Articles

RECIPE BANC

Sweet Pea and Mint Soup

Garden of Healing®

Servings 4

Start with Frozen Peas, the small vegetable with big potential.  Fresh green peas are harvested at their peak and frozen immediately.  Both fresh and frozen peas work for this recipe.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped yellow onion
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
4 cups frozen peas
3/4 cup loosely packed mint leaves
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon sugar

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Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat.  Add the onion and saute for 3 to 4 minutes or until tender.  Add the broth and bring to a boil.

Place the peas, mint, salt, and sugar in a blender.  Blend until smooth.

Pour the hot broth mixture over them and return everything to the saucepan to heat through.  Serve warm.

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© 2008 Garden of Healing®. All rights reserved.

EAT & BE WELL

Mediterranean Diet May Cut Diabetes Risk

By Nicholas Bakalar

Published: June 10, 2008

SOURCE:  http://health.nytimes.com/pages/health/nutrition/index.html

Sticking to the Mediterranean diet — rich in olive oil, grains, fruits, nuts, vegetables and fish, and low in meats and dairy — may lower the risk for diabetes.

Scientists followed 13,380 healthy Spanish university graduates for an average of four and a half years, tracking their dietary habits and confirming new cases of diabetes through medical records. The study was published online May 29 in The British Medical Journal.

The researchers ranked the strictness of adherence to the diet on a 10-point scale, and found that those with the highest scores reduced their relative risk of diabetes by 83 percent compared with those with the lowest.

The authors acknowledge that the number of cases of diabetes they found was small, which limits the statistical power of the finding, and that the nutritional information is based on self-reporting, which is not always reliable.

Still, the large sample and the finding of a dose-response relationship between stricter adherence to the diet and lowered risk of diabetes give the study strength.

“There are good fats, like those in olive oil, that are quite healthful,” said Miguel A. Martínez-González, the lead author and a professor of epidemiology at the University of Navarra. “We have to change this belief that a low-fat diet is the key to good health.”

© 2007-2008 The New York Times Company

RECIPE BANC

Kabocha Squash Soup with Wild Rice

This soup is rich in beta carotene, iron, vitamin C, and potassium

Courtesy of:  Central Market Recipes & Grant Family Farms:  http://www.centralmarket.com

Servings - 4

2 peeled and cubed Kabocha squashes
2 cubed onions
3 minced garlic cloves
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon sherry
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon white pepper
6 cups chicken stock
1 cup cooked wild rice
chopped fresh herbs for garnish
salt to taste

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Directions:

Sauté 2 peeled and cubed Kabocha squashes, 2 cubed onions and 3 minced garlic cloves in 1 tablespoon olive oil.

Add 1 tablespoon sherry, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon white pepper and salt to taste.

Add 6 cups of chicken stock and simmer 30 minutes. Purée.

Return to heat and stir in 1 cup cooked wild rice. Garnish with chopped fresh herbs.

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Source:  http://www.centralmarket.com/cm/recipeCategoryListAction.do?recipeId=7261&categoryId=SOVE00

Copyright 2001-2008; H. E. Butt Grocery Company.  All Rights Reserved.