Popeye Was Right, Spinach Packs a Punch!

   Has never been tastier!

If you ever watched Popeye (or just lived on planet Earth), then you already know that spinach will make you big and strong.  Well, Spinach is good for you, but just how good is it?
   Spinach has the highest concentrations of nutrients, fat burning compounds, vitamins and minerals to protect and heal the body. It contains a wide array of proteins, protective photo-chemicals and healthy bacteria.  Spinach really is a nutritional powerhouse, containing large amounts of vitamins K, A, and C, folate, magnesium, calcium and iron.

   The folate in spinach helps to lower the risk of dementia and cardiovascular disease, including heart disease and stroke. Folate also reduces the risk of colorectal, ovarian, and breast cancers and helps stop uncontrolled cell growth, one of the primary characteristics of all cancers.
   Spinach contains a carotanoid that kills prostate cancer cells, and it also prevents the cells from multiplying.  The vitamin C and beta-carotene in spinach help protect against colon cancer and aids in  fighting inflammation, making them integral components in the prevention of dementia, especially in older adults.
   Spinach is loaded with vitamin K (one cup of cooked spinach provides over 1,000% of the recommended daily amount!), which builds strong bones by helping absorb calcium.
   Spinach is also rich in lutein, which protects against macular degeneration, eye disease, and it helps keep artery walls clear of cholesterol buildup.
   Finally, there is the Popeye complex (well, that's what I like to call it!)... Spinach helps to build cleaner muscles and tissues, aid your digestive system function and more effectively protect you against disease and illness.
   Because fresh spinach is just so awesome, it should be a daily staple in your diet.  Every grocery store, year round, no matter where you live, carries spinach.  So you have NO excuses not to be adding some to your menu!  You'd be hard pressed to find a more nutritionally and culinarily sound green. So do your body a favor and aim for a few ounces -- raw, sauteed, or lightly steamed, every day.


Tips:
- Sneak it in... Add a handful of fresh spinach to your next fruit smoothie or juice. It'll change the color but not the taste.

- Spinach is highly susceptible to pesticides, so stick to organic.

Spinach Quiche
1 Tbl Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
10 ounce spinach, Chopped
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
4 oz package feta cheese , crumbled
4 oz cheddar cheese, shredded
1  pie crust, deep dish, unbaked
2 eggs
3 egg whites
1 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste

1- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
2- Saute garlic, onion, and mushrooms in evoo until lightly browned.  Stir in spinach.
3- Place vegetables, feta and cheddar cheese in crust. Season with salt and pepper.
4- Whisk together eggs and milk. Pour into the pastry shell, allowing egg mixture to thoroughly combine with spinach mixture.
5- Bake in preheated oven for 40 - 50 minutes, until set in center. Allow to stand 10 minutes before serving.
6- Enjoy!

Creamed Spinach Stuffed Tomato
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup fennel, thinnly sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 lb baby spinach
2 Tbl parmesan cheese, grated
4 large beefsteak tomatoes
1- Saute fennel in evoo, add garlic, season with salt and pepper and saute until translucent.
2- Add spinach and heavy cream to the garlic and fennel and cook until spinach is wilted and add parmesan.
3- Preheat broiler.
4- Trim the tops off tomatoes and scoop out the seeds. Stuff tomatoes with creamed spinach broil to lightly brown.
5- Enjoy!

Super Food Break Down Week!

February is National Heart Health Month and what better way to get your heart in shape then starting with what you eat.  Super-foods will help put you on and keep you on the right path to an happy heart. You probably are already eating them but you you may not know that they are natures prime ingredients.  They are nutrient dense and calorie sparse, so good for the heart AND the waistline.  They offer superior quantities of anti-oxidants and essential nutrients (nutrients the body cannot produce).

A healthy diet loaded with super-foods helps our bodies function at their best. There are hundreds of nutritious foods, but the dozen on my list not only contribute healthy nutrients and help you heal BUT are culinary easy to use.  Every food on this list boasts multiple healing effects, AND they are easy to come by. Eat my All Star picks and you'll start feeling pretty super yourself.

Kiwi
Spinach

Onions        

Cherries - Berries

Carrots

Broccoli

Lemons

Sweet Potato

Beans

 Stay tuned because tomorrow I will break down the reasons why each of my Super Foods are just so darn, well, SUPER... but until then, start adding them in whatever you can, cook, juice, eat!  Just trust me!

Pie Tips

Pie is my husband's second love (I'd like to think our boys and I place first)!  He has 2 favorites, Hot and Cold... in other words, if it's a crust with ANYTHING in it, he is happy.  Now, although Geoff isn't too picky, he does know a good pie when he tastes one. 

There are 2 key components to Pie Perfection... first is the crust and the second, the filling.  In this first installment, we will dive into creating an amazing crust.

Let's start with the recipe:      

Double Crust

Ingredients:

2 1/2 Cups        Flour

1 tsp                 Salt

1 tsp                 Sugar

1 Cup                COLD butter, cut in small pieces 

1/4 Cup             COLD shortening

6 - 8 Tbl            ICE COLD water

Directions:

1- Cut your fat into small pieces and add to your measured flour and salt and sugar.  Combine the fat quickly by pulsing in a food processor or blender. Your mixture should resemble coarse meal.

2- Slowly add the water and continue pulsing. It should still look dry. Grab some with your hand and squeeze. It should hold together, if it didn't, add a little more water and mix quickly. Test again.

3- Divide the dough in half. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap. Push the dough into a flat disk.

4- Refrigerate for at least an hour.  

When you are ready to roll...

5- Lightly flour your board. Begin by rolling from the middle of the disk up. Turn the dough one quarter and repeat. Always roll in one direction and turn the dough often making it just large enough to fit your pan.

6- Carefully fold the dough in half over your rolling pin, pick it up and lie the dough on the pie plate (if it tears, just pinch it together again, or use scraps to repair any holes).

7- Roll out the second disk of dough.

8- Prick the pastry with a fork.  Wrap with plastic wrap and freeze the crusts until ready to fill.

Now that you know the basics, here are some tips to make sure your crust is top notch.

- When rolling out your dough, make the top crust slightly thinner than the bottom crust.

- To keep an empty pie from collapsing, gently place a slightly smaller straight-sided cake pan down on top of the crust.  Bake for about ten minutes, and remove the cake pan. Use a fork to prick any places that puff up, and bake until the crust is a light golden color.

- To avoid a soggy crust, fill the crust and get it into the oven or freezer, quickly.

- If you freeze your pie, do not thaw before baking, bake in the frozen state, adjusting baking time accordingly.

Now that the perfect crust is ready, let's talk filling...  There are many types of pie, fruit, custard, and savory...

In this segment, I am going to focus on fruit pies.  Fruit comes in all shapes, sizes, flavors.  Because of this cooking times and quantity of fruit needed in a pie varies. 

When assembling a pie, apples should fill the crust to an inch above the edge, cherries, blueberries, and similar fruit are filled to just below the rim of the pie pan. The fruit will expand when it gets hot and tends to run out of the edges if overfilled.

Here are guidelines for the quantity of fruit needed for a 9" pie:

• Apple: 8 small, 5 large = 6 to 8 cups
• Apricot: 10-12 medium = 5-6 cups
• Blackberry: 6 (1/2 pint) baskets = 6 cups
• Blueberry: 3 pint baskets = 6 cups
• Cherry: 1 pound = 6 cups
• Peach: 10 -12 small or 6-7 large = 5-6 cups
• Pumpkin: 1/2 pound =1 cup
• Raspberry: 6 (1/2 pint) baskets = 6 cups
• Rhubarb: 6 medium stalks / 5-6 cups
• Strawberry: 4 pint baskets = 6 cups
• Sweet Potato: 1/2 pound =1 cup

Now that the fruit is picked out, you need a thickener.  Here are some choices:

Cornstarch                                                                                                                                          
Is a good thickener to use with fruit to make a filling because it does not have any flavor and creates a smooth texture. It also does not thin when reheating a slice of pie.  Cornstarch has twice the thickening power of flour, but doesn’t work well if the filling is high in acidity.

Tapioca

 Is often used because it can hold more fruit juices than other thickeners without becoming rigid.  It is not recommended for a lattice top pie or other open fruit pie, as it hardens when exposed to the hot air of the oven. However, it can be used with a two-crust pie.  Tapioca has no flavor and  cooks quickly. If you use tapioca, let the filling mixture stand for at least 15 minutes before you spoon it into the crust to bake. This will allow for more efficient thickening. When you prepare a pie filling, mix the thickener first with sugar and any spices to prevent lumps and uneven thickening, then add the fruit. Granules are gritty if under cooked but are clear and soft when fully cooked.

Arrowroot                                                                                                                                              
Is not a desirable choice because it thickens before the boiling point of fruit fillings in the pies.  It imparts no flavor of its own but provides a high gloss, and just 1 tablespoon will firm up each cup of liquid. It’s fine for high- and low-acid fruit mixtures, but it creates a gloppy mess if mixed with any dairy product.

Potato Starch                                                                                                                                        
This gluten-free starch's main advantage over other starch thickeners is that it's a permitted ingredient for Passover, unlike cornstarch and other grain-based foods. Liquids thickened with potato starch should never be boiled.

Once the fruit and thickener are chosen, all that is left is flavoring with lemon juice, sugar, and spices.  Bake and Enjoy!

Some additional helpful tips:

• -Bake on a cookie sheet covered in aluminum foil to catch any juices that may run over the edge.
• -Rotate the pie 180 degrees midway through baking. This helps the pie to cook evenly and balances the surface browning.
• -When cutting, wet the knife with hot water to make a clean cut that won’t tear the filling.

“Cut my pie into four pieces, I don’t think I could eat eight.”
― Yogi Berra

Going Green...

   Has never been tastier! 
If you ever watched Popeye (or just lived on planet Earth), then you already know that spinach will make you big and strong.  Well, Spinach is good for you, but just how good is it?
   Spinach has the highest concentrations of nutrients, fat burning compounds, vitamins and minerals to protect and heal the body. It contains a wide array of proteins, protective photo-chemicals and healthy bacteria.  Spinach really is a nutritional powerhouse, containing large amounts of vitamins K, A, and C, folate, magnesium, calcium and iron.

   The folate in spinach helps to lower the risk of dementia and cardiovascular disease, including heart disease and stroke. Folate also reduces the risk of colorectal, ovarian, and breast cancers and helps stop uncontrolled cell growth, one of the primary characteristics of all cancers.
   Spinach contains a carotanoid that kills prostate cancer cells, and it also prevents the cells from multiplying.  The vitamin C and beta-carotene in spinach help protect against colon cancer and aids in  fighting inflammation, making them integral components in the prevention of dementia, especially in older adults.
   Spinach is loaded with vitamin K (one cup of cooked spinach provides over 1,000% of the recommended daily amount!), which builds strong bones by helping absorb calcium.
   Spinach is also rich in lutein, which protects against macular degeneration, eye disease, and it helps keep artery walls clear of cholesterol buildup.
   Finally, there is the Popeye complex (well, that's what I like to call it!)... Spinach helps to build cleaner muscles and tissues, aid your digestive system function and more effectively protect you against disease and illness.
   Because fresh spinach is just so awesome, it should be a daily staple in your diet.  Every grocery store, year round, no matter where you live, carries spinach.  So you have NO excuses not to be adding some to your menu!  You'd be hard pressed to find a more nutritionally and culinarily sound green. So do your body a favor and aim for a few ounces -- raw, sauteed, or lightly steamed, every day.


Tips:
- Sneak it in... Add a handful of fresh spinach to your next fruit smoothie or juice. It'll change the color but not the taste.

- Spinach is highly susceptible to pesticides, so stick to organic.

Spinach Quiche
1 Tbl Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
10 ounce spinach, Chopped
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
4 oz package feta cheese , crumbled
4 oz cheddar cheese, shredded
1  pie crust, deep dish, unbaked
2 eggs
3 egg whites
1 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste

1- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
2- Saute garlic, onion, and mushrooms in evoo until lightly browned.  Stir in spinach.
3- Place vegetables, feta and cheddar cheese in crust. Season with salt and pepper.
4- Whisk together eggs and milk. Pour into the pastry shell, allowing egg mixture to thoroughly combine with spinach mixture.
5- Bake in preheated oven for 40 - 50 minutes, until set in center. Allow to stand 10 minutes before serving.
6- Enjoy!

Creamed Spinach Stuffed Tomato
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup fennel, thinnly sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 lb baby spinach
2 Tbl parmesan cheese, grated
4 large beefsteak tomatoes
1- Saute fennel in evoo, add garlic, season with salt and pepper and saute until translucent.
2- Add spinach and heavy cream to the garlic and fennel and cook until spinach is wilted and add parmesan.
3- Preheat broiler.
4- Trim the tops off tomatoes and scoop out the seeds. Stuff tomatoes with creamed spinach broil to lightly brown.
5- Enjoy!