Day 11: Stuffed Mushrooms

"I have been enjoying watching you eat" said the self proclaimed food addict.

"I'm sorry, what?" I replied, in a sleepy yet caught off guard daze.

"Your apple, and peanut butter. You take these tiny little bites, spreading just a little peanut butter on each one. You savored that apple over the course of an entire hour." To this, I thought to myself

'I cannot wait to tell Christina'.

It's not that the woman's comment was out of line. This morning, while she was watching me eat, I was having coffee with a group of women. The conversation was interesting, and I wanted to be prepared in case I felt compelled to blurt something out. I wanted to keep my mouth free, in case such an occasion were to arise. I also was feeling self conscious about the fact that I had chosen to eat such a loud and juicy snack in front of a bunch of other people, who were not themselves eating. So on this occasion, I was, in fact, eating in exactly the way she had described. However, this particular occasion is by no means representative of the way I eat.

I know this to be true, because I have watched myself.

Let me explain.

Christina is in the habit of documenting our everyday lives on film. She imagines that one day our nieces and nephews will want to be able to make up a nice batch of popcorn, hunker down in front of the TV, and watch the two of us perform normal day to day tasks. It is because of this hobby of hers that I have been afforded the opportunity to watch myself eating (which is apparently an activity that I am nearly always engaging in). I therefore cannot help but laugh when Christina teases me about it.

"Do you have to always take such man sized bites?" she asks me. Then she does her imitation of me, turning the food over and over in my hands, looking at every corner, and finally taking a gigantic bite and smacking my lips after I swallow.

"Yes I do," I reply "so that I can feel it..."

"I know, I know, so you can taste the bite on your whole palate" Christina says with a chuckle.

This is one of the few things that she can tease me about without me getting overly sensitive. Turn to the section on "relationships" in nearly any astrology book and you will find that Aquarius (Christina) and Leo (myself) are doomed to battle due to the terribly sensitive nature of Leo, and the overly critical nature of Aquarius. What makes our relationship work, is that we are both willing to watch ourselves, and each other, from a loving perspective.

"see, right here. That is where I started to feel angry, and listen to me deny it" I said as we huddled in front of the computer watching an argument accidentally caught on film.

"I could so tell you were angry, look at how you are itching your head. You always itch your head when you are mad."

I reached for the popcorn dish, took a man-sized handful of popcorn, and we both started to laugh.

Stuffed mushrooms with edamame salad

In a small saucepan, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil and 1/4 tsp salt. Add 1 small yellow onion, diced. When the onion starts getting clear, add 1 cup short grain brown rice.

Toast the rice briefly until a nutty aroma is released. Then add 2 cups water and an additional 1/4 tsp salt.

Bring to a boil and cover (mostly), reducing the heat to low. In about 5 min, come back to the rice and place the cover firmly on, so that no steam can escape. Cook the rice for about 30 min, checking it and stirring occasionally.

Pre heat the oven to 350.

Rehydrate (using boiling water) about 1 cup sun-dried tomato halves (this will take about 10-15 min)

While you are waiting for the rice to cook, heat about 1 cup of frozen shelled edamame on the stovetop (boil some water, add the edamame and cook for about 2-3 min, drain and rinse with cold water immediately). Dice some small sweet peppers (about 1/2 cup). Wash some mache (about 2-3 cups). Toss the greens, edamame and peppers together and dress with 1/2 Tbsp olive oil, 1/4 tsp ume plum vinegar, 1/2 lemon juice, 1/2 lemon zest, and 1 tsp soy sauce.

When the rice is done, allow it to sit, covered for 10 min off the heat. Then add 1 cup chopped parsley, the sun-dried tomato halves (diced into small pieces), 1 tsp black pepper, and the zest from 1/2 lemon. Fill 6 portabello stuffing mushrooms with the rice mixture and place in a baking dish greased with toasted walnut oil (or olive oil) bake for 20 min in the oven.

Christina's vote: "Enjoyed every big mouthful"

Day 10: Caution takes flight

We sat in rows of chairs, before a white dry erase board. One designated student "presenter" sat in the front, her article underlined and highlighted, with circles, arrows, and comments in the margins. She presented an article about the introduction of television into Fijian culture, which happened in 1995, and the influences on body image and eating attitudes in adolescent girls. Fijian culture has historically revered a more robust physique, but the introduction of television sparked tension between generations as the younger girls expressed a desire to look thin like the women on Beverly Hills 90210.

"This is all very interesting to me because in my culture I am coming vrom a communist country vhere eating disorders did not exist. Nobody cared vhat your body looked like and for the most part everybody vas normal veight and novone vas fat. Food vas precious, and you didn't eat snacks..." The Hungarian professor continued on talking about her home land, "vone girl vas fat, but ve all knew she had some hormonal problems and that vas that.."

As she continued on I was reminded of my grandmother, who hungered for an audience, and never stopped to breath once she started talking. It didn't matter if she had already told you the story a hundred times (or even if you had been the one who originally told her that particular story). My grandmother could talk for hours, and often did.

"and ven I had my son, he didn't vant to be eating anything he vas very picky..." the professor continued. By now, everyone was shuffling in their seats. The professor was breaking the unwritten rules of science. She was sharing her experience of life, she was straying from the data. Here was our opportunity to talk about our experiences with food, completely unrestricted by scientific evidence, the only problem was that nobody could get a word in edgewise. The whole class seemed to be leaning forward. Eyebrows went up and down, lips pressed together in the beginnings of words, but still the professor continued.
It was agony.

Tonight is a perfect night to throw out the rules, roll down your windows, push back your chair, turn the music up, and have some quiche.

Quiche

1 1/4 cup unbleached white flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/4 sticks of cold unsalted butter

1 tsp salt

8-9 Tbsp cold water

small drizzle of black truffle infused olive oil

Mix the flours together with the salt. Drizzle in the black truffle oil. Add the butter in using two knives, a pastry blender, or your fingers, being careful not to melt the butter too much (you want coarse "peas" of butter flour). Add the water,1 Tbsp at a time (you may not need it all, or you may want to use more) bring the flour together into a dough. Do not over mix, you will end up with a tough crust. Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap and put in the fridge for 30 min. On a floured surface, roll out the dough and roll it into a 9 inch cake pan (I don't have a pie plate, if you are using a pie plate, you will want to use less eggs for the quiche).

Cut the excess dough off so that it hangs about 1 inch over the side, evenly all around. Pinch this dough up with your fingers and use it to make pleats for the crust. Poke a few holes with a fork in the bottom of the pan. Cover the dough with tinfoil and pour about 1 cup of dried kidney beans on top (for weight) Bake the crust at 400 for 20 min, then take it out and remove the tinfoil and beans.

Pour in 4 Tbsp shredded cheese (whatever kind you like, I used mozzarella because I had some leftover), vegetables (see below) and egg mixture (see below). Bake at 400 for 25 min.

Note: The quiche will rise a bit, so you don't want to overfill the crust with egg mixture.

Vegetable mixture:

1/2 small yellow onion, diced

1/2 bunch asparagus, cut into small pieces

1 cup chopped portabello mushroom

1 Tbsp olive oil

salt pepper and paprika

Heat the oil and a little salt and add the onion, mushroom and asparagus. Cook for about 10 min, stirring occasionally. Add chopped watercress and turn off the heat.

Eggs:

Whisk together 8 large eggs

1 Tbsp cream

1 tsp pepper

a tiny drop of black truffle flavored olive oil

Christina's vote: "This dinner made me feel less afraid of the dark"

Day 9: Ocean Dream

I can't squeeze a lime without thinking of it. The ocean, the beach, the dome of sky which is thick with water and wind and whips at your cheeks saying "wake up, you are alive, WAKE UP" The dome covers the earth like a lid for a great big chafing dish, revealing cracks of light when the child of the universe peeks in to see what is being served. Smears of green and red seaweed litter the shoreline like herbs. The little children perch like frogs and stick out their fingers to poke at it.

I close my eyes and bring a section of lime to my lips. The sour juice delivers more memories. I am drinking in the wind on my father's boat. I can feel my jacket flapping like a sail. My eyes are full of shade, his sunglasses are heavy on my nose. He smiles at me and asks me if I want to drive. The boat slams against the waves, jolting my small arms as I clutch the smooth metal wheel. A bird soars overhead, screeching, screeching, "meow, meoooooow, meoooooowrrrr"

Charlie looks up at me from his dish, he wants to be fed. The other two cats have been creeping in toward the shrimp bowl. "Get down" I say, and squirt the water bottle at them. Neither one minds getting wet. It is like a game for them, which totally defeats the purpose of trying to train them with a water bottle.

I feel dazed from my the memories, and try to capture more of them, like holding on to the end of a dream. I steep my senses in the garlic. I hover my nose above the coconut. Lemon pepper is standing on a kitchen stool in my nightgown stirring scrambled eggs. Rice noodles, my first restaurant. Chilis, a moment at boarding school. Coconut, my college apartment.

The handle turns and brings a burst of animation into the room. A light cracks open the dome, and a child of the universe curiously enters.

"What's for dinner?" she asks.

Chili, lime, and coconut shrimp

1/2 lb peeled raw shrimp, medium to large size

3 New Mexico chilis, dried

4 large cloves garlic

1 1/2 tsp sugar

1 organic lime (you will be using the rind as well as the juice, so you want to go for the organic!)

salt and cayenne pepper

1 Tbsp salted butter

1/2 package "Thai stir fry rice noodles" or rice linguini

1/2 can coconut milk, shaken before opened

1 Tbsp olive oil

3 carrots

1 bunch watercress

1 onion

lemon pepper (salt free, we like penzeys)

If you are using frozen raw shrimp, thaw them out in cold water and drain. In a saucepan, heat 2 cups of water and add the dried chilis (first cut off the stems and empty out the seeds by shaking the pods). Simmer the chilis until soft (about 5 min) and drain the water. Transfer them into a mini food processor and blend with 2 Tbsp hot water and 2 cloves of the garlic. Add the sugar and juice from 3/4 of the lime. Season with salt and cayenne pepper (to taste). Marinate the shrimp in this sauce, while you prepare the noodles.

In a saucepan boil some water (about 6 cups). Remove from the heat, add the rice noodles and let sit, submerged, for about 10 min. Drain the noodles and rinse with cold water and set aside. In a large frying pan, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil and about 1/4 tsp salt. Add the onion, diced into large pieces, and the carrots, peeled and sliced into rounds. Add the remaining 2 cloves of garlic, minced. Remove from the heat and cover for about 5 min (so that the carrots steam a little). Replace the pan on the hot burner, and add the noodles and coconut milk. Cook for about 5 min, then add the watercress. Remove from heat and squeeze the remaining lime onto the noodles. Add some cayenne, salt, and lemon pepper to taste. Add some lime zest.

In a separate frying pan, heat the butter. Add the shrimp and chili sauce and cook for about 4 min, until cooked through. Top the noodles with the shrimp. Enjoy!

Christina's vote: "This dinner made me want to search for mermaids"

Day 8- Quinoa in the face of fear

"What are you thinking about?" Christina asked me, as I stood stirring a pot of melted chocolate.

We had a bar of bitter dark chocolate in our cupboard that was given to us as a gift and is so bitter that it is practically inedible. It was the sort of chocolate my grandmother would have eaten, but then, she was the type of person who would eat black licorice flavored jelly beans, and didn't seem to care whether candy actually tasted sweet. After coming home from our walk today I decided to do something about the chocolate, so I heated it over a double boiler with some sugar and cream. Nothing completes a cool sunny walk like sweet, velvety chocolate.

"You have a funny look on your face, seriously, what are you thinking about?" Christina asked again. Her cheeks were pink from the wind, and wisps of hair framed her face. Looking at her made me forget myself for a moment. I walked through my memory, tracing my steps back up the hill to Grand Avenue, where we sat outside on the park bench with our latte and croissant. We were watching the people go by and admiring their mannerisms and oddities as though they were Alexander McQueen models on a runway. After a few minutes of hard remembering, I finally located the thought which had prompted the funny look.

"I was thinking about how you leaned over and kissed me on the park bench, in front of everyone. I was thinking about all of the people who came before us, who walked through fears and lived lives full of meaning. I was thinking about the positive impact that they had, and how many people never live to see how their courage strengthens the world, or how they are celebrated when they are gone. I was thinking about how happy I am to be living with you."

Maybe it was the chocolate, but I was feeling absolutely saturated with love.

"oh..thanks.." Christina said smiling from ear to ear.

This meal has been floating around in my imagination for years. Each time I have attempted to pull it into existence, some piece of it eludes me. I keep grasping for it, quinoa, orange, asparagus, zucchini, onion, garlic, olive oil, pepper, I have tried dozens of combinations and never quite hit the mark. I once added orange juice to the quinoa, but the orange flavor was too dilute, and the texture of the quinoa was all wrong. I have added too little garlic, used the asparagus that was too thin, over cooked it, under cooked it, added too little salt. With all of these failings peppering my memory, I nearly gave up on the dish, but tonight I felt a renewed sense of courage. I am happy to report, that the dish of my subconscious finally came to life. I feel so happy that I never gave up on it. Should you decide to make it, I hope that you enjoy it as much as we did!

Warm Quinoa and Zucchini Salad
In a small sauce pan add about 1 cup rinsed quinoa and 2 cups of water.
(Quinoa has a bitter taste to it if it is not thoroughly rinsed before cooking, many companies pre-rinse their quinoa, but I still wash mine anyway until the washing water runs clear.) Bring the water to a boil with a lid on the quinoa. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered until the quinoa is soft, has sprouted little tails, and the water is gone. In a separate saucepan, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil. Add
1 very small yellow onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 large zucchini, diced
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp Florida pepper (penzys spices.. or just use lemon pepper, or pepper and dried lemon and orange peel)
Add the quinoa
1/2 Tbsp brown rice vinegar
Remove from the heat and spoon onto a butter lettuce leaf. Serve with-

Asparagus and Carrots in Toasted Orange Butter
Heat a frying pan and add
2 Tbsp water
1/2 bunch trimmed asparagus
2 carrots, sliced diagonally
add about 2 Tbsp butter
a sprinkle of salt,
3 cloves garlic, minced
Zest 1/2 orange onto the mixture and cook until the water is gone and the butter has started to brown. Turn off the heat and serve warm.

Christina's vote: "This meal made me feel like I could tame lions."

Day 7: Let It Be Easy

"Emily honey, what do you want for lunch?" the camper bumped from side to side, trotting along the sandy desert road. "Ummm, I'll have, a butter sandwich!" "A butter sandwich?" my grandfather asked, confused. "She loves butter" my mom said, shrugging her shoulders.

I feel so fortunate to have grown up in an era where food was simply...food. Fast food was still a novelty, we were blissfully unaware of the potential consequences of eating it. We used to go to McDonalds for a treat, which now seems as ridiculous to me as smoking cigarettes to relieve stress, or having a shot of whiskey to loosen up before giving a speech.

A few weeks ago, I met for lunch with Dr. Katja Rowell. After finishing med school, Dr. Rowell worked as a family physician. She soon recognized a common theme in many of the families that were coming in: disordered eating and obsessive dieting. She started up a practice, called "Family Feeding Dynamics". She helps families learn how to help guide their children at the dinner table, without teaching them restrictive food rules or to place significance on what they are eating. She advocates instead, for showing your child how to listen to their own hunger cues. Check out her website, it is a really cool thing that she does!

http://www.familyfeedingdynamics.com/FFD/home.html

Childhood obesity is a hot topic these days, and many people in the medical profession believe that being overweight is synonymous with increased health risks. "Your child needs to lose weight" the doctor points to a health chart. "We want to get their numbers down so that they fit inside this curve". The parent feels waves of shame and panic. They decide to put their child on a diet, restricting certain foods that they believe to be "unhealthy". The child begins to covet the forbidden foods, and experiences shame when they find occasion to indulge. The disordered eating pattern establishes, restrict, indulge, regret, remorse, restrict, indulge, regret, remorse.

While it is true that many of the lifestyle patterns that lead to being overweight also are associated with chronic diseases, it is possible to be overweight and still be healthy. We can't control the shape that our bodies will grow, but we can control how we treat them, talk to them, and listen to them.

Messages of the thin ideal, and how to achieve it, are everywhere. The magazines at the grocery store promise us that we can lose 10 pounds of fat in 3 weeks, which would require that a person accumulate a deficit of about 35,000 calories. Given that an average dietary recommendation is about 2000 calories a day, over 21 days, most people would need to consume about 21,000 calories total. So even if you starved yourself for the entire three weeks, you would still need to burn about 15,000 calories to lose the 10 lbs of fat. This you could achieve by simply running 150 miles over the course of the 3 weeks (average of 7 miles a day). So...don't eat and run 7 miles a day..does this sound healthy to you?

Earlier this evening, I walked across the park and yanked on the smooth metal handle of the YMCA entrance door. It was locked. Damn. My health insurance covers 75 % of my gym membership provided I go to the gym 17 times a month. I have been slacking off a bit this month, requiring that I need to go every day for the rest of the month to reach the 17 day mark. I didn't realize that they closed early on Saturdays.

As I turned to walk back to the apartment, the irony hit me. Every time I have been to the doctor over the past year, it has been to treat some sports related injury. Rather than reducing my risk for insurance costs, my exercising is increasing it! My insurance company is rewarding me for costing them money. In black and white thinking, things are either "good" or "bad", with no regard for the dose that makes the poison. But black and white are limited shades in our vibrant multicolored world. I returned home calmed by the thought, and slipped into my chair where Christina brought me a steaming cup of orange tea.

Eggplant and Zucchini Parmesan

Slice 1 medium eggplant into 1/4 inch thick rounds. They the slices flat and sprinkle with salt (allowing the brown liquid to sweat out). Damp the liquid with a paper towel and turn them over, repeating on the other side.

Slice 1 large zucchini on a slant, so that the rounds are about 1/4 inch thick.

Set out 2 bowls in front of you, one with flour, one with egg, and one with coarse cornmeal. Dip the zucchini and eggplant in flour, then into beaten egg (use 2 eggs), then coat with coarse ground cornmeal. Season with salt and pepper and place in a hot frying pan with olive oil coating the bottom. Brown on both sides, using a fork to turn, then remove and place on a paper towel to soak up excess oil.

Layer the eggplant on the bottom. On top of each eggplant, place about 1 Tbsp of tomato sauce (from yesterdays pizza recipe), and some fresh mozzarella cheese. Add some shredded fresh basil and top with zucchini. Repeat to desired height. Place in a 375 degree oven for about 10 min, or until cheese melts.

Serve with

1 large head butter lettuce, lightly dressed with 1/2 Tbsp Sherry vinegar and 1 Tbsp olive oil and fresh ground pepper.

Christina's vote: "This meal aroused my palate, multiple times"

Day 6: Nutrition vs food science

Nutrition and food science are both housed in one building at the University of Minnesota. They are like two siblings, always bickering about who is right and who is wrong, each one fighting for the attention of some parent audience, the public at large. The food scientists say,

"look at the exciting flavors we can make! See how we can make your food last on the shelves. We are the ones who prevent your cheese from growing listeria, and who can make your food low in fat, or devoid of sugar. In fact, we can even make magical fats and sugars that your body won't absorb! You can eat forever and never gain a pound! We will dehydrate your veggies so that they won't spoil, we will salt your meat so that you don't have to refrigerate it, we will pasteurize your eggs and your cream."

The food scientists study what happens to food when the food is processed in various ways at the level of the food. With so many chemical reactions happening to food before it even reaches the consumer, the food chemist never gets a chance to hear the rest of the story (ie. what happens to the food products after they have entered the human body). Here is where nutrition chimes in.

"See how those dehydrated foods are constipating you! You need fresh vegetables with water still in them. I know that you are used to the salty flavor, but that salt is causing you to bloat and stressing your heart. Try some fresh mozzarella instead of that salty shredded stuff. Add more vegetables to your diet, for vitamins and phytochemicals and to reduce your intake of saturated fat. Stop eating white flour, it will cause your insulin to spike and you will become tired. Try some fiber rich whole wheat flour instead."

While the food chemist knows little about the health consequences of their delicious concoctions, the nutritionist learns very little about how to make your healthy meal delicious. Although we are housed in the same building, their is an invisible wall that divides us. Like republicans and democrats, each group imagines that if the other group really understood their point of view, they would change their ways.

The cook is both a food scientist and a nutritionist, though he usually doesn't think of himself as such. His hands, eyes, ears, and nose are always gathering data about the chemical properties and nutritional benefits of foods. The first few times he puts something together he follows a recipe exactly, but soon he learns that foods are seasonal and that so too are recipes. He begins to notice the differences between high gluten whole wheat flour and unbleached white flour. He discovers that some grocery stores have low turnover of certain types of grains and consequently they are likely to be rancid when bought from there. He learns about where to get the freshest meat, how to pick the tastiest produce, how to combine foods to get the most complementary flavors.

Often these food combinations yield nutritional benefits, though the cook wasn't thinking about that when he chose to combine them. Vitamin C from the tomato sauce helps increase the absorption of calcium from the cheese. Vitamin C also helps with iron absorption from the basil, and from the pepperoni. Fats increase the absorption of vitamin E, which is in the whole wheat flour and olive oil.

Cooking is what happens when food science and nutrition meet for dinner.

Pizza (makes 2, 7-8 inch pizzas)

Dissolve 1 tsp active dry yeast (quick rise) in 1 cup water. Feed the yeast with 1 tsp sugar or preferred sweetener by dissolving it into the water. In a separate bowl mix together:

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup unbleached white flour

1/2 tsp salt

Add the yeast water to the flour and pull together with a spatula. Turn the dough out on the counter and knead for about 10 min (you probably won't need extra flour, I found that the amount was just about right). When the dough is smooth, and doesn't break easily, coat the dough with olive oil and let rise for about 1 hour in a bowl covered with plastic wrap or a wet towel.

In the meantime, make the sauce. Heat

1 Tbsp olive oil

1/4 tsp salt

in a saucepan and add

1 small yellow onion, diced

4 cloves garlic minced

cook until the onions begin to soften, then add

1/2 small yellow onion, diced (I like a more raw onion flavor as well as the sweet cooked onion flavor)

Add 1 29 oz can of tomato sauce (or if it is summer, about 5 cups diced tomatoes. This will make a chunkier sauce, but I think it will be delicious)

Add 2 Tbsp fresh chopped oregano, 1 Tbsp fresh Thyme leaves, 2 Tbsp fresh chopped basil, 1 tsp black pepper.

Cook until it begins to bubble, then turn off the heat before things get messy.

Preheat oven to 425. Cut the pizza dough into two sections and form it into a flat circle using your fingers. Try to make it thin in the middle and give it a bit of a crust (spin it if you know how). Place the formed dough on a cookie sheet with yellow cornmeal spread underneath to prevent the crust from sticking to the pan. Ladle some sauce onto the middle of the crust and spread it around with the back of the ladle. Now top with either pepperoni and then shredded mozzarella, or fresh mozzarella only. Spray both crusts with a squirt bottle filled with water. The steam will promote a crispier crust. Place them both in the oven and set the timer for 10 min. After 10 min, take the pizzas out and rotate them (switch racks). Before putting the fresh mozzarella one back in, top with 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil and a few more slices of fresh mozzarella. Cook pizzas for about 8 more min, or to desired doneness.

Christina's vote: It's important that people understand how delicious this pizza is.

Day 5: All Streams Lead to the River

"How do you have time to do all that cooking? Don't you ever do research?" I was sitting in my usual seat in Biostatistics, crammed into a little desk chair in a huge lecture hall between Drew and Norman. Drew, Norman, and I are all PhD students at the University of Minnesota in the department of Nutrition. The major difference between us is that they are both funded, both well into their research, and both on a straight path to graduation. I took a slight detour from the PhD to get my masters degree in...beans.

In case you are wondering, fresh beans are higher in antioxidants, tend to cook faster, and have an incredibly rich flavor when compared with beans bought from the grocery store. When buying beans from the store, try to look for something grown locally (check out the bulk section of your co-op, or try to find them at a farmers market). If possible, try to find some beans that have been stored in dark packaging... (I digress..)

I am now branching into the field of nutrition and neuroscience. Because I have chosen to change my research direction from studying beans to studying brains, I am, in a way, starting over. Norman is absolutely right. I probably would be much further along in my research were I not continually picking up these little side projects along the way.

"I don't watch television". I explained to Norman, in a whisper, as the professor clicked through his slides. This is the way I typically respond to such a question. It's a rationalization. The truth is, I can't help myself. I feel compelled to cook and write.

"Listen to your passion" said Bill, a fellow chef/nutrition student. Bill has a shaved head, black rimmed glasses, and stretched out piercings in his earlobes. He is currently researching ways to help chefs incorporate more whole grains into their menus. "You have a gift, see where it takes you" he said.

During the moments of sheer terror, I begin to worry that some decision needs to be made. I begin to doubt my lack of commitment to a specialized area. I am more than just a student, just a chef, just a writer, just an athlete, just a partner, just a daughter, just a teacher. I am all of these things, yet sometimes I fear that I can't have it all. I worry that some precious piece will slip between my fingertips while I am not paying attention and be lost forever. In these moments, I fell calmed by the thought that the only decision I really need to make is the one right in front of me, which happens, at this time, to be "what's for dinner".

Navy Bean Burgers

You can do this one of several ways. You can use canned beans (just rinse them well), you can pre-soak your beans (this reduces the cooking time by a little over half), or you can forget to pre-soak your beans and simply boil them for longer. This is what I did, it only took me about an hour and a half to cook the beans. I added the kombu to help with digestibility of the beans (since I didn't pre-soak). Kombu also adds natural glutamate, which adds a surprising amount of flavor appeal to your food. Whatever you do, do not add salt to the cooking water when cooking beans. Adding salt will increase the cooking time by..a lot. Boil about

3 cups of water

1 cup rinsed navy beans

1 inch piece dried kombu (optional)

reduce heat and simmer for about 90 min (or until beans are soft). Remove from heat, drain, and add to a food processor with

3 cloves of garlic,

1 tsp salt,

1 tsp Florida seasoned pepper (Penseys..or just use salt-free lemon pepper).

Add 1/2 small diced onion,

1/2 cup finely shredded cabbage

1/4 cup fine ground yellow cornmeal

this will hold the patty together loosely. I prefer not to add anything more, because I like it to be light and soft, and I don't really care if it holds together perfectly. If you prefer a richer, meatier, vegetarian burger then stay tuned..it will happen one of these nights I am sure!

Form the burgers into patties and dip each side into coarse ground cornmeal (optional). Fry for about 5 min on each side in a few Tbsp hot grapeseed or vegetable oil. Top with:

Greek Yogurt Dipping Sauce

3 Tbsp Greek yogurt

1 Tbsp Grey Poupon Dijon mustard

1 tsp tarragon, basil, or chipolte pepper

Garnet Yam Fries

These are really easy and good. Preheat oven to 425. Cut 1 garnet yam into fry shape slices (with the peel on). Place fries in a bowl and completely coat with olive oil. Add 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp Mrs Dash salt free seasoning. Spread the fries into an even layer on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for about 15 min. Flip them around and bake for an additional 10 min.

Garlic Brussel Sprouts

heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a saucepan and add 4 cloves minced garlic. Very quickly (before the garlic burns) add about 4 cups of quartered and rinsed brussel sprouts. Pour about 1/4 cup water into the pan and cover. Simmer until the water is gone. If they have not reached desired doneness, add a little more water and continue to steam. Before serving, squeeze the juice from 1/2 lemon on top (if you like the lemony flavor add the zest). Season with salt and pepper. If you love brussel sprouts with butter on them, then add a little butter to yours.

Christina's vote: "I think this is the most original thing I have ever tasted."

B is for basil and burdock- day 4

A nutrition researcher at the U of M was on MPR today talking about childhood obesity. She introduced a relatively new term, which identifies an issue facing adolescent populations today. "Food illiteracy". She told a story about a 9 year old boy to whom she was providing dinner. She placed a baked potato in front of the kid.
"What's that" The child asked, totally ignorant of the relationship between the brown crusty thing on his plate and his favorite side dish which comes in waffle, shoe string, steak, seasoned, and chili cheese variety.

I confess, I didn't actually hear the program first hand. I was walking back from the gym, watching a squirrel greedily dig up a hidden stash of acorns, and marvelling about how similar his stare down resembled that of a park junky. The phone buzzing in my pocket caught me off guard. I hit the green button.
"Oh hi" I said. In an era of caller ID there is no need for formalities.
"Do you realize that some kids don't even know what a potato looks like?" Christina launched right into her reason for calling.
"I am not surprised" I said, remembering my experience working with the Minneapolis high school kids on a farm.

"Will you go and pick some basil for me?" I once asked a kid.
"Whazzit look like?" he replied, puzzled.
"Well, um, it's green and.." Words failed me. The baggy clothed student cocked his head to the side and rolled his eyes and said.
"howm I supposed to find that. It's ALL green out dere!"
"Okay I'll come with you" I said, slightly bitter because I did not want to leave the stove. We shuffled out into the field, and I felt my bitterness fade as I watched the kid bend down and pick the leaves I pointed to. He brought them to his nose and sniffed a little.
"Damn, that smells goooood" he said (I didn't want to break the moment to scold him for swearing, so I let it slide). We filled our basket with basil, and went back into the kitchen. He clutched a sprig of basil in his hand for the entire rest of the day, wafting it in front of his friends, braving the risk of being taunted, and teaching them how to read in the language of food.

B is for basil and burdock

Kinpira Gobo
Peel and shred (using the shredder attachment on a food processor makes this process easy)
3 burdock root pieces (about 1 foot long)
5 large sweet carrots
In a large frying pan, heat
1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 Tbsp grapeseed oil (or just use 2 Tbsp toasted sesame if you love the flavor)
add the shredded burdock and carrot and
4 cloves of minced garlic
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 Tbsp mirin
cook for about 15 min on medium to high heat, stirring constantly. Turn the heat off and add 1 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds and 1 tsp rice vinegar
This is a slightly different version of the traditional Japanese dish, I am told that the Japanese do not use vinegar and add a bit of sugar to their recipe.

Basil and citrus honey mustard dressing on chopped romaine
In a large salad bowl, whisk
the juice from 1 lemon
the juice from 1/2 orange
2 tsp honey
2 tsp grey poupon Dijon mustard (I considered using wasabi, but I couldn't find any in my cupboard)
1 1/2 tsp french basil
1/2 tsp ume plum vinegar
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp chopped leeks
When the dressing is thoroughly mixed, add about 1/2 a large bunch of chopped romaine lettuce. Season with salt and pepper (and orange zest if you want to get fancy)

Salmon
Rinse and pat with a paper towel until it is EXTREMELY dry 12 oz of salmon (assuming 2 very hungry people are eating this dinner) Now, here is my salmon trick. Coat the bottom of your frying pan with olive oil, and heat the pan until it is really hot, almost smoking. Place the whole fish face down in the oil and immediately shuffle the pan a little so it doesn't stick. It is really important that the fish is dry, because otherwise the oil will pop up and burn you (and you get a better brown that way). Cook for about 1 min, then flip to the skin side and do the same thing. Remove from the pan and place into a baking dish. Squeeze the juice from 1 orange on top. Add the whites from 2 leeks, some salt, pepper, and orange zest. Shake about 1/2 tsp of soy sauce on top. Sprinkle lightly with brown sugar (as though it were salt). Bake at 350 for about 15 min (or 12-18 min, less if you prefer it pink, more if you like it a little well).

Enjoy!

Christina's vote: I would consider doing time for this dinner.

28 days of dinner at home- Day 3 Equipt dinner

The little shih tzu sat perfectly poised on the spongy black matted floor, his paws turned out like a ballerina in first position. The fur around his eyes was stained brown, and contrasted with his perfectly groomed white fir like smeared makeup on a fashion model. His head moved gently up and down, eyes never blinking, as he followed the repetition of my pulls. I was hanging, lengthwise, from a low bar, my legs splayed out in front of me like a person lodged under a car.

"10 more reps! Go!" Leslie said, her voice pure with cheer. "Pull from your lats, not your biceps" Said Jeff. "Imagine pulling your elbows down" Leslie chimed in. The dog just stared, coaching me with his eyes. He was the toughest critic in the room. "Tomorrow you are going to feel like you have been kicked by a mule" Jeff said. The disconcerting thing about this statement is that if anyone knows exactly what being kicked by a mule feels like, it's Jeff.

Jeff was raised on a farm, then after moving to the twin cities entered into a career as a personal trainer. It was here that he met Leslie, an established marathon coach with the most impressive endurance running history of any woman I have ever met. Leslie has run for over 100 miles straight around the same 3 mile stretch. Together Leslie and Jeff started up Equipt fitness, a small personal training studio, where they employ the many marvelous uses of the kettle bell. They have a keen eye for poor form, and can tell you exactly how to adjust your movements so that no time in the gym goes to waste.

When Leslie asked me if I wanted to work on a fitness challenge with her, I felt honored, and jumped at the opportunity. Specifically, we are planning to build up to being able to do a respectable set of pull-ups. Why pull-ups? Why not pull-ups! So this afternoon, I found myself hanging from a bar with crooked arms, shaking to near convulsions, watching the shih tsu on the floor silently stare me down. 'is that all you got' the dog seemed to say. His bottom teeth protruding out of his mouth. Then I heard Leslie's voice, "Three, two, one".
I dropped to the floor.

Simply roasted chicken with zucchini saute and sweet leek rice.

The chicken
Preheat the oven to 425. Rinse and pat dry
2 split chicken breasts (with the bone and skin on)
Take 6 cloves of garlic and cut the tops off, leaving the rest of the skin on. coat the bottom of a casserole dish with a few tsp of olive oil and place the chicken and garlic in the dish. Massage the top of the chicken skin with about 1 Tbsp butter, then sprinkle with a little salt. Put the dish in the oven, uncovered, for 20 min. Then take the chicken out and turn it over and cook for 5 more min. Take it out a final time, flip it over again and sprinkle with fresh thyme and oregano (or dried). cook for 10 more min, until the juices run clear. Take the garlic out of its shell and use as a garnish.
optional: Before cooking the chicken, bruise some fresh lemon grass with the side of your knife and add it to the pan. I swear it gives the chicken a lemony flavor (Christina said she didn't notice it, so I have left it out of the recipe).

The zucchini
2 zucchini
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
6 sun dried tomatoes, re hydrated in hot water and drained
fresh ground pepper
fresh thyme
fresh oregano
Heat the oil and add the salt and zucchini. If you wait until the oil is hot to add the vegetable, the zucchini will absorb less of the oil and not will have a more fresh flavor. Add the garlic as soon as the zucchini starts to sizzle. When the color of the zucchini changes from stark white to greenish yellow, sprinkle the herbs and sun dried tomatoes (diced into small pieces). Season with ground pepper.

The rice
Take yesterdays Persian rice out of the fridge (assuming you have leftovers). If you do not have leftovers, see the previous post. In a small pot, heat a tiny bit of oil (enough to cover the bottom). Add 1 leek, rinsed, halved, and sliced (use only the white part). After they soften but before they brown, add 1 cup of the cooked rice to the leeks. Give a few stirs, turn off the heat and cover the rice until ready to serve.

Christina's vote: I got to eat a good meal and work my bicep bringing my fork to my mouth!

28 Days of Dinner at Home: Day 2- Letter to Friend

Dear friend,

I know that things are really hard right now. You feel like you have just stepped out of the warmth, and everything is cold and unfamiliar. Sharp edges dog your path, threatening to bite you with steel teeth. The world is moving so fast that it makes you spin, and you just want to pull the covers over your head and scream. With each clumsy new task you attempt, you feel more and more doubtful. Gravity threatens to pull you down, like a baby spoon dropped from a highchair. With a splat everything is messy. You clench your fists and close your eyes and hope to wake up when it's over.

Upon the backdrop of your inner eyelids, you watch a movie of your life. See how you dropped the edge of the table, lifted your little sausage link legs, stomped out a little march, and then promptly toppled over. How good it felt to cry hot tears, and to be swooped up and held!

Remember when you walked into the new school. You screamed because you didn't want to leave those arms. You couldn't imagine a whole day without them! After you were too tired to carry on, the little girl sitting next to you handed you a piece of macaroni. It was not long before you discovered a new talent for macaroni art. Your were so pleased with yourself!

Remember when you failed that history test. You were so embarrassed that you hid your test score from all the other kids, and ran out of the classroom. Something made you tell your brother when you got home, and he made you laugh at your attachment to the idea of instant perfection.

Remember when you learned, as an adult, how to swim freestyle? You could barely get from one end of the pool to the other, and you felt humbled and out of breath every time you tried. "Enjoy this time" your friend said "because soon you will swim with ease and you will take it for granted". She was right.

With every encroaching shadow you have learned to grow toward the sun, twisting this way and that, adding new rings to the pattern of your life. Each time the shadow comes you seem to forget how to find the sun, until the gentle wind whispers against your leaves and you suddenly feel yourself glistening.

Just wait.

It always comes.

Eggplant Kuku with Persian Dill Rice and Sesame Carrots

Note: I have never made Kuku before, so I loosely followed a recipe out of the divine Najmieh Batmanglij's "New Food of Life"(I highly recommend this cookbook if you are at all interested in the elegant and labor intensive art of Persian cooking.)

Eggplant Kuku

1 medium eggplant

~1/2 cup grapeseed oil

salt

2 small yellow onions, sliced thin

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 eggs

2 Tbsp Sabzi (can buy from Caspian if you are in MN, or other Persian market)

3 tsp saffron water (dissolve 1/4 tsp saffron into 1 Tbsp hot water)

1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 Tbsp all purpose flour

salt and pepper to taste

I made this recipe with the eggplant skins on. You can peel them if you prefer. If you peel the eggplant, do that first..then slice the thing into rounds. Lay them flat and sprinkle them with salt. Allow them to sweat out their brown and foul tasting liquid. Squeeze them into a paper towel and pat them dry (they should be quite spongy now). Heat about half of the grapeseed oil in a frying pan and add the eggplant. Add the onions, and a pinch of salt, and stir until everything browns and gets a little mushy. Add more oil as you need to to prevent sticking. If things get too hot, you can de-glaze with a little water or wine (I actually accidentally used sherry vinegar, we'll see how it turns out!) Add the garlic and cook a few min more. Remove from the heat, pour the mixture into a bowl and mash with a fork.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs with a fork and add the remaining ingredients. Mix well. Then add the eggplant mixture, blending thoroughly. Lightly oil about 8 or 9 muffin tins and spoon in the dough. Bake at 350 for 30 min.

Persian Dill Rice

2 cups long grain Basmati rice

2 tsp salt

1 1/2 Tbsp oil (enough to cover the bottom of the pan)

4 cups water

liberal amounts of dill

Saffron water for color (see above)

Wash the rice until the water runs clear (or about 10 times haha) in warm water. Persian rice is fluffy and light, and not at all sticky. This is why it needs to be washed, so that each grain exists as an exquisite, individual entity. Pour the washed and drained rice into a pot with the oil and salt already in the bottom. cook until the rice dries, then pour in 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until the water is gone. Remove from the heat, and fluff with a fork. Sprinkle with dill and saffron water before serving.

Sesame Carrots

slice 4 carrots thin

season with 1 tsp rice vinegar, 1 tsp sesame oil and some toasted sesame seeds. Adjust to taste.

Christina's vote: A dinner filled with love.

28 days of dinner at home- Day 1

Inside Out Pork Cabbage Wraps With Chili Spread, Warm Root Vegetables, and Home Baked Lavash:

Recently, while flipping through a magazine, I saw an article about a New Yorker who committed to dining only at home for 2 years. This I consider to be quite a remarkable feat considering the wealth of restaurants in the city, and the cultural tendency for New Yorker's to rely on them for nourishment. Most of the people I know who live in New York use their refrigerators mainly to store restaurant take out cartons and condiments (with the occasional appearance of a fancy cheese or some Looza juice). I was impressed by this woman's resolve to commit to cooking for herself. I brought it up to Christina. “Do you know what this woman did? It’s amazing, why aren’t we living that way!” Christina raised an eyebrow. “Do you want to do that?”

I thought about what it would mean to give up restaurants. There would be benefits. There would be no more driving around full parking lots on Saturday nights, slowly stalking people as they amble out toward their cars hoping that we can snag their spot. There would be no more interruptions during critical moments in our conversation by overly ambitious waiters. No more super salty food and puffy eyed morning after regrets. No more filling our stomachs to the point of pain because of not being able to decipher a normal portion size out of the mound of food which had been presented to us.

There would, of course, be drawbacks. What about our evening walks, where we sometimes find ourselves called by the fragrant wafts of onions grilling and bread toasting. Wouldn't we long for the leisurely ease of slipping into a cushioned booth and having delicious treats placed before us. What about the people watching in restaurants that Christina loves, and the menu reading that teases my taste imagination. Neither one of us has forgotten about our raw foods experience, and the dis-ease that comes from the act of restriction. “No, I don’t really want to do that,” I said. “but I do like the idea of doing more than soup and salad recipes…how about dinner?”

Lavash

Lavash is a type of Iranian flat bread. I found many different recipes for Lavash and modified them to fit the ingredients and the amount of time I had.

1 ¼ cups warm water

1 tsp active dry yeast

1 tsp sugar

4 cups all purpose unbleached flour

1 ½ tsp salt

1 egg beaten

2 Tbsp melted butter (I think this makes a crisp Lavash, so leave it out if you prefer something softer)

olive oil (to cover)

Poppy seed, sesame seed, and cornmeal.

Dissolve the yeast in the water and add the sugar. Let sit for 10 min. Add 3 cups of the flour, mixing well (about 5 min). Add the egg and butter. Knead the last cup of flour into the bread (using more or less if you need to). Cover with olive oil and plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour. Punch the dough down and separate into 5 balls. Let sit 5 min. Roll the balls out and top with poppy seeds or sesame seeds. Place on a hot baking sheet in 400 degree oven (sprinkle some cornmeal underneath the dough to prevent it from sticking). Bake for 10 min. on one side, then flip the breads over and bake for 10 min. on the other side.

Chili spread

Remove stems and seeds and simmer 1 dried Ancho chili and 1 New Mexico dried chili in 1 cup of water. Turn the water off and blend the chili's with 3 cloves of garlic in a mini food processor. Add 3 tsp sugar, 1 tsp red wine vinegar, 2 tsp olive oil, 3 tsp apple cider vinegar, ½ tsp soy sauce and 1 tsp Worcester sauce. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper, or whatever else tastes good to you.

Pork

Pound out 2 pork loin chops by covering the chops with a Ziploc bag and pounding with a hammer (don’t actually put the chops in the bag, just put the bag on top of the meat so that there is some protection from the hammer). Paint one side of the chop with chili spread. On one side add some of the cooked vegetable mix (see below..you can add this even if the veggies are not quite done cooking yet as they will cook more in the oven). Roll the pork loin chop and place in an oiled baking dish. Spread some melted butter on the top. Bake at 350 for about 45 min. Remove from the oven, slice and top with chili spread.

Warm Root Vegetable Dish:

In a frying pan, heat 1 tbsp olive oil. Add 1 very small sliced onion and 2 cloves of minced garlic. Add ¼ rutabaga and 2 cups diced green cabbage. Add 1 Tbsp butter and ½ tsp salt. Add about 2 Tbsp water, cover and simmer until the water is gone. Add 2 diced carrots, and recover. Turn the heat off and let sit until the rest of dinner is ready. When dinner is ready, reheat the vegetable medley and season with a little rice vinegar.

Christina's vote: Couldn't ask for a better beginning. Five stars on the chili spread!

Vacation at Home Posole

It is Spring break and I have been pining for a vacation. The travel magazines stared out at me from their racks at the gym, like puppies in a pet store. I could have visited with one for the afternoon, but at the end of the day Morocco would have had to be placed neatly back in her pen, and I would have left with my imagination salivating. All last week, my Hungarian professor had been calling me to come in and assigning me typing projects

“I just need you to draw just a few more structures for me…is that okay?” She would say.

No, actually, I am too busy, I thought. You should have asked me to do this last week and not last minute.

“Sure, no problem” I say, smiling sweetly, yet beneath my eyes I am overcooked. I aspire to fool the world into believing that I can handle everything.

“I will be out next week” she says “ve are going on vacation to Mexico..what’s the matter, are you okay, you are not veeling vell?” She says as my eyes start to water. “I am fine, just a little tired, thanks for asking.”

In reality, my craving for a vacation is really just a sign that I need to give myself permission to take a break. I don’t travel well, I never have. I am a notorious vacation ruiner in my family. I once pouted through an entire two week trip to Puerto Rico.

I reflect on this at my desk at home, as I sift through the chemical structures she has asked me to draw. “She makes me so mad” I say to Christina, looking for empathy. “No she doesn’t, you are mad at yourself for not knowing how to say no”. Then mutual laughter. I think of the plaque above my parents sliding glass door that says ‘just say no’. A friend of theirs made it for them because they are unrelentingly over-committed.

The day after finishing my work for the professor, I stopped into her office. “are you all packed for your vacation?” I asked her. “you know somesing” she said, “ve are not gowving!”

“why not?” I asked. “I am too tired. Ve are going to rest and have a vacation at home.” Yes, I thought, this is what I will do too.

When I woke up this morning, I reminded myself that I am on vacation. I also said it about 50 times yesterday throughout the day. “I am on vacation” I said to Christina, during a silent moment in the car. “I know honey, that’s great.” she said. I said it again when we got to the coffee shop, then when we got back into the car again. “I know, I know” she said “that’s great”.

I decided to make a soup that I could really relax with, something that has many levels. Something that releases smells all day long. This pozole recipe begins with roasting a chicken, which is a perfect thing to do on a 60 degree spring day, when you can heat up the kitchen and open the windows without freezing.

Chicken stock:

You can buy this, but I suggest making your own since you will need the cooked chicken to go in the soup.

In a 400 degree oven, roast

1, 4 lb chicken. (brush the outside with butter first, and stuff the inside with 5 garlic cloves, a small bunch of fresh oregano and a small bunch of fresh thyme). When the chicken is done, remove the skin and the meat and set aside. Put the carcass in a large soup pot (about 12 inch diameter) and cover with water. Add 1 Tbsp salt, 2 chopped yellow onions, 5 peeled and chopped carrots, 4 stocks celery. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer about 2 hours.

Hominy

In a separate pot, boil 2 cups white hominy and 1 cup red (if you can find it, if not you can use canned hominy). If you are lucky enough to have a source of hand made hominy, then it won’t take long to cook it. Just bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 45 min. If you have a dried store-bought variety, you will need to begin boiling the hominy when you put the chicken in and let it slowly boil all day long (about 4 hours). Alternatively, you could soak it overnight and then cook it as you would hand made hominy.

Take the stems and seeds out of 5 large dried New Mexico chilis, and 3 ancho chilis. Simmer them in some water, then blend in a small blender. Drain out the liquid and set aside.

In a large soup pot, add

1 tsp grapeseed oil

1 large white onion, diced.

3 cloves garlic mashed

2 tsp salt

heat for 4 min, then add the chili water.

Add the chicken meat (all of it)

½ small green cabbage (shredded)

the stock (the desired amount)

the hominy, drained

garnish with limes, radishes, and cilantro

The co-op shopper vegetable soup

“Just to clarify, how much of the flour do you use for the ravioli?” said the smokey voiced newspaper editor on the other end of the line. I paced nervously around the living room, a hot phone glued to one ear causing a stream of sweat to form at the base of my ponytail-lifted temple. “Um, well you won’t end up using the whole pile, it really depends on the weather..just enough until the dough is sticky” I said, feeling stupid. “People will follow your directions EXACTLY” she said “you need to give precise directions, and we don’t have the space to explain all that” I began wishing I were more careful in recording my recipes, more organized.

“I loved that soup you made last week” our friend Gerry said “and I wanted to make it, but the recipe looks difficult to follow”

I am reminded of the saying: when one person tells you that you have a tail it is probably not worth worrying too much about, but when two people tell you you have a tail you better check to see if it’s true. The good news is, once the tail is identified, something can be done about it. One could accentuate one's tail, cutting slits in the backs of their pants so that the tail could break into the light of day and be waved around free in the wind. In the case of my recipe vagueness, embracing the quality is extremely tempting (who wants to bother with bookkeeping in the kitchen?). It is not very useful, however, and does not fall in line with what I am trying to do.

"What ARE you trying to do Emily?" I ask myself.

If I had a mission statement, it would sound something like this: “To try to inspire people to cook at home, and to inspire the home chef with ideas about how to palatably use fresh produce in everyday cooking.” While sharing my love of food, some stories, and some vague recipe ideas is nice, and entertaining for me, it is not incredibly useful if my recipes can't be replicated. Thus, I have lined up the measuring cups like soldiers ready for battle. I have a pen and some paper on my kitchen counter. I have called in for the backup set of measuring spoons. I am ready to face my tail head-on, and to begin a new phase of blogging. The mission: to share love, stories, AND recipes that are easy to follow.

On a side note, today is my father’s birthday. I got a lump in my throat while talking to him on the phone this morning, as he told me about what everyone ordered at his birthday dinner last night. I wished I could have been there, but he lives halfway across the continent. The people in my family have very different tastes and dietary restrictions, and finding something that can be enjoyed by everyone can be extremely difficult.

Macrobiotic, paleo, vegan, vegetarian, gluten, casein, soy free, Midwestern-New England vegetable soup. This recipe has a lot of ingredients, however I made sure to record careful measurements of everything I put in, so hopefully it will be easy to follow!

The stock

In a stock pot, add:

2 small yellow onions, chopped

½ Tbsp salt

1 cup water

4 cloves garlic, mashed

bring to a simmer. Prepare the remaining vegetables while the first group of vegetables simmer (about 10 min). Roughly chop and add:

1 cup white mushrooms

½ package of celery

6 carrots

½ Tbsp salt (again)

8 cups water

4 Thai basil leaves

1 Tbsp four peppercorn blend

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer (uncovered) for 1 hour. After the hour is up, turn off the heat, strain the stock, return it to the burner and begin the soup.

In a medium sized soup pot, add:

1 Tbsp olive oil

½ tsp salt

½ small yellow onion, diced

½ large russet potato, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced (the smell that reminds me of college)

¼ rutabaga, peeled and diced

2 cups stock

simmer, covered, while you prepare the remaining vegetables (about 10 min)

Add:

5 white mushrooms, diced

1 zucchini, diced

¼ cup cauliflower, broken into small pieces

2 more cups stock

simmer covered for about 10 min. Then add:

12 ounces crushed tomatoes (I used a can of organic, seasoned with basil)

1 tsp dill

¼ tsp white pepper

½ tsp french basil

½ tsp cumin

½ tsp salt

the remaining stock

Simmer for 15-20 min, covered

garnish with 2 chopped green onions and 1 bunch chopped Thai basil

~enjoy