Cooking and Eating at Home IS the Life for ME!!

Try to sing that title to the tune of: "Farm Living is the Life for Me....!"

I confess, I do not like to eat out. The idea of eating out is fabulous: someone else doing the shopping, cooking, and washing the dishes AND I get someone to serve up the food to me!

Who can say no to that?

This writing idea came to me as I was driving my kids to school. It started off as 4 simple reasons to eat at home. And then... my mind wandered...

11 Reasons Why I Prefer to Cook and Eat at Home:

1.  I truly love to cook, to stretch my kitchen artist's muscles and create fun and tasty food with what I have on hand.

Ethiopian carrots and Brussels Sprouts: First cook up a pot of red lentils (keep them firm, not mushy), then saute' up some onions, carrot coins, and Brussels sprouts in butter.  Add in some mild curry powder to the veggies, mix in the cooked lentils, and toss with some cashews. Yummy, easy, seasonal dinner! Serve with a side of whole grain pita bread, warmed and slathered with butter, and a dish of local yogurt.

2.  I like knowing my body cells, and my kid's body cells, are being nourished with real food. I like knowing my food is being made with high quality ingredients.

3.  The vegetables and fruits I cook with... I know:

• who grew them: the Martins, the Kents, Dulli and her crew at Birdsfoot Farm, John Dewar (the local Doc gone veggie farmer)... and so many more chemical free, northern NY growers,
• where the farmer lives and grows food (no, I do not stalk my famers!) but I like to see the land, know the soil my food was grown in... that kind of picky stuff,
• how they grow the food (chemical free).

4.  The animal products I use I like to know:

• see the above farmer information and
• that the meat, eggs, milk, and dairy products came from animals that are pasture raised... out there eating grass and all the plant life that they like to eat and is their natural diet.

OK, so these goats ARE wandering in the snow... but, they are free wandering, pasture raised goats when the snow melts!

5.  Whole grains: when I cook at home I know the bread, pasta, noodles, pie crust, cake, cookies or any food made out of flour is 100% whole grains. Whole foods nourish our body cells for health and healing. Refined foods deplete our body cells and set our bodies up for chronic, degenerative diseases. I have yet to find a restaurant that serves 100% whole grain foods with pasta dishes, bread for sandwiches, buns for burgers and such, bread that is served at the beginning of a meal, etc.

6.  The minimal amount of sugar being used in my kitchen is not refined, white, cell destroying sugar. I cook with the highest quality of cell nourishing ingredients in all my food prep and cooking.

7. I know my food is not being nuked in a microwave. Microwave cooking is best avoided in a whole health lifestyle. To learn more about microwave's impact on your food and health, click here.

8.  I know my food is seasonal and local allowing my body to follow the natural rhythms of the seasons and nature. My food is living and growing in the same climate I live in and that is just good vibrational energy!

9.  I use oils that contribute to my vibrant health and avoid cheap vegetable oils such as soy and canola. I use high quality olive oil for making salad dressing. Most food establishments do not invest in high quality oils.

10. I do not have to go anywhere. Home is where the heart is and my heart is happy at home!

11.  I can dress up, or down, in any clothes I want. PJs at the dinner table? Sure, why not!  

Reminds me of an early morning breakfast when I was 20 at McDonald's in Canton. (Yes, I had a rocky start to independent, whole food eating lifestyle. My Mom did not bring me up on McDonald's food!)  A high school girl friend and I went to breakfast in our long, flannel night gowns. Made sense to us, it was breakfast and we were in our PJs. Apparently the manager was not on board with our logic!  We were asked to leave and not so politely either!

Love yourself and everyone you feed with real food!

Like my blog posts? Share with like minded family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, people you pass on the streets... The healthier and happier we are, the better world we will have!

My boys baking at home. We prefer home made, whole food birthday cakes over bakery made, refined food cakes!

PS The Radiantly YOU Telesummit has been a hit! Only 2 days left to listen, BUT...To purchase, and listen to these fabulous women healer's recorded words of wisdom,  over and over and forever, for only $9, click on the buy now button below!

Enjoy! You will be eternally grateful for these healing words of wisdom!

Cook Book...

Cook Book...

To write or not to write,

That IS the ???

So I have hit the 100th person to ask me: Are you going to write a cook book?" or "When are you going to write a cook book?"  I am celebrating this milestone (like celebrating the 100th person to cross the threshold of a new store or business) by chatting about it here.

Cook book or not?

I have to say, "nah, not in my plans."  I thought about it for a bit and here are my issues... issues, we always have issues!

1.  I am a "just throw it in a bowl" kind of gal.  For example, foods like cakes, cupcakes, cookies, muffins, and pancakes all have the same basic ingredients. Some have more liquid, i.e. pancakes, while others have more flour, i.e. cookies. What I throw in the bowl depends on the consistency of the batter or dough I am trying to make.

So, to make a chocolate cake I do something like this (and hope for the best!):

• 2-3 eggs whipped up and add 1/2 to 3/4 cup melted butter (these two ingredient amounts depend on whether I am making a one or two layer cake)
• 1/2 cup sugar, unrefined, of course (I may use 3/4 if making 2 layers and it is not for my kids, most people like sweeter cakes.)
• 1 tbsp. vanilla
• 1/2 to 1 cup milk, again depending on the layers
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 2 to 3 tbsp. baking powder depending on the flour (oat flour and I use less b. powder, if it is millet / quinoa / teff / amaranth flours I use more b. powder)
• 3-6 tbsp. cocoa powder depending on # of layers and how chocolate flavored I want the cake
• Enough flour to create a cake batter consistency, which is thicker than pancakes but more liquid than cookies

Set batter aside for 5 - 10 minutes to see how the flour soaks up the liquid.  After 10 minutes, if the consistency is cake like, good to go.  If it is too runny, I add flour a tiny bit at a time.  Too thick?  I thin with a bit of milk.

So, that is how I cook everything.  A little of this and a little of that.  Who wants a cook book written like this? I would get boo-ed and rotten tomatoes thrown at me! Most people want exact measurements.

2. Meal cooking is a process of looking at the local, seasonal produce on hand and having fun with it; playing with the ingredients, herbs, and spices.  When you play with food for long enough, cooking and creating in the kitchen becomes second nature.

I suggest picking up a couple of good vegetarian cook books* (cook books that show case seasonal produce) and then read them like novels.  Next, get cooking. After a bit of practice in the seasonal kitchen, I will say it again, cooking becomes second nature. It is an art work. Relax, breathe deeply, and let your creative nature just flow.

Add your favorite protein sources and whole grains to the yummy seasonal veggies and voila'... you have dinner (suggestion: make enough for lunch leftovers!).

If you have blood sugar control challenges (diabetes) eat whole grains in serious moderation, not at every meal, and up the intake of veggies instead.

3. I visited the SLU book store and checked out the cook book section.  It was scary!  There were 5 shelving sections of cook books with 7 shelves in each section.  35 shelves of cook books and only 2 of the cook books on the shelves had more than one copy.  One was the original MoosewoodCook Book the other was a smoothie "recipe book", I believe.  All of those 35 shelves were loaded with single copies of cook books on every topic and health promoting diet imaginable! That was a huge wow for me!

The 5 rows of cook books at the SLU Book Store:

3.  I am all about making food an art form.  The kitchen is your studio, food is your medium, and the kitchen utensils are your artist's tools!

Watch for my follow up post:  How to Cook Like an Artist

Be well, have fun in the kitchen!  Paula

*Cook Books you might find useful: 

• Home Gardener's Month By Month Cookbook, Marjorie Page Blanchard
• From Asparagus to Zucchini
• Recipes from the Root Cellar, Andrea Chesman (She also wrote Serving Up the Harvest)

If the cook book uses refined ingredients (refined, all-purpose flour, bleached or not)... use your whole food kitchen skills and swap out the refined ingredients and add in 100% whole food ingredients. Need help with this? Give me a shout, read that section in my book (Hands On Health: Take Your Vibrant, Whole Health Back Into Your Healing Hands), or zap me an email and I will send you my educational handout.

If you do not like the high fat ingredients in the Home Gardener's Cookbook, swap out for ingredients with fat contents you are comfortable with.  Myself, hey, bring on the butter!   (From Pasture Raised Cows, Please!)

Get cooking like the seasonal kitchen artist you can be!

PS  My second book, a book of inspirational words to help you put the action steps in my first book, well... into action, was picked up by a publisher yesterday!  Stay tuned as I keep you informed of the publishing process!  

I call this book of words my "yoga poses" for the body, mind, and spirit book. No, that is not the book's title... that secret will be released at a later date! 

Today, to celebrate, I am off to climb a high peak in those amazing ADK Mountains!

White Face from last summer's hiking ... today I am going up Dial!

Time to Harvest the Corn

Photo from Sustainable Seed Company.  Click to go to their website, check out the wisdom around growing and eating heritage seed corn.

It is corn season!  Happy memories surround the late summer corn harvest: Mom coming home from the William's Family farm stand in Winthrop with an arm load of corn. We would put a ton of butter on a slice of bread and roll the hot corn cob over the bread, passing the bread around the table for everyone to use. After 5 people buttered their corn, the bread was warm with melted butter. The dilemma... who gets the amazing slice of butter bread?!

The Nutritional Benefits of Corn:

1. Loaded with nutrients, anti-oxidants, and phyto-nutrients. Each variety of corn has its own amazing profile of nutrients.
2. High fiber: good for digestion and elimination.
3. High fiber and nutrient content creates a slow release of carbohydrates into the blood stream. This prevents blood sugar highs and lows.

This is a brief overview. There is so much information on the web about corn, its benefits, organic vs. conventionally grown, the GMO-ing of corn seed. Read up, interesting stuff what we humans do to the food supply....

Key to Buying Healthy Corn:

1. Buy organic and avoid the pesticide laden corns grown by agri-business. Corn is not on the dirty dozen list but if corn is not organic, it is most likely GMO: meaning the pesticides have been genetically modified right into your corn for you. Ain't that just sweet!?
2. So buy non-GMO corn as well.
3. Know your farmers, ask them questions: what do you use for corn seed, is it GMO, what do you use for pesticides, etc. Ask questions because your health depends on it!

This recipe was whipped up by my older 'Sis. She brings it to family events and it gets devoured! Try it, it IS corn season!

Bean & Corn Salsa

1 can of each, drained and rinsed:   Organic Black Eyed Peas & Black beans

2 ears of organically-grown, non-GMO, sweet corn (gently steamed before cutting off kernels)

1 medium, organic, bell pepper, finely diced – any colors, red, green, orange, yellow – if using 2 colors, use ½ pepper of each color. Be brave, use multiple colors!

½ large, organic, red onion, finely diced or 1 medium and use the whole thing!

SAUCE

2/3 cup organic, extra virgin, olive oil.  (Can't I use my butter here?  : )  Please!)

1 cup organic, RAW, apple cider vinegar

½ cup organic, sucanat (Sucanat is unrefined sugar, or you can use 1/4 cup local maple syrup or 1/4 cup local. raw honey. I would probably use less of any of these sweeteners.)

3 Tbsp. favorite organic hot sauce – increase hot sauce for more kick

Optional: 

·        add a Tbsp., or 2, of Dinosaur Spice Rub (Cajun Foreplay)

·        mix it up, use more & different types of beans – try adding Kidney, Navy, Pinto, Aduki, and/ or Garbanzo

·        adjust/increase the amount of sauce when adding more beans and making a bigger batch

Combine sauce ingredients and mix well.  Add all beans and veggies and mix gently.  Marinate at room temp, at least overnight.  Do not refrigerate to marinate, as the olive oil will solidify in the cold temperature.

To keep salsa longer in refrigerator (if there’s any leftover), store salsa covered and drain most of sauce.  This helps to keep the salsa longer and reduces calories from the oil.

Serve salsa with organic, non-GMO corn tortilla chips, or try on top of an organic, fresh green salad, or in a sandwich wrap (use a 100% whole grain wrap, Food For Life has an amazing sprouted grain wrap that I highly recommend!).

Eat and enjoy people!  Enjoy the health benefits of real corn, real food!

Salad Dressing Made Easy!

Summer abounds with lush, juicy, crunchy, yummy produce.  A simple salad dressing, lite and tasty so as not to overwhelm the taste of the amazing fruits and veggies, is essential in the kitchen.

Commercial salad dressings are full of garbage, fake ingredients, that do not nourish your beautiful body cells.

Making a salad dressing, from scratch, is terribly simple AND you will know every ingredient that goes into making it (and into your body!). You can create a cell nourishing, heavenly tasting salad dressing in less than 30 minutes. (This includes picking the fresh herbs and rinsing them off!)

Have a quart size, wide mouth canning jar, on hand for the finished product.

1. Pour 2 cups raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar (ACV) into your blender.

1. Skip outside for some fresh herbs. Yes, it is important to skip. When we create food from a happy, loving space, our energy infuses the food and nourishes all who eat it.  Go ahead, skip.

1. At home I skip to pick: basil, rosemary, thyme, oregano, parsley, cilantro, mint, and dill. Today, I am writing from my family's camp in the ADK Mts. I have to go with what is on hand: my rogue oregano and thyme plants all over in the lawn, wild mint, dandelion greens, and raspberry and strawberry leaves. Shh, don't tell my kids about the wild stuff, they might freak out.

My Friend Basil, my Hornbeck Canoe, and an ADK lake... does it get better?

1. Pick big handfuls of herbs and remove all bugs. Despite the bugs lending a 'lil extra protein to the dressing; the bugs prefer to be left outside with their lives intact. Rinse the herbs and put into the blender with the vinegar. (By the way, at home I use local ACV from Martin's Farm Stand. I love how there is always a big gob of the "mother" on the bottom of the gallon jug of ACV.  This can be used to ferment another batch of AVC.  I tried feeding it to my kids on a spoon. Seriously, it is like sauerkraut or yogurt... good for the gut.  I got it past their mouths once.  I was threatened, by both my sons, if I ever tried that slimy trick again, well it was not a pretty threat!  I just eat it myself and figure some day they will come around to Mom's holistic way of eating!)
2. Put cover on the blender.  This is a very important step. If left undone, it can be a catastrophe in the kitchen... green liquid dripping off the ceiling in a circle above your head.  Trust me, I know this to be true!
3. Blend into a green, foaming puree.
4. Pour into quart canning jar.
5. Stir with a spoon to calm the foaming green stuff.  It will seem like it has swollen to fill the whole jar but it will calm down.
6. Add a good squeeze of organic, yellow mustard. I would say about 1 tbsp. More mustard will not be an issue.
7. Pour in some organic, extra virgin olive oil to fill jar. No, the olive oil featured below is not organic. It is from Italy where Monsanto has not created their death grip on food!  I do not put the olive oil into the blender because it makes the blender an oily mess to clean.  I simply rinse the green, herbed vinegar stuff out of the blender and drink. No soap or hot water required for clean up.
8. Voila'!  Dressing fit for fresh, local produce nourishing your cells!

Optional ingredients: unrefined sea salt by the pinch or two and either local, raw honey or local, maple syrup.  Maybe a tbsp. of the sweetener.  Maple syrup will blend in at any time in the making process.  If using honey, add honey to the vinegar herb puree when blending, as it mixes together better.

To use: Use a hefty, long handled soup or serving spoon.  Remove jar cover and stir well.  Remove a big spoonful as you are stirring.  This keeps a better blend of oil to vinegar, otherwise the oil rises to the top quickly when you stop stirring.  This is fine, you want this effect.  Commercial dressings stay blended because they have chemical binder ingredients.

Storage: I leave my jar on the storage shelf under my kitchen table, no refrigeration required. AND it will last until you use it all up. Vinegar preserves!

Butter is Back & Better Than Ever

Now that butter is on the cover of Time Magazine... it must be true!  Butter is a superfood! 

Not that my butter eating habits are much of a secret anymore.  I used to hide my butter habit to avoid the "you are going to clog your heart" advice and lectures.  Not that I didn't pass out a few of the very same lectures in my days*, see below!

A couple of years ago I wrote an article: "Unwrapping Butter's Bad Rap" for the Potsdam Food Co-op's newsletter, it became a blog post on Whole Food Healer, and was later revised and included in my first book.  Butter is a head liner!

I confess, I have always loved butter.  I only refrained from butter when I was *eating a vegan diet (for a few years, back then, sometime in my past life!).  That is over and butter was put back in my diet quite quickly. Mashed potatoes without butter?  What is the point? I ate them, for years, at the Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner table. Not anymore, mashed potatoes with butter for me, please!

Butter is awesome, yummy, the best!  Now a butter - nettle pesto, hmmm... I might be on to something here! Two of my favorite things fused together with love.  Heading to the kitchen now...

30 minutes later after picking some nettle tops:

Ok, it did work!  Butter, nettles, and garlic scapes.  Chives would be fine as well.  Have patience with the food processor as olive oil blends with the herbs more easily.  Try making the pesto with a 1/2 butter and 1/2 olive oil mix for easy blending!

So back to butter. My favorite way to eat it is off a spoon, fork, or knife.  Mom taught me this was not ok. I do it anyhow. Sorry Mom!     : )

Local to me, NY State butter!

This is my new favorite butter, thanks to Jessica Prosper of Prosper's Farmstead Creamery.  She turned me on to this butter because the cows graze on grass and the butter is made just about 3 1/2 hours from my home. Now, if I had a farmer close by making butter with grazing cows cream, that would be even better!

I buy in 2 pound tubs, a few tubs at a time.  I do not like running out of butter.  Makes me feel like an addict without my drug!  Seriously, I am not that bad. But, humor is always good!

Butter recently has had a big popularity boost with the Bullet Proof Coffee craze.  I tried it, why not?  I will try anything once!

What I learned, butter is best eaten from the spoon, knife, or fork! Why ruin good butter or good coffee? Want fat in your coffee?  Find a source of pasture-raised, whole cream or 1/2 and 1/2 and dose up your coffee in style. Coffe tastes better this way AND saves the mess in the kitchen making the bullet proof stuff. If you try bullet proof coffee and like it, go for it.

I prefer my coffee with butter like this:

on a piece of buckwheat toast.  Organic buckwheat grown close to me, just over the border in Canada, and baked at Little Stream Bakery. 

Now the amount of butter on this 2 inch by 3 1/2 inch piece of toast was triple, what you see above, by the time I finished eating it.  Maybe 2 1/2 to 3 Tbsp. of butter.  Butter is definitely better on toast than in my coffee!

Eat butter, it won't kill you!  Paula

PS  Maybe Gardenshare has an more local source of NY State butter from grass fed cows? Aviva, any thoughts?  

I know Birdsfoot Farm has some very, deep-yellow cream from their grazing cow!  

I want local butter that is that deep yellow!

Cheers!

Ode to My Farmers

Ode to My Farmers

Farmers are my (everybody's) lifeline

worth more than silver or gold

the food they feed me now

will keep me young as I grow old

                                                                                               Martin's Farmstand

I write of real farmers

true stewards of the land

farmers who love their animals

sustainability is their stand

                                 Dulli, Birdsfoot Farm

Food IS our best medicine

to prevent and heal disease

farmers are the keepers of our health

hug your farmer(s) today, please

   Rob & Winny Sachno

                                            Carol the Cow

PS Compensate your farmers well for the food they grow you.

(It IS hard work!)

Good food IS your preventative medicine,

Your farmer is your best Doc!

                                                                                          John Dewar, Village Veggies

Even the wee ones make awesome farmers!

        Gramma's Grass Acres, the Lynch's, processing chickens!

PPS  This is a mere sampling of the amazing farmers in my life.  To find your own farmers use your local farmer finding resources:  farm markets, Co-ops, Health & Natural Food Stores, etc.

In St. Lawrence County, NY, we have Gardenshare!