October 2010 Archives

Winter Squash

Just like pumpkins, many of the orange winter squashes have similar cancer fighting benefits from the beta-carotene and other phytochemicals that are found in the plant. And the great thing about winter squash is that they can last a very long time. Plus, they make great table decorations for the holidays as well!

However, many people don't know what to do with the winter squashes. The skin can be tough, they are hard to cut and even then you're not sure what to do with them.

The good news is that in many cases, the work can be done for you and you can buy them already skinned and cubed! I know this is true of butternut squash. Of course, you're going to pay for that, so if you're trying to watch your food budget and you've got some time (or someone else who you can delegate to!), do your own labor.

Here is a recipe that I have not tried, but plan to. It is from the American Institute of Cancer Research, a really great organization and place for evidence based facts and information about cancer and nutrition. They have a weekly "Health-e-Recipe" that you can subscribe to. Sometimes they're kind of complex, but I thought this one sounded great!

Cancer Fighting Ingredients:

Here's the lowdown on why this recipe is so good for you. I already mentioned the butternut squash, but also remember the B vitamin folate and fiber from beans, plus beta-carotene from the squash and phytochemicals in the onion and cilantro. Plus, we know that spices carry phytochemicals as well, like the cinnamon and cumin. 

I hope you enjoy it!

Butternut Squash Enchiladas with Salsa

• Ingredients:
  
• 1 package (16 oz.) frozen diced peeled butternut squash or 2 cups fresh squash, seeded, peeled and diced
• 1 cup water
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1/2 sweet onion, finely chopped
• 1 can (15.5 oz.) no added salt black beans
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• Salt and ground black pepper, to taste
• Canola oil spray
• 7 large (about 7-inch) whole-wheat tortillas
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese, divided
• 1 cup tomato salsa
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves, for garnish (optional)

Instructions:

1. Place squash in medium saucepan. Add water. Cover pot tightly and place over medium-high heat. Cook until squash is tender but not mushy, 12-15 minutes, depending on size of cubes. Drain squash and set aside.

2. While squash is cooking, in large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and sauté until soft and translucent, about 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add beans and partially mash with fork. Mix in squash, cumin and cinnamon. Add salt and pepper, if desired. Remove from heat and set aside.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In 9" by 13" baking dish, lightly coat interior with cooking spray and set aside.

4. Coat tortilla on both sides with cooking spray. Lay on plate. Spoon 1/2 cup filling on tortilla and top with 1½ tablespoons cheese. Roll up filled tortilla and set at one end of baking dish. Repeat, placing filled tortillas side by side, filling baking dish tightly. Pour salsa over assembled enchiladas. Sprinkle remaining cheese (about 1/4 cup) over sauce. Cover pan with foil.

5. Bake enchiladas about 25-30 minutes, until heated through. Uncover and serve garnished with cilantro, accompanied by cooked brown rice, if desired.

- Julie

Pumpkins are the sign that Halloween and Thanksgiving are near! There are so many fun things to do with them, from carving, to painting to EATING!

The bright orange color of pumpkin is a dead giveaway that pumpkin is loaded with an important antioxidant, beta-carotene. Beta-carotene is a phytochemical that is converted to vitamin A in the body. In the conversion to vitamin A, beta carotene performs many important functions in overall health, including cancer prevention and healthy survivorship!

Pumpkin Nutrition

Current research indicates that a diet rich in foods containing beta-carotene may reduce the risk of developing certain types of cancer and offers protection against heart disease. Beta-carotene offers protection against other diseases as well as some degenerative aspects of aging.

Beta-carotene is an antioxidant that prevents cell damage from oxidation that occurs with aging and long-time exposure to environmental pollutants. Studies show that eating orange-colored vegetables and fruits daily may help fend off cancer and heart disease while protecting your vision, immune system and skin.

Your body only uses beta-carotene to form as much vitamin A as it needs. Additional beta-carotene can, however, perform important functions as an antioxidant and in supporting cell-to-cell communication that controls normal cell growth.

Note that it's diets high in beta-carotene rich foods that are linked with cancer protection, however. High doses of beta-carotene from supplements do not protect against heart disease or cancer, and some studies show they can even be harmful, especially in smokers.

Once again, research is showing that it's the combination of all the nutrients in a food that works together to fight cancer. It's not just one part of it!

Pumpkin Pancakes

Use canned pumpkin puree, freshly prepared puree, or frozen puree which has been thawed. Cold leftover pancakes are an appetizing snack.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour (for even healthier pancakes, use 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour, or 1/2 cup all purpose and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour)1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 2 cups pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup molasses or maple syrup
• 3-4 tablespoons fat free buttermilk or skim milk
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans or hazelnuts, optional

Instructions:

1. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.
2. In another bowl, beat egg slightly. Add pumpkin or squash puree, molasses or syrup, milk or buttermilk and melted butter or margarine. Mix until smooth.
3. Blend in the dry ingredients all at once. Mix until batter is smooth. Allow batter to rest for 30 minutes or more.
4. Stir nuts into batter, and add additional tablespoon of buttermilk or milk if batter is too thick.
5. To make pancakes, spoon a heaping tablespoon of batter onto a lightly greased preheated griddle or heavy skillet. With the back of the spoon, flatten batter to about 1/2-inch thickness. Cook slowly until bubbles appear on top and bottom is golden brown. Lift edge to check. Turn and cook until other side is golden brown.
6. Place on a platter and set platter in a warm oven. Continue making pancakes until all batter is used. Makes about 24, 3-inch pancakes. Serves 4 to 6 people.

Healthy pancake toppings:

Here is something that my husband and I do to make our pancakes even healthier. Rather than topping with butter and syrup, we often will top with yogurt, marmalade or fruit jam, peanut butter, or a little honey. And we almost always top that with some fresh or frozen fruit!

For more recipes, check out this page! 

Pumpkin Facts

If you are someone who REALLY likes pumpkins, you might enjoy these facts! I got them from the University of Illinois Extension Office Website.

• Total U.S. pumpkin production in 2008 in major pumpkin producing states was valued at $141 million.
• Total production of pumpkins by major pumpkin-producing states in 2008: 1.1 billion pounds
• 496 million pounds of pumpkins were produced in Illinois in 2008.
• The top pumpkin production states are Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and California.
• The top ten pumpkin producing counties in Illinois are Tazewell, Kankakee, Mason, Logan, Will, Marshall, Kane, Pike, Carroll and Woodford.
• Pumpkins are grown primarily for processing with a small percentage grown for ornamental sales through you-pick farms, farmers' market and retail sales.
• Around 90 to 95% of the processed pumpkins in the United States are grown in Illinois.
• Pumpkin seeds can be roasted as a snack.
• Pumpkins contain potassium and Vitamin A.
• Pumpkins are used for feed for animals.
• Pumpkin flowers are edible.
• Pumpkins are used to make soups, pies and breads.
• The largest pumpkin pie ever made was over five feet in diameter and weighed over 350 pounds. It used 80 pounds of cooked pumpkin, 36 pounds of sugar, 12 dozen eggs and took six hours to bake.
• Pumpkins are members of the vine crops family called cucurbits.
• Pumpkins originated in Central America.
• In early colonial times, pumpkins were used as an ingredient for the crust of pies, not the filling.
• Pumpkins were once recommended for removing freckles and curing snake bites.
• Pumpkins range in size from less than a pound to over 1,000 pounds.
• The largest pumpkin ever grown weighed 1,140 pounds.
• The name pumpkin originated from "pepon" - the Greek word for "large melon."
• The Connecticut field variety is the traditional American pumpkin.
• Pumpkins are 90 percent water.
• Pumpkins are fruit.
• Eighty percent of the pumpkin supply in the United States is available in October.
• In colonial times, Native Americans roasted long strips of pumpkin in an open fire.
• Colonists sliced off pumpkin tops; removed seeds and filled the insides with milk, spices and honey. This was baked in hot ashes and is the origin of pumpkin pie.
• Native Americans flattened strips of pumpkins, dried them and made mats.
• Native Americans called pumpkins "isqoutm squash."
• Native Americans used pumpkin seeds for food and medicine.

Happy Harvesting!!
- Julie

 

Have you heard about the "frankenfish"? I'm not talking about the 2004 movie... I'm talking about the company, AquaBounty, who has developed a rapid growing salmon that could be the first genetically modified animal to be approved for human consumption.

I think many are wondering, "What on earth does this mean? It sounds weird and I'm not sure I want to eat that!". Hopefully some of this information will help you!

Why Modify Salmon?

Ok - bottom line reason why a company would modify a perfectly good piece of salmon? M-O-N-E-Y! By changing the genetics of the salmon, the company is able to grow a salmon during any season, and in much shorter time than a salmon in the wild, or even normally farmed would. In short, the genetically engineered fish grow faster and bigger than regular fish. (See picture comparison!)

They do this by injecting a combination of a growth gene from the Pacific Chinook salmon and genetic material from the ocean pout - a large, eel-like fish - into the fertilized eggs of Atlantic salmon. This makes a recombined DNA present in cells throughout the body of the fish. The Chinook gene promotes the growth to market size, and the pout gene allows the fish to grow in the winter as well as the summer.

Is the Environment Affected by Modified Salmon?

The FDA must determine if there is any risk to the environment. The big risk to the environment is if one of the genetically altered salmon got into the wild and started breeding with normal salmon.

Craig Altier, an associate professor at Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine and a member of the FDA advisory committee, also expressed concern that, if GE fish escape into the ocean, they could contaminate wild salmon stocks. "Containment of the fish is essential," he said, "as the release of this fast-growing animal could have devastating effects on native fish populations. We need to treat these fish as we would a potentially dangerous medicine or pharmaceutical, and apply all of the same security measures to its production and transport."

The company claims that they only make sterile female salmon, but some say that their methods can only guarantee about 95% of them sterile. AquaBounty also said it plans to raise the fish in inland contained facilities, not in ocean-based fish pens where farmed fish have been known to escape and mingle with wild stocks. However, some are still concerned as it would just take one to cause a big problem!

Is it Safe to Eat?

This is the big debate. The FDA, prior to approving it for human consumption, must decide if the new salmon is safe to eat.
To decide if the salmon is safe to eat, the company who invented these must show evidence that there isn't any extra risk in consuming modified salmon.

Some of the concerns about consuming a genetically modified animal are in regards to allergic reactions or other unknown issues that consumers may face when eating a new product. There's always a concern that the studies done by the company may be biased, since they have a vested interest in selling the fish to consumers.

At this point, I was unable to find much about the studies done regarding these salmon, so I think it's very difficult to tell the actual safety of consuming it.

However, it is important for consumers to become more familiar with genetically modified foods, what you might already be eating, how comfortable you are with the process and how you feel about feeding it to your family. One of the best resources that I came across was this FAQ page by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (they put out my favorite newsletter, Nutrition Action!).

Click here for the FAQ page!

What is their conclusion about genetically engineered (GE) foods? They conclude that GE crops have been grown and consumed by Americans since 1996 with no apparent ill effects. However, since no monitoring of GE food consumption is conducted, some adverse effects, such as food allergies, could go undetected or could be mistaken to have other causes.

What Should I do?

Bottom line, there's no easy answer for this one. Doesn't it seem like that's how it always is?! It's up to you to decide what you're most comfortable with. I will probably stick to eating salmon from the wild, but not so often so that I'm causing too high of a demand on fishing them.

Go Fish!
- Julie