Nutrition
Roast turkey with cranberry sauce
Ingredients
- 1 whole turkey
- 100 grammes of butter
- 100 grammes of onion, chopped
- 100 grammes of celery, chopped
- 10 grammes of crumbled sage and thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
- 10 grammes of garlic minced
- Balsamic vinegar
- 20 grammes of sugar
.150 grammes of cranberry
Preparation
– Melt butter over medium heat. Stir in onions, celery, sage, thyme and pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until browned.
-Remove giblets and neck from the turkey cavity, keep for gravy. Rinse turkey inside and out with running water.
– Stir together butter, sage, salt and pepper; rub over turkey, inside and out. Loosely pack stuffing into neck and body cavities, fold over and skewer neck flap closed over stuffing. Tie legs together.
– Place turkey, breast side up on rack in roasting pan.
– Cover with foil and roast in 325°F oven for about 1.5 hours, basting with pan juices every 30 minutes.
– Remove foil and continue to roast or 1 3/4 hours, basting every half hour, or until instant-meat thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh reads 185°F. Keep it under lamp for carving
.
-Meanwhile, in saucepan, bring chicken stock turkey neck, giblets, onion and bay leaf to boil, reduce heat and simmer.
– While cooked turkey rests, skim excess fat from roasting pan whisk in flour until well combined.
-Gradually whisk in reserved giblet stock; Bring to boil and cook, Season to taste with salt and pepper. Strain and serve alongside turkey.
-For cranberry sauce in small saucepan, heat oil over medium heat; stir in onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, for five minutes or until softened.
– Put balsamic vinegar; boil for five minutes or until reduced. Mix together cranberries, sugar, salt and pepper.
– Mix into onion mixture; bring to boil and cook, until cranberries are tender and sauce is thick.
Source; foodndtv.com
Egg stew is a traditional dish from Ghana. It is very healthy and easy to prepare. The dish is traditionally served with rice, plantain and any other meal of one’s choice.
Ingredients
-1 litre of vegetable oil
-2 fresh salmon
-10 large tomatoes
-5 large onions
– 6 eggs
-3 tablespoonful of pepper
-1 tablespoonful of powdered garlic and ginger
-1 tin of mackerel
– I large green pepper
-3 tablespoonful of tomatoes paste
Preparation
-Wash tomatoes, onion, green pepper and blend
-Put oil on fire and add onion and powdered pepper to it
-When onions turn golden brown, add blended tomatoes and tomato paste to it. (Allow it to cook for 3 minutes.)
-Add eggs and salmon to stew and leave it for a minute before stirring.
– Add seasoning to the stew and serve.
By Linda Abrefi Wadie
Every baby deserves a healthy start. But in Ghana, too many children are being born already behind, too small, too fragile, and at far greater risk than their peers. Low birth weight, defined as weighing less than 2.5 kilograms at birth, affects an estimated one in seven newborns in this country.
That is a significant proportion of children beginning life at a disadvantage, often due to preventable causes.
Children born with low birth weight face a steeply uphill journey from their very first breath. They are more susceptible to birth asphyxia, infections, hypothermia, and respiratory complications.
They are more likely to die in their first month of life. Those who survive face higher risks of stunting, impaired cognitive development, and a greater likelihood of developing non-communicable diseases including type two diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease later in life.
Low birth weight does not just harm the child today. It shapes their health for decades.
The most powerful determinant of a baby’s birth weight is what the mother eats, and how healthy she is before and during pregnancy. Research in Ghana has consistently shown that maternal anaemia, poor dietary diversity, and inadequate antenatal care are all strongly linked to low birth weight.
A study in Cape Coast found that mothers with low dietary diversity during pregnancy were significantly more likely to deliver low birth weight babies. In Northern Ghana, maternal anaemia in both the first and third trimesters of pregnancy increased the risk of low birth weight. What a woman eats is what her baby weighs.
Education matters too. Mothers with secondary or higher education have been found to be less likely to deliver a low-birth-weight baby, a difference attributed to better nutrition knowledge, improved antenatal care attendance, and healthier health-seeking behaviour overall.
This points clearly to the need for a whole-of-society response, not just a clinical one.
Ghana has made some progress on low birth weight, but the burden remains unacceptably high and in some parts of the country, it is worsening. Other important risk factors must not be overlooked.
Adolescent pregnancy, which remains prevalent in several regions, is strongly associated with low birth weight because young mothers are often still growing and competing with the fetus for nutrients.
Malaria infection during pregnancy, particularly in endemic areas of Ghana, damages the placenta and restricts nutrient transfer, further increasing the likelihood of a low-birth-weight baby.
These risk factors compound the effects of poor maternal nutrition and limited antenatal care. Leaders in government, health facilities, and communities must prioritise maternal nutrition before, during, and after pregnancy.
Reducing low birth weight is not complicated. It requires feeding mothers well, supporting them through antenatal care, ensuring access to iron-folic acid supplementation and malaria prevention during pregnancy, and treating their health as a national priority, not an afterthought.
Feature article by Women, Media and Change under its Nourish Ghana: Advocating for Increased Leadership to Combat Malnutrition project
