Quicklinks
Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet, Sustainablity, Snacking and Breakfast
- Being healthy at the office: I’ve been really enjoying following The Office Diet blog. It’s one of those rare sites which provides realistic and real advice, grounded in the practicalities of working in an office. I particularly like these five suggestions for making it easier to cook in the evening.
- Salad for breakfast: I don’t know many people who eat salad for breakfast, but I really like this suggestion. And thanks to Sophie for pointing it out.
- More vegetables for breakfast: Green Gourmet Giraffe has also been using vegetables for breakfast, this time pumpkin in a smoothie.
- Using up leftovers: Neat idea from I Think I Have a Recipe For That, using leftover pumpkin soup as the base for a risotto. Simply cook the risotto, stir through the soup and top with crumbled fetta and pine nuts.
- Avocado . . . muffins: Over at Diet, Dessert & Dogs Ricki is focussing on avocadoes. And the latest recipe incarnation are avocado & coconut muffins. Love this idea.
- Eating locally vs changing your food choices: A good article from The Ethicurean on the debate about reducing the carbon footprint of what we eat. Is it better to eat locally or change your food choices?.
Photograph by Rageforst.
Are you too busy to eat an orange?
Posted by kathryn in Fruit
This is going to be a light blogging week, as I have some article deadlines I’m struggling with. My ability to focus and construct meaningful arguments seems to have deserted me this week.
So this is a quick post to ask if you’re too busy to eat an orange?
Apparently a lot of people in the UK are. Or at least sales of oranges have declined three years in a row – and they believe it’s because people are too busy to peel oranges.
Moreover, according to The Times 7 percent of children between the ages of 9 and 13 do not know how to eat an orange – because their parents are “too busy to pass on the craft of orange-peeling to the next generation”.
How about you? Are you too busy to peel an orange? Have you made the switch to mandarins permanently?
Quicklinks
Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling, Sustainablity, Weight loss and Vegetable recipes
Time for the normal Friday Quicklinks round-up.
Articles I’ve been reading and recipes I think you’ll like:
- Eating locally: It’s claimed eating locally is better for you, but nobody’s done the research. The Well reports on a team from University of North Carolina who are going to study the health impact of the local foods movement.
- Health claims on food: A piece on the extravagant health claims made about some foods. And attempts to control this trend through legislation.
- Cauliflower dip: I’m in a dip and spreads phase. I’ve been making them on the weekend and then spreading on sourdough toast, with slices of cucumber, for mid-week breakfasts. The next on my list is Ricki’s cauliflower, bean and parsnip concoction.
- Simple ways with fish: Flexitarian Menu has posted a really simple recipe for tilapia fillets with a chive flavoured crust. I’ve never heard of this type of fish, but am imagining it would work with any white fish fillets – like flathead.
- Being overweight is a health issue: Australia has overtaken the US as the world’s most overweight nation, which makes it a good time to link to CalorieLab’s piece on attitudes to health and weight.
Photograph by Lucy Crosbie.
I Eat I Drink I Work
Posted by kathryn in Blogging
For the next 10 weeks Limes & Lycopene is one of the featured blogs on I Eat I Drink I Work.
This is a new-ish site all about food and the food industry, here in Australia. It’s frequently updated with videos, podcasts, a hospitality job board, blog posts and some great articles.
While it’s primarily aimed at the hospitality industry, part of the goal is to display the diversity of opinions, produce and people involved in the food world.
Among the articles online is an overview of food prices and security in Australia. Plus a report on the wonderful sounding You & Me & Everyone You Know dinner party in Melbourne.
Along with Limes & Lycopene, there are three other blogs profiled over the next couple of months:
The I Eat I Drink I Work logo is in the right-hand sidebar, with a link to the site. And many thanks to I Eat I Drink I Work for asking me to be involved.
Update there’s also an RSS feed for the site
Whether a food is healthy or not
Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet
I’ve been doing some research today, for an article I’m writing. Via Melanie’s Dietriffic site I came across a quote that struck a chord with me.
It’s by Craig Hassel of the University of Minnesota. He’s talking about whether coconut oil is healthy or not. But you could give this answer for almost any other food.
I’m frequently asked whether a particular food is healthy or not. And this quote sums up why my answer is almost always it depends.
“Whether coconut oil is “good” or “bad” for you is a function of your genetics, your current diet, your current health, how extensively you might choose to use coconut oil, and how you are living. Science has a very difficult time dealing with all of these factors, so don’t look for nutrition science to resolve the “good” vs “bad” debate anytime soon. Stay away from the false dichotomy; we are dealing with shades of gray, not black and white.”
A position statement on dairy
Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet
One of the most common topics during Q & A Thursday is dairy. Is it good for you? Do you have to drink milk to get enough calcium? Low fat vs full fat? What about healthy bones?
It’s a topic guaranteed to get people commenting.
Recent comments and discussion got me thinking – that it was time to write a longer post on my attitudes to dairy
Dairy as a natural food
People regularly comment to me that full fat dairy is more natural than low fat.
It’s something that makes me slightly uneasy. While it’s technically true, I think we run the risk of romanticising dairy. It’s important to remember that what we buy from the supermarket is quite different from what comes out the cow.
In the Western world milk undergoes two stages of processing, before it’s sold to consumers: pasteurisation and homogenisation.
In pasteurisation, milk is heated for a short period of time, to destroy bacteria and microbes. It’s a safety measure to prevent illness, but also has the benefit of prolonging milk’s shelf-life.
The second stage of processing is homogenisation, where milk is forced at high pressure through a tiny nozzle onto a hard surface. This process forces apart the globules of fat which are found in milk. This stops the fat from aggregating together, separating out and forming a layer of cream at the top of the container. It means the final product we buy is more even, more . . . homogenous.
Low fat versions are made by centrifuging the milk prior to homogenisation. This seperates out the fat, enabling it to be skimmed off the top.
Structural changes in dairy
During this processing, milk undergoes several structural changes. For example:
- Pasteurisation inactivates enzymes that naturally occur in milk
- Homogenisation changes the way fat exists in milk. It breaks the large globules into smaller units, which are held apart by proteins.
- Skimming milk removes the fat soluble nutrients – this includes Vitamin A and the carotenoid antioxidants.
Full fat vs skim milk
If you’re consuming reduced fat milk products you are missing out on some of the vitamins and antioxidants available in the full fat versions.
Despite this, I still support and recommend many clients use reduced fat milk products.
In nutrition, as with many areas of life, there are trade-offs. Compromises to be made. Between the best diet imaginable, and what is practical and do-able for individuals.
In my ideal world everyone would be eating a variety of different foods. People would balance out their vegetarian and meat proteins. Five serves would be considered a laughable minimum intake of vegetables. People would avoid KFC because they didn’t like the food.
And in my ideal world dairy would be just one of multitude of foods we ate during the week.
But that’s not the current situation here in Australia. Our diet is too high in fat, particularly saturated. Most people consume too many kilojoules for their activity level. The majority don’t get anywhere near the recommended intake of fruit and vegies.
And our diets are dominated by a small number of foods – wheat, dairy and red meat. These are what most people consume every day. These are the foundations of most peoples’ diet.
Given that, I think there is a place for reduced fat dairy in many people’s diets. Despite the reduced amounts of vitamins and antioxidants. Despite the extra processing. Changing the intake of this foundation food can change a person’s diet for the better.
Yes, it’s a compromise. It’s not my ideal. And yes I would ultimately prefer people to reduce their over-reliance on dairy. It’s why on this blog I talk about more unusual ingredients like tahini and barley. It’s also why I advocate variety as a fundamental dietary concept.
But while I’m plugging away at getting people to make these big changes to their diet, switching to reduced fat dairy is a practical, realistic change that most folks can do now. And I’m satisfied with that.
Photograph by Mayu.
Quicklinks
Posted by kathryn in Sustainablity, Breakfast and Salads
- Recipe index: This week, while reading On Food & Wine I found out about Food Blog Search. This site allows you to search for recipes in a huge range of food blogs. You can enter ingredients or recipe titles and see what comes up.
- Revolting foods: In the YUK category: news from Weighty Matters of bacon in a can.
- Another beetroot salad: This week Jul from Stonesoup posted a simple and quick raw beetroot salad that looks divine.
- Reducing your meat intake: If you’re trying to reduce the amount of meat you eat, Mark Bittman has written a useful column on the pragmatics of cutting back on meat.
- A substitute for butter: A neat idea from What does your body good: using miso as a sandwich spread. It’s a low, low fat alternative to butter, which I’m imagining would also taste great.
- Be prepared: The Flexitarian Menu this week posted on the subject of making salads easy. It’s about having a few ingredients in the house, so when you’re home late, or can’t be bothered to cook, you can still make a healthy meal.
- Spiced up porridge: I love porridge in these winter months and A Life (Time) of Cooking has a couple of interesting recipes to make your porridge that bit more interesting.
Firstly there’s porridge with yoghurt and glazed apples and secondly an Indian style recipe.
Photograph by karenwithak
One pot meals: barley, spinach & edamame beans
Posted by kathryn in Vegan, Legumes and Main courses
We ate this last week. And it was wonderful.
It’s another one pot meal which takes about 10 minutes to prepare and then cooks away in the oven, requiring very little attention from you.
I didn’t have a recipe, but instead put this together from ingredients we had in the cupboard, fridge and freezer. It’s another flexible recipe, allowing you to adapt and vary, depending on what you have on hand.
You could replace the edamames with white beans or chickpeas. Use handfuls of herbs or silverbeet, instead of the English spinach. I think it would be lovely with some peas and you certainly don’t have to use the chilli.
This made two meals for us. The first night we had it as is. And then the second I poached a couple of eggs and placed them on top – which was also delicious.
Barley, spinach & edamame beans
Serves 4
- 1.5 cups of pearl barley
- 1×400g tin of tomatoes
- 1 litre of low salt vegetable stock
- 2 cups of edamame beans
- 1 bunch of English spinach, washed and VERY roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 fresh chilli, finely chopped
- 5 cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Preheat the oven to 170°C. Place all the ingredients, except the olive oil in a large casserole dish. Cover with a lid and place in the oven. Cook for 1 hour, until the barley is soft. Stir through the olive oil to finish and then serve. That’s it.
What's in season: June in Sydney
Posted by kathryn in What's in season
Finally . . . here’s the June list of the fruit and vegetables in season in Sydney.
Fruit:
- Apples: the best apples this month are are Braeburn’s, Fuji, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith and Pink Ladies. Update: I think pink ladies are the pick of the bunch and most of the fujis I’ve bought recently have been bitter.
- Avocadoes: Hass and Sharwill are in season
- Bananas: good quality and cheap
- Blueberries: from Coffs Harbour, although they’re pricey
- Custard apples
- Dates
- Dragon fruit
- Fuji fruit & persimmons
- Grapes: the best are crimson seedless, although it’s coming to the end of grape season and they’ll be going up in price this month
- Grapefruit: yellow grapefruit are in season and rubys are on their way
- Kiwifruit: including the first crop of Australian gold kiwifruit
- Lemons
- Limes
- Mandarins: Imperials, Alphora, Taylor Lee and Daisies all available
- Nashi pears
- Oranges: Australian navels now available
- Pears: Bosc, Packham, Sensation, Corella and Josephine all in season
- Pomelos
- Quinces
- Rhubarb
- Tamarillos
- Tangellos: should be coming into season this month
Vegetables
- Beetroot
- Bitter melon
- Beans: Borlotti and Broad beans
- Broccoli
- Broccolini
- Brussels sprouts
- Cabbages: Savoy cabbages are particularly good. I’ve heard that sugarloaf are also available, but am yet to see them at my local stores
- Carrots
- Cavalo nero or black kale or curly Russian kale – although this is hard to find
- Cauliflower
- Celeriac
- Celery
- Chillies
- Daikon
- Fennel
- Jerusalem artichokes
- Kohlrabi
- Leeks
- Okra
- Olives
- Onions
- Parsnips
- Potatoes: best are Dutch Creams, Sebagoes, Kipflers, Bintje & Nicolas
- Pumpkin
- Silverbeet
- Spinach
- Swede
- Sweet potato: cheap and good quality
- Turnips
- Witlof
This list is compiled each month from a number of sources: the Harris Farm Market and Fratelli Fresh market updates; Lettuce Deliver’s weekly shopping guide; the Sydney Markets seasonal guide; updates in Donna Hay and Delicious magazines; a range of books; as well as my own observations of what’s currently available and good value. I sometimes continue to make updates during the month, as fruit and veg availability changes.
Photograph by Claudecf.
Quicklinks
Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet, Salads, Legumes and Main courses
I seem to have bumper list of Quicklinks today:
- How virtuous are you?: A gentle poke at dietary snobbery that made me laugh. I am as guilty of this as anyone!
- Healthier baking: Sophie from Mostly Eating has written an excellent post with tips on making your muffins healthier. It’s solid and useful advice.
- Our diet is killing us?: Michael Pollan was recently in Australia for the Sydney Writers’ Festival. He did an interesting interview on the 7.30 Report and here’s the transcript.
- Eating well at work: One of my new favourite blogs is The Office Diet – sound, sensible and often funny advice for keeping well at work. I particularly liked this post on tricking yourself into eating and being well at work.
- Comfort food: Chew on This discusses some strategies for making comfort food a bit healthier.
- How to organise your food when busy: Another great post from Mostly Eating on how Sophie has planned her menu for a busy week.
- Rice salad: I do like the look of Wednesday Chef’s rice salad. Rice plus edamame beans, toasted almonds, herbs, fennel and capsicum. It’s an easy, flexible recipe.
- Tahini in soup?: Yet another use of tahini: pumpkin, tahini and lemon soup from Fuss Free Flavours.
- UK seasonal guide: Each month I publish a list of what’s in season here in Sydney (June’s is coming I promise). This week I spotted a guide to seasonal fruit and veg in the UK.
- Delicious dips: Mark Bittman’s blog has a fabulous looking, easy dip white beans with lemon and rosemary. I’ve been a long-time fan of the white beans and rosemary combo and can imagine eating this for breakfast, spread on wholegrain toast, with slices of tomato.
The end of Q & A Thursday
Posted by kathryn in Q & A Thursday
And that’s it for Q & A Thursday this month.
Thanks to everyone for your brilliant questions and for taking part in the forum. I’d love to know any feedback and follow up thoughts.
The next Q & A Thursday will be 3rd July – so if you have any questions then let me know by email.
And I’ll up date the Q & A Thursday archives in the next few days
Does eating less help you to lose weight?
Posted by kathryn in Weight loss and Q & A Thursday
The final question in this month’s Q & A Thursday is on the topic of weight loss:
Is it possible to gain or not lose weight when you restrict your calorie intake? Is there an optimum amount of food to eat for your body to burn fat?
When you’re trying to lose weight it’s tempting to take the less is more approach – the less food you eat, the more weight you’ll lose.
But this is not necessarily true. And being in a hurry to lose weight can be detrimental – slowing down and even stalling your weight loss.
Your metabolism
One of the keys to losing weight is your metabolism. All day the cells in your body are doing stuff. They’re repairing, building muscle tissue, making hormones, breaking down by products, keeping your immune system on track. They’re very busy keeping you alive and well.
All of these metabolic processes are fuelled by food. As food is broken down by your digestive system it provides the energy which powers these activities.
Energy in vs energy out
The basic weight loss equation is all about energy: the energy going into your body, from the food you eat vs the energy you expend, through living and exercising.
If the energy you consume is less than then energy you expend, you will lose weight.
One of the tricks of weight loss is to maintain and even boost, your metabolism. Increasing your metabolism will increase the energy you expend. Tipping the weight loss equation in the right direction. Keeping a strong metabolism will encourage your body to make use of its fat stores – enabling you to lose weight.
Extreme energy restriction
If you restrict your kilojoule intake too much, this will slow down your metabolism. And make it harder for you to lose weight.
If you are female and consuming less than 3,300 kJ per day your metabolism will decrease by about 20 percent. Your body will also start using some of its muscle mass as energy, which depletes your metabolism even further.
All of which makes it damned hard to lose weight.
Plus you’ll be feeling more tired than you should and it’s hard to maintain this level of restriction long term.
The optimal energy intake for weight loss
If you are female, for optimal weight loss you must keep your energy intake between at least 5,000kJ and 6,500kJ. At this level your metabolic rate will only decline by about 5 percent. Plus, more significantly, about 90 percent of your weight loss will be from your fat stores.
Boosting your metabolism
The other way to boost your metabolism when losing weight is to increase your exercise. This has so many benefits to your health in general, plus it speeds up your heart rate and builds muscle mass – both of which increase your metabolism. Both of which help you to lose weight.
What is Q & A Thursday?
This post is part of Q & A Thursday – a monthly burst of blogging, where you get to dictate the subject matter. Q & A Thursday is all about simple, practical answers to food and diet dilemmas sent in by readers.
If you have a question you’d like answered send me an email. For more information you can take a look at the Q & A Thursday archives.
Should you choose low fat or full fat dairy?
Posted by kathryn in Fat and Q & A Thursday
And now it’s on to dairy in Q & A Thursday. Rachel has asked:
Lately, I have become confused around dairy. I read one thing that said we should drink whole milk and use butter rather than margarine, as these are more natural products. But anything I read from nutritionists advocates low fat milk and olive oil based spreads. I want to know what is more healthy for the body in general.
My answer is going to be another one of those it depends answers.
Apart from a KFC Zinger Double BBQ Bacon & Cheese Burger, there are very few foods that are all bad. Most food has good points and bad points: nutritional pluses and minuses.
And whether you should be eating it or not depends . . . on:
- what else you’re eating
- how much of the food you eat
- whether you are at a healthy weight or not
And the same is true of dairy.
Full fat vs low fat
If you’re at a healthy weight and have a diet that’s generally low in saturated fat, then consuming full fat dairy is not a problem.
As long as you’re not eating it by the bucketload.
However, here in the Western world many people struggle to maintain a healthy weight. Plus most people eat far too much saturated fat – hence the recommendation from most nutritionists to make low fat dairy choices.
Therefore if you’re trying to lose weight, or you have a diet that’s already high in fat, you’d be wise to either restrict your intake of full fat dairy, or mix it up with some low fat choices.
In this case choose lower fat milk and yoghurt. And select the dairy foods which are naturally lower in fat – like cottage cheese, ricotta and fetta.
Alternatives to butter and margarine
Here in Australia we’re very reliant on dairy, but there are alternatives. While I’m not adverse to spreading a bit of butter on my toast now and then, I’m just as likely to use hummous, avocado or tahini. These all add nutritional depth and variety to what I’m eating.
I drizzle olive oil, lemon juice or tahini over vegetables and mix up the milks I use on cereal.
When it comes to cheese, I often select the low fat options. I’ll use ricotta or fetta instead of parmesan, on pasta and risottos. I often mix together ricotta and yoghurt, instead of using cream. While toast with ricotta and jam is heavenly.
All of these options are naturally lower in saturated fat, without compromising flavour.
So enjoy your full fat dairy, in moderation. And remember the alternatives, they’re a great way to increase the variety of foods you eat.
What is Q & A Thursday?
This post is part of Q & A Thursday – a monthly burst of blogging, where you get to dictate the subject matter. Q & A Thursday is all about simple, practical answers to food and diet dilemmas sent in by readers.
If you have a question you’d like answered send me an email. For more information you can take a look at the Q & A Thursday archives.
Should you concentrate on portion sizes?
Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet and Q & A Thursday
Next on Q & A Thursday we move on to portion sizes. A reader has asked:
There’s lots of information around about how many portions of fruit & veg, protein, grains & carbs and fats we should be eating each day; and there’s a reasonable amount of info about how big a ‘portion’ is. My problem is this – when I set out to eat the recommended daily amounts of everything, it’s too much food for me. I manage to maintain the ratio of the different food groups to each other, but the physical amount of each food is smaller. Am I short-changing myself on nutrients?
This is a great question and has made me realise how little I’ve written on portion sizes. Definitely a topic for the future. However to answer this specific question . . .
Dietary guidelines
Here in Australia the definitive dietary guidelines are put together by the NHMRC. They release publications both to the industry and also to the general public, providing information on what people should be eating. You can download their current guidelines here.
In interpreting this information, nutritionists and health bodies invariably simplify the rules. And this leads to guidelines on what and how much to eat. These rules are based on average intakes and kilojoule requirement. And the problem is, so few of us are actually average.
Dietary Intakes
Take the Dietary Intake (DI) information now listed on some food labels. These specify how much of certain nutrients a particular food contains, and the percentage of the average daily intake that forms.
The average daily intake has been calculated as 8,700kJ. But if you’re female this is too much, unless you’re very tall or very active. If you’re a male that’s overweight this is too much. But if you’re male and over 1.8 metres, it’s nowhere near enough.
In this case the average only applies to a small portion of the community.
General dietary advice
Many health bodies split their guidelines between male and female, old and young. However, even with that differentiation there’s still a variety between what we all need.
I’m 1.60 metres and moderately active, but one of my closest friends is 1.8 metres, also moderately active. Our difference in height means we have differing food needs. However, in the dietary guidelines we are lumped together as female adults – needing the same food portions.
Stick with the ratios
It’s basically impossible to put together meaningful dietary information, that’s easily accessible, but also captures all the nuances of peoples’ needs. Therefore the dietary guidelines are exactly that, guidelines.
They’re not hard and fast rules and you have to tweak them to suit your own personal food needs.
One of the best ways is to look at the ratio of different foods and adapt that to your own diet. If you look at the quantity of vegetables to fats to wholegrains in the guidelines, you can then adjust the portion sizes to suit your own needs. And in this way you’ll be getting the right amount of nutrients for your body.
Healthy Eating Pyramid
One of the best tools for this in my opinion is the Harvard School of Public Health’s food pyramid – as shown above. Unlike the old fashioned food pyramid, which has debatable value, this is a better reflection of how to eat well.
This food pyramid gives equal emphasis to fruit and vegetables, and whole grain cereals, as the foundations of your diet. It promotes the consumption of nuts, seeds, legumes and low fat meats, rather than lumping all “proteins” together in one category. Plus it differentiates between the quality of the fats we consume.
It provides a visual guide to how much of each food to include in your diet. And is, in my opinion, a better reflection of how we should be eating for maximum health.
What is Q & A Thursday?
This post is part of Q & A Thursday – a monthly burst of blogging, where you get to dictate the subject matter. Q & A Thursday is all about simple, practical answers to food and diet dilemmas sent in by readers.
If you have a question you’d like answered send me an email. For more information you can take a look at the Q & A Thursday archives.
Is smoked fish healthy?
Posted by kathryn in Q & A Thursday
Next in Q & A Thursday, Tessa asks:
What are the benefits/downsides of eating smoked fish, like mackerel?
Smoked fish is one of the categories of foods that has both good and bad points – so it really depends on how much you’re eating.
The good
The fish that are smoked tend to be the more oily fish, which are high in Omega 3 essential fatty acids. Omega 3s are a group of poly-unsaturated fats with many, many health benefits. These wondrous fats form part of the membrane surrounding each of the cells of your body and are the foundation stone of many hormones. Plus diets rich in these fats are linked to lower rates of heart disease, improved mental health, and reduced risk of some cancers. You can read more about Omega 3s at the Harvard School of Public Health’s Nutrition Source.
Many people would benefit from eating more of the Omega 3 fatty acid containing foods.
The but . . .
On the negative side is the link between smoked foods and some cancers. During the smoking process, components of the protein in fish are converted to substances called nitrosamines. Diets high in nitrosamines have been linked to an increased risk of gastric and oesophageal cancer (World Journal of Gastroenterology, Digestive Diseases and the 2007 World Cancer Research Fund Report).
This doesn’t just apply to smoked fish. It’s also true of other smoked foods and cured meats, such as bacon, salamis, etc.
Should you eat smoked fish
As with most foods, it really depends on how much smoked fish you’re eating and what else your doing. If you’re eating a lot of smoked foods and very little fruit and veg. Or you’re a smoker and eat lots of smoked foods, then you are increasing your risk of gastroesophageal cancers.
So enjoy your smoked fish occasionally only and make sure you’re also eating plenty of fruit and vegetables.
What is Q & A Thursday?
This post is part of Q & A Thursday – a monthly burst of blogging, where you get to dictate the subject matter. Q & A Thursday is all about simple, practical answers to food and diet dilemmas sent in by readers.
If you have a question you’d like answered send me an email. For more information you can take a look at the Q & A Thursday archives.
Can I use tahini if it's separated out?
Posted by kathryn in Q & A Thursday
The next question in Q & A Thursday is also about tahini. A reader has asked:
I am using tahini for the first time, a liquid has risen to the top, do I use that?
It’s quite common for tahini to separate out and yes, you can use the liquid at the top.
The two main components of tahini are oil and also the more fibrous matter. The oil has a different density, hence it’s tendency to rise to the top, over time.
Before using your tahini give it a good stir and this will blend the oil back in. This can be hard work at first – as Madhur Jaffrey says “this can feel as though you’re mixing cement”. But after a couple of minutes it does get easier.
For more information on how to buy and store tahini, take a look at this post, plus why tahini is good for you.
What is Q & A Thursday?
This post is part of Q & A Thursday – a monthly burst of blogging, where you get to dictate the subject matter. Q & A Thursday is all about simple, practical answers to food and diet dilemmas sent in by readers.
If you have a question you’d like answered send me an email. For more information you can take a look at the Q & A Thursday archives.
Can you make tahini at home?
Posted by kathryn in Q & A Thursday
The first question in this week’s Q & A Thursday is from Em:
Can tahini be made at home, or do you have to buy it commercially?
In all the recent posts I’ve written on tahini I’ve never thought about making your own. However, it is certainly possible, given the right blender, to make a tahini paste at home.
In commercially produced tahini the seeds are often crushed, soaked and then brined, prior to milling. This removes the outer husk of the seed and produces the lighter coloured, hulled tahini that is most commonly available.
At home the biggest impediment to making tahini is the type of blender you have. Sesame seeds are too small for most blenders to grind up. Although it should work in a spice or coffee grinder instead.
To make your own tahini I’d recommend lightly toasting the sesame seeds first, either in the oven or on the stovetop. Then place them in a coffee grinder with a small amount of sesame oil and blend together. There are some good instructions here.
Have any of you tried making your own tahini?
What is Q & A Thursday?
This post is part of Q & A Thursday – a monthly burst of blogging, where you get to dictate the subject matter. Q & A Thursday is all about simple, practical answers to food and diet dilemmas sent in by readers.
If you have a question you’d like answered send me an email. For more information you can take a look at the Q & A Thursday archives.
Starting up Q & A Thursday
Posted by kathryn in Q & A Thursday
It’s the first Thursday of the month, which means it’s Q & A Thursday. Today, on Limes & Lycopene, I’ll be answering readers’ questions on food, nutrition and how to eat well.
You can ask me anything. And I’ll (attempt to) post a simple, practical and intelligible answer.
I have a few questions already, but there’s space for a few more. So if you have a nutrition or food dilemma you’d like answered, send me an email.
I’ll accept questions up to 3.00pm Australian Eastern Standard Time.
And I’ll have the first answer posted soon.
Two years ago today . . .
Posted by kathryn in Blogging
Two years ago today I wrote my very first blog post and Limes & Lycopene was born.
Much has changed since those early days. For starters my writing style has improved enormously. Plus I’ve fine-tuned the subject matter and gained more readers.
And blogging has enabled me to “meet” some smart, interesting and generous people.
Over the last two years, I’ve written nearly 800 posts. Subjects have ranged over the amount of vegies you should eat each day, how to pick the healthiest bread, decoding food labels, and what I eat each day.
I’ve published recipes for soups, salads, one pot meals and even the odd cake.
And you, my lovely readers, have submitted many, many excellent questions for the regular Q & A Thursday forum.
My most read post has been the beginning of the series on 31 days to better energy. While the most popular recipe so far: the fruit, nut and tahini breakfast bars.
More people have found me by googling the word “tahini”, than by any other search term.
And I’ve mentioned beetroot 85 times: including this beetroot curry, why it’s so very good for you and other bloggers’ beautiful recipes.
Thank you to all of you. For reading and linking to Limes & Lycopene. For sending me emails; leaving comments; asking questions; disagreeing with my opinions – and generally letting me know you’re out there and interested in your health.
It’s Q & A Thursday week
This is a Q & A Thursday week – a monthly burst of blogging, where you get to dictate the subject matter. Q & A Thursday is all about simple, practical answers to food and diet dilemmas sent in by readers.
If you have a question you’d like answered send me an email. For more information you can take a look at the Q & A Thursday archives
One pot meals: Oven cooked lentils
Posted by kathryn in Vegan, Legumes and Main courses
I’m bending my own rules with this recipe. It’s not quite a one-pot meal. I’ve tried adding more vegetables and increasing the variety of ingredients, but it’s one of those dishes you just shouldn’t tamper with.
It’s not a very glamorous dish, or even particularly good looking. However it is one of the best and easiest ways to cook lentils. Five minutes of prep, put it in the oven and it cooks away all by itself. No stirring, sauteeing, simmering or checking required.
I’d usually serve these lentils with a slice of sourdough toast and a crunchy salad on the side.
Oven cooked lentils
Use whole lentils for this recipe. I generally buy either brown / green, or if I can find them, the whole red lentils. The split red lentils from the supermarket won’t work. This is heavily adapted from a recipe by Jamie Oliver. Serves 4.
- 400g lentils – see note above
- 5 cloves garlic, crushed and finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 long stalk of fresh rosemary, remove the leaves
- 1 litre low salt vegetable stock
To Finish:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon tamari
Cook the lentils: Preheat the oven to 180°C. Put the lentils, garlic, olive oil, rosemary and vegetable stock in a medium casserole dish. Cover with a lid and place in the oven. Cook for 1 hour, until the lentils are tender.
To finish: Add the rest of the olive oil, the red wine vinegar and tamari to the lentils. Stir gently to combine and season to taste. Check the flavour balance and add more oil, vinegar, tamari as needed. Serve.
How I cook in winter
This post is part of a series on one pot meals – the food I cook in winter. These recipes may take time to cook, but there’s no effort involved from you. A maximum of 10 minutes prep, some time in the oven and dinner has virtually cooked itself.
Its Q & A Thursday week
This is a Q & A Thursday week – a monthly burst of blogging, where you get to dictate the subject matter. Q & A Thursday is all about simple, practical answers to food and diet dilemmas sent in by readers.
If you have a question you’d like answered send me an email. For more information you can take a look at the Q & A Thursday archives.
Comments are back up
Posted by kathryn in Blogging
Thanks for your patience everyone – the comment function is now up and running again.
Phew.
Q & A Thursday this week
Posted by kathryn in Q & A Thursday
It’s the first week of a new month, which means it’s Q & A Thursday week.
This is the day when I stop writing about what I want and put the subject matter in your hands. Ask me any question you want about food, diet or nutrition and this Thursday I’ll post an answer.
Last month’s Q & A Thursday included simple strategies for getting rid of winter colds. Plus I was asked if vegemite was healthy and how to get more vitamin B12 and iron.
If you have a question then let me know and get set for a big day of blogging on Limes & Lycopene. Please send your questions in by email do not leave them in the comments below. Otherwise I get confused and end up missing questions.
If you want to see the list of questions that have already been asked – take a look at the Q & A Thursday archives.
And . . . bear in mind I’m in Sydney, on Australian Eastern Standard Time. Therefore I need to get questions by 3.00pm my time for them to be included.
Problems with commenting
Posted by kathryn in Blogging
Update: comments are back up and running. Thanks for your patience.
Just to let you know – there’s currently a problem with the Limes & Lycopene comment functionality.
While it may seem like I’m being an over-zealous moderator, there’s actually a problem!
So if you have something to say, hold off for a few hours. We’re on to it and everything should be back to normal soon. I’ll post an update when all is well.
9 comments
27 June, 2008
