Curried Chicken Over Spinach - Healthy Food Tip and Recipe

healthy food tip and recipe

Today's Recipe If you don't know what to serve for dinner tonight ...
This dish is rich tasting without a lot of work. The curry coconut flavor goes very well with the spinach. It is simple to make, and if you feel like it, this recipe can be adapted to include more vegetables very easily. Just increase the amount of sauce ingredients slightly and add them to the chicken.
Curried Chicken Over Spinach
Prep and Cook Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces (6oz each)
• 1 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 3 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 TBS fresh ginger chopped, or 1/2 tsp dried
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1 medium sized onion, cut in half and sliced
• 1 medium sized red bell pepper julienne about 1 inch long
• 1/2 cup coconut milk, make sure it is mixed well before using
• 4 bunches fresh spinach
• salt & white pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Bring water to a boil for spinach. While water is coming to a boil, cut chicken into bite sized pieces. Healthy Sauté onion in a medium sauté pan over medium low heat for about 5 minutes stirring frequently. Add garlic and fresh ginger and continue to sauté for another minute. Add turmeric, and curry and mix well. Add stock, chicken, bell peppers, and coconut milk. Simmer until chicken is done, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and white pepper.
2. While chicken is cooking, cut ends off the bunch of spinach all at once. Don't bother trying to do it one stem at a time. It will take you too long and it is not necessary. Rinse spinach well and drop into boiling water for just 1 minute. Strain and press dry. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Place spinach on plates and top with chicken mixture.

Serves 4 For optimum flavor and nutrition serve with:

• Minted Carrots

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In-Depth Nutritional Profile for Curried Chicken Over Spinach
Healthy Food Tip
I have been told that too much copper is not good for you. Can you explain?

Too much of any nutrient is not good for you! That rule applies to copper and its fellow minerals, or vitamins, or any other category of nutrient. For virtually all aspects of nourishment, our challenge is to get the optimal amount of nutrients for our individual needs-not the greatest possible amount of each nutrient.
Copper is a key mineral required by the body to maintain health. In a moment, I will give you a list of potential problems related to copper excess. But let me start by telling you that the risks involved with copper excess were great enough for the U.S. Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Sciences to take action in 2000 and establish the following Tolerable Upper Intake Levels (ULs) for copper:

• 0-12 months: not possible to establish an UL
• 1-3 years: 1000 micrograms
• 4-8 years: 1000 micrograms
• 9-13 years: 5000 micrograms
• 14-18 years: 8000 micrograms
• 19 years and older: 10,000 micrograms
• Pregnant women, 14-18 years: 8000 micrograms
• Pregnant women, 19 years and older: 10,000 micrograms
• Lactating women, 14-18 years: 8000 micrograms
• Lactating women, 19 years and older: 10,000 micrograms

What are some of the reasons that copper excess has become a topic of widespread concern? One factor involves the amount of copper found in drinking water due to a switch in most areas of the country from galvanized water pipes to copper water pipes. Other factors involve our increasing knowledge of human metabolism and the exact roles that copper plays. For example, we know that there are enzymes in the body-like zinc/copper superoxide dismutase-that only function properly when copper is in a very precise ratio to other minerals (in this case, zinc). If a person has too little zinc and too much copper, this superoxide enzyme (and other enzymes) will cease to function properly.
Excessive intake of copper can cause abdominal pain and cramps, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and liver damage. In addition, some experts believe that elevated copper levels, especially when zinc levels are also low, may be a contributing factor in many medical conditions including schizophrenia, hypertension, stuttering, autism, fatigue, muscle and joint pain, headaches, childhood hyperactivity, depression, insomnia, senility, and premenstrual syndrome.
Postpartum depression has also been linked to high levels of copper. This is because copper concentrations increase throughout pregnancy to approximately twice the normal values, and it may take up to three months after delivery for copper concentrations to normalize. Since excess copper is excreted through bile, copper toxicity is most likely to occur in individuals with liver disease or other medical conditions in which the excretion of bile is compromised. While these examples only tell part of the story, they should begin to make it clear why too much copper could pose problems for our health status.
For more information on this topic, see:

• copper

If you have any questions about today's Healthy Food Tip Ask George Your Question