Phelps and the Corn Flakes

Another TV at the gym story....
It was a basic interview with some reporter and a spokesperson from some national obesity society. They were talking about how this society opposes Michael Phelps signing with Corn Flakes to be their new spokesperson. The basis of the opposition is that Phelps should be encouraging children to eat broccoli and not corn flakes, and that parents already have a hard enough job and he is going to contribute to the obesity problem getting worse.
Hmmmm.......
No. I don't think so. To be more specific, yes I would have liked to see Phelps promoting something I believe in more, like broccoli, but this is America and these are the behaviors of basic economics. Furthermore, this is not a new concept for any of these large food conglomerates. They know how to sell and it works.
Luckily, I was on the bike when I was watching this so at least I got a really good workout in, but I was fuming when I heard this spokesperson raging on about how terrible the Corn Flake deal was with Phelps. The truth is, the responsibility is on the parents, educators, and other support figures that are involved in the everyday life of our children. There are parents out there successfully keeping their kids away from junk food and high sugar cereals like corn flakes. Maybe not everyday, but they have a way of managing the manipulated food dilemma in our country. So it begs the question that if some have done it, why are we pinning the problem on a third party for the growing population that is not addressing this issue in their home.
Quite simply, Phelps cannot be held accountable for that. Nor can Kellogg's. Everyone has a choice and everyone has the right to raise their children and provide an education - whether it be about books, finances, food or love - they have the right to do it how they want and it is up to them to get the message across.
Also, if you don't want your kids eating corn flakes, and they ask in the store, you can always say no. Phelps is not in the store telling you that you have to.

Quinoa for Breakfast

I made an amazing quinoa cereal for breakfast. I got the idea from the Bauman recipe exchange (thank you JamieL). Before I give you the recipe though, I thought I should talk a little bit about what quinoa is (besides amazing).
Quinoa (pronounced 'keen-wah') is just about one of the most amazing grains. It is non glutinous, meaning it does not contain gluten and which also means it is not as inflammatory to our bodies as wheat is for example. It is the only grain that contains all 9 essential amino acids (meat also contains all 9 essential amino's on its own, but all other grains have to be combined with something else to make a 'complete' protein).
It tastes somewhat nutty, and it's texture can be a bit like couscous meets rice. It takes no more than 15 minutes to cook, and you always follow a 2 to 1 ratio of liquid to quinoa to cook it. It makes a great salad, cereal, side dish, and main dish. It absorbs whatever you put into it.
About 1/2 cup on it's own is one serving and that packs approximately 12 grams of protein!

Here is the recipe for the cereal. If you have 15 minutes in the morning to make this, it would be best fresh. Otherwise, you can make a batch and re-warm with a bit of almond or rice milk.

This would serve about 4 people
1 cup Quinoa
2 cups almond milk
1 medium apple, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/3 cup goji berries
4 tbsp golden flax seeds
1 tbls agave nectar or honey

Bring quinoa, almonds milk, spices, agave or honey, goji berries and apple to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.
Stir in flax seeds and top with a bit more almond milk if you want.

The flax seeds really should be stirred in at the end as the extreme cooking heat is damaging to flax. You can use regular milk, rice milk or something else in place of almond milk of course, but I encourage you to just try the almond milk - for some it may sound too alternative, but you never know if you will like something and your body might just be waiting for the right recipe to come along - and HERE IT IS!

Weekly Menu

Here is this weeks menu. Trying to savor the last few weeks when it really feels like summer.

Monday - Chile verde casserole (using leftove chile verde from this weekend)
Tuesday - Turkey meatballs and whole wheat pasta with Nonnie's sauce and a salad
Wednesday - Grilled chicken with brown rice and grilled radicchio salad
Thursday - Panini night (grilled vegetable and pesto sandwiches - using leftover veg from Wednesay)
Friday - Napa inspired appetizer and a movie night - olives, wine, cheese, bread, steamed artichokes and a salad

Something this menu utilizes is reusing ingredients in different forms. For example on Wednesday, the grill will already be fired up for the chicken so I will do some extra vegetables on the side because they reheat well, and use them in panini's on Thursday. This helps cut down on cooking time, but makes sure I have the components to assemble a fresh meal for myself each day.

Title: Dang Good Potato Peeler

That is me at about 7 years old in my Omi's restaurant. She owned it for 21 years - it was an authentic German restaurant and she made the best. People still run into me and talk about her food today. She passed away last year. I loved her, and her food very much.

I grew up in that restaurant and I can't express how valuable it was to me, and how much I wish to share that love of food with everyone, and hope to pass a similar experience onto my own children someday. I was put to 'work' starting when I could walk practically. My first job was peeling potatoes -and I was dang good at it. I 'washed' dishes (more like played with bubbles in the sink), made what I called 'kinky' cookies (basically sugar cookies that are fed through a meat grinder like device to make a tube shaped cookie and we would arrange them in weird shapes), and I dusted and vacuumed. Eventually I took orders, cooked apple streusel with her, learned key techniques like keep the stove on medium heat and don't rush pan frying of breaded meats!

So I learned some valuable restaurant and home management techniques, but I also learned how to make things from scratch, how to appreciate that effort, and how to express myself with food. I look back on it now and I think wow, I was so young when I started running around in that kitchen. I got yelled at for getting in the way don't get me wrong (Omi wasn't exactly the sweet southern kind of grandma ;) ) but imagine how important I felt being able to have a job in the kitchen and participate in bringing all that joy to people.

My heartfelt story comes to you because I wanted to share that the kitchen is a place where big things can happen - for kids and adults. It is a place of expression, sharing, love, satiation. It's just a dang good place to be. I don't know if my Omi or parents ever thought growing up in the restaurant would impact me like it did, but I can tell you that my friends who had similar experiences share the same healthy love of food I do, and I will go on record saying it has a huge impact.

By the way, thanks Mom for cutting my bangs....using scotch tape as a guide.....kidding, they don't look that bad :)

Super Snacks

I think snacks are often overlooked when packing a lunch (assuming one even packs their lunch). Snacks help regulate your blood sugar, keep your metabolism going, and keep you from overeating. A well thought out snack can be really easy and does not require a ton of effort. Here are some ideas:

• Plain yogurt with an ounce of almonds and dried cranberries
• Almonds or walnuts and cranberries
• Hard boiled egg and a handful of raw vegetables like carrots, celery and bell pepper
• Hummus and raw vegetables
• Brown rice cakes with peanut butter
• A piece of fruit or veg
• 3 slices cheese on ak mak with celery or carrots

Snacks can also be a little more fancy. Here are some ideas:

• Mini tofu, lettuce, tomato and avo sammy - 'Marinate' 2 slices of tofu in soy sauce and toasted sesame oil. Pan fry or grill to get a bit of carmelization on it. Toast 2 slices of Ezekial bread (sprouted grain bread), spread 1/2 avocado over the two slices, layer the lettuce, tomato and tofu. Could also add sprouts.
• Nori-Romaine boats - Take 2 whole romaine leaves and layer in a sheet of nori (toasted, dried seaweed) in each. Spread a dollop of hummus and top with more veg or slices of roast chicken.
• Spinach salad - take spinach and toss with a bit of balsamic, garbanzo beans, walnuts and cranberries.
• Fruit smoothies - I have a number of favorite combinations but here are a few: frozen cherries and blueberries with almond milk, banana and strawberry with soy milk, strawberry, blueberry and banana with rice milk or there is also the Orange Julius style with orange juice, banana and egg white protein powder.
• Not really a fruit smoothie, but I love 1/2 banana, with rice or soy milk and 1 tbls peanut butter with vanilla protein powder (we primarily use a pure egg white protein powder with no weird ingredients in it)

If you have kids many of these can be adapted. Try separating the ingredients out and letting them assemble. Or try making fun shapes. Many of these involve various colors so it can turn into a learning game too. And if they are going through a phase where they don't dig on veg, don't worry - just focus on good quality and wholesome ingredients so you feel good about whatever it is you are giving them. Meaning, choose brown rice cakes over white rice, or organic/natural vegetables and fruits and organic dairy products.

Imagine Food 50+ years Ago

About a week ago I was having a conversation with a couple who are family friends - they are in their early 70s. We were talking about food, cooking, meal planning and eating throughout the day and I was so pleased to find that they never touch convenience foods that so many people couldn't imagine a vocabulary without. For example, we were talking about snacks, and one of my favorites is sliced turkey or chicken with a dollop of hummus on a romaine leaf with a sheet of nori (what they wrap sushi in). I immediately assumed convenience and said 'an all natural deli turkey could work' and they both looked at me and said 'Oh no honey, too salty and I can make it so much better'. THAT ROCKS!
(shame on me too for assuming convenience)

This is why I love thinking about food in the same way several generations ago treated it. You know, simple stuff like the idea that chickens have legs and should run free. Or you really should only eat what you need to and get it fresh from your own garden - not from a shelf with stabilizers and additives and other weirdness.

The original idea behind convenience foods might have been good - food that you can grab quickly and prepare without much effort so the now hard working man and woman in the house can be extra productive. But the food that comes pre-packaged is largely manipulated to only slightly resemble real food when you look at the actual ingredients (try actually reading the ingredients from time to time and see if you can pinpoint exactly what each is - I guarantee it will be a difficult exercise). We have gotten so used to the idea of having foods so readily available, and not reading the packaging, that we have also forgotten what real food is!
Times are different now and while both men and women work full time most of the time, and run a family and household etc, our economy, our accessibility, awareness - it has all changed since these foods first came out. So let's adjust our eating habits to re-align with traditional choices in a modern manner.

I won't say don't ever reach for the convenience foods - that is not realistic. But take the time to shop the farmers markets and eat seasonally. Take the time to prepare at least 4 dinners a week at home, and pack your lunch half the time when you go to work. Instead of buying a cake for your sweet craving try to make a new recipe from your favorite baking book. Just pick one thing to add each week and in a year you will have added 52 good habits!

Kombucha Update

This is my first time making kombucha and the process has been really interesting. I know it is a SCOBY (see my earlier post http://littlefieldofgreens.blogspot.com/2008/08/kombucha-and-coconut-kefir.html), but the whole thing is still so surreal to me. Let me walk you through it.

Here is a picture of the kombucha after a week. It has been sitting in a ceramic bowl in our cabinet covered with a paper towel to keep bugs and such out. Let me tell you, the smell is not light. This stuff is good, but there has been a faint vinegar smell in that part of the kitchen. Kind of freaks me out, but I am willing to sacrifice some things in the name of food and traditional eating!

So what happens is the 'mother' SCOBY I started this with last week has now duplicated and spread to the size of the vessel I put it in. This SCOBY started out as only about 3x3 inches - and grew to the full size of this bowl. Underneath this white mass is the kombucha liquid.

What I did today since it appeared to be ready (smell was right - fermented (NOT rotten), taste was mostly un-sweet as the SCOBY used the sugar we brewed with the tea to feed itself), and jarred the liquid and put it in the fridge. The liquid not being sweet is what you look for because it shows that the sugar has been consumed by the SCOBY. Here is a picture of our kombucha for the week:

By tomorrow, because I put a lid on this jar, it will have some natural carbonation forming and we can drink it. You really should have no more than 8 oz a day (more if you are sick, stressed or had some trauma).

I then took some of the liquid, plus part of the SCOBY (it grew too large for the new vessel I bought for this) and put it in a jar. I brewed some organic oolong tea, mixed it with organic turbinado sugar, and let it cool to about body temperature. Then I mixed the tea and the SCOBY from my original batch in the jar and put a new paper towel on, put it in the cupboard and there is going to be another batch ready for me next week.

What is so odd to me about this beverage is that it starts with something, the SCOBY, that just about can't be killed. You want to keep the process sanitary, but basically, that SCOBY will just keep replicating and producing as much kombucha as you choose to make. The kombucha itself then has these amazing properties of other fermented products such as aiding in digestion, providing good bacteria and promoting good cleansing.

Fermented food is actually pretty easy to make (with the exception of the coconut kefir -that is best done with a group because of all the work). I think when people hear that term though, they think rotten and gross. When I say people I don't mean all on earth, because the Russians love kvass (fermented beet juice which is a great blood tonic and was often drank more frequently instead of water because water was tainted), and the Koreans love kimchee (fermented cabbage with carrots and radish and chilies), and the Germans love sauerkraut - just to name a few. Making the kombucha looks disturbing, I know this. But, it is producing an amazing beverage and like other fermented foods deserves a try.