Food for Menopause

Mixed Vegetable Stew With Herb Dumplings • Salade Nicoise • Stuffed Pears in Red Wine

Those are words not often juxtaposed: food and menopause. Women in perimenopause or menopause become familiar with recommendations for herbs and hormones to help battle some of the unpleasant experiences that may arise during this transition, such as hot flashes, mood swings, joint pain, weight gain, and night sweats. But according to nutrition expert Marilyn Glenville, PhD, diet and lifestyle are twin tools for banishing the discomfort often associated with menopause.

With Lewis Esson, she’s written Healthy Eating During Menopause: 100 Delicious Recipes From Breakfast to Dessert for the Whole Family. It’s a primer on menopause, its symptoms, and the strategies for combating them. The author explores traditional approaches and makes a clear and concise argument for diet as perhaps the leading weapon in the arsenal. What’s more, the recipes are not only nutritious but also elegant, such as this stew that’s just right for a cold winter’s night.

Mixed Vegetable Stew With Herb Dumplings

Stew is always a real comfort on cold days, and so rich in flavor. This warming dish has plenty of powerful antioxidants: beta-carotene in the carrots and lycopene in the tomatoes. If chile tends to bring on hot flashes in you, omit it.

2 tablespoons olive oil
4 medium onions, chopped
3-4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2-3 small hot red chiles, seeded and finely chopped (optional)
8 ounces carrots, thickly sliced at an angle
8 ounces potatoes, cut into bite-sized cubes
8 ounces leeks, thickly sliced at an angle
1⁄3-1⁄2 cup red wine (optional)
14 ounces canned chopped plum tomatoes
1 1⁄4 cups miso broth or vegetable stock
1 bouquet garni
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 tablespoon celery seeds
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
Freshly ground sea salt and black pepper
6 ounces shelled or frozen peas (about 11⁄2 cups)
6 ounces green beans
8 ounces zucchini, thickly sliced at an angle

For the herb dumplings
1⁄3 stick cold butter, shredded in a grater
2⁄3 cup self-rising flour, plus more for dusting
1 tablespoon soy flour
Freshly ground sea salt and black pepper
About 6 tablespoons finely chopped mixed fresh herbs such as parsley, chives, thyme, and basil
About 5 tablespoons soy milk

Serves 6-8

Heat the oil in a large flameproof casserole and, when hot, sauté the onions until just translucent. Add the garlic and chiles, and sauté for a minute or two more. Add the carrots, potatoes, and leeks and toss to coat. Add the wine (if using) and boil to reduce it to a sticky residue.

Next add the tomatoes with their liquid, the broth, bouquet garni, and the seeds. Season well and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer gently (or cook in the oven at 300˚F) for about 45 minutes.

Towards the end of that time, prepare the dumplings: in a mixing bowl, rub the butter roughly into the sifted flours with seasoning to taste, until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the herbs and add just enough of the milk to mix to a soft dough. Using floured hands, form the dough into about 18-20 small balls.

After the 45 minutes, take the casserole out of the oven (if it is in there) or remove from the heat. Remove the bouquet garni and discard it. Favoring the potatoes above all, carefully transfer about one-quarter of the casserole’s contents to a food processor, and puree until fairly smooth, but not too smooth.

Pour the pureed mixture back into the casserole and stir in the remaining vegetables, then float the dumplings on top. Bring back to a simmer on the stove, cover again, and then either continue to simmer on the stove, cover again or return to the oven for a further 20 minutes.

TD&N Nutrient Analysis (based on 8 servings): Calories: 298; Total Fat: 8 g; Saturated Fat: 3 g; Polyunsaturated Fat: 1 g; Monounsaturated Fat: 4 g; Cholesterol: 11 mg; Sodium: 426 mg; Carbohydrates: 47 g; Fiber: 9 g; Protein: 11 g
Note: Analysis based on vegetable broth.

Salade Nicoise

This delicious dish is supremely good for your well-being. Good quantities of monounsaturated oils are available from the black olives and the olive oil in the dressing. Eggs are an excellent healthy source of protein and are full of nutrients, especially the B vitamins (the “anti-stress” vitamins) and zinc (essential for hormone balance and healthy bones).

8 ounces small new potatoes
6 ounces fine green beans
2-3 eggs
1 Romaine lettuce or 2 Romaine hearts
Small bunch of scallions
1⁄2 English cucumber
2 medium tomatoes
1 red pepper
1 large can (7 ounces) of tuna chunks in oil
About 1 cup anchovy fillets, rinsed and drained
1 cup pitted black olives, preferably garlic-flavored
Several handfuls of fresh herbs, particularly flat-leaf parsley, chives, basil, chervil, and tarragon

For the dressing
1 garlic clove
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons linseed oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Freshly ground sea salt and black pepper

Serves 4-6

Put a pan of salted water on to heat. Scrub the potatoes or peel only if absolutely necessary. When the water is boiling, add the beans and blanch for one or two minutes only. Remove with a slotted spoon and drop into a bowl of cold water.

Add the potatoes to the boiling water and cook them at a good simmer until barely tender—they must not become mushy. Put another pan of water on to heat and add the eggs. They should be boiled for 12 minutes only and no more.

While the potatoes and eggs are cooking, prepare the other fresh vegetables. Shred the lettuce leaves into the bottom of a large salad bowl. Trim the scallions and snip them over the leaves. Slice the cucumber lengthwise into two or three long slices and then cut these into long strips; finally cut across into three-quarter inch chunks. Quarter the tomatoes and cut the quarters in half again if large. Cut the pepper in half and seed it, then slice the flesh across into thinnish strips. Add all these to the bowl. Drain the tuna and flake in half of it at this stage. Using scissors, snip in half the anchovies and add half the olives. Snip in half the herbs.

By this time the potatoes should be cooked and the eggs hard-boiled. Drain and dry the potatoes briefly over a very low heat, then leave to cool slightly on a flat plate. Drain the eggs and dunk them in cold water. Pour off the water from the cooled beans and drain on paper towels.

Make the dressing: crush the garlic into the mixed oils, add the vinegar, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Mix well into a smooth emulsion and adjust the seasoning.
Shell the eggs, cut into quarters, and arrange over the top of the salad, together with the remaining tuna, olives, and anchovies. Snip over the herbs.

TD&N Nutrient Analysis (based on 6 servings): Calories: 440; Total Fat: 21 g; Saturated Fat: 3 g; Polyunsaturated Fat: 6 g; Monounsaturated Fat: 10 g; Cholesterol: 99 mg; Sodium: 405 mg; Carbohydrates: 36 g; Fiber: 9 g; Protein: 30 g

Stuffed Pears in Red Wine

Pears have such a delicate flavor; their marriage with red wine here delivers high amounts of antioxidants—so good for preventing premature aging—and the soy yogurt provides phytoestrogens.

2 tablespoons golden raisins
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 lemon
4 large firm pears
1 1⁄4 cups red wine
3 tablespoons honey
1 cinnamon stick
1 level tablespoon black peppercorns
Soy yogurt, for serving

Serves 4

At least two hours before you intend to cook the pears, put the golden raisins in a small bowl and pour over the vinegar and the juice of half the lemon. Toss to mix well.
Peel the pears and halve them carefully lengthwise, leaving stalks attached to one half. Scoop out the cores.

Pour the red wine into a saucepan just big enough to hold the pear halves snugly. Heat gently and stir in the honey, cinnamon, peppercorns, and three tablespoons of the remaining lemon juice. When the honey has dissolved, put the pears in the liquid and spoon some over their tops. Cover and poach at the gentlest possible simmer for 15-20 minutes, turning the pears from time to time and spooning liquid over them, until the pears are translucent and tender but still quite firm.

Remove the pears to a serving dish and strain the liquid. When the pears are cool enough to handle, stuff the cavities of four of the pear halves with a mounded spoonful of the macerated sultanas. Reassemble with the other matching pear half and wrap tightly in waxed paper. Put the pear packages and liquid to chill in the fridge for at last two to three hours.

To serve, unwrap the packages and spoon over some of the reserved poaching liquid. Serve with some yogurt flavored with a couple of spoonfuls of the poaching liquid.

TD&N Nutrient Analysis: Calories: 264; Total Fat: 0 g; Saturated Fat: 0 g; Polyunsaturated Fat: 0 g; Monounsaturated Fat: 0 g; Cholesterol: 0 mg; Sodium: 7 mg; Carbohydrates: 55 g; Fiber: 7 g; Protein: 1 g

Recipes reprinted with permission from Healthy Eating During Menopause: 100 Delicious Recipes From Breakfast to Dessert for the Whole Family by Marilyn Glenville, PhD, with Lewis Esson, www.kylecathie.com