Oh, It's So Good!

I wanted to share with you one of my favorite "new" foods. Actually, I discovered this for the first time a few years ago and make it often now.

Have you ever tried quinoa? Pronounced "keen-wa", it is a staple food of the Incas and the Indians in Peru. It is very high in protein and amino acids that tend to be low in other grains. It also contains iron, calcium and phosphorus, B vitamins and vitamin E, and is relatively high in fat. It tastes similar to rice, but has it's own distinctive flavor. A whole grain, quinoa is prepared just like rice: one part quinoa to two parts water. I cook it in my rice cooker in about 15 minutes.


The little round grains cook up light and fluffy and very tasty. For lunch today, I topped it with sauteed zuchinni, squash, onions, mushrooms, garlic and tomatoes. Salt, pepper, half a lemon juiced, and a little Parmesan cheese was all the seasoning it needed.


In a word: YUM!


And do you see that avocado over there on the right? Well, let me tell you, that is my new food craze. Rochelle got me started on those in Hawaii. I know, I know....you've known for a long time how good they are. My own mother tried for years to get me to taste one. But I was stubborn and convinced it couldn't possibly be good.

Wrong!

Rochelle seasoned them up with just salt and pepper. We sat on the lanai, munching our delicious healthy snack on several occasions. Now that I'm back home, I've gotten Lacy and Maggie excited about them too. Strangely enough, Holly, my most adventuresome eater, took a pass after one bite. Oh well, she'll come around, I bet.

Avocados have taken a bad rap ever since the "diet dictocrats" decided certain fats were not good for you. Well, don't be fooled. Here is what Sally Fallon, author of Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats, has to say about that.

Shoppers err in refusing to buy avocados because of their high fat content. Avocados contain from 5-22 percent fat, mostly monounsaturated oleic acid, in a form that is absolutely fresh, with its full complement of lipase and vitamin E. Avocados also contain carotenoids, B-complex and C vitamins and numerous minerals, such as potassium, magnesium, iron, calcium and phosphorus.

That makes perfect sense to me. I'm wary of anyone who tells me that a food God packaged up Himself and created to be so incredibly tasty is not healthy. So I'm eating them with aplomb!

Here's to your health!
Laura Lee