Artichokes- Cecilia's favorite.

In honor of my daughter Cecilia, who is turning 5 this week, I am posting about artichokes- her favorite vegetable!

I have to be honest, growing up in Puerto Rico I NEVER had artichokes.  Maybe hidden in some dip, but I don't think I had ever even seen one before I moved here, and certainly never cooked and eaten a fresh one before I met my husband (and then I fell in love...with him and artichokes!) :)

My husband has Italian background so he grew up eating artichokes and taught me how EASY they are to cook and how FUN they are to eat!

Which brings my next point... They are GREAT for kids!
We had them this week for the first time in months and Cecilia asked me "why haven't we had these in so long?" I explained that they are a Spring vegetable (trying to teach her to eat with the seasons as much as possible). She went on to tell me how much she loved them because "they are so fun!".

So I know many people see this spiky leaf strange looking vegetable and have no clue what to do with it.  Don't be intimidated!- It is super easy, delicious, and I am here to convert you!

Here is a step-by-step on how to cook & eat artichokes, followed by their AMAZING health benefits.

How to Cook an Artichoke

1. (OPTIONAL) If the artichokes have little thorns on the end of the leaves, take kitchen scissors and cut of the thorned tips of all of the leaves. This step is mostly for aesthetics as the thorns soften with cooking and pose no threat to the person eating the artichoke.

2. Slice about 3/4 inch to an inch off the tip of the artichoke.

3. Cut excess stem, leaving up to an inch on the artichoke. The stems tend to be more bitter than the rest of the artichoke, but some people like to eat them.

5. Rinse the artichokes in running cold water.

6. In a large pot, put a couple inches of water, a clove of garlic, and a slice of lemon (this adds wonderful flavor to the artichokes).  Add the artichokes. Cover. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer. Cook for 30 to 45 minutes or until the outer leaves can easily be pulled off. Note: artichokes can also be cooked in a pressure cooker (about 15-20 minutes cooking time). Cooking time depends on how large the artichoke is, the larger, the longer it takes to cook.


How to Eat an Artichoke

Artichokes may be eaten cold or hot, but I think they are much better hot. They are served with a dip, either melted butter with garlic or mayonaise. We usually just do a bit of melted butter, some olive oil, salt, and garlic, but I've heard of mayo with a little bit of balsamic vinegar mixed in being a yummy alternative!

1. Pull off outer petals, one at a time (the fun part!).

2. Dip white fleshy end in melted butter or sauce. Tightly grip the other end of the petal. Place in mouth, dip side down, and pull through teeth to remove soft, pulpy, delicious portion of the petal. Discard remaining petal.

Continue until all of the petals are removed.

3. With a knife or spoon, scrape out and discard the inedible fuzzy part (called the "choke") covering the artichoke heart. The remaining bottom of the artichoke is the heart. Cut into pieces and dip into
sauce to eat!


Health Benefits

Most people’s favorite part of the artichoke is the heart, but the leaves are actually the source of a vast majority of its health benefits. In fact, artichoke leaf extract has proven to be an extremely beneficial food with a host of illness-fighting, age-extending properties.

Artichokes are packed with phytonutrients such as quercetin, rutin, gallic acid, and cynarin, all working to protect against many health risks including cancer, heart disease, liver dysfunction, high cholesterol, and diabetes.

Digestive Issues
Clinical and experimental trials have shown that eating artichokes may be useful in treating chronic digestive complaints including irritable stomach, nervous gastropathy, flatulence, and irritable bowel.

Liver/Gallbladder
They are useful in treating specific liver/gallbladder conditions with elevated blood fat values by promoting bile flow in the body, increasing fat digestion and protecting the intestinal mucosa. Bile acids stimulate intestinal peristalsis resulting in better digestion. Bile moves toxins that are ingested through food, water and the air from the liver on to the intestine for further elimination, making it a powerful "detox food".

Lowers Cholesterol
Artichokes have been proven through clinical studies to be a safe, non-toxic, natural way to prevent and treat high cholesterol. They increase the breakdown of cholesterol to bile salts, thus increasing bile production and flow, and regulate the internal production of cholesterol in the liver.
Artichokes have been shown to lower LDL (bad cholesterol) and increase HDL (good cholesterol). One study showed a decrease in total cholesterol of 18.5 and LDL cholesterol by 23. This amazing plant had actually gained widespread popularity in the 1950`s and 60`s before statin drugs came along. They contain high amounts of luteolin, which is known to play a role in it cholesterol lowering abilities.

Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases
Artichokes are packed with antioxidants, making them incredible defenders against cancer, aging, heart disease, and illness. They boost the immune system and lower cholesterol.

Artichokes are packed with vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients that increase health and wellbeing. These include:

Quercetin- An anti-carcinogen flavonoid that works as an antioxidant to protect against cancer and heart disease.

Rutin- A flavonoid which promotes cardiovascular health, helps prevent cell proliferation associated with cancer, and has anti-inflammatory and anti-allergenic properties.

Anthocyanins- Color pigments in Artichokes that are powerful antioxidants. They are associated with a lower risk of certain cancers, urinary tract health, memory function and healthy aging.

Gallic Acid- A potent antioxidant also found in red wine and black tea. It has been shown to inhibit cell proliferation in prostate cancer cells.

Luteolin and Cynarin- Very powerful polyphenol antioxidants that may lower cholesterol levels. Artichokes are very concentrated in cyanarin, which may also help in regeneration of liver tissue.

Caffeic Acid and Chlorogenic Acid- Contains anti-cancer, antimicrobial, anti-LDL (bad cholesterol) and antiviral properties.

Silymarin- A powerful antioxidant that may aid the liver in regenerative tissue growth.

One artichoke contains approximately one fourth of the average adult`s daily fiber requirements. It is also packed with vitamin C, potassium, folic acid and magnesium!!

Spring is time for ARTICHOKES!  Try it out if you haven't, and let me know what you think!

What I Learned...

Many of you know that 2 years ago my husband and I bought a farm in Wisconsin.  We are currently working on it and our goal is to have an organic, humane, grass-fed beef operation, some time in the next 5 years, with some diversity of plants, fruit trees, and other animals.

This weekend we went to the 25th Annual MOSES Organic Farming Conference in La Crosse, WI. We spent three days learning in workshops, listening to inspiring keynote speakers, making new friends, checking out exhibitors, and the best... having delicious, organic meals! :)

I wanted to share some of what I learned.  It is so extremely important and when it comes to our food, there is SO MUCH we just don't know; so here it is.

This weekend I learned....

#1- that government tests of meat found ANTIBIOTIC-RESISTANT BACTERIA in:

• 81% of ground turkey (and you were once told turkey was "healthy", right?)
• 69% of pork chops
• 55% of ground beef
• 39% of chicken breasts, wings, and thighs.

Sick animals may need antibiotics (although if raised humanely and with proper, organic feed, chances are much lower).  But most conventional producers give healthy animals unnecessary antibiotics to encourage growth or prevent diseases caused by crowded or unsanitary conditions.

According to the CDC, 2 million American adults and children become infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria each year, and at least 23,000 die as a direct result of infections. Consuming antibiotics daily through animal products is to blame.

Click here if you'd like to join me in TAKING ACTION about this.

#2- that DIRTY SOIL is contributing to DEAD ZONES in our lakes and oceans.

It all starts with a healthy soil. I must have heard this in every single workshop I went to; of completely different topics. (Remember?...."just as it all starts with a healthy GUT".  :) )

The use of fertilizers and pollution of discarded manure from big factory farms, has contributed heavily in the creation of "dead zones" in our lakes and oceans. In contrast, in small grazing farms, manure  is used as natural fertilizer for the soil, creating a healthy soil with much less runoff to our
waterways.

There are two main dead zones around the US- the Chesapeake Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, with some others around the world. Dead zones are low-oxygen areas in the world's oceans and large lakes, caused by "excessive nutrient pollution from human activities coupled with other factors that deplete the oxygen required to support most marine life in bottom and near-bottom water." 

Let's do our best to protect our oceans, lakes and marine life by buying ORGANIC products, 100% GRASS-FED and/or PASTURE RAISED animal products.

#3- that pesticides are TOXIC and ORGANIC IS INDEED IMPORTANT.

Regardless of what the media tells you (ALWAYS check your sources!) there are thousands of studies on how pesticides are toxic, (especially for children and pregnant women) and lead to diseases like cancer, Alzheimer's, harm reproductive health, allergies, asthma and other autoimmune diseases..among others. Here is a link for more information on studies for each pesticide-induced disease. 

Recently, newer studies are talking about the "disease inheritance" phenomenon, where we are passing on diseases to our future generations!

Basically, synthetic pesticides account for one in three known endocrine disruptors (chemicals that interfere with the hormone system). Studies are suggesting these chemicals may, before a child’s first breath, set the stage for autism, ADHD, obesity, and cancer.

Yet another reason to BUY ORGANIC!

#4- that BIO-DIVERSITY is KEY.

You might have heard we are losing the bees thanks to GMO's and the increased use of pesticides. You might not care.  And say, you don't even like honey (although I doubt that!) but like it or not we need them. Just as we need proper diversity in our farms.

Most of the small organic farmers I met have diversity in their farms, because they understand the importance.  Bees, butterflies and insects pollinate. Chickens eat the bugs and worms that might damage other plants.  Grasses in the land provide nutrients to the soil.  Manure from cows create a healthy soil.  Goats eat the weeds! etc.. etc.. etc..  It's all interconnected.

By diversifying crops, mixing plants and animals, planting trees- which provide not only fruit but shelter for birds, shade, fertility through nutrient recycling, and more- small landholders can produce more food (and more kinds of food) with fewer resources and lower transportation costs (which means a lower carbon footprint), while providing greater food security, maintaining greater biodiversity, and even better withstanding the effects of climate change.

Support small, bio-diverse, local farmers.

#5- That GMOs are NOT good.  NEVER.  Ever will. 

And that there IS indeed enough food to feed the world.  I know their little (evil) media brainwash "with GMOs we will feed the world". The skeptic and logical part of me always thinks... "have you ever been to a Cheesecake Factory?"

Get this!!!

40 percent of food in the United States today goes uneaten. This not only means that Americans are throwing out the equivalent of $165  billion each year, but also that the uneaten food ends up rotting in landfills as the single largest component of U.S.  municipal solid waste where it accounts for a large
portion of U.S. methane emissions.

Reducing food losses by just 15% would be enough food to feed more than 25 million Americans every year at a time when one in six Americans lack a secure supply of food to their tables.

According to the ETC Group, a research and advocacy organization based in Ottawa, the industrial food chain (Big Ag/Biotech) uses 70 percent of agricultural resources to provide 30 percent of the world’s food, whereas what ETC calls “the peasant food web” (small farmers) produces the remaining 70 percent using only 30 percent of the resources.

Get educated on GMOs, support labeling and buy GMO free.

_____________________________________________________

So, I know... this all sounds kind of depressing, and I was getting there at the conference... until I looked around me....

A conference that started 25 years ago with only 90 farmers has grown to 3,328 in attendance this year. 

We were surrounded by the old pioneers that didn't sell out to BigAg, Amish people that continue their traditions, and lots and LOTS of young people (with LOTS of dreadlocks! ; ) ), giving us hope and inspiration for better, healthier times to come for ourselves and our planet!

The movement is growing!  And you can be a part of it by voting with your $$$, getting educated on these issues, and taking action and speaking up to government on critical issues.

Why Buy Organic? (In a nutshell...)

This past weekend we were at the MOSES Organic Farming Conference in La Crosse, WI and I learned SOOO much! I am writing a post about it... but there is SO MUCH information I will finish and post later this week.  It will be a good one, so stay tuned...

In the meantime, I leave you with this to inspire you to BUY MORE ORGANIC!