Quick and Easy Crepes with Summer Tomatoes

Does the idea of making crepes at home strike fear into your heart?  Actually, crepes are quick and easy to make, but as with most things, crepe-making requires a little know how, along with the proper tools.  

These healthy crepes make a great breakfast but could also be served for any meal, including after-school-snack.  At my sister's house, her three teenage boys have learned how to prepare them.  The boys love to serve them up for the boy gang that turns up from the local high school on almost a daily basis.  Yes, you heard me right...teenage boys prepare and serve these crepes themselves!  If they can do it, you can, too.

In the recipe below, we've prepared them with fresh home-grown summer tomatoes and inflammation fighting super greens for a delicious healing breakfast.    

Of course, crepes also make a great dessert.  For a crowd knock-out serve them with fresh berries topped with whipped coconut cream and then drizzle over the top with Raspberry Framboise sauce (see below for link).  If you're a chocolate lover, try almond butter and chocolate sauce.  (There are lots of great chocolate sauce and chocolate mousse recipes in our cookbook, "Grain-Free Sugar-Free Baking and Treats".)

As always, the right tools make your job easier.  I've included a link below to my sister's favorite non-stick crepe maker.  By the way, my sister says the crepe turner is a must-have.  Just plug it in, it heats up really quickly, and from then on the crepe-making is pretty much fool proof!

Gluten-free or Grain-Free Sugar Free Dairy Free Buckwheat Crepes with Greens and Tomatoes

Serves 8

2/3 cup Arrowhead Mills Organic Buckwheat Flour

1/3 cup Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour (Alternatives for Grain-Free -- Almond Flour/Bob’s Red Mill Garbanzo and Fava Bean Flour)

2 eggs
1 ¼ cups unsweetened almond milk

¼ tsp sea salt

1 T Coconut Nectar

In a medium bowl combine the dry ingredients and the eggs and mix until smooth.  Slowly stir in the almond milk.  Add the salt and coconut and beat until smooth.  Using a non-stick crepe maker, pour 1/3 cup onto the center, and roll the crepe maker until the batter covers the entire surface (or use a crepe batter trowel spreader to distribute the batter).  Cook until the bottom is lightly browned and flip with a flat turner.

Quinoa Granola for an Energy Boosting Healing Breakfast

Eating healthy for breakfast might require a little bit of a rethink for some of us.  "Traditionally acceptable" breakfast foods such as Frosted Flakes and oatmeal topped with boat loads of brown sugar are no longer acceptable foods, if we're serious about healing.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with omega-3 or grass fed eggs, especially if they are prepared with super greens or veggies.  But there are many delicious, nutritious options to consider such as the following.

This recipe for homemade granola is a real winner.  It's easy to make and you can store it in the fridge in an air-tight container.  In fact, why not make up a big enough batch so that you can put half in the freezer for later.

Grain Free Quinoa Granola

3 cups quinoa flakes

1 cup sesame seeds 

1 cup flax seeds 

1 cup chia seeds

1 1/2 cups slivered almonds

1 cup cashews

1 cup pistachios

1 cup hemp heart

1 cup cashew butter

6 T melted coconut oil

3/4 cup cocoa butter

2 T vanilla

1 T stevia

1/2 coconut palm sugar

1 T turmeric

2 t cinnamon

1 T ginger

fresh ground sea salt to taste

Mix quinoa, sesame, flax, chia, almonds, cashews, pistachios, hemp and melted coconut oil in a mixing bowl. Stir, place on a cookie sheet and bake in a 350 degree oven until nuts and seeds are just beginning to crisp and get golden.  This should happen quickly so watch closely.  Remove from oven.  Melt together cashew butter and cocoa butter and stir into mix.  Add remaining ingredients and stir.  

This can be eaten plain for snacks, served in a bowl with milk (or almond milk) as a cereal replacement, or used as a topping on yogurt.  If you're avoiding dairy products, you can use coconut yogurt or goat milk yogurt which does not have the same inflammatory properties that cow's milk does.  

Note:  Replace the quinoa flakes with gluten free oats for granola with a more traditional texture, if desired.  

Thoughts on Quinoa   Quinoa has all the amino acids to make a complete protein which makes it a great energy plus ingredient for breakfast.  It is considered a pseudo-cereal rather than a true grain (grains comes from grass-like plants).  Other pseudo-cereals are amaranth and buckwheat.   All pseudo-cereals are gluten-free.  

Sandwiches...When You're Eating Grain-free?

Most of us who are eating to heal, feel happy about our decision.  As we start changing our food lives around and adding more fresh vegetables and fruits, drinking smoothies and delicious healing soups and including lots of fresh greens into our diets, our bodies and energy start to change.  In fact, most of us feel so much better, that we recognize the trade-off of giving up old food habits for increased health and clear minds, is well worth it.

However, we all find it hard to give up on some life-long eating habits.  Here at eatthriveheal, we want you to know that there are healthy ways to prepare many of your favorite foods.  We have developed delicious recipes for chocolate chip cookies, pizza crust, home-made pies and just about anything else you used to love.

If you're giving up grains, one of the hardest things to give up is sandwiches.  For many of us, lunch is inconceivable without a sandwich.  Of course, there are many delicious and healthy grain-free choices for lunch (quinoa pasta, soup, salads) but still...one does miss a sandwich!

Well, good news, we've developed several healthy grain-free bread recipes.  These are all quick breads (not yeast breads), so you can make them at home in about an hour or so (including oven time).  All three of them are delicious, slice up well enough to use for open faced sandwiches and have that "filling factor" that a normal bread sandwich provides.  Two of the recipes are included in our book, "Grain-free Sugar-free Baking and Treats",  about to be published and soon offered for sale at the NutritionScienceRx online store.

One of the tastiest of the recipes, however, is our Grain-free Seed Bread above.  It's shown here with some organic Farmer's Market heirloom tomatoes and fresh made guacamole, but you could easily top it with your own favorite sandwich makings.  How about organic chicken, fresh pesto, roasted bell peppers and sprouts?  Or try organic peanut butter and smashed strawberries for an organic grain-free sugar-free twist on the old peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  Go crazy and enjoy.  It's sandwich time!

Grain-free Seed Bread

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a bread pan with coconut oil spray (available at Trader Joe's).

1 cup pumpkin seeds processed in food processor to make a "nut meal"
1/2 cup whole pumpkin seeds
1 cup almond meal
1/2 cup flax meal
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Baking Flour
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t sea salt

Put all above ingredients into a mixing bowl, stir, and make a well in the center.  Add into the well:

2 organic or grass fed eggs whisked
1 T Coconut Nectar (available at health food stores or Whole Foods)
1 cup almond milk

Stir ingredients together.  Just before pouring mixture into baking pan and placing in the oven, stir in:

1 T apple cider vinegar

The apple cider vinegar activates the baking soda, so you don't want the mixture to sit around and deflate.  Bake immediately for about 40 minutes or until the bread starts to crisp and get golden on the top.  Put a toothpick into the center to check for doneness.  Remove from oven and let cool.   Now have a warm slice with melty grass fed organic butter...one of the yummiest ways we know to up those omega-3's!!

Egg Exchanges

For those of you out there who are allergic to or avoiding eggs, here are some great baking solutions for recipes that call for eggs.  Thanks to Petite Panettiere for posting these egg exchanges on her web-site:

Egg Substitutes

• 1 Tablespoon ground flax seeds + 3 Tablespoons water = 1 egg
• Ener-G brand egg replacer (mostly a blend of starches with a touch of rising agents) *a staple in our cupboard
• 1 Tablespoon starch (arrowroot/tapioca/potato/corn) + 1/4 teaspoon baking powder + 2 Tablespoons water + 1 Tablespoon oil (avocado/coconut/olive) = 1 egg
• 1 Tablespoon ground or whole chia seeds + 3 Tablespoons water = 1 egg
• 1/3-1/2 banana blended or mashed = 1 egg
• More egg substitutes and their uses here

Sugar-Free Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Do you ever find yourself dreaming about delicious chocolate chip cookies?  If you've given up eating grains or gluten and sugar, I'll bet you miss them alot.  Ummmmm....Toll House!  Just the memory can be torment.

Here at Eatthriveheal.com, we are in no way into denial and the giving up of treats.  Yes, we are healing with food, but we are also into enjoying our lives and finding pleasure in our food.  So here's the dilemma, how can we enjoy a delicious cookie treat now and then and still live an anti-inflammation sugar-free/gluten-free lifestyle?  Can it be done?

It's easy to find gluten-free cookies everywhere.  However, if you're on a sugar-free diet or simply minimizing your sugar consumption, there are almost no store-purchased possibilities for gluten-free sugar-free cookies.  Sometimes eating sugar-free requires a little cooking at home and cookies are just one of those categories where you pretty much have to make them yourself.

There are some paleo cookie options around, but most of them use honey as a sweetener.  Honey is okay for paleo purposes.  However, if you're diabetic or fighting Candida, you might not want to use it.  You may also find agave sweetened snacks in health food stores, but agave is not an option at all if you're avoiding sugar.  Agave goes right into your bloodstream just like sugar does and messes with your insulin levels.

Sugar is an inflammation causing agent, so if you're suffering from any of the diseases caused by inflammation, you'll want to avoid it.  Inflammation is a factor in all the auto-immune diseases, diabetes, heart disease, eczema/psoriasis, arthritis and many more (see below for an in-depth list).  In addition, many of us are watching our weight, hypoglycemic, diabetic or fighting Candida, conditions where sugar consumption is problematic at the very least.

So what are our options if we're craving cookies but avoiding sugar?  Coconut nectar is a sweetener we like to use at Eatthriveheal.com.  It goes into the bloodstream slowly and is low on the glycemic index so it works great for diabetics and people who are working to lose weight.  Because it's made from coconut sap, it is not supportive of Candida.  We've found that we can stretch out the sweetening power of coconut nectar by adding a little stevia to it.  For some reason, the combination of the two seems to mimic the natural flavor of sugar more than either one alone.  Of course, there are some folks who just can't tolerate the flavor of stevia.  If you're one of those, you'll have to stick to coconut nectar alone.

By the way, we like Trader Joe's Stevia Extract.  It comes in a powdered form and has a similar texture to powdered sugar.  We prefer the texture and flavor of this brand to the others we've tried.

Palm sugar is another sweetener that can be used occasionally, but use it very sparingly.  Palm sugar is basically coconut sap that has been dehydrated and toasted.  It has a caramelized flavor just as brown sugar does, which makes it wonderful for certain recipes because it mimics the brown sugar taste and is great for sprinkling on the top of baked treats.  Palm sugar is higher on the glycemic index than coconut nectar, so use it in small quantities and only when you really need that brown sugar taste.

We thought it would be interesting to take a popular gluten-free chocolate chip cookie recipe from Babycakes and replace the sugar with Coconut Nectar and Stevia.  The cookies turned out great.

Sugar-Free Gluten-Free Babycakes NYC Chocolate Chip Cookies  (grain-free version, too)

1 1/2 cups gluten free oat flour
1 cup Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Gluten-free Baking Flour
1/4 cup flaxseed meal
1/4 cup arrowroot starch
1 1/2 t xanthan gum
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
3 T stevia (Trader Joe's extract)
3/4 cups plus 2 T melted coconut oil or canola oil
2 T gluten free vanilla extract
6 T unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup plus 2 T Coconut Nectar (made by Coconut Secret and available at Whole Foods and other health food stores)
1 cup gluten free chocolate chips or cocoa nibs *
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Mix all dry ingredients together in a bowl. Add in all liquid ingredients and mix well.   Stir in chocolate chips.   Using a self-releasing 1 1/2" scoop drop cookie dough onto a silpat covered baking sheet.  Bake for 15 minutes or until cookies are golden and firm.

Note:  If you prefer a texture more similar to Toll House cookies, leave out the oat flour and reduce the coconut nectar to 1/3 cup and the stevia to 2 T.  By the way, this does give you a totally grain free version, if you are on a grain free diet.

*Yes, we know...sigh...chocolate chips do contain sugar.  If you are okay with having a tiny bit of sugar, choose the brands Enjoy Life or Ghiradelli Bittersweet.  These have small amounts of sugar.  Of the two, we prefer Enjoy Life because they are soy free.  If you are a purist and want no sugar whatsoever in the recipe, replace the chips with cocoa nibs or make your own chocolate chips using cocoa butter, cocoa powder and coconut nectar (recipe available in our "Grain-Free Sugar Free Baking and Treats" cookbook.

This second recipe is absolutely scrumptious.  It started as a paleo cookie but we replaced the honey with Coconut Nectar and stevia.

Sugar-Free Gluten-Free, Grain-Free Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies 

1 cup almond butter
2/3 cup Coconut Nectar
1 egg whisked
1 t vanilla extract
1/4 t cinnamon
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1 T stevia, optional (Trader Joe's Stevia Extract)
pinch of salt
1/2 cup Enjoy Life Mega Chocolate Chunks
1/2 cup walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Put all ingredients except chocolate and nuts in a mixer and combine until thoroughly mixed.  Add chocolate and walnuts and stir until just combined.  Using a small self-releasing cookie scoop (1-1 1/4" diameter) drop small scoops of dough onto a cookie sheet covered with a silpat sheet. This dough melts into a flat cookie so leave space between each cookie for spreading.  Bake for 15 minutes until slightly golden.  Let cool completely.

Yummy Healing with Anti-Inflammatants: Ginger, Tumeric and Garlic

Lately we've been doing some research into healing Psoriasis and Eczema with foods.  As with so many other diseases, inflammation is one of the problems that leads to these two uncomfortable conditions.  There are so many great foods that help reduce inflammation -  in particular, super greens, herbs and cruciferous veggies, as well as most other vegetables and fruits.

However, there are three tasty seasoning agents that are powerful inflammation fighters: ginger, tumeric and garlic.  We call this the triple punch.  These three foods individually are powerful healing agents.  When used together...wow!

In fact, ginger, tumeric and garlic are often combined together in dishes in certain parts of the world and do marry beautifully.  We wondered if we could create a quick BBQ rub featuring these three flavors which could be used on a variety of poultry, seafood and meats.

As always, our goal goes beyond just healing.  We are after the highest levels of food pleasure--after all we are not doing penance to heal.  We desire to bring enjoyment and health into everyday family life.  Plus we are balancing our quest for deliciousness with the desire to feed our families quickly and efficiently.

To make our recipe, pull our your food processor, fire it up and start tossing in the spices!!  You'll be creating a thick paste.  Once you have the paste, you can throw it in a plastic bag with your favorite protein.  Be sure to squish it around and shake it up well until all the meat surfaces are covered.  You can then put it in the fridge to marinate for several hours or overnight.  Or you can let it sit out on the counter at room temperature for about a half hour before BBQing it on the grill.

By the way, if you're the sort of person that organizes and preps food in advance, you can make up the rub after a big supermarket shop and place the marinading bags full of chicken, shrimp or whatever, into the freezer.  Later, when you pull them out to defrost, the marinade will be sinking in and adding delicious flavor.

In the fall and winter, look for fresh whole tumeric root at your farmer's market or local supermarket.  At other times of the year you'll just have to settle for ground tumeric in spice jars.

Tumeric Tip:  Studies show that tumeric reduces the effects of carcinogens from BBQing by as much as 40%, so it's probably a good idea to include it in all marinades and BBQ rubs.

Ginger, Tumeric and Garlic Rub

Great on Shrimp and Chicken

Ingredients:

1 thumb sized chunk of fresh ginger
1 t tumeric
1 garlic clove
rind from 1 lemon
1/4 t onion powder
1/4 t dried coriander
1/4 t dried cilantro
1/4 t fennel seeds
pinch of red pepper (just a tiny bit unless you love spicy food)
ground black pepper to taste
1/2 t pink Himalayan sea salt

Put all the ingredients in a food processor and process to make a paste.  Makes enough rub for a small protein meal for 4 people.  Double the recipe for more generous portions or a larger crowd.

Healthy ribs...really??

There's no doubt about it.  Ribs are an all-American favorite.  However, if you're healing with foods, you may have given up sugar and pork, which means that ribs--tasty, succulent and slathered in a sweet and spicy sauce-- may be a food you're wishing you could still eat.

Of course, we're not advocating that anyone eat ribs frequently.  A few times a year is probably as often as anyone needs to eat them.  However, it's important to balance nutritional healing with real life.  For a summer kid sleep-out, pool parties, family BBQs, or a neighborhood block party it is realistic to think you might get a request for ribs.

Is there anything we can do to make this summer BBQ a tasty and satisfying meal that is if not healing at least not anti-healing?  Let's take a look at the pork aspect first...

Unlike beef, pork is not usually grass fed.  Pigs are rooters, not grazers, which makes them difficult to manage on pasture, so you're not likely to find completely "grass-fed pork".  Some small family farms are pasturing pork but even these tend to supplement the pig's diets with "vegetarian feed".   So unless you are lucky enough to have a fantastic local source, grass fed pork is probably out.

 What about organic pork?  Even organic pork is pretty hard to find.  Whole Foods carries three organic pork products - chops, spare ribs and a bone-in roast.  However, they receive deliveries just once a week.  Once they sell through, they're gone, which means they are frequently out-of-stock on organic pork.  If you are able to plan ahead, you can call and reserve them. Otherwise, you'll just have to hope to get lucky.

Here's a less desirable option, although much preferred to buying regular processed pork.  Safeway* is now carrying hormone and antibiotic free pork in their Open Nature brand.  Of course, this is not as good as organic, but hormone and antibiotic free are two very important qualities when buying and eating pork.

Many of us are working to keep our gut flora as healthy as possible and that means eating antibiotic-free meats and poultry.  The antibiotics in "regular" meats and poultry kill off many of the good bacterias normally found in a healthy digestive system.  These bacterias not only help us to digest our foods properly, but they maintain healthy metabolism levels and boost up our immune system as well.  It's very difficult to "heal with foods" when we are actively assaulting and killing off some of the greatest boosters to our immune system.

As far as added hormones in meats go, we all have plenty of hormones of our own to deal with, no extras needed, thank you very much!  There are studies suggesting that consuming added hormones from meats may lower fertility and cause cancer.

Having said that, if you can get access to organic or pasture raised pork, do it, regardless the cost. It's worth it.  The animals live far superior lives and the nutritional value of the pork is so much higher.  Pork that is allowed to forage and roam outdoors has much higher omega-3 and vitamin D levels. In fact, before pork became a factory product, lard was the primary source of vitamin D in the American diet.

So that deals with one of the two objections to pork ribs, the pork.  Now on to the sugar.  Is it possible to make delicious sweet-tasting ribs without sugar?  We thought it would be interesting to take one of the most popular rib recipes in America, the Kansas City Style Pork Ribs recipe from Patrick and Gina Neely on foodnetwork.com and see if it could be adapted for sugar-free healthy eating.  Our adaptation turned out great and we don't think anyone is going to notice the missing sugar.  We used this "rub" on the Open Nature ribs and they were absolutely delicious.  Here's the recipe:

Sugar-Free Pork Ribs  (Allow 27 hours for best taste)

3 T Coconut Secret Coconut Nectar (available at Whole Foods and health food stores)
1 T Dijon mustard
1 pinch ground red pepper
1/2 t Valle del Sol chilli pepper (from Whole Foods)
1/2 t thyme
1 t paprika
1 t onion powder
1/4 t garlic powder
1/2 t salt

Combine the ingredients to make a paste and rub over the entire rack of ribs.  Put them in a plastic container to sit in the fridge for 24 hours (You can get away with 6 hours of marinating, but they are better the longer you let them wait.)  Heat the oven to 425 degrees, put the ribs in a roasting pan and wrap them tightly with foil.  Allow the ribs to bake slowly for at least 3 hours.  Remove the ribs from the oven and serve.  Or, if you wish, you can put them for a short period on the BBQ to add extra smoky flavor.

We loved this recipe as is and did not feel it necessary to use a BBQ sauce.  The ribs were sweet and juicy without a sauce.  However, if you prefer to add a BBQ sauce, we've adapted the Neely's Kansas City BBQ Sauce to be sugar-free:

Kansas City Barbeque Sauce

2 T olive oil
1 small onion, finely diced
3 cups water
1 cup (2 6-ounce cans) organic tomato paste (make sure the tomato paste you choose is sugar free--Costco makes a good organic tomato paste and the only ingredient is tomatoes.  I buy it by the case.)
1/3 cup Coconut Nectar from Coconut Secret*
2/3 cup apple cider vinegar or Coconut Vinegar from Coconut Secret
2 T blackstrap molasses**
1/2 t red pepper
1/4 t smoked paprika
1 t sea salt
1 t ground black pepper

Put the oil in a sauce pan over medium heat and add the chopped onion.  Cook until translucent and add the rest of the ingredients.  Simmer for 20 minutes or so.

As you can see in the photo above, I've stored mine in canning jars.  However, I did not go through the canning process.  I'll keep my jars of BBQ sauce in the fridge and use them up quickly.  If you are a canner, you could certainly make up a large batch and can it for future use.

*EatThriveHeal is in no way supported by Safeway, Whole Foods, or any other products or markets.  We feel that ease in our cooking lives is essential, which is why we often share helpful information about specific products, brands or stores.

**Molasses is a sugar cane product  and we don't recommend using a lot of it frequently.  However, 2 tablespoons is a very small amount for this recipe and it adds a lot of essential BBQ flavor to the finished taste.

Note: Many BBQ sauces use liquid smoke.  Liquid Smoke is popularly considered to be extremely carcinogenic, however, the manufacturing process is reducing some of that now.  Although we would in no way call liquid smoke a "healthy" ingredient, keeping your consumption of it down to a few teaspoons a year is probably safe enough.  Liquid smoke is made from the condensed liquid steam from burning wood chips.  It is the same carcinogenic substance that you get from eating BBQ'd food.  Also, liquid smoke is commonly used in smoked cheeses and meats (such as Hickory smoked bacon) to add smokey flavor.

For Quick, Fabulous and Delicious Cauliflower...Roast It!!

My sister tells me she has a hard time getting her family to eat cruciferous vegetables.  (Cruciferous veggies include broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and cabbage.)  In contrast, my family seems to really enjoy them.  Of course, I'm not above resorting to a cheese sauce if that's what it takes to get kids to eat broccoli.  And often, that's exactly what it takes.

I'm going to include my quick and easy cheese sauce recipe below, just in case you have any kids in your life you need to train to enjoy broccoli. (I'm betting that even George Bush himself would have eaten his broccoli if only his mom had served it with a really yummy cheese sauce!)

However, lot's of us folks who are working on healing are avoiding dairy and that means that yummy cheese sauce is out.  Never fear--there are other delicious and fast ways to enjoy cruciferous vegetables.  Lately, I've been loving roasting them.  Roasting seems to bring out just a little bit of a sweet caramelized flavor that seems to appeal to kids, and everyone else. However, the thing I love the most about roasting cruciferous veggies is that it only takes about 3 minutes of prep time, 4 ingredients, and about 20-30 minutes in the oven.  Perfect for busy folks...and who's not these days?

Here at eatthriveheal.com, we want to get the max health benefits for our meals, but we balance our healing goals with a desire to eat the highest quality, most delicious and pleasure-bringing foods available to us.   PLUS we try to find ways to prepare healing foods with minimum effort and grace!  Roasting cauliflower is a perfect way to have it all.

Quick and Easy Roasted Cauliflower

Ingredients:
1 head of cauliflower  (you can also use broccoli)
olive oil
sea salt (I prefer pink Himalayan)
fresh ground black pepper
dried thyme or rosemary (optional)
toasted pine nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Break the cauliflower head into small florets and put them in a mixing bowl.  Pour olive over the top (enough to cover all the florets with a light coating when mixed) and add in the seasonings, but not the pine nuts if you are using them.  Stir until cauliflower is well coated.  Place cauliflower on a Silpat covered baking sheet and bake for 20-30 minutes or until florets are golden.  If desired, toss with toasted pine nuts.  (You can also add some raw pine nuts into the cauliflower about 5 minutes before removing the dish from the oven and they will toast with the cauliflower.)  I recommend adding the rosemary to the dish if you are serving it to sophisticated palates.  However, for kids, try the thyme.

Quickie Broccoli with Cheese Sauce (for your favorite kid--you?)

Ingredients:
1 head of broccoli
1/3 cup cheddar or jack cheese (best if raw and organic)
1/4 cup cream (best if raw and organic)
ground white pepper
sea salt

Place a broken up head of broccoli in a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil.  In a small enameled sauce pan place the cheese in slices and pour the cream over.  Put the flame under the cheese sauce on a very low setting and watch closely, stirring often until the cheese is melted into the cream.  When the broccoli is just cooked (not over-cooked) drain thoroughly or the sauce will be watery and put back into the pot.  With a good vegetable knife, cut the broccoli in the pot into bite-sized pieces.  Pour the sauce over and stir in salt and pepper to taste.