How about this menu for Super Bowl Sunday?

Fruit Salad, perhaps even skewered, like fruit shish-kabobs.

Jicama cut into slices and served with fresh salsa

Gucamole with veggies and chips. Try cutting corn chips into wedges and baking until crispy. Yum!

Meatballs (turkey, tofu, beef-your choice) with Honey-Mustard Dipping Sauce.

Chocolate Chip Cookies or Chocolate Beet Cake (you won’t believe how good this is!)

How does that sound? Sounds good to me! Here are some recipes for you:

Honey-Dijon Meatballs

Prepare your favorite meatball recipe and while they are baking in the oven, prepare the sauce.

Honey-Dijon Sauce:

3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1-1/4 cups unsweetened pineapple juice

1/4 cup chopped red pepper

2 tablespoons honey

In a small saucepan, combine cornstarch and onion powder. Slowly whisk in

pineapple juice until smooth. Add red pepper and honey. Bring to a boil;

cook and stir 2 minutes or until thickened. Reduce heat; stir in

the mustard until smooth.

The last 10 minutes of baking the meatballs, brush meatballs with about 1/4 cup sauce. Serve with remaining dipping sauce.

Guacamole

How easy is this?

Serves 4

2 ripe avocados

Juice of one lemon, or lime

1/2 small red onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tomato, diced*

Sea salt to taste

Hot pepper sauce, to taste

Cilantro, chopped, optional

Mash the avocados, add the other ingredients, and mix.

*I don’t purchase tomatoes in the winter generally, so I use salsa-about ¼ cup -instead of the fresh tomato.

Chocolate Beet Cake

Serves 10

2 cups beets, cooked and pureed

1/2 cup applesauce

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup plain yogurt

3 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 cup cocoa powder

2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9X13″ pan.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the beets, applesauce, sugar, butter and yogurt. Using an electric mixer (or a whisk if you want the exercise!) mix well for 3 minutes. Add the eggs, and mix well again for 1 minute.

Mix together the dry ingredients and add to wet ingredients. Stir until combined. Stir in the walnuts. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Frost if you like, though we don’t think it really needs it.

Per Serving:: 379 Calories; 16g Fat (35.1% calories from fat); 9g Protein; 56g Carbohydrate; 6g Dietary Fiber; 82mg Cholesterol; 331mg Sodium.

How to…

To make beet puree, roast beets or boil until soft but not mushy. Remove skin and puree in food processor.

Serving suggestion…portions.

You can easily cut this cake into smaller pieces. As Mary Poppins said, “Enough is as good as a feast.”

This Thursday evening at 6:00 at Zest, you will learn about creating meal plans. If I have a veggies scramble for breakfast, what should my snacks, lunch and dinner be? We’ll go through a sample week and you’ll even get some recipes! You can drop in for one class of Zest or choose to be supported for a month. Your choice! Just let us know that you’re attending. See you (well, hear you) then!

Patty James Meal Planner PDF

For a full list of upcoming classes, look under Services….http://pattyjames.com/home/services/

Please join me at The Commonwealth Club where a very impressive group of doctors, scientists and researchers will discuss this topic.

Here is the link to register for this program:

http://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2012-02-28/food-addiction

Food Addiction

Tue, Feb 28 2012 – 12:00pm

Food Addiction

Michael Prager, Author, Fat Boy Thin Man
Nicole Avena, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, University of Florida
Eric Stice, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist, Oregon Research Institute
Dr. Vera Ingrid Tarman, Ph.D., MD., MSc., FCEP, CASAM, Medical Director, Renascent
Elissa Epel, Ph.D., Associate Professor, UCSF Department of Psychiatry
Andrea Garber, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of California

Addiction is about brains, not just about behaviors. We all have the brain reward circuitry that makes food rewarding; it’s a survival mechanism. In a healthy brain, these rewards have feedback mechanisms for satiety or “‘enough.” For some, the circuitry becomes dysfunctional such that the message becomes “more.” Michael Prager, author of Fat Boy Thin Man, will begin the discussion telling his very personal story of recognizing and then seeking treatment for his food addiction. Leading researchers and clinicians will discuss many aspects of this important topic

MLF: Health & Medicine
Location: SF Club Office
Times: 11:30 a.m. check-in, 12:00-3:00 p.m. program
Cost: $25 standard, $15 members
Program Organizer: Patty James

Location Blue Room, The Commonwealth Club

Number
00 Student * $ 7 = $ 0.00
00 Standard * $ 25 = $ 0.00
Total:

I met Gary in New Orleans in 2010 and we became friends almost instantly. Skip ahead a year and he’s home in Canada and I’m home in California, chatting and emailing and keeping up with each other’s lives. Our friendship grew into what we knew would be a friendship for a lifetime. Today, sadly, his life in this world is almost over.  Bone cancer.

He was strong and fit, ate a healthy diet, so why cancer? Why him with better than average health habits? Is it food or drink or lifestyle that causes the scale to tip in an unhealthy direction, even to disease? Why do some drink bourbon and smoke everyday and live to be 100, when others with better habits die much sooner? Obviously genetics come into play and we can’t do anything about our ancestors, but there is plenty we can do to keep our health scales balanced. We all know we need to eat healthy foods and limit our vices-alcohol/caffeine and for some smoking. We need to drink enough pure water and exercise daily.

Don’t forget about stress.

For Gary and many others, stress might have been the culprit that tipped the scales. He was focused and driven and pushed himself way beyond what was most likely healthy.  We all know that stress is a killer, but how many of us do something about it? Stress reduction should not be considered a luxury, but a health necessity. A day off from working all the time or even just from electronics can make a difference. Try a walk in the woods; nature is so calming and centering. For me its outdoor exercise and cooking that soothes me. I find myself with a knife in my hand chopping vegetables to make a soup, or making homemade bread. It’s calming for me and slows me down.

If you like the thought of cooking with plenty of time, not under pressure, then plan such a day! Slow down, pick out a new recipe or prepare my Cioppino, maybe this Sunday. Make a salad and cut some crusty sourdough bread to go with it. Enjoy the process. Dine, just don’t eat. Slow down and appreciate and enjoy your health.

Cioppino

A very delicious (and messy!) dish. More of a stew than a soup.

Recipe By: Patty James

Serving Size: 6

1/4  cup  olive oil

2    large  onions — chopped

4    cloves  garlic — chopped

3    large  carrots — chopped

2     ribs  celery — plus leaves, sliced

1     cup  parsley — stems removed and chopped

2     cups  chopped tomatoes

2     cups  tomato sauce

1     cup  water

1      cup  white wine

2      teaspoons  thyme

1      tablespoon  basil

1      bay leaf

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Pinch of cayenne pepper

3     pounds  clams — in shell, scrubbed well

1     pound  halibut fillets — or other white fish, cut into

bite-sized pieces

1     whole  crab – cleaned, cooked and cracked

In a large, heavy stockpot, heat oil and sauté onions, garlic, carrots,

celery and celery leaves until onion is transparent and vegetables are limp.

Add chopped tomatoes and tomato sauce, half the parsley, wine, water, and

seasonings. Bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer for 30 minutes partially

covered. Add seafood to broth; clams first and simmer for 10 minutes. Next

add white fish and crab and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and

ladle into soup bowls. Garnish with remaining parsley and lemon wedges.

Serving suggestions

Serve with crusty garlic bread. You may change the seafood anyway you like. You can use shrimp, scallops and crab. Try mussels, etc. If soup gets a bit thick, add a little water.

My dear, sweet friend. This is how I will remember him, not the way he looks today ravaged by cancer, hoping to pass on soon.

Our first month of classes just finished and we couldn’t be more thrilled with the participants responses. Here’s what one woman had to say.

“The Zest program is filled with lots of healthful information and explanations as to why our bodies respond to certain foods and lots of ways to help us feel better.  Baby steps….not over whelming changes, simple adjustments to be successful with your health goals.  Patty is a wealth of information.  Her knowledgeable of foods and how our bodies respond to them  is only trumped by her enthusiasm and passion for teaching and helping others.”
Thank you Patty, for your love of good health.
Your Friend,
Becky R.

Beginning in February, you can drop in for a single class anytime, or sign up for four consecutive Thursday’s and be supported the whole month. Your Schedule, Your Health, Your Choice!