Fit Fare

In these times when it seems like every other day we discover that old favorites are bad for us, it’s nice to see some foods reinstated back into the good to eat category. And among those, nuts are most welcome back into the healthy fold. Nuts are full of “good” fats and, when eaten regularly, help reduce the risk of heart disease and lower blood cholesterol.

And for those of us who are trying to lose weight,

In clinical studies where nuts replaced other foods, subjects lost weight and said they found the nuts helped them to keep it off.

- from the 12 Best Foods Cookbook

Walnuts are among the best choice for healthy eating. Rich in Vitamin E, folate, thiamine and riboflavin, they’re also an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, magnesium, manganese, potassium, protein and fiber. Walnuts are the only nuts that contain a significant amount of ellagic acid, a cancer-fighting antioxidant. The amino acid Arginine helps keep your arteries relaxed, which helps reduce the risk of blockages that can cause heart attack. They are also highest in polyunsaturated fats which help reduce LSL cholesterol and increase HDL cholesterol.

What more could you ask for in your nuts?

When looking through the recipes that used walnuts in the 12 Best Foods Cookbook, I wanted to find something that used them a little more creatively than just tossing them into a salad or making a breakfast mix or sweet treat (not that there’s anything wrong with that, believe me). So when I saw the recipe for Turkey-Walnut loaf, and saw that the walnuts were ground up and used as part of the binding instead of bread crumbs, I was pleased. It didn’t hurt that there are also a lot of vegetables hidden in the dish.

I’m always amazed that thyme alone can be such a complex, satisfying flavor. The aroma builds slowly as the loaf cooks, and by the time it was ready it smelled so wonderful I could barely stand to wait the twenty minutes it needed to cool before serving.

This is one of those dishes that makes a wonderful comfort-food style family dinner, or can be dressed up a little and brought out for company.

Makes 6 slices

1 lb. ground turkey breast
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
1 small carrot, shredded
1 rib celery, finely chopped
1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup walnuts
1 large egg
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup chopped tomatoes
2 bay leaves
2 slices preservative-free bacon*

Preheat the oven to 350 deg. F.

Place the turkey, garlic, onion, carrot, celery, and parsley in a mixing bowl. In a food processor, pulse the walnuts until they are finely ground. Add the nuts, egg, thyme, salt and 5 or 6 grinds of pepper to the bowl. Mix with a fork until well combined. Pack the mixture firmly into an 8-1/2″ x 4-1/2″ x 2-1/2″ loaf pan. Spread the tomatoes over the top. Lay the bay leaves on top of the tomatoes. Arrange the bacon slices to cover the bay leaves.

Bake 50 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers 160 deg. F and the meat loaf has pulled away from the edges of the pan. Cool for 20 minutes. Remove the bay leaves before serving.

*Optional. I did not use the bacon and I don’t think anything was lost in the flavor.

per slice: 224 calories, 15 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 17 g protein, 6 g carbohydrates, 2 g fiber

from 12 Best Foods Cookbook, by Dana Jacobi (Rodale Press 2005)

Exported from Home Cookin 5.4 (www.mountain-software.com)

This is the last of my twelve-part series testing a recipe from each of the twelve foods listed in the 12 Best Foods Cookbook. Except for one disaster (Muesli in a glass - what was I thinking?), I was pleased with the overall results. Each recipe had some little quirk or challenging ingredient; for example, how many of us have muffin-top pans lying around the house? But it was easy to work around by either omitting or substituting similar ingredients.

All in all, I found several healthy new additional to my repertoire, and I plan to try more of Dana Jacobi’s recipes. After my sampler testing of the recipes, I could recommend this book both for its healthful properties as much as for the creativity and flavor of the recipes.