quick sunflower salad

i was wondering where my suribachi went.  

as some of you know, a suribachi is a serrated bowl with a rough interior,

sort of like a mortar and pestle, but one that shaves the skin off your knuckles

if you aren't paying attention.  it's great for macrobiotic cooking, as you can make

gomashio, dressings, and pastes in a snap.

turns out my dad has been using mine as a cereal bowl.

i made this quick little salad (bottom left in the photo) to bring some

flavor to my greens, some metal energy to my dinner, and some fatty oils to the food.

the thing i love about this salad is that it only uses one dish.  you can grind

and build the entire thing in your suribachi, making for an easy clean-up.

1/2 cup raw hulled sunflower seeds

3 scallions

1 tsp umeboshi plum paste

water as needed

heat cast-iron skillet to medium-high heat.  add sunflower seeds, stirring constantly until they release some oil and start to pop.  remove as soon as they begin to brown, as they will continue to cook in the bowl.

mince scallions as finely as possible, including white tips.

pour roasted sunflower seeds into suribachi or coffee grinder.  crush in a continuous direction until a fluffy powder.  add scallions, ume paste, and enough water to ensure a smooth mix (i added about 1 tbsp).

serve with greens and enjoy!

The Countdown Begins! And How Not to Make Azuki Beans

Got my Greens, my Grains, my Beans, and my Brains baked salmon.

In three short weeks, I'll begin my macrobiotic residency. It's SO HARD to believe! My last day at the tea shop is on Saturday, and believe it or not, I'm going to miss my customers a lot.

Some of them.

Not Steve.

I'm trying to clean up my diet a little bit so that when I get there, I don't detox too hard and fast. I want to bring my A-game and be the best volunteer ever! I have a feeling that it will be a lot to learn, both in terms of cooking and also culturally. I have a big personality and even bigger hair, and I know that that's uh... not exactly the macro culture. I love glitter and rhinestones and interior design and Dolly Parton and third-wave feminism, so it's going to be an interesting ride.

I feel like this is a lot like going to Scotland. I lived in Scotland in college for about six months, and it was TOTALLY a curve-ball decision for me... everybody thought I was going to Japan. I thought I was going to Japan. Apparently not, according to Mel Gibson.

I was so nervous to go, and the first night, I cried for about three hours thinking I had made a horrible mistake. It didn't help that the lights didn't work, the internet didn't work, my phone didn't work, and it got dark at 2 PM. When you're sitting alone in a sleeping bag, it's pitch black, and your dorms were erected on the site of the largest communal witch burning in world history, it feels like a message.

It ended up being the most powerful, meaningful big decision I've ever made. It redirected the course of my life. I made some amazing friends, saw places I'll remember forever, and was in the right place at the right time.

I hope this is one of those instances. I hope this is one of those "right place, right time" kind of things. If I could throw out a couple of prayer requests, I would really appreciate it if you guys would pray for me. If you could pray that God preserve my health in the winter months (when I usually get sick), that I have a welcoming heart to everyone I meet at this internship, and that I have open eyes to perceive the blessings God is introducing into my life.

Now for the grub.

(Pictured above)

GREENS, WINTERIZED

Collard Greens

2 tbsp. grated ginger root, squeezed.

1-2 tbsp. gluten-free tamari

1 tbsp. lemon juice

2 tbsp. sesame oil

Fresh mushrooms (these are shiitake), sliced into strips

Fresh onions and garlic cloves to taste, minced

Mix your liquids into a sauce (not the oil). Heat sesame oil at the bottom of a big pot, then toss in your garlic. Saute 1 minute at med-high heat, then add your onions. I like to cook these 3 minutes, so they're nice and toasty and brown.

Add your mushrooms. Swish them around about 5 minutes, until they begin to release their delicious, mushroomy juice. Add greens, then add your sauce. Stir until all the green start to wilt, then cover and cook for five minutes. Don't forget about it. I did. I burned it. Stir periodically. When the greens are dark green, you're done!

HOW NOT TO MAKE AZUKI BEANS

When you soak them overnight, do not forget about them and soak them for two days.

If you do this, rinse and drain them, then cover them and put them in the fridge, and cook them ASAP.

When you cook them, be sure you read the directions and put exactly the right amount of water in. Don't eyeball it and add six cups for one cup of beans. This only ends in sadness.

If you've been soaking them for two days, do not cook them for two hours. They will no longer be categorized as "beans." They may not even be categorized as biological, plant-based material. They become a mineral. Or possibly an element.

Season them with a splash of tamari. Do not season them with anything else. Do not listen to the anime character on the side of the bag who says " 早く！砂糖を加える！”

Do not microwave them for breakfast the next morning because you can't be bothered to use a skillet like a civilized person.

Rocking Collards

I don't have a picture of these awesome collard greens I made the other day, so I'm just going to put up a picture of my dog.

I was trying to cobble together a dinner using rice, the fish in the fridge, and some collard greens. I was totally sick of all my collard green recipes that I've made a billion times before, so I got hit with a crazy idea.

Lemon juice.

The result was light and bright, a perfect compliment to the spiced tuna and jasmine rice.

LEMON COLLARD GREENS

-1/2 lemon, juiced

-1 bunch collard greens

-1 small yellow onion, sliced into thin strips

-4 garlic cloves, minced

-pinch coarse sea salt

-(optional) pinch ground black pepper

Slice the onions into thin strips, mince garlic cloves. I am a garlic fanatic and did six cloves, but not everyone shares my obsession. Pan-fry the garlic until it just begins to brown, and then add the onion, cooking 3-4 minutes at medium-high heat. I typically slice my collard greens into 3-4 inch thick strips, and add them just after I finish the onions.

At this point, it's important to be judicious with oil. It's really easy to see the ingredients sticking to the pan and slosh some more oil in here, but I've found that adding 2-3 tbsp. cold water works even better, keeps the flavor light, and keeps it low-cal. If you add the water, let it simmer down a few minutes and then add your lemon juice and spices.

The whole cooking process takes between 15-20 minutes and results in a totally rocking collard dish!

Pumpkin Seed Dressing!

I'm mighty chuffed to present the following recipe to you guys. It's a family favorite, and I recently made it for May, who declared it to be her Favorite Macrobiotic Dish, Ever. There are some great pictures of us eating it that'll be added to this post soon.

This week, I've been on the continued recovery track, but things have been pretty good and I'm blessed with strong health. Last week my recurrent skin problem came back, and the last two times that happened, I had to get surgery and go on antibiotics costing a thousand dollars that I definitely don't have.

This time around, I treated it macrobiotically, and experienced healing in about four days. This is really huge, because the last two times this infection came up, I had to have it surgically removed, and I went from healthy to needing surgery in about four days. It happens really fast.

Here's what I did:

-Burdock Root Tea, Nightly for three nights.

-1/2" Green Clay Compress, applied for 12 hours at a time, three days in a row

-Cut dairy, sugar, and reduced soy and "snackro" foods for a week in favor of the real whole foods I probably should be eating all the time. I'm a big fan of eating gluten-free "fake" foods, like gluten-free pizza with soy cheese, but I know it's just a short-cut, and that these can be damaging to your health as well.

To celebrate at the end of all this, I cooked a huge macro meal with mixed rices, fresh garden greens, pickled bean sprouts, and PUMPKIN SEED DRESSING!!! Here it is!

Pumpkin Seed Dressing and Greens

Watercress and a bitter green (Dandelion greens, collard greens, kale, swiss chard, etc.) steamed

1 1/2 c raw pumpkin seeds, roasted by you at 375 for 10 minutes or so. Keep an eye on these because they burn quickly!

2-3 tsp. ume plum paste

3-4 minced scallions

Water as needed to achieve desired consistency

Pour your roasted pumpkin seeds in a coffee grinder. As these grind, add them to a large bowl and combine plum paste, scallions, and water to bring to a hummus-like consistency. Eat with green veggies or as hummus type dip.

Guest Recipe: Chinese Sauces!

Last night I had a KILLER homemade meal with some vegetables I have eaten but never heard of and some deeply serious sauces. I mentioned to the beautiful and talented chef that I wasn't really accustomed to eating Chinese food having begun this macrobiotic diet because the big macro recipe genres in my life are:

-Latin!

-Japanese!

-Italian!

I find that most Macrobiotic people from the South tend to go from cooking bacon & grits soul food to whatever Macro recipes they can get their hands on in a cookbook or at a potluck. Because, let's face it... it's pretty impossible to adapt the Southern diet to the Macrobiotic diet. You basically have to start fresh. At least the Greeks can still use chickpeas. There is really no place for ham hock in a food energetics spectrum... I think it's sulking somewhere on the yin-yang scale between blue cheese and crack cocaine.

Here's dinner:

Menu:

A Vegetable that I have narrowed down using my excellent Chinese Food About.com skills to Chinese Water Spinach/Kang Kong/Swamp Cabbage

Nutritional Yeast Tofu with Tomatoes and Onions and a Peanut Sauce

Plated Jasmine Brown Rice. That's right. I did say plated.

Here's how she did the vegetables. These are literally the butteriest vegetables I have ever had in my life outside of the context of actual butter.

BUTTERY CHINESE WATER SPINACH

1. Go to an Asian Grocery Store. Get some Chinese Water Spinach and some Fermented Bean Curd Chunks in Sesame Oil. This is the bottle we used:

It is amazing and I'm using it forever and ever.

Mince about 4-5 large cloves of garlic, take 1 tbsp. of the bean curd, and mash together to make a paste.

Heat oil in a skillet, add mash and cook until golden brown. Add water spinach and combine, cooking until dark green. Easy and SO GOOD!!!!!!

Peanut Sauce recipe to be forthcoming. I was already stuffing my face by the time she got to making the peanut sauce.

The thing that was interesting was that she was like "None of this is probably macro." ALL of it was macro. I think that because those of us who cook from the books are so accustomed to making--more or less-- the same 10 dishes over and over again, it can strike our friends and loved ones that macrobiotic cooking is a limited spectrum of dishes and methods of preparation. Her dinner was actually proof to me that there are SO MANY amazing dishes you can make that are vegan, gluten-free, and macro!

Summer Greens and Skin Problems

I plan to start cooking with some of the wonderful summer greens that have popped up in our gardens. We're growing collard greens right now, which should be good because I have epic acne from all the chocolate I've consumed this week.

Your skin is the canary in the mine as far as internal balance goes. If you have a blemish and are able to cure it through eating, it's a good sign that things are progressing internally.

To get this beautiful skin, I really push the dark leafy greens. A lot of people put dressings (pumpkin seed, umeboshi) on their greens which is fine and macro, but I like to live dangerously. Also, too much flax seed oil makes me weird.

I got this and many other techniques from Martha Stewart Living and adapted it to fit macrobiotic cooking. This is a wonderful way to put a subtle but lively twist on your summer greens, and the presentation is beautiful! I can't find a picture at the moment, but I saved this technique in "The Bible," which I'll tell yall about later.

SUMMER GREEN STEAMER

1 lemon, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds

5-8 basil leaves which are GARDEN FRESH in the summer!

1 bundle dandelion greens

1 bundle hydroponic watercress (probably not garden fresh, which is good in my opinion. People with hydroponic grow operations are super shady.)

Place water in a deep frying pan and add lemon slices and bamboo leaves to the floating water. Place bamboo steamer in the water, and on the bottom shelf add your dandelion greens. Place the watercress on the top shelf. As the water heats, the essence of the basil and lemon will infuse your greens with a wonderful, light summer flavor with a technique that is perfectly macro, and best of all, the whole process takes less than ten minutes from the first slice of the lemon to the first bite of the greens!

Rehabilitating: I Was a Southern Teenager

Being a Southern teenager, my diet pretty much consisted of BBQ, fast food, Cracker Barrel, and cold pizza for breakfast. As a result, my face basically looked like my breakfast, and now I have a lot of scarring from acne.

My skin and hair have become much softer since I introduced more wakame and kombu into my daily diet. Some studies have shown that eating lots of these delicious sea vegetables results in an increase in collagen elasticity later in life... I noticed when living in Japan that pretty much all the women aged PHENOMENALLY. My host mother was 50 going on 25. I really do believe that this is because they eat a much greater amount of sea vegetables. Look younger, and don't let people stick needles in your face!

Another thing I love is French Green Cosmetic Clay. This stuff is amazingly powerful. It is crazy cheap (I get mine from Mountain Rose Herbs), free from a lot of the run-of-the-mill cosmetic chemicals, and will literally suck the toxins out of your face whether you want it to or not. Not a joke, it feels like an octopus is on your face, sucking in time with your pulse.

Tip: Don't use this stuff right before leaving the house. Give yourself a few hours to gussy up and recover, because your face will look like an infectious rash for about two hours following. I made the horrible mistake of doing this mask 30 minutes before my freshman homecoming in high school. Bad scene. Pictures to follow.