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Friday, September 25, 2009

Breakfast for Two

Breakfast is one of the best meals, it can really make your day - or break it! Maybe it should be called 'makefest' instead of breakfast, anyways, hopefully this inspires you, as breakfast doesn't need to be the typical greasefest of bacon, eggs, sausage, hash browns, toast with butter, which would make me feel like yuck all day!

- Crock pot full of barley, black eyed peas, potatoes, onion, fennel seed, black pepper and bay leaves
- Steamed beets with onion and kale, with a mint, parsley, lime, and hemp oil dressing
- Sweetless granola made with toasted almonds, oat flakes, orange juice, cardamom, green stevia, flax oil (pour on after) and blueberries
- Sharla's bloobie pancakes made with whole rye flour, goat milk and oat bran
- Homemade almond milk, sauerkraut, goat kefir, oatgurt, mint/catnip tea
- Blueberries, orange slices and sliced tomatoes from my garden!

YUM!

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Sourdough pancakes for champions

What to do with your excess sourdough starter? It is really important to keep your sourdough starter going, if you like that kinda thing, but what do you do when you get too much!? Pancakes!!! Requiring a REALLY healthy, super bubbly starter (and thick like a pancake batter, not watery), sourdough starter will cook up a beautiful pancake if your starter is just right. Make sure your starter actually RISES in the container you're keeping it - which means it's thick enough, and bubbly enough.

Grease a pan up with a little butter or your preferred fat, and when hot (but not too hot, just hot enough that a drop of water from your finger hisses nicely, not angrily) pour out a little cake of batter and swirl the pan so it gets as thin as possible. Cook it well on both sides, and that's it!! If it's a little rare on the inside, don't worry, the grain is already fermented, which means that is nearly pre-digested anyways!! These pancakes do require a bit more time to cook though, so it is better to cook on medium-low heat, and have each one sit for about 5 minutes.

Serve up with granola, or your preferred toppings.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Probably the healthiest granola recipe ever..

Granola is so yummy, and a nice transitional food for the accustomed morning cereal eater, as it is a food that can be prepared simply and eaten with milk. However, the downside of granola, is that it is often made with refined oils, concentrated sweeteners, rancid nuts and seeds, hot spices, and generally just kinda heavy, greasy and overly sweet. What is the solution? Make your OWN with good ingredients! Here's how I do mine:

- DRY pan toast some almonds and pumpkin seeds until aromatic (do NOT burn!)
- Add some oat flakes and stir quickly - not too much toasting time for these guys. If they are over-heated, it will not be good for your liver or heat condition, and generally not recommended.
- Chop in some fruit, like apple slices, or stir in some blueberries. The fruit may sweat and add moisture to the dish, but if it doesn't, add a TINY bit of water, or better yet, a little bit of orange juice (fresh squeezed is best).
- I usually stop cooking at this point, even before the fruit usually, and put it into a bowl, however you can add spices and continue baking it for a little time to make it more warming.
- Add spices like cardamom, green stevia, nutmeg, etc, but cinnamon tends to be too hot, and if eaten before bed can cause things like night sweats, or worsen inflammation, etc.
- I put the warm granola into my bowl, (this is where I add the OJ, fruit and spices actually), and then pour over a little flax or hemp oil to give it some richness and greasiness.
- I was a little extra hungry, so I broke up some brown rice cake into as well and stirred it.
- I was also gifted a little dark chocolate, so I chopped that up and stirred it in as well too!
- Since I make my own goat kefir, which is really my only animal product, I topped it off with that, or I might add a little homemade almond milk with it as well.

NO sweeteners, refined or cooked oils, no salt, no flours, no junky nuts, and all fresh! YUM!

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Cooking for one... pot!


I LOVE one-pot meals. Really, there's nothing more satisfying then the coming together of flavours in one dish, which really, makes digesting quite easy. Consider the pot acting as your stomach, working out all the chemical differences, so that by the time you eat it, it is chemically like 'one food'! Oh yes - the finest of food combining - cook it all together!

I cook things in order from slowest to fastest, obviously. So this is how I might cook myself a one-potter:
- Put a little water in the bottom of the pot and bring to boil, or at least hot
- Add spices to infuse like a tea... such as cumin, fennel, mustard, bl. pepper (my favs)
- Add pungent vegetables like onions, leeks, garlic, etc. I think I used ginger and leek here
- Add hearty root veggies, like potato, carrot or beet. I think I only used carrot in this dish
- When roots are soft, add other veg like zucchini, which is what I did here
- I tossed in some nuts and seeds as well - which soaks and cooks them a little, which is good
- From here, you can add more water and add some grain, as I did with quinoa! Cover and cook until grains are soft, for quinoa - about 15 minutes. I threw in some brown rice pasta because I was having a party for myself that night, and pasta is pretty fun.
- Add herbs at the end, like thyme or whatever else. I added my fresh ones at the very end though
- Serve a dishfull, and that stir in some leafy greens like kale, and they'll cook in just the heat of the food.
- Prepare a small dressing/sauce, or simply just pour over a little flax/hemp oil, apple cider vinegar, or whatever inspires you.
- Add fresh chopped herbs, like basil, parsley, chives, or whatever ya got!

This is pretty elaborate, but my entire meal came from one dish! It made enough for two servings, and I had just ONE POT to clean up! Isn't it amazing.. ONE POT!! :)

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Spicy Summer Salad

This was a preferred breakfast, lunch or dinner for me when I felt the urge to eat something crunchy, cool, and raw in the heat of summer. However, I don't really like the watery, overly moistening and cooling effects of just regular leafy greens, especially ice berg lettuce, but I found these amazing 'spicy greens' from the Organic Oasis near my home that contains a mix of mustard greens, and other little pungent-bitters that appeal to me much more than the watery-crisp block of ice that normal grocery lettuce is.
To add some substance and richness to my salads, I always add pumpkin seeds (usually hand pan-toasted), or almonds, and then added some cut apple, and then a few fresh things from my garden such as tomato, basil, parsley, shiso, and then add a dressing made up of flax oil, garlic, apple cider vinegar and a little miso. I sprinkle on a little dulse too, if I'm in the mood for it. I usually have something heartier with this as well, like a cooked veg or grain, but sometimes just the freshness of a simple salad, especially with the rising sun, is all that I need to make me grin and feel centered.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Easy Pickles!


These were a real hit at Paul Pitchford's Healing with Whole Foods intensive in New York. Probably because they were so garlicky and pungent with apple cider vinegar!
Since garlic fosters desire, perhaps the appeal for these grew deeper the more you ate them?
In an attempt to rid some cucumbers, Sharla quickly sliced them on a mandolin along with some spices and garlic, and then topped up the jar with half water and half apple cider vinegar.
That's it!! Use raw/unpasteurized apple cider vineger, and it will ferment the vegetable so that it will keep for quite a while. Healthy, crunchy, tasty and desire-y!

Food for yer yin-yang

Aduki beans and well cooked rice. Need I say more?

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Shooting peas with flying ninja stars

Food can be so simple. It really should be. This post will be a reflection of this concept:
Cook peas in a little water, and add something fun to dress them up, like carrots shaped like ninja stars. Add a little space if need be, like black pepper, and enjoy!

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Tatters

Stove-top Sharla, and oven-Mike. Did you know that sauteeing and stirring your food gives an invigorating effect to the food, and thus the person, where as long, patient cooking in the oven gives a patient quiet quality to the food, and thus person? Perhaps Sharla's cooking is a source for her upbeat energy, and Mike's oven dishes are a source of his... what, am I just going to flatter myself in a blog because I cook in the oven? Whatever, yes, it is a source of my good looks and robust figure. Just kidding... it just makes me really really smart.

I LOVE potatoes, perhaps because this was the staple food growing up for me, and for my parents too, coming from a German background (might be pronounced 'Cherman' at my grandma's house, and washed down with a bratwurst and pint of beer) anyways, I do potatoes, that is my thing. Especially in the colder weather because of the warmth they bring to the body when out of the oven, yet they are one of the best yin-builders known to the Asian (the West still deems this food as unnecessary because of the high starch content, which is ridiculous, just stop eating sugar and crap, and you'll realize potatoes are so nourishing and a far better 'sweet' than any granola bar or any other sweet garbage on the grocery shelf). Yin-building = immune boosting and hormone supporting by the way. Did you know two German lads survived during the war for THREE years on just potatoes alone? JUST potatoes, no health concerns. Or was it three guys for two years? Whatever, that's a long time for just potatoes. I digress...

If cooked for a long period of time, potatoes require almost no seasoning - the time will bring them to life. I cooked these with onion and cumin I believe, and then slipped into the oven for an hour at 350F. Grease is not necessary, just use water.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Crawckers

Rawesome. Just rawesome. I mispelt crackers as 'crawckers', cause well, they were raw, but can be done in the over too. Leftover kamut sprouts, soaked flax seed, soaked buckwheat, and variations on all of the above, made some incredible crackers that we enjoyed with nut milks, or with cheese, or just plain. The students made these in our cracker workshop, and of course, they sweet-starved students made ALL sweet crackers and almost no savoury!! haha... carob, cardamom, orange juice, stevia, yacon, vanilla, and anything else non-Dampening yet sweet they could find! They were good, I'll admit, and were gone pretty fast!!
To learn how to make these, you pretty much need to attend one of our workshops or retreats. Bo! Really, they're easy, but so much easier to teach in person than blogging about it. Maybe we should make a video about it. Yeah, that's what we'll do... stay tuned.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

The Kefir Queen





Clouds from the gods? A gift from Allah? A miracle food made in heaven? Yes to all of the above. Kefir is a culture made up of yeasts and bacteria, and the cloud looking picture is my baby kefir when I first got it, and because they grow, it is now the size of my fist! Time to give some away, and sharing with your friends (and students) is what you're supposed to do!
We made 1L of kefired goat milk with it daily, which resembles yogurt, but so much more sour and bacteria rich, and of course Sharla - the Kefir Queen made aged cheese from kefir laban, and I'm sure we'll more about this in posts to come, as I hear she's working on making a bridge for the city of Chicago using kefir and some cheesecloth. She can make anything. Not only did she kefir goat milk at the intensive, she kefired coconut milk, almond milk, ginger water, and pretty much any other fluid sitting unused in an open vessel. Yum! Luckily, we had enough to give to most of our hungry students to take home and spread to their loved ones too.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Raw, Fermented, Sprouted bread


Because our guests at the intensive ate almost a full 1L of oatgurt everyday, it was necessary for us to make enough rejuvelac (used in oatgurt) to do so, and as a result, we had ample sprouted and fermented kamut grains leftover to do whatever fun things we wanted to!! Here Sharla is making sprouted bread dough using a juicer (only use the masticating kind!), and then season (if you wish) and form into loaves and either bake on low for a long period of time (2+ hours) or dehydrate over night, however you wish. That is it! Very simple! We have a video on how to make this sprouted bread if you click our videos link in the main menu or from our homepages. Sprout grain, blend/mash it, form it, dry/bake it. Easy peasy.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Crocky Breakfast

How to make breakfast delicious and fast - prepare the night before!
Pictured here, is an oatmeal dish with blueberries and vanilla bean. All things in time are better than all things rushed, so why not spend all night making your breakfast! The flavours deepen with time, so a lot of seasoning is not required, which is usually required with instant foods. Just add the vanilla, or maybe some cardamom and fruit, and let it cook all night for you!
We ate a full pot of this every morning at the intensive - and rightfully so, it was delish!

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Sideways Recycled Bean Burgers

What do you do with leftover beans? Burg them!! Keep any leftover beans aside, even if they have veg and grain in them, and mash them up to make beans.
At the retreat, we continuously made bean burgers by adding chopped onion and carrot to the leftover beans, added bread crumbs, oat flakes, or even best - flour (we used fresh ground whole kamut). Play with the quantity of grain to get them tough enough to form balls in your hands - if they do, place them on a baking sheet (with parchment paper is best), and bake them at about 375F for 20 minutes or so, as per your desired firmness of burger. Pictured here, is a baking sheet for a giant oven, forced into our little home-sized oven - it worked just fine, but there were a few wonky burgers from it. Also - you can add seasonings to bring them to life, like ground cumin and black pepper - or curry powder etc. Easy as pie!.. actually, easy as bean burgers!

Monday, August 10, 2009

Sourdough, Recycled Brown Rice bread!

Throughout the retreat, we started to get a little burdened with leftovers. We weren't sure how to use 2 servings of rice, or a tiny bit of left over vegetables, so we started finding creative ways to use them in our cooking. Here's an application for left over grains, especially non-glutinous! Since we had a celiac person in our retreat, I felt a little bothered that all of our bread had gluten in it (kamut) and so began making brown rice sourdough bread. However, as grains ferment in the process, it doesn't really matter what grain it is, and if it's cooked or not. So I began putting grain leftovers in a large bowl to ferment, and would make them into bread. The first morning I made it, I didn't think it was really anything special, as was kinda weird... however, that same morning I happened to drop an entire scalding hot crock pot full of cooked brown rice congee on the ground while carrying it to the dining hall, and it smashed all over the place (including my bare feet, which gave coincidentally gave me a lovely little liver moxibustion treatment), anyways - I felt so bad that I thought I'd better serve this strange congee bread, and low and behold, they ate all of it - 2 full loaves. They loved it, and I continued making it throughout the retreat from then on.

As it really is a tactile thing to make, and working with leftovers really offers no quantifiable, measurable methodology to making it, I just simply add brown rice sourdough starter to the leftover grains (about 1 cup) and then add fluids to bring it to a batter like consistency, maybe a little wetter. For fluids, I would use leftover, starting to ferment homemade brown rice milk, or some left over vegetable cooking water - as it was a little starchier to help the bacteria nosh on the soon-to-be dough. After a day of sitting, or when I see it rise, I add fresh ground brown rice to bring it to batter consistency, and again, add a little fluid if need be. I think some dry ground grain is necessary to make it tough enough to bake, as the cooked grains were too wet and soft to make a loaf unto themselves. As a batter consistency (maybe slightly firmer than batter) pour into loaf pans and let them rise (you can rise as many times as you like, but it MUST rise in the bread pan before baking), and then when risen (usually in the morning) bake it at 450F for at least an hour. It will be extremely wet and doughy when you take it out, so it MUST cool and set IN the pan for at least 1/2 hour or so, and even still, it might pull apart a little, so be sure to grease your pans and get them out carefully. You can check to see if their done without taking them out of the pan simply by inserting a chop stick and checking to see if any doughy residues remain on the stick. You'll know, and it does take practice to get it right. It took me a whole year to get this down, but then again I didn't know what I was doing when I started! Good luck, and email Whole Foodies for questions if you have them!

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Masters of Breakfast.. and the Universe



Twenty-two breakfasts and a whole lot of snacks. Whole Foodies Michael and Sharla answered their calling by attending Paul Pitchford's three-week intensive entitled "Healing with Whole Foods" in New York for the month of August, and had the honour of teaching 11 hours of workshop classes, but also preparing all breakfasts and snacks, plus special foods for the entire duration. YAY! We'll try to capture some of the meals on the blog here, but as we were producing almost 10 dishes per morning, and flying by the seat of our pants most of the time, we rarely had time to document what is was we made. Pictured here is Paul Pitchford spooning up some goodness, and a picture of what might have been a typical breakfast (and our lovely faces).

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Tempeh-tation!


Tempeh is one of those magical foods that is very healthy but also satisfying.  A little bit goes a long way in satiating the appetite.  Tempeh is like the cheese of Indonesia, cooked soybeans are inoculated with a bacteria starter and it is left to get "funky" as in moldy and fermented.  The end result is a dense cake that has a nutty taste and 'shroomy aroma.  Vitamin B12 forms as result of fermentation and is one of the only vegetable sources of natural B12.  Fermentation breaks down the proteins and natural sugars in the soybean, eliminating digestive issues with other soyfood products. Tempeh is relatively inexpensive and can be found at most health food stores, try different grain varieties to see which is the most tempeh-ting!

Miso Mustard Tempeh

8 oz tempeh
1 Tbsp oil
1 cup hot water
3 Tbsp sweet white miso
1/4 cup Whole grain dijon mustard
2 cups thinly sliced leeks or or a combination of leeks and shallots
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 a zucchini, sliced
2 carrots, peeled and sliced thin
1/2 lb cremini mushrooms or shiitake
1/2 cup dry white wine or stock
3-4 leaves of kale, collards or cabbage
salt and pepper to taste

Cut tempeh into 1/2 inch strips, lightly coat each side with oil.  place them in a skillet and brown on all sides.  Remove to cool and then cut them into blocks..
Make the sauce by combining the mustard, miso and water.
Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat, saute garlic and leeks and or shallots until cooked through, about 4-5 minutes, add the reserved tempeh, zuchhini, mushrooms, carrots, and mustard/miso sauce.  Bring to a boil, cover and then lower the heat to simmer for 10-15 minutes, until vegetables are crisp tender.
Add the white wine or broth, stir in the greens and cover and simmer for an additional 10 minutes.
Voila, fini!  Serve this with fresh chopped chives or tarragon.  Place atop cooked quinoa for a complete meal.
*experiment with different in season produce and adjust the flavors for maximum intensity.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Random Veggie Burger


The picture doesn't do the burger justice - it was out of batteries, and I got in just one shot before the camera cakked out on me. So I have a picture of a tomato with a blurry burger in the foreground.

So it's time to go grocery shopping, very badly, the fridge is almost empty, but surely there's lots to eat in the house! So I took the following ingredients (without measuring! I'm very sorry! I just put things together and see what happens.. but food's food, so you really can't go wrong eating something that doesn't "work out"!)

First I ground up into a coarse flour:
-buckwheat groats (I'd say 1/2 cup?)
-lentils - about 1/4 cup
.. and added some salt, spelt flour (1/4 cup), thyme, black pepper

Then I diced up and then pureed in my grinder:
-remains of an eggplant
-zucchini
-carrot
-onion

Add the two together, wet your hands, and plop balls of this batter onto a buttery cookie sheet. I baked them at 350F for about 35 minutes, and they turned out delish!

We ate them with an Ezekiel brand hamburger bun, slice of tomato, slices of naturally fermented picks, and Grandma's homemade mustard!.. and Anna got to take some with her to lunch the next day! I bet these burgers cost a whopping $.50 cents to make, which is astonishing considering you pay almost $7 for good real-food (and whole food!) veg burgers in the health food store. I smell as business plan... and another batch of veg. burgers in my oven.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Creamy Quinoa Porridge


This was my breakfast, along with miso soup. It felt so good I had to blog about it!

  • Grind quinoa in a grinder to a course flour (you can toast it first to remove the bitter saponins, but I couldn't be bothered this morning as I was multi-tasking)
  • Add to water (as it's warming up to a boil) and stir in!
You can add sweet - but I chose:
  • finely diced carrot
  • fennel and dill seed
Bring to a boil, stirring, and then simmer. It's ready then, but letting it sit does some good to it!
It's really that simple.... 5 minutes, tops!

Monday, April 20, 2009

As-close-to-normal-but-healthy Pancakes

I made these everyday this week. Firstly, to see if I could perfect them, and secondly, because they were so good and there was something about them that made me hum like a.. I have no cliche for that. I just hummed when I ate them. (I mean felt harmonious and wonderful).

They can be made without soaking the flour - but soaking it gave it the hum factor I was looking for. Soak for an hour or so:
  • 2 cups whole grain spelt flour, with a little salt
  • 1 cup goat milk (I didn't try water, but I'm sure that would work too
Then stir in:
  • 1 egg beaten, and a bit more milk if the batter got too sticky from soaking
  • 1 Tbsp baking powder (please get aluminum free!)
  • any seasonings you wish - I used almond extract and pomegranate syrup, it was great!
Brush a pan with butter/ghee on LOW heat! Once hot, laddle in the sticky batter and spread out the cakes with a wet utensil or your hands dipped in cold water (batter doesn't stick that way)

Let them cook slowly, on low-medium heat (like 4 on an electric stove) and then flip once the first bubble on top becomes solid.
Cook on the other side for about half the time of the first, and then transfer to a warmed toaster oven or directly to your mouth.

I topped these with flax oil and stevia, but you can use your imagination on how to top! They make nice little lunch snacks too, like muffins, because they are good on their own!

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Indian Lentil Curry


Goodness me, I've really got to start writing down recipes for my entries! The reason is because, well, recipes ruin my appetite. I'd rather smell and taste my food to gauge what needs to go into the pot, rather than consulting a check list of ingredients! This way, you can just make stuff from what you've got, and not have to go into town to buy a list of ingredients to make an exquisite meal.

So here is what got put into this curry:
  • oil
  • cumin, coriander, mustard seeds
  • cardamom pods, garam masala, ground cumin
  • onions, garlic and ginger
  • veggies (leftover chunks of veggies got put in, like eggplant, zucchini, etc)
  • cooked lentils, and some left over tofu
  • diced tomatoes and a splash of yogurt or something creamy (but sour is best)
When making curry - always carefully bring the oil in your pan to heat (not too hot, please don't let your oil smoke!) and then briefly sautee your seeds and spices (not herbs) for just a moment. Put in your chopped or pureed garlic, onion and ginger (to taste) and cook until aromatic, brown, or how you like it. Next, cook your veg until soft, add meat or beans, and cook in. Then this Korma-ish dish had diced tomatoes (or tomato paste) and a bit of yogurt put into it. The longer you let is simmer, the more delicious it becomes! Serve with rice (we made Indian rice to go with it, using turmeric and some other fun things, but won't blog about that right now).

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Pear and Tofu Pudding


I made this when I lost my voice last year. I ate so much of it that I did get my voice back, but I also got the scoots, as this lovely treat is super moistening for the body, which often results in moist bowels as well.

In a blender, add pear, soft tofu (not firm!) - and really, that could be all, but I also added almond extract, fresh and dried ginger, and a little green stevia.

It was really refreshing and can quench an insatiable thirst 
(*Note - if you have an unsatiable thirst, it is better to eat fruits and moistening foods (like tofu) and even sea vegetables as oppose to continuously guzzling water, which can actually exasperate thirst when water is over drunk!)

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Snacks for Your Stool

Oh yeah.. these are good. Try to get the imagery of gigantic stools out of your head first tho, because it makes these less appetizing.

The reason I called them Snacks for Your Stool is because it's mostly ground flax. I put flax in a grinder, and then added tahini, flax oil and molasses. That's it - spread it on something snacky, e voila! A Snack for Your Stool 

(I used at least 1/4 cup of flax seeds for this, plus I added some sesame seeds too, and I think pumpkin seeds got in there sometime too.. I like experimenting with something over and over to see what comes of it, and so I tried different seeds, and I'm sure nuts would work well too - but they're a little too rich for me right now, so I'm eating few of them).

Monday, April 13, 2009

KILL YOUR YEASTS!


Yeast, or more specifically Candida Albicans, is a bacteria that should normally be 15% of your intestinal flora, however, with antibiotics, poor dietary habits, poor chewing habits, and excessive sweets or alcohol, candida tends to thrive and be the "man in charge" in your gut - which isn't good because candida is also a malicious fungus that can bore holes through you intestinal lining and make its way through your body tissues, plaguing your other nearby body parts with infection and fungus (such as a yeast infection) but also can be localized in the ears, mouth, liver, etc.. AND can sometimes be systemic, which means your entire body is filled with it, greatly taxing your immune system as it's ALWAYS cleaning up this culprit. 

The candida bacteria have the job of cleaning up your waste foods, typically unchewed food, undigestible foods (such as maltodextrin and other zero-carb sugars), but otherwise eats leftover carbs in the body.

The resulting effects of a yeast (candida) overgrowth is 
  • itchiness (ANYWHERE, nose, anus, feet, face, hands)
  • foggy headedness (as the metabolic byproduct of yeasts is ALCOHOL.. which means, you actually have alcohol in your blood stream, leaving you feel drunk and stupid!)
  • sluggish digestion and weird bowels
  • insatiable appetite, easily feel like you are overeating
  • edginess and inflammation (which go hand in hand)
  • moodiness
  • decreased energy
  • decreased immunity, and a host of other symptoms. 
Basically, this fungus is like a parasite, constantly taxing your body, and as long as you've got it, you've got an infection festering inside of you - leaving your body sick and at war for as long as you've got it. Antibiotics are given to kill this baddie off, but it also kills the bacteria that check and balance the candida, giving you NO immune defense, which means the candida have an even easier time coming back. I really don't think there is a remedy that a doctor can give that will totally get rid of it that will last. Really, I believe that most people have this to some degree (more so the younger you are, because of the worsening of our diet and increase in antibiotic use) but remember that we should have some of it - but our healthy bacteria should be the majority party ruling our intestines, which keeps the bad boys in check. We're obsessed with sterility and anti-bacteria. But really, our ancestors have grown up with bacteria all their lives, its all around us, heck - we actually have more bacterial cells in our body than human tissue cells.. isn't that amazing? A forest floor has bacteria to help decay and breakdown to renew life, and so do we! I've always got something fermenting in the kitchen, whether on purpose (sourdough, sauerkraut, rejuvelac, etc) or unintentionally (leftover rice, beans, veg... these can sit out for quite a while, as long at the food is still 'sweet' and not foul, you're game for good bacteria!). We've got this same lovely fermenting bacteria in our gut (the good ones) but when you have candida, everything just molds and turns to fungus. But really, must we sterilize EVERYTHING!? Our food is so sterile, not even bacteria can survive from it - but it is this good bacteria that we thrive from!! Did you know that US almonds are ALL sterilized with a toxic chemical, so that NO bacteria can thrive from them? Gees, we've got pasteurized nuts now too!! 

What do we suggest to get rid of this enemy inside us?
  1. Don't overeat!.. and for heaven's sake - chew your food!! Especially carbs
  2. Raw foods easily rot in the body, making it easier for the candida. "Rot" (breakdown) the food by cooking it first (therefore, eat mostly cooked foods)
  3. Exercise, as fungus can't survive in an oxygen rich environment (picture hanging a mildewy cloth out on the line to get sun and air, and the mold disappears!)
  4. Eat little salt, and ABSOLUTELY NO SWEETS, of any kind. Natural or refined (and definitely not artificial!! Stevia is tolerated however)
  5. Avoid preservatives and other non-foods
  6. Eat fermented foods, as they contain lots of GOOD bacteria (like acidophillus)
  7. Don't eat cold foods or drinks, but drink tea and room temperature water moderately
  8. Don't worry - worry worsens any damp condition, and don't force it, because you'll worry
  9. Eat chlorophyll rich foods (green!) as it neutralizes toxins in your body and heals our tissues
  10. AVOID bad oils, packaged foods, anything refined, overly floury foods (please, just eat a whole foods diet for goodness sake!!)
As I felt the onset of yeast last week (starting with an itchy nose), I started delving into sweets and ignoring it. It really started to bother me when my food didn't satiate me, which DRIVES ME NUTS!...  So I did this therapeutic plan for three days and seriously kicked its ass.
(From Left to Right in the photo)
  1. Dandelion tea/coffee - which cleanses the blood (especially effective if systemic)
  2. Lavender essential oil - please be cautious, use 100% botanical and only do ONE drop every three days to start.. if you get a headache, you're using too much (cleansing reaction)
  3. Oxygen - which just destroys yeasts on contact. Good for systemic as well, please don't overdo this as well (remedies 1-3 are HIGHLY cleansing and should be moderated) 20 drops a day to start (I did 100 drops a day, but I also had no cleansing reactions)
  4. Sauerkraut (in back) - a bacterial supplement for the body, which helps check and balance the yeasts, takes their place when they die, and is rejuvenating for the tissues (HIGH in vitamin C!). An acidophillus supplement is advised as well, but I had already spent too much money on the remedies and needed low cost bacterial support. This sauerkraut is locally made, is raw (unpasteurized), and NO SALT - which is preferred for killing candida or any infection
  5. Garlic - nature's antibiotic!! This KILLS any pathogenic microbobes BUT leaves the good ones standing, giving them a favourable place to proliferate!! Seriously, antibiotics kill life, good and bad, but garlic just kills the bad.....  One clove eaten raw before a meal, sometimes best eaten with an apple slice, yogurt (another fermented food!) to soothe the digestive lining if the garlic burns too much. I ate a head in under 3 days! Too much!! Garlic is known in the East by sages to create emotional desire. This actually happened to me!! Desire arose, and I became very emotional. I stopped the garlic, and the desire went away - interesting lesson. (Sweets create desire as well... which just leaves us perpetually shackled to the things we desire!! Not good!)
  6. Flax oil - healing for the digestive lining (to reduce inflammation), and rebuilding. Also satiates when you are in an "unsatiable mode"! Repairs the tissues that were aggravated by infection, and cleanses the liver (the body's filter) of junk while healing. Good stuff!
  7. Aloe juice from inner fillet (not GEL - and NOT the WHOLE LEAF!!!). This stuff is magic. The sour flavour of the juice just gives away its healing and restorative properties (the sour flavour is healing to the liver as it is like soap, or a solvent to toxins, fatty residues, and all the other crap that is stored in the liver). It is also BUILDING!! Isn't this amazing!! It cleanses and builds at the same time!? It's an antimicrobial, like garlic, but builds the immunity, heals tissue and reduces inflammation, while keeping us cool and refreshed. This is a great pair for when using lavender oil or oxygen, as it "protects" us from the harsh reducing nature of the aforementioned remedies. Oxygen alone can create a feeling of light headedness and poor stability, but when combined with oxygen, keeps us centred, but clear as a bell. Drink 2-3 oz. a day to start (with 20 drops of oxygen) but up it if you can handle it and want to specifically heal short term. I drank the whole bottle of juice in 3 days, accompanied with larger doses of oxygen - but treated it acutely.
Typically, if the "infection" is acute, an short term and aggressive remedy is effective, however, if you suspect that you've had it for a while, and is chronic, it is best to do long term (.5 - 2 years?) and start with the dietary changes, while doing some remedies at a very low level for a longer period of time. 

* NOTE: These are NOT to be taken as a daily preventative medicine, and we are not trying to replace the efforts of the medical system, and this is NOT a prescription. We are simply offering information, and what you do with it is up to you, and we will not be held liable for any healing effects or symptoms that may arise from it. Understood!? Any questions can be directed to Whole Foodies Michael and Sharla at foodies@wholefoodies.org

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Oishii miso shiru (Delicious miso soup)







If you've never tried cooking with miso before, I advise to go to your local natural foods (or Asian foods store) and pick some up RIGHT now..... go on.... I'll wait.

Miso is one of the best things period. How it tastes, what you can do with it, and what it represents. 

I included a few pictures of when I was in Japan.  One picture was inside a miso shop, and the other was the line up to the store because everyone wanted to buy miso. You could buy handmade miso locally, and this particular shop sold a lot. This lovely couple had prepacked bags available (shouldn't really be sold in plastic, because it does absorb), but you could also buy it out of the barrel (shown in front.. the man is looking at it). It was amazing!

Soy beans are fermented in these barrels along with koji - which is a bacteria created from rice used for soya sauce, sake, and amasake (literally sweet sake, which is the goop at the end of the sake barrel). The older it is (ie. more than a year) the saltier, darker and dankier it will be. Sweet, light coloured miso is sometimes only fermented for a few months or less. 

Miso is 13 - 20% protein, has a profile similar to meat, contains plant sources of B12, (making it excellent for new vegetarians) is teeming with lactobacillus (same as yogurt), is alkalizing despite its building and high protein profile, neutralizes poisons in the body and effective at preventing radiation. This would be helpful for food poisoning as well! Awesome food? I think so.

It can be used for soups, sauces, seasonings, and you can find many recipes using miso in our blog. Here is a basic soup, often eaten for breakfast daily by the Japanese.

NEVER BOIL MISO - this kind of behaviour is punished in Japan (just kidding.. but not really)

Boil water and add veggies to soften them. Add seaweed, like wakame. Once veggies are soft, add tofu. At the very end, even when the soup is off of the burner, you can add miso. About 1 Tbsp per person or cup of water suits well. Stir and serve!

For plain miso, just add miso to boiled then slightly cooled water. That's it!! Easy!
Miso. It's what's for breakfast.. in Japan. 

By the way, although the lineup picture was taken in front of the miso shop, those kids weren't really in line to buy miso, I just thought it was a beautiful picture of the street and store front of where we bought it from.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Vegetable & Sprout Scrambly Wambly



Really.. sprouting is supposed to maximize the benefits of raw foods, thus it would make sense to eat them raw - as they are wee living organisms full of potential and life, just eager to bust out in the world and make a difference - well they do, definitely,.. on your liver, blood, heart and so on. But what if you feel like eating warm and cooked food, but also feel like the refreshing, energizing effects of sprouts. Cook 'em!!

By now I think I've probably insulted or offended the raw food advocate by cooking precious young greens as sprouts. I feel like I bastardized the food, like teaching a 2 year old swear words or something. Sure cooking destroys some of the benefits of their cleansing, reducing nature, but the sprouts contain so many more benefits than just they're reducing abilities - in fact, I'm not interested in reducing or cleansing right now, my focus is to build myself. Build my immunity, tissues, strength, liver, gusto.. you get it, and so I went with my instinct to cook these wiggly hair like green fellows. It was the first time I've ever done it.

I ended up eating about 3-4 large clamshells of sprouts that week, as greens always shrink when heated, and are much less rough getting down. They make my stomach happy. (Going back to clamshells.. I REALLY don't like those plastic tubs that greens and sprouts come in!! We've got to think of something better to transport those fellows in!... actually, solution: grow them yourself!) I usually don't buy the cramshell lettuces, greens and sprouts through the winter because it's not really what I crave (or need) in the winter, and it's so readily and locally available in the summer that you don't get them in those nasty plastic things, but it's spring now, and these dandy sprouts were hollering at me from across the store for me to put them in my basket, and consequently in my stomach (but first the pan). I digressed...

SO.. what is this beauty of a feast on my plate? Sauteed veg, then scramble eggs, then at the last moment (just after the eggs go in) toss in some sprouts and mix 'em around. In just a moment, when the eggs start solidifying - you're finished! I garnished with a half avocado and some spice. 

Friday, April 3, 2009

Home-made Veggie Pate!

As a treat, I occasionally like to get veggie pate from the natural food store and eat in on a sandwich or as a side to something fun, but I'd really like to be able to make it on my own so I can make it as a treat, instead of buy it, even though I like to support folks who make this kind of stuff and make it available in stores - because it is a nice treat!

So it's my first batch, and far from perfection, but this is what I did:
Blend the following in a food processor:
  • 1-1/2 cups soaked buckwheat (from 3/4 cup dry)
  • 1 cup oat flakes
  • 1 cup diced eggplant
  • 1/2 cup sesame seeds, ground
  • 1/2 cup whole spelt flour, or other
  • 1/4 cup oil
  • 1/3 cup each diced potato, onion, carrot
  • 1 Tbsp vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp lemon juice
  • Some salt
Oil a casserole dish, and put the blended paste into the dish. .. and I just realize that I didn't write down how long I cooked it for!! But I'm willing to bet it was at 350F for at least 45 minutes.. you could try that - but watch for the browness at the top, that might be an indication of how done it is.
As a side note, I actually bought some veggie pate from the store to compare mine to the "real" thing, and after having one bite of it before making it, I walked away to answer the phone or something, and when I came back, the dog had eaten the WHOLE thing with not a crumb left over. Yes folks.. it's just that good... mine was also very good... but maybe a little drier (I don't like using a lot of oil in my cooking, and I didn't get it so perfectly pureed as I could have.. but it was AWESOME.)

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Stuffed Acorn Squash


This was served on our Whole Foods Cooking Retreat, and it was a complete hit! Cooked with love for all the guests by Whole Foodies Sharla and Anna.. what a treat!

Stuffed Acorn Squash

Bake squash face down in halves for 1/2 hr. at
350F. Cook rice in stock or water. Heat oil in a
skillet, and sautee onions and garlic, then add
remaining ingredients, as well as cooked rice.
Stir all ingredients like a stir fry, add to cooked
squash and top with feta.

1 acorn squash, split in 2
2 cups vegetable stock or water
1 cup black rice
1 onion
1 clove garlic
sun dried tomatoes
capers
parsley
herbs
bell peppers
feta

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Awesomest Dinner Ever!

This was an exceptional treat! Hand crafted by Whole Foodie Anna, this was a perfect winter meal that brought about bliss that lasted all evening.

Unfortunately, like me (Mike), Anna doesn't really use recipes or measure anything, which is awesome - measuring things kills my appetite, and using the right side of your brain to cook only fosters more love in the food!

So - squash soup, gently sauteed veggies with almonds and a subtle sauce, and then a crunchy millet salad, that Anna did agree to write out for me:

Crunchy Millet Salad
  • Sautee in water, cubed zucchini, onion, potato
  • Cook millet
  • Add these two things together along with:
  • Pumpkin seeds
  • Miso paste
  • Basil
  • Oil
  • Parsley
  • Spices - black pepper, dr. basil, curry, etc.
(I have a feeling there was garlic in there too, but she didn't write it down!)

Eat slowly and enjoy the poof of qi from this very digestive-fire stimulating dish!

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Foods to get better by...

OK - so I came down with a bug this month. I did alright, recovering in a few days, but what did I eat? I thought I'd take a picture for you!

From bottom left, clockwise:
  • Oven cooked oatmeal with apples and cinnamon and a bit of goat milk
  • Tea decoction including echinacea, ginger, lemon, fenugreek, thyme, fennel, flax, and a little licorice root (that was made for my condition on the day that I had it.. this isn't a catch-all solution)
  • Sprouted bread, slightly toasted
  • Pureed leftover soup stock ingredients
  • Water with oxygen and a little apple cider vinegar
  • Mochi (white,.. it was a gift) with nori paper
This was on the day that I noticed I was starting to heal, otherwise in the acute stages I'd suggest eating very little or only teas or foods cooked in lots of water (thus the soup stock!).. once the body starts to feel like it's winning, food is better suited if not overeaten, especially grains and cooked veggies. I picked at this tray all day... it was nice to have handy as I sat on my big pillow and let the healing juices flow.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Shabu shabu!

Wow.. we're really on a Japanese theme here aren't we? Well, we just had a Japanese couple living with us, and of course we love the food of Japan, it's silliness, cartoons, and all it's Zen-ness. 

So this is a traditional winter meal, not only eaten in Japan (although the name "shabu shabu" which is an onomatopoeia mimicking the sound of splashing your food in hot water) but eaten all over Asia in the hot pot style that indulged upon.

Using a portable burner on the table you eat at, bring a pot of water with seaweed to a boil, and then dunk cut vegetables and other foods into the boiling pot for a moment, and then retrieve them slightly cooked and delicious, and then dip into a sauce or shoyu before eating. This way, the meal is drawn out so incredibly long, that you can literally eat all night long.

Tofu can be used, meat, cabbage, leek, zucchini, carrot, mushrooms, daikon, etc.. anything that cooks in water! Serve with brown rice and edamame for some nice sides! And sake too of course!
OISHII!
(Pictured are Whole Foodies Sharla and Anna)

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Okayu - soup for the sick Japanese soul


North Americans reach for instant, MSG laden, refined and boxed chicken noodle soup when feeling ill - Japanese however reach for okayu. This is such an incredible healing tonic, I recommend it for anyone feeling 'off', or having poor energy or immunity and need to heal. This will do it!

The base, and power of this fantastic "soup" is the really well cooked rice in ample water. You can try grinding the rice first if you wish, to have it cook a little quicker, but otherwise cook 1 part brown rice to 4 parts water or more. The more time, the more water, the more healing magic.

In this thickish rice soup, add seaweed (kombu or wakame), chopped leeks or green onion, black pepper, cayenne, and/or ginger. And then finally, when at a boil, pour in a beaten egg or two, stir, and then reduce to a simmer and let it cook for as long as you can allow. If it gets too thick, just add water. AHH!!!...... healing, and surprisingly delicious despite the appearance from the photo - it really is good and nurturing!

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Nabe = Japanese pot


This is a winter food in Japan. Cooked in a pot (or known as 'nabe', the Japanese word for pot in Japanese) this dish is called "nabe" for obvious reasons.

Bring some water to a boil, and add seaweed like kombu or wakame, and then chop in lots of veggies - and some tofu, if you really want to embrace the spirit of Japan. We went all out and got all Japanese veggies, including hakusai (nappa cabbage), daikon (literally "giant root"), enoki (weird clustery mushrooms), and ninjin (carrot.. just showing off my Japanese).

Let's this infusion cook up until the veggies are soft, and then serve in soup bowls!

We added a dash of togarashi (7 pepper spice) on the top to give it some heat to the otherwise gently refreshing dish (despite it being served warm, the seaweed, water and veggie are nice and refreshing).

ITADAKIMASU!

Friday, March 27, 2009

Chocolate Pudding of my Gods


Chocolate pudding like I've never tasted before.
Add these fine things into a blender or mixer, or something that whizzes things about:
  • cocoa powder (I used a "ruddy red" that was super dark.. so good)
  • maple syrup
  • soft tofu for a pudding, (or soft avocados if you want it thicker like mousse)
  • vanilla
  • whiskey or rum
That's it! Heaven in a bowl!
Sorry for no quantities.. that's just not how I cook. Try making it yourself and then adding more or less of something if you think it needs it!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Awesomest Lunch Ever!

Wow. No recipe for this guy - so simple, which is almost the best recipe for whole foods cooking - simple.

Pictured clockwise from bottom to top:
Cooked grains
Gently sauteed veggies
Miso sauce (miso, tahini, shoyu, apple cider vinegar, honey, cumin, etc)
Roasted potato fingers with sesame oil, salt and pepper
Poached egg (we're really into eggs lately... they make our Kidneys happy)

Restore, Renew, Rejuvenate!



I always think of the colon as party central, there are billions of bacteria living in the colon that support proper elimination and absorption of nutrients.  They also boost our immune system by fending off certain pathogens and germs.  These bacteria strains are known as probiotics and are the key to ultimate health and longevity.  Sometimes a good party can turn bad, layering on greasy fried foods, processed and sugary foods, overeating and bad food combinations crashes the good vibe feeling and the once fun filled party is turned into a demolition bonanza that sadly leads to severe colon hangover.  Your post party colon is left to deal with flatulence, sporadic movements, and smelly logs.  How do you keep the good party going you ask?...well, start with inoculating your bowels with rejuvelac!  Rejuvelac is a fermented drink that literally rejuvenates and supports your gut.  It is one of the easiest and healthiest beverages to make.  You can make rejuvelac with most any grain, it is most commonly made with wheat berries, but I have made it with kamut, rye, and barley.  
Here is how to make your own rejuvenating party drink:
Soak about 1-1 1/2 cups of wheat berries or other hearty grain in enough cold water to cover by 1 inch in a sprouting jar with a mesh screen or any large jar
soak 8 hours or overnight
drain and rinse the grain, make sure all excess liquid is removed, you do not want your grains to be sitting in water
rinse your grain once or twice a day, to ensure proper moisture
your grain will start to sprout, once the sprout is a little longer than the seed itself, fill the jar back up with filtered water
set the jar on your counter or on a shelf away from direct sunlight
check the jar daily, once it is bubbly and smells sweet and fermented it is ready!
strain and pour into a clean jar or pitcher, keep in the fridge for up to 1 week.
Reserve the sprouted grain for crackers, cookies (see banana kamut cookie recipe below)
or for a yummy Mana loaf (sprouted bread)
Enjoy your Rejuvelac and party on!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Sprouted Banana Kamut Cookies!





So what to do with 10 day leftover grain sprouts sitting in the fridge? They got really slimy, sticky, but were incredible fragrant with that delicious aromatic punch created from fermentation. The sprouts were used for sprouted bread, and so were only grown to about 1/2" long or shorter, which retains the grains starchy, meatiness that is required for bread making. If the sprouts were any longer, it would've become more like a veggie sprout and would've been more green and better for a sandwich, for instance.

So I've got quasi-fermented, half sprouted kamut, neglected and needing some love.

Step one: Dry them out - I laid them out on a baking sheet (I woefully used a non-stick although I usually avoid them.. but as they were so sticky and I didn't want to ruin the experiment, I really didn't want them to stick!)

Distribute them evenly on a the sheet, and leave them to dry in the oven at about 310 or so... not to cook them, just to dry up the sticky fermented film and give them a gentle pan toasting. I think I had them in there for 15 minutes, flipped them about, and then gave them another 10 or so...

Step two: Grind the dried, toasty grains in a grinder or something that will bring them to a paste.. like a wet flour. This is similar to making sprouted bread, but I toasted them first.

Step three: Add in a bowl and mix:
  • ground, sprouted, toasted grains (about 1-1/2 cups.. give or take)
  • 1/3 cup oat flakes
  • 1/2 cup spelt flour
  • 1 mashed banana
  • 1 tsp dried ginger and cinnamon each
  • 2 Tbsp honey
  • 2 Tbsp ghee or butter
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla
Step four: Grease up your baking sheet with some of the ghee/butter, set the oven  to 375F, wet your hands with cold water, and then form little balls with the mixture. Press them down into cookies on the cookie sheet.. I made 3 large and 2 small with my batch, but I'm sure far more can be made with more ingredients or improvising. 

Step five: Bake for 30 minutes (I did 35 minutes, but the bottoms got to browned, and the still set nicely). Take them out and let them cool in a place where air can get underneath... like a wire rack. Wait until the set a little.. and enjoy!

These cookies had such a neat taste and aroma - something I've never tasted before. So earthy, hearty, almost with a beer-like dank to them... rich and sweet tasting, but not heavy or powerful. Just a wallop of that centred-sweet flavour you can only get from grains - especially fermented! Yum! 
Note: As with anything fermented, please use your nose to determine the 'quality' of the food! I have never had a failed fermentation project (more like accident!), but I always throw things away if the smell is putrid and foul. Good luck!