Soft Tacos to Go with Chips and Salsa

                                    Soft Tacos

Ingredients:

·         2 lbs. buffalo, grass fed beef, or shredded chicken

·         Black pepper – to taste

·         1 tsp turmeric

·         1 – 2 Tbsps. of extra virgin olive oil

·         ½ cup of chopped onion

·         2 cloves of garlic crushed and chopped (Note: chop garlic and set aside for at least 10 minutes. This allows the healthy properties of the garlic to be released.)

·         1 cup of chopped Shiitake mushrooms

·         Cilantro – to taste

·         1 can diced tomatoes

·         1 tsp chili powder

·         1 tsp cumin

·         Saffron – 5 to 6 threads soak in a small amount of warm water for ten minutes. The color from the saffron will seep into the water. Add the water and saffron to the meat.

·         Salt – to taste

·         Whole Wheat Tortillas

 Brown meat in skillet - drain if necessary.  In separate skillet, combine olive oil, turmeric, and black pepper. Add onion and sauté, adding garlic for the last minute. (Be careful, garlic will become bitter if burned.) 

 Combine these and all other ingredients with meat. Simmer for approximately 10 -15 minutes.

 We serve these on the Whole Wheat Tortillas from Whole Foods. The ingredients for this  brand: stone ground whole wheat flour, untreated unbleached flour, water, clear canola oil, salt, and aluminum free baking powder.

Serve with homemade whole wheat chips and salsa.

Healthy Chips and Salsa

Healthy Chips and Kent's Salsa

Healthy Chips

Oven: 350

Whole Wheat Tortillas                                 

Olive Oil

Two or three shakes Turmeric

Two or three shakes Black Pepper

TEX-MEX Chipotle Seasoning in a grinder (Ours is Food Club Brand)

Mix oil, turmeric and black pepper in a glass oblong dish. Cut the Tortillas in triangle pieces.  Dip in the oil and turn over and dip again.  Lay in the dish and bake for 12 – 14 minutes  until crisp.  Grind the Chipotle Seasoning over the baked chips.

Kent’s Salsa

Adapted from Katie Tylers recipe

1 – 10 oz. can Rotel (Original or mild depending on your taste. Kent uses Original)

1 - 14 oz. can whole tomatoes

1 tables. Jalapenos ( in the jar) or a fresh one.  Kent uses more than a tablespoon.

¼ cup chopped onion

½ tsp. Garlic Salt (Maybe more depends on your taste)

½ tsp. Cumin

Fresh Cilantro

Pulse in blender 2 or 3 times to blend.  Chill.

Recently, a friend asked, "If there was one thing that I could do to start eating healthier, what would you recommend?"  Based on what I have read, the top recommendations are:
1) Only buy ORGANIC milk and milk products. This eliminates consumption of the hormones and
    antibiotics that are given to cows to increase their milk production.
2) Buy cage-free eggs that have Omega 3 added.
3) When possible, buy organic fruits and vegetables. Don't let the price or availability of organics 
     prohibit your consumption. Regardless of whether a fruit or vegetable is organic, it still contains
     essential nutrients that promote good health and fight disease.
4) Eliminate high fructose corn syrup! Read the labels! High fructose corn syrup is in many common
    processed foods, including some baby foods. High fructose corn syrup contributes to inflammation
    within the body and does not offer any nutrition.
5) Buy grass fed beef and chicken. According to what I have read, animals from feed lots have high
    levels of inflammation in their bodies, when we consume them we consume their inflammation.

Dr. William Li on the Dr. Oz Show reinforced some of the information we have been reading in other resources. Turmeric is an appetite stimulant, digestion aid, anti-inflammatory, NF-kB regulator. It is especially effective when consumed with a crucerifous vegetable such as cabbage, broccoli, kale, and swiss chard. We typically put olive oil in a skillet and saute onion and garlic with about a half teaspoon of turmeric, sea salt and ground fresh pepper to taste. Tomatoes are also a cancer fighter, as they contain lycopene. We also saute the onions and garlic with turmeric when we cook meats. Lisa and I laugh and hope we are not starting to smell like turmeric.

*****The sources we have read do not proclaim that diet will cure cancer, but it can reduce inflammation, which appears to be the primary cause of many diseases. Diet can improve the effectiveness of chemo medications and ultimately improve your quality of life. Foods play a large part in preventing heart disease and diabetes. Kent has been on the diet for seventeen weeks and knows that he feels better while on Chemo than he ever has in the past.*****

 

The following are references that Lisa has found helpful. Although these mention Cancer in the title, the recipes are good for heart patients, diabetics and anyone fighting inflammation.

 

Two excellent cookbooks are: 1) Eating Well Through Cancer, Easy recipes & Recommendation During and After Treatment by Holly Clegg & Gerald Miletello, M.D. and 2) The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen, Nourishing, Big-Flavor Recipes for Cancer Treatment and Recovery by Rebecca Katz with Mat Edelson.

 

Information books: 1)Anti- Cancer A New Way of Life, By David Servan-Schreiber, M.D., Ph.D. and two books by Richard Beliveau, Ph.D. and Denis Gingras, Ph. D., 2) Foods that Fight Cancer Preventing Cancer Through Diet and 3) Eating Well, Living Well An Everyday Guide for Optimum Health.

 

Good internet sources are: 1) Dr. Weil’s Anti-Inflammatory Food Pyramid; 2) Best and Worst: Top 10 Most Inflammatory and Anti- Inflammatory Foods.

 

 

 

Lisa, Kent, Wayne and I share a house, therefore a kitchen. Wayne and I are retired educators. Lisa, a teacher does the research.  During the school year, I do most of the cooking.   Kent, my son-in-law, is a police sergeant and has small intestine cancer. He is undergoing his third round of chemo.  He has always been a meat and potatoes guy who loved junk food.  He has recently bought into eating healthy.  Lisa had Lyme disease in 2007 and has many food allergies.  During her illness, she was told to go on an anti-inflammatory diet and has followed it faithfully. My husband, Wayne, had by-pass surgery in 1999. Since that time we have followed a heart healthy diet (most of the time).  Recently, I found out I have hypoparathyroidism, and am low in calcium. 

Many friends have asked for information and recipes for healthy eating, and another friend suggested that we start a blog. This is our attempt to share what we are learning.  I will do the blogging and Lisa will do the research.