They don’t strike you as a summer food, do they? Turnips. Huh. At least I’d never thought of them that way. But suddenly they appeared in my CSA and I have to say…there really are a shortage of grounding foods in the summer so I was happy.
Grounding foods?
Yeah, stuff that makes you feel centered, grounded, secure. In the winter we have the dense, round pumpkins and squashes. Sweet potatoes. Stuff like that. They grow near or on the earth and carry a feeling of calm and content. Comfort. This idea of the energy of food is kind of woo woo but a very strong component of macrobiotics and I dare say…it kind of makes sense, doesn’t it? We don’t crave salads when we want comfort. Greens are too airy, light, all over the place. Dense root veggies are much more likely to satisfy.
Judging from my last post, it seems we should spend a little more time getting acquainted with my good friend miso.
A brief and likely inaccurate history of our friendship:
1997 – I try miso soup for the first time at random sushi restaurant. I like, but think nothing of it.
2005 – I spot Christina Pirello on TV adding something brown and thick to her soup and talking about how it’s good for digestion. My interest is piqued and I end up buying Jessica Porter’s book, The Hip Chick’s Guide to Macrobiotics. It changes my life.
2006 – My then boyfriend/now husband gets interested in asian cooking and decides to make miso soup at home. Our cat ends up on the counter eating dashi from the open bag, but otherwise it’s a success.
This summer I’m facilitating a wellness program at Equinox gym in downtown Boston. It’s remarkable how many people from so many walks of life have similar confusion about what to eat. Last week, there was a lot of talk about carbs. I realized, huh, it’s been awhile since I talked about this!
A quickie refresher:
A whole grain has 3 parts:
1. Bran (fiber, vitamins)
2. Germ (vitamins, antioxidants)
3. Endosperm (carbohydrates)
A refined grain is a whole grain that has been polished down to remove the bran and germ, leaving behind just the carbs. This, my friends, is one small step away from being sugar. And eating refined grains acts quite a big like sugar – they give you initial energy, you end up hungry soon after, and they can be quite addictive! Think white bread, bagels, white rice.
My quest for better eating began with a romp through macrobiotics. It was really interesting and an awesome way to learn about whole grains and the energetics of food.
However.
90% of the recipes I made really weren’t very good. At all. But I didn’t care because I was in that stage where I just wanted to start eating really clean. My body responded well for awhile so I thought it was worth it to eat bland food. But after awhile…man did I start to feel bland!
I should stop and say that there were some real gems in Jessica Porter’s The Hip Chick’s Guide to Macrobiotics. But that was about it for tasty recipes I was making.
In general, I feel like healthy recipes often get a wink and a nod, “This is JUST like a hamburger!” or “It tastes just like cheese!” The truth is, a lot of healthy variations of recipes are not that good, especially when they are trying to mimic something else. Of course there are exceptions…most notably the recipe I’m bringing you today!
Linguine in Red Vegetable Sauce adapted from Kripalu cookbook
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
4 diced carrots
1 bunch beets, greens separated and rinsed, beets scrubbed and diced
1 bay leaf
1 sheet kombu, broken into small pieces (a type of seaweed, optional, find in asian stores)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 Tbl. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. each dried oregano and dried thyme
2 Tbl. fresh basil, chopped
2 cups water
1 Tbl. umeboshi plue vinegar (find in asian stores, it’s delicious on salads too)
1 lb. whole wheat linguine
an additional 1 tsp. umeboshi vinegar
an additional 1-2 fresh basil leaves, chopped
1. In a medium to large pot, combine broth, carrots, beets, beet greens, bay leaf, kombu, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer while you do the next steps.
2. In a separate smaller pot, heat oil and cook garlic and onion until translucent. And oregano, thyme, basil, vinegar and water and simmer.
3. In large pot, cook linguine in boiling water.
4. Your beets and carrots should be soft by now, so using the blender of your choice, blend the contents of this pot. (Immersion blender works great, or use a regular blender or food processor) It does not need to be perfectly smooth, chunky is good.
5. Combine beet mixture with onion/garlic mixture and mix well. Add the additional umeboshi vinegar. Stir.
6. Serve sauce over linguine, garnish with additional fresh basil.
(Tastes even better reheated the next day)
Not only is this sauce fabulous, it’s a perfect way to enjoy beets from the farmer’s market this time of year. And flavor? Oh yes. We’ve got flavor in this one folks. The extra fresh basil on the top makes all the difference so be generous with that. It’s not trying to taste like tomatoes but the sweetness of the beets and carrots work in very much the same way as a traditional sauce.
What are some healthy versions of recipes you’ve tried? Was it better or worse than the traditional recipe?
I’ve been meaning to write about my trip to New York a few weekends ago, and maybe now is the perfect time since most blogs are all about sweet potatoes and turkey basting today. While we all prepare for Thanksgiving, here’s something I was thankful for: An awesome, healthy meal in the middle of NYC at about $8/plate.
So let me back up. I went down to New York because I’m obsessed with something called Journey Dance, or maybe some of you have heard of a version simply called Yoga Dance. It’s a chakra-shaking dance party that admittedly sounds awfully weird, but whatever, I love it. How often do you get to dance like mad – minus an impending hangover, late night out, or a wedding DJ? Anyway, I went to New York for a Journey Dance workshop at the Jivamukti School and it was a lot of fun. Although honestly a lot of girls there seemed to be aspiring dancers who may have confused this workshop with an audition. But at any rate, right around the corner from Jivamukti, Max and I found a sweet macrobiotic restaurant called Souen.
Pictured up top is the vegetarian meal I got: Chestnut Polenta with winter veggies. And below is a picture of Max with his hardcore macrobiotic plate, all perfectly balanced (the menu said) for a temperate climate.
This place was the real deal, with kanten desserts and grain coffee. And to top it off, the prices were swell. $13 for my special, and $8 for Max’s plate. I heart Boston, but no restaurant like this would survive here. Souen has been around since 1971 and the place was packed with people young and old.
Now enough of this restaurant talk, we all have homemade goods to whip up. So get to it and have a happy Thanksgiving!
When I was a kid, the smell of egg salad always made me kind of gag. With this recipe, it’s not a problem. Furthermore, the tofu in this recipe is free-range and did not have its beak cut off unhumanely! I really like this recipe because it’s super easy, tasty, doesn’t smell eggy, and when eaten as a sandwich it doesn’t look suspicious to co-workers who typically see my lunches and gasp “NOW what are you eating???”
Eggless Egg Salad adapted from The Hip Chick’s Guide to Macrobiotics 1 lb. organic extra firm tofu 1/2 cup vegannaise 1/4 cup tahini 1/2 red onion, diced 1/2 cup alfalfa sprouts, chopped 1 stalk celery, diced 1/4 cup pickle, diced 1 Tbl. dijon mustard 1/2 tsp. turmeric salt & pepper, to taste other ideas to add: splash of tamari splash of mirin splash of umeboshi vinegar tomato, diced mushrooms, diced
Cut block of tofu in half and place in pot, covered with water. Bring to a boil and let boil for 5 minutes. This improves digestibility. Next, cook onion in a pan until translucent. Remove tofu and onion from heat and let cool. In a bowl, combine all other ingredients. Add onion and chop or crumble tofu in. Mix thoroughly. Eat at room temperature if you are in a hurry, or chill in the refrigerator if you have time.
My mom always wanted me to eat brown rice and I always hated it and wanted white rice instead. When I got a little older and started cooking for myself, I still hated it. It took so long to make! I still wanted white rice, preferably instant.
So what’s the difference between white and brown rice? At the practical, day-to-day level, not much. It takes a bit longer to cook. Taste-wise, it’s a bit nuttier and more dense.
The real difference is the nutritional value of brown rice as a whole grain vs. white rice as a processed food. They start as the same thing. If brown rice is milled to removed the bran and germ, it becomes ‘white.’ In the process, it loses most of its nutritional value. Eating brown rice instead will feed your brain with a steady stream of glucose and keep your blood sugar even throughout the day. It is close to a ‘perfect’ food, if there is such a thing.
Some ways to try brown rice: -Brown rice sushi is available at many sushi restaurants -Cold Rice Salad with corn, avocado, tomatoes, onions -In bean burritos -Fried Rice with egg, carrots, scallions
Hardcore Macrobiotic tips for brown rice (they LOVE this stuff) -Chew each mouthful 50-100 times to get all of its nutritional benefit and see how it turns sweet in your mouth, even as you start to accidentally drool! Okay, maybe try that once, just to see what I’m talking about. -Long grain is best for the summer months, short grain in the autumn/winter -Try not to keep leftover rice longer than a day or so (it supposedly loses its energy and value) -Microwaving is a no-no because it supposedly messes with the natural energy of the food. Instead, reheat in a pot with a bit more water.
Drinking coffee is like wearing brass knuckles and punching yourself square in the adrenal glands.
Ralph T. Golan, ND, describes this unfortunate state in his book, Herbal Defense: “Caffeine forces your glands to secrete when they don’t have much left to give, and they have to keep digging deeper and deeper, making you more and more tired over time. And over the years, it takes more and more coffee to get the same result. Some people reach the point of drinking half a dozen or more cups of coffee to get the same result and it’s barely keeping them awake. That’s severe adrenal depletion.”
Grain coffee is an alternative drink recommended by macrobiotic diets. It resembles coffee in its appearance and roasted flavor. Made of barley and chicory (lettuce? super weird!) it’s roasted and ground into a brown powder that dissolves in hot water. Tastes good with milk and sugar, (or soy milk and agave…) and won’t leave you with coffee breath!
I haven’t, for years. I figure internet access is expensive enough, and do I really NEED to watch every rerun of America’s Next Top Model? (Yes, I do, but oh well) What happens is, I end up watching a lot of QVC and PBS.
So one day, not long after giving up dairy, I started watching a cooking show on our local PBS station. This woman was WEIRD. She was massaging cabbage I think. But I love cooking shows so I kept watching. At one point she dissolved some gross looking brown gunk in a cup of water and added it to soup. She started talking about the digestive benefits of fermented foods. Turns out that cabbage salad was becoming more digestible and able to supply nutrients by being massaged for awhile. My disgust turned to true interest at that point, and I looked her up on the internet. Turns out this lady, Christina Pirello, was talking about macrobiotics.
Ever since, I’ve been trying to live and eat according to macrobiotic principles because they just seem like common sense. Well, actually at first they seem totally nuts but then after you think about it for awhile it’s like common sense. My favorite macrobiotic author, Jessica Porter, offers these beginner steps.
I help busy people find balance in their over-worked, over-stressed lives. Trust me, it's not an all-or-nothing situation! A few shifts in diet and lifestyle can rock your world like they did mine. Read on
