Meal planning and preparation

People often say to me, "You must spend all your time cooking!" And while I do spend a lot more time in the kitchen than the average U.S. citizen (partly because of all the dishes I have to wash!), I have many ways of making this style of eating practical and manageable. Let me share some of my tips and recommendations with you:

Rule #1 --> PLAN AHEAD!
This is the cardinal rule of successful meal planning. Get yourself a nice spiral-bound hardcover notebook that's a pleasure to write in (as well as a really good pen!) and start setting aside about an hour each week when you can think about the coming week's meals, and what your schedule is going to be like. I like to make a list of meal components (i.e. soup or muffins), snacks, and treats on one page, with the actual tasks I need to complete on the opposite page. Sometimes I make notes in my iPhone, but it's always nicer when I have time for the notebook method. Then I assign the tasks that need to be done to specific days of the week in my iPhone app (I have one called Put Things Off which works great for this). I keep my shopping list in an iPhone app as well -- but rest assured a notebook works just as well, or a list that you keep posted on the fridge. Be sure to write neatly so you can quickly and easily reference your list -- it's no good if you can't read what you wrote because you dashed it off so quickly!

Here are my lists for this week -- meal components on the left, tasks on the right (notice how detailed the tasks listed are, down to reminders to cook extra bacon over the weekend to use in Hugo's potato salad):

Rule #2 --> PREP AHEAD!
All that great planning won't do you any good if you don't follow it up with some serious meal prep ahead of time. Find a few time slots where you can take a couple of hours (or longer) to really prepare for the week. If possible, this should be a time when you are alone and uninterrupted! I use the time I have to myself on weekends when Hugo takes Oliver to the playground, or out to play in the snow, or for a walk, etc. This usually gives me 2-3 hours once or twice to devote to cooking some things in advance (while wearing Weston in the wrap). The goal is to have snacks, treats, and meal components ready and waiting so you can throw together meals, or pack lunches to go without too much hassle. (I'll show you below what I prep ahead so you can see this in action.)

I don't do everything on the weekend, though. I make chicken broth during the week at least once (8-10 quarts each time) since we go through a LOT of it. [I use it to braise meat, as the base for soup, and just to drink. I like to plan a soup or stew that Hugo will take as part of his work lunches, and I generally make that serve as dinner one night over the weekend or on a Monday night, along with these coconut flour biscuits (I omit the honey and use slightly more coconut flour).] Yogurt and kefir I also make during the week; usually yogurt is made once (4 quarts at a time) and kefir three times (about 3 cups at a time). Most of the other items I make over the weekend.

Rule #3 --> KEEP IT SIMPLE
You may have noticed that I haven't said anything about actually planning out what each and every meal will be. That's because I don't. And once you're adept at planning and prepping ahead, you won't need to either (though at first it would probably be a very good idea).

When we get our delivery of farm-fresh foods (pastured meats, eggs, raw dairy) we stock up for the entire month, which means that #1) our chest freezer really comes in handy!, and #2) we pretty much always have a sizable supply of frozen meats on hand (steaks, pork chops & ribs, stew meat, ground beef, chicken liver, whole roasting chickens, hot dogs, beef tongue, bacon, etc.). Our dinners consist for the most part of meat + vegetable, so each morning I just decide what I feel like making that night and get it out to thaw on the counter (unless it's a chicken, which needs to thaw overnight). The vegetable portion of the meal will generally be baked acorn squash with butter, or frozen veggies (see below), also with butter, or sometimes a salad. I make baked potatoes or yams a few times a week for Hugo when we have steaks or chops (and always bake a few extras to chop up and fry in bacon fat for him for weekend brunch!). By basing meals around a meat and a vegetable (always with fermented veggies, usually sauerkraut or pickles alongside) we keep things very simple. If you only shop for a week's ingredients at a time then you will need to plan things out more carefully so that you are sure to have enough in the freezer.

Here are a few other "rules" to follow and things to keep in mind:

1) Decide it's worthwhile --> because it is! Eating home-cooked food made using the best nutrient-dense ingredients from local grass-based organic farms is the single most important step in keeping your family healthy. To state this very simplistically, you can either spend time cooking good food, or you can spend time being sick and taking care of sick kids. In the distant past people spent probably the majority of their time hunting, growing, skinning, cleaning, cooking, preserving, harvesting, and storing their food -- we have the luxury of just having to cook it!

2) Make it enjoyable --> for me this means having public radio or music to listen to easily in the kitchen. It also means buying the best ingredients, using only glass jars for storing items in the pantry, having the kitchen equipment and pots I need, and taking the time I need to do things right.

3) Consider increasing your food budget --> we spend a large percentage of our disposable income on food, and I consider it money well spent! If it's an option for your family, see where you can make some adjustments in other areas so you can get really good meats, eggs, dairy, and locally-sourced or organic produce. In my experience, you can either spend money on good food or on health care -- and I much prefer the former!

4) Take some shortcuts --> One of my favorite shortcuts is using organic frozen veggies. I keep a stock of spinach, broccoli florets, petite peas, and chopped green beans in my freezer so I can pull some out at any time and cook it up in a few minutes in a small pot with butter, salt, pepper, and sometimes a little water. I don't worry too much about whether these veggies are less nutritious because frozen; after all, the bulk of our nutrition is coming from high-quality animal foods (meats, eggs, raw dairy) which are all produced organically and from animals raised on grass grown in fertile soil, which is the best way to get the most easily-absorbed forms of all the nutrients your body needs (and no, this doesn't mean we don't eat fruits and veggies and nuts, but with the quality of soil declining dramatically on the large commercial organic farms, most produce just isn't as nutritious as it used to be). Mainly frozen peas (or baked acorn squash) are what I choose for a quick meal accompaniment because my diet is very low in carbs overall and I need some carbs with dinner.

My other favorite shortcut is ordering from Fresh Direct which I do every other week or sometimes weekly when our local farmers' market isn't on, mainly for organic produce and some seafood. Yes, this means spending about $10.00 on delivery charges and tip, but if it saves me hauling two young children to the grocery store, then hauling them plus groceries home again it's worth it! If it makes sense where you live to take advantage of a service like this so you can spend more time cooking then do it. Your time is valuable and you need to spend it wisely.

Now to show you how this all plays out in a given week.

This week I have planned the following meal components:

For Hugo to take to work (Oliver and I will share the starred* foods)
-breakfast quiche* (egg & cheese, no crust)
-banana muffins* (made with coconut flour--will be trying this recipe this time)
-yogurt with bananas or blueberries (frozen) & granola
-leftover cashew-crusted chicken patties with homemade BBQ sauce
-potato salad with green peppers, olive oil & bacon
-hard-cooked eggs with mustard-mayo
-baked ham slices*
-refried beans with homemade creme fraiche (left over from weekend brunch--kept hot in a good thermos)
-chicken soup* (kept hot in a thermos)

For our lunches at home (Oliver and me)
-leftover beef tongue from this past week
-frozen tiny shrimp with lemon & butter (already peeled, these cook up in just a few minutes)
-leftover chicken soup
-baked ham slices
-cashew crackers with leftover pate from this past week
-cashew crackers with salmon salad

For snacks
-raw cottage cheese with oranges
-fresh pineapple
-beef summer sausage
-a variety of raw hard cheeses
-organic apples
-salted pistachios
-yogurt
-kefir
-chicken broth (I have a big mug of this with chopped scallions and cilantro before bed)

For desserts after meals (mainly for Oliver)
-leftover butternut squash custard
-leftover raisin cake (I make this using sunflower seeds)
-bananas with raw cream
-blueberries with creme fraiche
-chocolate cookies made with coconut flour (mainly for Hugo; I don't bother with the cookie press)

Other
-lettuce, for salads
-salad dressing
-chopped scallions & tomatoes to saute in butter and serve with scrambled eggs (for me)

By the end of this weekend I will have accomplished the following:
-made potato salad
-made quiche
-chopped tomatoes, scallions, and oranges
-thawed milk for making yogurt and kefir, and for Hugo to drink this week
-made refried beans (from beans soaked on Friday and cooked on Saturday)
-made salad dressing
-thawed blueberries
-made banana muffins (we easily go through 12 weekly)

I have lots of things already made and left over from this past week (many of these things were made/done late in the week, on Thursday or Friday -- I love getting a hard start!):
-lettuce leaves, washed and chopped
-cilantro, washed and dried, roots discarded
-pate
-cashew crackers
-cut up pineapple
-chicken patties from Friday night
-butternut squash custard
-raisin cake (a tiny bit left)
-beef tongue (one serving left)
-chicken broth
-yogurt
-kefir
-coconut-olive mayo
-chocolate cookies (made with coconut flour)

Later this week I will bake a small pastured ham and boil some eggs for Hugo's Thursday and Friday lunches. Monday I will make chicken soup and salmon salad, and Tuesday I will make yogurt and a batch of kefir.

Coconut oil deodorant

I recently read a line in a book about how cancerous breast tissue often contains large quantities of aluminum. Yikes! After reading that I was extra glad I had switched to this natural deodorant several months ago. Of course, aluminum has been linked not only to cancer, but to Alzheimer's as well, so it's definitely something to avoid. Aside from aluminum, most commercial deodorants also contain parabens (which serve as stabilizers). Parabens mimic estrogen and can negatively affect the body over time.

It's easy to forget that everything we put on our skin ends up being absorbed right into our bodies. In fact, I have heard that topical application is often a better way of absorbing medications and other treatments than by taking them orally! This means you should be extra careful about what you are putting on your skin, especially if you're going to be wearing it a long time (like deodorant, lipstick, and body lotion). I recommend unrefined shea butter for a moisturizer, and since coconut oil is edible this deodorant recipe is very wholesome and fine to put on your underarms, even after shaving.

So how can this be effective? It's all about the magical antibacterial properties of coconut oil -- which after working their magic on Hugo's normal guy smelliness really have me impressed! The downside is that in this summer heat the deodorant melts in the medicine cabinet and requires a little finger-stir before applying. This doesn't bother me -- it still works great and is quickly absorbed by the skin. At our house we were a little skeptical that this would actually work (we've tried EVERYTHING "natural" on the market, to no avail!), but even Hugo is now an enthusiastic convert.

Here is also a little testimonial from my sister:
"By the way, the deoderant is phenomenal! It doesn't hurt at all, and it's extremely effective without having any foreign smell! Thanks!" (I should mention here that I used the semi-refined oil which is odorless; the extra-virgin stuff smells great, though, and is very mild if you want to use that.)


You will need just 3 ingredients:

--6-8 tablespoons coconut oil (semi-refined expeller-pressed which has no smell; or extra-virgin which has a coconut scent/flavor) Order from WildernessFamilyNaturals.com
--1/4 cup arrowroot powder (or organic talc-free corn starch -- you would NOT want genetically-modified corn starch on your underarms!)
--1/4 cup baking soda

This makes a double batch; to fill my little glass jar (which originally came filled with shea butter) I use half this amount.

The trick in hot weather will be to refrigerate the oil until it is solid, then let it sit at room temperature just until it softens enough to mix with the other ingredients. Mix in a bowl with a spoon, and add more oil or arrowroot as needed to make a good consistency. Do not go overboard on the arrowroot trying to make a really thick paste -- it will end up having a powdery quality that might leave a residue on your armpits.

One last thing: you will still sweat while wearing this deodorant (which is natural and healthy, and important for detoxifying), but it will be reduced. If you plan to be outside doing the proverbial strenuous activity then please apply a few times, and re-apply as needed. For regular activities, working, etc. just one application in the morning is sufficient. Be sure to rub it in!

For storage you can use any small glass containers you may have lying around. Let me know how you like it!

P.S. Almost forgot to thank my friend and Bay Ridge neighbor, Esther, with passing along this recipe. Thank you, Esther!

How to make ghee

Place butter in an oven-proof dish and melt at 140-150 degrees. When the clear golden liquid has separated from the milk solids, carefully pour off the oil (ghee) and allow to solidify in the refrigerator. The milk solids (which will contain the salt if you used salted butter) are absolutely delicious, and redolent of SmartFood cheddar cheese popcorn...YUM. Ghee, otherwise known as clarified butter, is suitable for people on the GAPS diet because it does not contain milk solids, the part of dairy that can cause problems in individuals with gut dysbiosis. Ghee may be enjoyed just like butter, and will not burn (supposedly -- I haven't tested this completely) when over-heated (unlike butter).

Many people bring up traditional Indian people as representatives of healthy vegan populations, but in fact these people were not only consuming fair amounts of bug larvae due to their harvesting methods -- they also ate plenty of wonderfully nutritious, cultured ghee from grass-fed cows. Of course, I always recommend using raw milk butter from grass-fed cows for making ghee, or for topping your toast. :)

Tooth powder

After a year spent trying every kind of natural toothpaste on the market (including a particularly atrocious one called Peelu, which contains tiny vegetable fibers that, rather than cleaning your teeth, get stuck between them!), and then using tooth soap for a few months, I was about to get myself some ash and a twig and do things the old fashioned way. Fortunately I saw sense, and decided instead to try tooth powder (recipe found in Cure Tooth Decay: Heal and Prevent Cavities with Nutrition -- a FANTASTIC book I recommend to everyone). I was hesitant at first because I tend to have sensitive teeth and I thought this would worsen the sensitivity because the salt is a little abrasive. However, it seemed my teeth were turning yellow with the tooth soap (which makes sense as there is nothing abrasive in tooth soap, which is simply a liquid -- however, I am sure it works well for many people), so I decided tooth powder might be the answer. It is more palatable than brushing with baking soda alone, though it definitely does have a salty flavor.

The problem with toothpastes, even those that are fluoride-free (remember, fluoride is an industrial poison and can cause tooth decay, late eruption of teeth from the gums, fluorosis (white spots on teeth), and many more problems), and contain no SLS (sodium lauryl/laureth sulfate), is that every single brand has glycerin, which is derived from vegetables and needed to maintain moistness. Unfortunately, glycerin is an inherently sticky paste which adheres very stubbornly to teeth and causes problems over time -- it would take 28 rinses to get all the glycerin off, and who has time for that?!

I have been brushing for about a week with tooth powder and so far, it is hands-down my favorite.

Tooth powder recipe:
1 tbsp. baking soda
1 tsp. fine-ground Celtic sea salt
10 drops peppermint oil

Mix all. Sprinkle a pinch or two on a wet toothbrush and enjoy the clean feeling and a very healthy smile!

And yes, I store ours in an individual-sized glass butter dish from Williams-Sonoma. At $6, this was the most expensive part of our tooth-cleaning regimen.

Don't forget that in the past, people did not use toothpaste, but rather brushed with things like ash and baking soda. Some people, like the Swiss living in isolated areas of the Rhone Valley, never brushed and still enjoyed complete freedom from decay (as Weston A. Price discovered)! Along with bad food, toothpaste is a modern invention and a grand money-making scheme. People who have decayed teeth have them because of a diet poor in nutrients and/or rich in refined sugar, white flour, and other processed, denatured foods. (To sum up the reason for this, it is due to the fact that these foods cause an imbalance in blood sugar, resulting in minerals being pulled from the bones and teeth. I highly recommend reading Cure Tooth Decay to completely understand your dental well-being and how to improve it, regardless of age or dental health. Most of the decay problems begin on the inside of the body, in the level and balance of specific minerals in the blood stream, not in the mouth itself.)

There is much more to be discussed on this topic, but here is one example of how the modernization of diet has transformed our dental health, facial structure, and dental palate width (thus plaguing every modern child for the last 40 years with cavities, crowded teeth, malocclusion, and impacted wisdom teeth) -- truly a triumph for the dental and orthodontic industries, but a tragedy for the rest of us!

The grandmother, at right, was of Polish Jewish descent and born in 1899 to recent immigrants to London's East End from Galicia. She lived to be 90 years old. Note the wide face and wide dental palate, with ample room for all her teeth (and no, this woman did not have orthodontics!). Her daughter's face is much narrower, with a noticeably narrowed dental palate, but still with straight teeth (as she grew up during the 30s, she would not have had orthodontics either). The little boy at left is the most striking -- a narrow face, narrow dental palate, and teeth that will need a lot of help to be straight. We can only speculate about the diet of the grandmother as a child, and the diet of her mother while she was pregnant and breastfeeding, but likely it was very nutrient-dense, with plenty of liver, sourdough breads, preserved fish and meats, and much more. (for a closer look, see this link)

Curry-apple-chicken salad

A perfect use for leftover roast chicken: curry-apple-chicken salad!

The hardest part is removing all the meat from the bones and patiently separating the edibles from the inedibles -- I'm very picky about this as I do not like any type of cartilage, skin, or other unappetizing parts in my chicken salad. Be sure to save the bones, skin, and everything you don't eat for making stock (a.k.a. bone broth).

Chop the meat into small pieces, and mix with plenty of chopped apple (try half an apple to start), homemade mayonnaise, curry powder (I use muchi curry), salt, and black pepper. Serve on toasted, buttered whole wheat sourdough bread topped with mustard greens, kale, or your choice of seasonal greens. This is a perfect lunch box meal, provided you have an insulated bag (like these from BuiltNY) and freezer pack.


The version of this that I made last spring, which featured fresh arugula, made for a prettier picture.

Here is a special tip on roasting chicken: If you were smart and saved all the juice and fat after roasting the chicken (assuming you didn't make gravy with it), you can refrigerate the juice/fat in a gravy boat, and when it solidifies simply remove the fat from the top and save it for frying potatoes or making chopped liver (recipe coming soon!). This fat is also known as schmaltz. So now you know where that term came from. :)

Stock improves!

Many people in the responsible-omnivore movement highlight the importance of "eating the whole animal," not just chicken breasts or prime rib. This was an important practice of traditional people, who recognized the nutritional value to be found in all parts of the animal; it also made food go much further and meant that families could be satisfied with less meat because they were using other nutrient-dense animal parts that kept them going much longer than meat alone could ever do. Farm wives of the past would use everything from feathers, feet, and gizzards when slaughtering a valuable chicken (and all chickens were very valuable). Many people who live on farms today still follow these practices. The summer issue of Gastronomica had a fascinating article on a traditional dish of the Piedmont area of Italy that incorporates such unmentionable chicken parts as testicles and wattles -- and yes, people still eat this!


I am slowly incorporating more of these methods into our way of eating, and while I don't plan on eating rooster wattles or testicles any time soon, I finally got brave enough to try making stock with chicken feet. There was a bit of the grossness factor that I had to get over, so I just tried not to look at them as I slipped them into the big pot of water along with a chicken carcass, cut-up onions, celery, and carrots, and 1 tbsp. of vinegar. I simmered everything for at least 6 hours, adding sea salt along the way, then strained out all the solids, and let me tell you, the end result was like no stock I have ever tasted. It was absolutely divine: deep golden-brown, rich, flavorful, and (as a single sip told me instantly) just brimming with minerals. Turns out this stock was also incredibly gelatin-rich -- it gelled beautifully in the fridge, which is THE sign of a truly nutritious, properly-made stock. Many people are tempted to believe this "jelly" is just fat and therefore must be bad for them, but it is actually gelatin which improves digestion and absorption of nutrients, imparts valuable minerals to our bodies, and has many healing properties (thus the old adage that chicken soup is good for a cold). People in many traditional cultures have sayings to the effect that "broth will cure anything" or "a good broth will raise the dead."


An endocrinologist I used to see (hurrah! no more need for that!) told me once in horror about the oxtail soup her mother made for her after her difficult labor and delivery with her first child. She was eating it gleefully for days, but then one day when she was finally up and around again she looked in the fridge for something to eat and discovered a big pot of what looked like pale-brown jelly. She was horrified when her mother told her that this was the oxtail soup she had been eating! The wise Western medical doctor, believing this to be pure saturated fat, gave her silly traditional Venezuelan mother a good scolding and promptly threw away the soup -- along with its amazing store of nutrients and healing gelatin. I had no idea at the time she told me this tale that the jellied soup had actually been gelatin rather than fat, though I suspected that something was amiss in her beliefs about it (as many of us know, saturated fat would be solid after refrigeration, like butter). Of course, her mother couldn't explain why it was so good for her, but definitely knew that she needed to feed it to her recovering daughter! Alas, how sad that we now think we know better than our ancestors what it takes to be healthy and well.

A bag of chicken feet from our buyers' club cost me $1.75. Since I can only order this from them once per month (the other farmer I order from doesn't offer them), I picked up a bag for $5 at the Union Square Greenmarket last Friday (from Flying Pigs Farm) and will be making stock with it sometime this coming weekend. At either price, chicken feet are now an indispensable part of chicken stock in our house. Here is the yield from this stock-making episode (a little less than 3 quarts, a typical amount from our large pot). I've included the carrots in the picture as these are the pieces I saved to feed Oliver:

Preparing for the week

I will be honest with you here: eating well does require commitment, time, and planning ahead. I probably spend 2 hours per day preparing food (this includes 3 meals and sometimes packing a lunch for Hugo), and this doesn't include planning and shopping or cleaning up. I could do it more quickly, but I enjoy my time in the kitchen with Oliver playing at my feet, so I do things at a somewhat leisurely pace. I realize, of course, that I am pretty spoiled to be able to take time preparing healthy meals from fresh ingredients, but most of the things I make are far from elaborate and with a little prep work on the weekend it's possible to enjoy delicious meals all week without too much labor.

The picture above shows seeds (all beans, nuts, and whole grains are really seeds) of various kinds soaking in water and either salt or whey. Soaking neutralizes phytic acid in whole grains and de-activates enzyme inhibitors found in all forms of seeds. Soaking also renders seeds of all kinds more nutritious and digestible. For this week I am preparing the following:
1) black beans (which must be soaked with something acidic, like whey or lemon juice -- 2 tbsp. per cup of beans, and enough water to keep the beans covered as they swell)
2) peanuts (soaked with plenty of water and 1 tbsp. sea salt for about 4 cups of peanuts; later I will toast these in the oven for about 12-24 hours at 140 degrees, and make them into peanut butter with some coconut oil and sea salt)
3) quinoa (soaked with whey or lemon juice: 1 tbsp. per cup of grain. The longer you soak quinoa the better the results when it's cooked! Five days is great, but it should be at least one day.)
4) brown rice (also should be soaked overnight with lemon juice or whey: 1 tbsp. per cup of rice)

Other tasks for the week include:
-washing, chopping and taking the lettuce for a spin in the salad spinner
-cutting up the cantaloupe and melon
-making stock from the leftover chicken bones of last week's roasted chicken (I use carrots, celery, and onions for this, plus a big pot of water and 2 tbsp. raw apple cider vinegar to bring the minerals out of the bones and veggies). When the stock is done I will season it with sea salt and strain everything into freezer containers to be used later (such as, when cooking the beans and quinoa). I will also reserve the cooked carrots from the stock to use in the stuffed peppers.
-making bean dip after the beans are soaked and cooked (I use sour cream and spices and mix everything together in the food processor)
-making ice cream
-making salad dressing
-making peanut butter (when the peanuts have been soaked and toasted)
-marinating the tuna (rinse & pat dry the raw fresh tuna; then slice as desired and marinate in 2-4 tbsp. lime juice and an optional 2 tbsp. whey -- the bacteria found in raw lime juice and liquid whey will crowd out any dangerous bacteria on the raw fish so that it will be totally safe to eat. It also begins invisibly breaking down the tuna which makes it much easier to digest and absorb.)

I will also make mayo at some point this week, and chicken liver & onion pate (recipe to follow at some point soon!). Stay tuned for stuffed peppers with quinoa, and khoresh bademjan later in the week.

Please share about what you will be cooking (and/or eating) this week. What types of food preparations do you do early in the week so that you can eat well all week long?

Summer appetites

I think some of you were a little surprised when I told you how much protein I usually eat during the cooler months (around 80 grams a day). As I related in that entry, I have found that I need to eat a fair amount of protein on a regular basis to avoid cravings things like French fries, mozzarella sticks, and KFC (shudder). I also get up to 50% of my caloric intake from fat in the winter. However, once the warm weather comes around my needs and cravings change considerably.

In hot weather I want a lot more fruit, for one thing, and also lighter meals in general. The summer has been pretty temperate so far so the change hasn't been as dramatic as usual, but these days light summer lunches like salmon patties, salads, cottage cheese-and-fruit, and toast with pate and a side of veggies are more my style. This was my lunch today: toasted sourdough with raw milk butter, homemade chicken liver pate, sliced cucumber, and a small glass of raw milk kefir.

Have you noticed a difference in your cravings since the weather got warmer? What do you think your body is telling you? A lot of people crave sweet things, like ice cream, popsicles, fruit smoothies, iced coffee with sugar & cream, and energy drinks. I think the craving for sweets is one way our bodies have of telling us we're thirsty. Sometimes I will be just dying for a piece of fruit, but when I drink a glass of water the craving disappears.

Other times we crave salty foods more, like pickles and potato chips, when we're sweating a lot or outside in the sun for long periods. This can be due to the loss of minerals through our sweat. In cases like these it's a great idea to have water with a splash of juice, or a naturally lacto-fermented beverage like ginger ale. Or try incorporating more bone broth or stock into your summer dishes: chilled soups, whole grains (like brown rice), and beans can all be simmered with stock. Stock made from bones and veggies, with a little bit of acid (like wine, lemon juice, or vinegar) supplies many important minerals in the form of easy-absorbed electrolytes. Forget the Gatorade: all you need is a cup of broth!

Gorgeous Greens

Really, what could be more beautiful than spring greens? The yellow swiss chard is a vibrant green with lovely yellow stems, and all the baby greens are so delicate and delicious! (All available at your local farmers' market...spring is the time for greens, so get out there and get some!) Greens are purifying and uplifting - great for detoxifying after a long winter.

If you tend to leave bags of produce at the back of the fridge and forget about them (as I used to do) you might want to try these tips for ensuring you actually eat your greens in a timely manner:

1) invest in a good salad spinner - get a big one, and make it the best quality you can afford; it really makes cleaning & storing your greens easy and enjoyable. If you eat a LOT of greens like I do you may want a spinner and a crisper so you can keep your spinach separate from your salad greens, for example.
2) make a habit of washing & drying your greens soon after buying them, then store them conveniently in the salad spinner, crisper, or a large airtight container in the fridge - this way you can just reach into your spinner or crisper and pull out enough lettuce or spinach for your salad or other dish
3) look for delicate baby greens that are pre-washed or so small and clean they don't need to be chopped or washed, then just store them in a crisper or other large airtight container. Be sure to use them before a week is up (baby greens are delicate and don't last as well as larger leaf lettuces or hardier greens like chard and spinach).
4) for bunches of greens or heads of lettuce, simply chop off the stems or core, remove wilted or unhealthy leaves, then chop the remaining leaves coarsely (for example, at 3" intervals). Soak in a big bowl of cold water, swishing around to remove the dirt, then finish with a thorough spin in the salad spinner. (Ollie now does my spinning for me!)
5) remember to always cook your spinach before eating (steaming, sauteeing, and braising are 3 great ways to enjoy fresh spring spinach). Raw spinach is high in oxalic acid which can cause mineral deficiencies if eaten in large quantities (don't worry about the occasional leaf tossed into a salad).

Make whey while the sun shines

To put it very simply, whey is the watery part of milk and is rich in lactobacilli (friendly bacteria which produce lactic acid). I use it to start many food-prep processes, including soaking oatmeal, lacto-fermentation, preserving homemade mayo, and preparing raw fish. Before I started buying whey through our buyers' club, I made my own from a container of plain organic yogurt. I use Seven Stars, which worked well, but you could use any kind -- just make sure it's unflavored and full fat. As a byproduct (or really the whey is the byproduct I suppose) you will also have a sort of homemade cream cheese which is delicious spread on muffins. I take my recipe (and most of my recipes) from Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon. Here's what she writes:

"Line a large strainer set over a bowl with a clean dish towel. Pour in the yogurt, cover with a towel, and let stand at room temperature for about a day. The whey will run into the bowl and the milk solids will stay in the strainer. After a day, tie up the towel with the milk solids inside, being careful not to squeeze. Tie this little sack to a wooden spoon placed across the top of a container so that more whey can drip out. When the bag stops dripping, the cream cheese is ready. Store whey in a glass jar and cream cheese in a covered glass container. Refrigerated, the cream cheese keeps for about 1 month and the whey for about 6 months."

Urban farm lunch

So today I was going through the fridge and pantry trying to figure out what to have for lunch. This weekend was very busy so I didn't do any cooking which means we had no leftovers... HOWEVER, thanks to Saturday's Greenmarket trip I was still able to throw together a great lunch: whole wheat sourdough toasted with raw butter (as you can see, I eat LOTS of butter on my bread!), Cajun pheasant sausage, delicious crumbly raw milk cheddar from Central Valley Farm, a hard-boiled egg with Celtic sea salt, olives, sliced tomato and sliced kiwi (these last two from my last Urban Organic delivery of 2 weeks ago). I had a handful of crispy pumpkin seeds to start, and actually got to eat lunch alone (Oliver was napping) without any interruptions. Not too shabby for a rainy Monday. :)