Tomatoes are so commonly used, it’s easy to forget their very powerful health benefits. But tomato nutrition is right up there with the most popular of superfoods.

The red ball of deliciousness is actually a fruit and contributes to your health in more ways than one. Tomatoes are have an antioxidant content that is credited for most of its benefits, but they don’t stop there.

Tomatoes are part of the nightshade family and were once considered toxic, only becoming common in the 1800s. Perfect in sandwiches, soups, salads, raw or cooked, tomatoes qualify as a citrus fruit, which also makes them particularly apt for canning. Lycopene is part of the carotenoid family. Carotenoids are pigments that give tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables an orange or reddish color, and they have high antioxidant potential.

Surprised? Below are 10 more uses for tomatoes that you may never have imagined!

1. Prevent Breasts Cancer

Lycopene may have cholesterol synthesis-inhibiting effects and contribute to the fall of LDL (bad) cholesterol levels.

2. Hold Back Aging

Lycopene is an antioxidant that fights cellular damage, including that of the skin. This means it helps to fight free radicals and boost the youthful appearance of facial skin, keeping you young and fresh longer. The vitamin A in tomatoes also reduces the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines.

3. Prevent Prostate Cancer

Men, take heed! According to some studies, people with a higher intake of lycopene have a lower incidence of prostate cancer.

4. Condition Dry Hair

One tomato contains 28 percent of your daily allowance of vitamin C, which is important for hair health. In fact, not getting enough vitamin C can lead to dry hair with splitting ends. Apply raw tomato juice to your hair, let it sit, and then rinse before drying to keep hair conditioned throughout the winter months.

5. Prevent Stomach Cancer

In a study that aimed to see the connection between lycopene and cancer prevention, it was observed that lycopene does indeed prevent cancer, especially for those related to the stomach. In another study, it was shown that the consumption of large amounts of tomato may reduce the risk of gastric cancer.

6. Avoid Sun Burn

According to one study, 23 women who easily burned under the sun were asked to follow a tomato paste diet. Twelve weeks later, when these women were exposed to the sun, they experienced a 30-percent increase in skin protection!

7. Treat Urinary Tract Infection

Tomatoes are often treated as acidic, although when they enter the blood stream they turn alkaline and will actually help to stabilize pH levels in your body. This is good news for those suffering from a UTI, which is improved by a lessening of acid in the body.

8. Ward Off Inflammation

Tomato’s lycopene content has an anti-inflammatory affect on the body and this can lead to the improvement of various diseases as well as prevent future ones. Turn off the tide of inflammation with tomatoes!

9. Cook Them

To boost the lycopene capacity of tomatoes, cook them! Cooking tomatoes breaks down tough lycopene cell walls and helps the antioxidant become more bio-available to the body. Cook your own tomato sauce using fresh tomatoes or bake cherry tomatoes in the oven before adding them to a salad.

10. Boost Bone Health

Tomatoes provide nearly 18 percent of your daily value of vitamin K in just one cup. Vitamin K is crucial in maintaining bone health by keeping calcium molecules in the bone intact and preventing bone mineralization.  

Related on EcoSalon:

Blueberry Recipe: Tomato Ketchup Gets a Berry Sweet Makeover

Early Girl Gets the Prize: 3 Recipes For Your Best Tomatoes

4 Types of Fruits and Vegetables Better For You Cooked than Raw

Image Credit: iamrenny

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The elusive perfect tomato. Even among varieties of heirloom tomatoes, not every bite is as worthy as it could be. As worthy as we want it. After all, we call them love apples for a reason. Expectations are high.

To the lucky few who find those delicious rarities where acid and sweetness are in perfect balance, texture is juicy but firm, flavor is strong but just mild enough, preservation is key. And with heirloom tomatoes only around for that short blip of summer (it always goes too fast, doesn’t it?) saying farewell can be painful.

While we can’t keep perfect summer heirloom tomato varieties fresh year-round, we can have the next best thing: dried tomatoes. These aren’t your store-bought-soaked-in-oil-and-salt variety. These are slow-dried at home, from your favorite batch of heirlooms.

Oven-dried Heirloom Tomatoes

Makes about one pint

Ingredients

7 -8 lbs firm ripe heirlooms
2 teaspoons sea salt
optional: one teaspoon (each or any) fresh dried herbs: basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, parsley

Directions

De-stem tomatoes and cut into quarters (for smaller tomatoes, simply cut in half, but generally, heirlooms are on the large side).

Lay the tomatoes cut side up on a non-stick cookie sheet (or oil a regular cookie sheet). But avoid an aluminum sheet as this will react with the acids in the tomato and compromise the flavor.

Mix the salt with any of the dried herbs and sprinkle the mixture atop the tomatoes.

With the oven door slightly opened to allow the moisture out, bake at 170°F (or 200° if that’s the lowest setting your oven allows) for approximately 3 hours.

Remove the tomatoes and gently flip to the other side. Put the tomatoes back in for another 3 hours with the door open. Repeat the process until dry. Note this can take up to 12 hours before the tomatoes are completely dried.

You want to avoid letting them become crisp or burned, so you need to watch them, especially in the last half of the drying process. Which means, start this early, perhaps on a slow weekend when you’re savoring the last of summer’s long, warm days.

Some tomatoes will dry faster than others; it’s okay to remove those.

You can store them in an airtight jar in the refrigerator.

Serve with lots of fresh olive oil on salads and sandwiches, in pasta and pizza dishes, or simply enjoy them by themselves.

Keep in touch with Jill on Twitter @jillettinger

Images: (top) Chiot’s run, kulinarno

Related stories

Know Your Heirloom Varieties: A Guide to the Season’s Best Heirloom Fruits and Vegetables

Foodie Underground: Growing Your Own

The post How to Dry Heirloom Tomatoes (And Savor Summer Just a Little Longer) appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnFood is a privilege. Treat it that way.

“Making food makes you happy?”

I was on a walk with two friends and we had somehow arrived on the subject of food- a frequent occurrence in my everyday life. She was a bit surprised that food in general was on my list of things that made me feel good.

“Well, yeah.”

I thought about it for a second. “It’s a way to de-stress… if I have too much going on I feel good being in the kitchen and making something. It’s like a meditation.”

This was probably why I was feeling like I was having the Best. Weekend. Ever. I had discovered a new Mexican restaurant that didn’t have the typical Portland feel on Friday, scored a vial of truffle salt at farmers market on Saturday, and been offered up full access to a friend’s overflowing garden of tomato plants on Sunday. For a food lover, that is a pretty good three-day stretch.

Food does make me happy. Making it, thinking about it, talking about it. It’s true that in stressful moments I have been known to toss out the to-do list and go bake something instead.

I am not alone. Food can even be a way of dealing with larger issues. It can help us escape the mundane and it can help us romanticize our reality. Whether you like to cook it or just eat it, we are all affected by food in one way or another. There is a thrill in finding a new restaurant, thumbing through a new cookbook. Food is love. But that feeling is a luxury.

My mother and I were discussing a phone call she had had with my aunt, who in the course of talking about recipes had said, “isn’t it amazing how many recipes float around and yet we still can’t manage to feed everyone on the planet?”

It’s true. The fact that we even have time to discuss food is a luxury. While most of the world is concerned with putting the next meal on the table, or even just having access to basic nutrition, we’re frustrated because the steak was too salty, the artisan aioli was off the menu for the evening, or the creme brulée was burnt.

There is nothing wrong with the aforementioned behaviors – we do live in a modern society after all, and for those of us that have access to food, we have turned it into an art – but it is important to have perspective.

There were 925 million hungry people in the world in 2010, 19 million of those in developed countries. There are 10.9 million child deaths every year; poor nutrition plays a role in at least half of them.

Even if you are on a budget, when it comes to food, you are part of the 1%, and it’s important not to take our access and ability to talk about food for granted. The ability to appreciate food in the way that many of us do is because food is more than sustenance. We have what we need, and we know when we’re going to get it, which means we can relish in the details, be they locally harvested sea salt or homegrown fennel.

As I wrote last week, “In the modern age, if you are able to comfortably put food on the table, it is inexcusable to not think about what you are eating.” But that means more than just thinking about where your beef came from. It also means celebrating the people that produce your food, reveling in the simple joys of buying a handmade product, and thanking friends when they open up their garden to you. Not because these things are popular or trendy, but because they’re bettering our planet and communities.

I thought about all of this as I picked my way through 12 varieties of heirloom tomatoes on Sunday. To quote John Denver: “Only two things that money can’t buy and that’s true love and homegrown tomatoes.” It’s true. There are few things that are comparable to the smell of a tomato vine basking in the sun. I picked an entire backpack’s worth and carted it home on my bicycle, intent on making sun-dried tomatoes and storing them in olive oil and mason jars. This is not just late summer bliss, this is luxury.

We are privileged to be able to celebrate the moments where we grow our own food, when we produce a meal that is made with all local ingredients, when we make a meal from scratch instead of opting for something processed. Mere decades ago, these things were the norm, but in an agribusiness, monocrop, fast food kind of world,  they have fallen by the wayside, only to be slowly picked back up again.

Food may not be what you’re passionate about, but we could all take more time to think about it.

So this week, take time to be thankful for what you’re eating, appreciate the simple pleasures, and find a friend that grows tomatoes.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.

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Rethinking breakfast, one egg at a time.

Pizza for breakfast. We’ve all been there, but this time it doesn’t involve you shamelessly munching on the cold leftovers from last night’s dinner. Instead, it’s a fried egg, cheese and tomatoes served over a whole-grain toasted bagel.

The whole-grain bagel provides you with the fiber your body craves in the a.m. and the protein-packed egg and cheese are sure to keep you fuller for longer, all the while offering the comfort of a flavor combination you know all too well. Sometimes a savory breakfast fits the bill and this recipe takes pizza and gives it a morning makeover.

Egg Sandwich Pizza

Serves 1

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 1/2 tablespoon butter
• Dash of salt and pepper
• 1 whole-grain/whole-wheat bagel, toasted
• 1 thin slice of parmesan cheese
• 1 slice tomato
• 3-4 sun-dried tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon fresh oregano, pulled from stems

Directions:

In a saucepan over high heat, add the butter. When melted, crack open the egg into the saucepan and let cook. Pull in the edges of the egg white as it cooks and break open the yoke slightly with a spatula to help it cook through.

When the egg is cooked through, but still soft on top, season with salt and pepper and remove the saucepan from the stove and set aside.

Over a toasted sliced bagel half, begin to add the fillings – the fried egg, then the cheese, tomato slice, sun-dried tomatoes, and fresh oregano.

Cover the sandwich with the other half of the bagel and slice along the middle before serving.

Bon Appetit!

Aylin Erman currently resides in Istanbul and is creator of plant-based recipe website GlowKitchen.

The post Sunday Recipe: Egg Sandwich Pizza appeared first on EcoSalon.

We have the basics of apartment gardening down and still need to decide what to grow.

When most people start their urban garden, they have visions of growing tomatoes, cucumbers and so many other vegetables. Then the reality sets in when tomatoes start dying and cucumbers shrivel up. Not to worry. I’ll help you to figure out which vegetables to choose.

For instance, one of the biggest mistakes that people make is planting a vegetable such as tomatoes in a spot that doesn’t get enough sunlight for them to grow.

In this video you will learn common vegetables to grow based on the amount of sun your garden gets.

If you are not sure how to tell how much sunlight your garden space gets, check out this post that I wrote about the process.

And if you feel like it, share how much sun your garden gets and what you are planning to grow in the comments below.

Mike Lieberman shows people with little to no land how to start growing their own food so they can avoid toxic pesticides, eat healthier and not feel limited by their lack of experience and space. Connect with him here to learn more urban gardening tips.

Image: tillwe

The post Choosing the Right Vegetables to Grow in Your Urban Garden appeared first on EcoSalon.

Simply put, your brain likes to eat. And it likes powerful fuel: quality fats, antioxidants, and small, steady amounts of the best carbs.

On a deadline? Need to rally? Avoid the soda, vending machine snacks and tempting Starbucks pastries and go for these powerful brain boosters instead. The path to a bigger, better brain is loaded with Omega-3 fats, antioxidants, and fiber. Give your brain a kick start: eat the following foods on a daily or weekly basis for results you will notice.

20 foods that will supercharge your brain:

1. Avocado

Start each day with a mix of high-quality protein and beneficial fats to build the foundation for an energized day. Avocado with scrambled eggs provides both, and the monounsaturated fat helps blood circulate better, which is essential for optimal brain function. Worst alternative: a trans-fat-filled, sugar-laden cream cheese Danish.

Green it: you don’t need to buy an organic avocado – conventional is fine. But make sure your supplementary protein is free range, cage free, or organic.

2. Blueberries

These delicious berries are one of the best foods for you, period, but they’re very good for your brain as well. Since they’re high in fiber and low on the glycemic index, they are safe for diabetics and they do not spike blood sugar. Blueberries are possibly the best brain food on earth: they have been linked to reduced risk for Alzheimer’s, shown to improve learning ability and motor skills in rats, and they are one of the most powerful anti-stress foods you can eat. Avoid: dried, sweetened blueberries.

Green it: buy local and organic, and be mindful of seasonality. When blueberries are out of season, opt for cranberries, grapes, goji berries, blackberries or cherries to get your brain boost.

3. Wild Salmon

Omega-3 fatty acids are essential for your brain. These beneficial fats are linked to improved cognition and alertness, reduced risk of degenerative mental disease (such as dementia), improved memory, improved mood, and reduced depression, anxiety and hyperactivity. Wild salmon is a premium source, but we’ll highlight a few other sources on this list for vegetarians and people who just don’t like salmon. Avoid farmed (read: sea lice infested) salmon.

Green it: the California salmon stock is threatened, so choose wild Alaskan salmon only, and eat small portions no more than twice a week.

4. Nuts

Nuts contain protein, high amounts of fiber, and they are rich in beneficial fats. For getting an immediate energy boost that won’t turn into a spike later, you can’t do better than nuts. The complex carbs will perk you up while the fat and protein will sustain you. Nuts also contain plenty of vitamin E, which is essential to cognitive function. You don’t have to eat raw, plain, unsalted nuts, but do avoid the ones with a lot of sweetening or seasoning blends. Filberts, hazelnuts, cashews, and walnuts are great choices, with almonds being the king of nuts.

For those avoiding carbs, macadamia nuts are much higher in fat than most nuts. By the way, peanuts just aren’t ideal. Aside from the fact that many people are allergic, peanuts have less healthy fat than many other types of nuts…maybe that’s because peanuts are not actually a nut! They’re still much better than a candy bar, however.

Green it: try to choose organic, raw nuts, and if you can’t get those, at least avoid the tins of heavily-seasoned, preservative-laden nuts that may have taken many food miles to get to your mouth.

5. Seeds

Try sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, flax seed, and tahini (a tangy, nutty sesame butter that tastes great in replacement of mayo and salad dressing). Seeds contain a lot of protein, beneficial fat, and vitamin E, as well as stress-fighting antioxidants and important brain-boosting minerals like magnesium.

Green it: Again, just look for organic and try to avoid the highly-seasoned, processed options. In general, things like fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts are pretty low-impact, environmentally speaking, in comparison to meats and cheeses.

6. Coffee

Thine eyes do not deceive (even if you are in the midst of a sugar crash). Coffee is good for your brain. Did you know coffee actually contains fiber? That’s going to help your cardiovascular system. Coffee also exerts some noted benefit to your brain in addition to providing you with a detectable energy boost.

The trick is not to have more than a few cups. But you can safely enjoy 2-4 cups daily – we are talking about supercharging here. Just please don’t go ruining a good thing by loading it up with sugar! Espresso beans are actually a phenomenally healthy snack, by the way.

Green it: brew yourself some fair-trade organic coffee to benefit both the planet and the workers who grow your beans. Use a thermos instead of a throwaway cup.

7. Oatmeal

Nature’s scrub brush is one of the best foods for cardiovascular health, which translates to brain health. Additionally, oatmeal is packed with fiber, a reasonable amount of protein, and even a small amount of Omega-3’s. It’s a good grain that will sustain you throughout the morning so you aren’t prone to irritability or an energy crash.

Green it: the healthiest oatmeal is the real, steel-cut deal. Steer clear of those little microwavable packets that are loaded with sugar. All that packaging isn’t very green.

8. Beans

One more for carb-lovers. (The brain uses about 20% of your carbohydrate intake and it likes a consistent supply.) Beans are truly an amazing food that is sadly overlooked. They’re humble, but very smart. Not only are they loaded with fiber, vitamins, minerals and protein, they’re ridiculously cheap. An entire bag of beans usually costs only a few dollars and will provide many meals. Beans provide a steady, slow release of glucose to your brain – which means energy all day without the sugar crash. Don’t go eating a whole platter of frijoles, though – just 1/4 of a cup is fine.

Green it: look for heirloom beans that are raised sustainably, like those from Rancho Gordo.

9. Pomegranate

Opt for the fruit over the juice so you get more fiber. Pomegranates contain blueberry-like levels of antioxidants, which are essential for a healthy brain. Your brain is the first organ to feel the effects of stress, so anything you can do to offset stress is a smart choice.

Green it: pomegranates are seasonal and not generally local for most of us, so enjoy sparingly and rely on other berries like acai, grapes and cherries when you can’t get this fruit.

10. Brown Rice

Brown rice is a low-glycemic complex carbohydrate that is excellent for people sensitive to gluten who still want to maintain cardiovascular health. The better your circulation, the sharper your brain.

Green it: don’t buy the excessively-packaged “boil in a bag” rice packets. Just make up a big batch of brown rice in a rice cooker on Sunday so you have it on hand for easy lunches all week.

11. Tea

You have to brew tea fresh or you won’t get the benefits of all those catechines (antioxidants) that boost your brain. Because tea has caffeine, don’t have more than 2-3 cups daily.

Green it: buy organic, fair trade loose leaf or packets to support sustainable business practices.

12. Chocolate

Things are looking increasingly better for chocolate. It’s got brain-boosting compounds, it’s loaded with antioxidants, and it has just the right amount of caffeine. Chocolate sends your serotonin through the roof, so you’ll feel happy in short order. Dark chocolate is also rich in fiber. (Remember, fiber = healthy cardiovascular system = healthy brain.)

Green it: go for super dark, fair-trade, pure organic chocolate, not the sugary, processed milk chocolate candy bars.

13. Oysters

Oysters are rich in selenium, magnesium, protein and several other nutrients vital to brain health. In one study researchers found that men who ate oysters reported significantly improved cognition and mood! Not all shellfish are good for you but oysters are a sure bet.

Green it: oysters are actually one of the most eco-friendly seafood options, so eat up!

14. Olive Oil

Though we know the brain does need a small, steady supply of glucose, don’t overlook fat. Studies have consistently shown that a low-fat diet is not the health boon we hoped it would be (remember the 90s low-fat craze?). In fact, avoiding fat can increase foggy thinking, mood swings, and insomnia. A diet rich in healthy fats is essential to clear thinking, good memory, and a balanced mood. Your brain is made of fat, after all.

One study of men found that those who relied on the processed vegetable fats found in salad dressings, snacks and prepared foods had 75% higher rates of mental degradation (dementia, memory loss) than men who ate healthy fats. Most processed foods and fast foods use corn oil, palm oil, soybean oil and other Omega-6 fats. You don’t want Omega 6 fats. Even saturated fat is safer than Omega 6’s.

Choose healthy fats such as those present in olive oil, nut butters, nuts and seeds, flax, oily fish, and avocados. Avoid processed fats found in pastries, chips, candy bars, snacks, junk food, fried foods and prepared foods. Eating the wrong fat can literally alter your brain’s communication pathways.

Green it: look for organic, local, or farmers’ market options when it comes to your food. You should also explore herbal remedies for mood swings and brain health.

15. Tuna

In addition to being another rich source of Omega-3’s, tuna, particularly yellowfin, has the highest level of vitamin B6 of any food. Studies have shown that B6 is directly linked to memory, cognition and long term brain health. Generally, the B vitamins are among the most important for balancing your mood. B6 in particular influences dopamine receptors (dopamine is one of your “feel good” hormones along with serotonin).

My personal cocktail: SAMe (nature’s happiness molecule) and a mega-dose of B-complex keeps me humming even when I’ve got a mountain of work to do. Which, like you, is all the time.

Green it: only eat tuna from sustainable fisheries, and if you’re looking for a B6 source that is vegetarian, opt for a banana, which contains a third of your day’s requirement (tuna offers nearly 60%).

16. Garlic

Garlic – the fresher the better – is one of the most potent nutritional weapons in your arsenal. Eat it as much as your significant other can stand. Not only is it fabulous for reducing bad cholesterol and strengthening your cardiovascular system, it exerts a protective antioxidant effect on the brain.

Avoid: I know it makes life easier, but don’t even think about buying the chopped or peeled garlic. Nutritional benefits = zero.

Green it: just choose organic, and go for local if you can get it.

17. Eggs

Eggs contain protein and fat to provide energy to your brain for hours, and the selenium in organic eggs is proven to help your mood. You really needn’t worry about the overblown cholesterol fears. (I have quite a bit to say on this topic but I’ll restrain myself for once.)

Green it: choose organic, free range, vegetarian fed eggs.

18. Green Leafy Vegetables

Spinach, kale, chard, romaine, arugula, lolla rossa – whatever green you like, eat it daily. Green, leafy vegetables are high in iron (slightly less “green” iron sources include beef, pork and lamb). Americans tend to be deficient in iron, which is too bad, because the deficiency is linked to restless leg syndrome, fatigue, poor mood, foggy thinking, and other cognition issues.

Green it: choose organic, and shop at your farmers’ market or order from a local CSA. Leave out the red meat a few days a week and rely on a big, well-seasoned green stir fry or salad.

19. Tomatoes

Go figure, but tomatoes don’t usually make the brain-boosting food lists. (Thank goodness I found the one that did so I’m not the only one.) Tomatoes contain lycopene, an antioxidant that is particularly good for your brain – it even helps prevent dementia. You have to cook tomatoes to get the lycopene – take that, raw foodies! Just kidding. But this does mean that ketchup is good for your brain. Although because of the sugar in it, you should look to other sources for most of your lycopene intake, such as fresh tomato sauce.

Green it: try to eat tomatoes that are local and get your lycopene in vitamin form when tomatoes aren’t in season. You’ll know when that is – the tomatoes will be pale, tasteless, and pithy.

20. Cacao nibs

That’s right, I’m putting chocolate on this list twice. My boyfriend knows I need it. I eat chocolate or cacao nibs daily and I think you might want to consider it, too. Cacao nibs are among the top five most powerful brain foods, right next to wild salmon and blueberries. My girlfriends and I like to mix cacao nibs with frozen blueberries and a generous splash of organic heavy cream while we watch really bad television on Sunday nights.

Green it: as long as it’s fair trade and organic, it’s green.

Things that drain your brain:

Alcohol kills your brain cells outright! Alcohol also interferes with dopamine production. Moderate amounts of alcohol, particularly resveratrol-rich red wine, can help improve your health, but anything beyond a glass or two of wine daily is a recipe for reduced brain function and energy loss.

Corn Syrup and Sugar lead to health problems like diabetes and obesity, and they’re terrible for your brain. Don’t eat sugar except on special occasions or as an infrequent treat. If you can’t cut back that much, try to limit yourself to just two bites of whatever tempts you daily.

Nicotine constricts blood flow to the brain, so while it may “soothe” jittery nerves, smoking will actally reduce your brain function severely – and the effects are cumulative.

A high carbohydrate lunch will make you sleepy and sluggish. Opt for a light meal with some quality protein, such as a salad with grilled chicken breast or vegetables and hummus or wild American shrimp and avocado.

Vita Search
Public Library of Science
PubMed

– with additional reporting by Sarah Irani

Each week here at EcoSalon, the editors choose a post from the archives that we think you’ll love. The original post can be found here.

Image: haydnseek

The post Ignite Your Brainpower with the 20 Smartest Foods on Earth appeared first on EcoSalon.

I am a freakishly seasonal shopper. Not only do I assiduously avoid grocery store tomatoes year-round until they are in season at the farmers’ market, I won’t even buy them from the farmers for the first few weeks of the local season.

Instead I continue to enjoy the green beans, squash, and other summer goodies while I wait for the tomatoes to reach their peak of goodness. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, that’s about now.

Forget about heirlooms. They’re so 2007. Have you noticed that sometimes they just aren’t that great?

Eaters in the know are going for the Dry-Farmed Early Girls that many farmers are growing. They are deep red, juicy, never mealy and packed with concentrated tomato flavor. And dry farming saves water – especially important in water-starved California.

Here are three fabulous recipes for you to make with your area’s best tomatoes – be they heirlooms, Early Girls, or Beefsteaks.

101 Cookbooks offers up a Spiced Tomato-Potato Gratin that would be wonderful as a side dish or a light supper.

From Saveur, we’ve got a Grilled Tomato Salsa for tacos, chips, quesadillas, beans, or simply spooning over grilled meat.

And from Simply Recipes a Chickpea, Tomato, and Egg Salad that is simple enough to showcase the best tomatoes but complete enough to be an entire meal-especially on a hot day.

Photo credits: Main image by the ewan via Flickr, licensed for commercial use under Creative Commons. Other images from the recipe sites.

The post The Early Girl Gets the Prize: 3 Recipes for your best tomatoes appeared first on EcoSalon.

No downer beef, if you please. But gimme slabs of chocolate and cheese –  and all of the other upper foods that help effect serotonin and dopamine, the two neurotransmitters in the old brain. Who says the Gods must be crazy? We’ve sampled the forbidden fruit and want more! Give us more!

Dopamine is related to pleasure and euphoria while serotonin has to do with mood, memory and sleep. Both of these pathways can be stimulated by food, as well as by exposure to light and exercise.

No food, of course, should replace prescribed medication for serious depression (unless your doctor and nutritionist sign off on it). But for many of us, who are only slightly depressed from the realities of life, they can provide a little boost (yippee!) as well as antioxidant properties and nutritional fiber.

To compile a list of those happy foods, I went to Mindy Dopler Nelson, a post-doctorate research fellow at Standford University specializing in nutrition biology. Before handing over her list, she told me not all foods affect people the same way.

Mindy Dopler Nelson, PhD, Stanford University

“What gives you comfort is going to vary across culture, age, gender and psychological factors as a result of your life experiences,” says Nelson. “Each hormone or neurotrasmitter in the brain has to bind to something to make it active. What it binds to are called receptors and they aren’t the same in everyone.”

Researchers have found that if you are exposed to high fat and sugar early in life, you tend to develop more of a craving for it to boost your spirits. There also is a genetic factor. Some of us (35% of the population) simply don’t have as many receptors and tend to be overweight due to a need for more happy foods to get the same effect as those with ample receptors. In other words, you might be satisfied with just one piece of California Brittle from a box of Sees Candies while gluttons like me must devour the box. I love you Mary! I love you soooo much!

“One food across the board everyone is going to agree with is chocolate,” adds Nelson. ” That’s because it contains the chemical phenylethylamine which releases dopamine.” The compound is thought to be  responsible for the high you experience after eating chocolate because it releases natural feel-good chemicals called endorphins in your brain.

According to All Chocolate, PEA is released by the brain when people are falling in love, and this might explain why chocolate and Valentines Day are so closely linked.

Here is Nelson’s breakdown of what you can choose to beat the blues:

Image:  Suavehouse

Chocolate: Chocolate is a stimulant that will release the dopamine that creates that pleasure feeling. It’s in the cocoa. There’s more of it in dark chocolate than in milk chocolate. But there’s something about the fat in the milk that also will make you feel good. Some people associate a comfort food with a high-fat food. There also are antioxidants in the dark chocolate, but watch the dosage! Excess can be harmful for your liver and pile on the pounds. Dopamine has an amphedamine effect, hence the term chocoholic. You also cannot ignore the fact it contains mucho caffeine that will keep you up at night. (And if you don’t get enough sleep it will effect your serotonin level.)

Image:  FotoosVanRobin

Cheese: The thing to be careful about is the fat, but if you go with the potent tasting cheeses, you can usually still get the phenyl while eating a moderate amount. You eat less because it is so strong. And remember, go organic when you can.

Image: Saquan Stimpson/Monstershaq

Almonds: As a raw snack food, they have good fats associated with reducing the risk of heart disease. But eat them in small doses because they also can promote weight gain and headaches. Many amines can cause headaches triggered by foods like almonds, so people prone to migraines are told to stay away from them.

Image: hikljgk

Red Wine: Wine has the phenyl in it, as well, and you also get the benefit of the antioxidant resveratrol, which helps your heart. Many people like to pair wine with other upper foods like chocolate and cheese. Although we think more is better, when it comes to wine and beer, this is a case where you need just enough. More is not better.

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Tomatoes: In addition to having phenyl, they have lycopene, an antioxidant associated with reducing the risks of some types of cancer, especially prostate cancer. Imagine a glass of wine with cheese and tomatoes, sliced apples and chocolate to top it off!

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Apples: The skin, especially in red apples, has antioxidant properties, plus the benefits of fiber which is a tectin that can help lower cholesterol. It binds it. That’s why the American Cancer Society touts apples as a great snack. You can overdose on these, too, because of the natural sugars. But they are an ideal choice when you eat a reasonable portion.

Nelson adds that additional foods high in tyrosine get converted to dopamine, but there is no guarantee that just because a food is high in these compounds, the tyrosine or tryptophan will cross the brain barrier to increase dopamine or serotonin.

Among these foods are chicken (390 mcgs of tryrptophan); salmon (250 mcgs of tryptophan); tofu (280 mcgs of tryptophan); eggs (200 mcgs of tryptophan); milk (220 mcgs of tryptophan) and yogurt (140 mcgs of tryptophan).

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