Chapter 3: Flavor
The Most Important Thing: Food Must Taste Good:
Food has to be delicious right? We can never forget that we are humans and that makes us pleasure seeking creatures. We love things that taste delicious. And I truly believe...and I hope that if you get nothing else out of this course.....that we don’t have to sacrifice the pleasurable side of eating in order to make the healthiest choices.
In this chapter, we will look at ways to continue to enjoy the flavor of foods while maximizing nutrients.
The Lazy Chefs’ Favorites: Salt. Sugar. Fat.
It’s so easy to make food delicious when you have no qualms about using these three ingredients with wild abandon. But to me, a chef, I believe that is a lazy approach to cooking.
The fact is that when these are the predominant flavors we reach for to add flavor to dishes when we cook., every other flavor becomes secondary and unimportant. Think about a gratin for example. I love gratins. You can make a gratin with anything: potatoes, squash, zuchhini. It really doesn’t matter. Because what you’re really eating is cream, butter and cheese. The vegetable is just a medium whose nutrients get lost in the shuffle of the other high fat ingredients.
The Bliss Point
Sugar. Salt and Fat are sort of the trifecta of ingredients when used in combination, supposedly light up all of the neurons in the brain the same as if you were taking an ophoid drug. And food manufacturers know this. So they load up processed foods with these ingredients in an effort to have consumers reach what is known as the Bliss Point.
Highly processed foods are actually engineered to hit that sweet spot in the brain...causing us to become addicted! It is a calculated effort on the part of the food industry to get us hooked on these foods. And as we know.....these three are the most harmful to our health when consumed out of balance with a diet of whole natural foods.
Retraining Our Taste Buds
So how do we recover from this what I personally see as sabotage on the part of the industrial food industry on our taste buds.
1. The first step is just in the awareness. Does knowing that these foods are actually being marketed to you to trick you into craving them and more or less becoming addicted to them make you feel angry? And your awareness should also make you start to pay attention to your favorite processed foods and tune into how your body is reacting.
2. Of course we just need to reduce the amount of those foods in our lives. And this menu was designed to move you in that direction. The more whole foods, fruits and vegetables, that you can start to add to your diet (and as close to their natural state as possible) the more you begin to move your taste buds away from that expectation and into really enjoying the natural flavors of foods. Think about a strawberry, for example. When was the last time you ate a strawberry and really paid attention to how delicious it is?
3. Exploring the whole rest of the world.. Wshen you take out the refined sugar, refined, highly processed fats and refined highly processed salt, what you have left is everything else. And that is a whole world of truly unique flavors that each fruit and vegetable has inherently, as well as herbs, spices, citrus and on and on.
4. Be kind to yourself through this process. You will possibly have setbacks. You will likely find yourself drawn to a food that you may have committed to letting go of. The most important thing in that moment is not to feel that you have failed. To see it as a natural part of the two steps forward, one step back process and start over right away. You can start your healthy diet over any minute, even late in the evening. Just get back on track and let it go. You will do better next time.
Acquiring a Taste
By reducing the amount of sugar, salt and fat, you will be opening up your taste buds for new experiences. But it’s not always easy to learn to love a new food, especially one that you know is so good for you, but the flavor or texture may not appeal to you.
Here are some tips for learning to love a new food.
And I promise you : this can be done. When you remember your goal, which is to infuse your body with as many nutrients as possible with every meal because those nutrients are going to help your body to heal and gain strength, you have the best motivation of all!
The beautiful side effect of moving away from these three lazy ingredients is that we will naturally be choosing foods that are going to make us healthier, strong and help us heal.
When you move away from the highly processed foods, and now you are aware of the Bliss point, your palate stops expecting this highly stimulating experience and your cravings start to level off. So now what’s left?
When we seriously reduce the amount of those three in our diets, we will naturally choose what we call cleaner ingredients and we will see many health benefits. The goal is not necessarily to give up these things forever, but to learn how to be more in balance after we have healed. But for many of us, we are in the process of healing the damage.
Vibrance creates vibrance
Photograpy is a little hobby of mine…and over the past several years I have really started to enjoy food photgraphy. I am amazed by how easy it is to photograph food in their natural state. Whether it is in the garden.....or on the counter or the plate. There is nothing more beautiful than fresh vegetables and fruits from a photographers viewpoint. That’s why I say vibrant foods create vibrance in you.
Think about taking a photo of a bowl of dried rice or dried beans or worse, a bowl of oreo cookies. And then imagine taking a photo of a bowl of lemons, or a field full of romaine lettuce growing…. These foods are beautiful subjects. So beauty is inherent in them.
*Healthy skin, glowing, bright eyes, strong heart, great energy…. These are the gifts of beautiful food.
Here are the ingredients that replace the need for saturated fat, sugar and salt in our cooking:
Spice Market
Now here is a category that I could go on for hours about….Spice.....
I love evertyhign about spices...
First of all.....there are literally hundreds of kinds
They represent what I think is most beautiful about our world...: diversity.
Spices come in all kinds of colors....they each have their own unique flavor profile....they each are grown in a different beautiful and usually warm place in the world. There is so much romance in them:the stories of the spice route. the cinnamon from Ceylon or Vietnam….the saffron from...Spain...the vanilla pods from Madagascar.
Most spices are the seeds or buds or bark of trees or plants...So when they are growing in their natural habititat they are beautiful. So i just find them to be very romantic.
But they also have amazing phytonutrients and minerals. They are very good for you. Turmeric is a root that is dried and ground. One of the most powerful anti inflammatory spices and the spice that makes curry yellow.
Begin to replace salt with spices by thinking about the spices you already love. Start with your favorite flavors and build from there. Do you love curry? Do you love hot spices like cayenne and other ground up chilies? Identify one or two spices or spice blends that you already love and keep a bottle on the counter to add as you cook. As you explore new foods, you will start to add to your repertoire of spices. Check labels on spice blends to make sure salt or sodium is not an ingredient.
Here are tips for using spices in your cooking:
Little green leaves….herbs
When I talk about herbs, I am talking about the green leaf herbs such as cilantro….basil....rosemary...thyme...etc. Lately I have started to really think of herbs as a green leafy vegetable sort of in the same class as a lettuce or spinach. You can chop herbs up fine to season a dish but for the ones like parsely and cilantro....i love to just pile them on in whole leaf form or toss them in a salad.
Like spices, herbs are full of micronutrients and also chorophyll from the sun.
And the flavors are amazing. What’s fun about herbs is that you can be creative and subsittue one for the other....
For example, basil and mint have very similar flavor profiles. So if you can use one for the other....or use both!
Tips for using herbs:
Life Gave Us Citrus….
There are so many health benefits to citrus of every kind. But from a cooking standpoint…..citrus makes flavors pop...the same way that sugar and salt do. So sometimes if you are making something like a soup, for example. And you taste it and you think it needs a little something. And normally you would reach for the salt shaker. Try a spritz of a lemon or lime
And the really fun thing about citrus is that you can subsittue all of the many varieties and you can change it up seasonally. Have fun exploring all of the different kinds of oranges....i love when blood oranges come in season...And it’s fun to mix them together......Grapefruit.....So much fun!
Keep a bowl on your counter with a little strainer to strain the seeds out. And you will find a hundred uses for them.
Vinegars….
Another way to highlight flavors without salt is with vinegars and there are so many varieties to play with. Balsamic is a favorite for drizzling over baked fish or roasted vegetables and makes a great vinaigrette with just a little extra virgin olive oil and Dijon mustard.
There are so many beautiful specialty vinegars on the market these days and I love experimenting with them. There’s pear and fig and strawberry and every flavor you can imagine. These vinegars are mostly small batch made so they have great balance. Some are thicker like syrup and perfect for drizzling over a piece of fish or chicken or some roasted vegetables. And great for using on a salad instead of a dressing.
There is a store here in town over in Westport Village called Zi Olive on Herr Lane. They have a huge selection and you can try samples. It;s such a fun experience. RESEARCH MORE ABOUT THIS STORE NATIONWIDE
(NO) Bouillon
One of the most powerful ways to deepen the flavor of soups, rice or bean dishes is with chicken or vegetable “base.” It’s the secret of every chef. There are the traditional bouillon cubes or try Better than Bouillon which is a concentrated paste. Follow the package directions and make sure to always buy Reduced Sodium varieties.
Expand on this…
We talked a little about bouillon in a previous class. But I wanted to reiterate how powerful this ingredients can be when it comes to adding flavor to soups, stews and sauces. This one if my favorite and you want to make sure you get the reduced sodium version. It comes in beef and vegetable as well. It is not gluten free, so beware if that is a concern.
There are so many kinds of bouillon cubes and pastes on the market. Experiment with them but always make sure they are low sodium. Those food manufacturers like to sneak in a lot of unnecessary ingredients remember!
Cheese as a seasoning.....
If you are eating dairy products on your heart healthy diet….and your doctors and dietitians have said that small amounts of low fat cheese is ok....then have some fun with cheese as a seasoning.
My absolute favorite is parmesan. I like the good stuff, which isn’t cheap, but since i only use it to grate on top of a dish for extra umami flavor.....and it does have a saltiness to it as well.....a block will last a couple of months in my house.
Feta is another great cheese that is lower in fat but has a powerful flavor. A little goes a long way.
Goat cheese as well.
Just take care that you aren’t buying processed cheese products. Cheese should have no addeded ingredients.
And then make sure you are using something like a tablespoon to enhance the flavor of a salad or other dishes.
Managing Produce....
There are little tricks for getting the most out of your fruits and vegetables in terms of flavor.
First buying local, seasonal and organic is giving you a leg up on flavor right there. Farmers markets are great for that. Heirloom varieties will always have more of the inherent flavors of the food than something that is mass produced and shipped across the world.
Let foods ripen.
Of course look for foods that are nice and ripe in the store. But you can also plan ahead. Just think about bananas and I’m sure we have all had this experience. You buy a bunch of bananas based on how ripe they look versus how soon you plan to eat them. And you set them on your counter and you watch and wait until they are that perfect ripeness that you prefer.
It’s the same for every other kind of vegetable and fruit.
But it is something that you learn as you go. Other than bananas which I never recommend putting in the refrigerator, you can leave food on the counter untll it is the level of ripeness you want and then refrigerate it to slow down its’ decline. This doesn’t apply to green leafy vegetables.
But there is a moment in every foods life where it will peak in its flavor. Learning to catch that moment will go a long way in how much you will enjoy the food.
Tasting As You Go….
If you don’t learn anything else from me in this course, please take this with you…...to become a confident cook, you must learn to taste throughout the cooking process. Now of course that doesn’t apply to foods like raw meats....or pasta....or grains.....and baked goods. Of course, you are not going to taste them untl they are finished cooking.
I am talkng about soups, stews, salad dressings, sauces, etc. Foods that you are adding a lot of ingredients to...spices, etc. Foods whose success depends on those various flavorings.
Tasting as you go.....
Aromatics….
Aromatics are a beautiful family of vegetables that are typically used as a flavor foundation in stocks, soups and stews. They have this amazing synergy that infuses whatever you are making with such depth of flavor. And not to mention, they each have many phytonutrients and minerals.
You can use any combination of these and they vary depending on the type of cuisine. Asian cuisine, for example, will favor ginger. Greeks love fennel. French loves leeks..Etc.
This aromatics are usually diced and then sauteed (called sweating) in a pot before the liquid and other elements are added. Or if you are making a stock you can add them in with the water without cooking them first.
I am going to demonstrate for you how to cut a few aromatics here in a minute so that you can get the most out of them as flavor for your cooking.
Lettuces…..
Since this menu is asking you to get as many green leafy vegetables in your diet as possible…..at least one salad a day! Then i think you should at least be able to have some fun with it.
There are so many kinds of lettuces available to us and each one has its unique character. Especially if you shop at farmers markets in the spring and summer, you will find many varieties. And if you garden, I urge you to try new varieties every year and find the ones you really love. One of my favorite leaf lettuces is Lolla Rossa... It is delicate and has a great flavor. Similar to romaine but more delicate.
Grains and pasta....
Also we are so lucky these days that there are hundreds of varieties of pastas, grains and beans available for us to play with. The other day I made this sort of pad thai dish with black rice ramen noodles. The recipe is on my web site if you are interested.
Black rice itself is considered to be full of antioxidants. And I love its nutty texture. This pasta is made from black rice and cooks in 4 minutes.
There are so many kinds of grains and beans too.
The whole point of this is to not feel that you are giving up foods but to illustrate how you have just opened up an entire new world of foods to experiment with and enjoy.
The Most Important Thing: Food Must Taste Good:
Food has to be delicious right? We can never forget that we are humans and that makes us pleasure seeking creatures. We love things that taste delicious. And I truly believe...and I hope that if you get nothing else out of this course.....that we don’t have to sacrifice the pleasurable side of eating in order to make the healthiest choices.
In this chapter, we will look at ways to continue to enjoy the flavor of foods while maximizing nutrients.
The Lazy Chefs’ Favorites: Salt. Sugar. Fat.
It’s so easy to make food delicious when you have no qualms about using these three ingredients with wild abandon. But to me, a chef, I believe that is a lazy approach to cooking.
The fact is that when these are the predominant flavors we reach for to add flavor to dishes when we cook., every other flavor becomes secondary and unimportant. Think about a gratin for example. I love gratins. You can make a gratin with anything: potatoes, squash, zuchhini. It really doesn’t matter. Because what you’re really eating is cream, butter and cheese. The vegetable is just a medium whose nutrients get lost in the shuffle of the other high fat ingredients.
The Bliss Point
Sugar. Salt and Fat are sort of the trifecta of ingredients when used in combination, supposedly light up all of the neurons in the brain the same as if you were taking an ophoid drug. And food manufacturers know this. So they load up processed foods with these ingredients in an effort to have consumers reach what is known as the Bliss Point.
Highly processed foods are actually engineered to hit that sweet spot in the brain...causing us to become addicted! It is a calculated effort on the part of the food industry to get us hooked on these foods. And as we know.....these three are the most harmful to our health when consumed out of balance with a diet of whole natural foods.
Retraining Our Taste Buds
So how do we recover from this what I personally see as sabotage on the part of the industrial food industry on our taste buds.
1. The first step is just in the awareness. Does knowing that these foods are actually being marketed to you to trick you into craving them and more or less becoming addicted to them make you feel angry? And your awareness should also make you start to pay attention to your favorite processed foods and tune into how your body is reacting.
2. Of course we just need to reduce the amount of those foods in our lives. And this menu was designed to move you in that direction. The more whole foods, fruits and vegetables, that you can start to add to your diet (and as close to their natural state as possible) the more you begin to move your taste buds away from that expectation and into really enjoying the natural flavors of foods. Think about a strawberry, for example. When was the last time you ate a strawberry and really paid attention to how delicious it is?
3. Exploring the whole rest of the world.. Wshen you take out the refined sugar, refined, highly processed fats and refined highly processed salt, what you have left is everything else. And that is a whole world of truly unique flavors that each fruit and vegetable has inherently, as well as herbs, spices, citrus and on and on.
4. Be kind to yourself through this process. You will possibly have setbacks. You will likely find yourself drawn to a food that you may have committed to letting go of. The most important thing in that moment is not to feel that you have failed. To see it as a natural part of the two steps forward, one step back process and start over right away. You can start your healthy diet over any minute, even late in the evening. Just get back on track and let it go. You will do better next time.
Acquiring a Taste
By reducing the amount of sugar, salt and fat, you will be opening up your taste buds for new experiences. But it’s not always easy to learn to love a new food, especially one that you know is so good for you, but the flavor or texture may not appeal to you.
Here are some tips for learning to love a new food.
And I promise you : this can be done. When you remember your goal, which is to infuse your body with as many nutrients as possible with every meal because those nutrients are going to help your body to heal and gain strength, you have the best motivation of all!
- Reducing the amount of sugar, salt and fat in your diet cleans the palate to make way for new flavors.
- Start by adding in small amounts of a spice or other seasoning; gradually add more as your taste buds adjust.
- It takes several experiences with a new flavor; keep trying!
- Mix the new food with an old favorite. So if you are trying to learn to love broccoli, have a small amount with a meal of favorites. Sneak it in there!
The beautiful side effect of moving away from these three lazy ingredients is that we will naturally be choosing foods that are going to make us healthier, strong and help us heal.
When you move away from the highly processed foods, and now you are aware of the Bliss point, your palate stops expecting this highly stimulating experience and your cravings start to level off. So now what’s left?
When we seriously reduce the amount of those three in our diets, we will naturally choose what we call cleaner ingredients and we will see many health benefits. The goal is not necessarily to give up these things forever, but to learn how to be more in balance after we have healed. But for many of us, we are in the process of healing the damage.
Vibrance creates vibrance
Photograpy is a little hobby of mine…and over the past several years I have really started to enjoy food photgraphy. I am amazed by how easy it is to photograph food in their natural state. Whether it is in the garden.....or on the counter or the plate. There is nothing more beautiful than fresh vegetables and fruits from a photographers viewpoint. That’s why I say vibrant foods create vibrance in you.
Think about taking a photo of a bowl of dried rice or dried beans or worse, a bowl of oreo cookies. And then imagine taking a photo of a bowl of lemons, or a field full of romaine lettuce growing…. These foods are beautiful subjects. So beauty is inherent in them.
*Healthy skin, glowing, bright eyes, strong heart, great energy…. These are the gifts of beautiful food.
Here are the ingredients that replace the need for saturated fat, sugar and salt in our cooking:
Spice Market
Now here is a category that I could go on for hours about….Spice.....
I love evertyhign about spices...
First of all.....there are literally hundreds of kinds
They represent what I think is most beautiful about our world...: diversity.
Spices come in all kinds of colors....they each have their own unique flavor profile....they each are grown in a different beautiful and usually warm place in the world. There is so much romance in them:the stories of the spice route. the cinnamon from Ceylon or Vietnam….the saffron from...Spain...the vanilla pods from Madagascar.
Most spices are the seeds or buds or bark of trees or plants...So when they are growing in their natural habititat they are beautiful. So i just find them to be very romantic.
But they also have amazing phytonutrients and minerals. They are very good for you. Turmeric is a root that is dried and ground. One of the most powerful anti inflammatory spices and the spice that makes curry yellow.
Begin to replace salt with spices by thinking about the spices you already love. Start with your favorite flavors and build from there. Do you love curry? Do you love hot spices like cayenne and other ground up chilies? Identify one or two spices or spice blends that you already love and keep a bottle on the counter to add as you cook. As you explore new foods, you will start to add to your repertoire of spices. Check labels on spice blends to make sure salt or sodium is not an ingredient.
Here are tips for using spices in your cooking:
- Buy them in small quantities so you can keep them fresh.
- Try new kinds frequently. If you love one kind of pepper, experiment with another. Make it a challenge.
- Play around with grinding your own….if you want....but it’s not necessary.
- When adding spices to a dish, start with small amounts. Then taste and add more if you want.
- Substitute one for another.
- A word about spice blends: and then there all of these amazing spice blends from around the world. And again, each one representing the culture it’s from. Experiment with those. If you like curry powder for example, try the Moroccan ras el hanout which is so similar. Or check out different types of Chili powders which are usually blends. And read the labels and start recognziing which spices you like over others.
Little green leaves….herbs
When I talk about herbs, I am talking about the green leaf herbs such as cilantro….basil....rosemary...thyme...etc. Lately I have started to really think of herbs as a green leafy vegetable sort of in the same class as a lettuce or spinach. You can chop herbs up fine to season a dish but for the ones like parsely and cilantro....i love to just pile them on in whole leaf form or toss them in a salad.
Like spices, herbs are full of micronutrients and also chorophyll from the sun.
And the flavors are amazing. What’s fun about herbs is that you can be creative and subsittue one for the other....
For example, basil and mint have very similar flavor profiles. So if you can use one for the other....or use both!
Tips for using herbs:
- Always keep at least one kind of fresh herb in the refrigerator. (or grow your own!)
- Wash and store them like lettuce.
- Don’t chop them before you will use them.
- Set a goal to use a whole bunch per week and put them on everything.
Life Gave Us Citrus….
There are so many health benefits to citrus of every kind. But from a cooking standpoint…..citrus makes flavors pop...the same way that sugar and salt do. So sometimes if you are making something like a soup, for example. And you taste it and you think it needs a little something. And normally you would reach for the salt shaker. Try a spritz of a lemon or lime
And the really fun thing about citrus is that you can subsittue all of the many varieties and you can change it up seasonally. Have fun exploring all of the different kinds of oranges....i love when blood oranges come in season...And it’s fun to mix them together......Grapefruit.....So much fun!
Keep a bowl on your counter with a little strainer to strain the seeds out. And you will find a hundred uses for them.
Vinegars….
Another way to highlight flavors without salt is with vinegars and there are so many varieties to play with. Balsamic is a favorite for drizzling over baked fish or roasted vegetables and makes a great vinaigrette with just a little extra virgin olive oil and Dijon mustard.
There are so many beautiful specialty vinegars on the market these days and I love experimenting with them. There’s pear and fig and strawberry and every flavor you can imagine. These vinegars are mostly small batch made so they have great balance. Some are thicker like syrup and perfect for drizzling over a piece of fish or chicken or some roasted vegetables. And great for using on a salad instead of a dressing.
There is a store here in town over in Westport Village called Zi Olive on Herr Lane. They have a huge selection and you can try samples. It;s such a fun experience. RESEARCH MORE ABOUT THIS STORE NATIONWIDE
- Add a Tablespoon or so at the end of cooking a soup or stew
- Drizzle on salad greens instead of olive oil
- Drizzle on baked chicken or fish or roasted vegetables.
(NO) Bouillon
One of the most powerful ways to deepen the flavor of soups, rice or bean dishes is with chicken or vegetable “base.” It’s the secret of every chef. There are the traditional bouillon cubes or try Better than Bouillon which is a concentrated paste. Follow the package directions and make sure to always buy Reduced Sodium varieties.
Expand on this…
We talked a little about bouillon in a previous class. But I wanted to reiterate how powerful this ingredients can be when it comes to adding flavor to soups, stews and sauces. This one if my favorite and you want to make sure you get the reduced sodium version. It comes in beef and vegetable as well. It is not gluten free, so beware if that is a concern.
There are so many kinds of bouillon cubes and pastes on the market. Experiment with them but always make sure they are low sodium. Those food manufacturers like to sneak in a lot of unnecessary ingredients remember!
Cheese as a seasoning.....
If you are eating dairy products on your heart healthy diet….and your doctors and dietitians have said that small amounts of low fat cheese is ok....then have some fun with cheese as a seasoning.
My absolute favorite is parmesan. I like the good stuff, which isn’t cheap, but since i only use it to grate on top of a dish for extra umami flavor.....and it does have a saltiness to it as well.....a block will last a couple of months in my house.
Feta is another great cheese that is lower in fat but has a powerful flavor. A little goes a long way.
Goat cheese as well.
Just take care that you aren’t buying processed cheese products. Cheese should have no addeded ingredients.
And then make sure you are using something like a tablespoon to enhance the flavor of a salad or other dishes.
Managing Produce....
There are little tricks for getting the most out of your fruits and vegetables in terms of flavor.
First buying local, seasonal and organic is giving you a leg up on flavor right there. Farmers markets are great for that. Heirloom varieties will always have more of the inherent flavors of the food than something that is mass produced and shipped across the world.
Let foods ripen.
Of course look for foods that are nice and ripe in the store. But you can also plan ahead. Just think about bananas and I’m sure we have all had this experience. You buy a bunch of bananas based on how ripe they look versus how soon you plan to eat them. And you set them on your counter and you watch and wait until they are that perfect ripeness that you prefer.
It’s the same for every other kind of vegetable and fruit.
But it is something that you learn as you go. Other than bananas which I never recommend putting in the refrigerator, you can leave food on the counter untll it is the level of ripeness you want and then refrigerate it to slow down its’ decline. This doesn’t apply to green leafy vegetables.
But there is a moment in every foods life where it will peak in its flavor. Learning to catch that moment will go a long way in how much you will enjoy the food.
Tasting As You Go….
- Allows you to develop your palate so you can have more control over the end result.
- Teaches you how flavors develop throughout the cooking process.
- Gives you confidence to experiment with spices and other seasonings as you learn to add them a little at a time; then taste and add more if you like.
- Keep a bunch of spoons handy.
- Make sure not to taste something that is super hot.
If you don’t learn anything else from me in this course, please take this with you…...to become a confident cook, you must learn to taste throughout the cooking process. Now of course that doesn’t apply to foods like raw meats....or pasta....or grains.....and baked goods. Of course, you are not going to taste them untl they are finished cooking.
I am talkng about soups, stews, salad dressings, sauces, etc. Foods that you are adding a lot of ingredients to...spices, etc. Foods whose success depends on those various flavorings.
Tasting as you go.....
Aromatics….
Aromatics are a beautiful family of vegetables that are typically used as a flavor foundation in stocks, soups and stews. They have this amazing synergy that infuses whatever you are making with such depth of flavor. And not to mention, they each have many phytonutrients and minerals.
You can use any combination of these and they vary depending on the type of cuisine. Asian cuisine, for example, will favor ginger. Greeks love fennel. French loves leeks..Etc.
This aromatics are usually diced and then sauteed (called sweating) in a pot before the liquid and other elements are added. Or if you are making a stock you can add them in with the water without cooking them first.
I am going to demonstrate for you how to cut a few aromatics here in a minute so that you can get the most out of them as flavor for your cooking.
Lettuces…..
Since this menu is asking you to get as many green leafy vegetables in your diet as possible…..at least one salad a day! Then i think you should at least be able to have some fun with it.
There are so many kinds of lettuces available to us and each one has its unique character. Especially if you shop at farmers markets in the spring and summer, you will find many varieties. And if you garden, I urge you to try new varieties every year and find the ones you really love. One of my favorite leaf lettuces is Lolla Rossa... It is delicate and has a great flavor. Similar to romaine but more delicate.
Grains and pasta....
Also we are so lucky these days that there are hundreds of varieties of pastas, grains and beans available for us to play with. The other day I made this sort of pad thai dish with black rice ramen noodles. The recipe is on my web site if you are interested.
Black rice itself is considered to be full of antioxidants. And I love its nutty texture. This pasta is made from black rice and cooks in 4 minutes.
There are so many kinds of grains and beans too.
The whole point of this is to not feel that you are giving up foods but to illustrate how you have just opened up an entire new world of foods to experiment with and enjoy.
