A bit more about turmeric…. it was featured on a series medical treatises from 3000 BC written in cuneiform on stone tablets and has
been included in Ayurvedic tradition since about 1900 BC. If you’re interested in reading more history, I’d suggest “Foods to Fight
Cancer” by Richard Beliveau, PhD and Denis Gingras PhD. The active compound in turmeric is curcumin which is associated with antitumor,
anti-inflamatory and antioxidant properties. Another recipe my family loves which again uses some Indian spices:

Chickpea (garbanzo) Curry

Saute 1 finely chopped large onion in olive oil til edges turn brown. Add:
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 chopped garlic clove
ground chili, if desired

Add more oil if necessary, fry til spices are fragrant.

Add:
tomatoes (either 1 can diced or 4-5 diced Romas)
chickpeas (either 1 can or 1 1/2 cups fresh–available in the cooler
section in Costco–steam them first)

Simmer for a few minutes adding water if necessary and add salt to taste. Add 1/4 cup chopped cilantro and serve over rice.

Breakfast can be a tricky meal. You’d like to start the day right, but it can be difficult to find healthy choices when most of the quick
breakfast ideas in the grocery store are loaded with sugar and carbs. My kids are used to having strange things put in front of them with
the instructions “you have to at least try one bite” but a few months ago obeying that directive might have taken some courage! The glass
contained a green bubbly slime that looked like it might have various swamp monsters hiding under the thick layers.

We were looking for something gross-looking to serve at Halloween and found it! Came across an idea for a green slime smoothie. It
contains everything you could wish for in a breakfast food — protein, green leafy vegetables, potassium — and the kids now request it by
name!

Green Slime Smoothie

1 small can pineapple juice
1 cup of plain yogurt
2 bananas
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-2 packed cups of raw baby spinach

Blend all together and serve

Being healthy has always seemed to me like flossing your teeth…something you know you should do, try periodically sometimes half-heartedly, worry that you’re not doing good enough, doesn’t sound like fun but really you should or WHAT will people think! Last year a close family member was diagnosed with melanoma, add to that the deluge of friends and others who have cancer and it feels like we should be doing something. My personal path has taken me through books, to classes and on websites learning about healthy eating. From what I’ve learned, what we eat can have a huge impact on the natural cancer-fighting ability of our body. My family has volunteered (well, since I do the shopping and cooking, they didn’t have much choice!) to go down this path and be open to new foods to eat.

Turmeric has been linked to fighting infection, fighting cancer, reducing inflamation, treating digestive problems.
Experiment with adding it to vegetable dishes, eggs and anything else you can think of.Clean, trim and halve brussel sprouts.

Recipe:

Finely dice 1 large onion and fry in olive oil until the edges are brown.

Add:
1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon cumin

Cook for a few minutes until fragrant. Add more oil if necessary.

Add brussel sprouts and 1/2 cup of water. Stir and cover. Steam 5 minutes or until crisp tender. Add salt to taste.

Cook 1 cup quinoa in 2 cups water or broth. Fluff with fork and cool to room temperature.

2 carrots, shredded
2 small zucchini, shredded
1 onion, shredded
Shred above ingredients and squeeze extra water out.

1/2 bunch parsley, finely chopped
1/2 c sunflower seeds
1/4 t cumin
1/2 t coriander
salt
pepper
combine above with shredded vegetables and quinoa. mix well.

add 3 eggs, 1/2 c breadcrumbs and 1/4 c flour.

combine all together and form into patties.

grease a baking sheet with 2T olive oil. bake 350° for 15 minutes, turn bake another 15 minutes.

There are lots of reasons why we eat, but the primary should be for nutrition. With the incidence of cancer, diabetes and other chronic diseases ravaging our country, I’ve been reading a lot about what we can do to stay healthy. We’ve made few simple changes.

no breakfast cereal (oatmeal, raw oats with yogurt, fruit/veggie smoothies)
more yogurt, kefir
more raw and colorful vegetables
more raw and colorful fruit

An extraordinary book full of stories and suggestions is Anti Cancer A New Way of Life by David Servan-Schreiber.

This is a great book, very readable and filled with scientific information and easy to implement suggestions for improving your own health.

educating myself on the various wild edible & medicinal plants in the woods around us. love going for hikes and know the basic plants — ferns, blackberry, huckleberry, salal and oregon grape. want to learn more and see if i can prepare and use some natural products to replace the chemical ones in my house. plan on collecting nettles this weekend and reading up on how to dry wild plants.

Here’s what I’ve found: cut plants as low to the ground as you can and bundle with a rubber band about 1-2 inches from the cut ends. if they are very dirty, gently rinse. find a dark, dry place to hang upside down until totally dried. after they are dry, remove the leaves/flowers and store in a glass jar in a cool, dark area. be sure to label with the name and date collected. paper bags can also be used to dry them if hanging upside down doesn’t seem to work.

to make a cold infusion tea: suspend herb in cloth bag in room temperature water overnight. remove herb.

to make standard infusion tea: steep herb in hot water for 1 hour, strain.

to make strong decoction: boil herb in water for 10 minutes. cool and strain.

pictures of our nettle collecting trip to post in the next few days.

This is an easy salad. In the picture, I made it with red quinoa, but the yellow works just as well. Delicious, healthy salad packed full of super foods!

1 head broccoli, steamed & cooled
1/2 cup feta cheese
1 cup quinoa cooked & cooled
juice from 1 or 2 lemons
olive oil
salt to taste
dried cranberries

combine all. add more lemon or salt to taste.

Just finished reading Slow Death by Rubber Duck. What a fascinating book! A little scary about all the chemicals in plastics and as we know plastics are everywhere! Have been slowly switching to ceramic and glass in the kitchen, but as the research by these authors shows it’s impossible to get away from plastics. Some of the results of exposure to these toxic chemicals are pretty bad, so how can we protect our kids and still live a modern life? The book includes a few handy practical suggestions:

get rid of air fresheners
avoid bath products that have a lot of artificial fragrance/perfumes
throw away non-stick frying pans
don’t eat microwave popcorn (the bag is coated with chemicals)
choose hardwood floors instead of carpets
if you eat fish, choose small fish (like the flake tuna instead of larger cuts) as the smaller fish are younger and absorb less toxic chemicals
don’t use antibacterial products that include microban, triclosan, etc…
use vinegar and hydrogen peroxide to clean your kitchen (is just as effective as the harsh chemicals)
replace your lawn with native meadow/plants
don’t microwave in plastic
don’t drink bottled water

went to a class this past week by one of the staff at TrackersNW. It was a short class that only covered 3 plants, but whetted my curiosity for more. The ones discussed and their possible uses were:

Oregon Grape (mahonia) Apparently has antimicrobial properties in the root (and I guess the leaves and berries as well) since it’s from berberine which creates the bitter taste, so is probably in the whole plant. A digestive tincture or in glycerin for skin problems.

Dandelion – steam the greens

Western Red Cedar – crush the needles, put in a french press and make a tea. good for respiratory and allergy problems.

NOTE: not intended as medical advice and whatever other disclaimers are necessary

just read a book about the paleo diet. hadn’t heard about this concept until a friend mentioned it on facebook. the book has some interesting idea. basically the concept is: lean meat, fruit, vegetables all okay. grains and dairy not okay. there’s discussion about the acid vs alkaline levels in food. supposedly the imbalance is our current modern diets is what causes a lot of the chronic diseases we see today. makes a lot of sense on it’s own, but when taken together with what i’ve read from michael pollan and jonathan safran foer it doesn’t provide a comprehensive system of thinking about food. working through what makes sense for me. vegetarianism is common sense with all the factory farming. processed food is bad, salt is bad, but what about good food. raw food is a great idea in concept, but how is it practical?