Cashew Burgers!

I recently borrowed a copy of Thrive (thanks Mom and Adelie!), and I'm loving it so far. It's interesting to me that it's marketed as a vegan guide to Optimal Performance in sports and life...because it really is about so much more than that. The author has an excellent grasp of the things that tax our health, not just physical stressors, but emotional and nutritional stressors, and has developed some exciting recipes that are packed full of nutrition and taste surprisingly good too!

The recipe originally calls for almonds on this one, but I had cashews. It also calls for balsamic vinegar, but I had apple-cider vinegar. I'm not sure how much I would like these raw, but I was truly surprised at how delicious they were. I made a sesame ginger sauce for them from Dr. Ben Kim's website which you can find HERE or at the bottom of this page. I brought these to a friend's house the night I made them, and they were so tasty that I had to make them again later that week. (I'm used to leftovers and getting to eat everything twice I guess :)) Many of his recipes call for a food processor, which I don't have, so I make everything a bit more chunky than it calls for. I have a coffee grinder that I don't use for coffee, so I actually used it to get the cashew into a more usable form. I usually don't trust already ground flax seeds (because the oils can turn rancid quite quickly once you break the shell of the seed), so the coffee grinder does a great job of grinding just enough to use for each recipe.

The sesame ginger sauce is totally addictive to me. You could probably switch the honey to agave nectar if you are worried about a blood sugar reaction, or cut down the amount. The first time I made it I was just looking for excuses to use it, when really I just wanted to eat it by the spoonful. You can make it thick for a dip (it's great for veggies), or a little more runny for a dressing. The sesame makes it high calcium and the fresh ginger and garlic give it a nice kick and are excellent for the immune system and blood circulation. Here are the two original recipes, enjoy!!

Almond Flaxseed Burger

2 cloves garlic

1 cup almonds

1/2 cup ground flaxseed

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp coconut oil, hemp oil, or blend of healthy oils

Sea salt to taste

Put all ingredients into a food processor, blend to desired consistency. Form into patties. Serve raw or bake at 300degrees for 35 min. or lightly fry over medium heat until golden brown, flipping once.

From Thrive, Brendan Brazier

Sesame Ginger Sauce from Dr. Ben Kim’s website:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup raw, organic tahini

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger

1.5 tablespoon organic honey

1 clove of garlic, crushed

Directions:

Blend all ingredients together in a food processor or a strong blender. For a thin, salad dressing-like consistency, add one tablespoon of water at a time as you blend until desired consistency is reached.

If you use just a tablespoon or two of water in total, the result will be a thicker sauce that can be used as a dip for a vegetable platter or a plate of steamed vegetables.

Sesame Goodness

This recipe was given to me by a good friend, after she fed me some the last time I visited her in NYC...It's from Brendan Brazier's book "Thrive"...(he's a triathlete, and the book is on vegan nutrition)...It's great, it's sweet, it's crunchy and it is nutrient dense. Sesame seeds have lots of Calcium, Iron and Magnesium in them, just to name a few things. It's also an easy snack to have a few scoops of if you need a little pick me up.

I don't have a food processor, so I just mixed everything up in a bowl and it still tasted pretty good to me. Also I'm not actually sure that the seaweed I used was dulse. It's been awhile since I've seen it, and the Asian store I went to had no idea what I was asking for...but rest assured there is some kind of seaweed in there and it's not nori, or hijiki, or wakame :)

I made a batch and just ate it raw the first time, and then I doubled the batch and tried to cook some the second time. With mixed results. I really like the taste of the slightly toasted sesame seeds, but I had a heck of a time getting it off of the foil, as you can see. Any cooks out there know if it would work better if I used parchment paper? Actually I bought a cookie tray since then, so that might help.

Here's the recipe:
Lemon Crisps (Brendan Brazier, Thrive)
2/3 cup sesame seeds
1/3 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup lemon zest (yes go for organic)
2 Tablespoons dulse flakes
2 Tablespoons coconut oil
2Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Mix it all together in a food processor (or just stir it :))

If you'd like to cook it, you can spread it out on a lightly greased (with coconut oil) tray, and cook 20 min. at 300 degrees F.

Yummy both ways.

On a personal note, I've been reading about herbal recipes for hormone balance, and one of the books recommended mixing your own herbal infusions to make a high calcium tea. That, combined with this recipe and one other sesame/high calcium recipe really seemed to make a difference in my hormone balance/imbalance symptoms, which is pretty exciting. I'll post the two others soon. A big part of what I love about healing with food/ herbs is that there are so many plant nutrients in each ingredient or herb. You actually nourish your body in a whole way...I'm sure it's not JUST the calcium in any of this that helped, but the calcium PLUS each and every nutrient working together. Again comes that feeling of everything being connected, keeping you aliving and thriving.

Phytic Acid!

That exclamation mark is to encourage the fascination that I have with this new found problem/solution.

I recently learned that many grains have naturally occurring enzyme inhibitors, which make them much harder to digest, which means you don't get the nutrients from them that you thought you were getting.

In addition to that, Phytic acid, or Phytate, is also a naturally occurring substance in grains, seeds, nuts and legumes. It binds to minerals and then carries them out of your body through your bowels (yum!). This could mean that you are absorbing very little of the nutrient content of those nutrient packed whole foods!

Fortunately, simply soaking the grains in water overnight dissolves the enzyme inhibitor, and putting a small amount (approx 2 Tbl. per dry cup ) of whey, kefir, or yogurt (or in a pinch, lemon juice) breaks down the phytic acid.

Phytase (the "ase" ending indicates an enzyme ) is the enzyme that breaks down phytic acid, so that you can actually absorb more of those minerals, (iron, calcium, magnesium etc.) from your grains and legumes. From what I understand, the water combined with the acid (whey, kefir, yogurt) is what helps the phytase do its job. I'm not sure why this wouldn't occur in your stomach, perhaps it does, but to a much lesser degree. Apparently (see Amanda Rose and her research below) tests have shown the lack of absorption of these important minerals.

And the worst part is (after I had just discovered how amazing steel cut oats were as opposed to instant) oatmeal retains its phytic acid even after you go through this extra step! I got a lot of great information from Amanda Rose, and she recommends mixing some freshly ground wheat berries into the oatmeal before you start soaking, because wheat has high amounts of phytase to break down the phytic acid. You can enroll in a free email "course" (from Amanda Rose) about phytic acid HERE! It's been interesting, she sends an email everyday (I'm on day 16, not sure how long it goes) with just a few points on a topic related to phytic acid and health or cooking. I've started a Word document to combine them all, because I don't do well with daily emails :)

One easy way to get whey is to strain some plain (organic!) yogurt through cheesecloth or muslin. Then you can use the strained yogurt to make a dip! We like to put garlic and basil in it 'round here.

Practical details: Leave the grains and water on the counter, or even in a warm place overnight covered with a plate, or clear plastic wrap, as the warmth seems to be essential to this process.
With the grains you don't have to throw out the water afterwards, as the phytic acid has been broken down so will not bind anymore. One exception might be quinoa, as you do need to rinse it to get rid of that natural bitter flavor...we rinsed ours before we soaked and after. It's not clear to me whether or not minerals are lost if you do end up throwing out the water. A bonus to this extra step is that cooking times will be MUCH shorter.

Most of the info I've just given applies to grains(which I eat the most, so I was most interested in), but could be a bit different for seeds, nuts and legumes. In addition to Amanda Rose, the Nourishing Traditions cookbook, by Sally Fallon talks about why and how we should soak these things as does one of the the blogs I have listed to the right The Nourishing Gourmet. It's a wonderful blog with lots of great cooking ideas, and she bases a lot of her cooking philosophy on Nourishing Traditions.

vegetarians

It's funny how defensive people get about food. It is a rather sensitive subject, what other thing do we all have in common, that we need to survive, but that is also intricately connected with our families, heritage, emotion, mood, health, vitality and more?

When I started eating more vegetarian, 10 years ago, I had the idea that it was best for everyone, those other people just didn't know that yet. I don't think that anymore. I do think, that we, as a nation, consume too much meat, of all kinds. But the idea of one diet being perfect for everyone seems very far from the truth. Each of us has a different body, different blood, different cells, and different genetic predispositions. While some of the basic workings are the same for everyone, if you don't pay attention how your body responds to what you consume, you are missing a big piece of the puzzle.

Aside from the general question of health, with so many issues bound up with the question of food (not least of all emotional), my question is, how do we start a dialogue with everyone, with each other, about food and health? I was introduced to someone last week who took one look at me and said "You're so skinny, I hope you aren't a vegetarian!"... Unfortunately, the person who introduced me, mistakenly said that I was. I tried to explain, that I'm not a strict vegetarian, I have added fish and poultry into my diet, that it's not about restriction...but it was too late.

She tells me "Oh I tried that once, but it just doesn't work". Already, I'm unsure what she means, what didn't work? What did she want it to do? Does it mean that everyone who is doing it now is wrong? But she seemed uninterested in dialogue. As she was walking away she tries to get in one last assertion, sure that she won't have to have a conversation to back it up: "You need protein, people need protein" (or maybe she even said "meat").

And so I'm left with the question, how do we start a dialogue? She made me feel attacked, and even insulted, as if I don't know that people need protein? It felt pre-emptive, as though she was afraid I would have taken a hard line, tried to convert her.

All I can do is try to stay open. I think what's more important than restrictions, especially at the beginning of learning about health, is how to add in positive, healthy foods to your normal routine. When you realize that eating fresh green veggies and whole grains might even make you feel better than you normally do, it makes you want to eat them again!

So what are our barriers to eating better? Some of mine are: social situations, energy or time to cook or plan delicious and nutritious food stuffs, expense of buying the good stuff or the better stuff as opposed to the crappy stuff, feeling still hungry after making a yummy nutritious meal which feels discouraging...

I think if we put our heads together we can overcome some of these difficulties. It's worth it when you know you'll be living better and longer and healthier.