The best part of the recipe below is it only takes about 15 minutes to cook, a little less if you’re a pro in the kitchen. Plus, the pecans add a dash of nutty flavor and the cranberries are packed with powerful antioxidants. Try mixing it up with different types of nuts for variety.

What you need:

• 1 pound fresh Brussels sprouts, rinsed and trimmed
• 3 ounces coarsely chopped pecans
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 4 ounces coarsely chopped dried cranberries

Directions:

Slice the Brussels sprouts using the thinnest slicing disk of a food processor. If you do not have a food processor, you may slice thinly with a knife or a mandoline.

Set a 10-inch straight-sided saute pan over medium-high heat and add the pecans. Cook, stirring continually, until the pecans darken in color and begin to give off a toasted aroma, approximately 2 minutes. Add the butter to the pan and stir to combine. Once the butter has melted, add the Brussels sprouts, salt and pepper and cook, stirring continually, until the color brightens and the sprouts are just tender, approximately 6 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, add the cranberries, toss and serve.

Onion Spinach Scramble

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 teaspoon olive oil (cold pressed, virgin)
• Course salt to taste
• 1-2 cups freshly chopped spinach
• 2 or 3 eggs – beaten

Directions

Chop the spinach as small as you like. Saute the onion in the olive oil, and add some salt (1/4 tsp or so), let the onions caramelize (cook on low heat for 15 minutes, until translucent).

Meanwhile, beat the eggs with the chopped spinach. Add egg mixture to the sauteed onions and cook as a pancake until done to your liking.

Good thing that eggs are an excellent source of protein and Vitamin A. Not to mention the significant amounts of Iron and Calcium you can find inside. So chow down and enjoy!

• Ingredients
• 
  
• lemon, thinly sliced
• 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 2 salmon fillets, bones and skin removed
• coarse salt to taste
• 1 tablespoon olive oil, or as needed

Preperation

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Arrange half the lemon slices in a single layer in a baking dish. Layer with 2 sprigs rosemary, and top with salmon fillets. Sprinkle salmon with salt, layer with remaining rosemary sprigs, and top with remaining lemon slices. Drizzle with olive oil.
3. Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until fish is easily flaked with a fork.

Just because it’s not the season, that doesn’t mean you should forego the stupendous health benefits of the cooked tomato.  Though even ketchup and pizza sauce will give you the superb antioxidant protection of the tomato’s abundant lycopene, often what’s served underneath the sauce doesn’t do much for your waistline or your health.  Learn to use tomatoes in new and inventive ways even when you’re not getting them fresh from your garden. This simple recipe delivers the goods, with the added health benefits of the onion—proven to help protect against many forms of cancer if eaten on a regular basis.  (For all the details on both of these star vegetables, see The Lists section of The High School Reunion Diet.)  Recipe serves 4.

Prep

4 Pork chops

1 Medium onion, sliced thin

2 pints red and yellow cherry tomatoes, halved

3 Tablespoons of olive oil

1      Tablespoon Balsamic vinegar

2     Kosher Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1)   Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a heavy skillet over medium high heat.   Sauté the sliced onion until translucent and lightly browned.  Transfer to a bowl.

2)   Heat the remaining oil in the skillet over medium-high heat, then sauté chops until browned and just cooked through, 3-4 minutes per side.  Transfer chops to a platter.

3)   Return the onions to the pan, add the tomatoes and sauté together over medium-high heat for about 2-3 minutes.  Remove from heat, stir in balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.  Spread on chops and serve.

Eat The List

Spice: Turmeric.  Used for thousands of years as one of nature’s highly potent anti-oxidants, this magical spice has a rep today for improving medical problems small (cuts, bruises, surface skin conditions) and large (many types of cancer, Alzheimer’s).   It’s a natural painkiller.  It’s reputed to help metabolism, thus weight control.  The Chinese use it to fight depression.  It can reduce swelling and ease discomfort associated with arthritis.  And it can help improve your skin.    Turmeric may sound exotic, but it’s really not: it’s found in curry, and is a member of the ginger family.  Turmeric has a beautiful saffron hue and a mustardy taste.  It’s famous ingredient is the phytochemical curcumin, which gives it its gorgeous orange color.  Turmeric qualifies in our book as a True Food, one you should find ways to eat often.  Get in the habit of adding turmeric to egg dishes, egg salads, chicken dishes, curried fish, meat and vegetables.  It will only improve your dish and your health.

Quick-Grill Indian Chicken Breasts

Here you’ll make a minute marinade with fresh ginger and ground turmeric and cook the spiced chicken on the barbeque.

Combine

6 tablespoons peanut oil

6 teaspoons soy sauce

2 1/2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1 tablespoon fresh grated lemon peel

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

2 skinless boneless chicken breast halves

Course salt and ground pepper

Prep

Start the barbecue.  Combine all ingredients except the chicken in a glass bowl, and reserve ¼ cup for serving.  Coat the chicken on both sides with the remaining marinade.  Grill over medium-high heat until done, about 7 minutes per side.

High School Reunion Diet’s Fantastically Foxy Spinach

You will want a large skillet for this simple method of making spinach (on the Eat It List)—btw, one of the most nutritient-packed green things on planet earth.

You will want an amount of spinach that fills up your large skillet.  Spinach shrinks, so buy plenty per person; two huge handfuls at least, or 12 oz. to a pound each.

Make this spinach dish a staple in your daily diet; the more you eat the more your body gets the health and beauty benefits, and the more quickly you lose weight, improve your skin and recover your youth.

1) Wash spinach very thoroughly in a colander and don’t dry.  Even if it’s pre-washed, rinse it under the faucet.  (It’s safer to rinse it, and you want the spinach wet.)

2) Put the spinach in the large skillet, turn the heat on medium high, and cover.  The water that’s on the leaves will steam the spinach.  Stir ocassionally and cook a couple of minutes, until the spinach wilts.  Drain off any remaining water.

3) Peel a large clove of garlic and cut it in half.  Impale one of the pieces with a fork.  This is what you will use to stir the spinach.

4) Add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to the skillet.  Turn heat to medium high, and stir the spinach quickly with the garlic on the fork.  Add a sprinkle of kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, and cook 2-3 minutes.

5) Serve with a squeeze of fresh lemon.