Cooking to Combat Cancer #2: The Round Up.

riepilogo delle notizie principali/wrap-up

I am finally done! I apologize for taking so long to get this round up posted! Before we begin, let me ask that, if I have inadvertently left anyone out, picture or blurb, please email me at the event address, ccc2(AT)gmail(DOT)com. I will get my error fixed ASAP!

Year 2 for Cooking to Combat Cancer has had a wonderful turn out! I am so pleased that we have over 40 recipes from across the globe. It still completely befuddles me that I received emails from places like Australia, India, and Romania! What's more? The recipes here are fabulous…and doable! I don’t think there is a dish in the bunch that will be difficult for any of us to recreate. And, most of what you see here include one or more cancer fighting superfood, lists you can find by a quick google search.

Having lost my grandmother to Pancreatic Cancer in 1994 and then being treated myself for Thyroid Cancer in 2001, I wanted to do something. With Cooking to Combat Cancer the first event I decided to create/host, I felt it was important to extend my participation beyond opportunities like Relay for Life and support Cancer Awareness through this forum. As it is clear with all the contributions listed here, there is not one person here who has not been touched by this horrible disease, either personally or through a loved one/acquaintance. I have placed a lavender ribbon next to those who are/have battled the disease personally/cancer survivors. Lavender represents all cancers. Again, if I missed anyone, let me know and I will add a ribbon.

Posting today is a bit quite apropos as I saw a close friend and colleague today, a lovely, kindhearted woman who was diagnosed with breast cancer just a few months ago. Her son graduated with High Honors from Georgia Tech today and I provided the desserts. She has taken short term leave and will not be finishing out the school year with us. This will give her the opportunity to complete her Chemo regimen and return for the 2008-2009 school with proper strength.

Also, keep for Briana of Figs With Bri in your thoughts. For those of you who were not aware, she was diagnosed with breast cancer a couple of years ago, and after receiving the results of a PET scan last week, she learned cancer has metastasized to her lungs, lymph nodes and several areas in her bones. She went to Mexico for an alternative treatment. Let all say a little prayer.

And now, beginning with those contribtions across the pond (and them some)...Cooking to Combat Cancer: The Round Up.

Australia

Barbara (Winos & Foodies), who contributed to last year’s round up, was the first to send me her contribution, Yogurt Cake. She’s so fabulous, her email arrived the first day I posted about the event! She is currently compiling her LiveSTRONG With A Taste Of Yellow round up that she will post on May 13th. LiveSTRONG With A Taste Of Yellow and CCC2 today….a cure tomorrow!

Cakelaw (Laws of the Kitchen) was so sweet to do some research for this event. With sweet potatoes included, this recipes Australian Heart Foundation's Deliciously Healthy, Sweet Potato, Pasta and Leek Soup, is bound to please any pallet.

Minko (Couture Cupcakes) fashions up some stunning Macadamia and Blueberry Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream. (Okay, the picture of Wentworth Miller makes me giggly, too!)

Canada

Heading up north to Vancouver, Ashley (eat me, delicious) makes me a believer! I am a lover of Baked Beans, so can’t wait to try her Baked Bean Soup! It is a jackpot of cancer fighting ingredients that can make all of our immune systems jump for joy.

Tracy (Vanilla Bean Cafe) cooked up a little taste of south of the border with a Mexican Black Bean Salad. This “ultimate cancer fighting recipe contains high amounts of fiber, phyotochemical, lycopene and anti-oxidants." This one’s perfect for the summer!

Bellini Valli (More than Burnt Toast) mixed together a perfect dish for the summer months. Tomato Feta Salad properly showcases its star, the tomato, but add some feta? Whoohoo! (Have you seen her header? I would love to be beamed to that serene looking place!)

Ricki ( Diet, Dessert and Dogs ) caramelizes some Baby Bok Choy and marries it with cashews. This is a marriage made in heaven with Caramelized Baby Bok Choy with Cashews and Sesame Seeds.

Greece

Ivy (Kopiaste, to Greek hospitality) bake up Spanakopita Nistisimi (Lenten) Cyprus. A lovely sesame seed topped pie, this not only has delicious ingredients throughout, but their healthy for you, too!

India

Deeba (Passionate About Baking...& beyond ) transforms a little cream into a brilliant Mango Yogurt Panna Cotta. She starts the post off with a poignant Ruth Reichl quote - “…a big part of cooking is choosing the ingredients. And a big part of serving is doing it with pride”. With mango as one of my favorite fruits, there isn’t much need to try to sell me on this one, but be sure to get all the healthy stats over at Passionate About Baking.

New Zealand
Sweet, talented Arfi of HomeMadeS, dished up Gado-Gado and Yogurt-Blueberries Semifreddo. Arfi participated last year as well! This year, she is not only supporting this event, but she wants to help the Indonesian Care for Cancer Kids Foundation and is currently working on a game plan. Be sure to check back with her about how you can help.

Philippines

I am honored that Heart (Heart and Hearth) chose this event as her first in which to enter. Sauteed Baby Bok Choi with Fresh Shiitake Mushrooms, which points out two cancer fighting foods in its title, is extremely healthy. Baby Bok Choi, part of the cabbage family, is “widely considered to be healthy, as they are high in vitamin C and soluble fibre and contain multiple nutrients with potent anti-cancer properties: diindolylmethane, sulforaphane and selenium”.

Romania

Lore (Culinarty) shows is another use for Flax Seed with Flax Seed Little Breads. High lignans and Omega-3 content, I was unaware that there are two main kinds - brown and yellow!

UK/England

Another new one for me - Banana daal . Lysy (Munchkin Mail) celebrates a friend’s remission from Hodgkin’s lymphoma with a gold coin recipe – “onions and garlic (neutralize carcinogens), lentils (like other beans, full of protease inhibitors which make it hard for cancer cells to spread outwards), turmeric (inhibits the production of enzymes associated with cancers), banana (fruits are good for protecting against colon cancer) and the wholegrain in the rice.”

CeliaK (English Patis) presents a delicious dish with orecchiette, Pasta Broccoli. She adapted the recipe to “contain broccoli, garlic, and chili peppers which are touted to be top cancer-combating food”. Another warm weather dish!

Spain

We all have blogs that we have visited from the beginning; the ones that speak to and inspire us. Gattina’s Kitchen Unplugged has been on my blogroll from the start. A contributor to CCC1, her Radish (leaves) and Avocado Quiche is a wonderful addition to this year’s group. It includes radishes, which is a rich source of vitamins and nutrients beneficial in a cancer fighting diet.

U.S.A

California

Kristen (Something Sweet) also joins us again this year with Balsamic Strawberries. Last year CCC1 was her first blog event and this year’s sweetness has an added dimension of healthiness with vanilla soy ice cream.

Scrumptious’s (In My Box) Bhutanese Red Rice Salad with Asparagus, Sugar Snap Peas, and Cashews looks delicious! As she her mom’s personal macrobiotic chef while her mom was undergoing Chemo, Scrumptious cooks recipes utilizing the expertise of a friend of her, incorporating FASS and using One Bite at a Time.

Sweet Susan (Food Blogga), one of my first blog friends, introduced me to new kind of carrots, rainbow carrots. The rainbow carrots are high in antioxidant lycopene, while string beans are high in vitamins A and C. So, be sure to check out her Roasted Carrots and String Beans with Citrus-Sage Glaze.

Jenny (Foray into Food) brings her game face on with a curried quinoa salad. Quinoa is my new favorite ingredient and I always flag new recipes. This one, complete with veggies, looks delicious – and its healthy! Who can ask for more?

Mooncrazy (Peanut Butter Etouffee) went a different direction this year for CCC and created a lovely Soy Lemon Sauce for Steamed Broccoli. Broccoli, a fightin’ veggie is featured in an interesting article she shows us.

Colorado

Melissa (glutenfreeforgood.com) heals us with Mango Medicine (and mango salsa). She tells us “Research suggests that eating lots of fruits and vegetables may provide protection against cancer. Not only that, but a diet of fresh, organic whole foods boosts immune function and helps the body combat cancer. Preventive, protective, and healing!” This is good for me since I eat so much mango, I believe I am beginning to look like one! Hop on over to Melissa’s and check out the mango trivia, nutrition, and allergy info.
Georgia

Me! Chris (Mele Cotte) I am contributing a few recipes, all quite different from one another. Mozzarella, Tomato, & Dill Pesto Panini , Avocado Papaya Toasts , & Garlic Chicken with Balsamic Vinegar all include several foods that help the body protect itself.

I am so stoked to meet Sally (Aprovechar) who is from here! And, in exchanging a couple of emails back and forth, she’s not too far from me. While I think having participation from around the globe is surreal, having fellow bloggers an arm’s length way is also way cool. Sally’s Creamy Wild Rice Soup with Kale and Sweet Potato Croutons has another food I can’t resist – sweet potatoes. And to know that sweet ‘taters are good for me? Bliss!

Massachusetts

Jen (Beantown Baker) makes me a bit homesick with her Roasted Red Pepper Hummus. If I ever get back to visit my old stomping ground, my first stop after hitting little Italy will be her doorstep with read-to-dip pita in hand! With beans being a cancer-fighting legume, she helps us learn more with this article.

New York

Grace (A Southern Grace) brings a scrumptious Sweet Potato Casserole. Is there anything better than a potato that has beta-carotene?

Amanda (Mrs.W's Kitchen), someone I “met” a couple of months back has a fabulous blog! Her Mixed Berry-Ricotta Granita is just one example of the many lovely creations you can whip up in your own kitchen. She’s also offering up some great tops for the kitchen - A to Z of Kitchen Tips, in fact. (To get up to date, check out A, B, C, D, E, F, G, or H).

Maryann (Finding La Dolce Vita), the place that evokes all the wonderful memories of being Italian, offers us a delectable Fresh Strawberries with Sweetened Balsamic. She is 10 years clear, a shines example of how, together, we can “give cancer the old one/two”.

Sandy (Eat Real) keeps it real with Fresh Broccoli Salad. Another wonderful broccoli recipe, Sandy tells us, “Broccoli is a great way to add cancer-fighting phytonutrients like sulforaphane and indole-3-carbinol to our diets. This recipe helps broccoli make the transition from winter veggie to fresh spring salad. Do yourself and your family a favor and make some today.”

North-western U.S.

Bee and Jai’s post on Jugalbandi, and dish Muhammara (Roasted Red Pepper and Walnut Dip), is for Briana Brownlow of Figs With Bri (mentioned above) and Meg Wolff of Becoming Whole. And, the information provided about bell peppers is extremely useful as, like many other cancer-fighting foods, they include lycopene.

Pennsylvania

Christiane (28 Cooks) shares her Figs in Red Wine. Fruit and alcohol? For me, I don’t need anymore information. Hee hee! Figs are a wonderful fruit for our bodies, but Christiane doesn’t stop there. She provides a ton of great links, including one to the book, The China Study , a book she suggests we read, as it is a “research study about the relationship between diet and disease, and it's done in a very readable format.”

Ohio

Lis, my girl (La Mia Cucina), shares her first hand experience with this horrible disease, as well as a memory of her great uncle. Her Salad Niçoise is a lovely tribute, as it includes “the tuna [which] is rich in Omega 3 fatty acids. [And,] the green beans have been shown to prevent or slow genetic damage to cells.”

Mary (Shazam in the Kitchen) stirred up some Spicy Stir Fried Chicken and Greens with Peanuts for CCC2. To offer a small tease about the contents of her post, she says “this Spicy Chicken and Greens is packed full of cancer fighting foods. There's the Mac Daddy of all leafy greens Kale. Kale has been shown to slow growths of cancers in laboratory animals. It helps reduce the risk of lung, stomach, colorectal, prostate and bladder cancers. Kale is also high in folate which helps combat breast cancer.

South Carolina

Helen (Tartelette), the lovely blogger friend who has been such a support to me, continues to do so with her Warm Berry Crumble With Fromage Blanc Ice Cream. Berries galore, this looks declivous and almost too good to be healthy! But, who am I to belabor the point. Lets dig in!

Texas

Susan (Peas at a Party), someone who once lived in metro Atlanta, also brings us a stir fry with her Summer Stir Fry. With squash, zucchini, peppers, and tomato, this looks like the dish that wouldn’t last long in my home!

Utah

Kalyn (Kalyn’s Kitchen) doesn’t participate in many events, so I am honored she participated in CCC2 again this year. Her Easy Recipe for Stir-Fried Spinach with Garlic and Parmesan includes includes “cancer fighting superfoods we should all be eating regularly, and with this easy recipe, you can fit it into your menu more often”.

Washington

(North of Seattle) Peabody (Culinary Concoctions by Peabody), another chica a love to “visit” as often as possible, shares her Black Forest Chocolate Bundt Cake. To say it looks delish is the understatement of the century, but then again, I always want to eat my computer when I head over to “see” her. But, what’s even more special are her memories of her grandfather, who unfortunately suffered through pancreatic cancer, like my gram.

Kaykat (Cooking A to Z) was able to get through a difficult post and bring us a fabulous dish with mushrooms, a powerfood. Mushroom Lemongrass Soup (Tom Yum Het Mangsawirat) was the end result of a productive outing gathering various types of mushrooms, including Enoki, Clamshell, Brown Beech, and Crimini.

Washington, D.C.

Madam Chow (Madam Chow's Kitchen) brings us antioxidants in the herbs and spices, cauliflower, tomato, and garbanzos with her Curried Cauliflower with Garbanzos, Tomatoes, and Basil. I say this is a winning combo of ingredients.

Amy (Tart Reform) rolled her first California Rolls health class. I wish our students went to such lengths to demonstrate their learning. Amy, you need to come and mentor! :) With both avocado and nori, this sushi is a one that rolls with the punches.

Thanks for another great year of recipesand awareness! See you next year!