For the Love of Beets: Cumin & Mint Scented Beet Salad

My last post about borscht got me thinking about all the wonderful things you can do with beets. They really are an underutilized vegetable. Recently, one of my favorite blogs, The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen, featured a great how-to on roasting beets. I had 2 weeks worth of beets from my CSA box from Full Circle and I decided to roast them and create a salad.

Cumin & Mint Scented Beet Salad
Ingredients
6 medium beets (I had 3 golden beets and 3 red ones)
1 tsp cumin seeds
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp chopped mint
1 tsp Celtic Salt
1 cup romaine lettuce

Process:
1. Roast beets according to The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen recipe
2. Slice Beets
3. In a bowl, mix beets, cumin seeds, 2 tbsp of lemon juice, olive oil, mint and salt
4. Mix well so that lemon juice, oil and cumin seeds are well distributed
5. Refrigerate for 1hr
6. Chop romaine lettuce and drizzle with lemon juice and additional olive oil if you'd like
7. Top lettuce with beets
8. Finish with Tula's CocoYo
9. Enjoy!

How to Make Authentic Russian Borscht

I was born in Riga, Latvia, a country in Eastern Europe that borders Russia. When I was born, it was still part of the USSR. I grew up eating a fairly traditional Easter European diet until we immigrated to the United States. My diet consisted of smoked fish, dark rye bread, fermented pickles and sauerkraut, homemade cottage cheese, caviar, cured meats and lots of soups. We always had a pot of soup at home, whether it was Uha (fish soup), vegetable soup with meatballs, bean soup, or my favorite, borscht. My mom always made the most amazing borscht. I could eat it daily and sometimes more than once a day. When I moved out of the house, making soup seemed so daunting to me and it was one of the last things I learned to cook.

A couple of years ago, I asked my mom to share her recipe with me. As I've mentioned before, I'm really bad at following recipes and luckily my mom is really bad at writing them down. She explained to me how she made it and gave me some pointers on how to get my borscht to be the most beautiful ruby red color. Over the last two years, I've been perfecting my recipe and now I am ready to share it with the world.

Authentic Borscht
1 lb of pastured/organic beef bones (knuckles and femur are best)
1 large pastured/organic beef short rib
1 large onion
3 medium beets
3 large carrots
1 small red or green cabbage
1/2 cup of sauerkraut
12 green peppercorns
2 tbsp Celtic Salt
1 spring of Parsley and another half spring for later
1 spring of Dill and another half spring for later

Process:
1. Put bones, short rib, onion, peppercorns, salt, parsley and dill into a large pot. I like to put the peppercorns and herbs into a large unbleached teabag 

2. Bring to boil and then reduce to low heat and cook for 24-36 hours

3. After broth is done cooking, let cool and take off layer of fat that forms at the top

4. Remove bones, but leave any meat inside the pot. Remove onion and bag of herbs

5. Peel beets and carrots and add to pot. Bring to boil

6. Shred cabbage

7. After about 45 minutes, remove beets and carrots and shred using a food processor

8. Add shredding beets and carrots back into the pot, add sauerkraut and cook for another 20 minutes

9. Chop dill and parsley and add into the soup

10. Turn off heat

11. Enjoy!

Answering the Ever So Popular Question: What Should I Eat?

This blog has been a culmination of over a decade of interest in healthy eating and healthy living. While, I may not have always eaten the most healthy diet, I've always been very occupied with what a healthy diet should look like. As part of this interest, I have seen countless practitioners from acupuncturists and nutritionists to energy healers and hypnotherapists.

When I got engaged in 2006, a friend of mine mentioned the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and their Health Coach program and she suggested I find a Health Coach in my area. That's when I found Stacey Morgenstern. I spent 6 months working with Stacey and she was instrumental to opening my eyes to a new way of eating. In this program, we discussed what the Institute for Integrative Nutrition refers to as Primary Food, which are not just the foods you eat, but everything else that feeds your soul and fulfills your life: your work, your relationships, your spiritual practice. In working with Stacey, I realized that a number of things in my life were preventing me from truly "feeding my soul." One of them was my former job. So when my husband (then fiance) called me to tell me he got a raise, I told him I'm walking into my boss's office and quitting that job. That was two weeks before the wedding.

Six years later, I am now enrolled in the Health Coach at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition and in 6 months, I, too, will be able to see clients. Now, when I tell people that I am enrolled in the program, many ask: "How should I eat?" I actually had 3 people ask that exact question over the weekend.

I'm not a professional just yet, and so I am not offering advice. I know what works for me and helped me lose weight, reduce inflammation, feel lighter, or just feel better and so my personal belief is to avoid eating anything white except for cauliflower.

What's White?
Flour
Milk
Iodized Salt
Potatoes
Sugar

Why I Don't Eat White Flour or Anything Made with White Flour:
White flour is refined, stripped of all nutrients, and then bleached. Next, synthetic nutrients are added back into the flour. It is devoid of any fiber and even the nutrients added back into enriched flour aren't absorbed by the body and are often actually toxic.

Why I Don't Drink Milk or Eat Dairy Products:
Even organic milk producers are milking their cows when they are pregnant or nursing because of how much milk they produce during this time. What allows them to produce so much milk? Hormones! And all of those hormones end up in your Milk. According to Walter Willet, head of Harvard's Nutrition program, drinking milk does not prevent bone fractures and actually has been shown to increase the prevalence of a number of cancers. Milk causes phlegm accumulation which leads to inflammation.

                                                     

Why I Don't Eat Idolized Salt:
Regular table salt is white because it's bleached. If you've ever looked at Celtic Salt it's grey, Himalayan Salt is Pink and it is rare to find a natural salt that is white. Most table salt is made in a lab and is actual a chemical compound. This chemical salt disrupts the circulatory system, nervous system and balance of fluid.
                                                  
         

Why I Don't Eat Potatoes:
Potatoes are nightshades, a family of vegetables that have been shown to aggravate inflammatory conditions, especially arthritis and psoriasis. A recent study showed that potatoes are more likely to absorb radioactive materials from the soil than any other vegetable. Finally, when potatoes are fried, a toxic substance called acrylamide is formed. Acrylamide has been shown to cause cancer in lab animals.

  
   

Why I Don't Eat Sugar:
I can write a book about this, but I won't. Nancy Appleton has written 7 books about the topic and has sent me 3 to read and review. Once I read them and digest them, I will summarize why you shouldn't eat sugar, but in the meantime here are her top 10 reasons:

1. Sugar can suppress your immune system.
2. Sugar upsets the mineral relationships in the body.
3. Sugar can cause juvenile delinquency in children.
4. Sugar eaten during pregnancy and lactation can influence muscle force production in offspring, which can affect an individual’s ability to exercise.
5. Sugar in soda, when consumed by children, results in the children drinking less milk.
6. Sugar can elevate glucose and insulin responses and return them to fasting levels slower in oral contraceptive users.
7. Sugar can increase reactive oxygen species (ROS), which can damage cells and tissues.
8. Sugar can cause hyperactivity, anxiety, inability to concentrate and crankiness in children.
9. Sugar can produce a significant rise in triglycerides.
10. Sugar reduces the body’s ability to defend against bacterial infection.

You may not agree with everything I've mentioned here and that's okay. You can read hundreds of diet books and they will tell you a 100 different ways to eat. In the end, the only way that matters is the one that makes you feel your best. I think everyone should experiment with their diet and find the way to nourish themselves that is manageable long-term. Find the lifestyle that works for you and stick with it. That's the only way to lose weight, get healthy and feel your best!

Why Do The High Holidays Make Me Crave Carrot Cake?

At sundown tomorrow, the Jewish Holiday, Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement begins, ending the "10 Days of Repentance." It marks the beginning of the Jewish New Year. During these days, Jews are asked to contemplate their wrongs and ask for forgiveness from the ones they have wronged. It's similar to the 4th Step, in the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12 step programs, where you are tasked to do a "moral inventory" and make amends to the one's you have wronged and harmed with you illness.

Yom Kippur itself is a day of fasting, which to me represents a physical cleanse after a week of spiritual and emotional cleansing. This Yom Kippur will be unique for me because I have spent the last 6 months on a cleansing journey that has been physical, emotional and spiritual. I have worked on ridding my body of the excess weight of inflammation and from the emotional weight of anger and resentment. In this practice, I have been able to find myself and fulfill my passion of sharing with others my love for real food and cooking. I am so grateful that there are over 500 people that have shared this journey with me. Thank you.


For whatever reason, I associate the High Holy Days with Carrot Cake. Whenever, it's time to dip apples into honey, I crave the spiciness and richness of a delicious carrot cake. This year to satisfy my craving, I came up with my own grain-free vegan carrot cake muffin recipe. I prefer to bake in muffin tins, because it's the best way to control portion size. The muffins turned out delicious and very tasty.

Grain-Free Vegan Carrot Cake Muffins
1 1/2 cups chestnut flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 3/4 cups carrot pulp (approximately 2-3 carrots juiced)
1/4 cup apple pulp (1/2-1 apple juiced)
1/8 cup coconut oil
1/4-1/2 cup Grade A Maple Syrup (I used close to 1/2 cup and found it a bit too sweet)
2 tbsp chia seeds & 9 tbsp water
1 tbsp Apple Spice
1 tsp Powdered Ginger

1/2 tbsp aluminum free baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp Celtic Salt


 Process
1. Preheat over to 350
2. In a bowl, mix chia seeds and water and let stand for 10 minutes
3. In another bowl mix all dry ingredients (flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda, salt)
4. Add wet ingredients to chia seeds (pulp, syrup, oil) and mix well
5. Using a mixer, mix on medium speed while pouring wet ingredients into the dry
6. Mix until all ingredients are well distributed, you should have a bunch of small chunks of dough
7. Line a muffin tin with baking cups
6. Take a heaping 1/4 cup of dough/batter and roll into a ball and place in baking cup and press until dough sits nicely in the cup

8. Bake for 20-22 minutes
9. Let cool on a wire rack.

How To Make Vegan Salted Coconut Milk Caramel Ice Cream with Homemade Hemp Milk

So first things first!  The Spice House Contest is officially over and the winner of the contest is Masha. I will contact you directly to get your address! Congrats! Please check out my current giveaway for unbleached paper cooking and baking products from Beyond Gourmet!

Now to the really important stuff: how to make vegan salted coconut milk caramel ice cream. If you read yesterday's post, I had a little bit of a mishap in the kitchen while trying to making coconut milk caramel candies. But all's well that end's well. I used the caramel sauce for this recipe.


So first you have to make the sauce. I adapted the recipe from Saveur's recipe for Coconut Milk Caramels. I used unrefined Coconut sugar and maple syrup in my recipe instead of the white sugar and corn syrup in Saveur's recipe.

Coconut Milk Caramel Sauce:
Ingredients:
1 tsp Coconut Oil
1-16 oz. can coconut milk
¾ cup maple syrup
1 tsp. Celtic salt
1¾ cup Coconut Sugar
¾ cup water

Process:
1. Line a baking dish (either 8x8 or larger) with unbleached parchment paper and coat with coconut oil (to prevent sticking)

2. Combine the coconut milk, corn maple syrup and Celtic salt in a saucepan.  Heat over medium low, until all clumps have melted (2-5 minutes). Remove from heat and set aside.

3.In an another saucepan, combine coconut sugar and the water and stir until sugar is wet.

4. Place over medium high heat and let cook, without stirring until a candy thermometer reads 240°F.
5. Remove from heat and pour melted sugar into the coconut milk mixture.

6. Return saucepan to medium low heat, stirring continuously until all the caramel is dissolved.  Raise the heat to medium high, stir continuously and cook for 8-10 minutes. Make sure that the sauce pan is large enough to hold everything, because it can boil over

7. Pour into baking dish and refridgerate

8. You can enjoy this sauce with apples or pour into yogurt.

If you are feeling adventurous, you can make ice cream. For this Vegan Salted Coconut Milk Caramel Ice Cream, I made my own hemp milk, but you can use unsweetened hemp milk from Tempt.

Homemade Hemp Milk

Ingredients:
2 cups hulled hemp seeds (soaked over night)
4 cups water

Process:
1. Soak hemp seeds overnight

2. Run through a juicer with water or blend using a Vitamix

3. Use a Nut Milk Bag to drain the milk

4. Add water if you want a thinner consistency

5. Enjoy!

Vegan Salted Coconut Milk Caramel Ice Cream
Ingredients:
1 cup Homemade Hemp Milk
1 cup water
2 cups Coconut Milk Caramel Sauce
1 tsp of Celtic Salt

Process:
1. Pour milk into Ice cream maker

2. Slowly pour in Coconut Milk Caramel Sauce

3. Let run for 3 minutes and then pour in water and salt

4. Let run for 25-30 minutes

5. Enjoy!! It's freaking delicious!

So I Decided to Make Refined Sugar Free Coconut Milk Caramels...

Sometimes I get a little obsessive: I get an idea and I can't shake it until I see it through. On Sunday, the hubby, our daughter and I went to the Mill Valley Arts Festival and stopped by the Mill Valley Market to grab something to drink. While in the check out, a colorful bag of candy caught my eye. In bright white letters on a baby blue background, it read "Coconut Milk Caramels." Unable to contain my excitement I yelled "oh sh*t!" at the top of my lungs, frightening my husband and several old ladies standing in line. I didn't intend to be so vulgar, but these are COCONUT MILK CARAMELS we are talking about here and I haven't had a caramel in almost a decade! I turned the bag over to glance at the ingredients and was disappointed to see that they were made with brown rice syrup and so untouchable for the new, grain free me. But that didn't stop me from fantasizing about how I'm going to come up with the most amazing grain free and refined sugar free coconut milk caramels recipe.

So at 10pm, I decided it would a superb idea to try making caramels for the first time ever. Needless to say, by 10:30 the stove was covered in caramel sauce and I was ferouciously scraping off burned and blackened sugar off the burners. Luckily, the hubby was already asleep because had he been awake, I would have been throughly scolded for my impulsiveness. And so, I'm not sure if I actually made caramels, but I did make a tasty caramel sauce, which I can use for dipping apples. I'll try refridgerating it overnight and seeing if it hardens. It it turns out, I'll post the recipe. But lesson learned: do not attempt to make caramels at 10pm after a long hard day at work, especially if you've never made candy before.

But there is some good news, I did manage to make a tasty soup prior to delving into the candy making debacle. When I did the CAN CAN Cleanse last week, I ate/drank the most amazing soup for lunch. CAN CAN Cleanse's, Teresa Piro created a really delicious and satisfying lunch and I really wanted to make it at home. After one failed attempt to recreate the recipe, I decided to shoot Teresa and email. She was so kind to share her recipe with me and so I am sharing it with you.

CAN CAN Cleanse's Zucchini Basil Soup
Ingredients:
3 medium Zucchini
1 stalk Celery
1 Leek (white only)
1/4 Onion
2 sprigs Basil
1 tsp Sea Salt and more to season as you like
1/4 tsp Cayenne
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1-2 cups Filtered Water

Process:
1. Cut zucchini in half length wise and drizzle with olive oil and a large pinch of salt and place on baking sheet on unbleached parchment paper

2. On another baking sheet, place leek, celery, and onion and also drizzle with oil, salt, and cayenne pepper

3. Roast for 45 minutes at 325 degrees

4. Remove all ingredients and blend in a Vitamix or a blender with water to get desired consistency

5. Serve with a little coconut milk and dash of cayenne

6. Enjoy!

Gluten Free Celebrities and Blogs That Inspire Me

Nine years ago, when I gave up wheat and dairy after finding out I was allergic to it, I felt like a lone wolf. This was long before the gluten-free craze and before most stores had alternative options. Soy milk wasn't available in most Starbucks in San Francisco. Nowadays, being wheat and dairy free is much easier. Every weekend, I do my grocery shopping at Rainbow Grocery, which has one of the largest milk substitute sections I've seen. San Francisco now even has a gluten-free store, Gluten Free Grocery.

With all of the abundance, it has become just as easy to find heavily processed gluten free foods as it was to eat processed foods before. It was only when I began my 21-Day Detox Cleanse, that I realized how much junk food I was eating. The worst part was I felt just as sick not eating wheat as I did when I was still eating it. Switching my outlook and my focus has really helped. I have now embraced real food. I cook all of my meals, unless we go out, and all of the meals are made from scratch. Yes, this is time consuming, but I find ways to shorten cooking time, such as baking and stewing. One pot wonders have been lifesavers and kale chips have been a guilty pleasure staple.

The beauty of eating gluten-free, grain-free and dairy-free nowadays is that there are so many resources available. There are countless blogs that feature the most beautiful and delicious recipes. While, I'm absolutely horrible at following recipes, I find great inspiration from Against All Grain, The Nourishing Gourmet, Whole Life Nutrition, and Choosing Raw. Each one of these bloggers has a unique point of view and incredible love and passion for food and the recipes they share with us. Without them, this journey of self-discovery would not have been possible.

Also in the last 9 years, many celebrities have also discovered their own allergies to wheat and dairy. Besides my love for food and cooking, I also happen to be obsessed with celebrity gossip and have been an avid follower of Perezhilton.com since he began blogging in 2005 and heard him on Fernando and Greg in the Morning on the radio. As part of my love for celebrity gossip, I keep tabs on celebrities that have food allergies. One of my favorite actresses is Rachel Weisz and she shares my wheat intolerance. Likewise, Geri Halliwell, Ginger-Spice from the Spice Girls is also intolerant to wheat.


             

Also, my style icon and favorite quirky actress, Zooey Deschanel, is gluten free. Unlike, Geri Halliwell and Rachel Weisz, Zooey Deschanel suffers from celiac disease, which is an autoimmune disease that affects the lining of the small intestine and can lead to serious malnutrition. One of Zooey's favorite places to enjoy vegan & gluten free treats, is BabyCakes in NYC. My family visited BabyCakes last year and it was delicious! In San Francisco, we also have a wonderful bakery that serves vegan & gluten free cupcakes, Cups & Cakes Bakery and I'm looking forward to ordering a box of cupcakes from them for my daughter's upcoming San Francisco birthday party.

Vegan & Gluten Free Cupcakes from BabyCakes in NYC