Respect your Elders

There is one blueberry bush in our yard (of about 10) that has berries on it. I suspect that's because it's tucked beside an elderberry and the birds have been so distracted with the elderberry they haven't noticed the blueberry. Whatever the reason, it will have a nice-sized harvest when/if they ever ripen.

Yesterday I went to check on it and saw the elderberries are ripe! I'd had it in my mind that they'd be ready sometime in August. I guess that needs a mental correction? Anyway, it seems early to me. I harvested about 3/4 of the clusters from the 2 largest bushes. There were enough clusters that were nearly bare to tell me there have been ripe berries for a few days at least. The remaining unpicked clusters are mostly green and will be harvested in a couple weeks, I suppose.

Earlier in the spring I saved a few flower heads for use as herbal tea. Now I have about 2 cups of fresh berries. I'll probably dry half and syrup (You can verb 'syrup' right? You can verb 'verb' right?) the other half. Elderberries have historically been used for prevention of winter ailments, they're packed with vitamins (A, B, and C) and immune boosting antioxidants.

Later today we're going blackberry picking! Any berries in your neck of the woods? What's lookin' good?

For those interested in growing elderberries, one of my bushes was started from a twig I simply stuck in the ground. I believe it is Black Elderberry (Sambucus nigra). The other is one I purchased from Gardens of the Blue Ridge and is the North American native elderberry, Sambucus canadensis. If you're interested in purchasing one, I can't recommend them highly enough.

Breakfast: Kickstarting my brain with grain

Hmmm, seems I'm talking about tasty stuff a lot these days, let's keep the trend going! I'm not doing a great job with the detox, but the beauty of this one is how forgiving it is. I feel like I can keep going and do the food aspect of it to create healthy habits and redirect my taste buds. Afterward, I can go back and integrate the yoga. In the meantime, I'm trying to remember to do all of it, just not beating myself up if I don't remember/can't find the time to do the morning routine of meditation and yoga.

Sorry for the pitiful picture...all I had on-hand was my cell phone.

This is pretty much what breakfast has looked like for the past week: baked apple quinoa (keen-wah) with a liver-cleansing beverage. Last week I started each day with a lemon drink that I grew pretty fond of: Juice from half a lemon, dash of cayenne, 2 ounces apple cider vinegar and a spoon of honey in 8 ounces of warm water. This week I'm supposed to replace the lemon drink with a detoxifying tea, but I had my lemon drink this morning anyway.  I don't know if it's that my tastes are changing, but I really enjoy starting my day with it!

I've used quinoa a handful of times in the past, but always as something of a rice substitution. Because it's protein-packed and full of fiber, it makes a perfect morning meal. I first tried this version which called for chopped apples, a few other ingredients, and dry grain all mixed together and baked.  It was good, but for texture's sake with the next batch I decided to partially cook the grains before mixing them up and baking them. I went with Gabby's Gluten Free Cinnamon Breakfast Bake, but instead of soy milk used apple sauce, didn't use quite as much maple syrup, and threw in a handful of chopped dates.

Sipping Inner Strength

Not long ago I read a post online somewhere about a woman who was drawn to certain herbs. Really really drawn to them to get to know all sorts of aspects of the plants and their properties. I don't really have that depth of connection with herbs or spices, but I've been a bit turmeric-curious lately.

Every winter I get into a chai latte habit, not the kind of wholesome, whole body warming chai (though I suspect that's what I'm actually craving), but the sugary, dessert-substitute coffee shop variety. It's the spice that I crave, the bite of ginger and pepper combined against the creaminess of milk (soy in my case).

Then I saw turmeric on sale at the grocery store and decided it was time to listen to the whispers. Maybe I'm stirred by the color: the brilliant orange-leaning yellow of an early spring daffodil that reminds me of my MeMa; or the broken-in familiarity of a worn out mustard-colored corduroy jacket, literally threadbare from years of daily wear. There's something about that color.

When cooking with spices I'm more of a garlic and basil gal. The earthiness of turmeric is exotic and unfamiliar but definitely in line with my cold-weather favorite: chai. And no wonder! Turmeric is kin to ginger, but with that earthy familiarity of curry.

If you follow Ayurveda, turmeric is a fiery plant perfectly suited for warming the soul during the winter. I don't know much about Ayurveda, but my friend Rachael does and in a brief discussion with her, I clearly recognized my dosha as Kapha. Turns out, turmeric is a pretty good choice for someone like me. (So are sun salutations, which is a topic for a different strength-focused post.)

Following the draw to turmeric and exploring why has helped me find my Spark: strength. While I usually look towards "rewarding experiences" as inspiration for the new year, rewards are not necessarily the reason to choose a path. The word I need most right now is strength. I could stand to use listen, too, since it's taken me a week to finally accept "strength" as a word to focus on. 

Glad I listened to the whispers. As an anti-inflammatory superfood, guess what turmeric is purported to do? Promote inner strength!

I'm getting to know ways to incorporate turmeric, so a few days ago I made a delicious tea based on this suggestion on 101 Cookbooks :
1/2 T turmeric, a couple shakes of pumpkin spices (though cinnamon or ginger would be just as delicious) 1 T good quality raw honey, mixed into warm (not boiling since you want the honey to keep all its good stuff) coconut milk. Stir every few sips so all the yummy nutrients don't settle to the bottom.

Turns out, I didn't make anything shockingly new or different...search "turmeric milk" and there are recipes all over the place for drinks like this.

Have you been listening to your body lately? What has it been saying?

Tasty meaty figs

Figs are coming in by the bowlful, and, as usual, we're on the lookout for great ways to use them. Given the chance, Mabel will eat raw figs until she's sick. For those who know the benefits of figs, you'll understand why discourage that.

When Kate suggested we wrap them in prosciutto then grill them, I was immediately on board. Unfortunately we're on the 2-kids-in-child-care budget, so I went with a less classy approach: plain ol' bacon! We baked them at 350 for 30 minutes, then broiled them for 5 minutes on one side, flipped and broiled them on 3 minutes on the other side so they had that nice crispy texture.

Charlie and I give this use 2 thumbs up (each!). We even took a few over to a neighbor, and the bacon convinced him to finally (after years of my trying) to convince him to eat a fig. He ended up eating several, so I'll venture to say bacon is a good carrier for flavorful figs.

Using the whole hog, I mean hen

I wasn't raised in a particularly food-centric household, and in my late teens to late twenties was a vegan. This meant I didn't really know how to cook much besides dry pasta. I could heat up a can of beans or cook a mean tofu patty, but when I became a meat eater again I left all meat cooking up to Charlie. He knew his way around an iron skillet, mentally stores and adeptly cooks his dad's recipe for a burger with perfection every time.

When I was finally ready to "honor" the animal through cooking it, well, I had to learn from the very beginning.  I also keep my internet ears open to new ways to use up the whole animal, at least as much as I know how. If you're in a similar boat, I've listed a few of my favorite go-to recipes below.

My own drawing of Ally, our mean black hen

I use these recipes nearly weekly:
How to roast a chicken (Martha Stewart)
How to cook a chicken breast (The Kitchn)

Bone broth: My approach is different than others I see online, I'm not sure how I came up with the process, since I use the internet as a cookbook.
Roast the skin, bones, drippings, fat in the oven on 350 for 30 minutes, stir/flip everything as best you can and roast 30 minutes more.
In a slow cooker/crock pot, cover the bones, etc. with water, add 2 bay leaves and a handful of thyme. Simmer for 12 hours. After you strain out the solids, you will have a richly flavored, unsalted broth.

Floursack tea towels from Girls Can Tell

Keep it going perpetually if you want, like Nourished Kitchen does. I generally use it for a giant batch of soup and toss (or bokashi) the bones.

I most often use homemade broth for chicken noodle soup or chicken and dumplings. Sometimes I'll use it in place of water to cook rice or barley, which is fantastic.

For chicken noodle soup I loosely follow the directions my sister in law gave me: 

Boil some kind of chicken with bones in. Today I used chicken thighs but I usually do a whole cut up chicken. Remove chicken to cool and pull off the bone. Put chopped onions, carrots and celery in broth cook until just done, add meat back in ( no skin, : p ) add salt and pepper to taste. I scoop out a cup or two of it and puree it and put it back in. Then I make a roux ( 3 or 4 tblspn butter same amount of flour, melt and add some stock, then pour it all back in the pot. It gives it some thickness which we like. Then just add noodles or rice, (I use the Amish egg noodles, they are yummy) when they're done YOU EAT!

Mabel will drink the broth and call it a meal.  If we have extra broth left over, the dogs get it with their dry food. After all, they deserve a nutritional boost, too!

Cry me a river of tomato tart

These are the days when eggplants, cucumbers, and okra fill the fridge; literally overflowing, jumping out, begging to be made into something healthy, flavorful, and interesting. Babba ganoush? check.

Or, if you've had a particularly humiliating work out at the gym (Cardio Strength class, anyone?) you  come home and drown your sorrows in something delicious and only vaguely disguised as healthy: Herbed Ricotta and Heirloom Tomato Tart in a phyllo crust. 

Since you have to brush the individual sheets of phyllo with oil before cooking, you lose a lot of the "healthy" aspects to this dish. After a workout that nearly brought me to tears reminding me of how hard I'd worked in the past, and how all that work was now a distant memory, I wanted something comforting. The phyllo was store bought and I roasted the tomatoes while sauteing leeks for the herbed ricotta. I basically followed David Lebovitz's directions, but topped the ricotta with roasted tomatoes and just the slightest layer of shredded mozzarella.

Afterward, I guiltily added up the Weight Watchers points and realized it wasn't awfully bad for me. Even though I left halfway through the class (I couldn't hang, I was the weakest link!) a brilliant twitter friend (thank you Emily!!) reminded me to put it all in perspective: 

Action vs In Action

I'm full of questions these days with not much content for blog writing. In November I hurt my shoulder when I switched to 3 days of strength training a week. The shoulder pain lasted for well over a month, and in that month plus I became workout lazy.

Well 8 months later, I'm kicking myself in the pants and getting back to it. All of that work before? Down the drain and my weight is just shy of where I was before. In all honesty I thought blogging about this aspect of life would help me maintain personal accountability. I don't really think it did, but I have had great conversations about health with readers, conversations that wouldn't have happened had I said nothing.

So here's the deal: I'm back on Weight Watchers and I'm going to the local Y. Here's the question: Is this content you're interested in or something that makes your eyes glaze over? If it's interesting, how much information is interesting and how much is too much?

Want to read recipes and talk about food? Would you rather laugh at my pain (I went to Zumba yesterday, there's a lot of fodder for laughing there) or should I just stick to gardening and art?

Do you feel my pain or feel painfully bored when this topic comes up? Want to join in the fun and make the process a group effort? Want the whole issue to just go away? Spill the beans, people!

Pastariffic without the pasta

I'm still on the them of food, when I said our fridge was packed with freshness, I wasn't kidding. We currently have tomato salad, carrot salad and fruit salad at arm's length; tasty veggie packed goodness ready to grab whenever someone has the hankering for a snack.

Last year I posted some ideas for using up the summer rush of zucchini, and to this day zucchini "noodles" are my favorite. They hold the right texture of an al dente noodle, but no bloated gut from wheat overload. None of that crazy blood sugar roller coaster from carb overload either.

How do you make zucchini noodles? Find a baseball bat sized zucchini (or a bunch of reasonable sized ones) and wash and peel it. Run the vegetable peeler lengthwise down the zucchini, creating ribbons of the fleshy part. Stop when you get to the seedy core. Now you have a giant heaping of zucchini ready to lightly saute in olive oil. Do a bit at a time so you don't break or chop the ribbons into small pieces. You want them sturdy and as spaghetti-like as possible; only saute until the ribbons get just tender. Season as you go, I use salt and garlic but season according to your tastes.

Last night we used up a particularly large zucchini, topped it with tomato sauce and homemade meat balls. The meatballs did have a handful of oats in them, but generally the meal was veggie-heavy, meat-light, and very easy on the body.

Family Dinner Traditions

Family dinner is a fantastic thing. Unfortunately (brace yourself, I'm about to let you down) we don't sit at the table and have them very often. Um, actually never. We did for a while, but for whatever reason we haven't found a dining table set up that keeps that role. Instead it's covered in fabric or another project. Right now it's just sitting in a room that doesn't heat very well, so that room stays blocked off through the winter. I know, weird. Whatever.

But the past 2 nights we've made dinner as a family. That, my friends, makes for some spectacular fun while working the kid's brain and forcing C and I to maintain a steady and heaping helping of patience.

Some ground rules: Mabel isn't allowed to get near the stove. She's not allowed to use knives, either. She's a great helper with stirring, kneading dough, and, when all else fails, sweeping the floor. Inviting a toddler in the kitchen makes for messy cooking--none of that clean-as-you-go stuff. The extra bits of time go into engaging her young, active mind.

Sunday we spent the day being lazy and doing whatever we wanted,randomly convening in the kitchen to work on the simmering from-scratch chicken noodle soup. Mabel's job? Take the pasta dough and roll it into little balls, then help roll it out through the pasta roller.

So she's 2 and she's already helped Mama make buttermilk biscuits, egg pasta, and turned masa into tortillas. Now that's a family dinner tradition I think we can keep.

Coconut Pumpkin Custard

Here's another sneaky way to get some veggies and vitamins into your diet: Coconut Pumpkin Custard! This post by Susy Morris, aka Chiot's Run, sparked an interest in custard, but I wanted a recipe for something not too heavy on the dairy. Miss M has dairy sensitivity, and easing up on the dairy keeps us all happier. After a little bit of searching for something close to what I had in mind, I found Gluten-Free Pumpkin Coconut Custard. Though I'm not sure custard usually has gluten, am I mistaken?

I roasted the cheese pumpkin I had on hand, and made a puree from it. Then went to work on the custard. I stuck pretty close to the recipe, which is unusual for me. I used closer to half a cup of sweetener (about 1/4 maple syrup, 1/4 molasses) and added about 2 teaspoons of grated, fresh ginger. While the custard was cooking I toasted some unsweetened coconut flakes and cashew pieces for a crunchy topping.

The result? A not-too-sweet, flavorful dish I can give the little one instead of sugar-loaded, organic soy yogurt!

A bonus? I saved the seeds from that delicious pumpkin to grow my own this coming summer!

cramming vegetables every which way

I posted about watching Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead and the quest for a juicer, but haven't updated you since then. We found a juicer on Craigslist, a Champion 2000+, and though we haven't used it all the time like I thought we would, we've used it a handful of times. It has certainly inspired a different mindset in my dinner preparation, albeit accidentally. I went a little overboard buying produce to juice...as in the fridge was crammed full of collards, kale, chard, turnip greens, spinach, cauliflower and fruits.The result was a week crammed with veggies in every manner possible. Here's a little recap:

Creamy cauliflower and greens soup with grilled hummus sandwiches (I saw on Facebook Jen was having them and totally loved that idea)

This is a chicken, chard coconut curry sort of concoction. Martha Stewart has a recipe for Chicken Spinach Casserole, that's pretty good, but I didn't want all that cream. Instead I subbed the half and half with coconut milk, added curry powder, ginger and lemongrass and deleted the bread crumb topping.

Last night we had leftover stew. Basically the liquid is a quick chicken broth mixed with leftover cauliflower soup with shredded chicken, carrots and chard.

Thursday night I made a big ol' batch of green juice. The colors (before mixing together into a muddy green) were fantastic thanks to kale, apples, lemon, oranges, and carrots. Oddly enough, kale juice has a faint banana flavor to it. Who woulda known?

What's your favorite sneak-a-veggie recipe?

A brief intro to our indoor composting station

In case you haven't noticed, we take our compost pretty seriously. There's a worm bin in the kitchen, and passive piles (sometimes hot...but to be honest I haven't had much time to keep turning them so they're passive for now) in the yard. The chickens do a lot of compost work by eating veggie scraps, but we don't give them spent coffee grounds, onions, garlic and a few other things; our worms get those.

The worm bin, though was too awkward for our new kitchen arrangement. In order to get into some of the cabinets the bin had to be moved, and worms don't particularly care to be bothered with that. They like to have little by way of change, so I'd been considering a vertical worm bin for some time. We'd kept them going for 3 years in the storage tote bin, I finally decided it was time to move them to something a little fancier: a Worm Factory. Lucky for me, I know a guy.

I got in touch with my friend (and fellow Master Composter) Stefan and ordered the Worm Factory and a bokashi bucket. {Because if you're going to have worms in your kitchen you might as well have fermenting waste as well, right?}

Bokawha? Bokashi is an anaerobic form of composting. You're basically fermenting the food scraps. I thought we should add that to our composting repertoire because you can add bones and dairy to the bokashi bin.

Adding meat to my diet way back when created a new challenge for our household food waste. Before, when there was meat in our house, it was only Charlie's meals and I wasn't a fan of touching/preparing the stuff, so everything was of the heat-and-serve variety that no longer resembled the formerly living creature it once was. No skin, no bones, no fat to cut off.

Now, though, the meat comes straight from the farmer; it looks like meat, there are bones, there is skin, there is fat. Usually trimmed fat and skin go to the furry kids, but bones pose a risk so they are sometimes used for broth preparation, but ultimately go to the landfill.

After little rearranging in the kitchen, the worms are in their new home and the bokashi has started a-brewing. I'll keep you filled in as things progress, but for now I love the fact that I can open the cabinets without shifting everything around. A bonus for the new set up? The two new bins take up less space than the old worm bin alone!

I finished my 30-day grain fast last weekend. After a couple experiments with wheat since them I've decided to stick with very limited wheat. Seriously, people, a couple days after the detox I had a sandwich followed by an hour of very sharp pain.

Seems there might be something to this gluten sensitivity after all, sayeth the nay sayer. *sigh*

Here's to a wheat free weekend.