A Note From Sue

For several years, Eat Thrive Heal was a space where I shared joyful experiments in using whole foods to nourish the body, mind, and spirit. The recipes here still reflect everything I believe about food as a source of vitality, comfort, and healing.

Fresh whole foods have always inspired the recipes and reflections on this site.

At the moment, my creative energy is focused in other areas of my life. I’m not actively posting new content right now, but the information on this blog is still meaningful and relevant. I’m choosing to keep it online so that anyone who is seeking healing, nourishment, or curiosity in their kitchen can still find something helpful here.

Thank you for being here, and for valuing the connection between good food and good health. I wish you well on your healing journey.  

— Sue

Gluten Free Adventure Bread--Still a Favorite in My Kitchen

Update:  I still love this recipe — it continues to be one of the best grain-free breads I’ve made. The psyllium + chia + flax combination creates great texture without eggs, and it holds up beautifully for sandwiches or toast. If you are exploring grain-free baking, this is still a favorite in my kitchen.

For more healing whole-food recipes, explore the other recipes here on Eat Thrive Heal.

If you've tried Josey Baker's gluten-free Adventure Bread, you'll know that it's brilliant with the first bite. Packed full of nuts and seeds, it has delicious flavor and texture, a rich dark color and it slices beautifully for sandwiches.  Although it is extremely tasty with savory flavors as in sandwiches, the nutty sweetness is just right for sweet snacking with jams and nut-butters, too.

The original Adventure Bread recipe is gluten-free and calls for rolled oats.  Really, it is sooooo tasty! But I wondered if it could be adapted to become entirely grain-free by taking out the oats and making some substitutions. Good news--the recipe works just as well with almond flour.

If, like me, you've made a lot of grain-free breads, you may have grown tired of their coconut flour taste and egg-y textures.  I know that I surely am.  After all, they're not really very bread-like, and they don't really taste like much.  The best thing you can say about them is that their slice-ability makes them a suitable platform to load on the good stuff.

But...lucky us!  Here's a grain-free recipe that is new, entirely different and that tastes more like an old world bread you might purchase in some charming European country town. It's not a light and airy "white bread", but it is definitely something you'll be happy to nosh on in its own right.  And loading it up with toppings or your favorite sandwich goodies only makes it that much better.

If you prefer the original Josey Baker Adventure Bread gluten-free recipe with oats, here's the link: adventure bread.   Or you can show up at his fabulous San Francisco bakery and buy a loaf for yourself! For the grain-free version, see below.

Before you start cooking, however, here's a note on psyllium seeds.  If you've never used them, you can find them at natural food stores and online.  Do not leave them out as they are the binding agent that replaces the gluten in traditional flour.  In fact, part of the brilliance of this recipe is the inclusion of a number of ingredients (psyllium, xantham, flaxmeal, chia) that create that "sticky" factor allowing this bread to hold together without the eggs required for other grain-free breads.

Grain-free Adventure Bread

Dry Ingredients:
2 cups almond flour
2 tablespoons coconut flour
1 cup sunflower seeds, hulled
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, hulled
3/4 cup sliced almonds
3/4 cup flax seed meal
1/3 cup psyllium seed husks
1/4 teaspoon xantham gum
3 tablespoons chia seeds
2 teaspoons fine sea salt

Wet Ingredients:
2 tablespoons maple syrup (be sure to use real maple syrup)
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
2 1/2 cups filtered water

Prepare the pan and oven--  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Oil a 9" x 4" loaf pan (I sprayed mine with coconut oil spray.)

Toast seeds and nuts-- Spread the sunflower, pumpkin seed and almonds on a baking sheet and toast until they start to brown, about 15 minutes, stirring halfway during baking. The seeds may take less time to toast, so keep an eye on them. (You can skip this stage is you purchase pre-roasted seeds and nuts.) Remove from oven and increase the heat to 400 degrees.

Mix together--In a mixing bowl, add together the dry ingredients and stir.  Make a well in the center and add the wet ingredients.  Stir together until everything is well combined.  Scoop mixture into the oiled pan and gently mash down to remove large air gaps.

Bake at 400 degrees on the middle rack for an hour or so.  Remove from the oven and, importantly, let the bread cool for 2 hours before cutting.

Josey recommends that to increase the flavor and texture, you serve this bread toasted and sliced thin (around 1/2"), but it's certainly plenty good served without toasting and anyway you want to slice it. 

Pea Soup with Mint--Good for the Tummy

I'm always thinking about gut health and whenever I can add prebiotics and probiotics to a recipe, I feel like I've done my work well for the day.  Here's a recipe that supplies both.  Extra bonus points!

Prebiotics-- You can think of prebiotics as food that feeds the friendly bacteria that like to live in our gut.  The more we can help them thrive, by feeding them the food they like to eat, the healthier we will be.  In this recipe, the prebiotics are the oligosacharides provided by the leeks and onions. Lactobacillis (very beneficial) love to feed on oligosacharides.

A pair of gorgeous leeks loaded up in the trunk of the olive oil vendor's car at the Foothill Farmer's Market in Auburn, California.

Probiotics--  As for the probiotics in this soup, these are found in the fermented kefir, yogurt or live-cultured sour cream that I've dolloped on as a topping just before serving.  Homemade kefir has been shown to contain up to 50 different strains of beneficial bacteria that help promote superior gut health. These beneficial bacteria help us to digest our food properly, reduce inflammation, support our immune systems, influence hormone function and metabolism, break down vitamins and minerals and perform a myriad of essential functions that contribute to our good health.  The more we can cultivate a wide diversity of beneficial bacteria the more we will enjoy good health.

Homemade Kefir-- I like to make my own kefir from raw milk* (I live in California where raw milk is available for purchase), and I always encourage everyone to make their own kefir (it's easy, here's a link).  However, if you choose to buy store-bought yogurt or sour cream, make sure you buy a brand that says "live cultures".  Unfortunately, commercial brands supply only a handful of bacteria strains.  Bacteria are killed by high heat, so add the yogurt or sour cream to the bowls of soup at the very last minute and gently float it on top.

Bone Broth-- By the way, homemade bone broth is another food that is excellent for healing the gut and reducing inflammation of the intestinal lining.  (By the way, it takes only about 5 minutes of effort to toss the ingredients for homemade bone broth in a pot and after that, you just let it simmer.  For directions, see here.)

Fresh Peas laid out for sale at the Auburn, California Saturday Farmer's Market, May 2017.

Fresh or Frozen?  It's springtime and fresh peas are at the Farmer's Markets.  You can use fresh peas for this recipe, or if the shelling is simply too much work, use a package of frozen organic peas, as I did.
  

Pea Soup with Mint

2 Tablespoons coconut oil (I like butter flavored)
1 leek, cleaned, dark green sections discarded and chopped into 1/2" dice
1 onion, chopped into 1/2" dice
1 bag frozen organic peas, or fresh spring peas shelled
4 cups chicken broth (homemade, or store-bought from pasture-raised chickens)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper, or to taste
2 tablespoons fresh mint, rough chopped
Homemade kefir or yogurt, or store-bought live culture sour cream
Additional fresh mint or chives, fine chopped

Saute the onions-- In a soup pot, melt the coconut oil and add the leeks and onions.  Saute over medium heat until softened, about 10 minutes.

Add the peas, chicken broth, salt, pepper and mint.  Simmer over medium-low heat for at least another 10 minutes, or until vegetables are very soft.

Puree--When all vegetables are softened, puree the mixture using a food processor, blender or blending stick.

To serve, top with a generous dollop of homemade kefir or yogurt (preferably made from raw milk, if available in your state) and bits of chopped fresh mint or dill, as desired.

More on gut health. 

*Raw milk contains many live probiotic strains, whereas the pasteurization process that most milk goes through in this country kills off the beneficial bacteria, which mostly can't survive above about 110-120 degrees.  Fermenting raw milk, which occurs in the process of making kefir and yogurt, cultivates and multiplies these beneficial raw milk strains and adds other strains, as well.

10 Minute Lunches--Wild Salmon Salad

Paleo, Low Carb, Anti-Inflammation, Gut Supportive, Gluten-free

There are three things I require from lunch.  One that it be healthy, two that it be quick to prepare and three that it tastes good.

This wild salmon salad features salmon which supplies valuable omega-3 fats, several healing vegetables, greens, fiber and a little raw sauerkraut for that essential daily hit of gut healing probiotics.

Simple to prepare and healthy to eat, this healthy salad starts with canned wild salmon and a quick raiding of the fridge veggie drawer.

The key to quick prep with this salad is to used canned wild salmon.  After I open the can, I comb through the contents quickly to remove any skin and bones.  I then add a nice big scoop of mayonnaise (I always look for a soy and canola oil free brand, such as Primal Kitchen, or I use homemade if I have some on-hand in the fridge). I then add sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, dill and fresh lemon juice.  Next, I fine chop and stir in some fresh veggies.  In this case I used green onions, celery and red bell pepper.

For this salad, I placed some arugula and Napa cabbage on a plate (but use whatever greens you happen to have on hand), dribbled it with a little store bought Paleo salad dressing, added a sliced radish and a small forkful of sauerkraut to the side and topped it with the salmon mixture.

Be sure that you don't skip the sauerkraut (or any other fermented raw vegetables will do), they're critical for healing and maintaining a healthy gut, which, since almost all diseases start in the gut, is just about the most important thing you can do for your health.

And there you have it.  Fresh. Nutrient-dense. Delicious.  All in less than 10 minutes.  

Adventure Bread goes Grain Free

Update:  I still love this recipe — it continues to be one of the best grain-free breads I’ve made. The psyllium + chia + flax combination creates great texture without eggs, and it holds up beautifully for sandwiches or toast. If you are exploring grain-free baking, this is still a favorite in my kitchen.

If you've tried Josey Baker's gluten-free Adventure Bread, you'll know that it's brilliant with the first bite. Packed full of nuts and seeds, it has delicious flavor and texture, a rich dark color and it slices beautifully for sandwiches.  Although it is extremely tasty with savory flavors as in sandwiches, the nutty sweetness is just right for sweet snacking with jams and nut-butters, too.

The original Adventure Bread recipe is gluten-free and calls for rolled oats.  Really, it is sooooo tasty! But I wondered if it could be adapted to become entirely grain-free by taking out the oats and making some substitutions. Good news--the recipe works just as well with almond flour.

If, like me, you've made a lot of grain-free breads, you may have grown tired of their coconut flour taste and egg-y textures.  I know that I surely am.  After all, they're not really very bread-like, and they don't really taste like much.  The best thing you can say about them is that their slice-ability makes them a suitable platform to load on the good stuff.

But...lucky us!  Here's a grain-free recipe that is new, entirely different and that tastes more like an old world bread you might purchase in some charming European country town. It's not a light and airy "white bread", but it is definitely something you'll be happy to nosh on in its own right.  And loading it up with toppings or your favorite sandwich goodies only makes it that much better.

If you prefer the original Josey Baker Adventure Bread gluten-free recipe with oats, here's the link: adventure bread.   Or you can show up at his fabulous San Francisco bakery and buy a loaf for yourself! For the grain-free version, see below.

Before you start cooking, however, here's a note on psyllium seeds.  If you've never used them, you can find them at natural food stores and online.  Do not leave them out as they are the binding agent that replaces the gluten in traditional flour.  In fact, part of the brilliance of this recipe is the inclusion of a number of ingredients (psyllium, xantham, flaxmeal, chia) that create that "sticky" factor allowing this bread to hold together without the eggs required for other grain-free breads.

Grain-free Adventure Bread

Dry Ingredients:
2 cups almond flour
2 tablespoons coconut flour
1 cup sunflower seeds, hulled
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, hulled
3/4 cup sliced almonds
3/4 cup flax seed meal
1/3 cup psyllium seed husks
1/4 teaspoon xantham gum
3 tablespoons chia seeds
2 teaspoons fine sea salt

Wet Ingredients:
2 tablespoons maple syrup (be sure to use real maple syrup)
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
2 1/2 cups filtered water

Prepare the pan and oven--  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Oil a 9" x 4" loaf pan (I sprayed mine with coconut oil spray.)

Toast seeds and nuts-- Spread the sunflower, pumpkin seed and almonds on a baking sheet and toast until they start to brown, about 15 minutes, stirring halfway during baking. The seeds may take less time to toast, so keep an eye on them. (You can skip this stage is you purchase pre-roasted seeds and nuts.) Remove from oven and increase the heat to 400 degrees.

Mix together--In a mixing bowl, add together the dry ingredients and stir.  Make a well in the center and add the wet ingredients.  Stir together until everything is well combined.  Scoop mixture into the oiled pan and gently mash down to remove large air gaps.

Bake at 400 degrees on the middle rack for an hour or so.  Remove from the oven and, importantly, let the bread cool for 2 hours before cutting.

Josey recommends that to increase the flavor and texture, you serve this bread toasted and sliced thin (around 1/2"), but it's certainly plenty good served without toasting and anyway you want to slice it.

Good Morning Lemonade Gut Tea--Anti-Inflammatory Turmeric, Ginger & Lemon Elixir for Digestion.”)

For some months now I've been starting my day with this anti-inflammatory tea that revs up the digestive processes.  What's in it?  Turmeric, ginger, black pepper and lemon.  It's a quite pleasant way to start the day and I find myself looking forward to my morning cuppa!

Improving gut health and function is one of the single most important things we can do for our health. After all, most diseases and conditions are triggered when things go wrong in the gut.  This tea is healing for the gut in two ways:

1. It helps your stomach produce the acid that is essential for digestion (most people wrongly believe that the stomach produces too much acid, but when things go wrong in the stomach, it is often due to too little stomach acid and rarely too much. 
2. The anti-inflammation herbs help soothe and heal the intestinal lining.

First thing in the morning-- It's important to drink this tea first thing in the morning and about 20 minutes before consuming any food. That allow the freshly squeezed lemon juice to stimulate the digestive acids in the stomach so that you are ready and able to efficiently digest your breakfast.

Don't forget the peppercorns-- Of course, turmeric and ginger are known inflammation reducers. Did you know, though, that black peppercorns enhance the absorption of the turmeric?  By the way, black peppercorns are the most effective.

Get the right temperature-- When steeping herbs, roots and flowers for tea, it's important to get the temperature at around 195-205 degrees Fahrenheit.  Water that is too hot can bring out acrid or acidic flavors in herbs and spices and water that is too cool will not be as efficient in coaxing the healing properties out.  Luckily, a traditional teapot that whistles, will alert you at the perfect moment.  Just fill the kettle with water and bring to a boil.  When you hear the whistle, turn off the burner immediately and toss in your herbs to steep.

The finer the dice, the better the steep-- Grating the ginger and turmeric roots will help them release more anti-inflammation micro-nutrients into the tea.  A micro-planer is the kitchen tool for the job. However, to be perfectly honest, if I am in a hurry, I simply slice the roots as thinly as I can and toss them directly into my teapot to steep.

Make enough to store for a few days in the fridge-- Rather than just making 1 cup, I make enough to last for almost a week.  That way I can just grab a cup of tea each morning, squeeze in my fresh lemon juice, guzzle it down and get on with my morning.  In the summer, a cooling cup right out of the fridge tastes refreshing, but in the winter time, I like to heat the tea in a small saucepan on my stove.

Sweet Tea?-- You can sweeten this tea with a little honey or stevia, if you prefer.  However, if you are avoiding all sweeteners, or if you are strictly into the healing and don't care about the pleasure, you can leave them out. I often have my tea without the honey or stevia, and I kind of like it that way.  The sour and peppery taste sort of shocks the body into gear, which I find helpful in the morning.

Good Morning Lemonade Gut Tea

8 cups of filtered or pure spring water
3/4" fresh ginger root, grated
1/2" fresh turmeric root, grated
5 whole black peppercorns, crushed
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice per serving
1/8 teaspoon raw local honey per serving (or a bit of stevia), optional

Bring a teapot full of water to a boil.  While you're waiting for the pot to boil, grate a 3/4" piece of fresh ginger root with a micro-planer.  Then grate a 1/2 piece of fresh turmeric root.  Crush the five black peppercorns.  Pack a tea ball with the ginger, turmeric and peppercorns.  When the pot comes to a boil, turn off the heat immediately. Optimal temperature for steeping root teas is at 195-205 degrees Fahrenheit. When the water is the appropriate temperature, place the tea ball into the pot and let the roots and peppercorns steep for at least 10-20 minutes.  To serve, pour a cup full of tea, squeeze in the fresh lemon juice and stir in the honey or stevia, if desired.

Gorgeous French-style Einkorn Bread

As many of you know, I've been baking bread with low-gluten Einkorn flour for almost two years now.  When I first started, the recipes for Einkorn bread that I was able to find were rather crude and I combined a number of techniques to make a loaf that was, although very little effort to make, rather dense and heavy.

The Einkorn loaf I used to make--a bit of a hockey puck.. but little effort to make and better tasting than any other gluten-free bread I've found.

Oddly, that crude Einkorn loaf had a way of growing on people.  The strong sour dough flavors were almost addictive and despite the fact that it practically had to be cut with a table saw to be sliced, we liked it.  The recipe for this pretty much no-effort loaf is here.

Lately, I've been baking my Einkorn loaves according to Carla Bartolucci's recipe for "Classic French Boule" and I have to say that the texture and appearance of my bread has improved by leaps and bounds.  Bartolucci is the owner of the Jovial company in Italy.  Jovial markets biodynamic Einkorn flour here in the US and this is the flour that I use to make my bread.

Bartolucci first began experimenting with Einkorn flour after her young daughter developed a significant intolerance to gluten.  As you may know by now, if you've been following Eat Thrive Heal, Einkorn is an ancient grain with a very low gluten content.  Importantly, when you use Einkorn with a sour dough culture, the culture consumes much of whatever gluten remains.  Although we would not recommend Einkorn to people with Celiac disease, almost anyone with a gluten sensitivity or allergy can tolerate Einkorn.  I've done quite a bit of writing about Einkorn.  If you'd like to learn more, see here.

As I've worked with Einkorn flour, I've learned a few things:

1)  Einkorn flour does not like to be handled as much as modern wheat so very little kneading is required.  I usually only knead it for a minute or so, just 60 easy pushes and no more.

2)  Einkorn dough is much wetter and stickier than dough made from modern wheat.  Also, it's best if you give it a little resting time after combining it so that the flour can soak up the moisture.  (This is partly what was missing in my previous recipe for Einkorn bread.)  This creates some extra steps with frequent short rest periods in between, adding more prep time into the overall baking cycle.

3)  There are two things that give Einkorn bread good flavor.  The first is the sour dough culture, so be sure to allow your loaf plenty of time for the sour dough to develop in the rise. The second is the salt.  Use a high quality sea salt and be generous with it.  Bartolucci's recipe calls for 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, but I have been using 2 teaspoons of coarse Celtic sea salt and think even more would be better.  (No need to worry about sea salt causing health problems (see here).  

4)  Water temperature is very important.  Whether you are feeding your sour dough culture or adding water to your Einkorn dough recipe, making sure that your water is around 100 degrees is very important in getting good culture development or an efficient rise...too hot and it will kill your starter, or too cold and you won't get enough action quickly.

5)  You can boost your rise with your oven light.  I live in a snowy climate and our summers are cool.  My kitchen is often 65 degrees.  I've found that I can put my sour dough cultures or bread dough into my unheated oven and turn on only the oven light.  The light bulb in the oven creates enough heat to bring the temperature up just enough to become a perfect friendly environment for bread rising.  

Old Hocky Puck Recipe vs. New French-style Rustic Loaf

Don't chicken out--  My original recipe was simple.  I have to warn you that this will seem like a lot of extra needed steps and special equipment.  Getting a proper sour dough starter may feel overwhelming in itself.  I encourage you to persevere through all this, however.  The results are worth it.  And importantly, once you get the hang of all this, it's really surprisingly simple.

My old loaf on the left and Carla Bartolucci's on the right.  Which loaf looks best to you?

Stuff you'll need--  Making the Classic French Boule requires some special equipment.  Here's what you'll want to have on hand:

1)  Dutch Oven--  You'll need a Dutch oven or pyrex casserole dish with a lid.  I love baking my loaves in a small Le Crueset Dutch oven I've had for many years.  They come out perfectly, but I've also used a covered pyrex casserole dish with equal success. 

2)  Touch thermometer--  It's essential that the water you add be about 100 degrees.  You'll need a touch thermometer to be accurate.   

3)  Rattan rising baskets--  These aren't necessary but are really nice if you want to get the classic ribbed texture on the top of your loaves.  You can find these from a number of online resources.  Just look up bread baking proofing basket.  If you are using a round baking casserole dish, get a round proofing basket.  Since I bake in an oval Dutch oven, I use a 9" oval that I paid about $15 for.  

4)  A special bread slashing razor blade tool or poultry shears--  Getting the best rise requires slashing the bread dough right before baking.  You can use a specialty razor tool or you can just cut it with your poultry shears.  

5)  Sour dough Levain--  For directions on how to obtain or make a sour dough starter, see here.   Early the morning of, or the day before baking your bread, you'll want to feed your starter and create a Levain.  To do this, you'll add together 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon of 100 degree water, 1 cup of all-purpose Einkorn flour plus 2 tablespoons of sour dough starter.  Bartolucci recommends that you let your Levain stand at room temperature for 6-10 hours but I find my levain is ready to go in just 2-3 hours.  The Levain is ready when the top is bubbly.  

6) Baking Timer--  You'll want to set your oven timer for a series of 15 minute rest periods.  

7)  Time--  Although there's not really all that much active prep time required in baking Einkorn bread, you'll need a full day of at-home time to do so.  There are several inactive periods in which you can run an errand or two, but you'll want to bake bread on a day when your schedule is flexible enough that your activities can be dictated by your bread's needs.  

Classic Einkorn French Boule 

5 cups Einkorn flour (plus more for dusting)

2 teaspoons (or more) high quality sea salt

1 batch sour dough Levain (as explained above)

1 1/3 cups warm water at 100 degrees

Combine--  In a large mixing bowl add all the ingredients together and stir lightly until just barely combined.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes. 

Knead--  Lightly flour a kneading surface and knead the dough for a minute or two, about 60 gentle pushes.  Put the dough back in the bowl, cover with plastic and let rest 15 minutes.  

Fold--  Put the dough back on your lightly floured kneading surface and gently but firmly press it into a rectangle about 12"wide x 9" high.  Fold it in thirds, folding the left side in and then the right side so that you have a long thin strip about 3-4" wide x 9" high. Press gently after each fold.  Turn the dough so that the 9" is now the width in front of you.  Fold the strip into thirds one more time, folding in the left and then the right sides, creating a nice square pillow shape.   Put the dough pillow into your bowl, cover with plastic and let rest 15 minutes. 

Fold again, rest, and fold again-- Repeat the folding sequence two more times, resting in between.  

The big rise--  After you've folded the dough three times, place the dough back in the plastic bowl and let it rise for 3-5 hours.  

The "punch" down--  Scrape the dough from the bowl and gently knead it a few times to "punch" it down.  Shape the loaf into an oval or round (depending on the shape of your proofing basket and Dutch oven). Generously flour your proofing basket and place your dough into it to rise again for 60-90 minutes.  

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees--  Place your Dutch oven or pyrex casserole dish into the oven until it reaches 500 degrees.  

Transfer and slash--  Remove the now hot Dutch oven or casserole dish from the oven and close the oven door to retain the heat.  Carefully turn your proofing basket upside down with one hand supporting the bread dough.  When the dough comes loose, gently place it into the hot Dutch oven or casserole dish.  Using a slashing razor or poultry shears, cut into the loaf on the top side about 1/2" deep, creating an attractive pattern.  I like to create a wide square within the oval shape of my loaf.  Slashing is important because it allows the loaf to rise even more once it hits the hot oven and this creates a lighter airier.  Put the lid on and place the Dutch oven or casserole dish into the oven to bake.  

Turn the oven down to 450 degrees--  Bake for 40 minutes.  Remove the lid and bake for 5 more minutes to brown the top.  

Remove and cool--  Using oven mitts, remove the loaf and place on a rack to cool for 2 hours before slicing.  

Keep-- You can wrap your loaf in a clean cotton towel and keep it out on your counter for up to 3 days.  Your loaf will keep for several weeks in your refrigerator, or you can freeze it in a sealed plastic bag.  

Creative Cranberries

Oops!  In a rush shopping job, I bought my cranberries at Costco and when it came time to unpack my groceries at home I realized that the bags was a giant 2 pounds!  That's a lot of cranberries.

In case you also have a few cranberries too many, here are a few delightful holiday recipes for cranberries.

For all you persimmon lovers out there, here is a pretty cranberry relish sauce made with our favorite autumn fruit, Fuyu persimmons...

Cranberry Sauce with Fuyu Persimmons

3 ½ cups fresh cranberries

1/4 cup dry red wine

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons juice from mandarin or clementine

Zest from one mandarin or clementine

½ cup Sucanat or coconut sugar

3 firm-ripe Fuyu persimmons, cut into 1/4-inch cubes

Bring cranberries, wine, juice, zest, sugar, salt to a boil in a 2-quart heavy saucepan, stirring occasionally, then reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Add more sugar, to taste (up to about 2 1/2 tablespoons). Stir in persimmons.

Refrigerate.  Serve at room temperature or slightly chilled.

Make cranberries up to four days in advance. Add persimmons before serving.

And if you want to try a delicious twist, why not play on the sharp flavors in cranberries by adding sour cream and horseradish?  Not only great with Thanksgiving dinner, this version makes a fantastic accompaniment to leftover turkey sandwiches.  

Cranberry Sour Cream Sauce

2 cups raw cranberries

1 small or ½ large onion

½ cup coconut nectar

¾ cup sour cream with live cultures (buy at your local health food store or Whole Foods) or Homemade Sour Cream  

2 tablespoons horseradish

Blender— Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend until just combined. 

Freeze— Put the mixture in a freezer-proof container and freeze overnight.

Thaw and serve--  Thaw the cranberry sauce in the refrigerator and serve.  

And finally, here's a healing adaptation for Cranberry Nut Bread that we think you're going to love...

Cranberry Einkorn Nut Bread

2 cups Einkorn flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon sea salt

¼ cup coconut sugar (also known as palm sugar or coconut crystals)

Grated rind from 1 orange

2 tablespoons melted butter from pasture-raised cows

1/3 cup coconut nectar

¾ cup orange juice

1 egg, well beaten

1 ¾ cup chopped cranberries

¾ cups chopped pecans or walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spary a 9 x 5 loaf pan with coconut oil.

Dry ingredients—In a mixing bowl, combine together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, coconut sugar and grated rind. 

Wet ingredients--  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add in the butter, coconut nectar, orange juice and egg.  Stir ingredients together until just combined.   

Nuts and fruits--  Stir in cranberries and pecans. 

Bake—Pour ingredients into baking pan and bake in the oven for 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.  Cool and serve.  

Kale for the holidays.

Here's a pretty salad you can serve to guests this holiday season.  It's brimming with health and packed with healing phytonutrients.  Plus a salad like this is full of the prebiotics that the beneficial bacteria in your digestive system love to munch on.  Keeping your gut microbiome happy and healthy helps control obesity and diabetes, protects against auto-immune diseases and supports the immune system (to name only a few of the many benefits).

It just so happens that kale is one of the best prebiotic foods around.   Your gut bacteria loves kale.  And here's the good news, when it's served up in a delicious, seasonal and colorful salad like this, so does everybody else!

Holiday Salad with Kale and Persimmons 

¼ cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ teaspoon sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 large bunches Dino Kale
12 ounces Brussels sprouts
½ cup almonds, coarsely chopped
1 cup finely grated pecorino or parmesan cheese (optional)
1 pomegranate
2 Fuyu persimmons

Combine lemon juice, mustard, shallot, garlic, ½ teaspoon salt and pinch of pepper in a small bowl. Stir to blend and set aside to allow flavors to combine.

Remove center stem from kale leaves and thinly slice the leaves. Trim the Brussels sprouts to remove the base and any discolored outer leaves, and grate or thinly slice the sprouts. Mix kale and Brussels sprouts in a large serving bowl.

To remove the seeds from the pomegranate, score 4 lines from top to bottom to quarter the pomegranate and tear it open into quarters. Hold each quarter over a bowl, seeds facing down and tap the skin with a wooden spoon, squeezing a little to release the seeds. Slice the Fuyu persimmons into bite-sized pieces.

Toast almonds in ½ cup of the oil in a skillet on medium high heat, stirring frequently until golden about two minutes. Remove from heat, transfer nuts to a paper towel and sprinkle with salt.

Slowly whisk the remaining olive oil into the lemon juice mixture and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Add dressing and cheese (optional) to the salad and toss to coat.  Add fruit and toss lightly. Garnish with the almonds.  (Or for a more festive individual salad, plate the greens and then garnish with the fruit and almonds.)

How do you improve on roast turkey? Add bacon, of course...

Anything's better with bacon, right?

Yesterday I attended a Thanksgiving potluck and was asked to roast a turkey. Thanks to my mother and Vincent Price, my turkeys always turn out moist and flavorful, and yesterdays was no exception.

There are two reasons why my holiday turkey is consistently delicious.  The first, and biggest, is that I always use a fresh organic, free-ranging turkey.  There's just no comparison.  Of course, pasture-raised animals are high in those all-important anti-inflammation omega-3's and that alone is the best reason to eat them.  But not only that, you can taste the difference, too.

The second reason: bacon.  I always use my mother's favorite recipe which actually came originally from an old Vincent Price cookbook.  This is a fantastic recipe and includes a few small extra steps that really add flavor to the turkey itself and ultimately, the gravy which gets made from the pan drippings.  Once you learn how to make gravy, it only takes a few extra minutes to whisk it up and doing so adds so much deliciousness and crowd satisfaction to the meal!

In 1965, the actor Vincent Price and his wife Mary made a beautiful cookbook called A Treasury of Great Recipes which was recently re-released and is currently available on Amazon.com.

In case you're not sure who Vincent Price was ... famous as one of the original horror movie stars, he was known for his creepy laugh which was later featured in the Michael Jackson Thriller video:

Anyway, his Turkey Wayside Inn recipe includes a generous rubbing of the turkey in butter as well as a topping of several strips of bacon.  What's not to love about that?! Here's our version of his recipe with a few slight anti-inflammation adaptations:

Turkey Wayside Inn

Note: It used to be that the turkey was done when the turkey breast reached 175 degrees.  Newer thinking has it at 165 degrees. Experience has taught me that the bigger the bird, the faster it cooks.  I think this may have something to do with the larger bones conducting more heat faster.  Even very large turkeys cook for me in about 4 hours or so.  When I first began roasting turkeys for a large gathering, this would mess up my timing as I would use charts that would have the roasting time increase with the bird's size.  I would plan to be pulling the turkey out of the oven in 6 hours only to have it be ready two hours before we were ready to sit down and eat!

Use the best ingredients you can.  Pay the extra dollars for that pasture-raised turkey and nitrate-free organic bacon.  Use fresh herbs or the most pungent dried herbs available.  Use sea salt (not table salt) and buy fresh organic vegetables and butter and cream from pasture-raised cows.  This will all pay off in the final taste and quality of your meal.  It also provides optimum healing power. 

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Season--  Rub the inside of a ready to cook 12 lb. turkey with 1 teaspoon sea salt and 1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper.  (Increase quantities for a larger bird.)

Stuff and truss-- Stuff the body and neck cavity with your favorite stuffing recipe.  Truss the legs and wings close to the body.

Fatten up-- Rub the turkey's skin with 1/2 cup of butter and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt and a little pepper.  Place breast up in a shallow roasting pan and arrange 2 slices of bacon over the breast. (Note: I find that using an old fashioned enameled roasting pan rather than the store-bought aluminum disposable pans makes for tastier pan drippings and better "scraps" (you know those wonderful caramelized bits that stick to the bottom of the pan that make the gravy taste magnificent?)  Place 2 slices of antibiotic, hormone and nitrate-free bacon on top of the turkey breast.

Flavor up-- Add to the roasting pan: 2 cups water, 1 onion stuck with 3 cloves, 1 stalk celery, 2 carrots, 2 bay leaves, 5 sprigs fresh parsley and 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme.

Roast-- Cook the turkey in the oven 10-20 minutes per lb. (3 1/2 - 4 hours) or until rich and evenly brown, basting every 30 minutes with the drippings in the pan.




And finally, I have found over the years that this gravy recipe usually gets raves:

Madeira Cream Sauce

Make stock-- While cooking the turkey, make a stock using the neck and, if you prefer, the giblets.  (Add an onion, carrot, celery, bay leaf, thyme, parsley and black pepper and salt to the water to boil and then simmer for several hours.  Cook down until you have several cups of  highly flavored broth. Pour the broth through a sieve.

Skim and deglaze--  Remove the turkey from the roasting pan and skim the fat from the turkey drippings.  Add 1 cup Madeira wine to the pan and deglaze over high heat.  Add the stock  and raise the heat to high.

Thicken-- Add 3/4 cup heavy organic or raw organic cream.  Immediately add 4 teaspoons arrowroot dissolved in 1/4 cup of cold water.

Simmer for 5 minutes or until the gravy is thickened.  Add additional arrowroot if necessary.

Adjust seasonings--  Add sea salt and white pepper as needed.   You may also finely chop fresh herbs such as parsley or thyme to sprinkle over the gravy (remember there is a lot of healing power in herbs).

Better Than Caramel Apples!

Chilled Apple Slices with Peanut Butter Shell (gluten-free and sugar-free)

If you live in apple country, you're probably experiencing the same anxiety I feel as I see the apples dropping wasted to the ground.  Unfortunately, the fear of biting into a worm keeps most kids from biting into a homegrown apple.  

Here's a great apple snack that let's you slice up your homegrown apples (and slice out any unwanted spots or pests).  It takes advantage of the natural sweetness of fresh local apples and pairs it with the saltiness of peanut butter.

The hard coating makes it a great finger food snack. Be prepared to make to make seconds and thirds, as these healthy snacks disappear quickly.

This snack is so good, that, for those without an apple tree, rush to your farmers' market or apple stand and stock up while local apples are at their delicious peak.






Apple Slices with Peanut  Butter Hard Shell
Gluten-free and Sugar-free

100 grams Cocoa Butter
1/2  cup very chunky peanut butter
4 apples, sliced into wedges
Salt to taste

Melt the cocoa butter and peanut butter over in a double boiler over medium heat.  Stir occasionally to mix.  When thoroughly melted and blended, remove from heat and allow to cool  until it reaches the consistency of warm peanut butter.  Place apples into the sauce and stir to coat all sides.  Remove slices and place on a tray covered with wax paper or parchment paper.  Refrigerate until the coating hardens.  Serve.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting get a gluten-free anti-inflammation make-over

I am a big fan of the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten.  Her food is delicious and I love how much she takes pleasure in the shopping, preparing, eating and sharing of food.  Ina just seems to have a beat on finding great American favorites and making them their very best. In fact, I just love everything about her.

However, we’re all about healthy eating here, preventing disease and managing inflammation.  Sometimes, Ina uses ingredients that are on our “avoid” list.  That does not stop us from using her delicious recipes and giving them a healing makeover. .  Like these tasty chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting--we love Ina’s version, but we’ve adapted it to make it healthier.  As always, our goal in making over any recipe is to create something that resembles the original as closely as possible.  We think we’ve got a pretty good approximation here.

We’ve used gluten-free flour, replaced the sugar with our favorite low-glycemic sweeteners and swapped out the inflammatory cow’s milk sour cream and buttermilk for yogurt.  In our version, we use home-made kefir from raw cow’s milk, but you can substitute goat, coconut or almond yogurt.  All these options are anti-inflammation.  By the way, there’s butter in the frosting, but many of the inflammatory agents are removed in making butter, which is mostly only milk fat, so go ahead and enjoy.  Just make sure you are using butter from pasture-raised cows so you get all the inflammation reducing omega-3s.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

16 tablespoons (or 2 sticks) unsalted organic butter from pasture-raised cows at room temperature*
1 cup coconut crystals
2 tablespoons powdered stevia (Trader Joe's powdered stevia)
2 extra-large eggs plus 1 egg yolk from pasture-raised chickens at room temperature*
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup yogurt (use organic goats milk or homemade yogurt from raw milk)**
1/3 cup almond milk
1/2 cup canned heavy coconut milk
2 tablespoons brewed coffee
1 3/4 cup gluten-free multi-purpose flour by King Arthur
1 cup good cocoa powder
1 teaspoon xanthan
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup organic peanut butter smooth
5 tablespoons organic butter from pasture-raised cows at room temperature
3/4 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon stevia
1/4 cup coconut crystals
2 tablespoons yogurt (use organic goats milk or homemade yogurt from raw milk)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
chopped peanuts

1)  Make the cupcakes:  Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Line cupcake pans with paper liners. In the bowl of an electric mixer with paddle blade, cream the butter, coconut crystals and steva.  Add in the eggs and vanilla and beat until mixture is creamy.  In a separate bowl stir together the yogurt, almond milk, coconut milk and coffee.  In one more bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa, xanthan, baking soda and sea salt.  On low speed, add the yogurt mixture and flour mixture alternately in thirds to the mixer bowl beginning with the yogurt mixture.  Mix only until blended scraping sides with a rubber spatula to check that entire mixture is blended.

Divide the mixture between cupcake pans (using a standard rounded ice cream scoop filled full to the top but not overflowing).  Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool for ten minutes and remove from pans.  Allow to cool completely before frosting.

2)  Make the frosting:  In the bowl of a mixer, use a paddle blade to combine the peanut butter and butter.  Add in the vanilla, stevia, coconut crystals, yogurt and salt. Turn beater to high and whip for a minute until mixture is fluffy and creamy.

3) Frost the cupcakes and sprinkle chopped peanuts on top.

*pasture raised is higher in omega-3s which increases the anti-inflammatory properties
**these are anti-inflammatory dairy options

They're back! Farmer's Market Tomatoes

Small organic tomatoes I purchased yesterday.  

Yesterday I arrived at my local Tahoe City farmer's market just as it was closing.  I was delighted to see the first of the summer tomatoes were in.  They were small, but as it turned out later, tasty.  I grabbed a bagful and began planning dinner.

In a few weeks we'll have these! (Photo from last year's market.)  

And these!  (Also from last year.)

Chicken Penne Pasta with Sage Wine Sauce and Summer Tomatoes (Low Gluten)

1 large organic chicken breast with skin and bones
1-2 T olive oil
sea salt and cracked black pepper
2 T butter from grass fed cows (anti-inflammatory when it's from grass fed cows)
2 T chopped shallots
2 T einkorn flour (low gluten)
1/3 c white wine
2 c chicken broth or more
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon dried sage
1 8 oz. pkg. quinoa penne pasta (gluten-free--I used Ancient Harvest brand)
2 c chopped fresh summer tomatoes
1 T fresh sage minced
2 green onions sliced

1)  Roast the chicken:  Place the chicken on a baking dish, drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle with the sea salt and cracked black pepper.  Roast in the oven at 350 degrees until just done, about 35 minutes.  When chicken is done, remove the chicken from the bone and cut into bite-sized pieces.

2)  Make the sauce:  In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and add in the shallots sauteing gently for a minute or two until the shallots are softening.  Stir in the einkorn flour and keep stirring for a minute while the mixture thickens.  Add in the wine and keep stirring.  Add in the chicken broth and keep stirring for several minutes.  If mixture is too thick, add additional broth.  Season with the white pepper, sea salt and dried sage.

3) Make the pasta:  Follow package directions to make the penne.  When penne is cooked, drain and pour into a serving bowl.  Stir in the chicken and the sauce.  Top with the tomatoes, fresh sage and green onions.

Pork and Beans gets a Makeover

BBQ... America loves it.  And what's our favorite side dish?  Why pork and beans, of course.

Many of us eat pork and beans right out of the can, or perhaps even a gussied-up canned version. And that's probably exactly what you get, even in many restaurants.  Let's face it, even though we may like them, canned pork and beans has some ingredients that are, well, not the best for our health.

But pork and beans does contain at least one ultra-healthy food-- beans--which makes it a potentially healthy dish.  We thought it would be worth tweaking this beloved American favorite to up the health factor and lower the processed food factor.  Out with the bad and in the with the great tasting, good-for-your body, inflammation-fighting, healthy stuff.

Actually, it's not the can that's the enemy.  In fact, for convenience, this recipe remake starts with canned white beans*. The enemy is the preservatives, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, nitrates and pesticides you find in the ready-made canned pork and beans.  So here's our cleaned up version, and by the way, it tastes great.

*If you're a purist and have the time, you could certainly start totally from scratch and make your white beans from dry beans.

Pork and Beans

2 16 ounce cans organic white beans (or make your own from dry beans)
1 T Dijon
1/4 t turmeric
1 t apple cider vinegar
1/4 t garlic powder
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t black pepper
1/2 c homemade ketchup see here
2 T coconut palm sugar
1 T worcestershire sauce
1 small-medium organic onion chopped medium fine
1/2 organic green bell pepper chopped fine
6 slices nitrate and antibiotic free uncured bacon  (or, if  you can used uncured organic turkey bacon with no nitrates, but it real pork bacon tastes better!)

Rinse the beans thoroughly, drain them and put them in a dutch oven or pyrex dish.  Add the rest of the ingredients, except the bacon, to the beans and mix together.  If you want your beans to be extra saucy, add more catsup and worcestershire.  Place the bacon strips over the beans in a basketweave pattern (see photo).  Bake the beans at 400 degrees for an hour.  If the bacon looks like it needs a little more browning, put the oven on broil and leave the pan in for another 5 minutes.  Do not overcook or the beans will become dry.