White Bean, Sunchoke and Kale Stew

March 31, 2013 by Sarica Leave a Comment

Savory and nourishing white bean, sunhcoke and kale stew, topped with shavings of Parmesan cheese and freshly-ground pepper.

Having just returned from an enriching weekend at Systemic Formulas‘ headquarters in Utah, learning in-depth about the causes and effects of Leaky Gut Syndrome, as well as having the opportunity to share on the importance of cultured foods to recover from this very real and very damaging digestive concern, it just seems fitting to share a recipe on…sunchokes.

While this may seem a stretch, it’s really not. After my presentation, I was gifted a bag of sunchokes (also known as Jerusalem artichokes) by a very thoughtful attendee, who’d brought them fresh from her father’s garden! And, given that so much of what we taught and learned on over the weekend involved building and maintaining a healthy gut flora, the sunchokes were a very welcome gift.

Most are very aware that beneficial bacteria are an incredibly necessary component to our health and well-being. In fact, the bacteria that reside in our bodies outnumber our cells by about 10 to 1! Researchers have come to understand that so much of what makes us human, from our emotional expression to how we feel in our bodies to how we relate to one another, is intensely dependent on the state of the bacteria that live in and on us. (See the June 2012 edition of Scientific American magazine for more information.) But these little powerhouses are no different than us–they need food to survive. Enter the prebiotic.

Prebiotics are non-digestible components of foods that nourish these beneficial bacteria. And when the bacteria are healthy and well-fed, we reap the benefits. Studies have shown a diet supplemented with prebiotics to be a boon to mineral absorption as well as the immune system; they show promise in improving regularity in bowel patterns and reducing inflammatory patterns of the bowel and decreasing the incidence of colorectal cancer; they even appear to offer benefit in hypertensive patterns.*

But what does all this good news about prebiotics have to do with this recipe? Well, one of the main ingredients in this stew is the versatile and nutritious sunchoke. I would enjoy it for its taste and texture alone, as it’s a delight raw with a sprinkle of sea salt, or sautéd in ghee, but its nutrition is the clincher. It turns out that the sunchoke is a terrific source of a prebiotic called inulin, thus elevating this rather non-descript root vegetable to the ranks of superfood in my estimation.

And in this recipe, it is paired with other foods that further enhance and benefit gut function and form. The pastured bone broth is rich in GI-soothing and nourishing gelatin. The beans have been soaked and mildly fermented, making their stored nutrition much more digestible and bioavailable. Even the onion is an additional source of prebiotics, too.

So, enjoy the savory flavors of this very nutritious stew. It is well-accompanied by a chunk of fermented grain bread slathered in butter, and like most soups and stews, tastes its very best a day after preparation, when the flavors have had an opportunity to meld. And as you indulge your tastebuds, you can feel good about all the good you are doing for the bacteria in your belly!

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaky_gut

White Bean, Sunchoke and Kale Stew

Makes approximately 10-12 servings

2 cups White Beans (Flageolet or Great Northern are good choices), sorted, rinsed and soaked overnight **
2 quarts plus 2 cups Pastured Beef Bone Broth
3 cups Kale, washed and coarsely chopped
2 cups Sunchokes, washed and cut into 1/2″ wedges
2 large Portabella Mushrooms, sliced in 1/2″ chunks
1 small Yellow Onion, diced
1 1/2 teaspoons Rosemary Leaves
1/2 teaspoon ground Sage Leaf
Salt and Pepper to taste
Fresh, raw Parmesan Cheese, shaved, for topping the finished stew

**I like to soak my beans in warm water (105-110 degree Fahrenheit range), with a splash of water kefir to prime the culturing pump. For this recipe of 2 cups of dry beans, place the beans in a glass bowl, cover them with 6-8 cups of warm, chlorine-free water and 2-3 tablespoons of water kefir. Next, cover the bowl and rest it on top of a yogurt maker that has been turned on, or inside a dehydrator set at 105 degrees, to keep the fermentation process very active (if you don’t have either of these devices, you can place the bowl inside an ice chest that has two or three large jars filled with hot water). Check periodically to ensure the beans are staying submerged under the water. After 24 hours or so, gentle fermentation is happening, and small sprouts are generally visible from the beans, which should be at least double their original size. Rinse the beans and they are now ready for cooking.

Add the broth and soaked beans to a large stock pot, and set on a medium heat. Once a gentle boil is reached, reduce heat to a mild simmer and add onion, rosemary and sage. Cook for about 20 minutes, then add the remainder of the ingredients and cook for an additional 45 minutes to an hour, until the beans and sunchokes have softened.

Ladle into soup bowls, top with a twist of freshly-ground black pepper and shavings of Parmesan cheese. Store additional stew in a covered glass or ceramic bowl in the refrigerator for up to four days.

Wedges of prebiotic-rich sunchokes, fresh from the garden

Wedges of sunchokes, fresh from the garden

White beans before soaking and fermentation

White beans that have been soaking and mildly fermenting for 24 hours…notice the little bubbles of fermentation? These are ready to rinse and put to use.

Beans that have just begun to sprout from the long, warm soaking.

Filed Under: Health, Recipes Tagged With: Ancestral Eating, beans, beneficial bacteria, bone broth, cultured foods, fermentation, gluten-free, grain-free recipes, grass fed, inulin, jerusalem artichokes, lacto-fermentation, meat, Organic Foods, parmesan cheese, pastured meat, portabella mushroom recipe, prebiotics, probiotics, raw cheese, recipes, soaking, soup recipes, sprouted beans, sprouting, sunchokes

Ferments and Culturing…How I love Your Ways

January 31, 2013 by Sarica 2 Comments

It may not look like much, but the fermentation and culturing happening here fuels our kitchen! Shown here: water kefir, ginger bug brew, raw milk yogurt in yogurt maker, sprouted brown rice incubating in second yogurt maker and fermenting with added water kefir.

I’ve been in the very good habit lately of leaning heavily on lacto-fermentation to pre-digest the foods our family eats. Culturing, fermenting, sourdough-ing, kraut-ing…our kitchen has been a hotbed of activity, but not always a lot of elbow grease on the family’s part.

After spending the better part of this last year reading and re-reading The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Katz, I’ve felt compelled and encouraged to just sit back and let the bacteria do a lion’s share of the digestive work, so we don’t have to. (The digestive equivalent of comfortably reclining, quaffing champagne and noshing bon-bons.)

And it has been a good move!

We had decided some time back to work on incorporating some grains back into our months’-long grain-free diet, and as with any move to eat grains, we did so with the expectation that they would always be properly-prepared by a long, warm-water soak before cooking. The removal of various anti-nutrients by this simple first step is paramount to getting more nutrition from the grains, and mitigating the mineral- and protein-leaching that consuming unsoaked grains can lead to.

But adding in a little fresh culture to that warm, long watery soak–by way of whey from yogurt or kefir, or a splash of water kefir–provided the additional benefit of allowing the cultures to pre-digest the complex carbohydrates in the grains, leaving us with much more digestible simple sugars. Yay! And everything took on that wonderful, slightly-tart flavor of sourdough (and once a palate gets a taste for sourdough, anything less tastes bland and simple)–Yay again! But possibly best of all, the grains didn’t feel like a brick in our bellies–even pancakes and hot cereal have been very well-digested, where we are full, but not at all bloated or logy. Yay!

At one point last week, I counted 9 different ferments happening in our kitchen. And while that certainly seems like a lot, it’s important to remember that the process of creating lacto-fermented foods requires time. Rome may have not been built in a day, but culturing a quart of milk to become yogurt takes about a third of a day, and that’s a little longer than simply picking a container off the shelf at the grocery store. But the benefits are innumerable if you do allow the time for your homegrown cultures to go to work for you. Most commercially-prepared yogurt goes through a hastened culturing process, that does not allow for the more complete conversion of what are for many troublesome milk sugars (lactose) into the gut-benefiting, probiotic bacteria. And, if you have access to raw, grass-fed milk, then you are able to make a very nutritious food, indeed.

Similarly, making fermented veggies at home–most widely-known as sauerkraut–allows you to make a condiment teeming with beneficial bacteria, with the ingredients you choose. Many people have issues with thyroid function–whether it be diagnosed or sub-clinical–and consuming raw sauerkraut of cabbage can actually further dampen thyroid function. It turns out that the fermentation process does not degrade the thyroid-dampening effects of brassica-family vegetables, of which kale, cabbage, bok choy, cauliflower and many others belong. Now, a little raw or fermented brassica veggies isn’t going to squelch most people’s thyroid activity. But if a person is inclined to eat a few spoons’ full of fermented veggies in a day (read: me), then, making a kraut that leans more heavily on other types of vegetation–zucchini and other summer squashes, carrots, cucumbers, onions, garlic, chard, lettuces–might be a good option. Again, this just takes time to let those good bacteria do their good work for you.

And there are more ways we’ve been using the cultures…to make bread, to prepare beans for cooking, as a base for refreshing and calming drinks, in making pancakes, and even as skincare! The ways to use them are only as limited as our ingredients on hand and our imaginations. I’d love to hear from you on what you’re culturing and fermenting, what your favorite cultured foods are, how you’re using these foods in your life. Please leave a comment or contact me–there is always more to learn and share!

Filed Under: Articles, Food, Food, Health Tagged With: Ancestral Eating, baking, bread, cultured foods, cultures, culturing, dairy, food, ginger bug, gluten-free, grain-free recipes, health, kefir, lacto-fermentation, Organic Foods, Paleo Diet, pancakes, raw milk, sauerkraut, sourdough, sprouted brown rice, vegetables, veggies, water kefir, whey, Whole Foods, yogurt

A modern spin on the Tale of Fish and Loaves (or how a tablespoon of cultures and 2 chickens helped feed 65 people)

August 12, 2012 by Sarica Leave a Comment

One of the most compelling aspects of preparing foods in a traditional manner is the magic that can be wrought with a little elbow grease, some on-the-fly moves, and the right amount of time.

I just finished presenting to a group of healthcare practitioners at Systemic Formulas Sunshine Symposium. As with everything that comes from Systemic, it was an excellent event, where I learned more about advances in natural healing than seems reasonable in a 3-day window! And I was absolutely delighted and very honored to be included in the list of presenters this year.

As I began my deliberations on WHAT I would talk about (no surprise–traditional food preparation techniques and the healing benefits of using these types of foods), I quickly got to thinking about HOW I could enliven my PowerPoint presentation.

Certainly I’d put lots of (hopefully!) compelling statistics on the decline in health, how our diets have changed in very short window of time, techniques on how to do some soaking and some culturing…but I wanted a little “Pow!” to drive those points home. And, there is nothing like letting people see, taste and smell some good, nutritious food to get them on board with making good changes in their own kitchens!

So, knowing that I would be in a standard hotel room (read: No kitchen, nor kitchen-y tools), with rather limited access to the Systemic Formulas’ kitchen (there’s not much time to cook when you’re busy learning in the classroom for the better part of a 10-hour day), I quickly sorted out that some tasty homemade kraut or raw milk yogurt wouldn’t likely make the cut. I needed something that would take care of the bulk of its own preparation, without a lot of effort or time from me.

So, what I settled on were two options that I knew I’d be able manage with these parameters, using as little from home as I could, leaning more on what I’d gather from local stores. And what seemed to make the most sense were organic, pastured chicken bone broth and apple juice naturally fermented with water kefir.

Now, mind you, the staff at Systemic feeds us like family, using excellent ingredients that fulfill the diet based on their founder, Doc Wheelwright‘s, Pro-Vita principles. So, my offerings were not going to be the mainstay of the meal, but rather healthy adjuncts to the offerings. Regardless, I wanted to share something that would be nutritious and likely rather different than what most would usually consider lunch faire.

So, I brought a tablespoons’ worth of my raw water kefir grains in a small container, tucked safely in the clothing in my luggage. And, once I settled in to my room, I walked to the nearest store and purchased a glass carafe, unfiltered apple juice, bottled water and organic Demerara sugar (and then I called the good folks at the Marriott Ogden and asked for the shuttle to help me get all this back to the hotel!)

Back in my room, I started the slow-yet-hopeful process of paving the way for some water kefir in a few days’ time. Beginning with heating the water in the in-room coffee maker, I next melted the sugar into it, poured it into the newly purchased carafe, tempered the heat with room temperature water, and then finished with adding the water kefir grains to the sweet, warm solution. And then I crossed my fingers in hopes that in my 3-day window, I’d create the right environment for my transported kefir grains to do their alchemical magic, turning sugar water and apple juice into a richly-probiotic beverage for everyone to share.

The next morning, Nate from Systemic escorted me to the local natural foods’ store, where I made a quick purchase of two pastured, organically-raised chickens, some apple cider vinegar and sea salt. Returning to Systemic’s headquarters, the wonderful kitchen staff shared a couple of locally-grown onions for the broth and helped me settle everything into an industrial-sized crockpot, which I set on a 4-hour heat, then reduced to 190 degrees Fahrenheit, to continue simmering over a 24-hour period.

By a couple hours into the cooking, the entire area of the kitchen and dining room was swimming in the delicious aroma of homemade chicken broth–is there anything better?

Returning to the hotel room that night, I peered into my water kefir carafe, sniffing hopefully for a hint of tartness, the tangy hit of lacto-fermentation. I’d left the carafe to warm in the sunny window sill all day, but there appeared to be no obvious signs of kefir kefiring. ”Well,” I thought, “even if this doesn’t take off, at least I’m the only one that knows about it–thankfully I’ve not mentioned this to any of the attendees.” Adding a little more warmed sugar water to the mix, I placed the carafe into a warm water bath to keep any possibility of culturing moving forward in my cool hotel room. After a while, I removed it from the water and wrapped it in a towel for insulation. Then I went to bed.

The next morning–the morning of my presentation–I hopped out of bed and immediately checked on the water kefir. As I jostled the container to remove the lid, I noticed the wonderful tell-tale bubbles rising along the sides of the liquid–Lacto-fermentation! Sure enough, as I pulled back the lid, I could smell the lively, pungent smell of kefir in action! The only caveat was that I only had about a quart’s worth of water kefir–certainly not enough for all the attendees to have a taste. I immediately added the apple juice to the mix and put the carafe back into a warm water bath while I got ready for the day, keeping my hopes high that there was enough lively culturing and the right temperature to begin consuming the newly added sugars and minerals from the apple juice. As I left the room, I tucked the carafe in a towel and carried it to the car.

Upon arriving at Systemic’s headquarters, I placed the glass carafe in a warm spot in the kitchen (one of the unused back burners to the very busy stove and oven.) I next asked the staff to help me with removing the flesh and meat from the long-simmered chickens, leaving behind the bones, adding a little more sea salt, vinegar and boiling water to the broth–the staff was my saving grace to pulling this last bit off, as I had to begin my presentation in a few minutes’ time!

Following my presentation, and then sitting in on a great talk given by Dr. Daniel Pompa, I ran back down to the kitchen, just in time to see the most beautiful golden broth being ladled into a festive punch bowl! What a delight!

Next to the water kefir.

Had it had enough time to ferment the sugars I’d just fed it a few hours’ prior? What if it was too sweet, more of a warm, sugary apple juice than anything resembling a probiotic beverage? There was no time to bother with hand-wringing; I could see the attendees lining up along the lunch tables. With hope in my heart, I began dropping in ice cubes to bring down the temperature a little–and as the ice hit the liquid, frothy, fizzy bubbles shot to the top of the carafe, the wonderful signs of a beverage lacto-fermented! It worked!

We arranged everything out front, at the end of the food lines. From a tablespoon of kefir grains and two chickens, there was about a gallon and a half of apple juice water kefir and two huge punch bowls of broth…folks got a “shot” size of the kefir, and as much of the broth as they wished.

And from these small beginnings, I received some fantastic feedback–”We’ve been eating the exact same foods for the last 3 days, and come afternoon, we just hit the wall with the fatigue of sitting and learning all day. Today, we ate the same foods again, the only difference was the kefir and the broth…and we never hit the wall! We feel great!” And, “I was so full from the cup of broth, that I only had half as much food as normal!” And, “The broth was so good–I had three cups!”

So, if you’re wondering if you can make this kind of food at home…if you’re wondering if it’s worth the effort…if you’re wondering if it will have an impact in your health…I share this little story with you to say, yes, it is most definitely something you can do, and, yes, it is most definitely something you should do.

Bon appetit!

Filed Under: Articles, Food, Food, Uncategorized Tagged With: Ancestral Eating, apple cider vinegar, bone broth, chicken, cultured foods, food, gluten-free, grain-free recipes, health, kefir, lacto-fermentation, meat, natural medicine, Organic Foods, Paleo Diet, recipes, soup recipes, vegetables, water kefir

Adding Some Soaked Grains Back into the Diet…

June 8, 2012 by Sarica 5 Comments

Soaked and sprouting quinoa, draining in the colander (Yes, it is correct that it is not a "true" grain, but rather a grain-like seed...but we use it in a grainy way!)

I really like the concept of balance.

Whether it is in making sure the kids get equal portions of yogurt and eggs, or of maintaining our health with a mix of proper rest, creative outlets and hard work, or of mixing in the social world and its counterpart, reflection and quiet, there are so many ways that I find myself looking to hit that just right note of balance in the Yin and Yang of every aspect of our lives.

And sometimes, I find myself stepping back from lifestyle choices, and asking, “Is this the most balanced way I can approach this?” I am a firm believer that to really adopt a change in lifestyle, one has to hang out in the deep end of change for a while before moving back to the moderate depths, where you can find your footing and stop working so hard in effort. But you’ve got to flex your mental muscles a little bit, learn some new moves, before you get there. Otherwise, it is much too simple to return to old habits and there won’t be staying power to incorporating the new ways of doing things in a larger life experience.

Anyone who knows me knows that the arena of food and nutrition is a place where I’ve ventured off into the deep waters many times, in the pursuit of knowledge and self-improvement. And sometimes I’ve stayed in the deep a good, long while…my 14-year commitment to being a lacto-ovo-pescarian being one foray. I think it’s important to really try something on–it can bring change within us that we’d never known otherwise, and at the very least, it makes us deeply empathic, verging on sympathetic, to others’ similar experiences.

And, I also believe that it’s hard to appreciate how various choices make us feel without having first experienced something very different. My years of pescarianism, practiced in a manner that left me very deficient in solid nutritional components, have helped me to deeply appreciate that with solid, satiating nutrition how good it is to feel calm, nourished and…balanced. I have an understanding of this that is reflected in so many years of not feeling this way.

And, to that end, in the name of balance, I did step back from a decision to totally remove grains in the name of seeing how I felt doing so. It was in going so far in one direction that I came to see very clearly how I’ve used grain-products as a lazy energy crutch throughout my life. A bowl of cereal here, some toast and butter there, a platter of pasta to share at dinner. I realized how much nutrition I was cutting out by way of putting refined grains in the place of deeper nutrition sources.

When grain products are removed, something has to go in their place. Certainly, that could be any number of things. For our family, that meant more produce, notably more vegetables, especially squash, sweet potatoes and yams. It also meant more nut flours, from soaked, dehydrated and ground sources. And we ate many more coconut products–from flour to cream to flakes. We also used the seed-like grains, amaranth and quinoa. Cooking with these types of foods has been a big learning curve (one never appreciates all that gluten can do as relates to binding and shape until there’s not a speck of it in sight!), and I am very grateful for what it has done to broaden our perspectives on food and for the greater range of nutrition it brought to our plates.

But, as mentioned at the outset of this piece, I believe in balance. And totally eschewing all grains is something that doesn’t seem moderate to me. So I began looking more closely at the traditional methods of grain preparation, most notably as found in Nourishing Traditions, but in various blogs as well. Our family line is of European descent, and I know traditionally-prepared grains are a food source my ancestors employed. And by incorporating the techniques that lend themselves toward better assimilation of the nutrients that are stored in these foods, I felt that I could test the waters and see how we all responded to the inclusion of some of these foods in our diet.

Before we removed grains from our diet, we ate organic, commercially-prepared grains, either in a sprouted form (bread or tortillas), as chips, or as gluten-free options (bread, waffles, English muffins.) We didn’t do much in the way of traditional preparation of whole grains–meaning, if I made rice, I simply rinsed it then cooked it. Same for oats, corn meal or buckwheat, or any other whole grain. We were eating foods that, for the most part, were not well-prepared to support their digestion and assimilation into our bodies.

But the traditional methods involve soaking the grain in warm water, with a little bit of an acid medium, for about 7-12 hours, generally. By doing so, many of the anti-nutrients, enzyme inhibitors, complex carbohydrates and difficult-to-digest proteins (such as gluten and phytic acid) are broken down into much easier components that our bodies can handle. while at the same time increasing the enzyme activity of the grain, making their digestion much easier.

The above-mentioned acid medium can be fresh lemon juice, raw apple cider vinegar, whey from fresh yogurt, or even a bit of yogurt or kefir, though research has shown that the calcium in the dairy can inhibit physic acid reduction, thus, inhibiting the bioavailability of some minerals. The other side, though, is that the healthy bacteria (and yeast, in kefir) will use the carbohydrates in the grains as an energy source, thus, predigesting the sugars and reducing them in the final product. Since our family eats plenty of vegetables and grass-fed meats–both great sources of minerals–I tend to use the bit of yogurt or kefir, though not always.

Additionally, warmth and time are needed for proper breakdown–starting with water in the 110-140 degrees Fahrenheit range, left at room temperature (70-80 degrees Fahrenheit), for at least 7 hours, gives a very good foundation for proper assimilation. And if the grains are especially big (rice, spelt, kamut), then opening up a little more surface area is a good idea. I use a coffee grinder, and give a quick spin of the grains before soaking–just enough to break up the grain a little and expose more of its structure to the water.

And, so, what have we been cooking? I like to rotate, so that we’re not eating the same thing, day-in and day-out. All our grains are organic and I purchase them in packaged, small batches, so that they’re fresh to begin with, then I keep them in my freezer so there is no concern for oxidation. We’ve been using gluten-free rolled oats, spelt berries, quinoa, amaranth and steel cut oats. I’ve got some buckwheat and kamut that I’ve yet to prepare, but these others have made for lovely, small sides to meals, or as a component of a casserole or patties, or even as a base for pancakes.

Needless to say, this all requires a few extra steps, though it’s far from difficult. But these steps, coupled with a tart flavor profile (thanks to the healthy bacteria consuming the sugars in the grains) and the richer texture of whole grains, lends itself toward less consumption of these foods than we were eating before we took the grains from our diet. They constitute maybe 10-15% of our total consumption.

And that is a balanced answer.

Filed Under: Articles, Food, Food, Health Tagged With: Ancestral Eating, apple cider vinegar, baking, bread, breakfast, buckwheat, coconut flour recipes, coconut oil recipes, cultured foods, food, gluten-free, grain-free recipes, kamut, kefir, meat, Organic Foods, Paleo Diet, pancakes, recipes, rolled oats, sprouted quinoa, steel cut oats, vegetables, Whole Foods, yogurt

Grass-fed Beef Bacon and Liver Stew

March 12, 2012 by Sarica Leave a Comment

Grass-Fed Beef Bacon and Liver Stew--nutritious and tasty!

First, let me say that I have never been one to reach for liver. Of any variety. It is something that was not part of my upbringing, and for that matter, I’m not so sure how much a part it was of my parents’ upbringing.

However, I know how important a role it can play in health if given the opportunity. It is a rich source of readily available Vitamin A, protein and iron. It is a truly nutritious, restorative food. My training in Chinese Medicine further underscores the point–it is used traditionally for building the blood and nourishing the tendons and sinews, while benefiting the eyes, and is a terrific tonic in recovery from blood loss. All good stuff.

However, there has been a big divide between theory and practice when it comes to using grass-fed, organic beef liver as a nutritious component in my family’s diet. I’ve found the mineral-rich flavor and soft texture too overpowering to my sensibilities, and I’ve not had much more success with giving it to my kids.

But just because something might be a challenge, doesn’t mean there isn’t a way to make it work. And when it comes to this gold-mine of nutrition, I find it does best when taken as small bites, and flavored with additional ingredients.

In this instance, the additional ingredients are fatty slices of grass-fed beef bacon, onions, garlic, vegetables and the ensuing rich broth that marries all of the components. In other words, I make the liver work by making it a small part of a healthy and hearty stew.

As with all the dishes I make, I strive to get as much nutrition into every spoonful as possible, and this stew is no exception. I begin with beef I buy directly from one of our local sources, Kenny of Fishhugger. A modern-day hunter-gatherer, Kenny allows his cattle and sheep to graze on the wild grasses of New Mexico, with the resultant meats, organs and fats being sublimely infused with the taste and scent of…grass.

Likewise, the bacon created by way of Kenny’s efforts is truly hardwood smoked, and when it’s cooking, I can’t help but feel like I’m preparing bacon that is very close to the original concept of bacon–its scent fills our kitchen with a rich smokiness that is the beautiful, authentic version of what we’ve come to know in modern times.

Additionally, another important component of the stew is the nutritious, colorful and flavorful veggies I use from our local farmer, Tonopah Rob. We are part of Rob’s CSA program and we couldn’t be happier. If you live in the Phoenix, AZ area, I encourage you to contact him for excellent, local, heirloom-variety, all-natural produce. And if you don’t live in the area, please research your local farmers so you can reap the bounty of harvests in your community.

I begin by cooking the bacon on a low heat, allowing the fat to melt out, then add the liver, which has been thinly sliced. Next I add the onion, wait a few minutes, stir a couple of times, then add the veggies. After about 25″ of cooking, with a stir of the ingredients from the bottom to the top every few minutes, I add the seasonings, mirin, chopped garlic and 6 cups of boiling water. Then I cover the stew with a tight-fitting lid, and turn off the heat.

I like to serve this stew with a spoonful or two of raw sauerkraut. The salty tartness is a terrific pairing with the smoky, mild sweetness of the broth.

And, for the record, the kids have been enjoying this stew, too! It feels great to feed them such nutritious food (and not have to struggle to do so!)

Grass-Fed Beef Bacon and Liver Stew

Makes 10-12 servings

Ingredients

10-12 slices Grass-fed Beef Bacon, sliced into 1″ slices

3 ounces Grass-fed Beef liver, thinly sliced into 1″ pieces

1 large Yellow Onion, thinly sliced

1 medium-sized Green Cabbage, thinly sliced

2 cups Kale, stems removed and chopped

6 Shiitake Mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 1/2 cups Carrots, 1/4″ slices

2 Zucchini, 1/4″ slices

1 tablespoon Garlic, finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon powdered Sage

3-4 Bay Leaves

2-3 teaspoons Celtic Sea Salt

3 tablespoons Mirin (Japanese Cooking Wine)

6 cups Purified Hot Water

In a large soup pot, cook bacon slices on low heat, then add the sliced liver. Cook both for 5-10″, allowing the fat to melt out onto the bottom of the pan, then add the sliced onions. Stir all occasionally, and cook for another 5″ before adding the cabbage and kale. Stir from the bottom, bringing the hot oil and meat over the greens, allowing them to wilt down. Next add the rest of the vegetables, salt, bay leaves and sage. Cook for another 15-20″, stirring from the bottom to the top periodically. Finally, add the hot water, mirin and garlic, cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid and remove from the heat. After 15-20″, spoon out into bowls and top with fresh, raw sauerkraut.

Grass-fed beef bacon slices

Carrots directly from Tonopah Rob's All-Natural Farm

Bacon and liver cooking

Onions added to bacon and liver

Cabbage over bacon and liver--looks like a lot of greens, but...

...it cooks right down after a few minutes

Everything melding nicely, about to add the garlic, water and mirin

Stew served and ready for a spoonful or two of fresh sauerkraut!

Filed Under: Food, Food, Recipes, Uncategorized Tagged With: Ancestral Eating, bacon, chinese medicine, cultured foods, food, gluten-free, grain-free recipes, grass-fed beef, health, liver recipes, meat, Organic Foods, Paleo Diet, recipes, soup recipes, vegetables, veggies, Whole Foods

Dreamy Almond “Pancookies”

March 4, 2012 by Sarica Leave a Comment

Yacon-Date-Almond Pancookies--their flavor is buttery-caramel, just as their color suggests!

This little cookie is a total delight! Made with only fresh almond flour, it is gluten- and grain-free. And the sweetener is Yacon syrup from the Amazon.

If you’ve yet to try this amazing sweetener, you are in for a real treat. It has the most delicate floral essence and the richest coloration…a dark amber, significant of its mineral and vitamin content. It has a lower glycemic index than other sweeteners, as well as being a great source of fructooligosacharides (FOS), a prebiotic that does not raise blood sugar levels.

These cookies are very moist and thin. In fact, so moist and thin, my family calls them “pancookies,” owing to their resemblance to a little pancake. So, pancookies they are. Whatever you call them, they are tasty!

When baking, allow at least 2″ between each for the spreading action that happens with heating. Also, the combination of the egg, yacon syrup and almond flour makes for a very thick, almost gelatinous batter. Simply take a tablespoon and pour onto your cooking sheet for each cookie.

As with all my “treats,” these are not overly-sweet…in fact, they remind me more of caramel than a cookie in their flavor profile, due to the buttery-saltiness of combined ingredients. Some freshly-chopped dates up the sweetness in each bite. Add 7-8 dates to the batter–their flavor is an excellent complement.

Almond-Date Pancookies with Yacon Syrup

Makes approximately 28 2-3″ cookies

3 cups freshly-ground Almond Flour

4 Eggs, room temperature

2/3 cup Yacon syrup

7-8 Dates, thinly chopped

1/2 cup Unrefined, Cold-pressed Coconut Oil, melted

1/2 cup Ghee or Clarified Butter, melted

3/4 teaspoon Sea Salt

2 tablespoons Vanilla Extract

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, Fahrenheit.

Combine almond flour with sea salt and chopped dates. Beat eggs and blend in yacon syrup, oils and vanilla, then combine with flour and salt mixture.

Freshly ground organic almond flour

Freshly chopped dates

Blending melted coconut oil and ghee

Yacon syrup--secret ingredient to this wonderful cookie!

On a cookie sheet lined with a Silpat mat or parchment paper, use a tablespoon to measure out each cookie, separating them by at least 2 inches.

Blending the cookie batter

Pancookies on Silpat sheet, ready to bake

Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until edges begin to brown.

Remove and cool at room temperature. Place in an air-tight glass, ceramic or metal container for safekeeping in the refrigerator.

Yummy pancookies ready to enjoy!

Filed Under: Food, Food, Recipes, Uncategorized Tagged With: baking, coconut oil recipes, dates, dessert, food, gluten-free, grain-free recipes, health, Organic Foods, pancakes, Whole Foods, yacon syrup recipes

Heavenly Cake!

March 4, 2012 by Sarica 2 Comments

Almond and coconut flour raspberry chocolate chip cake--Heavenly delight!

Our family has found a new favorite treat…and the fact that it is made so easily makes it a favorite of mine, for an entirely different reason! Unlike many coconut flour recipes, this cake is light, not too crumbly, and wonderfully moist. Once cooled, it has enough body to hold up to application of a frosting, though I love it just the way it is.

I use chocolate and raspberry as my distinctive flavors in this version, though you could certainly try blueberry with lemon zest, amaretto with dried cherries, fig with chopped pistachios…or just plain vanilla. The options are only limited to your cupboard’s offerings.

This is not an overly-sweet cake, which allows the flavors of the ingredients to shine through. It is subtle and yummy!

Since you’ll be working with coconut flour, it works best to allow all ingredients to set out and come to room temperature, lest the saturated fat content in the flour makes the batter difficult to blend.

Additionally, almond flour can be store-purchased, but I prefer to make mine fresh, using organic, soaked and dehydrated almonds that I grind in my coffee grinder just before use.

Freshly ground organic almond flour

Raspberry and Chocolate Chip Cake Made with Almond and Coconut Flours

Makes an 8″x8″ cake

4 Eggs, room temperature

3/4 cup Whole-fat, Plain Yogurt, room temperature

1/3 cup Coconut Sugar

1/2 cup fresh Almond Flour

1/2 cup Coconut Flour

1/2 cup fresh or frozen Organic Raspberries

1/3 cup Organic Dark Chocolate Chips

2 tablespoons Vanilla Extract

1/4 teaspoon Sea Salt

1/3 teaspoon Baking Soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, Fahrenheit.

Combine all dry ingredients in one bowl, and all liquid ingredients in another, mixing each well.

Separation of dry and wet ingredients for good blending

Include the chocolate chips and raspberries to the dry ingredients and coat with flour mixture.

Coating the berries and chocolate chips in the flours

Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry, and mix to combine.

Consistency of batter before baking

After greasing either a square or round 8″ baking dish with ghee or coconut oil, pour in the batter and smooth the top with a spatula.

Place cake in the center of the oven and bake for approximately 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Heavenly cake, fresh from the oven

Allow cake to cool in baking dish before removing to a non-plastic storage container and refrigerate.

Enjoy!

Filed Under: Food, Food, Recipes Tagged With: almond flour, baking, coconut flour recipes, cultured foods, dehydration, food, gluten-free, grain-free recipes, Organic Foods, raw milk, rBST-free dairy, yogurt

Crock-Pot Chicken

February 21, 2012 by Sarica Leave a Comment

Juicy, flavorful, pastured chicken…straight from the crock-pot!

The joy of working with a crock-pot–there is something so wonderful about knowing that a meal will be nearly completed as we work through the day, or sleep through the night. And this recipe for pastured, organic chicken speaks to this delight. It is rich, deeply flavorful, nutritious…and easy as can be!

Start with a whole, organic chicken–and while this works beautifully with a whole chicken, you might try a chicken that is cut into parts—either works fine. Just look for a chicken that has been pasture-raised, meaning it has been able to move around, support itself and get some sunshine (seems like not much to ask, but the modern conventional farming techniques have made it necessary to research before making a purchase.)

I love working with the pastured chickens that are cut into parts, from Tropical Traditions. These chickens are fed a diet free of soy and rich in coconut…making for a very flavorful and nutritious meat.

Coconut-fed, soy-free pastured chicken, cut into parts

Once completed, this recipe has about 2 1/2 cups of reserve liquid from the cooking process, thanks in large part to the wine (I love the Trader Joe’s Chardonnay made with organic grapes–not too sweet.) I like to save this in a separate glass container as a base for a soup, to add to sauteed veggies, or as a base for a sauce. Just don’t discard it–it is very nutritious, rich in tissue-building gelatin, collagen, glucosamine, chondroitin and bio-avaialable minerals. And it tastes divine!

This chicken is excellent served over greens, both fresh and braised. You can also pull the meat from the bones and use as a great base for a homemade chicken salad, or in enchiladas, or reserved to toss into a veggie soup. Feel free to freeze some as well, once removed from the bones, to have on hand to add to a vegetable saute or wrapped in nori sheets with avocado…needless to say, the options are endless!

Drunken Crock-pot Chicken with Onions

Makes 6-8 servings of various cuts of meat

1 Large Chicken, whole or in parts, rinsed and patted dry
1 cup Chardonnay Wine
2 T Apple Cider Vinegar or White Wine Vinegar
1 cup Celery, chopped
1 large Yellow Onion, sliced thinly
2/3 cup filtered Water
1 1/2 teaspoons Sea Salt
1 teaspoon Black Pepper
1.5 teaspoon Poultry Herb Blend (preferably organic and non-irradiated)
4-5 Bay leaves

Set the crock-pot to a four-hour setting.

Place the chicken in the pot, followed by the vegetables, then the seasonings. Pour the wine, vinegar and water over the ingredients, and place the lid on the pot.

Uncooked ingredients in crock-pot

There should be ample liquids in the pot to prevent scorching and burning. However, if you smell or see that this is happening, simply add a little more water and keep the lid on the pot.

After four hours, you can enjoy this great dish…or, allow it to cook longer on the “Keep Warm” setting, which will further break down the bound minerals and connective tissues, bringing them into the broth’s solution.

Cooked chicken in a rich broth

As mentioned, strain and reserve the flavorful liquid for another meal–it is fantastic when spooned over sauteing vegetables!

Tasty chicken and rich reserved cooking liquid

Filed Under: Food, Food, Recipes Tagged With: Ancestral Eating, chicken, coconut flour recipes, coconut oil recipes, crock-pot, crockpot, easy recipes, food, gluten-free, grain-free recipes, health, meat, Organic Foods, Paleo Diet, recipes, Trader Joes, Whole Foods

Spring is Here!

February 18, 2012 by Sarica Leave a Comment

Blasts of Spring color in Sedona’s fauna

Spring is here again–have you noticed the days incrementally growing longer as we’ve reached the Spring Equinox? Certainly I’m biased because of my education in Asian medicine, but what better way to honor Spring than to understand what it means in a global perspective, as presented through the prism of Chinese Medicine?

So, as you begin to feel the burgeoning of the much-anticipated growth that has been stored in the deep roots of plants through the cold, winter months…as you feel the need to open long-shut windows to let in a little of the clean air of a cool, sunshiny day…and as you begin to note the shift in the fresh offerings in the produce aisle at your local grocer…keep in mind how you feel this shift in energies. May this list of characteristics of the Spring season pique new awareness of the world at large, and within yourself!

Traditional Chinese Medicine and the Spring Season

5-Element Designation: Wood
Organs of the Wood Element: Liver and Gallbladder
Color of the Wood Element: Greens, browns
Emotions of the Wood Element: Anger when out of balance
Tissues of the Wood Element: Tendons and ligaments
Senses of the Wood Element: Eyes
Climate associated: Wind
Taste associated: Sour
Smell associated: Rancid when out of balance
Sound associated: Shouting

As you might recognize here, the Spring time is when life capitalizes on the reserves that were stored through the dark days of winter, and is ready to push forth into the beginning of another cycle of life. This requires a strong foundation of energy to support this effort, and if a plant or animal (human included) has allowed for rest and recovery through the quietude of winter, then the reserves should be replete to support this effort.

However, given that most modern humans do not follow the lead of the hibernating bear, resting more deeply in the short, cold, dark days of winter, many of us come to Spring’s doorstep lacking in reserves for beginning another year.

If this sounds like you, then you might consider the following:

Rest! Do your best to be to sleep by 10 o’clock each night, and allow at least 7 hours for a full-night’s sleep

Don’t push your reserves through the use of coffee, tea and other stimulants. Instead, eat meals rich in cooked and raw vegetables, healthy proteins and nourishing fats. This will replenish much-needed minerals, vitamins and fatty acids.

Start your day with a protein meal A couple of free-range eggs sauteed in ghee with greens, a dollop of plain yogurt, a spoonful of soaked seeds, sitting upon a mixed green salad will provide the energy you need later in the day.

Use a little more of the sour flavor in your cooking In Chinese Medicine, sour has an astringing quality, which helps to preserve the body’s essence and energy.

Exercise moderately This is a great time to take a 20-minute walk daily, and to do interval training 2-3 times a week. You’ll get your lymph flowing and burn some of your winter fat, while not causing too much oxidative stress in your tissues.

Keep yourself warm! Don’t waste your energy shivering–wear the proper clothing so that you are comfortable, rather than pulling on your body’s reserves to keep you comfortable.

Eat foods and drink liquids that are warm, or at least room temperature Avoid iced and cold foods. This further pulls on the body’s reserves.

Have an acupuncture and moxibustion treatment to relax and warm the body and balance the system as a whole.

Consider supplementation that nourishes the body This is best done under the supervision and guidance of a trained professional, to better ensure that the supplements chosen are correct for your needs. If you would like my help with this, feel free to contact me.

By no means exhaustive, I do hope this list will help you to meet the coming Spring in great health, prepared for another year circling our sun.

Filed Under: Articles, Food, Health, Natural Medicine Tagged With: 5-Elements, acupuncture, Ancestral Eating, breakfast, exercise, food, health, interval training, mat exercises, meat, medicine, moxibustion, natural medicine, Organic Foods, Paleo Diet

Ancestral Eating in Modern Times

February 7, 2012 by Sarica Leave a Comment

Countless generations have lived off the bounty of the rivers and forests of what is now the great state of Montana. Let's go fishing!

In our family’s journey of health, eating more whole, organic foods has been a cornerstone of our efforts. And over the years, as we’ve learned more and gone further into the process, notions about eating more as our ancestors ate have continued to surface.

From the standpoint of evolution, the last 40 years of my life don’t even constitute the blink of an eye. And when I consider the changes in the standard American diet in that window of time, I am amazed.

Statistically, when I was born in the early 1970’s, Americans consumed approximately 119 pounds of sugar, per person, in a year. That is a lot of sugar—statistics taken for the end of the1700’s showed average consumption at less than 20 pounds per person, per year.

Compare these figures to current statistics—the most recent in 2003. In less than 300 years (maybe the blink of an eye in terms of human evolution), we have increased our sugar consumption to an average of 142 pounds per American, per year. That is about a 700% increase!

So, I don’t know about you, but I don’t see how there is any way that our bodies could have evolved in this incredibly short (4-5 generations’ worth) window of time to handle this onslaught of sugar.

As I’ve studied more on eating whole and organic foods, this issue of what most Americans eat (sugar!) and how our bodies handle it, has been continually raised. And terms like “ancestral eating,” “hunter-gatherer diets” or “Paleo diets” have usually been part of the discussion, too.

When I take a cursory look over the course of human evolution, I can certainly understand why many do bring up the tenets of ancestral eating in helping to chart where the bulk of our nutrition should come from.

My introduction to it was by way of The Maker’s Diet, by Jordan Rubin. In this book, Rubin shows how he used foods and food preparation techniques referenced in the Bible to heal a chronic, undiagnosed, life-threatening illness.

He discusses the importance of using organic, grass-fed, cultured, whole-fat, raw (when appropriate), unadulterated ingredients to make very nutritious meals. I was so moved by the information in the book that I immediately began making changes to our family’s diet.

And I felt like I had been gifted a handbook to share with my acupuncture patients on how they could take care of themselves with diet. My one caveat as I shared the information with patients was that the book referenced the Bible throughout—for some people, this was a detraction from an otherwise useable and pertinent roadmap to whole-food nutrition.

Because of this hiccup, I like to call this manner of diet “ancestral eating,” and that seems to be a happy medium. But, as I’ve continued to study this, the other issue that has arisen is how ancestral is ancestral?

I look at the information my grandparents shared with me about the foods they ate in the American South—greens, herbs and other vegetables grown in the home garden, supplemented with meat, dairy and eggs from hens, hogs and cows also reared either on the property, or from a neighbor’s farm. Baked items were made with fresh eggs, fresh milk, fresh butter and/or lard—no preservatives, artificial colors or flavors, nor GMO-grains.

That diet alone, only 3 generations’ old, is much more balanced and healthy, I would dare to venture, than what makes up the standard American diet today.

If we look back further, to Biblical times, we see the use of whole grains, fresh oils, fresh produce grown and consumed in its proper season, or dried or preserved for later consumption. Animals were consumed in their entirety—nothing was wasted, which made for a much more balanced nutrition profile than simply consuming the muscle, as we do today. And the meat was from animals grazing on the fauna and food sources appropriate to their needs, making for a healthier meat product.

When we travel back even further, to Paleolithic times, we can look at the hunter-gatherer ways, which relied heavily on consuming the entire hunted animal, as well as the fibrous vegetation available on the land. This time was before cultivated agriculture and the production of grains, meaning that the concentrated carbohydrate source of grains was not part of the equation of Paleolithic man’s nutrition.

In the whole scheme of evolution, the length of time from the Paleolithic era to the 21^st Century, is but a blink of an eye. And the more I study this, the greater my appreciation for keeping carbs low in the diet—researchers are saying that our body functions most optimally on about 72 grams of carbohydrates a day—a far cry from the 300-400 grams most Americans consume daily.

And what is the outcome of not keeping our carbohydrates in a range our pancreas, cells, liver and digestion can handle? As the availability of carb-rich convenience foods has increased, so too have chronic, inflammatory, often deadly illnesses—cardiovascular disease, diabetes, auto-immune diseases, cancer, Alzheimer’s and dementia are but a few.

The American Cancer Society states that 1/3 of all cancer deaths related to nutrition, physical activity, and overweight or obesity, could be prevented. And in the US, we spend more money on diabetes than any other disease—as a country, it cost us more than $200 billion in 2008 alone.

These are truly frightening statistics—watch this CDC graphic to see the annual explosion of obesity across the nation, from 1985-2010.

You may wonder what was happening in this short, 25-year period, that spurred this fire of overweight on. Certainly, our increasing reliance on computers and technological gadgets took away some of our calorie burning—we all know how easy it is to use the remote, to stay in and watch a movie at home, or to while hours away on our computers.

But an even bigger factor has been at play—our food selections. The rise of the notion of “fat = fat” in the mid-1980’s and early 1990’s gave rise to an explosion of non-fat, high-carb convenience foods. And we ate them with abandon! There were fat-free cookies, cakes, sauces, even “butter!”

However, as we merrily munched on rice cakes, baked potato chips, fat-free ice cream and the like, something insidious was happening. We, as a country, began to put on weight. And we began developing different chronic sicknesses, like Type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

However like so many things in life, it was hard to see because it happened while we weren’t looking. As we ate diets that pushed our pancreases to their limits, that made us insulin resistant, that lead us into metabolic syndrome and diabetes, we didn’t see what was upon us until we started to look in our collective rearview mirror. And it is in the looking back that we see what we have stepped into.

We are an overweight, exhausted, stressed and sickly country, with children whose life expectancy is projected to be shorter than their parents. In such a short window of time, we have taken what has been an increasingly expected longer life for the next generation, and have shortened it. We are collectively killing ourselves with our food choices.

Thankfully though, the human body is always ready to right itself. There truly is hope. My favorite saying, “Life Happens,” applies here. The predicament we are in as a country is a scenario that can be turned around.

It requires that we look further back in that rearview mirror, to simpler times. You have to decide how far back you would like to go—our grandparents’ generation? Biblical times? Hunter-gatherer times? Or somewhere else on this continuum?

Wherever you land, I’d like you to keep in mind the suggestions for healthy carbohydrate intake. An excellent way to chart this is to use My Plate on the Livestrong.com site.

You will likely be shocked at how quickly the carbs add up when you look at them objectively—I know I was.

And, like me, you may find that the best way to come within shooting range of 72 grams of carbs a day is to simply cut out refined grains and only use sprouted and cultured grains sparingly—they are that concentrated a source of this macronutrient.

However, taking a portion of your diet out requires that something go in its place—like our ancestors, plan to put vegetables and fruits, healing fats and clean, building proteins there instead. The nutrition you’ll be consuming will be off-the-charts comparatively. In turn, your pancreas will have an opportunity to begin healing, the inflammation in your cells will decrease and you will likely begin to lose weight.

So, in this modern age, I believe we have more to learn from our elders than ever before, their wisdom and life experience more important for us and coming generations than in any time in history. Using the information so readily available to all of us in this technological age, look back to look forward.

Filed Under: Articles, Food, Food, Health Tagged With: Ancestral Eating, food, health, Organic Foods, Paleo Diet, Whole Foods