Eat your greens

August 13th, 2009 at 06:09am Jennie Pollock

This week, GO offered “green” recipes from Jackie Newgent’s new “Big Green Cookbook” (click on the link to follow her on Twitter or sign up for her newsletter). Like this one (which takes less energy because of the toaster oven):

Mesclun Salad Pizzette with Peaches and Pecans

Start to finish: 20 minutes
Servings: 4 (1/2 pizza each)

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons canola or flaxseed oil
2 medium yellow or white peaches, pitted and thinly sliced
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Two 8-inch whole-wheat lavash flatbreads or pocketless pita breads
1/3 cup finely crumbled blue cheese
3 cups mesclun mix or chopped mixed leafy greens
1/4 cup raw pecans, chopped

In a blender, combine the vinegar, oil, a quarter of the peach slices, 1/4 cup of the onion, the salt and pepper. Blend until just combined, about 15 seconds. Set aside.

One flatbread at a time, broil in a toaster oven on a tray or baking sheet. Broil until lightly toasted, about 30 seconds. Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle with cheese.
In a medium bowl, toss together the mesclun, remaining peach slices, the remaining onion and 1/4 cup of the vinaigrette. Taste and adjust seasonings. Arrange the salad on the toasted flatbreads. Sprinkle with the pecans.

Cut each pizza in half and serve immediately with the remaining vinaigrette on the side.

Nutrition information per serving (values are rounded to the nearest whole number): 310 calories; 17 g fat (3 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 10 mg cholesterol; 37 g carbohydrate; 9 g protein; 6 g fiber; 700 mg sodium.

In Go, Kiki and Jeanie from our local “Food for Thought” feature also made suggestions to avoid a beige plate, like this recipe:

Farmers Market Pasta

1 box multigrain penne pasta (or pasta of your choosing)
1 bunch Italian kale (or other green), chopped
¾ cup olive oil, divided
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 anchovy fillets, rinsed
1 pint tomatoes, chopped
2 yellow summer squash, sliced
1 tsp. fresh thyme
½ cup grated Parmesan Reggiano cheese (optional)

Boil water and cook pasta according to package (usually about 10-12 minutes for penne). In the meantime, sauté the kale in ¼ cup olive oil with 1 garlic clove until just wilted. Set aside.

Heat remaining ½ cup of olive oil in a sauté pan until hot but not smoking. Add anchovy fillets and cook until they almost dissolve into the oil. Add remaining garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Add tomatoes and sliced squash and sauté for 2 minutes until squash is just cooked. Turn off the heat.

Drain pasta but save ½ cup of the cooking liquid. Toss together the liquid, pasta, kale, squash-tomato mixture and thyme. Top with the cheese if desired. Serve immediately.

Serves about four for a main dish, six to eight as a side dish.

It’s good to keep healthy ideas in mind after reading Time magazine’s story that basically says, “Exercise be damned. You are what you eat.”

The basic problem is that while it’s true that exercise burns calories and that you must burn calories to lose weight, exercise has another effect: it can stimulate hunger. That causes us to eat more, which in turn can negate the weight-loss benefits we just accrued. Exercise, in other words, isn’t necessarily helping us lose weight. It may even be making it harder.

Entry Filed under: Green home, Eat locally, In the news