Today's Recipe - Poached Eggs Over Sautéed Greens

Today's Recipe
If you don't know what to serve for dinner tonight ...
Enjoy vegetables for breakfast! In many parts of the world vegetables are a regular part of a healthy breakfast. This Healthiest Way of Eating dish not only tastes great, contains only 130 calories, but also provides a wealth of health-promoting nutrients.

Poached Eggs Over Sautéed Greens
Prep and Cook Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients:

• 4 eggs, preferably organic
• 1 tsp light vinegar (rice, apple cider, or white wine)
• about 4 cups water
• 1 cup thinly sliced leeks, about 1 large leek, white part only
• 6 medium cloves garlic, sliced
• 4 cups finely chopped kale
• 3 + 5 TBS chicken broth
• 2 TBS fresh lemon juice
• salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Slice leeks and garlic and let sit for at least 5 minutes to bring out their health-promoting properties.
2. Bring water and vinegar to a fast simmer in a skillet large enough to fit eggs. Make sure there is enough water to cover eggs.
3. While water is coming to a simmer, heat 3 TBS broth in a separate stainless steel 10-12 inch skillet. Healthy Sauté sliced leeks in broth over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Add garlic slices and continue to saute, stirring constantly for another minute.
4. Add kale, broth, and lemon juice, and simmer covered on medium low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. When done season with salt and pepper.
6. Poach eggs until desired doneness. This will take about 5 minutes, or just until the white is set and the yolk has filmed over. Remove from vinegar water with a slotted spoon and place on top of greens.

Serves 4 Printer Friendly Version of Poached Eggs Over Sautéed Greens
In-Depth Nutritional Profile for Poached Eggs Over Sautéed Greens
Healthy Food Tip

Can you tell me more about the health benefits of the bromelain enzyme found in pineapple including whether it helps with protein digestion?

Bromelain is a complex mixture of substances that can be extracted from the stems and core fruit portion of pineapples. Among dozens of components known to exist in this crude extract, the best-studied components are a group of protein-digesting enzymes (called cysteine proteinases). Originally, researchers believed that these enzymes provided the key health benefits found in bromelain and that these benefits were primarily limited to aid with digestion in the intestinal tract.
Studies have also shown that bromelain has a wide variety of health benefits and that many of these benefits may not be related to the different proteinase enzymes found in the crude extract. Excessive inflammation, excessive coagulation of the blood and clot formation, and certain types of tumor growth may all be reduced by therapeutic doses of bromelain when taken as a dietary supplement. Studies are not available, however, to show these same potential benefits in relationship to normal intake of pineapple within a typical diet.
Bromelain extracts can be obtained from both the fruit core and the stems of pineapple. Potentially important chemical differences appear to exist between extracts obtained from the stem versus the core fruit. However, the practical relevance of these differences is not presently understood. However, most of the laboratory research on bromelain has been conducted using stem-based extracts.
Although healthcare practitioners have reported improved digestion in their patients with an increase in pineapple as a "fruit of choice" within their patients' diets, I haven't seen published studies that document specific changes in digestion following consumption of the whole fruit. However, I've seen plenty of evidence to consider pineapple as a World's Healthiest Food, and I suspect that the extracts obtained from the core fruit will turn out to have some uniquely health-supportive properties, including possible digestion-related benefits.
Referencees:
Gaspani L, Limiroli E, Ferrario P, et al. In vivo and in vitro effects of bromelain on PGE(2) and SP concentrations in the inflammatory exudate in rats. Pharmacology 2002 May;65(2):83-6.
Hatano K, Kojima M, Tanokura M, et al. Primary structure, sequence-specific 1H-NMR assignments and secondary structure in solution of bromelain inhibitor VI from pineapple stem. Eur J Biochem 1995 Sep;232(2):335-43.
Hatano K, Sawano Y, Tanokura M. Structure-function relationship of bromelain isoinhibitors from pineapple stem. Biol Chem 2002 Jul-2002 Aug;383(7-8):1151-6.