Eat Healthier in 2016

Bok choy (chinese cabbage)The new year is here and your list of resolutions is most likely full and a little daunting. Surely one of your top goals for the year is to eat healthier! That’s a New Year’s resolution to keep for this year and every year! And Stewart’s is your local source for the freshest, healthiest foods, making it easy for you to eat healthy. Here is a list of easy and high on nutrition “super foods” that you need to add to your diet.

Kale
 No surprise here. This nutritional powerhouse is in fact the most nutrient rich natural food source on earth! Packed with antioxidants vitamin C, beta-carotene, kaempferol and quercetin, this cabbage variant  should be your new leafy salad ingredient. From vitamin A, K, C and B6 to calcium, magnesium and potassium, you name it and Kale has it and then some! Best of all, Kale helps you lose weight! 100 grams of raw kale only has about 40 calories in total while giving all these nutrients! Just drizzle kale leaves with some olive oil, sprinkle some salt on them and bake to make your own kale chips. Good substitutes for kale in recipes: rapini, collard greens, Swiss chard, mustard greens, napa cabbage, kohlrabi leaves and spinach.
Avocado
Not only full of delicious flavor, Avocados offer so many health benefits. Recent prominent studies prove that avocado increases cognitive function, improves blood pressure, lowers blood sugar, and improves cardiovascular health. They are high in the good fat that helps lower bad cholesterol. But in the case of Avocado, which is high in calories, eating too much may not be the best thing so best to enjoy in moderation, just like most great things! They call Avocado nature’s butter so use accordingly – as a healthy sub for butter.
Bok Choy
Another leafy powerhouse vegetable to enjoy more of this year is Bok Choy or Chinese Cabbage.  Bok Choy’s small leaves pack big amount of nutrients. Bok choy provides over 70 antioxidants, as well as high levels of Vitamin A, which promotes better eyesight. The antioxidant nutrients also give anti-inflammatory benefits and reducing the risk of persistent inflammation. The healthiest and simplest way to enjoy bok choy is making a soup out of it with vegetable stock or  subbing it in salads and stir-frys. Once you try it, Bok Choy will fast become a staple of your diet.
These 3 super foods are a great start but are just the tip of the iceberg!
A healthy fresh curly kale
Slices of fresh ripe avocado on a dark wooden table

Sources: Healwithfood.org, Womansera.com, Healthy Living.

Hearty Chicken Chorizo, Kale, Bean and Farro Soup

Chicken-Chorizo-Kale-Bean-Farro-SoupReady for a warm and delicious recipe for these cold winter days? Jeanette Chen from Jeanette’s Healthy Living shared this adaptable recipe to warm us all up. You can use whatever beans you have on hand (kidney, black bean, chickpeas, white beans, lentils), and substitute other grains for farro (e.g., whole grain pasta or barley; or for gluten-free version, substitute brown rice or quinoa). Instead of kale, you can also stir in some spinach (which cooks much faster).
This serves six and the total time with prep and cook time is only 50 minutes.
Hearty Chicken Chorizon, Kale, Bean and Farro Soup
Ingredients
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 (4-ounce) links fresh chicken Chorizo sausage (removed from casing)
1 carrot, peeled, thinly sliced
4 ounces mushrooms, chopped
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon Spanish smoked paprika
6 cups low sodium chicken broth
1½ cups or 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1½ cup or 1 (16 ounce) can beans, rinsed and drained (use your favorite)
½ cup quick cooking farro (or regular farro – you will have to cook it longer; use brown rice or quinoa for gluten-free option)
4 cups chopped kale (you can use frozen)
1 zucchini, quartered and cut into ¼ inch slices
Directions
Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add sausage and sauté for a few minutes, breaking up the pieces. Add carrots, mushrooms, onions and garlic. Sauté until sausage is cooked through, about 4-5 minutes. Add paprika, chicken broth, tomatoes, beans and farro. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cook 15 minutes or until farro is tender (if you use regular farro, it may take 25 minutes). Add kale and zucchini and continue cooking another 6-7 minutes until kale is just tender.

Winter Recipe – Warm Kale, Farro & Winter Fruit Salad

Farro Kale Winter Salad_edited-1Jeanette Chen, a resident of New Canaan for 20 years, is the busy mom of 4 boys and author of a popular health and wellness food blog, Jeanette’s Healthy Living. She’s off to a healthy start to the New Year with this kid approved Warm Kale, Farro and Winter Fruit Salad, packed with goodness. Farro is a whole grain that looks a little like barley, and retains a soft but chewy texture when cooked. It is rich in fiber, magnesium and vitamins A, B, C, and E.
Warm Kale, Farro and Winter Fruit Salad
Yield: 6
Use your favorite vinegar and dried fruits. Fresh cut apples or clementines would also be nice.
Ingredients

  • 1 cup semi-pearled farro
  • 2 cups water
  • 2 tablespoons pomegranate vinegar or your favorite fruit flavored vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries
  • 1/2 cup dried figs, quartered
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 4 cups chopped kale leaves
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
  • 1/4 cup crumbled aged goat cheese or regular goat cheese

Directions

  1. Place farro and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cook, covered, for 20-25 minutes until tender (but still chewy). Drain, rinse and drain again. Place in a large bowl and toss with vinegar, honey, dried cranberries and dried figs.
  2. In a large saute pan, heat olive oil and add kale leaves. Saute 1-2 minutes until kale is just tender. Add to farro, along with salt, pine nuts and goat cheese. Toss well and serve.

Farro