Archive for January, 2014

Getting Enough Calcium Part 3

January 30, 2014 · Filed under Cooking, Nutrition

The final installment of this interesting 3 part series on Calcium.

January 30, 1986

In addition to dairy foods and sea food there are several other foods high in calcium that can be used to add variety to a high calcium diet.

Collard and dandelion greens have over 200 milligrams of calcium per cup, raw. They are not very popular in the Mid West but Southerners really love them and grow them in their gardens most of the winter.

Turnip greens and kale have about 100 milligrams per cup, raw.

Another good source of calcium is tofu which has 130 milligrams per 3 1/2 servings. Tofu is a high protein meat substitute widely used in Asia and catching on here in this country.

Black strap molasses has 137 milligrams calcium in each tablespoon. An ordinary orange has 50 milligrams calcium.

Mexican food ingredients such as pinto beans and corn tortillas contain calcium. Each corn tortilla has 60 milligrams calcium. Processing the corn with lime during manufacturing increases the calcium content. A corn tortilla with melted cheese makes a quick calcium rich snack.

Tostada Salad

1 cup salmon, drained

1/2 cup green pepper, chopped

1/2 cup chopped carrot

1 small tomato, chopped

1/2 cup canned kidney beans, drained

4 corn tortillas

1 cup shredded cheese

2 cups shredded iceberg lettuce

Taco sauce

Mexican Dressing:

1 cup yogurt

1 tablespoon minced parsley

1 tablespoon minced onion

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon oregano leaves

1/4 teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients for the dressing and set aside.

Combine salmon, green pepper, carrot, tomato and kidney beans with Mexican dressing refrigerate.

Place tortillas on baking sheet. Broil 1 minute on each side. Place on platter. Sprinkle with cheese and lettuce. Top with salmon mixture. Serve with taco sauce. Serves 4. 156 milligrams calcium per serving.

King Ranch Chicken

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can Rotel hot tomatoes with juice

1 cup chicken broth

3 pound chicken, cooked, boned and chopped

12 soft corn tortillas, torn in small pieces

1 medium onion, chopped

1 pound grated cheddar cheese

Combine first four ingredients into a sauce. In a 9 x 13 inch casserole make a layer of tortillas, chicken, onions and cheese. Top with 1/4 of sauce. Repeat until all ingredients are used ending with a layer of cheese.

Bake covered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Freezes well.

Greek Dandelion Salad

1 pound dandelion greens

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 garlic clove, minced

Salt and pepper

2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

Wash greens. Cook in 2 quarts boiling water until tender crisp — about 6 minutes. Drain. Rinse in cold water. Drain again. Place on paper towels to remove excess water. Arrange on a platter. Combine oil, lemon juice, garlic and salt and pepper. Drizzle over green. Refrigerate. At serving time garnish with feta cheese. Serves four. 194 milligrams calcium per serving.

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Getting Enough Calcium Part 2

January 23, 2014 · Filed under Cooking, Nutrition

Below is part two of the series on calcium. Part one may be found here.

January 23, 1986

Last week I wrote about getting plenty of calcium in your diet through the use of dairy products. Sea foods are another good source of calcium.

Salmon with bones has 167 milligrams calcium for each three ounces. Three ounces of sardines with bones has over twice as much – 372 milligrams for each three ounces. Be sure to eat the bones of both sardines and salmon to get maximum calcium.

Shrimp and oysters also have a good bit of calcium. A pound of perch, halibut, sole or Orange Roughy has about 600 milligrams of calcium so that’s about 125 to 150 milligrams per serving.

Salmon Cakes

1 15-ounce can salmon

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup crushed crackers

Salt and pepper

Oil

Combine salmon using juices and bones, eggs, crackers, and desired seasoning. Form into small flat cakes. Pour about 1 tablespoon oil into skillet. Heat. Saute salmon cakes in oil until golden brown. Serve with tartar sauce. Will make 6 salmon cakes.

Salmon Rice Loaf

1 15 or 16-ounce can salmon

1 cup cooked rice

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs, beaten

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 tablespoon parsley flakes

1/2 teaspoon salt

Sauce:

1 can tomato soup

1/2 cup dairy sour cream

Combine all ingredients including juice and bones of salmon. Form into loaf and put in greased pan. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees. Heat soup. Stir in sour cream. Serve with loaf. Makes 6 servings.

Salmon Casserole

4 ounces medium noodles

1 16-ounce can salmon

1 10 1/2-ounce can tomato soup

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

1 tablespoon minced onion

1 teaspoon prepared mustard

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup crushed soda crackers

2 tablespoons melted butter

Cook noodles. Combine rest of ingredients except crackers and butter. Add noodles. Mix lightly. Pour into casserole dish.

Mix crumbs with butter and sprinkle on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serves 6.

Polynesian Fish Balls

1 pound fish fillets, chopped fine

5 ounce can water chestnuts, chopped fine

1/2 cup almonds, slivered

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2/3 cup oil

Combine first five ingredients. Shape in one-inch balls. Heat oil in skillet. Fry fish ball, turning carefully. Just before serving, combine with sauce.

Sauce:

1 13 1/2 ounce can pineapple chunks

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/2 cup vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 cup celery, sliced thin

1/2 slivered green onions

Drain juice from pineapple. Add water to make 1 cup. Add soy sauce and vinegar. Heat. Mix sugar, cornstarch and a little water to make thick sauce. Slowly stir into hot liquid. Cook until sauce is thick and clear. Add onions, celery and pineapple. Heat Pour over fish balls.

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Are you getting enough Calcium?

January 16, 2014 · Filed under Cooking, Nutrition · Tagged ,

Now is a good time to evaluate your diet. This article starts off a series that contains a lot of good information about Calcium and how to include it more in your diet. Current recommendations for healthy bones are 1,000 milligrams of calcium and 600 units of Vitamin D for healthy adults and 1,200 milligrams of calcium and 800 units of Vitamin D for the elderly. Further information can be found at asbmr.org.

 

January 16, 1986

 

The first of the year is a good time to check out our level of nutritional fitness and make a few resolutions to improve our diet.

Everyone, children, teenagers and adults, need calcium. Too often mothers see to it that everyone else in the family has plenty of calcium rich food and then excuse themselves from eating what they should, saying “I never did like milk and I’m too old to start drinking it now. Besides, it’s too fattening.”

Wrong, on several counts. While milk products are a good source of calcium they are not the the only source and while cream, butter and cheese are high in calories, many other milk products are not.

Your bones are living tissues and without proper nourishment they gradually lose the calcium they already contain and osteoporosis may result. Osteoporosis leads to brittle bones that may fracture easily. There are also other factors in addition to calcium that are involved in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis.

But you can build and maintain strong bones by using calcium rich food. Dairy products are a good source as are green vegetables, salmon and sardines, and tofu.

This article will give ways to get more calcium from dairy foods and in the next two weeks I’ll give recipes for using green vegetables, salmon and sardines, and tofu.

The American Society of Bone and Mineral Research recommends that women consume 800 to 1,000 milligrams of calcium daily before menopause and 1,300 to 1,400 milligrams daily after menopause.

Here are ways to get more calcium through dairy products:

  • Include milk in diet regularly
  • If desired, use skim milk. One cup has 300 milligrams calcium and 90 calories.
  • Enrich breads, pancakes, meat loaves, soups and beverages with nonfat dry milk.
  • Select hard cheeses for cooking and eating. Swiss and Gruyere cheese have over 270 milligrams per ounce.
  • Use fluid, dry or canned milk in coffee. Non-dairy whiteners, creamers and toppings contain no calcium.
  • Use skim Ricotta cheese instead of cottage cheese. One-half cup has 337 milligrams as compared to 78 milligrams for cottage cheese.
  • Make milk based soups.
  • Use yogurt as basis for salad dressing.
  • Replace cream with evaporated milk.
  • Drink a milk based tomato soup or hot spiced milk as a bedtime relaxer.
  • Blend milk, ice and fruit juices for a refreshing drink. Example: Orange Julius.
  • If you are lactose intolerant, add lactose to fresh milk to make it digestible.

 

Swiss Quiche

 

10 ounces frozen broccoli spears, thawed and drained

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup low fat yogurt

3/4 cup evaporated milk

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 cups Swiss cheese

1/3 cup finely chopped celery

3 tablespoons sliced green onions

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese.

 

Whisk eggs, yogurt, evaporated milk and cornstarch. Stir in remaining ingredients except cheese and broccoli. Set aside. Grease a 9-inch round baking ban. Pour in cheese mixture. Arrange broccoli spears, spoke fashion in pan. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until set. Makes 6 servings.

 

Cottage Vegetable Bake

 

One 10-ounce package mixed vegetables

1 cup cottage cheese

2 tablespoons dry milk

1/4 cup milk

1 tablespoon flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

Pepper

2 eggs

 

Thaw and drain vegetables. Beat cheese, dry milk, flour and seasonings together. Add eggs and beat until blended. Put vegetables in casserole. Pour cheese mixture over vegetables Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Serves four.

 

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Save on your Food

January 9, 2014 · Filed under Baking, Cooking · Tagged ,

Here are some good tips for saving money on your grocery bills while money is tight after the holidays. The prices given are 1983 prices.
January 1983
After Christmas the bills come in thick and fast. Even though the milo crop was good around here, taxes, insurance, gasoline and fertilizer take a lot of the money. This may result in a squeeze on the household food budget. By eating less refined food it is possible to save $50 to $100 a month on food.The pleasures of good eating can still be enjoyed while economizing on the grocery bill if we all spend a little more time on food preparation and menu planning.

The cheaper cuts of meat can be slow simmered to bring out the rich, robust flavor. If you keep a batch of homemade beef- vegetable soup on hand, you will have a quick meal always available with twice the nutrients at half the cost of commercially canned soup.

This soup is good for using up the odds and ends of leftover packages of vegetables in the freezer. By adding a liberal amount of tomato juice the flavors will meld together.

If the potatoes grown in the garden last summer are beginning to sprout, try making potato soup every week. Cook sliced potatoes, chopped celery tops and plenty of onion slices in a small amount of water until soft. Add as much milk as you need and some butter. Season to taste. Allow to come almost to a boil, then turn very low and let the flavors blend for 15 to 20 minutes. Serve with whole wheat bread or toast. Even if you buy all the ingredients, this soup is still both economical and nourishing.

For breakfast the simplest cereals such as oatmeal and cracked wheat are packed with nutrients. I nearly have a heart attack when I see the price on the boxes of processed cereals. Something is haywire with a pricing system when 12 ounces of wheat cereal costs more to buy than a half bushel of wheat sells for.

I’m fighting the system by using our own cracked wheat for breakfast. Also when a recipe calls for bran or bran flakes, I use whole wheat flour instead.

Whole wheat flour costs from 24 to 35 cents a pound compared to two to three dollars a pound for bran cereals. The finished baked goods made with the flour can’t be distinguished from the ones made with the cereal.

Whole wheat muffins may be used for breakfast with a minimum of early morning commotion by baking a large batch, freezing and warming just the number needed in an oven, an electric skillet or a microwave.

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