Tag: nutrients

Slow Cooker Osso Buco – recipe

Today I’m sharing a favourite recipe – Slow Cooker Osso Buco.

We are back from our road trip holiday which was spent mostly in the warmer North Queensland. It is definitely cooler here in the South East.

At this time of year, we generally use our slow cooker a lot more to make some lovely winter warmer casseroles. One of our favourites is Osso Buco.

Not only does the slow cooker method save time, it also keeps so many nutrients in the dish. Making this style of cooking so much healthier.

It is a very simple, nourishing dish that is so easy to make, so today I thought I would share our recipe.

Slow Cooker Osso Buco

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

4 slices of beef osso buco (approx. 800g)

1/2 large brown onion, diced

1 stick of celery diced

3 cloves garlic, crushed

2 medium carrots, peeled and diced

4 mushrooms sliced

1/2 cup red wine

1 400g can crushed tomatoes

2 tubs Continental Beef Stock Pot Sensations

4 sprigs of thyme

3 bay leaves

Method
  • Heat oil in a non-stick frypan over medium high heat. Add the slices of osso buco and sear until browned on both sides. Transfer into the slow cooker pot.
  • Then add the onion, celery to the frypan and cook until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute, adding a tbsp or 2 of water to the frypan to loosen up the mix and add the lot to the slow cooker pot.
  • Then into the pot goes the diced carrots and sliced mushrooms
  • Followed by the canned tomatoes, wine and the stock, then stir to combine. Add the bay leaves and thyme sprigs.
  • Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours. or until the meat is tender and falling off the bone.
  • Discard sprigs of thyme and bay leaves.
  • Serve with mashed potato or rice and steamed green vegetables. Sprinkle fresh parsley on top prior to serving, if desired.

Bananas – should we eat the skin?

Todays post is about bananas and whether we should eat their skin as well.

There have been a lot of social media posts regarding this topic recently. It seems to have started with an Australian dietitian – Susie Burrell, who says we should be eating bananas skin and all.

Susie Burrell has stated that eating the peel is an easy way to boost your diet with extra dietary fibre, vitamin B6, vitamin C and magnesium. She recommends blending or baking them to break down the cell walls to make the nutrients easier to absorb – for example, in smoothies, cakes and curries.

The Pro’s and Con’s

The idea of eating the banana and the skins may seem like a good way to increase your nutrient intake.

As ripe yellow skins are rich in antioxidants that can help fight cancer, and green skins contain the amino acid tryptophan, which promotes better sleep. The skins also contain resistant start, a type of fibre that benefits gut health.

However, as vitamins C and B6 are destroyed by heat, using the skins in baking or curries to consume these nutrients doesn’t seem viable. Using them in smoothies makes more sense.

The other factor to consider is chemical absorption. The popular Cavendish variety of bananas are bred using cuttings, not seeds. That means there is no genetic diversity among the plants, and therefore they have weak immunity. As a result, it’s one of the most heavily sprayed crops. The peel, or skins, of the banana absorb some of these pesticides.

Peeled bananas are still healthy

Bananas are a great source of potassium, an essential mineral for maintaining normal blood pressure and heart function. One medium-sized banana can contain approximately 400mg of potassium.

A medium-size banana also contains about 3 grams of total fibre. Fibre is a nutrient that helps regulate the speed of digestion. When our digestion is well regulated, the conversion of carbohydrates to simple sugars and the subsequent release of simple sugars into the body is also regulated.

Approximately one-third of the fibre in bananas is actually a water-soluble fibre. Soluble fibres in food have been associated with a decreased risk of heart disease.
Within their total fibre content, bananas also contain pectin’s. Some of the components in pectin’s are water-soluble, and others are not. As bananas ripen, their water-soluble pectin’s increase, and as a result bananas become softer in texture as they ripen.

As the water-soluble pectin’s increase, so does the concentration of fructose. The mixture of the water-soluble pectin’s and fructose content helps control how fast the body digests the carbohydrates which then reduces the impact of the consumed banana on our blood glucose level.

They are low fat – 

Bananas are a very low-fat food with less than 4% of their calories being from fats. One types of fat that they do contain in small amounts are called sterols. The sterols can assist to block the absorption of dietary cholesterol. By blocking the absorption, they help keep blood cholesterol levels in check.

Therefore the takeaway from all of this,

Including bananas in your daily meal plan may help to prevent high blood pressure, improve digestion and lower cholesterol and blood glucose levels. I have previously shared some recipes using bananas that you may wish to try – Smoothies, Breakfast drinks & Seeded Banana Bread.


If you do decide to consume your bananas with the skin, make sure you choose certified organic product, and wash them well to avoid any possible pesticide residues.
I hope you found this post interesting.

Till the next one,

Live clean n prosper.

Sources – healthline.com, lifeStyle.com.au, whfoods.org

A look at Green Tea

Today’s post is about Green Tea, Matcha and it’s health benefits. 

A family member recently asked me what the difference was between Matcha green tea and other green teas. Apart from knowing that Matcha is a finely ground tea, I was not aware of any other differences. After some research, this is what I have found out.

So first, what is ‘green tea’?

According to Wikipedia, Green tea is a type of tea that is made from Camellia sinensis, which is native to China. It is green because the leaves and buds have not undergone the same withering and oxidation process used to make oolong teas and black teas. Several varieties of green tea exist, which differ substantially based on the variety of Camellia sinensis and any other ingredients that may be added.

What is ‘Matcha’?

Matcha is the type of tea used in the Japanese tea ceremony. It is traditionally prepared by whisking the tea with hot water in a bowl, until the surface is frothy.

All green teas come from the same breed of plant. However, to create matcha the plants are treated differently. The tea bushes are actually shielded from sunlight for about 20–30 days before harvest. The shade triggers an increase in chlorophyll levels, which turns the leaves a darker shade of green and increases the production of amino acids. After harvesting, the stems and veins are removed from the leaves. They are then stone-ground into the fine, bright green powder known as matcha.

Is green tea healthier?

Whole-leaf green tea is not processed very much before it’s ingested. Therefore green teas contain the highest concentration of beneficial phytonutrients and the least caffeine of all the teas. Since matcha is simply a variety of green tea, it has most of the same health benefits. However, because the whole leaf powder is ingested, it’s stronger than regular green tea. 

The matcha also has higher levels of caffeine and antioxidants than regular green tea. Green tea’s biggest benefit is the abundance of catechin content. Catechins are a group of polyphenols with high antioxidant power. Dietary antioxidants counteract free radicals in your body, protecting cells and tissues from damage.

How does it improve our health?

Drinking green tea has been shown to improve blood flow and lower cholesterol. A 2013 review of many studies found that this type of tea helped prevent a range of heart-related issues, from high blood pressure to congestive heart failure.

Green tea also contains a unique amino acid called L-theanine. L-theanine can increase the number of feel-good chemicals in your brain, leading to improved mood, memory, and concentration. It also modifies the effects of caffeine in your body, increasing alertness without causing the drowsiness that often follows coffee consumption.

Green tea has often been associated with weight loss. However, a recent review concluded that the weight loss effects of the tea are so small that they are not of any clinical importance.

Next time you think of having a quiet cuppa, give green tea a try to get the best from your tea break:

  • Don’t add boiling water to green tea. It’s bad for all those healthy chemicals in the tea.
  • Add lemon. Vitamin C makes the catechins easier to absorb.
  • Don’t add dairy, it makes it harder for the body to absorb the catechins.
  • Nutrient levels in green tea can vary. Pricier teas usually have more.
  • Canned green-tea drinks generally have more additives and fewer nutrients.

relax and enjoy.                                                  (Sources http://whfoods.org, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, www.webmd.com)   Till the next post,   

Live clean n Prosper