Chef in my own mind

FOOD DAY: A time for positive change

OK.  If you are reading this you are on your computer.  Now, open up a file and call it:

Nutrient dense recipes

or

Whole food recipes

This was my first encounter with the short lived garlic scape.  It is only available for about 3 weeks in spring.  We had access to garlic scapes this spring with our farm CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).  It was fun taking a new ingredient, Googling it and finding ways to enjoy it during its short lived availability.  

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If you are serious about making healthy changes for you and your family, then start here and now.  

Today  is the time to rogue out the processed foods in your life and begin to make upgrades to your nutritional lifestyle.

 I mean it, start today.  It begins in the kitchen.  

Take an inventory of what you have.  Do you have white flour, white sugar, processed foods in your pantry, refridgerator and freezer?  Take a magic marker and put a big fat X on the foods you KNOW you need to weed out of your life.  

Now, I don't mean going cold turkey unless you like that sort of thing, but if you first make a committment to yourself that you are going to make changes because your LIFE depends on it you will commit to lasting change in your life.  In the past 2-3 years I have been gradually making changes towards a better lifestyle by upgrading the ingredients in my kitchen, fridge, freezer and pantry.  

Know that this does not happen over night, but gradually.  It is in these gradual changes that you begin to live and eat better quality foods and leave behind the processed world of foods that are mostly UFOs   (Unidentified Food Objects).    There is a really cool app called Fooducate.  Download it here.  

My dear friends, there is a growing movement towards more healthy choices in our world.  It is up to each of you to identify these better choices and try the options you have never considered.  

Why not join me in making these changes?  

Today is:      Food Day

Click on the link to find out more about what this day represents.  It is a raising of awareness in this country about the current state of our food system, where we are, where we need to be and why.  We have escalating health care concerns in America resulting in a huge increase in type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease, cancer, digestive disorders and many more chronic ailments.  If you watch TV you will be bombarded with the marketing of processed foods and perscription drugs at every turn.  

Educate yourselves about healthy choices and living.

In my own workplace I have observed health problems in my colleagues ranging from digestive disorders, to weight issues, dental problems, high blood pressure, cancer and more.  I cannot help but be stirred by the plights of my coworkers to look at my own issues and address them one by one.  

Food Day was the brain child from the Center for Science in the Public Interest.   This is a consumer advocacy group that emphasizesa focus on innovative researchon health and nutrition and provides consumers with education on this latest research.  

In my CSA last Friday I picked up some sweet potatoes.  These have signalled the changing fall season, so we have been enjoying them mashed with freshed grated ginger and also as sweet potato fries, complete with the skin.  

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Sweet Potato Fries with coconut oil, by Bonnie Deahl

Wash the tubers and then cut lengthwise into fries (sort of like home fries).  Toss them in a bit of coconut oil (as opposed to vegetable oil.  You can read about the oiling of America here!)  Now sprinkle some sea salt on them and a favorite seasoning blend (I used Penzey's Singapore seasoning.)  You may have to soften the coconut oil just enough so you can coat each sweet potato fry in a large bowl. Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 375F for about 20 - 30 minutes or until golden.  

Leaving the skins on your sweet potatoes adds fiber, texture and more nutrient value to the sweet potato fries.gin

 

Simply delicious!  Sweet vegetables add an element of sweetness that may begin to crowd out sugar or sweet cravings you may have.  Add more sweet vegetables to your daily life and you will begin to reduce your dependence on unhealthy sweets.  Try it and see....

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 Start anew today by making a fresh start to a healthier life.

You may copy this recipe and save it to your new file.  Now the next step is to go to the store tomorrow and buy a few sweet potatoes.  While buying organic is better at least try them.  If you cannot find coconut oil (health food aisles), you may use a light vegetable oil, but begin to look for alternative oils...for your health.  

Eat well.

Feel better.

Live longer.

bonnie  

Friday smorgasborg

An ecclectic melange of leftovers make for a feast on a Friday night.

Smorgasborg nights have to be my favorite each week.  You spend the week making dinners only to have  many little leftovers lurking in the fridge.  There is no rhyme nor reason to the choices here but that is half the fun of such a meal.  It is the diversity on a plate that satisfies.  Tonight's offerings included brown rice, kale & salmon salad with grated beets, carrots, onions and a tahini dressing.  There was mashed sweet potato with ginger,  tatsoi with asian dressing, indian peanut slaw, and some greek salad from an earlier lunch.  

Fridays are also days when I head out to the farm for our weekly food pickup.  Today's offerings yielded this beautiful, green tatsoi.  Since we are learning to eat more greens I decided to combine the tatsoi with the mustard greens that were in my bag and make a tasty asian style dressing consisting of grated ginger, sesame seeds, tamari, agave, and chili garlic paste.  

Tatsoi rosette.  This is a sturdy, yet mild flavored green that lends itself to strong flavors.  

Wash the greens to take out any sand or soil and then blanch for 1-2 minutes in boiling water.  I cut the greens from the core and washed & drained them in my salad spinner.  If you are new to adding whole foods to your diet, consider purchasing a salad spinner for your kitchen forays.  This tool makes short work of taking moisture away from washed greens.  Mine is an Oxo product which has a bowl that can be used for your salad.  

Ingredients for making the dressing for tatsoi greens.  

Boiling water for blanching greens.  Add the cleaned greens and blanch for 1-2 minutes.  Quickly pull the greens out with a slotted spoon or tongs and put into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking.  

Salad spinner bowl filled with ice cubes and some water, ready for the cooked greens.  

Cut the greens from the core before putting them in the water.  

Tatsoi has been in the boiling water for about a minute.  

Blanched and cooled greens on the cutting board.  Cut them into bite sized pieces.  

Grate about a tablespoon of fresh ginger into a bowl as the first step in making your dressing.  Add 2 tablespoons of tamari or soy sauce, 1 tablespoon brown rice vinegar, half a tablespoon of agave syrup or other sweetener, and half a teaspoon of chili garlic sauce.  You can use sriracha sauce (a hot sauce) as a susbstitute.  Whisk these together, taste and then add the greens.  Top with sesame seeds or some gomaisio (toasted sesame seeds, sea salt, and seaweed).  

Finished tatsoi with dressing.  Let this marinate for about an hour or more.  The flavor improves with time.  

Try this simple recipe for sweet potatos for your Thanksgiving dinner next month:  

 

Sweet potatoes mashed with ginger

1 pound of sweet potatoes, scrubbed

1" fresh ginger, peeled and grated

1 tablespoon coconut oil 

sea salt and ground black pepper for taste

 

Preheat the oven to 375F.  Place the sweet potatoes in a cookie sheet (on a sheet of foil or parchment for cleanup) and poke a few holes in each potato.  Bake for 45 minutes or an hour until the potatoes are soft when pierced with a fork or knife.  Take out of oven and let cool.  Peel and place in a bowl and mash with a fork or a potato masher.  

Add the other ingredients and mix well.  Season for taste.  The sweetness of the baked potatoes does not need additional sugar and is a perfect balance for other dishes that may be more sour or salty.  Seek to balance your meal by having dishes that have sweet, sour, salty, and pungent tastes.  This creates balance to your palate.  

Kale salad with sea salt, minced onion, grated carrot & beets, and topped with leftover cooked salmon.  This salad has a tahini dressing that can be made from ingredients in your pantry or by a purchased dressing.    

The cool thing about working with kale in salad preparations is to play with your kale.  Literally wash your hands with your kale.  This recipe sprinkles the chopped, cleaned kale with sea salt, then you massage the kale for about 3-4 minutes.  This action softens the kale and allows it to begin to soften from the salt added.  You can then add the other grated vegetables.  I did not have anycucumber, but that would be nice here too.  I did have beets, so I grated a peeled, raw beet into my bowl.  It is a kalaidescope of color.  I also minced red onion very finely and a green onion and diced a red pepper to add to the dish.  Mix well with your hands.  There is something satisfying about mixing with your hands.  Try it once (clean hands, of course) and see what I mean!  

You can find tahini dressing recipes all over the internet.  This one used tahini paste (ground sesame seeds).  I find my tahini in the international aisles of most grocery stores or in international food stores.  I have tried many brands of tahini paste and encourage you to do the same.  You will get a better idea of the quality of the product and can pick the one you prefer.    I started with 2 tablespoons tahini, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, grated ginger, salt and pepper to taste.  I tossed a few tablespoons of the dressing with the salad and saved some for passing around later.  I did not have much salmon for this salad but that was OK.    If you wanted to add some protein, consider adding cooked chickpeas or lentils, or some cubed tofu.  

Peanut slaw is a refreshing version to the many slaws that are laden with mayonnaise.  There is no oil or mayo in this slaw.  It is flavored with a mix of indian spice called Chaat Masala.  You can find this at indian shops that sell spices.  It is easiest to buy it there.  You may be able to find it on well stocked international aisles in grocery stores too.  

You can find this recipe for peanut slaw here.  I have tried the Masala fried chicken and it was truly fun.  I have never been a fan of macaroni & cheese, but this one looks like it could turn my head.  

So if its a Friday night or any night with quality leftovers in the fridge.  Make it a feast or better yet, always think about these smorgasborg nights when you cook each day.  They don't all have to match but you will have a variety of flavors and most of all it will be fun.  

 

 

a healthy indian feast

Situated outside of the town of New Milford, Connecticut lies The Silo Cooking School located on Hunting Hill Farm.  This is a cultural kind of place being an estate and working farm once owned by Skitch and Ruth Henderson.  

The twin Silos at Hunting Hill Farm are the home to the Cooking School and store.  

I flew into Hartford, Connecticut and drove down to New Milford for a weekend of healthy indian cooking with celebrity chef, Suvir Saran.  Since attending his 2 classes last summer (2010) here at the Silo, I have been inspired to change the way I prepare food for my family and others.  Saturday night's class was attended by 18 students who came to get their hands into cooking.  We prepared a veritable feast consisting of 8 dishes from Suvir's second book, Indian Home Cooking:  

Bean Poriyal   (Stir Fried Green Beans with Coconut)

Gobi Taka Tak (Cauliflower with Green Peppers, Tomato & Yogurt)

Baigan Kaa Bhartaa (Smoked Spiced Eggplant)

Kaddu Kee Sabzi (Sweet & Sour Butternut Squash with ginger & chilis)

Mung dall Kee Khicharee (My Grand-Uncle's Khicharee)

Hara Keema (Ground Beef with Spinach and Fresh Mint)

Dhaansaak (Spicy Squash, Eggplant, & lentil stew)

Turkey-Paaluk ka Keema (Ground turkey with spinach & whole spices)

Suvir Saran stirs the green bean poriyal while giving tips to his students.  

We divided into 2's and took a station around the room.  The students each donned an apron and washed their hands at the station.   Each recipe was laid out with the required ingredients, 2 cutting boards and 2 chef's knives.  We were instructed to read our chosen recipe at least 3 times, then to begin our preparation.  Mary Kravec is the Executive Chef director of the cooking school.  She and had her staff were standing by as the cleanup and fetching crew as the organized chaos (not really!) went forward.  

Mise en place (everything in its place) for cauliflower with green peppers, tomato and yogurt.

I got to cut the onions with tears and all.   When the class was first advertised back in the spring, I made an announcement on the bulletin board at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition(where I am learning about holistic health).  My fellow friend and student Wendy Gonzales registered to attend. Suvir's introduction gave us all a point of reference about indian food and culture in general, then brought the current state of American eating into perspective.  Americans have become unhealthy by eating foods that are overly processed, too much protein and have lost the ability to sit down and enjoy our food.  

Suvir shared how the food of his country was not the same as what you get in most indian restaurants in America.  "If we ate that way each day we would all be sick!", said Suvir.  He talked about the use of fats and talked about his involvement with Harvard University in the area of food and nutrition.  He spoke of Dr. Willett who has done leading research on how nutrition affects our health (Dr. Willett is head of the School of Nutrition at Harvard University and Professor of Medicine at Harvard. Willet was our very first lecturer at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition).  

This is mise en place for the spicy squash stew with lentils.  (I have made this three times and love the warmth and heat of the spices combined with a plethora of summer vegetables.  The vegetables can be changed with the season.  

Suvir also touched on how a dish with rice and lentils constitutes a complete protein.  Combine these with yogurt and there is nothing else needed for sustanance.  India is a nation of mostly vegetarians although there are parts of the country that have meat in their diets.  The cost of meat is very high in India (as here in the U.S.) and it is being shown that we consume too much protein on a daily and weekly basis.  

Wendy Gonzales and I worked together on our tasty dish.  I think the cauliflower was outstanding!

Cooking and eating together has become a lost art in America.  By preparing food together (as we do maybe a few times a year at holidays needs to once again become a daily part of our lives.  

Cooking brings us together, creating unity and satisfaction that goes far beyond the food we eat.  

Suvir talks about the difference in healthy and unhealthy fats and best ways to use them.  

Our finished dishes in the lineup, waiting for the buffet line to start.  What a feast!  

The Kicharee (shown in the green pot) is a kind of rice porridge.  It is mild in flavor yet has flavors that are soothing.  It is often eaten for breakfast or as comfort food.  

Suvir and his partner Charlie Burd.  Their first book together Masala Farm  comes out in mid December.  

The reward for our efforts is sharing it all together over lively conversation and sharing at the table.  Cheers!  

There was more flavor on this plate then you can imagine.  Starting at the top and going to the right:  Kitcharee, Dhaansaak, Butternut squash with ginger, Turkey keema, cauliflower, Hare keema (beef), & green beans.  No bread was served with this meal.  

With every meal, one should strive for a balance of flavors from sweet, sour, salty, pungent, and astringent.  When these flavors are present a meal will be balanced.  

As we all sat down to eat, Suvir answered questions spawned by our evening's activities.  We talked about food and politics, where we are going and where we are.  He quoted the late Michael Batterberry talking about how young America was as a culture.  We have come together as a melting pot of cultures and through the mechanization of our food system have lost our roots.  He said that perhaps America would one day contribute to the culture of food once it gets back to its roots.  I certainly think we are headed in that direction and want to be a part of that change.  

My message today:  

Get back into the kitchen.

Cook together.

Eat and celebrate together.

Thank you Suvir for planting seeds of change in people's lives.

 

 

Kombuchas have arrived!

 This is something of a close encounter of the third kind when you first meet them.  

My friends here look a bit like cousin It and his younger sibling...

Kombucha is an effervesant health drink first made in 221 BC in China.  It reportedly comes from a type of Chaga mushroom (immunity) that is often called a birch mushroom.  The Russians discovered the drink from the Chinese and brought it to Russia.  There are many commercial versions of kombucha on the market but if you have a few items on hand and a mushroom culture you can make it at home.  It costs over $3 a bottle if you buy it in the store.  The taste can be described as a bit vinegary depending on which tea was used to make the brew.  You can flavor your finished kombucha to taste by adding fruit juices or even adding it to wine for a kind of spritzer.  

You want to avoid using teas such as earl gray because the essential oils can damage the mushroom culture.  I was fortunate to obtain a culture from the farm where I get our food each week (Thanks Rob!) and have been making it ever since.  The mushroom has spawned other ones which I can share with friends who want to give it a try.  

Here are two finished brews that will soon be decanted into bottles.  Once you strain and decant the brew you cap the bottle and leave in at room temperature (I always have forgotten to leave it out and put it in the fridge) for a few days.  This builds the effervesence inside the bottle.  Then put it in the fridge and enjoy a small glass each day for your health.  Using clean hands take out the culture and put it in a clean bowl while you strain the mixture and regroup for another batch.  If you do not plan to make another batch, you can put the culture and some of its liquid in a glass jar (no metal) and some of its liquid and put it in the back of the fridge.  

This was my second batch.  My first batch had spawned a baby mushroom also referred to as a SCOBY.  This stands for Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria & Yeast.  It is technically considered a culture or yeast & bacteria and not a mushroom.  

My first batch tasted like a nice apple cider.  This second batch was brewed longer (about a week and a half) and tasted more like vinegar so I cut it with juice when I drink it.  I have read that your brewed kombucha will have different tastes when you use different teas.  Choose black or green teas.  You may use a combination of the two.  I recently read a post that added 2 tea bags of a fruit flavored tea such as black currant.  I may try that next as I found some acai green tea yesterday.  

Anyone want to try this out?  

While not confirmed through research (as far as I have learned) the health beneftis of drinking kombucha each day far outweigh the risks.  The drink has probiotics and live enzymes that balance your digestive system.  Kombucha has glucuronic acid, gluconic acid, acetic acid, malic acid, lactic acid, butric acid, usnic acid, all the B vitamins (including B12) and C vitamins, amino acids, plus all the probiotic and enzymes that benefit digestion.  You do end up with a slightly alcoholic brew..about 1% according to most literature.

Find some really cool bottles for your finished brew and some champagne tops that will hold the effervescence once you have decanted from the original brew.  

 

To make a small batch:  

Brew a liter of tea, bring water to a boil.  Then add 4 tea bags that can be either 2 black and 2 green to the water.  Add 6 ounces of pure cane sugar to the brew and stir to dissolve the sugar.  [Do not use honey as this can kill the culture.]  Try to use pure cane sugar (organic is preferred) and not white sugar which can be processed with chemicals.  Strain the tea (if you used loose tea) or remove the tea bags.  Allow the mixture to cool to at least 75 degrees Fahrenheit.  Pour your tea in a clean glass jar or jars and add the culture.  Place a cloth napkin over the jar and place where it will not be disturbed.  You want airflow to the jar but you do not want fruit flies or other things to get into the mix.  Let it sit for 7-10 days then check it.  It should not smell like tea any more but be slightly fermented.  Then it is ready.  

Decant into your cleaned bottles and let sit on the counter with the lids on to build the pressure in the bottle for a few days.  Put in fridge and enjoy.  

Benefits from drinking this tea (also called Machurian mushroom tea) are that is relieves constipation, helps with respiratory issues, detoxes the liver & kidneys, purifies the gall bladder and relieves symptoms caused by colitis and other bowel ailments.  The list goes on.  It may also help with building immunity against many cancers.  

I am not a researcher or doctor and would never profess to be one, but I do feel increased energy when I drink a juice glass daily.  It is something that is good for my health so I think I will keep on brewing and drinking kombucha.

Why not join me?  

Here's to better health!  

 

Bonnie