Tina Martini, Author at MedFitNetwork

The Naturopathic Chef: Spring into Summer Salad

Tina Martini/31 May 2021/ All MFN blog/

Refresh and revitalize with this bright side dish that’s perfect for any summer table.

The dressing doubles as a versatile marinade, too.

Dressing

1 Tbls Shallot, minced
1 Tbls Aged Balsamic Vinegar
2 Tbls Fresh Lime Juice
2 tsps Fresh Orange Juice
2 tsps Honey
½ tsp Dry or Dijon Mustard
½ tsp Salt
¼ tsp Pepper
¼ cup Avocado Oil

Stir all ingredients together except avocado oil. Whisk oil into mixture to emulsify. Chill

Salad

2 cups Watermelon, cubed in bite-sized pieces
1 cup Strawberries, sliced
2 small Persian Cucumbers, sliced
8 Mint leaves, chopped
2 Basil leaves, chopped
2 Tbls Toasted Pistachios, chopped
2 Tbls Feta, crumbled
pinch of Salt

Toss ingredients with dressing, top with pistachios and feta.

Phyte Facts

Everything in this salad contributes to proper hydration and mineral balance, making it perfect for warm weather. Both Mint and Basil have cooling properties and keep our thermostats operating at peak performance. Love to hike? This is your perfect companion.

Get more great recipes from Tina Martini — her book, Delicious Medicine: The Healing Power of Food is available to purchase on Amazon. More than a cookbook, combining 20+ years of experience, along with her love of coaching, cooking and teaching, Tina offers unexpected insights into the history and healing power of clean eating, along with recipes to help reduce your risk of disease and improve overall wellness so you can enjoy life!

Affectionately referred to as The Walking Encyclopedia of Human Wellness, Fitness Coach, Strength Competitor and Powerlifting pioneer, Tina “The Medicine Chef” Martini is an internationally recognized Naturopathic Chef and star of the cooking show, Tina’s Ageless Kitchen. Tina’s cooking and lifestyle show has reached millions of food and fitness lovers all over the globe. Over the last 30 years, Tina has assisted celebrities, gold-medal athletes and over-scheduled executives naturally achieve radiant health using The Pyramid of Power: balancing Healthy Nutrition and the healing power of food, with Active Fitness and Body Alignment techniques. Working with those who have late-stage cancer, advanced diabetes, cardiovascular and other illnesses, Tina’s clients are astounded at the ease and speed with which they are able to restore their radiant health. Tina believes that maintaining balance in our diet, physical activity, and in our work and spiritual life is the key to our good health, happiness and overall well being. Visit her website, themedicinechef.com

The Naturopathic Chef: Thai Peanut Pizza

Tina Martini/3 May 2021/ All MFN blog/

We’ve made my gluten free (GF) pizza crust with our favorite Italian flavors. Now, we’re heading to the Far East for a flavor explosion and some serious Delicious Medicine. The best news on this fantastic flavor journey; no oven required. Put your frozen Gf crust right on the grill.

Thai Inspired Crust

1-1 1/2 Cup gluten free Thai Beer room temp, add slowly (I use Singha)
2 tsps Agave or sweetener of your choice
2 tsps Dry Yeast
3 cups GF all-purpose flour
2 tsps Non-Aluminum Baking Powder
2 tsps Ground Flaxseed
2 tsps Salt
2 1/2 tsps Baking Powder
1/4 cup Sesame Oil *plus 1 Tbls for proofing bowl
1 Tbls Chia Seeds, bloomed in 1/4 cup water
1 Tbls Toasted Sesame Seeds
Cornmeal for your second kneading (optional)

Pour one cup beer into the bowl of your stand mixer or large mixing bowl. Stir in Agave or sweetener of your choice. Sprinkle yeast over top and allow to bloom.

Place paddle attachment on mixer and start on first speed position. Slowly add flour and remaining ingredients, working all ingredients together. Add more beer as necessary to bring dough together.

Change paddle attachment to your dough hook. Knead dough for about six minutes or until smooth and dough will stretch without breaking. The dough should be plump and slightly sticky. Oil clean bowl with remaining sesame oil and roll dough ball over in bowl to coat completely. Cover with damp kitchen towel or plastic wrap and place in the warmest area of your house until dough has doubled, approximately one hour.

Uncover and punch down dough, divide in half and knead with a little bit of cornmeal on your counter. Roll out, place on pizza stone or sheet pan and bake 8 minutes. Pull from oven top, continue to bake for 15 minutes and serve. Or, cool, wrap and freeze.

Peanut Pizza Sauce

3 Tbls Coconut Milk
1/2 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
3 Tbls Rice Vinegar
3 Tbls Tamari or Soy Sauce
2 Tbls Honey
1 Tbls ketchup
2 cloves Garlic, minced
2 tsps Ginger, peeled and grated
pinch Red Pepper Flakes
Pinch White Pepper

Whisk everything together and use as your pizza sauce or sauce for a noodle bowl or salad.

Putting it All Together

You’ve par-baked your crust, your sauce is ready and now for the other toppings ideas:

Mozzarella Cheese
Shredded Carrot
Shredded Purple Cabbage
Thinly sliced Purple Onion
Mung Bean Sprouts
Crusted Peanuts, Dry Roasted
Cilantro Leaves
A few drops of Toasted Sesame Oil
Roast Chicken or Duck is amazing on this pizza, dice or slice thinly
For a vegan option use Seitan or Tempeh be sure to toss your protein of choice with a little of your peanut sauce.

Phyte Facts

Peanuts are one of the best sources of the phytonutrient, Resveratrol. Who doesn’t love burning body fat while eating a delicious pizza? That’s what Resveratrol does for us. This sauce is not only delicious on just about anything: it’s loaded with Delicious Medicine, too!

The Naturopathic Chef: Jeweled Salad

Tina Martini/27 February 2021/ All MFN blog/

I was asked to create a salad that would visually wow, as well as pack the most nutrition possible, and it had to have a creamy dressing. This is the result of that recipe challenge. The ingredients can be worked around what you already have on hand.

Salad

1 head Bibb lettuce, cleaned and dried
4 Radishes, slice thinly
1 each Naval Orange, Pink Grapefruit, and Blood Orange segments
½ cup Pomegranate seeds
1/4 cup Pumpkin seeds, lightly toasted

Chill prepared ingredients.

Dressing

1/3 cup Grapeseed oil mayo
1/3 cup plain yogurt of your choice
1 Tbls Agave or Honey
1 Tbls Lime zest
¼ cup Lime Juice
Pinch of quality Salt

Whisk everything together, and chill until service.

Handy Hint

The knife work can make your presentation, Chefs. The citrus can be “supremed” by cutting both ends off. Peel the citrus with your knife, all the way around. Very carefully, hold the peeled citrus in your hand. Slide the blade of the knife along the white membrane on one side. Then slide it across the other side, lifting the perfect segment out. As you go around the citrus, fold the membranes back like pages of a book. Now, you can move onto the next segment without them getting in your way. Master Chef techniques! You can do it! Fine food is in the details.

Phyte Bites

Most researchers are convinced that the Mediterranean Diet is the best for overall health and longevity. This is primarily attributed to Olive Oil and its great phyto profile.

What I have discovered is the Limonene in their diet. This is found in the pith of the giant Sicilian Lemons. These lemons are almost all pith, and they are a big part of the Medi diet. Limonene cleans our cells, clears free radicals from our bloodstream and tones our internal organs, similar to how exercise tones our muscles. This is the reason I have always recommended eating a small piece of citrus every day. Be sure to peel it by hand, leaving the pith intact. To supreme citrus is to give the fine dining look and palate experience that will garner you the Chef props you deserve.

The Naturopathic Chef: Red Wine Poached Pears with Vanilla Mascarpone

Tina Martini/30 January 2021/ All MFN blog/

This showstopping dessert comes to the table with sparkling majesty. The key is to peel the pears in long straight strips, so the finished product shines like precious gems. To make an on-the-fly version, diced pears and quickly saute in wine, fruit juice and honey. Serve warm or chilled with the Vanilla Marscapone, ice cream or almond cream.

Poaching Liquid

½ bottle Cabernet or Merlot
½ cup fresh Orange or Blood Orange Juice
1/3 cup Pomegranate Juice
1 Tbls fresh Lemon Juice
2 inch piece each of Orange and Lemon Zest
1 Cinnamon Stick
¼ tsp Clove, ground
¼ tsp Black Pepper
1/3 cup Monkfruit Sugar

Stir all ingredients together and bring to boil over medium heat. Reduce liquid by one quarter or until the poaching liquid thickens, slightly. Reduce heat to medium-low.

Pear Prep

While the wine is working: wash and dry four Bosc or Anjou pears. Keep stems intact. Peel with a sharp veggie peeler, removing long smooth strips of peel. Try to keep surface as smooth as possible. Cut a piece off of the bottom of the pears, so they stand up in the serving dish. Place into poaching liquid and poach 15-20 minutes, or until firm-tender. Turn pears occasionally to ensure even color. Cool at room temperature and store in liquid, in the refrigerator overnight.

Service

If serving warm, gently reheat in poaching liquid. Stand pear in serving dish and bathe with some of the liquid. Garnish with sliced Blood Oranges, Blackberries, Pomegranate seeds, and the Vanilla scented Marscapone (Italian Cream Cheese.)

Vanilla Scented Marscapone

1 cup Marscapone Cream Cheese
2 Tbls Heavy Cream
2 tsps Monkfruit Sugar (Vanilla Sugar is great, too)
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Phyte Facts

This dessert is at the top of my heart disease eradication program. Resveratrol is a phytonutrient that plays a major role in our Ejection Fraction and keeping our heart’s vascular system strong and flexible. Resveratrol in red wine burns body fat without exercise, not that we would ever stop exercising! It’s also connected to longevity.

The spices are Mother Nature’s antibiotics and citrus zest contains Limonene, an antioxidant that affects every cell in your body, in a positive way.

The cream garnish assists in the uptake of these fat-soluble phytonutrients.

The Naturopathic Chef: Cowboy Cavier

Tina Martini/30 December 2020/ All MFN blog/

This recipe adds an amazing fresh note to grilled meats and is an easy snack on the go. Pack a ziploc with a small container of “caviar.” Put the chips and napkin in, too. You’ve got yourself a little cowboy survival kit. I wipe the crumbs out of the bag and reuse. Clean eating and a clean planet!

The Naturopathic Chef: Apple Pie Monkey Bread

Tina Martini/1 December 2020/ All MFN blog/

I receive many requests for Monkey Bread by my breakfast lovers but it never had that “wow factor” I look for in a dish. The recipe originated in Hungary and serves as their traditional coffee cake. Dried fruit and nuts are added to the original recipes with the Americanized version tasting more like a Cinnamon roll.

Here, we capture the first signs of Fall with beautiful Gala and Granny Smith apples. No time to peel and chop apples? My time-saving tip: chunky applesauce!

Ingredients

1 tube Flaky Biscuits, I use Immaculate Baking Company
1 each Gala Apple, peeled, cored, and diced into small cubes
1 Granny Smith Apple, peeled, cored, and diced into small cubes (place apples in Lemon water; White Vinegar works, too)
½ stick Butter, unsalted (or Vegan Butter)
½ tsp Vanilla
pinch Salt
¼ cup Monk Fruit Sugar
¼ cup Organic Brown Sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon

Glaze

½ cup Organic Powdered Sugar
2 tsps Milk of your choice
½ tsp vanilla
½ tsp Lemon juice
Whisk until smooth, set aside

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

*Butter an 8×8 glass baking dish.

*Do not use a dark baking pan as the sugar will burn.

Make your assembly line

Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces; pile on a plate. Melt butter in a small bowl and stir in vanilla and salt. Stir sugars and cinnamon together in a separate bowl. Drain apples.

Ready to assemble

Spread half of prepared apples on the bottom of baking dish. Dip a few pieces into the butter and then into the sugar/cinnamon. Place in baking dish at different angles and gently press together and down. Continue layering process until your biscuit puzzle is complete. Top with remaining apples, and a light dusting of the sugar/cinnamon mix.

Bake 22 minutes or until peaks start to get dark. Allow to cool 10 minutes and invert on serving plate. Cool another 5 minutes and pour glaze over top. Garnish with toasted or candied nuts.

Handy Hints – Need this now?

Butter a loaf pan. Leave biscuits whole, dip in butter mixture then sugar/cinnamon and stand biscuit on its side alternating with unpeeled apple slices. This makes a pull-apart loaf.
Instead of prepping apples; stir chunky applesauce into butter. Coat biscuit pieces as usual. Pumpkin puree is also a great choice, here. Use Pumpkin Pie Spice instead of Cinnamon. Voila! A Pumpkin Pie Monkey Bread, perfect for your holidays.

Phyto Facts

Conventional refrigerator biscuit dough contains hydrogenated oils that confuse hormone receptors, clog the vascular system and have been shown to cause Gallbladder and Liver challenges. Some commercial dough softeners have been shown to cause both Kidney and Liver cancers.

Immaculate Baking Company doesn’t use these chemicals in any of their products.

The Naturopathic Chef: “Fall Slaw” – Apple/Fennel Coleslaw

Tina Martini/2 November 2020/ All MFN blog/

Here is the new Fall Slaw with apple and fennel that I’m serving at the winery. 🍂🍁 Guests order extra to-go, every day!

The Naturopathic Chef: Smokey Cauliflower Tater Tots with Spicy Ketchup

Tina Martini/28 August 2020/ All MFN blog/

Make a double batch and place on a parchment lined sheet pan. Freeze individually and you’ll be able to handle snack emergencies like a pro. Paired with spicy ketchup, your favorite buttermilk dressing, or BBQ sauce; these are for the kids, or the kid in all of us!

Ingredients

1 medium head of cauliflower, cut into florets and the stem into small chunks
1 medium Yukon Gold Potato, peel and cut into 2” cubes
1 small parsnip, peeled and cut into 1″ cubes
½ white onion, grated
2 tsp butter of your choice or coconut oil
1 egg white or 1 Tbsp vegan egg re-placer, whisk lightly
1 tsp mild chili powder blend
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 tsp adobo sauce (Divide the remaining adobo and chipotles into ice cube molds and freeze. Pop out and place in freezer bag.)
Optional: 2 tbsp jack or pepper jack cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment and spray lightly with cooking spray.

Steam first three veggies just until fork-tender, 12- 18 minutes. Drain and cool. Place cauliflower, potato, parsnip, and grated onion into food processor. Pulse steamed veggies a few times to blend and create the base for your tots. Add remaining ingredients and pulse just enough to bring “dough” together. Scoop out one tablespoon of mix and form into a little barrel or “tot.” Place finished barrels onto your prepared sheet pan. At this point, you can freeze, bake or fry. I coat the barrels lightly with cooking spray and bake 15-20 minutes. Serve with dippers of your choice.

Spicy Ketchup

Finely mince chilies of your choice. I like the Hungarian Yellow Chilies. Stir into ½ cup of Ketchup, along with a squeeze of fresh lemon and either Sriracha or Tabasco. I make this the day before to allow the flavors to marry. This is delicious on burgers, too!

Phyte Bites

Vegetables that grow underground are some of nature’s most powerful disease-fighting foods. Potatoes and parsnips are a great source of essential minerals and Abscisic Acid: one of our best defenses against cancer.

Root veggies are one of the best ways to improve gut health, too. They increase the level of friendly bacteria that are crucial to our ability to digest food properly and to maximize nutrient absorption. This also plays into the prevention of Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. Gut health and its efficacy prevents the breakdown of all ten bodily systems. Keep your gut garden thriving, and you will too!

Cauliflower has been touted by many food scientists as “the healthiest food on the planet.” The phytonutrient profile is a “Who’s Who,” of cancer killers and hormone protection.

The Naturopathic Chef: Southwest Green Goddess Dressing

Tina Martini/31 July 2020/ All MFN blog/

The fresh, herbacious flavor of the original Green Goddess dressing inspired a Southwest version I used for my cafe menu. Today, it remains a client favorite. Perfect for a veggie platter and grilled seafood. The dressing is pictured here on a Southwest Caesar with grilled Mahi.

Summertime is the season for fresh herbs. If you don’t like cilantro, flat-leaf parsley works well.

Dressing

¾ c Grapeseed Oil Mayo
¼ c Grapeseed Oil
1 clove Garlic, peeled, trimmed, and smashed
2 Tbls Pumpkin Seeds
2 Tbls Red Wine Vinegar
2 Tbls Cotija Cheese
1 freshly roasted Anaheim Chili, peeled and seeded, or two tablespoons of canned mild chilies
1 bunch Cilantro, cleaned and stemmed
½ tsp each Salt and Pepper (Cotija Cheese is salty, be sure to taste along the way)

Place all ingredients up to cilantro into a blender. Process until smooth. Add cilantro in thirds to keep the bright color. Over-processing heats the dressing and can cause the herbs to lose their vibrancy.

Phyte Facts

You may read negative commentary about Grapeseed oil. It is high in polyunsaturated fats making it susceptible to over oxidization. In other words: don’t deep fry with Grapeseed oil. However, cold-pressed GSO is beneficial due to a very little known polyunsaturated fact. When the PUFAs are ingested, our immune function goes to sleep for a short period (I know this sounds bad but…) this allows a very special heart mending action to take place. Once the “work” is done, our immune function wakes up and everything resumes. GSO also assists in the removal of plaque built up in the arteries. It’s higher in vitamin E, than Olive Oil, and binds the water we drink to our tissue keeping us thoroughly hydrated.

All veggie oils are processed and should be kept to a minimum. A little goes a long way!

The remainder of the ingredients are definitely Delicious Medicine, with Cilantro heading up the foods with phyte. Apigenin will someday be the cure for Ovarian Cancer, says Harvard School of Medicine. This phytonutrient is also a major player in the reduction of inflammation and anti-aging science.

Get more great recipes from Tina Martini — her book, Delicious Medicine: The Healing Power of Food is available to purchase on Amazon. More than a cookbook, combining 20+ years of experience, along with her love of coaching, cooking and teaching, Tina offers unexpected insights into the history and healing power of clean eating, along with recipes to help reduce your risk of disease and improve overall wellness so you can enjoy life!