GLOW

I can't pass up fiddleheads, a seasonal New England favorite, when they make their appearance at the market in Spring. I never cook them as well as my native Maine friends, but I enjoy them nonetheless! Here I steamed them and paired them with some vermicelli noodles I purchased at the Korean market (only ingredient is sweet potato starch), fresh mint & basil, with fresh lemon juice and avocado oil drizzled on top.

From my searches online, it seems that the vegan souffle is one of those culinary holy grails. Most recipes available seem to utilize tofu or other soy products to mimic the texture of one made with eggs, though, and since soy is out of the question for me, I needed to find another way to recreate that unique texture, and fulfill a craving that I've had probably since Thanksgiving. I think this recipe is extremely convincing, and I'm pretty excited about the possibilities for future variations. Today was a gorgeous spring day in Boston, and I feel blessed that this lovely recipe was a part of it! 

In my last run to a local Indian market that recently relocated (Little India moved from Union Square to the old Milk Row warehouse by Market Basket), I picked up a bag of coarse chickpea flour or maghaj flour, and though I've been limiting my consumption of flour lately, the few times that I've experimented with it have yielded really interesting results that have me scheming up both savory and sweet dishes. The coarse flour behaves differently than its fine counterpart, and because it's a little bit harder on the digestive system, I've thought it the perfect flour to try soaking/fermenting a bit prior to cooking, a process that I've wanted to better acquaint myself with for a while. The flavor of the flour is wonderfully enhanced by the light fermentation, and no doubt aids in the slight rise of the batter when it bakes in the oven. I love that the ingredients are pretty minimal, too, and are fresh and seasonal for most this time of year. If you tolerate allium, I would definitely recommend carmelizing some shallots and adding them to the batter. I'm going to do my best to not think about how unbearably divine that would be. This is my second submission to Ricki & Kim's SOS Challenge for April, and I hope that you are able to enjoy it soon! 

1/2 CUP COARSE CHICKPEA FLOUR/MAGHAJ FLOUR

1/2 CUP WARM WATER

1 TBS APPLE CIDER VINEGAR

3/4 CUP ASPARAGUS PUREE

JUICE & ZEST OF HALF A LEMON

1/3 TSP APPLEWOOD SMOKED SEA SALT (OR SMOKED SEA SALT OF YOUR CHOICE)

1/4 TSP AGAR AGAR POWDER*

1/4 TSP DRIED PORCINI POWDER (OPTIONAL)

PINCH OF STEVIA

1/4 CUP ARUGULA

1 TSP FRESH MINT

1/2 TSP ROSEMARY

GHEE OR OIL OF CHOICE FOR GREASING 

COMBINE FLOUR, WATER & VINEGAR. MIX, COVER AND LET SIT IN A WARM SPOT OVERNIGHT OR 8+ HOURS. WHEN READY TO PREPARE, PREHEAT OVEN TO 350 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT**. MIX TOGETHER ALL INGREDIENTS, ADDING THE HERBS LAST. GREASE THE RAMEKINS GENEROUSLY, AND FILL WITH BATTER. PLACE ON A BAKING SHEET AND BAKE FOR 35 MINUTES, OR UNTIL THE TOP IS A LIGHT GOLDEN BROWN.

When Ricki & Kim said that they would make special mention of anyone who submitted a sweet recipe to this month's SOS Challenge, I guess I took it as a personal dare. This month's challenge ingredient is asparagus, and I figured that it must be possible, especially given that raw asparagus does have a subtle sweetness to it. I do admit that I'd hoped to come up with something a bit more decadent and challenging than a smoothie, and had thoughts of turning this into a sorbet, but honestly, I've been feeling like shite the past few weeks, and ambitious culinary pursuits just haven't been in the cards. Can I confess that making and drinking this recipe, which includes fruit that I don't tolerate, didn't really help my plight? Sometimes when I'm feeling crummy, I kind of pull this idiotic psychological trick of telling myself that, "Well, I feel like crap anyway, I might as well indulge myself." Somewhere in my brain there's a thought that it can't really get any worse, but of course, that's incredibly naive of me to assume.  It definitely got worse. However dear readers, this mistake is to your advantage, as not only did this experiment yield two recipes in one, it also prompted me to create a wonderfully soothing broth the next morning that helped my gut to heal, which I will also share with you within the next week.

Did you know that for many people, the adage "An apple a day keeps the doctor away," is a painful fallacy? For those with fructose malabsorption or fructose intolerance, apples are about the worst food they can consume. Fructose levels in apples in relation to their glucose levels are so high that it cripples their systems, causing anything from extreme gastrointestinal discomfort to violent mood swings and depression, and in the case of fructose malabsorption, it can be lethal. There are two types of tests for FM, a hydrogen breath test and a methane breath test. My insurance doesn't cover the doctors in Boston that offer the methane breath test, and I tested negative to the hydrogen test, but my elimination diet with a nutritionist found that I am nonetheless quite sensitive to fructose, so it has largely been eliminated in my diet. In addition to this smoothie being a light, sweet juice with incredible nutrition, with modifications it can serve as an applesauce alternative that would surely curb your or your child's cravings for a popular but forbidden snack. I will include the modifications after the lovely purple smoothie recipe. 

I'd never tried acai before, and picked up these frozen smoothie packs on sale at the store mainly because it was purple, and I wanted to showcase that color to compliment the sweeter purple asparagus that I zoned in on. I was surprised at how mild a flavor it had, expecting to to be a bit sour or tart like a cranberry for some reason. The apple cider vinegar and sauerkraut in the smoothie, paired with the lime juice help to boost that tart palate that I was looking for in addition to giving you some potent probiotics and B vitamins. For anyone who is apprehensive about the ingredients of the smoothie, I beseech you to trust me; your taste buds won't detect the more unexpected ones, and for most of you, your body will thank you.*  (Anyone with FM should exclude the asparagus and sauerkraut.)

1 MEDIUM JICAMA

4 LARGE PURPLE ASPARAGUS STALKS OR 6-8 THIN STALKS

1 SAMBAZON FROZEN UNSWEETENED ACAI SMOOTHIE PACK

JUICE OF 2-3 LIMES

1-2 TBS PACKED BASIL LEAVES

1 TBS SAUERKRAUT (ONE WITHOUT DILL, CARAWAY & GARLIC!)

2 TSP APPLE CIDER VINEGAR

1 TSP PURPLE DULSE FLAKES (OPTIONAL)

3/4 TSP LEMON OR LIME FLAVOR

1 1/2-2 CUPS WATER OR COCONUT WATER

LOTS 'O' STEVIA TO TASTE

PEEL THE SKIN OFF OF THE JICAMA AND CHOP, AND LOP THE DRY ENDS OFF OF THE ASPARAGUS STALKS. RUN THE SMOOTHIE PACK UNDER WARM WATER UNTIL IT BEGINS TO THAW, BUT IS STILL LARGELY FROZEN. COMBINE INGREDIENTS IN BLENDER AND BLEND UNTIL SMOOTH.

1 MEDIUM JICAMA

1 SAMBAZON UNSWEETENED ACAI SMOOTHIE PACK

JUICE OF 1-2 LIMES OR LEMONS

STEVIA TO TASTE

3/4-1 CUP WATER

PEEL SKIN OFF OF JICAMA AND CHOP, AND RUN THE SMOOTHIE PACK UNDER WARM WATER UNTIL IT BEGINS TO THAW A BIT. COMBINE INGREDIENTS IN BLENDER AND BLEND UNTIL SMOOTH.

Despite many significant dietary modifications, many of my symptoms didn't noticeably improve until incorporating healing herbs into my daily routine. I may have mentioned this before, and most likely will again, but for over ten years of my life, I took 1,000 mg of pain reliever just about every day for migraines, chronic nerve pain, and severe menstrual cramping. Now that my food triggers have been eliminated, my symptoms are treated completely with herbs. So suffice it to say, I am incredibly enthusiastic about the benefits of herbs. I recently started an herbalism certification course, and have also had the opportunity to help out some friends by making some custom tea blends for them. I feel very at home with it all, and am excited to share some of my blends with you.

Up first is a blend that I made for one of my best friends who has been dealing with a great deal of stress, including a job that taxes his arms and wrists and manifests itself in similar nerve symptoms to mine. I tested this blend out on myself first, and halfway through my mug, I felt like I had taken a muscle relaxant. My tense muscles eased up, my blood started flowing to my finger tips (yes, that is a rare feeling for me), and my mood noticeably improved. I was excited to pass this on to him and see how he responded. After his first mug, he felt relaxed and more at peace, and said that his lungs felt clean and open. He drank this sweet brew prior to bed, and woke up the next morning feeling more refreshed. The tea comes off as quite sweet because of the stevia and licorice root, so test it before adding any additional sweeteners to your cup.

Normally the tea recipes I share here are for a day or two's dose; this recipe is meant to fill a tea canister and last for a while.

1/2 CUP LICORICE ROOT

1/4 CUP CATNIP

1/4 CUP SKULLCAP

1/4 CUP MEADOWSWEET

1/4 CUP ROSE HIPS

1/4 CUP MUGWORT

1/4 CUP STEVIA HERB

1/4 CUP FENNEL SEED

1    TBS SHEEP SORREL

1    TBS PASSIONFLOWER

1    TBS ORANGE PEEL (HEAPING)

OPTIONAL: 1/4 CUP GOLDENSEAL (ADDED FOR SEASONAL ALLERGY COMPLAINTS)

MIX HERBS AND STORE. LOAD TEA INTO A TEA BALL AND STEEP ANYWHERE FROM 5 MINUTES TO AN HOUR, DEPENDING ON DESIRED POTENCY. YOU CAN ALSO PUT THE DESIRED DOSE OF HERBS INTO A FRENCH PRESS AND STEEP THE HERBS THAT WAY. 

LICORICE ROOT:

CATNIP:  

SKULLCAP:  

MEADOWSWEET:  

ROSE HIPS:

MUGWORT:

STEVIA:

FENNEL SEED:

SHEEP SORREL:

PASSIONFLOWER: 

GOLDENSEAL:

*Please note that herbs are potent medicine, and should be honored as such. I am not a certified herbalist (yet!), and am sharing this recipe based solely on my own personal research and experience with it. If you are unfamiliar with these herbs, it is best to first try them individually to test your body's tolerance of them.

At least once a month I try to be adventurous at the grocery store and purchase a vegetable that I'm unfamiliar with to research when I get home. Rarely do I actually end up using it in the way I'm instructed to online, but the information I read helps me to understand it's flavor, texture and properties a bit better before having a hand at it. A few weeks ago I picked up a chayote squash from the market, and was pretty pleased both with it's texture and flavor as well as how my body reacted to it. (So far, so good.) Chayote is a crisp, watery squash found in both Latin American as well as Indian cuisine. Let me half-ass this entry for a moment and give you a direct quote from Wikipedia:

"The chayote (Sechium edule), also known as christophene, vegetable pear, mirliton, alligator pear (South Louisiana), choko (Australia, New Zealand), starprecianté, citrayota, citrayote (Ecuador and Colombia), chuchu (Brazil), chow chow (India) Sayote (Philippines) ,güisquil (Guatemala, El Salvador), or pear squash, iskus (इस्कुस) (Nepal) is an edible plant that belongs to the gourd family Cucurbitaceae along with melons, cucumbers and squash."

I've used the chayote now in smoothies and sauteed with other vegetables, but my favorite discovery so far is how well it soothes my desire for a crisp raw apple. Sliced raw, not only does it look quite like a green apple, it has the same watery refreshing snap to it, and I'm really looking forward to enjoying it in the warm summer months. If you or your child suffers from fructose malabsorption, this could be the perfect substitute for you. I haven't been able to locate any information online about the fructan content in them, so don't hold me to that, but I'm quite sensitive to fructose and many fructans, and I seem to digest them without trouble. 

RAW CHAYOTE SQUASH

FRESH SQUEEZED LEMON OR LIME JUICE

STEVIA TO TASTE

SQUEEZE THE LIME OR LEMON JUICE OVER THE CHAYOTE, SPRINKLE OR DRIZZLE WITH STEVIA TO TASTE. FOR A MORE INTENSE SWEET & SOUR FLAVOR, STORE IN A CONTAINER IN THE JUICES TO ALLOW THE CHAYOTE TO ABSORB THE FLAVOR MORE FULLY.

Vanilla cashew cream custard parfait, layered with cocoa teff crumbles from a failed pie crust, and blueberries. (This was my husband's custard, mine was served sans these embellishments.) I'm still experimenting with agar agar, learning how much is too much, etc. This is a bit of a cheat, as I made this a few weeks ago, but it's been a rough week, and my relationship with food is especially bittersweet these days, so I have been somewhat reticent when it comes to documenting my meals. I have a few new recipes to share with you next week, though, including a submission for this month's SOS Challenge. Until then, I hope you enjoy your Easter weekend in health and happiness.

It was really tempting to post this recipe last week in tandem with my puffed lotus seed popcorn alternative, but I figured that it was better to spread out the love a bit. And hot damn, do I have a lot of love for this recipe. I've mentioned before my former obsession with cereal, and I think that it is of great credit to my power of will that I have so graciously accepted eating vegetables for breakfast for the past two years rather than the sweet indulgences of the past. (Gotta give myself a pat on the back every now and then.) But man, if I let myself really think about it, I've really missed eating cereal. When I finally had this in my bowl, complete with some homemade milk, I had to keep saying to myself, "This is really happening right now. I'm eating sweet, delicious cereal. Live in this moment." This recipe is pretty remarkable in that it's easy, fast, allows for limitless variations, and has a completely gratifying texture akin to Kix, but way better because it doesn't get soggy at the bottom of the bowl! Today I'm offering you my very first version of this cereal, but if I let my mind wander, I can already start daydreaming of the variations I might suggest to you in the future. (Peanut-free peanut butter puffs anyone?) If any of you missed my previous post about puffed lotus seeds, head here for a little bit of background and another awesome snack.

5 CUPS PUFFED LOTUS SEEDS*

2 TBS COCONUT OIL

5 (+/-) DROPPERS OF LIQUID VANILLA STEVIA

SEASONINGS TO TASTE (I USED 1/4 TSP CARDAMOM, 1/4 TSP MACE, 1/4 TSP NUTMEG)

PREHEAT OVEN TO 400 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT. ON STOVETOP, MELT 2 TBS OF COCONUT OIL IN A LARGE POT OVER LOW HEAT. ADD LOTUS SEEDS, SPICES AND STEVIA, AND MIX UNTIL THE SEEDS ARE COATED WITH THE OIL, ETC. POUR SEEDS OUT EVENLY ONTO A BAKING SHEET AND BAKE ABOUT 5 MINUTES, OR UNTIL LIGHTLY GOLDEN ON AT LEAST ONE SIDE. ENJOY WITH YOUR FAVORITE DAIRY-FREE MILK, OR SNACK ON IT AS IS.

A raw snack this week of snow peas, fennel, and sauerkraut with my homemade basil & squash gut dressing. I'm loving that eating raw foods feels good once again now that the warm weather is easing it's way into our corner of the country!

I'm really tempted to end every sentence in this post with an exclamation point, regardless of how appropriate it would be. (See the restraint I just used there?) Consider it implied from hence forward. A few weeks ago I fermented some vegetables, and shared the results here.  One of my recipes used lotus root, an extremely fibrous root used in traditional Asian fare which is typically boiled or stir-fried. One of the many ways that I enjoyed the results of that experiment was to make chips with the thinly sliced lotus root, and I was so (ahem, edit) excited by the result. My mind was a wee bit blown. See, I love potato chips. If I buy a bag of chips, I finish the entire bag within the hour. I'm talking family sized bags of chips. Problem is, as is often the case with foods I love, potatoes and I don't get along so well, so chips have been off of my shopping list for a while now. I've tried making chips with other root vegetables before, but they never come out crispy for me. These came out wonderfully crispy and beautiful (do you see that picture up there?), and because of being fermented for a number of days, they tasted like the sea salt and vinegar chips that I crave (and deny myself in order to appease my health) so much. And, lucky for us all, it's so easy to make that it hardly requires a recipe. The longest step is soaking the root, which requires no attention at all. I can not wait to pick up another root at the Korean market and make up another batch.

LOTUS ROOT, PEELED & THINLY SLICED

VINEGAR OR MARINADE OF YOUR CHOICE (If not using fermented root from my recipe here)

SEA SALT (Again, if not using the root from my recipe)

HIGH HEAT OIL OR GHEE TO GREASE BAKING SHEET (I used coconut oil)

FERMENT ROOT OR SOAK IN VINEGAR OR MARINADE OF CHOICE FOR 24+ HOURS. PREHEAT OVEN TO 400 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT. GREASE BAKING SHEET WITH OIL OR GHEE, AND LAY ROOT SLICES OUT FLAT ON SHEET. BAKE UNTIL GOLDEN BROWN, FLIPPING ONCE IF NEEDED, 5-10 MINUTES.

Here I am, the Luddite constantly in conflict with the inevitable fusion of technology and social networking. I've recently joined a couple of groups on Facebook relating to food and herbalism, and I've really enjoyed the forum that they create. I decided to hop on that bandwagon to ease the exchange of recipes, encouragement and ideas. Follow me here, if you like!