Welcome to the last post of the four-part series on blueberries! In my opinion, this is the most enjoyable post to apply to your life because it involves cooking! Here’s what you gotta do: pick your own blueberries (as described in Thursday’s post), cook or bake something with them (possibly drawing inspiration from a recipe below), understand why you are doing your body a great service by eating them (as described in Friday’s post), and then mindfully chow down on whatever you have created (perhaps by using a mindfulness technique like the one described on Wednesday). Good luck!
Recipe #1: Blueberry Soba Noodles (Serves about 6) Blueberries and noodles? Do they really go together? I was also skeptical when my friend tossed them into the pan during a cooking session unguided by recipes, but, man, was that a fortunate leap of faith; the sweet juiciness of blueberries pairs perfectly with noodles and a creamy sauce! Bananas and strawberries were also stars of his dish. Sadly, the fourth course of cocoa noodles did not turn out quite as well as the fruit noodles. I adapted this recipe from one found here, mainly by tinkering with the spices, proportions, and cooking directions, and swapping out some of the ingredients. Ingredients: 16 oz soba noodles 3 cups blueberries ½ cup hoisin sauce 4 tbsp rice vinegar 4 tbsp lime juice 2 tsp sriracha 1 tbsp soy sauce 1 tbsp cornstarch 16 oz extra firm tofu Coconut oil for frying 5 cloves garlic 3 tbsp fresh ginger, minced (or ¾ tsp if using powdered) 1 tsp salt 1 cup fresh basil, chopped ¼ cup pine nuts, toasted Shredded coconut for topping Instructions:
Recipe #2: Blueberry, Coconut, & Peach Smoothie Bowl (Serves 1) Mmmm coconut goes so well in such a wide variety of dishes...from curries to smoothies, it lends a creaminess that cannot be matched. Pair it with blueberries and peaches, and we have a holy trinity. Ingredients: 1 peach, pitted and sliced 1 cup blueberries ¼ cup coconut cream ¾ cup coconut or almond milk ¼ tsp cardamom ¼ tsp vanilla 1 handful of ice cubes Extra toppings (cacao nibs, shredded coconut, pumpkin seeds, toasted walnuts, granola, chia seeds, ground flax seeds, hemp seeds, etc.) Instructions:
0 Comments
Blueberries rank just as highly in healthiness as they do in taste. Blueberries are most nutritious when eaten raw, as a baking temperature of 350 ℉ or higher will damage their vitamins, enzymes, and antioxidants. Nevertheless, they are still nutritious in baked goods as well (did someone say blueberry muffins?). Read on to find out more about why you should feed your body this delicious fruit!
1. Flavonoids (polyphenols with antioxidant properties), and more specifically, anthocyanins, are abundant in blueberries, and they neutralize free radicals in your body to prevent structural damage to cells. These antioxidants are believed to slow the physical aging process and help prevent cancer. Blueberries are believed to have the highest antioxidant level out of all commonly consumed fruits and vegetables! 2. The antioxidants in blueberries also prevent the oxidation of LDL cholesterol (harmful cholesterol), helping in turn to prevent heart disease. 3. Although one cup of blueberries contains 15 grams of sugar, research suggests that the anthocyanins prevent spikes in blood sugar levels and improve insulin sensitivity, thus helping lower your risk of Type 2 Diabetes. 4. Blueberries are a great source of fiber, measuring in at 3.6 grams per cup, and they therefore will help your digestive track move things along. 5. Blueberries are rich in Gallic acid, an antioxidant that helps prevent fungi and viruses from making you ill. Gallic acid may also soothe inflammatory diseases like asthma because it inhibits the release of histamines and pro-inflammatory cytokine expression. There are many, many other health benefits associated with blueberries, such as improved eye sight and memory. The levels of antioxidants in these berries are astounding and we can attribute most of the health benefits to these antioxidants. So, next time you grab some blueberries, don’t worry about their calorie count or how many minutes of exercise you need to do to burn them off...rest in the knowledge that you are doing your body a great service by eating some delicious berries! My family has been picking blueberries at the same farm for as long as I can remember. Indeed, some of my earliest memories involve my two brothers and I piling into the car with our homemade, recycled milk jug berry buckets (more on that in a moment). There are several benefits to picking your own berries, and if you have access to a farm, I highly suggest taking advantage of doing so this summer! In the Winston-Salem area of North Carolina, blueberry season typically lasts from late June until early August. Why do it?
1. The price of picking your own berries inevitably beats the price of buying those puny, little cartons of berries in the grocery store. I picked two gallons yesterday for $14, whereas the same amount in the average grocery store would cost around $40-$50. What’s more, if you go to the right farms, they will let you overfill the gallon buckets so you actually get even more bang for your buck! 2. Picking berries forces you to spend some quality time outdoors. Thus, you get some great Vitamin D without even eating anything! 3. You can eat berries while you pick (it slows you down, but who cares? Why would you turn down a free lunch?). 4. You support your local farmers, and you literally watch the blueberries make their way from farm to plate. They don’t travel across the entire country and harbor associated carbon emissions costs (an estimated 11% of carbon emissions related to the food industry are linked to food miles). A healthy local economy benefits both yourself and others. And if you live in the country like me, buying locally is just plain nice. 5. Your hands pick better berries than hired hands. When you pick your own berries, you have the power to choose the largest, juiciest berries available. 6. If you choose the farm at which you pick wisely, you can avoid eating berries treated with excessive pesticides. This benefits bodily and environmental health. 7. Picking your own berries helps you be more mindful and appreciative of food. When we are more mindful and appreciative, a blueberry (and life, for that matter) tastes sweeter. Tips for picking your own berries: 1. Go early in the morning, when the farm opens. The day is only going to get hotter. 2. Don’t pick the edges of the rows; that is where everyone else picks. Venture towards the middles of the rows for the most berries. I found yesterday that the sunniest row had the most berries because everyone else wanted to stay in the shade! 3. To go along with Tip 2, don’t pick the first bush you see. Choose your bush wisely; you want to find one that you can pull off handfuls of ripe berries all at once. If you are picking berries one at a time, you are doing it wrong. 4. Ripe berries will come off of the bush easily. Do not force the berries to come off the bush before they are ready. 5. Bring a milk jug bucket in which to put your berries (see photo). The buckets supplied by farms can be a pain to carry around. Simply take an old milk jug (or OJ jug for my vegans), cut off the top, and loop a belt through the handle. You can now wear it around your waist! 6. Bring along some music, a podcast, an audiobook, or a friend. You might be out there a while. Today, I picked two gallons of blueberries at our local patch, and man, do they taste good. This is the first of four posts on blueberries that I will be uploading over the next several days; today, we focus on mindfulness, tomorrow, on why and how you should pick your own berries, Friday, on the health benefits of blueberries, and Saturday, on how you should incorporate blueberries into your baking and cooking.
So, without further ado, an exercise in mindfulness: Have you ever taken the time to truly appreciate the blueberry, or do you just grab handfuls and pop them into your mouth? Next time you get the chance, follow these steps to become more mindful and appreciative of what you are eating. 1. Take one single blueberry and place it on a plain surface in front of you. 2. Look at the berry. Notice its texture. Appreciate its color gradient. How big is it? How many points are on its crown? Is it dry or is it wet? If it is wet, notice how the water is pooled on its spherical shape. Does it have any blemishes? 3. Place the berry in your hand and close your eyes. What does it feel like? Move the berry between your fingers and around the palm of your hand to sense its texture. Is it hard or soft? Does it feel fragile? Is it smooth? Does it have any wrinkles? Notice its weight. 4. Raise the berry to your nose. Do you smell anything? Does it smell sweet or sour? Does it smell fresh, or does it smell like chemicals? 5. Slice the berry cleanly in half with a sharp knife. Repeat steps 1-4. Additional questions to ask yourself include: How does the inside of the berry connect to the outside skin? What shapes do the color gradients form inside the berry? What new colors do you see? How are the seeds distributed? 6. Close your eyes, and place the berry in your mouth. Before you start chewing, appreciate its taste. Is it sweet or sour? Does the taste align with what you smelled earlier? Does the taste change over time from its initial state? Start to chew very slowly, appreciating how the textures and flavors change as you break down the berry. Notice how the juice might ooze or squirt from the berry. Listen to the sound of yourself chewing. 7. After about twenty seconds, mindfully swallow the berry. In the future, try to slow down when eating. Take the time to actually look at and taste your food. Among other things, mindful eating can help one overcome overeating, emotional eating, and stress eating. It forces us to slow down and give necessary attention and gratitude to food, a commodity that we often take for granted in first-world America because of its ubiquitousness. You can further appreciate the beauty and wonder of fresh produce when you eat slowly (honestly, do you not find yourself in awe every time you see the inside of okra?). I find eating with my fingers also helps me eat more mindfully. You can incorporate this practice into your life everyday with any kind of food, although it is easiest with simple foods. Enjoy. |
Archives
October 2018
Categories
All
|