Crunchy Asian Salad

Today I'm posting an absolutely amazing Asian Cabbage Salad with Chicken. This salad offers a nice balance of veggies and protein with a splash of a truly out of this world salad dressing!
Cabbage is the key player here. It's got a crunchy sweet and almost peppery taste that compliments the salad dressing perfectly, and seriously I cannot get over how healthful this veggie is!

Cabbage contains: Vitamin C, Folic Acid, Fiber, Potassium, Vitamin B6, Vitamin K, Calcium, Biotin, Manganese, and Magnesium. Seriously, just reading that makes me want to include it into my diet.

However, cabbage becomes even more fun to eat when you take into account the phytonutrients it contains! Plain and simple: phytonutrients have cancer fighting properties in that they both help cells function and help protect cells from free-radicals & carcinogens.
Glucosinolates are the phytonutrient most prominent in cabbage. Different phytonutrients have different functions- makes sense. So, Glucosinolates are compounds that aid the liver in detoxification. This is pretty cool actually: these compounds signal the genes to increase their production of the enzymes involved in the detox process. Cabbage also contains another kind of phytonutrient called isothiocyanates. These stimulate Phase II of liver detoxification. Your liver works super hard to eliminate toxins in the body, why not give it a hand with such a liver-friendly food :)

Crunchy Asian Salad

Dressing:

1/4 c. soy sauce

3 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar

1 1/2 tbsp sesame oil

3 tbsp canola oil

1 tbsp minced ginger

2 cloves garlic minced

3/4 low sodium chix broth

Salad:

1/2 head of cabbage shredded

1 c. carrots- match stick size

1/2 c scallions for garnish

4 chicken breasts sauteed and cut into strips

Whisk together soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, & sesame oil in a bowl. In a sauce pan, over med-high heat ad ginger and garlic. Cook/Stir until fragrant (approx 1-2 mins). Add soy mixture to pan and bring to a simmer. Add broth. Let simmer for approx 8 mins.

In a big bowl combine cabbage, carrots, & chicken. Toss with enough dressing to coat. Place in bowls and garnish with a handful of scallions and enjoy!

Really this is one of my favorite dishes. The first time I made it my little brother asked me for the recipe and he NEVER does that!

Yams Vs. Sweet Potatos: What's the Difference?

A friend of mine just asked me a great question: what's the difference between a yam and a sweet potato- is one healthier than the other? Since i have a recipe for sweet potato fries on the blog, I thought maybe this is something I should have an idea about... So I searched across the internet for a consolidated comparison and here's what I was able to come up with.

Nutrition: I made a chart to compare the two side by side and the winner seems to be the Sweet Potato... here's the breakdown

• Looking solely at calories, Sweet Potatoes win w 95 cals in 1 cup vs 157 cals in a cup of Yams
  
• Looking at nutrients- there are two nutrients that Sweet Potatoes have that Yams do not. One is Vitamin A, the other is Iron. 1 medium Sweet Potato has over 250% of your daily value of Vit A and over 10% of your daily value of iron. That alone makes me want to eat 1 a week.
  
• Vit A- When you consume the sweet potato, your body converts the Beta-carotene in it into Vitamin A which helps keeps eye, skin, and mucous membranes moist. It also acts as an antioxidant that protects the cells in your body from free-radical damage.
• Iron- If you're like me and "bruise like a peach", it's possible it's due to insufficient iron levels in your body. Iron helps carry oxygen to cells to keep them healthy & functioning.

• Outside of those two, Yams & Sweet Potatoes have about the same %DV of Vitamin C (you know, what you want to get more of to help fight off the common cold) & Maganese (the mineral that helps metabolize carbohydrates)
• Each also contains between 10-15% of your daily value of Vitamin B6 which the body needs to break down an enzyme called homocysteine- This is great news since homocysteine is an enzyme that directly damages blood vessel walls- Yikes!

So there you have it, both have Vit C, Maganese, B6 and fiber; however, because the Sweet Potato also contains Vitamin A and Iron, I'm calling it the winner. So go check out my delicious Sweet Potato Fries Recipe and do your body some good!


Fun Facts: Granted, I mostly care about the nutrition, but still the biological differences are kinda cool and let's face it, random facts are fun.
The biggest difference seems to fall in their DNA. They're both flowering plants but they aren't related botanically. Kind of interesting since they look so similar. Yams come from Africa & Asia and tend to be starchier & drier than sweet potatoes. In supermarkets, the U.S. Department of Agriculture requires labels with the term 'yam' to also include the term 'sweet potato'. Actual yams are found for the most part in international super markets.



http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/sweetpotato.html
http://www.whfoods.com/

Low-Cal Delicious Brussels Sprouts!

My Favorite ingredient of the moment is Brussels Sprouts!

This delicious veggie (a member of the cruciferous family- cabbage, kale, broccoli...) is known for it's high protein content (2 g per 1/2 cup steamed) as well as it's cancer-fighting qualities such as high fiber content which helps with elimination and therefore may help prevent colon cancer.

If that's not enough to convince you to try out this delicious vegetable then consider this: 1/2 cup steamed Brussels Sprouts is only 30 calories! And as a cruciferous veggie, Brussels Sprouts aid in liver detoxification, therefore helping to eliminate free-radicals from your body!

Give my Spiced Brussels Sprouts Recipe or my Chicken & Brussels Sprouts Recipe a try and you'll see how helping your body stay healthy can be so fun!!