Healthy Chicken Caesar Salad - Healthy Food Tip and Recipe

healthy food tip and recipe

Today's Recipe If you don't know what to serve for dinner tonight ...
You can add or substitute any of the vegetables with your personal favorites or use what you have on hand. This is a healthy version of a Caesar salad that is only limited by your imagination.
Healthy Chicken Caesar Salad
Prep and Cook Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:

• 4 cups chopped mixed greens (spinach, romaine, arugula)
• 2 oz chicken or turkey slices
• 1 medium tomato, chopped or sliced
• 1/4 cup cucumbers, sliced
• 1/4 cup crimini mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup or 1/2 can (BPA Free) kidney beans
• 1 TBS dried sunflower seeds
• 
  
• Dressing
• 2 TBS fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, pressed or chopped
• 1 TBS parmesan cheese

Directions:
Combine all ingredients and top with dressing.
Serves 1
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In-Depth Nutritional Profile for Healthy Chicken Caesar Salad
Healthy Food Tip

The Latest News about Crimini Mushrooms

People do not usually consider mushrooms, including crimini mushrooms, a part of their meals that offers great nutritional value. However, the nutritional value of crimini mushrooms may surprise you. One cup of crimini mushrooms provides a good, very good, or excellent source of 18 different vitamins, minerals, and antioxidant phytonutrients.

What's New and Beneficial About Crimini Mushrooms

• You can definitely make a difference in the health benefits you get from mushrooms by being extra careful with the temperature at which you store them. A recent study looked at color and texture changes in mushrooms over a 6-8 day period, including color changes that were associated with the mushrooms' phytonutrient content (discoloration was related to a reduction in these important nutrients). As temperatures moved closer and closer to room temperature (the researchers stopped at 59˚F/15˚C in their study), discoloration and hardening became more and more problematic. Prevention of discoloration and hardening required the researchers to take the temperature down all the way to 38˚F/3˚C over this 6-8 day period. Since 38˚F/3˚C is great temperature setting for your home refrigerator, what we're talking about here is careful refrigeration of mushrooms as soon as you've arrived back home from the grocery store. Leaving mushrooms out on the count ertop is worth avoiding, and you never want to store them even temporarily in a cabinet.
• Like most mushrooms, crimini mushrooms can provide us with unique immune system support. But contrary to public belief, these common button-type mushrooms have recently been shown to surpass some of their more exotic mushroom counterparts (like shiitake or maitake mushrooms) in terms of immune system benefits. We've seen several recent studies that placed button mushrooms at the top of the mushroom list with respect to regulation of unwanted inflammation. Included here were studies on laboratory animals involving the development of arthritis - an area where we expect to see more news about the health benefits of mushrooms.
• Protection against cardiovascular disease has become an area of special research interest in crimini mushrooms. Along with extracts from oyster, shiikate, maitake, and white button mushrooms, extracts from crimini mushrooms have been found to reduce the binding of certain immune cells onto the lining of the aorta. When mushrooms reduce this binding, they also lower risk of damage to the aorta and risk of blood flow problems.
• For women who are at risk of hormone-dependent breast cancer, crimini mushrooms may be an important diet addition. These mushrooms have recently been shown to be a significant source of conjugated linolenic acid (CLA) - a unique type of fatty acid that can bind onto aromatase enzymes and lessen the production of estrogen. Since some breast cancer tumors are dependent upon estrogen for their growth, this blocking of the aromatase enzyme by the mushrooms' CLA may lower risk of this breast cancer type. The presence of CLA in mushrooms is fascinating, because we typically expect to find this type of fatty acid exclusively in animal foods like milk, cheese, and meats.
• Crimini mushrooms may sometimes be a valuable source of vitamin B12. Even though this B12 issue can be a little confusing, we believe it's important for you to know that recent studies have found significant amounts of vitamin B12 in some samples of fresh crimini mushrooms. The B12 in these mushrooms was apparently produced by healthy bacteria growing on the surface of the fresh mushrooms. Mushroom content of B12 varied significantly, and sometimes it varied from farm to farm. That kind of diversity makes sense to us because growing conditions for mushrooms can vary dramatically. Traditionally, we've thought about animal foods as being our only reliable source of vitamin B12. Animals tend to store up small amounts of this vitamin after it has been produced via being consumed in a food or produced by bacteria in their digestive tract. This way of thinking about vitamin B12 still holds true. However, it might also be smart for us to start thinking about fresh mushrooms (inc luding fresh crimini mushrooms) as a potentially valuable source of vitamin B12. While we cannot ask fresh mushrooms for a vitamin B12 guarantee, we can count on them for a variety of other important health benefits, and along with these benefits, we may also be getting a boost in our B12 intake.

WHFoods Recommendations

To maximize their flavor and the retention of their nutrients, it is important to not to overcook them. That's why we recommend healthy sautéeing crimini mushrooms for just 7 minutes to bring out their best flavor while maximizing their nutrient retention.

Health Benefits

Crimini mushrooms provide numerous health benefits including:

• Immune system support
• Anti-inflammatory benefits
• Anti-oxidant support
• Cardiovascular health
• Anti-cancer support

For more details on crimini mushrroms' health benefits, see this section of our crimini mushrooms write-up.

Nutritional Profile

As might be expected from such an unusual food that is technically neither plant nor animal, crimini mushrooms boast an unusual array of phytonutrients that can be difficult to obtain from other foods. These phytonutrients include special types of carbs (for example, the polysaccharide-like molecules beta-D-glucans or fucogalactans) and special organic compounds called hydrazines and hydrazides. Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is a unique type of fatty acid also found in crimini mushrooms. Many of the above-mentioned phytonutrients provide support to our immune system and help prevent unwanted inflammation.
Crimini mushrooms are an excellent source of many minerals including immune-supportive selenium, bone-building copper, heart-healthy potassium, and energy-producing phosphorus. They are also an excellent source of B vitamins including energy-promoting vitamin B2, pantothenic acid, and niacin. In addition, crimini mushrooms are a very good source of heart-healthy vitamin B1 and vitamin B6; immune-supportive zinc, bone-healthy manganese, and muscle-building protein.
For more on this nutrient-rich food, including references related to this Latest News, see our write-up on crimini mushrooms.