Today’s episode features one of my favorite anti-aging foods: kale. Kale is a cruciferous vegetables, and adding it to a well-balanced, nutritious diet may help to reduce your risk of heart disease, certain cancers, and macular degeneration. Tune in to learn about the nutrients in kale, how to add it to your everyday meals and snacks, the different varieties available at the market, and get new recipes including my Kale and Pine Nut Pesto.
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Kale has been the “veggie of the moment” for a while now, because it’s super nutritious and versatile. Add it to soups, salads, and smoothies or enjoy as a side dish.
Kale and Pine Nut Pesto is a nutritious twist on traditional pesto. Use it as a sauce for your next pasta dinner.
30 ways to add more kale to your diet. Check out these 30 recipes.
Show highlights:
- Kale is a cruciferous vegetable related to cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, collard greens, arugula, bok choy, radishes, turnips, watercress, and wasabi
- The types of kale:
- Curly kale can be added to salads, soups, and smoothies.
- Dinosaur or Tuscan kale, Italian kale also called Lacinato kale, is distinguished by long, slender, blue-green leaves that are not curly but puckered like savoy cabbage.
- Red Russian or Ragged Jack kale is an heirloom kale that looks like overgrown oak leaves and ranges in color from blue-green to purple-red; it has a sweeter flavor.
- Baby kale is the term for the young, immature leaves of the kale plant that are great for any use.
- Superfood nutrition and antioxidants in kale: Kale is a source of vitamin K, C, beta carotene, calcium, folate, and fiber.
- Kale is packed with antioxidants like beta carotene, vitamin C, flavonoids, and polyphenols, which help to slow the aging process and help reduce the risk of certain cancers, heart disease, high cholesterol, and neurodegenerative disorders.
- Facts: only one in ten people in the US eats the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables each day!
- Why we shouldn’t pay too much attention to the recent Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen List. (You would have to eat over 18,000 servings of kale daily to put your body at risk!)
- Ideas to add more kale to your everyday diet for dinner, breakfast, snacks, sides, and salads
- My Garden Green Smoothie recipe made with orange juice, baby kale, Greek yogurt, fresh mint leaves, English cucumber, mango chunks, banana, and honey.
- The scoop on kale chips and my best tips for preventing them from getting soggy
- My recipe for Kale and Pine Nut Pesto: Baby kale leaves, toasted pine nuts, olive oil, mint leaves, Parmesan cheese, garlic, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, honey, salt and pepper
- Check out the Recipe Roundup on the blog with recipes for Wild Rice and Kale Salad; Kale and Sausage Gnocchi Bake; Creamy Chicken, Kale, and Rice Mushroom Soup; and Caesar Salad with Kale and Chicken
Helpful links mentioned in this episode:
Cruciferous vegetables and cancer
Don’t be afraid of the Dirty Dozen
Liz’s Links:
My website: www.lizshealthytable.com
My email: [email protected]
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