Meatless Monday: Halloween Enchiladas

It's a little early, but my kid is already running around talking about Halloween. I can't blame her, it's such a fun holiday. Culinarily it lends itself well to 2 awesome ingredients: black beans and sweet potatoes. Which leads us to this week's recipe. This was made last night by some friends of ours for their baby's 1st birthday. Delish! I can't to make them at home.

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Enchiladas
source: www.care2.com

Ingredients

• 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• 1 small chile, seeded and minced
• One 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
• One 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 2 cups salsa
• 8 large flour tortillas
• 1/4 cup finely chopped red onion

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Put the sweet potatoes on a lightly oiled baking sheet in a single layer and roast for 20 minutes, turning once, until they’re tender. Remove from oven and set aside.
2. Turn oven down to 350 F. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and chile and cook about 30 seconds, stirring constantly, until fragrant. Add beans, tomatoes, chili powder, and salt and pepper to taste. Add cooked sweet potatoes and simmer mixture 5 minutes. Set aside.
3. Spread a thin layer of salsa on the bottom of a lightly oiled 9 x 13-inch baking dish and set aside.
4. Place a tortilla on a flat work surface, spoon a portion of the sweet potato mixture down the center of it and roll it up. Place the filled enchilada in the baking dish with the seam side down. Repeat with remaining tortillas and sweet potato mixture. If there’s any filling left over, spoon it on top of the enchiladas, then top with remaining salsa and sprinkle with red onion.
5. Cover and bake until casserole is hot and bubbly, about 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

Serves 8.

My hosts made some changes, including smothering the enchiladas with cheese.

Read more.

Meatless Monday: Tomato & Pepper Lasagna

Tomato & Pepper Lasagna
source: E-mealz

This dish was a big hit! My 4-year-old even loved it. I enjoyed making it because I got to experiment with tofu ricotta and roasting my own red peppers (see links below).

Ingredients

• 24 oz jar tomato & basil marinara sauce
• 1 c diced tomatoes w/basil, garlic & oregano, drained
• 1 c part skim ricotta cheese
• 1 c shredded part skim mozzarella cheese
• 1 c shredded Parmesan cheese
• ¼ t salt
• ¼ t pepper
• ¼ t dried oregano
• 6 dry lasagna noodles, uncooked
• ½ c roasted red peppers, cut into thin strips

Directions

1. Combine marinara sauce & tomatoes in a large bowl. In another large bowl combine all cheeses & seasonings.
   
2. In a sprayed 11 x 7 baking dish layer in this order:
   1 c marinara sauce, 2 noodles, 1 c cheese mix, ½ c pepper strips,
   2 noodles, remaining cheese mixture, 1 c marinara,
   2 noodles, remaining marinara sauce.
   
3. Cover loosely with foil; bake 50 min @ 350; remove foil last 10 min of baking.

Serving Size: 6 servings

Here are my wacky variations and suggestions:

1. Make it 3 noodles wide. (You probably need 2 c of ricotta to pull this off.)
   
2. Use tofu ricotta, yummy!
   
3. Make your own roasted red peppers. I think 2-3 peppers are needed, I had 1 and it wasn't enough.

Soap Box: My thoughts on the Ground Turkey recall

In case you missed it (and I hear mainstream media didn't make much noise about it), there was a massive (millions of lbs.) ground turkey recall earlier this month. It impacted 31 states, sickened over 100 people, and killed at least 1!

Read about it at Food Safety News, but key quotes follow:

Quotes:

Last week, agricultural giant Cargill responded to the (Salmonella) outbreak by recalling 36 million pounds of ground turkey--the largest Class I U.S. Department of Agriculture recall to date.(all italics, my emphasis)

Both of the "closely related" PFGE patterns of Salmonella Heidelberg linked to the outbreak were found in ground turkey samples taken from an Ohio patient's home and retail samples of ground turkey collected as part of routine surveillance through the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS), according to CDC. NARMS is a joint project of FDA, CDC, and USDA to measure trends in drug resistance.

Federal food safety officials have come under fire for the lag time between when NARMS first detected the strain of Salmonella Heidelberg and when authorities took action. The surveillance system logged four retail positives, all linked to Cargill's Arkansas facility, between March and June. The positives led foodborne illness investigators to suspect a link between the plant and slowly-unfolding the outbreak, but officials say epidemiological evidence did not support the hypothesis until the end of July.

(Because public health and safety shouldn’t be rushed into!)

The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service issued a public health alert July 29 and Cargill's multi-million pound recall on August 1. Cargill was not alerted to the NARMs positives until July 29.

My comments: Several things bother me about this outbreak of food-borne illness:

1. The USDA's hesitance to act based on the NARMS's findings--Four months before informing Cargill and the consumer market. Outrageous!
   
2. That also raises the question, why wasn’t Cargill notified of the contaminants? Due to the Government's inaction, Cargill didn’t even have the option of a voluntary recall before the outbreak became so widespread ("epidemiological evidence" means the Government had to wait until more people got sick). A voluntary recall in February could have saved lives and protected public health. Then again, maybe that plausible deniability is exactly what Cargill wants. I like to hope there are a few individuals in the management of these massive food companies that would take action given the information they needed. But the stories of corruption make you wonder.
   
3. Also, that the Salmonella outbreak was discovered, not by food inspectors, but by a CDC group designated to track drug resistance. What!? The contamination was not even discovered by one of the U.S.'s two food safety related agencies: USDA and FDA. This is just more blatant evidence that industry cannot be trusted to regulate itself and the Government must find a way to inspect their operations to protect public health and wellness.
   

The problem lies not just with Government and Industry, but also with us, the consumers. It is my hope that public health will continue to be one of the top priorities on everyone's agenda. We eat every single day. We generally all eat from the same food supply. So, it is a majorly important issue.

Here is an interesting article on what could be done by the Government to help prevent future outbreaks:
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/08/groups-call-on-usda-to-declare-resistant-salmonella/

Originally posted 8/31/11..re-posted 9/12/11

(Audio)Book Review: The Veganist

Author: Kathy Freston
Website: http://www.kathyfreston.com/kathy_freston_intro_to_veganist.html

I found this book to be very interesting and chock full of information. The format was a little off-putting at first because the author chose to make each chapter focus on a "promise" about vegan eating. I didn't like the sound of the word "promise". It felt a tad bit pious and infomercial-y to me. The subject of health and nutrition is largely personal, even though the general populace's choices have a major environmental impact. But it's mostly a matter of poor word choice; it didn't take away from the wealth of information presented.

I really liked Freston's attitude toward her vegan lifestyle. She didn't present it as an all-or-nothing proposition -- hence the term "veganist" instead of vegan. It's a matter of, as she puts it, "leaning into" a vegan-ish lifestyle and making healthy, well-informed choices about what goes into your body and the effect those choices have on the world around us.

She gives some basic nutrition information and loads of medical and environmental data as well. Some of her book is autobiographical, but much of it is comprised of facts from various studies and research, as well as interviews with experts and personal anecdotes from people who have adopted a "veganist" attitude for myriad reasons. These testimonies are especially good because you might relate to one of these stories more than Freston's, or they might simply remind you of someone you know.

Disclaimer: Some of the information is disturbing and graphic, so this book, much like Skinny Bitch, isn't for the feint of heart. Like the latter, Freston also gives sample menus and product recommendations. All in all, I liked The Veganist fairly well--it presents lots of information in a more laid back and friendly manner than Skinny B. did. So it's a good alternative for similar (though not identical) information if you don't care for the in-your-face attitude of the Skinny B. gals. I, myself, expect to re-read both books in the future.

Meatless Monday: Bean and Rice Burritos

I know this recipe sounds really boring, but it was surprisingly yummy! It was also the first time I made beans from scratch. (More on that in a later post.)

Bean and Rice Burritos
(source: e-mealz, vegetarian menu)

Ingredients

• 2 c brown rice, cooked
• 1 med green pepper, diced
• 1/2 c diced onion
• 1 T minced garlic)
• 1 T chili powder
• 1 t cumin
• 1/8⅛ t crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 can black beans, drained
• 8 flour tortillas, warmed
• 1 c salsa
• 4 oz shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. Cook rice as directed.
2. In a large skillet heat 1 T oil & sauté green pepper, onion & garlic.
   
3. Stir in chili powder, cumin & pepper flakes.
   
4. Add beans and rice; cook and stir for 4-6 min.
5. Spoon about ½ c bean mixture onto tortillas; top with 2 T salsa. Fold 1 side and ends over filling and roll up.
6. Serve w/ cheese and sour cream if desired.

Notes: Mixing the spices with the vegetables is particularly delicious. I recommend this start for any beans and rice recipe. Also, I used pinto beans instead of black beans, just for added variety. (All of which ought to include green pepper or some other fresh vegetable for superior taste and nutrition.)

Serves 6, suggested side dish: green salad with fresh fruit salsa

Update to Calcium 101:

Updated information:

Here is a good article from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) about building strong bone (without dairy): Parents' Guide to Building Better Bones

Original Post: Nutrition 101: Calcium