New Spring Salad
24 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in Candida, Recipes Tags: raw, apple cider vinegar, candidiasis, green veggies, quick meal, Local food, organic, salad dressing, one dish meal, carrots, greens, salad, cheese, candida diet, meditation, health coach, candida, candida cookbook, tuna, yoga, kripalu yoga
Dana and I literally made room for our yoga practice.
I’ve been a bit pressed for time since there are a lot of exciting changes going on right now; the garden is growing, there are houses to bid on (woah!) and we converted an extra room in our house to a yoga/meditation room. I have been naturally waking up consistently early for the past few weeks, a change I attribute to the new season and a sign that my health continues to improve. The combination of getting up earlier and our yoga room means I’m able to do an hour of Kripalu yoga, mediate and start my day having already accomplished two of my most important goals for the day. Or I can work in an hour of yoga later in the day. Either way, having hour long classes, on line, that range from gentle restorative yoga to more vigorous, challenging classes, right on the Kripalu home page, makes a daily practice pretty easy to incorporate. If you have space for a yoga mat and an internet connection, you too can incorporate yoga into your daily routine. Give it a try!
One of 4 post cards designed to promote the market. This one is my favorite. You can see the other designs on the New Amsterdam Market Facebook page.
Dana, Brian and I are also expanding Fire Cider to a weekly market in New York City called ‘The New Amsterdam Market’ which opens next Sunday at 11 am in the Old Fulton Fish Market. This is such an exciting next step for us and there’s a lot to do to get ready! So, I find I have less time that I would like to spend writing new recipes and playing in the kitchen. In the interest of time, mine and yours, I’ve come up with a new way to write recipes so I can continue to share with you on a weekly basis…
The ingredients will be listed in the order they are added to the recipe. Simple instructions will appear throughout the list and the meal should take about 5-15 min to assemble or cook, sound good? Healthy meals fast, yes please!
One dish dinner with the daffodils my mom picked for us, thanks mama!
New Spring Salad
In a large bowl combine:
1 can tuna
3-4 T mayo
2 T spicy dijon mustard
2 T raw apple cider vinegar
2 T each: Kalamata olives halved and chopped oil cured olives
salt and pepper to taste
Mix well then add
Salad greens of your choosing: baby spinach and dandelion greens are especially nutritious.
1 grated carrot
Mix again and top with
grated cheese, I used some Vermont cheese from the co-op that’s part cheddar and part Romano
a small handful of toasted, salted sunflower seeds
Serve and eat!
Sunday Breakfast
09 Apr 2012 1 Comment
in Recipes Tags: arugula, Beads and Beyond, Bisque, candida, candida cookbook, candida diet, candidiasis, cheddar, class series, eggs, green veggies, health coach, healthy living in the Berkshires, Local food, North Street, one dish meal, Pittsfield, protein, quick meal, raw, raw cheese
On Saturday night I made dinner for Dana and I: roasted cauliflower dressed in ghee, cumin, turmeric and two of our homemade curry spice mixes with mustard seeds. Then kale with goat cheese, hot pepper and a dusting of cumin and curry. For dessert I made biscuits which I planned to use again in the morning for breakfast.
For the meal pictured I started with a bed of arugula, drizzled olive oil, sprinkled salt, black pepper and hot pepper and then grated some amazing raw cheddar cheese from Vermont. I fried up some eggs and toasted the biscuits. The eggs go on top of the greens and then I grated more cheese on top of everything. A quick meal with plenty of protein and even a serving of greens!
Coming soon: my cookbook based on the recipes in this blog and a new class series, “Healthy Living in the Berkshires” which will be hosted by Bisque, Beads and Beyond on North Street starting with two information and sign up sessions May 23rd and 24th. Mark your calendars and stay tuned!
Does this sound like a health claim to you?
09 Jul 2011 Leave a Comment
in Essay On Health, Supplements Tags: Dottie's Coffee Shop, FDA, Fire Cider, Local food, North Street, Pittsfield
If there were a local food movement militia, this would be my uniform.
The longer this process of bringing our Fire Cider to market the more I think we’ll actually need a local food movement militia. After we celebrated the end of the bureaucratic bullshit, the red tape wrangling, the deciphering of rules and regulations specifically written so that you need your corporate lawyer to interpret them, Dana and I happily began phase two of the Fire Cider project: production and marketing. The Solid Sound Festival went well, people really liked our labels and had a lot to say about tasting Fire Cider for the first time!
Then we got an email from the man who is ultimately going to send us our whole sale licence. He said our label isn’t up to regulations. This is the same guy I called several times and left several messages for, TWO MONTHS AGO. I also spoke to several other people who work for the FDA. They told me they couldn’t explain the rules to me but that I could hire a lawyer to read them to me. I was also informed that it is up to us, the producers, to follow all these hard to interpret rules. How will I know if I am doing something wrong? When the FDA sues me and confiscates my product. Awesome, thanks for the advice. Right now it kinda seems like the FDA is just trying it’s best to waste our time and money. Clearly this organization is run by and for big business.
Dana, my brother and myself have spent hours trying to come up with a way to say what we know to be true about our product without making any ‘health claims’. The FDA, an organization that routinely approves drugs with significant side effects and minimal testing just can’t be sure that a food based product made from a several hundred year old recipe that’s backed by doctors and documented in books is a ‘safe product’. Also, the FDA has no sence of humor, no big surprise there. This excerpt from the email we received about our label, really sums up everything we’ve been dealing with: “The use of the phrase “digestive aid” on the left side of your label implies a medicinal – or curative property. Also the statement “Fire Cider is much like a large bear on a cold winter night, a large bear that mauls what ails you!” – these are implied claims that the product has curative benefits or properties. ” SERIOUSLY? A simile is a health claim?! A large bear that mauls what ails you is meant to be funny not cure cancer. Although Fire Cider would probably be good for that but I can’t say for sure.
Making Fire Cider, part two!
Not to worry, we are playing by the rules. We are changing our label, again. And again. We’ve come this far and we’ll be announcing soon where and when you can buy Fire Cider in the Berkshires! Our next event will be July’s Third Thursday at Dottie’s on North Street. Dana and I will be handing out free samples and selling 8 oz bottles of Fire Cider so please come out and see us, your support makes all the difference!
Caraway Cabbage with Bacon
26 May 2011 Leave a Comment
in Essay On Health, Recipes Tags: animal products, bacon, cabbage, caraway, ethical meat, factory farming, Local food, organic, www.meat.org
This is another yummy recipe I got from my dad. He made this as part of our family Sunday dinner a few weeks back and I discovered that it’s good hot as well as cold since I took home all the leftovers! This makes 3 generous portions and can easily be doubled.
Caraway adds unexpected flavor to cabbage sauteed with bacon.
As you have probably noticed, I have a thing for bacon and I only eat locally produced, ethically raised animal foods. I buy local, happy bacon for the same reason I was a vegetarian for 13 years: factory farming is disgusting and I refuse to support it. It’s up to us, the consumers, to demand higher standards for raising and slaughtering animals. Factory farming is horrible for the animals, for our environment, for the poorly paid workers who spend their days slaughtering miserable sick animals and it’s bad for you too. Ultimately, you eat what your food ate. Animal foods produced using factory farming results in meat, eggs and dairy made from the lowest grade, genetically modified feed, antibiotics and growth hormones. To me, that’s not food and it’s not acceptable. And here’s the alternative, check out these beautiful pictures from small farms all over our country!
Yes, good quality meat costs more and it should. Raising healthy animals outside on pasture takes more time, more effort and produces superior food. Spending a little more money and eating a little less meat means you’ll be consuming food that’s actually good for you, while respecting the animal it came from, the farmer that raised it and our environment. If you’re still not convinced to go for the good stuff, maybe you’ll listen to Paul McCartney, he was, after all, more popular than Jesus.
Ingredients:
3 slices thick cut bacon, chopped
1/3 cup chopped onion
2 T brown rice vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons caraway seeds
1/2 medium head of cabbage, shredded
Half a head of organic cabbage from the Great Barrington Co-op.
Dice up bacon and fry on low until cooked but not yet crispy; add chopped onion and caraway cook until the onion is translucent and the bacon is crispifyed.
Cooking the bacon, onion and caraway over low heat.
Add the brown rice vinegar and shredded cabbage, turn up the heat to medium and saute to desired degree of donitude. Salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy hot or cold, the left overs were delicious.
Easy Italian Style Kale
13 Oct 2010 3 Comments
in Candida, Recipes Tags: anti-Candida, Berkshires, cast iron skillet, garlic, green veggies, kale, Local food, onion, oregano, organic, quick meal
Three different types of Kale, all of them delicious and nutritious!
I wrote the following recipe for my friend Jonathan. He is thirteen and has taken an interest in eating well and trying out new foods. He had never eaten kale before but when I told him he could season it to taste like some of his other favorite Italian foods he was willing to try it! Kale can be grown all year-long in the Berkshires and it can be prepared so many ways. I have a great Kale Chips recipe on my blog and there are literally hundreds of recipes on the web. This hearty green makes an excellent addition to any diet.
Easy Italian Style Kale
Makes 2 generous portions in about 20 minutes.
Ingredients: all organic, all the time!
1 bunch kale, any kind will do! Ribs removed and ripped into pieces.
2 cloves garlic, minced or even better, use a garlic press and press directly into the pan when it’s time to add the garlic.
3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, or more if necessary
½ medium onion, sliced into half moons
1 Tablespoon capers
5 – 7 sun-dried tomatoes, sliced thin
1 Teaspoon each fennel and oregano
Sprinkling of hot pepper flakes
Splash of Balsamic
Salt, if necessary, to taste
The Procedure:
In a cast iron skillet heat the oil over medium heat and add the pepper flakes and fennel. Cook for about 1-2 minutes.
Add the onion, capers and sun-dried tomatoes. Cook until the onion is clear and wilted.
Add the garlic, stir to incorporate and then add the kale and the oregano. Mix well so that the kale cooks evenly. When the kale is wilted but still has a bit of bright green to it, add a splash or two of balsamic.
Taste, adjust for flavor. Add more capers or herbs, more hot pepper and garlic or nothing at all!
Remove from heat and eat.
When I want to turn this side dish into a meal I will separately cook up some hot Italian pork sausage from Holiday Farm in Dalton, slice it and add it to the kale just before serving. French lentils also work really well with this kale dish for a hearty vegan option or in addition to the sausage.
Cooked kale, ready to eat!
The New York Times Has A Crush On The Berkshires!
23 Aug 2010 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: Berkshires, Local food, New York Times, organic
According to the New York Times the Berkshires are the epicenter of the local food movement! Check out the article here: http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/travel/22journeys.html
I love to get food locally because local means it’s fresh. Buying locally grown food means I’m supporting my neighbors, not some big corporation, and that my food is fossil fuel free (or close to it) and it just tastes better. I get my eggs from a farmer who lives down the road from my parents. The chickens have a huge barn and field and the farmer is very happy to answer all of my chicken related questions! I only buy local organic meat and dairy. It’s a great feeling knowing where my food comes from. Where do you get local food and how does it compare to chain grocery store stuff?
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