Another Nutritious Week

Howdy everyone (as we say at Texas A&M),

Ready for another nutritious lecture?

This week we made awesome colorful fresh healthy foods.

We made tofu scramble again and used mushrooms, spinach, and bell peppers. We also made Rosemary Lemon Tofu Wedges from the Students Go Vegan cookbook, which were simple and refreshing. We love tofu because it is versatile, simple, tasty, and healthy. Tofu is very low in cholesterol and sodium, which is good for the cardiovascular system. It is also a good source of calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus and copper, and a very good source of protein, manganese and selenium - all important for energy production, antioxidant function, and bone health.


To try something new, we used tempeh. We've tried it many times before, when we were on exchange at the University of New Hampshire last year, but we've never actually cooked with it, and it is difficult to find here. We got some at our health food store finally, and made Tempeh with Sweet Potatoes and Swiss Chard. We used a red wine vinegar sauce, which complimented well with the ingredients. A great mix of flavors and textures. We diced the sweet potatoes really small and they cooked fast that way. Tempeh is a good source of soy protein, riboflavin, phosphorus, copper, manganese, and fiber important for energy production, protein synthesis, GI and heart health.


We also enjoyed a summer-grill feast, with portabella burgers and carrot fries. Juicy thick hearty mushrooms marinated in balsamic vinegar made a great healthy burger. We made our own wheat bagels and used a bagel as our bun. Great chewy bagels - no need to buy any! The carrot fries were divine - a keeper! We are carrot lovers (surprised we're not orange yet!), and loved the spicy fries that resemble somewhat like sweet potato fries. Carrots are a good source of Vitamin C, A, K and B6, folate, iron, potassium and fiber important for eye, lung, and heart health.
For our weekly dessert Easy Pleasin' Oat Bars from Vive le Vegan. Great bar that's not too sweet. We used hearty four grain oats, oat bran, and some honey. Very hearty, and would be good to try different variations, such as cranberry orange, pecan, or oatmeal raisin. We actually liked them best with Dalfour Royal Fig Fruit Spread!

Finally, we enjoyed a hearty breakfast - Brown Rice "Oatmeal" with Pears and Cinnamon. We had excellent juicy pears and decided to cook them over the stove. We added cinnamon, and topped short grain brown rice for breakfast. The short grain makes it more creamier than long grain brown or white rice. Excellent and you wouldn't think rice would be a creamy alternative to oats. Brown rice is an excellent source of manganese, selenium, magnesium, and fiber, which help with GI health, energy production, and heart health, along with many other benefits.

So next time you eat, think about the nutritious components in your food and all the healthy benefits they provide!

- LK