Sprouts 101

Making your own sprouts is so easy. I photographed this step-by-step tutorial in order to show how quickly they grow each day. All you have to do is rinse them once a day and they do the rest. You can use any flavor of sprout you like, including legumes. I typically go for broccoli and radish. They have a higher nutritional profile than alfalfa but all sprouts are good for you. The radish are a little spicy and I love that in combination with other varieties. You will need a quart jar, cheesecloth and a rubber band. Sprout seeds can be purchased at all health food stores, and are specifically labeled for sprouting.

These are just broccoli seeds. They're high in calcium, antioxidants and all of the compounds you get from eating green, raw, living foods. Anti-cancerous and nutritious, they taste great on salads and sandwiches and all kinds of wraps. Mixed with fruits and vegetables and nuts, they become a complete meal. They aren't as earthy as alfalfa and if you typically don't like sprouts, give these a try.

Step 1: Measure 1-2 tablespoons of seed into a quart sized jar and cover with filtered water. Cut two layers of cheesecloth or thin cotton into squares that fit over the mouth and can be secured with a rubber band. Swish the seeds around and rinse through the cheesecloth. Refill with fresh water. You don't need to remove the cover in order to do this. Water will pour out and in through it. Let the seeds soak in the fresh water for 24 hours.

 Steps 2-5: Pour the water out. The hulls will have started to soften and slightly pull away from the seed. Put your jar in a window with bright, indirect light, avoiding direct sunlight. Each day, you will rinse the seeds and pour the water out. Try to do it at the same time each day. Morning is easiest for me to remember. You can see that they start growing pretty fast by day 3. When the tiny rootlets form, they will start to grow together in a ball or clump and look a little fuzzy. This takes between 5-7 days, depending on your location and water. When the majority of the hulls are buried inside and the jar is nearly full of sprouts, you'll know they're done.

Step 6: You're ready to remove them from the jar. Take off the cheesecloth. It will all pull out in a hedge. I love the way they look like this, grown together in a green mass. Set them aside and fill a large bowl with water.

Step 7: Put the sprouts in the bowl and gently pull them apart. Swish everything around to loosen the empty hulls from the greens. They will float to the surface. Using a small strainer or spoon, run it around the edges picking them out and discarding them. You won't get every single one, but the majority you will.

Step 8: Spread a paper towel on a drying rack or a plate and lay the sprouts out to dry for about a half hour. Store them in the refrigerator in a tupperware container or plastic bag lined with a dry paper towel. They will keep for about 5 days, if they last that long.

ENJOY!!

Food Profiling

In the business of health + wellness, chances are you're going to hear the term superfood sooner or later if you haven't already. Typically, it refers to a spectrum of nutrient - dense foods and supplements that have a high profile of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, antioxidants etc. 

While this is the case with this class of edibles, it's important to remember as you introduce new foods into your diet that not everything is digested the same in every body type, especially if you are making some radical changes in your lifestyle. You can easily overwhelm your system incorporating these foods all at once and especially if coupled with a new exercise routine. If your body and digestive system are not accustomed to these powerful foods, you may find that it goes through an intense detoxification process as it tries to restructure the internal landscape. Foods high in saturated fat, especially animal products, instant and frozen prepared foods typically contain white flour and sugar, corn syrup, simple sugars that depress the immune system, preservatives, nitrates, artificial colors and dyes, carcinogenic compounds and so on that get deposited into little pockets all over the digestive system, the lining of the liver and the kidneys, the bloodstream, cellular walls and connective tissues. 

These things compromise the delicate balance of flora in our gut and prevent our bodies from functioning efficiently. This can lead to fatigue, headaches, allergies, depression, joint pain, digestive disorders, weight gain, high blood pressure and heart disease - just to name a few! 

This super bowl I made has twelve ingredients and each one of them certainly has a super profile:

• QUINOA || An incredible digestive aid, this little Spanish grain was considered the mother by the Incas. It sweeps the colon and contains more calcium than milk, per serving. The fats it contains are the omega essential oils that are healthy and unsaturated. They feed the brain and the connective tissues. High in zinc, niacin and amino acids. Good source of energy and plant based protein, rich in minerals and stimulates the milk flow of nursing mothers.
• BLACK BEANS || All beans reduce cholesterol and regulate the insulin of the body. They lower blood pressure and clean the arteries and the bloodstream and nourish the heart muscle. Also high in protein and fiber, they also regulate the proper metabolism of fat.
• SWEET POTATO || Incredibly rich in beta carotene and vitamin A, this is evident from it's bright orange color like carrots. Alkaline and high in antioxidants, it detoxifies the entire body and binds to metals as it aids in the elimination of them. It addresses ulcers, colon function, circulation and elimination
• KALE || A systemic cleanser, extremely high in antioxidants and anti-cancer compounds, calcium and sulphur. It protects the eyes from macular degeneration and aids the body's digestive and nervous systems.
• GARLIC || The most medicinal of all of the alliums, which is the onion family of plants. Antibacterial, antifungal, antiseptic, antiviral, antibiotic, expectorant. Digestive aid and prevents heart disease, regulates blood pressure. One clove of raw garlic is equal to 100,000 units of penicillin. 
• RAW SAUERKRAUT || Fermented foods are high in probiotics and provide a vegan source outside of yogurt. Probiotics nourish our gut and our digestive tract. Anti-inflammatory, high in vitamins A and C, it restores the gut and it's lining, repairs the intestinal tract and wall, it enhances the absorption of other foods.
• BLACK SESAME || Emollient and laxative, it relieves swelling and addresses tumors and overgrowths. High in vitamin E, it's good for the heart and the nerves. The black is superior to the hulled variety as it contains higher levels of minerals, especially iron. It assists with liver and kidney function and soothes the joints.
• CAYENNE || An appetizer, it stimulates the stomach acids that digest food. A powerful blood cleanser and metabolic booster. Good for blood pressure, circulation, depression and sweat gland function which is essential for detoxification.
• CUMIN || Carminitive, aromatic and a digestive aid. A taste enhancer that improves circulation, relieves pain and cramps in the abdomen, prevents gas and warms the body.
• CILANTRO || Antispasmodic, aromatic, carminative and diuretic. A stomach aid, cooling, purifies the blood and cell tissues, prevents nausea, regulates insulin, eliminates metals, increases pancreatic function, addresses UTI's, diaphoretic (increases sweat), reduces fever and gas pains, anti-inflammatory, treats headaches, cough and stress.

My point in writing this is to deepen the dialogue about the importance of nourishing our bodies with the things that give back to us and allow us to work like a well - oiled machine. It can be overwhelming to introduce a bunch of unfamiliar foods all at once, so start gently but consistently with a few. Prepare them in ways that are pleasing to your palette while eliminating combinations that don't work together. Start by replacing a fried or starchy item with a salad or steamed vegetable for your side. Switch out your canola oil for olive oil. Bake instead of fry. Eliminate white flour and sugar. Accessorize the food you like with one from the list and begin trying something new each week until you feel comfortable stepping outside of your comfort zone more. Get creative with your kids food. Don't cultivate a picky eater - put new things on the table and do it together. It's okay if you don't like something - make it a different way next time, just don't stop trying and tasting. There is an incredible world of foods, textures and flavors out there waiting for you.

Winter Vegetable Quiche

I love making quiche because the combination of ingredients are endless and I can just throw together whatever I'm in the mood for or when I need to use up a bunch of produce. Also, it's perfect for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It's easy to reheat and tastes so good when you take a little extra time to make your own crust. I used to be really intimidated by my mom's homemade crust but all it takes is making it once and you will always prefer it over something frozen. And as far as quiches go, there are a million recipes out there which vary in the amount of eggs, milk and cheese used. This one uses a modest amount of dairy and lots of tasty vegetables. 

This homemade pie crust looks golden and dreamy in natural light, waiting to be filled with beautiful winter vegetables.

QUICHE
4 eggs
1 cup of milk
1 cup of shredded mozzarella (swiss, provolone, cheddar and gruyere all work fine too)
2 tablespoons of flour
1|2 pound mushrooms
about 2 cups of greens - I used baby kale and spinach
1|2 cup sweet peppers such as red or yellow bell, chopped
1|2 cup diced red onion
3 cloves minced garlic
sliced tomatoes
1|4 cup good sausage or bacon are good in here too - I used soysage to keep it vegetarian
a big pinch of dried mustard
salt + pepper
crushed red pepper flakes for heat
smoked paprika
nutritional yeast (optional)
freshly grated parmesan for the top
olive oil or fresh butter for the saute

DIRECTIONS
Preheat your oven to 375. In a medium sized bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, flour and nutritional yeast together and set aside while you make the saute. Heat a skillet and melt in your oil or butter. Add the onion and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the peppers, mushrooms, garlic, dried mustard and crushed red pepper and cook for another 5 minutes. Add your greens and a splash of water. Cover and turn off the heat for another 5 minutes. The greens will wilt and turn bright green. Stir in your cooked sausage, bacon or soysage if using and season with salt + pepper. Spread the shredded cheese in the bottom of your pie crust. See the highly recommended recipe and directions for my homemade crust below. Spread the vegetable mixture over the cheese. Pour the egg mixture in last. Arrange the sliced tomatoes over the top in a circular pattern. Sprinkle them with black pepper, smoked paprika and parmesan cheese. Bake for 35 - 45 minutes until the pie is firm in the middle and has risen. Allow it to cool for at least 15 -20 before cutting into it. I always serve cooked dishes with something raw. In this case, I made a small avocado salad on top of a handful of the reserved, uncooked greens and drizzled the whole thing with Sriracha! It is so good any time of the day. Hearty, satisfying comfort food that is full of essential nutrients, minerals, fiber and healthy fats and proteins. Of course, there is room for many optional embellishments here. Go crazy with it and make something unique!

HOMEMADE PIE CRUST

6 tablespoons of COLD butter

1 1|2 cups unbleached, organic white or whole grain pastry flour

4 tablespoons cold water, milk or buttermilk

pinch of salt

DIRECTIONS

Whisk the flour and salt together. Using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour until it resembles crumbly sand. Mix in the water with a spoon until just combined. Don't overdo this step. If you don't have a pastry blender, you can use a food processor. See photos in my previous post about how to use a pastry blender and what it looks like here. Flour a clean surface that you can roll it out the dough on. Using a rolling pin, start rolling the dough outward in a uniform circle until it's an inch bigger than your pie plate. Gently lift it up and center it in your dish. Press it into the corners gently and crimp the rim with your fingers or shape it around the fluted edge of one. Use scissors to trim the edge neatly. I always roll the extra dough out and put it on a sheet pan for a few minutes to make little pastry chips. You can crumble them up on top of your salad or eat them on the side. Who doesn't love a little extra crust?

ENJOY!!

Winter Gardening 101

Welcome to The Fortress. This is truly my sanctuary. Our garden never sleeps. And anyone who maintains that you can't garden all year long in a place like Oklahoma, is poorly mistaken. Our seasons are marked by extreme temperatures and incredible fluctuations. When choosing crops and plant material here, it is always wise to consult a local gardener or farmer for advice. The tags that come with plants in greenhouses reflect a generalized spectrum of hardiness, zones and tolerance. Something that says full sun doesn't always mean full sun in an Oklahoma summer. The best gardeners are the ones who learn by trial and error the varieties that grow well and can really stand up to extreme cold and heat. This comes from failure. In any undertaking, you must be willing to fail in order to be good. The same principle applies in the kitchen when trying new recipes and learning your way around the knife. All of this said, I've put together this post with lots of delicious photos of my winter garden and methods for you.

This bed was all started from seed in September. It contains from front to back, green leaf lettuce, speckled green leaf lettuce, mesclun mix lettuces, radishes, spinach, mache, endive, carrots, kale, mustard greens, fennel and leeks.

This is a standard blue kale that you can keep miniaturized as baby kale if you pinch the leaves back every week. The young leaves are also more tender and mild. They work perfectly in salads but you can also wilt it or saute it. The mature leaves can be a little bitter to eat raw but they make great kale chips and can stand up to a soup or a quiche.

I love the radishes as they fatten up and turn red. The tops peek out of the soil to let you know they are ready to pull. These were pretty spicy even for radishes. The tap root is the spiciest part of the entire plant. The sprouts are delicious when they are about an inch or two tall. As the tops mature, they develop little prickly spines on the under side and aren't as enjoyable.

This is giant oxford purple mustard greens. The flavor is intense and has quite a bite to it. These are traditionally sauteed and wilted down with garlic or you can chop them up and add to a hearty soup with beans or sausage.

The tender and delicate flavor of mache makes any salad less ordinary. I'm not sure what I love more than a giant salad with tons of mixed greens. This is my favorite way to get my greens in. I don't juice very often because it doesn't always agree with me. I prefer all of the fiber and I really love the crunch. I have a big raw salad with every meal so a variety of greens are essential in my winter garden.

These bushy radish tops are so pretty. You can look down between the rows and see little pops of red when they are ready to be picked.

This was about the equivalent of two packs of seeds. Lettuces have good germination rates and you can find good organic seed at health food stores. You can also order online if you can't find any locally. I recommend Botanical Interests and Seeds of Change.

How beautiful are these carrots? They're lacy and feminine and the most fun to pick. Louise Riotte called carrots the glamour girls of the root group. She was an incredible organic gardener from Ardmore, Oklahoma. Her books Carrots Love Tomatoes and Astrological Gardening are my two sources for everything. She is my source for companion planting and following the cycles of the moon as they correspond to each ritual of the garden. Sewing, planting, watering, feeding, picking and pulling. We definitely speak the same language.

These radishes are so beautiful! I picked these on December first. I'll be able to do this every couple of weeks all the way through February. It keeps the rows thinned out and productive and gives me fresh, crunchy vegetables for salad, coleslaw, sandwiches and hummus!

I served these at my Kombucha Home Brewing Workshop the day I picked them. I paired this bundle with a garlicky hummus for a real treat for my clients. Everyone loved them. What a simple and satisfying thing it was to serve them to others. Small accomplishments with big rewards.

I eat this every day. A huge pile of beautiful mixed greens, at a minimum of twice a day. Sweet, spicy, crunchy, green, alive. Totally organic and grown from my organic compost. Want to know more about starting a compost pile? Check out my post here. It's a really conscious practice that not only gives you incredible garden amendments, but it reduces methane in the environment. The first step to reducing your kitchen carbon print is by separating your trash. When you remove the organic, compostable waste and the recyclables, there is little left to throw away. Our family only creates a bag of kitchen trash every two weeks! Composting is a win-win-win. There is no other way around that.

Kale is my favorite green of the garden. Brassica oleracea, the most nutritious and versatile of this family of plants. I can't think of another green that has more super status than this one. Eaten raw, it contains loads of calcium, beta carotene, vitamin C, cancer - preventative compounds, and sulfur which has antibiotic and antiviral properties. Check out my post from last spring here to read about the health benefits of a variety of greens I grew and some beautiful photos.

Leafy radishes almost ready to pick and baby spinach that is a couple of weeks behind. The spinach is tougher than the radishes when it comes to cold tolerance. They almost enjoy a gentle thaw when there is a light winter frost. But during hard freezes, snow and ice, we cover these beds to keep them perfectly green and damage free. It extends the life of them all the way until March. They will bolt when the weather changes and remains warm for a period of time.

Okay, so here's my secret to our homemade cold frame. We take our tomato cages and lay them on their sides, big ends together. This creates a hoop effect so that when we stretch the greenhouse plastic over the beds, it doesn't touch the plants. When ice or snow accumulates, it can actually still cause freeze damage if the plastic is laying on the leaves. This elevates it and creates a little heat pocket. We put these between the rows and on the walk ways. We secure the sides with bricks or heavy pots or wood. It has to be sealed up all the way around in order to really work good. Everything we use is repurposed or simply a found object from the yard. It's easy to roll back on warmer days and allows the exchange of fresh air so that mold and mildew don't start to form. 

This is exactly what happened to us a few weeks ago. The beds were covered up for almost two weeks with frigid temperatures that plummeted to 6 degrees one night! A thick layer of snow like this almost behaves like an insulator. It was much colder outside of the greenhouse, probably 10 - 15 degree difference. After everything thawed and the temps were above 40, I uncovered it, not sure how everything managed since I couldn't see in. 

This is what I found as I peeled the greenhouse back. A warm, glowing earthy garden alive and well. The lettuces are the most tender of all the winter plants, and as you can see, they survived immaculately! Proof that this method works. It's simple, inexpensive and ecologically sound. I encourage you to try your hand at winter gardening. Start with a small version of this and experiment with different varieties of cool loving plants. Eating fresh, green home grown vegetables through the winter is wonderful as a mood lifter and gives you a fun outdoor project to work on. Most of all, it's pretty awesome going to a dinner or holiday party with an armload of beautiful things that you grew. Talk about wowing your friends and family! Everything tastes better when shared.