Monday Munchies: Fusilli with Beets, Kale and Pine Nuts

Happy Monday everyone. Another week is upon us... another chance to start out right and eat something healthy and tasty. This recipe (Choosing Raw) is creamy and cozy, which is great for January. Beets are so colorful in this dish... love it!

8 oz whole wheat dry pasta
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 large red beets, trimmed of stems and roots
4 heaping cups washed and chopped kale
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsps olive oil, separated

1 recipe of cashew alfredo

1) Heat oven to 400 degrees. Wrap your beets in tinfoil and roast for about 40-45 minutes, or until a knife pierces one of your beets easily. Remove beets from oven and run them under very cold water. When they’ve cooled sufficiently, you can just slip their skins off. Skin them, chop them, and set aside.

2) Place pine nuts in a small frying pan and toast for a few minutes. Set aside.

3) Place a pot of salted water on the stove to boil. When the water is boiling, add pasta and cook till tender, but still a little al dente. Drain pasta, toss with 1 tsp olive oil, and set aside momentarily, while your greens finish cooking.

4) Per the above, while pasta is cooking, heat 1 tsp oil in a large sautee pan or pot. When it’s hot, add the garlic and cook for about 1-2 minutes. Add the kale, along with a few tablespoons of water and a nice pinch of salt, and allow the greens to cook and steam, stirring occasionally, for about 5-10 minutes. You do NOT want to wilt the kale entirely—it should retain some crunch and form. When it’s just right, remove from the heat.

5) Place cooked pasta, kale, and roast beets in a large serving bowl. Pour about 1/3-1/2 cup of the alfredo over the pasta and veggies, and mix well. Top with toasted pine nuts, and serve.

Superfood Spotlight: Quinoa

Quinoa(pronounced keen-wa)is unquestionably one of the most super of all foods. Quinoa is actually a little seed, but acts and tastes a lot like a grain. It's delicious, a bit nutty and very versatile.

Nutritional benefits? Here we go:

Protein- Quinoa contains all 9 essential amino acids that are required by the body as building blocks for muscles, making it a complete protein.

Magnesium- Magnesium helps relax your muscles and blood vessels and effects blood pressure. Quinoa contains high levels of this vital nutrient.

Manganese and Copper- Quinoa is a good source of these minerals that act as antioxidants in your body to get rid of dangerous cancer and disease-causing substances.

Calcium-  A cup of cooked quinoa contains 30 mg of calcium. Calcium builds and maintains bones and teeth, helps regulate the contraction of the heart, and facilitates nerve and muscle function.

Iron- 1 cup of cooked quinoa offers 15 percent of the U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance of iron, which helps to deliver oxygen to the blood, boosting energy and brain power.

Quinoa can act in place of rice or other grains in dishes like veggie stirfrys, burritos, pilaf, and paella. Quinoa is also great as a base for delicious salads or as a side with some salt and lemon.

Quinoa recipes to try:

Lemony Quinoa with Butternut Squash
Pumpkin, Lentils & Quinoa Salad
Quinoa Salad with Avo Radish and Lemon
Meatless Burrito
Quinoa Apple Cake
Quinoa Granola Bars
Tomato, White Bean and Quinoa Soup
Chocolate Multigrain Mini Loaf
More...

Myth Busting: Isn’t Fish a Health Food?

Recent studies have given us plenty of reasons not to eat fish:

• Farmed salmon contain such high levels of PCBs, dioxins, and other toxic chemicals that a study in the journal of Science recommends that people should not eat it more than once a month.
• Nearly all fish and shellfish contain traces of mercury, some in much higher levels. So much that even the EPA recommends pregnant women, nursing mothers and children not eat it.
• The EPA estimates that over 600,000 children are born each year at risk for lowered intelligence and learning problems from exposure to mercury because their mothers ate fish.
• Four-fifths of the US salmon is farm-raised. The Environmental Working Group estimates that 800,000 people in the US face an increase cancer risk from eating farmed salmon.
• Salmon and other fish flesh contains high amounts of artery-clogging cholesterol and fat.
• In the wild, hundreds of billions of fish, along with "nontarget" animals, including sharks, sea turtles, birds, seals, and whales, are caught each year in ocean-ravaging nets or dragged for hours on long-lines for the commercial fishing industry. (PETA)

What about the fish? While fisheries would like you to believe otherwise, numerous studies, including a recent one by the Roslin Institute and the University of Edinburgh, have found conclusive evidence that fish do feel pain, as they have a nervous system like all other animals.

What about omega-3 (and omega-6) you ask? We require essential fatty acids in our diets to stay healthy and keep our brains functioning. But, like milk and calcium or meat and protein, there is a common misconception that fish is the best and only place to get these fatty acids.

High amounts of omega-3s can be found in: flax seeds, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, brazil nuts, avocados, dark leafy greens and hemp seeds. Omega-6 can be found in flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, pine nuts, olive oil, pistachios and sunflower seeds. To ensure that you are getting enough you can simple add ground flax to smoothies, sauces, baked goods, etc. You can also take a DHA supplement for an added fatty acid punch.

Monday Munchies: Cinnamon Rolls

Some of us have one last day off from work. So enjoy a lazy morning with some fresh baked cinnamon rolls and mouthwatering pressed juiced... maybe from the new juicer that you got for Christmas? These beauties come highly recommended via VeganYumYum.

Seethe recipe and instructions here.