I bought this book about a year ago and I love it.  This is a book written by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig.  The premise is similar to Nourishing Traditions which they also wrote together.  Using the work of Weston A. Price as a starting point, Mary Enig applies the science of exactly why traditional foods (butter, raw milk, coconut oil, etc) are good for you, while Sally Fallon puts the foods together into delicious recipes and menus.

The book starts out explaining what traditional foods are and why they are better.  It goes on to address specific issues people may want to resolve with diet, such as weight loss, asthma, and many more, providing specific menu plans geared towards those issues (and one menu plan called “Everyday Gourmet” which addresses no specific issues, but will help people maintain excellent health).  Finally, the last third of the book is devoted to the recipes.

Coconut oil is a big focus of the book (hence the title, Eat Fat, Lose Fat), and about half of the recipes are made with coconut oil, coconut milk or shredded coconut.

I’ve gone on the menu plans a few times.  I did the “Health Recovery” plan when I switched to eating mostly Weston A. Price/Paleo style from standard American diet (even if it did include a lot of organic foods, they were still pretty processed).  This was more than a year ago – before I started this blog.  I really felt the difference.  I lost a few pounds, gained a lot more energy – and this was the most impressive to me: I went from needing to use 10 sick days per year before the diet to using zero sick days after going on the diet.  My immune system was so much improved.  I no longer fear getting sick.

Right now I’m on the weight loss plan.  I’ve gained some weight over the winter.  I had a leg injury that kept me relatively inactive, even for winter, and even after it was doing better, I just had so much inertia that I never got back on the exercise wagon.  Well, I am now, but in conjunction with that, I’m doing the weight loss plan in the book.  Who knows if it is the extra exercise I’ve been doing or the diet (or a combination), but I have lost a few pounds.  Since I only had a few to lose,  it seems to be going well.

I’ve tried many recipes in the book, and each one is beyond delicious.  Today I had roasted chicken.  Now, I know how to roast a chicken.  I’ve been roasting chickens for years.  But I swear, when I do it her way, it is always the best roast chicken I’ve ever eaten.  Other recipes include curries made with coconut milk, salad dressings, various sauces and spreads, and so much more.  When I bring leftovers to work for lunch, I make my coworkers envious.

Now, some of the recipes require planning ahead – marinating something overnight or extended oven roasting times, that sort of thing.  But none of them are overly complicated.  You don’t need to be a kitchen genius to make any of these.  And if you are afraid that the ingredients might be to exotic for you to purchase easily, or if you don’t have time to make homemade mayonnaise, the book has an excellent resource section to help you locate ingredients and where to find the best store brought brands for things you’d rather not make yourself.

I love this book and recommend it highly.  My own copy has been so well loved in the past year that the covers don’t sit flat and the pages are stained.  A true sign of a great cookbook.

I'll be riding my bike this summer!

I went to my asthma doctor today.  I have a mild asthma that wasn’t diagnosed until I was an adult, though my parents and I sometimes thought I might have it as a child.  It mostly manifests itself as a dry cough in cold weather or after physical exertion.

I finally got it “under control” with the use of a rescue inhaler as needed (rare, maybe once a month or so in the winter) and a puff of Advair on mornings when recovering from a cold or flu or an hour or two before doing exercise or heading out into the cold in winter.

That seemed ok, but I was not thrilled with the idea of taking medicine, especially asthma medicine which has a host of side effects.  I’d been interested in natural foods for a while, and believed that the right diet could improve health, but when I started getting involved with Weston A. Price’s research and raw milk and such, it sounded like really applying these principles could help me with my asthma (in addition to other health issues, but that is a topic for another day!).

See what changes I made and why I think that made me symptom free 6 months later, after the jump.*

It was January, 2009 when I started applying the Weston A. Price and Nourishing Traditions into my diet.  This includes:

• Raw dairy products whenever possible
• When raw dairy is not possible, then fermented and/or pasteurized at the lowest temperature and non homogenized
• Taking cod liver oil 3-7 days per week
• Reducing the amount of grains eaten – never going over the “food pyramid” guidelines and usually staying below it, some days well below it
• Soaking/fermenting/sprouting most whole grains before finishing their preparation
• Coconut oil – some days taking 1-3 tablespoons of it in a cup of warm water, and certainly cooking with it
• Butter – spreading liberally on toast, topping steamed vegetables with it, etc
• Eating plenty of traditional fats such as coconut oil, olive oil, and very importantly, butter fat, lard, and other animal fats
• Eating more seafood
• Eating more fermented foods such as water kefir, yogurt, sauerkraut, kvass, etc.
• Eliminating all soy except small amounts of fermented soy
• Eliminating when possibly and greatly reducing the amount of processed food in my diet (cereals, cookies, crackers, dinner-in-a-box, etc)
• Eliminating and greatly reducing the amount of non-traditional fats in my diet such as soybean oil, canola oil, corn oil, and safflower oil

Phew!  It is a lot of stuff, but it basically boils down eating traditional foods.  What my ancestors would have eaten between 150 to 150,000 years ago.  Now, I don’t follow it perfectly, but I think I do pretty awesome.  My food shopping habits have changed rather dramatically, as have my cooking habits.  This is a big change from even a year ago when I was getting all of my veggies from the CSA and eating mostly a whole foods diet.  It still wasn’t quite enough.  The few processed foods I ate back then were probably high in soy, and I wasn’t soaking grains or getting enough saturated fat.  I still had my unpleasant asthma symptoms.

Why would these things affect asthma?  Let’s break it down.

• Some studies show drinking raw milk is correlated with a lower incidence of asthma.  Of course, the article is quick to warn you that raw milk can be dangerous.  My answer to that is know your farmer and the condition the cows are kept in, as well as the cleanliness of the milking barn and milk storage area.  Also note that milk has vitamins A and D, both of which are important to the mucus membranes, and vitamin D in particular seems to help reduce asthma.  This could be due to how the muscles need vitamin D to function as well as the fact that vitamin D is a natural immune system boost.
• Cod Liver oil contains vitamins A and D, as discussed above.  It also contains a high amount of omega 3s, which are anti inflammatory.  And since inflamed airways causes many of the asthma symptoms, it makes sense that it would help.  By the way, milk from grass fed cows also contains a decent omega 3 to omega 6 ratio.  Don’t you love it when you are eating as nature intended and you find out how everything works together and has all the right nutrients for you?
• Grains, especially gluten containing grains, can cause an inflamitory response in many people.  By reducing the amount I eat, I’m reducing the possible inflammation in my airways.
• Soaking etc the grains before eating them helps release more of the minerals.  You can digest them and your body can use them.  Minerals play an important function in your lungs, so you want to be able to digest them and fully utilize them when you eat.
• Coconut oil is a saturated fat (along with butter fat found in dairy products).  Dr. Mary Enig says, “When it comes to our lungs, the very important phospholipid class called lung surfactant is a special phospholipid with 100 percent saturated fatty acids. It is called dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine and there are two saturated palmitic acid molecules attached to it.”
• The non-traditional fats I listed such as corn oil and canola oil are primarily polyunsaturated fats.  A study conducted in Australia found that, “a diet high in polyunsaturated fat, equating to margarine usually spread on bread and foods regularly fried in polyunsaturated vegetable oils more than doubled the risk [for asthma], accounting for up to 17 per cent of the cases studied.”  By the way, those oils are also high in omega 6 fatty acids which are sort of opposite to omega 3.  So if omega 3 reduces inflammation, omega 6 cause it.
• By the way, those non traditional fats are found in almost every processed food.  So are trans fats.  To revisit Dr. Mary Enig, she says, “When people consume a lot of partially hydrogenated fats and oils, the trans fatty acids are put into the phospholipids where the body normally wants to have saturated fatty acids and the lungs may not work effectively. Some research has suggested that trans fatty acids are causing asthma in children.”

So, there you have it.  Putting the proper foods in my body has completely gotten rid of my asthma symptoms.  6 months after starting eating this way in earnest, I rode my bike up a very steep hill and when I got to the top, I was a little winded, but I was NOT coughing or unable to have a conversation.  Before I adopted these eating principles, that was not the case.  I haven’t needed my rescue inhaler in months, nor have I taken the Advair in months.  I’m really pleased with how well I’m doing, and my doctor even said that he would like to see all of his patients make this kind of recovery.  Well, then what would he do for a job?

*Note that this is not medical advice, nor is this a cure.  This is simply what worked for me and why I believe it worked.  I recommend working with your doctor,  hopefully one open to eating traditional foods, as I did.

The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved

I just read a great book called The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved. It is by Sandor Katz – the author of Wild Fermentation. This post is part of Fight Back Fridays.  How appropriate!

This book is about food activism.  Some of it more radical than others, but virtually all of it taking place away from grocery stores stocked with cans and boxes full of food.  This book is about real food – whole ingredients, unadulterated ingredients, grown in a way that is traditional and sustainable.  Increasingly, eating outside of the industrialized food chain is becoming an act of defiance.

The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved shows us how disconnected we are from our food and profiles several movements that in their own way are changing that and returning the connection between people and the food they eat.  And this book touched on everything.  From local foods vs packaged foods; the fight to save farmland and traditional hunting grounds; seed saving and GMOs; to raw foods such as unpasteurized fruit juice, almonds, and milk; the book covered it all.  It even dealt with issues of vegetarianism, people who butcher their own animals, and freegans.

Each topic was well researched and passionately discussed.  The author included many footnotes for each chapter, and each chapter ended with a list of books, periodicals, films, organizations and other resources.  That aspect is one of the best parts of the book and worth the price right there, if you are interested in any of the things he discussed.  There were also several recipes for each chapter.  I loved reading the recipes.  They were written in a highly narrative style, which made for entertaining reading even if you aren’t the type of person who reads cookbooks for fun!

Overall, the theme of the book was how these food movements are working to restore our eating habits to real food, in whatever form that takes.  A very noble cause indeed.  I can’t help feel alternately discouraged by how low we’ve sunk and energized by the work other pioneers have done.  I can’t help myself; I want to join them in whatever way I  can.

The great thing is, when I buy my produce from the farmer’s markets, CSAs, co-ops, and farm delivery services, I am fighting.  When I cook with whole ingredients instead of boxed ready-to-eat ingredients and help others do the same, I am fighting.  When you plant a garden and use non GMO seeds, you are fighting.  The small things do matter.  And there is more to be done if you can.

Get Involved

For more on food activism, visit this post from Agricultural Society I also recommend Food Renegade’s weekly Fight Back Fridays.  People share inspiring stories and recipes, all focused on real food.  For information on bill H.R. 2749 which is being promoted as a food safety bill, visit Natural Bias and learn about true food safety.  Write to your government representatives and let them know real food is important to you.  For information on NAIS and how it will harm small farms without even protecting the public, visit No NAIS.

Also by Sandor Katz:

Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods

]]> http://www.completelyedible.com/2009/07/the-revolution-will-not-be-microwaved/feed/ 4 http://www.completelyedible.com/2009/07/link-catch-up/ http://www.completelyedible.com/2009/07/link-catch-up/#comments Sun, 12 Jul 2009 15:25:52 +0000 Stacy http://www.completelyedible.com/?p=510

A field in Gettysburg

Yesterday morning, I got up a little late.  I considered not going to the farmer’s market since I still had some vegetables left over from the previous weekend.  But as I thought about it, I realized I could not go a week without quark, the creamy fresh cheese made from cultured buttermilk.  And so, I made the journey to the farmer’s market after all.  I ended up getting some sheep milk cheese, heavy cream, and berries in addition to the quark, so it was productive.   I’m preparing a post on quark.  It is something you can make at home, if you are so inclined.  In the meantime, here are a few links that I found interesting:  some local farms I love,  a coconut milk cooking contest, misconclusions drawn from studies, nutrient deficiencies,  supplies for preserving food, and why local food is awesome.  See below for all the links.

Valley Shepherd Creamery – This is where I got the sheep’s milk cheese from.    It was very tasty.  I don’t eat a lot of sheep’s milk cheese for some reason, sticking more with cow and goat.  But I should make regular stops at this farm’s stall to try the different sheep’s milk cheeses.  The sheep are grass fed, and they even offer some raw milk cheeses.  I see that they give farm tours, so I might try to go.  Their cheese can be purchased in the NYC/NJ area, but if you don’t live here, they do have an online store.

Hawthorn Valley Farm – I love this farm.  Someday I will figure out how I can go work there.  Grass fed cows, fermented foods, vegetables, they have it all.  If you are in the NY area, check them out.

Clean Your Plate – A cooking contest hosted by The Nourished Kitchen.  This month’s theme is coconut milk.  Submit your recipe by July 15th, or vote once she posts the entries!  Coconut milk is a wonderful ingredient, so this will be a great one to bookmark and make all of the recipes!

Warning: Bologna May Cause Cancer Headlines – There are a lot of studies out there that tell you eating meat is bad for you, fat is bad for you, etc.  Is that really true?  Here is a critical look at one such study.  Read it, and you will learn never to trust the headlines when someone tells you some new study shows X.  Instead, read into the study for more information.  How was the data collected?  What data did they look at, etc.  Here is another one debunking the Finnish Mental Hospital Trial.

ABC’s Big Meal Propaganda – A similar article, this one debunking a news report on ABC.  Here is a quick synopsis – A reporter eats 4 foods that are really bad for you – a deep fried appatizer, a hamburger, french fries, and one of those mega cookie ice cream desserts at popular restaurants.  Then a doctor gives her an exam and tells her how the food affected her, and she says how awful she feels after eating all that saturated fat.  What the report doesn’t tell you is all of the sugar and white flour in these foods.  That is what makes them so unhealthy!  Not the saturated fat.  Read the whole article the complete details.  Very interesting.  In general, that is what makes fast food unhealthy – the sugar (in the soda, in the bun) and the vegetable oils everything is fried in.  It isn’t the saturated fat that poses the biggest problem.

Supplies for Preserving Food – If you want to preserve your own food, here is some equipment you might want.  Look for them at garage sales. 

Are you Nutrient Starved? – I believe most of us aren’t getting enough proper nutrition.  Our lifestyle and diet just does not make it easy.  For example, vitamin D.  I work an office job and can’t go sunbathe for 30 minutes every day to get my requirement of sunlight for optimal vitamin D conversion.  And most people don’t eat enough dairy or eggs to make up for it.  The RDA only lists the bare minimum requirements of nutrients to prevent your body from getting deficiency related diseases, but less profound deficiencies can still affect you.  While I disagree with her assertion that answering “yes” to any of her list of symptoms means you have a deficiency, she still makes a good point that any of those things can mean you aren’t getting enough nutrients.  Here is another article on the RDA of vitamin D.

Why local food – A great post on why local food is so good for you and the community at large.

Healthy and unhealthy ingredients – What ingredients to avoid, and what you can substitute with.  A very helpful post for those of you just starting out on a more traditional, less processed foods way of life.

I think that is it for now.  That should keep you busy until I can regale you with tales of quark and lambs quarter.

Berry Breakfast

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday.  This breakfast just has 3 ingredients, all natural!

At the farmer’s market on July 4th, I purchased black raspberries and heavy cream.  Put them together and you have a wonderful breakfast!  It is also quite suitable for dessert.

It really couldn’t be more simple.  Take the organic, in season black raspberries, or any berry variety (raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries), pick through them and discard any ones that have gone bad, and put them in a bowl.  Pour heavy cream over the top and serve.  No sugar needed.  I rounded out the breakfast with 2 pieces of humanely raised, pastured pig bacon.  No nitrates.  (I also do variations with 2 pastured eggs instead of bacon, but that is a topic for another day!)

What makes this breakfast so good?  Let’s break it down.

No Sugar. Refined or even minimally refined sugar is one of the worst things you can eat.  I won’t tell you to never eat it because I’d be a hypocrite.  But sugar is not good for you, no matter what form you take it.  It leads to obesity and various metabolic disorders including diabetes as well as tooth decay.  I do try to limit how much sugar I eat, and I try to make sure it is a more natural kind of sugar, like honey, maple syrup, molasses, evaporated cane juice, etc so at least I can get a little bit of minerals or something with it.  Eating the berries and bacon for breakfast gets you started without the sugar.  A much better choice than a cereal with sugar.  Yes, even so-called “healthy” cereals frequently list a kind of sugar as the 2nd or 3rd ingredient.

Antioxidants – I don’t eat berries because they are good for me.  I eat them because they are delicious; that they are so healthy is a bonus!  One of the things they have is antioxidants and lots of them.  Blueberries and black raspberries are particularly good in this area.  Antioxidants help prevent the signs of aging and can help prevent against cancer and heart disease.

Vitamins – Vitamin K, vitamin E and vitamin C are all found in black raspberries in good amounts.  More vitamins and minerals are in them as well, but these three are particularly plentiful.   Cream has a lot of vitamin A and Calcium, and since cream is fat and those particular vitamins and minerals require fat to in order be metabolized by the body, you know that your body is processing that full amount of vitamins and minerals.

Protein – It is good to start out your day with some protein.  The protein in the cream and bacon combined is almost the same as a cup of skim milk.  Protein is needed for your body to help rebuild itself and it also helps fill you up better than carbs alone do.

Fat – We’ve all been trained fat is bad for you.  That isn’t really true.  Fat from traditional sources is very good for you and is necessary.  Natural sources include dairy and animals (such as cream and bacon) as well as coconut and olive oil.  Vegetable oils made from corn, canola, cottonseed, and soy, to name a few, are not traditional and should not be consumed.  Why is dairy fat so good for you?  Cream from grass fed cows contains CLA and Butyric Acid which help prevent cancer.  Grass fed cow milk also has a better ratio of omego 3s.  Our bodies run on fat as it is a preferred fuel source.  Did you know that our brain is about two-thirds fat?  The nervous system depends on fat.  Besides, it just tastes good!  This is why people love bacon and cream.  Fat is also great because it really fills you up.  It sends a message to your brain to stop being hungry.  Have you ever eaten breakfast of skim milk and cereal only to find yourself starving an hour later?  It has happened to me.  But not when you eat bacon or cream!  You don’t need a lot.  Just 2 slices of bacon and less than 1/2 of a cup of cream was enough to keep me well satiated for hours.

Now, here is where you forget all of that stuff – when I make breakfast, I don’t think about all of these things.  I don’t think about the RDA for vitamin D or how much calcium I’m getting.  I don’t think about antioxidants or other cancer fighting micronutrients.  I just think about a few simple things – Is the food from a traditional source and prepared in a traditional way?  Berries have been foraged for hundreds of thousands of years, I’d bet.  Cream has been around for about 10,000 years.  A short period of time in the grand scheme of thing, but enough time for my ancestors to develop the mutation to be able to drink milk into adulthood (lactose tolerance).  Pigs were also domesticated around 10,000 years ago, but I bet wild boars and related animals were hunted for tens of thousands of years before that.  Since those are the only 3 ingredients in this breakfast, I think that is pretty good.  I also think about taste.  Do these things taste good?  You betcha!  And finally, I think about will this fill me up and keep me full until my next meal or snack?  Fat and protein help keep me full, where carbs, especially refined carbs do the opposite.  I also think about my meals for the past 24 hours or so.  I try and make sure I eat plenty of vegetables and fruit, protein including animal protein found in meat and dairy, and fat from traditional sources.   I don’t count calories, carbs or RDA amounts, and yet, by following this basic outline, I’ve lost weight and maintained myself at my ideal weight.  I’ve been sick less and had improved energy.   I’ve also eaten the most delicious food.

Beet Root and Feta Salad

Salads are such great summer foods.  I don’t want to be chained to a stove on hot days, and all of that fresh produce really fits the bill when you just need something light on the hot days.  Granted, it hasn’t been that hot so far this summer.  Not at least at my house!  But the heat will come.  Eventually.  And I’ll be glad for this salad then!

Nothing beats beets in a salad.  Yes, I said it.  They add a different kind of texture and a lot of color.  I love putting cheese in a salad too.  It helps fill it up a bit and gives it more body.  It also turns a salad from a first course into a meal.  A strong, flavorful cheese goes best with beets, I’ve found, so when I saw some goat cheese feta at the farmer’s market recently, I knew what I had to get.  I also really like sprinkling nuts or seeds on my salad, so in went sunflower seeds.  To top it all off, a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  A simple salad dressing to let the flavors of the beets, cheese, oil and vinegar play off each other.

While I didn’t put it in this salad, tomatoes, dried cranberries, cucumbers and carrots would all work well.  And if you don’t have feta, switch up the cheese for maybe a bleu, or go the other way with a hard cheese like Parmesan.  Use my recipe as inspiration – use what you have in your fridge and pantry.  Use what is available at your farmer’s markets and CSAs.  Use what you like!  What are your favorite variations?

See below for my ingredients and instructions.

• 1 Medium sized beet
• 1 Small head of heirloom leaf lettuce
• Crumbles of feta cheese – to taste
• Olive oil and Balsamic vinegar – to taste
• 1-2 tablespoons Sunflower seeds

But the beet into 6 wedges and boil about a half hour or until you can stick a fork into it easily without it being mushy.  Personally, I will boil several at once and keep the rest in the fridge so I can make more salads quickly.

When the beets are finished boiling, dump them in ice water.  This will also cause the skin to become loose and you can peel it off with your fingers.

Wash and dry the lettuce and chop it into bite size pieces.  Put it on the plate.  Add the cooled beets and cheese.  Add anything else you have around.  Drizzle with olive oil and vinegar (use about twice as much oil as vinegar) then top with sunflower seeds.

Voila!  Beet root salad.

]]> http://www.completelyedible.com/2009/07/beet-root-and-feta-salad/feed/ 1 http://www.completelyedible.com/2009/07/farmers-market-day/ http://www.completelyedible.com/2009/07/farmers-market-day/#comments Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:23:58 +0000 Stacy http://www.completelyedible.com/?p=473

Farmer's Market Haul, July 4th

The July 4th holiday is a big one. And like most holidays, it has its own food associations and traditions.  Strawberries, certainly, and cherries are two.  Both are patriotic colors and come into season around early July.  Pies, cakes and other pastries made with these red fruits or in combination with blue ones like blueberries are on the dessert menu.  Grills are fired up as summer is perfect grill season.  The problem is when these fruits come from conventional farms that use a lot of pesticides, when the meat on the grills comes from factory farms where the animals are fed an improper diet and kept in inhumane conditions.  The problem also manifests itself in the white bread hamburger and hot dog buns, the potato chips fried in vegetable oils, and all the rest of the processed foods that help fill out the picnic.

I celebrated my independence from the industrial food system by going to the farmer’s market bright and early and purchasing the bounty that you see in the photo above.  Going shopping is a pleasure rather than a chore if you have a farmer’s market or a farm that you can buy directly from.  I love talking with the people running the stalls – often times it is the very farmer him/herself!  And just seeing all of the wonderful food and thinking of all the possibilities with the ingredients fills me with optimism.  Cooking food isn’t so bad either.  In the summer you can rely heavily on salads which don’t require a hot stove or hours in the kitchen.  And even in the winter, roasts and soups provide delicious meals and many leftovers with very little effort involved.  And when I do rely on packaged foods or convenience foods, they can be purchased from ethical companies that source good ingredients and create the food in a way as to keep the nutrition in.

Want some examples?  Look no further than the rest of the posts on this blog, or read many of the food blogs linked on the right.  Or stay tuned as I blog over the next few weeks about some of these foods in more detail.  Below the jump you’ll see what I purchased on July 4th and a description based on what I know so far of these foods.

Heavy Cream – I got this from Ronnybrook Farm.  They are an organic dairy upstate.  They feed their cows grass and they pasteurize the milk at the lowest possible temperature allowed, as to retain more of the nutrition.  Heavy cream can be used to whip into whipped cream for desserts (especially fruit desserts!), it can be added to scrambled eggs instead of milk for a little extra richness, added to soups, or used about a hundred other ways.  I specially purchased it to pour it over berries for a simple sugar free dessert.  The cream is sweet enough that I don’t need to add any sugar.  It even overcomes the tartness of the berries.

Red Leaf Lettuce - This lettuce is especially beautiful in salads or on sandwiches, with its ends tinged of red.  Leaf lettuce may not last a long while in the fridge, but it can also be cooked and added to stocks, soups, or stir fries, giving you more uses for it.  Red leaf lettuce is particularly high in beta carotene and vitamin K.  I bought this for salads, but I’ll probably throw some into a stir fry as well.

Quark - yeah, I had never heard of this either!  Quark is a traditional cultured dairy food from Germany.  The easiest way to explain it would be yogurt or sour cream made out of buttermilk.  It is thick enough to spread on toast or crackers, but still creamy.  It can be used in baking, as a dip or a spread.  The taste is similar to sour cream.  A little sour, a little tangy.  But there was something about it, I loved it more than I love either of those two things!  It can go savory with the additions of herbs or sweet with fruit.  Quark will make a regular appearance in my diet.  Absolutely delicious.  And since it is made with probiotics and the milk from happy grass fed cows from Hawthorne Valley Farm, I know that it is at least as nutritious as it is delicious.

Apple and Black Currant Juice - from Red Jacket Orchards.  Their interesting fruit combination and from what I can tell, good farming and juice making practices make them a good place to buy juice from, if you are inclined to buy juice.  I don’t buy a lot since I’d rather eat the whole fruit instead, but they are a good way to help keep a smoothie drinkable, so I do buy every now and then.  This fruit combination is very good!

Broccoli - We all should know by now that broccoli is good for us.  There are so many great nutrients in abundance that I couldn’t list them all here or my post would get too long.  I got this for a stir fry, but I plan on using the entire broccoli, not just the tender heads we all love to eat.  The stems are very good for you too, and eating them helps stretch your food budget and prevent waste.  Chop them into smaller pieces to use in soups, fritattas, pastas, stir fries, or anything else you can think of.

Purslane – I love purslane!  It is one of the best vegetarian sources of omega 3s, and plus, it just tastes good!  A little tart and lemony, it goes well on salads or cooked in stir fry or soup.

Purple Cabbage - I got this for a stir fry (sense a theme?) and chose it over the green because of its pretty color.  Purple cabbage has more fiber and beta carotene than green cabbage.  All cabbage is a decent source of vitamin C which can be further increased by turning the cabbage into sauerkraut.

Zuccini – I made a yummy zucchini bread that made me hungry for more zucchini.  Aside from being put into baked goods, zucchinis are great stir fried, or battered with some egg and fried, which is how I ate a lot of them as a kid.

Green Beans – These just said “summer” to me!  I’ll probably just cook them with some butter.  Delicious and simple.  Green beans are high in vitamin K, vitamin C, and beta carotene.

Sweet Cherries – The pits annoy me (I need a good pitter, recommendations?) so I got the sweet kind that I can just eat out of hand.

Gooseberries – Gooseberries look like miniature watermelons.  They are the same size and shape as grapes and have the same feel in your mouth.  They taste wonderfully sour and can go sweet or savory.  I’ve put some in salads, but I want to try a dessert with them too.

Blueberries - They are packed with antioxidants, but is that why I eat them?  No.  I eat them because they are just so good.  I remember going blueberry picking in Michigan as a child, or hiking in Alaska, eating blueberries along the trail.  That these are so healthy for me is just a bonus.

Plumcots – A plumcot is a cross between a plum and an apricot.  It can occur naturally in areas where these trees are both grown from seed.  Plumcots have been known for some time.  They look similar to a regular plum, dark smooth skin.  The taste is sweet in the flesh, tart in the skin, a delightful combination.  And, like many fruits, high in vitamin C, fiber, potassium, and much more.

Black Raspberries – it struck me that the “blue raspberry” artificial flavor that you can sometimes find in slurpee style drinks and popcicles might actually have its inspiration from nature.  These are small, firm, dark raspberries.  They look black, but stained my fingers purple.  They didn’t spoil as quickly as regular raspberries.  The flavor is somewhere between a blackberry and a red raspberry, and I suppose their nutrition is similar as well.

Lamb’s Quarters – This is a green similar to spinach in taste and usage.  Cook it or eat it raw.  In many places it grows wild like a weed, so you might already have it in your garden!  Don’t weed it out!  It is at least as healthy as spinach, with high amounts of vitamin C, K, beta carotene, and calcium.

Middle Eastern Summer Squash - I can’t remember the exact variety of this summer squash, possibly Magda.  It is a middle eastern variety that holds up well to cooking.  I love trying out new varieties of vegetables, so I thought I’d give this one a try and compare it to zucchini.

And there you have it.  Celebrating my independence from the industrial food system with these great foods.  This will easily last me a week of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners with very few pantry items added in.  I won’t even want to make any desserts since the fruit and berries are plenty sweet to satisfy any dessert craving I might have.

zucchini bread

This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays.

Today I picked up a CSA share for someone on vacation.  I was not prepared for the bounty of berries I was to receive!  2 pints of raspberries and 2 quarts of strawberries, plus other assorted vegetables and herbs.  I had been prepared to make a currant quick bread, and had prepped some wheat the night before (soaked it in yogurt and left it out 24 hours), but when I realized I could now make a raspberry currant pie, I had to switch gears and figure out something else to do with my soaked wheat.  I froze the raspberries and currants  so I could make a pie with them later this week.  The raspberries would not have lasted more than a day in the fridge, which is always the pity with raspberries.  So delicate that they must be used or frozen right away.

Since I’m getting a delivery of meat in 2 days, I figured I should use something from my freezer to help free up space.  Well, I did happen to have a little less than a cup of grated zucchini so I thought I’d make zucchini bread.  Besides, here in the northeast, the zucchini have arrived at the farmer’s markets, and soon we will be up to our ears in it!

Now, this isn’t a recipe that uses heaps of zucchinis.  It only uses about a cup of grated raw zucchini, or about 1/2 – 2/3 cups grated, blanched zucchini.   So this is a good recipe for when you have an odd zucchini.  Not enough for a meal, but you don’t want it to go to waste.  Of course, you could make multiple loaves and freeze them for later…

Soaking the flour overnight in yogurt is an essential step.  This neutralized the phytic acid present in the wheat.  Phytic acid is an anti nutrient found in nuts, seeds, legumes, and grains that can cheleate minerals from your body.  It can be neutralized by properly preparing these foods, such as soaking flour in yogurt.  The other reason the yogurt step is important for this zucchini bread is that it really helped to leaven the bread.  I would have used all soaked wheat in the recipe, but it would have thrown off the liquid to dry ingredient ratio.  Since I couldn’t soak all of the flour without making the batter too runny, I used sprouted wheat.  Sprouting will also destroy phytic acid.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, fresh out of the oven.  Recipe below.

• 1/2 cup Whole Wheat Flour
• 1/2 cup Yogurt
• ~ 2/3 cup Shredded zucchini
• 2/3 cup Sucanat/Rapadura/Evaporated Cane Crystals
• 1/3 cup Melted coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
• 2 Eggs
• 1 1/2 Sprouted flour
• 1 teaspoon Baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon Cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon Baking powder
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans
• 1/4 cup raisins

Combine 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour with the yogurt.  Mix well, cover with a towel, and set aside in a warm part of the room, away from drafts for 24 hours.

After the 24 hours have passed, in a separate bowl combine the zucchini, sugar, coconut oil, vanilla, and eggs.  Mix well.  Pour into the flour and yogurt mixture and add the sprouted flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, baking powder, pecans and raisins.  Mix and then let it sit for 3 minutes or so while you butter a bread pan.

Bake in a 400 degree preheated oven for about 35 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes up dry.  Cool on a wire rack before slicing.

Cobble Hill CSA Haul

I want the recipes I create and post to be recipes that can be made by anyone.  However, I realize that a lot of the ingredients I use might not be readily available.  I would recommend that you purchase them if you can.  I put them in the recipe because they are nutritionally superior or important to the taste/texture of the dish.   Many are available mail order (such as sprouted wheat flour and coconut oil).   Others can be found at organic specialty shops if you have one in your town.  But if your shipment hasn’t come in yet or you can’t get to an organic grocery store, here are some substitutions.

Ramps – Ramps are small bulbs and leaves of a plant in the onion family.  To me the taste is somewhere between a garlic and a leek.  Depending on if you want your food to be more garlic-y or more onion-y, you could substitute with a clove of garlic, a green onion, or a leek at about a 1:1 ratio.

Rapadura/Sucanat/Evaporated Cane Juice – These are just types of unrefined sugars.  Any one of them can be substituted for another.  You could also use “Sugar in the raw” or even regular white sugar.  I prefer not to use regular white sugar because of the extra refining that takes place.  The unrefined versions will have a slight molasses flavor, but other than that, there is really no difference for the recipe.  You can replace at a 1:1 ratio.

Fiddleheads - Fiidlehead ferms are highly seasonal and not available everywhere in the country, so don’t fret if you can’t find them.  Just replace with an equal amount of chopped asparagus.  The flavor and color is similar.  They even have a similar texture.

Stinging Nettles – Any green leafy vegetable such as kale, chard or spinach will achieve much of the same flavor and texture.

Sour Milk – You can only use sour milk if you buy raw milk and let it sour.  If you cannot or do not buy raw milk, you can substitute with an equal amount of buttermilk, plain yogurt, plain kefir (they sell it in some stores now – it is similar to a drinkable yogurt), or 1 cup of regular milk + 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar.

Sprouted Flour – I purchase this from the internet, so don’t worry if you can’t find it locally.  You can order it.  If you don’t have it, you can substitute for an equal amount of regular whole wheat flour.  You will not be receiving the superior nutrition of the sprouted grain, however.

Masa Harina - This is a traditional corn meal made by soaking the corn in an alkaline solution before grinding into flour.  This helps release more of the nutrients in corn to be bioavailable to you.  If you don’t have this, you can substitute for an equal amount of corn meal or corn flour.

Coconut Oil - This is an ingredient I would recommend you purchase, even if you don’t get anything else.  It has such wonderful health benefits and is so good to cook with since it can work even in high heat.  If you don’t have it, you can replace with butter.  However, you cannot cook butter on high heat like you can coconut oil.  You will either need to lower the heat or cook with ghee.

Ghee – many Asian grocery stores or organic/gourmet grocery stores will carry this.  It is clarified butter, so it can withstand higher temperatures.  If you know how to clarify your own butter (I do not) you can use that.  Otherwise, use butter (and keep the heat on medium) or use coconut oil.

Are there any other ingredients that I use that you don’t have? Let me know what other substitutions you need to know!

hummus on a sourdough cracker

This post is part of Fight Back Fridays.

I love hummus.  Whether it is a dip for crackers or crudites, a spread on a sandwich, or an accompaniment to falafel, it tastes so good.  One day I came home from work and announced I was going to make some.  I’d never made it before, but I’d become disenchanted with the store bought brands as they had a lot of highly processed ingredients in them.

I figured it couldn’t be hard to make hummus, and I was right.  You just put the ingredients in a Cuisinart and let it do all of the work!  The best thing about making it yourself is you can make any style or flavor of hummus you like.  Add lemon juice, extra tahini, pine nuts, peppers, different spices, different kinds of beans – it is all up to you.

I served it on a sourdough cracker, but it would be a great dip for carrots or celery, or a spread on a sandwich, or a sauce for chicken.  There are so many possibilities with this one.

This is what I did for the basic hummus recipe that you can use as a jumping off point for your favorite flavors.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2  cup chickpeas (garbanzo beans), cooked, drained and cooled (or about a can of them, drained)
• ~2 tablespoons tahini
• 1 ramp/clove of garlic, chopped
• ~1/4 cup olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Cayenne pepper to taste

Put the chickpeas in your Cuisinart and pulse.  You will need to periodically stop and scrape the sides down.  When they start to get crumbly, add your tahini and pulse again.  Now, drizzle a bit of the olive oil around to moisten it up and pulse some more.  Scrape down the bowl if necessary.  Keep repeating this until all of the olive oil has been used.  Add the ramp or garlic and continue mixing.  Add the salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste.  You may want to add more tahini or olive oil if your mixture is still dry.  It will depend on how dry your chickpeas were.  Once you have the consistency you like, it is ready!  It may be nice to sprinkle a little extra cayenne on the top of the finished hummus for color.