Supermarket Rules

• Work the Edges - For the most part, the healthiest food in the supermarket can be found around the edges of the store - meats, seafood, dairy, and produce. The inner aisles of the store are dominated by boxes, bags, and cans.
• Look High and Low - Many supermarkets charge "slotting fees" to food companies who want prime food placement on shelves - eye level (or kids' eye level in the case of candy and sugary cereals). Thus healthy food (from smaller companies) can normally be found more on the top and bottom shelves.

• Go for Fewer Ingredients - When you must choose from two or more competing products, one of the easiest ways to tell which is better for you is to choose the one with fewer ingredients.  For example, real peanut butter has only two ingredients - peanuts and salt.
• Watch the Totem Pole - Think of the ingredient list as a totem pole.  The ingredients at the top are the most abundant in the product.  So if you are trying to avoid corn syrup, you are better off with a product that lists it 10th in the ingredient list as opposed to a product which has it listed second.

Hope this helps everyone! I hope to be posting weekly from this point forward.

Ingredient Highlight: Spinach

Ah, the second ingredient highlight.  I hope you've enjoyed eating all those dishes that you made with apples in the past few days...but it's now time to go out and buy the next great ingredient, spinach.  Spinach is low in calories (it's actually a negative calorie food), yet extremely rich with vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients.  Notably, spinach is a good source of vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin K, magnesium, manganese, folate, betaine, iron, vitamin B2, calcium, potassium, vitamin B6, folic acid, copper, protein, phosphorus, zinc, niacin, and selenium. Whew...no wonder spinach is called a superfood (and no wonder it was Popeye's food of choice).

Health Benefits: Spinach helps to combat or prevent

• Increased carbohydrate and fat metabolism
• May reduce hunger and food intake
• Acidosis
• Anemia
• Atherosclerosis
• Bleeding gums
• Breast, cervical, prostate, stomach, and skin cancers
• Migraines
• Colitis
• Poor digestion
• Stomach Ulcers
• Macular degeneration
• Night blindness
• Development of cataracts
• High blood pressure
• Osteoporosis

Peak Season: March to May


How to Pick: Go for bunches that are green and crisp with no spots or yellowing.  Thin stems are better as thicker stems are a sign of bitterness.  Make sure to clean spinach thoroughly before eating it, as spinach tends to collect sand, soil, and pesticides.

Cooked or Raw?
Spinach can be great on salads (as a main type of lettuce, or even part of a leafy green lettuce mix), or sautéed and put into many different dishes.  Personally, I like to add sauteed spinach to my pasta sauces to give them an extra health kick.  To me, spinach is one of the few foods that tastes great cooked or raw...but which is better for you?  In short, both, and here's why.

• Cooked - cooking releases beta-carotene and lutein, and it also neutralizes oxalic acid or oxalate, a compound that inhibits the absorption of both calcium and iron.  Therefore, don’t reuse the cooking water from spinach.  It’s recommended that you boil spinach quickly – just for a minute!
• Raw - vitamin C and folate are heat-sensitive, so have spinach on a salad to get the most of these nutrients

As per my earlier post, spinach does lose nutrients, even when refrigerated well.  Use spinach as soon as possible, because after eight days, most of the nutrients are gone.  And that's not eight days from when you bought it - it's eight days from when it was harvested.  Just remember to eat your vegetables...fast.

Recipe One: Baked Trout with Homemade Potato Chips

This is probably one of the easiest (and healthiest) meals to make at home.  I am going to break the recipe into two parts - the trout and the potato chips.  Nutrition information is provided for both parts, and is calculated per serving.

Kitchen gadgets you might find useful for this recipe:

OXO Good Grips V-Blade Mandoline Slicer

Oxo Good Grips Silicone Pastry Brush

Trout
Makes 3 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. Steelhead trout
• 1 tbsp. Olive oil
• 2 tsp. Paprika
• 1 tsp. Garlic powder
• 1 tbsp. Lemon juice

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º
2. Place uncooked trout in a baking dish (I use aluminum foil to reduce mess later)
3. Mix olive oil, paprika, garlic powder, and lemon juice in a small bowl
4. Using a pastry brush (a spoon works too), evenly spread the seasoning mixture onto the fish
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until fish is cooked through

Nutrition Information:

• 155 calories
• 2g carbohydrates
• 0g dietary fiber
• 0g sugars
• 8g fat
• 19g protein

Trout is also rich in omega-3 fatty acids, an essential fat for humans linked to a reduction in cancer cases, cardiovascular disease, psychotic disorders, and an increase in immune function. 

Potato Chips

Makes 3 servings

Good-quality Red Potatoes will be firm, smooth-skinned and have bright-red coloring. They should have few eyes, and those few eyes should be shallow.

Ingredients:

• 3 Medium sized red potatoes
• 2 tsp. salt
• Olive Oil Spray

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º
2. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray lightly with olive oil spray
3. Sprinkle 1 tsp. salt over the empty baking sheet
4. Using a mandoline (knives also work, but cutting even slices is tricky), slice potatoes into 1/8" slices and place these onto the baking sheet
5. Spray potatoes on sheet with olive oil spray and sprinkle with remaining 1 tsp. of salt
6. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until potatoes start to crisp

Nutrition Information:

• 267 calories
• 59g carbohydrates
• 5g dietary fiber
• 4g sugars
• 0g fat
• 7g protein

Red potato tips and tricks:

• Do not store potatoes in the refrigerator. Refrigeration converts the starch in potatoes to sugar which will cause the potato to darken when cooked.
• Prolonged exposure to light causes greening and makes the potato taste bitter. Store potatoes in a dark place and peel or pare green area from the potato before using.
• Red potatoes are a good source of vitamin C, vitamin B6, and potassium

F1rst Pl0st

As you may be able to tell from the title of this post, I am no regular food junkie.  I am actually a software engineer, who happens to love just about anything related to food or cooking.  I hope to use this blog to inform the general public about things I have learned about food (usually the hard way) and to give tips and tricks on how to eat healthier.