THE NIBBLE BLOG: Products, Recipes & Trends In Specialty Foods


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RECIPE: Grilled Salmon

January 6, 2011 at 8:00 am · Filed under Diet Nibbles, Fish-Seafood-Caviar, Recipes, Rice-Beans-Grains-Seeds

Some of our staff eat grilled salmon for dinner every other night for its healthy omega-3 essential fatty acids.

There are many ways to keep grilled salmon interesting. But instead of topping it with sugar-laden chutney, sauces and glazes, take a healthy approach.

In this idea from Whole Foods Market, grilled wild salmon (so much better than farmed salmon) tops a mound of tabbouleh, which is made with whole-grain bulgur wheat. The salmon is marinated in olive oil, fresh orange juice and zest.

It’s topped with a Middle Eastern/Israeli salad of chopped cucumber, red onion and halved cherry tomatoes. We add dill and/or parsley to our chopped salad. In season, substitute chopped vine-ripened tomatoes.

We purchased our tabbouleh to save time, but here’s the recipe to make it from scratch, along with the citrus-marinated salmon.

 

An extra-healthy salmon recipe combines all
those omega-3s with whole-grain tabbouleh.
Photo courtesy Whole Foods Market.
Find more of our favorite fish recipes.

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TIP OF THE DAY: Appliances That Make Low Calorie Foods

January 6, 2011 at 7:25 am · Filed under Diet Nibbles, Kitchenware-Tabletop, Low Calorie, Tip Of The Day

It’s easy to make your own grilled chicken,
fish, kebabs and roasts in this Cuisinart
Vertical Rotisserie.

   It’s easy to cook low calorie foods when you have the right appliances.

One of our most popular articles last January was 10 Appliances For Low Calorie Cooking.

Take a look at how you can whip up low calorie foods—with high taste—using a:

  • Countertop Grill
  • Food Dehydrator
  • Food Steamer
  • IngenuiTea Easy Loose Tea Brewer
  • Milk Frother
  • Modern Wok
  • Pressure Cooker
  • Vapor Cookware
  • Vertical Rotisserie

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    Let us know your favorite calorie-saving appliances.

    Find our favorite low calorie products in THE NIBBLE’s Diet Foods Section.
      

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    RECIPE: Pressure Cook Beans & Rice—Fast!

    January 5, 2011 at 8:33 am · Filed under Kitchenware-Tabletop, NutriNibbles-Organic-Health, Recipes, Rice-Beans-Grains-Seeds

    Some people don’t eat more whole grains because they take too long to cook.

    But with a pressure cooker, brown rice is ready in 10 minutes, beans in 20 minutes (and really long cookers like short ribs in 40 minutes).

    Start your healthy New Year with a pressure cooker. We love our top-of-the-line Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker, but there are less expensive (and smaller) alternatives like this Presto pressure cooker for $29.99 (we haven’t tested it).

    As a rule of thumb, an hour in a conventional pot becomes 20 minutes in a pressure cooker.

    With a pressure cooker, there is no need to pre-soak your beans. Hearty and healthy beans ready in 40 minutes are difficult to pass up!
     
    HOW TO COOK BEANS IN A PRESSURE COOKER

    1. RINSE the beans under running water. Place them in a pressure cooker and cover with liquid to 2 inches above the top of beans. For more flavor, use stock or broth instead of water. You can also add dried herbs.

    2. COOK for 20 minutes under high pressure. Remove the lid of the pressure cooker and cook for another 20 minutes or so, stirring and testing occasionally. Depending on the beans, they may be finished well before 20 minutes; so keep checking until you reach your desired texture.

    3. DRAIN, season and serve.
     
    TIPS

  • Here’s a list of pressure cooking times for beans, rice, meat, vegetables etc.
  • Here are an overview of pressure cooking and a review of our Kuhn Rikon Ecomatic pressure cooker.
  • Check out different types of beans in our beautiful Bean Glossary.
    		•   

    Bay Leaf Tree

    [1] A pressure cooker helps us eat healthier: beans, brown rice and other whole grains are a snap (photo courtesy Kuhn Rikon). [2] If you have a bay leaf, toss it in the pot. It pairs well with different types of beans, below (photo of bay leaf on the tree courtesy Doobee). Here are the different types of bay leaf.
     
    HERB & BEAN PAIRINGS

    Here are pairing suggestions from The Kitchn:

  • Black beans: bay leaf, chile peppers, cilantro, coriander, cumin, epazote, garlic, ginger, oregano, parsley, savory, thyme
  • Black-eyed peas: bay leaf, cayenne, chile peppers, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cumin, ginger, turmeric
  • Cannellini beans: parsley, sage, savory, tarragon, thyme
  • Chickpeas (garbanzo beans): cardamom, cilantro, coriander, cumin, fennel, garlic, ginger, mint, paprika, parsley, rosemary
  • Fava beans: basil, cilantro, cumin, fennel, garlic, mint, parsley, rosemary, sage, savory, thyme
  • Flageolet beans: parsley, savory, thyme
  • Kidney beans: bay leaf, cumin, fennel, oregano, parsley, sage, savory, thyme
  • Lentils: bay leaf, cardamom, cilantro, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cumin, curry, ginger, mint, parsley, oregano, thyme, turmeric
  • Lima beans: cilantro, mint, parsley, sage
  • Navy beans: basil, bay leaf, garlic, parsley, savory, thyme
  • Pinto beans: chile peppers, cilantro, cumin, oregano, parsley, savory

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    TIP OF THE DAY: Switch Your Starches For Healthy Eating

    January 5, 2011 at 7:58 am · Filed under NutriNibbles-Organic-Health, Recipes, Rice-Beans-Grains-Seeds, Tip Of The Day


    [1] Alas, our beloved Corn Flakes are not whole grain. We’ve switched to Cheerios and oatmeal (photo by Hannah Kaminsky | © THE NIBBLE).


    [2] Switch white rice for brown rice (photo © Village Harvest).


    [3] Switch white potatoes for sweet potatoes (photo © Burpee).


    [4] Popcorn is a nutritious, whole-grain snack (pho6to © Crunch Daddy).

    		 

    These painless, easy switches to whole grains and other foods can give you more nutrition, more whole grain fiber and a new perspective on broadening your culinary repertoire.

    Why do you need to eat more whole grains? Check this out and you’ll switch even faster!
     
     
    EAT HEALTHY WITH THESE 15 EASY STARCH-SWITCHING TIPS

    Send us your favorite switches and we’ll add them to this list.

  • Switch your breakfast cereal. Choose a whole-grain cereal: oatmeal (see our favorite oatmeal brands), Cheerios, etc. (photo #1)
  • Switch white rice for brown rice. Alas, white rice has little nutrition. The action is all in the germ and kernel, which are removed from brown rice to make it white. Why, then, does the world prefer white rice? Because long ago, Chinese emperors had their brown rice polished into white for elegance. The process made white rice much more expensive. People aspired to eat like the emperors and paid the price, to the point where only the poor, who couldn’t afford it, ate brown rice. This stigmatized brown rice, the far better food! This process also played out with wheat in ancient Rome, where the wealthy had their whole wheat flour refined into white flour and soon only the poor ate brown (whole wheat) bread (photo #2).
  • Switch out rice for barley. Select whole or hull barley (with the bran intact) rather than the prettier pearled or hull-less barley. You know why! Barley is even more nutritious than brown rice. It has even more dietary fiber and protein, and is rich in copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium and selenium and zinc; plus vitamin B6, folate, niacin and riboflavin.
  • Switch white potatoes for sweet potatoes. Use sweet potatoes in all of your potato recipes: baked, French fried (try baked sweet potato fries), potato salad, etc. Sweet potatoes are a nutritional powerhouse, filled with dietary fiber, complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins A and C, iron and calcium. The Center for Science in the Public Interest gives a baked sweet potato a nutrition ranking of 184. A white baked potato: 83.
  • Make this substitute for mashed white potatoes: mashed sweet potatoes or mashed cauliflower, the latter from the cancer-fighting cruciferous group of vegetables.
  • Switch your pasta to whole wheat. Given how much pasta Americans eat, this is one of the easiest ways to get more whole grain into our diet.
  • Switch your bread, bagels and crackers to whole wheat/whole grain varieties. If you can’t find whole-grain crackers in your supermarket, you’ll find them at Whole Foods and other natural food markets—where you’ll also find whole-grain hot dog and burger buns. Another truly simple healthy switch.
  • Make a bean dish at least once a week. Research delicious bean recipes, and try artisan beans like Rancho Gordo for superb texture and flavor.
  • Make quinoa (one of the healthiest foods in the world) twice a week: as a side, in a salad, etc. Village Harvest, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week, produces whole grains—brown rice, quinoa, red rice and wild rice—that cook in the microwave in 45 seconds.
  • Try farro (spelt), another delicious whole grain.
  • Serve bean dip or hummus instead of mayonnaise- and sour cream-based dips. If you want a creamy dip, switch mayo and sour cream to fat-free Greek yogurt.
  • Snack on popcorn (a whole grain), tortilla chips (whole grain) and whole wheat pretzels instead of white-flour pretzels and potato chips. Check out our favorite line of tortilla chips from Food Should Taste Good, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week.
  • Switch conventional potato chips for sweet potato chips. Look for Sweet Potato Terra Chips and Food Should Taste Good Sweet Potato Tortilla Chips.
  • Serve corn chips (whole grain) and whole-grain pretzels or chia/salba chips (like Salba Smart) instead of potato chips.
  • Cook more of these whole grains: amaranth, barley, black/brown/red rice, buckwheat (kasha), bulgur (cracked wheat used to make tabbouleh), corn or cornmeal (including polenta), farro (spelt), kamut (khorasan wheat), millet, oats (oatmeal, whole or rolled oats), popcorn, quinoa, rye (whole), teff, whole wheat and wild rice. It’s a snap!
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    CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

     
     
     
      

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    TOP PICK OF THE WEEK: Agave Nectar (Agave Syrup)

    January 4, 2011 at 8:03 am · Filed under Diet Nibbles, Honey-Sugar-Syrup

    Any nutritionally-aware person realizes that sugar tastes great but simply is not good for you.

    How about a natural sugar alternative that tastes great and is good for you?

    That’s agave nectar (also called agave syrup), made from the juices of the same plant that produces tequila: the blue agave. In the bottle, it looks like honey or maple syrup.

    Light agave nectar is a neutral sweetener, though some brands can taste like very light honey. Agave dissolves instantly in cold or hot beverages, and is used to sweeten lighter-flavor foods (like fruit salad).

    Dark agave nectar has caramel flavors, and is used in recipes and as a substitute for maple syrup or honey on pancakes, bread and other foods.

    The best part is that agave is a low-glycemic food. It has half the glycemic index of honey, maple syrup and table sugar; and it’s 25% to 50% sweeter, so you need much less of it.

    Agave is a real find. Make it your “find of the year.”

  • Read the full review of agave nectar.
  • See all the different types of sweeteners in our Sugar & Syrup Glossary.
  • Check out the low-calorie and no-calorie sweeteners in our Artificial Sweeteners Glossary.

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    WHAT IS THE GLYCEMIC INDEX?

    The Glycemic Index, or GI, is a system that ranks foods on a scale from 1 to 100, based on their effect on blood-sugar levels.

    The smaller the number, the less impact the food has on your blood sugar. Bad carbs have a higher GI, good carbs, lower.

    Here’s a detailed description of the glycemic index.
     
     
    The Glycemic Index Of Popular Sweeteners*

  • Agave: The GI is 32 GI and 60 calories per tablespoon. But it’s twice as sweet as sugar, so use half the amount so you don’t over-sweeten.
  • Brown Rice Syrup:† The GI (glycemic index) is 20 and 55 calories.
  • Maple Syrup: The GI is 54, and 52 calories per tablespoon.
  • Honey: The GI is 58 GI and 64 calories per tablespoon.
  • Sugar: White, brown, refined or natural, the GI is 60-65, and 48 calories per tablespoon.
    		•   

    Herradura Agave
    The blue agave plant produces a sweetener that looks like honey, but is lighter, easily pourable, not as sticky and has half the glycemic index, It’s better for you! Photo by Cristian Lazzari | IST. Bottom photo by Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.
     
    ________________
    *Calorie data source: NutritionData.Self.com.

    †Brown rice syrup is not recommended for diabetics. Consult your healthcare provider.
      

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