Poached Eggs over Spinach & Mushrooms - Healthy Food Tip and Recipe

healthy food tip and recipe

Today's Recipe If you don't know what to serve for dinner tonight ...
Don't reserve this meal just for breakfast; it's great for lunch or dinner as well. You may not think to enjoy vegetables with eggs, but it is a wonderful combination and a way to include more vegetables in your Healthiest Way of Eating. Frozen vegetables are a good choice when fresh is not available and it is also very convenient when you don't have much time. Enjoy!

Poached Eggs over Spinach & Mushrooms
Prep and Cook Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:

• 4 large free-range chicken eggs
• 1 tsp light vinegar, (rice, white wine, or apple cider)
• 1 TBS chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cups sliced crimini mushrooms
• 1 medium tomato, seeds and excess pulp removed, chopped
• 3 medium cloves garlic, chopped
• 10 oz package frozen spinach, thawed and excess water removed
• salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Chop onions and garlic and let sit for 5 minutes to enhance their health-promoting properties.
2. Add 1 tsp vinegar to water in a 10-inch skillet.
3. While water is coming to a high simmer, in a separate skillet heat 1 TBS broth. Healthy Sauté onion and mushrooms in broth for 3 minutes over medium heat stirring frequently.
4. Add tomato, garlic, spinach, salt and pepper and sauté for another 2-3 minutes.
5. When water comes to a high simmer poach eggs for about 5 minutes, or until whites are firm. Remove from water with a slotted spoon and place over spinach mixture.

Serves 4 Printer Friendly Version of Poached Eggs over Spinach & Mushrooms
In-Depth Nutritional Profile for Poached Eggs over Spinach & Mushrooms
Healthy Food Tip
Does orange juice from concentrate (without additional ingredients) have the same benefits as fresh orange juice?

The more processing that a food undergoes, the more potential there is for nutrient loss. Any juice will have fewer benefits than an equivalent amount of the whole food from which it is made (provided that there are whole food parts-such as pulp-never making it into the final juice). For example, whole, organic oranges always provide better nutrition than freshly squeezed organic orange juice, unless all of the pulp that would have been eaten with the whole orange was also consumed in the freshly squeezed juice.
Freshly squeezed organic orange juice provides better nutrition than organic orange juice made from concentrate because it takes processing to manufacture orange juice concentrate. However, the differences here may not be very dramatic. One cup of orange juice from concentrate, for example, contains about 100 milligrams of vitamin C and 40 micrograms of beta-carotene (according to the USDA's SR19 nutrient database). The same cup of freshly squeezed orange juice contains about 125 milligrams of vitamin C and 80 micrograms of beta-carotene.
I haven't seen data for other phytonutrients contained in fresh orange juice compared to orange juice from concentrate, but I suspect that cryptoxanthin, hesperidin, limonene, and other phytonutrients found in the orange are found in decreasing amounts as the processing of the orange increases and therefore that the orange juice concentrate would have less of these phytonutrients.
Even though processing does have an impact on the nutritional value of whole oranges, I do not believe that organic orange juice from concentrate is a bad dietary choice. Many supermarkets do carry cartons of fresh, organic orange juice that is not made from concentrate. If that is not available, I think that an organic orange juice made from concentrate is still a very high quality drink compared to dozens of other choices (such as fruit drinks and soda pop), and it provides a very significant and worthwhile amount of many nutrients.
With all fruit juices, you do need to be more careful about the amount you consume than you do with whole fruits. Many people wanting a snack would naturally eat one whole orange and then stop. In that one medium-sized orange, they would get about 100 calories and 18 grams of sugar. On the other hand, it's not hard to find a 16-ounce bottle of orange juice in many stores, which will provide about 225 calories and 42 grams of sugar!