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New cookbooks flood the market every week. This feature will help you make sense of what’s new and what’s worth trying out. Email your questions and ideas to connie.post@coxinc.com
Being the healthiest version of ourselves is something we have to work at. It involves making many tiny decisions every day, but our choices add up and can have a big impact on our well-being.
I recently read “The New Health Rules: Simple Changes to Achieve Whole-Body Wellness” by Frank Lipman, M.D., and Danielle Claro (224 pages, $19.95; published by Artisan Books, 2015). It contains nearly 100 tips, divided into chapters titled Eating, Moving, Boosting, Healing and Living.
For moving, take the trail rather than the treadmill. For boosting, get a good night’s sleep. For healing, meditate.
For living, use cast iron, ceramic or stainless pots and pans, but not copper or aluminum, which leach into food.
I was particularly interested in the eating rules, such as:
• Fat is good for you (avocados, nuts, coconut oil).
• Choose cheese that’s less bad for you (goat, sheep, buffalo).
• Eat the yolk.
• Eat smallish fish, but not big fish.
Eating whole eggs caught my attention. The author argue that fragmented food — say, an egg white omelet — makes the body crave the missing part and we reach for something else that isn’t as healthy.
Another rule is to avoid eating fish on top of the food chain. Burning coal for electricity releases mercury into the air, then the mercury lands in the water, where it’s absorbed by plankton. Small fish eat the plankton, bigger fish eat the smaller fish. So big fish like tuna and swordfish have the most mercury; wild salmon and flounder, less. The authors say small fish like anchovies and sardines can be eaten freely.
Why is mercury a big deal? “Mercury not only messes with your body’s ability to energize cells and hold on to certain important minerals but is also linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s,” the authors write.
Reading the book inspired me to create a dish that incorporates a number of the healthy eating tips. Here is the result:
SARDINE AND SPINACH FRITTATA WITH BUFFALO MOZZARELLA
6-8 servings
3 tablespoons coconut oil
1 clove garlic, diced
¼ cup red bell pepper, diced
2-3 green onions, diced
½ cup baby bella mushrooms, diced
4 cups fresh baby spinach
1 4.4-ounce can sardines in olive oil, rinsed and drained
9 whole eggs, slightly beaten
1 Roma tomato, thinly sliced
½ cup buffalo mozzarella
Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. In a 10-inch cast iron skillet, melt the coconut oil over medium heat. Add diced garlic and pepper, and stir for 1 minute. Add diced green onions and mushrooms, and stir for 1 minute. Add spinach and stir until wilted, about 2 minutes. Crumble sardines over the vegetables. Carefully pour eggs over the vegetables and sardines.
Arrange tomato slices and sprinkle mozzarella all over. Cook on medium heat until the frittata looks somewhat set on the edges but fairly liquidy on top. Remove skillet from burner and place it in the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until the center is set. Cut into wedges. Salt and pepper to taste.
Our assessment: Frittatas are very easy to make, and this one turned out delicious. If you don't like sardines, omit them and slightly increase the amount of vegetables you use.
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