Why not try one of the delicious, healthy recipes from our naturopath Sandra Villella"
A warming winter meal: Roasted pumpkin tofu curry
Hot nights, cool dessert: Berries with pistachio nuts and sesame seeds
Cool nights, hot soup: Cauliflower and cannellini soup
Sardines with Tomatoes and Beans
A warming winter meal
 Roasted pumpkin tofu curry
By naturopath Sandra Villella This is a delicious way to incorporate these foods into your diet, especially tofu, which is an excellent source of phytoestrogens and a good source of vegetable protein.
I like to cook this on a cold Sunday afternoon, pottering around the house, enjoying the warmth and delicious smell coming from the oven while the pumpkin and tofu are roasting. Cook it for one or two serves. Or make extra and eat the leftovers for lunch.
Nutritional value Pumpkin is one of the best dietary sources of carotenoid, the pigment responsible for the yellow, orange and red colours in plants. Spinach is also a rich source of Beta-carotene, although the green pigment, chlorophyll, hides the yellow-orange pigment.
Carotenoids are important antioxidants and those found in pumpkin can be converted to vitamin A, important for growth and development, immune system function and vision.
The absorption of carotenoids in the intestines requires some fat in the meal. Roasting pumpkin with olive oil not only makes it tastier but also enhances the nutritional absorption of the carotenoids. The total fat content of the meal can be reduced by using low-fat coconut milk, as the pumpkin added creates a lovely thick curry.
Ingredients |
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Per person:
150-200g firm tofu
200g pumpkin
Olive oil
1-2 garlic cloves,
peel and squash with
flat of knife
Salt and pepper
1-2 tins of light
coconut milk |
Handful baby spinach
Red or green curry paste
Small handful
raw cashews
½-1 cup cooked
brown rice
Fresh roughly chopped
coriander to serve |
Method |
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Chop pumpkin and tofu into 2-3 cm cubes (larger pieces will take longer to cook). Add garlic and toss gently in a large bowl with olive oil so as not to break up the tofu. Season with salt and pepper. Bake in a preheated hot oven at 180-200˚C, shaking two to three times, for one hour. Toss the cashews in the oil from the tofu and pumpkin remaining in the bowl. Add cashews to the pumpkin and tofu after 40 minutes.
In a wok, warm curry paste and coconut milk. Add baked ingredients and stir occasionally until the pumpkin ‘mashes’ into a sauce with the coconut milk. Taste and add more curry paste if needed. Wilt baby spinach in wok and serve on brown rice topped with coriander. |
Hot nights, cool dessert
Berries with pistachio nuts and sesame seeds
Ingredients
| 1 punnet blueberries
1 punnet strawberries
2 dessertspoons raw pistachio kernels
2 dessertspoons unhulled sesame seeds |
½ cup water3–4 fresh or dried dates
Fresh juice of an orange
Dark organic chocolate (optional)
Serves 4 |
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Method
Soak sesame seeds, pistachio nuts and dates in water overnight, at room temperature. The natural sugar in the dates makes a sweet syrup, and the seeds and nuts soften. When ready to prepare, put berries in a bowl and pour orange juice over them. Chop and add dates and syrup with the seeds and nuts. Mix gently.
Serve as a dessert with low-fat yoghurt. For added antioxidants, top with chopped or shaved good-quality organic dark chocolate. It is also delicious on porridge or cereal with yoghurt, or as a topping for pancakes for Sunday brunch.
Nutritional value
Berries are a rich source of antioxidants, anti-inflammatories and may play a role in the prevention of cancer and some age-related eye diseases. Blueberries, as well as strawberries, may help protect our memory and brain function. Strawberries contain the highest amount of vitamin C of all berries.
When berries are not available fresh, frozen ones can be used. The freezing process reduces some of the vitamin C but does not reduce the antioxidants.
Pistachio nuts and sesame seeds contain phytosterols, a class of plant chemicals that help reduce cholesterol levels and improve heart health. Many women will notice an increase in cholesterol levels around menopause.
Sesame seeds have the highest levels of phytosterols among the nuts and seeds. Unhulled sesame seeds are nine to 10 times higher in calcium than regular sesame seeds, which can contribute to the ovarall calcium in the diet. They are a little harder to find but worth the effort.
While seeds and nuts are high in calories, many weight-loss diets suggest a serve of up to two dessertspoons per day of raw seeds or nuts, as they also help to make you feel full.
Cool nights, hot soup
Cauliflower and cannellini soup
by naturopath Sandra Villella
Ingredients
1 cauliflower head cut into florets
400g can of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed in cold water (this will reduce about 40 per cent of added salt)
1 chopped onion or leek
About 2 litres of vegetable stock (depending on size of cauliflower and consistency desired)
2–3 bay leaves1 teaspoon of butter (optional)
1 dessertspoon of olive oil
Handful of roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley
Salt (if not in vegetable stock) and cracked pepper
Goats fetta or yoghurt for serving
Method
In a large saucepan, heat olive oil and butter; add onion or leek and sauté on low heat until partially cooked. Stir in cauliflower to coat with the flavour of the onion and oil. Add beans, then enough vegetable stock to cover the vegetables. Add remaining ingredients, cover and simmer until cauliflower is cooked (breaks up when pressed with a wooden spoon). Remove bay leaves and process with a hand processor. Serve with crumbled fetta or low-fat yoghurt and extra parsley.
Nutritional value
A quick and easy recipe requiring little preparation – great for the end of the shopping week. It’s a great way to use cauliflower, part of the Brassica (cruciferous) vegetable family, which are associated with a lower risk of cancer including lung, colon and breast cancer in women.
The anticancer effects of the Brassica family are associated with compounds called glucosinolates. Broccoli is usually promoted as being the best choice in this family for potentially reducing cancer risk, but it is suggested that a variety of vegetables rich in glucosinolates may be better in helping to influence the enzymes in the body’s system that are moderated to reduce risk. One of the ways the Brassica vegetables might lower breast cancer risk is by influencing the way that our body’s oestrogen is broken down to become less harmful.
The beans thicken the soup and are useful for people who consciously reduce carbohydrates. They provide a source of phytoestrogens (plant oestrogens) found in legumes. Phytoestrogens eaten in moderate to high amounts, as in the diet of Chinese and Japanese women, may help reduce perimenopausal symptoms in some women.
Cannellini beans also provide fibre and protein. Protein found in legumes, including beans, is an ‘incomplete’ protein and needs to be complemented with either a grain or a seed. Eating bread with the meal, or sprinkling sesame seeds on the soup, would complete the protein. Alternatively, add fetta or yoghurt, both of which are complete proteins because they are an animal source.
Cannellini beans are a good source of B vitamins, including folic acid. They are rich in cholesterol-lowering fibre. The high fibre content also prevents blood sugar level from rising too quickly, which helps sustain energy – ideal for people with diabetes and other blood-sugar regulation problems, such as insulin resistance or hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar).
Adding goats fetta, or low-fat yoghurt, adds a source of calcium, as well as increasing the protein.
Recipe: Sardines with Tomatoes and Beans
This is a recipe that my sister Wendy created. It is excellent for those nights when you get home late, are ravenously hungry and want something quick and easy. As it’s a one pot dish, by the time you’ve showered and changed, your meal is ready.
Ingredients
2 x cans 105g sardines, in brine, springwater or olive oil
2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes (I like the organic ones)
500 - 750g of fresh green beans (French, snake, flat beans)
1 small onion, chopped
2-3 gloves of garlic, chopped or just bashed with the flat end of a knife
1 dessertspoon of olive oil (or you can use the olive oil from the sardines)
Tablespoon of tomato paste
Good few splashes of balsamic vinegar
6 large basil leaves roughly chopped
Pinch of dried oregano
Salt and pepper to taste |
Method
In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil and add the onions and garlic and sauté for about a minute. Then add sardines, tinned tomatoes and green beans and stir through.
Add few good splashes of balsamic vinegar, herbs and seasoning, put the lid on and simmer. Add tomato paste if you prefer a thicker consistency. Cook until beans are the texture you like (15 - 30 mins).
This can be a meal on its own, served with rice or pasta, as a side dish or is perfect over firm tofu that has been cut into steaks and pan fried. |
Content updated June 17, 2008
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