OMG! How beautiful is this?
Do you ever get that surprised feeling of pleasure whenever nature shows you just how beautiful she is?
I get it, welling up inside my chest, every time I cut into a red cabbage and see that deep purple texture and I get it whenever I make these prettiest of pink pickled onions. If I had to pick a word that describes this feeling, it is joy!
This is a recipe hack that will elevate the beauty in any dish you choose to garnish with this pretty and puckering sourness. A recipe that brings joy to our meals.
And this is a hugely beneficial thing.
Did you know that we eat with our eyes? For real, our digestive process begins when we look at or small delicious food. Sister, this is important, because you are going to absorb more nutrition from the food that you eat if you like the look of what you are eating. Eating a rainbow brings more nutrition onto your plate, but also optimizes your digestion at the sight of all those beautiful colours.
If all the food you eat is beige (think burger and fries) then you know you have a problem and I am willing to bet that you also carry antacids in your handbag!
Whilst bringing joy to your plate and getting lost in the art of your food is going to improve digestion, what we have here is a powerful, nutrient dense, whole food, side-dish that will add in nutrition to whatever meal on which you choose to pile this pickled pink joyfulness.
High in vitamin C, red onions are a good source of dietary fiber and folic acid, they also contain calcium and iron, but I want to talk about quercetin.
Quercetin is a plant flavonoid and is hugely anti-inflammatory. This is important because the majority of us are walking through each day with systemic inflammation in our bodies. Think cardiovascular disease, diabetes, aching joints, brain fog, auto-immune diseases and asthma; and for midlife women think hot flashes and night sweats, sugar spikes and crashes and fibroids. Each one of these conditions contains an element of inflammation as a part of their pathology. You can help you body out by adding anti-inflammatory foods into you diet. Think leafy greens, bone broth, seaweed, high vitamin C fruits and vegetables and the super anti-inflammatory omega 3 rich healthy fats, fish and plant oils. Think less beige and more joyful colour on your plate.
OMG! Take a look at this beauty! Quercetin rich pickled pink onions with omega 3 rich mackerel pate. I feel better already!
Science isolated quercetin from red onions to remove the positive effects of the vitamin C, fibre, folic acid and all the other goodness (Just eat real whole foods folks and be greedy for all that goodness) and carried out a clinical trail.
They found that quercetin in red onions has the power to boost your energy levels by stimulating the mitochondria in every cell of your body and can support the reversal of diabetes by increasing insulin sensitivity.
You can find the study here.
So in conclusion:
1. If you are bored of the food you eat
2. If you want to perk up leftovers
3. If you feel joyful about the beauty and colours of nature
4. If you want to eat a rainbow
5. If you want to stimulate digestion just by looking at your plate
6. If you want to avoid the chronic disease of diabetes
7. If you are sick of beige food
8. If you want to add nutrition to your plate (more please!)
9. If you want to eat real foods
10. If you want to load your diet with anti-inflammatory foods and support your most vibrant midlife health: you need to be making these quick and easy, meal boosting and eye-popping, pink onions
Ingredients
1 large or 2 medium red onions, halved and thinly sliced
1 cup (240 ml) apple cider/ white vinegar
1/2 cup (120 ml) freshly squeezed lime juice
3 tablespoons (38 grams) sugar (coconut, monk fruit, white)
1 tablespoon sea salt
Instructions
Boil a kettle of water
Halve and thinly slice your onion and place in a large, heat proof bowl
Pour over the boiling water to cover and ‘cook’ the onions. Leave to stand for 5 minutes.
Drain the onions and place in a glass jar or container
Stir in the other ingredients, seal and refrigerate
Pull out at every meal and use to dress up leftovers, enliven the meals you cook, to stimulate your taste buds and activate your digestive juices, generally improve the nutrition of the food you eat and to bring glee to dish you eat.
You are welcome!
If you are interested in more healthy breakfast options that will help you to start your day with nutrition so that you power through your morning with energy to spare, you can sign up to receive my FREE downloadable e-book Breakfast Essentials. Click here to get your copy.