Vegetarian Summer Grilling
By Sarah Kruse

Nothing says summer more than grilling outside. Buts what’s a health-conscious, vegetarian or vegan supposed to do? Join right in, of course!

Forget the standard, boring vegetable kabobs or fake “meat” products. Here are a couple of inspiring options.

For the traditionalist: Try a homemade veggie burger. Kristin has several yummy recipes in her cookbook and I’ll share my secrets for grilling success.

First, you need some fat. That’s often the missing ingredient when it comes to cooking veggie-based burgers. After I form my patties, I spread some coconut oil on both sides. The reason I use coconut oil is because it’s solid up to 78 degrees F and can be spread onto the patty without making it a soggy mess.

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What Mom Could Really Use for Mother’s Day
By Sarah Kruse

In keeping with the previous post on eating for health and time-saving tips,
here are some gift ideas for mom to fit any budget.

1. A personal chef (a certified natural chef, of course)! Who wouldn’t enjoy a
break from cooking? Go to
http://www.baumancollege.org/our-graduates/hire-a-graduate.html and complete the
form to find a chef in your area.

2. A set of good knives. Having the right tools for the right job makes prep
work efficient. I have two sets of knives that make prep work enjoyable: a
German Furi knife and a set of Japanese Global knives.
3.  Stainless steel pots. No need to worry about leaching with versatile
stainless steel pots.
4. An organized pantry. Buy Mom some glass containers (canning jars work well
and are inexpensive) to neatly store dry goods in the pantry. Even better if you
offer to organize her cupboards for her!
5. Coupons to help Mom in the kitchen. Whether it’s washing dishes, cleaning
veggies, any little bit of help will be appreciated.
6. A copy of Kristin’s Therapeutic Chef cookbook, because giving the gift of
health is the best and most thoughtful gift of all!

Getting Dinner on the Table Fast!
By Sarah Kruse

Shortcuts are hard to come by when you’re committed to a whole-foods based diet, eating for health or on an allergy friendly diet. Take out, fast food and frozen entrees may save you time or money, but the cost to your health isn’t worth it.

Here are some tips for busy people to get a wholesome dinner on the table quick.

Planning and Prep Work
1. Plan the menu for the week. Not only does this help with grocery shopping, but it eliminates the frazzled “what to do for dinner” question at the end of a busy day. Confession: I personally have a hard time adhering to this tip, partly because I shop at the farmer’s market on Sundays and receive my CSA produce on Wednesdays. Still, I usually jot down a rough meal plan once I have my produce, centering the meal around a fresh vegetable. Friday or Saturday night is usually reserved as stir-fry or soup night (explanation to come). (more…)

How to Manage a Special Diet by Sarah Kruse

When we finally figured out that my son, then 14 months, couldn’t tolerate dairy or gluten, I was relieved and guilt ridden. Relieved that I finally had a reason why his little body had patches of bloody, oozing eczema, but guilt ridden that it took so long to pinpoint the cause. The remedy was simple enough: eliminate gluten and dairy from his diet.

No problem, I thought. Here I was a certified natural chef; quinoa, millet and amaranth already sat in my pantry. Going gluten free would be easy. My dairy was limited to butter, cheese and yogurt. Going dairy free would be even easier.

How wrong I was! Sure, it was easy to avoid the obvious items like bread, pasta, butter and cheese. But when I started reading every single label, I was discouraged and overwhelmed. (more…)

I try to get all the nutrition I need from food.  The best way to ensure this is to eat SLOW plant foods.  Seasonal, Local, Organic and Whole Plant Foods.  Brown rice instead of white (because white rice is not a whole food).  Beans over meat for protein. Asparagus grown locally when its in season (not in the middle of fall coming from New Zealand).  And always, always organic- because organic soil is healthier soil producing more nutrient dense foods – without harmful pesticides!

But of course there are times when I feel like I need a little extra boost, like in the winter when it’s harder to get a wide variety of colorful fruits and vegetables.  So here is a quick summary of what’s in my “medicine cabinet.”

First of all:  If you’re going to take supplements you must always check with your doctor, especially if you are taking medications or being treated for a health condition.

Second of all:  It’s best to take supplements made from real food, organic food, and real herbs/plants.  Most vitamins, unfortunately, are produced synthetically in a laboratory, NOT from food.  The body knows how to use real food.  If you’re going to buy vitamins or supplements make sure they are made from real food!  My two favorite companies for vitamins and herbal supplements are:

• New Chapter
• Bear Wallow Herbs

This is what I take (in no particular order)

• Women’s Multivitamin by New Chapter
• Probiotic Capsule (for good bacteria)
• Elderberry Tincture (to increase immune system)
• Dandelion Tincture (to support the liver)
• Nettles Tincture (for iron and other minerals)
• Vitamin B12 spray (NOT Cyanocobalamin)
• Green Powder (spirulina, wheat grass, barley grass, chlorella, etc.)
• Oregon Grape Root (if I have an infection- it’s like a natural antibiotic).

Breakfast:

1 piece of whole grain toast with 1 TBS almond butter

1 banana

Pu-erh Tea with hemp seed milk

Lunch:

1/2 cup raw cabbage salad (cabbage, carrot, ginger, sesame seeds, apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard, dulse flakes, flax seed oil)

1/2 cup cooked kamut (whole grain)

2 TBS black bean dip (black beans, cumin and salsa in a food processor)

Snack:

a handful of mixed nuts and seeds (raw walnuts, raw almonds, raw sunflower seeds)

2 squares of dark chocolate (alter-eco brand)

Water with ‘Amazing Greens’ – Green powder

Dinner:

Mixed green salad with avocado, olives, lemon and tomatoes

1 Roasted sweet potatoes topped with salsa and hummus

1/2 cup cooked kamut

(I kinda mixed everything together on my plate)

Digestion Tea before bed

Don’t believe me?  Watch this video…

http://www.icyou.com/topics/health-wellness/nutrition/dangers-trans-fats-partially-hydrogenated-oils-trans-fatty-acids

Things you can do to avoid trans-fats:

1.  Shop the perimeter of the grocery store

2.  Choose foods in their whole food form

3.  Avoid fast food such as fried chicken, biscuits, french fries, and other fried foods

4.  Avoid processed foods such as crackers, most cookies, baked goods, junk food

5.  Read ingredient labels.  Even if it says there are zero grams of trans-fats you still need to check the ingredient list.  If you see the words ‘Hydrogenated oil’ or ‘Partially hydrogenated oil’ that means it does contain trans-fats.  Don’t buy it.

6.  Cook at home.  Most restaurants use cheap oils.  Steam or lightly cook your foods over medium heat with olive oil, coconut oil, or sesame oil.  Also eat plenty of raw fruits and vegetables too.

Doing this may seem hard at first since many foods contain a small amount of trans-fats.  But a little adds up to a lot!  And trans-fats stay in the body for months after you consume them, damaging your arteries and putting you at risk for heart disease and stroke.  But if you make an effort to avoid trans-fats you will be eating a lot less junk food and hopefully replacing those foods with real foods like beans, lentils, whole grains and fresh fruits and vegetables.

Off you go!

So many people want to know, so here you go…

Friday:

Breakfast: 1 slice of sprouted whole grain toast almond butter and 1/2 banana.

Green tea (2 cups)

Lunch: 1/2 bean and potato burrito topped with salsa and 1/4 avocado.

about 3/4 cup of cabbage slaw with red onions, capers, mustard-agave-hemp seed oil vinaigrette.

Dinner: Braised Lentils with carrots, onion, celery, garlic, mache and chard.

Served over mashed millet and cauliflower (pg 278) – (with some rutabaga in there too).

And 1/2 cup cabbage slaw from lunch.

All day Tea: mixture of nettles, peppermint, rosehips and fennel seed.

Snack:

Smoothie:  1 banana, 1/2 cup blueberries, 1 scoop green powder (vita-mineral greens), 1 TBS hemp seeds, 1 TBS raw cacao nibs, a dash of himalayan salt, and ice and water to reach desired consistency.  This serves 2 people and it’s awesome!!!

First of all- you will need to forget everything you ever learned from the corrupt dairy industry that milk ‘does a body good. ‘  That couldn’t be further from the truth!  Milk is full of unhealthy fat, cholesterol, hard-to-digest protein, cancer-promoting IGF-1, and does NOTHING to prevent osteoporosis!  In fact, if you look at any study that WASN’T funded by the dairy industry you will see the truth.  In countries where people drink the most milk and eat the most cheese- they have the highest rates of osteoporosis!!!  How could this be?  Let me tell you…

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If you have the time get in the practice of soaking your nuts, seeds, grains, beans and other legumes before consuming. This may sound complicated but once you get the hang of it it’s pretty simple.  It just takes a tiny bit of planning ahead…

Here is a little more info on how to do this (from FoodMatters.tv)

Why soak nuts, grains and seeds?

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