Vila's Banana Bread

I love this recipe as much for its simplicity as for the fact that it comes from my mother-in-law. It's on an old, yellowing, 3 x 5 card in her delightfully unmistakeable script. The style of the list of ingredients and instructions is terse and to the point. It's all no fooling around, because she had places to go, and people to see. "This is your favorite mother-in-law calling" is how she addressed me whenever I happened to be the one picking up the phone. I'll never get to hear her say that again. She passed away unexpectedly recently, at the respectable age of 83.

The recipe is wholly lacking in super foods in its original form of sugar, butter, eggs, bananas, baking soda and flour. But add some chopped walnuts, dried fruit like cherries or cranberries, and substitute some whole grain flour for the all purpose unbleached variety and you've got a passable super foods platform going. And a potassium platform, to which topic Steven Pratt devotes over three pages in his SuperFoods HealthStyle, ranking bananas in the middle of the list of potassium-rich foods with 422 mg in a medium sized one. Walnuts have 124 mg in one ounce. When you consider that you need 4700 mg of potassium daily for controlling blood pressure, balancing the body's acidity and alkalinity, and preventing osteoporosis, every little bit helps.

Recipes from Vila are keepers for another reason: she was a discerning judge of character. Not long after making our first acquaintance, she spied a piece of religious propaganda in my possession while seated next to her in the backseat of a car, the title of which had something to do with finding true happiness. After we got underway she non-plussed me with the question, "Have you found true happiness, John?" The tone of her voice was more the knowing tone of adult skepticism than of unalloyed innocence. She already had me pegged.

Blessed with copious amounts of serotonin, one couldn't fail to like her. She was easy to talk to, and her company a pleasure to keep. She never changed, and neither did I. "Cheer up, John" she regularly told me throughout over thirty years of our relationship. And if she could talk to me now, I'm sure that's what she'd say, adding "What I have done you also will be able to do."

Vila's Banana Bread

1 cup sugar

.5 cup butter

2 eggs well beaten

3 large ripe bananas mashed

1 t. baking soda

2 cups flour (one of which can be finely stone-ground whole wheat flour)

.75 cup chopped nuts (walnuts preferred)

.75 cup chopped dried cranberries or other dried fruit (optional)

1. Preheat the oven on bake to 350 degrees F.

2. Cream sugar and butter.

3. Add eggs and bananas.

4. Add sifted flour and soda.

5. Add nuts and mix well (and fruit if using).

6. Pour in greased loaf pan and bake approx. one hour till done.

Yogurt

As proof of its status as a super food, Steven Pratt cites evidence that yogurt plays a role in improving a wide range of problems from cancer, to lactose intolerance, allergies, high cholesterol, inflammatory bowel disease, diarrhea, vaginal and urinary tract infections, obesity, and helicobacter pylori infections, which are involved in gastritis, ulcers, and cancers. It's the bacteria in yogurt which do all this work, and it's important to eat yogurt which has as many live active cultures as possible.

Our favorite brand, Stonyfield Organic Plain Fat Free, has no less than six different strains of live active cultures, and costs less than four dollars per quart. When I buy a new container, I always try to make extra batches from it with my yogurt maker using some fat-free milk because at the recommended cup consumed per day, one person can go through two quarts per week. Our Salton brand yogurt maker turns out a quart each time I use it, and it has been chugging along now for over three decades, saving us tons of money while providing an excellent source of calcium and protein as well.

Yogurt is really easy to make, too. Just heat your milk to between 180 and 185 degrees F and then let it cool to 120 degrees F. I use a cheap instant read meat thermometer with good results. Drop a teaspoon full of fresh yogurt in each 7 ounce reservoir and stir in the cooled milk, cover, place in the yogurt maker and cover with the lid. The yogurt maker "cooks" the yogurt by keeping it at a constant temperature somewhere between 105 and 122 degrees F. After ten hours you simply remove the containers and chill them before use.

My number one way to use yogurt is as a key ingredient in a smoothie, but it can be used to make dips and salad dressings, or as a substitute for sour cream, or to make yogurt cheese to stand as a substitute for mayo.

Green Tea

Like all things "super food," I did not come to green tea naturally, nor did it become a habit "just like that" because I read about it somewhere and decided it was the smart thing to begin drinking. I worked up to it gradually, to the point now where it is a part of my routine which I actually enjoy.

That's what all habits are, things which are routine which you do because you enjoy them. Good habits are not established overnight. And bad ones aren't broken of a sudden. I quit smoking over the course of a month one summer by drinking 1.75 liters of Bombay Sapphire Gin. Ten years later I stopped drinking booze while recovering from the after effects of a particularly nasty stay in the hospital because it was making me a fat slob. How people get to the point of making such decisions is as variable as their number. But in my experience what mattered was getting to the point of that intangible inner movement of the soul where one simply decides "enough of that." In other words, you have to get to that place and time in your life where you have really got to want to change something. Nobody can do that for you, nor can anyone else get you to that point. You have to come to it and want it for yourself.

For me, breaking a bad habit lead me to tea after dinner. At first it was herbal tea of one kind or another, without caffeine. At the beginning I think I was drinking five or six cups of the stuff in the hours before bed, just to have a glass in my hand. What this did for me was enormously important because it spelled death to the old patterns. As a consequence, I stopped the input of a tremendous number of useless calories. I naturally lost weight. Without alcohol to interfere, I slept better, which meant I lost more weight (you burn calories even while you sleep). I had more energy, to the point where this "morning person" now makes a good show of productivity also in the evenings.

Another thing hot tea does for you which is much underestimated is sabotage the hunger reflex. If you want to curb after dinner snacking before bed, hot tea is the way to do it. Any hot liquid will do this, which may be why so many people also fail to eat a good breakfast. The first thing I do every morning is make a hot cup of coffee, and I can go for hours without feeling hungry afterwards.

Green tea is not an "herbal" tea. It derives from the same plant as black teas. And "it's the antioxidant flavonoids in tea that give it its health-promoting power," according to Steven Pratt. Green tea is especially high in these, and its consumption is correlated with lower blood pressure, effective blood sugar management, reduced body fat, healthy skin, prevention of cancer and cataracts, and resistance to viruses, inflammation, and allergens. Pretty potent stuff for such a small, inexpensive package.

Not all green tea products are created equal, of course. Some, frankly, remind me of the smell of a freshly mowed lawn in my cup. Yuck. But not the Good Earth brand of green teas. I especially enjoy the decaf version blended with lemongrass in the evenings. The caffeinated version is also excellent, until two in the afternoon. Try them. I think you'll like them.

Flaxen Oat Bread

Two of three I baked today, one in a clay baker.

When I was a boy I'd wake up on Saturday mornings to the smell of fresh white bread baking in the oven, just one of my mother's many talents on routine display. When I'd finally come downstairs I'd find her in the kitchen with the loaves on the breakfast table, smearing melted butter across their already golden brown tops. There they'd glisten in our cozy Wisconsin home on a cold January morning, just begging to be sliced, and made into French Toast. Perhaps the memory of it is more vivid because of the sun streaming in the windows from a cobalt blue sky today, but I'm guessing it was the whole package made special because mom was at the center of it, the choreographer of our lives. No one will ever love you like your mother.

Shortly after she died in September 2008, a book arrived in the mail, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois (St. Martin's Press, 2007). I've been baking bread ever since. The following recipe is my adaptation of their recipe for oatmeal bread. Unlike them, I let the dough rise only the one time and in the greased pans I bake them in. I also bake all the loaves at once, and freeze them after they have been cooled and sliced. You can modify some of the ingredients from their original recipe as I have below, by using 2% milk, buckwheat honey, and flax, among other things, in favor of the super foods. Her highness loves it.

Flaxen Oat Bread

1.75 cups lukewarm water

1 cup 2% milk
2 T canola oil

.5 cup sugar, light or dark brown sugar, or buckwheat or clover honey, or maple syrup

2 T yeast

1 T salt

6 T ground flaxseed meal

1 cup oat bran

1.5 cups whole rolled oats

5 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1. Combine the water, milk and oil in the bowl of your KitchenAid Mixer.

2. Add the sugar, yeast and salt to the bowl and mix using the triangular head. Add the flaxseed meal, oat bran and whole oats and mix for a couple of minutes to allow the oats to soak up the moisture.

3. Scoop into the flour with your measuring cup, tapping with a butter knife and scraping cleanly across the top, and add one cup at a time allowing the mixer to incorporate the flour for at least a minute for each cup. I find that as you approach the fifth cup it takes longer to incorporate, and I move the bowl up and down as needed to keep the added flour from poofing out the top.

4. Scrape the dough off the hook into the bowl with a silicone spatula, and scrape the sides of the bowl, too.

5. Grease your baking pans (I use glass bread bakers) and then grease both hands with the Crisco. Grab a grapefruit size wad of dough and manipulate it with your hands and shape it to fit your pan, and drop it in.

6. When all the pans are full, I put mine in the microwave above the stove to rise, where the preheating oven to 350 degrees F below helps the bread rise. It takes about 45 minutes to rise.

7. Then bake in the oven at 350 F for about 40-45 minutes and when done turn out onto a wire rack to cool. I like a longish bake as opposed to a shorter one.

This bread is moist, and likes to be thoroughly cooked and thoroughly cooled before slicing.

Fiber-Packed Morning Oats

Come, says Puss, without any more ado,

'tis time to go to breakfast; cats

don't live upon dialogues.

-L'Estrange

Readers of this blog know that oats aren't just for breakfast anymore. We eat them twice a week at dinner in Basil Pesto Sockeye Pie, which is a super food grand slam all by itself. But let's face it, oatmeal for breakfast is probably the best opportunity we have on a daily basis to get this important super food.

Oats are classified among the foods primarily responsible for providing soluble fiber to the body. Other common foods doing so include peas, beans (like pintos), barley, prune juice, plums, berries, bananas, apples, pears, broccoli, carrots, sweet potatoes, and onions. The importance of soluble fiber, which is fiber which dissolves in water, is that unlike insoluble fiber, it ferments in the gut and produces short chain fatty acids which do a veritable host of important things for you.

Short chain fatty acids help control blood glucose levels, working on both the pancreas and the liver. They nourish the cells lining the colon walls. They suppress the synthesis of cholesterol and reduce levels of LDL and triglycerides. They increase the colon's acidity which in turn protects the lining from polyp formation while improving mineral absorption. Increased acidity also stimulates production of crucial elements of the immune protection system and improves the health of the colon's mucosal layer which helps inhibit inflammation and irritation.

As you can see, the health of your gut doesn't just make you happy in the toilet. It affects your over all health, touching on issues as diverse as diabetes, cardiovascular problems, cancer, and compromised immunity generally. You can improve your odds against these by making soluble fiber a daily habit. And oatmeal for breakfast is a fast and easy way to start doing that. The basic recipe includes quick oats and oat bran, which can be supplemented from day to day to keep it interesting and boost the levels of optimum nutrition. To accomplish that I always add some kind of berry and an ounce of nuts, and often some cinnamon and a tablespoon of raw wheat germ and/or ground flaxseed meal. As listed, the ingredients in the recipe below provide about 15 grams of dietary fiber. Everyone needs 25 grams per day, men even more. Eating this sort of breakfast gets you well on your way each and every day.

If you have more time, use whole oats and simmer them on the stove for about six or seven minutes. For a really delicious form of oats, try the steel cut variety toasted in a cast iron pan in a little butter and then cooked in milk on the stove for about thirty minutes, stirring constantly. I buy my oats in all their forms in bulk at Apple Valley stores, and I buy organic if they've got them.

Fiber-Packed Morning Oats

.25 cup quick oats--2 grams dietary fiber

.25 cup oat bran--6 grams dietary fiber

1 cup water

dash of salt

stir into a bowl and microwave for about two minutes

then add:

.5 cup fresh blueberries (or 1/3 cup dried cranberries)--2 grams dietary fiber

1 oz. (=.25 cup=30 grams) walnuts (or 1 oz. almonds)--2 grams dietary fiber

1 T raw wheat germ--1 gram dietary fiber

1 T ground flaxseed meal--2 grams dietary fiber

dash of cinnamon

sweetener if desired (I use Splenda)

stir and add a little water if necessary, and microwave if needed another minute or so

Ground Flaxseed Meal

Flaxseeds are the second person of the whole grains super food trinity which includes oats and wheat germ. Just a tablespoon or two each day goes a long way. Steven Pratt calls them "the best plant source of omega-3 fatty acids," in the form of ALA, the plant analogue to the wild salmon we so zealously value for its rich stores of the same acids in the form of EPA/DHA. Omega-3 fatty acids are important for cardiovascular health, and for cellular health generally throughout the body, especially in the brain.

As an insoluble fiber (fiber which does not dissolve in water), ground flaxseed meal contributes to a shorter transit time of food through the body, and just two tablespoons a day provide four grams of the suggested daily intake of twenty-five grams, or 15%. On top of the ALA, you also get protein, iron, magnesium, potassium, and, listen up ladies, lignans, the latter thought to help prevent and/or treat breast cancer.

Incorporating it into the diet is easy. You can add it straight to your morning oatmeal or other cereal, include it in a smoothie, or in cakes on the griddle. In fact, if you bake anything requiring oil or butter in the recipe, you can use flaxseed meal as a substitute, using the ratio 3 to 1. In other words, if using ground flaxseed meal instead, triple it (A recipe requiring 1/4 cup canola oil will require 3/4 cup ground flaxseed meal instead). Recipes "tend to brown more rapidly," as the Bob's Red Mill package says. I frequently substitute part of the oil or butter needed in a recipe with the ground flaxseed meal and never notice the difference, not even in my homemade bread.

I buy my ground flaxseed meal at an Apple Valley health food store near our home in Michigan, where I always find it refrigerated. And that's how I store it at home. Otherwise it can go rancid. Choose Bob's Red Mill. You won't be disappointed!

Filet of Salmon Teriyaki

I rarely get to make this anymore because we normally buy wild alaskan salmon in the big can, but when some kind soul sends a filet our way (thanks, Grandma and Grandpa), this is a fast, healthy, and easy way to prepare it.

Filet of Salmon Teriyaki

1 12-16 oz. filet of Atlantic salmon (cook skin side up if not skinless)

2 T frozen concentrate of orange juice

3 T soy sauce (I prefer San-J brand Organic Wheat Free Tamari Sauce)

1 large clove fresh garlic

.25 t dry ground ginger (or .5 t sized chunk fresh ginger root, peeled)

3 T extra virgin olive oil

3 green onions, diced finely

1 t sesame seeds

In the bowl of a food processor mince the garlic clove, then add the ginger (and mince if using fresh), followed by the orange juice concentrate, soy sauce and extra virgin olive oil. Blend thoroughly and pour the mixture into an oven safe baker. Place the salmon filet in the baker and turn it over a couple of times to coat.

While the salmon is marinating, pre-heat the oven on bake to 350 degrees F. Bake the salmon swimming in the marinade about 25 minutes uncovered on the center rack of the oven.

If you want to, you can cook the salmon in the microwave to save time. I've done it often and it turns out well. Just be careful not to overdo it. I use the same round Pyrex pie plate I use for my Basil Pesto Sockeye Pie, except I cover the salmon with microwave safe plastic wrap. Cook on high for about six minutes, depending on the power rating of your microwave. Test for doneness by flaking with a fork in the thickest part of the filet.

Serve topped with some of the sauce from the baker, the sesame seeds, and the green onion.

Brown rice on the side accepts the sauce well, and steamed broccoli florets rounds out this meal for a super foods triple play.

Hot Italian Sausage, Super Foods Style

Wednesdays and Saturdays at our house are Italian days, not because we're Italian, but because we like their food! My mother's maiden name is spelled just like a town in Tuscany, which was news to her. But her dad also looked more like a wiry Sicilian than a farmer from Germany. Hard to figure it out, after all these years. But this recipe for hot Italian sausage isn't hard, and you're going to love it, because it's delicious, good for you, and passes the kid test with flying colors!

You can make this sausage and serve it alongside the pasta with a fresh steamed vegetable with a little butter. (Broccoli florets are always popular here). Or you can break it up in my basic tomato sauce, semi home made, and serve it on the pasta. And it's also nice crumbled on the pizza! or in an omelet! How about in the lasagna?! Stuff it in the ravioli! Oh! Italian sausage! How do I love thee? Let me . . . get on with it.

Hot Italian Sausage Dry Seasoning Mix

.25 t garlic powder

.25 t dried thyme

.25 t freshly ground pepper

.5 t whole fennel seeds

1 t crushed red pepper flakes (pretty hot in this quantity, so be ready)

1 t salt

1.5 t paprika

Clean out the electric coffee grinder, but don't go crazy. Leave some traces of the espresso behind. It's good. Add all the ingredients above and let her rip for a minute or so. You have now made the seasoning for 1.25 lbs. of meat (and now you should clean the grinder thoroughly, unless you like your next cup a little spicy).

Hot Italian Sausage, Super Foods Style

1 prepared Hot Italian Sausage Dry Seasoning Mix recipe

1.25 lbs. ground turkey (half a 2.5 lb. flat of Jennie-O lean ground turkey)

Drop the turkey meat into a large bowl. Sprinkle the dry seasoning evenly over the turkey until you have covered it uniformly, then work it in with ye old trusty potato masher. Repeat until all the seasoning is mixed into the meat.

Next, oil or grease a 3/4 inch deep, 3 1/2 inch diameter form to receive the meat mixture to make sausage patties. (I use the rubber end of an old Zyliss Food Chopper. You can improvise with some other old lid to something, or buy one of those metal hamburger forms. It really doesn't matter if the size varies a little. If you're adventurous and have a KitchenAid mixer with a sausage making attachment, go for it! But you'll need casing!). Using a fork, load the form with meat and make a patty that holds together without being too densely packed. Plop it out onto a large plate and go on to the next one. I can make almost six with my form.

Heat a large dutch oven over medium heat for a couple minutes, then add canola oil to cover the bottom with a shallow pool. The high sides of the oven will help prevent splatters. Fry the patties two or three at a time over medium low heat, about four minutes per side. Drain and reserve the fried patties in a warm oven as you go. That's it. Badabing, badaboom.

Yogurt Lemon Thyme Marinated Chicken Breasts

Turkey breast meat, without the skin, is "the leanest source of meat protein on the planet," according to Steven Pratt in his SuperFoods HealthStyle. Its rich nutrient profile of selenium, B vitamins and zinc is thought to cut the risk for cancer while contributing to cardiovascular health. One of its other wonderful features is that it has 27 times less saturated fat than fresh ham, and 22 times less than flank steak! Ninety-five percent lean ground beef has 12 times more saturated fat than turkey breast. Even compared with chicken breast without the skin, turkey breast has 4 times less saturated fat. If the genetic cards you've been dealt put you at risk for cancer and cardiovascular disease, which end of that spectrum are you going to get your meat from? Although higher in saturated fat, boneless, skinless chicken breasts on sale for $.99/lb. are hard to pass up.

A delicious way to eat turkey or chicken breast is broiled, but high heat broiling often turns it into rubber. The solution to this problem is to brine the meat, but to save on time, I brine and marinate at the same time, incorporating other superfoods and their sidekicks to add healthfulness and flavor. The last time I made this my family said, "Make it every Sunday!"

Yogurt Lemon Thyme Marinated Chicken Breasts

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

.5 t sugar

.5 t salt

2 T fresh lemon juice

.5 cup plain fat-free yogurt

3 T extra virgin olive oil

1 handful fresh thyme sprigs, washed and dried

Rinse the breasts, dry, and place in a shallow Pyrex baker. Into the bowl of a food processor, strip the thyme leaves off the sprigs. You'll want about two tablespoons full (or substitute one tablespoon dried thyme if you must). Then add the remaining ingredients and process until smooth. Pour this mixture over the breasts, then lift the breasts a little to coat the undersides. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to marinate in the refrigerator for up to six hours before using, turning after three hours. I've marinated for as little as three hours with good results. Another way to marinate easily is to use a fresh clean freezer bag. Drop the breasts in and pour in the marinade. Seal it up and leave it in the refrigerator overnight.

When you're ready to cook, set the broiler to high with a rack in the center of the oven. Into a stainless steel broiler pan place a smaller rack to elevate the meat while broiling. Remove the breasts from the marinade but don't scrape it off, and place them in the broiler pan. Broil 15 minutes on side one, and about 10 minutes on side two, and serve. You won't be disappointed!

'Nita's Cakes on the Griddle

It's Saturday. We sleep in, and 'Nita makes us a lazy breakfast. Sometimes it's Dutch Babies, but usually it's griddle cakes. She likes a recipe she adapted from "Wheat Germ Griddle Cakes" by Selma Johnson in Doris Janzen Longacre's More-with-Less Cookbook. The recipe makes 16 cakes. Serve them with butter and pure maple syrup. Then go out and cut the grass to work it off. Or not.

'Nita's Cakes on the Griddle

1 cup raw wheat germ

.5 cup oat bran

2.25 cups reduced fat milk

3 eggs

3 T canola oil

3 T ground flaxseed meal

1.25 cups unbleached bread flour

4 t baking powder (we prefer Hain brand "Featherweight Baking Powder" without aluminum)

1 T sugar

1.5 t salt

.5 t ground cinnamon

.25 t ground ginger

Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl with a whisk. Beat the eggs in another and add the milk and oil and mix. Then gradually add the wet to the dry, stirring as you go.

Preheat a cast iron griddle over medium heat for a few minutes. Coat it with a thin slip of canola oil. Drop a bead of batter on the griddle to test for readiness. Use a 1/4 cup ladle to pour out the batter. Reduce the heat to medium low and proceed. Keep the cakes warm in the oven as you go.

It's summer, so serve with some sliced water melon or other fresh fruit on the side.

Monday Night "Super Foods" Burrito

With all four elements of the burrito filling prepared as in the previous posts, you are ready to combine them. Once combined, you can set some aside in the fridge for reheating later and freeze the rest. In this post we'll combine everything and make some burritos right away.

Monday Night "Super Foods" Burrito

prepared pinto beans recipe

1 cup reserved pinto beans cooking liquid

prepared brown rice recipe

prepared ground turkey recipe

prepared dry seasoning mix recipe

1 package La Fuerza Tortillas de Harina (preferably "fat-free")

8 oz. extra-sharp cheddar cheese (preferably reduced-fat), divided into one ounce portions

canola oil

Into the large cast-iron dutch oven containing the prepared turkey, add the dry seasoning mix and a splash of the bean cooking liquid and cook over medium heat, stirring with the hand-held potato masher. When thoroughly mixed and bubbly, add all the drained beans (including the onions and garlic) and stir with the masher. Then add all the rice and stir until combined. Now mash until the mixture reaches the consistency you prefer. Some like it with just some of the beans mashed and creamy and some left intact. Others will like it all mashed. Still others like it as is. Add more bean cooking liquid if necessary to reach the consistency you desire. At most you'll only need a half cup of the reserved liquid. We keep ours on the dry side to make the filling easier to handle. When it's ready, turn off that burner, and light another.

Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium for two minutes. Scoop up at most 2/3 cup of the burrito filling and drop it in the center of a room temperature 8.5 inch tortilla. Smooth it out from top to bottom down the center and make a little trough in it running the full length. Drop one ounce of cheese slices in the trough, and fold the sides of the tortilla over each other. Pour 3 T canola oil into the skillet, spread it around with a spatula, and drop the burrito in, folded side down to start. Reduce heat to medium low and fry carefully, one minute per side, for four minutes total, or until nicely browned. Add additional oil to the skillet as necessary.

Remove the burrito to an oven safe plate and keep it in a warm oven while you make the rest. Serve topped with your favorite things (no, not ice cream). We like La Victoria brand mild red taco sauce, sliced black olives, chopped green onions, chopped roma tomatoes, avocado slices, and chopped fresh baby spinach and romaine lettuce. Served this way, this meal is composed of at least ten of Pratt's super foods. Eleven if you top it all with some plain, fat-free yogurt. For a quick lunch, skip the frying and the toppings. Just assemble the burrito and heat it in the microwave for a minute or so.

Brown Rice, in the Microwave

In previous posts we have described the preparation of the pinto beans and the dry seasoning mix for Monday night Mexican style burritos. In this post we turn to the other elements used in the filling: brown rice and ground turkey.

Although raised in a "meat and potatoes" household in Wisconsin in the 60's and 70's, in our home today we rarely eat either. In place of potatoes, we eat brown rice, a super foods "sidekick" of the grain superstars oats, wheat germ, and ground flaxseed. Brown rice serves as a nice side dish along with simply steamed vegetables at a variety of meals. After it's cooked, you can stir in seasonings like fresh pesto to liven it up. And in a burrito, it functions as a filler to stretch the recipe. The notion that combining rice and beans is necessary to provide the body with a complete protein is now challenged.

The turkey in the final product we will describe is optional. We include turkey because it is another one of the super foods, which just also happens to add a taste kick reminiscent of the ground beef many people are accustomed to in a burrito. Because most beef today is corn fed, not grass fed, the amount of saturated fat in beef is much higher than it used to be, according to evidence presented in films such as "King Corn." Ground turkey makes a better substitute, in our opinion. And like the rice, it stretches the volume even farther. You can routinely find 5 lb. containers of Jennie-O brand fresh ground turkey at Sam's Club for less than two dollars a pound. I bring it home and divide the contents of the two containers into four equal parts and freeze them. It's not as lean as the turkey breast meat recommended by Steven Pratt in his books, but he's not a food Nazi, and neither am I!

Brown Rice, in the Microwave

1 cup long grain brown rice (do not rinse)

2 cups fresh water

1/8 t salt

1 T extra virgin olive oil

To a microwave-safe covered one quart casserole, add the rice, water, salt and oil, and give it a stir. Cover and place in the microwave. Set the oven for three stage cooking: 5 minutes on high, 20 minutes at 40% power, and 20 minutes at 30% power. When complete, allow to rest as is in the microwave to cool. Refrigerate if not using immediately.

The cooking power may have to be adjusted up or down, depending on the output of your microwave. For lower power countertop microwaves, try the percentages as described. For microwave hoods, start with 5 minutes on high, 20 minutes at 30%, and 20 minutes at 20%. If the power is too high, you'll get boil-over. If it's too low, you'll get underdone rice. Adjust accordingly.

Ground Turkey, Prepared

1.25 lbs. fresh ground turkey meat

2 T canola oil

Heat a large cast iron dutch oven over medium heat for two minutes. Add the oil and spread it around with a spatula, then add the meat. Let it brown for a few minutes and then turn the heat down a little. Take out ye old trusty hand-held potato masher and a hot pad and start mashing and stirring the meat as it cooks. (If you're using a fancy Le Creuset dutch oven with a finished cooking surface, don't use metal tools; they'll damage the surface). When it's all browned and nicely uniform in size, you are done!

At this point, you proceed with the combination of all the elements of the burrito filling, right in the cast iron pot, which we'll describe in the next post.

Pinto Beans

When it comes to beans for burrito filling, there are many choices available beyond the well known pinto bean. From the super foods perspective, the darker the bean's skin the more potent the phytochemicals, but the pinto is the most widely available economical choice. I've used black, pink, chili and red beans of all kinds in my recipe, but I usually end up with the old standby, the pinto bean, which I can acquire for roughly a dollar per pound. A one pound can of already cooked beans costs about the same price, but a pound of dry beans prepared will yield roughly three times the contents of that one pound can.

When buying any dried bean or legume, make sure to look for relatively recently harvested ones. The sell-by date on the package will be a clue. If the date is near, the package is not fresh and has been sitting around somewhere. Old beans are harder to cook, and can take what seems like forever.

The preparation time of dried beans only seems inordinately long. You just need to plan ahead. The soaking and the cooking can occur without your presence.

Prepared Pinto Beans

1 lb. dry pinto beans

1 large onion, cut into eighths (choose yellow or sweet)

3 cloves garlic, crushed with a chef's knife

.25 cup canola oil (or extra virgin olive oil)

Rinse the beans under cold water. Discard any stones or lumps of dirt you may find. Put the beans in a large bowl and cover with about four inches of fresh water. Let soak for at least six hours, refrigerated, and as long as overnight.

Drain off the water and rinse the beans again under cold water. Add them to a deep and heavy stainless steel stock pot. Cover with at least two inches of fresh water. Add the onion, garlic and oil and give it all a stir. Do not add any seasonings at this point. The salt will impede the cooking of the beans, not enhance it. Put on the lid and bring to a boil over medium heat. Once the mixture starts to boil, you have two options. You can set the burner to low and boil the beans for about an hour until done, or you can set the burner to simmer and let the mixture cook for several hours unattended (I never leave the property with a fire on under a pot). I prefer the latter since it keeps the beans intact throughout the cooking process. A third option is to use a crock pot, but in that case you should get the contents boiling on high first and then set the pot on low before you leave for the day. That can delay you, but it works. If you soak the beans during the day while you are away, you can cook them in the crockpot overnight while you sleep.

You'll know the beans are done when you bite into one and it's creamy, not firm. Leave the beans in the pot with the water to cool for an hour, and then overnight if you wish in the refrigerator. Drain off the water into a large bowl through a mesh collander to capture the beans and reserve some of the cooking liquid (save a cup in the refrigerator).

If you don't use the beans immediately, they can be stored in the freezer.