By DON NAPIER
In the fast-paced world of nutrition research, it seems like a hot discovery hits the news every week. So when I saw this story and a list of the 100 most nutrient-packed (healthiest) foods, I just had to include it in my column.
To make the list, a food had to be very rich in at least one vitamin, mineral or other compound known to protect against cancer, heart disease or other diseases. After you read through my partial list you will see why so many health nuts follow strict “juice” diets. The first 20 foods listed were fruits. No meat or seafood was listed until the bottom 25. Whole wheat bread was number 99.
Evidently “an apple a day” still keeps the doctor away. Notice that the vastly popular Pomegranite or juice was not listed at all. For the complete list, you can click HERE.
1) Apples
2) Apricots
3) Bananas
4) Blackberries
5) Blueberries
6) Cantaloupe
7) Cherries
8) Cranberry Juice
9) Grapefruits
10, 11) Purple grapes and juice
12) Kiwi fruit
13) Mangoes
14, 15) Fresh oranges & juice
16) Papayas
17) Prunes
18) Raspberries
19) Red Grapefruit
20) Strawberries
Skillets now at Tansi
If you have missed Skillet’s Restaurant, formerly located on West Avenue, you need to look a litte further south. Skillets, owned by Denny and Wally Wallace, is now located at Lake Tansi golf course.
Known for years simply as the 19th Hole Restaurant, this little place has fed a lot of people over the years, counting both golfers and Tansi residents among their regular customers. Now it is Skillets at the 19th Hole and they are open seven days a week serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. They still serve up a great burger or patty melt, Reuben and Club but they also carry their popular Skillets Menu of breakfast entrees.
Go Jamaican
The much anticipated opening of Jamaican Cafe has finally arrived. Open downstairs in the 5th Street Market Place building, Crossville’s only Jamaican restaurant is open serving (what else?) Jamaican cuisine along with some traditional Jamaican soft drinks including several varieties of flavored water. More about this interesting destination in the next issue of Crossville Life.
10 years and going strong
Kelly and Barbara Shepherd and their family are celebrating their 10th year in business as Big Boy’s BBQ. Kelly, aka Big Boy, is the face of this popular eating establishment and he has become very well known in the region for serving up smoked ribs, pulled pork, ribs and brisket. On Friday nights, they pack ’em in for their delicious catfish and hushpuppies. They also have built quite a following for their Big (and I mean big) baked, stuffed with BBQ, potato — a meal in itself.
Over the years BBQ joints have come and gone, but Big Boys continues to thrive from their Peavine Road location, known for its eclectic collection of everything under the sun from cameras to model airplanes and thermos. The collectables play a very important role, entertaining customers as they wait for their name to be yelled, a sign that their order is now ready.
But Big Boys has also built quite a name for themselves as caterers. Their BBQ, baked beans and slaw are a staple at Benefit Golf Tournaments if lunch is served. You will also see them (and taste their wares) when going to civic and private functions. It has become common place over the years to see Big Boy serving food at all kinds of public affairs where a catered food is needed.
Drive a little, eat a lot
Word on the street is that Cardinal Smokehouse, the restaurant we featured in the April-May issue of Crossville Life, is having to enlarge their parking lot. Everytime I make the 30-minute trip down Lantana to the Smokehouse, I see more and more people I know. While owner Bobby Worthington expected to pull from Pikeville, Spencer AND Crossville, I think he is pleasantly surprised with the business he pulls from Cumberland County.
His outstanding restaurant is located about 20 miles from the three towns with Crossvillians having to travel, probably, the longest drive, but that does not keep them from coming. It could have something to do with the catfish, frog legs, Calabash-style shrimp, smoked chicken, steaks and other great seafood and meats that is causing the traffic jam. If you love destination dining, this could be your place. Just head south on State highway 101 (Lantana) and go for about 20 miles. Cardinal Smokehouse is on the right, just as 101 intersects with 285. Look for the cars in the parking lot!
Bagels or biscuits
While southerners cut their teeth on homemade biscuits made from Martha White Flour, many parts of the world grew up eating Bagels. Bagels on Main, owned and operated by Leanna Totten, continues to convert former biscuit lovers to bagels. I have become one of her regular customers, so I decided to investigate the origin of the Bagel.
Bagels were brought to the United States by immigrant Polish-Jews, with a thriving business developing in New York City that was controlled for decades by Bagel Bakers Local 338, which had contracts with nearly all bagel bakeries in and around the city for its workers, who prepared all the bagels by hand. The bagel came into more general use throughout North America in the last quarter of the 20th century, at least partly due to the efforts of bagel baker Harry Lender and Florence Sender, who pioneered automated production and distribution of frozen bagels in the 1960s.
In modern times, Canadian-born astronaut Gregory Chamitoff is the first person known to have taken a batch of bagels into space on his 2008 Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station. His shipment consisted of 18 sesame seed bagels.
Bagels on Main has bagels with seeds on them, too. My favorite flavors are the vastly popular “Everything” and the Sun-dried Tomato. I used to think that I had to have something sweet on my bagel, back when I purchased them in grocery stores, but that is a thing of the past now, I get them buttered and toasted. I love that flavor and don’t want to cover it up with cream cheese or honey butter, etc. Check out Bagels on Main and if you go for the first time, tell them that you read about them in Crossville Life. Don’t overlook the little paper bags of day-old bagels. Bagels on Main is located at 69 South Main, across the street from Palace Theater.
Fight the heat with Ice
Oh how I miss ice cream! Due to a stomach condition, I am Lactose intolerant and can no longer enjoy ice cream or sherbert and for a while, I suffered through these intense East Tennessee summers without! Not anymore. I have discovered Italian ice. Nick’s Italian Ice is now open at 948 North Main Street (across from Flowers Bakery) and they have a great product.
Italian ice, also known as water ice, is a sweetened frozen dessert made with fruit (often from concentrates, juices or purées) or other natural or artificial food flavorings, similar to sorbet. Italian ice is not shaved ice that is flavored; rather, it is made by the same process by which ice cream is made: freezing the ingredients while mixing them.
Italian ice differs from sorbet in that it does not contain dairy or egg ingredients, other than egg white. Common flavors include blue raspberry, cherry, lemon, mango, orange, strawberry and watermelon, with numerous other flavors available. Nick’s opens at noon every day but Sunday and Monday, and their product is fat free and cholesterol free, made fresh daily.
A good idea from California?
Not too many laws in California catch my eye, but this one did. Restaurants and other businesses in California would have to stop using polystyrene foam food containers in the next five years under legislation approved in early June by the state Senate to address environmental worries.
Sen. Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) said the foam containers are often used for just minutes by fast-food customers but, because they do not decompose quickly, end up lingering for years in landfills, storm drains and ocean waters. “This legislationwould help protect the environment, create green jobs and save taxpayers millions of dollars in clean-up costs,” Lowenthal said.
The measure was opposed by most Republican senators who said it would hurt businesses and drive up prices for consumers if more expensive alternative containers are required. The measure was also opposed by the California Restaurant Association, California Chamber of Commerce and American Chemistry Council. Groups opposing the measure say the foam is the best material for food packaging because it is inexpensive, lightweight and effective in keeping food warm or cold. Nearly 50 cities and other jurisdictions in California have already banned them.
Somebody should sponsor legislation to make it illegal to send groceries home in plastic bags. Litter could be cut in half with such a move.
