Arugula Almond Pesto Over Steamed Veggies

Hi,

     Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and wishing all of you a Happy Holiday season as 2012 draws to a close.

     What has this year been for you?

What 2012 has been for me

     For me, it has been a journey of discovery about food, health, fitness, relationships and dating, among other things.  It's been a year of great personal growth and this blog was created to share my journey with you.

What I've experienced in the past

     I've been interested in cooking and healthy cooking at that for some time now but being single and somewhat frugal, I never wanted to waste food so my cooking was not very ambitious, if you will.  I cooked food I like that didn't spoil easily and helped me manage my weight. Period. End of story.    I pretty much ate sweet potato, salads (not organic with store bought salad dressings), brown rice (not organic), Korean side dishes and soups (more nutritious and less calorie dense than the majority of American store bought food yes but also often high in sodium/msg). Vegetables do spoil easily so when I bought them, I only bought what I liked in my salads and made sure to eat them before they went bad.  I also ate store bought cereals, oil that had higher probability of going rancid sooner, meat and dairy products that were high in hormones, unethically farmed, and down right not good for my health in the quantities that the American diet tends to value.  I'm about 99.9% positive that GMOs were finding their way into my food as well because I wasn't very selective as I am now.
     I thought the way I used to eat was okay for health (and perhaps is relative to the way many others eat) but after reading a few books written by doctors and experts in their fields, I realized that I could no longer gamble with my health knowing what I now had discovered, especially considering the outrageous (in my view) cost of health care in this country and the current economic conditions.
    With that having been said (kind of at random, sorry about that!), I now will get to the main point of this post, what caused you to click the link and open it in the first place. (I promise I'm not trying to be deceptive and lure you in with some catchy title so I can pounce on you with my personal views! I just wanted to share my story with you. Hope that's alright.)

What inspired me to make this dish

    Ok well back to food spoiling. Did you know that Americans throw away way too much food? Not sure the statistic but it's a lot.  And did you know that food thrown away in the land fill actually causes pollution problems? The fumes released from rotten food is bad for the environment. Don't believe me? Google it. or Bing it. Or whichever search engine you prefer. ;o)~

Arugula leaves.
Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons

     I bought some organic Arugula (which actually didn't spoil as fast as I expected. Spinach seems to go bad way sooner) for my salads.  Somehow the arugula outlasted all the other veggies so it was just sitting in the crisper in my fridge and I just couldn't bring myself to go buy more veggies for salads just so I could use up the small bit of Arugula I had left. So I found uses for it. One was mixing it in with a hot cereal, onion, and Sriracha. That was tasty but got old after a few dinners/snacks of that in a row.
    So it's now the day after Thanksgiving and I've eaten way more than  necessary in thanks for having enough food to eat (and then some) - ie a bountiful harvest, right? Or something like that. Anyhow, I had this arugula in my fridge (and I had already eaten leftovers at lunch and at dinner the night before) and searched recipes for arugula on the internet (in case you don't know or need reminding, arugula has a very unique flavor raw so I didn't want to be too daring, ya know). And low and behold, I found a recipe first for arugula pesto with pine nuts. I've always substituted almonds in my basil pesto because those are the only nuts I tend to have on hand.  Just to make sure, I 'Googled' (that's one of those nouns that became a verb, right? or should I say 'I searched via Google?') arugula pesto with almonds and discovered that it was not my own creative genius that came up with that one.

What I did to make this dish

    I read over the two recipes and sort of winged it in conjunction with previous pesto making experience.  I decided to roast the garlic because it does help to balance the garlic flavor with the rest of the ingredients (and if I'm not mistaken, one recipe suggested that). I heated a pan, added coconut oil (yes, coconut oil, it's healthier), then roasted the garlic. Sauteed the garlic. Pan-fried the garlic. I prefer the term roasted but I think roasting happens in the oven??? I left the outer skin on and it just came right off in while cooking.  Awesome.  I set that aside to cool (my blender is plastic and I don't like the idea of heat and plastic together, period. Might end up becoming toxic and I don't want to take a chance). Then I pan roasted (there we go) the almonds, onion, and arugula with a tad bit more garlic (I love garlic and I wanted the garlic flavor infused with the other ingredients) and some sea salt and freshly ground pepper. At this point, I must say the arugula itself tasted so AWESOME! It was green vegetable flavored with garlic heaven in my mouth!

     Then it was time for the "molecular transformation process' (I guess that's what it's called, not sure. I didn't go to culinary school and I just don't have time at the moment to 'Google' this but please by all means if you know, share!). So in layman's terms, I poured  some organic extra virgin olive oil in the blender, then added the 'pan roasted' ingredients and pushed the 'start' button and voila! I had some seriously yummy tasting pesto on my hands that I spooned over some steamed organic broccoli and carrots and I couldn't believe my taste buds!

What to take away from this (kind of lengthy) post

     Arugula almond pesto is just as good as any other pesto and that there are tons of "pestos" out there so if you've got some ingredients on hand that could work, try it! If you like playing it safe, by all means, search the internet for some creative culinary validation first. Here are the two sources of validation I found. Also, please refer to these sites for recipe guidelines.
http://americanfood.about.com/od/saucesdipsanddressings/r/Arugula_Pesto_Recipe.htm
http://simplyrecipes.ziplist.com/recipes/232506-Arugula_Pesto?return_to=%2Frecipes%2Fbox

Check out my store on Amazon for organic goods: The Green Home Cook Diva's Shop on Amazon

*This post has been linked to Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways blog community*

The Health Benefits of Turmeric and Some Tips On Getting More In Your Diet

     Ever since I found out Turmeric aids in keeping the mind sharp, I've been a huge fan and sprinkle it on salads, eggs, and pretty much anything I'm going to season.  Turmeric has a unique flavor to me and does alter the flavor of dishes quite distinctly in my opinion.  However, because of its many wonderful health benefits, I absolutely love adding it to my favorite foods. Now, it's worth mentioning that because of its unique flavor, I don't go crazy with it or dare to get too adventurous (lol).   It works great in combo with sea salt, freshly ground pepper, cumin, ginger, coriander, etc.  I have used it in soup, curry, veggie burgers, and salads for added nutritional boost and flavor (curry especially).

     I want to share with you reasons why you should add Turmeric to your diet if you haven't already. If you have, then this post will reassure you what a wonderful choice you have made for your well-being.

The Health Benefits of Turmeric

     An intrinsic component of Turmeric is Curcumin, which has been shown to aid the liver in doing its job for the body, which is filter out the bad stuff in our bodies and send it to the waste department.  Curcumin has also been shown to block free radicals and enzymes that promote cancers of the head and neck. Turmeric as a whole has been shown to be effective in treating other common types of cancer, such as skin and colon.   It has also been shown to slow the spread of breast cancer into the lungs.  In addition to that, when cancer patients consumed Curcumin prior to chemo treatments, it was found that they became more receptive to the treatment.  For the heavy consumers of Turmeric in India, their low rate of Alzheimer's disease is believed to be linked to their diet high in curry.  You should especially add this spice to your diet if you are very active because it has been shown to reduce inflammation, thereby reducing joint pain and arthritis and arthritis like symptoms.

My homemade curry 

Ways To Get More Turmeric In Your Diet    

     Convinced that Turmeric is a super food? Curious how you can add it to your diet?  For those who don't know my style, let me briefly explain. Don't be afraid to experiment. What are your favorite flavors? Could they be combined successfully? Not sure? Do a taste test (in small amounts).  Do a little guess work.  Don't be afraid to fail. Failures lead to success with the right attitude!

     So back to adding Turmeric to your diet.  If you're a curry fan, curry is one way. I will be posting about a successful attempt at homemade curry from scratch.  In the meantime, check out my post on my first, somewhat unsuccessful attempt but definitely with a huge learning curve (which is why I chose to write about it). Homemade Curry - What Not To Do and pick up some tips for making your own curry at home (no pre-packaged pastes or powders)

     Another way is sprinkling lightly on flavorful salads. I say flavorful because Turmeric can be overpowering so go easy (maybe a 1/2 tsp to start) in a medium sized salad with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar for example.  You can also add an Italian seasoning blend (one of my fave things to do with my salads!), almonds and/or flax seeds or sunflower seeds for protein, texture, and flavor. Of course, a few grinds of sea salt and freshly ground pepper will add excellent finishing touches to a raw and healthy meal. I have a picture gallery of salads I have prepared if you're curious. Here is the link: http://thegreenhomecookdiva.blogspot.com/p/photo-gallery.html

     How about a little brain booster before heading to work or school?  Jason Boehm shares my like for Turmeric sprinkled on scrambled eggs. Check out this post on Curcumin that he shared on facebook.  https://www.facebook.com/photo.phpfbid=10151235998421893&set=a.261387376892.141488.79608796892&type=1&theater.

While you're at it, like my pages too! Spreading Love Through Green Home Cooking and Living Leaner and Greener.

     One last tip on adding Turmeric to your diet.  Add to soups and as meat (or meatless) seasoning.  I added Turmeric (along with other spices) to a pot of black beans I cooked for veggie burgers and the beans turned out FANTASTIC! I could have just eaten a bowl of the beans and been so satisfied (ok so I did eat a bowl of beans out of that batch.).  The veggie burgers were tasty too. Posts on that to come.

     Well, I hope I was able to shed some light on the benefits of adding Turmeric to your diet and made it a little less overwhelming and intimidating.  Please feel free to post any questions or comments.

Sources:
http://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/stories/the-amazing-health-benefits-of-turmeric
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-weil-md/turmeric-health-have-a-happy-new-year_b_798328.html
http://www.healthdiaries.com/eatthis/20-health-benefits-of-turmeric.html