The Recipe Redux – GUTSy Performance Nutrition

birthday pancake cake, all the toppings, and an essential Brazil nut butter

June 21, 2019June 21, 2019by RebeccaLeave a Comment

For my birthday this year, I decided to go the way of non-tradition and make a big pancake cake complete with chia berry jam, nut butter, coconut cream, and a pile of fresh berries. It was absolutely the best and may become a new tradition.

That was last month. When the Recipe Redux announced their June birthday and the end of a long season of monthly themed recipe challenges this month, it became obvious a pancake cake and a tasty homemade Brazil nut butter is a good way to celebrate the end.

For the past couple years, I’ve been periodically buying a few cups of raw Brazil nuts, roasting them slightly, and then grinding them into a rich and creamy nut butter. Compared to other nuts, they tend to be a little higher in fat and so turn into a nut butter much faster than other nuts and seeds, and without the really high-powered equipment. Additionally, Brazil nuts are one of the best sources of selenium, an essential trace mineral. Selenium content in foods is directly related to soil-mineral levels, and at least in my part of the country, the selenium content in soil is low. Growing up raising sheep, we had to give new lambs a selenium shot to ward off a selenium-depletion muscle disease. Even amongst Brazil nuts, selenium content will vary by location, but they do still tend to have a lot of it compared to other foods.

Selenium is primarily part of a master antioxidant enzyme in the body, meaning it neutralizes free radicals and dampens inflammation. It also plays along with other antioxidants, vitamins C and E, and helps them to reuse (recycle) themselves. Selenium is important for a healthy immune response, making it especially significant for immune conditions such as cancer, autoimmune disorders, healthy aging, and is absolutely essential for activation of the thyroid hormones.

For many individuals, a Brazil nut a day, or even a couple a few times per week, or periodically slathering your celebratory pancakes with decadent Brazil nut butter, will meet one’s selenium needs.

Beyond focusing just on selenium and Brazil nuts, all the nuts and seeds have differing and essential vitamins, minerals, and healthy fats, and this is why I always encourage rotating nuts, seeds, and their butters routinely in the diet.

For this pancake cake, I doubled my favorite go-to pancake recipe, made extra large pancakes, made a quick berry chia jam, and scooped the solids off the top of a can of full-fat coconut milk, whipped it along with a little orange blossom water, and of course, added that Brazil nut butter. I then put a different layer of filling between each pancake and topped them off with extra chia berries. This recipe was inspired by a Pancake Cake in Green Kitchen Stories new family cookbook, but I definitely spun it in my own direction. I encourage you to do the same.

Birthday Pancake Cake with All the Toppings and an Essential Brazil Nut Butter, serves about 4
my favorite pancake recipe (or yours)
whipped coconut cream
Brazil Nut Butter (see below)
Berry Chia Jam (see below)
fresh sliced berries, as desired

Prepare and make all the various components above. Then layer one filling between each pancake and top with additional berry chia jam or fresh berries.
Cut into cake wedges and serve with additional berries, jam, coconut cream, and nut butter.

Brazil Nut Butter, makes about 1 cup
2 cups raw Brazil Nuts

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F. Spread the nuts on a baking sheet and roast for about 20 minutes.
Remove from the oven and add to a high-speed blender or food processor. Process for about 5-8 minutes, until the mixture becomes creamy and thin. Scrape down the sides as needed throughout.
Store extra nut butter in a glass container in the fridge.

Berry Chia Jam, adapted very slightly from Little Green Kitchen
2 cups fresh or frozen berries
2-3 dates, pits removed and chopped
2 Tbs. chia seeds
a splash of water

Add the berries and dates to a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Add a splash of water and stir in the chia seeds. Bring back to a boil, then turn off the heat, stir again and allow to sit for about 15 minutes to thicken up. Stir a couple times throughout to keep clumps from forming.

Reference:
Higdon, J. (2001). Selenium. Linus Pauling Institute. Retrieved from https://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/minerals/selenium.

Nutrition + Health, Spring

Pistachio Rhubarb + Candied Ginger Loaf

May 21, 2019May 19, 2019by Rebecca4 Comments

If you search google for pistachio and rhubarb, just about a gazillion delicious recipes pop up. The two ingredients are a classic pairing. But so are strawberries and rhubarb, orange and rhubarb, honey and rhubarb, rhubarb and rose, and of course, ginger and rhubarb. Personally I love them all as well as rhubarb just on its own.

When we moved into our house in early 2016, the first plant to go in the ground was rhubarb. And as a two-person household with four healthy plants, we get to enjoy a lot of it. And by we I mean one of us absolutely loves it in ever-y-thing, and one of us thinks he doesn’t.

The Recipe Redux asked us to make a healthy-ish recipe to celebrate spring celebrations–something like baby or bridal showers, graduations, and the like. As I’m writing this, it is commencement day for my master of science degree in clinical nutrition, and since I decided not to make the trip back across the country to actually partake in it, celebrating at home with my longest run since Boston and this rhubarb loaf will do quite nicely.

Before we get there, let me tell you a little interesting nutritional tidbit about rhubarb and its oxalic acid content.

Many people know that rhubarb leaves are poisonous and can cause harm if ingested. It’s why they’re never sold with the leaves on. What most don’t know is that they are toxic because they contain a lot of oxalic acid which the stalks also contain, though not as much. Spinach, beet greens, and Swiss chard are also high in oxalic acid, which is why for some they can have that puckery-weird mouthfeel that also presents in unsweetened rhubarb. Interestingly, rhubarb is high in calcium, which spinach and Sweet chard has a bit of as well but the oxalate content interferes with absorption, so much so that when I worked for the Linus Pauling Institute, the researchers there said not to expect to get any calcium from a meal with lots of rhubarb, spinach, or Swiss chard. Other sources are a little more lenient on this topic (1, 2). Though there is nutritional debate on the idea, oxalic acid may also interfere with absorption of the iron content from spinach–which for this or other reasons is not at all a ‘good source’ of iron because of its absorption rate despite myths that it is in the plant-based community and beyond.

Now, out of the nutritional weeds and into reality. So what is wrong with eating lots and lots of high oxalate-containing foods? Other than needing to get your calcium elsewhere, certain people can develop kidney stones if they consume too much. Otherwise, those leafy greens and rhubarb are packed with lots of other nutrients we need. And this is a good time to remind us all that eating a diverse variety of whole as-close-to-nature-made foods is best for health.

With all that new knowledge circulating in our brains, let’s have a slice of tea cake / loaf and celebrate. Because I’m no longer a grad student, it’s rhubarb season, is May the best month, and the sun rises early and sets late these days making more time for play.

Whatever your cause for celebration, this is a nice little loaf for an occasion. It’s not overly sweet, not too rich, but has just enough punches of sweetness from the candied ginger and roundness of flavor to make it all come together well. Combined with the pinks and greens in the loaf from the pistachios and rhubarb (more so if you have pinker rhubarb stalks than mine), it’s delicious and in my opinion, a good way to celebrate this classic pairing of rhubarb, pistachios, ginger, and because I couldn’t resist, a bit of orange!

Pistachio Rhubarb + Candied Ginger Loaf, makes one large loaf of about 10 slices

1/3 cup (70 g) sugar
1/2 cup (110 g) coconut oil
1 cup (110 g) non-dairy yogurt
2 Tbs. ground flax + 6 Tbs. water
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 Tbs. orange juice and zest from 1 orange
2 cups (230 g) chopped rhubarb
1 cup (120 g) chickpea flour
2/3 cup (70 g) sorghum flour
1/4 cup (30 g) arrowroot starch
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup (50 g) pistachios, chopped
1/4 cup (30 g) candied ginger pieces, diced small

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a large 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with parchment paper.
In a small dish combine the flax seeds and water to form a slurry. Allow to sit and thicken up for about 5 minutes.
In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, oil, flax slurry, yogurt, vanilla, orange juice and zest, and rhubarb. In another bowl, combine the flours, arrowroot, baking powder, baking soda, ginger and salt. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold in the chopped pistachios and ginger pieces.
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and bake for 60 to 70 minutes, rotating halfway through for even baking. A toothpick inserted into the center will come out clean once its done.
Remove from the oven, cool on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes before removing the loaf from the pan. Cool completely before serving, and as usual with this type of loaf recipe, the flavors generally combine and improve on the day after baking.

Weil, A. (2008). Avoid Vegetables with Oxalic Acid?
WH Foods. (n.d.). Can you tell me about oxalates, including the foods that contain them and how are they related to nutrition and health?

Autumn, Nutrition + Health, Running, Spring, Summertime, Winter

Fig + Olive Pâté with Seedy Snack Crackers

April 21, 2019April 20, 2019by Rebecca5 Comments

Like most people, I tend to fall into the same routine when it comes to my daily snacks. My usual is to cycle through variations of dried fruit and nut or seed bars, which I make in batches every couple weeks and then grab and go mid-morning as needed. For later in the day or when I need hefty snacks, I often throw a big bunch of ‘functional foods’ in the blender and make a smoothie bowl that is mostly tasty, but more importantly packs a good nutritional punch to make sure I’m getting in what I need during training cycles.

The Recipe Redux challenged us to share healthy bites and bars this month and it ended up being the perfect incentive to put a new spin on my snacking go-tos, as well as finally experiment with a flavor and ingredient combination I’ve had in the back of my mind for months. The result is this absolutely delicious pâté. It wasn’t exactly what I was after when I began, but that’s the beauty of the creative process. Sometimes getting out of our own way and letting the result happen leads to something even better than we’d imagined.

Beyond the flavor, I’m really excited about the ingredients I’ve used here, how they work together, and the sprinkles of good nutrition they’ve got going on. Part of this is because I’ve added anchovies, and here’s why:

For almost a decade, my doctor has had me taking daily fish or cod liver oil for its high omega-3 content. Now that I’ve gone to nutrition school and read the research, I find there’s evidence that suggests taking fish oil supplements or eating fatty fish can help just about any illness condition or improve general health. The reason is because in our modern society we simply don’t get enough of the type of essential fatty acids called omega-3s–or more accurately, we eat too many of the other types, including the also essential omega-6s as well as saturated and trans fatty acids.

But on my journey towards nutrition school over the years, I started out with environmental sustainability in mind and our oceans’ health has long been one of my concerns. I’ve experimented a lot and continue to eat all the vegan sources of omega 3’s, but they involve a more complicated metabolic conversion and thus (for me as well as many others) are less hefty in their benefits. This has led me right back to taking my fish oil supplements even as I’ve questioned whether they’re contaminated with heavy metals, been oxidized during processing, or are simply unsustainable given the current state of global fisheries. This is definitely the case of the more you know the more complicated the scenario…

Over the winter months, I finally read The Omega Principle, which was less about the nutritional benefits of consuming fatty fish and more about every other aspect of the sustainability in doing so. If this is a topic you too are interested in, I highly suggest reading it.

Beyond all my chatter about the above, anchovies are one of the most nutritious and sustainable fishes we can eat. There is a subtle but definite umami thread to this pâté due to a small amount of anchovy paste, as well as a good base of hemp seeds which provide a balanced ratio of essential fatty acids from plant sources. Pureed together with sweet figs, balsamic vinegar, garlic, and a pinch of thyme and rosemary, and you’ll be wanting to snack on this sort of easy but fancy tasting treat all the time. I know I will!

Fig + Olive Pâté, makes 4 small or 8 more substantial servings
Recipes notes: In my quest to make a savory snack bar, I added some cooked millet to thicken the mixture. The result was this thick pâté and not a bar at all. Beyond millet, you can add another leftover cooked grain like rice or quinoa, or leave it out if you don’t mind a looser more tapenade-like consistency.

1/3 cup kalamata olives, pitted
3/4 cup dried figs, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic
1 Tbs. anchovy paste
6 Tbs. hemp seeds
1 1/2 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp. fresh or dried thyme
1 sprig fresh rosemary, finely minced
1/3 cup cooked millet (optional, see notes)

In a food processor or blender, combine all ingredients and puree until they come to a thick paste that is almost but not completely homogenous.
Serve with crackers or sliced vegetables.

Seedy Snack Crackers, makes about 12 crackers
If you’re going to eat crackers, skip the boxed versions and make these instead. They are super simple, highly adaptable, and free from questionable oils. Plus they’ve passed the flavor test–they’re quite popular and quickly gobbled at parties! Double or quadruple the batch if you’re likely to share with others or snack on for several days.

2 Tbs. sesame seeds
2 Tbs. walnuts, chopped
2 Tbs. hemp seeds
4 tsp. ground flax seeds
1/4 cup amaranth flour (or other whole grain flour)
3/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. honey
1/3 cup water

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and combine until you’ve got a loose batter. Add more water if it’s not loose enough.
Line a small baking sheet with parchment, and then spread the seed mixture as thinly as possible.
Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and gently cut into 12 pieces without separating them. Return to the oven and bake for 30 additional minutes or longer until they are crunchy and completely dry. They should no longer have a supple doughy feel to them.
Remove from the oven, cool completely, and then break into pieces.