Epigenetics

Welcome to an introduction to epigenetics by a social scientist, aka me. As a social scientist, I'm often concerned about the environment and how it affects people, for me, especially their learning, but that's not our topic, today. When I learned about epigenetics (a few years back), I got excited. Here we have the intersection of genetics (what you were handed by your parents) and your environment!

What you do in life can make a difference and help you overcome some of the, ahem, problems you may have been dealt in the meiotic mixing and the gametic game that led to the zany zygote that became you. Epigenetics is how the environment affects the expression of your genes.  What you eat, breathe, or intake in any way; plus, how you exercise, and how much you stress is in your life affects the expression of your genes. 

If you have bad genes, you can't change that and make them go away, but you can turn them off and pretend they aren't there by eating and NOT eating certain foods.  (Epigenetics gives me hope that the medical community, and society in general, will someday believe that food is a powerful medicine.  Now if we could somehow get a cut of the action to the drug companies...)

Take a look at this post by my happy healthy friend about the 9p21 gene.  Here's a gene that increases inflammation in epithelial cells and if you have one or two copies of it ups your risk of a heart attack. The conclusion over there is to eat more fruits and veggies.

Eat more fruits and veggies is usually the answer for helping turn off bad genes.  Seriously.  It's that simple.  In the case of diabetes and the SLC30A4 gene variant, that is linked to beta cells producing insulin in the pancreas, eating more carrots (or veggies/fruits with beta carotene) might help that gene direct the beta cells in the right way.

There's a lot to learn about epigenetics, but what researchers have been finding is that doing "good things," aka exercise, controlling stress, eating more veggies and fruit seems to turn off the bad genes. I don't have "scientific evidence" that eating well and exercising make me healthy, but I feel good and strong; quality of life is important, in my opinion.  I can't believe I'd feel like I do if I ate crap and didn't exercise.   

Mostly though,  research, exercise, and epigenetics aside, I was super excited to see I should eat more pumpkin!  I'm very into my pumpkin bars and have been playing around with the recipe.  Expect a post on my new version sometime in the near future--as soon as today as far away as next week. 

Pictures of Mexican Lasagna

Here's the recipe for Mexican Lasagna.  The recipe (from my happy, healthy friend), recommends that you use canned sweet potatoes if you're in a hurry.  I haven't tried that yet, but when I'm in a hurry, I use these, the frozen in a bag kind (picture below).  I used two bags (20 oz.).  I put them in a bowl and microwaved them for 5-7 minutes (until they were soft) and then put them in the lasagna.

Above, I'm assembling the lasagna with kale.  I had two layers of kale in it.  I microwaved the kale for ~30 seconds before I put it in to make it a little wilt-y.  I added a little more of it after I took the picture to that layer.  I had probably 5-6 cups of it in the whole pan--not a lot, but it's good to add greens to recipes.  It all adds up!  I used all 8 tortillas in the recipe and next time, I think, I'm going to try to make 1/2 the pan with very little tortilla and the other half with normal tortilla.  Or maybe I'll go all crazy and make 1 pan with and 1 pan without--believe it or not, this stuff freezes pretty well.

I use a lot of pico de gallo in my lasagna.  I think I used 3-4 of those  12 oz. containers.  I tend to NOT use all the juice, but to scoop out the chunks.  I think a cooked salsa with a thicker sauce might be nice, but I really like pico de gallo.  (It's scary how much I like it.)

Every time I make this lasagna*, Nick says, "I don't like sweet potatoes, but the sweet and spicy works."  I myself have mixed feelings about sweet potatoes, but this recipe does "work."  Enjoy!



*I've only made it 3 or 4 times.  Someday, he'll probably not say it, and then I'll be sad.  It's pretty cute.

Today's baking adventure

The girls and I made these pumpkin pie bars.  I read this recipe last fall, and I must have forgotten about it, because in my mind, I was fantasizing about inventing pumpkin pie with no crust on the outside, but with oat flour in it.  When I re-found the recipe I was glad I didn't have to go trying to invent.

The bars are still cooling in my fridge, as I was making them, I took a taste of the batter.  I don't think I used enough dates in them.  I didn't have Medjool dates, so I used 10 of what I had and I didn't measure.  When I looked back at the recipe, I realized I should have measured--my eyeball from memory tells me I had 2/3-3/4 of a cup.  I'm guessing I should have used more like 16-ish of the kind of dates I had.

Oh, well.  I'll try again--there's always another weekend and I have three girls who are always happy to help me bake!  Next time, I may add a touch of salt, too (like 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon) a little, not a lot, can make the taste zing.

Because they were less sweet, I stuck in some chocolate chips...  I may make some sweetened cashew cream to go with them... I'll let you know more after we try them... remind me if I forget!

Here's the recipe straight from Cathy Fisher's site with all credit to her.

Ingredients:
10 medjool dates, pitted and diced (about 1 cup diced)
3/4 cup water
1 ½ cups rolled oats, ground into flour (see Notes)
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (or see Notes below)
1 15-oz. can cooked pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix), (or one and a half cups cooked, pureed pumpkin; see Notes below)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup non-dairy milk of your choice

Directions:
1. Place the 10 pitted and diced dates into a small bowl with the 3/4 cup of water and soak for at least 15 minutes.

2. Place the flour and Pumpkin Pie spice in a large bowl. In a blender, blend the soaked dates, the date soak water, the vanilla, and the non-dairy milk until smooth (1-2 minutes). Pour this into the bowl of flour/spices, and also add the pumpkin, and mix with a wooden spoon until all the dry ingredients are incorporated.


3. Scrape batter into an 8×8-inch baking pan that is lined with parchment paper (or use a non-stick silicone baking pan). Cook for 25-30 minutes at 375 degrees. (If you see a light browning and some cracks on the top, these are good indications that it’s done.) Let cool at least 10-15 minutes before cutting and serving. Optional: Finish with Macadamia-Vanilla Frosting (recipe below) just before serving, or top with a light dusting of grated macadamia or other nuts (using a rotary cheese grater). Storing in the refrigerator overnight will firm up these squares, then you can pack them in a lunch or as a snack.

Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Makes: 9 to 16 squares (depending on how small you cut them)

Ridiculously excited

I am ridiculously excited about these two new finds at TJ's!

I like it green and organic!

I found the Kale last weekend and the Power to the Greens this weekend. I don't know how long they've been available, but I didn't notice them until recently. Today, or this weekend, I plan to make mexican lasagna and / or this soup with Kale.  I hope to make both, but we'll see how ambitious I am.

Exercise!

It's not always food around here.

This article discusses research about why we always need to keep moving.  They found that there were brain benefits, if you were a running rat, in that you'll be able to do mazes much faster.  But if you're a running rat, and your New Year's resolution slips, and you stop running, you'll lose that ability and be "just a normal rat" in just a few weeks  I'm guessing the same holds for humans--if we don't move it, we lose it.

This year, not very different from last year, has had 9 days in it so far.  I've had two trips to the zoo (lots of walking), one 3 mile hike, two hip hop classes, two days of just walking and working on the treadmill, one pilates workout, one tap class, and today, two hip hop classes (yes, two in one day!  One with Natalie and then mine).

Move!  It does a body good! 

Holiday ideas for Christmas and Easter

From  http://nestingcorral.blogspot.com/2012/04/easy-easter-appetizer.html

(Note, I would make this with white bean dip so that it could be vegan. so cute!)
 


From http://pinterest.com/pin/277745501991559005/

 

Nat was wondering if we could use kiwi for the tree... I don't see why not.  We'll play around with the idea and see what happens. Also, I think it would be nice to have a bowl of melted chocolate for dipping.  

Full credit goes to the creative folks who came up with the ideas.  I did not come up with the ideas, and I didn't photograph the cuteness.  I only put the pictures here so that I can find them easily in the future--you never know if something is gonna disappear on the Internet. 

Mexican Lasagna

Today, a friend emailed me. She's going to try to add a vegan dinner to her cooking once a week for 2013 and asked if I had any good recipes (Hi Linda!!!).  I'm just about to email her back with the link to this blog.  I was going to point her to the Mexican Lasagna recipe, but I never put it up here.  I can't believe I don't have it here, but a search for both "mexican" and "lasagna" turned up NOTHING.

I may not have linked and put it up since my local vegan friend (Hi Patti!!!) and person I discuss cooking and most everything else with nearly every day already has the Mexican Lasagna recipe.  In fact, I think she made Mexican Lasagna before I did.

A fun diversion: here's a picture of Patti and I cooking... we cooked up a vegan storm on Christmas Eve and a post about our fun day and wonderful feast is coming soon.  (I just need a little less break time to get some work done!)

 

Back to the recipe.  Here's a link to where I got it (after Patti recommended it).  It is good.  I highly recommend getting the field roast Mexican Sausage if you can find it as it's GMO-free.  I am not sure that the Trader Joe's version is non-GMO.  I'm also not sure whether the TJ's roasted corn is GMO-free.  Note, you can roast your own in the oven very easily... (A bag of frozen corn, a little bit of oil, and 20-30 minutes on broil in the oven will do it nicely!)

What did I do differently with the recipe ('cause I always modify!)?  I think I used way more salsa than the recipe calls for, but other than that, I didn't diverge too much from the recipe... except I added kale to the layers... Ah, yes, it's all coming back to me now.  

I replaced one of the layers of tortillas with chopped kale (or you can use chopped spinach).  There's still plenty of tortilla goodness if you replace one of the layers of tortillas with a green leafy vegetable and it gets EVEN better for you.  

I think I might be starting to crave this and I may need to make it ASAP!  Here's the recipe copy and pasted from my Happy Healthy Friend's site:

Recipe was inspired by Kathy Hester's "The Vegan Slow Cooker"

For a copy of the recipe on one page, click here:

Preparation time:  10 minutes

Serves:  8 generous portions

Ingredients:

• 1 to 2 large sweet potatoes (2 lbs), peeled, & thinly sliced (that's the only work you'll have to do) Tip: Parboil the sliced sweet potatoes ahead of time, until "just tender" to shorten the cooking time. Too Busy to Bother Tip: Use about 3 cans of Taylor's Canned Sweet Potatoes--vacuumed-packed, no sugar or syrup.
• 2 16 ounce jars of your favorite salsa (I used chipotle)--enough for almost 4 cups of sauce (I used over-priced Guy Fieri's Chipotle salsa & LOVED the flavor.  It does have canola oil in the ingredient list, but it lists as 0 fat, which means it's less than .5 a gram, & still unacceptable if you follow Esselstyn's diet strictly.  Just saying...)  More notes:  I do think my use of a well-seasoned chipotle salsa added to the great flavor of the lasagna.
• 8 ounces of Upton's Naturals Chorizo flavored seitan (substitute with 2 links of Field Roast Mexican Chipotle "sausage", or 8 ounces of Trader Joe's Soy (Gluten-free) Chorizo, or make your own with this recipe. (you can substitute tomato paste or more beans or broth for the oil)
• 1 package of Food for Life corn tortillas  (12 count)
• 1 can (15 ounce) black beans, drained & rinsed
• 1 1/2 -2 cups of Trader Joe's Roasted Frozen Corn--about 1/2 of a package (can substitute regular frozen corn)

Preparation:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2.  Pour 1/4 of the salsa (a scant cup) on the bottom of a 9 X 13" baking dish
3.  Cover the sauce with a single layer of the tortillas (1/3 of the package)--it's OK to cut some in half
4.  Top with 1/3 of the chorizo, 1/3 of the sweet potatoes, 1/3 of the roasted corn, & 1/3 of the black beans
5.  Now top with 1/4 of the salsa, and repeat the layering, starting with the tortillas.  You'll do this two times.
Tip from Veryveryverygreen: skip one (or more) of the layers of tortillas and add kale.  
6. Cover the final layer with the rest of the salsa, spreading it well.  Cover the lasagna with non-stick foil & bake for about one hour to 1 hour & 15 minutes--until the sweet potatoes are tender, and everything is nice & piping hot.  Tip: Parboil the sliced sweet potatoes ahead of time to shorten the cooking time.
7.  If you are able to eat avocados, adding just a little on top adds a nice balance to the spiciness of this dish.

Sour Cream-Like Topping - Optional
This was so quick to make & it added a nice cooling taste to this spicy dish.
Soak 1/2 cup of cashews in 1/2 cup of water for 30 minutes.
Add 1/4 cup of lime juice, to the cashews & water & blend in a high-speed blender (VitaMix) for a minute or two until creamy.
Add a sprinkle of pepper & salt if you like.
A spoonful is all you need.