Month: May 2021

Red Chili Enchilada Sauce

Posted on by Isaac

Ingredients

  • 3 ounces dried ancho peppers
  • 3 ounces dried guajillo peppers
  • 2-3 or more dried arbol peppers
  • 1 medium yellow or white onion, peeled and cut in half
  • 2 ripe tomatoes, halved
  • 4 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 4 cups boiling water or chicken broth
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano (preferably Mexican)
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • Small piece of semi-sweet chocolate (optional)

Instructions

  1. Heat a cast iron skillet on medium high. Place chilies on the skillet and heat until they are soft. Don’t burn them or the sauce will be bitter
  2. Place the tomatoes, onions and garlic in the pan and roast for 10-20 minutes turning occasionally. They can get pretty black and charred.
  3. Using gloves, remove the stems from the peppers. Slice the peppers open and remove and discard all of the seeds and the veins.  Place the peppers in a bowl.
  4. Pour 4 cups boiling water over the peppers, cover the bowl and let them sit for 20-30 minutes until soft.
  5. Place the peppers and their liquid along with the onion, tomato, garlic and all remaining ingredients (except for the chocolate if using) in a blender and blend until completely smooth.
    Note: At this point determine for yourself whether your sauce needs to be strained. I use a Vitamix blender which does an excellent job of blending the sauce to a very smooth puree, so I don’t bother straining it.
  6. Heat a tablespoon or so of oil to a pot then add red sauce. Simmer it uncovered for about 30 minutes. Add a little more water if you prefer it thinner. The sauce should be the thickness of heavy cream.
    Optional: For an added flavor touch, add a small piece of semi-sweet chocolate at the end and stir until melted.
    If the sauce is very bitter, add a touch of brown sugar. SEE NOTE.
  7. Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or freeze it for several months. I like to freeze about a cup of it per freezer bag so I can conveniently grab a bag as needed.
    Makes about 5 cups.

 

 

Vegetarian Sources of Micronutrients

Posted on by Isaac

I’ve always known it’s important to get enough vitamins and minerals from natural sources, but doing so has been a bit overwhelming. This is a list of important micro nutrients, accompanied by the recommended daily allowance, and natural foods containing high amounts of this nutrient. These can serve as the basic ingredients that recipes and diets can be built upon. With time I’ll make this into a set of recipes and approximate meal plans for meeting our week by week nutritional

Eating a bit of fish or meat would easily satisfy some of these requirements that are hard to get, especially B12.

All units are per / 100g

 

Magnesium (400mg target)

  • Hemp seeds 700 mg
  • Pumpkin seeds 592 mg
  • Cocoa powder 499 mg
  • Flax seeds 392 mg
  • Almond butter 292 mg
  • Cashew butter 258 mg
  • Spirulina 195 mg
  • Spinach 79 mg
  • Swiss chard 81 mg
  • Spinach juice 13 mg

Potassium (4700 mg)

  • Ancho peppers, dried 2400 mg
  • Pasilla peppers, dried 2200 mg
  • Sundries tomatoes (dry, not in oil) 3427 mg
  • Spirulina powder 1363 mg
  • Hemp seeds 1200mg
  • Dried apricot 1162 mg
  • Pumpkin seeds 786 mg
  • Bananas 358mg

Copper (0.9 mg target)

Try eat at separate mail from iron and zinc heavy foods.

  • Spirulina 6.1 mg
  • Cocoa powder 3.8 mg
  • Sesame seed paste (tahini) 4.2 mg
  • Brown mushrooms 0.5 mg
  • Basil 0.39 mg
  • Lentils 1.3 mg
  • Potatoes, boiled 0.8 mg

Zinc (11 mg target)

  • Hemp seeds 9.9 mg
  • Pumpkin seeds 10.3 mg
  • Lentils 3.6 mg
  • Tahini 10 ug
  • Pine nuts 6.4 ug
  • Cashews 5.8 ug

Iron ( 8mg target)

  • Parsley 6.2 mg
  • Potatoes 6 mg
  • Spinach 2.7 mg

Selenium (56 ug)

  • Brown mushrooms 26 ug
  • Egg whites 20 ug
  • Sunflower seeds 79 ug
  • Tahini 34 ug

Vitamin A (3,000 IU)

  • Ancho peppers 20,430 IU
  • Carrot juice 19,000 IU
  • Sweet potato, baked with skin 20,000 IU
  • Broccoli leaves 16,000 IU

Vitamin C (90 mg)

  • Bell peppers 170 mg
  • Parsley 133mg
  • Kale 93.4 mg
  • Lemon juice 38.7 mg
  • Orange Juice 50 mg

Vitamin D 6000 IU

  • Maitake mushrooms 1123
  • Portobello mushrooms, exposed to UV light1136

Vitamin E (15 ug)

  • Sunflower Seeds 36 ug
  • Sunflower oil 41 ug
  • Almonds 25 ug

Vitamin K (120 uG)

  • Parsley 1640 ug
  • Swiss chard 830 ug
  • Dandelion greens 778 ug
  • Spinach 480 ug

Omega-3 (1.6g

  • Flaxseed oil 53g
  • Walnut oil 10.4g
  • Salmon oil 35g
  • Almost all oils are above 6g

Omega-6 ( 17g)

  • Grapeseed oil 69g
  • Sunflower oil 65g
  • Walnut oil 52g

Calcium (1000 mg)

  • Agave 417 mg
  • Kale 254 mg
  • Spinach 99g
  • Parmesan 1253 mg
  • Tahini 960 mg
  • Jarlsberg 890
  • Paneer cheese 662 mg

B6 (1.3 mg)

  • Pasilla chilies 4.23 mg
  • Garlic 1.24 mg
  • Ancho 3.54 mg
  • Bananas 0.37 mg
  • Hass avocado 0.29
  • Heart of palm, raw 0.81 mg

B1 (1.2mg)

  • Spirulina 2.38 mg
  • Flax seeds 1.6 mg
  • Sunflower seeds 1.4mg
  • Tahini 1.2 mg
  • Pine nuts 1.24

B2 (1.3mg)

  • Spirulina 3.5mg
  • Pasilla peppers 3.2mg
  • Dry milk 1.2mg
  • Goat cheese 1.2mg
  • Almonds 1.4mg
  • Almond butter 0.9mg

B3 (16mg)

  • Flax seeds 36mg
  • Brown mushroom 3.8
  • Maitake mushroom 6.59
  • Peanut butter 13.7

B12 (2.4 ug)

  • Duck eggs 5.4 ug
  • Jarlsberg 3.06 ug
  • Milk 0.45 ug
  • Eggs 1.1 ug