Cool as a Cucumber

Here's an easy, quick soup recipe for when you're needing something fast, cooling and creamy. Credits to Institute of Integrative Nutrition for this little gem.

Ingredients:

• 1 cucumber, peeled and chopped
• 1 avocado
• 2 green onions
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 cup organic, whole milk plain yogurt
• 1 cup water
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Roughly chop the cucumber, avocado and green onions and toss in the blender. Add other ingredients and process until smooth. If soup is to thick add water as needed.Garnish with fresh cilantro and a dash of cayenne.

Goddess Dressing

Today’s recipe is Goddess Dressing – one of my new-found favorites. This is a great dressing that can be stored in the fridge for several weeks and works well on all sorts of salads, steamed veggies, and other miscellaneous sauce-needing dishes. I like to have some of it on hand all the time.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup organic sesame seed oil (or extra virgin olive oil if you like a slightly milder flavor)
• ¼ cup water
• ¼ cup organic tahini (ground sesame seeds)
• ½ tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar or red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp Braggs Amino Acids or low-sodium soy sauce
• Optional: 1 small clove minced garlic (if you like garlicky dressings; if not, then leave this out because the raw garlic can be quite strong)
• Salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

Puree all ingredients except oil in a blender or food processor until smooth. Slowly pour in the oil with the mixture still blending at the end. Store in the fridge.

An easy classic: hummus

There’s a part of me that can’t believe I’m blogging about making hummus… It’s so over-made!! How many university potlucks did I go to where at least 3 guests brought some kind of hummus?

But it's a favorite for a reason: it’s delicious, it’s so easy and quick to make, and it’s really good for you. It’s high in protein, high in fibre, and packs lots of good energy. I like to keep a container of it in the fridge at all times for snacking on with raw veggies. It also makes a great spread for wraps. Here’s my version.

Ingredients:

• 15 oz can of garbanzo beans (chick peas), preferably organic - drained, but keeping the juice in a side dish
• Juice of ½ lemon
• Garlic clove, mashed
• 1 tbsp tahini (sesame paste – you can buy this near the peanut butter / nut butter in most grocery stores – it lasts and keeps forever)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• Salt to taste

Put all ingredients in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Use the juice from the garbanzo beans to add liquid as necessary.

Here are some things you can add to make your hummus special:

• Pine nuts
• Sundried tomatoes
• Black beans
• Roasted red peppers (to roast a pepper, simply cut it up in strips and put it in the oven on the top shelf on broil – stand close!! It will roast quickly. You don’t need oil or anything. Just keep stirring it and when the skins start to go black, you’re done. Let the peppers cool, and then peel them. The skin should peel right off if they’re done.)

Homemade Sauerkraut – Raw cultured veggie goodness!

Yesterday’s recipe was for homemade cream cheese with a handy by-product of whey. Today, I’m going to use some of that whey we made in another one of my all-time favorites: homemade sauerkraut.

(Another big thank you to Sally Fallon and her fantastic cookbook Nourishing Traditions: The cookbook that challenges politically correct nutrition and the diet dictocrats for this recipe.)

You can buy sauerkraut from the store, but often it’s made with vinegar, too much salt, and the vegetables are pasteurized, which reduces their nutritional value. This homemade sauerkraut is a type of raw cultured vegetable - a whole different creature.

Raw cultured vegetables – also known as lacto-fermented vegetables – are vegetables preserved through a process of lacto-fermentation. Lactic acid is a natural preservative that inhibits putrefying bacteria. Starches and sugars in vegetables and fruits are converted into lactic acid by many species of lactic-acid-producing bacteria, or “lactobacilli”. Numerous important chemical changes take place during this type of fermentation, far beyond their practical purpose of preservation.

• Cultured veggies are already partially digested, so they’re easy on the system. Not only are they readily absorbed by your body, they enhance your body’s ability to digest and absorb nutrients from the other things you eat at the same time.
• They’re delicious, and add a unique flavor to your meals.
• They help to balance the pH of your digestive tract.
• They offset the toxic and carcinogenic effects of the charcoal from BBQ.
• They are naturally packed with digestive enzymes and probiotics, which support the health of your digestive system.
• They help to heal the lining of your intestines by promoting the growth of healthy flora.
• They promote a healthy and strong immune system.
• And last but certainly not least, they help reduce sugar cravings.

I could go on, but you get the picture. Many traditional cultures have preserved veggies and fruits using this method. The most commonly known is the European version: sauerkraut, or lacto-fermented cabbage. Here’s how you make it.

Equipment you’ll need:

• Big bowl
• Meat hammer, wooden pounder or a pestle
• Quart-sized mason jar

Ingredients:

• 1 medium cabbage, cored and shredded
• 1 tbsp caraway seeds
• 1 tbsp sea salt
• 4 tbsp whey (see whey recipe from yesterday’s posting)

In bowl, mix the cabbage with caraway seeds, sea salt and whey. Pound the mixture with the hammer, pounder or pestle (my personal favorite) for about 10 minutes to release juices. Place in a quart-sized, wide-mouth mason jar and press down firmly with a pounder or meat hammer until juices come to the top of the cabbage. The top of the cabbage should be at least 1 inch below the top of the jar. Cover tightly and keep at room temperature for about 3 days before transferring to cold storage. It keeps for months. The sauerkraut may be eaten immediately, but it improves with age.

Homemade cream cheese with a useful by-product

As I mentioned in my post from yesterday, I spent a little time this weekend doing food prep to make sure the fridge is stocked with healthy, yummy options. I’ll be sharing the recipes I used over the next few days. This recipe – it’s more of a process than a recipe, actually – is often one of my starting points: homemade cream cheese.

(A big thank you to Sally Fallon and her fantastic cookbook Nourishing Traditions: The cookbook that challenges politically correct nutrition and the diet dictocrats for this recipe.)

Why start here? Well, it’s actually not the cream cheese that I’m going for; it’s really the by-product of the cream cheese – whey – that’s produced in the process. But the cream cheese is delicious, nutritious, and because I made it from organic whole milk plain yoghurt, I know it’s got nothing in it except the nutritional goodness I’m looking for (or what I add to it for flavoring).

What’s whey? you ask. Whey is the liquid that remains after milk has been curdled and strained – a byproduct in the manufacture of cheese. Whey is filled with minerals, it helps digestion, and it’s a great starter for one of my favorite foods: cultured vegetables! (stay tuned for a recipe for cultured sauerkraut later this week!)

I don’t like to go through the whole milk curdling process, so I skip that step by using yoghurt instead. Here’s what you’ll need:

• Big bowl
• Large sieve
• Clean tea towel or cheese cloth

Ingredients:

• 1 large container organic, whole, plain yogurt (the best quality you can find! If you’re lucky enough to have a source of RAW milk yoghurt, that would be the ideal find.)
• Sea salt to taste

Line a large strainer set over a bowl with a clean tea towel or cheese cloth (I prefer the tea towel). Pour in the yoghurt, cover and let stand at room temperature for several hours (this can take up to 12 hrs). The whey (clear liquid) will run into the bowl and the milk solids will stay in the strainer. Tie up the towel with the milk solids inside being careful not to squeeze. Tie this little sack to a wooden spoon placed across the top of a container (like a big pitcher) so that more whey can drip out. Store the whey in a mason jar in the fridge (keeps for up to 6 months), and the cream cheese in a covered glass container (keeps for about 1 month).

I add a little dash of sea salt to the cream cheese for a really delicious and nutritious cream cheese. If you want to spice it up a little, you can also add:

• Roasted red pepper, diced
• Spinach, chopped fine
• Garlic, minced
• Chives, choped
• Olives, chopped

Use your imagination and try different flavors. It’s delicious and makes a great quick snack by spreading it on celery sticks.

Labors of love

Today is Labor Day, a national holiday in both of my home countries (Canada and the US, in case you didn’t know). To celebrate this long weekend and the end of a wonderful summer, I spent a couple of hours doing something that gives me some of the greatest pleasure: preparing really nourishing foods for me and my loved ones so the fridge will be stocked and there are lots of healthful options ready on-demand.

Something I encourage my clients to do is set aside some time on the weekend to do food preparation for the week. It really doesn't take much time - just a little forethought and a few key ingredients. In less than two hours this weekend, here’s what I was able to make:

• Cream-cheese (from organic yoghurt – delicious!)
• Sauerkraut (my personal favorite of the cultured veggies I make – loaded with probiotics to promote gut health, aid digestion, and replenish the beneficial flora)
• Hummus (an easy classic that’s great for snacks)
• Goddess dressing (vegan and easy)
• Chicken stock (a handy by-product of a delicious roasted chicken)
• Mayonnaise (a healthful alternative to the store-bought types, packed full of digestive enzymes)

All of these are very healthful, nutrient-rich alternatives to what can be a concoction of chemicals, over-processed ingredients, fake fats, and preservatives when purchased ready-made. And they are surprisingly easy and quick to make. Over the next few days I’ll share the recipes of these labors of love.