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Seasonal Eating: Kale

Nov 29th, 2011 by

Green leafy vegetables return in the fall for our eating pleasure.  After a summer of eggplant, summer squash and tomatoes, it’s a pleasure to have something green and leafy in my diet.  And for me, one of my favorites is Kale.

Most greens bolt in the heat of summer, so they are a welcome addition to our fall diets. Kale also grows well into winter so its one of the few green vegetables that are available when the weather is cold. Kale sweetens up after being exposed to a frost and actually freezes quite well.  It has been used in many culinary cultures from the Irish Colcannan to the Portuguese Caldo Verde.

Kale is a member of the cabbage family and as such is a powerhouse of nutrients. Its high in beta carotene, Vitamin C and calcium. It also contains sulforaphae, which is anti-cancer properties.  Kale is also very high in Vitamin K, and should not be eaten while on blood thinners such as heparin or coumadin. It’s also contains about 36 calories per cup, and has 5 grams of fiber. Kale is high in omega-3 (100 calories of kale provides 25-35% of the National Academy of Science’s recommendation for ALA (alpha-linolenic acid), which is the most basic omega-3 fatty acid.  Kale also contains a measurable amount of oxalates, which can be a problem for people with kidney or gallbladder problems.

Kale is a food that should be bought from your local farmer or in organic form since it is one of the 12 foods in which pesticide residue has been found most frequently.

If you are lucky enough to have year round farmers markets, you might see the following types of Kale Continue Reading »

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Gluten Free Thanksgiving Postmortem

Nov 25th, 2011 by

The entire Feast

Thanksgiving Feast

My Thanksgiving was small, just GC and myself, but oh so satisfying. I spent most of the day in the kitchen and dinner was both delicious and stress free. I think one of the reasons that I didn’t invite anyone to partake with us was that I was nervous. I did a very different menu than I usually had in the past and I didn’t know how it would turn out or whether anyone I invited would judge me. I tried to incorporate usual items into a Thanksgiving Feast, but I also had to make it work for both myself (gluten-free) and GC who is currently on coumadin for 6 months.

Most “traditional” thanksgiving meals are a minefield for a person who reacts to gluten. From turkeys which may or may not be injected with ingredients that contain gluten to gravy which commonly is thickened with flour (not to mention that green bean casserole which can contain a ton of gluten) it’s just hard. I was invited to a few dinners, but I hated the idea of spending part of the day cross-examining people and trying to determine what was safe for me to eat or not. (Hint, if you commonly bake your stuffing in the turkey, you have now contaminated the entire turkey for someone like me.)

Of course, deciding to have it at home with just GC and myself meant that I was doing all the cooking and even though I was only cooking for two, my menu was fairly ambitious (this after all should be a special meal) and was time-consuming.  So timing was critical.

Part of the issue with a large meal is getting it all to the table at the same time with everything cooked correctly and everything that needs to be hot, hot.  Its tricky, especially in a home kitchen with 4 burners and 1 oven.  (Sometimes I envy my sister’s commercial stove which has 2 ovens, lots of burners and a griddle).  It takes careful planning to accomplish it.  Luckily I am an excellent planner.

Continue Reading »

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Posted in Cooking, Gluten Free, Personal Health, Personal Story | 2 Comments »

A non-traditional Gluten and Vitamin K free Thanksgiving Dinner

Nov 22nd, 2011 by

Cooked wild rice.

Wild Rice instead of a bread based stuffing

So my boyfriend, the Grumpy Curmudgeon (aka GC) and I are doing a small Thanksgiving alone.  He was recently diagnosed with a blood clot, which means a lot of the regular fall veggies are off his radar (he has to avoid green leafy vegetables like kale and spinach as well as cabbage, brussel sprouts and broccoli), and me, well, I’m gluten-free.  So rather than get stressed out at a friend’s house over what is safe for us to eat, we will be here not worrying and having a fabulous meal.

I’ve decided to not make a “traditional meal” since in my experience, substitutions just make me wish for the real thing. Instead I’m coming up with a mixture of somewhat traditional and non traditional.

To start with, I’m ditching the turkey this year. I’ve never been that fond of turkey and it’s almost impossible to get a turkey that works for two people. I also dislike the idea of just getting a turkey breast.  I like dark meat.  So this year, I bought a duck. Besides getting the duck for dinner, I’ll have the bones to make stock and soup with and I’ll get duck fat to do yummy things with.

Since duck has so much fat on it, it’s considered difficult to cook.  I’m going to use these instructions and recipe, guaranteeing great duck and crispy skin (sometimes the best part of the bird).

When I was in Minneapolis this spring, some dear friends took me to their large, open air market.  I couldn’t buy much since I had no way to keep it fresh for the trip home (bummer, cause the cheeses looked delicious), but I did walk away with some wild rice.  I’ve been saving it and plan on using it in a wild rice stuffing.  Since duck has an affinity for fruit, I’m going for a Wild Rice with Hazelnuts and Dried Cranberries.

I’m also making mashed potatoes with a gluten-free gravy. I’m going to make a roux of sorghum and rice flour to thicken my duck drippings. I’m going to use chicken stock for the rest of it.

We both like Green Beans, but I for one, really dislike the “traditional” green bean casserole, so I’m lightening it up with a recipe for Green Beans with Lemon and Pine Nuts.

I do like a good cranberry sauce, but never the one that comes in a can. So I’m going to spice it up with a cranberry sauce with ginger and orange zest. I’m betting this goes well with the duck as well.

And finally, for dessert, I’m going to make a baked pumpkin pudding.  GC isn’t fond of sour cream, so I’m substituting heavy cream. Since the cream I get from my dairy farmer is so thick, I might just whip some sugar in it and call it a day.

I’m going to make the cranberry sauce tonight, and bake the puddings tomorrow after I get home from work.  I’m actually excited about the cooking I’m going to be doing and that the mix of traditional flavors in non-traditional ways will keep us from missing the dinners of yore.  And best of all?  No football on the television at my house.

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Posted in Gluten Free, Personal Health, Personal Story | 1 Comment »

Gluten Free Series: Holidays and Gluten, Thanksgiving

Nov 16th, 2011 by

Thanksgiving dinner

Looks yummy and very stress inducing to me

This is the second in a series of what to do when you discover you can no longer eat gluten.

For me, I think one of the most stressful holidays I have to go through food-wise is Thanksgiving. Since realizing that I can’t eat even a small amount of gluten, eating at someone’s home that doesn’t also follow the same diet is really hard. Thanksgiving seems to be one of the hardest, most likely because it is the most traditional and its hard, if you are eating at someone else’s home, to require that they change all their traditional (and gluten filled) foods for you.

As I’ve said before, I hate being “That Person”, the person who quizzes someone extensively on whats in their lovely dish. Continue Reading »

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Posted in Gluten Free, Seasonal | 2 Comments »

Gluten Free Series: Discovering The Need To Be Gluten Free

Nov 15th, 2011 by

This is the first in a series of what to do when you discover you can no longer eat gluten.

There are two ways to figure out that gluten can’t be a part of your diet anymore.  Either you get a diagnosis, or you try an elimination diet and discover that many of your issues are resolving.  No matter which way you figure it out, its bound to affect you emotionally.

A few days ago, I got a comment from a friend on one of my social networks who had read my post about “Getting Glutened“. In that comment, my friend said.

Ok, this blog just scared me. Half the symptoms she was relating – joint pain, tooth enamel issues, IBS, and a few of the others, I have all the time. I can’t imagine having to be gluten free, it would eliminate more than half my diet. I don’t eat many veggies because I don’t like them and while I’ve made some progress in learning to like some of them, I still don’t eat enough. If I have to go gluten free for health reasons, I think I’ll starve to death!

This is a fairly common reaction, both the visceral, “What would I eat” to “How can I give up the things I like”.  Even when we have the aches and pains that might be resolved by changing our diets, we resist. Its human nature to resist change. The idea of giving up foods that we like and that we are familiar with is frightening.

So you have a choice.  And in many ways its a simple one. Do you choose to try to change your diet to better your health, or do you continue down the same road you are on already, eating foods that you know might be harming you, complaining about that and not doing anything to change? Continue Reading »

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Thinking about Food Insecurity

Nov 9th, 2011 by

LG office passes out groceries with Second Har...

Patrons of a Food Bank

In Washington DC, Delegate Eleanore Holmes Norton and others are attempting to live on SNAP benefits for a week. SNAP stands for “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program” (also known to many as food stamps). The average monthly benefit for one person in 2011 was $133.49 per month which works out to approximately $29.66 a week (assuming an average of 4.5 weeks a month) or $4.23 a day. Doesn’t sound like much does it?

There have been various iterations of food stamp programs in the United States, going back to 1939. The first Food Stamp program was set up to use up food that the government deemed to be in surplus for people on relief. Since then there have been many iterations of helping the poor obtain food. This program has been with us through both Republican and Democratic led governments. The purpose of the program, as laid out in its implementation is to assist low-income households in obtaining adequate and nutritious diets.

In June, 2011 45,183,931 Americans received SNAP benefits. This cost our government $64.7 billion in 2010. It sounds like a lot of money, but it’s not enough. Not by a long shot. There is no data that I can find about how many people actually try to live exclusively on their SNAP benefits, but I have to assume given the anecdotal evidence of how many are people shopping at Wal-Mart at midnight at the end of the month that the number is high.

Continue Reading »

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Posted in food activism | 4 Comments »

Giving up on Orange Juice

Nov 2nd, 2011 by

A glass of Orange juice.

Most of us think this is all natural.

I haven’t really drunk orange juice for a number of years. Fruit juices have a lot of sugars in them, and not much else. I’d rather eat a piece of fruit rather than drink it. Still my boyfriend likes orange juice and I kept it in the house for when he was here. I would also occasionally use it in recipes. So its been a staple in my refrigerator for years.

But no more….

Continue Reading »

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Posted in food activism, Ingredients | 3 Comments »

Milk and Cookies at the FDA November 1st.

Oct 27th, 2011 by

Milk and Cookies

Raw Milk and Cookies. Lets give some to the FDA

You are invited to the RAW MILK FREEDOM RIDERS™

“Milk and Cookies”

Rally and Demonstration

FDA Headquarters, Silver Spring, MD

November 1, 2011

12:00-3:00pm.

Prior to the rally, a group of parents will illegally transport raw milk across state lines and bring it to the rally, at FDA headquarters, for distribution.  The FDA has been invited to the scene of the crime (see Max’s video  inviting them) and is welcome to join us for a nourishing, wonderful, raw milk and cookies picnic.  We’ve made it super easy for them by bringing the goodies right to them.

Please Join Food Freedom Fighters

 

MICHAEL SCHMIDT, Canadian raw milk farmer and activist

Joel Salatin Of Polyface Farms

Kristin Canty Producer of Farmageddon

David Gumpert, Blogger, the Complete Patient

Karine Bouis-Towe, Co-Founder Farm Food Freedom Coalition

Liz Reitzig, Co-Founder Farm Food Freedom Coalition

Max Kane, Wisconsin Raw milk Activist

Mark McAfee, Organic Pastures Dairy

John Moody, Food Club, Kentucky

Denise Dixon, Owner, Morningland Dairy

Sally Fallon Morell of Weston A. Price Foundation

RAW MILK FREEDOM RIDERS, and RALLY PARTICIPANTS

As we peacefully demonstrate in front of the FDA our right to purchase, transport and consume RAW milk and cookies!

EMBEDDED REPORTERS

Adam Kokesh of Adam vs the Man

Robert Scott Bell of the Robert Scott Bell Show

And Carolyn Lochhead of the San Francisco Chronicle

Will be along to cover the action!  Stay tuned!

Please bring Cookies!

If you are unable to make it, we would appreciate small donations to help cover expenses https://www.wepay.com/donate/143901

Invite your friends:  https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=291787024165804#!/event.php?eid=291787024165804

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Pure Food – how far we have fallen

Oct 27th, 2011 by

Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United St...

Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States.

In 1906 Upton Sinclair published “The Jungle”. The book was supposed to be about  “the inferno of exploitation [of the typical American factory worker at the turn of the 20th Century]”. It was best known however for its scathing exposé on the Chicago meatpacking industry and their practices. The book and the disgusting practices it brought to light was one of the reasons that President Theodore Roosevelt (who received an advanced copy of the book) pushed through the Pure Food and Drug Act that same year.

The Pure Food and Drug act provided “For preventing the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated or misbranded or poisonous or deleterious foods, drugs, medicines, and liquors, and for regulating traffic therein, and for other purposes.”  This act led to the Federal Drug Administration’s (FDA) founding. Continue Reading »

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Posted in food activism | 2 Comments »

Why I Preserve

Oct 26th, 2011 by

A Little Peace of Mind

I’ve been canning for about three years now. During that time, I get looks of puzzlement when people ask me what my hobbies are and I reply “canning”. People tend to relate canning to frugality and most of them have decided that canning just doesn’t save enough money for the time and effort it takes.

I don’t do it for the frugality, though I think I actually spend less on the actual ingredients and tools than I would on buying the equivalents, I do it for a number of reasons.

Continue Reading »

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Posted in Personal Story, Preserving | 3 Comments »

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