Recipes

Sweet Potato and Poblano Pepper Salad

Oh la la the contrasts in this dish: color, texture, sweet and spicy. Now here’s a potato salad I love!

Add the black beans and it’s robust and filling enough to be a main entree.

I serve it at room temperature. You can make it a day ahead. If so (the dressing gets absorbed over night), mix 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar with 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil and toss again before serving.

It’s very popular at our summer dinner parties. I like to serve it with pork tenderloin (grilled or roasted), a quinoa pilaf and a green salad. Vegetarians/vegans can skip the pork and still have a well-balanced, delicious meal.

It also pairs well with grilled chicken.

Sweet potatoes are rich in cartenoids, orange, yellow or red-colored fat soluble compounds that protect plants from sun damage while they help them attract birds and bees for pollination. Cartenoids help protect us from free radicals, modulate our immune response, enhance cell-to-cell communication and play a major role in protecting the skin and eyes from damaging effects of ultraviolet light. Foods rich in cartenoids have been linked to a host of health-promoting and disease-fighting activities. They have been shown to decrease the risk of various cancers, including lung, colon, bladder, cervical, breast and skin.
Superfoods RX: Fourteen Foods that Will Change Your Life, Steven Pratt, MD and Kathy Matthews

 

Pumpkin Apple Muffins

Every bite of these muffins tastes like fall, evoking cooler weather and a kaleidoscope of orange, gold, rusts and red color in the trees.

The flavor and texture is so lovely and the nutrition of pumpkin, apple, nuts and seeds motivate me to make them at other times of the year as well.

[su_expanding_quote_book source_author=”Steven Pratt, M.D., and Kathy Matthews” source_title=”SuperFoods Rx: Fourteen Foods that Will Change Your Life” affiliate_link=”http://amzn.to/1TGUOyo” full_quote=”Pumpkin packs an abundance of disease-fighting nutrients, including potassium, magnesium and vitamin C and E. The key nutrient that boosts pumpkin to the top of the Superfoods Rx list is the synergistic combination of cartenoids. Pumpkin contains one of the richest supplies of bioavailable cartenoid known to man. Cartenoids are deep orange, yellow or red colored compounds that help protect us from free radicals, modulate our immune response, enhance cell-to-cell communication, and decrease the risk of cataracts and macular degeneration. Cartenoid-rich foods have been shown to reduce the risk of various cancers, lower and rates of heart disease.” short_quote=”Pumpkin packs an abundance of disease-fighting nutrients, including potassium, magnesium and vitamin C and E”]