Health for life

Edited @ 1pm EST: Sweet readers! Blogger comments arent publishing right now, across the board, all over the U.S. Hopefully, itll be fixed this afternoon, and all your replies (of which there have been many) will show up. Until then ... uh ... keep writing? And Ill wait to publish until Blogger has things up and running? Yeah. That sounds good.

ETA: Theyre working again! Fire away!

This week’s (very good) question comes from reader Allie.

Q: My roommate is extremely sensitive to onions. I cant chop or cook them when shes home; or at least, not without asking her to shut herself up in her bedroom for a couple of hours. For that reason, I keep a special eye out for onion-free recipes, but theyre a minority by far within my repertoire.

So heres my question for your readers: can you recommend any onion-free recipes - particularly single-dish meals, or dishes that are fairly simple to prepare? (Bonus points for vegetarian recipes.)

A: This is a great question, since Im sure we all know/love somebody with a sensitivity to/hatred for onions. My own sister is anti-Allium, though she makes exceptions for the minced onions on a Big Mac. She’s weird, that one.

While chilis and stir fries are largely out the window, you might want to add more egg and pasta dishes in your repertoire. Beyond that, some of my favorite onion-free single-dish recipes include:

• Angel Hair Pasta with Eggplant-Tomato Sauce
• Elbows with Broccoli and Chickpeas (onion optional)
• Pasta with Asparagus and Mushrooms
• Bruschetta Chicken Bake
• Orzo with Sausage, Peppers, and Tomatoes

Readers, what say you? What are your favorite onionless meals? What do you substitute for onions? Do you have any tricks for getting around an onion sensitivity? Do tell.

Want to ask the interweb a question? Post one in the comment section, or write to Cheaphealthygood@gmail.com. Then, tune in next Tuesday for an answer/several answers from the good people of the World Wide Net.

Onions, a key ingredient in recipes around the globe, come in a tearless version that scientists are now reporting could pack health benefits like its close relative, garlic, which is renowned for protecting against heart disease. They published their laboratory analysis, which suggests a similar heart-friendly role for the tearless onions, as well as a possible role in managing weight gain, in ACS Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Colin C. Eady and colleagues note that the onion has a unique chemistry that leads to its tear-inducing effects when cut. Its pungency has driven cooks to don goggles, clench wooden spoons in their mouths and try other usually futile techniques to prevent crying at the cutting board. An answer could arrive in the form of a new type of onion that makes less of the protein blamed for making eyes burn and tear up. Eadys team has developed such a version, which instead makes a sulfur compound similar to one found in cut garlic that may be the key to its cardiovascular benefits. Many people eat garlic cloves or take it as a nutritional supplement in pill form to reduce the clumping of platelets in the blood, which can lead to blood clots and clogged arteries. Garlic also has been shown to reduce weight gain. They wanted to know whether the new onion might also have similar positive effects on health.

The scientists found that in lab tests, extract from the tearless onion significantly reduced platelet clumping, compared to regular onions or even garlic. Other results showed that the new onion had about the same anti-inflammatory properties as the original. Also, preliminary testing in rats showed that the tearless onion could help control weight gain — more so than regular onions or garlic.