Kid-Friendly Carotenoids

Celia, 7, and Simon, 5, kid-tested some carotenoids this week. Good thing too since Celia had just returned from a play date and needed the immunity boost.

Like all kids, they’re hit or miss on the veggies. Their mother Ana, of Ana’s Asian Chicken fame, tries to get veggies in with every meal and is always looking for a kid-friendly veggie side dish.

Mind you, this test was kind of rigged since Simon’s favorite veggie is carrots. Celia’s is corn but she also enjoys carrots. Least favorite veggie? Simon is not fond of anything green and Celia is opposed to snap peas and mushrooms.

And the verdict:

Celia: “I like them. When I eat the carrots with milk, my mouth tastes like carrot cake.”
Simon: “They’re kind of spicy but not too spicy; just spicy enough so I can eat them.”

In other words, they ate them, which is always good.

Here's the kid-friendly recipe adapted from Where Flavor was Born by Andreas Viestad:

Soy-Ginger Carrots
Serves 4

1 T butter
1 lb carrots cut into 1/3-inch thick sticks or thickly grated
2 T finely chopped shallots
1 T finely chopped fresh ginger or ginger paste
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp honey
1/3 cup fresh tangerine or orange juice (the juice of approx. one tangerine)
1 T soy sauce
Chopped cilantro for garnish.

Heat butter in skillet or wok over medium high heat. Once the butter has melted, add carrots and shallots and sauté for two minutes. Add minced ginger or ginger paste, ground ginger, and honey. Reduce heat to medium and sauté for another two minutes, stirring constantly. Add juice and soy sauce, sauté for another three to four minutes until liquid syrupy and carrots glazed.

Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve.

Options for adults: Add 1-2 tsp coriander seed, slight crushed, at the same time as ginger. Also, add finely minced fresh garlic as a garnish.

Nutritional info (per serving): 83 calories, 13g carbohydrates, 3g fiber, 2g protein, 3g total fat, 2g saturated fat, 8mg cholesterol, 324mg sodium

Cats, Carotenoids, and Carrots

As gentle as Benjamin appears, he's a carnivore, not an omnivore like us. Blame it on vitamin A.

This is vitamin A:


Preformed vitamin A, which refers to retinol, retinaldehyde, and retinoic acid, can only be found in animal products. It’s not found in plants – but that doesn’t mean vegetarians lack vitamin A in their diets.

This is beta-carotene:


Cut it in half and you have two vitamin A units. Humans produce an enzyme called 15, 15’-dioxygenase which cuts the beta-carotene into two vitamin A units; therefore, beta-carotene can function as a provitamin, a precursor to a vitamin. Cats don’t have this enzyme so they can’t convert carotenoids into vitamin A. They have to eat preformed vitamin A, meaning they can’t remain healthy on plant foods alone.

Vitamin A is necessary for proper vision, cell growth and division, reproduction, and immunity. The RDA for Vitamin A is 700 RE (retinol equivalents) for women and 900 RE for men. When you see vitamin A on packaging for plant foods, it’s really a listing of the provitamin A content and the estimated conversion rate of the carotenoids to retinol.

Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin, which means we store it in our tissues, including in our liver. We can consume too much vitamin A, unlike carotenoids, and accumulate vitamin A in our bodies to toxic levels. In school, we read about a researcher who ate an entire polar bear liver (don't ask why) – and died from a vitamin A overdose!!!! Moral of that story is don’t eat polar bear liver.

What about those people who drink so much carrot juice that they turn orange? This condition called carotenodermia, which occurs after high consumption of carotene-rich foods, is non-toxic and goes away once consumption is reduced. In fact, it may be protective since the body has limited the conversion rate to vitamin A, preventing a toxic overdose.

Yes, carotenoids are named after carrots. And yes, carrots are high in beta-carotene. When I was a little girl, my mother told me eating carrots was good for my eyes. Every Saturday morning, I’d plant myself in front of the TV with a bag of carrots to watch Bugs Bunny. Every time Bugs ate a carrot, I ate a carrot. Today I am glasses-free as is Bugs.

There are approximately 600 types of carotenoids, a category of fat-soluble pigments found in veggies, fruits, and flowers. Of those, about 50 or so have some provitamin A activity with beta-carotene having the highest rate of conversion to vitamin A.

Carotenoids have benefits beyond conversion to vitamin A which may be why our bodies only convert so much of it. Carotenoids can act as powerful antioxidants in their original carotenoid configurations.

So eating colorful veggies gives you both vitamin A and carotenoid benefits. And get those carotenoids from food. Supplements may give you too much of a good thing at once, as demonstrated by a study showing higher rates of lung cancer in high-risk men given beta-carotene supplements. This may be because no antioxidant works in isolation. Antioxidants packaged in plants work with other substances in that same plant. When isolated in supplements, protective antioxidants may convert into destructive pro-oxidants since they are missing their yet unidentified nutrient partners. Plus veggies just taste good.

By the way, there are some vitamins that we have to eat whole that our pets don’t need. Dogs and guinea pigs make L-gulonolactone, an enzyme that allows their bodies to make vitamin C. We don’t have it so we have to eat vitamin C. Another good reason to eat your fruits and veggies.

Veggie Sleuthing

Can you name this veggie? According to my receipt from Tai Nam Market (4925 N Broadway St, Chicago), it’s called Ya Choy. Since that meant nothing to me, I looked through a couple Vietnamese and Chinese cookbooks. No mention of it. Thank heavens for Beyond Bok Choy by Rosa Lo San Ross with its clear four-color pictures, detailed veggie descriptions, and alternative names – including of the elusive Ya Choy.

Ya Choy is also called Yau Choy, You Cai, Yu Choy, Oil Seed Rape, or its Latin name Brassica rapa, Chinensis group, making it a sister to Bok Choy. There are probably additional aliases. More may be revealed.

According to Melissa’s Produce, the greens are 20 calories per cup (cooked, I’m assuming) and are extremely high in provitamin A. I’ve e-mailed Melissa’s to find out their nutrition analysis source since there’s nothing on this veggie in the USDA food database. We’ll see how Melissa’s responds.

What does Ya Choy taste like? Like a milder version of broccoli rabe, also known as rapini (so many veggies travel under an alias). Just a little bit of mustardy kick but not bitter.

How to cook them? Below is a basic stir-fry which is a good first taste for most mystery greens. Sesame oil, crushed red pepper flakes, garlic and ginger usually work well with greens.

Mystery Greens Stir Fry
Serves 4

1 T toasted sesame oil (dark, not pale, sesame oil)
¼ - ½ tsp hot crushed red pepper flakes
2 garlic cloves minced or 1 tsp garlic puree
1 tsp minced ginger or ginger puree
1 lb Ya Choy or whatever Asian-esque leafy green you can find in the supermarket, well washed and chopped into 3” segments
Soy sauce (optional)

Heat oil in wok or skillet over a medium high heat. Add red pepper flakes; stir once. Add garlic and ginger; stir for 30 seconds. Add greens; cover wok/skillet for about three minutes until wilted. There should be enough water left on the leaves to steam the greens. Remove cover and stir until veggies are limp. Serve immediately. If you want more flavor, add more red pepper flakes or soy sauce.

Now what to eat with the greens? To accompany the Ya Choy, I made steamed brown rice and my friend Ana’s Asian Red-Simmered Slow Cooker Chicken. Yes, I’m still on a slow cooker kick.

Ana’s Asian Red-Simmered Slow Cooker Chicken
Use a 5-quart or larger oval cooker
Serves 4

1 3-4 lb chicken, rinsed and giblets removed
2 garlic cloves crushed or 1 tsp garlic puree
1 ½ tsp sugar
1 T cooking sherry
¼ c soy sauce
¼ c chicken stock or water
¼ tsp toasted sesame oil
3-4 points of star anise clove (optional)
Scallions with green tops cut into “brushes” (optional)

Place chicken in the slow cooker breast side up. Mix all of the other ingredients together, except for the scallions, and pour over the chicken. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours. During cooking time, turn over the chicken once or twice or baste bird with liquid. Chicken is done when meat is falling off the bone.

Which is why the chicken looks a little ragged – the bird is falling apart because it’s so tender!!!

Remove chicken from cooker and place on serving platter. Cut as desired.

Pour sauce into fat separator or skim chicken fat off with a spoon. Serve with chicken and scallion brushes. Sauce is excellent over mystery greens and brown rice too.

Can I Get That In Green Too?

Yes, I did cabbage last week. This time it’s green and it’s St. Patrick’s Day so I really don’t have a choice. Today, my only options are cabbage or potatoes. Since potatoes can conjure up some painful Irish historical memories, I’m going with cabbage.

Cabbage is a cruciferous veggie, in the same family as Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and cauliflower. Cruciferous veggies contain indoles, phytochemicals that may be protective against cancer and promote detoxification.

Of course, the classic dish for today is corned beef and cabbage but I’m just going with braised cabbage. I’ll let you pick the protein of your choice. I’m also going to continue braising my cabbage in the slow cooker since it’s just easier that way and the low heat keeps the cabbage from getting mushy.

Simple Braised Green Cabbage
Use a 4-quart or larger round or oval cooker
Serves 6

1 medium head green cabbage, cored and thickly sliced
4 medium carrots, thickly sliced
1 medium onion, thickly sliced
¼ cup chicken or veggie stock or water
¼ teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
salt and ground pepper to taste
balsamic vinegar to taste

Put everything but the balsamic vinegar into the slow cooker and cook on low for 4-5 hours. If the cabbage looks like it’s sticking or browning, stir. Yes, you can do that with a slow cooker. Once completed, add balsamic vinegar to taste.

Nutritional Info (per serving): 54 calories, 13g carbohydrates, 4g fiber, 2g protein, 0g fat, 0mg cholesterol, 87mg sodium

If you do want to make corned beef and cabbage, you can place the corned beef in with the cabbage (although cut the cabbage into 8 thicker wedges to allow for the longer cooking time) and let it cook in the slow cooker on low for 8-10 hours. My mother (Happy Birthday, Mom!!!) likes to use a can of cream of celery in place of stock and doesn’t use any vinegar. While I admit her corned beef and cabbage is good, the stock adds fewer calories.

Healthy Red (or Purple)

Growing up, red cabbage made frequent appearances on our dinner table. My mother is German and red cabbage is definitely in the top five veggies of our people – although all veggies bow down to the German veggie queen, the potato. So I’m very fond of red cabbage (and potatoes).

In addition to being a tasty veggie, red cabbage has some health benefits including the antioxidant power of its red (or purple, as it appears to be in this picture) coloring provided by anthocyanins. Anthocyanins are flavonoids that color some fruits and veggies red, purple, or blue. Consuming these vibrant free-radical blockers may help to prevent cancer, improve brain function, and promote heart health.

Red cabbage is a great braised winter veggie, perfect for the slow cooker. I agree with Mark Bittman that a slow cooker is essentially a braiser that you can leave alone for long periods of time. To obtain red cabbage goodness straight from the slow cooker, try this tasty sweet, sour, and zesty braised red cabbage recipe.

Maple-Ginger Slow Cooked Red Cabbage
Use a 4-quart or larger round or oval slow cooker
Serves 6

1 medium-sized head of red cabbage, cored and thinly sliced
1 granny smith apple, peeled, cored, and roughly diced
¼ cup cider vinegar
2 T maple syrup
1 tsp grated ginger (I use jarred ginger puree)

Place all of the ingredients into a slow cooker and mix together. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours.

Nutrition Info (per serving): 60 calories, 15g carbohydrates, 2g fiber, 1g protein, 0g fat, 0mg cholesterol, 30mg sodium

Not Salad

I have a confession to make, a confession that's difficult for a dietitian to make.

I don't care for salads. At least not salad made up primarily of salad greens. Green salads are dangerous. I've been a witness too many times to salads weighted down beneath mounds of cheese shreds, bacon bits, and croutons bobbing along in a sea of fatty salad dressing.

And I understand the need to bury that salad. Many times green salads can be bitter. While I vow one day to address my green salad aversion (I love other vegetable salads like cole slaw, beet salad, and tomato salad), for now, I'm green salad averse.

Still, I think a meal is more satisfying and filling if there are some veggies to start. Which is why I love soup. Soup is a fabulous way to start a meal and to get a good helping of veggies.

My friend Julie was kind enough to share with me the other day her very popular spinach-chickpea soup recipe. I love it. It's hearty, high in fiber, and easy to make. And it freezes well too.

Julie's Spinach-Chickpea Soup
Serves 6

1 T olive oil
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, pressed or finely minced
1 1" piece cinnamon stick
1 T cumin seeds, toasted and ground
Black pepper to taste
14 oz can low-sodium diced tomatoes
14 oz can chickpeas rinsed or 2 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas
10 chopped dried apricots
5 cups vegetable or chicken stock
10 oz fresh or frozen chopped spinach
Cayenne pepper or hot pepper flakes to taste

In a five-quart or larger stock pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Saute onions and garlic until onions are limp.

Add all remaining ingredients except spinach and cayenne and simmer for 20 minutes after bringing to a boil. Add spinach (no need to defrost frozen spinach since it'll defrost in the pot) and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Turn off heat and remove cinnamon stick (very important!!!). Puree in the pot with an immersion blender or pour into blender or food processor to puree. Add cayenne or hot pepper flakes to taste.

Nutrition Info (per serving): 167 calories, 30g carbohydrates, 6g fiber, 7g protein, 2g fat, 0mg cholesterol, 575mg sodium. To reduce sodium further, use homecooked unsalted chickpeas and use homemade or store-bought low-sodium stock or water.

Since we're talking soups, I should mention that I'm a big fan of the Penzeys soup bases. Making your own stock is always best but not always possible. Penzeys soup bases taste great and cost less that the equivalent amount of store-bought liquid stocks.