I came across this article in The Seattle Times’ Food & Wine section after doing some research on New Years culinary customs. The Missus introduced her Southern custom to my Irish family last year; eating black eyed peas with either collard greens or cabbage on New Years day which represent good health, luck and money. Cabbage to Irish people is like grass to cows, (only an Irishman could make up a proverb like that on the spot!) but the black eyed peas drew a crowd of curiosity since no one in the fam bam had ever eaten them before. I took great pleasure in watching everyone taste something new which brings me to present day wondering what other New Year food traditions are being eaten even as I type.

To quote from the article, “A bite of pickled herring is a small price to pay for prosperity.”

BEANS AND PEAS
Black eyed peas in the South (USA), typically accompanied by either hog jowls or ham, lentils in Brazil, green lentils in Italy & Hungary. Some say it’s because they resemble coins but it’s also very ancient. Since dried beans swell when they’re cooked, they have always represented getting more. Some believe each bean represents a day of good health. That means you need to scarf down 365! Better get cracking.

DOUGHNUTS
Traditional New Year foods are also thought to bring luck. Many cultures believe that anything in the shape of a ring is good luck, because it symbolizes “coming full circle,” completing a year’s cycle. For that reason, the Dutch believe that eating donuts on New Year’s Day will bring good fortune. Wonder what they were smoking that day??

GREEN LEAFY THINGS
Cabbage is another “good luck” vegetable, also considered a sign of prosperity, that is consumed on New Year’s Day by many. Collards in the South, cabbage in Korea (kimchi), Bosnia, Croatia and Germany (sauerkraut). Southerners think green leaves represent dollars, but connections to leafy greens date to cultures that didn’t have green paper currency. It probably has more to do with ancient beliefs that green is lucky because of its connection to spring and new growth.

RICE & RISOTTO
In some regions, rice is a lucky food that is eaten on New Year’s Day. Rice swells when cooked so it symbolizes getting more in the Piedmont region of Italy.

EGG ROLLS
Egg rolls and stacks of spring rolls represent gold bars in some Asian cultures.

FISH
Herring, pickled and not pickled, in Germany, Scandinavia, Poland; cod in Denmark and Italy. Fish stands for prosperity because of the need for a good catch or from the idea of hauling in riches. Some Asian cultures also serve fish with the head and tail on to represent a complete life.

PORK
Pork stands for prosperity & abundance in many cultures from Eastern to Western. There are several theories but the most common is that because pigs root while moving forward, they represent moving forward and gaining riches. (Associated with bad luck: Cows, which stand still to eat, chickens, which scratch backward, and lobsters, which move backward.)

A bit of interesting foodie info to reign in health and prosperity in the New Year. Cheers to lots of it!

As the year comes to a close, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for spending time with me and The Missus on The Healthy Irishman.

We’re passionate about helping you and your family eat healthier by creating recipes that are quick and easy to recreate, tasty and of course healthy. Every day we search the markets for the freshest and coolest ingredients available and add helpful new tips and articles about them for you to share in our findings on thehealthyirishman.com. We’ve had a great year and have lots to look forward to next year.

In the New Year we plan to keep up our hard work, working even harder to find new culinary tools, ingredients and to keep creating great food. In the infamous words of one J.T., I’m Bringing Healthy Back. So keep checking in with us and don’t forget to tell all your family, friends and basically anyone that’ll listen to visit us so we can all get our health on.

Cheers to a Prosperous and Healthy 2009!

Ate too much yesterday? Looking for something quick ‘n’ easy?
“Nothing warms you more than a hearty soup and this is just the ticket. Healthy to boot, this soup is loaded with fresh veggies and even your left over turkey from Christmas dinner.”
Check out my latest post on Healthhabits

Need a last minute Christmas side dish idea? Look no further than this week’s post on Dancing Spoon:

“I thought of this recipe back in November as a healthy alternative for the green bean casserole with that canned mushroom muck, but decided to keep it in the vault for December: it has such a lovely organic earthy flavor. The taste is comforting and rustic–a perfect side for a roast or turkey.

This recipe is simple and quick and you can even start it a day in advance. Stress free cooking—my gift to you!”

Continue reading Sage Green Beans

Like any good Irish household butter was a huge staple in the fridge as it was in our house. Butter on freshly boiled potatoes was the business and then margarine arrived on the scene and there was this hype about how much better is was for you. I thought it tasted like Castrol oil.

The reason for this very insightful piece of scripture? I came across an article in the LA Times last week about which is better for baking, Butter or Margarine? Now to be honest I’m not renowned as a Pat the Baker or a Sara Lee, but I can pull together a bit of bread or something on occasion. Hence, I was more interested in reading about the health differences than whether my biscuits (cookies) will be buttery and flaky.

Interestingly enough both have a similar overall fat content and calories but the most significant difference is the breakdown of the type of fats in each. A tablespoon of butter has 3 times as much cholesterol raising fat as margarine, BUT it’s the trans fat in the margarine that’s the killer, figuratively speaking of course. Trans fats are what make margarine solid instead of liquid. The key thing here is that trans fats are worse than saturated fats which are not only bad for your heart but also hits you with a double whammy of raising your bad cholesterol AND lowering the good. Margarine, however is higher in “good” fats — polyunsaturated and monounsaturated — than butter is, but butter on the other hand, is made from animal fat so it contains cholesterol and high levels of saturated fat. So what do you do?

In cooking terms, butter and margarine both tend to make thin, flat biscuits (cookies). Though margarine often has some more health benefits than butter it’s really a personal choice isn’t it? For what it’s worth, for me butter is a natural product that I grew up eating it so I’m going for the butter over the margarine in terms of taste and flavour when I do indulge.
Everything in moderation isn’t that what they say?

Just in time for the holidays here are some great festive ideas!

Today on HealthHabits:

“In my last post I told you that Pork has some great lean cuts but did you know that Beef also has a lot of lean protein? Now 29 cuts of beef meet government guidelines for being “lean”. So how does it stack up against skinless chicken breast in terms of fat content?….”

And what about those sprouts? You can find this recipe on DancingSpoon:

“Brussels Sprouts are a good Irish staple. I don’t remember a Christmas dinner across the pond without them. Now the cranberries mixed with them is a new one, but I had left over dried cranberries from the Salmon recipe so I decided to play around with it……”

People typically see chowder as a creamy thick fish soup particularly clam chowder in most places or with tomato as “Manhattan clam chowder.” The word “chowder” is a New England word that came from Newfoundland, where Breton fishermen — who would throw portions of the day’s catch and other available foods into a large pot — introduced the word, and perhaps the fish soup itself. Another possible origin for the word chowder is derived from the Old English “jowter”, which means fishmonger (one who peddles fish). I’d love to claim to have known all of that but I have to give props to wikipedia for their insightfulness.
What I do know is chowder is usually made from a roux but in this case I substituted the butter for oil.

Canola oil is low in saturated fat but is high in monounsaturated fat — a good thing! Monounsaturated fats benefit heart health. I’m not a fan of cream and/or butter in my cooking and to be honest I don’t eat them either but I do love chowder so this is my version of a healthy, no cream or butter version.

RECIPE:
4-6 servings:

4 tbsp. canola oil
1/3 cup white flour
4 cups fat-free (skim) milk
1/2 cup white onion – small dice
1 cup carrot – small diced
1 cup clam juice
1 1/2 cups cooked lobster meat – cut into bite size pieces
2 cups white potatoes – medium dice
1 x 15 1/4 can corn kernels
2 tbsp. chives – chopped
2 bay leaves
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
S&P to taste

Optional:
Since lobster can be pricey you could use mussels or clams if preferred. Or you can keep it as a corn and potato chowder.

A very good friend of mine back home saw I put clam juice in another recipe of mine and said something to the effect of ‘Clam juice, WTF? Where am I going to get that ’round here?’
You know who you are, a cara, but simply put use your head. Get some clams. Steam them in some white wine and herbs and voila you’ve got yourself some, what? CLAM JUICE. Brilliant.
Anyway continuing on…

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat a large soup pot on medium heat. Add canola oil and saute onions for 2-3 mins stirring occasionally. Do not brown. You want the onions to be soft and translucent. Once softened add diced carrots and continue cooking for another 2 mins still stirring and not browning. If the onion-carrot mixture begins to brown remove pot from the heat until temperature has dropped.
Add flour to onion carrot mixture and stir constantly on the heat until the flour begins to cook and is absorbed by the oil. Continue cooking for 2 mins. stirring constantly.
Add clam juice, milk and bay leaf and increase temperature to high so as to thicken the soup. With a whisk keep stirring soup as it thickens and make sure it doesn’t stick to bottom of pan.
Once boiling reduce heat to medium low. Add diced potatoes and corn and continue cooking for additional 20 mins.
At this stage you’re cooking the soup to get rid of any raw flour taste.
Just before serving add chopped chives and lobster.
Taste and season with salt and pepper to your personal preference.
If the soup is too thick add enough chicken broth to improve the consistency.

All recipes are made with the finest quality farmers market whole foods, natural and non-processed ingredients as much as possible.

Soda bread is one of those classic Irish bread recipes that’s handed down from generation to generation. It’s one of the first recipes I learned way back when. Those of you who’ve been following me for a while will have seen my brown soda bread recipe and video. I decided to take my own challenge from my previous sugar post and try a sweet variety of the soda bread recipe. Scones are typically much lighter (they use butter and eggs) than soda bread so I use the term loosely here.

RECIPE:
Makes 45 mini scones approx. or 1 large loaf

4 cups plain white all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup xylitol (natural sugar substitute) plus additional for sprinkling before baking.
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
2 cups low-fat buttermilk
1 egg beaten for egg wash

NOTE: Not being a big sweets guy I tailored this recipe to my taste. The flavors here are distinctive yet subtle, however if you have more of a sweet tooth go ahead and add a touch more of ’sugar’ and spices to make it all nices. (I came up with that all by myself, can you tell?)

DIRECTIONS:

Pre-heat oven 400F (200C)
Thoroughly mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of mixture and pour in buttermilk. Stir using one hand in circular motion starting in the center of bowl working towards the outside until all the flour is incorporated. Dough will be sticky. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead lightly 4-5 times. Roll flat to about 1 inch thick and use 3 inch cutters to shape scones.
Place onto baking sheet and brush tops with egg wash. Sprinkle each scone lightly with xylitol.
Bake 10 – 12 mins and let cool on wire rack.

All recipes are made with the finest quality farmers market whole foods, natural and non-processed ingredients as much as possible.

So apparently it’s cookie time over here in the States. Herself was invited to her friends place for a cookie party, which is a cookie swap. (Huh?) This is brand new on me. Seriously if you want people to come over, do as the Irish do and just tell them there’s free beer. I’d go. Anyway it got me thinking about the types of cookies that would turn up. I’m not a sweets person (big shock) but I’m always on the hunt for healthier ingredients to use, whether for sweet or savory cuisine. You already know I’m a big fan of agave, honey, and my latest finding, Xylitol. But when I found this article in Natural Health Magazine I was delighted to see how many other great natural sugar alternatives there are.  

Barley Malt
Made from fermented grains whose starches have turned to sugars, barley malt syrup tastes slightly like malted milk balls. 1 tbsp (21g) has 60 cals, no fat, no sodium, no cholesterol, 14g carbs, 1g of protein & 8g of sugar. 

Raw Honey
You know I’m already a fan of using honey & agave and this is precisely why: Loaded with natural enzymes, vitamins, and minerals, honey comes in a variety of colors, ranging from intensely flavorful dark brown to lighter (and milder) shades of gold. Always go organic, and because raw honey contains live spores, never use it to sweeten the food of an infant or toddler without consulting a doctor first. 1 tbsp (21g) has 60 cals, no fat, sodium, or protein, 17g carbs and 16g of sugar.

Brown Rice Syrup
The rich butterscotch taste of this syrup, derived from cooked brown rice, mixes well with oatmeal and other hot whole grain cereals. 1 tbsp (21g) has 75 cals, zero fat, cholesterol, & no protein, 35g sodium, 18g carbs and 11g of sugar. 

Stevia
From a South American herb, Stevia rebaudiana, stevia is much sweeter than sugar and has a slightly bitter licorice taste. Available in powder and liquid forms, it’s good for diabetics because of its mild effect on blood sugar levels. The Missus had this in our garden this summer and used it to sweeten iced tea when steeping. Stevia has zero cals & no carbs. 

Read the rest of this entry »

I’m racking my brain trying to figure out what to make for Christmas dinner. You see, the typical Irish Christmas dinner is basically what is eaten over here on Thanksgiving and let’s face it, I’ve eaten my share of gobblygoo to last until the new year. So I decided to spice up “the other white meat” and give it a go with a touch of sweet.

Bet you didn’t know that pork is actually a great choice for a lean protein.

What’s more, pork tenderloin is now as lean as skinless chicken breast. That’s excellent news for those of us who eat chicken on a regular basis.

Want to read on?