Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The Top Ten Reasons to Go Green (Vegetables, that is)

1. They are high in fiber and rich in minerals. 
2. They are a good source of calcium. 
3. They go great with any meal, breakfast, lunch and dinner. 
4. They can be sautéed, steamed or blanched. 
5. They can be cooked in grain and pasta dishes. 
6. Some of them can be cooked with their roots, very dynamic! 
7. They can be sautéed and added to beans dishes. 
8. You can roll them up and smoke them (don’t worry, just kidding!) 
9. They can be used in salads. 
10. They can be grown in a backyard garden or on your back porch. 

Here is a list of my favorite greens that also just happen to be the most beneficial for your health. 

Arugula
Baby bok choy
Belgian Endive
Bok choy
Broccoli Rabe
Collards
Carrot greens
Daikon radish greens
Dandelion greens
Escarole
Kale, such as Lacinto, Red Russian, Green Curly
Leeks
Lettuce greens, such as Iceberg, Romaine, Red Leaf, and Bibb
Mizuna (a kind of green that can often be found in an Asian market)
Mustard greens
Napa cabbage
Purslane
Red radish greens
Turnip greens
Wild Watercress

I wish you all good health and good luck! Also, érinn go brách!

Monticello and the Case of the Missing Blueberry

One of our last hurrahs for the summer was a weekend trip to visit our family in Virginia.
As “foodies” and staunch advocates of organic gardening, we thought it would be fun to visit

Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello.

We left Philadelphia early and arrived at Nathan and Marina’s home a little after lunchtime. Since we wanted to make the most of our time at Monticello, we grabbed some organic walnuts and blueberries to take along as snacks. 

Look they even have bees!

There is a lot to see at Monticello. We opted for the garden tour. 

All I can say is that Thomas Jefferson was a landscape genius. 

Every aspect of the garden was impeccably designed and well thought out to create an outdoor masterpiece. Thomas Jefferson 

was also into seed preservation and collected many varieties of heirloom seeds from his garden. It is interesting that what one of America’s founding fathers respected the the importance of good food and understood the role it plays in our future. Jefferson had 

the insight to preserve seed quality. Unfortunately, these days many people seem to want to do exactly the opposite of this, thanks to modern agricultural practices and politics.

Summer squash 

Food quality is important to me and I want to know what I am eating;

I want to keep my blueberries pure and free of genetically 

modified ingredients.

And now for the magic question, why the title of this post? Well, one thing about organic foods is that they are not all perfect which is exactly the way food is supposed to be. In a box of fruit you may get two or three inedible pieces as I did with my blueberries. In my effort to separate out my few funky berries, one escaped. We searched the car several times but the berry was never found. I guess it is just one of those unsolved mysteries.

Denny, Susan, Nathan and Marina overlooking the lower garden.

 

The Wonders of Brown Rice and Cooking Tips

Pressure cooked Brown rice with Quinoa

Brown rice is the most unique grain of all the whole cereal grains. It is a very adaptable grain in that it grows on both dry land and in water. It combines beautifully with other grains (whole or cracked), beans and vegetables. Grains and beans which require a longer cooking time, when cooked with brown rice, adjust their cooking time to that of the rice.

I believe that we are what we eat. My theory is that you have the potential to become more flexible and adaptable- like the rice itself- from including brown rice as part of your regular diet.

Many of my students say they have difficulty in preparing brown rice well. I often hear the comment that they cannot get their rice to taste like mine. So, here are some of my tips for cooking brown rice- I hope you find them to be helpful and inspiring!

The most important factors in making a good pot of brown rice is to have respect, appreciation, and love for this powerful food. All these aspects will help with your approach in preparing the rice, and every step is done with care and intention from beginning to end.


Sorting and Soaking Brown Rice

The first step is to carefully measure out the desired amount of grain you wish to cook. Use a “dry” measuring cup. Place the rice in an earthenware bowl to wash the rice and remove any debris.

Note: If you are using freshly hulled rice you need to sort through the rice to remove any of the remaining hulls.

Fill the bowl with filtered water, enough to cover the rice by a couple of inches. I use my hand and slowly move the rice in the water. Next, I use my hand as a sieve and pour off the rinse water. I generally rinse two more times.

Carefully measure the amount of water. This may vary according to the environmental conditions. Brown rice is alive and sensitive to its environment, so we need to adjust the water proportionately to the consistency we desire. When pressure cooking I use a ratio of 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups of water for every 1 cup of grain. When boiling the rice, the ratio is 2 cups of water for every 1 cup of grain.

Pour the water over the rice and cover the rice with a bamboo mat, allowing the rice to soak up to 23 hours, preferably overnight. Note, the longer the rice soaks the more nutrients are released. I have found the rice tastes sweeter when it soaks overnight. During the night the atmosphere is more yin. At night we also receive more of an active charge from the celestial world. This in turn affects the type of charge and ki we create in the rice we make. During this process it is important to think of happy, positive thoughts, which in turn create a more peaceful, harmonious type of nourishment.

Cooking Your Brown Rice

How do you know which cooking method to use? Each cooking method has its advantage. The difference is in the texture, consistency and overall energetic quality of the rice. Pressure cooked rice tends to be more glutenous and chewy, while boiled rice is more soft and moist. The glutenous texture of pressure cooked rice strengthens the digestive system by helping to restore the natural flexibility to the intestines. Additionally more chewing is required which is alkalizing to the blood and builds good immunity. Boiled rice creates a more soft and moist texture. This consistency is more relaxing to the digestive system and helpful if someone has hard and tight intestines.

Pressure-Cooked Brown Rice:

Place the soaked rice and the soaking water in the pressure cooker. If additional water is needed you may add it at this time. Add either a small pinch of sea salt or a postage size piece of kombu/kelp

Place the lid on the cooker and bring up to pressure on a medium flame. The pressure will make a hissing sound, which becomes louder and clearer as the cooker reaches full pressure. Most modern cookers have a button on the lid, which pops up. You can test the pressure by lightly pressing on the button, it should be firm. Next, place a flame deflector under the cooker and lower the flame. This is the part that can get a little tricky you want to maintain enough pressure so the consistency of the cooked rice is glutinous and somewhat sticky, but not too much that the texture becomes dense. As the rice cooks a wonderful sweet fragrance can be detected. If you smell different and your cooker keeps hissing at you, please adjust your flame! Remember, “Your nose never lies”! When the time is up remove the pot from the stove and allow the pressure to come down naturally. Carefully place the cooked rice in a wooden bowl or earthenware-serving dish and cover with a sushi mat.


Boiled brown rice

Boiled brown rice requires more water than pressure cooked rice. It has more relaxed energetic qualities and the consistency is more soft and moist. To prepare the rice follow the same initial steps of sorting, washing and soaking the grain. When you are ready to cook place the rice and the soaking water in a pot, then turn the flame on to a medium lower setting. Partially cover the pot and bring to a boil. When the water begins to boil add either a small pinch of sea salt or a small piece of kombu/kelp. Cover the rice completely, place a flame deflector under the pot and turn the flame to the lowest setting.

Simmer on low for 1 hour. When your rice is done, remove it from the pot, place in a serving dish and cover with a bamboo mat.

Helpful hint: Boiled rice turns out best when you use a heavier pot with a heavier lid.

Connecting the Dots, and a recipe for Roots and Greens

Life is filled with choices and each day we will make choices that directly effect our lives.

If we take this a step further and think about how our choices also effect our family and loved ones, what about our community, what about society and what about the world?

There are so many things to think about it can be a bit overwhelming. The state of the world is in crisis- I don’t even need to go into all the problems. I would rather spend my time talking about the simple things we do have control of and begin to teach people how to implement some of these ideas. Start by making small changes on a personal level, and really, what is more personal than the food we eat? Making subtle changes to your diet and lifestyle creates positive momentum in both your own life as well as in the lives of others. This is like connecting dots on a sheet of paper. At first, only one or two dots might be connected, but after a while you start to see that all of the dots become connected as part of a whole.

When we choose to adopt a plant-based diet we are making an impact on the health of the planet and reaping the benefits of obtaining personal health. I am in support of a plant-based diet centered around grains and vegetables. Eat plant foods that are grown in a sustainable, organic way, free from GMOs, and do your part to help preserve the Earth.

Roots and Greens 

Baby turnips with Greens

This is a unique vegetable dish which involves cooking the roots of a vegetable together with the leafy greens. When you eat a dish like this you get the health benefit of uplifting energetic quality of the greens in addition to the gathering and centering quality of the roots. It may have the ability to help us see a more complete or bigger picture, and after all, isn’t that really what macrobiotics is about? Maybe if we eat more roots cooked with their tops we will complete more projects! Give it a try- at the minimum, they taste delicious!

Ingredients:
Choose from the following vegetables:                                                
Carrots and carrot tops
Daikon and Daikon greens
Turnip and Turnip greens
Radish and Radish greens

Roots may be cut into matchsticks, diced, or a half-moon wedge shapes (keep in a bowl)
Stems may be cut more finely and separated from the roots and leaves (in the case of carrots the stems need to be cut super fine).
Leaves may be cut thin or left whole, as in the case with baby turnips and red radishes.
Sea salt (a tiny pinch, about 1/16 of a teaspoon)
Shoyu (Just a few drops will do it)
Water 

Preparation:
Roots and greens may be prepared in by using a steam method or a sauté and simmer technique. They are also delicious cooked together in savory soups.
Sauté and simmer method:
Gently heat a cast iron pot. Add the roots with a small amount of water and begin sautéing.
Add a tiny pinch of salt and continue to sauté.
Add a small amount of water, cover and simmer a few minutes to reach the desired texture.
Create a space in your pot by gently pushing the roots to one side. Add the stems, then gently fold the roots on top of the stems. Cover and continue to simmer a few more minutes.
Add the leafy greens. Lightly season the dish with a couple drops of shoyu, then fold the bottom into the top to thoroughly blend the seasoning.
Cover and steam for another 30 seconds to 1 minute.
Place in a serving dish and cover with a bamboo mat.

Steam Method:
Place roots in a pot with a small amount of water.
Place the greens on top of the roots.
Cover and cook with high steam for 5 minutes or longer.
Season with a little shoyu toward the end of cooking and continue to simmer for 1 minute.