Anti-Cancer Recipes?

Rewriter said:

Vegetable Tagine
Karen, I'm glad you liked the cucumber soup. I think I will make some over the weekend--should be just the thing for these 97 degree days that we've been having. Thank you for the interesting gazpacho recipe, which I will try but without the chicken broth. Do you think that will ruin the recipe? I eat only a little bit of fish and almost never have chicken or meat.

Here's a recipe for vegetable tagine. I used to make a version of tagine with chicken, prunes, apricots, and chickpeas; but this is an interesting variation that I just found but have not yet tried:

For the tagine:

6 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons ground cumin seed
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
3 medium cloves garlic, thinly sliced
3 medium carrots, peeled, medium dice
1 cup canned diced tomatoes in juice
1 quart (4 cups) vegetable broth
Pinch saffron threads
1 medium head cauliflower, large dice
1 1/4 cup green olives, such as picholine, pitted and halved
2 cups cooked chickpeas, drained
1 preserved lemon, seeds removed, finely chopped
1/2 cup dried currants

To serve:

3 cups dry couscous
3 cups water
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup whole almonds, toasted
1/2 cup sliced scallions
1/2 cup plain Greek-style or whole-milk yogurt

INSTRUCTIONS

For the tagine:

Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot with a tightfitting lid over medium heat.

When oil shimmers, add onion, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.

Stir in cumin and cinnamon stick, and toast until aromatic, about 1 minute; add ginger and garlic, and cook until just softened, about 1 minute more.

Add carrots, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, and cook until slightly tender, about 3 minutes.

Add tomatoes and their juice, vegetable broth, and saffron and stir to combine.

Bring mixture to a simmer and cook, covered, until vegetables are almost completely cooked but still raw in the center, about 7 minutes.

Add cauliflower, olives, chickpeas, preserved lemon, and currants and simmer, stirring occasionally, until cauliflower is just tender, about 10 minutes more.

Taste tagine and adjust seasoning if necessary.

To serve:

Place couscous in a large bowl or baking dish. Bring water to a boil. Once water boils, pour over couscous, and let stand until water is absorbed, about 5 minutes. Add olive oil, season to taste with salt and pepper, and stir briefly to combine.

Serve tagine over couscous, topped with almonds and scallions. Pass yogurt on the side.

Good Anti-Cancer Information
I just wanted to bring this thread to the top of the list because it contains great information about anti-cancer foods--for example, see the list posted by Claudia--as well as fairly easy recipes for adding these foods to our diets.

Happy eating!

Love,

Jill

kkstef said:

Sweet Potato Burritos
Here is one you might like:

Sweet Potato Burritos

I freeze the extra's and then just heat up whenever I want one.

1 1/2 tsp. vegetable oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
2 cans black beans, drained (or 1 can Great Northern and 1 can black ..can also use kidney beans)
1 c.corn, frozen, canned or cut off the cob fresh)
1/2 to 1 c. broth (or water)
1 1/2 Tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. turmeric (or more)
2 tsp. prepared mustard
1/4 tsp (or more if you like things hotter) red pepper flakes or use some cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tbsp. soy sauce
6 (10 inch) flour tortillas warmed
2 c. baked mashed sweet potatoes,mashed (2 small-medium potatoes)
4 oz. shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2.Heat oil in medium skillet, and sauté onion, jalapeno pepper and garlic until soft.
3.Stir in beans and mash SLIGHTLY (don’t want them mushy). Gradually add broth (can add more broth or water if too thick), and warm.
4.Stir in chili powder, cumin, turmeric, mustard, pepper flakes and soy sauce.
5.Stir in the mashed sweet potatoes. Heat through.
6.Divide mixture evenly between the warm flour tortillas. Top with cheese. Fold up burrito style and place on a baking sheet.

Bake for 15 minutes in preheated oven, and serve with a dollop of yogurt or sour cream

Enjoy!
Karen

Can I make burritos using corn tortillas?
I'm wondering if anyone has ever seen very LARGE corn tortillas. In a few days, I am having a dinner party and want to serve Karen's sweet potato burritos as a main course. All of my guests are basically vegetarian, but one guest also does not eat wheat. The corn tortillas that I use are too small to fold; so I either need to find big versions or make the burritos the way I would make lasagna, lining the bottom of the pan with tortillas, filling the middle with the potato mixture, and then topping it with another layer of tortillas topped with cheese. Does this sound workable?

Please help if you can. I need advice.

The rest of the dinner will include homemade guacamole, Annie's black bean and corn salad, and a colorful fruit salad for dessert. Alkaline lime juice will be featured in all of these dishes, and I will offer iced green tea with lemon.

Anyone else have anti-cancer food ideas for a dinner party?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Jill

upsofloating said:

Well Jill your menu sounds
Well Jill your menu sounds quite tasty!!! Sorry I can't help with the corn tortillas. I do not eat wheat so corn are bthe ones I always use. I think the lack of gluten in the corn tortillas makes a large size problematic. They are not usually as thin as flour tortillas - same reason I guess - and so don't lend themselves to folding too well either. I can get larger brown rice tortillas at Trader Joe's but unless they are very fresh they don't fold well either. Perhaps doing it more like enchiladas would be a possiblity.
I'm sure your guests will have quite a feast however you handle it!
Annie

Fresh versus canned beans
I'm wondering whether those of you who create dishes using beans actually cook the beans (for days, it seems) or go the more convenient route of using canned versions. Today, I made a trial version of a black bean and corn salad, and the canned beans seemed to make the salad mushy. I have dried black beans and will see if using those will make a difference (and probably make it more nutrient filled)

My hope is that I don't bother anyone with these questions. I just figure that fighting our cancer with diet can become a fun activity, and fun has amazing anti-cancer properties as well.

Wishing all of you a joy-filled weekend.

Jill

Kaleena said:

Corn Tortillas
Jill:

A friend of mine had us over for dinner and had the corn tortillas. They broke apart in pieces whenever we tried to roll them. I ended up just breaking them apart and dipping them.

Oh Jill! your dinner sounds soooo delicious! Save me some! lol

Kathy

Thanks, everyone
Today, I experimented with this meal and found that the corn tortillas just won't work. Even when I kept them flat and whole and layered them with the filling, they did not hold up to being eaten with a knife and fork. When I am by myself or with an intimate friend, this meal is delicious; but it's too messy for company. So...

I am changing the menu to Karen's chickpea and tomato curry, served over quinoa, with hummus and stuffed grape leaves as sides (of course, cucumber spears, peppers, and carrots to dip in the hummus).

Thank you for humoring me. My hope was that we could all share the "fun" of eating an anti-cancer diet, but I got stuck worrying about my menu. I appreciate all of the help and encouragement.

Jill

culka said:

How about
rice paper? Looks like tortilla, just soak it in warm water.

Beans - always dry version, soaked over night except for lentils. They don't need it.
If I don't have time - 15 minutes in pressure cooker.
If I need it for lunch - 1-2 hours normal cooking
If I have plenty of time - 6 hours in slow cooker

Jill, I'm asking you again, how many grams of proteins a day do you need?

Protein
Janna (Is that correct?)--

I get no more than 50 grams of protein a day, in the form of beans, lentils, and nuts. The rest of my diet consists of fruit and vegetables.

Thank you for the rice paper suggestion. The menu for my dinner party contains far more protein than what I normally eat in one meal.

culka said:

Jill
Almost, just Jana.

I'm trying to be on 50g as well. Using the cronometer calculator helping me keep even fat in decent numbers.

Moving this to the front
Since people seem to be discussing diet again, I thought it would be helpful to move this thread to the front.

Jill