Despite the calendar, it’s wintertime in Cleveland. Can’t get the chill out of your bones? This one-pot meal is the perfect remedy. It makes the house smell great and keeps you in leftovers for days. If you happen to be lucky enough to have a cast iron skillet, you can use it for this recipe. But if you (like me) don’t, any ovenproof pot will do.
Author Archives: Dr. Sukol
Where the Lucky Cows Live
Many years ago my husband and I, in different fields, nevertheless found ourselves at the same conference in San Francisco. Afterward, we rented a car and took a lazy drive up the coast. The Pacific backdrop was beyond spectacular; we had never seen anything like it. From time to time we drove past small herds of contented, unimpressed cattle resting on bright green grassy knolls. “Lucky cows,” muttered my husband. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Black Beans and Butternut Squash
Sometimes you’re just aching for something sweet, spicy and homey to warm you from the inside out. You know what I mean? If it sounds like I’m describing you, then try this recipe. Sundays are a great day for this one.
Nutrition in a Nutshell
Here’s my elevator speech about nutrition, what I choose to say to the patient with just 10 seconds for some advice. “Can you fit it into 10 seconds, doc?” You bet! “Eat more fruits and vegetables.”
Marion Nestle says it like this: 1) Aspire to variety (the more colors the better), 2) avoid partaking heavily of any single food category (notably meat, dairy, sugar and white flour), and 3) moderate your portions. That works.
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Chicken Paprikash
This week I’m channeling my inner Mark Bittman. Not sure whether it’s his common sense approach, or his love of old chefs and recipes, or the contented look on his face as a bit of fresh tomato sauce drips off his chin. This recipe is adapted from Mark Bittman’s Kitchen Express.
Pesticide Levels: The Dirty Dozen & the Clean Fifteen
While preparing my upcoming talk on organic vs. nonorganic fruits and vegetables for Dr Roizen’s Preventive & Integrative Medicine Conference in Las Vegas, I came upon an interesting couple of lists called the Dirty Dozen and the Clean Fifteen. [Don’t bother to count; the lists I found contained sixteen “dirty” entries and seventeen “clean” entries. Crazy, huh? Don’t worry; as far as this story is concerned, the more the merrier.] Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Turkey Wild Rice Casserole
Right now I’m guessing that there’s a turkey, or turducken, or tofurkey, or stuffed pumpkin in your house, being readied for your great big Thanksgiving celebration. You don’t need fresh ideas, just a good-sized oven. But come Friday, when you’re looking for things to do with your leftovers, this recipe will be a welcome choice. The original version, from which it is adapted, may be found at kitchenparade.com.
Humans Have a Short Memory
In a couple of weeks I’ll be heading for Las Vegas, where I’ll be speaking at Dr Roizen’s Preventive & Integrative Medicine Conference on two subjects: 1) differences between omega-3s and omega-6s, and their impact on inflammation in the body, and 2) organic vs. nonorganic fruits and vegetables. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Celebrate the Season’s Root Vegetable Stew
On the wall alongside my desk at work, I put up a bumper sticker that says “I ♥ Crock Pots!” And it’s no exaggeration. There is something about slow cooking that draws the best from ingredients, blending them together in a most extraordinary way, filling our home with scents so sublime that we have been awakened by them as they cooked through the night, and then warming us, body and soul, with complex flavors at once sweet, spicy, sour, and umami.
Use It or Lose It
I have two personal aphorisms to share with you. The first is “I’ll pay any price to keep you mobile.” The second is “I’ll pay any price to keep your blood sugars in the normal range.”
These are high priorities — the highest, in my book. When my kids were in high school, and they were in a mood (I’m cranky; I don’t feel well; I’m bored; I have too much homework), I would always say, “Go for a walk!” It got to be a joke in our house. They, of course, took it to the next level. Fever? Go for a walk! Migraine? Take a hike! Appendicitis? Walk it off! Broken leg? Very funny, I said. Continue reading