Spanish Tortilla

I’m super excited to announce that Danny Jauregui is sharing one of his recipes today at Summer Tomato.

Danny is a Los Angeles based food blogger. You can read his recipes on Over The Hill And On A Roll, and his food photography and blogging tips on Food Bloggers Unite!

Definitely visit Danny’s blogs and check out his incredible food photography, you’ll be blown away.

I’ve always wanted to learn how to make a Spanish tortilla and had no idea it was this easy. But now I seriously want to get that cast-iron skillet I’ve had my eye on….

Spanish Tortilla With Chipotle-Lime Vinaigrette

by Danny Jauregui

Spanish tortillas are my go-to dinner when I’ve had a rough workday. I love that you can take two healthy ingredients and easily create a mouth-watering dish. A Spanish tortilla is a bit like an omelette, only much easier to make. Thinly sliced potatoes are sautéed with onions at which point eggs are added and cooked until done.

Sliced like a pie, the Spanish eat a tortilla at room temperature with a light salad, which is my preferred way of enjoying it. I also like to serve it for brunch parties, just for a touch of variety.

In this version, I add Mexican flavors by including chopped cilantro and a Chipotle-Lime vinaigrette. Filled with nutrients and bursting with familiar flavors, I think you’ll really enjoy it!

Simple Potato and Egg Spanish Tortilla

Ingredients:

6 Eggs

1 Large Potato, thinly sliced

½ Large Yellow Onion, thinly sliced into rings

1 ½ Tablespoons Olive Oil

½ Teaspoon Salt

¼ Teaspoon Pepper

¼ Cup Chopped Cilantro

Directions

Slice potato and onions into thin slices. The exact size is not important. Heat the olive oil in a heavy bottom pan or preferably a cast-iron skillet. Wait for olive oil to almost begin smoking and add the onions and potatoes. Sprinkle them with salt and pepper. With a wooden spoon stir potatoes and onions to coat in oil, lower the heat to medium and cook until they are soft, stirring occasionally, for a total cooking time of 5 minutes.

While potatoes are cooking combine the eggs and cilantro in a bowl and lightly whisk together. When potatoes are done, make sure they are lying as flat as possible in the pan and add the egg mixture. Cook on medium heat for 5 minutes or until most of the egg on the bottom is thoroughly cooked. The top of the tortilla will not be cooked and should look runny.

Turn the broiler of your oven on, remove pan from burner and carefully place under broiler for 2 minutes, or until the top is slightly golden brown. Eggs cook fast, so keep your eye on the broiler. (If you don’t have a broiler simply place a cover on the pan and continue cooking on medium heat until top is solid and not runny).

Once top is brown, remove from broiler and let cool for 10 minutes. At this point you can slice it straight out of the pan, or flip it like I did. To flip, run a knife around the edge of the tortilla to loosen, place a plate upside down on top of the pan and flip the whole thing over. The tortilla should release easily.

Add some sliced avocado and your favorite salsa to really spruce this meal up, or make this Chipotle-Lime vinaigrette like I did.

The Chipotle Lime Vinaigrette adds a nice smoky and acidic note to the boldness of the potato and egg. Delish!

Chipotle-Lime Vinaigrette

4 Tablespoons Olive Oil

2 Tablespoons Adobo Sauce from a Chipotle Pepper Can

2 1/2 Tablespoons Lime Juice

¼ Teaspoon Salt

Adobo sauce is the smoky sauce that is included in Chipotle peppers. If you want a bit of spice, take half a Chipotle pepper and chop it super fine and add to vinaigrette.

Place all ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine. Drizzle vinaigrette onto sliced tortilla.

What flavors do you pair with a Spanish tortilla?

Tags: chipotle, eggs, guests, lime, potatoes, vinaigrette

By Leonid Mamchenkov

It’s weird for me to even write this, but it has been nearly 3 years since I’ve had any illness.

Seriously, not even a cold.

Like most people, I used to get a cold once or twice a year. And every few years I would get a nasty flu that would keep me in bed for days.

That’s just life, I assumed.

Or is it?

Since I’ve been taking better care of myself I really haven’t gotten sick at all. While I would love to attribute this streak of robust health to my vegetable-filled diet and subsequently invincible immune system, there are likely other factors that play important roles in keeping me healthy.

Some of these tips I picked up by seeing first-hand in the lab how easily germs are transmitted and propagated. Others I learned by trial and error. But over the years I’ve seen much of this advice confirmed by scientific data.

These are my top 10 tips (in order) that I attribute to helping me avoid and conquer illness.

Top 10 Tips To Prevent Cold and Flu

1. Wash your hands. You get sick for one reason and one reason only: germs. Bacteria and viruses make you ill by finding a way into your body through physical contact. Don’t let them get you. Since most of your contact with the world happens through your hands, washing them can stop germs from making the leap from contaminated surfaces to inside your body. Bacteria especially grow and proliferate very easily, so simply touching a lot of different things can spread them all over the stuff you work with daily. Hand washing is especially important after riding public transportation, moving from one environment to another and before eating or preparing food. This review study on hygiene and illness agrees.
2. Don’t touch your face. Even if your hands are relatively clean, chances are some germs will find a way to survive there. But these parasites will only compromise your health if they can get into your body. The easiest place to transmit illness is through mucous membranes such as your eyes, mouth and nose. Keep your hands away from your face (and food) and make it difficult for germs to find you.
3. Avoid sick people. Germs are everywhere, but they are particularly concentrated in people who are sick. Keep these people away from you and disinfect everything they touch. I especially recommend avoiding anyone who regularly works with children (aka little disease factories) like teachers and pediatricians. Sorry guys, you’re contagious!
4. Don’t eat group food. In flu season, I completely avoid large party dips that involve dipping directly into the bowl rather than scooping with a clean spoon onto individual plates. Why? Because people may use the hand they just sneezed in to turn a chip around a few times until they find the perfect dipping angle. That means they are adding their nasty germs directly into the salsa. Yuck.
5. Get enough sleep. Although I haven’t actually gotten sick, there have been times when I felt as though I might come down with something (this last weekend for instance). It is not an accident that these near-illnesses almost always follow one or two straight nights of staying up really late and not getting enough sleep (yes, I had a little too much fun at Asilomar). Also, one of the best ways I found to avoid getting seriously sick is to get extra sleep for a few days. Recently this recommendation was backed up by some hard science on sleep and illness.
6. Don’t drink alcohol. Another way to avoid coming down with something serious if you are starting to get sick is to skip on drinking for a few days. According to a new study drinking large amounts affects your immune system, making it weaker for 24 hours.
7. Hydrate. When your body is fighting an illness your immune system is working overtime. Make sure it has everything it needs to function at its best, including plenty of water.
8. Skip a workout. If I think I’m getting sick but decide to go to the gym anyway, within an hour after my workout it becomes clear that I’m definitely getting sick. I don’t have a scientific explanation for why working out makes me more likely to get ill (and speeds up the process?). It could be as simple as stealing energy and resources from my immune system. Whatever the reason, I do better if I skip the gym.
9. Eat well. You may be disinclined to eat if you aren’t feeling well, but be sure that whatever you do manage to get down is nutritious and healthy. It’s not a good idea to eat foods that induce inflammation (simple sugars and starches) when your body is already weakened.
10. Take your vitamins. I’m not sure I believe this actually works, but just to be on the safe side I am always doubly sure to take my multivitamin and 2,000 IU of vitamin D (like I normally do) when I’m worried about my health. Better safe than sorry.

Since someone will probably ask, no I do not get flu shots. I have nothing against them, but as you can imagine a painful injection to prevent illnesses I don’t get is not a huge priority for me. I may regret this someday.

Also, I do not take echinacea. Every rigorous analysis I’ve seen says it doesn’t work, and it has never been effective for me. Take it if you like, but probably any benefit you get is due to the placebo effect.

How do you avoid cold and flu?

Tags: flu, illness, immune system, inflammation, prevention, sick

Rather than my usual farmers market adventure on Saturday I attended the BlogHer Food conference here in San Francisco. But don’t panic. I still have plenty of kale and other greens from the Mission Bay farmers market last Wednesday (I knew this was coming). If I need more vegetables I’ll make a run over to Bi-Rite Market in a few days.

The BlogHer Food conference was fantastic and I met some incredible foodies and bloggers. The food we were served though was, um, not so incredible. But I don’t want to be too harsh on them since whatever they were lacking in vegetables, they totally made up for with chocolate.

I came home with a sizable bag full of Scharffen Berger chocolate bars (and some Massa Organics brown rice!). But the food highlights were definitely at the after party where Elizabeth Faulkner of Citizen Cake served my favorite After Midnight cakes and Foodzie had piles of delicious treats and confections. (The lighting in there was non-existent, so you’ll have to use your imaginations to visualize them.)

It’s not normally my style to eat nothing but dessert all day, but somehow I think I’ll survive. As you can imagine though I am very much looking forward to eating healthy for the rest of the week!

I’d also like to give some shout outs to some of the awesome people I met.

Check out their blogs and tell them I say hi!

• Stephanie Quilao from Noshtopia (and Back In Skinny Jeans)
• Allison Arevalo from Local Lemons
• Emily Olson and Susie Wyshak from Foodzie
• Amy Sherman from Cooking With Amy (thanks for the ticket Amy!)
• Jill Nussinow aka The Veggie Queen
• Karen Merzenich from Off the (meat) hook
• Matt Armendariz from Matt Bites
• Heidi Swanson from 101 Cookbooks
• Michelle Weber from Thursday Night Smackdown
• Cheryl D Lee from Black Girl Chef’s Whites
• Elise Bauer from Simply Recipes
• Lisa Johnson from Anali’s First Amendment
• Kate Wheeler from Savour Fare
• Stephanie Stiavettei from Wasabimon
• Heather in SF
• Helen Dujardin at Tartelette
• David Lebovitz and his Sweet Life In Paris
• Jayden Hair from Steamy Kitchen
• Ree Drummond from The Pioneer Woman

If I missed anyone please leave your links in the comments!

Tags: BlogHer Food

For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

I’m pleased to inform you that I became an official blogger at The Huffington Post this week. My first article there was my interview with David Kessler, Learning to Eat Less: How Understanding Your Brain Can Make You Healthier. I hope to post many of my best articles there in the coming months, usually in the Living section.

Publication at Synapse has also resumed, though I have stepped down as the official science editor to focus on Summer Tomato and (ah hem) finish my lab work.

I’m also excited to announce the creation of the Summer Tomato monthly newsletter! The newsletter will include new content that is not posted here on the blog, and will feature Summer Tomato news, healthy eating tips and recipes. Newsletter subscribers will also have access to exclusive offers and discounts on future Summer Tomato material. Exciting, right?!

Don’t forget to confirm your subscription by clicking the link in the confirmation email.

If you are wary of entering your email address, rest assured I will never sell or exchange your information and you can unsubscribe anytime. Consider this my personal spam-free guarantee. The main purpose of the newsletter is to reward loyal readers with great tips to upgrade your healthstyle. Feel free to email me any time if you are unhappy with Summer Tomato material.

This week around the web there were some interesting articles about the cholesterol-heart disease hypothesis, which you may be surprised to hear is not particularly strong. These stories may renew your interest in my post last week on How to raise your HDL cholesterol. There are also a few pieces on the role of the brain in eating behavior, which I am becoming more and more interested in (shocking, I know).

I read many more wonderful articles than I post here each week. If you’d like to see more or just don’t want to wait until Friday, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@summertomato) or the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page. For complete reading lists join me on the social bookmarking sites StumbleUpon and Delicious. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you there. (Note: If you want a follow back on Twitter introduce yourself with an @ message).

I also invite you to submit your own best food and health articles for next week’s For The Love of Food, just drop me an email using the contact form. I am also accepting guest posts at Summer Tomato for any awesome healthstyle tips and recipes you’d like to share.

This post is an open thread. Share your thoughts, writing (links welcome!) and delicious healthy meals of the week in the comments below.

For The Love of Food

• Why Cholesterol May Not Be the Cause Of Heart Disease <<Fascinating, in-depth look at some of the fallacies in the cholesterol-heart disease hypothesis. For an intense analysis of this issue definitely read the book Good Calories, Bad Calories. (The Huffington Post)
• Eating eggs might up your cholesterol. So what? <<Here’s some more info on cholesterol and heart disease, specifically how it relates to dietary cholesterol (as opposed to blood cholesterol). (Nutrition Data).
• Why we eat too much, and how to get control <<Really nice companion piece to my post on Learning to Eat Less, including some additional Kessler quotes. (CNN)
• A Cure For Cancer? Eating A Plant-Based Diet <<B.S. of the week You all know I am a huge fan of the plant-based diet, but this article in the Huffpo goes so far as to claim that all animal protein causes cancer, which is not at all supported by the data. Not surprisingly, this woman turns out to be a animal rights fanatic. I call conflict of interest. (The Huffington Post)
• Request for financial disclosure <<Speaking of conflict of interest, I love this piece by Marion Nestle about how she is in absolutely no way influenced by any outside funding. Oh the irony. (Food Politics)
• Successful Dieters Show Unique Brain Patterns <<I find this  info about dieting and the brain fascinating, but before you jump to any conclusions remember that this does not show cause and effect. (HealthDay)
• Low-Carb Mediterranean Diet Beats Low-Fat For Recent-Onset Type 2 Diabetes <<Just been warned by your doctor about the onset of type 2 diabetes? Your best bet is to eliminate all processed, refined carbs and avoid low-fat diets. (Advanced Mediterranean Diet)
• With Fancy Coffees, Calories Can Add Up <<Have I ever mentioned that I think Starbucks is as bad as soda, McDonald’s and Krispy Kreme? Well I do. (HealthDay)
• Homemade Tomato Soup <<Recipe I want to eat this more than anything. Anything. (Local Lemons)
• Family dinners work some kind of magic <<Again, let’s not confuse cause and effect, but I think this is a great argument for home cooking. (Los Angeles Times)

What great stuff did you read and write this week?

Tags: B.S. of the week, brain, cholesterol, David Kessler, heart disease, Huffington Post, Marion Nestle, recipe, Starbucks, type 2 diabetes

Quarter Pounder

Today one of my best and oldest friends, David Goodman, shares his remarkable story of how he dropped 20 pounds this year so far “without hardly trying.”

He says the influence I’ve had on him through conversations and articles here at Summer Tomato has helped him make better food choices almost subconsciously.

David and I have a long diet history together (he’s the friend from college I mention in the link), and I am honored to have him share his success story with you. Though he says he is only beginning his journey, I think we can all agree he has made tremendous progress already.

Congratulations Dave!

Dr. Darya: Or how I learned to stop worrying about my weight and love food

And drop 20 lbs in nine months.

by David Goodman

In December of 2008 I weighed 225 lbs. As of yesterday, I weigh 205 lbs.

It’s actually hard for me to view this as a big accomplishment. I have been planning to lose a lot more weight. (My goal is to weigh closer to 165 lbs). But the funny part is that while I have been “planning” to lose all this weight, I have, as Darya pointed out, lost a significant amount. And I have lost it, I can assure you, without being on a diet.

Darya told me that this was exactly the kind of weight loss she believed people could achieve by following her advice. She also reminded me that if I kept up this same pace every nine months, it wouldn’t be that long until I reached my goal. And significantly, I certainly won’t be gaining more weight, which is often the trend for people as they get older.

When Darya asked me to think about how I lost these 20 lbs, the reason was hard to pinpoint. Because it hadn’t occurred rapidly, and because I didn’t actively try to lose weight with a restrictive diet, it was almost like it didn’t “count.” Also, because I haven’t reached my ultimate goal, I don’t really feel like a success story just yet.

On the other hand, losing weight without trying is pretty awesome. And if this weight loss keeps up and stays off, I’ll be right where I want to be in 18 months.

So how did this happen, you ask? As far as I can tell, it went like this:

Darya and I have been talking about food for the past year. I have never been much of a cook and I ate out for most of my meals. I think I was eating fast food about 5-10 times a week.

As I talked to Darya and read her blog, I found myself thinking more and more about “good” food. In fact, without really meaning to I started categorizing food into two groups: “real” food and “crap” food. From what I could tell, simply put, real food grows in the ground, or eats food that grows in the ground. Crap food is made in laboratories and/or mass produced. It is fried or filled with sugar or both.

At first my categorizing food as crap didn’t really stop me from eating it. I was used to my routines and didn’t think about actively changing. Talking and thinking about health, nutrition, and good food made me want to behave differently, but I figured I would need to make major life changes to accomplish that, and I hadn’t gotten around to it yet. This is what I meant when I was “planning” to lose weight.

But I think it was hard to read and talk about healthy food and not incorporate some of that into my life. Slowly, without realizing it, I just started eating green vegetables more often. I definitely put more nuts, fish, and brown rice into my diet too. I don’t think I was eating those foods very much at all before I started talking to Darya about healthy food.

(Read more: Get Fit By Becoming A Food Geek)

Most of all, I stopped eating fast food so much and started making more meals at home. This happened so gradually that it is hard to remember the exact chain of events. Nine months ago it was 5-10 times a week for fast food. These days I usually go more than a week without having it at all. Last week I only had fast food once (I had a cheeseburger at In-N-Out. Sorry Darya, but in my defense, I was pretty drunk).

(Read more: Don’t Eat This, Don’t Eat That: Why Fast Food Is Never Healthy)

My eating is still far from perfect. I could do a lot better on the size of my portions and I still eat crap food from time to time. Also, to reach my ultimate goal of 165 lbs I think I am going to have to start exercising more. During the last nine months the most I did was go walking a few times a week. My gym attendance was inconsistent at best. But I think what my experience really shows is that gradual progress is possible with a few basic, common sense changes to what we eat.

Also, the food that I have been making and eating at home has been delicious. I don’t miss the crap food that I haven’t been eating and I look forward to the fresh, healthy food that I’ve been preparing.

Maybe this losing weight thing doesn’t have to be so hard. Maybe it’s just a matter of paying more attention and really being conscious about what we are eating and whether or not it’s really good food.

(Read more: How To Get Started Eating Healthy)

Have you lost weight eating real food? What are the biggest challenges for you?

Tags: dietary pattern, fast food, Healthstyle, real food, Weight Loss