I was introduced to was Cornellia’s Healing Miso Soup by way of the Natural Epicurean Academy of Culinary Arts, based here in Austin, Texas.  Originally the school was called Macro Magic, which is where I took my first macrobiotic cooking classes taught by Elizabeth Ortiz. But of course this recipe came directly from Cornellia Aihara (wife and partner of Macrobiotic teacher and philosopher Herman Aihara) and the Vega Study Center. This famous couple founded the Vega Study Center and have helped thousands of people heal themselves through diet and lifestyle changes. They have both since passed away, so sadly the center no longer exists.

I am sure Cornellia would have wanted to share her healing recipe with as many people as possible. Enjoy!

NOTE: This is a more yan style miso soup and is made without any oil.

INGREDIENTS:

Cornellia Makes Her Special Barley Miso

5 inch strip of wakame, soaked in cold water for 5-10 minutes.

5 cups boiling spring or filtered water

4-5 inches organic burdock, cut in pencil shaving method

1 teaspoon organic umeboshi vinegar

4 inches organic daikon, cut in rounds, then matchsticks

1 media organic carrot, cut in pencil shaving method

2-4 teaspoons Cornellia’s Vega 5-year Barley Miso or other organic 3-year barley miso

DIRECTIONS:

Soak wakame by covering with cold water for 5-10 minutes. Pull wakame out of soaking water and squeeze out excess water. Reserve soaking water to add to soup later. Place soup pot on stove with burdock, adding boiling water to cover. Bring to a simmer. Add 1 teaspoon umeboshi vinegar, cover, and cook for 20 minutes.

While burdock is cooking, cut the harder central spine from the wakame and mince. Cut the ruffle part into 1/2 inch squares. Keep the spine and ruffle parts separate. Set aside.

Add daikon to the soup, again adding boiling water to cover. Place the lid on the pot an simmer utnil tender, Add carrots, wakame soaking water, and minced wakame spine. Cook until carrots are tender. Add wakame ruffles and simmer another 5 minutes.

Dilute miso into a small amount of soup stock, mixing in a suribachi or bowl until smooth. Bring soup to a boil. Shut off heat. Add diluted miso just before serving. Miso should be heated all the way through but not boiled, as boiling will destroy beneficial bacteria and enzymes.

VARIATIONS:

Daikon may get tough during the summer growing season.

Substitute green cabbage, Napa cabbage, celery, or other vegetables in season.

COMMENTS:

Use 1/2-1 teaspoon of miso per cup of water to taste or based on your personal condition.

Papi and I enjoyed some fresh collard greens while getting covered with giant snow flakes the other day. A little cold weather doesn’t bother our urban garden, in fact, it seems to thrive on it! It’s fun to watch our organic boy help himself to a healthy snack fresh from the garden.

I am not a big fan of mainstream shows like 20/20, but last night I heard that Jeff Garlin, from “Curb Your Enthusiasm” was going to be talking about his food addiction. My curiosity got the best of me so I tuned in a little prime time action to hear what he had to say.

Turns out he was promoting his new book, “My Footprint: Carrying the Weight of the World“, a memoir about his struggle with weight loss and food addiction. His weight topped out at 320 and when he received a Living XL catalog in the mail and opened it up to see a model that looked just like him, that was his “aha” moment.

Regarding the Living XL catalog, Garlin says,

“What it really is, is a catalog that helps you stay fat. Like, if you don’t have a chair that can hold you, we’ve got the chair. A thousand-pound capacity!”

I think Jeff Garlin is a funny actor and he’s probably a nice guy, but I don’t agree with the concept of food addiction as a disease. I do think that each of us has a unique chemistry and I believe our food choices have a huge affect on metabolism. Rather than buy his book, I would recommend you incorporate whole grains into your meals and eat plenty of fresh vegetables. Think about skipping the frozen and packaged food aisle completely when you are grocery shopping. I totally agree with Jeff that sugar and flour don’t help anyone, so it’s no surprise that he eliminated processed and refined foods such as bagels, Cap’n Crunch and donuts from his diet. This is a no brainer Jeff. It’s makes me think of one of Allan’s first posts “What Is Your Foundation?”. No one wants the cells of their body made up of Cap’n Crunch and donuts. How gross is that?

Garlin talks about how he never felt full after eating mass quantities. He just wanted more and more. I believe this was clearly because his body was not receiving proper nutrition, not because of a disease. The fact is that highly processed foods, refined sugar and flour products can create a craving cycle.

When you eat that donut today, the only thing it’s doing is guaranteeing that you will want a donut, or something similar, tomorrow. Stop the madness!

Eating healthy is not foreign to me. In other words, I haven’t consumed Cap’n Crunch or fast food of any kind for 20 plus years.  But last fall I decided to get super serious about my diet as I neared the big 5-0. Though I was already cooking plenty of my meals and eating fresh veggies and brown rice, I decided to stop eating ALL refined and processed foods. The first couple days I found myself hungry all the time. What worked for me was sitting down to a small bowl of brown rice and healthy fermented vegetable pickles every time I got hungry, and chewing my food like crazy. That’s it. I’m sure it sounds boring as hell, but it really helped with any cravings that I had experienced in the past. Eliminating cravings is key when trying to clean up your diet and really get healthy.

I am not promoting his book, but here is a link to some excerpts if you are curious about it. It basically reads like his personal diary. It might be funny and entertaining, but I won’t be buying it. Perhaps it will inspire some to ditch processed foods, if so, that’s fantastic.

I am just saying, if you are really serious about making some changes to your diet my recommendation is EAT REAL FOOD!

Skip the book, save the 20 bucks, and go buy some short grain brown rice, barley, millet, groats and quinoa and get serious about adding real food into your diet.

Technorati Tags: healthy food, jeff garlin, diet, cravings

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I am not a fan of cucumber pickles. Ask most people if they like pickles, and ninety-nine percent of them assume you are talking about brined cucumbers. I don’t like store bought pickles, many times they contain Calcium Chloride, Sodium Benzoate or High Fructose Corn Syrup, among other unnecessary ingredients. Since turning fifty, I have found it even more important to stay away from processed foods unless I am doing the processing.

When Sue and I first began eating at Casa de Luz 15 years ago, it was the first time I had eaten vegetable pickles with a meal. After Sue started studying macrobiotics and taking cooking classes she learned that eating pickles regularly is an alkaline booster that also nourishes the digestive and immune system by providing friendly bacteria.

Last year I finally decided to start making my own pickles because I love them. I didn’t follow any macrobiotic guidelines, I just played around with several vinegars and then added some olive oil for extra flavor. I like to make a large batch of pickles that will usually last me a month or two.

Watch the video below for details on my process. It is very easy. I like root vegetables best for this type of pickling. The next batch I make will definitely include beets.

Homemade Veggie Pickles

Thinly sliced, carrots, daikon, radishes, onion, and garlic.
(Enough to fill a glass container)
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup umeboshi vinegar (aka ume plum vinegar)
1/2 cup brown rice vinegar
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup filtered water

DIRECTIONS:

Mix all of the veggies together in a glass container or bowl. Add equal amounts of the ingredients until the vegetables are covered. Let sit out of the refrigerator for a day or two. Try to wait four days after making before eating. Eat a small amount of pickle with your meal, preferably with a whole grain like barley or rice.

Technorati Tags: recipes, healthy food, macrobiotics, pickles

Everyone has heard of miso soup. Some people love it others can’t stand it. I’m pretty sure it’s an acquired taste, but from everything I’ve read, it is a taste worth acquiring to promote your overall health. Just remember, miso soup can taste a thousand different ways. If you keep trying, you’ll figure out a way to make a miso soup that you will absolutely love! (I recommend newbies use a light miso rather than a very rich, aged, dark miso.)

Miso origins have been traced back to China as far back at the 4th century BC. According to Japanese mythology, “Miso is a gift to mankind from the gods to assure health, longevity and happiness.”

I don’t know about all that mythology stuff, I just know that I eat miso soup because it makes me feel fabulous!

Miso soup isn’t a meal in itself, rather it’s a healthy way to start a balanced meal. It gets the juices flowing so to speak and aids in healthy digestion.

What I have learned from cooking classes at the Natural Epicurean, workshops with Warren Kramer, and hanging out with my macrobiotic friends down at Casa de Luz is to always strive for simplicity. Miso soup is easy to make, but there are still some misconceptions when it comes to this ancient dish.

Misconception 1: If you put some miso paste into an existing soup or into a cup of warm water, then you have miso soup! This is not correct. Miso soup includes water, miso, a land vegetable, a sea vegetable and a garnish.

Misconception 2: Don’t cook miso! We have all heard that you should not boil miso because it will kill the healthy, live bacteria, but you do need to simmer it over a low flame for a minute or two. This is crucial for activating these valuable enzymes.

Misconception 3: Miso soup has to have tofu in it. Absolutely not. If you don’t like tofu, please don’t put it in your miso soup!

Miso soup is made using five ingredients. Of course you can add more, but these are the five basics that must be included for a balance, healthy soup.

Water (Pure filtered water or spring water.) This is essential for great tasting soup.

Land vegetable (Any will do, but some of the more popular ones are bok choy, daikon, and kabocha.) My personal favorites are beets, kale, and sliced sweet onions.

Sea vegetable (Yes this is sea weed, but doesn’t sea vegetable sound much more appealing?) Feel free to use any sea vegetable, though wakame is the preferred choice.

Miso (They say that the longer you eat miso, the more powerful miso you will be able to handle.) I am still a lightweight in the miso department. Chickpea and Sweet White miso are my favorites, though I try to incorporate 3 year barley miso into my soups as much as possible.

Garnish (The garnish is not cooked into the soup, but added at the very end.) Chopped scallions, parsley or roasted pepita seeds work great for this.

So making miso soup is no big deal. It’s a simple soup that’s easy to make and has been around for thousands of years. If your first attempt at miso soup is less than delicious, please keep trying.  Some extras that I like to add to my miso soup are udon noodles, tofu, shitake mushrooms and chick peas. One of the first miso soup recipes I was introduced to was Cornellia’s Healing Miso Soup.

Call it a sauce or call it a dressing, either way this garlic tahini delight is a great addition to any meal. Many people find eating greens foreign, but when you drizzle some of this scrumptious sauce on top, all veggies taste better, even greens. One of my favorite meals consists of nothing more than pressure cooked short grain brown rice and fresh steamed greens covered with this Tahini Garlic dressing. And, of course I include my veggie pickles when they are available.

I get asked how to make this dressing all the time and I am happy to be able to share this online. Seriously, you can pour this stuff on almost anything and it tastes delicious.

Use these measurements as a guide and adjust to taste. You’ll need a blender, unless you are a purist and prefer to use a whisk to avoid electricity. Add all the ingredients together, mix and pour!

Tahini Garlic Dressing

1 cup roasted tahini (sesame seeds ground into a paste)
1/4 cup soy sauce (high quality shoyu if possible)
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
6 large garlic cloves ( more or less to taste)
1 – 2 cups filtered or spring water (depending on desired consistency)

What’s your favorite food to cover with tahini dressing?

Allan and I went to hear Warren Kramer, world renown macrobiotic counselor and teacher speak last Friday night. The lecture, “Optimum Health Without Cooking A Thing”, was part of a three day weekend workshop in association with The Natural Epicurean cooking school in Austin, Texas.

What really struck me after the lecture was this:

Warren spent several years traveling around the world, cooking macrobiotic meals for the sick, some even with stage four cancer. He successfully healed terminally ill patients simply by implementing food and lifestyle changes. He has counseled and taught health and cooking workshops in every state in the United States. He studied extensively, for over ten years, with Michio Kushi who was instrumental in introducing modern macrobiotics to the United States in the fifties. Warren has given hundreds of lectures to thousands of people. His private consultation list gets longer every day. His credentials go on and on.

And yet, one of the first things Warren emphasizes in his workshops, lectures and consultations is something we already know, but few of us do: sit down to regular meals. This means not in front of the computer, not looking over bills, not watching T.V., not at 2 a.m., and certainly not in a car. The good news is, the steps to begin your journey toward a long and healthy life could not be simpler or more affordable.

Sit Down When You Eat.

Eat Meals At Regular Times.

Of course there is more to it than this, but this is the initial concept. Warren himself says that these concepts are so simple and so basic that most people automatically say, “Oh yeah, I know that!” but they don’t do it. It seems very few understand the powerful impact that these two steps, when practiced day in and day out, can have toward attaining and maintaining optimum health.

If you didn’t see my Hot Pockets post, I included a couple funny videos. One is for their commercial which promotes eating standing up, a.k.a. their Eat Freely campaign. Warren talks about being free too, but he speaks of being free to do whatever we want in this life and having good health. One of his goals is to dispel as many misconceptions about macrobiotics as possible in his lifetime.

Misconception #1: Macrobiotics means eating brown rice, miso soup and steamed kale.

Warren Kramer describes macrobiotics as

“An orderly approach to diet and lifestyle.”

It’s not all about the food, it’s about guiding your life and making smart choices.

Misconception #2: Eating organic means you will be healthy.

Makes sense to me. Can you say organic chips and hot sauce? He says that every where he goes he hears the same refrain. People assure him that they eat organic this or that, so know they are healthy. Warren disagrees. He says when and how you eat is more important, in many ways, that what you eat. There is much more to balance and health than merely eating foods without toxins in them. Food is powerful, and what I am finally realizing is that having structure and order in our lives is even more important than the food we consume.

Watch excerpts from Warren Kramer’s lecture for more ideas on how to begin your own personal pathway to health.

After 60 Days…

We filmed these videos just sixty days after I planted our prosperity garden from seed. It makes me happy how much food we have to enjoy and to share. Even though it’s November, I decided to keep planting more seeds where ever there is an available spot in the garden. There is no reason to waste any patch of this beautiful soil. We use the Double Thunder mix from Geo Growers and can’t say enough good things about it.

Enjoy the videos. We just like to share what we’re doing to inspire others to ditch their grass and start an organic vegetable garden too!

Beets are beautiful and delicious!

This year I decided to take pictures of our friends and family when they stop by for some organic goodies.  The results speak for themselves!

Looks like greens make people happy!

We love sharing our harvest and showing off our urban garden to anyone who is interested. We have visitors day and night, rain or shine!

Watch the full screen happy greens slideshow and read details about who is enjoying our greens.

We’re on Flickr too!  www. Flickr.com/photos/brownricelife

When Sue and I first started going to Casa De Luz 15 years ago,  we were happy to discover kabocha squash. Of all the delicious squashes that are grown in the world, the sweet kabocha is my favorite.

Kabocha is known as Japanese pumpkin, although it’s skin is very hard so not suitable for carving. When ripe, they are sweeter than butternut squash. I would describe both the taste and the texture as a mix of a pumpkin and a super sweet potato combined.

NOTE: If the first kabocha you eat isn’t ripe, you won’t be impressed. They need to be fully mature in order to achieve their optimum sweetness.

The way I like to prepare it is to slice the entire squash into 1/2 inch wedges, cover with olive oil and a little sea salt and bake in a pyrex dish in the oven.  I usually bake for about an hour at 400 degrees, then turn off the stove but let it sit for an hour or so. But of course this all depends on your oven and how small you cut up the pieces. I have found that adding a cup of filtered water to the dish about half way through keeps it moist.

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