Baked Parmesan Tomatoes

Prep Time: 5 mins

Cook Time: 15 mins

Total Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

• 4 medium tomato(es), halved horizontally
• 1/4 cup(s) cheese, grated Parmesan
• 1 teaspoon oregano, fresh, chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• pepper, black ground, to taste
• 4 teaspoon oil, olive, extra virgin

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 450° F.
2. Place tomatoes cut-side up on a baking sheet.

3. Top with Parmesan, oregano, salt and pepper.

4. Drizzle with oil and bake until the tomatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.

Napa Cabbage and Leeks

Napa Cabbage and Leeks

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 oz. lean ham (bacon, salt pork, or Ekerd's sausage) finely diced
• 3 medium leeks, white and light green only
• 8 cups napa cabbage, cored and sliced
• 4-6 oz. chicken (or vegetable) broth
• 16 oz frozen english peas, thawed
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground pepper

Directions

1. Slice the leek just below the really dark green part; discard dark green part.  
2. Add leeks to a bowl of water and wash thoroughly; drain.  
3. In large skillet, heat olive oil and ham until ham is heated through.   
4. Add leeks, cabbage, English peas, and broth.  
5. Cook until cabbage is tender; not very long. 
6. Salt and pepper to taste.

Beet and Potato Salad

This is a better version of a ubiquitous salad found in takeout shops all over France. Salade Russe, as it is called, is a mayonnaise-dressed mixture of potatoes, diced carrots, peas and other vegetables, but usually not beets. Yogurt vinaigrette stands in for mayonnaise here.


Ingredients

• 3/4 pound potatoes
• 2 large beets, roasted
• 1 celery rib, diced
• 1/2 small red onion, minced, soaked in water for 5 minutes, then drained, rinsed and drained on paper towels (optional)
• 2 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons minced chives
• 2 tablespoons Champagne vinegar or sherry vinegar
• Salt to taste
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt
• Freshly ground pepper

Preparation 
1. Cut the potatoes into halves or quarters and steam over 1 inch of boiling water until tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the heat. When they are cool enough to handle, cut in small dice.

2. Peel the beets and cut in small dice. In a large bowl, combine with the potatoes, celery, onion, hard-boiled eggs and chives.

3. In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the vinegar, mustard and salt. Whisk in the olive oil and the yogurt. Toss with the vegetables. Add freshly ground pepper, taste and adjust salt. Serve right away or refrigerate.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

Advance preparation: This will keep for two or three days in the refrigerator. I like it even better the day after it’s made, as both the beets and the potatoes absorb the nice tart dressing. The beet color will intensify.

Nutritional information per serving (4 servings): 254 calories; 16 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 11 grams monounsaturated fat; 93 milligrams cholesterol; 21 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 148 milligrams sodium (does not include salt to taste); 7 grams protein

Nutritional information per serving (6 servings): 170 calories; 11 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 7 grams monounsaturated fat; 62 milligrams cholesterol; 14 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 99 milligrams sodium (does not include salt to taste); 4 grams protein

Martha Rose Shulman is the author of “The Very Best of Recipes for Health.”

Benefits of Eating Fish

Why is eating fish healthy?

Fish is a high-protein, low-fat food that provides a range of health benefits. White-fleshed fish, in particular, is lower in fat than any other source of animal protein, and oily fish are high in omega-3 fatty acids, or the "good" fats. Since the human body can’t make significant amounts of these essential nutrients, fish are an important part of the diet. Also, fish are low in the "bad" fats commonly found in red meat, called omega-6 fatty acids.

Why are omega-3s good for your health?

A growing body of evidence indicates that omega-3 fatty acids provide a number of health benefits. They:

• help maintain cardiovascular health by playing a role in the regulation of blood clotting and vessel constriction;
• are important for prenatal and postnatal neurological development;
• may reduce tissue inflammation and alleviate the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis;
• may play a beneficial role in cardiac arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat), reducing depression and halting mental decline in older people.

The omega-3s found in fish (EPA and DHA) appear to provide the greatest health benefits. Fish that are high in omega-3s, low in environmental contaminants and eco-friendly include:

• wild salmon from Alaska (fresh, frozen and canned),
• Arctic char,
• Atlantic mackerel,
• sardines,
• sablefish,
• anchovies
• farmed oysters
• farmed rainbow trout and
• albacore tuna from the U.S. and Canada.

What about fish oil supplements?

Besides eating fish, another way to consume omega-3 fatty acids is by taking store-bought supplements. Fish oils come from both fish caught as food for humans and from small fish caught for animal feed, such as Peruvian anchovies.

A word of caution: contaminants such as PCBs accumulate in fish oil just as they do in fish, so make sure to buy capsules that are made from purified fish oil.

What are other sources of omega-3 fatty acids?

Alternative sources of omega-3s come from terrestrial sources like flaxseed, walnuts and wheat germ. While still beneficial, these do not appear to provide as a great a health benefit as the omega-3s found in fish, shellfish and marine algae.

Do the health benefits of omega-3s outweigh the risks associated with contaminants in seafood?

Fish is generally healthy to eat, but there are some types you should eat infrequently, if at all. Consider the following:

• For young children and women of childbearing age, consumption of mercury-contaminated fish can severely impact a child's development.
• Older women and men may find it an acceptable tradeoff to exceed recommended seafood meal limits to increase their omega-3 intake.
• People at high risk of cardiovascular disease must weigh the cancer risk of eating fish high in PCBs with the benefits of eating fish high in omega-3s, in which case the benefits of omega-3s may outweigh the cancer risk (1 in 100,000 - the level recommended by the EPA). However, these chemicals are known to cause serious health problems besides cancer, so the tradeoffs are not simple.
• The good news is that there are several low-contaminant, high-omega-3 seafood options available (see list above), so there’s no reason take the risk of eating contaminated fish.