Sweet Potato and Mung Bean Stuffed Cabbage

                                                                                                                                                                                             

Cabbage came in my winter farm share box this week. It has been a bit rainy and cold so I did not want to make a salad or slaw with it. Instead I made a warm, spicy, sweet savory dish that was wonderful and easy. I mentioned a couple of posts back that I have phased out canned beans and am only using dried beans. I phased out all canned foods actually. Two reasons for this. First, dried beans are less expensive and there is a lot less waste of resources and energy associated with them. Second is the BPA associated with the liners in canned food. Many companies however, are using "BPA-free" liners in cans now which is fantastic.
Mung beans are a small bean in the kidney bean family that require no pre-soaking and cooks in about 50-60 minutes. According to Paul Pitchford in his amazing book Healing With Whole Foods mung beans are beneficial to gall bladder, liver and eliminates damp heat. Great for high blood pressure, skin inflammation, heat symptoms and detoxification. Mung beans are also easy to digest which is sometimes not the case with beans! Healing With Whole Foods is a book I highly recommend for recipes and nutrition information related to eastern traditions. It was a textbook in one of my classes way back when while I attended Bastyr, and has since become one of the most referenced nutrition books in my collection.
I cooked 1/2 cup of dried mung beans in the pressure cooker, mixed it with a cup of sweet potato I had from the previous day, and mixed in some lovely spices. I blanched the cabbage leaves for about 90 seconds each and topped the cabbage pockets with the last can of tomato sauce I had in my pantry. I pondered making a bechamel sauce with the cabbage instead of tomato, but liked how the acid paired with the sweet potato and cinnamon. I used a spice mixture you may have heard of called ras el hanout. I bought mine in San Francisco at Real Food Company. The Spice House sells it too if you are interested in buying it online. The spices really made this dish. The coriander and mustard seeds popped with flavor in my mouth. The cinnamon and sweet potato had a wonderful pumpkin pie taste. Paired with the cabbage, it made a great combination. Enjoy!!

Cabbage leaves with Sweet Potato and Mung Beans

6-8 large cabbage leaves
1 1/2 cup cooked mung beans
1 cup cooked sweet potato
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. crushed fennel seeds
1/2 tsp. ras el hanout
2 pinches salt
1 tsp. mustard seeds
1 tsp. coriander seeds
1 cup tomato sauce

In pressure cooker or pot add 1/2 cup mung beans and 1 cup water. Cook for 20 minutes in pressure cooker or 60 min. on stovetop. They will be very soft when cooked. After they are cooked, add sweet potato and all the spices along with salt. Mix until combined.
Blanch cabbage leaves for 90 seconds in boiling water. Remove and shake off excess water.
Spoon a heaping tablespoon of sweet potato and bean mixture onto  the middle top of cabbage leaf. Roll up like a burrito. Set into a lighlty oiled dish. Top with a tablespoon each of chunky tomato sauce. Cook at 350 degrees covered for 30 minutes.

Miso Glazed Fennel

Fennel. Oh how I love fennel. The longer it cooks the more tender and sweet it becomes. Yesterday I baked fennel glazed with miso and orange zest. Today I used it again to add to a frisee salad. Frisee is curly endive from the chicory family. Frisee is bitter, and because it is so bitter, it is sometimes found mixed with other greens.  Our local coop started to carry Frisee a couple of weeks back from a local farm.  I have been pining for frisee for years now.  I am always drawn to bitter because when paired with a sweet element it becomes a match made in heaven. I am going to be making miso glazed fennel in a cooking class next month and wanted to refine the recipe I have had floating around in my head.

I think I paid $15 for this miso. I have been buying South River Miso for a couple of years now. It has a rich, complex flavor. I washed the frisse and tossed it with a small bit of olive oil and balsamic. The orange zest with the fennel and miso created a soft, rich, buttery consistency that paired well with the bitter frisee.


Miso Glazed Fennel

2 med/small fennel root or 1 large root
1 heaping tablespoon miso
zest of an orange
1 tsp. butter

Wash and slice fennel into medium thickness slices. Toss with the miso in a bowl and transfer to baking dish. Scatter butter on top of fennel and sprinkle with orange zest. Bake covered at 375 for 40 minutes.
Toss frisee with a very small bit of olive oil and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. Top with 3 or 4 warm pieces of roasted fennel.

Tomorrow I am going post a dish I made last night I am really excited about...Cabbage leaves stuffed with sweet potatoes and mung beans!

Waiting for the Pox

Chicken Pox is sweeping through our kindergarten classes. Our county is one of the lowest for vaccine compliance in the state of California. I have noticed there are a lot of strong feelings and opinions about choosing to vaccinate children or not. I have selectively vaccinated M since she turned a year old. Chicken Pox however, is not a vaccine I chose to give her. We have been careful to keep her away from parties and large groups since being exposed out of courtesy to adults that may not have immunity. Based on our recent school outbreak however, I am not alone in the decision to skip the Varicella vaccine. I have done due diligence and am prepared if she comes home sick with them. If you are interested, there are very useful homeopathic remedies to help treat the symptoms of chicken pox. Here is what I am keeping on hand...

Note: I am not a homeopath. I am a nutritionist. But, I do use homeopathy for our family with great success. Homeopathy is a passion of mine.  I encourage you to consult a homeopath to build your own collection of remedies. 

1. Pulsatilla: weepy, clingy, sad, hard to console
2. Rhus toxicodendron: extremely itchy rash, relief from warm baths
3. Bryonia: dry cough with pox, thirsty
4. Apis: pox are puffy, red and swollen
5. Mercurius solubilis: remedy if pox look like they are getting infected
6. Belladonna: red hot flushed face, high fever
7. Antimonium tartaricum: congested cough develops, white coated tongue, may be nauseated

I am expecting that she might go through two or three remedies. I also have some organic juice to make her popsicles. The only treatment I have not bought is colloidal oatmeal. We have a wooden soaking tub instead of a standard bathtub, and it is supposed to be kept clean of soap, shampoo, etc. I think I may just buy some and carefully scrub the tub afterwards. Of course if she gets the chicken pox I will let you all know the remedies that worked best!

Sunday Walk

We took a walk today to Bald Mountain. It was an absolutely beautiful day.  Bald Mountain is a cultural landmark for our community that happens to be a short walk from our house. I went into labor walking to Bald Mountain as a matter of fact! The smell of baking pine needles, the roar of the river in the winter, the sound of wind in the canyon, many things make it a beautiful, unique place. Above is a picture of the view from Bald Mountain. A view no one from here forgets. Our special place...

Mission Accomplished!

Check out that fantastic outfit. Today striped socks went with pink tie-dye pants that are two sizes too small. The perfect 'learning to bike ride' outfit, because today was the big day she learned how to ride her bike! Because we live at the end of a three mile dirt road, riding a bike is something we must travel to town to do.  It got put on the back burner a bit, but this day we were all ready.
It started out with some tears, but we got past it and she soared. A day we will never forget!

Spaghetti Squash with Crispy Sage and Feta

What do you think about Spaghetti Squash? I spied one last week at our local coop, and put it in my basket. Honestly I usually pass it up because I have found it to be a tad bit dull. Dull is not in my food vocabulary. It has been sitting on my counter waiting to be born into a delicious steamy plate of dinner. Today, while in Bikram yoga, I found myself mentally escaping while sweat was dripping in my eyes trying to hold triangle pose for what seemed like eternity.  I started thinking about something more enjoyable; recipes. The other night our friends were over for dinner and they brought some raw feta cheese for our salad. Then sage popped into my mind. Then came Spaghetti Squash with Crispy Sage and Feta. Somewhere after eagle pose but before camel it was decided.
By the way, I use a Nikon D3000. I have only used it for 2 months. Before that was a Canon point and shoot. I have no training at all taking pictures, and you most likely would find me swearing under my breath while trying to shoot plates of food.

Spaghetti Squash with Crispy Sage and Feta
 
4 servings

1 med. spaghetti squash
2-3 tbls. olive oil
pinch salt
20 fresh sage leaves
1 cup feta (I used sheep feta)

Very carefully, slice spaghetti squash longways. Scoop out seeds, and place flesh down on a lightly oiled cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 40 minutes or until tender when you stick it with a knife.

To make the sage leaves, remove leaves from the stems. Put 2 tbls of olive oil in a bowl and drag each sage leaf through the olive oil, then using your fingers to remove excess oil. Arrange on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with a bit of salt. Bake in 375 degree oven for about 8 minutes. Start checking on them after 5 minutes because they crisp fast and burn easily. Their color will turn more grey and if you test one, it will be a bit crispy. They crisp up more after you remove them from the oven.
Drain sage leaves on a paper bag or a paper towel and let cool.

Take a fork and loosen the flesh which will resemble noodles. Scoop into mixing bowl and crumble feta on top. Mix with a fork just until blended.  Spoon onto a plate and top 4-5 sage leaves

Roasted Broccoli with Saffron Lime Butter

I think having a child who really, really loves vegetables is the exception to the rule. Our brains are wired to be satiated from sugar and carbohydrates. That said, I am constantly creating new vegetable dishes that I hope my child and our friends children will eat and perhaps enjoy. One of my dream jobs would to be a natural foods lunch lady (sans the hair net). I get deep satisfaction when children will eat my food and deeper satisfaction knowing it is feeding their bodies well. My good friend told me that her pediatrician's office did a study and 75% of their patients are obese. They are performing cardiac profiles on high risk children and finding high cholesterol in three year olds.  Not an easy fix. I have an urge to invite the world over to my house for a broccoli sit-down. Just us, conversation and some very tasty, well prepared broccoli to change their minds about how children are destined to eat. I have very high hopes as you can see.

I have the pictures to prove it may very well work....

I had a plate newly roasted broccoli with saffron butter in the kitchen today.  They found it and ate the whole thing. Actually fought over the last pieces.  That is our friend there on the left. He is a good buddy of ours since he was born. These two like to make big messes in my house and laugh a lot together. They both really like to eat, which is a good scenario for me.
Well this is a very easy recipe and dare I say it is kid approved too?




Roasted Broccoli with Saffron Lime Butter

2 med. bunches broccoli stems cut off
1 tsp. olive oil
1 small pinch saffron
1 pinch salt
1 tbls butter
1 tbls olive oil
zest of a lime

Place broccoli on a cookie sheet. Toss with a tsp. of olive oil, or use a Misto sprayer and coat with olive oil. Roast in a 375 degree oven for about 15 minutes, or until the edges are starting to brown. Remove from oven, transfer to a bowl and sprinkle with a pinch of salt.
In a saucepan add saffron, olive oil and butter. After melting the  butter, add half of the lime's zest.  Let sit for about 10 minutes so the saffron can flavor the oils. Pour over the broccoli and toss. Taste for more salt. Zest the rest of the lime on top before serving.