This time around Stephanie and I are talking about cancer fighting foods. We all know someone affected by cancer, and for some of us it hits closer to home than for others. Cancer is also something that seems to be more and more prevalent now too. Now, there are a lot of theories, and some science as to why, I think it’s the world we are living in. The air we are breathing, the food we are eating, down to the containers we are eating and drinking from. Not to get all preachy, but think about it, take a look at the amount of chemicals, preservatives, pesticides, and other pollutants you take in on a given day. You can’t do much about the environment, I mean, some, but realistically, not that much. You CAN however, stop eating “food” that comes out of a can, a bag, or a box. And if you’ve ever seen someone fight cancer, you might take a step back and think, would it be THAT bad to maybe take some of these pollutants out of your system, and give your body a break?
There are also several foods out there that have cancer fighting properties. Stephanie can tell you more and go into more detail. My job is to come up with things you can make at home. Things that are not hard, and don’t take a long time. Nor do they take much to clean up. Hopefully, as you have tried some of these recipes at home, you’ve noticed, I am not getting all complicated on you here. And believe me, I hate doing dishes. Plus, you can get a couple meals out of most of these.
I’m going to start with a steamed beet salad….
Did I lose you? I know, nothing says delicious like steamed beets….
You CANNOT tell me that’s not pretty. And it was so easy.
First, you steam three beets.
Once these are done, (fork tender) slice the top and bottom off and peel. Don’t do this on your wood cutting board, it will look like a crime scene.
Now take a diced onion and sauté in a tsp of olive oil. Then add a minced garlic clove. (FYI, if you cut up your garlic and let it rest for about 10 mins before you cook it, it will have more cancer fighting power). Once the onions are soft, add 2 tbls of balsamic vinegar, and let that cook down. While this is happening, wash you beet greens WELL. Then wash them again, and take the stems out, then slice. (The leaves, not the stems) when the onions and vinegar, have cooked down and reduced to the consistency you like, add the greens.
You don’t want to totally wilt the greens, but just coat them and heat them. Take everything off the heat while they are bright green.
Take a beet, slice it up, and put half the greens on top.
This will give you two salads and one beet left over. Fret not, I’ll figure something to do with it.
I also sprinkled a little blue cheese on top. You could use feta, or whatever you like. Or go without.
Next up, I did Brussels sprouts two ways. Yep, I have started a post off with beets, and then moved on to Brussels sprouts.
Is anyone still out there?
If you are, here is the first way I cooked them…..
Take about 12 ounces of Brussels sprouts, and quarter them. Then drizzle with a little olive oil and salt. Toss them around to coat then put in a 350 oven until they are roasted. However long it takes will depend on the size of the veg, where you are, how your oven cooks… What I’m saying is, I didn’t pay attention to how long it took, but it wasn’t long. Like 15 mins. Roughly.
While these are cooking, take a tablespoon of butter and melt it over low heat with a clove of garlic that has been minced.
When the garlic gets toasted, remove from the heat and toss with the cooked Brussels sprouts. You will have some butter left over, but use up all the garlic.
This is how I prefer my Brussels sprouts, but my husband likes them raw, so here’s another way:
Take 6 ounces of Brussels sprouts, and pull the leaves off.
Seriously, how pretty are those? You know you want to eat them….
Add to these 5 strawberries sliced thin and toss.
Next, mix up the dressing,
Mix together
Juice of 1 lime
1/8 c olive oil
2 tbs balsamic vinegar
1 clove of garlic minced
Pinch of salt
Whisk this all together
And toss about a tablespoon on the salad. You will have dressing left over, but you can out it on any salad.
Just a note here. I did not like beets, the one time I had tried them before. And that was roasted.
Sometimes, you think you don’t like something and it was really just how it was cooked. Go ahead and give them a try. Steaming will keep the nutrition inside the beet, boiling will cause it to leak out into the water. The Brussels sprouts I had not tried until I went to school. I’d always turned my nose up at them, but it turned out, they are pretty tasty little buggers.
So now I’ll move on to something a little less scary….
A berry yogurt.
Yes, I know you can get yogurt with fruit in it already, and you just have to open, stir, and shovel it in. But look on the back of it. Check out the ingredients and tell me what’s in it. How many things can you pronounce? How much sugar is in it?
Try this instead
That’s real fruit there…. Not fruit slurry.
Take three tablespoons of Greek yogurt
2 tsp honey
2 tsp cinnamon
And mix together
Take 1/4 cup of berries. Real ones, and use any ones you can find that are purple, blue, or dark red. You can even use frozen berries like I did here.
You can stir them all together, layer them, put them in two separate cups and eat them with two spoons in your mouth at the same time, whatever.
This is just as easy, better for you, and cheaper than the other option.
I saved this one for last because it was my favorite, and also because celery and parsley seem to be the super heroes of cancer fighting foods.
This is a pork tenderloin with a parsley pesto and a celery “spaghetti”. If you’re like me and you don’t like pasta, oooor, if you live in a place where it’s 147 degrees in the summer like I do, you don’t want to even think about a heavy pasta. Plus, this will fight cancer, and won’t make your pants shrink.
The pork on this plate is just a pork tenderloin that I salted and broiled, and it is not that important. You can use chicken too if you are so inclined.
To make the parsley pesto, take:
1/2 bunch of parsley
Juice of one lime
3/4 c olive oil
A clove of garlic
4 ounces of pine nuts
And salt
Throw all these in the blender and blend into a sauce.
This will go over your protein.
Next make the sauce for the spaghetti.
Take a tablespoon of the above pesto, (or, don’t wash you blender out before you make this – but only if you have JUST made the pesto. Don’t wait a couple days. That would be gross).
Then add:
1 clove of garlic
1 tomato
1 tbs olive oil
And a little more parsley
Blend this up in the blender and salt to taste.
The pasta takes a little patience, but not too much, and it’s much better to wash a vegetable peeler, than to wash a pot and a strainer.
Wash a stalk of celery, and use your vegetable peeler to make ribbons out of the celery.
Then spoon a spoonful of the tomato sauce over the celery.
I hope some f these have made you think twice about eating processed food, and maybe want to try real food, or maybe even made you think about trying a vegetable that has gotten a bad reputation over the years.
Now, make yourself something to eat and head over to 3squarenutrition.com to feel good about what you’re eating.
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