Spicy Vegetable Tart - Healthy Food Tip and Recipe

Today's Recipe
If you don't know what to serve for dinner tonight ...
Enjoy the wealth of nutrients in this unique tart, which is a wonderful treat when you have a little extra time to prepare your meal.
Spicy Vegetable Tart
Prep and Cook Time: Prep time: 35 minutes; Bake time: 25 minutes
Ingredients:

• Crust
• 3/4 cup sunflower seeds
• 3/4 cup walnuts
• 2 TBS sesame seeds
• 2 TBS flax seeds soaked in 1/4 cup water
• 1/8 tsp salt
• Filling
• 4 cups chopped Swiss chard
• 1 TBS chicken or vegetable broth
• 2 cups sliced crimini mushrooms
• 1 small onion, minced
• 3 medium cloves garlic, minced
• 1-1/2 tsp dried Italian herbs
• pinch of red chili flakes
• 1 small tomato, chopped, seeds removed
• 5 oz silken tofu
• 5 egg whites
• 1/8 tsp turmeric
• salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
2. Soak flax seeds in 1/4 cup water for 10 minutes.
3. While flax seeds are soaking, grind rest of crust ingredients in food processor. It should be finely ground when done. Add flax seeds and soaking water to crust ingredients and continue to process for another 30 seconds. Press evenly into a 9-inch tart pan making sure you come up to the top edge so crust isn't too thick on the bottom. Bake crust in oven for 15 minutes.
4. While crust is baking, chop onion and garlic and let sit for 5 minutes to bring out their hidden health benefits.
5. Bring lightly salted water to a boil. Cook chopped chard for about 3 minutes in boiling water and drain. This will reduce oxalic acid from chard and make it sweeter.
6. Heat 1 TBS broth in a medium stainless steel skillet. Healthy Sauté minced onion, garlic, and mushrooms in broth for 5 minutes stirring frequently.
7. Add herbs, tomatoes, salt and pepper, and sauté for 2 minutes. Press out excess water from chard and add to rest of vegetables.
8. Remove from heat and spread evenly over crust in tart shell.
9. Blend egg whites, silken tofu, turmeric, and a little salt and pepper in blender. Pour evenly over vegetables and bake for another 25 minutes.
10. With the tip of a knife loosen around edges of crust and remove ring. Cut into wedges and serve.

Serves 6 Printer Friendly Version of Spicy Vegetable Tart
In-Depth Nutritional Profile for Spicy Vegetable Tart
Healthy Food Tip

Are fruits in general, and melons in particular, a problem because of their acidity?

No, for most people fruits are not a problem when it comes to their acid content. There are two ways of thinking about this question of fruit and acidity. As a group, fruits are relatively acidic, and some fruits are highly acidic.
pH is a special scale created to measure how acidic any substance is, and the lower you get on the pH scale, the more acid a substance contains. At the very low end of the scale (in the pH range of 2.0), you'll find the lemons and limes—the most acidic of the World's Healthiest fruits. At the opposite end of the scale (near a pH of 14), you won't find any fruits whatsoever! However, cantaloupes and many melons will fall closer to the center of the range, with a pH of 6.0-6.6 (cantaloupes), or honeydew melons (6.0-6.7).
Other commonly eaten fruits aren't as acidic as lemons or limes, but still fall in the lower part of the pH range. For example, fruits like pears have a pH of 3.5-4.6 and strawberries 3.0-3.9. When we are healthy, our stomach and digestive tract is designed to deal very comfortably with fruits, even though they have relatively low pH values.
A second way of looking at fruits and acidity is to ask whether fruits are acid-forming. Fruits also do quite well in this regard! A new term has been created in the research world to refer to the potential impact of certain foods on the kidneys and uric acid levels. This term is "potential renal acid load" or PRAL. Foods like meats and cheeses and fish have high PRAL values (in the range of about 8-10). Fruits are amongst the lowest of all food groups in terms of PRAL values and have an average value in the negative range of -3.1.
For a comprehensive list of foods and their pH value, please visit the website hosted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition at: http://bit.ly/ejY944