Wholesome Wednesdays: Potato

Not feeling overly inspired today: having ones nose totally clogged causes a serious decrease in interest in cooking or eating. That being said - potatoes are a great go to meal addition. Oven fries, baked, mashed, as a "crust" to a fresh fritatta, chopped into a curry or stir fry: potatoes add a bit of carby starchy satisfaction to otherwise light and healthy meals.

I grew up in the potato farming community of Merrill, OR - sorry, Idaho, but Merrill's got your spuds beat! No potato has tasted as delicious since supping of the 'just dug' potatoes of my mother's garden. I've tried to grow potatoes here - tried and failed. It can be done, but i don't have a ton of space or patience and prefer to grow fresh green type foods and purchase my storage foods at the market. I don't have the nice, dark, dry garage for storing foods that she does. One day... one day.

For now i just buy potatoes. I like the red ones. I like yams too - but that's a whole other story. I pretty much always get red potatoes and try to get them local or from the Klamath basin. They're good for mashers and oven fries - not as great for baked potatoes, but still tasty. I always have a few in my kitchen drawer waiting for the 'i do not feel like cooking tonight - how about some oven fries with tasty dip?' evenings. They're starchy and carb heavy, but a better alternative to a loaf of bread or pile of pasta. Let's see how they break down:



Definitely a lot of carbs - but no fat and a little protein. I say that's not so sinful! According to WHFoods, potatoes are a decent source of vitamin C and B6. Potatoes are also high in fiber, thus their filling attribute. WHFoods also highlights this important health benefit:

A new analytical method developed by Agricultural Research Service plant geneticist Roy Navarre has identified 60 different kinds of phytochemicals and vitamins in the skins and flesh of 100 wild and commercially grown potatoes. Analysis of Red and Norkotah potatoes revealed that these spuds' phenolic content rivals that of broccoli, spinach and Brussels sprouts, and includes flavonoids with protective activity against cardiovascular disease, respiratory problems and certain cancers. Navarre's team also identified potatoes with high levels of vitamin C, folic acid, quercetin and kukoamines. These last compounds, which have blood pressure lowering potential, have only been found in one other plant, Lycium chinense (a.k.a., wolfberry/gogi berry). How much kukoamine is needed for a blood pressure lowering effect in humans must be assessed before it can be determined whether an average portion of potatoes delivers enough to impact cardiovascular health. Still, potatoes' phytochemical profiles show it's time to shed their starch-only image; spuds-baked, steamed or healthy sautéed but not fried-deserve a place in your healthy way of eating."Phytochemical Profilers Investigate Potato Benefits,"Agricultural Research, September 2007

Potatoes may also help lower blood pressure, boost your cells and brain functions with B6 and protect the heart.

Potatoes have a rather fascinating history that i've gleaned from various programs on public television. Thought of as Irish food - potatoes actually came with Columbus (or somebody) from the Americas. You can still find ancient varieties of potatoes as stables in south american diets. Isn't it amazing how a little tuber transformed the world - can you imagine a world without 'French' fries?

As a bonus info: Potatoes are members of Solanaceae (nightshade family), along with eggplants, peppers and tomatoes these plants can cause some irritation to arthritis. If allowed to flower, potatoes will put on a fruit resembling a tomato! Fascinating. Generally the tubers are harvested before this happens.

Wholesome Wednesdays: Cucumbers

I LOVE LOVE LOVE fresh cucumbers.

They might be one of my favorite things to snack on, and are definitely one of my favorite veggies to grow. They can be a little finicky - you have to keep them well watered, always a bit moist, and up off the hot ground. But if you treat 'em right, they are top producers of tasty, portable, summery veg. I can get a bit tired of cucumbers by the end of the season, cuz really = what can you really do with cucumbers other than snacking on them or adding them to salads?? A lot of things actually, these are some of the dishes/preparations i make with my cukes:

• Cucumber salad - cucumbers, balsalmic, olive oil, seasonings, and any other veggies you might want to throw in
• Tzaziki sauce - cucumbers with yogurt and seasonings
• Pickles, vinegar or fermented
• Cucumber buttermilk soup
• Cucumber tea sandwiches with cream cheese
• Gazpacho soup

One of my favorite cucumber snacks is actually as simple as slicing up the cuke, plating it, sprinkling on some salt, then drizzling all the slices with Sriracha sauce. Mmmmmmmmmm.

So, what's the big deal about cucumbers? They're not only edible: you see them listed in various beauty products and cleansers. Cucumbers are great diet foods: you can pile up a plate of cucumber slices and eat to your heart's content with zero guilt: they're 95% water! This website has some great information and recipes for cucumbers. Cukes are as good for the skin as they are on our tastebuds.

The World's Healthiest Foods website has some great things to say (as always) about our cucumber friends:

The flesh of cucumbers is primarily composed of water but also contains ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and caffeic acid, both of which help soothe skin irritations and reduce swelling. Cucumbers'hard skin is rich in fiber and contains a variety of beneficial minerals including silica, potassium and magnesium.

Cucumbers are a very good source of the vitamins C and the mineral molybdenum. They are also a good source of vitamin A, potassium, manganese, folate, dietary fiber and magnesium and contain the important mineral silica.  

The silica in cucumber is an essential component of healthy connective tissue, which includes muscles, tendons, ligaments, cartilage, and bone. Cucumber juice is often recommended as a source of silica to improve the complexion and health of the skin, plus cucumber's high water content makes it naturally hydrating—a must for glowing skin. Cucumbers are also used topically for various types of skin problems, including swelling under the eyes and sunburn.          -WHFoods.com

Cucumbers are a great source of fiber, can help reduce blood pressure, and are good for the skin - so why aren't you eating a cucumber right now???  Here's the nutritional breakdown:

And again - high in sugar. I'm starting to think all fruits/veggies are 'high in sugar.' I think 'high' must be relative.

Tomorrow i'll be posting some novel cucumber uses outside of the food/beauty realm. I received an interesting email a few weeks ago with all sorts of crazy sounding cucumber uses. I'll test them out and let you know what i find out: i'm all for utilizing my garden's produce to the best of its abilities!

What is your favorite thing to do with your cucumbers?

Wholesome Wednesdays: Spinach

I am delightfully enjoying some of the last of my garden spinach these days. I eat most of it fresh in salads, but in the winter when it's out of control i'll add some to stir fries and definitely throw in chopped spinach to quiches and egg scrambles. I love the versatility of spinach: it can be eaten in so many ways, and blends with so many ingredients, you could really eat spinach with every meal if you wanted to.

Nutrition data says this about spinach, giving it five stars for both optimal health and weight loss. Calorie Count gives spinach an A.
The World's Healthiest Foods site has the best information.

Spinach is obviously very good for you. Some of the health benefits include:

• Cartenoids in spinach help to combat various cancers (prostate, ovarian, breast)
• Spinach provides high doses of vitamin K:
• 
  

  The vitamin K provided by spinach-almost 200% of the Daily Value in one cup of fresh spinach leaves and over 1000% of the Daily Value in one cup of boiled spinach (which contains about 6 times as much spinach)-is important for maintaining bone health. Vitamin K1 helps prevent excessive activation of osteoclasts, the cells that break down bone. Additionally, friendly bacteria in our intestines convert vitamin K1 into vitamin K2, which activates osteocalcin, the major non-collagen protein in bone. Osteocalcin anchors calcium molecules inside of the bone. Spinach is also an excellent source of other bone-building nutrients including calcium and magnesium. -whfoods.com

• The vitamin C, A and beta-carotene in spinach help the cardiovascular system to stay healthy, as well as promoting gastrointestinal health, specifically colon health
• Spinach can help reduce inflammation, and increase brain function

Visit the World's Healthiest foods for tons more info - but know that each bite of spinach is doing you nothing but good!

Here's to your health.
*****************EDIT:
How could i forget? This blog is not just about nutrition, but about gardening and i completely left out cool season spinach's friendly cousin: Malabar (or New Zealand) Spinach. It grows like a vine, twining up and around things, so grow it on a trellis or along a fence. You can get red or green stem, plant it by seed or by transplants (i know locally the Great Outdoors and The Natural Gardener carry it in both forms). I grew some last year, and it was quite tasty and in the fall put on little berries that when crushed dyed my fingers a brilliant magenta. I hope to use some of those berries for coloring soaps or bath salts this coming fall. So don't be limited to cool weather to get your spinach kick: malabar spinach will grow all summer, look neat, and fill your plates when the cool season spinach is bolting: the little leaves are good raw and the large great in stir fry. I grew mine in a very shady place and it still grew, though not merrily. So plant it somewhere you want to do an experiment and have something for it to climb on, or space for it to spread on the ground.