Dear Shaina,

Loved your letter and recipes and your total engagement with your life, despite the stress. I am also feeling the speed of the days flying by, even though, I technically have “nothing” to do!

My newest obsession also has to do with APPLEs, just not the pick-off-the-tree and eat kind.  I am seduced by my new MAC Pro laptop.   I can’t say its been the easiest of relationships, but the more I get to know it … well, I may actually fall in love. Learning new things, especially when they involve technology, is totally time-sucking and HARD! I am at the Apple Store for training almost every other day when I am in town.   I know almost all the trainers, where the bathroom is and… some really cool things I can do with my MAC.  And I just purchased a new camera which I also have no idea how to use. I have decided that I am going to spend all my time learning new technology, just to prove I can! That is, unless I have a mah jong game.  I do have my priorities!

Next week is November already!  Thanksgiving is practically here.  We are expecting about 40 this year (OMG)! I keep reminding myself that I used to do this and work 50 hours a week…so Thanksgiving should be a breeze this year.

Although Turkey is standard Thanksgiving fare, for me, it’s about the soup. I like to serve soup as an appetizer to warm up people while waiting for everyone to arrive.  My favorite is Mushroom Barley Soup; hearty, healthy and part of the tradition.  I always make a second soup just in case someone hates mushrooms.  I am big on having options so everyone’s happy.

Not sure what I will do for the second soup this year, but I did make some very healthy and easy cauliflower soup last week.  It was good, but a lot of people hate cauliflower so I may reserve that for family only (they’ll eat anything).  I am including the recipe because I liked it and I think this recipe could be easily adapted to other vegetables.

One more thought; I noticed that you had no pictures of yourself in the apple orchard last week. Ordinarily, it wouldn’t have been an issue because you usually only post pictures of food.  But it stood out for me because you did put in Arielle’s picture, which I loved, but you were missing.  If I were reading your blog and didn’t know you, I would think Arielle was you. It was odd to me because you put so much of your heart and your passion into this blog, yet you are invisible in a visual sense. I know that, on some level, invisibility is comfortable for you. You have nudged yourself beyond your comfort zone in so many areas, yet invisibility seems to have a stronghold on you.  I thought about your earnest quest to find yourself, to search for your path in life, to honor your urge to go for it, what ever it is…and all I kept thinking about was ‘what is lost cannot be found unless it is visible.’    I challenge you to practice visibility.

I better get back to my recipes so I can get to bed.  I loved our day at the beach and I look forward to hearing about the adventures you are sure to have the rest of this weekend.

Love,

Mom      xoxoxoxxoxoxoxoo

COMFORT IN SOUP

Making Soup is one of the easiest and comforting food items to prepare.  For one, soup recipes are very forgiving and provide lots of room for personal preferences and tastes.    These Soups are heart healthy, vegetarian, gluten free, and can be made using little or no fat. There is nothing like a steaming hot bowl of soup to warm up a cold day and nurture family and friends.

The quantities noted in these recipes are very flexible. Taste frequently and adjust to your taste.  Start off with the biggest pot you own as the soup tends to grow as you adjust flavors and ingredients.  Soup freezes well and is a treat to pull out of the freezer on a cold winter night.

Mushroom Barley Soup

• 

  Raw Pearl Barley

  1 ½  cup pearl Barley

• 1 large onion diced
• 2 carrots diced
• 4-6 cloves of fresh garlic minced
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 – 2 lbs sliced mushrooms
• drop of olive oil
• vegetarian soup broth
• 1 Tblsp oregano
• 1 Tblsp basil
• Salt and plenty of black pepper to taste

Cook barley according to directions and do not drain or rinse after cooking. Sauté  onion, carrots, garlic and celery in a drop of olive oil in a large soup pot.

Add 1 to 2 pounds of sliced mushrooms to the soup pot and continue sautéing until all vegetables are tender, but not soft.

Add 4 to 6 cups of water seasoned with vegetarian broth. Add the cooked barley with the liquid to the soup pot. Add the seasonings, salt and pepper. Simmer until flavors have blended.  Adjust seasonings and ingredients to taste.

More barley if you like thicker soup, more water for thinner.  More (or less) carrots or onions or garlic to taste. This soup tastes better the longer it cooks and even better the next day.

Optional: A splash of soy sauce or balsamic vinegar can be added.

*If you don’t want to use any oil, just add all raw vegetables including the mushrooms to the cooked barley with with water, spices and vegetarian broth and cook until done.

**I used white button mushrooms, baby portobellas and even added some enoki mushrooms this year.  Vary the amount and type according to your preference.

Cauliflower Soup

• 1 large onion, diced
• 3-4  cloves garlic, minced
• 3 shallots, sliced
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 head of fresh cauliflower broken into chunks
• Salt and black pepper to taste

Shallots

Sauté onions, garlic and shallots in a tsp of olive oil in the soup pot until slightly translucent. Put entire head of cauliflower broken into chunks into the pot. Add just enough water to barely cover the cauliflower.

Add salt and pepper.

Vegetarian or Chicken flavored bouillon can be used instead of salt.

Cook until cauliflower is soft and cooked through.

Remove from heat.  Using a stick blender or food processor, blend all vegetables in the pot until you have a creamy white puree.  Adjust seasonings.  If soup is too thick, add a little water.

Simmer and adjust seasonings to taste.

Serve hot and garnish with cut up green onions.

Can be frozen.

If cauliflower is not your thing, butternut squash can be substituted or try a combination of yellow squash and sweet potatoes.  Experiment with adding other spices and enjoy!

Dear mom,

I don’t have time to write this letter. I’ve been totally crazed at work and somehow my personal obligations have picked up.  I’m writing, auditing two classes, making new friends, doing my job… so this letter will be brief. My eye is still twitching (2 months!), my supervisor (who I share an office with) caught the eye twitch, and Arielle’s eye just started to spasm.

It’s something in the air.

This transition to fall has been the weirdest. The leaves have turned and nighttime starts early, but every other day is a different season.  Right now I’m wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Yesterday I was wearing a fleece jacket and boots. Global weirding.

I’m dedicating this post to the apple because it is my autumn marker this year.  Just like tomatoes kept me present this summer…. now, in autumn, apples are my rock. As global warming/weirding takes it’s toll, I’ve become more dependent on food to mark the seasons.

Anyway… they say an apple a day keeps the doctor away, but what about three or four apples a day? Apples in yogurt, apples in oats, apples in rum, apples in salads; apples roasted, apples pureed, apples boiled (only when I’m sick). And so many different kinds! My recipes for this post all include apples…  I hope they will inspire you to crunch and munch away!

Fall is exciting. It’s fresh and new. I’m starting to feel like the world has something for me to find, and the overwhelming lost-ness that I was feeling this summer is transforming into a streamlined GO GET IT,  girl. And even though I still don’t know what “it” is, I still feel pulled towards… it.

We went apple picking

For example (not quite sure if this is an example?), last night Arielle and I changed all the furniture in our house. Our dining room is now our living room and vise versa. We had been talking about it for long and our house couldn’t come to a consensus about our unified feelings. But last night we just did it. And it’s amazing. I’m blaming the fall air.

Changing the furniture changed my life. I can’t wait to eat breakfast in our new dining room with light streaming in from the windows.
And now I need to wrap up this letter and get this posted so I can move onto my next project.

So here’s to apples. And the things we make with them.

Hope you enjoy these apple-licious recipes! They’re all on the cleanse!

Love,

Shaina

Charred October Slaw

• 1 c dry quinoa
• 2 c Roasted Moroccan Carrots with Raisins (recipe below)
• 1/2 c chopped cilantro
• 1/2 c chopped arugula (or other greens)
• Sea salt to taste
• Black Pepper to taste
• Crushed roasted almonds for garnish
• 1 c Apple relish (recipe below)

Dear Shaina,

Well, your Dad and I fell off the “cleanse wagon” for real this past weekend in New Orleans. But “cleanse consciousness” was never far from our minds as we made the lesser-of-the-evils kinds of food choices throughout the weekend.

Jump To Recipe

We knew we were up for a challenge when we got on the ferry to Gretna (the site of Beast of the Southern Wild) to attend the Gretna Music Fest.  Most people on the boat looked older, grayer and significantly larger than us.  I’m not judging…I’m just sayin… The baby-boomers have arrived and they are partying hearty! The Gretna Fest, aside from music, features the most extensive array of fried delicacies you can possibly imagine …the usual powdered sugar coated doughy fried fair food along with fried turkey legs, fried shrimp, fried fish, fried chicken, fried Oreos, fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (I am not kidding!).

NOLA has a culture and essence like no other city I have ever been in and it always leaves me a little sad and bewildered.

So much of the French Quarter seems weary and worn to the bone. Hundred year old homes stand steady with peeling paint and last year’s faded mardi gras adornments still hanging on to windowsills and door frames in anticipation of next year’s new set of beads and feathers and voodoo dolls.  A couple blocks away is the familiar Bourbon Street bouquet of alcohol, cigarettes and vomit mingling with the throngs of Saints fans, convention goers and street people… Gentrification never quite made it to the Quarter…or maybe it has come and gone.   Even much of the art feels too bright, too harsh, too distorted  – as if its subjects have been pushed beyond the boundaries of their natural form. But that is NOLA. Another slice of life. I don’t think it’s going to make our top ten list of places we would like to live someday.

Of course, we had our share of pleasure and partying, too.  We saw old friends, went to the Art For Arts Sake annual art galleries event, heard great music (even did a little dancing) and ate incredible food!  We ate at a quasi vegetarian restaurant where I had a  Freekah Salad made with Freekeh grain, a tasty cold smoked “green grain” I had never heard of before.  I haven’t been able to find it here, but if you happen to come across it in D.C., buy me some. Dad had bread pudding with apples and a whiskey sauce at Brunch one day. My ever-present “cleanse conscious” brain immediately thought about how I could make some form of this pudding using oatmeal instead of bread. I was ready for a little more “cleanse” healthy take on life by that point.

In the few days that we were away, it seems like the summer ended and fall arrived with cool nights and kamikaze acorns falling from the trees onto our deck.  I went straight from the airport to the Asian store to buy fresh veggies. I didn’t even unpack before I got out my big pot and started cutting up vegetables to make my first fall pot of soup.

Two things  about me and soup: 1.) I can’t make a small pot of soup. 2.) There really is no such thing as a recipe for soup.  But I did write down the basic ingredients.  The problem is, I just keep adding stuff that I find in the frig or think of in the middle of the night.  So the Black Bean soup of yesterday is now a Chipotle Chile Black Bean soup.  It is cleanse friendly, of course, and can be garnished with plain Greek yogurt and cilantro or just a little grated fresh parmesan cheese.  It’s going to be lunch for mah jong group tomorrow, along with a green salad and fresh fruit.

I am also including my experimental Oatmeal Pudding concoction.  It will never be a true Bread Pudding dessert recipe (although Dad did pour some amaretto and cream over his), but it would make a healthy Brunch dish  as the weather cools down.

I know we’ll see you soon when you come for Dani’s wedding, but I am really excited that you will be home for Thanksgiving, which will be here before we know it.  Preparing for Rosh Hashana in the kitchen with you was nothing less than a spiritual experience for me.  And I cant wait to do it again for Thanksgiving!

Hope you enjoy these recipes – they’re both very forgiving dishes and the ingredients are only a starting point – Enjoy experimenting and adding your own tastes and touches!

Love,
Mom
oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Black Bean or Chipotle Black Bean Soup

Start with a very large soup pot and sauté the following lightly a Tblsp of olive oil.

• 2 Large Onions chopped
• 1 T chopped fresh garlic (about half a bulb)
• 1 Cup chopped carrots

Add to the pot

• 4 Cups water
• 2 tsp sea salt

Cook until carrots are soft and add:

• 2 to 3 cups of cooked Black beans with a little of the liquid from the beans (canned black beans can be used, but precooked dried ones are better)

Then, add:

• Four 14oz cans of diced tomatoes (overripe fresh tomatoes can also be added after peeling)
• 1 Tblsp oregano (or to taste)
• Black pepper
• A handful of chopped fresh basil
• 2 Cups Chopped Bok Choy
• 1/2 Cup raisins

Cook until all veggies are done and flavors blended. Seasonings and ingredients can be adjusted to taste. Add more beans if you like a thicker soup or more water and seasonings for a soupier variety.
At this point, you have basic Black Bean soup.  Garnish with grated parmesan or cheddar cheese.

To make Chipotle Chile Black Bean Soup add:

• 1 tsp of Chipotle Chile powder and cumin to taste.

Taste frequently and adjust seasonings.  I added more Bok Choy after adding the Chipotle Chile powder.  It always tastes better the next day when all flavors have  cooked together.

This makes a huge pot of soup.  Enjoy some now and freeze some for later.

Oatmeal Pudding Casserole

Sauce

Cook the following ingredients in a sauce pan until soft and mushy.

• 1 overripe pear cut up in small pieces
• 1 overripe banana (I always freeze my overripe bananas in the peel so I have them whenever I need them)
• 3/4 C fruit juice from a fresh pineapple or orange
• 2 Tblsp cashew butter

Add

• 2 chopped apples

to the sauce and cook until apples are tender, but not mushy: (about 10-15 minutes)

Meanwhile, mix together in a large bowl:

• 1 1/2 Cup uncooked rolled oats
• 2 Cups cooked (liquidy) steel cut oats
• 2 Cups plain organic yogurt

Let stand for 15 minutes

Then add the following to the oatmeal mixture and mix thoroughly:

• The cooked apple/banana/fruit juice mixture
• 4 cut up ripe bananas
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 Fresh apple cut up
• 1/2 tsp grated whole nutmeg
• 1 Tblsp ground cinnamon
• 1 Tblsp vanilla

Adjust seasonings for taste. You can add brown sugar, honey or agave  if you like a sweeter oatmeal, but the fruit adds plenty of sweetness.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour oatmeal mixture into a casserole dish greased with 1 tsp walnut oil. Top with chopped walnuts, raisins and additional cinnamon. Bake mixture for 30 minutes or more (until apples are tender).

This is a great way to clean out your pantry of dried/ripe fruits, nuts, grains, etc.

Can be served warm or at room temperature – Garnish with greek yogurt or brown sugar.

Dear mom,

Thanks but no thanks for the steering wheel recipe – I’m sure I’ll use it eventually, but for now I’m sticking to the cleanse. Plus, steering wheels are my cousins’ favorites, not mine. It’s a delicious cookie – our family’s most popular – and it does make me nostalgic for dessert time with the cousins. But my body and spirit feel transformed, and I want to adhere to the cleanse as best I can.

Jump To Recipe

I couldn’t control myself. I even kept a zip-lock baggy with me at all times in order to collect samples for later instead of shoving them in my mouth on the spot. But I still ate my weight in cliff bars, flavored kale chips and fair trade chocolate.

I’m embarrassed

The zip-lock strategy (the baggy is currently in my freezer holding bits of random granola bars, raw crackers, chocolate pieces, hemp seeds, etc) was just the start of it. Again, I have no shame. At the festival, there were areas designated for staff and volunteers to grab an apple, orange or bagel throughout the weekend. Every time I went to fill up my water bottle, I grabbed an apple. Every time I passed the booth, I grabbed an apple. Every time I was bored, I grabbed an apple. They were beautiful and free and abundant and before I knew it my backpack wouldn’t zip all the way.

What is that about? I’ve certainly never experienced starvation or lack of food. But time and again, I find myself collecting food in baggies and jars and tupperware, saving even the smallest scraps for later. A few days ago I put on a sweater I hadn’t worn since last winter and there were cashew pieces in the pockets. I’m blaming Bubbe.

I sorely missed the cleanse throughout the weekend. It’s funny how all the foods at the festival were marketed as healthy while they’re all just processed mush with tons of sugar. How can we even call that stuff food? The cleanse made me hyper aware of how foods react with my body. I feel sugars enter into and fizzle from my bloodstream – eating a piece of cake gives me a powerful rush of energy that I hadn’t been conscious of before.  I’m so glad to hear that you and dad enjoyed our little experiment. My favorite quote from the experience was dad’s:

The cleanse has helped me with my music. Chewing more slowly helps me to hold the keys down longer on each note; savoring the sound, like savoring each bite of food longer. Keeping each bite of food in your mouth longer to savor the taste is like keeping each note in your ear longer without changing the tempo. Really tasting and really listening, being more sensual, enhances both experiences for oneself and the people around you. In my case it makes being around me when I’m eating or playing simply more tolerable.

Lol.

After filling myself with quick, processed sugars throughout the festival, I felt an urgency to go back on the cleanse. In order to re-balance and take a breather from the busy weekend, I prepped loads of fruits and veggies for the week. My time standing over the cutting board was hypnotic. I cut up the pounds of collected apples and roasted them with cinnamon, vanilla, lemon juice and lemon zest. After they were browned, I baked them in a crisp underneath pumpkin seeds, flax, oats and a bit of coconut oil. This time, hoarding was a good decision.

It feels so much better to eat cleanly.

love,
Shaina

Green Pancakes with Spicy Chutney:

Mung Beans

This recipe is adapted from eatwritethink.com. I was so excited to see this healthy, protein-rich twist on the classic Indian breakfast of chapati. The pancakes were too dense the first time I made them, so I made a few alterations to make them lighter. If you prepare the batter in advance, this a quick, rich and healthy way to start the day! In Gujarat, where most people stick to a strict vegetarian diet, everyone raved about the health benefits of mung beans – fiber, protein, minerals – it’s like steak for vegetarians. I had neighbors who brought me big bowls of kichdi (mung beans and rice) every night around 11pm for dessert, claiming that it would help with digestion and overall health.

And, of course, this meal is on the cleanse!

Pancake batter:

• 1 C green mung beans
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 onion, chopped
• salt
• cayenne pepper or fresh chili
  to taste
• 3 or 4 curry leaves
• half cup water

Dried chilis from Arielle. Beauty.

Spicy Chutney:

• 1 carrot
• 1 cucumber
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• handful (about 8) walnuts (you can substitute any nuts.. I used cashews the first time and it turned out delicious!)
• chili flakes
• small onion
• salt
• cumin
• cilantro for garnish

Soak the mung beans for 3-4 hours or overnight. Blend them with all ingredients until runny green paste coagulates (I used frozen curry leaves, and before I added them to the mixture I heated them in oil to bring out the flavor). The paste should be blended well, but will still be a bit gritty.

Add all chutney ingredients into food processor and puree. Then, garnish with cilantro for freshness.

When you’re ready for a healthy breakfast, heat a small drop of oil in a pan or skillet.

Pour mixture onto pan and smooth into a thin layer depending on desired crispness (the thinner, the crispier). Like making crepes, this may take a few tries before you get it just right.

Serve with chutney and eat with your fingers – right hand only, India style!

Clean Roasted Apple Crisp:

For filling:

• A lot of apples, throw in pears if you have them
• zest and juice of two lemons
• zest and juice of one orange
• 1 tsp fresh cardamom
• 1 tsp clove powder
• 2 tbs cinnamon
• 2 tbs vanilla

For topping:

• 1/3 c pumpkin seeds
• 1/2 c oats
• 1/4 c flax meal
• 1 tbs coconut oil
• sprinkle of sea salt

Cut apples into small chunks. I used a variety of apples (I’d been collecting them from several sources :)) so that I’d have different flavors and textures. I also threw soem pears in the mix with also added taste and texture variety. Mix apples with spices, 1 lemon and orange, and spread evenly onto cookie sheet or oven tray. Roast on 450 degrees for 30 minutes or until browned and crispy on the edges (but still mushy in the middle).

Once roasted, put apples into baking dish and add additional juice of one lemon. Combine “topping” ingredients and cover apples with mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 – 40 minutes.

Serve with greek yogurt for a rich desert… or with yogurt and oats for a filling breakfast.