Vitamin E

Today I'm learning about Vitamin E, and it's natural sources. I love the website http://whfoods.org/ It is SO helpful to learn about vitamins and nutrients, why we need them, where we can get them naturally, etc.

So check out Vitamin E

A brief synopsis of what I learned is that Vitamin E protects us from free radical damage (cancer), as well as heart disease. Cool!! Give me some of that!

Here is part of their chart of the foods you can get it from. Click on each food to learn more about it too!

World's Healthiest Foods ranked as quality sources of vitamin E
Food	Serving Size	Cals	Amount (mg (ATE))	DRI/DV (%)	Nutrient Density	World's Healthiest Foods Rating
Sunflower Seeds	0.25 cup	204.4	12.31	82.07	7.2	excellent
Spinach	1 cup	41.4	3.74	24.93	10.8	excellent
Swiss Chard	1 cup	35.0	3.31	22.07	11.3	excellent
Turnip Greens	1 cup	28.8	2.71	18.07	11.3	excellent
Asparagus	1 cup	39.6	2.70	18.00	8.2	excellent
Mustard Greens	1 cup	36.4	2.49	16.60	8.2	excellent
Chili Peppers	2 tsp	15.2	2.06	13.73	16.2	excellent
Almonds	0.25 cup	132.2	6.03	40.20	5.5	very good
Broccoli	1 cup	54.6	2.26	15.07	5.0	very good
Bell Peppers	1 cup	28.5	1.45	9.67	6.1	very good
Kale	1 cup	36.4	1.11	7.40	3.7	very good
Cayenne Pepper	2 tsp	11.4	1.07	7.13	11.2	very good
Tomatoes	1 cup	32.4	0.97	6.47	3.6	very good
Avocado	1 cup	240.0	3.11	20.73	1.6	good
Peanuts	0.25 cup	206.9	3.04	20.27	1.8	good
Shrimp	4 oz	134.9	2.49	16.60	2.2	good

Thai Chickpea Quinoa

Our neighbor, Beth Winder, made us DELICIOUS quinoa one night for dinner swap, and I just had to have the recipe! THIS is it. I have adapted it to our own preferences. It is an excellent way to eat quinoa. 

And HERE is why it is so healthy and wonderful to eat Quinoa.

Thai Chickpea Quinoa 

YIELD: SERVES 4

 

TOTAL TIME: 30 MINUTES

ingredients:

1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
1 can chickpeas
3/4 cup shredded (or finely chopped) carrots
3/4 cup shelled edamame
2/3 cup chopped green onions
1/2 cup chopped peanuts (or cashews)
1/2 cup freshly chopped cilantro

sauce
3 TB. agave
1 TB. apple cider vinegar (or rice vinegar)
2 TB. canned coconut milk (I froze the rest in ice cube trays)
1 TB. honey (or brown sugar)
2 tsp. creamy peanut butter (it mixes in easier if it's melted, FYI)
2 tsp. garlic
1/4 cup lime juice (or lemon)

1/8-1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. ground ginger

Directions

Prepare quinoa according to directions, which will most likely call for 2 cups of liquid. I prefer to use low-sodium chicken or vegetable stock, so if you have that, use it!

While quinoa is cooking, combine all of the sauce ingredients together in a bowl and whisk well to combine. 

Once quinoa has absorbed all of the liquid, stir in the sauce and toss well to coat. 

Add in chickpeas, carrots, edamame and green onions, stirring to combine. 

Taste and season with a little salt and pepper if needed. 

Toss in half of the peanuts and cilantro, then serve in a large bowl, topped with remaining peanuts and cilantro. 

I like to serve this with a salad, soup or even a little sandwich!

Cream of Broccoli and Cauliflower Soup

Cream of Broccoli and Cauliflower Soup

Serves 

Ingredients:
Veggies:
- 2 onions
- 4 Tb. garlic
- 2 stalk celery
- 2 cups frozen (or fresh) peas
- 5 cups cauliflower
- 5 cup broccoli

- 6 cups water or veggie stock

Seasonings:
- 1 Tb. dry oregano
- 2 tsp. dry thyme
- 2 tsp. dry basil
- 2 tsp. coriander
- 2 tsp. cumin
- 3 TB soy sauce
- 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp. brown mustard 
Finishing Touches:
- 1 large handful (about 1 1/2 cup) spinach
- 1 can chickpeas or white beans
- 1 cup nutritional yeast (in the bulk section of your health food store)
- 1 1/2 cup cashews
- 1/4 cup lemon juice (or to taste)

- 1 tsp. salt (or to taste)
- fresh cracked pepper

Directions:
1. Heat a large pot on medium high heat while you rough chop your onion (but not so rough as to chop your finger :) I've learned that lesson a time or two...), then start sauteing your onion adding sufficient amounts of water to keep it from sticking or burning.

2. While onion is sauteing, rough chop all your other vegetables and add (except for spinach) to the pot. Saute for about 5 more minutes, or until onions are translucent.

3. Add water/veggie stock to the pot and bring to a boil. Turn down heat to a simmer.

4. Add all the seasonings and simmer for about 10 minutes.

5. Remove from heat, add nutritional yeast, beans, cashews (that's where the "creamy" comes in!) and lemon juice. Then puree using an immersion blender (or ladle small amounts carefully into a blender).

6. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Tips:
-You can garnish the soup with anything you like really, cashews, sliced spinach, cilantro, bell peppers, avocado... you name it!
- You can use this as your main dish, as a side, as a base for another creamy soup. The sky is the limit!
- And don't be afraid of substituting other veggies. Use what you have. 

Put On My "Stress is My Friend" Glasses

I watched my first "TED Talk" How to Make Stress Your Friend (I know! It's amazing that I haven't watched any before now. But I'm ok with that). This was the video, and I am SO glad I watched it. She talks about her findings being "new research" and yes, perhaps this is the first academic research conducted in this way, but these studies just scientifically prove many of the concepts I've been taught my whole life. For example, our prophet, Thomas S. Monson just spoke again about how reaching out to others blesses not only them but especially us. "Love - The Essence of the Gospel"

But I had not thought of it before in connection to my stress response, so I am very thankful for that new perspective. I have also been taught through the gospel that the way we see the world and what happens to us will largely determine our happiness. For example, in The Book of Mormon, Nephi and his family went on a very difficult journey in the wilderness. They left their home and their possessions, following a commandment of God, in search of a promised land, the new world (before Jerusalem will be destroyed around 600BC). They were travelling in the wilderness 8 years. It was a long an hard journey. They went hungry, had family strife, had children in the wilderness, had no place to call home.

Nephi doesn't pretend that it was easy. He attests that, "we had suffered many ^aafflictions and much difficulty, yea, even so much that we cannot write them all,"

Yet, Nephi had an attitude of gratitude. He knew that stress/trials/afflictions were a part of life, our mortal journey, and he didn't see those experiences as the enemy, but as an opportunity to see the hand of God in his life, and to develop and progress. He says,"

"And we did travel and ^awade through much affliction in the wilderness; and our ^bwomen did bear children in the wilderness.
 2 And so great were the ^ablessings of the Lord upon us, that while we did live upon ^braw ^cmeat in the wilderness, our women did give plenty of suck for their children, and were strong, yea, even like unto the men; and they began to bear their journeyings without murmurings. And thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled. And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and ^astrengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them; wherefore, he did ^bprovide means for us while we did sojourn in the wilderness.... [and] we were exceedingly rejoiced... "

(1 Nephi 17 Italics added)

Nephi chose to be Grateful in Any Circumstances But his older brothers, Laman and Lemuel, see their journey and all their trials as the worst ever. They saw everything with a mental filter of negativity which magnified all their sufferings. They say,

"20 And thou art like unto our father, led away by the foolish^aimaginations of his heart; yea, he hath led us out of the land of Jerusalem, and we have wandered in the wilderness for these many years; and our women have toiled, being big with child; and they have borne children in the wilderness and suffered all things, save it were death; and it would have been better that they had died before they came out of Jerusalem than to have suffered these afflictions.

 21 Behold, these many years we have suffered in the wilderness, which time we might have enjoyed our possessions and the land of our inheritance; yea, and we might have been happy."

(1 Nephi 17 Italics added)

Who sounds like they were more happy? I'm going to pick Nephi. He took the same journey as his brothers, but yet because he saw his journey differently and remembered his purpose for taking his journey, he made the stress his friend. He let it help him grow. He saw it as a blessing. I want to be like him. I will try to be like him. I'm not perfect, but the cool thing is, neither was he! Yet he chose happiness, and so can I.

It's all about our perspective. Which glasses will you choose to see out of? I am going to choose the "Stress is My Friend" glasses.