Raw-ish Spinach. tomatoes and white beans over pasta

Fresh ingredients:
Tomatoes-chopped
Spinach-torn into pieces
1 onion-chopped fine
2-4 cloves, chopped fine
1/2 bundle parsley-chopped
4 leaves basil-chopped

salt and pepper
cayenne or hot pepper flakes
I can white beans, rinsed and drained

In a wok pan saute the onion, garlic and tomatoes and spices in a splash of olive oil until soft
Add the beans to warm them
add the fresh spinach and stir until it's wilted

Cook angel hair pasta until soft, and drain
top servings with mixture and add parmesan cheese (unless you're vegan)
and eat!

You can use quinoa pasta or bean pasta if you want to opt out of gluten too.

We can eat noodles!

miracle noodles

no soy, no wheat, no gluten...makes me wonder what they are...plant bases fiber. Does that mean....???

drain, rinse, dry!
Noodles are a great calorie free, carb free alternative to to pasta.

check it out!

Chia-ancient food of the Aztecs

I got an interesting email from Greens + that was all about CHIA.

Chia superfood omega 3 has chia chocolate, and chia recipes.

Aztec warriors, it says, drank Chia water before battle, for stamina. I'm curious it that's the same idea as the barley water?
Is that imprinting?

Chia has a shelf life of 5 years so if you don't use it today, not to worry. Chia seems to stabilize blood sugar levels so there is a diabetic study going on.

Chia is gluten free! It's a complete whole food.
To answer CA's question about chia:

It seems to gel like psyillium seed so you can use it as a thickening agent and it looks like only a TBS or two is needed.
Some suggestions are to add it to the liquid when doing cake mixes, then add it to the dry ingredients.
Chia for health.com has recipes. I've found over and over that you mix it in water to make a gel and use that. I don't think there is an soaking per say. Let me know what you find works for you!

here's our earlier post on CHIA

Biblical Barley Water!

I made the barley water, and I didn't like the taste. The recipe called for a cup of barley to 8 cups of water. Well, it came out slimy and too thick for my taste.

Today I talked to the friend that suggested it, and she said "Way too much barley!" When she made it, she put 2-3 TBS of barley to 8 cups of water. Me bad!

So I'm going to try it again and let you know. Meantime, LOVE the cooked barley, and so will your intestinal tract. Barley is chuck full of nutritional value, a good source of niacin. But, if you are wheat intolerant, gluten intolerant, barley is still a gluten product, so don't do it.

Gluten intolerance appears as chronic symptoms like aching joints, gastro-intestinal problems, depression, eczema, low blood iron levels and more. Wheat, rye, barley and oats are all considered gluten products.

THE MIGHTY OAT

I notice when I keep getting drawn to purchase the same food over and over, without knowing exactly why. And this time-it’s been oatmeal. I have rolled oats, steel cuts oats, oat groats, organic oats, oat grain, oat flour, oat bran and instant organic oatmeal. Oh, and Irish oatmeal. Hmmmm. I wondered what was going on as I noticed all these oat products in my cupboard! What was I trying to tell myself?

My mother is English, so oatmeal was a pretty common breakfast at our house when I was growing up, and I like it. Was that all there was to it? This morning, I decided to have some organic rolled oats oatmeal. As I was eating it, which was extremely easy-just add hot water, stir, and I added some blueberries, strawberries and a dash of honey-yum-I wondered about it.

What exactly does ROLLED mean? I was curious about the process, and what sort of nutritional value I could find in oats. Is “rolled” ok for raw foodists? Or is steel cut better? What do they do to the grain? I realized that even though oats are a pretty common part of our dietary language (we grew up with Quaker afterall) I didn’t have a clue about how it was made.

First some OAT facts. Oats have a ph of 6-6.5 which is as high as almonds, and are also a source of protein like quinoa. That’s good news for us! They are an adaptogen grain, and claim to be the only one that is. What does that mean? Adaptogenic foods will do whatever the body needs, modifying itself to the body’s requirements. They improve the body’s resistance to STRESS, which is always a good thing. They stabilize blood sugars, help the thyroid, and reduces cholesterol, as well as soothing the digestive tract.

Well, we mothers know that one-if the baby had an upset stomach, we used to give them oatmeal and crushed bananas-remember that one? Oatmeal will loosen constipated bowels, or help with diarrhea. That’s an adaptogen. It does it all.

They are rich in silicon which is good for our bones, and you can use oatmeal to soothe the skin-AVEENO is just ground oatmeal that you sprinkle in the bathwater. It smells like you are lying in a bowl of oatmeal. I used it when both the boys had chicken pox. It works great! You can also use oatmeal as a facial scrub. If you haven’t tried this, do! Rub it on your skin as an exfoliant, or make a paste with a bit of honey and spread it on, warm, as a facial. Wash off in 20 min. Your skin will feel awesome, even though you will feel like an oatmeal cookie. By the way-the old Latin name for Oat was “Avena”. Think they knew that when they picked a product name-probably! But I digress…

To really get the nutritional value from oats, the grain needs to be steamed to get the two outer inedible hulls off which then leaves the whole groat. Then we have choices galore.

STEEL CUT OATS-or scotch/Irish oats-are natural, and unrefined. Steel cut means exactly that. They are cross cut with steel blades, and a small bit of heat. Get the fine cut-it “cooks” faster when you add some hot water, cover and let it sit. Then just stir in fruit and eat! This is what Pam mentioned earlier, and I agree, it’s not bad at all. Gritty. So if you want texture and miss grains, this might be a good breakfast alternative.

WHOLE OATS are probably the best because they retain the bran and the germ and they can be SPROUTED! Yeah! If you sprout oats, they are a great source of B vitamins and minerals. So far I haven’t been good with sprouting myself-I forget to rinse and then have to throw out muck…still experimenting with that. But I am loving purchased sprouts and add them to everything I can think of. ew-except oatmeal. Not a good combination I am thinking...

OAT GROATS are hulled and roasted but seem to still have the full nutritional value. You can add them to fruit smoothies. I’ve tried them, as well as hemp seed, and flaxseed meal. In the smoothie-they all taste about the same to me. Anyone else?

OAT BRAN-hey if you need MORE fiber that’s what this is for, but with all the fresh we are eating this is hardly a problem.

OAT FLOUR-use it the same as you would use wheat flour, but it doesn’t have as much gluten. I wonder about using oat flour in dehydrating recipes to make that pizza crust or crackers? I’m going to experiment with it and I will let you know how that goes. So far, I haven’t been thrilled with my dehydrating experiments.

The scoop on ROLLED-the process is done with steam and high heat. Nutritional value is again sacrificed for speed of cooking later. It’s probably not our best choice.

QUINOA and a raw recipe too

Quinoa-is what they call a "pseudo grain". It’s really a fruit! It’s related to swiss chard, beets and spinach. Does that make them really fruit too? No one is saying. Hah! It thrives in high altitudes and low moisture, cold thin air, and hot sun. Sounds like Utah! Well guess what- it was developed in the Andes by the INKA. Go figure!

It’s sort of looks like millet, and grows similar in clusters at the end of long stalks. It’s been a crop in The Andes as far back as 3000 BC. They know it originated in the Andes of south America and there are 1800 varieties of which we have like 3 or 4 here. I think they are working on bringing us 12 so there is lots of room!

There is a quechua name, kinua, chisaya mama. Isn't that cute? As you know, you have all had your initiations into the Qero lineage-which means quechua is the mother tongue!

The INKA considered it sacred and sowed the first seeds with “golden” implements. It is second only to the potato in nutrition as a supercrop. And you know what? The INKA also developed the potato as a crop. And tomato. The Spanish took the tomato to Europe and the Italians adopted it. Wonder what they ate before that? My husband argues vehemently on this point BTW. Do you thnk that the Irish adopted the potato? Hmmmm. Good questions.

It's very high in protein -- 20% !!! That's like 11 grams per cup. Cool! So, guess where we can get our protein from? And quinoa is what MARY uses in her crackers. Compare that number with 7.5% rice 9.9 for millet, and 14 for wheat. The protein is also most similar to milk, and has a complete amino acid balance, no trans fats, no cholesterol, and is light, tasty, AND easy to digest. I tried it and found it yummy! I like it better than rice.
It's:
high is lysine (unlike rice and wheat)
high in methionine, and cystine (soy is low in methionine and cystine)
high in linoleic acid, fiber, minerals, and vitamins
high in iron (ya hoo!)
Vit E, B vitamins
8 balanced amino acids for humans
gluten free easy to digest (did we say that already?)

NASA is considering it for manned spaceflights and we should all be thrilled to note: BYU's agricultural department is studying it.

It's really easy to prepare:
soak for a few hours, change water, resoak, then cook.
Treat it like rice, 2 c water to 1 c grain
simmer low for 15-20 min
until germ sep from seed
can steam in a rice cooker too

It's a high protein breakfast food with honey and almonds and berries
cooks faster than rice-10-15 min. I don't know yet if you could have this instead of oatmeal like Pam's breakfast idea, but we could try it!

I LOVE this stuff, but I didn't add it until after the month marker, so put this on your list to try later or try it raw, or what the hell and eat it if you want!!! I wanted you to have the information. It's nice to add a few handfuls to the all vege soup too when you feel like some substance, and when we get the dehydrator stuff going (I haven't had time to really play yet, more's the pity of that) I'm sure we can come up with some ideas.

If you want it raw, the suggestion is to sprout it.
Quinoa Salad
4 cups sprouted Quinoa
2 cucumbers
1 red and 1 yellow bell pepper
2 tomatoes
4 celery stalks
6 scallions
1 cup cilantro, basil or parsley (optional)
2 carrots, grated or shredded
1 small jicama, grated
4 Tbs. kelp
Chop all salad ingredients fine and put into large bowl. Mix dressing (below) and add to salad. Mix again. Serve.
Dressing:
3 large avocados
1 1/2 cups tomatillo juice or sauerkraut juice
4 cloves of garlic
pinch of cayenne
kelp to taste
cilantro, basil or parsley to taste (optional)

Now this is from Ann Wigmore's site, and it sounds like it makes a HUGE amount, so adjust the ingredients down or feed 9 people Pam! ;)

Gone Crackers!

The wonderful organic crackers I mentioned in class:

MARYS GONE CRACKERS

Don't you LOVE that name? She MUST be a raw shaman at heart don't you think? Wheat free, gluten free, organic, and kosher, but bad news-they are baked. I thought they were dehydrated. Wild Oats does NOT carry them, but Good Earth does. This is a woman who found her own solution and then turned it into her POWER! Don't you think we should like nominate her for an honorary Shaman Mama? I do! That's the path of the wounded healer! She had a lifelong stomach issue due to gluten intolerance-which lead to her developing THESE fabulous crackers...power baby! Follow your path to your power.

It's made with brown rice, quinoa, flax seeds, sesame seeds, salt and wheat free tamari. Ok, so did I publish the info on quinoa yet? It's from PERU! I will dig that info out and publish it pronto. THIS you have to know about!

Also, Omar is willing to come and teach a raw class at our building. $45. per person. If you are interested, email me. We need 5 as a minimum. I'm not sure which date-are weekends better?