Welcome to Part 2 of The San Diego Botanic Gardens Cooking Class!
Today’s conversation was about eating well and how to figure out personally, what that looks like for you!
There is no miracle diet – every Body is different.
If you go on a diet, you will most certainly go off a diet. And we all know the bad thing about going off a diet is you will gain back all the weight and then some.
Changing your lifestyle by adding small adjustments to how you live and what you eat, works. For example: Mindful eating. Truly think about what you are eating. Truly enjoy what you are eating, and if you’re not? Spit it out and stop eating that particular item. No, you do not have to finish what you start in this case.
It’s gross. IKR? But still, that’s being more mindful, more aware of what you are putting into your system.
At The Gardens we talked about always starting with a hot pan, that onions will not cook properly if the pan is just warm. Luckily if you were there you said you have never experienced gray onions. But if and when you do it’s only because the person cooking did not do so on a high heat, and pre-heat his or her pan.
I asked: “What’s the easiest way to avoid tears when cutting onions”. Someone said ‘wear contacts’ and I have heard “wear glasses before” but the tried and true way to avoid tears is freeze the onion 5 or 10 minutes before you are ready to cut.
The brown on the pan from the onions is flavor and if you take broth, wine or any nice liquid you can scrape the bottom of the pan and incorporate the bits into the meal. It’s a real flavor booster!
I recommend you use broth for making pasta as well. And did you know that if you use Quinoa pasta with limited broth, it will turn that pan of pasta into the sauce for a pot pie? Just add veggies and you’ve got that creamy flavor that did not come from cream or have the kind of calories that goes with cream. Most of the audience was not Vegan. And still I want to encourage them and you to stop drinking milk and eating cheese. It’s not your Grandma’s milk. Not her cheese. And guess what! Your body probably does not process it well, as a result.
Now, if you have your own farm and you are carefully growing produce and animals, that’s a different situation. Personally I’m more plant based, but that doesn’t mean you have to be. Everyone has to do what’s right for them!
When you are making pasta or quinoa pasta and boiling the noodles in broth, I suggest you always save that broth to lightly steam broccoli or cook anything else that needs slight cooking.
Nutritionist Johnna Dietz suggests you sauté vegetables or steam, rather than boil out all the nutrition. But I personally think that steam adds nutrients to everything you cook. And it makes the process of cooking so much easier. I know people that actually drink the broth they have cooked all their vegetables in.
We talked about Celery, Onions and Carrots being the basis of any great soup or sauce. It’s called a Mira Poix.
I explained that if you salt your eggplant and letter the bitter liquid drain, or layer on a paper towel, you eggplant will be less bitter.
Nutritionist Johnna Dietz spoke about how food processes highlighting Lemon (which promotes a strong immune system and has antioxidants that help fight inflammation, as well as helping your skin look better), Broccoli (contains Vitamin K, Vitamins C, A, and folate. And it supports good heart health – high fiber helps to carry out bad cholesterol from body), Asparagus (which can increase bone mineral density, with a ton of vitamins that act as an Anti-inflammatory & antioxidant and can also act as a diuretic) and Eggplant (high in antioxidants, Manganese, Thiamin and Vitamin K).
I am always interested in how we can help food process in our system. For Example: Science Daily will back me up when I ask you to add olive oil to tomatoes to help lycopene from the tomatoes to process.
I explained that if you put a plus sign on a smaller plate (buying dinner plates one size smaller), not only will you control the portion, but if you place vegetables in one area, protein next to it, more vegetables in the next area and carbs in the last, you will double the amount of vegetables you are getting plus eat less because the plate ‘real estate’ is smaller.
And that’s all we wrote, this time around. If you need help with your food, if you would like to have a cooking party at home, please email me at mm@chefmarian.com to get the event on calendar! Both Johnna and I are happy to work with you online or by phone. And I am also a ‘face to face’ teacher, when you need a chef to make you feel safe in the kitchen!
Happy Healthy Eating,
