the grim peeper: an easter post

i have long feared that my sins 

would return to haunt me,

and the cost would be 

more than i could bear.

mel gibson's "the patriot"

I transitioned to a macrobiotic lifestyle in January of 2009.

Most days, my past is behind me.  Truthfully, since I've become

so healthy and strong in recent years, I haven't thought too much

about the things I left behind.

But some days, I get the feeling that they haven't forgotten me...

I had fallen behind on the week, and didn't begin the preparation

of my Easter meal until late Saturday night.  I returned home alone,

set up my equipment in the kitchen, and began to wash my vegetables.

In the darkness of the night kitchen, a thousand tiny voices sang

in my ears.

I sliced my rutabaga.

I blinked.

I blinked again.

My vegetables boiled.  Uneasy thoughts bubbled just below the

surface of my mind, like frozen mushrooms simmering in stock.

'I'm a fool,' I mused aloud.  'There is no fear in the long dark

kitchen of the night.  Only celery and bonito shavings.'

I opened the oven.

Like the unexpected occupation of a public restroom...

...I hurriedly shut it with a mix of apologetic shame and flustered

bewilderment.

By the light of the television, I enjoyed my meal.  My soup was

both strengthening and balanced.  A delicate dance of sublime scallions

and subtle celery.

I don't miss the traditional American holiday diet.  Cadbury eggs

hold no sway over me.  Reese's cups hardly tempt me.  These

nutritional crimes are so deeply embedded in my past that to partake

them now would be nigh unthinkable.

But sometimes I think that they miss me.  I think that I was the one

that got away, that by some fluke, some universal oversight I was

released from their thrall too soon.

And they want me back.

the grim peeper:  a photographic journey 

provided to you this easter by becky.

easter root veggie stew

for healing and strengthening

1 rutabaga

1 large white onion

2 carrots

4 stalks celery

4 springs fresh flat-leaf parsley

3 cloves garlic

:: prep ::

mince garlic

rough-chop parsley

large roll-cut rutabaga, onion, carrot, and celery (about 1" by 1" chunks)

in a deep pot, saute garlic in olive oil until slightly brown.  

add onions, salt, white pepper and saute until beautiful and 

translucent.  once beautiful, add carrots, celery, and rutabaga 

chunks, submerge in water with a bay leaf, and bring to boil.  

simmer 20-30 minutes until carrots are bright and soft.

in a separate (deep) pot, boil either pre-purchased veggie stock 

or 6 cups water plus frozen stock ingredients.

once veggies are simmered, add stock and parsley, and 

season with splash of mirin, splash of ume vinegar, drop 

of brown rice syrup, and splash of tamari.  taste, and add 

salt or tamari as needed.

carrot daikon drink!

since i didn't make this today, a photograph will be forthcoming.  in the mean time, this is a request for carrot daikon drink from a friend of mine.

carrot daikon drink is great for releasing old stores of stagnant oils and animal products.  it's particularly useful after a cleanse or fast to get that stuff up and out.

it's important when you do a regimen of carrot daikon drink to walk lots, drink lots of water, and chew your food well.  i believe intuitively that it works best that way.

also, don't do it before bed.  you'll be up peeing all night.  thank you daikon!

also also, do not eat for thirty minutes before or after carrot daikon drink unless instructed to do so by your macrobiotic counselor :)

carrot daikon drink
one serving

1 cup grated carrot (fine to semi-fine grating)
1 cup grated daikon (fine to semi-fine grating)
1 square inch nori seaweed
1/3 pickled umeboshi plum or 1/2 tsp umeboshi plum paste

bring 2 cups of water to a boil.  add carrot and daikon, return to boil, and simmer ten minutes.  add nori and ume plum.  let sit until it's cool enough to drink, and drink/eat 1 cup.  if you've got extras, i always like to share :)

user warning:  this stuff smells really, really bad.  prepare to clear out your house.  people will complain.

untangling shiso leaves

i don't know if any of you have had the unique pleasure of untangling

pickled shiso leaves, but if you have, the words "AUGH" or 

"YYARRGGGHH" may ring a few bells.

pickled shiso leaves come packed with umeboshi plums, but you

can purchase them separately from either the kushi store or natural imports.

i like to use them as a wrap, a garnish, or dried and powdered as a unique

and special substitute for salt on rice.

here is a little video of how i solved the mystery of untangling dehydrated

shiso leaves.

golden sunrise dressing

golden sunrise dressing

to my everlasting embarrassment, i haven't posted in a solid month.

i've been doing 90% more shopping and 90% less cooking, which

is probably why my fridge has melting mushrooms and i've dropped

a dress size.

i'm so sorry i've been such a negligent blogger!  i tend to post when

i cook, and since the holidays have been so busy at work, i haven't

been doing too much cooking.

that being said, i wanted to share with you guys a beautiful dressing

i make every morning.  nutritional yeast is my little indulgence.

--------

blanche assorted veggies.  i like napa cabbage, onion, carrot, and turnip.

:: combine ::

1 tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 tsp bragg's liquid aminos

1 tbsp fresh-squeezed lemon juice

heaping tbsp nutritional yeast

mix, slather, and enjoy!

--------

If You've Got the Poison...

re • me • dy
(noun)  Middle English remedie.  The process by which a concoction of grated daikon radish becomes a bout of self-induced diarrhea.

When I began this lifestyle, I thought there was no WAY vegetables could have as powerful an effect on the body as prescription medication.

I had time to think about the potential holes in my logic after one too many Carrot-Daikon remedies.  There is remarkable clarity to be found in the bathroom at four in the morning.

My face is wrapped in a washcloth soaked in hot ginger water.
Beneath the cloth is a thick paste of grated fresh lotus root.
This is the scariest image you'll ever see on my blog.

There are several traditional Japanese and Chinese remedies regularly used in the macrobiotic diet and practice.  Some of them are external, like the Lotus Root Plaster (see haunting image to your right).

Others, like Carrot-Daikon Drink and Ume Sho Kuzu, are taken internally at specific times of day.  I do not recommend taking these remedies without the guidance of someone who knows what they're talking about, like a macrobiotic counselor, acupuncturist, or herbalist.  They can have a profound impact on the body, especially when taken over the course of a few weeks.

That being said, here is my quick and dirty guide to remedies.  If you have been told that you need them, this is how I'd do it...

Lotus Root Plaster

- 1 fresh lotus root, cleaned and dried
- 1 tbsp flour (whole wheat pastry or rice flour)
- 1 tsp grated fresh ginger root (if your condition is sensitive, omit)
- Washcloth

Grate lotus root with fine metal or ceramic circle grater until it forms a smooth paste.
Add flour and juice from fresh ginger and mix with hands.
Put on ugly jammies.  This will jack up your good jammies.
Before bed, apply 1/2 inch-thick layer of paste on sinuses, chest, and swollen glands.  Wrap face in gauze or washcloth with air holes, and prepare to lay very, very still.


In the morning, remove what's left of the paste from your skin with a good, hot shower, and prepare for your eyes, nose, and lungs to start discharging infection.  This means that you need to start carrying tissue.


Follow up with another night of lotus root plaster or at the very least, body scrubs.


In the morning I'd recommend changing your sheets.  When this stuff falls off your face, it doesn't look good.


Carrot Daikon Drink
- 1 cup grated fresh carrot (fine grater)
- 1 cup grated fresh daikon (fresh grater)
- 1 1/2 cup water
- Dash shoyu/tamari
-1" square nori seaweed


I like to make this in the morning before breakfast.  Do not eat 30 minutes before or 30 minutes after Carrot Daikon Drink unless instructed to do so by your counselor.


Grate your carrots and daikon on your fine grater.  If using a ceramic circle grater, rotate your arm in the same direction.  This is a helpful meditation and keeps consistent energy in your dish.


Combine all ingredients in a small pot, bring to a boil, and simmer for ten minutes.  Drink while hot, and eat all the solid ingredients.  This makes a good amount of remedy, so don't try to finish it yourself if it doesn't feel natural.


The one thing I miss the most about the Kushi Institute is making remedies at night with my fellow cooks.  I can't tell you guys how cool it is to simmer black soybeans at midnight with a bunch of close friends.

It's the little things in life...

Bech's Well-Tempered Frigidaire

Whole Foods is a great grocery store.  You can walk in empty-handed and walk out with a giant basket of rare, exotic, organic veggies having just spent $200.

Many of us don't have a local Whole Foods.  Even more of us don't have $200 to drop on groceries.  We've got a Walmart, a Kroger, or a Stop n' Shop and about $30-40 to spend on groceries.

I'm here to tell you that it's possible to feed your family healthy food using a few quick tricks.  This week I'm going to do a Walmart Challenge, where I walk into Walmart with $20 and walk out with the ingredients to make a healthy family meal in an hour.

In the mean time, here's my guide to the 4 "S's:"

Scrambles

Soups

Sides

Snacks

With my shopping list, you'll never go without a healthy meal, and you'll save TONS of money!

SHOPPINGU-JITSU

The Way of Shopping

Our goal is to get our vegetables to do as many different dances as possible before they go bad. We also want a bunch of basic grains and seasonings that won't go bad and can be purchased in bulk and forgotten about. This will eat up the bulk of your spending as you can't really get these at Costco or Kroger.

PRE-BUY:

Brown Rice ($3)

Quinoa ($6)

Millet ($3)

Adzuki Beans/Black Beans/Chickpeas  ($1-2 per organic can, $2-4 bulk dried)

Umeboshi Plum Vinegar ($4)

Brown Rice Vinegar ($4)

Mirin ($9)

Shoyu/Tamari ($5)

Olive Oil ($5)

Sesame Oil ($7)

Sea Salt ($3)

Miso ($10)

TOTAL: Between $45-$70, depending on how comprehensive you want to be. The good thing is, these are long-term goods that you don't need to repurchase very often at all.

Here is your shopping list. Look at how 90% of these ingredients are used for the other 3 S's. The special ingredient section is what you can buy "day-of." They're things ONLY used in this section.

SCRAMBLE

Alias: Tofu Scramble, Fried Rice, Tacos, Pizza, (If you're eating wide)

The "Scramble" can take any of the aforementioned forms. It's basically a bunch of vegetables added in a sensible combination, cooked with a little oil in a skillet, and seasoned accordingly. It can take as little as ten minutes (tofu scramble, tacos, omelette), or as long as two-three hours (good quality "pizza" with an organic, whole-grain crust and some garden-fresh veggies. No cheese, of course.)

Known Associates:

Garlic

Onion

Carrots

Celery

Napa Cabbage

Bok Choi

Broccoli

Asian Water Spinach

Kale

Watercress

Special Ingredients:

Brown Rice Taco Shell

Gluten-Free Organic Pizza Kit

Eggs? (Substitute Tofu or Tempeh for vegan)

Soba/Mung Bean Noodles (Saifun)

SOUPS

Alias: Kimchee Soup, Nabeyaki Udon, Winter Veggie Soup, Adzuki Bean Soup, Miso Soup

I was scared of making soup for so long. But I've been living off of a "mother soup" for about three weeks now (a soup that just keeps hanging around because I keep adding more water and veggies... kind of like a sourdough "mother loaf.").

Known Associates:

Onions

Celery

Carrots

Bok Choi

Napa Cabbage

Bean Sprouts

Shiitake Mushrooms

Burdock Root

Daikon Radish

Special Ingredients:

Rice or Bean Noodles (Available in the Asian or Chinese section of your grocery store.  Alias: Maifun/Saifun)

Kimchee

Miso

Adzuki Beans

Lentils

SIDE DISHES

You can really have fun here. My advice? Look to the veggie that you have the most of, and really let it sparkle. Play up the natural sweetness of carrot by making a tamari and brown rice syrup teriyaki sauce! Use dark dandelion greens with bright watercress for a great steamed green dish!

Known Associates:

Whatever's In Your Fridge

SNACKS

"Macro Snacks" don't really exist. Most of them taste like the petting zoo pellets you buy for 25¢ at the zoo. The best macro snacks that I've found are either pickles or leftovers. That being said, this is where you can be spontaneous at the grocery store. As long as you stock your fridge (and your stomach) with the balanced, nutritious vegetables and grains mentioned above, you can get some fun little snacks here, like seaweed snacks or toasted seeds. My drug of choice is rice cakes with almond butter. Om nom nom.

There you have it! Bech's Well-Tempered Frigidaire!

Healthy Desserts 102: Mochi Puffs!

Two nights ago I went to a super-famous Boston desserterie: finale... yum!  I LOVE finale, but with desserts like Molten Chocolate Cake, Creme Brulée, and Tiramisu, I knew there was no WAY I could find a "macro dessert."

I'm pretty proud of myself.  I tasted everything I wanted to taste (gluten-free, of course.  There are some lines I can't cross without an early birthday trip to the hospital) without over-indulging.  I had a bite of this, a bite of that, and as much fresh fruit as I wanted.

Today I'm sneezing, wheezing, and my system is unhappy with me.  "DAIRY AND SUGAR AND EGGS?" I can hear it yelling.  But I walked out of that restaurant having only eaten about 1/4 cup of American style dessert, so I'm calling it a win.

These "seasonal allergies" that I didn't have before Tuesday are pretty much on me for eating the desserts.  I'm just going to treat my body right this week... some nishime, some greens, some brown rice, some soup.

I want to thank it for letting me have my cake and eat it too!

To cut back on my post finale sugar cravings, I've been supplementing with fresh fruit and macro sweets.  These cloud-like confections were done in about 10 minutes, required NO work, and really hit the spot!

.: mochi puffs :.

1 inch squares cut mochi

2 tbsp. brown rice syrup

1 tsp. cold water

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

preheat oven to 400 degrees.  combine brown rice syrup, cinnamon, and water in a small bowl until blended.  toast mochi 10-15 minutes until it pops and puffs and breaks the cube-shape.

dip mochi in sauce and serve hot :)

Slow and Steady Nishime

It's midnight.
The only light in the kitchen is the fridge.
I've got a chocolate pie slice. 
And a microwave.  
The whole world is asleep.  
I'm in fuzzy jammies.

Are you with me?

Okay, we're going to do a complete 180.  It's 4:30 on a Wednesday afternoon, my fridge is packed with random crap ranging from dijon mustard to old white rice, I'm starving, and I think my blood sugar is about to render me insensate.  Let's slow-cook a crock pot of whole root vegetables for an hour.

What is nishime?

In the macrobiotic definition, it's a slow-cooking root vegetable dish that has grounding and gentle balancing energy.  It's great for people with excessive yin conditions going on.  I like it because it curbs my sugar and salt cravings.

It's not chocolate pie.  I'm not in fuzzy jammies.  But I also pay approximately $0 in medication, down from a previous $200 per-month, so I think I'll go cry about it into my very expensive sweater.

What vegetables can I put in nishime?


- daikon
- carrot
- turnip
- rutabaga
- parsnip
- celeriac
- celery

And just to be wild and crazy, today I accented my nishime with...  fiddlehead fern!

nishime with sweet + sour sauce

 Select your veggies.  Today I'm making my small dish of nishime (2 servings) with turnip, parsnip, daikon, carrots, and celery.

Roll cut your cylindrical veggies (in my case, parsnip, daikon, and carrots).  To do this, cut at a diagonal, slicing each previous diagonal in half to get chunky, uneven slices.  I'm posting a video on how to do this later this week.

This is my bowl of roll-cut daikon.  Each piece is about 2"x 2"x2"

As you roll-cut your veggies, the most important thing is NOT shape.  It's size.  If your pieces are uneven, they'll cook unevenly.  Try to get them all the same size.

My finished veggies.  I like to finish all my cutting first and place my ingredients in separate bowls so I know what I have.

Layer veggies in a soup pot.  I placed these in circles so you can see what went on bottom (outer rings) to the top (middle of the pot).  Daikon and parsnip on bottom, followed by carrots, turnips, and my lightest veggie, celery, on top.

Add about 1/2 to 1 inch of filtered water, bring to a boil, cover, lower heat, and simmer for 40 minutes to an hour, until vegetables are bright but soft enough to eat without chomping.

It was my friend's first time eating nishime, so I made a sauce out of 1 tsp. kuzu, 1 tbsp. ume vinegar, and 1 tsp. brown rice syrup, mixed with a little cold water and poured over the finished veggies.  

Enjoy with a grain, a quick veggie, and a smile!

One Pot of Brown Rice, Three Ways

How many times have we looked at the stove and seen this?

It's a grim feeling.

Another pressure cooker of short-grain brown rice, another day.

Sometimes, I get so bored with the basic rice-beans-greens macro meals that I could have a fit.  I don't want to go to the grocery store and spend more money, I don't want to spend six hours in the kitchen, and I don't want more basic brown rice.

Here are three ways to jazz up a fresh pot of brown rice to make new, exciting meals!

warm, nutty rice

 This is the quickest and easiest ways to change up the rice.  Preheat the oven to 300, and lay out almonds, walnuts, or pecans on a tray.  Roast the nuts until they begin to give off a toasted smell (approx. 5-10 minutes) and release their oils.  When the nuts cool, crush them with your hands or a suribachi.  DO NOT buy pre-roasted nuts.  Not only are these much less delicious, they are often rancid.  Mix rice, nuts, a little olive oil, and a small pinch of salt.  I often add a few sprigs of rosemary, pan-fried in olive oil to give it a great flavor.

ohagi

Ohagi is a Japanese sweet dessert made of pounded short-grain rice.  Take your brown rice, cooled, and place it in a large pot.  Pound the rice (I used the end of a rolling pin) for approximately 20 minutes, until the rice is sticky and paste-like.  This takes a firm arm and patience, but it's worth it!

Once your ohagi is a paste, you can play with it.  The goal is to roll it into balls (about golf-ball sized), filled and covered with different toppings.  You can see from this picture, there are many ways to make ohagi.  I'll be experimenting this summer with filling them with matcha and sweet tofu paste!  Here are a few easy ones using ingredients you have at home:

-Cover the ohagi in roasted sesame seeds (black or white)

-Fill the ohagi with toasted nuts or a roasted nut paste (I'll be working on one soon)

-Fill the ohagi with dried fruits (At Kushi we used dried apricots)

-Fill or cover the ohagi with sweet adzuki bean paste (1 c. cooked aduki beans mixed with 2-3 tbsp. brown rice syrup, mixed in a food processor)

rice croquettes

Rice croquettes turn a grain into a flavorful main course.

Finely shred carrots, onions, celery, and/or cabbage.  Pan-roast raw sunflower seeds until they begin to turn brown and pop, then quickly remove from pan to avoid overcooking.

Mix cool rice, veggies, sunflower seeds, and a splash of ume vinegar, and kneed into a sticky mixture.  If it sticks to your hands, coat your hands in cool water.

Pat the croquettes into burger-shaped patties, and if you'd like, cover in a light dusting of corn flour.  This isn't always necessary.

Pan-fry until golden brown on each side.  Serve with a sweet carrot and onion sauce or a light summer pesto!  Enjoy!

The Stocks: Not Just For Punishment Anymore

This is a primer post for any of you guys interested in making stocks. I used to use the Martha Stewart guide to making stocks, until four or five of the chefs here pointed out some very obvious flaws in it.

One of the things I love most about the Kushi Institute is that there's hardly any waste. We have one bag of trash for the kitchen that we take out every 4-5 days, which is INSANE for a restaurant. At my last job, we took out 4 bags of trash a day, and that was for the same volume of people. We compost what we can, and save for the soup stock the savory parts of the vegetables that would enhance our soups.

The recipes on Snackrobiotic use Vegetable Stock, Mushroom Stock, and Dashi Soup Stock. I'm providing a list of substitutions that these stocks are great for. In American, European, and Asian cooking, beef, chicken, and pork stocks are all featured heavily. You don't need to sacrifice flavor for a vegan/macrobiotic diet!

Benefits of homemade vegan and macrobiotic stocks:

-No animal products (optional fish if you're macro but not vegan)

-No hidden yeast or sugar

-You control the sodium (optional no sodium)

-"Live" bacteria and live food, not freeze-dried or processed

-Seaweed stocks replace valuable minerals that are often depleted in our bodies

-Mushroom stocks cleanse the body of built-up animal fat and toxin deposits

-BEAUCOUP CHEAPER. For those of you on a money diet like me, how about not adding an extra $4 to your meal? Yeah, pretty cool.

-Saves waste. No packaging from purchased stock, less wasted food.

Stock Theory

For your basic stock, I'll provide you with a list of commonly composted/thrown away items. Keep this in a bowl in your fridge and cover, saving no more than 2-3 days before use. If you're not making a big "show horse" soup, you can simply use the stock to jazz up your morning miso.

Things that you shouldn't stock:

-Non-organic ingredients. Simmering the skins of non-organic veggies that have been coated in pesticides and fungicides does not feel terribly safe.

-Onion skins. The outer paper skins make the stock bitter. I usually compost the outer paper skins, and remove the first layer of the paper/juicy inner skin for the stock, just so my onion cuts smoothly. This layer is particularly succulent in the stock! I don't use the onion top, but I do use the onion bottom. Some skin attached to that is OK.

-Kale/Collard stems. They don't really do anything, and they turn the water green.

-Rotten/Pocked skin or vegetal material. If it's slick, damp, broken, moldy, hairy, or decomposing, let it go, man.

Things you should definitely stock:

-Cabbage hearts (the dense part on the inside that looks like a spider when you cut it in half)

-Green onion bottoms

-Leek bottoms

-Onion bottoms/inner layers

-Mushroom bottoms

-Celery leaves/roots

-Carrot tops/bottoms/skin

-Rutabaga/Turnip tops (if you want a sweeter flavor)

-Squash tops/bottoms/skins (not the woody part, but any leftovers)

All of the above combined and simmered for half an hour make...

Vegetable Stock!

Mushroom Stock

This one's easy. For a basic mushroom stock, I wait for a day that I'm making a dish with lots of shitaake mushrooms, and I save the soaking water. This hearty, "beefy" stock can be seasoned gently with sea salt and used in any dish calling for beef or pork stock. I use it sometimes in vegan shabu-shabu (replacing beef with thinly sliced shitaake mushrooms).

Dashi Stock

Dashi is a great basis for Japanese dishes. It's fantastic as a starter for morning miso, can be used in my Kimchee Soup recipe, and is fantastic as a basis for udons. When I'm feeling sad and lazy, I buy hon-dashi premade from the stores, but the macro way is to make it from scratch.

12 c. water

2 pieces kombu seaweed

2-3 c. shaved bonito flakes (NOT VEGAN. If you want to go vegan here, I'd just do kombu with 1-2 tbsp. tamari and a pinch of sea salt)

Tea Filters

I invented this recipe based on our method for brewing tea at the tea shop. I take a Size 4 t-sac and stuff it with bonito. I staple or fold it shut (I don't think stapling is terribly macro, but sometimes I get lazy) I boil the ingredients for half an hour to 45 minutes, until the soup stock takes on a dark, rich color. I season with sea salt, tamari, and mirin to taste. Usually 2-3 tbsp. mirin.

I hope you guys enjoyed this primer course and will have many happy days of stock-making in your future!