The matzo disaster!

Deciding to ignore my sensitivity to wheat and bite the matzo proved to be a BIG mistake. The Seder was on Friday and I ate about a half a matzo, and two matzo balls with Marti's incredible matzo ball soup. As of Saturday afternoon my hands were covered with an itchy (keep me awake half the night itchy) bumpy, raised, angry rash and this morning my eyes look like I was repeatedly punched in the face by a demented kangaroo...

This is mistake I will not repeat! Talk about the bread of affliction! What was I thinking? 

On the bright side, I have concrete proof that I cannot go near the stuff. My wonderful body is telling me  "stay away from wheat, it's poison". Okay wonderful body! I hear you! Loud and clear! Can you please make the itching go away now? I get it, no really...I do...

Passover without Matzo is like....

The grain free world really isn't so terrible once you get used to it! I have to say that 14 weeks later, I don't even think about bread, pasta, oatmeal, etc. But tomorrow is our Passover Seder and I have been trying to think of a way to create a grain free matzo...ground nut meal? Coconut flour? Dehydrated flattened mashed veggies. When I stopped eating wheat, I discovered that there were spelt matzo...and one can always replace a matzo with something unleavened made from rye or oats. But grain-free?  

I have cooked the chicken Tagine, made the macaroons and charoset, gotten out the Seder plate (which is, in reality, one of my my Episcopalian grandmother's hors d'ouvres trays) and have all of the plates and wine glasses at the ready. The guests all have assigned dishes, Matt will pick up horseradish and more wine tomorrow.

Tomorrow, part way through the ceremony, I will put a smear of sweet apples and ground pecans and almonds and a dollop of horseradish onto a 100% wheat matzo. I will bite through the sweet and hot and crunchy and sour and experience the joy of spring and renewal. I will taste all of the Seder's at Pamela and Daniel's home, when Kora was the youngest child and asked the questions and hunted for the afikomen. And on Saturday morning, it won't matter one lick. Matzo isn't a gateway drug, it's just the bread of affliction...

Springing forward...

I am relieved that March is behaving like March again. I love living in Vermont. I love each distinct season. So while I was basking in the warmth and sun last week, enjoying my first totally solar hot shower of the year, rejoicing to see the rhubarb and garlic peeking out of the soil, I was also a tad freaked out...(those of you who know me know that I have a neurotic streak a mile long). Three feet of snow in April? Buds falling off of trees? Drought and tornadoes and ticks? Oh my!

So to my great relief, it is 35 degrees and it looks like The 29th of March out there. I am thinking about my garden...it is time to plant peas and spinach. I saved seed from last year's peas and will be excited to see if they come up...(of course, I have back up if they don't). I saved seeds from my beans, squash, sunflowers, onions, peppers and tomatillos (as if these prolific volunteers need any help from me to propagate). 

It is a crime to save seeds in some places:

http://www.ethicalinvesting.com/monsanto/news/10040.htm

Holy kamoly...against the law to save seeds, an epidemic of farmer suicides in India? I can afford to buy packages of organic seeds at my coop, and seedling starts from my local farmers...but the loop of growing and saving and growing saving, that's the way it is supposed to work. I posted this interview with Vandana Shiva on facebook. But in case you missed it, here it is again:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3d9k23UyQQ&feature=player_embedded

I guess I'll call High Meadow seed company, and see what their take is on this issue...meanwhile, I plan to plant my garden and share the food and the seeds...screw you Monsanto! 

Getting back on the bike...

My downfall in the past has been to strictly adhere to a something new for awhile, make a mistake or two and leave said new thing in the dust...this has happened with diets, projects, you name it...I am an out of sight out of mind, in the moment sort of girl. Sometimes this is a great thing. Not so much when trying to change something big. 

I haven't beat myself up about getting off the bike this time...on a recent school trip to Providence, I ate a few things that were on my verbotten list (note the "my")...some rice at the Thai place, and in the dolmas at a pizza place (which did have a very nice hummus, babaganosh salad plate!) a small gluten free pizza at another place that ONLY served pizza, some corn chips with my salad at the Mexican place...but it wasn't a problem to get back on the bike this time...in fact, I was excited to get home to my juicer and my ability to prepare my own meals again. 

I haven't quite figured out what is different this time, but here are a few small things: my ultimate goal is not weight loss, it is to extend and improve the quality of my life. Also, after watching a few very good films I feel more inclined to say "HELL NO" to the hundreds of thousands of processed, "food" products that some corporation or other are trying to tell me that I want, need, deserve. Every time we watch TV (or in my case, hulu), read a magazine, listen to the radio, walk through the grocery store we are bombarded with images, copy, sound effects (cue to crunchy sounds)... I won't turn this entry into a political diatribe, but I invite you to comment. What do yo think about manipulative marketing, pink slime, gushers, frozen dinners, cereal in a box and a pill for everything that ails you?

Getting back to getting back on the bike...when I did ride a bike, it was a mountain bike with a Grannie gear. I could ride up or down almost anything. Matt taught me to stay centered on the bike, to look ahead, anticipate the tricky spots and have a strategy. It's the same thing now as it was then: I need to look ahead and make sure that I am stocked with vegetables, fruits and sources of clean healthy protein, I need to make sure that there is something wonderful to nosh on instead of the biscotti that are calling my name. I need to keep doing research, finding incredible recipes, talking to anybody who is interested and to be supportive of others who find themselves on this rocky, twisty, steep, rewarding path. And when I fall off, all I really have to do is to hop back on that trusty bike, shift into my Grannie gear, and keep riding...

Zucchini Lasagna (no pasta!)

3 large zucchini (5 small)

Salt and pepper to taste

1 pound ground turkey (insert protein of choice)

1 diced pepper,

3 onion, sliced and caramelized

As much garlic as you generally like (I like a lot!)

1 jar favorite tomato sauce (thinned with 1/2 c of water)

1/4 cup red wine

Fresh basil, parsley and oregano

6 to 10 oz fresh goat cheese

I bunch lacinita kale

1 pound fresh brown mushrooms, sliced

Shredded cheese of choice for the top (I use a small amount of goat cheddar)

Preheat oven to 350. Oil a deep 9x13 pan.

Slice zucchini with a mandoline or vegetable peeler lengthwise into very thin slices, set aside.

Caramelize onions.

Saute garlic and turkey burger, season to taste and set aside.

Slice peppers and mushrooms thinly.

Wash and remove stems from kale. Cut each leaf in half so it is about the size of a Lasagna noodle.

Mix sauce, wine and herbs together in a bowl.

 

To assemble lasagna: spread ¼ tomato sauce into the bottom of pan. Then layer some of the caramelized onions, zucchini slices, 1/3 of the soft goat cheese (crumbled), some kale, some of the meat, and peppers and mushrooms. Top with more sauce and repeat until the pan is filled…top with shredded cheese.  (If there are ingredients leftover, make another small lasagna in a small baking dish)

Bake for 45 to 60 minutes (or until a knife can be inserted easily into the lasagna). I don’t use foil, but you can bake this covered this with foil.

Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

My Mantra...

At the beginning of this new paradigm I needed a way to remind myself to stay on track. I was afraid that I'd go into a food trance and wake up with an empty bag of cornchips in my hand. I had been living to eat. Measuring my days in salt, carbohydrates, fat and texture. Convincing myself that the salad at lunch trumped all of the other crap that I was eating. I had constant heartburn, knees that barely worked and I woke up in the middle of the night with my heart galloping. I wanted to be mindful of food. I wanted to taste it, feel nourished and sustained by it. I wanted to eat to live. 

Kora and I are hand writers...(she comes by it honestly), for years I almost always had a phone number or some reminder scrawled on my left hand (the original palm pilot). My darling daughter has taken the art to new heights, writing entire lists of tasks practically up her arm.

I started writing E2L on my thumb with a sharpie and telling myself "I want to eat to live, I want to live, eat to live, live..." It helped to have the visual reminder. As soon as it washed off, I wrote it again. (can you get sharpie poisioning?)  Being an art teacher, I wanted a more aesthetically pleasing reminder, so I started to play with the design of my mantra/motto/logo. My latest version is a small beet with E2L hidden in its greens...I am thinking about getting inked.

The following link is to a website called Nourished kitchen...it is full of great recipes that support the Gaps diet! (I just ignore those with grains or substitute with nut or coconut flour, which I grind fresh in a dedicated coffee grinder)

http://nourishedkitchen.com/

and here is a link to kale chips.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/baked-kale-chips/detail.aspx

enjoy!

Fresh Juice!

For the first 10 weeks, I started every morning with juice. I have a Breville juice fountain, which has been going strong for about 5 years and was not terribly expensive...one of these days I may invest in the stainless steel model, but for now, this one is great.

The thing that bothers me about juicing is that there is alot of waste...all of the solids from whatever is being juiced end up in the compost pile. My solution has been to make it into stock. I either use this in other recipes or I share it with neighbors. (It freezes well!)

Here is a typical morning juice recipe:

4 to 6 large carrots                                                   4 stalks of celery

1/4 bunch of parsley                                                a few kale leaves 

1 granny smith or gala apple                                   1 1/2 inch piece of ginger

a small beet

When strawberries are in season I like to add a few for flavor, some folks add a whole lemon, peel and all.

Sip juice slowly. Somewhere I read that if you hold a sip of raw juice in your mouth for a few seconds it activates digestive enzymes.

About 2 weeks ago I started alternating smoothies with juice.

A smoothie recipe:

1/2 ripe avocado                                                        1/2 gala apple (chopped)

1 small orange or clementine (seeded)                       1/2 c frozen blueberries (or more)

1/2 c frosen raspberries                                              4 fresh or frozen strawberries

1/2 cup of water

Swap something out and add mango, grated ginger is divine, a little meyers lemon juice for zing and a little stevia or honey if needed...

I try to stick to organically grown produce as much as possible...more expensive, yes, but in the long run?

Salad Dressing Recipe:

For me cooking is not a precise science...My mom was an improvizational cook and that's what stuck with me! So take this with a grain of salt (preferably maldon).

I make enough to last the week so that I can pour a few tablespoons into a small jar as I am making my salad for lunch.

8T good virgin olive oil                                                   2 cloves grated raw garlic 

4T wine vinegar                                                              cumin, coriander, celery seed 

2T fresh lemon juice                                                       1 T sweet paprika

2T tahini                                                                         salt and pepper 

4T fresh (if you can get it) goat milk yogurt 

(I am trying to avoid most dairy but eat fresh goat cheese, yogurt ant a little bit of goat cheddar...add what ever you like here...regular plain yogurt, a bit of chevre)

Grind herbs and mix ingredients by hand (shake it up in a large ball jar) or pulse in the blender.

keeps in the fridge for about 5 days...

In the beginning...

A few things helped me get started...I watched the movie "Sick, Fat and Nearly Dead" which I cannot recommend highly enough. Juicing may not be for you (I think a short fast might be great, but 6 months is way beyond me) however it is an amazing movie. I had had some great success with a raw diet in the past, which included daily jucing, so I found my copy of "Detox 4 Women" by Natalia Rose: http://www.detoxtheworld.com/books-detox-4-women.php. Natalia is a clinical nitritionist who helps people regain their microbial balance so that they are better able to attain a healthy balanced body! 

One of the foundations is to keep carbs, proteins and fruits seperate. Not only that, in order to rebalance gut microbes and kill off any possible Candida Albicans only a few carbs are allowed for the 1st 4 weeks. These are sweet potatoes, winter squashes (butternut, buttercup, acorn, etc.) and millet.  It sounds limited, I know! I freaked out initially. BUT guess what, sweet potatoes are fantasticlly delicious when prepared well...winter squashes roasted with sweet onions and garlic are incredibly satisfying AND millet (when it is properly cooked, which took me a few tries to figure out) can be made into rissoto, stuffed in cabbage leaves, eaten with your favorite (non-protein) pasta sauce. I also figured that I could do anything for 4 weeks...no big deal, it's only for 4 weeks!

Fruits are also limited in the first 4 weeks to: grapefruits, grannie smith apples and berries. But frozen organic berries rock the house and if you belong to a coop buying group, you can get large quantities on sale while they are out of season. Fruit digests very quickly and has to be eaten BEFORE carbs or proteins...so I often had a large mason jar of raspberries and blackberries mid morning (after my juice.)

Most vehetables are great on this diet... greens (I have been having a love affair with things like kale, chard, mustard greens, broccoli raab and dandilion greens) carrots, broccoli family, peppers...stay away from potatoes, corn and dried beans.

Pasture raised meat is expensive, but I figure chronic disease from pesticides and hormones and chemicals in the feed, not to mention unhappy animals, is more expensive in the long run. There are folks in Southern Vermont who raise and sell meat and eggs from happy healthy animals. We get eggs, goat cheese and goat yogurt every week from a neighbor and we buy beef, pork, chickens (and we're currently looking for a source for turkeys and ducks) locally.

If you live in the city...there is probably a farmer's market nearby, and a farmer that runs a C.S.A. with meat and produce.

So check out Natalia Rose and here is a sample menu from my first few weeks:

Breakfast: a LARGE glass of carrot, granny smith, celery, parsley ginger juice...sipped slowly all morning. Mid morning: a jar (pnut butter size) of mixed frozen berries. Lunch: A LARGE salad; greens (I adore arugula) celery, carrots, scallions, raw beets, 1/2 to a whole avocado and some protein...eggs, chicken, whatever we ate the night before with my oh so wonderful dressing...(recipe coming soon)...Mid afternoon snack: carrots or kale chips (haven't made carrot chips...I am going to try making them tomorrow!) And Dinner: either vegies and protein (salmon, chicken, etc) or vegies and carbs (a big mess of roasted squash, sweet potatoes, beets, garlic and onions OR millet stuffed cabbage or rissoto). WITH a glass of red wine and...2 to 4 squares of really fantastic dark chocolate. 

4 weeks goes by quickly...especially when you have a cheering section!

Introduction

Introduction

Oh my...this is a new adventure. I hardly ever read blogs, let alone write one. However, it seems to be a great way to share what I have been learning and to learn more from others, so here it goes:

I thought that I was dying in December of 2011...I had frozen shoulder, my joints were inflamed, I wasn't sleeping well, I took several antacids daily and was waaay too heavy for comfort. I felt ashamed about how I looked and felt like I was on a downward sprial...

I have a daughter and a husband that I adore, a job that I look forward to going to every day and great family, friends and animals that make me happy...yet in late 2011 I felt like my physical body was on it's way out!

To be honest, I wasn't thinking about what I was eating. I wasn't even tasting what I was eating. One minute there would be a meal in front of me and the next it was gone...and I'd think "where the heck did it go?"

Matt and I are long time foodies, we love to cook, we love to invent beautiful meals and enjoy them together, we love great ingredients from local sources. Somewhere along the line, I started living to eat...

I have seen a few outstanding therapists over the years. I have worked on my abandonment issues, nurtured and healed my inner child, done a little EMDR and hypnosis...it's all been good, but here I was, staring into the abyss and feeling really scared and more than a little pissed off for having let myself go so far.

And, I have this amazing daughter: this kid who has always been a tree climbing, cow wrasseling, unique and creative wild woman. This girl, at the age of 20, has already led an amazing life, and with her, the sky really is the limit. All she wanted was to be able to go for a hike with me...and I could barely make it up the stairs or out to the mailbox.

So something went click, sometime just before the beginning of 2012. A voice said "this is it...get with the program or leave the planet". I decided to stay...because life is too interesting, and my family is too important, and I have so many things to do...