NEW YORK, Sept. 5, 2006

Cooking To Turn Back Biological Clock

Dr. Michael Roizen On Preparing Meals The 'RealAge' Way

  • Play CBS Video Video Determine Your Real Age

    The calendar doesn't determine our age, says Dr. Michael Roizen. Our real age is determined by how we live, including what we eat. Roizen discusses his book, "Cooking The Real Age Way."

  • Dr. Michael Roizen in January

    Dr. Michael Roizen in January  (CBS/The Early Show)

  • News Tools Recipes Galore

    Searching for a new dish? Get cooking with recipes presented on "The Early Show"!

  • Interactive Diet And Nutrition

    Are you eating right? See the government's guidelines, calculate your body mass index and quiz yourself on healthy food choices.

(CBS)  Lunch: Two-Bean Chili with Avocado and Salsa
Prep: 5 min
Cook time: 30 min

2 tsps canola or olive oil
1 large white onion, chopped
2 tsps dried oregano leaves, preferably Mexican
1/2 cup salsa, preferably guajillo chile salsa, such as Frontero Foods brand
1 can (15 to 16 oz) pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 can black or kidney beans
2 cans (14.5 oz each) diced tomatoes or diced tomatoes with green chiles, undrained
1 ripe medium avocado, peeled seeded and diced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Heat a large saucepan over medium high heat. Add oil then onion and oregano. Cook 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add salsa, beans and tomatoes. Cover; bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat; simmer 25 minutes. Ladle into bowls, top with avocado and cilantro.

Substitutions:
Fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley can be used instead of cilantro for those who prefer the bright clean mineral flavors of parsley to the perfume and pungency of cilantro. This seasonal recipe uses Fuerte avocados, which seem to peak in fall and winter. If you use Haas avocados, the recipe becomes a spring and summer treat, as Haas peak in the spring and summer.

Tips:
Leftover chili may be covered and refrigerated up to 3 days or frozen up to 3 months. The chili may be drained or cooked uncovered to thicken and used as a burrito filling.

Isn't chili fatty?

This chili has nothing but outstanding foods in it: onion, avocado, beans, tomatoes. Every one of those is good for you. We took out the meat, but kept flavor in by having great salsa and chilis, and the two cans of different types of beans. Two types of beans accentuates the flavor of both, so you don't need some of those fatty flavors.

Other health benefits can be found in the beans, which have a lot of fiber, potassium, magnesium.

There are only 15 key ingredients that are said to make a different in health. Six of the 15 ingredients are in this chili, plus there's no saturated or transfat.

Magnesium and potassium decrease the aging of arteries, and the healthy fat from salsa and tomatoes decreases the aging of arteries and helps the immune system.

Spiciness doesn't really have any health benefits but, because the chili's hot and because it has spiciness, it leaves you hot, so it makes you feel good on a cool fall day.

We don't use cheese or sour cream on the chili since they have unhealthy fats but, if you really want to do cheese, you want to put shavings on, not chunks; that way, you use a much smaller amount and still keep the intense flavor.

Continued



©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Exclusive Webshow

Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie." Watch Now

Latest News
News in Pictures
Scroll Left Scroll Right
Connect with CBS News

Stay connected with the CBS News using your favorite social networks and online news applications: