Dreaming of Spring and Gardens

Spring is coming! And with that comes thoughts of our garden. Last year we started with tearing out our beautiful azaleas, hostas, and rose bushes. I gave them away to make room for our raised bed garden.

Our backyard before our garden.

We then did a lot of work to create raised beds and to amend our poor clay soil. We had a very successful first garden, despite no real plan and a late start. We enjoyed green beans, peppers, strawberries (whatever the squirrels and chipmunks left us!), sweet potatoes, grape tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and tomatoes. Not bad for our tiny town home yard.

I continued to add compost from my indiscreet compost bin...

Lovely compost!

My compost bin.

Look at that lovely black soil.

This year I plan to start earlier for some cool-weather spring crops. I started our lettuce seeds inside today, something I have never grown before.

I spoke to the seeds and asked that they please grow and provide our family with their delicious nutrition.

We shall see.
Springtime is here for sure, I see the signs and I feel the changes in myself as I prepare for longer days, more outside time, and more gardening. Looking forward to a full kitchen of home-grown vegetables and herbs to preserve for next winter.

What's going in your gardens?
Michelle

Creating Home with Food

I have been spending a lot of time in my kitchen these days. A stack of cookbooks and the assistance of the Whole Food Kitchen Online program have inspired me.

I never used to enjoy cooking. Cooking was something that got in the way of eating when I was hungry. In other words, I wanted food and I wanted it to be fast.

I have come along way from those rotisserie chickens, instant mashed potatoes and frozen peas (although I still enjoy a good rotisserie on occasion!)

Now I enjoy the process of creating wholesome food for my family. Knowing the food I make comes from a small farmer, with organic produce and grass-fed animals makes it all the more valuable. I am creating for my family.

Here are some recipes and photos from my recent kitchen adventures.

Home-made Granola

This morning I made granola for my dear Husband. It is made with healthy medium-chain fatty acid coconut oil. Did you know virgin coconut oil is rich in Lauric acid which has antioxidant properties? This is why virgin coconut oil will stay well for so long, even at room temperature. After all, the tropics are hot, and that is where the tropical oils including coconut thrive and have been consumed (with ill health effects) for generations.

Although the recipe was inspired by Heather Bruggeman's granola, I added some of my own ingredients: Six cups uncooked rolled oats, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup shredded coconut, 1/2 Tablespoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg, 1 teaspoon sea salt, 1/2 cup coconut oil, 1 cup maple syrup, 2 teaspoons vanilla, 1 cup chopped walnuts, and 1/2 cup sesame seeds.

I heated the coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla while I mixed the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mixed it all up well and then spread over two cookie sheets. Baked at 300 degrees for about 30 minutes, stirring after 15 minutes. The bottom pan cooked faster and became a little burned on one side.

Very tasty and satisfying because I know exactly what ingredients are in my dear Husband's morning cereal.

I also made some fun and tasty chicken enchiladas from Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Today was perfect for crock-pot cooking since my middle daughter Sita had gymnastics. I love coming home to a meal ready to eat.

The basic recipe calls for chicken cut into 2/3 inch pieces cooked with onion. (I made mine the day before while cooking dinner.) You layer green chile enchilada sauce, strips of corn tortillas, chicken, and cheese. Ending with a cheese on top. Next time I will add spinach. My son and enchilada-loving husband asked for this to be a regular weekly meal. Seems kind of heavy, but maybe I can get some veggies in there.

Almond milk

I also made almond milk and almond milk smoothies. When I first saw the photos and tutorial video on Whole Foods Kitchen, I couldn't wait to make some! It looked so beautiful, white and creamy, and well - wholesome. And it tastes that way as well. Almonds are an excellent source of vitamin E, and although high in fat (as most nuts), they are the healthy monounsaturated fats. They also contain phytosterols, with numerous potential health benefits.

These are some of the interesting foods coming out of my kitchen. What's cooking in yours?

Sambar and Idli

I have been trying hard to get out of the meal rut we have been stuck in. Here is a recent meal I prepared, an old forgotten favorite, learned from my Asian Indian mother-in-law from my first marriage. The kids still love their "dadi's" (grandmother in hindi) sambar the best though.

I made a lovely sambar - an Indian recipe with lentils, vegetables and spices. The only difficult part is washing and chopping all the vegetables. 

I have learned from my mother-in law and various Asian Indian friends over the years how important timing is to making proper Indian spiced dishes. In the old days, I would simply dump everything in all at once. Ahh, but that is not the way with Indian cooking.

First I heated the oil, then added spices slowly. The mustard seeds and cumin seeds were first, which only took several seconds before they started "popping" in the hot oil. After that, I added the curry leaves, coriander, red chili powder and tumeric, which was quickly followed by the chopped vegetables.

I had cooked the lentils the day before.

I added fresh water to the lentils, and when they were heated I added the vegetables. Then came the tamarind sauce and salt to taste.

In the meantime, I heated a large pot with a small amount of water to steam the idlis. This is my idli steamer:

I used my idli mix and let this sit for ten minutes.

The finished idlis were tender and ready to soak up the delicious sambar.

What's cooking in your kitchen these days?

The "RIGHT WAY" to Eat

I have been participating in Heather Bruggeman's Whole Food Kitchen program. It has been interesting and inspiring. It is wonderful to read through the discussion forums and learn from others as well as being able to appreciate how many of us are on this journey.

I have noticed that during our search for better health, we often feel like we should be doing something because it works for someone else. Perhaps it is switching to vegetarianism, or veganism, or a raw food diet, or the paleo diet, or any number of other ways to eat. We wonder if the choices we make are enough, maybe we are missing something, and so we continue to search out ways to improve our nutrition and that of our family.

While I am an excited life-long learner, I do believe we sometimes lose sight of the big picture when it comes to diet and finding the "Right Way" to eat. Here is my part in a recent conversation:

I love the amazing human body. It is extremely sophisticated, adaptable and when you look at all the ways humans have not only survived but thrived historically and around the world today, you will understand what I mean. We are fortunate that we have so many choices when it comes to our food, and are able to seek optimum health and nutrition.

As others have already pointed out - I truly believe healthy eating is a very personal and individualized thing. And I want to throw out there this thought - our bodies are ever changing. What I felt good eating as a teenager is very different than what I feel good eating now.

And how about activity? How do you use your body? Do you move every day, and if so, how much? What kind of activity do you do? Is is strenuous and if so how often? These are all factors that effect the balance of nutrition our bodies need as well.

Or maybe you are pregnant? Nursing an infant or toddler? Recently gave birth?

Or maybe you are ill or recovering from an illness? Been under a lot of additional stress lately? All of these affect our nutritional needs (obviously).

My point is, what works for us today will change with time. Even as we age, our digestive enzymes change, our bones change, etc. Just when we think we have it all figured out, things will change and we will need to adapt how we eat.

Being open and flexible and intuitive to our bodies is so much more important than finding the "right way" to eat. Because what's right today might not make us feel our best tomorrow...

Which is what brought me to this wonderful program of Heather's at Beauty That Moves- my eating has NOT been optimal for this point in my life. I am so, so grateful for Heather and all the contributors sharing their ideas and recipes, and for all of us here sharing our own journeys!

A Day in the Kitchen

Today was a cooking day, and it It was a good day to be inside a warm kitchen, as the weather changed from spring-like to a coming winter storm.

 
I started this morning with shopping at my favorite grocery, MOM's Organic Market. They have an interesting history and they are earnest in their beliefs. I feel good shopping here.

Once I had all the food ingredients needed, including kale, broccoli, leeks, dried black beans, unhomogenized milk, dried beans, some spices, apples, cheese, local pastured ground beef, and yogurt among other items, I began my food prep and actual cooking. On the menu for the week - broccoli and cheese soup with fresh tomato and herb bread; whole roasted chicken with garlic and rosemary, served with winter squash and sprouted lentils; slow-cooker black beans with corn bread; homemade cottage cheese with homemade herbed crackers and fruit; miso soup; and kale chips to snack on.

First was the broccoli soup.

4-5 cups of broccoli
2 leeks, washed and chopped
1 onion, chopped
2-3 small potatoes
Water just to cover the tops, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the broccoli becomes soft
Allow to cool, then blend til smooth
Add 1 cup of cream, salt and pepper to taste
Add thinly sliced or shredded cheese of your choice just before serving

Great served with fresh bread and a little red wine.

Today I also made some kale chips for the kids to snack on. The kale was absolutely beautiful, husband and I marveled at its freshness.

The blurry fingers are Sean's as he ate the chips as fast as I could make them.

To make, simply wash the kale, dry it carefully (I used a clean kitchen towel), spread it out on the baking sheet and add plenty of sea salt. Bake at 350 until the "chips" are dry. Mine took about 45 minutes.

While waiting for the soup and kale chips, I started preparing ahead the roasted chicken for the oven tomorrow. I will be working, so husband will need to start it before I get home. I also starting preparing the slow-cooker black beans by chopping the onion and garlic and grating the carrot. The night before, I will wash and soak the beans, then in the morning throw everything into the crock pot.

I love to prepare ahead of time, as the days can be hectic and busy, and I find it easier to have things ready to go. Being prepared is the only way I can have the home-cooked food consistently, without relying overly on packed and convenince foods. Although there were many other things I could have been doing (knitting, playing with kids, preparing lessons, hanging out with husband!) spending the day lovingly preparing wholesome food for those I love is a satisfying way to spend a day.

I still have a long way to go on my whole foods journey. If you are interested in learning more about whole food cooking, may I suggest you check out Beauty That Moves' Whole Food online Workshop. It looks to be a beautiful and nourishing event, with a wonderful chance to connect with others on the same path of wholesome eating. I'm looking forward to it.

What good things are you cooking?

We Are What We Eat - Oh No!

Back in the fall, I was asked to give a community talk on diet and Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. At the end of the talk, I decided to include some popular children’s foods and a description of their ingredients as listed on the labels.

Now, I am not militant about what my children eat by any means. I attempt to make most of our meals homemade from “real” and organic foods (meats, poultry, eggs, dairy, grains, vegetables and fruits). And I offer fruits and vegetables with meals and snacks.

But we do eat packaged foods and restaurant foods as well. I love convenience, and I love eating out. And I love snack foods. I grew up in a home with a huge organic garden and made-from-scratch meals, you can see my post here: Culture of Food. But we always had packaged snack foods, candies, and sodas in the house too. Maybe that is why I am able to self-regulate so well, I always had whatever foods I wanted, whenever I wanted, plus a constant supply of healthy options.

Anyway, I am well aware of the controversy surrounding the safety of food additives, specifically food dyes and artificial sweeteners, but I also try not to think about them too much since we don’t consume a lot of highly processed packaged foods. Besides, I have enough to worry about on a daily basis with trying to balance family needs, working part-time, homeschooling, and personal time.

But really looking at what is in these popular packaged foods and the safety questions surrounding them was eye-opening. I want to share some of what I discovered.

I looked at the ingredients listed on a number of popular food products, but the following list of concerning ingredients came specifically from Kellog’s Strawberry Pop Tarts (45 different ingredients), and General Mills Cinnamon Toast Crunch (about 14 listed ingredients).

• Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate – when I Googled this I found a long list of chemical manufacturers. And I found the OSHA required safety sheets (called the Material Safety Data Sheets, or MSDS) on this chemical. http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9924954

According to the Safety Sheets for sodium acid pyrophosphate:

Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate is “very hazardous in case of skin contact, of eye contact…is hazardous in case of ingestion and inhalation”.
Doesn't sound like something you want to be consuming does it?

• Caramel Color – this is not Grandma’s method of browning sugar. Caramel color is made by reacting sugars with ammonia and sulfites. The chemical reaction, besides producing the caramel color, also produces cancer-causing chemicals.
• The most widely used coloring in foods is the red # 40. According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the safety testing on this color has been poorly conducted.
• Yellow # 6 is the third most widely used coloring and studies have shown tumors of the adrenal glands and kidneys in laboratory animals.
• FD&C Yellow # 5, used in beverages, candy, ice cream, custards and other foods, may be more likely to cause reactions than other additives. In fact, the Food and Drug Administration has acknowledged this and requires that Yellow # 5 be clearly labeled on food packaging along with other ingredients.
• But many colorings and food additives don’t require labeling, so it can be difficult to tell whether a food contains artificial coloring or other additives.
• Blue 1 – poor safety testing
• Trisodium Phosphate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trisodium_phosphate

 – also known as sodium phosphate. This is a popular cleaning agent, degreaser, and stain remover. In the late 1960’s government regulators in 17 states determined overuse of this cleaning agent to have caused a series of ecological problems. This substance is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency as a hazard to water.

But we are allowed to eat it in our food?

• BHT – prevents oils from going rancid. Residues have been found in human fat tissue

These are just a few of the many ingredients that are not only being added to our foods, but permitted. Now I have some questions I would like you to consider.

Why are these ingredients in our foods? Why are they permitted to be in our foods? Why do we, the concerned parents and consumers allow these ingredients in our foods?


The food industry has huge sums of money and HUGE political influence thanks to their well-organized lobbying interests.


Here are two great resources for education and change:

The Center for Science in the Public Interest is an excellent resource for consumers, and helping to make changes to benefit all of us:

http://www.cspinet.org/reports/chemcuisine.htm

Food Democracy Now is another great group, working to create change:

http://www.fooddemocracynow.org/

And here is a great little video about organic foods versus non-organic. Wonder if she is a homeschooler?
http://www.seventhgeneration.com/learn/video/debate-over-organic?source=email

Thanks for reading!
M

Sweet Potato Biscuits

When my husband and I first began dating years ago, he frequently took me to his favorite restaurant on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. They served a basket full of sweet potato biscuits with every meal. They were so tender, so moist, with little chunks of sweet potato. He loved them. I wanted to learn to make those biscuits for him, because I loved him.

It wasn't until many years later that we were finally able to settle down. Last summer we tore out the lovely landscaping of rose bushes, azaleas, and enormous hostas in our small townhouse back yard to create a raised bed garden. It took a lot of work between the two of us to create the beds and amend our awful, heavy, red clay soil. Lots of manure, organic compost and topsoil, and a good many blisters as well.

As we were getting a late start to our planting, I had no real plan about what to grow, I just knew I wanted to grow something, and something we liked. The garden eventually included green beans, cucumbers, several varieties of peppers, squash, tomatoes and strawberries. I came across the sweet potato plants accidentally as I was looking for trellises. I didn't really expect them to do well, since the soil still had the clay characteristics.

The sweet potato vines grew happily all over the yard, and the heart-shaped leaves were attractive enough. But what was happening underground? Would there be anything worth harvesting, I wondered all summer long? Finally, last fall, I started to dig, and dig, and dig sweet potatoes. Big ones, small ones, twisted ones, round ones, long skinny ones, and GIANT ones.

All together I have had mashed sweet potatoes; baked sweet potatoes; five sweet potato pies (shared with family and friends); and three batches of sweet potato biscuits. Each batch of biscuits better than the last as I have perfected both my recipe and my technique.

I love these biscuits, and I could eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, then again for dessert.

Here is my recipe:
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick of chilled butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup cooked, mashed sweet potato
1/2 cup whole milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
Cut in butter with a pastry blender until mixture is similar in texture to coarse corn meal.
In a small bowl, combine the sweet potato and milk, then add to the flour mixture.
Stir just until moist.
Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly five or six times.
Roll dough to about a 3/4 inch thickness and cut with a two-inch biscuit cutter (I used a small glass).
I gently rolled and patted the scraps into small biscuits.
Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes until lightly browned.

Enjoy!

Culture of Food

The Culture of Food
When I was in college, I had a really fascinating class on Food and Culture in America. We studied immigrant cultures and their foods. Then once a week we worked in the "lab" (a room with multiple kitchen areas) in groups preparing menu selections from the various cultures we had studied. It was so much fun! The idea was that if we are required to provide medical nutrition therapy to individuals from other cultures, we would need insight into how they eat at home.

One of our assignments was to research our own family culture. What foods were passed down from parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts etc.? I interviewed my mother (both sets of grandparents passed when I was young). I learned where some of our family recipes came from.

Like most families, we had our traditional foods and family favorites. We always ate dinner at the table (always at 5:30!), and most of our meals were made “from scratch”, including some of our breads and desserts. We had a large family table, as I have 8 siblings. Holiday meals and family cook-outs are some of my fondest childhood memories.

For many years, my mother had a tremendous organic garden. I remember crawling through the “forest” of vegetables, crunching fresh beans, cucumbers and corn right off the plants. I also remember her working all day in the hot kitchen, carefully preserving all that freshness.

Another of my favorite memories is the baking – such sweet memories of rolling-pins and dough, sweet cookies and cakes. Rhubarb pie! Who would imagine a vegetable could make a sweet dessert?!

Both of my parents are now deceased, but I became the keeper of the recipes. I have my mother's file box of index card recipes - all properly labeled and filed. Some are neatly hand-written, many are typed. There is  a binder with loose recipe scraps and newspaper clippings of recipes she had tried over the years, (I suppose these were not good enough to make it into the recipe box?)

My favorite thing is her very old edition of "The American Woman Cookbook Wartime Edition, With Victory Substitutes and Economical Recipes for Delicious Wartime Meals." 1944 Edition. It has gorgeous illustrations of beautifully presented family meals, appetizers, deserts, beverages, you name it. It begins with an introduction to basic nutrition, which is still sensible today, despite all the diet and nutrition fads between then and now.

It is exciting for me to feel the connection as I teach my children to bake, using the same red-handled wooden rolling pin that my mother used with me so long ago. I am proud to say my eleven-year old son is quite the baker, and I can see the joy and self-confidence it gives him, knowing he can take some simple ingredients and create something tasty for others.

Alina and Sita baking cookies for Santa.

Thinking of all the families rushing from one activity to another, eating on the run, always utilizing our modern “convenience foods” and missing out on all those special moments of taking in a good, made from scratch, wholesome meal, I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude. I am grateful to my mother and all that she taught, modeled and shared with me. I am grateful to know the importance of quiet and peaceful meals with my family; the satisfaction of creating the meal, the joy of sharing it. I am grateful for the time and memories I am passing on to my own children. I am hopeful that they too will take the time to cook and bake and eat slow, wholesome meals together with their families in the future.

Here are a few of my mother’s recipes. I would love to hear from you - share your special family recipes and the story that belongs with them.

Corn Chowder
Olive oil
Diced ham (or bacon)
Onion
Potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces
water
Cream style corn (I use canned)
Milk or cream
Salt
Pepper
Paprika

Heat oil in the pan on medium heat.
Add onions, cook until translucent
Add ham and heat
Add chopped potatoes and just enough water to cover the potatoes
Cook until the potatoes are tender, turning heat down to low.
Add creamed corn, salt, pepper and paprika to taste
Add the milk or cream at the end, heat through.
I usually serve garnished with a sprinkle of pepper and paprika.

I don’t use measurements, since it all depends on how much I want to make (a big batch, or little?) and/or how much ingredients I have on hand.

Spinach Pie
1 package frozen spinach, thawed and drained well. I usually place my spinach in a colander and squeeze the excess water out. Fresh steamed spinach can be used as well.
1 cup cottage cheese
3 eggs, beaten lightly
2 Tbs. cornstarch
Salt, pepper, paprika
Pie crust (sorry, I use the frozen prepared)
1 cup of your favorite cheese, shredded

After removing excess water from the spinach mix everything into a bowl, pour into pie crust, and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Check to see if the middle has “set” (is firm). Sometimes the baking time is longer, depending on how much water has been removed from the spinach.

When you take it out of the oven, add your favorite shredded cheese (we use cheddar) while it is still hot. (The cheese melts and tastes delicious).

Grandpa's Bar B Q Sauce
I have only made this once, and it was tough because mom’s measurements were not precise. She uses “small” and “large” sized containers, but we have a lot more variety in sizes today than when she originally wrote this recipe down years and years ago. Funny how written recipes come into being.  This one was concocted from my mother’s father, a Florida native.

1/3 cup oil
2 medium onions, chopped
Fry until done, lower heat
1 large bottle ketchup
1/2 bottle Worcestershire (small)
Juice of 2 lemons
1/4 cup vinegar
tsp. salt
tsp. pepper
Cup of sugar
Hot sauce to taste
Simmer 15 minutes, remove from heat, add 1/2 small jar mustard
Used on pulled pork or beef

Thanks for reading, and feel free to share!

Michelle

                            

New Year Nutrition

New Year resolutions again. Time to start exercising and eating healthier. How many times have you tried to either eat healthier or lose weight on a diet? If you are like most people, you start out with high hopes and good intentions, only to be disappointed in the end. When you go on a diet, you start restricting your foods and end up thinking more about the foods you can’t eat, rather than enjoying all foods in moderation. There is “the last supper” syndrome, the big meal before the start of the diet.  And the “all or nothing” tendency. If you break your diet with a cheat food, you decide since you blew it, you might as well go on eating, until you find you have binged. All this leads to little or no weight loss, disappointment, and feeling like a failure.

If this sounds familiar to you, why don’t you try a different approach this year? Instead of dieting or trying to fix everything about your diet, why not try setting some small goals?  

For example, if you find yourself skipping meals and then overeating, make a plan to carry healthy snacks such as crackers with cheese, nuts, yogurt, fruit, and sandwiches. Pack a snack bag every other day and keep it with you. Put some salad mix in Tupperware bowls. Using the pre-washed mixed lettuce and tossing in some baby carrots will save you time. You can add some protein with the packed chicken that is seasoned, cooked, and sliced, and in a ziplock bag.

Understand that there are no good or bad foods. You can eat everything in moderation. Don’t feel guilty because you ate something that wasn’t GOOD for you, or that was high in fat, carbohydrates, or calories. Just try to moderate how much you eat, and concentrate on all the healthy foods that you enjoy eating. Allow yourself a little of those “cheat foods”, enjoy every bite, and then move on. By allowing yourself this small treat, and knowing you don’t have to feel guilty or restrict these foods, you won’t feel like you have to binge since you “blew your diet anyway”.

Know your weaknesses and have a plan. Making small changes and striving for consistency can make a big difference over the long run.

Michelle