Health Food Fanatic

Oats for Breakfast

2010-12-27T08:07:00.000-08:00

I've been having cooked whole oats for breakfast lately. They're good for winter, because they're warming, and whole grains sustain you longer than ground grains like cracked cereal or bread. I cook them overnight in a small crockpot.

You can spice them up with cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, cardamon or ginger. And you can add fruit or chopped nuts before serving.

Here's the basic recipe for one serving:

1/3-1/2 cup whole oat groats (I like to soak them in water for 8-10 hours first, but it's optional)
2 cups water
Spices to taste

Rinse the oats in a strainer. Combine everything in a small crockpot, and cook overnight on low for 8-10 hours. The amount of water varies. Some crockpots will need more water than others. If desired, add fruit and/or chopped nuts before serving.

Vegan Christmas Dinner - Part 2

2010-12-25T17:48:00.000-08:00

Here's the rest of tonight's vegan Christmas dinner. Vegetable crudites before dinner, with a ranch dressing for the non-vegans, and a cilantro-lime dressing for the vegans.

Borscht, which is a Russian cold beet soup. It was served as the first course, and requested by my brother, because it's his favorite food. I guess I was too busy eating, and I forgot to take a picture of it.

Stuffing and homemade cranberry sauce, made by my mom.

Yams and sweet potatoes baked with maple syrup, lime juice, vinegar, and . . . I forget what else, but they were really good. Also made by my mom.

Update from my mom . . . the sweet potatoes and yams were drizzled with maple syrup, balsamic vinegar, and Dijon mustard.

Steamed green beans, again, made by my mom.

For dessert my mom made an apple pumpkin pie that was really good. She said she got the recipe from the Whole Foods Market website.

Vegan Christmas Dinner - Part 1

2010-12-25T08:08:00.000-08:00

What's for dinner tonight? I made vegan Tempeh "Meat" Loaf, using a recipe from the Real Food Daily Cookbook. It starts with grated tempeh. I use soy tempeh, but you can use any of the other types available.

Then you add in chopped vegetables, herbs, spices, ketchup and miso. I leave out the nutritional yeast, because I don't like it. And I use more vegetables than the recipe calls for. I also omit all of the oil, except a tiny amount of oil to grease the loaf pan. I saute the vegetables in water rather than oil. I recommend eliminating the salt. The ketchup and miso add enough salt for my taste.

Press it into a loaf pan, bake, and let cool before slicing.

Here's how it looks after baking:

And here's how it looks sliced:

Stay tuned for the rest of tonight's vegan dinner!

Cherry-Orange Cobbler

2010-07-24T14:13:00.000-07:00

This is really good, especially warm from the oven! It's the healthy version of a fruit cobbler made with fresh or frozen cherries and the juice and rind of an orange.

Here's the basic recipe:

1-1/3 cups sprouted brown rice ground into flour, or flour of your choice
2 tsp. baking powder
Grated rind of one orange
Juice of one orange
1 cup plain amasake, or 1 cup soy, rice or almond milk with a little sweetener of your choice added
2 12-oz. bags of frozen cherries, or fresh cherries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Make sure the cherries are pitted, and cut them in half. Lightly oil a 8"x8", 9"x9", or 7"x11" baking dish, if it's not nonstick. Spread half of the cherries over the bottom of the baking dish.

Combine the flour, orange rind, orange juice, and amasake in a bowl and mix well. It should be a thick batter, but pourable. If too thick, add a little more amasake. Add the baking powder and stir just to mix.

Pour over the cherries in the baking disk and spread it evenly over the cherries. Place the other half of the cherries on top.

Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees, until lightly browned.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Other combinations are also good, like blueberries with vanilla and cardamon in the batter, instead of the orange. Or peaches with lemon juice and lemon rind.

Sweet Potatoes and Potatoes

2010-06-08T11:53:00.000-07:00

I'm learning more everyday. Recently I discovered that sweet potatoes can cause indigestion, and potatoes slow down digestion. It's probably not a problem for everyone, but it was a problem for me. Maybe it's only a problem if your digestion is already weak -- I'm not sure. But if you have a problem with digestion, you might want to try eliminating potatoes and especially sweet potatoes for a while, and see if you feel better. By the way, what we call "yams" in the United States are also sweet potatoes.

Healing

2010-05-20T10:59:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd start to write about my own healing journey. Maybe you can learn something from my experience.

I've had health problems most of my adult life. It started with daily headaches when I was 12; progressed to migraines; malignant melanoma when I was 25; Chronic Fatigue Syndrome at 32; hypersensitivity to everything including foods, chemicals, supplements, and the environment; and endemic Typhus two years ago.

I'm getting better, but it has been a very long road. Here are the changes I've had to make:

Diet -- vegan, no oil, little or no rich foods like nuts and avocados, very little sugar and salt
Lifestyle -- no alcohol, recreational drugs, tobacco, or caffeine
Exercise -- this is the hardest for me!
Emotions -- learn to emphasis the positive and not dwell on the negative
Supplements -- none
Pharmaceutical drugs -- none
Dental work -- no amalgam fillings, remove those that you have
Pollution -- avoid as much as possible: air pollution, water pollution, pesticides, electromagnetic radiation
Cleaning products -- natural products only such as Seventh Generation
Body products -- no perfume, makeup, or other body products except unscented soap and shampoo
Clothes and bedding -- natural fibers only, as much as possible
Cookware -- avoid nonstick surfaces, stainless steel, aluminum, and cast iron
Sunlight -- a little everyday

Some treatments have been helpful, such as acupuncture and homeopathy, but other treatments make me feel worse.

Think you can do it? I'm not perfect, either, and it's impossible to follow all of these guidelines, given the conditions we live in. I also continue to learn more everyday as more information becomes available, and the guidelines change from time to time.

Following these guidelines is the only way I've found to live a relatively normal life. If you're trying to regain your health, think about making some of these changes. I'll discuss them in more detail in upcoming posts.

Oils and Fats

2010-05-06T01:00:00.000-07:00

We've all probably heard more than we want to know about oils and fats. Saturated fat, trans fat, monosaturated fat, polysaturated fat. So which oil should you use? None! None of them are healthy, and you can read more about it here.

Saturated fats, such as those found in animal products, clog arteries, and lead to heart disease. Some vegetable oils are also high in saturated fat, including coconut and palm oils.

But other vegetable oils have problems, too, aside from the problem that fat makes you fat. They are added calories without any nutritional value. Vegetable oils are high in omega 6 essential fatty acid (EFA), which causes an imbalance with omega 3 EFA. There is plenty of omega 3 EFA in a starch-based diet, but not enough to balance the concentration of omega 6 EFA in extracted vegetable oils.

Dietitian Jeff Novick has recently come out with a lecture on DVD titled "Should I Eat That?" where he discusses, amongst other things, the properties of and problems with various oils and fats. I haven't seen this one yet, but Jeff is a great speaker, and his lectures are always funny and informative.

The Starch Solution

2010-05-05T08:16:00.000-07:00

I think it's time to start talking about some health issues, so let's begin with the health of the planet. I was listening to a lecture given by Dr. John McDougall yesterday, and he was talking about the individual and planetary benefits of a starch-based diet. The lecture is available on the Get Healthy Now! DVD, and you can also read about it in his newsletter archives.

Scientists have said that carbon emissions need to be 350 parts per million or less in order for life on this planet as we know it to survive. Right now we're averaging 380. These are desperate times.

It takes 2 calories of fossil-fuel energy to produce one calorie of starch (grain, legumes, tubers). It takes 80 calories of fossil-fuel energy to produce one calorie of meat. By switching to a starch-based diet, we could reduce the fossil fuel consumption used to produce food forty-fold.

On a starch-based diet, you eat grains (rice, wheat, barley, rye, millet, etc.), legumes, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds. No meat, fish, poultry, dairy or eggs. You can eat as much as you want (with the exception of nuts, seeds, olives and avocados, which should be eaten in small quantities) and not be fat. And you get all the protein that you need with no excess. Cooking can be simple or complex, according to your lifestyle, desires and time.

Contrary to popular belief, starch does not make you fat. Fat makes you fat. People have lived on starch-based diets for tens of thousands of years, and billions of people in the world still do. It is only people in the west who eat a rich diet of meat, eggs, dairy, and processed foods, and who have problems with heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

If you want to know more, Dr. McDougall's latest book addressing this problem, The Starch Solution, will be coming out soon. I highly recommend subscribing to his monthly newsletter, which is always full of useful and interesting information regarding food and health. It's not just about individual health -- it's about the health of the entire planet and every living being.

Cranberry Chutney

2010-03-13T10:57:00.000-08:00

Oooooo . . . this is so good! I adapted it from a recipe that my mom gave me. It's called chutney, but it doesn't have the vinegary taste of chutney, and I like it on toast. It's not as sweet as jam. Here's how I made it:

12 oz. bag or fresh or frozen cranberries
2 apples, chopped (I used Jazz apples -- the recipe calls for Fuji)
1/2 cup your choice of sweetener (I used half barley malt syrup and half rice syrup -- recipe calls for honey and maple syrup)
Grated zest of one lemon
Dash of pepper and ground cardamon (recipe also calls for salt, but I don't think it's necessary)

I just combined everything in a pan and cooked it for about 45 minutes, until it thickened, which worked fine. The original recipe is a lot more complicated, involving a candy thermometer and hard crack, but I don't think that's necessary.

This made a little over a pint, so it cooks down a lot.

Ketchup

2010-03-06T12:45:00.000-08:00

I love ketchup, so I decided to try making a healthy one using apples and apple cider vinegar -- no sweetener. It's pretty good, but I think it needs a couple of weeks to mellow. It's not red, like traditional ketchup, but the orange color is pretty. Here's the recipe:

4 apples, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 sweet red pepper, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup cider vinegar
1 cup water
1-1/2 tsp. mustard seeds
1-1/2 tsp. allspice berries
1 stick cinnamon broken up
1-1/2 tsp. whole black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. whole cloves
1 Tbsp. whole coriander seeds
1/4 tsp. celery seeds
1 tsp. salt, or to taste

Tie the spices into a cheesecloth bag, and combine everything in a 4-quart pot. The celery seeds may fall through the cheesecloth -- mine did. If so, just add them to the fruit and vegetables. Bring to a boil, and simmer for an hour or more. Remove the spice bag and discard. Puree the mixture in a blender or Vitamix. If it's not quite thick enough, simmer it uncovered for a while longer until it thickens up. Pack into canning jars and process, or store in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks before using. This recipe made a little more than two pints.

Blueberry Pecan Muffins

2010-01-31T18:02:00.000-08:00

These muffins are great, and easy to make. Here's the recipe:

Combine in a mixing bowl:

2 cups sprouted brown rice ground into flour, or flour of your choice
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup blueberry juice, or other compatible juice
2 teaspoons baking powder

Combine the flour, pecans and 1 cup of whole blueberries in a bowl.

Blend the other cup of blueberries and blueberry juice into a puree. Add to the mixture in the bowl and stir well.

Add the baking powder baking powder, and stir just until mixed in. Spoon into a very lightly oiled muffin pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes, until firm to the touch in the center. Let cool a bit before removing from pan.

Love, Sanae

2009-12-16T01:00:00.000-08:00

This is a pumpkin seed salad dressing made from roasted pumpkin seeds, umeboshi plum paste, water and scallions.

It's really good, and the recipe is in Sanae Suzuki's new book, Love Sanae.

In the book, Sanae talks about her healing journey, explains macrobiotics, and gives seasonal macrobiotic recipes. It's a great book, with beautiful photography by Sanae and her husband Eric. They own Seed Kitchen in Venice, California, a macrobiotic, vegan restaurant

Apple Gingerbread Pudding

2009-12-15T01:00:00.000-08:00

I cut the leftover gingerbread into small squares and placed it in the bottom of a baking dish. Then I cut an apple into bite-sized pieces and layered it on top, followed by a sprinkling of cinnamon. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes, until the apple is soft, and you get this sort of gingery bread pudding, which is really quite good!

Cornbread

2009-12-14T12:29:00.000-08:00

I made a batch of cornbread from whole corn, and it's pretty good. I think freshly ground corn tastes better than the cornmeal available in stores.

Cornbread recipe:

Combine in a mixing bowl:

2 cups yellow corn ground into meal, or already ground cornmeal
1 cup sprouted brown rice ground into flour, or flour of your choice
2 cups fresh apple juice
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Let sit for 24 hours. You may need to add some water to make it batter consistency. Add 1 Tablespoon baking powder, and stir just until mixed in. Pour into a very lightly oiled 8" or 9" square pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes, until firm to the touch in the center. Let cool a bit before cutting into squares.

I wonder what it would be like with carrot juice instead of apple juice. I think I'll try that next time.

Gingerbread

2009-12-02T08:46:00.000-08:00

This is a gingerbread made with kabocha squash, and no sweetener at all. It's slightly sweet from the squash, and it has a nice spicy tang. It's sticky inside, more like spoonbread than a firm bread. I wonder what it would be like with fresh ginger juice instead of powdered ginger.

Here's the recipe:

Combine in a mixing bowl:

2 cups sprouted brown rice ground into flour, or 2 cups flour of your choice
1 cup mashed, cooked kabocha squash
2 teaspoons powdered ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon powdered cloves
2 cups water

Let sit overnight. In the morning, add a little more water if necessary to make it batter consistency. Then add 2 teaspoons baking powder, and stir just until mixed in. Pour into a very lightly oiled 8" or 9" square pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 50-60 minutes, until firm to the touch in the center.

I think I'll try it without the baking powder next time. I don't think it needs the leavening, and I think the baking powder might be giving it a slightly bitter taste. I might also try baking it longer and see what that does.

Sea Vegetables

2009-09-20T12:10:00.000-07:00

I've been making some changes lately. For one thing, I found out that tahini isn't so good for you. It's made from hulled sesame seeds, and once the seeds are hulled, they quickly go rancid.

I've been adding sea vegetables to my diet. At first they don't taste so good, but after you've been eating them for a while, you get used to them, and they taste fine.

I cook them in with my sprouted rice, along with 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric (for liver and gallbladder), kale, collards, and some sliced radish.

Most people would consider it a strange breakfast, but I kind of like it now. I especially like knowing that I'm eating something healthy.

Cheese-free Macaroni

2009-08-08T11:13:00.000-07:00

It's feeling like fall here already, and I wanted to make something that felt like comfort food. So I made a cheese-free macaroni adapted from a recipe in the Moosewood Cookbook.

You can get sprouted grain pasta, but this isn't that. I used brown rice penne, which you cook first and drain. Then I added shredded green cabbage, sliced red onion, chopped carrots, sliced mushrooms, chopped scallions, caraway seeds and black pepper. The sauce is made from raw tahini, lemon juice, and a little salt. Toss everything and bake covered for about 50 minutes at 350 degrees.

I wonder if cooked sprouted brown rice would be good in place of the pasta.

Sprouted Tofu

2009-07-19T20:48:00.000-07:00

Have you seen the new sprouted tofu made by Wildwood? Of course I like the flavored baked ones, but the plain is healthier.

The soybeans are sprouted before being made into tofu, making it easier to digest and more nutritious than regular tofu. You can get it at Whole Foods Market.

Sourdough Bread

2009-06-06T20:29:00.000-07:00

This bread is interesting. I wanted to try making bread without yeast, so this is just sprouted wheat and barley flours, a little salt and water. I mixed the ingredients together, kneaded the dough 300 times, and let it sit for 24 hours. Then I kneaded it another 100 times, let it sit for four hours, and baked for 1-1/2 hours at 350 degrees.

It has a very sour flavor and is very dense, but it's good!

Mango-Raspberry Sauce

2009-05-26T21:34:00.000-07:00

I like this on top of cooked sprouted brown rice. It's fruity, but not as sweet as jam. It's frozen mango chunks and frozen raspberries cooked together in a little water and then mashed with a potato masher.

The mangoes are sweet and the raspberries are kind of tart. A great healthy dessert!

Smoked Cauliflower Carrot Soup

2009-05-25T01:00:00.000-07:00

Everyone is barbecuing for Memorial Day, so I decided to do something with liquid smoke. This is steamed cauliflower, carrots, onion and a slice of rutabaga pureed in the Vita-Mix with cooked sprouted brown rice, a garlic-rosemary herb blend, salt, and a little liquid smoke.

It's good, but a little too bitter. I think next time I'll leave out the rutabaga.

Yam Bread

2009-05-24T12:40:00.000-07:00

This is like pumpkin bread, but made with cooked, mashed yams instead. I used sprouted brown rice flour, the mashed yams, pumpkin pie spice, chopped pecans, and a little agave nectar.

The rice flour makes it chewy.

Potato-Sunchoke-Pea Soup

2009-04-27T12:12:00.000-07:00

This is a nice spring soup, and it's another one with that great green color! I steamed a Gold Yukon potato, two small sunchokes (Jerusalem artichokes), some onion, and some peas. Then I put all of that in the Vita-Mix with some fresh dill and a little salt, and topped it with sliced green onions.

I thought this would be good with fresh mint, but they didn't have any at the market, so I went with fresh dill instead.

The sunchoke flavor is surprisingly strong, so don't use too many of them.

Carob and Orange Pudding

2009-04-26T19:53:00.000-07:00

Here's another good pudding. I put cooked sprouted brown rice, orange marmalade (fruit only -- no sugar), carob powder and a little water in the Vita-Mix, and blended until smooth.

The combination of carob and orange is great. It's better if you let it sit in the refrigerator overnight to allow the flavors to blend.

Banana Bread

2009-04-23T17:59:00.000-07:00

This afternoon I made a banana bread using sprouted brown rice flour -- no wheat. It turned out good! It holds together well and slices nicely, and has a strong banana taste.

I used Gogo Rice Sprouted Brown Rice, which is available here at Whole Foods Market. I ground two cups of it into flour in the Vita-Mix, then added a pinch of salt, 1 Tbsp. baking powder, 3/4 tsp. baking soda, a handful of walnuts, three mashed bananas, one cup water, and 1/4 cup agave nectar. Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.

Potato and Golden Beet Soup

2009-04-18T01:00:00.000-07:00

This is a really nice combination, and the color is so pretty, too!

First I steamed a Yukon Gold potato, a small golden beet, one carrot, one-quarter of a large onion, and a small handful of soaked Brazil nuts. I tossed them in the Vita-Mix with the steaming water and a little curry powder, and the result is a thick, Earthy, slightly spicy soup. Very good!

Healing with Whole Foods

2009-04-17T01:00:00.000-07:00

Healing with Whole Foods is my all-time favorite book about the healing properties of food. It's a huge book -- 753 pages -- and it's packed with information about foods from Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurvedic points of view, as well as very healthy recipes.

The author, Paul Pitchford, has a website where he announces upcoming classes and events, and you might want to subscribe to his mailing list. He's such a knowledgeable guy!

Oops!

2009-04-16T15:36:00.000-07:00

Here's what happens when you add too much water to bread dough. It rises nicely and looks good coming out of the oven. But then it collapses, falls apart, and is sticky inside. Who knew?

Black Beans

2009-03-18T16:22:00.000-07:00

This is good, too. It's sprouted black beans cooked with garlic, onion, tomatoes, carrot, celery, red pepper and spices, then pureed in the Vita-mix with cooked sprouted brown rice.

Potato and Asparagus Soup

2009-03-16T13:35:00.000-07:00

Ooooo . . . this is really good. It's a pureed soup made from potatoes and asparagus.

First I steamed two potatoes, a bunch of asparagus, half an onion, and a stalk of celery. Then I pureed them in the Vita-Mix with some cooked sprouted rice, a little coconut milk yogurt, salt, pepper and thyme.

Coconut Milk Yogurt

2009-03-14T16:52:00.000-07:00

I got this idea from my friend, Lyn, but it didn't turn out quite like I was expecting. It's yogurt made from coconut milk. I used two cans of coconut milk and diluted it with an equal amount of water, because it's so high in fat.

I brought the coconut milk to a boil, and then let it cool to 110 degrees. At that point I added two packages of Yogourmet yogurt starter, and let it sit for 24 hours at 105 degrees in the dehydrator.

It soured nicely, but it didn't thicken up. It was the consistency of milk. So at that point I cooked about 3 tablespoons of agar agar with some water, added it to the yogurt, and put it in the refrigerator to cool. Now it's perfect!

Lemon Pudding

2009-03-03T01:00:00.000-08:00

I tried the pudding recipe with lemon instead of chocolate, and it's not as good. It's OK, but you can taste the rice. With chocolate you really don't taste the rice.

I used the juice of half a Meyer lemon because I have two Meyer lemon trees with fruit on them. I don't think it would make much difference what type of lemon it was, though.

Chocolate Pudding

2009-03-02T08:53:00.000-08:00

This is as good as any chocolate pudding I've ever had. It's made from cooked sprouted brown rice, unsweetened cocoa powder (Green & Black's is my favorite) and agave syrup. No dairy, and no fat.

I use about 2/3 cup cooked rice, 1 heaping tablespoon cocoa powder, and 1 or 2 tablespoons agave syrup to taste. I like it not very sweet. I put all of this into the Vita-Mix with some water, and whip it into a frenzy. It comes out smooth, thick and very chocolaty.

Birthday Cake

2009-02-18T08:39:00.000-08:00

My mom made a carrot cake for my birthday with grated carrots, whole wheat flour, mashed banana, applesauce, walnuts and a little honey. No oil, dairy or eggs. It was very good, and I'm just polishing off the last piece of it today. She used Mary McDougall's recipe, but she didn't have any maple syrup, so she used half as much honey instead. And she left out the raisins. Delicious!

Brussels Sprouts with Tempeh

2009-02-08T15:11:00.000-08:00

This is Brussels sprouts with tempeh over cooked, sprouted brown rice. I bake the tempeh first, in a marinade of low-sodium tamari, ginger juice, water and yellow mustard. Then I cook the halved Brussels sprouts and the baked tempeh in vegetable stock seasoned with herbs. After they're cooked, I thicken the stock with potato starch.

Tempeh is fermented soy beans formed into cakes. Fermented soy products like tempeh and miso are said to better than unfermented ones like tofu, and they're alkalizing in the body.

Sprouting Rice

2009-01-23T01:00:00.000-08:00

Here's how I sprout my rice. I use short grain brown rice. It takes two days to sprout, so I have two sprouting jars. This gives me freshly sprouted brown rice everyday. I put the rice in one of the jars, cover it with pure, clean water, and let it soak about ten to twelve hours.

Then it gets rinsed twice a day with tap water. Pour water into the jar, swish the grain around, and pour the water out. I let it sit upside down for about half an hour to drain. The sprouting jars have wire mesh lids, so you can rinse the grain without having to open the jar. It also gives the sprouting grain air.

After two days, it is sprouted. You can let it go longer if you want longer tails, like a traditional green plant sprout.

I cook it the same as I cook regular brown rice, only I use a little less water. For what was one cup of dry rice, I use about 1-1/2 cups water and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, simmer for 45 minutes, and let sit for ten minutes before serving.

It tastes the same as unsprouted brown rice, but a little more sticky.

Super Green

2009-01-22T11:32:00.000-08:00

Look at the color of this soup! Zowee! It gets the green color from cooked kale. I also put in cooked sprouted rice, cooked fennel, a little cooked onion, a few soaked Brazil nuts and herbs. I like the Vita-Mix, because I can throw in anything, cooked or raw, and it turns it into a perfect puree. It's also easy to clean.

It sort of tastes like pesto, but I'm not sure why. There's no basil in it. Maybe it's the combination of the fennel and the nuts.

Breakfast Puree

2009-01-21T10:04:00.000-08:00

Oooooo . . . this is really good. It's cooked sweet potato, apples and Brazil nuts pureed in the Vita-Mix to make a thick soup. Great for breakfast!

Dinner on the Fly

2009-01-14T18:25:00.000-08:00

This is one of my favorite things to make for dinner when I don't have much time to cook.

It's the Succotash Soup from The McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook. It uses frozen lima beans, frozen corn, frozen hash browns, canned tomatoes, and fresh onion, celery and red pepper. Delicious, and it doesn't take very long to prepare.

Finished Bread

2009-01-12T18:22:00.000-08:00

I baked a hunk of the sprouted grain bread today, and it is so good! I think it might be the best bread I have ever had. It was definitely worth all the work.

It's a little sticky inside, and I think I probably should have let it bake longer. But the flavor is incredible. It's sweet tasting, even though there's hardly any sweetener in it. And it doesn't have a strong yeast taste like my previous attempt.

To recap, it's made with 1/3 sprouted whole barley that was dried, roasted and ground into flour. The other 2/3 is sprouted red winter wheat berries, dried and ground into flour. The other ingredients are water, yeast, a tiny bit of honey, and salt.

Sprouted Grain Bread Update

2009-01-11T18:13:00.000-08:00

This afternoon I ground the sprouted, dried wheat and sprouted, roasted, dried barley into flour in the Vita-Mix.

For the dough I used 2/3 wheat flour and 1/3 barley flour. This is how it looked before it started to rise.

Hopefully it will finish rising in a few hours, and then I'll let it rest in the refrigerator before baking.

Don't Try This at Home

2009-01-10T18:15:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to make a quick bread from sprouted wheat without drying the grain and grinding it into flour. My first attempt resulted in mush. This is my second attempt.

I used sprouted wheat, a whole orange, frozen cranberries, walnuts, baking powder and a little water in the Vita-Mix. The batter was a good consistency, and it started to rise nicely. But then in the oven it fell and developed deep crevices.

At least it's solid, but it won't come out of the pan. The crust is hard and chewy, and the insides are moist and heavy. It tastes good, but if you can't slice it, it's not exactly bread. Maybe it would make better muffins, albeit very heavy muffins!

I'm starting to understand why the grain is dried and ground into flour first!

Sprouted Garbanzo Hummus

2009-01-09T01:00:00.000-08:00

Today I'm making hummus from sprouted garbanzo beans. The sprouted beans are available at Whole Foods Markets here, or you can sprout your own.

This is another recipe from The Self-Healing Cookbook. She uses umeboshi plums, which are sour and very salty. They are said to aid digestion, and are popular in Japan. You can substitute lemon juice if you can't find the plums, or prefer not to use them. She also uses whole sesame seeds instead of tahini, which makes it lighter and not so calorie dense.

Here's the finished hummus on an Ezekiel sprouted grain English muffin.

Very tasty!

Sprouted Grain Update

2009-01-08T01:00:00.000-08:00

The wheat for the sprouted grain bread is sprouted and ready for the dehydrator. The barley is lagging a little behind, which is just as well, because there's not enough room on the dehydrator shelves for both.

Here's the sprouted wheat spread on a shelf for drying.

Here's a closeup of the sprouted grains. You can see the beginnings of plants starting to appear.

And here's the sprouted grain on the shelves in the dehydrator.

It dries at 155 degrees for three hours, and then 105 degrees for another fifteen hours. After that I'll freeze what I'm not going to grind and use right away.

If you think that you can't eat grains, you might want to try sprouted grains. Once the grain sprouts, it's more like a vegetable than a grain. Sprouted grains are easier to digest, and they're alkalizing in the body rather than acid-producing.

Barley Mushroom Soup

2009-01-07T01:00:00.000-08:00

What's for dinner tonight? I'm making Barley Mushroom Soup using sprouted barley,fresh shitake mushrooms, green cabbage and miso.

The recipe is from The Self-Healing Cookbook by Kristina Turner.

This book focuses on macrobiotic cooking and the recipes are excellent. It's a good place to start learning about the different properties of foods.

Sprouted Grain Bread

2009-01-06T10:34:00.000-08:00

I'm sprouting wheat and barley. Once it's sprouted, I'm going to dry it in the dehydrator, and then grind it into flour for bread. Why so much work? Because I'm a fanatic, of course!

Also because sprouted grain is alkalizing, and grain that isn't sprouted is acid-producing. If this is a new concept for you, you can read more about an alkalizing diet on Christopher Vasey's website. His book, titled The Acid-Alkaline Diet, is an excellent resource for those who want to eat super healthy.

Once the sprouted grain is ground into flour, I'm using the bread-in-five-minutes-a-day concept to make the bread. It's from the new book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.

The only problem is that their recipes don't use sprouted grain flour, so there's going to be some experimentation involved. I'll keep you posted on how it turns out. It's going to be several days before the grain is sprouted, dried and ground.

My Favorite Markets

2009-01-05T18:00:00.000-08:00

I'm lucky . . . there are six Whole Foods Markets within five miles of where I live! The best one is the newest one in Venice, California. It's only been open a few months, and it's the most incredible market I have ever seen.

The aisles are wide, the produce is gorgeous, lots of organic foods, everything is well-stocked, and everyone who works there is so friendly.

I also shop at Coopportunity in Santa Monica. They feature organic produce and super-healthy foods, and they have the best macrobiotic section of any of the stores.

If you don't have stores like these near you, there are online sources for whole grains and other unusual products. My favorite is Gold Mine Natural Foods in San Diego. They carry organic foods, raw foods, and vegan foods as well as quality cookware.

Frequently Asked Questions

2009-01-04T21:17:00.000-08:00

What is a vegan diet?

A vegan diet is one where you eat no animal products. That means no meat, fish, poultry, dairy products or eggs. Many vegans also avoid animal products such as honey, and some avoid wearing clothes made from animals, such as leather.

Many studies have shown that a vegan diet is healthier than a diet that includes animals foods. For more information see John McDougall, M.D.'s website.

Where do you get your protein on a vegan diet?

All foods contain proteins, and a diet that is sufficient in calories is sufficient in protein. Most Americans eat too much protein, and would do well to reduce their protein intake. For more information about protein and diet, see John McDougall, M.D.'s website. He has dedicated his life to helping people learn to eat healthy.

Why no added oil?

Extracted oil contributes to heart disease and cancer. Once the oil is extracted from the plant, it goes rancid very quickly. John McDougall, M.D. also has lots of information on his website about oil.

Why do you sprout grains and legumes before cooking?

Sprouting grains and legumes makes them easier to digest and assimilate. It also changes them from acid-producing in the body to alkalizing, which is helpful for anyone with inflammatory health problems. Once they are sprouted, they're more like little plants than seeds, and they take on the properties of vegetables.

How do you sprout grains and legumes?

Start by soaking them in pure, clean water for 10-12 hours. Pour off the water, rinse and drain twice a day for 1-2 days. When you see little tails forming, the sprouts are ready. The sprouting time varies based on temperature. They sprout more quickly in warmer weather.

You can sprout them in bowls or sprouting jars. If you're using a bowl, cover it loosely with a cloth or paper towel. They need to breathe.

There are lots of resources on the Internet for information about sprouting, sprouting seeds, and sprouting products. You don't need special seeds for sprouting, but some seeds are hard to find.

Once the grains and legumes are sprouted, I cook them the same way I would cook unsprouted grains and legumes. You can also eat them raw. See note on raw food below.

Will all grains sprout?

From what I hear, most of the oats sold in the United States won't sprout, but I don't know why. All other grains will sprout.

Why do you soak nuts and seeds?

Nuts and seeds are easier to digest when soaked. It starts the sprouting process, and they have a more "alive" taste when soaked.

How do you soak nuts and seeds?

Cover them with pure, clean water, and soak for 10-12 hours. Pour off water and eat raw or roasted.

Why no raw food?

If you have a strong constitution, raw food is fine. For the rest of us, raw food is weakening, and hard on the kidneys. Most people can eat some raw food, but not an all-raw-food diet. Experiment to find the balance of raw and cooked that feels right for you.

What about nut butters?

Store-bought nut butters have the same problem as extracted oil -- they go rancid quickly. Nut butter ground fresh and consumed right away is fine.