Celebrating an all-natural lifestyle

Sesame Noodles, Raw and Cooked

Thanks for so many sweet words about the wedding photos. I’m glad you got to see how beautiful the ceremony was, and how exquisite Chloe looked. I’ll try to smile with my mouth open more often–in fact, I’m rather ashamed that my insecurities have manifested themselves in quasi-habitual lockjaw.

I definitely second Kathleen’s request for a guest post from Chloe!

Now that the Choosing Raw epithalamium is compelete, it’s time to get back to our main interest: food. With only a few exceptions, I haven’t prepared much of anything in the last two days that isn’t a salad or doesn’t come in a plastic bag labeled “Food for Life” (i.e., Ezekiel sprouted grain products). Boring. After a long weekend with not enough sleep, I did replenish myself with my nutrient dense salad of the week:

That would be my own spin on Ani Phyo’s almond ginger pate (a similar recipe can be found in the demo here) along with Lydia’s crackers, loads of lemon juice, a touch of flax oil, radishes, and raw kale. Hit the spot!

Do you enjoy Chinese food? I can’t say I’ve ever been lucky enough to try any of the many authentic Chinese regional cuisines, but I, like most people, have tried standardized Chinese American takeout. It’s not my favorite on the whole, but there are one or two dishes I love the taste of–namely, sesame noodles. Now, according to my own fleeting efforts at research, cold sesame noodles don’t use much sesame at all. Instead, they’re made from peanut butter and sesame oil. There’s nothing wrong with this (aside from false advertising), unless you happen to be one of the estimated 3 million Americans with a peanut allergy. Then, the choice to cook with peanuts–or even to have peanut reside on your hands–becomes hazardous. Even if you’re like me, and you have no food allergies whatsoever, you may choose to be leery of peanuts. While I certainly don’t think they’re terrible for you, I do think that they’re a common GMO crop, and that they may be mucous forming. In all, I’m not terrified of peanuts when I happen upon them, but when it’s easy for me to make a choice, I’ll almost always opt for a different kind of nut or nut butter.

This choice becomes really easy in the case of cold sesame noodles, because I happen to be a tahini fanatic! With temperatures climbing up into the 90s, now is a perfect time not only for raw foods, but also for cooked foods served cool. I suggest you start here, with a sesame noodle dish that’s actually full of sesame. It begins with a sauce:

Sesame Noodle Sauce (serves 4)

4 tbsp tahini (I like the raw Artisana variety, but you can use roasted if it’s what you have)
2 tbsp tamari or nama shoyu
3/4 tsp ginger
1 tbsp sesame oil
3 tbsp water

Mix all ingredients by hand or in a blender.

This sauce is quite versatile–it would be just as lovely over a salad or stirfry or brown rice dish as it is over noodles. But over noodles I wanted it, and over noodles it went.

I’m often asked why I don’t eat more pasta, and whether or not I “miss” it. It’s a query founded upon the vexing assumption that I’ve “given up” pasta in an attempt to be a better saint–which I have not–or that I avoid it because of carbohydrate content. Let me quickly bat down that latter idea: I haven’t met too many starches (whole grain ones, that is) I didn’t like. I also don’t shun pasta because I think it’s unhealthy, or because it’s cooked. It’s just not something I think about very often, and I really do prefer zucchini pasta most of the time.

That said, most of the time is not always. Sometimes, I do have a hankering for a whole grain pasta. When I do, I like two brands: Tinkyada brown rice pasta (which is, in my opinion, the best whole grain pasta out there) and my personal favorite: soba noodles. These buckwheat based noodles are my absolute favorite, and I always have some of them in my pantry for nights when I’m not in the mood for quinoa, barley, rice, or millet. They’re terrific with steamed veggies, mirin, and nama shoyu, with my Asian dressing, or tossed in a vinaigrette. And apparently, they’re great with my sesame noodle sauce. Behold:

This was a single serving of soba noodles mixed with 1/4 sliced bell pepper, 1 small grated carrot, 1/3 cup peas, and 1/4 julienned zucchini, dressed in about 2-3 tbsp sesame noodle sauce. Paired with a salad, it was a hearty but light summer dinner.

The next day, I whipped up a raw version of the dish, subbing zucchini pasta, which I lazily made on my mandolin, rather than using (and having to clean) my spiralizer:

Same proportions: 2-3 tbsp dressing for the “pasta.” Again, I served it up with greens. And once again, it was absolutely delicious.

A simple tasty, and seasonally appropriate dish that can make equally tasty raw or cooked vegan dinners–what’s not to like?

I’m slowly easing back into life as usual post wedding, and hope that this week goes quickly. So far, it’s flying by. Have a great evening!

xo

Sprouted Wheatberry Salad

Friday! Friday! Friday!

Thank you so much for the thoughtful responses to my conscious shopping post. What I’m hearing is that most of us aren’t carrying our conscientious food habits into our habits as consumers of clothing, shoes, and accessories. But it’s never too late to start!

Each month, I get countless emails about sprouting. What can I sprout? Why should I sprout it? Do I have to sprout it to get nutritional benefits?  How does one sprout something? Is it safe?

I’m delighted to see such a healthy interest in sprouting, though I also have to confess to you that I’m not an expert. Readers often assume that I sprout all of my nuts, seeds, and grains; they’re wrong! I often don’t. Sprouting is a wonderful practice, but I consider it an optional one. If you don’t do it, I assure you that you’ll survive.

What does it mean to sprout something, and why do it? Simply put, sprouting initiates the growth process of a seed, grain, or seed-grain. When a grain is sprouted, some of its complex carbohydrates are broken down into simple sugars, which are easier for our body to digest that long chains of starch. Some of the grain’s protein, likewise, is broken down into amino acids, which spares our bodies the labor of breaking it down later on. Most significantly, sprouting wicks away a grain, nut, or seed’s enzyme inhibitors and naturally occurring tannins; these are compounds that reside in the skin of the nuts, seeds, and grains, and they’re very slow to digest. The goal of soaking and sprouting is to “de-activate” them, so that our bodies face no barriers when they digest and assimilate the food.

Sprouting, soaking, and germination aren’t the same things. When you soak nuts, seeds, and grains, you break down their enzyme inhibitors. You also reduce phytic acid, a compound that binds with minerals in the grain–such as calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, and zinc–and makes it difficult for our bodies to absorb them. Soaking neutralizes the phytic acid, and “releases” those minerals for our bodies’ use. Soaking initiates germination (growth), and if you then rinse grains and leave them in a warm, damp place, they’ll begin to sprout.

Which grains can be sprouted? The simplest grains to sprout are wheat, kamut, spelt, barley, and rye. The most sproutable “pseudograins” — or “seed-grains,” as some people call them–are millet, amaranth, quinoa, buckwheat, and wild rice. I’ve experimented with sprouting all of these grains at home, and my favorites are quinoa, millet, and wheatberries (spelt and kamut are runners up!).

How often do I sprout grains? I’ll be frank: I don’t much like the taste of sprouted grains — at least not in comparison to cooked ones. And while I recognize the benefits of soaking and sprouting, I also believe that cooked grains still retain a great deal of their nutrient value; soaking and sprouting are means of optimizing absorption, but choosing not to soak or sprout won’t negate the value of your grains.

There are times, though, when sprouting grains becomes my prep method of choice. Surprisingly, I sprout grains most often when I’m busy. Why? Because once the grains are sprouted, they demand no prep time! If I have a sprouted grain on hand, I can literally throw it into a salad, mix it with veggies for a cold grain salad, or eat it plain; if I come home and want cooked grains, on the other hand, I need to put aside 20 minutes – 1 hour for the cooking process. And when it’s 9 pm after a grueling day of work, watching a simmering pot for half an hour is really the last thing I feel like doing. Having sprouted grains in my fridge means access to a meal component that’s versatile and nutrient dense; I can simply plate the grains and go.

As I battle my summer schedule, sprouted grains are making frequent appearances in the CR kitchen. Last week, I whipped up a batch of one of my very favorite sprouted grains: wheatberries. As a rule, whole wheat is less nutrient rich than some of my other favorite grains (such as millet, quinoa, or even kamut and spelt). Still, it’s a terrific source of fiber (which can help to manage cholesterol, contributes to heart health, and keeps us feeling sated), manganese (which is an enzyme activator and an aid in lipid synthesis), magnesium (which helps to keep bones healthy). In other words, it’s got tons of nutrient benefits. It’s also pretty tasty

Soaking and sprouting grains — whatever grains they may be — is far easier than you’d expect!

Today, I’ll offer a short grain sprouting tutorial:

1) Place one full cup of wheatberries in a large mason jar. Fill it with 2 1/2 cups filtered water. Let it sit, open, at room temperature for one full day.

2) 24 hours later, drain the wheatberries and rinse them well.

3) Return the soaked grains to your mason jar. Take a paper towel or cheesecloth, put it over the mouth of the jar, and secure it there with a rubber band. Turn the jar on its side, and leave it be in a room temperature nook of your kitchen.

4) Let the jar sit for 12-24 hours — I almost always give it a full day. At the end of this time period, you can remove the paper towel or cloth, and you’ll see that the grains have sprouted little “tails,” like so!

At this point, the grains are ready for consumption. You should have about 2 cups of sprouted grains at the ready. It’s. That. Simple.

See? No fuss! Sprouting is a cinch, and once you get used to it, you’ll love the process. Right now, I’ve got a jar or two of different grains sprouting or soaking almost all the time; it’s such a relief to have them at the ready when I need to toss a meal together on the fly. Note that different grains take different amounts of time to sprout; wheatberries take a long time, relatively speaking, but grains like quinoa sprout in a jiffy. As you get used to sprouting, you’ll get a sense of the times that different grains demand.

What to do with you sprouted grains? I’m glad you asked. As you know, I’m a big fan of throwing grains+avocado onto a nutrient dense salad. I also love mixing sprouted grains with banana and nut milk for breakfast. Sometimes, I grind sprouted grains and put them in cracker or bread dough.

Most of all, I love to use my sprouted grains in grain salads. These are, quite simply, big batches of sprouted grains mixed with raw veggies, oil, and a hint of acid in the form of lemon or vinegar. Here, friends, is one of my favorites.

Sprouted Wheatberry Salad (serves 4)

2 cups sprouted wheatberries
1/2 cup dried apples, chopped into small pieces
2 cups shredded dino or curly kale
1 cup chopped or grated carrots
1-2 tsp agave nectar or maple syrup
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp flax oil

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.

Roast Veggie and Goat “Cheese” Wrap, and Two Announcements

Wow. Thank you all so much for the amazing response to my post on coping with unwanted body commentary. One of my main goals for Choosing Raw in 2010 is to have many more conversations about body image, self-perception, self-acceptance, and life with and after disordered eating. I was amazed by the quality of discourse in the comments section after my post (I always am), and I thank you for it.  I hope you’ll keep doing that as I ruminate on these topics, starting provocative conversations with each other and with me.

I thought I’d take a little interlude from body and self-acceptance talk to talk about something far less deep: yesterday’s lunch. Remember my raw, vegan spin on roast beet and goat cheese salad?

I made it, you may recall, because I had a beautiful hunk of fermented macadamia cheese handy, and because roast beet and goat cheese salad was my very favorite goat cheese dish in my pre-vegan days. My second favorite dish was roast vegetable and goat cheese sandwich creations (the finest one of these, I thought, was served at Craftbar here in the city). Yesterday, as I packed my work lunch, I realized that I had an abundance of three things: 1) leftover fermented mac cheese, 2) leftover roast beets, and 3) a big ‘ole tub of my raw, marinated veggies, which I’d also dehydrated for a few hours to soften (making them akin to a raw version of “roast” veggies). Lucky me, I also had some collard greens, so it seemed like a no brainer that my lunch would have to be a high raw, all vegan spin on a roast vegetable and goat cheese wrap.

When lunchtime rolled around at work, I simply layered my marinated veggies, my roast beets, and my “cheese”:

And wrapped it all up. In the end, it looked like this:

Avec salade, it fed body and soul better than any wrap I remember. Hooray for innovative work lunches! I sometimes say that I’m not a fan of leftovers, but every time I do something like this with them, I change my tune.

Before I sign off, I have two big announcements:

1) Tickets for the 2010 Healthy Living Summit go on sale tomorrow at 9 p.m.! For a recap of last year’s summit, you can read my review here; this year, I’ll be in attendance not as a guest, but as a speaker! Caitlin and I will be hosting a panel on body image and self-acceptance that we call “Stop Staring Over Your Shoulder: How to Avoid the Self Comparison Trap.” Our goal will be to analyze the negative effects of comparing yourself to others (specifically, comparing your body and lifestyle habits to others peoples’). I’ll be talking about the proliferation of healthy eating “trends,” the dangers of eating in a way that’s out of step with your needs, and the rise of orthorexia (a term I still have mixed feelings about). Caitlin will talk about the anxiety created in the media by photoshopping and unrealistic portrayals of the female body, and competitive fitness routines. We hope it’ll be a provocative and inspiring conversation, and we’ll want lots of participation. Which means I’d love to have to have some of my CR readers in the audience! If you’re interested in traveling to the Summit, information on registration will go up on the website tomorrow, so please check in.

2) Since we’re all enjoying these conversations about body image, I wanted to give you a head’s up that I’ll have a guest post up sometime tomorrow and/or Thursday on Kate’s blog, Eat the Damn Cake. The blog, which has been up and running for a few months, is full of daring conversations about body image, food, feminism, and beauty. The post I’m contributing is one of the more intimate ones I’ve ever written on my own relationship with my body, so I’ll be giving you all an invitation to check it out when it goes up. Hope you’ll take a peek!

On that note, I’m off to work and then sleep. But I wanted to let you know that I got through this morning’s workout with my customary friendly exchange with Gina (no hard feelings), and little thought given to my hulky, muscled, strapping lower body

I also had my first physical therapy appointment, which left me momentarily sore, but my pain is a little better tonight. Fingers crossed for some real recovery!

xo

Raw, Vegan Spin on Beet and Goat Cheese Salad

Hola!

GREAT response to my chia seed giveaway! Keep them coming. For those of you who didn’t check in yesterday, I’m giving away a giant bag of chia seeds. Come and get’ em!

Yesterday’s sun and cheery disposition persisted well into today, which was busy, but touched by beautiful weather. Yay! Double yay for the fact that I got to spend a little time in my kitchen—not as much as I would have liked, but just enough to keep me sane.

I often here the same thing from clients, friends, and acquaintances who are thinking about veganism: “I’d love to, but I don’t think I could ever give up cheese.” Cheese, it seems, inspires some  pretty fierce devotion—a fact that’s hard for me to understand, since I never much liked the stuff. Even pizza—most beloved of beloved foods—was never a fave.

I did, though, have one fondness when it came to fromage, and that was for goat cheese. Odd, maybe, given that I’m sensitive to the more fragrant, soft varieties of cow’s cheese, but there you are. I liked to toss it in salads or with roast veggies, and while I can’t say I miss it, I can say that the challenge of finding a vegan simulacrum has been on my mind. Simultaneously, I’ve been meaning to try a fermented spin on nut “cheese”; I adore my nut cheeses, which I’ve written about here and here. And I’ve been curious to see how they would taste fermented.

So this weekend, I was on a dual mission: 1) make fermented vegan cheese, and 2) make it taste like the goat cheese of my memories. Let’s also throw in 3), which was to replicate the goat cheese dish I used to most enjoy: roast beets, spinach, and goat cheese salad with candied walnuts. A few hours later, mission was accomplished!

Fermenting: it sounds so intimidating. In fact, it’s an easy process: making kraut, kimchee, coconut yogurt, and fermented nut cheese is as simple as watching and waiting. You mix your ingredients (sometimes with the addition of probiotic powder), and leave them in a warm place for at least 6-12 hours (in the case of something like sauerkraut, you’ll have to leave them for at least three days). When the fermenting process is done, you’re left with a tangy food that’s loaded with healthy bacteria and is optimal for smooth digestion.

To make a fermented nut cheese—either the one I’m about to share, or any variety—you begin with one cup of raw nuts or seeds. Soak them in filtered water for at least six hours (this will do for seeds, cashews, and pine nuts) and up to twelve (better for almonds, Brazil nuts, macadamia nuts, walnuts, and pecans). If you’re soaking the nuts for more than six hours, stop once to drain, rinse, and replenish the nuts with fresh water.

The next step is simple: when the nuts have finished soaking, you place them into a food processor with 2 teaspoons unpasteurized miso and a few tablespoons of water. You can also add ½ teaspoon of probiotic powder; not necessary, but great for your belly. (You can simply break apart a few probiotic capsules, if you like, to get the powder.) Process the mix till it’s crumbly but still holds its shape: I aimed for my texture to resemble ricotta cheese.

Wash a mason jar with hot water and soap, and dry it thoroughly. Place the fermented nut cheese in the jar, making sure there’s enough room for the mix to expand a bit, which it will as it ferments. Cover the jar with cheesecloth or a nutmilk bag, and secure it, with a rubber band. Place the mix in a warm place—85-95 degrees is optimal—and leave it be for six hours or more. Twelve hours is an optimal fermentation time, but if you let it go much longer than that it may turn a bit sour.

For my raw, vegan “goat’s cheese,” I used a cup of macadamias, and I soaked them about thirteen hours (overnight and then some). I blended them with my miso, processed till smooth, and placed in a glass jar covered with a nut milk bag. The temperature in my apartment is wacky these days—it’s freezing one day here in NYC, stifling the next, so my heat is on and off—so in order to assure that the cheese would ferment properly, I placed the whole jar in my dehydrator overnight and set it at 90 degrees.

It emerged looking something like this:

The top of any fermented nut or seed cheese will be either a little yellow or a little gray. That’s OK – it’s a part of the fermentation process. If you’d like, you can scrape off this thin covering. Then, give it a taste; it ought to be tangy, soft, and a little salty. Yum!

The next part is fun: you season the nut cheese however you’d like. It’s easiest to do this by pulsing the mix in your food processor again, but it’s fine to do by hand, too. I recommend that you add some sea salt and lemon to any fermented cheese; even with the miso, it’ll most likely need it. In addition to giving it flavor, the salt and lemon combination will make it taste far more like actual cheese. I added ¼ tsp sea salt and a good dose of lemon to my mac cheese, but take note: you could add dill, oregano, sundried tomatoes, black pepper, or any combination of herbs and spices you’d like to make the cheese taste better and more authentic.

By the time I was done, I had a cup of tangy, salty “cheese” that was, honest to god, a dead ringer for goat’s cheese as I remember it. I was flabbergasted. And it looked pretty similar, too! Check it out:

Thrilled with my efforts, I brainstormed about my salad. I had roast beets on hand (I usually do) and salad greens. I also tend to keep a tub of traditional French vinaigrette in the fridge, which is what I wanted to dress this salad with; the recipe is below, but any lemony vinaigrette will do. The only remaining components were the candied walnuts I’d planned on. Keep in mind that, if you’re in a rush, you can definitely skip these, and use raw walnuts instead! They’ll simply add a nice touch to the salad.

It’s very easy to make a raw spin on candied nuts: you coat them with agave/raw honey, a touch of oil, salt, and cinnamon. Typically, you should dehydrate the coated nuts for at least 12-24 hours, but it’s also possible to take a little shortcut, as I did. With not a lot of time on my hands (a few hours), I did a quick spin on candied walnuts: I mixed a teaspoon of agave nectar with ½ tsp coconut oil and a dash of cinnamon. Into this I mixed 1 oz of walnuts, and stirred to coat. I popped them into the dehydrator for 6 hours, and they emerged still sticky, but delicious.

With these in hand, I was ready to make:

Vegan Roast Beet, Goat Cheese, and Spinach Salad with Candied Walnuts (serves 1)

For the salad:

3 cups baby spinach (or a spinach + mesclun mix)
1 medium or large roasted beet, chopped
3 tbsp raw, fermented vegan “goat cheese”
1 oz (or so) candied OR raw walnut pieces

For the dressing:

1 ½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon minced shallot (I don’t add this, but it’s very traditional)
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/8 teaspoon Black pepper
1/4 cup Good olive oil

Whisk all ingredients till smooth and emulsified.

Assembling the salad is a cinch: simply toss the salad ingredients together, and whisk in enough vinaigrette to coat lightly. The resulting salad is as close to a beet and goat cheese salad as any vegan dish could be; I’d even wager that an amateur cheese fan might be fooled.

Or maybe not. Most cheese fans I know (hi bun!) tend to have discerning palates. So if you are a cheese lover, and you have to have the real deal, here are my tips

•    Try goat’s cheese, which has little or no lactose, if you’re prone to bloating or touchy digestion
•     If you like the taste of hard cheese, you might try raw cheddar style goat cheese, which is increasingly available in health stores
•    If you’re going to eat regular, bovine cheeses, opt for a local, organic variety if you can.

But really, you should give this mac cheese a try. It’s a very pleasant surprise!

With that, the work week begins. Nighty!
xo

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