Mostly organic turkey, wild rice and bean casserole

Initial ingredients

The Blue Zones diet has a heavy focus on beans and making foods that are simple without a lot of extra ingredients.  I have been playing around with this recipe for a while. The current version has a pleasant cooking aroma and excellent flavor. It is also loaded with fiber.

Ingredients:

1. Organic lentils dried (78.6 cc by volume or a little over 2.5 ounces)
2. Organic split peas (78.6 cc by volume or a little over 2.5 ounces)
3. Organic black beans (78.6 cc by volume or a little over 2.5 ounces)
4. Organic peregion beans (78.6 cc by volume or a little over 2.5 ounces)
5. Minnesota Wild rice (78.6 cc by volume or a little over 2.5 ounces)
6. One red pepper sliced
7. One organic purple onion sliced
8. One turkey leg
9. One organic turkey breast boneless
10. One can organic Health Valley vegetable soup (80 mg sodium per can)
11. One can no-salt green beans
12. Add enough water to cover
13. Heat covered in glass container at 365 until meat falls off of turkey leg ( 2 - 3 hours) May need to rotate meat 3/4ths the way through. 

Before cooking

Yams and casserole in the oven

Simultaneously cook yams with skin sliced in pan with parchment paper on bottom. Place yams in oven as it warms to temperature. Rotate yams when caramelized odor is noticed during cooking.

After cooking, immediately freeze portions of casserole in lunch sized microwaveable containers.

Serving suggestions:

Casserole:

Reheat lunch casserole container in microwave and cover with about 1/3rd cup of chopped walnuts. After heating, top with favorite berries - Black raspberries, blueberries or red raspberries. 

Yams:

Reheat refrigerated yams in the microwave.

Suggested serving options:

1. Eat with or without peel - Add cottage cheese and walnuts or pecans

2. Remove peel and add extra virgin olive oil - mix well. Add walnuts and choice of berries. 

Yams, olive oil, blueberries and walnuts

Blue light and tuneable LED light health effects

I recently attended a talk on the effect of light on “State of the Science: Effects of Light on Human Health with Focus on Blue Light” by William Mills III Ph.D. from Northern Illinois University. He spoke at our annual local industrial hygiene conference in Roseville, Minnesota.

Standard LED lights produce light with more intensity in the blue spectrum than florescent or incandescent light. Newer LED lights will be tunable and dimmable to start the morning in the blue spectrum and shift in the afternoon and evening into the red spectrum.  Small preliminary studies by the Department of Energy these tunable lights in senior care units have shown a positive benefit.

Some brands of orange tinted glasses are much more effective at filtering blue light than others with no relationship between price and effectiveness. I ordered the Uvex Skyper Blue Light Blocking Computer Glasses with SCT-Orange Lens (S1933X) for under $10 as he mentioned that these glasses performed very well.

Many workplace accidents occur due to sleep deprivation. Using intense lighting during the evening shift can improve alertness. Late or evening shift work is now listed by the IARC as a probable human carcinogen

 I talked with professor Mills during a break. He impressed me with his energy, intense curiosity, and willingness to experiment. He and his students build their own wireless wearable monitors using available sensors, chips, and a 3D printer at their BEEEAM Laboratory.

Phillips - All in one tuneable dimmable light - 2 min. 

HI LED tuneable LED project