A Pretty Holiday Salad--And it's Packed with Super Healing Foods

This time of year, we're loving pomegranates!  They are packed with super healing powers, plus they add just the right festive color for holiday dishes.

There is so much rich food around during the holidays.  Why not simplify with a beautiful, health-promoting and delicious salad.  The best thing about this salad is that it is so holiday-right that you can bring it to a party or serve it to guests and no-one will suspect that you're focusing on healing.

And we're talking big-time healing healing here with super foods galore!  This salad is packed full of some of our favorite inflammation-fighting super-healers.

Winter Cheer Kale Salad

Baby kale

1 bulb sliced fennel

Seeds from 1 pomegranate

½ C chopped roasted pecans

Dress with Balsamic Dressing:  

4 T olive oil

2 T flax seed oil 

2 T balsamic vinegar 

2 t mustard 

3 T finely chopped shallots 

Generous freshly ground sea salt and black pepper to taste

Just Butter on Top

Easy Dinners

I remember being completely stunned four or five years ago when major nutritionists started recommending butter as an important health food.  So many of us spent years eating low-fat diets. Suddenly butter was....good for you?

Of course, back when the government began recommending a Mediterranean-style diet in their food pyramid, olive oil began to be touted as a healthy fat.  We'd been accepting olives, avocados and nuts as healing for years.  But butter?  Wasn't butter one of the dreaded saturated animal fats?

Five years ago a major review of dozens of research studies showed that there was absolutely no proven link between saturated fats and heart disease.  Just recently a similar review of 72 studies came to the same conclusion.

So, butter is okay.  But, there is a major caveat here. While eating butter does not create a health risk, there is something available only in grass-fed organic butter that is good for you.  Pasture-raised cows make butter that is high in omega-3s whereas feedlot cows make butter that is high in omega-6s. That's because feedlot cows eat a lot of soy and corn, two foods high in omega-6s.

So, what's so important about omega-3's and 6s?  Almost all Americans get far too little omega-3s in their diets.  However, we get far too many omega-6s.  Both omegas are good for us, but here's another major caveat...there is an important ratio we need to achieve between omega-3s and omega-6s. When the omegas are in balance, they help reduce dangerous inflammation in the body.  When they are out of balance, they create inflammation.  And inflammation is to be avoided at all costs because it is linked to most of our modern diseases (for a list of diseases caused by inflammation, see the blue box below).

Most Americans get way more omega-6s than omega-3s.  That's because food manufacturers load up processed food with omega-6s by adding soy and corn oils.  In fact, many Americans get omega-6s in proportion of 20-1 against omega-3s, or more.  An ideal ratio would be more like 4-1.  For more information on omega-3s see here.  

So, it's still good news.  Butter made from grass-fed organic cows is healing.  Yippee, butter is good for you!  

I love butter, I guess most of us do.  One of the best things about butter is that it is so delicious on its own that it makes a lot of foods taste great.  Let's face it, back in the days when butter was bad for you, foods like broccoli suffered.  A little butter goes a long way in making broccoli taste good, especially for kids.

One of the things I love about butter is how it dresses up some easy to cook, healthy autumn foods.  All of the winter squashes taste great with a little butter and salt and pepper.  Just toss them in the oven and roast until tender and then butter 'em up!  What could be easier?

Roasted butternut squash with a little grass-fed butter, coconut crystals, sea salt and black pepper.

And what about sweet potatoes and yams!!! One of my favorite side dishes is a roasted sweet potato loaded with butter and salt and pepper.  It tastes fantastic and it has a lot of good healing vitamins, minerals and nutrients.

An unusual purple yam with grass-fed butter, salt and pepper.

So if you've been thinking old-school and avoiding butter, maybe it's time to update your diet, start fighting inflammation and add the yummy stuff back into your everyday meals.  Go butter!!!

We're Eating Only Grass-Fed Meats These Days...and They're Getting Easier to Find

Because I live in the Sierra Nevada mountains, my local Farmer's Market is only open June through September.  We have a vendor at our market who raises grass-fed beef about an hour north of us. It's delicious, but expensive.  Even so, I feel it's worth it, during the months that I can get it.

Thompson Valley Ranch, my Farmer's Market source for grass-fed beef.

The rest of the year, it's been a struggle to obtain grass-fed meats.  Until recently I had to drive an hour to get to a Whole Foods, Costco or Trader Joe's which were the only supermarkets anywhere near me carrying organic or grass-fed meats.

Now, however, my local supermarket chain-store, Safeway, has a nice little section of both organic and grass-fed meats and poultry in their Open Nature brand.  And by the way, I find the pricing very reasonable.  I spoke to the butcher recently and he had good news to report.  It's selling through, which means they will keep offering it.  Raley's is another regional market chain which is offering similar choices. Hopefully your local market is starting to make a small selection available to you, too.  If not, talk to the store supervisor and let him/her know you'd buy it if they offered it.

This happy cow lives in Sonoma County.  Wouldn't it be fabulous if all the cows in the US could live a life this good?  

Now, I would prefer to eat local food, and I'm fully aware that the Safeway grass-fed beef is mostly not even from the US.  However, until a more local supply becomes available, I'm just grateful to have this.  If I had more storage, I would definitely consider purchasing a deep-freezer so that I could buy part of a pasture-raised cow and freeze it, but for now I don't.

If you live near a city and are able to get to Whole Foods, Trader Joe's or Costco, then you have plenty of options available to you.  The Whole Foods butcher section has probably the largest range of choice in pastured meats, but it may also be the most expensive.  This is a great go-to, however, especially when you want unusual cuts or specialty meats for entertaining.

Trader Joe's has a wonderful grass-fed ground beef in their frozen section that tastes delicious and is reasonably priced and they also carry free-range organic chicken.

Costco, always on the beat of what America wants, is offering more and more organic foods. They have organic ground beef and bison as well as many choices for organic chicken.   They also have lots of tasty organic sausages, hot dogs and lunch meats, as well as a nice selection of wild caught seafood. So far Costco does not seem to be selling grass-fed meats, but they're definitely moving in the right direction. It's up to us, their customers, to let them know we like this, but we want even more and as much pasture-raised as possible.

Just in case you'd like to find a local source for grass-fed beef, I've pasted in below a section from an article at Mercola.com which lists resources for finding regional pastured and organic meats and poultry.

"Organic, grass-fed and finished meat is really the only type of meat that is healthy to eat, in my view. Fortunately, many grocery chains are now responding to customer demand, and will provide at least a small assortment of grass-fed meats. The least expensive way to obtain grass-fed beef and other locally produced organic foods is from your local farmer. The following organizations can help you locate farm-fresh foods in your local area that has been raised in a humane, sustainable manner:

• Local Harvest -- This Web site will help you find farmers' markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area where you can buy produce, grass-fed meats, and many other goodies.

• Eat Wild: With more than 1,400 pasture-based farms, Eat Wild's Directory of Farms is one of the most comprehensive sources for grass-fed meat and dairy products in the United States and Canada.

• Farmers' Markets -- A national listing of farmers' markets.

• Eat Well Guide: Wholesome Food from Healthy Animals -- The Eat Well Guide is a free online directory of sustainably raised meat, poultry, dairy, and eggs from farms, stores, restaurants, inns, and hotels, and online outlets in the United States and Canada.

• FoodRoutes -- The FoodRoutes "Find Good Food" map can help you connect with local farmers to find the freshest, tastiest food possible. On their interactive map, you can find a listing for local farmers, CSAs, and markets near you."

Gorgeous Thompson Valley Ranch, located in the Northern Sierras, where my Farmer's Market cows are raised in pasture.  

Wrapping up Those Super Greens

If you're watching your gluten, dairy and sugar intake as part of a anti-inflammation diet, what to have for lunch can be a daily quandary.  Chronic inflammation is a major cause of diseases like heart disease, diabetes, Parkinson's, cancer and macular degeneration, among many others (for a more comprehensive list, see blue box below).  

I'm always trying to add as many super greens to my meals as possible-- they are awesome inflammation fighters.   During the warmer months a lunchtime salad with added super greens is the perfect option.  But along about now, when the temperature drops, I start to feel like a need a little something that will add some heft to my lunch...something rib-sticking.

A wrap is a great solution because you can stuff it full of super greens, sprouts and veggies for a fantastic inflammation-fighting, tummy-filling, healthy and tasty lunch.  Some of our favorite wrap add-ins are hummus, chicken, tuna, smoked salmon, olives, tapenade, pesto and oven-roasted tomatoes.  Just toss in any of these and you've got a fabulous inflammation-fighting lunch.

Sonoma Wrap with kale, hummus and baba ganoush.  So good it's addicting!

La Tortilla Factory makes a nice tasting gluten-free wrap called the Sonoma. It's large, it's strong and it stands up to some serious loading.  The Sonoma gluten-free wrap is made from teff and millet, a big improvement over lots of gluten-free foods that are made from tapioca, potato, rice and arrowroot flours (which are all starches and do some serious blood-sugar spiking, which, by the way, leads to chronic inflammation.)  Teff and millet, at least, have some protein and teff is high in resistant-starch, which works to help stabilize blood sugar, while millet is helpful in managing diabetes and is an anti-inflammatory.

But what could be even better than a store-bought gluten-free wrap?  Well, why not make your own wrap?  I found a very nice gluten-free recipe for wraps in the book Wheat Belly.  This recipe features flax meal, one of our very favorite inflammation fighting ingredients (flax meal is high in omega-6s, for more information, see here.)

This is a nice recipe, it's very filling, the ingredients are all healing, and it makes a delicious wrap.  The wrap, however, doesn't have a lot of structure and will fall apart if you fill it up and roll it.  I suggest that after you roll the wrap, you then wrap it up in wax paper or plastic wrap so that your lunch will hold together.

It also helps to cut the wrap in half before loading it up.  This makes it much less unwieldy and easier to eat.  You can always eat both halves--just eat them separately.

Or, why not treat the wrap more like an open faced sandwich or tostada.  Pile all the good green stuff on along with your favorite add-ins and eat it all with a fork.

Homemade Wheat Belly Flax Wrap

Super green spinach leaves, oven roasted tomatoes and kalamata olives.  

Wheat Belly Gluten-free Wrap

3 T ground flax seeds (I use pre-ground seeds from Bob's Red Mill)
1/4 t baking powder
1/4 t onion powder
1/4 t paprika
Freshly ground sea salt
1 T coconut oil, melted, plus more for greasing the pans (olive oil also works)
1 T water
1 egg grass-fed organic


Mix together flax and baking powder. Stir in melted coconut oil. Beat in egg and water until blended. Pour into greased microwave safe pie plate. Microwave on high for 2 minutes until cooked. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes. Gently lift an edge with a spatula, loosen from the pan. Flip the wrap over and top with desired toppings.

Serving Size: 1 wrap


I thought it would be interesting to adapt this recipe by creating a version that uses einkorn ancient wheat flour instead of flax seeds.  This version seems to have a bit more structure and holds together just a bit better.  The ancient wheat grain einkorn version would be a low-gluten version, safe for many people with gluten intolerances, but not safe for anyone with celiac disease. For more information about einkorn flour, see here.

Einkorn Low-Gluten Wrap

1 T plus 2 t einkorn flour
1/4 t baking powder
1/4 t onion powder
1/4 t paprika
Freshly ground sea salt
1 T olive oil, plus more for greasing the pans
1 T water
1 egg grass-fed organic


Mix together einkorn, onion powder, paprika, salt and baking powder. Stir in olive oil. Whisk in egg and water until blended. Pour into greased microwave safe pie plate. Microwave on high for 2 minutes until cooked. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes. Gently lift an edge with a spatula, loosen from the pan. Flip the wrap over and top with desired toppings.

Pasta with Three Peas, Asparagus and Shiitake

If you're starting to feel a little over-indulged on party foods and sweets, here's a wonderful heavy-on-the-veggies dish that you could proudly bring to any holiday party.  

 Pasta with Three Peas, Asparagus and Shiitake

1 bunch asparagus

1 cup snow peas

1 cup sugar snap peas

1 cup fresh or frozen peas

2 cups dried bow tie pasta or any gluten-free pasta*

3 T chopped shallot

3 cups sliced shiitake

2 green onions split lengthwise and thinly sliced

4 T blue cheese (optional)*

4 T roasted pine nuts

1 t dried marjoram or 3 T chopped fresh

3 T butter (organic grass-fed for increased omega-3s)

olive oil

sea salt and black pepper

Bring a small pot of water to boil and blanch all 3 types of peas until just barely tender.

Put cut asparagus spears into roasting pan with olive oil and salt and roast until just barely cooked. Saute sliced shitakes and shallots in 3 T butter. Cook pasta until al dente. Toss all ingredients in bowl, season with generous sea salt, fresh ground pepper and drench in olive oil. Top with blue cheese and pine nuts.

*If you're on an anti-inflammation diet, make sure you use gluten-free pasta and switch the cheese out to any goat or sheep's milk cheese.  A feta would taste good and be easy to grab at your local market. However, if your local farmer's market is still going on and you have access to artisan cheeses, try a great local goat cheese. 

Sugar-Free Low-Gluten Christmas Sugar Cookies

The Batter is so good we barely had any left to make cookies with!

These are guilt-free cookies.  There is nothing in this recipe that you need to feel any remorse about whatsoever.  So enjoy them fully.

Although this cookie recipe is very similar to the one you may have eaten every Christmas of your life, there are small but significant changes here that make it a healing recipe rather than one that contributes to inflammation and disease.  Just about every ingredient has been tweaked for healing.

We used low-glycemic Coconut Nectar and stevia as sweeteners.  We find that using them together in combination creates a product that tastes more like sugar than either one of them do alone.  Neither of these sweeteners will spike your blood sugar when used in moderation, as they are here in this recipe.

Our flour choice for these cookies is low-gluten ancient grain einkorn.  Many of us with gluten intolerances are finding that we can handle a little einkorn flour.  The gluten content in einkorn is significantly lower than modern wheat and the type of gluten is different, too.  For further explanation of einkorn wheat, go here. 

We also used grass-fed butter and grass-fed eggs in this recipe.  Both increase the valuable inflammation fighting omega-3s.  And as always, our recipe features healthy natural sea salt rather than table salt.

Sugar-Free Low-Gluten Christmas Sugar Cookies

1 c grass-fed butter from pasture-raised organic cows
1/4 c Coconut Nectar
1 T stevia  (for baking I prefer Trader Joe's powdered stevia extract)
1 grass-fed egg from pasture-raised organic chickens
1 t vanilla
1/2 t salt
2 1/2 c einkorn flour

Cream the butter, coconut nectar and stevia together in the bowl of a mixer using a paddle blade.  When mixture is creamy, add in the egg and continue to beat until fully combined.  Add the vanilla and salt and beat for a few seconds.  With beater running, pour in the flour slowly and in batches giving it a few moments between each batch to mix together.  Continue beating until mixture forms a large ball and is fully combined.  Refrigerate for 3-4 hours before rolling out and cutting into cookies.  Bake cookies at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.  Remove cookies from oven when edges turn slightly brown.  Cool on a wire rack.

As some of you may know, I'm working with a group of people who are creating a company with the purpose of making it easier to find information on healing disease with food.

Right now it seems so difficult to find the information you need.

• You show up in the supplement section at your local health food store and ask the guy that runs the section what you can take for your condition, but you have no idea whether he's at all knowledgeable.  
• One magazine article tells you it's okay to eat a certain food and the next article condemns it totally.
• You go online to search and you find lots of information, but you have no idea if any of it is actually scientifically proven, or if it's just someone's opinion.  
• You follow an internet nutritionist or doctor but he's constantly pushing his own supplement line or diet book.  

Who do you trust and what is really true?

Well, we're trying to end the confusion.  We're basing our company on scientific research.  The information is out there.  There are thousands and thousands of research studies from Universities, hospitals, government groups, doctors, nutritionists and dietitians, as well as pharmaceutical, wellness and food companies.  

Most of this information gets published somewhere on the internet. The problem is that it is often published in places where the average person like you or me can't find it.  

Did you know that Google only reaches 4% of the information available on the internet?  It's true. And mostly what you get when you search for information on Google is the most requested information.   

The coolest part about what we're doing is that we have a special search engine that was originally developed for NASA.  It can crawl all around the deep internet and find obscure information.  This engine pulls up all kinds of scientifically documented facts from around the globe.

We're working on our first condition right now, eczema.  We're still in the process of pulling together all the available research on eczema but I have a preliminary report and I've been working with it for two months now.  

Yes, I've actually been eating and living on our eczema diet.  

By the way, I don't have eczema.  I just wanted to see how it would feel to live out the recommendations that are coming to the surface through our deep net searching.  So far...my skin looks great, I've lost several pounds, my "brain fog" has lifted, I feel energetic and I have no aches or pains.  

I've had to give up some foods and emphasize others as part of all this, but I am doing this easily now. The first week or two was a bit of a challenge, because I felt hungry and had cravings for some of the foods I had been eating.  But now that I'm into it, I find it very easy to stay on the eczema cure. 

Oddly, I've lost the food cravings that have plagued me on a daily business for most of my adult life. I'm so much less hungry now.  

Even though I've always eaten healthy foods, every single thing I put in my mouth now has a healing purpose and I'm starting to really see and feel the results.  

Anyway, I am working out a lot of recipe and menu plans for our eczema report and the food has been not just healing but delicious and pleasurable.  All of these recipes, menus, and eating plans will be a part of the final report along with shopping tips.  I really think its important to be able to pull together family meals easily, including to know what ready made foods from your favorite stores are healing.  So we've been shopping Trader Joe's and Costco and putting together shopping guides for things you can toss into your cart with confidence on the eczema diet.  

After we get our eczema report out, we'll jump right into the next condition.  Eventually we'll have reports available for most diseases and our amazing technology will allow us to combine conditions together. That means that if you have diabetes, but your mother had cancer and your father had heart disease, we'll be able to create a customized healing report just for your personally showing everything you need to know about healing and managing those three conditions with food, supplements and herbs.  

If you have eczema and you'd like to be notified when our first report is ready (should be mid-January), you can sign up at our Nutricern website.  We're also looking for a few people to beta test our report for free.  You can sign up for that there, too.