Hidden Gems

More on burgers.... here's my favourite burger recipe - inspired by my best friend Amy - who stuffs her patties with greens both as a way to make them incredibly juicy and tender and to get some greens into her 5 year old.


Hidden Gems Burger Patties
makes 4 patties

1 lb - 100% grass fed ground beef (18% fat/medium works best)
1/4 small onion, minced
salt and pepper
1 or 2 leaves of kale - washed and chopped fairly fine
and/or small handful of flatleaf parsley or cilantro, chopped
1/2 teaspoon thyme or oregano or other herb you like the smell of
1 tablespoon salsa (optional)


Put the beef into a bowl. Use your washed hand to squish in the remaining ingredients (I love and hate this part at the same time), but add the greens slowly to be sure the patties can still hold together. Mix just until combined so the beef doesn't get too tough.

Shape into 4 patties. Press a divot into the centre of each patty (which prevents the burger from puffing out too much and helps even cooking).

Grill or pan fry the burger patties until a meat thermometer reads 155F in the centre.
Serve with all your favourite fixings. My favourite is good old yellow mustard, ketchup, a smear of mayo and a hefty scoop of my homemade sauerkraut.

here is a link to a visual burger making guide...

Enjoy!

Eat like a princess

Whatever you eat, eat the best quality you can...

I have been craving burgers like crazy this week. I eat some kind of read meat once a week, but once hasn't been enough - maybe it's because I've been more active than usual, or maybe it's the meaty juices vapourizing on the neighbour's BBQ into frequent aromatic reminders... whatever the reason, while I was frying up another succulent onion spiked beef patty yesterday, I realized that there was something greatly different about this meat. When I lifted the patty out there was nothing left in the pan. i.e. no pools of grease.

This was 100% grass fed beef. Raised in a pasture, on nothing but grass. No corn. No M&Ms.

As a kid, I remember cooking ground beef to make tacos from that Old El Paso kit - step 1 - fry the beef, step 2 - pour off the fat, step 3 add seasoning mix. There was always a good 1/4 cup of grease or more to pour off. But my 1/4 lb 100% grass fed burger patty left nothing more than delicious deep browned bits on the pan, and barely a drop of fat.

**I want to be clear that I'm not saying fat is bad. We NEED fat in our diets. It is an absolutely essential part of cell walls and many body functions. However, getting each type of fat in healthy proportions is important. To do this, focus on getting lots of omega 3 fatty acids (walnuts, flax seeds, wild salmon) and omega 9 fatty acids (olive oil), some omega 6 fatty acids (safflower, sunflower, most seeds), a bit of saturated fats (animal products, coconut/palm oils) and avoid trans (hydrogenated) fats like the plague)**

Grass fed beef is very lean. True, meat is still a calorie dense food -much more so than the same volume of vegetables or grains - and meat is a resource intensive and environmentally costly product to raise (with ethical concerns as well). But meat also offers a hefty dose of iron and B vitamins (notably B12) and 100% grass fed, pastured beef (i.e. not corn "finished") actually has an omega 3 fatty acid content that rivals that of wild salmon and has less saturated fat than it's corn fed cousin.

I feel like my burgers are a super nourishing treat.

I had my burger with a side of broccoli and kale sauteed with garlic and a little balsamic vinegar and a few handfuls of Salt and Black Pepper Kettle Chips... Bliss. Adding a few vegetables is important because for all its mineral potency, meat has no fiber, few antioxidants and all that protein can be a burden on the body. Animal proteins are very high in nitrogen, which is metabolized to ammonia. The kidneys then have to process this into a much less toxic compound - urea - which is then excreted. This uses up precious resources that are also needed to handle environmental toxins and detox other compounds we ingest - so meat is something I enjoy less often.

But enjoy it, I do.

When you eat your burgers, when you eat anything - eat the best quality you can afford. And consider it a long term investment that will save you in prescription medicine costs or sick days down the road. Also consider it a chance to nourish yourself. Something I am very fond of.

For more info on pastured meat check out Michael Pollan's book- In Defense of Food. He sums it up with the motto - Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants.

For a delicious 100% grass fed beef burger check out the Natural Burger at Vera's Burger Shack. To buy 100% grass fed beef try Choices, Capers, Whole Foods, or your local butcher. I got fantastic 100% grass fed, organic beef for a great price at Windsor Meats on Main near King Edward.

Nourish nest bound...

Life took a different course over the last few weeks... graduation, followed by decisions and house hunting and many hours of contemplating my belly button... I'm making the move back to Vancouver at the end of the month into an absolutely perfect little cozy cottage nestled in the city, full of ideas for new posts and things I'd like to explore/learn about. I'm excited to start writing again.

Can't wait to share.

Power Peas!

Kids are so weird. An actual study (described in Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink) showed that kids who wouldn't touch a plate of green peas happily dived in when they were presented as "Power Peas".

ha. I love that. Maybe I just like alliteration a little too much or maybe it was my bobbly-headed teacher saying "Power Peas", but I got pretty severe giggles that class... anyway - that's not the point...

Sometimes kids (and adults for that matter) just need a little push to help them love their veggies.

I remember going on a broccoli strike as a child. I had always loved those little spongy topped trees- perfect for mopping up puddles of melted butter or cheese sauce - until I saw a cartoon character dis them on a TV show.

My mother was exasperated. I was motivated to find new ways to get it off my plate - like sneaking chewed up mouthfuls it into my napkin. (I got busted of course).

Parents are up against some challenges for sure . One of the best ways to convert the anti-vegetable is to get your kids involved in growing some. Before my brief stand off with broccoli I had no issue with vegetables (except raw tomatoes, which challenge my taste buds to this day). I can confidently say it was growing up with a backyard veggie patch that did it for me and my brother.

There is just some magical connection that makes kids and adults alike excited about eating something they sprouted themselves from a tiny seed.

Funny too how different kid's tastes are. My friend Jannae told me her favourite dish growing up was mac and cheese with broccoli and tofu. (My response -- You ate tofu as a CHILD?!). My favourite foods were vegetable tempura and seafood crepes (hm ok maybe we're a bit strange).

But it's most often how we present food that determines if kids will eat it. My god son Davis for example... His parents offered him everything they ate (age appropriately of course) with no pressure and no reaction to whether he ate it or not. He was scarfing down sushi and spicy Thai dishes by the age of 3. He would stick out his tongue and pant - Hot, Hot - then quickly smile and say - More!

Of course he has gone through many challenging spells of hating this and loving that. Recently asparagus has returned to favour after about 2 years of being blacklisted. So who knows.

The key is not to freak out.

There is excellent information available on raising veggie lovers. My favourite resource is Ellyn Satter - a dietitian who has spent most of her 40 plus year career figuring out how to convert picky eaters and get kids to eat their veggies. Best of all her approach is about not worrying so much! For tips on creating "eating competent" kids - visit her website.

Another great resource is Feeding the Whole Family from my teacher at Bastyr - Cynthia Lair. It is full of tips and really wonderful recipes. I use it all the time.

and finally one of my own recipes that might be tempting to the little ones too...

Green Omelet with Power Peas!

eggs (preferably free range with access to real grass so they can eat bugs and be full of omega 3s)
2 tsp milk or water per egg
chopped fresh herbs - (Basil is my favourite. Tarragon is also good).
cooked spinach
extra virgin olive oil
chopped onion
frozen peas
sea salt and pepper to taste

Put the eggs and milk with the herbs and cooked spinach in the blender and puree until smooth. It will make a nice green, frothy batter. Blending also incorporates air which makes the eggs cook up fluffier.

Saute the onions in the oil until translucent. Add enough peas to loosely cover the bottom of the pan, cook until they are thawed. Pour the green egg batter over top.

Reduce the heat and cook on med-low until set in the middle. I usually either cover it with a lid part way through or pop it under the broiler so it sets in the middle. Technically this is a frittata (filling IN the egg and cooked slowly, finished in the oven) vs. an omelet (folded over filling).

Whatever you call it - it's easy, tasty and looks amazing with ketchup!

ED says - Eat your beans

In the face of a recession you can either hunker down with a Costco-sized case of Top Ramen or learn to cook.

The Economic Downturn, or ED as my friend Stan and I like to call it - can have some unexpected perks. For example - learning to cook and specifically, learning to make food from scratch. I'm already a convert of course, but what better way to save money and get better quality food for your buck? I'd rather not buy my vitamins and minerals separately, when I can get them in my food. It's also empowering, a creative outlet and a social opportunity too.

Plus you get to EAT what you make...

I'm writing a magazine article for my Writing About Food and Health class on just this topic. It goes into how whole foods like vegetables, beans and whole grains are the original budget food - La Cucina Povera (poor people's food). What better way to make one chicken breast stretch into a meal for 4 than by making a succulent stew beefed up with creamy white canellini beans? Sounds like a way to try the "little bit of this, little bit of that" approach again too...

I made just such a dish for my Culinary Skills class exam yesterday after pulling "Chicken Stew" from the hat. I took the leftovers home and added some canellini beans that my kitchen station partner hadn't used up in her dish. I actually like it better with the beans.

My new favourite beans are Cranberry Beans - aka Pink beans or Borlotti or Romano beans. They have a lovely creamy texture, almost nutty flavour and they don't fall apart in cooking like Canellini beans seem to. And talk about budget food... I bought a little tub of dried beans for 99cents. It held 4 cups of dried beans, each cup making 3 cups cooked - so 12 cups of cooked beans for 99 cents! I have a feeling that rivals Mac and Cheese on economical... not to mention filling...

Since I should be studying for finals right now, I'll leave the info on cooking and loving beans up to Culinate.com today.


Culinary Skills 2 Chicken Stew

1 -2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 small onion, diced

1 boneless/skinless chicken breast, cut into 2 inch chunks
2 chicken wings, tips cut off
1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 baby zuchini, in 3/4 inch slices
1 baby crook neck squash, in 3/4 inch slices
1 clove garlic, minced
6 Crimini (brown) mushrooms, 1/4 inch slices
3/4 of a small can of fire roasted tomatoes
1/2 cup chicken stock
3 sprigs fresh tarragon, leaves removed, stems discarded
pinch of dried oregano
2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
sea salt
fresh ground black pepper
1 cup of cooked Canellini or cranberry beans

Crispy Capers, to serve (below)
Brown Rice, to serve


Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat, add the onions and cook until translucent. Turn the heat up to medium-high, add the chicken wings, sprinkle with smoked paprika on both sides, turning once. Add the cubed chicken breast, sprinkle with remaining smoked paprika and brown on all sides. Remove the chicken breast (leave the wings in) and set aside.

Add the vegetables, mushrooms and garlic to the pot. Cook until lightly browned and starting to soften a bit.

Add the tomatoes, stock, tarragon and oregano. Bring up to a boil, then reduce heat to low-medium, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the browned chicken breast, cover and simmer on low for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, testing a piece to ensure it is cooked but not overdone. The goal is succulent, moist chicken.

Stir in the vinegar and add salt and lost of black pepper to taste. Simmer a minute or two.
Serve over a bowl of brown rice with crispy capers (below).

For the crispy capers - drain 1 or 2 teaspoons of capers well. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the capers to the hot oil (be careful, if they aren't dry they will spatter), and let them brown and crisp, stirring occasionally. They will be crunchy and lightly browned when done. Remove from the pan, drain on paper towel. Serve over stew (or salads!).

If you need more than just taste for encouragement....
Beans are packed with fiber (naturally cholesterol-lowering, filling, blood sugar stabilizing and much more), anti-oxidants, magnesium, folate, and vitamin B6. Bean consumption is linked to lower cancer and heart disease rates too. Bastyr is even completing a research study that has demonstrated eating beans leads to weight loss - not surprising with their amazing satiety factor...

Enjoy!

The Flavor Bible - ok, I like it.

When my housemate's boyfriend came by with this heavy tome under arm - I had mixed feelings. The Flavor Bible is a compilation of foods, herbs and spices - pretty much anything you can imagine that is edible and has a taste - organized alphabetically with a listing of every flavour that complements it, as well as descriptions of the flavour characteristics, qualities and strengths.

My initial reaction was mild annoyance - I love being creative and relying on my senses in the kitchen. I think too many people are put off from cooking by thinking they have to follow recipes or techniques or that there is some magical law that basil goes with Italian cuisine, cumin with Indian, ginger with Asian etc. I didn't give the book much of a chance.

I cracked the pages a day later and realized what a wealth of information I had my hands on. This book is the result of the immense creativity of countless imaginative chefs. I'm a convert now. Instead of being a do this, not that manual to flavour combinations, it actually adds to the creative, intuitive nature of cooking I enjoy most by giving cooks a new way to look at flavours and new ideas for stepping outside their norms. It definitely reminded me to think outside what I've learned and try something new.

Yesterday I made a dinner salad that tasted so amazing I squeeled with glee on my first bite and forced my roommate to try a bite. She agreed it was incredibly delicious. It still felt like my own creation because it didn't come from a recipe, even though the Flavor Bible nudged me to try the additions I just couldn't see in my mind (note to self - not my senses, but my MIND couldn't imagine them).

Under the grapefruit entry, it nudged me to use up the mint I had on hand and add some hazelnuts too. I tentatively wrapped a tiny bit of mint, avocado and grapefruit in a spinach leave, dipped it in the dressing I had made and tasted it. I was sold. And this salad was born...


Grapefruit-Mint Quinoa Spinach Salad - serves 2

This salad is high in protein, iron and calcium due to the amazing little South American grain, quinoa. It has an amino acid profile equal to meat - i.e. it is a complete protein. It is also gluten free for those who are sensitive little flowers (like myself). However, I love quinoa for its flavour and versatility and for how it coats the spinach leaves and soaks up the tangy dressing in this salad.

Quinoa
1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed well and drained
3/4 cup boiling water
(makes 1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa)

Shallot Vinaigrette - (warning this is from memory! I'll try to make it again soon to test out the proportions...)
1 small shallot, peeled and minced
about 1/4 cup sweet, fruity olive oil
about 2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
about 1 tbsp. sherry vinegar
juice from 1 small lemon
2 tsp. dark, flavourful honey
sea salt - plenty to taste
black pepper

Salad
half a bunch of spinach, well washed, long or tough stems trimmed and discarded
1/2 an avocado, cut into small cubes
1/2 a pink grapefruit, supremed
2 tbsp. hazelnuts, toasted and chopped coursely
handful of fresh mint leaves, cut into thin ribbons (chiffonade)

Directions:
Quinoa
Place the quinoa in a small pot. Add the boiling water. Stir, add a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, cover with the lid, reduce heat to lowest setting and let cook for 15 minutes.

Do not lift the lid or stir while cooking. Little steam vents form that keep the grains separate, stirring disrupts them and causes it to become a gloopy mess.

After 15 minutes remove the lid and tilt the pan to the side. If you see water, cover and return to cook for another few minutes. Once no water appears, it is done. Let sit covered, off the heat for 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork.

Dressing: While the quinoa is cooking, make the dressing. Whiz all the ingredients except the oil together with an immersion blender or regular blender. Drizzle in the olive oil while blending so that it emulsifies into the dressing. It should be creamy and slightly thick. Taste and adjust vinegar, oil, salt and pepper to taste. My dressing was slightly sweet but had a nice tangy, saltiness too.

Salad: Place the spinach in a bowl, spoon the quinoa (it can be still warm) over top, tossing it a little bit so the quinoa and spinach are mixed together.

Drizzle with some dressing.

Place the avocado and grapefruit over top, sprinkle with the sliced mint and chopped hazelnuts.

Enjoy!

Rhubarb Revisted...

Guess what - (on again about last few posts on rhubarb...) strawberries are high in oxalates too -- but amazingly... hazelnuts are a good source of calcium, second only to almonds... so enjoy a slice of balance : )

My mom emailed me three variations of her infamous tart. I imagine her pulling the hand scrawled papers and yellowed newspaper clippings from her blue rubber banded bible... "The McCormick's Spice Islands Cookbook".

Deciphering which one was "Mom's original strawberry rhubarb hazelnut flan" was mostly based on the degree of strawberry staining they'd each accumulated. In the end, we decided that it was likely a hybrid of them all - as she, as most great cooks, took the best elements from each recipe, and combined them into perfection. Here is a hybrid that incorporates all the elements I remember- however, I have not tested it yet...

Strawberry-Rhubarb Flan with Crisp Hazelnut Crust

Pastry
1/2 cup Hazelnuts, toasted
3 tbsp Sugar (for a less refined version try Sucanat or Rapadura)
1 1/4 cups All-purpose flour (try replacing half with whole wheat or spelt pastry flour)
1/2 tsp Salt
6 tbsp Chilled butter, cut into small pieces
1 Large egg, beaten

Filling
3 cups Rhubarb, chopped (in 1/2 inch pieces)
1 cup Sugar (or Sucanat or Rapadura)
2 tbsp Cornstarch
2 tbsp Melted butter
2 cups Fresh strawberries
1/4 cups Apricot or red currant jelly

Pastry:
In a food processor, pulse toasted hazelnuts and sugar until nuts are finely ground.
Add flour and salt, process until well combined. Transfer to large bowl.

Using fingertips, work butter into dry ingredients until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Stir in egg with a fork. Do not over work - mixture should be crumbly.

Press into 10 inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. Refrigerate for 30 min.
Prick bottom and sides with a fork. Line with foil and fill with dried beans.
Bake at 350 f (180c) for 15 minutes. Remove foil and beans.

Bake an additional 10 minutes or until golden. Place on rack to cool completely.

Filling:
Combine rhubarb, sugar, cornstarch and melted butter. Mix thoroughly. Spoon into pie shell and spread out evenly.

Bake in lower half of oven at 425F for 10 minutes.

Reduce oven to 350F and bake for about 30 minutes or until pastry is golden brown and rhubarb is tender.

Let cool thoroughly at room temperature.

Hull strawberries, cut in half and arrange, cut side down on top of cooled pie. Melt jelly in a small saucepan over low-medium heat and brush over strawberries to glaze. Let cool thoroughly before serving.


Recipe, with love added by Carol Bathgate

Rhubarb: How I became a Fear Monger

I wrote about rhubarb and its high oxalic acid content last week. Even though I tried to keep to my views on balance and moderation, something felt off for me after writing that post. It came to me loud and clear today with the realization:

I have developed a slight fear of rhubarb.

My week's grocery money was getting pretty low and again I remembered the backyard supply of rhubarb just waiting to be my breakfast addition. But a pang of concern halted my free-rhubarb elation:

Oxalic acid.

I had no idea that the startling tang of rhubarb came from these compounds prior to that post. In fact, before coming to Bastyr University I had no idea what oxalic acid was.

Until last week, my connection with rhubarb was via my mom's amazing strawberry rhubarb flan with the light, crisp hazelnut crust (the hazelnuts from our back yard tree cracked during my many hours of TV watching). The strawberries were left fresh and layered over the golden baked, sweetened rhubarb filled crust; then glazed with molten sunshine (or melted apricot jelly). You can't ask for a more perfect balance of tart, sweet, soft and crisp.

The thought of fresh rhubarb with its cheek sucking tartness has always made my saliva glands hurt in a good way. Taste, not health consequences, have guided my rhubarb eating decisions.

But now I was deciding based on fear, and in my experience, fear is not a good place to make decisions from.

Would I be less healthy if I didn't know what oxalic acid was? Would I eat mountains of rhubarb, make chutneys from it to slather on all my meals, pickle it as a side dish, add it to my pilafs and down sweetened bowls of it for dessert? Would I bind every molecule of calcium I consumed and end up with rhubarb-induced osteoporosis? I highly doubt it.

I guess there may be some importance in knowing that rhubarb has that mineral binding potential... but really I think it would give me, or anyone else, a wicked stomach ache long before it was a problem, and more so who wouldn't very quickly grow sick of eating rhubarb after more than a serving or two...? It's not exactly Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge Coconut Bliss...

I think that what's more important than knowing about the exact content of each food product we eat, is learning how to select and prepare a wide variety of whole foods. Again it's the "little bit of this, little bit of that" approach.

A little more learning might go into exploring how you feel when you eat those foods and maybe what you're body is asking for now, today.

I have written about the known benefits of certain foods every now and then in this blog - in my attempt to create some interest in eating whole foods. But, really the foods speak for themselves, and pleasure and enjoyment are a more sustainable approach in my opinion than a fear-based attempt to gain control over health - so... I'll consider this a nudge to myself to include more recipes and tips on how to enjoy whole foods!

And the email is already out to my mom for her Strawberry Rhubarb Flan recipe - it just so happens to be strawberry, (and rhubarb) season.

The Piglet

Yesterday I pulled the last 3 crumbled bills from my pocket and I bought one precious Porcini mushroom. I couldn't resist the King of Mushrooms - or "the piglet" as the Italians so affectionately call it. What a great name. I cooked the sizable beauty tonight and as I sat on my front steps, the evening soft on my bare arms, I was fully present and ready for that first mouthful. At $2.50 for my locally, wild-foraged fungus, I decided it was to be enjoyed accordingly.

Deep breath and first bite.... meaty, savoury, woody, earthy, slightly nutty with a creamy ever so slightly chewy texture... and a whole lot more than my vocabulary stores can articulate (I'm collecting though!). How similar it was to the distinctive savoury flavour of meat... and there is a reason for that. Like meat, mushrooms contain glutamic acid. This term might sound familiar if you know what the acronym MSG stands for: mono-sodium glutamate. That's right - mushrooms (and also tomatoes and seaweed) are sources of this natural flavour enhancer. In this form and in these naturally occurring amounts, their action spells culinary magic rather than trouble for the MSG sensitive - so you can set aside the flash backs to flushed faces, wheezing lungs or headaches from your last visit to Happiness Imperial Gardens... (I'll resist the temptation to go on about the obvious effects of isolating natural compounds and taking them in unnatural amounts...).

Glutamic acid is sensed by our 5th flavour receptor- umami. Yes our tongues have 5 taste receptors... sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami. Umami is more of a unifier than a "taste"- it amplifies and synergizes the flavor of the rest. It is what you might call "savoury". It is what I call delicious.

Not only do mushrooms have the ability to pump up the flavour in your kitchen creations - they have similar beefing effects on your immune system. The most studied for these immune modulating and anti-cancer effects are Maitake, Shitake and Reishi mushrooms but even the 3 most common supermarket varieties - the lowly button mushroom, Crimini and it's older sibling Portabello - have these polysaccharides (i.e. carbohydrates - poly = many/ saccharides = sugars) and beta-glucans (a soluble fiber made of medium chained polysaccharides that are indigestible by humans). These compounds have the incredible ability to modulate the immune system by activating it without the risk of over-stimulation (which is not a good idea in people with allergies or auto-immune diseases). They can increase production of white blood cells and then activate them, especially the "Natural Killer Cells" and "Cytotoxic T Cells" - two kinds of white blood cell that can attack tumor cells directly. Imagine that.

I love mushrooms, so I don't need much encouragement to eat them, but it helps my wallet to know they have potent anti-cancer and immune boosting properties that equal an excellent long-term health investment. That definitely encourages me to indulge a little more often.

Backyard Free Eats...

Sand on my boots and a nice almost-tan, I got home last night from a super fun birthday weekend on BC's Sunshine Coast with my good friend Justin (or e-noodle as I have named him for his dancing abilities) and his motorcycle - 'Click Click Bang'. I am definitely relaxed and content at getting another year to explore.

Looking in the fridge I found half a golden beet, some olives and a shriveled pack of what was once parsley (I think?). This reminded me first that I need to get some groceries and second that I was pretty much completely skinned after our little trip. Hm... luckily I have plenty of beans in the cupboard and various grains too, so something will fill my belly. I also remembered I had some parsley in a little pot outside, which likely needed attention and could be a nice addition to my meal.

The sensation of cool grass on bare feet for the first time this year cracked me a grin almost as wide as did looking up at that riotous blue sky from the back of Click Click Bang. That's when I spotted something purple and green growing in the corner of our backyard.

A taste confirmed my suspicions: mustard greens. Obviously some previous tenant had sown some seeds which decided to return the favor. I gathered up enough for a meal or two and feeling inspired by that teetering on the edge of summer feeling, turned to head inside, but was stopped again by the sight of a second prize, rhubarb: the unmistakable umbrella leaves nearly hiding ruby red stalks. I twisted off a few for my morning meal and headed inside. (I learned recently that you shouldn't cut rhubarb, but rather twist if off at the base to keep the plant happy & producing).

My roommate Jess was definitely surprised to see me returning from an excursion into our dingy little, weed covered, back yard that screams "RENTAL HOUSE!" with an armful of edible produce. So was I. All I could think was - wow - this is all free!

I know what I'm having for breakfast and dinner...


Breakfast: Creamy Nutmeg-Date Amaranth with Stewed Rhubarb

Amaranth
1/2 cup amaranth grain, rinsed
1 cup water
6 dates, pitted and chopped
cinnamon and nutmeg

Place the amaranth, water and salt together in a pot. (Starting with cold water makes the amaranth more creamy and thick). Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 or 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. After about 10 minutes, add the chopped dates and stir to combine. Continue to cook.

Serve with a sprinkle of cinnamon and grated fresh nutmeg, a dollop of stewed rhubarb (below) and perhaps some milk, yogurt, hemp milk or soy yogurt.


Stewed Rhubarb
rhubarb - washed and cut into 1/2 or 1 inch chunks
splash of juice or water
a pot
maple syrup or other sweetener

Place rhubarb and juice in the pot and bring to a low simmer over medium heat. Cover and reduce heat. Simmer until the rhubarb softens and falls apart. Add sweetener to taste - I love maple syrup and a little bit of vanilla with rhubarb.

Eat it as is, with yogurt, on hot cereal, ice cream, toast, whatever you like.

Rhubarb is very high in oxalic acid and tannins (that's what makes your mouth pucker), which can bind calcium so that we can't absorb it as readily, so it's not something I'd want to eat with every meal. However, it does makes sense to eat it with dairy or amaranth - both very rich sources of calcium. Rhubarb has health benefits too - it is supportive to the liver and packed with vitamin A, C, and potassium. Hm... a little bit of this, a little bit of that sound familiar?


Dinner: Garlic Sauteed Mustard Greens
The first time I tried cooked mustard greens I was enormously surprised and pleased! Cooking mellows out the spicy bite that was always a little too much for even my adventuresome palate.

Olive oil
Garlic, peeled and minced
A bunch of Mustard Greens

Heat the olive oil in a cast iron fry pan or whatever you have over medium heat. Add the garlic (I used one super potent organic Red Russian garlic clove) and allow it to cook until softened. Add the greens, moving them around to distribute the garlic. Cook until they just wilt. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve as a side dish with some whole grains and some beans or a meat dish. I piled mine high beside a homemade spicy blackeyed pea and walnut burger from my freezer stash, slathered thick with horseradish mustard and ketchup (I'm a sucker for M&K), and some brown rice laced with sesame seeds.

These mustard greens are nutrient dense and full of potent anti-cancer compounds. They are excellent sources of anti-oxidants (carotenes, vitamin C, vitamin E), folic acid, manganese, copper, vitamin B6 and calcium. They are also a good source of phosphorus, vitamin B2 (riboflavin), potassium, magnesium and protein, vitamin B1 (thiamin) and iron. Whew! They'll do nicely to balance my rhubarb breakfast.

A litle bit of this, a little bit of that

My classmate McKenzie wrote a wonderful essay about dinner with a 2 year old. She taught him with ease and gentle nudges to eat a balanced diet and let go of good and bad food labels by having a little bit of everything on his plate, even some ice cream. I think we could all use that nudge at times. I'll add a new saying to my favourite (Small Acts Add Up):

A little bit of this and a little bit of that.

A good example of how this makes sound nutritional sense is the concept of raw foods vs. cooked. There are many different diets claiming the benefits of raw foods or cooked foods over the other.

I say, some cooked some raw.

Some nutrients are made more available (bio-available) by cooking, while others are destroyed by cooking. Some are only available when there is a fat source included with them. Others leach out into the cooking water making soup a perfect way to access them, but boiling (and tossing the water) not so helpful. This to me makes another case for balance. Some cooked, some raw.

Tomatoes for example, are full of lycopene, a potent antioxidant and well-studied anti-cancer compound. It is most usable by our bodies when the tomato is cooked in some kind of fat, say a fruity, extra virgin, monounsaturated fat packed olive oil (hint hint). Tomatoes are also little vitamin C bombs. Cooking a tomato pretty much decimates all of that powerful Vitamin C power. So what to do? Do both.

Really that's pretty easy to do, because if you are like me, sometimes I want to eat something raw, crunchy and fresh and sometimes I crave warm, caramelized softness. So again, try both - eat it all, in every way.



Most Succulent Red Peppers -
Another great way to get your lycopene...

Olive oil
Red Peppers, about 1/2 inch slices
Sea salt
a cast iron frying pan
a lid
a bit of time and patience

Heat a good blub of olive oil in the frying pan over medium heat. Add the red peppers in a single layer, they should sizzle a little. Toss to coat them in the oil. Sprinkle liberally with sea salt. The salt pulls out moisture from the peppers, along with dissolved sugars that caramelize and brown, which is the key to this dish. Cover with a lid and leave them be. The goal is to slowly cook and caramelize them in their own juices, until they are oozingly soft, about 20 minutes or more. When they are done they will be soft enough to almost spread them.

If by some amazing feat you manage not to eat them all in one go, you can pack them into a jar, drizzle olive oil over top and refrigerate them for future use. Try them on pizza, a sandwich, layer them on a spinach salad with some salty olives or savoury cheese, in rice with some fresh herbs, or on a piece of toast with a bit of pesto or nothing more than a grind of fresh black pepper.

delightful.

Detox Retox - I heart (my) liver.

It's spring, which for many people can mean climbing out of the cozy, insular, nest - shedding some layers and doing a little spring cleaning.

I cleaned and organized my room yesterday. It likely had more to do with avoiding homework than spring cleaning but it also felt really good to rest my eye on clean, clear surfaces instead of piles of laundry (one for clean, one for dirty), papers, cups, mugs, cups and... more cups - like I mentioned, I drink a lot of tea.

Spring is also when thoughts of cleansing and detox start to bubble up. On an impulse, I found myself picking up a book from the library this morning. In fact two books: very indicative of my quest for balance. The first was "Juicing, Fasting and Detoxing for Life" and the second "The Herbal Kitchen: Cooking with Fragrance and Flavor" from Jerry Traunfeld, former chef of the Herb Farm restaurant in Woodinville, WA which features pretty fabulous wine and food from the Pacific Northwest. I had this cookbook out for weeks and weeks, renewed it until I reached the limit, and returned it, only to take it out again now, a month later. It is packed with sensuously delicious recipes that incorporate fresh herbs plus tips on growing and using your own. I made the Cinnamon Basil Chicken, a jammy, thick tomato based curry spiked with star anise and handfuls of a variety of fresh basil laced with warm cinnamon overtones... sigh -- but before I get too off track here... back to the other book... right... balance...

I was likely drawn to the Detox book because I believe there are definite benefits to cleansing diets: giving the digestive system a break and providing the vitamins, minerals and compounds needed by the liver throughout the phases of detoxification. My brother often asks me about detoxing. I'm sure many people wonder about it. Like many words it encompasses a pretty enormous topic and gets tossed around without much care or concern to meaning. I wanted to be better informed on how detox diets work and what the benefits are, as well as when to use them. Every therapeutic diet is highly specific to the individual and the individual's needs at that specific time.

Detox. Your body is doing this just about all the time. The liver sorts out the compounds the body doesn't need from the ones it does, making them water soluble if they aren't already so they can be sent out of the body via the urine and other routes. I have enormous respect for the liver now that I've learned some of its amazing abilities and tasks. Take care of your liver. It's pretty much running the show.

Do we need to detox? We do live in a time when our bodies need to process a greater number of toxins than we likely did in the past. Environmental pollutants, chemicals off-gassing from household cleaners and building materials, and of course pesticides and additives in our food supply etc. It can be a little overwhelming. I think worrying about it does more harm than good. I do not want to live from a place of fear. My approach is to eliminate the things I can and then try to nourish myself as much as possible in every aspect of my life (physically, mentally, emotionally, socially) so I can be an adaptable and resilient creature. Seems like as for pretty much everything in life - health too is about balance.

For most people, the shift to a detox diet or juice cleanse could be pretty intense. They might want to first consider the amazing and gentle detoxifying effects of just drinking more water and slowly incorporating more whole foods, like intact, whole grains that aren't refined (brown rice, wheat berries (bulgar), quinoa, buckwheat (kasha) or millet), beans, nuts, seeds and of course plenty of fruits and vegetables to their diet. Small Acts Add Up.

The fiber alone will be enough to help carry toxins out of the colon so they have less chance of being absorbed or causing harm. Plant foods are jam packed with compounds like glutathione, choline, and vitamins C and E that are used in chemical reactions by the liver to bind and excrete toxins from the blood to the urine.

The body is detoxing all the time, so may as well try to support it regularly so those toxins can be processed and excreted and don't build up. It's like hanging up your clothes every day instead of spending an hour once a week to tackle a gigantic pile... note to self.

I also believe that there is something amazing about crafting delicious whole foods that nourish by pleasure, and also provide these amazing nutrients and compounds on a regular basis. Hence the Herb Farm cookbook... it is full of recipes that please both your mouth and your liver.

To me this is a very sustainable approach.

Compost Competition

Eat every part.

They were selling cauliflower greens at the market last week. Yes, the leaves normally trimmed and tossed from around the cauliflower head were piled high into baskets and sold for the slightly posh price of a fancy spring mix. My first reaction was to think this was some kind of money grab or that they were desperate for something to sell in the shoulder season between stodgy winter roots and lush spring greens. But then it occurred to me how perfect this was. Really why wouldn't you eat every part? I tasted one. It was surprisingly sweet and mild. I decided to try a handful, but more importantly I decided to stop composting so many edible vegetable parts!

Just like our singular fixation on the chicken breast despite the many, many other delicious bits and pieces (each with their own variety of nutrients too), we tend to forget that if we can eat part of a plant, it's pretty safe to assume the rest of it is edible too. So instead of paying extra for cauliflower leaves as if they were some kind of extravagant delicacy, buy a whole leafy head and save the trimmings for your salad or stir fry.

Other examples are beet greens. I almost always buy a bunch instead of bulk beets when they are available. It's like getting a free bunch of Swiss chard or kale and they are delicious. Fennel bulb has frondy tops that can be used as an herb - it has a licorice-y sweet flavor that is so nice with lemon or orange. Even the green tops from radishes and turnips are tasty. Each has its own unique flavor. I was looking at a pretty limited veggie drawer one day and my chickpea curry wasn't calling for turnips. I snipped off one of the turnip leaves and tasted it. It was mildly peppery and sweet. I chopped it up and threw it. Why not?

Experiment, use your senses and get creative. Don't let your preconceived notions about what WE eat limit you. It's another great way to stretch your dollar, expand your palate and your plate.

The Olympics of Eating

Lately I've hardly notice what I've been eating. And believe me, I have been eating. Stress does that to me. The more desk work I have to do, the more I crave something to chew on, crunch on, sip or savour. I drink more tea than the Royal Family. It has little to do with thirst or hunger and everything to do with distraction. What I'm craving when I'm sitting at my desk reading dense journal articles or cramming lists and acronyms into my brain, is some kind of physical stimulation. I would love to get up and go for a walk or run, hang out with some friends, laughing and interacting, or put my hands to work and make something, anything tangible - but this is not the time for that.

So instead, I try to cope with the sitting, by snacking. It's an easy solution - because unlike most things, eating does not take away from the mental work. I can do it while I sit. I can do it with just a sliver of my brain.

After finishing yet another dinner with my mind wandering to the next exam and where would I live this summer, my face in a Cuisine magazine, scanning recipes to slot into my mental collection, my hand on autopilot, rhythmically supplying my mouth with the next delivery to be processed, the thought - what's next? immediately jumped to my mind. I had barely even noticed that I'd just eaten dinner. I couldn't tell you if I was full, I had just eaten until the plate was empty. I was already thinking; What snacks could I eat later? What would I have for breakfast tomorrow? How much had I already eaten today? and various other food related questions.

I realized, I needed an intervention. Moving on to dessert or finding another study snack was not what I needed or even wanted. Doing so would only leave me feeling full and crappy on top of bored and annoyed with school. It's not very satisfying snacking while I study or reading while I eat and I'm eating more than I'm using up with all this sitting. In all honesty, I'd rather not have to buy new pants but more importantly, I'd much rather actually enjoy eating and feel nourished than do it halfheartedly.

What I needed was a Closing Ceremonies. I decided on a new approach this week - the Olympics of Eating. I'm sure that conjures up images of an eating competition - 20 fist sized matzo balls in 2.6 minutes... but that's not exactly the idea.

It means Eating as an Event. The Olympics has both an opening and closing ceremonies. The meal is the extravaganza in the middle. So for 2 out of 3 daily meals this week, I'm trying to eat with full attention - no magazines, no textbooks, no radio. Just me and my plate.

My opening ceremonies is basically just a moment of looking at, smelling and thinking about what I'm about to eat before I start. Switching from study mode to dinner mode. The sight, smell and thought of food actually serves an important purpose - called the "Cephalic Phase" this is when neural signals from sensory input get the juices (such as saliva, pepsin and hydrochloric acid from the stomach and bile from the liver) flowing so we can digest the meal.

Next comes the main event - the meal itself - the enjoyment of tasting and feeling every crunch and squish, salty or sour: really being focused. Stopping to take a breath and relax. Perhaps even putting my fork down.

The Closing Ceremonies is just a few thoughts on how good the meal was, and how it is now over. That I've had dinner, I'm satisfied and I'm done eating. Time to move onto something else. I don't jump right back to my desk. I take a few minutes to walk around the block or I sit down with a magazine (other than Cuisine!) and enjoy, really enjoy reading it, sometimes I call a friend for a chat, or I write an email.

This isn't the first time I've returned to mindfulness. I just get off track every once in a while, but the point is just to come back to it when I do. It really works for me and most of all, it's really enjoyable. It's also not just about eating less. It's about me acknowledging that I need much more than just food to keep me happy and finding ways to get those somethings rather than distracting myself from wanting them with snacks.

Babaganoodle...

Hanging out with my 4 year old godson Davis over spring break, I was quickly sucked into the vortex of silliness that is his life! His latest thing was making up new names for whatever food we ate each day --- for example – he invited me to have “twidges” for dinner (pasta and greens with chorizo) and “babaganoodle” (waffles with peanut butter) for breakfast with him. Babaganoodle sounds to me like a strange middle eastern/Chinese fusion dish of creamy eggplant topped noodles… however, I think I'm being too literal. The point is that he still approaches food with fun and finds fun in pretty much everything.

I'm trying to keep that in mind while I get through this next busy spell. A great work opportunity came up at a very inopportune time. Trudging in the door tonight after class, dinner was about the last thing I wanted to think about. Then I remembered that I had treated myself to some wild harvested fiddlehead ferns at the market yesterday. I imagined that eating a bowl of something called fiddleheads would have to lighten me up a bit.


Fiddlehead Saute

Olive oil
garlic cloves
1/2 lb of fiddlehead ferns, brown stems trimmed (leave them no longer than 2 inches)
white wine
lemon thyme
salt and pepper

I washed them well in a few changes of water, then blanched them by dunking them into a pot of boiling water for about 2 minutes, draining them and running them under the sink in cold water until they were cool. Next I heated the oil in a big cast iron frying pan over medium-high heat and added the garlic and fiddleheads together (garlic burns easily and I was not in the mood to be watching over garlic). I let them cook a while... I've only cooked them once before and haven't eaten them many more, so after a little internet perusing, I just kept tasting until there was no longer a bitter undertone and the texture was like a perfect green bean. Everything I've read about them says not to overcook them! At the end, I splashed in a little white wine and added salt and pepper, stirring while I let the wine cook off a bit. Then I lay some on a bowl of pasta with some leftover roasted yams and tucked in.

I am definitely feeling a little lighter about everything on the to-do list now... fiddle dee dee.

Bacon and the Neighbour

Oh bacon…. smoky, salty, crispy, greasy and delectable… but so bad?! I have a love/hate relationship with it. Growing up, bacon was neutral, something to slather maple syrup over on weekend mornings when my dad lovingly made me bunny-eared pancakes with juicy blueberry eyes. It was in my teens when I latched onto a new identity as a vegetarian and gave it up. Then it was gross, inhumane, unhealthy; a perfect symbol of cultural excess and environmental destruction. I craved it for more than 10 years without ever giving in. I was proud of my control, my morals, and my unwavering dedication to my values.

Then something happened to me. I entered what I like to call the “lightening up” stage of my life, where tightly-defined rules gave way to something more dynamic and ‘context’ relevant. I started to make exceptions. I began to occasionally eat “bad foods” when I didn’t want to miss out on something culturally significant or connecting to someone dear to me. I’d eat my grandma’s borscht made with beef stock, or have the chicken smothered in mole verde on that trip to Mexico City. It felt right in those moments, but was followed by a sense of guilt or “selling out” that I couldn’t quite rectify.

The summer before I began my education at Bastyr University, I started dating my next-door neighbour: a French-Canadian musician from Montreal. He just didn’t get the “English” approach to food and health. For him, food was food. You ate it because it was good. You didn’t eat too much and you enjoyed a lot of different things, but most of all you never felt guilty about it. There was so much pressure to be ‘healthy’ in Vancouver. Where was the pleasure? It was curious and refreshing to hear such a seemingly non-obsessive relationship to food.

It was with him that my relationship with bacon changed. Every weekend (and occasional weekday mornings when we skived off work for a few hours) we would walk to the store and buy bacon. It wasn’t free range, grass fed, hormone or nitrate free. It was generic Safeway brand or sometimes as an extra treat, “Lazy Maple” with the maple “flavour” built right in. I waited for the voices in my head to tell me this was wrong. “I can’t believe you are going to eat this! All that saturated fat and toxic nitrates! What about the environment!?” But they never came. After we ate I expected the queasiness of guilt and fatty meat to set in. I waited to feel disgusting and full. But I never did. I felt energetic and light. I felt nourished.

Bacon gained immense importance in our relationship. It was a common bond. It had Rock Star status. It represented precious shared moments of hedonistic pleasure when climate change and heart disease didn’t matter. We would even close text messages with “bacon,” like “hugs and kisses,” only much more delicious.

On a trip to Montreal with the neighbour, I set aside my judgments and was surprised at how amazing I felt eating the ridiculously rich local delicacy – Poutine: French fries with fresh cheese curds slathered in gravy. Not exactly ‘heart smart’ fare. It was everywhere, and came in countless varieties. Sometimes it was topped with mounds of Montreal-style smoked meat. Of course there was one with bacon. I ate more than my usual year’s share of meat and heavy foods on that trip but I felt great. Even my pants were looser than when I stepped off the plane.

But when I came to study at Bastyr amidst the vegans and the socially responsible, I worried that someone would find out about my bacon habit. I felt like a fraud as a nutrition student. On lonely mornings when I turned to bacon for a dose of home, I felt heavy and full, my stomach churning from the salty grease, my thighs expanding from the fat. Something was definitely missing.

We learned about that something in my Psychology of Nourishment class. Eating a meal is more than just eating food. It is the entire experience of the meal that nourishes us: the care and attention that went into making it, the social nourishment of being with friends and family, our emotional state when we eat and the meaning we ascribe to the food. It makes sense.

Times with the neighbour nourished me on a level beyond the nutritional value of bacon. There was nowhere to rush to. I was relaxed and where I wanted to be. I ate with incredible sensual awareness, noting every detail of the crisp ruffled edges of the bacon. I savored every bite. I felt completely satisfied. I ate the whole experience: my mood, the company, the atmosphere, and most importantly the connection the meal created between us.

Eating provides us with more than just nutrients. Eating with awareness and curiosity can give us a hint about how the entire eating experience affects us and what we need to feel nourished and fulfilled, such as a sexy French-Canadian neighbour at the table.

Although my pancakes are rarely bunny-eared these days, I have returned to positive eating experiences. The neighbour has since moved back to Montreal, but he and bacon will always have a special place in my heart.

Vitamin Burps

It seems like everything I had heard, read and watched about nutrition in the media before coming to Bastyr focused on the battle between carbs, fats and protein. It's all about the struggle to lose weight and diets are all about the big 3 (in fancy nutrition lingo the “macronutrients”). But food gives us much much more than just those 3 things. That is very apparent from the strange paradox we are seeing around the globe today: an epidemic of obese people with malnutrition.

What's going on? People are getting a lot of the big 3, but very little of the other nutrients… the ‘micro nutrients’. The water soluble (Vitamins B and C) and fat soluble vitamins (Vitamin A, D, E, & K) not to mention the plethora of phytonutrients (as in plant compounds) such as antioxidants and the insanely large number of beneficial plant compounds we have yet to name, or even identify.

We take foods that are naturally spilling over with these powerful, essential compounds. We strip them, refine them, bleach them, sanitize them and pretty them up. Then we take what we took out and pop it into pills to be sold back to us as supplements. I can’t remember where I read this but it really struck me… Kind of strange- no? Those vitamins were ours. They were in our food and we have to pay to get them back. We shoudln't have to think about how to mix and match and meet all our needs from pills. Well there's an easy way to fix that... and it's delicious. Eat real, whole food.

I’ll take my vitamins as a juicy, fresh pear please. Or how about some garlic marinated roasted chicken with rosemary yams, edges crispy from olive oil and good old time in the oven? Or a pie, golden and steaming, with pounds of crisp local apples cooked down into sweet little sugary buttery coated pillows of love... sound a little more appealing than washing down a handful of chalky or gelatinous pills? wondering if it's the right formulation or the right time to take it (with a meal? empty stomach?) hoping that you don't taste fish oil all day, or that a ghostly cloud of white powder doesn't whisp from your nose as you exhale, carrying up, on a little burp, the contents from the burst gel cap lodged in your esophagus? (yes that happened to me).

When you eat, whatever you eat, eat real food. Think about getting your money's worth. Aim for nutrient density (more nutrients for the calories). Even when you eat a chocolate chip cookie... think about how it can have a few more nutrients in it (get the extra delicious one from the bakery with the real butter, rolled oats and walnuts). Add a handful of something green or red or orange to your meal - throw a bit of spinach or mushrooms into your spaghetti sauce or soup - grate an apple into your instant oatmeal and use real maple syrup instead of Aunt Jemimah maple flavour high fructose corn syrup on your pancakes, drink sparkling, real juice drinks instead of pop once in a while. Food is more than just fat, protein and carbs. Do little things to add the vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals you need. Even if its just a trace because Small Acts Add Up.

It's my favourite saying and it's true. No matter what you do, it matters. Little changes make a difference over time.

Nourishing Nettle

I took a fabulous class last year called Therapeutic Whole Foods Cooking. One spring class we went into the woods around Bastyr and did some wild foraging. This was something I'd always been curious about, but in my usual 'all or nothing' way, I managed to turn wild foraging into something only really experienced and learned folks who want to live in sod houses and make their own soap would do. Walking the 50 feet from the campus into a patch of nettle, cleavers and miner's lettuce ready for eating, quickly showed me that I was wrong. There is SO MUCH FOOD growing in the Pacific Northwest. We gathered up enough for lunch and made nettle soufflé. It was seriously delicious.

Yes that's nettle as in Stinging Nettle. The evil stuff I was terrified of as a kid playing at the end of my street. We have a new relationship now.

I am, I admit, addicted to nettle. There is more nutritional value in that stingy thing than even kale - the so-called powerhouse of the green kingdom. Nettle has a ridiculous amount of calcium (10x that of kale) and many other minerals (such as iron and magnesium) as well as anti-inflammatory and immune system modulating (balancing) compounds. I have a bag of dried nettle the size of a small child stashed in an unused corner of my kitchen that I make a daily infusion from (1 oz dried nettle steeped overnight in 1 liter boiling water – strain and drink). I think of it as my multi-vitamin and overall tonic. Nettle contains quercetin, which some believe makes it useful for treating seasonal allergies. It is especially supportive to the adrenal glands, which pump out the hormones we need to deal with stress. They tend to be a little overused in our culture. Everyone can use a little support, no? The stinging part of the nettle is deactivated by drying and cooking and then it just becomes another delicious green vegetable.

Last year, the transition to Seattle and full time school (and full time caffeine overload) was a little trying on my stomach and my nerves. After sipping nettle infusion in a Therapeutic Whole Foods tea tasting I became enamored. The inky emerald brew was faintly milky and sweet. It's not surprising to me that it's so high in calcium. I find nettle calming but energizing at the same time. Ok, get the sod ready... I could go on forever about nettles!

Here's a link to a recent nettle foraging trip by Seattle chef and localvore Becky Selengut (whose cooking classes I assist in the hopes of absorbing some of her effortless, inspiring teaching style). She harvests nettles for purely gastronomic purposes paired with a healthy respect for this mineral laden local gem.

Best news yet... it's nettle season, which means - they're FREE! I think I’ll take my gloves to school, go for a walk in the trails and grab myself some nourishment.


Nettle Soufflé
Serves 2-4
Preparation time: 1 hour

1 ½ cups water
4 cups young nettle tops
2 tablespoons olive oil or butter
1 onion or leek, minced
2 tablespoons flour (Gluten free try 1 tablespoon rice flour, 2 tablespoons arrowroot powder)
1/2 cup milk, soy milk or nettle broth
1-2 egg yolks, beaten
2 egg whites, stiffly beaten

Cook nettle in boiling water for 5-10 minutes. Drain well; save broth. Puree nettle in blender or food processor; set aside. Sauté onion in oil until golden. Add flour and cook, stirring for 2 minutes. Slowly add ½ cup of nettle broth or milk and cook, stirring often until dry and thick. Add a little of this at a time to the beaten egg yolk, until they are well mixed. Now stir in nettle puree and salt to taste. Last, carefully fold in egg whites. Put in a soufflé dish, bake at 350 degrees until firm, 30-40 minutes.

Adapted by Jennifer Adler from Healing Wise by Susan Weed.


Nettle Pesto
1/2 pound nettles
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup toasted pecans
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 to 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
about 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
(or for the dairy free -some chopped sundried Moroccan olives - that can have an almost cheesy taste...)

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the nettles (keep them in the bag and don't handle them too much) and cook for 2 minutes.
Drain in a colander, allow to cool and press out the excess water. This yields about a cup of cooked nettles.

2. Grind the garlic, pecans, salt, and black pepper in a food processor until finely chopped. Add the nettles, breaking them up. Add the lemon juice and whirl until the nettles are finely chopped. With the machine running, drizzle in the olive oil in a slow, steady stream. Add the cheese or olives, pulse a few times, and add salt, pepper or lemon to taste.

Inspired by Anna Macnak, adapted from Vegetarian Cooking by Paul Gayler.

Enjoy!

Spring.... with Peanut Sauce.

It's definitely Spring. I know that most of all because I have fantastic, fizzy energy (despite the brain drain of school) and a potent desire to be outside and moving as much as possible.

I also feel a big shift because I'm no longer craving hearty stews, beans and root vegetables! For the first time in ages I actually craved a SALAD.

I really appreciate this. It is pretty amazing to me that my body can pick up on how everything around me is changing and shift my cravings to whatever I need most at this time. Think about that. Pretty neat.

I came home from my shift at the farmer's market this week and I was surprised that I wasn't craving my usual post-standing-outside-all-day meal... spaghetti and meat sauce piled high with vegetables. I have had some pretty much transcendental moments over the last few chilly, wet Seattle months - parked on the couch post market hugging a steaming bowl of noodles to my chest, all snuggled in a puddle of oregano and marjoram and free-range beef spiked tomato sauce... sigh. It was made even better by the fact that my roomies and I took turns making it each week. The lure of that bowl got me through many of those final damp, winter market hours.

This time though all I wanted was... a salad. I actually stood there a moment in slight disbelief. Really? A salad? I searched for the familiar meat craving, but there was none. Just an incredibly strong urge to eat the kale and cabbage rabe I'd picked up from Nash's (sounds like "raab". It's the tender, sweet flowering heads that pop up in the spring). Strange, but I figured it was best to listen.

It got me thinking about eating seasonal and local foods. If you are eating locally then you pretty much end up eating what’s in season. I love being reconnected to that cycle. Who doesn’t get excited at the first summer strawberries - or fresh, sun-warmed, drip down your arm Okanagan peaches. That’s when you KNOW its summer. Well it's Spring now and that means asparagus season! (see What's in Season and Seasonal Cornucopia).

And then that got me thinking some more- those plants are living in the same conditions we are and going through the same daylight and temperature changes. Eating them gives us a pretty good chance we'll get the nutrients we need to adapt to those conditions too. It's hard to believe sometimes when we are boxed up in our cars and closed off in our houses with our hand sanitizer at the ready but we are part of this ecosystem too.

So my craving for spring greens, which in many traditional medicines are considered detoxifying and rejuvenating, is perfect for shedding a bit of that winter insulation we don’t really need now that it's warmer.

Spring does a pretty good job of reminding us that we aren't static, our diets change (and need to) and our cravings might just be the best information we can get about ‘what to eat’. I'd highly recommend listening... you might be surprised.


Here's my post market salad...

Purple kale rabe – roughly chopped
Cabbage rabe –roughly chopped
Asparagus, roasted, chopped - from the other night (see here for recipe)
Young swiss chard leaves torn into bite sized pieces
Some fennel bulb – sliced
A raw sunchoke (Jerusalem artichoke), sliced
Some leftover cooked, brown rice
Some Red cabbage, thinly shredded
Some raw beets, grated fine (try it! So juicy and sweet)
Toasted pumpkin seeds
1 free range, hard boiled egg, sliced (or some grilled salmon)


Pile all the greens into a bowl on top of the rice. Scatter with the remaining ingredients and drizzle dressing (recipe below) on top. Sit in the warm spring sun and check out all the incredible colour in that bowl. Take a deep breath, take a bite and enjoy.


Rebar’s Intensely Fresh Peanut Sauce/Dressing

makes 3/4 cup

1/4 cup smooth peanut butter (try cashew butter, almond butter or a mix)
1 clove garlic
About a 2 inch piece of ginger, minced or grated, (try using the back of a spoon to scrape off the skin – SO easy)
1 or 2 tbsp. honey (to taste)
a handful of cilantro leaves
juice of 1 lime
1 tbsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. sambal olek (or any hot sauce or dried chilies)
1/4 cup soy sauce (try naturally fermented tamari)
2 tbsp. brown rice vinegar

Whiz it all together in blender, with a hand blender or by hand with a little elbow grease (chopping fine and gently heating the nut butter will help).


Adapted from the Rebar Modern Foods Cookbook

Asparagus vs. Bacon

I liked this blog title because it sounded silly (and I like silly) but there is some meaning in there too...

As I mentioned - I love bacon - which is a supposedly "BAD" food (more on that another day)- but I also love asparagus and anything green and fresh. I actually think asparagus can be just as delicious or even more delicious than bacon - and that they can both have equally important spots in a healthy diet, especially mine.

Ok I can't resist a little recipe here... (I thought of about 20 but I'll keep it to my simplest favourite)

Take a bunch of asparagus, or a handful or however much you want - wash and trim the ends if and only if they are super tough and chewy (save the cuttings for stock - I have a bag in the freezer for all my bits and pieces ).

rub it with some good quality extra virgin olive oil (or opt for some toasted sesame oil)
put it on a baking sheet
sprinkle a healthy dose of sea salt on it
a few grinds of fresh black pepper
maybe some rosemary? or tamari for the sesame version.

put it in a 425F oven - for about 5 minutes - who knows - just test it and you'll know its done. It should be just tender but still juicy. I often use my good old 2nd hand store toaster oven on broil - since my mom taught me to always cook more than one thing when you heat up the oven.

The ends of the spears will get all crispy and hold all the little bursts of oily, salty goodness that contrast SO nicely to the mild, green (yes green IS a flavour, I swear), juicy stalks.

sigh. heaven.

Then I'd use these for various things, such as snacking right off the pan, or being more intentional and putting it on a plate as a side dish, or chopped onto a salad, or tossed with quinoa or brown rice and some fresh herbs, red onion, red cabbage with a little simple vinaigrette... ok I have to go to class or I'd be here all day.

Enjoy!

NourishOR

My friend Step calls me the Nourisher. It's because I love to nourish. I love cooking for my friends and family and I get ridiculously excited about sharing good food.

This name cracks me up because when I was a kid my brother and I had this game we'd play. We'd make up superheros by taking really common actions, adding 'OR' to the end and saying it in a Monster Truck Rally voice like:

CleanOR - Master of Cleaning!
PickOR - Master of Picking!

...then we'd laugh our guts sore imagining all the ridiculous things these people would do as superheroes.

NourishOR --- Master of Nourishing!

Nourishing like a superhero? Sounds good to me... I adore FEEDING people and not just food, I want to feed skills and passion for real food too. I think my mission in life is to bring really tasty, nourishing, health promoting food to as many people as I can and teach them how to nourish themselves.

So I'll share with you something that keeps me, my hungry belly (and my emaciated wallet) grounded in the swirling sea of nutrition knowledge that 2 years at Bastyr has brought into my head -

Ultimately everything we know about nutrition comes down to:
1) choose whole foods as much as possible.
2) eat a wide variety of foods.
3) eat with joy, pleasure and awareness!

A big THANKS to my friend Stan who came up with the name for this blog (and to all my friends who gave me lots of great ideas that you'll see creeping in later on). I like anything ridiculous and anything that includes bacon, such as this recipe... one of my staples (with or without the bacon).

Bacon-Laced Black Eyed Peas with Collard Greens

about a 1/2 cup of black eyed peas, if you have time - soak a few hours with a little vinegar to > digestibility

some good quality bacon
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 or more cloves garlic, crushed and minced
a bunch of collard greens (or chard, kale, spinach etc.), stems separated and chopped.
a lemon
a big handful or more of flat-leaf parsley (or cilantro, basil, rosemary or any fresh or dried herbs)
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper


Drain the soaked black eyed peas and place in a medium pot full of fresh water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to about medium-high and simmer for 25 minutes or until the black eyed peas are tender. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat a cast iron frying pan over medium heat. Add the bacon (one strip gives some flavour, more equals divine) and cook, turning once, until nicely brown and cooked through on both sides. Remove and set aside to cool. Crumble or cut the bacon (depends if you use the insanely thick slices like I do) and reserve.

Drain the frying pan and add the olive oil (or a reserved tablespoon of bacon fat - mmm). Saute the onion over medium-high heat until translucent and beginning to brown. Browning adds amazing flavour so be patient, it's worth the time. Add the garlic (garlic browns/burns faster than onions so add it later on in the cooking so you can relax more) and then throw in the drained, cooked black eyed peas. I like to let them brown a bit, then I add the chopped collard stems. Let them get a head start cooking since they are more fibrous, and then add the leafy parts along with the bacon. Stir to mix well.

Cook until the greens just wilt or to taste. Stir in the fresh herbs (the more the better, they are powerhouses of nutrients too!). Squeeze in the lemon, using a fork to twist out all the juice. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve it with some rice (I love Lundberg's short grain brown rice), quinoa or a slice or two of toasted rye bread.

If the fact that this dish tastes great, is even better leftover the next day or that it's pretty darn cheap doesn't impress you, then perhaps the fact that it's incredibly nutrient dense and packed with phytochemicals and health promoting compounds will.

Most of all ---- Enjoy!

Do you eat?

Welcome! The time is ripe for change. People are re-thinking and re-prioritizing. Budgets are tightening and more people are cooking at home and opting out of take out. Our homes are replacing the local restaurant as a social gathering place.

I'm excited. I think good things are happening.

I want to share what I've learned so far and what I'm continuing to learn as a nutrition student, budget eater and passionate foodie navigating this new economic climate. This blog is about expanding your palate, connecting to your community, eating well on a budget and inspiring you to find what works for you when it comes to "what to eat". You can be my victims, er... come along for the ride as I figure out the wild, wide, wonderful world of food, nutrition and health.

I'm pretty convinced that rediscovering the joy of eating fabulous, real, whole food heads you down the path to health and wellness... and I'm happy to share some tips, recipes and ideas to get you going...

Enjoy!