Sumptuous Saturdays

One of the things I've always tried to include in this blog is a lot of talk about food. After all, I'm a recovering foodie, so I find myself blathering on and on about my favorites quite often. But this year I'm taking a different tack. I'm giving myself a more focused blogging schedule these days (after all, I've got a lot of writing to do over at Horror-Web!), and I've decided that Saturday will be my food-post day. With any luck, I should have lots of new recipes coming your way!

Today I just want to take a moment to talk about cruciferous vegetables. These nutritional powerhouses are among the most widely hated veggies and if you're not eating them, you're missing out. Study after study shows that the brassica family (that's the botanic family name for the cruciferous vegetable group) provides some the strongest protection against cancer you can eat. Cruciferous veggies can also help regulate estrogen levels and contain nutrients that protect against macular degeneration. So for your own sake, get busy learning to appreciate good old broccoli, cabbage, kale, cauliflower, brussels sprouts and bok choy! (Mustard, turnip & collard greens are also part of the family, as well as arugula, kohlrabi and radishes.)

I have to confess that we eat brassicas almost every day in our house, only occasionally passing them over in favor of the chicories (romaine and endive are favorites) or spinach. I am pretty hard-core about eating green stuff. Days with nothing green make me droopy. But this year has been extra-great for us. We've begun using bok choy as a salad green, braising brussels sprouts, and roasting broccoli. Last week we went through *5 pounds* of broccoli and two bunches of bok choy, not to mention romaine and a big bag of spinach. It was one of our healthiest weeks ever.

You can do it, too. Try using bok choy as a salad green--just cut out the big white ribs and mince them separately. Then stack the green leafy pieces, roll and cut en chiffonade (that's in little leaf ribbons). We used our bok choy in a delicious Chinese-Chicken-style salad (with fake chicken, of course), delicious tangerine bits and some dried cranberries. Even the kid loved it!