Broccoli was going to be on the menu tonight. The farm had it as a special. They assured me that it was clean (I've thrown out plenty of bug-infested organic broccoli, so I always ask.), and it did indeed look beautiful.
No ideas came to mind, so I flipped through a few cookbooks. Cream of Broccoli Soup sounded easy and good, especially since I already had vegetable stock in the freezer. The recipe was from an old vegetarian cookbook. High-fat and high-calorie.
What do I do when a recipe calls for 6 tablespoons of butter, 3 cups of whole milk and a cup of sour cream?
The answer is: "It depends."
I thought about the menu. Broccoli soup and home-baked bread made with whole-wheat flour and seven-grain cereal.
With such healthy bread and the good nutrition of broccoli, I thought I could splurge with a few extra fat calories.
Instead of all that butter, I used 2 tablespoons and some canola oil. Rather than whole milk, I used 1/2 cup of (leftover) 10% cream (half & half in the
Lean, crunchy whole-grain bread. Nutrient-dense broccoli. Paired with a higher-than-normal amount of fat, it really wasn't so bad after all. And the extra fat meant that a little went a long way. In other words, everyone felt quite satisfied with a fairly small serving of soup.
You're asking how it turned out.
My audience gave dinner "two thumbs up".
Aha! You've brought up a topic that I've been wondering about for some time. 1% milk is also a staple in our house, and some of my friends have recently advised me that the calcium in the milk (or in other low-fat dairy products) isn't absorbed without the fat. I've looked into it a bit online, but I was curious as to where you stand on this issue? Is there a minimum fat percentage recommended for good calcium intake?
ReplyDeleteThanks for your time!
Thanks for asking a very interesting question, Toby.
ReplyDeleteThere's an ongoing discussion among nutrition professionals in Israel about this subject.
Fat improves Vitamin D absorption and Vitamin D is necessary for calcium absorption. The question is whether you specifically need the dairy fat (at the exact same time as you eat or drink the dairy), or will other, healthier fats (like olive oil in your salad dressing)eaten throughout the day have the same effect.
We don't really know.
Some dietitians here in Israel recommend a minimum of 2% milk. With so many people watching their weight and trying hard to lose weight, I'm more comfortable with 0% or 1% milk. Most other dairy products here have a higher percentage of fat anyway,and my assumption is that you're eating a variety of dairy products.
Generally, I recommend limiting saturated fat (including high fat dairy) and sticking with healthy unsaturated fats like olive and canola oil.