I almost got rejected by the Red Cross on Friday. My iron level was too low for making a donation based on the first sample they took. Since they offered a chance to have a second sample taken, I agreed and that time, on my dominant hand, the iron level was right at the level needed to be eligible to give them a pint.
Which means I need to pay attention to iron intake for a while again. This has happened to me off and on when I've gone to donate blood - periodically I get rejected. And, every time that I come home and talk about needing to get more iron, Grady says I'll need to eat liver and spinach. He's so predictable. There are many foods that are rich in iron, but he always mentions those two because he knows I hate liver and like spinach only when fresh. Actually, he is remembering when his mother would have to get more iron and what she ate, at that time, was liver and spinach. It's been MANY years since he lived with her and observed this liver and spinach regimen. But, it's stuck in his replay tapes.
So, imagine my happiness when I happened to see an article about the iron content in shrimp in the May issue of "Cooking Light". Six ounces of shrimp have 4 mg of iron (compared to .5 mg in scallops). This seemed like a good excuse to have shrimp for dinner last night. And the magazine actually had two different risotto recipes involving shrimp. I made a variation on
Spinach Risotto with Shrimp and Goat Cheese. As I mentioned, I'm not a big fan of cooked spinach, so even though we had fresh spinach from the farmer's market, I substituted swiss chard out of our garden. We also did not have goat cheese, but it tasted fine with some pecorino that I did have in the fridge. I also added some mushrooms just because I had some and thought it would be good. Made for a nice simple dinner with a salad of greens out of the garden. All in all, not a high percentage of local foods - but those parts that were local could be measured in feet traveled from the backyard.
I know I have some lists of iron-rich foods somewhere, but, if you have suggestions (other than liver and spinach), please let me know.
6 comments:
red meat NOT liver
vitamin c to help absorbtion of iron.
BUT the real reason i comment is this quote from Hoffmania today
"Portland's best: Jake's, Pazzo, Mother's (for breakfast), The Greek Cusina, Moonstruck chocolate shop, Palio Coffee House on Ladd..."
Black strap molasses has a really high iron content, and it can easily be incorporated into lots of recipes/baked goods. Raisins are also good sources, comparatively speaking. So are cooked lentils.... and much more versatile too :-)
Yes, nice call out from Hoffmania to our neighborhood dessert place. I thought there was something that helps the absorption, but didn't know it was C.
My daughter, who just got home, mentioned molasses as well. So, I made oatmeal this morning, thinking I could put molasses on it only to discover we don't have any molasses! We always have some - don't remember running out. so, I will follow up on that suggestion as well. Thanks. anything but liver, please!
I don't know how you feel about Cheerios (or Joe's O's) for breakfast, but a serving of Cheerios has something like 45% of the daily amount of iron you're supposed to have. Just a thought.
fyi - shrimp is not that high in iron. .5 mg in 3 ounces vs beef at about 3mg in 3 ounces
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