil, season as you like and bake in a moderate oven or air-fryer. For a little entertainment while you are prepping, just think of the Wiggles………

 

Taco, Taco Taco

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A taco was not part of my eating repertoire growing up.  The only version of ‘Mexican’ I tried as a kid, was when my mum discovered the combination of taco shells and beef mince, sans seasoning.  At the time, the only commercially available Mexican food, was from a very well known Perth restaurant that shall remain un-named, simply because it was so bad.  It was the perfect place for a party but culinary delight it was not.

Thankfully for us all, wonderful quality Mexican food is now available in many places without requiring ten shot glasses of tequila to enjoy it.

While Mexican recipes may not be something that I am typically looking for, I am always looking at recipes. Last year I started following some fellow Dietitians in the US and really liked the dishes they were sharing. One in a particular has become a definite family favourite. In fact, The Real Food Dietitians have some super tasty recipes that my family love.

Recipes developed in the United States, often don’t work as well in Australian kitchens, as the ingredients are a little different and the quantities are usually in imperial units, so mistakes can abound.

For the recipe I share today, I made a few tweaks, increased the vegetable portions, removed the meat (although you could add if you wanted to, I don’t think this dish needs it) and arrived at the Hot Taco Dish. It doesn’t look like a taco. It does however, have all the delicious flavours  of a taco in one dish, everyone loves it and it is packed full of veggies.  My kids think it actually contains meat instead of the two cans of black beans hiding in there.  I am just that sneaky.

If you are unsure how to get more legumes into your daily diet, Hot Taco Dish is an easy place to start.  For other ideas on how to include them in your eating week, check out some of my tips here.

Hot Taco Dish

Ingredients

1 large onion, diced

1 large red capsicum, diced

2 x small zucchini, diced

3 x garlic gloves, minced

1 x packet of taco or burrito seasoning

2 x 440g tinned diced tomatoes

1/2 cup tomato paste

3 cups salt reduced beef stock

2 x corn cobs, cooked and kernels sliced off

2 x 440g cans black beans, drained

1 cup uncooked white rice (don’t use black, brown or other rice)

1.5 cups cheddar cheese, grated

Optional Sides

Coriander, avocado, light sour cream or Greek natural yoghurt, shredded lettuce, diced tomato and cucumber and corn chips

 

Method 

Preheat the oven to 180 C. Spray a large rectangular baking dish and set aside.

Add onion and capsicum to a large frying pan with a little olive oil and cook until the vegetables are softened.

Add zucchini, garlic and taco seasoning. Stir and cook until the zucchini is just tender.

Transfer the veggie mixture to the greased baking dish.

Add the diced tomatoes, tomato paste,, stock, drained beans, corn, rice and 1/2 cup grated cheese to the baking dish and stir to combine. 

Cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 50-65 minutes or until the rice is cooked. When the cooking time is up, check that the rice is cooked  and if not leave the dish in for a little extra time. Remove the foil and sprinkle remaining cheese over the top and continue to bake for 5-10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden brown.

Allow the dish to stand for 5 minutes before serving with sides of choice.

soup

Soup – a simple way to warm up this winter

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In my mind, chilly days signal the start of soup season. It’s time to get the soup pot out and fill it to the brim with winter vegetables, tasty stock and other goodies that make soup so delicious and warming. Once you have made this magical soup – it is a super easy and quick lunch, dinner and sometimes a snack too.

As additional benefit – the beauty of soup is that it can be a truly effective way of getting a ton of vitamins, minerals, fluid and fibre into your daily intake.

The thing is, although soup is an easy meal to prepare, the fact is that time does not always allow us to make a batch every week.  Enter the ready to eat options.

Have you been down the soup aisle of the supermarket lately??  It has most certainly grown over the past few years.  No longer is this section stacked with can after can of reheat and eat.  The packaging is now rather glossy and sleek and although packets and cans of soups still adorn the shelves, the newest kid on the block is the soup pouch.

During my most recent supermarket tour (ask me for more information on these if you are interested in the next one), I was actually really surprised at the sheer volume of variety.  Given all this choice, it seemed incumbent upon me to review some of these soups because lets face it – ‘ready to go’ can be vital on some days, especially if no-one wants to get hurt in the process.

All of the soups I tested are available on the shelf and do not require refrigeration – hence the perfect meal to store in the pantry or desk drawer at work. Heating time was on average 2.5 minutes, so they are definitely classed as fast food – in a good kind of way.

Nutrition 

When looking at food products in general, it is important to check the fat, sugar, salt and fibre content of the food.  Try and choose food that includes the following:

Fat – less than 8g per 100g serve

Sugar – less than 10g per 100g serve

Sodium (salt) – less than 400mg per 100g serve

Fibre more than – 5g per 100g serve

As you can see from the summary below, the four varieties that I tasted all fit the criteria for fat, sugar and salt but all are lowish in fibre.  The soup that you prepare at home is likely to be much higher in fibre due to the quantity of vegetables that you are most likely to add but you could bump up the fibre of these sou

p pouches by adding a slice of grainy toast or bread.

La Zuppa is particularly low in calories for a meal – it is more of a clear soup, so in this case adding some bread would round things out a little.

Taste

My favourite was the Split Pea, Carrot and Kale soup by the Australian Organic Co. – it was super tasty and filling and the texture was pleasant. I thought the Heinz soup had an overwhelmingly tomato flavour, although the La Zuppa was very tasty and did actually contain chicken. The Coconut and Pumpkin soup by Hart and Soul had a lovely flavour but sligh

tly bizarre long stringy pieces of coconut and (and perhaps onion) throughout the soup.

Cost

Of course, the one I enjoyed the most was the most expensive!  A bit like clothes really.

I have noticed that many of these soups are discounted on a regular basis across most supermarkets and are often available at around the $2 – $2.50 mark per pouch. This means that packaged soup in pouches can be a super cheap meal, especially in comparison to buying lunch.

And what about you – have you tried some of these or is there a packaged soup that you enjoy and would like me to take a look at?

 

 

Camel Milk

Camel milk and the health benefits – one hump or two?

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It is fair to say that Australia has no shortage of camels. It is estimated that there are approximately 1 to 1.2 million camels roaming free (or feral depending on your outlook) in the land of Oz. These camels are spread far and wide across an area of around 3.3 million square kilometres of diverse terrain and their numbers are projected to double every 8-9 years.  The mind boggles does it not?

Enter the cameleer. A cameleer is someone who can ride, train and handle camels and that is exactly what a gentlemen by the name of Stephen Geppert is expert in. Whilst in the Australian desert, he noticed how many camels were running wild and aware of the governments culling program to control numbers, Stephen got to thinking about harnessing these mammals for their milk.

This idea was further developed by joining forces with others who had experience within government and the agricultural industries and the Good Earth Dairy in Dandaragan that produces camel milk was born.

I first tried camel milk at the Perth Royal Show a few months ago and I was surprised to discover that I liked it. I may have been persuaded by the cuteness overload of two baby camel’s swaying on their gangly new legs and their l o n g eyelashes but nevertheless, it tasted good.

Camel milk has some impressive nutrition stats.  It contains half the saturated fat of cows milk and is a rich source of protein and calcium.  Good news for those intolerant to the A1 protein in cows milk too  – camel milk contains only the A2 protein. It contains 60% of the lactose in cows milk, making it a viable option for those who are lactose intolerant and the mineral content including zinc, magnesium, manganese and potassium is high too.

Then there is lactoferrin. Various strains of harmful bacteria need iron to reproduce and lactoferrin is an iron-binding protein that limits the availability of iron to bacteria in the gut – allowing the beneficial bacteria survive. Camel milk uniquely contains 10 times the amount of lactoferrin that is found in cows milk.  

There is no doubt that the camel milk industry is in its infancy and with that comes the substantial stresses of a start-up business, which of course includes consumers being aware that it exists.

Aside from the nutritional benefits, I do appreciate innovation and the use of an existing resource that can survive in very tough conditions, minimising the impact on our environment. 

If you would like to listen to my review on air and all the funny jokes that one would expect with a review of camel milk, check it out here. By the way, you can grab this milk at a number of specialty stores around Perth, listed on the Good Earth Dairy website.

What about you – have you tried camel milk yet?

 

 

 

Incredible Health Benefits of Cauliflower

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Some of my favourite childhood memories of food involve the humble cauliflower. The smell of this delicious vegetable baking in the oven smothered in a cheesy sauce, takes me straight back to my mum teaching me the basics of cooking. Of course, I know now that cauliflower is so much more than a friend to cheese, plus there are so many incredible health benefits to eating this tasty vegetable.

Cauliflower is a cruciferous vegetable from the Brassica family and close cousins to broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts. In the nutrition world, they pack a punch and can truly enhance your health and well-being.

Bring on the incredible benefits of cauliflower.

Fighting the Free Radicals

Cauliflower is a rich source of a particular group of antioxidants known as ‘indoles,’ which are linked to the prevention of a number of cancers including bladder, breast and colorectal. These antioxidants exert their protective effects by preventing damage to body cells and tissues. This damage is caused by free radicals which are produced in the presence of cigarette smoke, radiation, inflammation, UV light and extreme exercise. The indoles in cauliflower gobble up the free radicals and reduce damage to your cells and the risk of cancer. Although antioxidants can be found in supplement form, they are much more effective in whole food like cauliflower.

A Date with Detox

The human body is very clever but sometimes it needs a bit of help. Our natural detox system usually ticks along all by itself but we do need to give it adequate nutritional support. If unwanted toxins come sailing in and less than ideal choices are being made in the dietary department, we put ourselves at an increased risk of damage to our cells and lifestyle diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, gastrointestinal disease and cancer.

Cauliflower does come to the rescue here as it is bursting with phytonutrients known as glucosinolates that help activate our detoxification system. They are the sulphur containing compounds that give cauliflower its distinctive aroma and taste and they also act as natural anti-inflammatories.

Come in Vitamin C

Vitamin C is essential for skin and brain health and is a powerful antioxidant to boot. Many people think oranges and berries when looking for Vitamin C but cauliflower has hidden talents in this area. Half a small cauliflower contains almost 60mg of Vitamin C compared to 69mg in a medium orange, 32mg in 1-cup raspberries and 14mg in 1-cup of blueberries. Being the brightest doesn’t always mean the best!

Low calorie friend

Having low calorie snacks and meal ingredients on hand makes eating healthy food so much easier. The beauty of cauliflower is that it is extremely versatile and can be the base of a delicious soup or curry, an accompaniment to any meal and even a tasty substitute to rice or pasta in the form of the popular cauliflower rice. Versatility aside, one of the incredible benefits of cauliflower is that there are just 48 calories in 1-cup.

Fill up on Fibre

Research shows that fibre is vital to our gut health. It is also one of the keys to fat blasting as fibre does a great job of filling you up and therefore reducing your intake of high fat and calorie foods.

Fibre helps reduce cholesterol and manage blood sugar levels plus it helps to keep us regular. Fibre keeps the system moving by feeding the healthy bugs in the large bowel and speeding up digestion, which helps protect against cancer.

A healthy gut is strongly linked to mood and mental health, so it is great news that cauliflower contains over 5 grams of fibre in every cup.

So what are you waiting for?

Julie Meek

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