THE OMNIVORE'S SOLUTION

A Fish Story

Take a break!  You deserve it!  This is 10 minutes of pure entertainment - enlightening, funny, educational and eye opening.  Dan Barber, a famous chef talks fish.

Seeds, Glorious Organic Seeds!

I just found a fantastic source for organic seeds as well as organic sprouting seeds at VERY reasonable prices!  They have a nifty little three tier kitchen sprouter that is quite inexpensive (under $20) as well.  Check it out!

Resources for the Healthiest Eating

I have been exploring some websites after reading the book Anti-Cancer in order to see what else might be in line with this type of thinking.  I have discovered two sites I really like with an excellent selection of tasty, easy, and extremely healthy recipes.  Each website offers inspiring stories and wonderful recipes that are cutting edge in terms of boosting the NK factor which is important for stopping the proliferation of cancer cells.  A quote from one site:

The body's most immediate and powerful protection against cancer, however, results from the action of natural killer cells (NK cells), a specialized form of lymphocyte. NK cells descend directly on a microscopic tumor and begin devouring and disintegrating the tissue. As a consequence, many tumors never make it beyond the early stages.

The Cancer Project site is a veritable gold mine of information for keeping the body healthy.  We all harbor cancer cells, we have all been exposed to many carcinogens, it is what we do proactively that determines how well we deal with these potentially invasive cells in our body.  The recipes look to include many of the important foods outlined in the Anti-Cancer book.  In the coming months I am going to rework some of the recipes to include even more of those hard-working ingredients.  I sent the tempeh recipe to a dear friend of ours and his response set me giggling for the whole morning.  I confessed to him that I purchase tempeh with all good intentions and then it sits in my refrigerator and takes on colorful hues.  His response:  " I didn’t realize that my tempeh technique (carefully aging it in the fridge) had made it to the east coast! "

The other site mentioned in the Cancer Project is equally inspiring and full of goodies:  PlantBasedHealth.com.  Katherine's story features another successful case of healing by diet.

For further inspiration on the role of NK cells and diet in our health - watch this video!

AND - visit the site of Dr. David Servan-Schreiber .  This is not just about cancer, folks, this is about all of us taking a precautionary approach to our diet.  I'll see if this blog can make it more tasty and fun!

Too Delicious to Shoot

Guilty!  No Picture!!!  Before we could remember to grab a camera, we and our guests were devouring this dish because the aroma was too much to bear.  The next day I got a request for the recipe, so I was coerced (thanks, Marsha) into remembering what I did to accomplish this veritable tour de force of flavors.  We accompanied this chicken dish with green beans and a salad that included farm market red oak lettuce, dried persimmons (H Mart discovery!), dried figs, Ash Chevre (from Cherry Glen at our farmer's market), crisp cucumber, and toasted walnuts with a nice balsamic dressing with fig vincotto, shallots and mustard.  I PROMISE, next time photos and a full salad recipe - but you get the idea.

Chicken with Red Wine Mushroom Sauce

Serves 8  

1/4 C olive oil

2 T unsalted butter

16 - 20 organic boneless, skinless chicken thighs

sea salt and pepper, freshly ground

flour for dusting

3 kinds of fresh mushrooms – you pick (about 3 – 4 cups, large dice)

1/2 C dried porcini mushrooms, rinsed, soaked in warm water for 30 minutes

2 leeks trimmed, split, and sliced in 1/4 inch half moons

4 large shallots, finely diced

1-2 red hot peppers (ripe jalapenos) de-seeded and deveined, finely minced

1 C red wine

1 C porcini soaking liquid

juice of one lemon

1/2 C fresh thyme, minced  

Sprinkle a fair amount of salt and pepper on the chicken.  Dredge each piece lightly in a plate of flour and place on a platter.  Heat large, heavy sauté pan over medium high heat and add olive oil and butter until the oil smiles.  Place 8-10 chicken thighs right side down, keeping folded as if bone was still there.  Be sure there is plenty of room for chicken.  Turn when starting to brown on top side.  You will have to brown the chicken in 2 batches.   Remove to platter when golden brown on both sides.  The chicken does not need to be cooked through and the middle will still be raw.

Meanwhile, drain porcini mushrooms through a fine sieve, saving soaking liquid.  Rinse porcini and chop into bite sized pieces.   Pour the excess fat out of pan so there is just a light coating of fat left.  Reduce heat to medium.  Add shallots and leeks and stir until translucent.  Add all mushrooms and sauté to coat with oil for a few minutes, adding a little olive oil if necessary.  Add about 1 C porcini broth and 1 C red wine and stir all ingredients to combine.    Place chicken, right side up on top of mushrooms.  Sprinkle with thyme and lemon juice and shake pan lightly to combine liquids.  Cover pan and turn heat to low, let cook for at least one hour, covered, basting chicken every 15 minutes with pan juices using a bulb baster. 

When chicken is fork tender, remove from heat.   Note:  This can be done the day before, refrigerated, brought to room temp. 2 hours ahead and placed over very low heat for one hour before serving.  Even more tender and delicious this way!

Got Kids in Your Life?

Engage a child in exploring a collection of delightful children's books centered around food, healthy food!  The Cornucopia Collection from Food Muse Media offers a growing list of charming food-centered books to encourage exploration and engagement with healthy eating, gardening, and cooking.  What a wonderful way to introduce the kids in your life to good food that is good for them!

The Juxtaposition of Two Discoveries

I know - long absent, “maybe she has given up the blog.”  SHE certainly has thought about doing it.  Not wanting to spend a lot of time at the computer, wanting to eat the food at dinnertime instead of taking time to do a professional photograph (thank you Gourmenator) while the food goes limp!  But, several recent “discoveries” impel me to continue – not daily, can’t spend that much time, but certainly much more frequently than in recent times!

Now on to those “discoveries”.  Number one.  I recently read the book Anti Cancer written by one of the co-founders of Doctors Without Borders – David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD (watch video below).  It appeared in 2007 and was revised incorporating the latest research in 2009.  I couldn’t tear my eyes off the pages.  Those of you who REALLY know me, understand that I devour health research, coming by it genetically from a mother that was convinced, long before it was popular thinking, that the way we eat had a great deal to do with how we felt.  She was probably one of the first subscribers to the premiere edition of Organic Gardening.  She also drove most of us around her a little batty with her constant lectures and her not-so-tasty or appealing “healthy” food.  (At least what at that time was considered healthy.)  She did live just short of her 95^th birthday, so we need to give her some credit!

Like many people who care about their health and the health of those around them, I have spent numerous hours reading the latest research from various trusted sources.  It’s extremely convenient to slip off into absolute thinking and follow an eating style with a label that claims to have all the answers: raw foodist, vegan, vegetarian, pescetarian, etc., etc.  (Why are we so attached to labels?)  I guess the one I was probably most drawn to was Nutritarian as coined by Dr. Joel Fuhrman.  But something in me rebelled at the thought of eliminating tasty bits.  Hence, the name of my blog and my affinity towards Michael Pollan’s ideas.  The oft quoted:  “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.”, says a lot, but not everything.  UNTIL, all in one place, Anti Cancer perfectly outlines the culmination of my own personal gleanings.  All these various diet categories leave out some very important research findings – besides WHAT we eat, it is just as important how WHAT we eat was GROWN or RAISED and how we PREPARE it.  These added features determine what health effects these foods have on our bodies as well as our planet.

Why did I choose to be convinced by this book?  First, David Servan-Schreiber has experience with cancer.  At the age of 30, during a series of experiments using  brain scans, he discovered in his scan a very virulent brain cancer. It was treated using conventional treatments and later relapsed, during which time he decided to investigate what he could do that would support his body’s immune system.  We all have cells in us that are potential cancers and it is how we treat our “terrain” (the body) that determines whether we will succumb to cancer or any of the other chronic diseases.  Fifteen years later, he is healthy and continues research on how the body can heal itself, even if the intervention of front-line treatments is necessary to begin the process.  The next reason this book is astounding – in one place, Dr. Servan-Schreiber combines all the latest research on Eastern mind-body medicine, nutrition, exercise, and evironment with a scientist’s microscope and a patient’s experience.  Brilliant!  It is as if he took everything I have read (and much more), brought it together with a scientific and experiential outlook into a very convincing and readable book.

Everyone should read this book!

One more frustrating “discovery” (number two) I found in the New York Times today.  The preposterous notion that we all need to be taking purulent drug company money-makers IN CASE we might become ill from heart disease instead of taking preemptive steps to maintain our health simply overwhelms my sense of reason!  The article speaks for itself – the contrast between discovery one above and this discovery is self-evident.

I have decided to continue the blog, since the greater majority of my kitchen renderings fall in line with Anti Cancer (read Anti-Dis-Ease).

A Wake-up Call from Jamie Oliver

TED has awarded a prize to Jamie Oliver.  I guess it takes a high profile Brit to come into a small town in West Virginia and show Americans what they are doing to themselves and their children thanks to the strength of our food conglomerates.  We need a tea party (forgive me, fellow Liberals!) that takes all the processed food and dumps it somewhere where it won't contaminate the ground water or land!

The Truth About Healthcare

Michael Pollan strikes again and says what was scarcely alluded to in President Obama's powerful speech on healthcare.  If he had included the topic of Mr. Pollan's Op-Ed in today's New York Times, I suspect the entire chamber would have exploded into standing applause.  What strikes me as completely brilliant about this Op-Ed is Mr. Pollan's conclusion that eliminating the ability of insurers to cancel or renege on coverage will force them to face the processed food industry as enemies, the cause of their high expenses to cover chronic, diet-induced diseases.  One monolith against another!  Step one is to put on the band aid (coverage for all) - step two is to prevent the injury from re-occurring or occurring in the first place!  Star Wars here we come.

Safety During Flu Season

OK - a little off topic for this blog.  But having just finished two grueling weeks of intestinal flu, one for me, one for Gourmenator, this article from The Daily Green on hand soaps that don't use the dreaded Triclosan caught my attention.  Those in the know are quite wary of hand sanitizers and it was good to see that there are still some that kids can use during this flu season.  So I posted this for all the lovely Moms in the 'hood in case they are too busy packing lunches to be surfing the web.  It all boils down to reading labels and avoiding Triclosan which is being blamed for antibiotic resistance and the spread of MRSA.  Be sure to read all the different names that can mask Triclosan:  Microban, Irgasan (DP 300 or PG 60), Biofresh, Lexol-300, Ster-Zac or Cloxifenolum.

Time for Lunch Campaign

Slow Food, USA, is featuring a Labor Day Eat-in to show support for healthy school lunches.  To find one near you (for instance, there is one in Bethesda), follow this link.  There are events in all 50 states.  While you are at the site, sign the petition for Healthy School Lunches.  If you can't find an event close enough, have one of your own - it's easy!  Slow Food is veering in a new direction - excellent!