Ned's healthy biscuits

Ned has cobbled together a recipe for nutritious biscuits (not cookies for our UK friends). Here is the recipe:

1 cup buttermilk
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 TB baking powder
2 c. flour (1 and 1/3 c whole wheat, 1/3 c oat bran, and 1/3 c high gluten unbleached)
7-8 generous pats cold butter (about 1/4 pound)

Turn oven to 450, then begin. It is important to put the biscuits into a hot oven as quickly as you can because the baking powder and baking soda starts to react with the buttermilk quickly.

Mix dry ingredients
Cut cold butter into small pieces and dump into dry ingredients. With your hands, mash the butter into the dry stuff until you have made sort of a meal, and the butter is mixed. Oil a baking sheet. Check the oven. Is the temp near 450? Then go. Add and mix buttermilk, then turn the dough onto a baking sheet and knead a few times. Add more flour as needed. Cut about 2 inch rounds of dough with whatever you have. Ned used a glass dipped in flour.
Place the biscuits (about 15) onto the baking sheet and put them into the 450 oven. Bake about 15 minutes then check. Check oven for correct temp also. Take out when biscuits are nice and brown. Fantastic and loaded with fiber.

Ned's efficient shopping trip

It being necessary to drive to the Honda dealer to get a part replaced on Ned's 1992 Civic (a classic and not for sale), Ned, upon leaving the dealer, drove a short distance--perhaps a mile, to his local Trader Joe's, where he purchased a half gallon of his favorite vegetable juice, low-salt Garden Patch. He then drove a further half-mile to his local Grocery Outlet, which carries excellent, healthful, organic whole grain chips. He purchased a bag of Beanitos (see a pervious post) and a bag of whole grain flax, brown rice and whatever chips, both loaded with fiber and protein and with almost no salt. Then a mile and a bit further to his local Fred Meyer, where he purchased some wild caught coho salmon (six bucks a pound), three organic navel oranges (99 cents a pound), and four organic bananas (99 cents a pound). Then, since Ned's local co-op was directly on the way home, he stopped there to put in an hour of work, and bought some organic zucchini (he forgets the cost but they were on sale), an onion, and a couple of Cameo apples from Washington. Then he returned home, to set out again later on his bike to pay his f***ing property taxes.

Ned's healthy lunch

Ned feared he would have little for lunch, but he found some Beanito black bean chips (see earlier post). Here was his lunch.

One serving Beanitos, about 10-12 chips, maybe 150 calories and 55 grams sodium.

One serving Ry-Crisp, or two wafers: high in fiber and good protein, lots of whole grain rye and oats, and a bit of sesame seed. Only about 70 mg salt.

One half large Fuji apple, from Washington State: great fiber, anti-oxidants and vitamins and minerals.

A quarter of a Navel orange from CA--heck, go crazy and eat a whole one if you like: great source of fiber and nutrients. Ned also likes to eat the inside out of the skin, as he likes it, and he read somewhere that it has lots of bioflavenoids.

One and a half ounces of parmesan or some other fairly low-sodium cheese. Good protein source.

A swig or two of Trader Joe's Garden Patch low-sodium veggie juice.

If you need a sweet, Ned recommends a bit of blackstrap molasses (loaded with minerals) and a few dry roasted almonds.

Ned's take on fruit juice

Ned's friends know he has become leery of drinking fruit juice, because of the high glycemic index, low fiber, and high sugar. It is not a very good way to get vitamins either--since there is too much sugar. Ned recommends eating fruit: more fiber, it takes longer so you eat less, and very good source of potassium in many cases.
Ned would also like to reiterate his disdain for those "organic" juices that advertise themselves as "blueberry", "cherry", "pomegranite" and the like, when in fact they are mixtures of apple and perhaps grape uice, high in sugar, with a token amount of the other fruits in big letters on the label. Read the label carefully. Ned advises his friends to check the sugar content of any such juices, and avoid them if they have more than about 12 grams per serving.
Ned also reminds his friends about the virtues of Trader Joe's "Garden Patch" low sodium vegetable juice: high in fiber, low in sugar, and low in salt.

Beanitos

Ned has discovered a chip called Beanitos, which are made with only five ingredients: black beans, brown rice, oil, guar gum (don't panic) and sea salt. The salt is only 55 mg per serving--one ounce. The chips are loaded with protein (complete) and fiber, and so the gycemic index is quite low. They are gluten-free for those chicken-littles in our audience. And they are cheap, delicious and don't make you "gas up."
Made by some outfit in Austin Texas. Look for them: a part of a great lunch if used in moderation.

Tilapia: health food?

Touted as a cheap "health food" by many, this invasive fish species is found more and more on the dinner tables of America, and in our restaurants. Today's NYT carried an article on tilapia farming in Central America. Seems the health claims are a bit far fetched.
The fish when farmed are fed soymeal and corn pellets, generally industrially raised, which means lots of herbicides and pesticides, or genetically modified seed. If they were allowed to eat the algae and other plants from the ponds and lakes where they are found as native species, they may contain some healthful levels of omega 3's, but fed pellets, no. Then, they dump huge quantities of waste into the waters, which, unless collected for fertilizer, eventually destroys the lake. Finally, they are shipped fresh by jet to the U.S., often arriving within 12 hours of swimming around in their pond. Hard to justify using jet fuel, producing CO2, for this.
It does however provide jobs for locals who otherwise might emigrate to the U.S.
Ned's overall take: if you can find tilapia raised in the U.S., it's a decent substitute for chicken.
Otherwise, stay with the salmon, and Ned recommends the canned variety from Alaska, which is wild caught, and you can get it with no salt added. This stuff is loaded with omega 3's and is good for you, but don't overdo it.
Ned had a recipe in an earlier post.