Granola Your Way

My husband is amazed at all the "junk" e-mail I recieve daily. I admit I do sign up for a lot of newsletters. Some I skim and delete, others I delete pretty much right away, but there are a few of my favorites where I take the time to really read. Culinate and Cookus Interruptus are two that fall in the later category.

Culinate recently highlighted Vanessa Barrington's book DIY Delicious with a fun recipe, Granola Your Way. I love how it was laid out giving the cook the power to be creative and experiment with the ingredients. I am sharing it as 1) I love homemade granola and 2) after many years of following recipes to a T, I am finally enjoying making up my own recipes, adjusting recipes and have accepted that failing is learning. If you still follow recipes to a T, get creative and make some delicious granola!

Granola Your Way from Vanessa Barrington

Ingredients

1/3 to 1/2 Cup fat (butter, coconut oil, olive oil)

1/3 cup Sweetener agave syrup, honey, maple syrup (1/2) or brown sugar (1/2)

Flavorings vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom

4 cups flaked grains (oats, kamut, triticale, spelt, rye)

Mix-ins unsweetened coconut, wheat germ

Seeds pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, flax, chia

2 cups Nuts (about 8 ounces) lightly chopped (almonds, pecans, walnuts)

1 cup unsulfured and evenly chopped dried fruit (apples, pears, peaches, plums, cranberries, currants, raisins,

Instructions

1.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2.In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the butter (or, if using oil, warm it) and add the sweetener along with the vanilla, cinnamon, or other spices you’re using. (If using honey, see the variation.)

3.In a large bowl, combine the flaked grains, mix-ins, seeds, and nuts. Toss to mix.

4.Pour the warmed butter or oil and sweetener over the dry ingredients and toss with a large spoon or spatula until evenly and lightly coated.

5.Transfer the mixture to a large baking sheet (you may need to use two baking sheets) and spread it out evenly in a thin layer.

6.Bake until evenly browned, 20 to 25 minutes. Stop halfway through and stir the ingredients so that they brown evenly.

7.Remove from the oven, add the dried fruit, and toss to combine. Let cool completely on the baking sheet.

8.Store at room temperature in an airtight container. The granola will stay fresh for up to 3 weeks, stored properly. I store mine in mason jars on the counter. It looks nice and keeps the granola fresh and handy.

Notes

Variation: If using honey, there’s no need to heat the oil first, but you still need to melt the butter (if using). Just whisk the fat together with the vanilla or other spices and pour it over the flakes, nuts, and extras, and toss and bake as directed. When you remove the granola from the oven, add the dried fruit, and drizzle the honey over it while still warm. Toss to coat, and cool and store as directed.

Mindful Eating

With gratitude, I spent the weekend at the Great Vow Zen Monastery, taking in a new world and learning about mindful eating. Our retreat was led by Jan Chozen Bays. She is a pediatrician, Zen Master and author of Mindful Eating. Her book is a guide to rediscovering a healthy and joyful relationship with food - the relationship we had as an infant and toddler. We simply ate when we were hungry and stopped when we were full.

There are very few people I know that don't have issues with food; fear of certain foods, constant dieting, anxiety about bad and good foods, obesity, anorexia, and bulimia. With mindful eating we can create peace with food. After all food is truly a gift, and should be enjoyed. During the retreat I found myself enjoying my food more, being less hungry and eating smaller portions. It was really a great experience and would recommend it to anyone.

I am considering offering a six week class on mindful eating, where we would read the book and do exercises together. Please leave a comment or email me if you are interested.

Nestle Health Sciences Division

Have you heard the news?

Nestle created two new units, Nestle Health Science SA and the Nestle Institute of Health Sciences, aimed at developing products that may prevent and treat ailments such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer's disease.

I'm anxious to see these new "products" on the grocery store shelves and read the labels. Don't we already have the foods necessary to prevent and treat diseases? I can buy fruits and vegetables, whole grains, clean proteins, healthy fats all at my local natural grocery stores (check out the new Chuck's Produce and Street Market on Mill Plain where the old GI Joe's was, that just opened on October 7th, 2010) and at the farmer's markets during the growing season.

Maybe I'll be happily surprised. Will Nestle bring us whole grains pasta, yogurt without food dyes and chemical additives and other products with natural ingredients to help us all out as we try to feed our families well?

This is a reminder to us all not to believe what the front of the package says, but to read the ingredient list on the back label. If an ingredient listed cannot be found at the grocery store, put the item back on the shelf! It isn't real food. When Nestle's new products hits the shelves, that is what I'd be looking for.

Massaged Kale?!?!

It might be a funny name for a recipe but this salad is amazing. Anytime I share the salad a request for the recipe follows, so I thought I better get it up on my blog. Be forewarned, once you have this salad you'll probably become addicted. Although this addiction will benefit your health as Kale is rich in antioxidants, and is considered to be anti-inflammatory. It is also high in Vitamin K, Vitamin C and beta carotene, and reasonably rich in calcium. (Because of its high vitamin K content, patients taking anti-coagulants such as warfarin are encouraged to avoid this food since it increases the vitamin K concentration in the blood, which is what the drugs are often attempting to lower).

Massaged Kale & Apple Salad with Gorgonzola from Cynthia Lair http://www.cookusinteruptus.com/
Bastyr adjunct faculty member Jennifer Adler M.S., C.N. contributed this recipe. I love to watch Jennifer work with food because she loves to use her hands. She touches and loves food into magnificent flavor and tenderness. Jennifer likes to make a bunch of this salad at once to ensure that she have dark leafy greens ready when busy days are ahead. It tastes better as the days go by.

1 bunch kale
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cup sunflower seeds toasted (or Sweet Glazed Nuts)
1/4 cup diced red onion
1/3 cup currants
3/4 cup diced apple (1/2 apple)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons unfiltered apple cider vinegar (I use balsamic vinegar - 18 yr old from Navidi's)
1/3 cup gorgonzola cheese crumbled

De-stem kale by pulling leaf away from the stem. Wash leaves. Spin or pat dry. Stack leaves, rollup and cut into thin ribbons (chiffonade). Put kale in a large mixing bowl. Add salt, massage salt into kale with your hands for 2 minutes. To toast seeds, put in a dry skillet over low to medium heat and stir constantly for a few minutes until they change color and give off a nutty aroma.

Put kale in a fresh bowl and discard any leftover liquid. Stir onion, currants, apple and toasted seeds into kale. Dress with oil and vinegar and toss. Taste for salt and vinegar, adding more if necessary. When at desired flavor, toss in cheese. Yields: 6 Servings. Enjoy!

Why I Have Embraced Naturopathic Medicine

This last week I suffered from some sort of intestinal infection. When I first felt it on Sunday morning and experienced a couple bouts of vomiting I figured it was the stomach flu, but as it went on throughout the week it was obvious I was suffering from something more. Why am I writing about this? To share how I love the world of naturopathic medicine. I haven't been to a MD for a few years now, having made the switch to a ND (Naturopathic Physician). I couldn't be happier, and this past week has once again showed me how  Naturopathy has improved my well being and made my healthcare a pleasant process.

On the second day of my illness I was feeling better, but quickly realized at the end of that day, I was far from healed. After a miserable evening I called my doctor, Dr. Meredith Distante, and left a message explaining my situation. She called me back in a couple hours and instructed me to take probiotics, drink homemade electrolytes (4 C. water, 1/2 t. sea salt, 1/2 t. baking soda, pinch of sugar), rest and only eat grains, bananas or apples. I followed her instructions feeling much better by the afternoon, and had a fairly normal day on Wednesday, but once again in the evening had a bit of a relapse. Checking in with her again by phone the next morning, she again stressed the need for the probiotics and put my mind at ease that I would be better soon. I continued the protocol and by this morning I really began to feel healthy and have an appetite. It is so nice to be free of the stomach pains! It really is miserable being in dis-ease. After a day of eating well, increasing energy I reflected on my experience. Or really on what my experience could have been.

I can only speculate what would have happened had I called a MD. A friend shared her story of a bad intestinal bug that went on for three weeks and was treated with antibiotics. If I hadn't started the probiotics would I still be suffering? I really don't know, but if it had continued and I had chosen to go to a MD's office what is the likelihood he'd prescribe probiotics? Pretty darn slim. But if I had been suffering for a while I'd say it is pretty likely he would have written up a prescription for antibiotics, giving me freedom from my ailment but killing off all my good bacteria in the process. I believe the probiotics I took re-populated my good bacteria enough to kill off the bug I had, without any harm to my body. No worries about building up resistance to antibiotics or risking a yeast infection.

Gone are the days when medical doctors make house calls and have private practices. We go to clinics, talk to advice nurses and typically only talk to the doctor during an appointment. Getting care from a naturopathic doctor can be a much more pleasant process. Dr. Distante runs a busy practice, but when necessary she is able to return my calls or emails within a very reasonable time frame. I have benefitted from embracing naturopathic medicine and hope you will or have as well. I'd love to hear your own stories of how naturopathic physicians, finding the cause and not treating the symptoms of your ailments, has changed you.

A Year of Expansion

I hope no one is thinking of expansion in terms of weight gain! No, my year of expansion has to do with personal growth, not growth of a waistline. My friend Kathy sent me a blog entry about foregoing New Year's resolutions and instead choosing a word to live your year by. You can choose any word but some examples are Love, Joy, Action, Discipline, Release, Adventure. I loved the idea, but there are so many great words! As much as I can over analyze, I didn't - somehow the word expansion struck a chord with me and honestly I didn't give it much more thought. Even though I love trying new things and getting out of my comfort zone - well I'm not going to jump out of a plane, but I have gotten over my fear of public speaking and am currently taking an art class which I never thought I'd ever do - there are plenty of areas in my life I can work on personal growth. My word is expansion, but it also means I'll live the year by not contracting, or shrinking away from challenges. I will grow this year by not feeling fear, or at least facing fears, as new opportunities present themselves. 

In addition to starting my art class this last Monday, I also took a cooking class last week. My cooking skills are decent, but not expert by any means. The more I learn from experimenting, watching on-line videos and taking cooking classes, the more fun I have in the kitchen. And the more time I want to spend creating nourishing foods for my family. There are so many people today, having taken advantage of the abundance of convenience foods and restaurants in today's world, that have very little, or no cooking skills. It is sad to think the next generation will probably be even more kitchen illiterate. If you are not confident in the kitchen I'd encourage you to expand your horizons and take a cooking class, or invest time watching cooking videos on-line. If you are one to follow recipes and have a fear of trying any kind of variations - let it go! Either way, step out of your comfort zone. Adapt your recipe by putting in leeks instead of onions, balsamic vinegar instead of apple cider, or adding various items the recipe doesn't call for. If the dish doesn't turn out so well, it isn't a failure - you've learned something new - you've expanded your knowledge of flavors! Or if you barely cook at all due to lack of knowledge or even desire, challenge yourself to a week of cooking at home to see what you can create. I know you will make some delicious meals, gain some skills and spark an interest to learning more so you can provide healthy meals for your family. (If not you can hire me to work with you one-on-one in your kitchen to learn the skills you need).   

During my art class, I realized how much cooking is like painting. Whether you are creating a painting or a meal we need to be able to let go of our fears and enjoy the process, the journey. When we let go of our fears our true nature reveals itself and our creation is unique to our being.

Our first lesson in art class was learning to mix colors. If we didn't know how to mix the colors, our painting would look like a paint by numbers piece. With cooking we can follow recipes and we'd have a meal, just as the artist "painting by numbers" would have a painting, but where is the creativity, where is the soul of the artist or the chef? Ironically, my friend Lara signed up for the same art class. There we were the first day, with our type A (should I just say controlling?) personalities, having similar fears as we embarked on our first lesson of creating any color from six paint tubes. We had to let go of our need for perfection, and experiment, not worrying about the outcome, but embracing the moment of blending the colors and watching a new color emerge, be it an eggplant purple or a muddy brown. Amazingly just a bit of another color could bring that dark muddy color back to a glorious rich purple. It is the same with cooking. By letting go of our fears we can experiment with the flavors, seasoning and ingredients, and make a meal that is from fresh whole foods. Some mistakes may be more fatal in the kitchen, but if you add seasonings slowly it isn't often you'll make a dish you'll have throw away. And even if you did? Did you fail? No! You learned something new! So please let go of your fears, expand your horizons - get in your kitchen today and create something to nourish your family.

I know I'll have opportunities this year I may be afraid of, but knowing some of you are overcoming your challenges of cooking your families meals from real foods will inspire me to expand my horizons!

Roasting Vegetables

During the winter, especially during the northwest cold dreary days, we crave comfort foods. I don't know how many people see roasted vegetable as a comfort food, but it is a big one for me. I love eating roasted vegetables this time of year. If you have never roasted vegetables you are missing out on a flavorful way to get your 5-9 servings a days. From a nutritional standpoint, roasting is not as good as steaming, or eating raw, but sometimes you have to give up a bit of nutrition for some really good taste. Roasted veggies as a quarter of your plate, green salad as half your plate, and a clean protein as the remaining quarter plate and you've got a nutritionally balanced meal.

There are many veggies that are excellent for roasting. Broccoli, asparagus, brussel sprouts, potatoes, onions, garlic, sweet potatoes, yams, parsnips, carrots, beets, squashes and the list goes on. After washing your vegetables cut them into uniform pieces close to 1 inch cubes. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Put the veggies in a large bowl and toss with at least olive oil (use about 1/4 cup oil to 4 cups of veggies), sea salt and pepper. Other add-ins are dried spices - like rosemary, lemon juice, and minced garlic. Place in a shallow roasting pan, in a single layer or one lined with parchment paper. Bake at 400 degrees on the middle rack for 30 minutes, stir veggies around a bit, then roast another 30 more minutes or until tender. Yum! Use leftovers in a Roasted Root Vegetable Frittata, or soup or lasagna. I'll share specific recipes for those on another day.