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errors, solutions and foods that promote sleep – Italian Cuisine


Children's insomnia is a frequent problem. Here are the experts' tips for fighting restless sleep and nighttime awakenings and helping the little one fall asleep easily

Nocturnal or early awakenings, difficulty getting to sleep, and restless nights are a common problem in children. The data reveal it. According to the Italian Society of Preventive and Social Pediatrics (SIPPS) the problem affects one child out of 4. "The number increases in the first year of life due to the request for feedings also during the night", explains the pediatrician Leo Venturelli, SIPPS communication manager. The Italian Society of Preventive and Social Pediatrics has drawn up a series of recommendations to encourage the nocturnal rest of the children within Nutripiatto, a food education project aimed at children aged 4 to 12 years developed together with Nestlé, with the scientific supervision of the Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome. Among the most common causes of children's insomnia, experts point out, there is often poor nutrition. "The rhythm with which meals are taken, their composition and their schedule influence the quality of rest," comments the pediatrician Giuseppe Di Mauro, president of SIPPS. Sleep plays a key role in the development of the baby. In fact, many growth hormones are produced during the night's rest.

Insomnia babies

Making Children Sleep: Mistakes to Avoid

According to SIPPS recommendations, children after 5 pm should avoid consuming tea, chocolate, broccoli, broccoli, turnip greens and all aged cheeses. These foods contain tyramine, a substance that can hinder sleep and cause restlessness. Then pay attention to the proteins contained in meat and fish. They can have an exciting effect. The advice is to insert them for lunch. For dinner, however, it is better to focus on pasta, rice or cereals, with the addition of legumes. "Excess protein in the diet disturbs sleep because it stimulates thirst," explains pediatrician Leo Venturelli. "As a result, the child drinks more and urinates more often to get rid of urea, a protein waste product." Then pay attention to excess salt, both to that added in the soups and to that contained in the cheeses. The latter, according to experts, should be consumed in small quantities (5-10 g) and only as an alternative to other sources of protein. Vegetables passed in the jelly should also be consumed sparingly. In some cases, in fact, they can cause bloating and abdominal colic and, therefore, hamper rest.

Foods that promote sleep

To facilitate the night's rest of the children in the menu go-ahead to foods rich in tryptophan. This amino acid is a precursor of serotonin, the hormone that regulates sleep and mood and promotes relaxation. Whole grains (oats, rye, spelled, etc.), legumes (lentils, chickpeas, beans, etc.), yogurt, pine nuts, almonds are good sources. Yes also to foods rich in vitamin B6. Help the body to use tryptophan. So go ahead with milk, rice, barley and bananas. Potassium is also an excellent sleep ally. It is contained in good quantities in courgettes, apricots, carrots, plums, spinach, chicken and yogurt. Potatoes are also rich in this which, in addition to potassium, contain complex carbohydrates that facilitate the use of tryptophan.

Extra help: relaxing herbs

To facilitate the falling asleep of children who are more than one year old, good night herbsis. Chamomile, hawthorn, lemon balm, passionflower, linden, valerian and verbena are ideal for preparing infusions and herbal teas. They promote relaxation and facilitate rest.

The minestrone without errors – Italian Cuisine

The minestrone without errors


Never underestimate the preparation of a vegetable soup! Here's how to avoid the most common mistakes in preparing a minestrone

It's always a good time to prepare a minestrone. This dish is not timeless, but it is important to prepare it with seasonal vegetables.

Is minestrone a soup?

We can call it a vegetable soup, but in reality it is much more because minestrone is a joker and it can become what you want. There are those who love it naturally, only with a little oil and without pulses, who also enriches it with cereals, who season it with spices and aromatic herbs, who adds pasta, who eats it cold and who serves it hot and with a slice of toast on the bottom of the plate.
In short, a well-made minestrone never tires.
It is the ideal dish after days of culinary debauchery to get back in shape, but it is also a comfort food when you feel like a warm and light first course at the end of the day.

Minestrone recipe

There is not a single recipe of minestrone because, as we have anticipated, the vegetables used change every season.
For a winter minestrone use the black cabbage, the pumpkin, the broccoli and the cabbage, for the summer instead beans, tomatoes and basil at will.
At the base there is always a sauté of celery, carrots and onions on which is then added the rest extending everything with water. It is also possible to prepare a sauté with pancetta or pork rind to give even more flavor and it is added at half cooking.
Leaf vegetables such as spinach and chard cannot be missing, not even courgettes, potatoes and a little tomato to give color. Legumes must be soaked for 10-12 hours before and then cooked with the rest; or cooked separately and then added at the end.
The minestrone cooks for 35-40 minutes, until the vegetables have not released all their flavor and they will not have become soft. If there are also legumes, cooking is extended up to one to two hours.
Cereal and pasta can be added to the minestrone almost at the end of cooking by stretching everything with a little water and bringing it to a boil. With the pressure cooker the cooking times obviously halve.

The 5 common mistakes in making minestrone

Making some mistakes in preparing minestrone is very simple. Here are the five common mistakes we encourage you to avoid. Scroll through the gallery and find out what they are.

Asparagus, spring delight: how to cook them without errors – Italian Cuisine

Asparagus, spring delight: how to cook them without errors


The season of the coming is coming asparagus! It is indeed the months from March to June those in which this typical spring vegetable is sold. Delicious and ideal for pairings with delicately flavored foods such as pasta, rice, eggs, fish and white meats, asparagus these days begin to appear on the markets in many different varieties.

Asparagus to be discovered
Large or thin, white, violet and naturally green, of which Italy is a great producer especially in Veneto, Liguria, Emilia Romagna, Campania and Puglia. Let's discover together the main varieties of asparagus with which to delight us at the table.

Green: tasty and variable in size, it is the most common and versatile asparagus in the kitchen. The Green of Altedo Igp is excellent.

White: large, with a gentle taste and renowned for its softness, it is also called "mangiatutto" because it has no waste. Its delicate color originates in cultivation, it grows in fact under the ground and is picked before the top starts from the ground. The pride of Veneto is the white asparagus of Bassano Dop and Cimadolmo Igp.

Violet: colorful and particularly tender, with an intense taste, it is picked as soon as it comes out of the ground. It lends itself perfectly to the preparation of both rustic and delicate dishes. Among the most famous varieties are the violet of Albenga with a buttery consistency without fibrousness Napoli, the violet of Naples and the pink asparagus of Mezzago d’Argenteuil.

Wild: long and thin, it has a rich taste that does not need to be enriched with sauces or too tasty toppings. The end of the stem, earthy and woody, should be removed, the rest should be gently scraped with a small knife or a potato peeler. During cooking, be careful not to break them.

Asparagine: with this term we define the very thin shoots of wild asparagus, ideal for pinzimoni, pies, omelettes and soups.

Mistakes not to be made
There are so many preparations based on asparagus: sophisticated or simple recipes, complicated or easy, all require special care in the preparation and cooking of this particular vegetable. Here are the most common wrong moves to avoid:

Choose them carelessly: when you buy them, check that they are fresh and intact, of a bright color and without dents. Fresh are tough, with the stem that does not bend but – if forced – it breaks. Check that the tips are well closed, upright and crunchy and that the firm but not woody stems have a uniform color, without spots. An extra eye for asparagus in the center of the bunch, because they tend to deteriorate faster.

Do not peel the remaining stem: in theory, once you have measured the asparagus – aligning it on the side of the tip and eliminating the hard part of the stem, on the other side – there would be no need to peel the part that remained attached to the tip. Mistaken. Tender inside, even the thin wild asparagus can be fibrous on the outside: arm yourself with potato peeler or a paring knife, and scrape it from the tip (excluding it) towards the stem, with a very light hand (you will not want to find yourself with asparagus in julienne!) .

Do not use the asparagus: tall and narrow, equipped with a basket and lid, the asparagus is the pot designed specifically for asparagus. For an optimal cooking they must be placed in the basket, closed in bunches and with the points facing upwards; the water in the pot should reach only half of the stem and do not forget the lid: in this way the stems will boil while the tips, softer, will steam, remaining more crispy. They will be ready when they "bow their heads". Alternatively, cook them lying down with steam, with a little water, checking the cooking because when the tips are ready the thicker stems will be a little behind.

Use the same cooking for all preparations: we saw that the asparagus is perfect for a perfect cooking. Choose it sand you want to cook the asparagus to serve them whole as a side dish, perhaps accompanied by a hollandaise sauce, the Venetian one with mimosa eggs or the classic fried egg, with melted butter and flaked Parmesan. For risotto, creams, mousses, velvety, pies, omelettes, salads or pinzimoni, you can scald them just in salt water if they are thick; but don't boil them: they would absorb too much water. Alternatively, use them uncooked: pass them in a pan after having cut the stems into slices, leaving only the tips whole and proceed with cooking, remembering to start with the washers and join the tips only later. Wild asparagus and asparagine, even if thin, should always be scalded. Remember that white asparagus is preferable to steam them, because if boiled they would absorb too much water due to their particular softness.

Throw away the scraps: don't make the mistake of throwing the eliminated stems; wash them, peel them and boil them in salted water or vegetable broth for about twenty minutes. Once cooked, you can blend them directly in the broth: it will be perfect to prepare an excellent risotto. Alternatively you can drain them and then blend them with a little butter and grated Parmesan, checking the density of the mixture by adding 1 boiled potato and a few tablespoons of the cooking broth: the cream obtained is a greedy one seasoning for pasta or, if you stretch it more, a particular one velvety, garnished with parmesan flakes, asparagus tips, buttered and some croutons.

Giulia Paganelli
March 2017
updated March 2019 by Claudia Minnella

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