Clean Up Clear Out

I've moved!

2011-11-16T15:07:00.002-05:00

I've moved! Come join me HERE for more stories, recipes, and tips in the kitchen!

http://persephonebrown.com/blog

2011-11-16T15:06:00.001-05:00

Living. Loving. Getting Feet Wet and Dirty. Rockin.

I was taught it is best to write about your experience, life lesson, recipe, tip for health, etc after you had gone through it for yourself. Experience- learn- then teach.

This is such great advice. Wonderful really. It helps you to hone your craft, learn from your life's experience, and teach others to learn from theirs. Listen to your body, listen to what your friends and family teach you about yourself, pay attention to the world around you.

But then I got stuck.

I stopped writing.

Life was looking messy. My 2 year old, my relationship, my business, my self. So many areas to pull from, I was in the middle of SO many of life's lessons. In the middle of it all, life shifting daily, new challenges, new dishes, and new experiences all around. Was it ever going to end? Would I ever make it to the either side…and what would that look like? Perfection? Ha!

I found myself blocked with seemingly nothing mastered. And so I waited…and waited.

Then I received a message from an old friend (an actual message, not a hoodoo voodoo message, though I will take it as such—synchronistic). Apparently something about my half-truthed, half learned, half experienced teachings were of value to her. She was picking up what I was throwing down and a little disappointed that I had stopped throwing down. Her words were not only encouraging, but also so obviously the answer I was looking for…perfection in all of life’s imperfection.

A lesson learned it seems. The value of imperfection. The cycle of life challenge turned lesson learned will continue to shine as imperfect perfection. Confused?

So am I, and apparently that is the gift to us all.

When I am feeling sticky and spacious (I like that better than stuck and spacey) I know I need a little pick me up and not of the caffeine persuasion. A cleansing meal does just that. This soup is my go to. It is warming, grounding, cleansing, and de-li-cious.

Miso/ Dashi Broth (shown here with mushrooms, seaweed, and scallion)

· 1 sm packet of bonito flakes

· 1 sheet kombu (kelp)

· 32 oz water or vegetable broth

· let simmer for 20-30 minutes

· strain

· 1 Tbl sesame oil

· 2 Tbl soy sauce

· add vegetables (carrot, onion, garlic, ginger, mushroom, broccoli, spinach, etc)

· add shrimp (optional)

· Let simmer till soft

· Add 1 Tbl of fresh sweet white miso in bowl pour broth over and mix

I know not everyone has bonito flakes and kelp in their cupboard. Don't let that stop you! Your local health food or chinese grocer will have them for you--you can up the nutritional ante of your dry storage and once you see how easy this soup is to make, you'll be making it again and again.

She's Not Pregnant, IT'S BLOAT!

2011-06-14T11:31:00.002-04:00

Poor body image is not in our heads! Every one of us has to put aside the Star* magazine critic in our heads (nevermind NOT buy the magazines), and make peace with our unique shape. (And isn't this just disgustingly cruel?!)

This time of year is always a little tough for me, transitioning from our isolated, insular family in the winter, to working opposite schedules, and living in the center of town during the summer. It's like BA-BAAM (!)-- it is on.

This year the seasonal transition is dredging up some old beliefs and feelings about myself, my body, and my life.

Settling into the summer, in the land of tans, bands, and beach parties (I just coined that--a little corny, but I think it works) I start to feel a little out of place.

I am no longer the young college girl I came out to Block Island as, and I work to resist the urge to feel like I must fit in. Fitting in is something from my past. When I was in high school I worked to fit in and be popular-- I dressed up every day, wore tight clothes, lots of make up, and valued myself based on my appearance and how people perceived me.

As the beautiful, young, fresh faces of summer start to arrive, I find myself looking in the mirror a little more. I focus more on the clothes I choose, I judge my body's appearance, I start to doubt the woman I am and revert back to looking more at my physical value.

Something I have learned (somewhere between college girl and woman/mother) is

where there is discomfort or dis-ease, there is an opportunity for growth.

---I am reminded to show my body love--every inch--even the cellulite on my thighs, and my soft breasts from nursing my boy.

---I am reminded to eat well and drink water to feed my brain, my skin, and to teach my young son how to love and nourish himself.

---I remember to surround myself with people who reflect my life as it is now. People who seek to live a life without the fears and beliefs of their past (no matter how often, or what time of year they come creepin'). Those who choose to take time out of the crazy-hazy and care for themselves--drink water, eat fresh healthy foods, and give themselves some space and compassion. And I know that in the fast pace of summer, "my tribe" can get pretty busy and it takes work to seek each other out.

This year, transition into summer has worked one over on me, but I am coming around the bend-- remembering to seek growth from the experience (I forgive you, 17 year old Persephone) and, despite the discomfort, put myself out there again.

Calling all TRIBE MEMBERS----

Together, lets give our bodies some love--thighs and all.

xoxo Persephone

Parent of the Year

2011-02-27T11:27:00.010-05:00

I would never run out of diapers

I always hear parents mention all the things they do now, they said they'd never do before having kids. From Elmo and macaroni and cheese to pacifiers and co-sleeping. I, admittedly, had no idea what I was getting into when we had Wesley.

The boy took my life by storm and I was taught right away, any plans I had were to be tossed out. I was on a new kind of ride, one where I was not the driver. Well, I was a driver, but not the only one.

Our choice was to have a natural home-birth and we had decided to opt out of all medical intervention unless necessary. This meant no vaccinations at birth (needles seemed like a harsh greeting), no gel in the eyes (again this seemed invasive unless necessary), and we would stay home and rest, nurse, and be alone with our new family for at least the first few days. Within 3 minutes of Wes' birth, there were 12 men (EMT's) in my bedroom and Wes had every medical intervention imaginable. From antibiotic IVs to respiratory intebation, he was poked, prodded, gelled, drilled, and sedated within an hour of birth.

I obviously had some letting go to do.

We weren't sure if we'd choose to use a pacifier (oh the things you ponder pre-baby), but when Wesley spent a week in the NICU due to a possible collapsed lung/infection, and we couldn't hold him for the better part of that week-- a pacifier was the only way to comfort him. Obviously the scales were tipped and it was clear the choice we needed to make.

When we took our healthy (yay!) baby home we worked really hard to start nursing. We had some major set back and were worried that he wouldn't get it. After a week of tears, frustration, and persistence, he finally took to the breast and we felt relief that at least this could be done "our way".

At 4 months, when some doctors suggest, to start feeding your baby rice cereal, we decided to post pone this transition to solid foods. We wanted to give him a little more time solely on breastmilk, giving his digestive system more time to develop healthy flora (antibiotics may have set this back too), and waiting till he could start with a vegetable as opposed to a grain.

At 6 months we fed him sweet potato and avocado and were happy that he seemed to enjoy vegetables and ate with vigor.

Somewhere between 6 months and 17 months, the act of feeding Wes has become a blur, a challenge, and extremely frustrating. It is obviously not me driving this car, and I am doing my best to be the most supportive and patient back sear driver I can be.

I have given Wes puff cereal, something I aimed to avoid. I have played airplane with his spoon, something I read "should not" be necessary. I have hidden vegetables in muffins, something I thought you'd only have to do, had you not taught your child "proper eating habits" by example (what an a-hole).

This list will continue to grow, I imagine, and with this list come my biggest lessons in life. Thank you my little, strong willed, my way or the highway, apple of my eye, puff cereal eatin' boy.

Things I thought I'd NEVER do:

1. Talk in the first person ALL DAY LONG: momma will make you breakfast, come with momma upstairs, momma needs to have some water, momma needs a shower

2. Sleep with my baby: Wes needed the comfort in the beginning (and we did too!), I was nursing through the night and it made sense. I'm still nursing like crazy (the eating thing is so tricky) and now we are in a holding pattern. I am reconciling the fact that despite the interrupted sleep, I love having him so near me, waking up to him, and knowing he is warm and snuggled.

3. Use a baby swing ('good mother's hold their babies'): my arms got tired.

4. Feed him "puffs"(or other baby marketed treats): I held out for a loong time. It turns out it was a crunchy finger food that would get him closer to where we needed him to be eating wise. I realize I say where "we" needed (not he) him to be, and this is true. I needed him to not only nurse for sustenance, I was wasting away and eating more roasts than I would like. Momma needs to take care of herself too.

5. Use sippy cups: Ha! I had this vision of sticky plastic cups under the couch, in the car, and being dragged around by my four year old every where we went. Turns out they are a great way to give independence to a baby, and water isn't so sticky.

6. Feed my baby products off the shelf while grocery shopping: I still have an issue with this one, (though if you do it--NO judgement--some people would say me nursing my baby in the grocery store is bad manners) though I've seen Chopper do it and I resisted to say anything. But--I do thank god for the food samples at Wholefoods, and now plan ahead with snacks from home.

7. Put my baby in front of the TV: sign language videos are a great way for Wes and Chopper to wind down when Chop gets home from work. He has learned so many signs and again, is gaining independence this way. Perhaps with all this independence he'll be out of my bed before I realize(!)

I guess my point with all of this is the practice/message, of balance and moderation. Expectations, disappointments, frustrations, limitations, and rewards are all equal partners in the business of being a parent or a human being. With a little cookie comes a green smoothie, with a little sippy cup comes a moment to wash the dishes and a moment of pride for a 10 month old. For all the mommas and daddas that do all of the above, or anything else they said they'd never do--may acceptance come to you when you check in and ask, is this the best decision I can make for my family? Baby, mommy, daddy included. As no one diet works for every one, no one parenting choice does either. And for those without kids, you have no idea.

Our adventurous journey

I didn't know all that I was getting into and would be getting out of.

When Wesley decided that he would not be eating pureed food by spoon at all--First I had to put away my baby food mill and second throw out the ice cube trays full of puree that had been sitting in my freezer for 3 months. Next came jars (maybe he has bought into all the food marketing too?), but he didn't like those either. Nor the cereals, so after they spent over a year in my cupboards I found a use for them.

Baby Food Muffins

1 ½ cup ww flour

1 cup grain cereal (rice or oat baby cereal

1 ½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

3-4 4 oz jars baby food

1 cup pureed raw spinach

¼ cup molasses

1 tsp vanilla

pecans

Mix all ingredients, put in muffin tin. Bake at 350* for 15-20 minutes.

Then I discovered coconut flour. I had always wanted to try it, but Wesley was my motivation. High in fiber and protein, and gluten free. This is a superfood flour for baking.

Wesley's Muffins

1 cup coconut flour

2 bananas

2 Tbl butter melted

2 Tbl coconut oil melted

2 Tbl milk

3 Tbl honey, agave, or maple syrup

1/2 cup berries

1 cup pureed raw spinach

1 tsp b powder

½ tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp salt

Mix all ingredients, put in muffin tin. Bake at 350* for 15-20 minutes.

You can lead a horse to water... Wes helping me cook at 4 months--he's holding the garlic

First taste of sour...maybe this is what turned him off.

He had a lot of fun at his first birthday--but didn't eat a bite
(of his organic, fruit sweetened, carrot cake with cream cheese frosting)

I'm A Little Bit Raw, A Little Bit Roast Beef

2011-02-21T10:16:00.010-05:00

People talk to me about food. With some of them it's a professional relationship and I provide support, feedback, and accountability. With others there is less a formality. People tell me what they eat, what they think they shouldn't eat, what they eat that is good for them, what they eat that is bad for them, ask me what they should order, tell me what they know they should order but what they really want, tell me what they want but order something else and/or apologize for what is on their plates.

The biggest and best lesson I learned during my courses to become a health counselor was everyone is different, every one's nutritional needs are different, and no 1 diet works for everyone. This was revolutionary, I was set free. With a true understanding of this comes NO judgment on anyone at any time for their food choices. This means I no longer regard what people around me are eating unless they have asked for my opinion, guidance, or support around food choices. When someone comes to me and tells me that what they are doing isn't working for them, I am happy to listen. (Admittedly I have at times looked in people's shopping carts in the grocery store, I am curious what people are buying and choosing to feed their families. Research.)

Yesterday I ate the following:

banana walnut bread
soy latte
mini croissant
2 piece sausage links
2 piece bacon
eggs
fruit
1 piece french toast
2 mimosas
1 mini cannoli
1 mini chocolate thing
cup coffee
water
beet salad with shrimp and goat cheese
piece of birthday cake
bread and butter
1 cocktail
1 glass wine
few bites of sardines
few bites of cod fritters
few bites of chicken liver pate
few bites of pig ear terrine (can we give that another name? please?)
2 glasses of wine
bread and butter

I'm a little bit Raw and a little bit Roast beef. What can I say? I challenge you not to judge me on my choices.

I was out with old friends, a bridal shower, a birthday brunch (the same crew that I dove off my master cleanse with..ouch). Last night I had a terrible time sleeping and have had to run to the bathroom more than once today. I am not judging myself for sugaring it up, and diving into some "wine induced" exotic food choices. I had fun.

A little bit Raw

Understanding that yesterday is now past and I look forward to feeling better, I will start to "clean up and clear out" (thats for you C.A.). Food is the best medicine for this. Green smoothie to start the day and lots of water. Miso soup for lunch with lots of veggies (just bring water to a boil then turn off and throw in chopped vegetables till they start to wilt--bok choy and mushrooms are perfect for this) add fresh miso in at the end. Kale-avocado salad and grilled chicken for dinner.

Kale and Spinach Smoothie
Kale, spinach, whole orange, frozen strawberries, frozen mango

Try adding some herbs, too! I LOVE parsley–it’s so healthy, cleansing, and refreshing

Kale avocado salad
Kale torn into small pieces
1 avocado cut into chunks
1/4 red onion chopped
1/2 red bell pepper chopped
drizzle with a little olive oil and lemon juice and massage in (if you're up for it)

A little bit Roast Beef

I felt SO 50's the other night. Chop and I hosted my boss and his wife (they are also our neighbor's, landlords, and friends) for dinner and I made a roast! Ha! Meat is still a relatively new adventure for me and I am always trying something I've never had before. Roast was good, perhaps it was a little over cooked, but that's just perfect for me, as bloody meat has yet to grow its appeal. Of course I always buy and condone buying the highest quality meat you can afford and this means, No antibiotics, No hormones, and grass fed or pasture raised.

After a meal of grounding winter foods like meat and potatoes I feel a little sleepy, but full and satisfied, in a way that I like to feel about once a week (since I started nursing my son).

Roast
(3-4 lbs)

4 cloves garlic mince, dried basil, dried oregano, and nutmeg. Rub into top and sides. cook in oven 500* for 20 minutes--lower temp to 350* cook for 1 hour 15 minutes

I have an awesome RB picture, but my camera connecting wire is not here and I'm afraid I will never get this post up if I wait. Maybe next week when I write about some food that has no relation to roast beef I'll post the picture. wacky stuff

Lovey Dovey Messy Times (shrimp skewers-sides-dessert)

2011-02-14T14:45:00.011-05:00

One week later...

Last week I had written this well executed blog post, the idea was fresh and new and I thought the content would mean something to people. The food included was beautiful and it all came together within the hour that Wes was taking his nap. When Wes woke, I heard his cry and picked my computer up off my lap, as I did the cord unplugged and PEEWWM my computer shut off. I lost the whole post. I was sad that day of course, I tried to let it go and took it as a message to invest in a new battery for my computer. However, today as I sit back down a week later and try to recreate it I am finding it can't be done. I have to completely let it go and start over.

Does this ever happen to you?

You go to tell someone a story and get interrupted and then the story circles and circles in your mind until you are able to set it free? This happens to me all the time! I like to talk, I am an extrovert, and I learned recently that this is how I process information. By telling those stories (the nagging circling ones), I am processing how "the scenario" made me feel, what was there for me to learn, how I could make it better or leave it alone the next time. When I sat down at the computer today, I told myself that I would not mention my erased blog post, that what was past was past. That no one wants to read about best intentions. But then found the story circling and realized that I was not going to be able to move on from this one so easily.

The next day...

Another day has passed since I wrote the above sentiments and I am feeling relieved of the lost blog post story. *sigh*

I learned about my extrovert processing while I was in counseling after Wesley was born. It was such an Aha for me (has that been coined as a phrase yet? oh Oprah). When Chop and I were first dating and learning how to navigate a relationship with one another, I would get so frustrated as I voiced whatever concern, love, fear, etc--because he would seemingly just be SITTING there. Not saying or thinking a thing! Time after time I would get all worked into a tizzy, tears and all, and he would shut down..or that was how I was perceiving it. Our conversations would start as this little "hey about that...", you know like a light breeze--and a storm would be raging by the end of it and he would have only said about 2 words. I was tornading out of control, picking up debris, feelings, hidden sentiments, along the way. A few times I swear I saw a cow swirling in the air above my living room (Twister reference--should have warned against that one).

I always felt better after getting it all out, but also always felt a little jaded by not getting through to him and leaving the conversation with some resolve. Without fail Chopper would come to me 2 or 3 days later with a clear perspective on how he saw the situation, and if he saw my view as being an appropriate one he would make the change--right then and there.

Like the time we saw An Inconvenient Truth in the theater and he traded his brand new Ford F250 in for a Toyota Yaris a week later. No long drawn out discussion, no publicly weighing options, no blogging about it or discussion forums, just introspective thought, boom- bam done.

Chopper experiences life as an introvert, as I experience it as an extrovert (you can imagine which appears a little neater in practice). I have to get it all OUT and he has trouble getting it out sometimes, though does well with having things processed within. My way to a conclusion looks like a long and windy road, as his appears to be a straight invisible road, but a road non the less.

So it seems I have come full circle with this new post--- my lost post was about how he's neat and I'm messy and the lessons we learn from living in that experience. And my need to process that story publicly brought me to our other messy reality, lay it all out there or hold it all in...neither is right or wrong, and when you are able to appreciate the other's process it will only bring clarity, light and love to life.

Yesterday was Valentine's Day and I think I needed to write a little about the one I love, with this expulsion process I am able to move into full appreciation for him and what he provides for my life. Though today is just another February 15th day, may I remind you that red and pink cards, flowers, and chocolates are all ON SALE today, so as my "depression era" grandparents would do---keep celebrating!

Here is a romantic post Valentine's day meal for you and your intro/extro honey (whatever they may be, cuz it's probably opposite yourself).

Aesthetics matter! When it comes to food, look how beautiful and they taste great too.

Shrimp Marinade
2 Tbl Apple cider vinegar
2 Tbl lime juice
1/2 bunch cilantro
1/3- 1/2 packet of stevia
2 Tbl flax oil
2 Tbl minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Shrimp Skewer
1 Red onion
1 lb med-lg Shrimp
1 mango
1-2 avocado
1 red pepper

Directions
Soak skewer
Put 1/3 marinade aside
Marinate shrimp for 2-3 hours
Cut vegetables in 1-2 inch chunks
Toss red onion in olive oil
put red onion and shrimp on skewer and grill for 10 minutes (until shrimp is done)
toss the remaining vegetables in the remaining marinade and alternate on skewer
serve

The shrimp skewers were served with garlic broccoli raab and carrot beet salad.

Garlic Broccoli Raab
3-4 Tbl minced garlic
2 Tbl olive oil
shake of red chili flakes
sea salt
chop and rinse raab
oil, garlic, chili flake in pan
saute till garlic softens
Add freshly rinsed raab, it should still be nice and wet for self steaming
Toss with the garlic and oil till raab gets bright green

Carrot/Beet salad
In food processor use shred attachment and shred 2 beets and 3 carrots separately
Toss carrots in vinegarette of your choice (I used cranberry)
add to carrots toasted pecans, red grapefruit pieces
to serve lay down nest of plain shredded beets
top with a nest of dressed shredded carrots

No meal or "lover's meal" is complete without dessert. Oh my YUM
Cheesecake in a glass. WOW

4 oz Organic cream cheese
16 oz Ricotta (Narragansett Creamery's for you RI-ers is the BEST)
2 Tbl honey
Process in food processor till smooth
Let sit in fridge for minimum 2 hours, overnight is best
Toss mixed berries with honey and lemon juice
Dish berries over sweet cheese into wine glasses
garnish with shaved dark chocolate

Like Father Like Son

OR

Like Momma Like Son

What does YOUR relationships have to do with FOOD? Same thing your spirituality, exercise, thought patterns, sleep patterns, and career paths do--EVERYTHING. Want to know more of what I'm talking about? Visit www.PersephoneBrown.com

Camera, Spinach Dip, Hummus, and Wrapping Paper

2010-12-20T10:28:00.013-05:00

Fa La La La Laaa La La La Laaa

Christmas came early this year when Chop got us a new camera--Yay! After some research he went with the Nikon D3100. We plan on watching a dvd tonight on exactly how to use the thing, and hopefully take a family photo with it. All big plans.

I am a big proponent of 3 square meals a day for myself. Not everyone runs best this way, though I think more would if they had the time. I love my 3 meals, need my 3 meals, and if I get them on time, I will rarely snack. This weekend I found myself at home on the mainland, in the middle of 3 projects, with an empty refrigerator and no car. I was staaaaarving. I was forced to do something I rarely, or I should say never, do anymore, which is have a snack as a meal. After making a batch of black bean humus in less than five minutes and eating it with some leftover rice crackers, I thought...how easy! I am not changing my ways so quickly, but I was happy to see the simpler side of healthy food and would like to encourage y'all to try the same.

Approximate Black Bean Hummus

1 14 oz can black beans strained and rinsed
2 Tbl tahini
3 Tbl lemon juice
2 Tbl olive oil
1 tsp sea salt

Food process till smooth

I didn't measure anything which sped up the process and also helps you to feel like a super hero in the kitchen. If you make this and feel like you want more of one ingredient or another, go ahead! This is a great simple recipe to use as an exercise in tasting the distinct ingredients and determining what you'd like more of. Sour tang? Lemon. Savory? Salt. Bitter or richness? Tahini.

This is also a great example of why a stocked pantry is so important. I would have starved!

Last week I also lead a discussion on The 8 Causes of Cravings at a retail space in Providence. The turnout was great, the people were excited for the information and over all the experience made me feel worthy and generous (isn't that a bizarre thing to say?---it did though, it was such a nice night). For every workshop I do I like to bring food. This time it was Kale chips, raw chocolate truffles, and a raw spinach dip.

What I love about the spinach dip? Its quick, easy, full of nutrients and minerals, and it has those flavors that have you coming back for more more more---a great attribute for a healthy food to have. My suggestion? Bring this to your next holiday gathering. Instead of maowing on the cheese and crackers you can feel good about maowing on this. Serve it with some diced pumpernickel bread and zucchini sticks. Yum yum and yum.

Raw Spinach Dip

4 cups of baby spinach
1/2 cup tahini
1 small tomato chopped
1/4 cup red onion diced
3 Tbl lemon juice
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend till smooth.

About wrapping paper... I have a love/hate relationship with it. When I was a teenager I worked for a fancy woman's clothing store. There, I was taught how to tie a pretty magnificent bow and make gifts look sparkly and beautiful. We used real ribbon, colored tinsel, cellophane bags, (have you ever seen the scene in the movie Love Actually with Mr.Bean in the department store and the lavender sprig?), and metallic papers. I would bring all my gifts to work and wrap them at our wrapping station. When I started to learn a little more about the environmental impact of non recycled paper, and became a little more aware I actually went in the complete opposite direction and began wrapping my gifts in newspaper. The Sunday funnies are pretty colorful. I see the value in a gift being wrapped and the value in it being beautiful, and so after some time stopped with the newsprint and eventually started saving wrapping paper from birthdays, Christmas, showers, etc. (I look like a crazy lady, thanking people for my gifts and neatly folding their tissue paper into neat little piles).

The past few years I've started to use my paper grocery bags for wrapping. This has been a nice compromise. Some of the bags come with pretty holiday prints on them like snowflakes and ornaments. Each package is a blank page waiting adornment from either markers, stamps, paints (you can make stamps from an old sponge in the shape of a tree or polka dots and use with paint) Ribbons saved from gifts, or I make the exception of using fresh (new and store bought) real cloth ribbon, because it is just so pretty, and hopefully the receiver will save and reuse it. I no longer feel guilt for forgetting my cloth bags at the store, paper please! I figure if I can store my used crinkly tissue paper under my bed and move it with me every 6 months, someone with a bit more room and steady lifestyle and can make it happen. Once the packages are given the special touch, no one is none the wiser (or cares).

(OMG! My friend, TheBellyWoman, just brought this link to my attention
http://www.soulemama.com/soulemama/2010/12/a-week-of-elving-wednesday.html
How beautiful does that look? The birch bark gift bags? So delicious--I'm done with paper next year.)

Trader Joe's bags have the cute little snowflakes that you can cut out and decorate the package with. Curling ribbon was left over from my father's birthday party this summer--I don't think anyone will care it's purple and black instead of red and green!

Lastly, my skin is so freakin dry! Lets all vow to drink a little more water this week. Our body is feeling the stress enough between the cookies, family, wrapping, and all that singing!

Love these glass water bottles, buy once and reuse. Water always tastes so much better out of glass.

Gratuitous Wesley picture below...

Baby it's cold outside--let's go for a swing!

Super Chia (cookies, cookies, cookies)

2010-12-07T10:46:00.014-05:00

I kept half my promises--a Wednesday deadline was tough this week with a sleepless 1 year old.
We'll get there won't we Wes...

And my formatting is a MESS--sometimes you just have to move forward with the imperfections.

I recently read a personal opinion article posted by a friend on facebook. In the article the gentleman was stating his disappointment with the new "Superfood" Sesame Street characters. Apparently the characters come in the form of a big hunk of cheese, a stalk of broccoli, a whole wheat hamburger bun, and a banana. I'll let you take a gander at the article for yourself--HERE. Much of his anger with the new characters is because they are sponsored by Merck, the drug company. Drug company calls cheese and a bun superfood-- makes a lot of sense if you think about it.

Sad to say but unfortunately a whole wheat bun is not a superfood, nor is a hunk of cheese, broccoli is, and a banana, though a healthy food, is not. My understanding is a superfood is any food that is naturally high in antioxidants, though these days "superfood" is becoming a catch word like "whole grains" (hence the hamburger bun), "organic", "all natural", or "gluten free" (just because something is gluten free does not mean it is healthy). Also there are more and more potent superfoods becoming available.

Personally I don't put a lot of stock in the new trend of superfoods, they aren't accessible enough in my opinion. I think true superfoods are great, help boost our immune systems, help to make up for where our diets lack, but you can find the same nutrition in fresh fruits and vegetables---you just gotta eat em! The problem I have with the more rare, nutritionally dense food, is the cost, accessibility, and the fact that they come from so far away. Although, these new berries and seeds (ie: goji berries, acai berries, chia seeds, hemp seeds, maca, etc.) are tempting to give a try on occasion when you have the extra grocery cash.

Most recently I bought some Chia seeds, I had tried them once before and knew there had to be more uses for them than drinking them down with water (though a quick and easy way to get down with the nutrients) or spreading them on a clay animal figurine to watch it sprout. Chia seeds are high in protein, soluble fiber, and phytochemicals, essential minerals-phosphorus, manganese, and calcium, and trace levels of potassium and sodium. They are a pretty special seed if you can find some uses for them.

Well, how about some chia chocolate chip cookies?

Chia seed cookies- taste just the same with 1/2 the fat and twice the fiber, pretty cool.

First you have to make the chia gel (stay with me here folks)

Chia gel is super easy to make, and it’s the key to the healthy kick these cookies pack. Due to its unique gelling property, it replaces half of the butter in this recipe, without changing the flavor. Chia seeds have no flavor of their own when you make the gel with filtered water. You won’t even know they’re in the cookies.

1 tbsp dry chia seeds
9 tbsp filtered water

In a seal-able container, simply scoop in the chia seeds and add the 9 tbsp filtered water. Stir with a fork to prevent clumping, and let stand for about 10 to 15 minutes. The seeds will each have formed a thick gel around them. This gel can now be used to replace up to half the butter or oil in almost any baked recipe.

Chia Chocolate Chip Cookies

Dry Ingredients
2 cups flour
½ heaping tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
¼ cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Wet Ingredients
8 tbsp butter (works best if melted first)
4 tbsp chia gel
¼ cup apple sauce (unsweetened)
1 tbsp vanilla
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk on

-pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees and grease your cookie sheets
-mix the melted butter, and both sugars until well blended
-add vanilla, apple sauce, egg, and egg yolk
-stir again until thoroughly combined.
-last add in your chia gel and stir again
Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl except for chocolate chips
combine wet and dry ingredients, mix well
add in chocolate chips and mix

I had promised another cookie recipe here as well this week. The Juice and Java famous, make them in a jar and share with your family, unbelievably tasty, Christmas Gift Cookies!

I nabbbed this picture off of google images since I haven't made my jars yet. You can decorate them however you'd like, some people even put little weird hats on the lids. I like this twine and card, nice and simple.

The Juice and Java famous, make them in a jar and share with your family, unbelievably tasty, Christmas Gift Cookies

Dry Ingredients

1 1/3 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
(I use evaporated cane juice found at any health food store)
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup of dried cranberries
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/3 cup wheat germ
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Layer in a 1 quart jar however you think looks pretties (I use wide mouth mason jars so that the brown sugar and rest of the ingredients come out easily). Press each layer in place before adding next layer. Include a card with the rest of the recipe and instructions:

Preheat oven to 350*
Grease cookie sheets
In a medium bowl mix
1/2 cup melted butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
Stir in entire contents of jar
Place walnut size pieces on cookie sheet
Bake 11-13 minutes

Making many of these jars up at once is great for hostess gifts or stocking stuffers. A very inexpensive, yet nice treat, for a gift.

Promises Promises (brussel sprout 2 ways)

2010-12-01T11:04:00.007-05:00

My promise (to myself) is 1 post a week, I'm thinking Wednesdays. Readership is down, my 2 month hiatus hurt the cause-- but it's about the food, tricks in the kitchen, creativity, and life's lessons. So Wednesdays it shall be.

Happy December Yo!

Hope everyone had a warm and cozy Thanksgiving. I saw an actress on Ellen yesterday talking about her family's "pajama Thanksgiving", everyone in her family wears their new Christmas pjs all day. I thought that sounded kind of fun. I also think the era of dressing up... pantyhose, small martini glasses, heals, and coats with belts, sounds pretty darn nice as well. Of course I think most of us find ourselves somewhere in between, but next year I'm thinking themed holidays.

Chop and I got our tree this weekend too! This is kind of a big deal to me, because our family never really bought our trees this early. I felt like I was breaking some kind of rule (an unspoken rule, noone was that strict in my family). We are very spoiled, for this Christmas we have 2 trees! One on the mainland and one on the island. We spend a majority of our time on the island, but the mainland is where our "home" is and where we spend x-mas, so it only makes sense. By Sunday night both trees were up and decorated.... it's on.

Christmas gifts in our family have been paired down over the years, as with most family's I'm sure...with the current economy (I feel like a talking head when I say something like that, but ain't it the truth!?). Last year it was Limoncello, cookies, and pictures of Wesley. Don't tell anyone, but this year too! The Limoncello and cookies aren't cheap, but they are delicious and certainly less expensive than the Wii's or all those ipods I used to buy back before the baby.

I could put my limoncello recipe here and take some pictures for you, but I think I should allow this guy to show you how it's done. Talk about intense, a little obsessive, but thorough and sure to create an outstanding product. There are also a bunch of great cocktail recipes for after the limoncello is made that sound delicious and only a bit dangerous. I used Grain alcohol for mine, and may I suggest not trying the limoncello until you have a finished product with sweetener and all, unless you like that limb numbing, speech slurring feeling on a Sunday afternoon.

My cookie recipe will be shared, but in due time. I make jarred cookies, meaning all the ingredients minus the oil and the egg are in the jar. The cookies I make were a favorite when I baked for the little coffee shop Juice and Java, and the jar version of the cookies were deemed successful. They aren't just any ol' sugar cookie and I think it would be great if you decided these cookies would be a good gift for your family as well. Next Wednesday I will post it---I promise.

Ok lastly, a recipe for this week. I had big plans on Thanksgiving to make a brussel sprout salad. I had never made a dish with raw brussel sprouts before, and when this salad came out so delicious for dinner one night, I decided this new lease on brussel sprouts had to be shared! What I hadn't planned for, was every market on Thanksgiving is closed! On the island, it is to be expected, but I guess I just thought the mainland was a magical place where markets never close and you can buy ice cream and/or brussel sprouts any time, any day. So I wasn't able to share my brussel sprout salad with my family, much to my chagrin, though I am happy to share it here and now.

Sprout Salad

1/2 stalk brussel sprouts
1 avocado
handful of toasted sunflower seeds
handful of dried cranberries
1/2 cup shaved parmesan and/or asiago
1/4 cup olive oil
4 Tbl Lemon juice
s and p to taste

Clean and de-stem the brussel sprouts and then slice them nice and thin. They are like mini cabbages and so slice the same way.

Toss the bs with the olive oil and lemon and let sit while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Toast the seeds.
Shave the cheese.
Slice the avocado.
Toss and eat!

Using half the stalk for the salad allows you to make "brussel sprout two ways". Take the other half of the bunch, toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, rosemary, and some chopped red onion. Put them in the oven for 40-50 minutes on 400* You can make a whole meal all about the sprouts! These blood detoxifying, nutrient rich, cruciferous gems are sure to please this Holiday season.

One more tip: Dried rosemary can be kind of a pain, I actually stopped using it a switched to thyme because it was so frustrating, but I missed the flavor. Using it whole is like seasoning with a bunch of little twigs, not fun to eat. Chopping it leads to a dried rosemary covered kitchen (it flies everywhere). Solution: Create a little puddle of water on your cutting board (just a few drops) and chop your rosemary in the water, problem solved.

A Day In Providence (Grandma Reggie's Salad)

2010-11-24T09:50:00.004-05:00

A day in Providence.

Wes loves to point (it's kind of his thing). Here we were scoping out a seriously tall tree.

The tree and its foliage.

First Baptist Church of America on the east side is just so pretty.

Lunch at The Garden Grill

A visit to the state house lawn.

Playing with Poppa Choppa,

in the leaves,

leads to a leafy butt (only comes but one time of year),

and a tuckered boy.

The sun was bright that day,

And shone on us, everywhere we went.

It could cast a perfect shadow.

And put a real smile on your face.

The Garden Grill's Grandma Reggie's Raw Heaven Salad

This is my favorite, it is so simple yet SO delicious, colorful, beautiful.

baby arugula
mango
avocado
grapefruit
beet-infused jicama
cashew gomasio
lime juice
olive oil

Jicama is like the love child of an apple and a potato. Crisp, watery, hint of sweet. They marinate theirs in beet juice to turn it magenta.

Cashew gomasio is ground cashew tossed with sea salt.

Isn't she beautiful?

The dressing for this salad couldn't be simpler. 2 Tbl of Fresh squeezed lime juice and 2 Tbl of olive oil. This is a bright fresh flavored salad to eat between the Holidays, giving yourself a break from all the heavy.

Bacon Eating Vegetarian (split pea soup)

2010-11-15T10:56:00.001-05:00

"I would be a vegetarian except I love bacon" That is the carnivores best joke when introduced to a vegetarian. I've heard it almost as many times as, "I hated it" or "it was terrible" when clearing a licked clean plate from a customer at the restaurant. The irony of the statement is the joke. I hope I don't sound bitter.

Once again, I digress...

I have been conflicted. For 11 years I was a vegetarian. During those 11 years I experimented with a vegan diet, ate fish when fresh and local after moving back to Block Island, added eggs then took them out then added them again, and repeat (my egg eating was a big personal dilemma for many years). Once I decided to eat meat, add it back in for good (for the time being), no longer call myself a vegetarian (pescetarian or what have you), and with no excuse or apology, I have felt clear in that decision. My confliction has come with writing this blog and cooking with meat.

Despite my new-ish understanding that meat in a diet can be a healthy addition (for some people and the right types of meat), it is still difficult for me to see a recipe with the addition of, lets say bacon for example, as a good healthy choice for people. Even though I see it as a good healthy choice for me and my family. I like introducing people to foods that are prepared unlike the way you can find them on any menu or in most recipes. Creativity with food. So making a split pea soup with bacon, and sharing that here has been a difficult choice for me. Weird right?

What it has come down to for me is getting people in the kitchen. Bacon or no bacon, there is nothing like a homemade soup to warm the tummy, soul, and home. Personally, having bacon in my soup was a little weird. It seems like a cheap way (and I don't mean inexpensive) to add flavor. But, Chop loved it--and he ate it with a vigor I don't always see when feeding him my vegetarian version. There is something to be said about that kind of enthusiasm with your customers (wrong word, but what would you call the receiver of your home cooked goodness? taster? taste-ee?).

Handling meat is a whole other thing for me too. I have never cooked with it, being a vegetarian for my whole adult life. It is kind of gross. BUT, if you are going to eat meat that has made the lowest carbon footprint and has been humanely raised and killed (grass fed, local), you are going to have to cook it yourself. Some vegetarians believe we should have to kill the animal ourselves if we are going to be eating it, the least I can do is handle it.

So, with this post behind me-- we can move on. Some meals will have meat, most won't (hard to break old habits and why would I want to). I will put this confliction to rest with a split pea soup recipe Chopper would die for.

Split Pea Soup with Bacon and Rosemary (Bon Appetit)

4 bacon slices, chopped (yeah, not easy to do--I cooked it first and then broke it up in the pan)
1 small onion, chopped
1 medium leek, sliced
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
7-8 cups of low sodium stock (the recipe called for chicken, I used vegetable--old habits die hard)
1 1/4 cups of green split peas, rinsed
2 bay leaves (I used a few pieces of kombu (sea vegetable)instead--increases the mineral content of soups, broths, grains, etc)
1 tsp dried rosemary, chopped (1/2 tsp fresh)

Saute bacon in large pot over med-high heat till crisp and brown.
Add onion, leek, carrot, and garlic and saute until veg soften
Add broth, peas, kombu, and rosemary and bring soup to boil.
Reduce heat to simmer. Cover and simmer till peas are soft--this took a few hours to get it nice and mushy--you could crock pot it.

It is always important to rinse your grains and dry beans. They are stored in large bins and can get pretty dusty as well as whatever else may lurk in the giant bins/bags of grain. When rinsing these peas I notice they got sticky, like whatever sticky protein is in the pea was broken down a little with the addition of water. I don't know if that is exactly what was happening (have not looked into it further) but interesting, if it is.

A nice medley of color pre-broth

Split pea soup with bacon

Good Things (cauliflower steaks and mushroom gravy)

2010-11-10T15:34:00.006-05:00

Oprah does it, Martha does it, they highlight "good things". Food, crafts, products, and projects that they are just crazy about right now. I thought "good things" would be a nice way to creep my way back into the blog-o-sphere.

First, I should let you all know that I did not win the car.

I digress.

Papaya-banana "pudding". 1 papaya and 1 banana in blender. Enjoy

The view out my new "winter housing" kitchen window.

A little dragon and a little lobster.

Adding kale to canned soup. Its the little things.

Cooking with my babe--thanks to the Ergo Carrier

Pea greens! In eggs, salads, soups, and pesto

My new I-phone app- that allows me to take these new "old" photos (Hipstamatic)
And the little red wagon.

Brussel sprouts on the stalk. What fun!

Fall leaves and the cutest little owl hat

OMG! Cauliflower steaks.

Cauliflower is not a vegetable I've experimented with much. I've heard about the ole' cauliflower "mashed potatoes", but thought that was more a Weight Watcher's trick than anything anyone would really want to eat. My naivete in the potential of cauliflower is vast. Considering it is a cruciferous vegetable, much like kale or it's cousin broccoli, I really should have given it a chance sooner. Well this week I did, and I have to say what a treat!

The cauliflower steaks were served over a cauliflower puree with roasted sweet vegetables, roasted kale and a mushroom gravy. This was a prime time vegetarian meal. I may be a meat eater now, but I still find the most delicious and creative foods are those that are strictly vegetarian.

Cauliflower Steaks and Puree

Preheat oven to 350*

Use either 1 big head or 2 small heads cauliflower
olive oil
1 cup milk (I used soy, whatever milk you choose)
1 cup vegetable broth
1 Tbl butter
salt and pepper

Cut a 1 inch piece out of the middle of the cauliflower, cutting straight down and through the stem (cut 2 pieces out of the 1 big head if that's what you use)

Cut up the remaining florets off the cauliflower and put them in a pot with the milk, veg stock, and salt and pepper.

Bring the florets to a boil, then let them simmer while you pan sear the steaks.

Drizzle each side of the steak with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sear each side of the cauliflower steak until golden brown.

Put steaks in oven at 350* till they become tender and browned (about 15 minutes).

Once the florets are soft, drain, saving the liquid, and put the florets on a cookie sheet in the oven for 10 minutes (just to dry them out a little).

Put the florets with a cup of the liquid and butter in the blender till smooth.

Use the remaining cup of liquid in your gravy!

Mushroom Miso Gravy-awesome gravy for any dish-especially when you go meatless.

2 portobella mushrooms
1 Tbl butter
2 Tbl sweet white miso
1 cup soy milk (milk) (or the remaining floret liquid)
3 Tbl flour (your choice)
1/2 onion
1 Tbl thyme
Black pepper

Saute onion and mushroom in butter till soft
Coat the mushroom mixture in the flour, add thyme.
Dissolve the miso in the soy milk, stirring till mixed thoroughly.
Add the soy milk/miso to the onions. Stir till thickens.
Add black pepper to taste.

I still say being able to make a tasty healthy gravy in a flash is a real pleaser. Speaking of pleasers, I hope to not be a teaser, and rather a regular weezer (of words and recipes on this blog) from now on-- I had the summer off, now it's time to get back into the kitchen. See you next week!

Eat, Pray, Love (RI Chowder)

2010-07-21T11:03:00.006-04:00

He's still SLEEPING! This is an exclamation for many reasons: 1. this is the longest nap in Wesley history (going on 2 hours), 2. I have exhausted all my chores and phone calls, 3. Today was a day I decided not to nap with him (mistake?).

So I have some time, minutes probably.

This summer has been filled with good food, fun beach time, family, and work. Not sure I like working too much (besides my Health Counseling of course). I do less counseling in the summer, because lets be honest, though we all come out of the spring gates with the best intentions, it is not always easy to focus on health in the summer. (this was all written on July 21st, then he woke up)

Ahem...August 2.

Wes is 10 months today! He is sleeping, again, and I have to pump some milk and ready myself for work shortly, but I thought I may be able to publish something today.

Blah, blah, blah, summer, work, family, friends. Lets talk food, spirituality, relationship--I just spent 15 frustrating minutes watching a choppy trailer for Eat, Pray, Love, my computer doesn't support the technological advances of the last 3 years, but I hung in there. I, as with many women, loved the book. What an easy, fun, and inspiring read and it looks like an easy, fun, and inspiring movie to watch. Easy and fun on the eyes!--James Franco, Billy Crudup, and Javier Bardem- I am conjuring up 16 year old Persephone, who gushes at "on screen" hot men (have a hard time using the term "hotties", though it seemed more appropriate there).

So in honor of Eat, Pray, Love...

Eat--we have had a beautiful food summer. Our friends who supplied us with the gorgeous eggs all winter long, continued to be so generous. On fathers day, she stopped by with 2 dozen eggs and about 6 bunch of ruby chard. I had been threatening to bring Wes to meet their chickens, he is loving animals these days, and I finally made it out to their property to do so. These chickens are pimping! The live in a rotating coup so that they are able to eat fresh grass and grubs, each nesting stall has a privacy curtain, they have "chicken" posters from movies like Chicken Little on the walls of their house, screened windows for fresh air, organic garden scraps for food, and classical music! It is no wonder their yolks are dark orange and the shells are strong...delicious.

The chickens were the original draw, but soon after arriving, I realized the garden was nothing to shake a stick at. Rows of fresh lettuces, leafy greens, carrots, potatoes, onions, and night shades. An entire protected pen of blueberry bushes. Squash and melons growing hillside and a compost system to make your mouth water. Seaweed, worm compost, garden scrap, and chicken manure all aid in making the soil rich and the vegetables grow strong like weeds. How blessed was I to be offered free reign of the garden?! I am a little shy, though when my mother in law was visiting and we wanted to make a chowder, I called ahead and went to pull fresh potatoes, carrots, greens, and onions for the soup.

Chop and I had harvested the clams a few days before. It is so satisfying to grow or forage your own food. Clamming with Wes was a challenge, but a fun one and created a great memory. We had to go very far out to get the clams, so we lathered Wesley in sunblock, grabbed some hats and headed out into the water. We took turns holding Wes and digging for clams. At one point I nursed him standing up out in the open water and thought to myself that I was either crazy or extremely sane (is this how it is supposed to be?). A kayaker passed by and asked what we were doing out there with a baby...if you ask me clamming and swimming is where all babies should be at least once in their life.

The bounty. All fresh and local, now that's eating!

The chowder looks more appetizing with a cute baby suggesting, "come give it a try".

Chowder Rhode Island Style
2 dozen clams
1 onion
1 can sweet corn
5 chopped potatoes
4 chopped carrots
2 chopped summer squash
2 stalks of chard finely chopped (Replaced the celery)
2 sticks of butter
4 cups of clam steaming water
1 Tbl dried thyme
1/2 bunch parsley
1 tsp sage
1 tsp oregano

Steam the clams till they all open up in 4 cups of water. Take most of the clams out of the shell and chop them, in the meantime add the vegetables, butter, and herbs to the clam steaming water. This chowder was really good. To be honest I prefer creamy chowder and wasn't looking forward to something that looked so gray and bland, but it was delicious! Blame it on the butter.

Pray--I have been thinking a lot lately about what my next car will be. I have no plans to get a new car, it is not in our current budget, and my car runs well, so I don't know where these thoughts and fantasies are coming from. I have never been a car person, I don't care what I drive, currently I drive the newest car I've ever owned and it is 17 years old. So when I learned that there is a raffle in town to benefit the Early Learning Center, raffling a new Subaru Outback or $15,000, I figured it must be destiny. If Elizabeth Gilbert can create a magical world tour ending in love and a best selling book, I think I can make a new car happen. So I am writing it here first...my intention is to win that car!

My next car.

Love--There is lots of love in my life. When I find myself explaining to my best friend the benefits of having a child, when I can't go out to dinner with her the one night she's visiting because Wes has a fever and is throwing up, I hear myself saying the words I have heard other's say before and always thought a little confusing. "You can't describe it", "rewarding", "magical", but what I think it all comes down to is Love. In the purest sense of the word. To see him learn how to navigate this world, communicate, face pain, face fear, wave good bye and eat a piece of egg is pretty amazing. I don't think I could fully understand where I came from until witnessing these basic feelings realized and rooting for someone so fully. I am rooting for him with all of my heart, I've never done that for anyone else before.

Boy has a good sense of humor.

Lucky girl.

Blog relevance (cold oat cereal)

2010-06-03T18:17:00.003-04:00

He's getting much bigger (and cuter) everyday. Must be the milk.

So I am curious what my readers come here for. Is it an update on the family, our life on the island, recipes, food ideas, all of the above? This thought came up for me as I questioned whether or not to update today. I haven't been cooking much, actually that isn't true, but I haven't been experimenting much and I am afraid new ideas in the kitchen seem to be waining, making it difficult to come across as fresh and inspiring.

So what relevance does this blog have to look forward to? Well, we start receiving our CSA shares in 2 weeks. This will hopefully bring some fun fresh vegetables and inspiration in the kitchen. Wesley may or may not start eating a bit more, this could lead to some baby food ideas. So far he is still primarily nursing, and despite a promising start out of the "solid food" gate, he has seemed to have completely lost interest. Spring is passing, summer is almost here, and with that change comes less interest in the restaurants. We have been eating out big time, and we are certain to get bored soon. I am excited to experiment a bit more with raw foods, and I have to admit that after the cleanse I realized dairy and wheat don't sit so well with me. This is a crazy-mad realization.

I have denied having any food sensitivities for years, I pride myself on having a fluid diet that sometimes includes some not so healthy items. It has been the fluidity and balance that sets my food relationship apart. Though after the cleanse I had stomach pain for 2 days as I reintroduced wheat and dairy (together, like an idiot-- which one was it?) I believe it to be high fat dairy (like ice cream..ouch) and white flour products in the worst way, then the rest trickles down from there. I am back on goats milk products only and sticking to whole grain, hoping to kick the habit and find the balanced allowance once again....we'll see.

In the meantime, a great SIMPLE breakfast for y'all, Chopper and I, which does not include wheat, dairy, refined sugar, or a stove.

1 cup of rolled oats
1/2 cup of date pieces
2 cups of almond milk (or milk of your choice)
1/4 cup sunflower seeds

Combine and let sit in fridge over night. The next morning the sunflower seeds will still hold their crunch, the dates will be softened and sweeten the cereal throughout, and the oatmeal will eat like oatmeal without having to be cooked. Puuuurrrrfect.

How I have been spending my time lately.

A New Collaboration

2010-05-30T15:54:00.000-04:00

As you may have all foreseen, Aaron has moved on. He says since going off the cleanse, sentences aren’t forming, his thoughts are more abstract, and he is unable to write about his last days. Summer is here, and Aaron needs no excuses of poor sentence structure for me to understand where his thoughts are. Regardless, I can tell you that during the time we were all cleansing, our thoughts were positive ones, and our connections with each other (all the cleansers) were strong.

Aaron’s day 6 was spent experimenting and preparing a special cleanse friendly meal to be served at the restaurant where he was working. His creation was a “hamburger” complete with a cleanse friendly bun (no easy feat), served with a side of “fries” and a salad. Eight out of the twelve cleansers enjoyed a night out, and were able to indulge in a meal that tasted like no other they had eaten those 10 days.

The burger was made with quinoa, millet, beet, carrot, and zuchini pulp, and a myriad of seasonings. It was served with a spicy “aioli”. Aioli is usually made with mayonaisse, he made an aioli using sesame seeds as the thickener and jalepenos as the spice. Lettuce, onion, and tomato all served on a sesame seed bun made with quinoa flour. The “fries” were carrot sticks dusted with curry powder, they of course tasted nothing like French fries, but the visual on the plate offered a dynamic which proved how much more there is to food beyond how it tastes. Texture, scent, and aesthetic all play such a powerful role in the enjoyment of a meal.

Chopper and I were enjoying our “burgers” (lot of quotations are used with cleanse friendly meals), when I saw the restaurant staff head to the kitchen followed by the bartender with a tray of colorful glasses. I knew what this meant. Shots all around. Could Aaron possibly be refraining, especially after reaching such a pinnacle moment in the cleanse? I went back to say hello and with not an ounce of guilt Aaron let me know he was off the cleanse. I don’t know if it was food or alcohol Aaron came off with, I am tempted to say all and lots of it. I am so happy and proud for him for the 6-7 days (he started with a pre-game day of all veggies) he accomplished, and for how he delved in, experimenting with food and writing each day. It was really fun and eye opening to have him as part of the group.

I haven’t seen Aaron since the cleanse ended. Actually that isn’t true, I’ve seen him, but our encounters have been brief - usually a wave as he drives by with a cute girl who’s just arrived on island, or in front of the liquor store- I live right across the street and this is where I run into many friends. This makes me a little sad, of course I miss my friend, but I am also really excited for the collaboration that has transpired during this cleanse and beyond. We plan on working together more in the future, and once the summer ends and the beach beauties and booze settle down, we will start planning a menu and working out details for future cleanses. Yay!

Day 5

2010-05-22T10:36:00.002-04:00

I have been asking Aaron for the rest of his journal entries, but I fear this may be the last. I know how the story ends or how the story continues, I should say. Alas I will give him some time and hope that you can continue to enjoy his account (is this enjoyable? I think so)

DAY 5:

I hit a speed bump today. I’m not sure what happened. I was doing so well. I think I got too comfortable in the routine and let my guard down. It had been a great day prior to “the incident” and I think I managed to pull it together in the end.

The morning was business as usual. “Hello, cran-water.” “Top of the morning, psyllium husk.” And then a long hike outside, followed by a briskly paced five mile run. As I mentioned yesterday, the routine was beginning to feel more natural and effortless, and today even more so. When I first acknowledged the ease, in early afternoon, I was pleased.

It is a good thing to get used to and I figured the longer I practice this lifestyle, the more ingrained it will become and the easier it will be to maintain. I still believe this is true, but being hyper vigilant for the time being forces my mind to stay in an almost aggressive cleansing mode. Every minute and every situation has been a potential opportunity for failure. I really didn’t want to fail, but as I became more relaxed, apparently my resolve did as well.

I must of blacked out or I at least blinked. When I suddenly snapped back into reality, there was a frosty green bottle of O'douls non-alcoholic beer in my hand. As far as nutrition is concerned, I suppose I could have done much worse, but one chink in the psychological armor can be catastrophic. I admitted my guilt to Persephone via text message (I was too shamed to call) and she gave me some encouraging words and I'm convinced that I will live to fight another day.

For dinner tonight I had some old friends over: quinoa and broccoli raab. Both with garlic, onions and my (not so) new favorite seasoning, the chili pepper. I served them with a some fresh salmon that I smoke-roasted over hickory and coals, then squeezed some lemon and completely inundated all of it with a cornucopia of baby herbs from the garden. I sat outside on the deck to eat for the first time this year and it undoubtedly made everything taste better. The smokey flavor really enhances the richness and meatiness of the fish and keeps those pesky bacon cravings at bay. Even the smell of the smoke while cooking is a sensory experience that can compensate for feelings of a lack of meat. Tomorrow my ambitious task will be to create a hamburger...or something vaguely similar. Watch out, Ronald McDonald.

Day 4 (quinoa cakes)

2010-05-19T12:37:00.007-04:00

DAY 4:
Smooth morning. Today is the first day the routine is feeling a little more natural. Not easy, by any stretch, but it’s been a few days and it feels more like habit than it has. For the first few days I had to keep checking my cleanse schedule for reference, “Wait...is it lemon water first or psyllium first?” but today flowed fairly effortlessly.

I also found a new activity to entertain me and keep my mind off the bacon and whiskey. Well, actually that's not true. My activity was to think about all the foods and flavors I love, but instead of drooling over them and scorning my saltless brown rice, I decided to try and recreate them. As I mentioned before, I've been enjoying the cleanse food more than I thought I would, but I still having quite a few near-pornographic thoughts about pizza and cheeseburgers. So, I decided that I would try my best to fulfill those cravings rather than try to fight an ultimately loosing battle against them.

One of the aspects of my profession that I enjoy the most, and also one of the strongest driving factors for me personally and professionally, is my desire to innovate. Pushing the limits of ingredients and preparation with the intent of creating something new and provocative. The list of cleanse friendly ingredients is not infinite, but is certainly diverse and full of foods that are versatile, delicious, and a pleasure to cook. So why can’t I have something rich and creamy tasting? Or smokey and savory? No reason. So here's what I did: instead of writing down all the specific foods that I was missing or craving, I distilled what exactly it was about those foods that made me want them so much and made a list. My list was this:
salty
crunchy/crispy
melty/gooey
meaty
smokey
rich
chocolate

I had a few other ones on there that I desperately wanted to be “general adjectives” but alas, they were a little too specific like “bacon cheeseburger-ish” or “mayonnaise-y” and so I decided to leave them out of the journal. Some of these, at least at first glance, are going to be extremely difficult to duplicate if not completely impossible. Like “chocolate” for instance or salt, these can be mimicked slightly but there are no satisfying substitutes for coarse sea salt. The others, however, seemed possible and I spent a good portion of my day enjoying the challenge of trying to create them, as well as anxiously anticipating eating them.

I started with crunchy /crispy. The first thought that came to mind was something that happened on the evening before the cleanse began. While I was investigating the contents of my cleansing food bag, the way a newly committed prison inmate might investigate is cell, I came across millet. Other than in passing reference I was completely unfamiliar with this grain and didn't really know what to do with it. So I picked up a pinch and tossed it in my mouth. It was crunchy. Very crunchy. Almost too crunchy, but still it was an intriguing texture. “Almost like… when something is dipped in cornmeal batter and deep fried,” I thought to myself. I then noted that the quinoa has a very confident texture that I was fond of as well. When cooked, it still really, really wants to be crunchy but just can't quite pull it together. So I decided to exploit millet's crunchiness, and quinoa's desire to be so, and make quinoa/millet cakes.

A quinoa cake is far from a culinary revolution but at the time the mental process that brought me to the quinoa/millet cake was. I cooked both grains together, and while they were still warm, I added garlic, nutritional yeast, flax, and hemp protein powder. After pureeing some of the mixture to bind it all together, I formed it into cakes and cooked them on a cast iron griddle. The outsides were golden and crispy and the insides were warm, light and soft.

I thought a spicy aoili would be great on top, but obviously not cleanse-friendly, so I pureed a mixture of green chilis, garlic, ginger, lemon juice, nutritional yeast and water together, then added sesame seeds to thicken and emulsify it, until it was reminiscent of mayonnaise. I went a little overboard with the chilis and made it lethally hot but ate it anyway on principal. I served it with some braised calamari with more chilis, garlic, onion, fresh tomatoes and parsley. It was pretty looking and did a great job satiating my appetite while cooling the burning cravings for sinfully unhealthy things. I didn't address every single category on my “wish list” but I hit a few of them, and it was enough. Tomorrow I plan on smoke roasting some fish and one of my all time favorite vegetables will make a reappearance: broccoli raab. Stay tuned.

Persephone:
I was fortunate enough to have invited Aaron over for dinner this night, having no idea that he had betrothed himself to such a project. While I busied myself making steamed fish with carrots and onions (nothing like a trained chef to put you to shame in the kitchen), he called to say that he thought he probably had enough food if I didn't feel like cooking. I had no idea what we were in store for. It was delicious and all the adjectives on his list that he was aiming for.

This has been such a fun collaboration for me. I have learned alot more about the science and chemistry of food and I think that Aaron is learning about food as well in other ways. It is also nice to share another voice here, a deeper, slightly more foul-mouthed, voice. I hope you are enjoying the insight and the recipe/cooking ideas. I am excited to whip up some quinoa cakes in the future!

Here they are, really nice.

Braised Calamari.

The dish, plated so lovely. I took the picture before he brought out the parsley and then I took a bite before I took out the camera again. The parsley added some nice color and flavor.

Day 3

2010-05-18T17:00:00.003-04:00

So you guys aren't exactly getting this in real time, though I don't think it has any negative impact on the story. Today is Day 9. Chop and I stopped at Day 7, which was our original goal and plan- due to moving and nursing and all the physical demands of those combined. Although I am no longer officially cleansing, I have yet to change my diet too drastically. I found an egg and cheese sandwich to be much less satisfying, and returned to my hot grain cereal this morning. I know how Aaron's doing as well, but I won't ruin the story ;)

Aaron's Day 3

DAY 3:

I woke up feeling kind of shitty this morning. Like I had a hangover, and my first reaction was wow, I guess my brain noticed I was drinking from a wine glass all night and said “it must be hangover time”, though I suppose that may be possible it seems a little unlikely. As it turns out I wasn't the only one feeling sub-par this morning, a few other group members had the same groggy, grumpy feeling and mild headache which seem to be the first real signs of detoxification (ironically, they are very real signs of intoxication as well). We had a couple days of blissful energy, and the warm fuzzy feeling of self-accomplishment, but I think I may have been patting myself on the back a little prematurely. This is going to get harder. Interestingly enough though, this realization of the struggle to come, has not dampened my spirits or resolve, but in a way reinforced them. I now have tangible, physical evidence of changes happening in my body. To have these clear physical obstacles to overcome, as well as the mental ones my quest seems more purposeful and “real”. It would still be nice to have a cigarette now though.

Speaking of conflict, over the past few days it's really come into light how I deal with conflict and challenge, apparently not in healthy ways. Usually it's by shoveling something into my mouth. Cigarettes and alcohol are the go-to but crunchy, fatty, salty, savory foods are quite intoxicating as well and can easily diffuse negativity and sedate me temporarily. The first few days of the cleanse have been spent kind of in a vacuum, without much responsibility or obligation. I was free to gracefully drink cran-water all day, picture what I might look like in a turtle neck, google “phyto nutrients” and listen to NPR. But today I integrate the cleanse schedule with the real world, inspiring me to include a short “conflict/challenge of the day” section in my journal.

Today's challenge: The restaurant. Today is new menu day at the restaurant and I will be in the belly of the beast from noon until midnight. That's 12 hours of temptation. This kind of temptation is not passive like a commercial for pizza on TV or spotting an empty pack of cigarettes lying around. This is hardcore. Like giving a compulsive gambler five hundred dollars and throwing him in a casino. All of my weaknesses will be within arms reach and everyone around will be reaching for them or reaching out their hands to offer me some. I can’t help but see strong parallels between my thoughts and behavior and those of serious addicts. Sure we all know liquor and cigarettes are bad, but who knew butter had such a grip on me.

A few hours later..

The time is now 11:15 pm. Wow that was fucking hard. I don't think my will power and self discipline has been tested like that in a while. But I made it. I wouldn't say I feel any better...in fact maybe even worse. I'd like to lead a healthy lifestyle even after the cleanse is finished, but if this is what it’s like, I'm fucked. One thing I do feel, which is a powerful feeling, is righteous. There were many times when I layed down to go to sleep and felt sad, disappointed. or even disgusted with myself or my decisions. Not tonight.

DAY 2

2010-05-18T08:52:00.002-04:00

Aaron's Day 2:

DAY 2
Slept better than usual and got up on time. If one day of veggies and cran water can do that, think of the possibilities for the next 9. Cran-psyllium-lemon water routine, check. Smoothie, check.

Tonight the cleanse group is doing a potluck (I think). I’m looking forward to this for 2 reasons: first, it will be a good social opportunity to hang out with some cool-like minded people,and we will NOT be inviting Bud Lite, Joe Camel or any of their friends. I’m assuming this is kind of what the AA members feel like when they go get coffee after meanings. I doubt I could do this cleanse if I was flying solo. Last night was a little lonely and to say I was slightly fidgety would be an understatement. Secondly, this is an opportunity to make some bad-ass food and showcase my skills so everyone can go, “hmmmmm” and shower me with praise and hire me to cook cleanse-friendly food for their wedding or barmitzvah or next bridge-club get together.

Tonight I will be putting my culinary wit and skills to the test by trying to create the perception of salty food without using salt or salted products. The foods available to me for this cleanse are practically infinite and represent some of the finest items one can put in their mouth: fresh garlic, onions, kale, arugula, organic carrots...i could go on for a while. I have always loved these vegetables and they need no additions or frills to taste delicious...except salt. Salt punctuates flavor and makes mouths water. It turns simple two-dimensional flavors into something ethereal and is often the one thing that separates casual or untrained cooks from world-class chefs. Keen and consistent use of salt has been drilled into my head from day one. Salt drops from my fingers while cooking as naturally as walking and breathing. So,today might be a pain in the ass.

Instead of salt I am going to utilize a few “flavor-inhancing” ingredients and techniques. Here they are:

Acid: along with salt, maybe the second most important additive to create balanced, complex and satisfying flavors. This can be in the form of vinegar, citrus, wine and most fruits (although they are also quite sweet and therefore, balance out the sourness). In this case my acid of choice will be organic lemon juice.

Umami: one of the 5 currently recognized tastes, “umami”, a japanese word most accurately translated as “delicious” or “savory”. Umami foods have a very high glutamate content, which is an amino acid that when deposited on the tongue sends a signal to the brain that says “we're eating something meaty and delicious! We're gonna be full and satisfied!”. Its probably most famous for its artificial form, Monosodium glutamate or “MSG”. These glutamates are naturally occurring in many foods other than meat, like aged cheese, fermented products (like miso or soy sauce), nutritional yeast and especially in a seaweed called kombu or kelp. The latter two will be on the menu tonight.

Fats: Fats of all sorts coat the mouth, giving food a rich, savory, weighty feel. Fats send a message to the brain which is, in some ways, remeniscent to the umami amino acids . Fats come in the form of butter, cream, olive oil, meat, fish, poultry and avocado. Tonight's star is the avocado along with some fresh fish that will benefit us with its omega-3 fatty acids, as well as its fresh aroma and umami-laden taste.

Picante: Asian and south American cooks have used chilis and spice to enhance flavor for centuries and many even consider picante a sixth taste. One just as important as the five we recognize (salty, sweet, sour, bitter and umami). Tonight I will utilize some fresh jalapenos. They have wonderful “green” flavor profile and if the seeds and gills are carefully removed from the insides, what once was inedible spicy, is now a mild, flavorful taste-enhancer.

In conclusion, my addition to tonight's potluck is brown rice sushi with avocado and scallion, with a dipping sauce made with flax seed oil, jalapeno and nutritional yeast.

Aaron's sushi. Such a cleanse treat!

Dipping sauce for the sushi roll, added a nice kick, and I think he accomplished that illusion of salt.

Delicious arame salad. Sugar is out on the cleanse, so the dressing was made with Apple Cider Vinegar and stevia.

Carrot and beet salad-so sweet and yummy.

Cleanser being social, feels good.

FIRST DAY OF CLEANSE

2010-05-14T21:59:00.004-04:00

Cleanse salads. Spinach, arugula, avocado, carrot, arame seaweed, canned wild salmon, quinoa, in a lemon-flax oil dressing. It was really delicious.

I wish I had pictures of Aaron's food, actually no, I wish I was eating Aaron's food...I'm starving! And I'm being dramatic. Last night we had our second meeting with the group and it seems everyone is faring pretty well. Cleansers each shared what is working for them and what isn't, and we were all able to get a little reassurance from the fact that we are in this together. I know that Aaron (and the rest of us) are happy that today is Day 5 and Day 1 is just a distant memory, but lets see how that day went for him...

FIRST DAY OF CLEANSE.

Last night I took my first dose of psyllium husk, and I think I over did it a little. It’s gross and I’m feeling a little bloated. I love the unsweetened cranberry juice though, it’s wonderfully tart and astringent. Because I am mixing it with cold water, I can dilute it to different strengths depending on my mood. In the morning, I like it quite mild, just a touch with some cold water is refreshing, eye opening, and pleasant, it tastes elegant in its lightness. At night, with dinner, I think I'll make it quite strong. It has many of the same properties as red wine: it’s acidic, tannic/astringent, ruby in color and slightly weighty on the palate. I'm going to put it in a wine glass, light a candle, and wear something classy.

It’s mid morning right now and I am just finishing up my warm water with organic lemon juice, which like the cranberry juice, is much more pleasant and satisfying than I thought it was going to be. After a while you can really pick up a touch of natural sweetness and realize how balanced food is on it’s own without the need to add anything. I expected to ingest all of these things without issue, but I am surprised how much I am enjoying them so far. I think a huge part of that enjoyment is the fact that I am being mindful while doing it. Rather than just drinking or eating “anything” I truly have to think about what’s going in my mouth. I look forward to lunch. I hereby declare today “quinoa day”.

The afternoon and evening were graced by a few temptations, but nothing all that intense. The cranberry water continues to quench thirst and delight taste buds. I had two guests for dinner and they drank red wine while I poured some slightly diluted cranberry water, into a wine glass and joined them while they imbibed. Dinner tonight was a re-visitation of two ingredients that I have always held in high regard, but for some reason have neglected to include them regularly in my diet (no offense, ingredients): quinoa and broccoli raab. I dry-sautéed some fresh elephant garlic and onions in the pan first, and just the pungent smell alleviated most of my cravings for salty, meaty foods. I think the smell of garlic and onions in the pan, may very well have cured much more than food cravings, and I was quite at ease while they were sautéing. I added the quinoa, after semi-extensive research on the benefits and dangers of washing or not washing it (Wash it. The coating is its natural insect and pest repellant that, although won’t kill you, it is not nutritious and can add a bitter taste to the quinoa). I then steamed it about half way. I tossed in the broccoli raab and simmered, covered for a few minutes then let it cool to room temperature. I threw in some nutritional yeast, some ground flax and flax seed oil, three ingredients which I seem to be just blindly throwing on top of food, and I would like to really do some research to get a bit more intimate with these little gems. The spicy, firm raab tossed in with the nutty, kind of popping-crunchy quinoa and the earthy, pungent garlic and onions was savory, tasty and fulfilling. I feel full, but not heavy or sluggish, and having dinner company was helpful. Dinner table company and conversation can really transform any food or sometimes lack thereof, into something satisfying. No bacon needed. So now what? This is the time where vampire like urges start to arise, when I want to go pray on defenseless bottles of whiskey and terrorize the townsfolk with inane stories while smoking cigarettes down to the filters. I have a few choices. Choices are good. I could go play ping-pong, which is fun, athletic, and takes a good deal of focus but is dangerously close to a known APA “alcohol-purchasing area”. IE: a bar. Or I could stay at home and distract myself with silly things like books and movies.

On a side note: Quite a bit of quinoa, fruit, cranberry water, vegetables and psyllium husk have gone into this rather small stomach in the past few days and as of yet, none of it has exited. I am waiting for a serious problem, or a seriously epic bathroom session.

One Day Before Cleanse

2010-05-14T09:49:00.006-04:00

Currently the cleansers (including myself) are on Day 4. Yesterday I started feeling frustrated by the limitations cleansing puts on your palate, and then last night enjoyed a simple flavorful meal and realized I should cook this simply more often. Wasn't that a recent blog post, simple meals? I should really listen to myself. But enough about me, I would like Aaron to continue sharing his experience...so here he is to tell his story.

ONE DAY BEFORE CLEANSE. To be honest I’m fucking terrified. I want to do this, I NEED to do this, but CAN I do this? I can’t remember the last time I went a day without drinking, unless I was bed ridden or hospitalized. I look forward to that drink all day and sometimes, perhaps mistakenly, prefer myself after the first drink or two of the night. As a result, I’m worried how I will be without alcohol. Will people like me? I'm a fan of the sauce. So will I have the willpower to avoid alcohol? And bacon? I hope so.

A HEDEN'S GUIDE TO CLEANSING AND DETOXIFICATION

2010-05-13T09:38:00.006-04:00

Currently I am running another fun and fantastic cleanse group on Block Island. This time there are 12 members of the group, all with their own unique experiences and stories which have drawn them to this process. One of the members of the group is my good friend Aaron. He has made appearances in this blog before (here and here). Aaron is a chef and someone I always enjoy bouncing recipes and food ideas off of. He shares not only a love for food, but also a mutual respect for food and it's functions in our bodies, our cultures, and our environment.

Aaron has decided to journal his experience. This is something that I always suggest to those with the time while cleansing, it gives us something to do with our hands besides eat, or in some cases smoke, and it aides us in following through. Aaron has also decided to share his journals with me and I've asked if I could share them with you. I am really excited about this, it is a great gift, he is a pleasure to read.

So with no further ado, I will allow Aaron to introduce himself...

I am a chef. Not strictly by profession but by lifestyle as well, and if you are in the industry you probably know exactly what I mean when I say that. The professional culinary world is an environment filled with extreme discipline juxtaposed with unbridled gluttony and disregard. As chefs we cultivate a relationship with food that we strive to make healthy. We respect the environment by purchasing local, organic and sustainable product. We respect our patrons by offering flavorful foods without chemicals, hormones or preservatives, and we respect our co workers and staff through a family-like environment; but, many of us choose to simultaneously destroy ourselves with alcohol, drugs, tobacco, caffeine, grueling work hours and lack of sleep. It’s a massive contradiction and although its incorrect to assume that this is the case with all chefs, it’s more common than it should be. Why do we do this? What effect is it really having on us? And how can we change without sacrificing our careers? Over the next ten days, in collaboration with a health counselor and personal friend, Persephone Brown, that's exactly what I hope to find out.

It started early on for me. I'd always loved food and cooking but it wasn't exactly my passion for those things that drove me into restaurants. I wanted to earn a little money so I could buy the usual dangerous inappropriate stuff that a thirteen year old boy would want to buy (a moped,trampoline, or handgun) and I felt comfortable in the kitchen. I had cooked at home a great deal and even before I could reach the counter, I'd stand on a chair and knead dough or peel garlic with my mother or father. So it seemed like a natural decision, when at age 13, I got a job at a local restaurant.

The restaurant was like nothing I'd ever seen or experienced before. It was loud, hot, and what seemed like hundreds of people doing millions of things. People were crass and swore a lot. There was metal music on a small boom box, held together with tape and aluminum foil, that just refused to give up on life. The smell of food was intoxicating and the people making it were doing it so quickly. There were girls. A lot of them. Much different than girls at school or my moms friends, or even babysitters I'd had in the past. They were girls that you probably wouldn't want to hire as a babysitter at all in fact and they wore short skirts, athletic looking shoes, and tight functional ponytails. The chef was not a large man, but he had a huge a presence. Without knowing, you could point him out immediately. He was collected and calm but with a sense of immediacy; Potential energy like a large object ready to fall to the ground, or a lion crouching near a herd of antelope. He made a lot of sarcastic jokes and people laughed. He harassed the waitstaff and they giggled and rolled their eyes. To me, he was one cool mother fucker.

So that's how it went for years, through high school and onto college. Different locations but more or less the same scenario. Did I like cooking in the restaurant? I loved it. The pace, the intensity, the aroma, but what I really looked forward to was after work, after the madness of service, and chain gang-like cleanup, when the hood fans turned off. When I heard that sound (or rather lack of) it meant no more tickets, no more yelling, no more mopping, no more weeds. It was time to let loose.

Our lives were less than glamorous. We toiled for 12, 14 hours a day for minimal pay, and for one reason or another we all kind of knew it wasn't going to get much better. Most of us didn't want to become chefs or even loved cooking but for our own reasons, (criminal records, temporary insanity, etc) were either forced to, or uncontrollably drawn to it. And for that time, that's all we were: Cooks. But between the time when that hood fan shut off and sunrise we felt like something else. Anything else. We fed every visceral need we could think of with drugs, alcohol, sex, and more or less whatever came to mind.

Along the way I fell more and more in love with the actual food and cooking. I was enamored with the way kitchens worked and started to research famous chefs and techniques. I realized there was an entire world of food out there with endless potential for creativity and exploration and I decided to go for it.

After years of culinary school, fine dining restaurants and traveling, things are much different. I run a restaurant of my own which is very well regarded. I have a clear culinary identity and specific goals that I believe will make not only my food exceptional, but will foster environmental and socially responsible practices. But, the hours are still long, the stress is even higher and the pay hasn't got all that much better. I still resort to using many of the same tools to alleviate these aspects of my job, when the hood fans turn off.

The ten day cleanse is meant to focus on the poor overworked liver and the under-functioning digestive tract and all the problems associated with these two extremely common ailments. Through a carefully planned diet, I hope to rid my body of toxins and restore my liver to a healthy state, as well as clean and restore my digestive system so that it may effectively absorb the nutrients for healthy body and mind function. The following are my journal entries for those ten days. Follow me in: A HEDEN'S GUIDE TO CLEANSING AND DETOXIFICATION

Happy Belated Mother's Day

2010-05-11T14:20:00.008-04:00

Looks like my eyes are drawing on Wes'- they're so open they are drawing his closed!

I had a BEAUTIFUL first mother's day. Thank you Chopper and Wesley. You don't know till ya know..ya know? I think I always made my mom cards, and I guess you could never expect a child to understand the velocity of what their mother does and gives, but now I would like to give my mother more. It makes me happy to have a day of honoring the work of mothers, and it makes me happy to be honored :)

Beautiful roses from a man who "doesn't buy flowers". He has told me this from day 1, seems it is something he is morally opposed to, though he does lots of other very sweet romantic things. So I knew when he gave me 2 dozen (I was told to count them), 2 DOZEN roses, he was appreciative for the care I give our boy and our family. The other beautiful bouquet in the background was from my mom.

A pancake breakfast made by Mr. Butterfield

Not just any pancake breakfast. Mango, pineapple pancakes topped with Narragansett Creamery Ricotta and peach preserves. Oh my delicious! At Wholefoods on Saturday there was a man making pancakes topped with this cheese and preserves, and luckily Chopper pays attention. Want something special? Try this.

He and Wes had lots of play time this Mother's Day.

Wes with my mom, his Nannie, playing "this little piggy"

Wes with Chop's mom, his Grammy, and his new little cousin Alex.

2 new moms (one a bit newer than the other, Alex is only 2 weeks old!), tending, caring, loving.

Dad got a gift this Mother's Day too. Someone, ahem (I had the day off!), forgot the diaper bag and so we didn't have any of Wes' teething tablets which are much needed for restful naps these days. Therefore Wes needed and wanted to sleep on us, something he hasn't done for a few months now and something Chopper misses immensely.

I hope all the moms out there got some serious props last weekend, or at least some loving time spent with their families. And of course lets not forget our Mother Earth- what can we do to show her some appreciation?

Fruits and Vegetables of my labor (simple stock, dashi broth)

2010-04-28T09:34:00.008-04:00

Flip open the freezer and what so you see? I see bags and bags of half opened frozen fruits and vegetables, some baby food ice cubes, bread, veggie burgers, frozen herb cubes, and frozen ginger slices. Sometimes there's ice cream (ok, right now there is), sometimes pizza shells (love me some Olga's whole wheat pizza shells).

The other day I was feeling a little throaty, my throat was dry and my nose was wet. I blamed the shad tree blooms, but that's the tough thing about allergies, you just never know. For the first time all winter I was craving soup. I haven't craved soup since my first trimester on the soup diet. I linked my nausea with the soup, turns out I was pregnant. Soup is generally a quick food to make if you have the basics down, fortunately I can whip up a broth in about 15 minutes flat.

15 Minute Flat Broth
1/2 cup of dried mushrooms
(I use woodear, the texture is wicked slimy, so I don't use them for anything else)
1 sheet kombu (kelp) or 1/2 cup arame seaweed
1 package of bonito flakes
6-8 cups of water
bring to a boil and then simmer
strain out shrapnel

This is a super nutritious-high in minerals, broth. It is pretty much a dashi broth, but with a few extras thrown in. Once the broth was made I raided my freezer. Bag of frozen peas, corn, carrot, green bean mix- check (you know the mix, not super appealing in a lot of ways, great for a use like this). 2 parsley cubes-check. 2 inch piece of sliced ginger-check. Wild Maine shrimp, cooked and peeled 3 months ago-check. Chopped scallions that were about to go bad, so we threw them in the freezer-check. Then the cupboards. 1/2 bag of rice noodles-check. 1/2 cup of arame-check. Splash of soy sauce, few splashes of sesame oil, a dusting of garlic powder, and red pepper chili flakes- check check and check.

These are the benefits of having a well stocked kitchen, and the best part is- I really needed to go shopping. The freezer offered me a wealth of random foods that made a delicious and nutritious soup- so all that chopping, slicing and freezing paid off in such an obvious way this time. I save a lot of fruits and vegetables from going into the garbage by chopping and throwing them in the freezer, this way I always have a variety on hand, and we are always able to eat fresh.

I love to throw scallions on my rice and beans or fish tacos, but you only need 1 or 2, then you have a whole bag of them left over. Chop 'em and freeze 'em. Throw them in a soup, or in your fried rice-leave some fresh chopped in the fridge to throw on a salad.

Stocked freezer soup. Not the best shot, my camera's been acting funky lately.

Another way to keep fruits and vegetables from going the way of the landfill or compost is to get a juicer and then, to use it. The juicer I have is a Juice-man Jr. that I bought at a yard sale for $5. I found new blades for it online and have replaced them twice since I've owned it. No need for anything fancy, just something that will eat up your ailing vegetables and separate the pulp from the juice. I have not pulled my juicer out all winter, but this week I went grocery shopping when I didn't need to, and found, I had more vegetables than I could use in such a short time. I was trying to come up with creative uses for them when juicing occurred to me. Carrots, celery, strawberries, collard greens, radishes, apples, and pears all went the way of the Juice-man Jr.

A little embarrassing but true: the collards had already been strewn about the back yard (we don't have an official compost pile, but the crows due a good job with some things) when juicing occurred to me. No harm done, I just had to duck back out there and do a little collecting. There is something a bit humiliating and humbling about plucking leafy greens that you already deemed compost out of the grass for your juice, but I brought them in, rinsed them off, and definitely increased the nutritional content.

The ones that didn't make it, left them for the birds.

Trip-y Juice-man (Jr.)

After juicing you have all the pulp left over. Take the pulp and add to 6-8 cups of water, bring it to a boil and then let simmer for at least a 1/2 hour-the longer the better (you can add onion, garlic, etc to it as well if you like). Now you have stock! We've come full circle here, and we're back to soup.

Two beautiful jars of dark, yummy, vegetable broth-with just a hint of pear and strawberry.

Yoga pants are for yoga (sweet and tangy chard)

2010-04-21T12:09:00.007-04:00

One of my more favorite questions to ask is- "Does your current diet support who you are and where you want to go?" Sometimes I worry that this may come off a little too esoteric. What the eff does she mean by that?

Well, If we are what we eat- if our food effects how we look, how we feel, and how we think... then, is your current diet supporting you in looking how you'd like (this does not only refer to weight)? Are your meals giving you the energy to accomplish your goals? Is your food providing you with positive motivating thoughts, or negative self destructive ones? Do you eat foods that support your values?

The other day I met some friends and their children at the park. One of the mom's, and fellow health counselor, showed up looking fierce. She had just returned from a consultation with a client and from her hair to her shoes she looked professional, fun, and sexy. Apparently a friend, who works as a stylist, gave her a little guidance and supported her to pass on some of her more difficult to get rid of clothing items that no longer suited her (ie:maternity clothes). Her stylist nicely suggested she stop wearing yoga pants to work and to save them for the gym. This experience seemed to have breathed new life into my friend, she looked on the outside how she felt on the inside, you can't get much more authentic than that.

This got me thinking... Does your current style support who you are and where you want to go?
I have always admired people who took the time to put themselves together in a way that reflects how they feel on the inside, the colorful, fun, funky ones. Admittedly I spend a majority of the winter in my pajamas or my "yoga clothes". I'm on Block Island, I see noone, I work from home, I get dressed when I am leaving the island or meeting with a client and that's pretty much it. Even when going for walks I just put my coat on over my slug-wear. Do I think this supports who I am and where I want to be going with my life? Nah- ah. I feel so much better the days I get dressed, and better still on the days I really get it together and dress nice. I am more motivated, feel better in my skin, and confident. What I recognize though is this takes energy, what I know is energy creates momentum and in turn creates more energy.

So with all my energy going here there and everywhere (slowly my new life is coming into focus), where do I find the time? How do I make the effort and does what I wear really effing matter? Streamline some things, simplify some others, tighten up sistah!

This, like so many other things, led me to the kitchen. It has been either chef Persephone or canned soup in the kitchen lately, seems I need to find some balance there. Perhaps you may benefit from this change as well. How about a simple series, meals with only a few ingredients that need little to no equipment (ie:blenders, food processors, etc.). This way "mommy" can get her groove back, or just find enjoyment in a multitude of things.

Starting now.

Last year I remember making swiss chard with a balsamic reduction. The reduction took about a 1/2 hour and my eyes watered from the intense vinegar vapor which took over our house. It was good, but this one is better and so much simpler!

Sweet and Tangy Chard
1 bunch of swiss chard
1/2 onion
1 inch piece fresh ginger
1 Tbl (real) maple syrup
touch of salt

chop chard
dice onion and ginger
saute chard stems with onion and ginger, add leaves, sprinkle with touch of salt while wilting
drizzle with maple syrup and toss to coat leaves

Egg salad and spinach sandwich with sweet and tangy chard.

A simple, yet delicious meal!

I make my egg salad with mustard, very little mayonnaise, salt and pepper. Chop is a connoisseur and he says its the best, even without all the mayo.

Notice Wes' bib and stripe coordination, this boy has style in any season, and how could you not give all the attention in the world to that face?

Farmaesthetics (beet &carrot salad with Honey dijon)

2010-04-18T10:04:00.007-04:00

Hand written labels and glass bottles say ooh la la- what's inside says-I care about myself.

I have to get out of the habit of writing about events after the fact, however...

This past week I was at Farmaesthetics in Newport facilitating a discussion on our emotional connection to food. Farmaesthetics is a beautiful skin care line created with the environment, our health, the health of our skin and the utmost of self care in mind. The products are all locally made using as much organic and local ingredients as possible... yummy! The shop is a beautiful space, created by the owner and producer of Farmaesthetics, Brenda- her story is a fun and inspirational one (you can find that here).

Anyway, I was a bit nervous as I always am when standing up in front of a group, though something felt different about this time. I don't know if it is the experience that I have now, having spoken in front of groups more frequently or something else, but I was definitely feeling relaxed. It felt almost as if there was more to this general relaxed state I was feeling. Eventually I attributed it to bearing and rearing a child. I think it made me feel more prepared, I handled a stressful birth and difficult adjustment to motherhood, and so now this was going to be cake. I found an even greater sense of calm when I realized that everyone was excited to participate in the discussion format and a great conversation was about to transpire.

It was a wonderful night, in a beautiful space, and I think everyone came away with a new perspective on at least one aspect of their lives. I know I was liking the confident, relaxed, version of "presenter Persephone" and plan on sticking with that for all future events.

A large focus of our discussion ended up being about the importance of eating locally, voting with our dollar (in terms of supporting organics, local, etc.), and some of the political aspects of where our food comes from, who pays for this, and how we can make small changes within our community. Since we were there to talk about the emotional connection to food, it was fun to watch the emotions soar during what became a somewhat heated conversation, but then be able to focus that energy with a call to action (educate, educate, educate) and bring us back to the original topic- how our entire physical, mental, and emotional being, is linked to what we put in and on our bodies.

Food is my passion, food and its effect on people and in turn the planet is a major focus in what I do as a Health Counselor. There is a direct correlation between food and how people feel, how they view the world, and how they treat others. I believe there would be alot less anger and hostility if America didn't "run on Dunkin". So, it was nice to be reminded of the importance of what we put on our bodies, and that anything lathered on our skin is being ingested all the same, through our largest organ.

The next day I went to a doctor's appointment and picked up some literature on this very subject. The fliers go something like this- Toxic Chemicals Are in Many Products- Knowledge is Power- Learn Which Everyday Products Can Cause Health Effects. "Everyday Products"-this means, air fresheners, cleaners, antibacterials, detergents, pesticides, plastics, cosmetics and fragrances are messin with our health! We hear this all the time, we inherently know this, lets start to pay attention and make changes. If you want to educate yourself more fully, really get acquainted with the nasty-ness visit www.toxicsinfo.org . Got asthma? Got migraines? Seriously check it out.

The adorable yet sophisticated little shop in Newport

And a recipe for the skin. Perfect for New England spring, when we still have to dig into our root cellars to find veggies.

3 beets
3 carrots
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 raisins

Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
3 Tbl Dijon mustard
1 heaping Tbl of local honey
3 Tbl EVOO
salt and pepper to taste
water till desired consistency

Shred the carrots and beets in a food processor with the grate attachment, keeping them separate if you want to make a pretty swirl in the bowl. Toss the raisins and sunflower seeds and 1/2 the dressing in with the beets. Toss the remaining dressing with the carrots.
On a plate over salad greens or in a bowl, lay the beets out in a circle pattern, then the carrots, alternating till you've covered the plate. Pretty and alluring...

Springing it on (Sweet potato-red lentil soup)

2010-03-29T20:17:00.004-04:00

This time last year, I was just finally over my morning sickness and feeling refreshed. My memories of that time are fond ones. It felt more like the renewal of spring than ever I've felt in the past. My life was changing in big ways and my body was reflecting this change. After eating primarily different forms of flour, sauce, and cheese for the first trimester of my pregnancy, I was happy to welcome greens back into my diet and did so with fervor. I also had loads more free time so I think I wrote about a few greens a week- oh how spoiled we all were. Anyway, I remember that my body felt fit, my energy levels were high, and I was excited about the new life growing inside of me, though it was still so hard to believe- I can't say it felt real yet.

Spring definitely inspires us all to clean up and clear out, though the record rain fall this month is inspiring less salads and more pasta. Chop thinks we need to clean up our act a little bit. I do too, of course, but with the lack of sleep for the past 6 months and the extra calories needed for nursing I have been finding it more challenging to make healthy food choices. Well, we have found new inspiration and once again it comes from Mr. Wesley -though we didn't know he was a mister last spring- he is already teaching us so much.

I have been cooking with Wesley for months, and have thought it important to show him each food in its whole form. I have wanted him to be able to smell the fresh fruits and vegetables and take in the colors and textures. My hope is that this exposure in his early development stages will encourage healthy and varietal eating habits as he gets older. We know that he will learn and mimic our actions, so although we are postponing curbing our language (little sh*t won't learn to talk for at least a year-ha!), we are becoming more aware of what he is learning from us now. Wes ate his first non breastmilk food this past weekend, some sweet potato. And with that, we are back at the kitchen table (we had been becoming movie and tv eaters, as well as grazers), and we are rethinking what's for dinner.

So what is for dinner?

Well tonights dinner is brought to you by, Wesley's sweet potato, rainy weather, and a overwhelming need for more greens in our diet.

Red Lentil and Sweet Potato Soup

1 cup red lentils
4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup red lentils
1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped in small pieces

1 large yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic minced
4 stalks of bok choy or one head of baby bok choy (or any green really)
2 inch piece ginger, grated
1 Tbl cumin
s and p to taste
garnish with goat cheese (optional)

cook onions on med-high heat till translucent
add sweet potato, stir
add garlic, ginger, and lentils-mix in well
coat veg and lentils with cumin
add veg stock-bring to a boil and then simmer
simmer till potato and lentils are soft
last five minutes of cooking add chopped bok choy

Greens are always more apt to make it into a meal when they are chopped and waiting for you. This bok choy is just screaming "look at me!" in the fridge. They keep longer as well if you put them in some cold water.

I believe I've shared this trick before, but never hurts to learn it again. This is blended parsley with a splash of water to be poured into an ice cube tray for easy "herbing" in the future. Once the cubes are frozen I always have parsley on hand. Seriously who uses a whole bunch at once? (ok juicers settle down...parsley is AWESOME for juicing)

We have decided to stop calling salads, salads. We are now just going to call them food, like really yummy, decadent food. Though not the best picture, this salad was flippin delicious.

Arugula
spinach
steamed golden beets
apple slices
avocado
toasted walnuts
shaved parmesan
radishes
ginger tahini dressing
oh my yum!

An Eggcellent Gift

2010-03-23T13:47:00.003-04:00

We have been fortunate to have a hefty supply of beautiful farm fresh eggs supplied to us for the past month, free of charge. I can't express how wonderful this has been. A friend from the island is looking after her parent's 17 chickens while they are away for the winter and has more eggs than she can feed her family of four. This friend has even been nice enough to drop them off at our front door! It is embarrassing to admit how much we normally pay for eggs like these, and so getting 2 dozen a week dropped off at our doorstep, for nothing, has been incredible (edible egg).

These eggs have given me a sense of freedom in the kitchen, at least in the egg department. Usually, because we do pay so much for healthy eggs from healthy chickens that roam the outdoors, I tend to be a little stingy with my egg dishes. One egg in the morning over rice and tortilla is a staple. If I were to bake or make a larger egg dish, like oh say ..a quiche or frittata, chances are I would get the less expensive of the "free range" eggs available. This would mean "cage free" or "free range" eggs from chickens that are kept in a barn with the door open- not ideal, but still a better alternative (if you want a run down of all the egg terminology and what it all means-shoot me an email). So instead of having to separate out our good eggs from our better ones, we have been able to bake, make quiche, and hard boil to our hearts desire.

This morning as I was about to make breakfast, I remembered a conversation with a cleanse client. This woman had come off cleansing the day before, and I was still cleansing as I had started a little later. She described her breakfast to me, and at the time it sounded so simple yet so delicious (especially because I hadn't been eating any of the ingredients in the breakfast for over a week). She had made herself a 2 egg omelette with spinach, goat cheese, and sundried tomatoes. This is a woman who has a 2 year old son and normally would not have taken the time to make herself breakfast, but rather would have grabbed something on the run. The cleanse had taught her to slow down a little and pay more attention to what she was eating, and she was happy to talk about the food and how it made her feel. It was a true food-mood connection she was able to make, and although I was jealous as hell that she was eating something so yummy, I was so happy to hear about her new mindset on taking care of herself. How we start the day is usually how we carry it out.

So this morning, because I am not cleansing and because I had goat cheese in the fridge (been keeping it the only dairy for the time being), I made a similar omelette or as the Thai would say, "same same but different" omelette. It was nice to be able to picture this breakfast as a gift to myself, as I know, that is how my cleanse client viewed her breakfast that morning.

Red Tent Event

2010-03-15T15:24:00.013-04:00

The Red Tent Event

This past weekend I was privileged to be a part of a week long culmination of events celebrating V-Day. The V in V-day stands for Victory, Valentine, and Vagina. I first learned about V-day, stated to raise awareness for women's rights, about 10 years ago when I went with my mother to see Eve Ensler perform her play, The Vagina Monologues. Since then, I have gotten excited to learn whenever Eve has a new project and I feel ever connected to the message of her organization. The mission of V-Day is this:

V-Day is an organized response against violence toward women.
V-Day is a vision: We see a world where women live safely and freely.
V-Day is a demand: Rape, incest, battery, genital mutilation and sexual slavery must end now.V-Day is a spirit: We believe women should spend their lives creating and thriving rather than surviving or recovering from terrible atrocities.
V-Day is a catalyst: By raising money and consciousness, it will unify and strengthen existing anti-violence efforts. Triggering far-reaching awareness, it will lay the groundwork for new educational, protective, and legislative endeavors throughout the world.
V-Day is a process: We will work as long as it takes. We will not stop until the violence stops.
V-Day is a day. We proclaim Valentine's Day as V-Day, to celebrate women and end the violence.
V-Day is a fierce, wild, unstoppable movement and community. Join us!

Wow, so proud to be a part. On Sunday, there was a day long event promoted to raise money for the V-day organization, promote female entrepreneur's of small business, and provide a day of pampering for women. For $10 women could attend the event and have access to full hair, make-up, and, nail services as well as yoga, dance, and kick boxing. There were female vendors with hand made crafts, a henna tattoo artist, facials provided by aveda, massage stations, and health consultations. One of the local hospitals, sponsored women who could not afford the $10, making sure they would be able to take part in the day. It was nice to have the opportunity to work with women who otherwise would not have access to a Health Counselor. To be able to support these women find small changes which may help them live a little happier and healthier, was such a gift. There was a beautiful red tent set up with carpets, pillows, and a warm soft glow from dimly lit lamps. This was a safe space for women to share stories, speak with social workers, or just relax after taking part of all the services offered. The energy of the event was very relaxed and all the women left looking fierce and feeling good about themselves-body, mind, and spirit.

It felt so nice to be in an environment where I knew that being a working mom was not only accepted, but expected and supported. My mother joined me for the day to help with Wesley, and I was able to nurse him, play with him or tend to him whenever I needed. There was no shortage of attention for the little man, and in the afternoon Grammy Natalie stopped by for some added support and to play with Mr. Wes.

My table offered health consultations, raw food samples, recipes, and a book drawing for the book Omnivore's Dilemma. So much fun.

The recipes shared at the Red Tent have both been featured here before, the red pepper dip and raw cacao truffles. The red pepper dip was uber popular, so for all y'all that haven't tried it yet-do.

All the practitioners were encouraged to take part in the services offered. I really had my eye on the massage chairs, wanted to get a henna tattoo, felt envious of the ladies having their nails manicured, and thought a facial would be nice. In the morning, when I had all the time to take advantage, I was too anxious to get my own booth up and running, by the afternoon everyone was very busy. After I had packed up my table I took a walk around and saw that the henna artist (Henna By Heather) was still working and so I excitedly sat down for my first small henna tattoo. Earlier in the day I had seen her working on a pregnant belly, so beautiful!

My henna hand. A guy actually said, "nice tatt" to me yesterday, very exciting for simple gal with no real "tatts"

Working with my man in my hands, feels so right. (Ok you can close your mouth now Persephone)

PS: Having some trouble with my formatting-hence some crazy fonts, underlining, and color changes. No more time to play around with it tonight.

Milk milk, lemonade

2010-03-09T14:08:00.007-05:00

Sieving sesame milk (looks like the ghost of milks future)

It has been all about milk, around these parts lately. We went through alot more milk when we ate more cereal, but since cleansing, cereal is less a part of our lives. Oddly enough, milk has become more a part. Now if you open our fridge, it seems we are collecting different types of milks all in their own unique bottles and containers. It started with the almond milk, and of course their has been a large flux of breast milk in the last few months, we regularly buy soy milk out of habit, and most recently I made sesame seed milk. Recently, I had to give myself permission to open the refrigerator and drink the almond milk out of the container. I was "saving" it, because it seemed such a precious commodity (since peeling each almond). I reminded myself that it was their to be enjoyed and would otherwise spoil. I drank it down with a few swigs, offering some to Chop's mom who was enjoying one of those deliciously naughty Hannah cookies. If she hesitated, it may have only been because of the fervor in which I pushed the bottle towards her face (I saw an amazing cookie/milk opportunity and didn't want it to be missed).

I have 1 night of work scheduled for this Friday night at Eli's (the best restaurant in town I mentioned in my last post). This is very exciting for me, and also very stressful. This stress is attributed to milk as well. I am very excited to get back out there, make a little money, work with friends, and to enjoy that camaraderie glass of wine at the end of the night. Unfortunately Wesley sees things a little differently and would like me to stay home to make sure that he is full and satisfied. He is refusing to take a bottle and frankly I am tired of trying to give him one. I love breast feeding him, and I would love for Chop to be able to feed him-but Wes has his priorities in order and has decided for us how it will go (love his steadfast determination).

I worry about how the night will go, I worry about Chopper and about Wesley. We have decided that if worse comes to worse, Chopper can drive down to town, I can run out, Wes can puff puff on the nipple, and I can run back in before any of my tables can say warm milk. I would like to avoid this plan just for professionalism's sake, but for our sanity and the health of our baby it may just be the ultimate nursing scenario.

So it seems milk milk is everywhere! We have bowls of soaking almonds, and a strainer of sesame milk, glass bottles of breast milk, 2 open cartons of soy milk (I hate it when that happens) and plastic baggies of colostrum in the freezer that we are just hoping to give Wes before the 6 month expiration. Never mind milk stains on pretty much all of my shirts and random drops in and around the bedroom and bathroom (if you've never experienced this, please forgive the visual, but it's life).

Chopper giving a patient go with a bottle (he looks tired doesn't he?)

Me and my man doing the best we can.

A milk fed hand.

OK a superfluous photo, but look at that chub, I couldn't resist.

Sesame seed milk

1 cup sesame seeds-hulls intact (otherwise known as unhulled)

1-2 cups water

agave to taste

blend and sieve in cheesecloth

Sesame milk is yummy yummy with a nuttier flavor. Thats not all...not only are sesame seeds a great source of manganese and copper, but they are also a good source of calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, vitamin B1, zinc and dietary fiber.

Vacation's all I ever wanted

2010-03-08T12:42:00.005-05:00

Where do I start?! Well lets start with HAPPY MARCH EVERYONE!!! March came rolling in with some pretty sweet weather, and I am so thankful Dread-uary took a hike once and for all. There have been so many happenings, so much food, and I have so little time (as I race against Wes' internal alarm clock)!

Our little family moved to our home on the mainland for the last week and a half (I know for some, that term probably sounds so funny-but that's what we call it). Oh happy day- friends, dinners, family, restaurants, shopping, yoga classes, home decorating, brunches...we had a great time. The week ended with my birthday on Saturday and both weekend days were sunny and warm. I am coming to terms with the fact that I think I have been vitamin D deficient all winter. I really need to stay on top of that, especially while nursing. So I pulled out my supplements, a habit I am terrible at keeping, and have started to keep better track.

It is amazing living in a seasonal place how drastic our life changes, not only from one season to the next, but sometimes from one month to the next. We left the island on February 25th, it was cold dreary and rainy, nothing was open, there was nary a peep. We arrived home here on March 7th, it was sunny and warm, the boat and town were bustling with islanders and tourists and Eli's (the best restaurant in town) was having their open house with beautiful food, wine and lots of socializing.

This is the month when the biggest shift happens on the island. Shop keepers start opening and spring cleaning, every weekend there seems to be another option for food, and people take to the streets again, jogging, walking-getting ready for the beach!! Even the fish market at the ferry landing was open, so in the spirit of the beautiful day we stopped and bought steamers and lobster. We usually treat ourselves about once a season, but rarely do we make them at home- it has something to do with the giant boiling pot of water and screaming, tail thrashing, sea insects, which tends to inhibit our lobstering. I insisted that I would do the honors, and with that Chopper agreed to the treat. It was brutal, but fortunately for everyone, over quickly. At the open house, we had indulged ourselves in oysters, house made ricotta/olive bruschetta, calamari in romanesco sauce, and desserts (the open house was unexpected, otherwise we may have passed on the lobster), so with our lobster we enjoyed a fresh pea shoot, tomato, avocado salad and called it a day.

There are living lobsters in that bag, click click clicking. Wes was ready to wrangle them.

The salad, ahhh greens! Get ready for them big time this spring, we all need a little intestinal spring cleaning!

Post boil. I couldn't bear to take pictures before or during. My chef friend Aaron told me how to do them. Bring a big pot of water to a rolling boil and add salt like the ocean (his words), say a little prayer, lower them in swiftly, 12 minutes they are done.

Dread-uary (link to AWESOME cookies and huevos rancheros)

2010-02-11T11:02:00.008-05:00

It is February. Chopper refers to this month as dread-uary. The first year we were together, after a romantic summer and fall, followed by fun filled first holidays and Chopper's birthday celebration, our relationship seemed to take this sad turn. I worried things were fizzling. Then March came, the sun came out, the wind died down, and our hearts thawed.

The other night I asked Chop to help me come up with 10 things we love about February, I thought we could both use the shift in attitude. This is what we came up with over dinner, while bouncing Wes around the living room.

10 Things WE love about February
1. March is coming
2. It is the end of winter
3. Persephone's birthday is getting closer
(March 6th-this was one of Chopper's)
4. Makes us appreciate spring
5. Shortest month
6. Valentine's Day (a little color and warmth)
7. Inexpensive organic oranges (99 cents a lb!)
8. The occasional windless day
9. The Winter Farmer's Market
10. Tea, Smartwool socks, Wes' car seat sleeping bag

I have to admit the list is a bit redundant and lacking much richness- much like February.
OK the list is weak. If the best bits about a month have to do with the month ending, that probably isn't worth listing. I think what I love most about February is the blank canvas of it all-the room for possibility.

Last night, as I sat up with Wes for his 3 am feeding, my mind was keeping up with my body. What do I love about February? Perhaps I need to narrow it down. What do I love about this February? All the others are past and it is important to leave room for growth, I could easily stay in the I hate Dread-uary club but then I would never Love it, ever.

10 Things I Love about February 2010
1. These cookies

Oh my, they are nice. I think my favorite part about them besides the chocolate/peanut butter combination is that Hannah has named them Protein Cookies-so go ahead have a few (find the recipe here-so easy and yummy!!).
2. Mama-baby Yoga
We just started going and Wesley (and I) L-O-V-E love it! A room full of gooing babies and aching mama's. Take time to nurse if you need to, babies laugh, babies cry, mom gets to stretch while caring for babe, the best (and I get to leave the island for it-woo woo big city)
3. Our House
So warm and cozy. When we are there we are surrounded by our life, our memories, our energy. Our home cannot be beat (for us of course).
4. California and Georgia(!) farmer's
I would prefer to get all my produce and well-everything from as close as possible, but when you cannot. Chard from California can make a meal in February.
5. Maine Shrimp
local, wild, small, and sweet
6. 3 boat Thursdays
never have we felt such freedom
7. Valentine's Day

Modern sweethearts.

More than I enjoy celebrating it, I love watching others celebrate. I used to love in SF watching men in suits carrying roses or balloons. This past Saturday, I loved seeing the line out the door at Wholefoods- men, mouths somewhat agape (I think it was disbelief at the line), waiting to purchase flowers. Or the odd teenage boy choosing between roses and gerber daisy's. And seeing women, dressed so nice, being appreciated.
8. My green hat

When a splash of color is needed

9. Huevos Rancheros

This month I have regularly been indulging myself.

Local corn tortillas (bought at winter farmer's market-see list 1)
Local cheese (bought at winter farmer's market-Narragansett Creamery)
1 Local egg (bought at winter farmer's market)
Avocado (thank you Florida farmers!)
Brown rice
Hot sauce

10. Hand me downs

My friend Rosemary has a boy (Zane is his name and so cute!) who was born in February of last year (another reason to love February), so it just happens to work out age wise, size wise and season wise-she has given us some really great things. It totally works for us two fold, we are able to provide Wes with some really fun stuff and we are recycling!

Warning: Shameless photos of my guy

Hand me down bouncy play thing. The first few times we put him it took him about 2 minutes to burst into tears. I didn't take pictures. Here he is testing the water.

Checking out the local flavor.

Boy verses frog

Getting acquainted

Bouncy time=fun time

February doesn't look so dreadful when you have a face like that to share it with.

Nut Soaking (almond milk)

2010-02-09T19:31:00.004-05:00

Been soaking mad nuts this week. I've been waiting to say that. There is so much I know about food preparation which I am not in the habit of of practicing. Nut soaking is one of them. Grain soaking is another. I know I should soak and cook my own beans, but I have a hard time finding the patience and the space on my counter. The last time I was home, my mother was making almond milk (how lucky am I?), she sent some home with me and it was so delicious, so white, sweet, and cold- I couldn't wait to make more. Part of the reason I had never made it before was because I thought it would be very expensive to make. Turns out you need many less almonds than I had anticipated.

Mad nut soaking is happening right here.

The almonds soaked over night and then I was able to remove the skins. They pop right out of their skin. The skin is an enzyme inhibitor. This means that the skin blocks the assimilation and absorption of the vitamins and minerals in the nut. Soaking the nut, brings it to life allowing it to digest easily and more completely.

To make almond milk, blend 1 1/2 cup of soaked and skinless almonds with 3 cups of water. Blend until nuts are pureed completely and then strain through a cheese cloth. Squeeze all the excess water out of the cheese cloth getting all the milk. Add honey, agave, or blended dates to sweeten the milk (straining the date debris as well). You can also add vanilla, or even nutmeg or cinnamon to create a more dessert-y beverage.

Next up walnuts. Check out these walnuts and their amazing transformation. Again, we are removing the enzyme inhibitors and in the walnuts case, what gives them their bitter flavor. I am now officially over walnut skins and no longer want to eat a walnut with its skin intact. Without the skin they are so sweet, it's a whole new nut!

Look at that hot mess (not actually "hot"-just love the saying and it certainly is a "mess"). That is walnut water after just a few hours.

Rinsed walnuts with fresh water. This piece of skin floated to the surface. It's like snakeskin.

Look at the difference! I know it looks like some kind of cheesy science project. That is not chewed gum, it is a naked nut. Suppose it is after a fresh rain, perhaps as nature intended.

So now you have naked walnuts, what do you want to do with them? Most of us don't use walnuts for much more than texture and flavor in baking. I have a feeling once you taste a raw naked walnut you'll want to find more uses. I found this amazing recipe on my friend Ali's blog. I've made it twice in the past week and a half.

Stuffed mushrooms to die for. Definitely RUN don't walk to her blog to get the recipe. To make this cleanse friendly (well my version of the cleanse-nut friendly) I substituted the cheese with some nutritional yeast and ground flax seed, then broiled them to make a yummy crispy top. Today I made it again but with the cheese, I say they are great either way, honestly.

It's a serious meal.

Sunday frittata

2010-02-08T15:24:00.002-05:00

Scenes from an urban farmer's market. This particular urban farmer's market is extremely busy and usually pretty congested, this makes it that much more fun, but also that much more difficult to really get in there and get a good picture (I highly suggest checking out some better photo's here, especially for all you RI-ers who haven't made the trip yet). Chop was quick and caught this one as we ran into friends. These are friends from the island whom were also in our birth class, so Wes met their daughter in utero, they are very close.

Potato shopping. I bought some beautiful red potatoes that even have red centers. I liked them so much I bought some this week as well- recipes to follow.

This dude was selling fresh herbs and pea greens. For 4 bucks you can get a big container of pea greens (seen to the left of the photo). They are great in salads, omelettes, pesto or stir fry. Add them to your smoothie if you dare.

All this shopping was to prepare for a brunch with friends. Our table all set and ready to go. On the menu this beautiful Sunday morning was spinach salad, sweet and red potato frittata, quiche lorraine, and cranberry loaf. Everything was delicious and the company was spirited to say the least.

The company.

This was a big day, Wesley rolled over for the first time. The joke was he was showing off for the ladies, but I say not my boy-he's very talented but modest as well.

Though I don't have any pictures of it, I would like to share the frittata recipe here. A frittata is a great way to make up a nutritious breakfast for the week (if it can last that long). Also a good use for all those roasted veggies you have left over.

10 eggs
3-4 red potatoes
2-3 sweet potatoes
1 onion (or shallots if you're feeling saucy)
goat cheese
olive oil
salt and pepper
rosemary, thyme, any other fresh herbs you'd like

Clean, slice and toss potatoes and onion with herbs, salt, pepper, and olive oil till their coated.
Roast 25-30 minutes at 425*
Let cool as you beat the 10 eggs (I cooled mine in the freezer. Cheater cheater)
Mix the eggs with the veggies and goat cheese (as much as you'd like)
Coat a 9-10 inch cast iron skillet or baking dish with a generous amount of olive oil and heat till it just starts to smoke.
Pour the eggs and veggies in the pan and cook for a minute or two in the hot oil (this will hopefully keep it from sticking by creating a nice crust.
Put frittata in oven at 350* for about 20-30 minutes or until firm in the middle

Slice and eat warm or at room temp. yummmmmmmmmmmm.

Creativity in Cleansing (Millet Casserole)

2010-01-31T19:24:00.011-05:00

We are at it again with the cleansing business. My intention was to blog (is "blog" a verb yet?) 1 cleansing recipe a day for the 10 days we and the group were cleansing. Alas with all the cooking that needed to get done, there has been nary a moment to blog.

The first cleanse I ever did was the Master Cleanse, that is actually how this blog business got started. That cleanse changed my life, primarily because it got me blogging.

I used to paint, I never cooked (this is going back about 12 years), I would bead and make all kinds of half assed craft projects. I cried the first time someone tried to teach me to saute a portabella mushroom, the pressure nearly broke my 20 year old self down. At that time I thought the vegetarian food that my boyfriend made was bland, and my creativity was expressed in other ways than cooking.

My next phase of life brought me to San Francisco. There, I had many failed attempts to embrace painting, and always wanted to cook more often but never did. I loved the creative energy in the city but my own creative expression was missing (there were too many amazing restaurants where people could cook great food for me, and too many fun bars to distract me from my paints).

Once I entered the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, nutrition, diet and all the avenues of living a health focused lifestyle had my attention. People I hadn't seen since I moved to SF would ask if I was still painting and I always felt badly saying, unfortunately no- I didn't paint much anymore. The guilt I would feel. Often I would tell myself "I should", I should paint more, I should craft. What I wasn't realizing was that I felt satisfied, I didn't feeling like anything was missing until someone would ask the question. Then one day while I was justifying to an old friend why I had been such a bum in the arts department, the excuses of cooking and nutrition study were flying, when I realized all my creativity was going into the kitchen! Now, it gives me great pleasure to be creating in the kitchen and then linking my work there with my blog here. Using this blog as inspiration for cooking and using cooking as inspiration for this blog, both creative in their own right.

So the now Health Counselor, has to ask the question: Where has your energy been going and where would you like it to go?

I used this most recent cleanse group as inspiration for myself to cleanse as well. It is a food based cleanse, and I added more fats than what I suggest for the rest of the group, because I also have to feed the milk monster, Wesley. It is essentially an elimination diet with a few other food supplements. The cleanse is designed to flush toxins and carry them out of the body, as well as give you the opportunity to test for allergies and sensitivities when you start to add foods back in. Eliminating foods like dairy, wheat, salt, and sugar can lead to some pretty bland food, fortunately our bodies and taste buds adjust and we start to taste the sugars in the grain or fruit. Using sea vegetables like arame or kombu allow you to also get some natural salt flavor. Why for dessert, just a few minutes ago, Chopper and I had bowls of mashed butternut squash with nothing added and it was delicious.

Cran-water is a cleanse staple. Yep 64 oz a day to flush the system.

Last spring sweet root vegetables weren't an option on the cleanse, though plenty of fresh fruit was. In keeping with the seasons we swapped the fruit out for the squash, sweet potatoes, and beets. The seeds made a nice treat with a little chili pepper and cumin.

Cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, kale, and brussel sprouts help to convert the toxins to non-toxic waste before leaving your body.

A cleanse meal. Brown rice getting its flavor from onion, garlic, olives, and nutritional yeast, sauteed with collard greens. Topped with avocado and arame seaweed. This was actually really tasty.

A cleanse smorgasborg. Roasted butternut squash (cinnamon and stevia), spinach/cabbage salad, avocado/tomato salad in cleanse friendly pesto, wild shrimp, and roasted brussel sprouts.

And another...purple rice with diced tomatoes and olives. Leftover butternut squash and brussel sprouts.

Wesley helps me cook. Please no judgment on me wielding such a large knife with him so close, I am very careful. He was holding the garlic for me.

Rainbow Chard and Collard Greens. The first ingredients needed to make the chard/millet casserole.

Millet and Swiss Chard Casserole

Ingredients:

4 cups vegetable stock

2 cups millet

1 large onion, chopped finely

2 large garlic cloves, chopped finely

1 large bunch of Swiss Chard, stems removed and chopped into small pieces

1 large bunch of collard greens

1 small semi-hot pepper, such as a Cherry Hot, seeds and ribs removed, chopped finely

1/4 cup ground flax

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

2 Tablespoon dried thyme, divided

salt & pepper

1 bay leaf or kombu

sprinkle of paprika

1 tsp olive oil

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2) In a stockpot, bring vegetable stock, a sprinkle of salt and pepper, bay leaf and a teaspoon of the dried thyme to a boil. Add millet, reduce heat and simmer until all stock is absorbed and millet is fluffy. Remove and discard bay leaf or kombu.

3) In a large frying pan, add onion and garlic, with ½ tsp olive oil and saute until just translucent. Add pepper and Swiss Chard and collards, cook until just wilted.

4) Combine the contents of the frying pan with the millet, adding the remaining dried thyme. Stir to combine all ingredients thoroughly.

5) Grease a casserole dish with ½ T olive oil and spread millet and chard mixture evenly over the dish. Sprinkle with flax seed and nutritional as if it were cheese (yum)

Dust lightly with paprika.

Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for 5 minutes for a crispier top.

I rinsed the millet and then toasted it on a sheet pan in the oven for about 10 minutes. Millet is very soothing for the digestive tract as well as being high in minerals and nutrients. Great for pregnant women suffering morning sickness.

Look at that chard-it's bright pink!

The finished dish was quite delicious. Very reminiscent of stuffing.

Life is Charming (roasted garlic)

2010-01-20T20:08:00.011-05:00

Victoria Moran says to upgrade your life. She is the author of Living a Charmed Life and she has really awesome, simple ideas on how to do that. One of my favorites is how she views chocolate, Victoria says, "Chocolate is like sex. It can be a sensual, spiritual experience or it can be a criminal act." The criminal act chocolate is the kind that you get at the gas station, eat in the car, and hide the wrappers. She suggests when you eat chocolate, eat handmade, beautiful chocolate that you buy from behind a glass case- of course because it is so expensive you can only have 1 piece. Pick out the special piece, the shop owner will wrap it in tissue paper, bring it home, make yourself a cup of tea, take out a special plate you only use on special occasions, put on mozart or chet baker or whoever relaxes you, and ennnnnjoooooy your beautiful handmade, delicate piece of chocolate. Doesn't that sound so nice? It is with these simple moments or gestures, when we are able to pay more attention and slow down to enjoy, that enable us to experience a truly charmed life.

Today, I was trying to think of other ways we may try to make our lives a charmed one.
I know eating high quality foods is one way. The idea is to do the best you can with what you have in the moment. Chop and I don't have mucho money, and since being out of work to care for Wesley, I see the stretch that buying high quality food can be for people. But by allowing myself to do the best that I can, with what I have in the moment- I have found that we still eat well, spending less money, and find enjoyment in making it work. It isn't always what you eat either, but how you eat it. Do you "plate" your food? Do you drink out of plastic or glass? Do you watch TV or do you listen to music while you eat? How can you make the experience of eating a meal just that, an experience? I've found plating my meals, laying them out so that they are visually appealing is almost as important as how they taste. If your meal looks beautiful, it is more apt to taste equally as wonderful. You may not be able to do it every meal, but do the best you can with the time you have available. As Victoria says, "it's just as easy to pour your morning juice into a stemmed glass as it is to pour it into your kids plastic disney cup."

All this charmed life talk got me reflecting a bit. I have to admit that there have been many times that, though I didn't quite use that term, "charmed" is how I would describe my life. It also occurred to me that nobody really wants to hear anyone else describe their life as charmed. It would be more acceptable for me to say that I am blessed. Being blessed means that God decided that I would have a nice life and therefore it has nothing to do with me, it was God's decision. But I think that it does have to do with us, we can control how we view our lives and how we live them. So yeah, I've thought about how lucky I am (there I go again with it being luck- first god, now a leprechaun), but also how I work to keep it going. Buying fun colored vegetables (how can you feel down eating rainbow chard?) always helps. I also found taking pictures of your life, even if they aren't pictures you'd really want to keep or even hang on a wall, helps to give you a different perspective. Winter on BI is cold, quiet, lonely, windy, and one might even say boring. But when you're really bored, you force yourself out into the wind and cold to take a walk. This is when I bring a camera-my pictures aren't great, I don't have an "eye" for photography, but boy does it look beautiful behind the lens. You can't feel the 9 degree windchill or 35 mph winds, you just see sunshine, peacefulness and beauty.

I thought this could look like a car commercial. If the car was nicer or even newer. Charming.

Roasted garlic makes me love life. There is a restaurant on BI (Winfields) that serves roasted garlic and shaved parmesan with their bread. It is a nice restaurant, and the garlic comes in a whole bulb. It is such a treat, but why not make it at home?

1 Preheat the oven to 400°F.

2 Peel away the outer layers of the garlic bulb skin, leaving the skins of the individual cloves intact. Using a knife, cut off 1/4 to a 1/2 inch of the top of cloves, exposing the individual cloves of garlic.

3 Place the garlic heads in a baking pan; muffin pans work well for this purpose. Drizzle a couple teaspoons of olive oil over each head, using your fingers to make sure the garlic head is well coated. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 400°F for 30-35 minutes, or until the cloves feel soft when pressed.

4 Allow the garlic to cool enough so you can touch it without burning yourself. Use a small small knife cut the skin slightly around each clove. Use a cocktail fork or your fingers to pull or squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins.

Purple rice makes life feel special. This is a dish of many colors.

Roasted Kale (dashed with salt and garlic powder)
Roasted butternut squash (tossed in cinnamon and maple syrup)
Purple rice and kidney beans (finished with feta cheese)
avocado

Orange squash in a blue pan. Fun.

Taking a little boy for a cold walk. Special.

Look at the beets! Chata-something beets (I have to look up the name). It always makes cooking more fun when your food looks seuss-ish. Steam the beets and keep them in the fridge to throw on salads (everyone do this except Kristen ;) Toss in a salad with green beans, pecans, and blue cheese- awesome.

Who doesn't like a little cheese filled pasta every once in a while. 4 Cheese Ravioli tossed with roasted butternut squash, green beans, roasted sweet onions, feta cheese, and roasted garlic. So wonderfully delicious.

My boy is always so warm, he "runs hot" as they say. Unfortunately he is never able to wear the sweet cable neck sweater he received as a gift, it is just too much for him. But when you live a charmed life like he does, you dress up for fun, even if its only for a 10 minute photo shoot.

Life is Sweet

2010-01-17T22:31:00.003-05:00

Welcome to step 2. We are midway through January and the gluttony of the holidays probably feels like a distant memory. Hopefully the green vegetables helped to make that happen, and hopefully you are all feeling better for them.

The past few weeks, right after January 2nd (Chop's 32nd birthday and Wes' 3rd month birthday), I started to get back to work. Fortunately I am able to work for myself, and so when I go back, I say who- I say when- I say who(!) (just a quick line from Pretty Woman-the only movie we owned when I was growing up-just pops up from time to time.) So who and when? This week a group of brave (some really brave-this is their second time round) are starting a new cleanse group. I am really excited for this one. It is a smaller group which is always a little more fun for me, I am able to get a bit more personal with each individual. So the cleanse group should be fun and I will be making some great new recipes throughout the 10 days which I hope to share here.

Last Thursday I attended another great event for RI Health Counseling. I wanted to post about it here, before it actually took place- a little shameless promotion, but I never found the time. The event was called Beauty From the Inside Out (yes! an absolute favorite truth). I was the resident HC. There was a stylist, Lulu Locks, of Providence Pinup-they have an awesome website and service-haven't we all wanted to be a pinup at some point in our lives, someday I will post my pinup pictures here (when I actually do it). And the author of the book You'd Be So Pretty If... (teaching our daughters to love their bodies), Dara Chadwick. The event took place at Into The Wardrobe, a fabulous upscale resale clothing shop in Providence. Women had fun, shopping, eating, mingling, getting tips from the stylist and talking health and body image. I had alot of fun being back in the health counselor role and balancing it with my mommy role. My mother had Wes in the less congested area of the shop, so I was able to feed and hold him when he needed, and when I needed.

I had made a good amount of food for the BFTIO event, which ended up being a great way to talk about what I do. It also gave me the opportunity to share some recipes, I especially love sharing recipes when they are really simple-they showcase just how easy eating whole foods can be. I made the Raw Chocolate Truffles which I've shared here before as well as the Red Pepper Spread (also known as mock "salmon"), and an avocado dip-which was not guacamole!

Avocado Dip

1 avocado
2 Tbl raw tahini
1/3 cup raw cashews
3 Tbl Lemon juice
1 Tbl maple syrup (grade b if you can)
salt and pepper to taste

In the food processor-grind cashews till fine. Add avocado and tahini-process. Add remaining ingredients.
Its creamy, its nutty, its dreamy.

Ok so about this feeling good after the holidays plan. The next step is to make your life sweet in some non-refined sweetener kind of ways. Taking walks, getting fresh air even if it means stepping away and just taking a few breaths outside, stretching while Wes is on his playmat, letting the dishes sit for just another hour till Chop comes home, and eating sweet vegetables. Yes yes yes...this was a trick I never would believe, until I saw it work for me time and time again. Fortunately too, we are in the middle of sweet vegetable season. By increasing the amount of sweet vegetables in your diet, you are getting the sweet flavor, without the sugar. Fruit has sugar, dried fruit has more sugar, a sweet potato has less. And usually when you cook a root vegetable there is always enough for more than one meal. Cook once- eat twice, gotta love it.

So with that I made, mashed sweet potatoes (cook a bunch at once, you'll find uses for the rest throughout the week). I put half of the plain mashed potatoes aside and to the other half I added a little bit of soy milk, a small amount of butter (the dark yellow, real butter kind) and salt and pepper. With some Mushroom miso gravy, wow.

Later in the week I had some wild shrimp I was looking to cook up, but for some reason sweet potatoes and shrimp just didn't flow for me. I needed to come up with a way for the sweet potatoes to kick it with the shrimp. When I was in SE Asia, I met a girl in Laos who made pumpkin burgers. I don't think she used pumpkin like we know them, but another type of root vegetable that was very similar. This was a food I did not expect to see in Laos and it opened my eyes to what grows there and how they may use the different foods-not neccasarily the standard snap pea, bamboo shoot, soy sauce asian dishes we are more familiar with here. Anyway, I thought asian and experimented a little, with sweet potato/cabbage pancakes. Delicious.

Sweet Potato/Cabbage Pancakes

3-4 mashed sweet potatoes (or grated would be good-if you hadn't cooked them yet)
1/4 head of green cabbage (another sweet vegetable), chopped
2 handfuls arugula (adds green and spice)
1 egg
1 onion chopped
4 cloves garlic minced
1 inch piece ginger (grated)
1 Tbl soy sauce
1 Tbl rice vinegar
1 Tbl maple syrup
1 Tbl toasted sesame oil

Saute onions and garlic in sesame oil till translucent.
Add ginger-cook another minute or 2 (allowing the ginger's flavor to release)
Add cabbage, cook till softened (if using grated uncooked sweet potato-add now as well).
Add soy sauce, rice vinegar, maple syrup and arugula. Mix till arugula starts to wilt.
Mix all ingredients into sweet potato. Add egg and mix.

Use either coconut oil or sesame oil to pan fry the pancakes.

Love the sweet taste of green cabbage raw or sauteed.

The pancakes with the splash of green from the arugula- i bet scallions would be great in this recipe as well.

Sweet potato pancakes and shrimp kickin it together. Delicious!

So I'm hoping the sweet vegetable, green vegetable formula will be working for you all as well. I am hoping to share some more sweet vegetable/ seasonal recipes soon!

Attachment Carroting (green smoothie)

2010-01-10T10:30:00.002-05:00

I've said it before...when you buy carrots, buy them with the greens attached. You may pay just a little more, but you are getting more bang for your buck, especially if you then cook or use these greens. They are great in salad, adding a nice sweet flavor, or they are my favorite for smoothies. Because they are already a little sweet they don't alter the flavor of the smoothie too much.

Today, because I thought you may have missed my blender, or actually because I missed my blender, I made a carrot top smoothie (not the actor slash comedian, cuz that would be gross). I had actually bought the green topped carrots to inspire a blender use. This is something else you can do if you're like me and you can't stand food going bad, buy whatever it is you are thinking about trying and be inspired.

So here's my smoothie on deck. In the blender is plain yogurt, an orange, coconut water, frozen pineapple, carrot greens, flax oil, and hemp seed powder. You can see little Wesley in the swing. I talk to him the whole time, kind of like he's watching a cooking show. I can only hope he is learning something.

Before I was pregnant I would hear friends with kids reference "attachment parenting", I had no idea what they were talking about, but whatever they were saying seemed to make sense to me at the time. I was getting the idea that whenever I decided to have a child, "attachment parenting", seemed like a good way to raise said child. While I was pregnant I googled "attachment parenting" and started to read the principles associated with the parenting model, and they all sounded good to me. AP is based on 8 principles, which help give me a base or a guideline that I can go back to when I am confused about the best way to handle a situation with Wesley. I like to call it "intuitive parenting". Anyway some people who follow this model, feel pretty strongly that swings, pacifiers, and strollers are not the best tools for raising a baby and put too much distance between the parent and child. Some AP-ers accept that there can be a balance with the use of these tools. Of course because of this controversy in the AP world, when I first put Wes in the swing I instantly felt like a bad mama, I was not doing best by my baby. He should be on me, close to me, being held by me. At this time I had not quite figured out how to maneuver with a baby carrier on and he was still so small, so I held him in my arms pretty much 24/7. I used the swing only to take a shower or go to the bathroom. As he's gotten bigger, and I can use the carriers with a little more ease, I use the swing less and less, except that now I find that he is looking for some free time to move around. He's saying "mama put me down already!" So for not only me, but baby as well, it is all about balance. I learned this lesson last week again, when I had to go to the mall of all places to return multiple Christmas gifts. There I was with 2 heavy bags, my coat, his diaper bag, and instead of the stroller I decided to carry him too. I didn't want him to have to go from car seat to stroller to car seat again, but instead of a 15 minute mall trip as it could have been with wheels, we ended up being in the building for 2 hours (which was way worse for both of us). It IS all about balance. I write this now, I think partly to pass it on, partly to forgive myself, and partly to defend myself against any tisk tisking I may subject myself to (just being honest, I still care what the "pro-attachment parenters" think!).

So there you have it folks. In a nutshell, greens are good for you and I am nuts.

Step 1 -we can have lots of fun (chard and tomato sauce)

2010-01-07T16:58:00.001-05:00

I'm staying with step 1 for a little bit here, the greens. All day I have blog ideas running through my head (this weeks it has been greens and how they relate to my life), oh sure it may seem like my posts are stream of conscious writing with no real point, but no. I actually think about what I may want to write about and then when it comes down to it I end up with an abbreviated version, whatever I have time for.

Step 1 (if you have no idea what I'm talking about, read the previous post) is on-going, the greens stay in the diet as best as we are able. Step 2 and step 1 are coinciding, but I want to really push the greens issue first.

So now that I'm a mom I understand what all the women who have children have been talking about all these years (and I only have one, and he's really small). There is a serious lack of "me time", and if you want to create "me time" some other "-time" gets robbed. Will I take from my work time, my shower time, my meal time, my sleep time? When I make suggestions to these moms, like eat more greens, try new foods, if they aren't used to spending time in the kitchen that can be alot to ask. They would have to steal from another "-time" to be able to do this, and is kale really all that appealing? (according to Kathy it is, thanks Kathy, I love the name of your blog by the way). The deal is it can be simple, and it doesn't have to take alot of time. Greens cook in minutes, but they are also usually thought of as a side dish, so coming up with the rest of the meal can be tough. Whatever the challenge, this I believe is manageable. Get out a jar of tomato sauce (look for one without added sugar, they are hard to find). Chop, destem and steam your greens adding a little sea salt and garlic powder, then dump the jar over it. Have this over brown rice pasta or better yet, brown rice. You can add chicken or whatever protein you'd like, but the greens and the brown rice both have protein, just perhaps not the amount you may be used to at dinner time.

I did this last night with chard. It had gotten really late and I was not feeling like making dinner. Fortunately or unfortunately take-out is not so abundant on the island. You can get it, but it'll cost you and probably won't be so hot for the after holiday shedding plan. So here it is:

Doesn't this look delicious and nutritious?

Cleaning or Greening out the holidays (greens on greens)

2009-12-30T16:03:00.009-05:00

The holidays were a feast and that's no joke. Chopper ended up with stomach bug symptoms and blamed the chocolate and rich foods. When I kept going (eating cookies, chocolate, and drinking eggnog 2 days after Christmas) he took the opportunity to give me a tisk tisk look and a few comments until I told him to "watch it" (that's a direct quote). So now I have caught up with Chopper, and I too, am relaxing on the sweets. I'm looking forward to the cleanse I have planned for the island at the end of January, and realize the prep for that starts now.

Because it seems that the exhaustion of over-eating and indulging, is a common sentiment this time of year, I will share with you my personal plan of attack to combat the sugar high and addiction that ensues. I get bitten with the sweet bug every year just like everyone else and every year the sweets linger past the holidays. I also usually feel a bit down once all the celebration comes to a hault and it can be quite cold and lonely come January/February (especially here on the island). We all know that cold, lonely and depressed are never the emotions that help us to make healthy choices for ourselves. So, that being said the sooner you start the shedding process the better.

My personal plan: Starts with Greens! Always. If you talk to any of my clients (perhaps you were one) you will recognize this pattern. Once your body starts to get the minerals, nutrients, and oxygen it needs, it will want for less. Dark leafy greens.

So for step one I've included a recipe here that is one of my favorites. It is a recipe from one of my teachers and mentors, Andrea Beaman.

Greens on greens (Andrea Beaman)

1 head of kale
1/2 bunch of scallions
1/2 bunch of parsley
3 Tbl soy sauce
3 Tbl Ume Plum Vinegar
1/3 cup Tahini
1/2 cup water

De-stem the kale and tear into bite size pieces (for a great how-to video go HERE). Then steam till bright green (using a steamer basket will keep the kale from getting to watery).

Put the rest of the ingredients into your food processor or blender (if you are not using a high-power blender you will want to chop the scallions and parsley first) and blend until smooth.

Pour the lovely green sauce over the lovely steamed greens.

Sideways parsley and scallions, chopped. Don't they look pretty sideways?

Kale steamed till bright green.

This is delicious as is, or you can add other veggies, a protein, or even soba noodles are yummy.

Stay tuned for step 2, in the meantime green away. You can never green too much.

Christmas Eve Feast (spinach salad with cranberry vinegarette)

2009-12-30T08:43:00.009-05:00

Our tree colored lights and all

And now back to the food...

Christmas was a good time this year. My last post ended quite abruptly so here, I would just like to say Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year.

On Christmas Eve we had a nice dinner with Chopper's family. There was Baccala, pea soup, salad, and shrimp enchiladas. It was a cultural feast. Chop's father is Portuguese and so brought the traditional dish, Baccala, which is salted cod and potatoes with olives, pimento peppers, eggs, and a few other ingredients. Apparently it is best with a little olive oil and vinegar drizzled over the top. Because of the tradition of eating fish on Christmas eve this is a popular dish, personally it is a little fishy for me, but those who like it, reaaaally like it. The pea soup was brought by Chop's brother and his wife, another family tradition from another culture. Kristen's family is polish, pea soup and pierogies is their Christmas Eve tradition. She made the pierogies for Christmas day, they are always delicious and the pea soup was yummy too (made vegetarian with no ham). The enchilada's were not family tradition at all, but they were delicious! Chopper's mother Natalie brought them. Natalie has a food blog of her own, her blog highlights eating local, and all of her recipes are made from foods that are sustainable in some way..in most cases because they are all grown in very close proximity to where they are being eaten. She said she would have the enchilada recipe posted at some point and I would suggest seeking it out, they were really yummy.

The delicious enchiladas, obviously being eaten!

The baccala

It was a lovely evening around food and family, which had just the energy one would want to christen their new home for the holidays. Chop and I felt very lucky and our house is feeling more like home every day, it is amazing to think of the memories that have been created there in just the few short monthes we've been in the house (ok 6 monthes but still!).

Grammy with her new picture of Wesley.

Chop and the Boy

Wes and his new organic cotton penguin

The salad I haven't yet mentioned was my contribution to the evening. I don't like to usually put "green salad" recipes on my blog except for in my ode to salads post from last year, because they seem a bit simple and I don't want to undermind my readers. But I brought this salad to a brunch with friends a few weeks ago and then served it again on Christmas Eve and the comments were a flowin. People like this salad, as "simple" as it may seem to me and so I shall share it with you. This is a salad you can get in many restaurants, but what I think makes it stand above (besides the local mixed greens) is the love, that has got to be it. So if you make this salad, make sure to love what you're doing while you're doing it, otherwise it could come out rather pedestrian.

Salad and Dressing
baby spinach (or mixed greens..I used both)
toasted pecans (put on tray in toaster and toast for about 5 minutes)
crumbled blue cheese
sliced pears
finely sliced red onion

Cranberry Vinegarette

1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup balsamic (I used white balsamic, I don't know how they clarify it-shouldn't matter-use what you have)
2 Tablespoons honey
1/4 of a red onion chopped
1/4 cup dried cranberries

Blend all ingredients except for the olive oil. Then with blender on a low setting pour the olive oil in the top. This will allow it to emulsify.
salt and pepper to taste

Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T07:24:00.002-05:00

It's Christmas morning and my gift to myself is 15 minutes to write this post. I would give myself more time, but with Chopper making breakfast and Wesley sleeping, I have all the gifts I need...and there's laundry to fold.

I awoke this morning with that excited "santa came" feeling and I think that has everything to do with my new family. Wes won't remember this Christmas, but Chopper is giving me a glimpse into the excitement of Christmas for a little boy. Yes, the emotions of childhood Chopper are flowing and I am starting to see the magic (think A Christmas Story, red rider bb gun excitement). I am wondering if it is different for little boys and little girls, or just different for me and Chop. I would love to hear from some of the blog readers your insight- is there something about little boys and Christmas, or rather is there something about how men remember Christmas that differs than women. This is coming from the fact that I only ever hear men talk about it in that nostalgic whimsical way. I know women love Christmas but it seems to have more to do with creating that magic (oh boy, I hope I'm not way off base here...what a sexist!) Another man I know was talking recently about "laying the alter" with each ornament, (decorating the Christmas tree) for the gifts that santa would bring, he painted quite a picture with that one sentiment. So yeah, curious, not to get too psych-y on everyone.

How to Open a Pomegranite

2009-12-16T08:26:00.005-05:00

And now: How to open a Pomegranite.

These fruit always pop up around the holidays and I think they tend to be used more as decoration than they are eaten. It makes me sad to think of all the beautiful pomegranite being cast off into the markets trash bins (you know that has to be their fate, they aren't using the seeds at the deli counter). Pomegranites are also all the rage these days, being highlighted for their high anti-oxidant levels. You will pay extra for anything that claims to have been made with the juice, and a small bottle of pomegranite juice costs about $5-6 bucks. The juice has been pasteurized, so a lot of the anti-oxidants and vitamins are killed off in the process, you might as well learn now how to crack one open.

My uncle brought one of these funky fruits home to his kids and and tried to open it with an apple corer. Needless to say it made a mess and they were unable to enjoy the "fruits" of their labor.

Step 1: cut the crown off

Step 2: score the sides with a knife, be careful not to cut too far in (you don't want to damage the seeds), make about four shallow slices from top to bottom.

Step 3: place the pomegranite face down (where the crown used to be) in a bowl of water and let sit for about 10-15 minutes.

Step 4: break the fruit apart, the water gets into the meat and bloats it enough to easily pull it apart.

Step 5: pop the seeds out of the meat into a bowl (this is the fun part), they should separate pretty easily, if not, let it soak a little longer.

The seeds are the part of this fruit that you eat, and you can eat them one of two ways. Chop likes to lightly chew the fruit off the seed and spit the center out, I like to crunch the whole thing. I say crunch the seed, this makes it much easier to eat them and they are just as tasty. You can throw the seeds on salads or just eat them by the handful.

I meant to take a picture of the seeds sooner-but I ate them all. These are the few that remain, pretty aren't they?

Tradition smack down (lemon coconut bars)

2009-12-08T08:40:00.002-05:00

Traditionally my family is not one to raise the Christmas tree Thanksgiving weekend. We may have when I was little, but then I am not one who remembers many details from the past. Chopper tends to get nostalgic about the way things were when he was a kid, and he'll tell me lots of cute/funny stories with lots of detail. This reflects for me my lack of memory of childhood detail. I blame this on being an only child of divorced parents, and having noone to bounce memories off of. This sounds so sad, it is not meant to, I just believe there is a reason for my lack of memory and I think my reasoning makes sense.

Chopper and I decided to go get a Christmas tree last weekend (Thanksgiving), I suggested waiting a week, and he asked what the point of that would be. I had no answer. We then went to a local parking lot selling trees and picked out a lovely small tree that cost us $35, we were both a little shocked at the price. On our way home we stopped to buy lights, this was when I realized how different our ideas of a Christmas decorations are. Growing up we always had white lights, and some years, old bubble lights for a splash of color. When I was a teenager my mother had some more refined trees. The hodge podge of ornaments were put away and we had themed trees (as I called them at the time), one year the tree was decorated entirely with homemade babies breath ornaments, another year all glass ornaments, there was an angel tree, and one year I decorated the tree with ornaments made entirely out of recycled trash complete with bottle cap garland. We never had colored lights or candy canes (as Chopper did), and I'm certainly not knocking those, but I hadn't realized how close I felt to my own families traditions which excluded those things. We also never decorated the tree the same day it was brought home, the branches "needed to relax". A rule that I hated growing up, I now missed, and wanted to adhere to when bringing our tree home. The emotion around the Christmas tree and our individual traditions were magnified as we hung Wesley's stocking, and our awareness that how we chose to do Christmas were his future childhood memories. It felt odd, but I was happy to let go of the relaxed branch rule, and because Chopper got so flippin excited about the colored lights and candy canes, the "boring" white lights hardly stood a chance (though they were a little harder for me to let go of).

Our tree is beautiful, simple, complete with colored lights that have 8 settings for blinking, fading, that sort of thing. The ornaments that are hung are the few that we've collected over our last few Christmases together and the skirt is a colorful mexican blanket from the back of Chop's old volkswagon. There are candy canes, which Chopper excitedly remembers sucking the ends of the canes into a sharp point and finding old candy canes from the previous year, and their chewy texture. How can you say no to the corn syrup candies with memories like that?

This whole experience has made me start to think about other traditions that could be tweaked or new traditions that we could start for our new family. It occurred to me that this is something I tend to do in the kitchen all the time. New healthier twists on old comfort favorites. So I've decided to start there, with food.

Right now I am making Limoncello to bottle for Christmas. This is an Italian (when made in Italy) liqueur, which is absolutely delicious. I first had it in Nicaragua, of all places, and fell in love. You make it by steeping lots and lots of lemon rinds in vodka or grain alcohol and then there is a sweetening process. All those lemon rinds takes lots of lemons, these lemons then need a home. I got my limoncello recipe from another blog found here. The most important part of the process is time, so I am learning patience from this little project as well.

My jar of lemon rinds and vodka.

So I had a bowl of leftover lemons, actually 2 bowls, I used about 35 lemons. I juiced the lemons and have been drinking lots of lemon tea, unfortunately even the most lemon-y of dishes only require a tablespoon or 2 of lemon. I found a recipe for raw lemon coconut squares and decided to give them a whirl.

Lemon Coconut Bars
Adapted from Ani Phyo's recipe

Makes 12 bars

1 cup almonds
1 1/2 cups pitted dates (Medjool, khadrawhi, or other semi-soft date)
Seeds of 1 vanilla bean (or 1 tsp of vanilla extract)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup dried shredded coconut

In your food processor, chop almonds into small pieces. Use some of this nut powder to “flour” the bottom of a 9 inch square baking pan.

Add remaining ingredients and process some more until well mixed.

Press into baking pan.

To serve, chill for a couple hours until firm. Then cut into squares.

Will keep for six days in the fridge

These are really good especially after a day or two when the lemon flavor really comes through. They are a great snack or breakfast despite their dessert facade, that's the great thing about raw desserts. I changed the recipe ever so slightly from the original, cutting down on the salt.

Feeling full

2009-12-03T12:23:00.008-05:00

I hung laundry today, December 3rd, barefoot. The grass was green and soft and felt really nice.

Wesley watched, and laughed as the clothes blew over his head, he loves to be outside.

This fed me more than any pot pie or pint of ice cream possibly could.

Wes felt the same way.

I once was lost but now I'm found....(japanese eggplant)

2009-11-13T14:15:00.008-05:00

Me and a very awake Wesley

I had a cup of coffee and found myself. I hadn't been feeling lost per-say, it wasn't until I was found that i realized things had been slowly changing, I had been slowly changing.

I noticed that in the last 6 weeks and the last 10 months, I have been making choices that I would not have normally made. Whether it be how I wear my hair (at 12 weeks pregnant I had bangs cut..bad idea), what I do with my spare time (less walks, bike rides, and swims, nevermind a lack of nights out dancing), what I talk about (baby, diapers, flu shots), and what I eat (turkey, chicken, and lots of ice cream). Looking at pictures of myself from last year, I hardly recognized that person and this bothered me a little. Everything has gotten a little wider, Chopper now calls me "mommy" instead of "babe", I haven't been out with friends, and my reasonably clean diet has been tainted with sugar powered energy and enjoyment.

Well yesterday, after my cup of coffee, I was me again! Though I wasn't out dancing, I was home with my sweet sweet boy and my other sweet boy, we were relaxing, nursing, changing, reading, and getting ready to take a walk. But my sense of humor was boomin, I was dancing around the living room, and I couldn't wait to start a million and one projects! Then I realized, I hadn't lost myself, I was just exhausted, and tired like I've never felt before. I told Chop I felt like I was learning a new depth of tired, and he said he felt a new depth of awake...he's so smart. Now what to do besides become a coffee addict, because that's not what a good health counselor would do (though tempting). I realized that all those changes weren't me losing myself, I am still the person in the pictures, but when you are so tired you can't see straight it makes it much harder to be yourself.

Well, what I know for sure is that you are what you eat, and your food forms your body and your mind(set). A healthy diet means a healthy mind, energy, and body (healthy food means healthy hair too, but the food won't do much for a bad bangs haircut). So I will start there. Fresh air, water, green vegetables, and whole grains will give me the energy that I have been relying on brownies, ice cream and coffee to provide (that's right I said brownies). It will help with the waistline as well, though that is less of a concern right now. My focus is to feel focused, enthused, and at peace. And I will kindly ask Chop to refer to me as "babe" for a little while longer, at least till Wes learns the concept of "mommy".

Since I became pregnant I have been eating eggplant like it'll never grow again. Lots and lots of it, usually roasted and then thrown over pasta or in sandwiches. Because I want to make a few healthy changes I decided to do up my eggplant a little differently. This was inspired by the beautiful Japanese eggplant I found at the farmer's market. Japanese eggplant is the smaller varietal you may sometimes see. It has a softer skin and can be a less bitter than the larger eggplants.
Why eggplant?

Its fiber content is high, which helps our digestive process and also acts against coronary heart disease. Eggplant not only features a number of vitamins, proteins and minerals but also contain important phytonutrients and antioxidants. The potassium in eggplant brings a balance to your salt intake and maintains a nice level of hydration and also plays a role in regulating blood pressure. Eggplant also contains folate, magnesium and niacin as well as copper, manganese and thiamine (vitamin B1), all important minerals.

Chinese Japanese Eggplant

6 japanese eggplant sliced
3 Tbl soy sauce
3 Tbl maple syrup
1 Tbl sesame oil
1/4 cup water

Heat the sesame oil till nice and hot, then add soy sauce.
Toss in eggplant slices, stir coating them in the oil and sauce.
Add water
Cover
Cook covered about 6-7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add maple syrup
Cover
Cook until eggplant is soft, add more water if neccesary

Once the eggplant was finished, I cooked a bag of mixed frozen veggies that had carrots, green beans, and peas the same way (you could do these together, but this was an afterthought).

I served all the vegetables over quinoa and sprinkled with a little gomasio (toasted sesame seeds and sea salt). It was really yummy. It had a nice sweet flavor too, which helped to stave off the sweet cravings later on.

A promise is a promise (vegetable pot pie)

2009-10-27T16:54:00.013-04:00

So how's everyone doing?

Well, we are sittin pretty over here. Splitting our time between Block Island and Warwick. Chop works through the week as we get acclamated with new parenthood, and then there is lots of visiting on the weekends. Introducing Wes to people is lots of fun (once they wash their hands of course), especially because he is so damn cute!

With the flu season and swine flu mania upon us, washing hands has become a very important health issue in our household. Of course the week we spent with Wesley in the hospital with respitory issues, certainly helped to fuel our fire. From what I understand hand washing is the number 1 thing we should all be doing to stay well this winter, so let that be my health counseling tip for today, keep washing people!

Another important health tip...eat your vegetables. Fresh is best. Raw is better. Frozen is cool. Canned is ok. Cooked is great. Organic when you can. Local when it's available. Just get them in, and feel your immune system soar or at least feel better than if you left them off your plate. Greens are the way to go, dark leafy greens. They oxygenate the blood, improve circulation, strengthen the immune system, promote healthy intestinal flora, improve kidney, gall bladder, and liver function, and help to clear congestion and mucus. Can you beat that? Try eating one full serving of greens a day for a week, and witness how you will start to crave them. Arugula is good cooked or as a salad, so is spinach and escarole. Chard, collards, and kale all liked to be cooked. Steamed, roasted or sauteed, finish them off with a little drizzle of olive or flax oil (Vitamins A and D need fats to be assimilated and absorbed).

Ok, so that being said, I believe I promised a pie crust or a vegetable pot pie. This counts as veggies, but of course it satisfies the comfort food craving as well.

As with most of my recipes here, I usually don't use measurements (I'm making them up here as estimates for you), if you find it could use a little more of this or that feel free, be flexible.

Vegetable Pot Pie

1 onion
4 cloves garlic
2-3 medium carrots*
4 medium potatoes
1 can corn*
1 can peas*
1 small head broccoli*
1 bunch chard
5-7 mushrooms
1 pie crust (store bought or homemade**)
1 tbl thyme
1 tsp sage (cut up small)
1 tsp rosemary (cut up small)
1 cup vegetable stock
1 cup milk (your choice)
1/3 cup flour

*You can always use a bag of frozen mixed veggies to simplify the process, less slicing and dicing. I would suggest this, especially because these vegetables will be cooked so much.

** Pie crust recipe at bottom of page

Chop and dice all the veggies to prepare for the pan.

In a large fry pan or pot (needs to be pretty deep, lots of stuff)..start by sauteing the onions and garlic till translucent and then add the potatoes. Purple potatoes make this look really pretty.

Once the potatoes start to soften ever so slightly, add the carrots. These take the longest to cook, so they just need a little head start.

As the carrots and potatoes cook, add the herbs (chopped and diced nice and small).

Then add the broccoli and frozen vegetables. Lastly add the mushrooms and chard.

The chard takes over the pan until it starts to cook down. Mix all the veggies and after the chard cooks down, sprinkle the flour over all the vegetables coating them evenly.

Then add the vegetable stock and stir, allowing it to simmer for about another 5 minutes.

The flour and stock will start to thicken and then add the milk, continuing to stir till it thickens again.

Add salt and pepper to taste, and see how you're liking things so far.

Remember that flavors will come out as the pot pie cooks in the oven, before you add too many seasonings. Once the filling is done (you don't want the vegetables cooked too too much, because they will have time in the oven as well), put it in whatever casserole dish you choose. I used my large cast iron skillet. Lay the crust over the top and make 3 nice little slits in the top to allow for steam and to make it look pretty.

Bake at 375* for 45-60 minutes depending on your oven.

This vegetable pot pie is easy once you've made it for the first time. You can get creative with the vegetables you use and seasonings since, well, like I've said before you really can't beat anything with a crust (recipe at bottom of page).

And while you are contemplating making your family a pot pie in this extremely warm November weather (maybe you should wait till you have leftover turkey to throw into it, and perhaps there will be a chill in the air by then)....I will let you contemplate the beauty of my son, Wesley Able Butterfield. We chose Able as his middle name, it means "breath" or "exhalation of breath" which has significance because of his entry to the world.

Pie Crust- some store bought crusts are just as good- look for crusts made with butter and with little additives (health food stores or wholefoods)

This recipe makes 1 crust. If you are making a pie with a bottom and top crust, double this recipe and form two discs of dough instead of one.

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar (increase to 1 1/2 teaspoons if for a sweet recipe)
2 to 4 Tbsp ice water, very cold

1 Start by cutting the sticks of butter into 1/2-inch cubes and placing in the freezer for at least 15 minutes (preferably longer) so that they become thoroughly chilled

2 In a food processor, combine flour, salt, and sugar, pulse to mix. Add butter and pulse 6 to 8 times, until mixture resembles coarse meal, with pea size pieces of butter. Add water 1 Tablespoon at a time, pulsing until mixture just begins to clump together. If you pinch some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it's ready, if not, add a little more water and pulse again.

3 Remove dough from machine and place on a clean surface. Carefully shape into a discs. Do not over-knead the dough! You should still be able to see little bits of butter in the dough. These bits of butter are what will allow the result crust to be flaky. Sprinkle the disc with a little flour on all sides. Wrap the disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

4 Remove the crust disk from the refrigerator. Let sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes. Sprinkle some flour on top of the disk. Roll out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface to a 12 inch circle; about 1/8 of an inch thick. As you roll out the dough, use a metal spatula to check if the dough is sticking to the surface below. Add a few sprinkles of flour if necessary to keep the dough from sticking. Gently fold in half. Place on to a 9-inch pie plate, lining up the fold with the center of the pan. Gently unfold and press down to line the pie dish with the dough.

Organized Archives

2009-10-24T09:32:00.006-04:00

We are coming up on the 1 year anniversary of the Clean Up Clear Out blog! Perhaps not everyone who reads this has been following it from the beginning, but this blog started when I challenged myself to the 10 day Master Cleanse. I had decided that blogging my experience would keep me in line and help to share the cleansing process with my friends and family. I really enjoyed the kind of checking in, self maintenance, reflection, and journaling, blogging allowed and then realized that if I were to continue I wanted to share a little more with the readers. So the blog slowly evolved from different diets to just what's cooking in my kitchen, allowing me to share new foods as well as continue to experiment myself. As I've gone through different food phases my blog has too, and so I wanted to make the archives a little easier to follow. Since my last post was "crock pot chicken" and it has been a long time since one may have seen a new "green" introduced, I thought it best to make those recipes easier to find. So along with my cute and clever blog titles, I have now included the recipe that can be found with that post. I hope this encourages readers to jump around a little more and try recipes that may have been posted before they joined our blog bandwagon. So for all readers new and old, may I encourage you to check out or revisit some of the greens recipes or soups...I never did try a "dessert diet", perhaps I should give that one a whirl next! Head back to last January and get a taste of the more seasonal dishes from that time. AND Stay tuned...Next Post...Vegetable Pot Pie! Never want to miss a chance to wrap vegetables in pie crust!

Oh yeah..and here's another picture of my adorable baby boy...

Nourishment (crock pot chicken, miso gravy)

2009-10-20T12:27:00.010-04:00

"Garcon- Please bring me my mother's milk. Thank you."

What a time this has been! Wes is 18 days old, and we have spent the last 12 days holed up, staring at him. Yes, there is work to be done, but any free time is spent oggling the baby. Chop goes back to work next week and I have to admit I am a little nervous how I will handle everything on my own.

Wesley is a milk monster, eating frequently and this means that I must eat frequently too. Fortunately Chop has really stepped up to the plate and we've had some decent meals. I am most impressed with my breakfasts. Every morning as Wes and I feed and nap, Chop goes downstairs and fixes up what are some of the most well rounded, beautiful breakfasts I've enjoyed.

Steel Cut Oatmeal with shaved coconut, raisins, cinnamon, and maple syrup. Cinnamon raisin english muffin with almond butter.

Rice and beans with eggs, side of english muffin, and oatmeal.

I know these look like huge breakfasts, but they are necessary.

Chopper also likes to take the opportunity, whenever I am not cooking, to make a crock pot chicken. He gets really excited about this and I always wonder why he doesn't just do it more often (I guess then some of the thrill would be gone).

There is a whole diet (Westin A. Price diet/ Traditional or Primitive diet) founded on the idea that we are meant to thrive on animal proteins and fats that are derived from the purest sources (this all based on evidence through studies of indigenous cultures). The meat we buy at the market would not be considered one of these sources. We're talking cows that eat grass and graze in the sun, chickens that eat grubs out of cow manure and grass and get sunlight, or seafood that is not contaminated with heavy metals. There is so much more to this than I could possibly do justice here, so definitely follow the link to 'bone up' (pun intended). The theories behind this way of eating are pretty telling and can once again confuse this one time (many times) vegetarian.

Chop came across a "Nourishing Traditions" magazine while bringing me to the accupuncturist and since then was excited and hell bent on getting some marrow and gelatin into his diet. To do this, first you need a quality chicken. He purchased a free range, sun fed chicken at Wholefoods and got down to business.

Crock Pot Chicken

1 free range quality chicken
4 fingerling potatos
2 carrots
4 shallots
Bells Seasonings-heaping Tablespoon

Leave the innards in the chicken, place the whole thing in the crock pot with the chopped veggies, seasoning, and enough water to fill the pot. Turn crock pot on and let simmer for about 6 hours.

Falls right off the bone.

The fat, gelatin, and marrow has this lovely yellow color. According to the Traditional Diet (and Chopper), this is where the good stuff is.

Chicken, and purple mashed potatoes with Miso gravy.

Miso Gravy-awesome gravy for any dish-especially when you go meatless.

2 Tbl sweet white miso
1 cup soy milk (milk)
3 Tbl flour (your choice)
1/2 onion
1 Tbl thyme
Black pepper

Saute onion till translucent.
Coat the onion in the flour, add thyme.
Dissolve the miso in the soy milk, stirring till mixed thoroughly.
Add the soy milk/miso to the onions. Stir till thickens.
Add black pepper to taste.

I am someone who has a hard time eating mashed potatoes without gravy. This recipe is quick, easy, and delicious. You can also add mushrooms for a nice flare. I love being able to whip up gravy, it seems so decadent.

Baby Butternut (stuffed squash version 2)

2009-10-14T20:28:00.008-04:00

Baby Butterfield is here! Meet Wesley (yet to have a middle name) Butterfield. Wesley was born at home on October 2 at 10:55 am, after a 13 hour labor.

I worried before I had him that my heart would open up. I worried that I'd become a gusher, another annoying parent with a "perfect" child. Well, ahem, it's happened. He's absolutely beautiful and I can't believe how quickly the love rushes in. One minute I didn't know if the baby inside of me was a boy or a girl and the next I knew love like I had never known before for my baby boy.

Wesley did not arrive without some strife. He had some trouble breathing on his own due to a cord wrapped 3 times around his neck and body which led to fluid aspiration in the lungs. EMT's were called to our house and our peaceful homebirth quickly turned chaotic and scary. After a week in the neonatal intensive care unit, Wes had been put through the ringer (and put us through the ringer as well), but I believe came out stronger because of it. I have been asked by people since our ordeal, whether my mind has been changed on homebirth. Although what we experienced was scary and sad for our family, I have to say that it does not change my mind on homebirth. Rather my experience changed my mind about hospitals. I have a new respect for the care that is given when it is needed. We were blessed and amazed as we witnessed the doctors and nurses who took care of Wes do what they do, with such care and compassion. Everyone we met was on their game and so thoughtful and considerate of what we were going through, never mind so damn smart! They truly saved our baby.

So now we are home (this is day 6 of our time home-we have officially been home as long as we were in the hospital-moving on..) We have been loving our baby-moon, though a bit tired. I have managed to do some cooking, though in stages.

So in honor of our little Butterfield...as Chops dad has taken to calling him, Butternut.

We had this today for lunch and it was delicious! Everytime we have something that Chop is really into, he adds it to our "someday cafe" menu. This was added today, he called it Cinco de Butternut Squash.

Cinco De Butternut Squash

1 small butternut squash halved and roasted (30-45 minutes at 400*)
1/2 can of black beans
1 avocado
2 inch cube cheddar cheese
tomato/ 1/4 red bell pepper
1/4 red onion (optional)

After squash is roasted spoon out about 1/2 the meat into a bowl.
Mix in beans, chopped bell pepper, 1/2 avocado and 1/2 the cheese grated.
Stuff the squash with the mixture and top with the other 1/2 grated cheese.
Bake for about 10 minutes at 350* (till cheese is melted)
When it comes out top with other 1/2 of avocado, diced tomato and red onion.

Apple Coffee Cake

2009-10-09T13:02:00.001-04:00

Bundt cake cooling trick.

Before I loved to cook, I loved to bake. Unfortunately baking, as delicious as the results may be, isn't always the healthiest of options. So with health counseling and healthy cooking, came less and less baking. But I still love to bake, and these days (being pregnant and all) I love baked goods as well, so I pulled out my mixer and went to work.

Few tips to getting the most out of your baked goods. Now I know that if you are craving a cookie, you aren't necessarily going to be looking for a healthy alternative. However, if you have a healthier alternative cookie on hand you will curb that craving by having something that is a little more modest and will lead to less cravings in the long run.

Also, if you do partake in a little baking at home, you can control how much you actually intake. If you make a batch of dough, freeze half. If you make a coffee cake, after its done cut slices and put the rest in freezer as well, make these treats last. Most people bake and then for fear of wasting, continue to eat the whole tray, pan, or dish throughout the week.

Experiment with flours, try rice, spelt, or coconut flour for different textures and some gluten free options. In general it is good to have variety in your diet, causing less strain on your intestines from wheat wheat and more wheat. Experiment with sweeteners, try agave, molasses, evaporated cane juice, honey, date sugar or maple syrup. Getting away from processed white sugar will help the baked treat to not wreak havoc on your blood sugar-causing less highs and lows and in turn less cravings.

So that being said. I made an Apple Coffee Cake that was a favorite at the cafe when I baked for them. Can't say I strayed too far from the original recipe here, the biggest change I made was playing around with the oil used. It calls for "vegetable oil", which is typically rancid rapeseed oil, that has been filtered and processed to remove all of the stank (lovely isn't it?). So in baking I use coconut oil. Because it is hard at room temperature you do need to melt it, but then it pours just like vegetable oil. Coconut oil has many benefits, which are listed if you follow the link. One of the coolest benefits, I think, is that it contains lauric acid which is only found in one other place...human breast milk. Lauric acid is converted into monolaurin which is an antimicrobial, and antibacterial so it can help to prevent/cure viruses and bacterial infections. I like to add a spoonful of coconut oil to my smoothies, or at times if I am craving fats, I will eat it by the spoonful. Another great use is to lather it on your skin...mmmm.

Apple Coffee Cake

Preheat oven to 350*
Bundt Pan
4 med granny smith apples
4 Tbl plus 2 cups sugar (I used evaporated cane juice granulated-not to be fooled into thinking this is a "healthy" sugar, but it is just one step less processed and I like the added depth of molasses flavor using this sugar allows-it is also less expensive to bake with than my ideal, agave)
2 tsp cinnamon
4 eggs
1 cup coconut oil (also great at high heat-wonderful to cook with. Make sure to buy unrefined)
1/4 cup oj
1 Tbl Orange marmalade (if you don't have it, any jam will be yummy)
1 tsp vanilla
3 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Mix apple with cinnamon and 4 Tbl of sugar

*Mix apple with cinnamon and 4 Tbl of sugar
*Combine sugar, eggs, coconut oil, oj, marmalade, and vanilla
*Combine flour, baking powder, and salt
*Mix the dry ingredients with the wet
*Properly grease pan (coconut oil works for that too!)Layer the batter and the apples in the pan...starting with the batter and ending with apples

I laid these apples out all nice nice, these will be in the middle of the cake.

The apples on the bottom, not so much. Let them be a little messy and gooey.

Bake for an hour to an hour and a half (depending on your oven) at 350*. When it does come out, enjoy. Share this with friends or with enemies to turn things around....or skip it, and save this for yourself in your freezer for a rainy coffee cake kind of day.

One of my firsts..(stuffed squash)

2009-09-28T08:30:00.001-04:00

So it is officially fall, bugger! I always have a tough time transitioning from summer to fall, though this year I have a special package arriving, which makes the transition much much different. This summer was a blur, if it weren't for the squash showing up all over the farmer's markets, I'd still be expecting baby greens and I'd be ever so eager to eat them. The pumpkins tell me, that time has passed, it is getting cooler and time for more warming foods.

So have I got the recipe for you! I first made this dish one day when I was up at my mother's, I wanted to make her something for lunch, and I think I was eager to impress with how easy it can be to dish up something fantastic, quickly. So I perused her cupboards and fridge and went to it, the dish has stuck, it's become one of my favorites in a pinch, and my mother makes it from time to time as well.

Stuffed Butternut Squash
1 small to med. butternut squash
1 pear or apple diced
1/2 onion diced
2 cloves of garlic minced
about 15 almonds chopped
3/4 cup frozen spinach (you can use fresh spinach or arugula too-just use more)
1/2 cup brown rice or quinoa
handful raisins or dried cranberries
garlic powder (about 1 tsp)
ground ginger (about 1/2 tsp)
chili (about 1/4-1/2 tsp)
cumin (about 3/4 tsp)
feta (enough to crumble on top)

I tend to have cooked grains on hand, and I suggest this to everyone I work with. They are great with eggs in the morning, as a breakfast cereal (add some nuts, dried fruit, maple syrup), rice and beans can be a quick meal, or stir fry in a pinch. If you do not have rice or quinoa cooked on hand, throw them on, according to the directions. At the same time halve the squash and place face down on a baking tray with a little water in the pan. Roast at 400* for about 45 minutes (generally the same time it will take to cook the rice).

While the rice and squash are cooking-
-dice the apple
-chop the nuts (you can toast these too; optional)
-mince the garlic
-chop the onion

In a large pan saute the onions and garlic till translucent.
Add the apple, and spinach.
Add the rice, nuts, raisins/cranberries, and spices. Mix well.

Scoop out about half of the meat of the squash and add it to the stuffing. Scoop the stuffing into the squash and pile high if you'd like. Top with crumbled feta and pop back in the oven on broil (about 2-3 minutes) to brown the top.

This batch is a little light on the greens (if you follow the recipe it'll be a bit more green than this)

So I hope you make this, it's delicious. And if you use quinoa, know you are getting a nice kick of protein as well. Happy Fall!!

Mama wants Lasagna! (veggie lasagna)

2009-09-25T15:31:00.015-04:00

Mama wants me some lasagna. Avoiding writing another post about this waiting period, I won't go on and on about my daily tasks and passings of time. But I shall say that I finally got some big cooking in and it has felt good! Forget the living room, perhaps the baby was just giving me some time in the new kitchen before he/she joins us for a meal.

But how can we forget the living room? Here it is, in all its cozy-ness (complete with newspaper strewn on the coffee table).

I have found the Italian cravings creeping back in later in pregnancy (this is what I craved the whole first trimester). I think it's the cheese. I have remained a pescotarian (meaning I eat fish, no other meat) throughout the past 9 months, which was easy, though I had to keep up with my protein or I would quickly begin craving grilled chicken sandwiches. This past week I, without shame or apology, ate half a "Thanksgiving Style" turkey sandwich; oh yes, complete with stuffing, cranberry sauce, mayonaise, and roasted turkey. I believe I have written here before about my continous shift in belief around food, and my repeated conclusion is that food, for every person, is a very personal relationship. As we let go of our own judgements around the food we eat, it allows us to let go of the judgement of others, and perhaps that is when the most opportunity to educate arises.

Ah, so enough about that delicious sandwich, and HOW, was it delicious. Italian. When my friend had a baby in February, I made her a giant sloppy delicious lasagna (inspired by my own cravings at the time). I wanted to do the same for us, but perhaps a little less sloppy. Also, I didn't realize till I started to buy the ingredients, if you want to make a yummy cheesy lasagna using organic ingredients, it can get a bit pricey (organic cheeses, you pay for). So I decided to replace the Ricotta with tofu and make my own filling. This lasagna is not vegan, I did put other cheeses in, but cut back on the cost, increased the protein and vitamin B, and made what I believe an equally tantalizing lasagna with less saturated fat.

"Less Sloppy" Vegetable Lasagna

1 28 oz can Crushed Tomato
1 lb Extra Firm Tofu/or a container of Ricotta
2 eggs
1 package shredded cheese of your choice (I used parmesan, asiago, and fontina blend)
1/4 cup Nutritional Yeast
1 package lasagna (no boil) noodles (brown rice for gluten free)
1 eggplant
1 med zuchini
1 small head broccoli
5-10 cherry tomatos
1 large portobella mushroom
2 T olive tapenade (or 3-4 T olives chopped)
2 T Pesto (or 1/2 bunch basil chopped finely)
2 cloves garlic
Optional: artichoke hearts, extra cheese (feta), any vegetable of your choice!

Lets start with the ever allusive tofu. Like anything else you don't want to eat tofu every day, you don't want this to be your staple source of protein. Soy can be very difficult to digest, and too much soy can cause hormonal imbalances. But so can cheese!! But in a healthy rotation it can be a great source of protein which is low in fat, so lets give it a whirl.

You may have heard that it is best to press the water out of it. True. Whether you are grilling it, stir frying, or using as cheese in a lasagna, it will be much more cooperative in retaining flavor if you get the excess water out.

To do this, I put the tofu in a metal baking pan, with another pan that fits inside it, on top. Then added my weights.
Beautiful juicing oranges act as my weights. I learned a "pressing tofu" lesson the hard way once, by using my entire stack of glass mixing bowls as weights and walking away a little to long, well long enough for a big clean up and a mourning of my bowls to be in order.

Leave the tofu, occasionally draining the water, while you start the rest of your prep.

Veggie lasagna has the potential to be very watery, dissolving the flavor. I wanted to use the rest of my BI grown zuchini, despite zuzhini having major water content. So I sweat it, like the eggplant. This draws out the excess water, as well as any bitter flavor in the eggplant-just slice, lay out, and sprinkle with salt (you can rinse any excess salt off before cooking if you'd like). So now you have veggies sweating, tofu sweating, time for you to start to sweat! Preheat the oven to 350*

Chop up your remaining vegetables. I used garlic, broccoli, mushrooms, and cherry tomatoes (I cut these and deseeded them by rinsing them in a colander, again to cut out excess water). Saute the veggies with some olive oil, and add any seasonings at this time. I added about 2 Tbl of olive tapenade (you can finely chop olives if you don't have this made) and 2 Tbl of pesto, some salt and pepper (artichoke hearts, olives, basil, oregano, all would add great flavor).

OK, so now its probably been about 1/2 hour- 45 minutes. Take your pressed tofu and crumble it into a bowl.

Now for the cheese trick. Nutritional yeast, found at all/most health food stores in bulk section. Nutritional yeast is known for its deceptively cheesy flavor. An excellent source of protein, gluten free, rich in vitamins, especially the B-complex vitamins, and an excellent source of folic acid. So add away, I used about a 1/4 cup, plus 1 & 1/2 tsp of sea salt to give the tofu the cheese flavor (though I have to admit ricotta always seems a bit flavorless to me anyway). Add 2 eggs and mix well.

Now press or squeeze the excess water out of your sweating veggies and toss on a baking sheet for about 15 minutes in the oven. While those are baking, start to layer your lasagna, starting with the sauce.

I used Muir Glen crushed tomatos with basil as sauce. Then a layer of lasagna noodles (no boil, rice noodles-made this lasagna gluten free) then sauteed veggie layer, more sauce, cheese (parmesan, fontina, asiago blend-buying the container of blended cheese saved money as well), noodles, eggplant and zuchini, tofu, sauce, cheese. You just want to make sure that you start with sauce and end with noodles (sauce and cheese), as you put it together just think how it'll hold together while eating (the noodles being the binders). I underestimated my pan size and ran out of noodles, so I used eggplant slices on the top to act as the book cover.

Top with sauce and cheese, cover, and bake for 45 minutes or until done. You can take the cover off and brown the top at the end if you'd like that toasted yummy cheese, and who doesn't?

I threw some feta on there too. mmmmm.

Stuffed peppahs!

2009-09-22T10:59:00.005-04:00

Perhaps we left the island a little prematurely, or perhaps it is better to be safe than sorry. I have been feeling very "safe" lately, the physical limitations of pregnancy have caused me to slow a bit, and the waiting for baby has slowed time. Fortunately we have friends and family that are all willing to drive Miss Daisy so to speak, this allows me to keep busy and occupied. Today I am going to Newport with my friend Becky, she will shop and I will watch her, as I am trying not to spend money. Though it will be great getting out, grabbing a bite, and walking around. Maybe the cobblestone streets will get things moving!

This weekend was great, having Chopper around (he has been commuting to the island, those are some long hours). We got lots done and now even have a living room! I was convinced after last week that the baby was waiting till we had a place where we could all sit and snuggle together. On Sunday, we had a nice visit with friends Paul and Tonia who had there baby 3 weeks ago. We watched intently as the baby slept, as they fed her, and as they changed her diaper. During the diaper change I realized Chopper and I were both staring, mouths agape, in silence...I know I had never watched a changing so intently. Towards the end of the visit my parents stopped by, and then Chop's parents (I think people are getting excited), they were each bringing us things that we need and being ever so helpful as we scramble to make a house a home in the anticipation of baby.

After those nice visits we headed to Chop's brother Jeremy's for a nice quiet dinner. Jeremy and his wife Kristen have a fantastic garden and many fruit trees on their small plot in Providence. It is such a nice oasis in the middle of an urban area. They are both champion canners and each year we get delicious jams (many flavors), canned pears in mint, apple sauce, tomato sauce, etc etc. It is a nice treat, although I have to admit I have garden/fruit tree envy (they even have a bing cherry tree!) So for this lovely dinner we ate one of their favorite vegetarian dishes, quinoa stuffed peppers. It really is a yummy dish, and as Jeremy pointed out, it isn't missing anything except for maybe some meat (though he admitted the first time he had it, he forgot there wasn't any meat in the meal). There really is lots of flavor for such a simple dish, and each person gets their own nice little package.

I asked them if they would be so kind to share the recipe and maybe take some pictures for me, since I didn't have my camera. I am still so excited to share new recipes and uses for those grains(!!), even though my cooking has been waining in these last weeks of gestation.

Chop and I had brought some roasted root vegetables. We had also made a nice salad, but forgot it at home, so this was a very nice fall flavored meal.

Stuffed Red Peppers With Parmesan, Quinoa & Walnuts
(I believe this is a Martha Stewart recipe)

4 red bell peppers (choose squatty ones that will easily stand upright when you bake them)
1 tbsp. Olive Oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. ground coriander
Coarse salt and Pepper
1 cup quinoa, rinsed
½ cup fresh Italian parsley, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 cup shredded parmesan cheese (or grated aged provolone)

1. Preheat the oven to 450◦, with rack in upper third. Slice a very thin layer from the base of your pepper so it sits upright. Slice off the top, just below the stem and remove the ribs and seeds. “Rinse and Repeat” with the other peppers. Discard the stems, chop the tops and set aside.
2. In a medium saucepan, heat oil over medium. Add onion, garlic, coriander and chopped pepper tops; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are translucent, 4 to 5 minutes.
3. Add quinoa and cook for 1 minute. Add 1 cup of water and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook until quinoa is tender, 11 to 13 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in parsley, walnuts and ¾ cup of cheese; season with salt and pepper.
4. Divide evenly, stuff peppers with quinoa mixture; place in a 2-quart baking dish. Cover with aluminum foil and bake until peppers are tender, about 45 to 55 minutes . Uncover; top with remaining cheese and bake until cheese melts, 10 minutes more.

I told Jeremy, I normally like to include a picture of Chopper eating whatever it is I am sharing, and so he happily obliged.

Kitchen warm up (sunflower seed pesto/ olive tapenade)

2009-09-21T08:29:00.002-04:00

Have you seen my new kitchen lately? I am awfully excited to start using this space. Going back and forth between the island and here has not been condusive to creating amazing (or many for that matter) meals. I may get here and realize that the tahini I just bought is on the island or I'll be on the island and realize that you can't get dried dates out there, and my stash is on the mainland. So today I started small. I want to get the kitchen ready and Chopper friendly for after I have the baby, and flavoring is the best way to do that. He can make pasta, but making a sauce may be a different story. He can grill a piece of fish, but what about salad dressing to accompany? So today I stuck with some simple, but awesome ways to spice up a meal, dressing, or sauce. Sunflower seed- Basil Pesto and Olive Tapenade.

I loved the green on green on green in this picture, until I went to take it, I hadn't noticed the trees out the window.

Sunflower Seed-Basil Pesto
1 big bunch basil
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
2 inch piece of parmesan
1/2 tsp sea salt
ground pepper to taste

In food processor, process garlic and olive oil, then cheese and sunflower seeds, making a paste. Add basil, salt and pepper and blend till smooth. This time of year pesto tends to be in abundance, it is how we use it that gets creative and sparks deliciousness. Spread on bruschetta, add to pasta, use on pizza, add a touch of olive oil to make it a salad dressing, use as a marinade for fish or shrimp, use it a flavor wherever flavor is needed.

Olive Tapenade
(as adapted from Once Upon a Tart cookbook)

1 cup kalamata or black olives
2 cloves garlic
1/2-1 cup fresh basil
2 Tbl lemon juice
4 Tbl capers, drained
1/2 cup olive oil

In food processor, process everything but olive oil, till pureed. Slowly add olive oil while processor is running (this will ensure that it emulsifies).

The olive oil in both of these recipes will keep the basil and the olives from turning, giving you a much longer shelf life for both of these spreads.

All blown up

2009-09-18T10:22:00.000-04:00

We are having our baby at home. Both of our mothers are going to be present as well as our midwife and her assistant. We are very happy about our decision to have a home-birth, and both feel that this is what is best for us and our new family. So with this decision comes some preparation, starting with a birth tub. I do plan on having a water birth, though I am not completely married to the idea, the hot water tub will be there to ease some pain and if that is where I am when I actually give birth than great...but my plan is to have no plan. And if you haven't noticed our birth tub is little more than a blow up pool, though one that is tried and true in use for having babies. Chop had a grand old time blowing this up, and we were both glad he got to do it before I actually went into labor. So our birth room is now all set up and looking quite warm and welcoming. We are eager to use it!

WWPD? (eating potluck style)

2009-09-17T09:53:00.008-04:00

Good food, friends, and gosh(!) a gorgeous view! My last week on the island was beautiful and included lots of fun activity. On labor day, friends of ours, had a mini potluck in the middle of the day. They were heading home to the mainland on the 5:00 boat, ready for another year of teaching, and I was heading to my last night of work, before I took my own leave for a different kind of job.

It was a perfect day and the setting was oh so relaxing. These friends have spent the whole summer living on a nature preserve on the island. You have to either hike or boat out to their little oasis and once you've made the trek, boy is it worth it!

Corn and black bean salsa, with fresh tomato, cilantro, avocado salt and pepper, and the hand of an obvious artist.

Tofu squewers with pineapple and cherry tomatos, brushed in a spicy marinade, these were then grilled on the hibachi. Little things top grilled pineapple.

Unbelievable bruschetta, everything fresh from the garden. Homemade pesto, cherry tomato, and avocado.

The grand spread, including but not limited to hard boiled local farm eggs, and a beet gazpacho.

All of these meals were simple and yet so delicious. I like the idea of eating potluck style at home. Of course this means you have to make all the food yourself, but sometimes it is easier to throw together a meal which has no rhyme or reason than planning and matching flavors just so. There is nothing wrong with a dinner of mismatched flavors that is quick and simple to prepare. Leftover thai with salad and burritos? Sure thing. Who's complaining? Just think, WWPD? What would potluck do?

I hold these truths to be self evident...

2009-09-12T14:29:00.009-04:00

What's with this picture? I'm not sure why I chose it...perhaps it reminds me of a goofier time. Actually I am certain that is why, now that I think about it. I know that with a child comes many more goofy times ahead, just right now everything feels so serious.

Because my kitchen is in shambles. Because my back aches when I stand too long. Because I want food when I want it and I want it now. I have been cooking less, and in turn eating less healthy, and so with that confession I thought there could be more to follow. It took me about 45 minutes to make a simple green salad with tomato. When I was finally finished and clearing our messy table to eat, Chopper asked if there was a magic ingredient like "unicorn blood" that I may have needed to finish the meal (he isn't always so snide, and he was actually very busy moving, cleaning, and unpacking as well). So with this I digress. Simple salads, toast with avocado, and yogurt with fruit for breakfast...this is what I have to share with you. I hope you enjoy.

10 more savory Confessions as suggested be written by Julie Persons on her blog.

1. I pride myself on being an adventurous person, but this can be work for me at times. When I am being my most adventurous it is not without effort.

2. Sometimes I reach a point when eating vegetables that they start to make me nauseous, I'll be cruising through, loving them and all of a sudden yuck. I can never tell if it is mental reaction, but I think it may be.

3. Because of my occasional nausea/vegetable eating experiences, I understand sometimes why people have a hard time eating healthy and would rather eat a burger. I think it is the weightlessness that scares us (me) and may turn our (my) stomach(s).

4. I am scared of how my heart is going to open when I have my baby. I am not a gusher and don't intend on becoming one, but what if I can't help it? At the same time- how freeing.

5. I wore lots of make up in high school and after high school would work hard to match my eye shadow and nail polish to my outfits.

6. When I look at fashion magazines (by accident) I am amazed of how calculated they truly are. I usually get done with a session and I'm ready for a facial and to buy the $100 jeans that I deserve. Those persuasions are strong and I pray for the women that are under the spell, every one of us.

7. I worry (sometimes, and in the most rational ways possible) about not being the baby anymore when I have my baby.

8. I love that Chopper has a zero tolerance for drama, it keeps me in check.

9. I love that we still have a roommate and our transient island life, while on the mainland we have a house and do things like pick out paint colors and dishes. It is a balance that works for me. The undomesticated domesticate. Hearing myself say, "we bought a dining room table today" totally grosses me out, I have such judgments of it- yet love my dining room table.

10. There is a hidden perfectionist underneath the pile of clothes on my bedroom floor and my dusty dashboard. Although I can't quite pinpoint when she arises. Sometimes its a salad dressing, sometimes a painting, but she's there, she's critical and if I'm not careful she can leave me feeling very unsatisfied.

11. I worry that posting the last 10 "confessions" is far too indulgent and self involved, somehow posting "this" as #11 makes it less so.