Saturday, December 27, 2008

Love those podcasts: A new radio show - 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life!

Here's your chance to tune in to a new radio show called "101 Foods That Could Save Your Life", on Saturday mornings for the live broadcast or whenever you wish by downloading the podcast! This new Chicago weekly show is hosted by Dave Grotto, RD, author of the book 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life.

No matter when you're reading this blog entry, you've missed both the debut and the second live show on Saturday morning, December 27, when Dave interviewed special guests Ginny Erwin, RD and Chicago's Chef "J" about eating and preparing fish that is both healthy and delicious. However you always will have three great ways to listen to Dave's guests, including hearing the recipes discussed:

• Hear it live at 8:30am CST on AM 1160, WYLL (Chicago)
• Hear it streaming live at 8:30am CST at WYLL
• Catch the podcast after the 'airing' date at Radio Show Website

I have known Dave Grotto for years. He is an experienced and popular Chicago-area radio host, Registered Dietitian (RD), author, and friend. In addition, he is one of just a handful of people I know who can always provoke a feel-good belly laugh from me, so expect a great entertaining radio show that will be packed with both helpful and healthful information about tasty food that is also good for you!

Check it out!

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

Friday, December 19, 2008

A Trio of Hummus Recipes

Party time tomorrow night. I was wondering what I could bring to share with our neighborhood friends and realized I was still thinking about Beet Pesto, a delicious dish I had to eat last week at our Michigan Lady Food Bloggers cookie exchange. I have a recipe for Beetroot Hummus and beets still ready to use from our Thanksgiving CSA share from Tantre Farm. In addition, I have a recipe for Carrot Dip and carrots still ready to use from our CSA share. Light bulb moment! These recipes are easy, beautiful, and delicious. I'll make my typical hummus also for a real feast for the eyes and tummy. Thus a trio of hummus recipes it is.

The first two recipes both have a root vegetable base instead of garbanzo beans, a beautiful and healthful way to incorporate more veggies into your diet. The Beetroot Hummus and Carrot Dip recipes were graciously shared by Chef Sue Bender, owner of Rocksalt Restaurant in Orewa, New Zealand, where my husband and I had a lovely meal in 2003. We licked the platter clean when first served the beetroot hummus as an appetizer (called an entreé or starter in New Zealand). Our waitstaff was so surprised that she asked if we would like to sample another variety of hummus being made for tomorrow's menu and brought us the carrot dip. By the time she was back to ask how we liked that one, our dish was again licked clean! :-) Both the carrot dip and beetroot hummus recipes are very different, but both are simply delicious. They will look beautiful on a buffet table served with cut up vegetables, small whole wheat pita, or crackers. Enjoy, enjoy. I should have taken a photograph of my red finger from licking the food processor clean after making the beetroot hummus today! It is that good. :-)

Carrot Dip

2-1/2 # carrots, peeled and chopped in 1-2 inch pieces
1 Tbsp. ground cumin
1 Tbsp. whole cumin
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. olive oil
small amount of salt and pepper

Directions:

Roast in oven at 350 degrees all above together until caramelized and soft.
Then puree in food processor or blender with the following:
2-3 Tbsp. fresh gingerroot, grated
1-1/2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1-1/2 Tbsp. tahini (sesame seed paste)
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/4 cup water (add slowly, adjusting to reach consistency desired)
Makes ~ 3 cups. Allow to set several hours for flavors to blend.


Beetroot Hummus

2 pounds beetroot - wash well, cut off tops and small root (I only had ~1/2# of beets so I scaled back this recipe proportionately)

Directions:

Roast in oven at 350 degrees with 1 Tbsp. brown sugar until able to be pierced through with a fork. Cool.
Puree in blender or food processor with the following:
(you may wish to first slip the skins, but I didn't bother since the beets were well washed)

1-1/2 Tbsp. tahini
1 medium clove raw garlic
1-1/2 Tbsp. frozen orange juice concentrate
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. water (adjust, adding more or less to reach desired consistency)
Makes ~ 2 cups

Lastly, I have included my trusty recipe for hummus that is on my website. It is one of the most frequently visited pages on my website, so I thought I should include it on my blog, too. Although making hummus at home is much cheaper than store-bought, hummus can be found in most grocery stores now in the deli section, which is an easy way to first try it. In addition, I often purchase it pre-made when traveling. There are many varieties. It is a very healthful alternative to most other spreads and dips. To make it at home, follow the basic recipe that follows and then make your own variations.

Hummus (Standard recipe)

2 - 15 oz. cans of drained garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
1/4 cup lemon juice (fresh is best, but bottled will work okay)
2 - 3 cloves of fresh garlic
3 Tbsp. Tahini (ground sesame seeds - found in all health food stores or in the health food section of your grocery store)
1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
dash of salt
Directions:

Put all ingredients in your food processor or blender. Process until smooth, scraping down sides if necessary.
Many variations can be made on the basic recipe. After the garbanzos are smooth, use a wooden spoon to mix in chopped chives, chopped sweet or roasted red peppers, or chopped spinach. Be creative. This recipe (using 2 - 15 oz. cans of hummus) make a lot. If this is your first time making it, try cutting the recipe in half.

I use hummus as a spread on all of my sandwiches, on bagels in place of cream cheese, on baked potatoes instead of butter or margarine, as a dip with vegetables, and even instead of mayo when making salmon salad. The possibilities are endless. Sometimes I even just eat it with a spoon (yes I do!). :-) It is not an exaggeration to say that I eat hummus almost everyday and never, never, never get tired of it.

I'll put these three different types of hummus on a large tray with a variety of dippers and some fresh herb sprigs for color. I don't expect much to be remaining after the party. And if there is, so much the better for me as I'll enjoy eating all of these varieties of hummus the coming week.

Healthy foods, good friends, life is good. (I love those t-shirts, hats, etc!) In fact I have a "life is good" t-shirt that shows a dog in snow with a frisbee. Well, I happen to have a photo taken today of exactly that! So please indulge me - here's Kaya saying "What lame leg? You're the one who is so slow. I'm sure I'm part Husky! I LOVE the snow, let's GO!" Yes, life is good, especially when your dog (in spite of her lame leg) is a poet!

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Cancer Survivors: Don't wait for "data mining" to find you!

An article was published this week on-line in the December 15, 2008 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology showing a diet high in vegetables, fruit, fiber and somewhat lower in fat cuts the risk of breast cancer recurrence approximately 31%, but only in a sub-group of women who were not experiencing hot flashes when they began the Women's Healthy Eating and Living (WHEL) Trial. In addition, further "mining or drilling down" into the results showed that the WHEL Study diet also helped reduce the recurrence risk 47% for those women who were already post-menopausal when entering the study.

These secondary results follow the main findings of the original study reported last year, the Women’s Healthy Eating and Living Trial (WHEL), which compared the effects of the two diets on cancer recurrence in more than 3,000 early-stage breast cancer survivors. That study showed no overall difference in recurrence among the two diet groups. In spite of these negative and disappointing overall findings, I have already commented on the WHEL study several times in the past with the basic message of "don't stop trying to eat an ultra-healthy diet!":
What do the WHEL Study and the movie Sicko have in common?
The WHEL Study results - well................
Additional thoughts about the WHEL Study results
Walk-wok: Learn from those survivors who are N=1
Good questions that made me think!

If you are a cancer survivor, I still recommend across the board that you take your cancer diagnosis as a wake-up call, a "teachable moment", even a gift, to take the time necessary to evaluate what changes in your diet and life will help you first recover from your cancer therapies but then achieve optimal health and wellness, in other words, "be the best you can be for as long as possible". :-) Don't wait to see if a diet and lifestyle study will be done for your type of cancer or for any "data mining" to see if an already published study will demonstrate that your particular cancer sub-group will benefit from making healthful diet changes.

An editorial accompanying this article says that medical oncologists should be counseling their patients about diet. Hurray!! but good golly, I had to chuckle - don't wait for that to occur or expect your oncologist will have much knowledge or time to help you assess, prioritize, and develop strategies to optimize your diet, nutrition, and lifestyle choices. Hustle yourself off to a Registered Dietitian (an RD, hopefully one who is certified in oncology nutrition with the CSO credential), and if your cancer center does not have one (or two or three!), please speak up and start asking and asking and asking again "Why not?" :-) What is your cancer center waiting for?

Lastly, speaking of waiting, don't wait to make diet and lifestyle changes until after you write out your New Year's Resolutions. The rest of your life is waiting for you right now!

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Let the freezing begin!

It is finally really winter here in Michigan even though we have a few more days before that long, grey season technically begins. Yesterday I harvested what I now believe will truly be the last kale of the season (although I think I said that at least once before!). I posted a winter photo at the top of my blog of some of our kale as it looked yesterday in our community garden, and that photo is already out of date with the fresh snow we are receiving tonight. I knew winter had really come when harvesting my kale yesterday by how frozen solid the garden dirt had become, and the straw that is covering our garlic and some kale was a frozen web that I could not easily disrupt to harvest kale underneath.

I picked kale and filled a huge canvas garden/shopping bag. Actually, I did not pick the kale but rather, I snapped off frozen leaves and stalks like I was shattering fragile glass stems. When I got home from our community garden, I quickly rinsed about half the bag full of stiff kale leaves under cold water, then very simply braised all of the rinsed kale by heating a small amount of olive oil in a huge soup pot, adding the rinsed kale leaves to the pot, stirring the kale constantly in the oil until the kale warmed up and reduced in size. Then I added a bit more of water to the pot, covered it, and let the kale steam away for just few minutes until it was thoroughly heated through, wilted, but still completely bright green in color. At this point, I usually would have added a splash of balsamic vinegar, but instead I wanted to use up the remainder of the bruschetta/red pepper sauce that I made earlier this week to serve with kale balls. Admittedly, although I happen to love eating plain kale, most people would probably want a complementary flavor such as some type of vinegar or the scrumptious bruschetta sauce to be tasting along with the hefty flavor of kale (even sweetened from the cold weather).

I kept the rest of my frozen fresh kale right in the canvas bag and put it out in our "winter refrigerator", i.e., the garage, to use later in the week.

To freeze kale, you can try what I have already done when we had so much kale to harvest that even knowing fresh kale seems to keep forever, I decided
to "let the freezing begin."
Here is what I did:
• Put on a big pot of water to boil.
• Wash kale.
• Tear or cut into 2 inch strips or manageable sizes (I did not freeze the big thick stems from the curly kale).
• Fill sink with cold water, including as many ice cubes as you have on hand.
• Place the cut kale in boiling water and boil for 3 minutes.
• Take kale out of pot with tongs, a colander, and/or slotted spoon.
• Put hot kale in cold water and swish around.
• Take kale out of water. Measure either 2 cups or 4 cups and place into freezer bags.
• Mark freezer bag with date and type of greens.
• Drain any excess water off greens (save for future soup broth!)and bag.
• Press any excess air out of bag and freeze.

I also did this exact procedure to freeze lamb's quarters (a very healthy and delicious weed!) in the spring. You can see from these photos that a huge bowl of cut or torn kale turns into 2 full quart bags of frozen kale. I expect to use this kale later this winter, either as yummy braised kale with many variety of seasonings or as an addition to soups, stews, stir-fry, filling for quesadillas, adding to frittatas, toppings for baked potatoes, etc, etc.

One of my "tricks" as a long-term cancer survivor has been to always have future events to plan and/or look forward to. Now I am looking forward to spring to see which of our kale plants make it through a Michigan winter to give us an early gift of spring food without the work of planting and waiting and then the ultimate gift of free seeds to start all over again!

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Recipe: Red Cabbage Soup

Again, this is a recipe created by poking around the frig this morning to find what is hanging out in the nooks and crannies, still left from the big influx of food before Thanksgiving or already in our freezer/pantry ready to use. I want to make sure that all the veggies that came with our Tantre Farm Thanksgiving CSA share get used for something delicious to eat, not "worm food" (yes, my husband has a vermiculture tub - i.e. worm composting - in the basement) or outside in our compost pile.

We frequently eat a supper of a hearty home-made soup, salad, and whole grain bread. Tonight I made this filling, delicious, beautiful, and healthy red cabbage soup, which we relished and ate with the remaining kale balls and bruschetta/pepper sauce, along with whole wheat bread. In addition, my husband thought it appropriate that we had a glass of red wine with our red soup. Yum, yum, yum! We finished our meal with the small pieces of chocolate that came in the Michigan Lady Food Bloggers' stocking at our cookie exchange last night. Thanks, Patti!

Red Cabbage Soup Recipe - Ingredients:

* 4 cups homemade veggie broth (here is when I use my red homemade veggie broth that included beet peelings)
* 4 cups water (I filled up and thus rinsed out the quart-size yogurt container used for my homemade broth to make sure every little bit of homemade broth was in the soup!)
* 2 cups tomatoes, chopped fresh or canned (1 pint or 15 oz can)
* 1 Tbsp. tomato paste (optional) - I used ~1 Tbsp. of my dried tomato/veggie broth recipe that came with my food dehydrator
* 1 medium size potato, scrub and chop into small-medium size pieces (~ 1 cup) - I used 3 smallish purple potatoes, scrubbed and unpeeled
* 1 bay leaf
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
* 1/2 teaspoon smoked sweet paprika (truly, I am experimenting with adding this to almost everything these days!)
* 3-4 cups cabbage shredded or thinly sliced red (or green if that is what you have on hand)
* 1 can (~2 cups) drained red beans (kidney beans, red beans, adzuki, pinto beans, or ½ cup dry red lentils - I purchase my dried organic beans in bulk and cook them all at once, then freezing them in 1 cup portions to pull out of the freezer to quickly add to recipes just like this)
* chopped fresh green herbs for garnish (I was inspired by one of my favorite blogs, Dandelion Haven.) I did not use the rosemary in my south-facing kitchen window but tried the spicy marjoram I brought in the for winter for a less intense but still flavorful and colorful garnish on top of the soup. I purchased this marjoram plant at the Farmers' Market in Plymouth, MI on an outing with some of my dietitian friends, so I enjoy nurturing it each day as a reminder of those great friends.

Preparation

1. In a large soup pot, combine the water, broth, tomatoes, tomato paste, chopped potato, bay leaf, salt, and seaonings.

Simmer for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Add the cabbage, beans or lentils. Heat just until cabbage is slightly wilted but still a bit crunchy and also until beans are heated through and/or lentils are cooked. Remove the bay leaf, top with a garnish, and serve.

Looks and tastes great topped with the cut fresh herbs, some unflavored yogurt or a sprinkle of baked and chopped pumpkin or squash seeds.

Enjoy!!

Our food blessing tonight:

As thou has set the moon in the sky
to be the poor man's lantern,
so let thy Light shine in my dark life
and lighten my path;
as the rice is sown in the water
and brings forth grain in great abundance,
so let thy word be sown in our midst
that the harvest may be great;
and as the banyan tree sends forth its branches
to take root in the soil,
so let thy Life take root in our lives.

~~Hindu blessing

I've only seen rice growing from the air, flying over Arkansas. I was fascinated to see a rice plant from root to flower last weekend made out of glass. When visiting Boston for my cardiology check-up, we went to the Harvard Museum of Natural History specifically to see their glass flower exhibit. Rice and a few additional examples of various food plants were included in this incredible collection of more than 830 glass flowers! Cancer has taken me places I would not have expected to be, such as this museum on the Harvard campus. Being open to, accepting of, even embracing the "unexpected" ways that cancer has enriched and brought abundance to my life is one way that I feel "Life" has taken root in me, for which I am very grateful. I hope the challenges in your life also bring opportunities and joys to you. :-)

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

Recipe: Kale with a bit of this and a bit of that!

This recipe could also be called cleaning out the frig, freezer, or just downright "fast food". It starts by needing to eat quickly, having stuff in the frig, freezer, or pantry available to use, and not being afraid to throw things together without "needing" a recipe.

Here is what is in our meal:
(1) A whole grain starch/carbohydrate - bulgur wheat fits that bill, and quickly, too as it can cook up in a short amount of time compared to brown rice. So does 100% whole wheat bread I had made a few weeks ago, cut sections into manageable sizes and put into the freezer.
(2) Garbanzo beans for a healthy vegetarian protein source plus lots of fiber and multiple additional health-promoting phytochemicals. These are easy to keep on your pantry shelf already pre-cooked. I buy them dried in bulk and then cook them all before freezing in 1 or 2 cup portions, ready to make my own hummus or throw into a dish like this.
(3) One 15 oz. can of organic diced tomatoes (yes I do have a few canned tomatoes on my pantry shelf in addition to our home-made canned tomatoes).
(4) Fresh kale (of course!) - just wash, chop, and add to the stewed tomatoes to cook.
(5) A bit of freshly grated Parmesan cheese for flavor
(6) Top with some crunch, using our own roasted squash seeds (now that we are doing that, which is so easy!, I don't think we'll ever compost those seeds again.)
(7) Seasonings of your choice - curry, smoked paprika (I am now hooked on this - thanks, Graham B!), powdered garlic and/or onion, etc.

Instructions are easy.
• Start bulgur cooking - basically I add 2 cups of boiling water to 1 cup of bulgur, let sit for 20 minutes, if all water is not absorbed, put into a colander and drain.
• Wash, remove the tough stems, and chop a "bunch of kale" - which is 3-4 cups
• In a 3 quart saucepan, combine tomatoes, garbanzo beans, kale, seasonings and heat through until kale is wilted but still bright green.

Layer as follows:
Bulgur
Tomato mixture
Cheese
Squash seeds

I served this with whole grain bread, olive oil for dipping, and homemade applesauce (not pictured).

This easily serves 2 people with plenty left over for a lunch or two later during the week.

Yum, yum, yum - quick, too - our own fast food with a little bit of pre-cooking. This recipes shows the advantages of cooking "extra" or cooking ahead whenever possible. In this case, any extra bulgur will be frozen ready to use at another meal, the garbanzos easily came out of the freezer to be added, the squash seeds were cooked after a previous meal while the oven was still warm, the tomatoes and applesauce were made last fall, etc, etc, you get the idea!

No recipe, at least no cookbook!, required for this meal. Be creative - try your own hand at creating a healthy recipe or meal from "this and that"!

I'll end with this short blessing of thanks for our food:

God who invites us always to spiritual delights,
give blessing over your gifts so that might deserve
to partake in the blessed things which ought to be
added to your name.

Let your gifts refresh us, Lord,
and let your grace comfort us.
~~Early Christian grace (6th century)

Yes, this was a refreshing meal, reminding us of our many gifts.

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

Recipe: Kale Balls

This recipe was a result of a "nudge". Our group of Ann Arbor (now renamed to Michigan) Lady Food Bloggers met for a cookie exchange last night. A few of us volunteered to bring a savory appetizer, to counter both the temptation and taste of all that sweetness in front of us. One of my sister bloggers, Mother's Kitchen, asked if I was going to bring an appetizer using kale. We still have a very large amount of fresh kale from our winter garden in Michigan, so yes, the challenge was on to figure out what to bring using kale as an ingredient.

After much thinking and browsing the internet, I finally (duh!) remembered one of my own favorite cookbooks Spinach and Beyond: Loving Life and Dark Green Leafy Vegetables by an Ann Arbor author Linda Diane Feldt. It took no time at all to find a recipe for kale balls, and thus my recipe is a variation of and was inspired by the one in this book. So thanks go to both MK (Mother's Kitchen) and Linda Diane Feldt.

Kale Ball Ingredients:
• 8 cups chopped raw kale (remove large tough stems, but keep small tender ones) - I did use my food processor for this step to save me time even though I love to chop, chop, chop with my chef's knife
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon dried Italian herbs
• 1/2 teaspoon dried garlic powder (more if your family really likes garlic, like mine)
• 1/2 teaspoon low sodium tamari
• 1-2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup ground flaxseeds

Steam the chopped raw kale (I used a steamer basket) for just a few minutes to wilt but still maintain bright green color. The 8 cups reduced to 4 cups after steaming (4 cups pictured in this photo along with a jar of the Bruschetta-in-a-jar recipe). Save the water in the bottom of the pan in your freezer for future soup broth.

Lightly beat eggs in a large bowl, then add all other ingredients (except kale) and mix together. Finally add in kale and mix well. Don't be afraid to use your hands at this step to evenly mix everything!

Line one cookie sheet with parchment paper. Using a teaspoon and your hands, make 25-30 kale balls. I made 28 balls, each about one inch in diameter or about the size of a walnut in the shell.

Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes until they just start to brown. The bottoms of the balls were brown after 20 minutes in my oven, were holding together and rolling around the cookie sheet, plus well heated throughout, so I called them done.

Bruschetta-pepper sauce ingredients:
• one 8 ounce jar of Bruschetta in a jar (recipe at Mother's Kitchen blog)
• equivalent of one roasted red sweet pepper (can be frozen/thawed, freshly prepared, or from a jar)

Throw all of this into a blender and mix until either smooth or just slightly textured. I took most of this sauce to the cookie exchange, but we used the rest of it to dip roasted vegetables in at supper. True confession time - My husband thought it would be funny (and a great testimony to how delicious this sauce is!) to post up a video on my blog showing me licking the very end of this sauce out of the bowl. :-) Without all this fuss, a great marinara sauce would also taste terrific with these kale balls. (photo: although these might look like salmon filets, these are 3 pieces of organic roasted red sweet peppers, still a bit icy, that I made in September).

So enjoy, enjoy, enjoy yet another way to eat kale and just visualize all those cancer-fighting and overall health promoting molecules that kale hides inside its beautiful leaves just working their way throughout your entire body!

I'll close with the photos of the delicious cookies we made and exchanged last night and one of the best succinct quotes I have seen in a long time, found by our host Patti who writes the blog Teacher in the Hood. It certainly fit the spirit of the evening.

My friends are my estate.
~~Emily Dickinson

I would add that my friends are essential ingredients in my recipe for a happy, healthy life!

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

I'm tasting garlic!

Oh yeah! Dick and I had dinner with a good friend in Boston last weekend who told us that she regularly eats 8-9 cloves of garlic each week. (we knew we were in good company even before she told us that!) Tonight was our first night home to fix a meal. We laughed remembering our friend's comment as we added up the number of the garlic cloves we were each eating tonight.

Here's what we did. First I took 2 pieces of pink salmon out of the freezer this morning, not knowing how I would prepare them tonight. However, when poking around the frig to see what was available and/or needed to be used up, I found about 1 cup of left-over cranberry chutney and 6-8 smallish roasted garlic cloves. I smooshed the garlic cloves, added them to the cranberry chutney, spread the whole mixture over the 2 pieces of salmon, added a couple of tablespoons of water to a shallow baking dish, covered the dish with foil and stuck it in the oven for ~30 minutes at 350 degrees (more than needed).

In addition, we finished up the kale slaw my husband made before we left for Boston, which contained several cloves of minced fresh garlic in the whole recipe. Lastly, we came back from 5 days in Boston to find that we needed to use up some of the potatoes and all of the rutabagas from our Thanksgiving CSA food, so my husband made one of his all-time favorite foods, which is the filling for traditional pasties as made in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (no need to bother making the crust, although admittedly, I look forward to stopping at Suzy's just west of St. Ignace, MI for her delicious vegetarian pasties when we travel between Ann Arbor and northern Wisconsin.) Rutabaga, onion, several varieties of potato with their skin, Worcestershire sauce, lots and lots of freshly ground pepper (if you look closely, you can see it in the close-up photo) plus yes, fresh garlic are in his recipe.

Each item on our plate could have been a standout taste-wise all on its own. As it was, I looked at my plate and could not decide where to start because I knew that each dish was going to be downright tasty! In addition, all together, we figured we ate at least 4 and probably 5 cloves of garlic (each!) tonight. Good thing garlic is one of the healthiest and delicious foods on the planet. With our friend Anne, we decided that we should just keep encouraging everyone to eat garlic daily, and then no one would ever need to worry about the smell of garlic noticeably oozing from the pores of their skin!

It felt great to be home, cooking our own food. Our blessing tonight felt like it should have been an ode to our own organic, home-grown garlic!

O heavenly Father, you have filled the world
with beauty and provided us in abundance.
Open your eyes to behold
your gracious hand in all your works;
that rejoicing in your whole creation,
we may learn to serve you with gladness.
~~ Book of Common Prayer (16th Century)

Our travel to Boston is now an annual trip for me where I see a cardiologist who has extensive experience evaluating cardiac function in (now adult) childhood cancer survivors whose hearts were damaged by the cancer therapies that helped to cure their childhood cancer. I feel lucky to have found this cardiologist (who even knows my cardiologist here in Michigan), fully understand that I am dealing with what my husband like to call "the problems of success", but I confess that it is no picnic to travel, undergo the testing, hear the mix of good and not so good news, and then come home to follow up with my "stable" of docs here at home who help keep me duct-taped together for another year, and hopefully even many many more years of beauty, abundance, more garlic, more kale, more cooking up new recipes, friends and family, and helping others as we all share life's journey together. I can do that with gladness. :-)

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Tantre Farm's Thanksgiving CSA Share

I could have easily titled this post "A Cornucopia of Beautiful, Delicious, and Lovingly-grown Food!" This is our first year to purchase Tantre Farm's Thanksgiving CSA Share, and I'm glad we did. Using many of these veggies, some of our own, plus a locally raised turkey permitted us to have a Thanksgiving feast that was nearly all produced within our own county.

Here two photos of all the food from the CSA share spread out on our kitchen table, followed by a list of everything we received. Do you recognize everything you are looking at in the photo? Can you match what you see with the list of veggies? I feel like the only items we purchase at a regular supermarket these days are necessities like laundry detergent, sugar, flour, and something like parchment paper, certainly not something necessary but helpful for baking.

BEETS You will receive Red Ace (round, smooth, deep red roots with sweet flavor and medium-tall)

BRUSSELS SPROUTS tiny, green cabbage heads with mildly pungent, mustard-like flavor. You will receive some of these loose in a bag and some of them will still be on the stalk.

RED CABBAGE a sweet cabbage with red leaves that are tender and crisp with a good amount of vitamins A & C, calcium, potassium, and magnesium.

CARROTS (Mokum) a very sweet, slender, "pencil carrot" with edible green leaves.

CAULIFLOWER, ROMANESCO lime green, spiraled heads with pointed, spiraled pinnacles; crisp and mild.

CELERAIC (Celery Root) knobby, brown root; tastes like strong celery and parsley mixed; useful as an herb and as a vegetable; high in carbohydrates, vitamin C, phosphorous, and potassium, and small amounts of vitamin B, and iron.

GARLIC (we certainly did not need any more garlic but I know we'll use this, too - besides Dick can do a taste comparison between his own and Tantre Farm's.

KALE You will receive Red or Green Curly (well-curled, red or blue-green leaves) and Lacinato (dark green, noncurled, blistered leaves, but heavily savoyed).

ONIONS You will receive Spanish Yellow (sweet, medium-sized, dark yellow-skinned onions) and Mars Red (purple-red skin with sweet flavor).

ITALIAN FLAT-LEAF PARSLEY a fresh herb with flat, glossy, dark green leaves, which has a strong parsley/celery flavor for use dried or fresh.

PIE PUMPKIN bright orange skin with dry, sweet flesh

POTATOES: You will receive 2 mixed bags of the following:
•Russian Banana Fingerling (an heirloom potato with small, banana-shaped tubers with yellow skin and light yellow flesh; used by chefs for its delicious flavor and smooth “waxy” texture that doesn’t fall apart when cooked; good baked, boiled, or in salads)
•Rose Apple Finn Fingerling (
•Swedish Almond Fingerling (dry, golden-fleshed heirloom fingerling from Sweden; perfect baked, roasted, or mashed)
•Yukon Gold (yellowish brown skin with yellow dry flesh and pink eyes; long storage and good tasting; perfect baked, boiled, mashed or fried)
•All Blue (an heirloom potato with deep blue skin and flesh; moist texture; perfect in salads, baked, or boiled)
•All Red/Cranberry Red (an heirloom potato with bright red skin covering rosy flesh; smooth, moist texture ideal for boiling, roasting, or sautéing).
•Butte (russet baker that is highest in vitamin C and protein; great baked, mashed or fried).

RADISHES (D'Avignon) also called “French Breakfast”; traditional variety from Southern France; 3-4 inch long root that is part red with a white tip and tapered to a point). *Tops are edible too & good in soups and gravies.

RUTABAGA purplish skin with yellow flesh; thought to be a cross between a cabbage and a turnip and resembles a large turnip (3 to 5 inches in diameter). (my husband's favorite!! - absolutely necessary if you make authentic pasties as in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan).

SPINACH crisp, dark green leaf best eaten raw or with minimal cooking to obtain the beneficial chlorophyll, and vitamins A & C.
(The spinach was eaten that day, first raw, just nibbling the leaves and then steamed for dinner - too, too good to let sit around in the refrig!)

TURNIPS You will receive Scarlet Queen (large, flat-round, sweet, crisp, white flesh with spicy, red skin—in mesh bag without greens) and Hakurei (white salad turnip with round, smooth roots that have a sweet, fruity flavor with a crisp, tender texture. You will receive some without greens in a mesh bag with Scarlet Queen variety. You will also receive some white turnips with greens in your box. Hairless greens are good in salads or sautéed with roots.

WINTER SQUASH You will receive any of the following varieties:
•Acorn (small, green ribbed squash with pale yellow flesh)
•Butternut (light, tan-colored skin; small seed cavities with thick, cylindrical necks; bright orange, moist, sweet flesh; longest storage potential of all squash)
•Delicata (small (1 1/2-to 2-lb.), oblong, creamy colored with long green stripes, only slightly ribbed; pale yellow, sweet flesh; edible skin; best eaten within 4 months of harvest)
•Black Forest Kabocha (smaller size kabocha; dark green, flat-round fruits; buttercup size with no button on end; orange flesh is medium-dry & sweet)
•Confection Kabocha (gray, flattened, buttercup-size fruits; dry taste directly after harvest, but outstanding sweetness and texture after curing for a few weeks; good for long storage)
•Sunshine Kabocha

Just for fun, here are some photos of our Thanksgiving food: the turkey (and my husband Dick) from Harnois Farms, the potatoes ready to cook, the red turnips, and our kale salad (yes those are pomagranate seeds on top, which along with the salt, pepper, olive oil and wine vinegar were just about our only non-locally produced foods used for this meal!)


A feast for all the senses including the heart!

Our grace at this meal:

Thank God for home,
and crisp, fair weather,
and loving hearts
That meet together –
And red, ripe fruit
And golden grain –
And dear Thanksgiving
Come again!
~~Nancy Byrd Turner (1880-1971)

Yes, we should all be so fortunate to share a Thanksgiving meal of delicious, healthy foods with those we love this year and be able to look forward to next year, too!

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Action Alert about new USDA Organic Seafood Standards

I know this is "turkey week", and I had originally planned to post up photos of the beautiful food that came in our Thanksgiving CSA share box from Tantre Farms along with an account of our first trip to a nearby farm to pick up our locally raised turkey. Instead, I feel the urge to alert my readers to some recent disturbing recommendations for seafood to be labeled as USDA-certified "organic".

On November 20, 2008 the National Organics Standards Board (NOSB) released its recommendations regarding the production methods and labeling of USDA-certified "organic" fish. There are several highly controversial rulings within their report:
- Fish may be fed food other than 100% organic feed, contrary to the gold standard needing to be met by other USDA-certified organic livestock;
- Fish meal may be used to feed farmed fish that is obtained from wild fish, which has the potential to carry mercury, PCBs, and other contaminants;
- Open net cages can be used, which permit pollution, disease and parasites from open net fish farms to flush directly into the ocean, with the potential to adversely impact wild fish populations, sustainability, and the overall health of the oceans.

I have included a copy of the letter I have written via email to the current (acting) director of the National Organic Program. It is not easy to figure out if these recommendations are already a "done deal", who is the best/correct person to receive comments, or the timetable for comments to be taking into consideration. So if I learn where to better direct feedback so that it will be "counted" and considered before finally enacting these recommendations, I will add that information in a follow-up posting.

I do include information about eating healthy fish in several FAQs on my web site. I have been concerned about healthy fish and healthy oceans in addition to my own health for years, having made my purchasing selections based on the information that I have included on my web site, thus I must admit that I was not on top of these new USDA rulings.

Both Dr. Marion Nestle and one of my brothers spurred me into action. Thanks to them and all of my readers for also caring about this issue and taking your own actions as a concerned citizen both by voting with your fork and pen (well, really your keyboard strokes). Feel free to use my letter as a template, adding in any of your own personal comments as you feel are appropriate.

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

******************

National Organic Program
Barbara Robinson, Acting Director
Deputy Administrator
USDA-AMS-TMP
Room 4008-South Building
1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20250-0020
Phone: (202) 720-3252
Fax: (202) 205-7808
E-mail: NOPAQSS@usda.gov


Dear Dr. Robinson,

I am extremely disappointed in the November 20 decision by the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) to accept the recommendations for "organic" fish production that will allow fish to carry the USDA organic label -- despite being raised under conditions that fail to meet fundamental USDA organic principles.

As a consumer and a health care professional who puts value and faith in the USDA organic label, I expect fish labeled as organic to meet the same high standards as all other USDA-certified organic products and livestock. Anything less is a disservice to the organic label and American consumers and will completely undermine both the USDA organic program and my confidence in the entire organic marketplace..

These highly controversial NOSB recommendations allow:
- Fish may be fed food other than 100% organic feed, contrary to the gold standard needing to be met by other USDA-certified organic livestock;
- Fish meal may be used to feed farmed fish that is obtained from wild fish, which has the potential to carry mercury, PCBs, and other contaminants;
- Open net cages can be used, which permit pollution, disease and parasites from open net fish farms to flush directly into the ocean, with the potential to adversely impact wild fish populations, sustainability, and the overall health of the oceans.

These dilutions of USDA's organic standards appear to simply be a marketing decision made for benefit of the aqua-culture industry that needs to "rush to market" a product that is not really fully developed, i.e., an industry looking for a way to quickly take advantage of and realize a profit from consumers who have come to associate the USDA organic standard with a production process that puts a high premium on both the quality of a product and the health of our planet.

At this point, if these weakened standards are actually enacted, I will not purchase or recommend any fish labeled as USDA-certified organic. I will continue to personally purchase and professionally advise (via my book, website, blog, and public speaking) only those fish as reviewed and recommended by organizations such as the Marine Stewardship Council and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Program.

I urge you to ensure that the USDA's organic label continues to have integrity and is used only on food produced according to the highest environmental standards. Fish labeled as organic should not be raised on non-organic feed nor in facilities that release waste into the environment. Please stop this very wrong decision from being enacted.

Sincerely,

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

Friday, November 21, 2008

What do dietitians eat? Book club menu #5

This menu comes complete with photos because I didn’t cool anything on the counter to prevent doggie food stealing (my vet used that terminology), and I remembered to take photos before we ate. We have now had to put childproof locks on two cupboard doors where we put our kitchen trash to keep our dog from demonstrating her new bad habit (and we don't even have meat scraps!)

We enjoyed having our first “guest of honor” at dinner, Amanda Edmunds, the Executive Director of Growing Hope in Ypsilanti, MI, where our group makes a monthly donation that is used to purchase the healthy snacks for the youth who participate in Growing Hope’s after-school programs. Amanda gave us the history of the development of Growing Hope, plans and challenges for the future, along with it successes to date.

We had hoped to start discussing Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver but had such a lengthy and involved discussion with Amanda about the focus of Growing Hope and the long and short-term impacts of urban and community gardening (which was the focus of the journal article we read this month, too) that we’ll save a full discussion of AVM for our next meeting in January.

Here is our menu for November (again using as many foods from our own garden or the local Farmers’ Market as possible):
• Apple and Kale Spice Muffins (still harvesting kale from our garden, even though we have had many days of very cold weather and snow, apples were from a neighbor’s tree)
• No-knead Whole Wheat Bread
• Roasted Acorn Squash Soup w/squash seed garnish (squash from a local farmer)
• Fall kale and leafy greens salad w/pomegranate seeds (the pomegranate seeds are not local but they are seasonal - enjoy a few as a special treat at this time of year) - you can see the ice on our kale in this photo, which only makes it sweeter!
• Water with lemon and hot green-raspberry tea (tea from ArborTeas.com)


APPLE AND KALE SPICE MUFFINS

Muffins cooling first on the counter and then on top of the refrigerator (if our dog can get these, nothing is safe!)

* 1-1/2 C organic whole wheat flour (I used white whole wheat flour)
* 1 tsp. each baking soda and baking powder
* ½ teaspoon salt
* ½ tsp. cinnamon
* ¼ tsp. nutmeg
⅛ teaspoon grated vanilla bean (or use ½ teaspoon vanilla extract)
* ⅓ C honey
* 1 egg
* ½ C sour milk or plain unflavored yogurt (I used the yogurt)
* ⅓ C canola oil
* ½ tsp. vanilla (see above)
* 1-½ C grated apples or carrots (used cored, unpeeled apples chopped in my food processor)
* 1 C finely chopped kale or raw leafy green vegetable (I took off the stems and then chopped the leaves fine in my food processor)
* ½ C each any dried fruit and chopped nuts (optional, but adds a crunch and is also nutritious and yummy enough for a dessert muffin, too!)

Preheat oven to 400.

In a mixing bowl, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices.

In another bowl, mix honey, egg, yogurt, oil, vanilla, apples, kale, dried fruit and nuts.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, stirring just till moistened. Fill 12 typical size greased muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

Made 12 very full muffins.

******************************
No-Knead 100% Whole Wheat Bread

Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising


recipe used from http://www.sugoodsweets.com/blog/2007/03/no-knead-wwbread/

(The metric measurements are more accurate.)

• 3 cups (430 grams) whole wheat flour (I used King Arthur’s white whole wheat), plus ¼ -½ cup more for dusting
• ¼ teaspoon (1 gram) instant yeast (or ¼ plus 1/16 teaspoon active dry yeast*) - yes I cut open a package of yeast and carefully measured this amount out
• 1¼ teaspoons (8 grams) salt
• 1 ½ tablespoons vital wheat gluten
• 2 cups minus 1 tablespoon (430 grams) water (I used about 1-½ cups to mix the flour the first time and about 1-¾ cup water the second time )
• Cornmeal, ground flax, or wheat bran as needed

In a large bowl combine flour, instant yeast, salt and vital wheat gluten. Add 1 1/2 cups water and stir until blended. Keep adding water until the dough is shaggy and sticky, like a stiff muffin batter. It should not be so wet that it’s pourable. You will probably use all of the water, but different brands of flour are more absorbent. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

*If substituting active dry yeast, let it proof in 1/4 cup of lukewarm water (reserved from the total water) for 10 minutes. Add the yeast with the rest of the water when mixing it in the dough.

Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Liberally flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.

*****************************

Roasted Acorn Squash Soup


• 8 cups vegetable broth (homemade or use vegetable broth cubes)
• 4-5 medium acorn squash (with the more orange color on the skin, the more ripe, i.e., sweeter, the squash will be)
• Salt and white pepper (to taste)
• Olive oil
• 4 tsp whole cumin seeds (I actually used my coffee grinder to chop these up a bit to release more flavor)
• 1-2 Cinnamon stick
• ½# soft or silken tofu (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Halve the squashes, remove the seeds (save to make an extra delicious treat by washing and toasting with salt or any herb seasoning of choice).

Brush the inside of each squash half with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt, pepper and cumin seeds. Roast for about 45 minutes in a shallow pan or on a cookie sheet until the squash is soft when pierced with a fork and the edges of the squash are golden.

Remove squash from oven and let cool.

While the squash cools, bring the broth to a boil.

Place the cinnamon stick in the vegetable stock and let it boil until you can smell the cinnamon.

Once squash is cool enough to handle, scoop the squash out of the skin and put it in a blender or food processor.

Remove the cinnamon stick from the stock, and pour the liquid into the blender with the squash, adding tofu if you are using it.

Blend till smooth (this much soup will need to be done in batches - be very careful not to fill the blender or food processor too full and possibly burn yourself by having hot soup spatter on you).

Serve with toasted squash seeds as a garnish, whole grain bread, and a salad of your choice - yummmmm!!


Toasted Squash Seed Garnish

Wash the seeds in a colander, removing as much of the squash “goo” as possible. Shake dry. Spread on a cookie sheet (I used a sheet of parchment paper) and sprinkling toasting with salt or any herb seasoning of choice. Bake in a 350 degree oven 15-30 minutes until dry and toasty. Be careful not to burn. I chopped the toasted seeds with various fresh herbs from my window herb garden in my small food processor. This garnish is also great sprinkled on a green salad.

I’ll close with the blessing read tonight, one specifically pertinent since it is giving thanks for a soup and all the beauty and sacredness that went into making the meal as it enriches our life.

I am an Indian,
I think about common things like this pot.
The bubbling water comes from the rain cloud.
It represents the sky.
The fire comes from the sun,
which warms us all, men, animals, trees.
The meat stands for the four-legged creatures,
our animal brothers,
who gave of themselves so that we should live.
The steam is living breath.
It was water, now it goes up to the sky,
becomes a cloud again.
These things are sacred.
Looking at that pot full of good soup,
I am thinking how, in this simple manner,
The great Spirit takes care of me.

~~ John Lame Deer (1903-1976)

During the week before Thanksgiving, I always give thanks for another year of life, my family, friends, health, joys and enrichment. The surgery for my first breast cancer was the day prior to Thanksgiving in 1984, so this year I will be giving thanks for beginning my 25th year after that very challenging time in my life (it was actually somewhat startling to “do the math” and realize that many years have passed). Of course, being a childhood cancer survivor, I have been fortunate for far more than 25 years, but still, I have started to think about how I might mark the specialness of having the gift of life for these past 25 years when I was able to be involved with my two sons growing up to be very special young men. I have not decided what or how to celebrate that milestone yet, so family, friends, and readers, if you have ideas for me, I’d love to hear them!

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

Monday, November 17, 2008

Cancer Survivors: Take the "package" deal!

I have been following the research for many years led by psychologist Barbara Andersen, PhD who has been leading the Stress and Immunity Breast Cancer Project at The Ohio State University's Comprehensive Cancer Center. She has been following a group of 227 breast cancer survivors with stage II or stage III disease observing various outcomes in the women who had intensive group education on various coping strategies and support after diagnosis compared to a control group who did not receive this additional intervention.

Soon after diagnosis, half of the 227 participants were randomized into the intervention group, which met weekly in groups of 8 to 12 with a clinical psychologist. During these weekly sessions participants learned progressive muscle relaxation for stress reduction, problem solving for common difficulties (such as fatigue), how to find support from family and friends, health behavior change tips for exercise and diet, and finally, how to deal with treatment side effects plus keep up with medical treatment and follow-up. After four months of weekly sessions, participants then met monthly for eight months. Earlier published research articles demonstrated that, compared with the assessment only arm, the intervention group improved across all of these outcomes, plus immune system indicators were also enhanced.

What this new study demonstrates is the best evidence to date that a psychologist-led intervention program that teaches multiple strategies for coping with the changes and challenges after a breast cancer diagnosis improves overall health and quality of life and also increases the chances of longer survival. The women in the intervention group, which by now have been followed for 7-13 years with an average of 11 years, reduced their risk of breast cancer recurrence by 45% and reduced their risk of dying of breast cancer by 56%.

This study will be published in the December 15, 2008 issue of Cancer. The abstract is available to read on-line.

There are many important points about this study:
(1) Focusing the study on those women with stage II and stage III breast cancer helps to define additional strategies for improving outcomes for the largest group of breast cancer patients. Studies that include stage I and/or stage IV diagnoses are very difficult to interpret and apply to general clinical practice.

(2) Even for women who did die from breast cancer, those in the intervention group lived longer than those who received the appropriate medical care and were simply psychologically assessed at various points after diagnosis. (an average of 6.1 years versus 4.8 years)

(3) Participants in the intervention group also has a lower chance of dying from causes other than breast cancer, such as heart disease or other cancers. Again, even among those women who did die of other causes, the ones who were in the intervention group lived for an average of 6 years versus 5 years compared to those in the assessment only group.

(4) This study was actually designed to study recurrence and survival in contrast to the older studies published in the 1980-90's which observed some survival advantages in patients receiving psychological intervention but those earlier studies had multiple research design flaws and thus could not be considered strong evidence that such therapy would improve survival.

(5) While the researchers found that patients in the intervention group who had the greatest reductions in distress and physical symptoms were those who practiced progressive muscle relaxation most frequently, the intervention group clearly received a "package" of strategies for coping with the multiple challenges patients face following a cancer diagnosis, including information and support regarding lifestyle changes such as diet and exercise for improving overall health. An intervention and approach of this type should no longer be considered "complementary" medicine but represents "integrated" medical care and should be included for all patients as a component of comprehensive cancer care.

(6) The other important point of this research for patients to use for a take-home lesson is don't wait until life becomes unmanageable to seek out stress reduction information and support along with other lifestyle changes and coping techniques to get you through what may be the most stressful event of your life. Seek out support such as this study provides EARLY after diagnosis. Get your medical options chosen and then take on the other challenges. You are in charge of the biggest fight of your life, for your life, and it will take more (much more!) than surgery, radiation, and/or chemotherapy to achieve wholeness and wellness after cancer.

The enhanced longevity data from this study is very, very important, however quality of life outcomes such as improved mood, decreased fatigue, or better sleep are equally important outcomes. No cancer survivor I know would ever consider research to be "soft" or unimportant if it showed an intervention improved many aspects of quality of life, i.e, real life. In fact, there are situations where it could even be argued by any reasonable person that a longer but miserable or difficult life may not have been worth the effort and multiple costs of undergoing cancer therapy.

I titled this post "Take the package deal!" Unfortunately, it will be the unusual cancer center that has such an extensive education and support program for all of their patients included as an automatic part of the cancer care offered at that center. However, nearly every single cancer center I have visited offers many types of support programs for their patients. In addition, the American Cancer Society offers a program called I Can Cope and many communities have support organizations such as Gilda's Club or The Wellness Community that offer multiple types of support classes as a few examples of support available.

So right now, my real message to all those with a cancer diagnosis is to SEEK the "package" deal, which includes information and strategies from many types of oncology team members (social workers, psychologists, dietitians, nurses, chaplains, etc) for stress management and lifestyle alterations (diet, exercise, smoking cessation), spirituality, and counseling for the many problems that often surface with such a stressful life event.

In fact, don't wait, but make some phone calls to find out what support is available in your area, and then run, walk, bike, skate, jog or even skip on over to get started. The rest of your life is waiting!!

Heartfelt thanks to Dr. Andersen, her colleagues, and all her funding sources for believing in and supporting this research of critical importance to all cancer survivors.

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

Saturday, November 8, 2008

"Bruschetta in a Jar" morphs into a chutney!

Home from traveling late last night, attended a GREAT presentation this morning on Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn by Fritz Haeg (more on that in a future post), tired, without much fresh food in the frig, uninterested in making a trip to the grocery store even though I'm fortunate to have three of them only one mile from my home, too tired to even go out to eat, stalling about whether my husband or I will make supper and what we will actually eat, casually flipping through a new cookbook I purchased today called The White Dog Cafe Cookbook by Judy Wicks and Kevin van Klause when I see a recipe that gives me an inspiration using our own "fast food"!

Earlier this fall my husband and I made a recipe called Bruschetta in a Jar when we still needed to find a way to use all the tomatoes we harvested from the 61 plants we had in our community garden. I saw a recipe called Derby Day Leg of Lamb with Tomato-Mint Chutney in the White Dog Cafe Cookbook. I knew we had some lamb still frozen that was left over from our Easter dinner (which we served with incredibly delicious homemade chimichurri sauce). When I looked closely at the recipe for the tomato-mint chutney, I realized that I could take a 8-ounce jar of our "bruschetta in a jar", add 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh mint leaves (while outside this afternoon, I noticed that some of the mint patch right next to our house had not frozen yet) and 1 teaspoon sugar or other sweetener and have a pretty close approximation of the tomato-mint chutney recipe.

I quickly put some rice in the rice cooker (one of my favorite "gadgets"), got some kale ready to braise (10 cups of kale, with large stems removed and torn into small to medium size pieces, cooked down to 2 servings), my husband got the lamb out of the freezer and brought up a jar of the bruschetta from the basement, I went outside to cut some mint (38 degrees and sprinkling, which makes it feel like 28 - brrrrr - back to typical November after our gift of several really warm days last week), removed the green leaves, washed the mint leaves and patted them dry, chopped them fine with a chef's knife, then added the chopped mint and sugar to the tomato mixture to let the flavors mingle while the rice cooked.

Our meal came together quite easily, and only 45 minutes after putting the rice in the rice cooker, we were enjoying our supper of lamb, basmati rice, braised kale with garlic, balsamic vinegar, and black sesame seeds, along with the tomato-mint chutney. The small amount of chutney that we did not eat was added to some of the left-over rice for a future meal. More "fast food" - Yum, yum, yum!!!

The White Dog Cafe Cookbook is dedicated to organic family farmers, whose stewardship of the land and respect for the lives of farm animals preserves a way of life that brings us nourishment and good health. We eat very little meat and also choose to only consume meat when we know the animal has been humanely raised in a manner that promotes sustainable food systems, and thus, we are grateful for the farmer who raised the lamb we ate last Easter and tonight in addition to all the organic farmers who grew the food we ate for our supper tonight.

Here is the blessing we chose tonight:

Blessed are you, Lord.
You have fed us from our earliest days;
you give food to every living creature.
Fill our hearts with joy and delight.
Let us always have enough
and something to spare for works of mercy
in honor of Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Through him, may glory, honor, and power be yours forever.

~~Fourth-century Christian prayer

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

Monday, November 3, 2008

What do dietitians eat? Book club menu #4

I think I could summarize this meal as "a bale of kale" (actually my husband Dick came up with that great phrase). I did try to incorporate kale into every course and was originally successful. Regretfully, this post comes without photos for two reasons: our dog ate the spoonbread while it was cooling (yes, my dog ate 3/4 of the 9x13 pan!! - arghhhhh) and then we actually ate everything else before I got photos. I've learned my lessons: leave nothing on the counter to cool if I am out of view and take photos before we eat!

Here is what we ate or should have eaten:

(1) Recipe: SWEET POTATO AND KALE SOUP

3 lbs sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
2-3 onion, chopped (about 1-1/2 cup)
1-1/2 cup chopped carrot 
2 tsp finely chopped garlic
12 cups vegetable stock (homemade if possible) 
7-8 cups or so of chopped kale (de-stemmed)
freshly ground pepper
sea salt (optional) 

Put the first five ingredients into a large soup pot (it will have to be able to hold the kale too), bring to the boil, cover and then simmer until the root vegetables are cooked - around 20 minutes, but test to make sure. Puree the contents of the pan in a blender, in batches if necessary (or use an immersion blender). You may want to or need to add extra stock or water - it all depends on the size of your cubed veggies, the size and shape of your pan, and the heat at which you choose to simmer, but extra liquid will come out of the kale when it is added.

Return the partly made soup to the cooking pot, add the chopped kale, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes or so or until the kale is tender (be sure to not overcook to keep the leaves bright green).

Taste for seasoning and serve with a salad and some whole grain bread.

(2) Recipe: CORNMEAL AND KALE SPOON BREAD WITH RED PEPPERS

Makes 12 servings.

Recipe Ingredients
1 pound kale (about 2 bunches), thick ribs and stems cut away
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 bunch sliced green onions (white and green parts)
1 cup white corn (about ½ of a 15 ounce can), drain and rinse off the salty liquid (freeze the rest for future use)
1/2 cup chopped drained roasted red peppers from jar (or roast 1-2 fresh red sweet peppers, or use some that you roasted and froze yourself during the summer)
1 garlic clove, minced (optional, depending on what else you are serving - I omitted this since the soup had garlic added as did the bread slices for the kale-bread salad I served)

2 cups water
1 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal
2 1/2 cups reduced-fat (2%) milk (I used unsweetened soy milk)
1 teaspoon salt

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
4 large eggs
½ cup reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (I used ~¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper flakes)

Recipe Direction
Cook kale in large pot of boiling salted water until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain; cool. Squeeze dry. Finely chop kale (I chopped the kale in my food processor).

Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions, corn, red peppers, and garlic; stir 3 minutes. Mix in 1 1/2 cups kale. Remove from heat.

Preheat oven to 350F at this point. Spray 13x9x2-inch baking dish with nonstick spray (I use a small piece of wax paper to evenly spread the non-stick spray over the bottom and sides of my baking dish).

Whisk 2 cups water and cornmeal in bowl to blend. Bring milk and salt to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Gradually whisk in cornmeal mixture. Stir until mixture boils and thickens, about 5 minutes. Be VERY careful at this stage. As the mixture thickens, it will start to “pop” and a splatter of batter may just burn you! Cool slightly (I only let it cool for ~1 minute).

Whisk eggs in large bowl to blend; gradually whisk in warm cornmeal mixture. Stir in kale mixture, cheese, and hot pepper sauce. Transfer to prepared dish; smooth top. Bake until set and golden, about 35 minutes. Test with a toothpick in the middle of the dish. Serve warm.

Trust me! This spoonbread is (was!) BEAUTIFUL. Boo-hoo (I confess I was both heartbroken and mad to come home from the Farmers' Market to find this major "oops".)

(3) Recipe: KALE AND ROMAINE LETTUCE BREAD SALAD

1 head romaine lettuce - wash and tear into bite size pieces (7-8 cups)
Kale - wash, remove tough steams and cut into thin ribbons to make 3-4 cups
Add other fresh, raw veggies such as various colors of cherry tomatoes, red pepper pieces, cucumber pieces, etc.
Add ~2 cups cooked dried beans, rinsed and drained (I used flageolet beans, which I soaked and cooked the day before I made the salad.)
Rub garlic over dry bread slices (whole grain baguettes, cut into 1 inch thick slices) - toast, cool, then cut into 1-inch cubes. (1 small baguette or whatever you have on hand - 3-4 cups)
Combine all ingredients except bread. Toss. Add 4 Tbsp. olive oil, then 2-3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar. Toss all.
Then add bread cubes about 15 minutes prior to serving. Toss all.
Add a bit of salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Toss again prior to serving.

(4) Kale Chips

Without the spoonbread to serve, I quickly and easily made a tray of kale chips to serve as a little appetizer for my friends to try while everyone arrived. Most had not tried these before, and I remember finally saying "WAIT! Leave some for xxxxxx (I forget who)." Yes, they are that good. Give them a try. Fresh kale will be available for many weeks yet, and locally grown kale will taste even better than usual if you live in an area that has had a good frost like we have had in Michigan. :-)

For this book and journal club discussion, we took a break from reading a major book and instead viewed and discussed both a DVD documentary entitled "What will we eat?", made by a Michigan film-maker Chris Bedford who produces advocacy films and videotapes to help farmers and consumers promote the transition to a humane, sustainable local food economy in addition to reading and discussing the research article by the Cornell scientists who are evaluating how much land is needed to optimize local production of diets containing various amounts of meat, dairy, fat, and calories from plants and plant products.

Two points of hearty discussion revolved around the fact that this research study did not evaluate the land required to produce a healthy and nutritious vegan diet nor did it take into account any factors related to the costs associated with conventional agriculture or food product production (i.e., where do the soybeans need to be shipped to be processed into soy milk or soy oil and what are the costs involved with that production and shipping to the consumer?). Still, this type of research is a necessary first step in the complex process to develop an understanding of the methods that are really necessary to produce a local/regional sustainable food system that is able to provide both access and affordability of a healthy diet and foods to all citizens in any particular geographical location.

Inspired by the The Ethicurian blog and its definition of an "ethicurian" as someone who seeks out tasty things that are also produced in a manner that is sustainable, organic, local, and/or ethical — SOLE food, for short, we have officially named our dietitian book and journal club The SOLE Sisters Book Club.

I read two short food blessings that evening:

Oh Lord, that lends me this life,
Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness.


~~William Shakespear (1564-1616)
From The Second Part of King Henry VI, act I, scene I, lines 19-20

To all else thou hast given us, O Lord,
we ask for but one thing more:
Give us
grateful hearts.


~~George Herbert (1593-1633), a clergyman in the Church of England

Try your own meal using a "bale of kale" and let me know what you made!

Diana Dyer, MS, RD