What's Cooking Mexico » Lunches

I am very happy to introduce Mary Ward as a guest blogger. Her health, nutrition and fitness articles are always very interesting and I am honored that she wrote this article especially for this blog. Don’t miss the recipe I came up with to illustrate this article at the end of the post.

You’ve likely heard it since you were a little kid—“you are what you eat”! It used to be just a funny cliché thing to say, namely to get kids to eat more of their vegetables or less than desirable meal items. However, as we learn more about nutrition and just what the foods we eat can do for our overall health, this is a very accurate and truthful statement. There is some great value in the rich color that certain foods contain, and the nutrients and health benefits are so great that you might be shocked. Here we look at just what the color of your food tells you about just what you are eating and what it can do for your overall health.

Red Food Means Heart Healthy

There are some simply delicious and very natural red foods that may be in your kitchen today. If you don’t tend to eat a lot of rich red foods, then you may very well want to start. Eating foods that have a vibrant red color help to reduce the risk of heart disease or other heart related problems. This is a huge health benefit and is so easy to achieve just by picking and consuming the right foods. Red foods include strawberries, tomatoes, and even red peppers. The vibrant red color that each of these foods naturally contain have properties that help to fight off heart disease and even help to combat prostate cancer as well.

Green Food Means a Healthy Life

You may have heard that leafy green vegetables are a must when it comes to your health—and it’s so true! Eating leafy green foods such as kale, spinach, collard greens, and romaine lettuce can provide you with amazing amounts of vitamins and minerals such as Vitamin D, iron, and even folate. This helps to boost your immune system, keep you looking and feeling healthier, and can even fight off certain forms of cancer in the process.

Blue Food Gives a Memory Boost

There’s a reason that you often hear that blueberries are at the top of the “super foods” list and should be included in the top 10 foods that you eat regularly. The blue that gives blueberries their name helps to protect the memory and motor function, particularly as you age. Not only can blueberries help to boost your memory power, but they can even help to fight off cancer or eliminate heart disease as you eat them. So eat them and enjoy them!

Orange Foods Help to Lower Cholesterol

You’ve seen the beauty that vibrant orange colors contain, and there’s some excellent nutrients contained within as well. Orange foods such as carrots, sweet potatoes, and oranges don’t just look beautiful but they are so good for you and can help your health in some serious ways. The orange found in these gems can help to prevent heart disease as they are excellent agents in lowering your cholesterol levels. This in turn can all mean less of a chance of a stroke and this all amounts to you being the better picture of health. If you truly are what you eat, then why not make the choices that are sure to keep you healthier in the process?

Mary Ward is a blogger and enjoys writing about medical career
topics, such as how to obtain a Master of Health
Administration degree, job and education tips, and more.

Color Healhty Pasta

The ingredients:

1 package shell noodles

1 poblano pepper

1 orange bell pepper

1 lb cherry tomatoes

olive oil

1 tbsp fresh basil

1 tsp fresh oregano

salt and pepper to taste

Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

The how-to:

Roast and clean poblano peppers (click here to see how). Cut in strips.

Clean bell pepper and cut in strips. Cut cherry tomatoes in half. Roast bell pepper and tomatoes with a drizzle of olive oil and fresh ground pepper.

Cook pasta according to package adding basil and oregano to the boiling water.

Drain pasta. Add peppers, tomatoes and about 1 tbsp of olive oil and toss.

Serve and grate some Parmigiano-Reggiano on top of the dish.

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

¡Buen provecho!

I haven’t sent anything to Presto Pasta Nights in a while so this pasta dish is my entry for this week’s roundup hosted by the creator of this great event, Ruth of Once Upon a Feast.

© Ben for What's Cooking Mexico, 2009. | Permalink | 18 comments |
Post tags: Guest post, Health & Fitness, Healthy food, Nutrition, Pasta, Poblano peppers, Presto Pasta Nights, Tomato

Molletes revisited

Ben — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:34:35 +0000

Last year I wrote a post about one of my favorite Mexican comfort foods: molletes. As a young student in Mexico City I didn’t have a lot of money to spend in fancy restaurant food (what student does?) so when our group of friends wanted to eat in restaurant we would go to Sanborns, a very popular restaurant chain that has been around for more than 100 years in Mexico. The place is really not expensive and their food is good. Our choice was always molletes for being inexpensive, very filling and, of course, delicious.

Since I haven’t been in the mood to cook very complicated foods lately I decided to make molletes for lunch the other day. A mollete is an open face bolillo with spread refried beans and cheese. They are baked for 10 minutes to melt the cheese and make the bread crispy. They are served with green or red salsa or pico de gallo. You can get fancy with them and add ham, shredded chicken, chorizo or even an egg for breakfast. They are the perfect food for these lazy summer days when you really don’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. And if you don’t want to turn your oven on for 10 minutes you can grill them and have a Mexican panini.

I know I haven’t been posting a lot lately or visiting my friends’ blogs as often as I should, but I have been busy with a new project of mine. Like I’ve mentioned many times before I love food and photography, so I am looking into becoming a food photographer. I still have a lot to learn and a long way to go, but this is something that I really enjoy and can see myself still doing it in 10, 20 or 30 years in the future. Right now I have been experimenting a lot in my improvised home studio and getting ready to start looking for clients. Any ideas, suggestions, criticism and recommendations are welcome Maybe this will help me with our planned move to Chicago…

¡Buen provecho!

© Ben for What's Cooking Mexico, 2009. | Permalink | 13 comments |
Post tags: Bread and Baking, Comfort food, Easy recipes, Mexican food