There’s so much confusion about what’s “healthy” to eat today and what kind of food we ought to be eating. Should we be on a gluten-free diet, stop eating eggs, eat more bananas to increase potassium, and what about terms like glycemic index, cholesterol, and pre-diabetes? With all the conflicting information coming from all sources – books, media, friends, relatives, and Dr. Oz, it was nice to attend “Demstifying Diets” at a local Health Centre yesterday. A Registered Dietitian was present and a Dietetic Intern actually presented the two-hour session. Krystyna was the Registered Dietician and Michelle was the Intern. A very serious topic such as our health and medical issues with regard to our eating habits was made to be fun.
Michelle’s talk cleared up all the myths surrounding gluten, potassium and blood pressure, eggs and cholesterol, sugar and diabetes, and other personal concerns the group had. Many were concerned about salt and there was some discussion about that as well. Many in the group seemed to be fans of Dr. Oz and his name came up as well. I learned that the most important thing to stay away from are “trans-fats.” The difference between the Mediterranean and DASH diet was covered as well. As you can see from the above collage, the ingredients were mostly fresh – spinach, garlic, onion, tomatoes, and ginger. The dry ingredients were quinoa, almonds (which were toasted), dried apricots, and, of course, a salad dressing to top it off. In the collage below, you can see that we’re soon going to have a taste. Since I thought you might want to try making it, the recipe is included in the post.
1 cup quinoa (uncooked)
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped
2 cups water
1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted
1/4 tsp salt
Morrocan Spiced Lemon Dressing
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 small red onion, chopped
8 cups baby spinach
Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat, add garlic and cook, stirring constantly about 1 minute. Add apricots and quinoa, until quinoa has toasted slightly, about 3 mins. Add water and salt, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, until water is absorbed and quinoa is tender, about 15-18 minutes. Transfer quinoa to a bowl and toss with 2/3 of the dressing. Let cool about 10 minutes. Just before serving, add tomatoes and onion to quinoa and toss. Toss spinach with the remaining dresssing in a large bowl. Divide spinach among four plates, and mound quinoa mixture on spinach. Sprinkle with toasted almonds.
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 Tbsp non-fat plain yogurt
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
Fresh ground pepper to taste
1/4 tsp ground cinammon
1/4 tsp ground or fresh ginger
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
Whisk lemon juice, spices, yogurt and honey (1 1/2 tsp) in a small bowl until blended. Slowly whisk in oil so that the dressing becomes smooth and emulsified. Season with salt and pepper.
There were eleven of us there and we thoroughly enjoyed all the learning and tasting that we experienced at “Demystifying Diets.” The salad was a great treat. A special “thank-you” to Four Villages, Michelle, and Krystyna, for this informative and fun time.
