Culinate.com

I write for a great site called Culinate , an online community of people who are eating deliciously with greater awareness. The site has oodles of recipes, news stories, blogs, community pages, and more. I blog for them in their "dinner guest" section and often post my writing both here and there. They have a tremendous new feature that allows readers to find their local markets and, at the same time, get farm-fresh recipes directly from the markets. Check out Culinate's new Farmer's Market tool. You enter your zip code and they do the rest of the work for you. Way cool.

Eating Green Leaves

While we in the NW sit around pining for our local berries to come through after a (very) cold spring, we must focus on what IS available. Sort of like the life lesson of staying in the present as opposed to the future (strawberries) or the past (apples). What cool spring weather makes plenty of are leaves: kale, collards and chard. Many folks are intimidated by how to cook greens and resort to steaming them which absolutely does not show them off at their best. A sauté in butter and garlic certainly is tasty but here are a couple of other techniques that work well.

Quick Boiling – this is sort of like a soak in a hot tub without doing the cold plunge after (aka blanch). You put the whole leaves minus tough stems into a big pot of simmering water. Test them by tasting every 30 seconds or so until you get something sweet not bitter. Drain, squeeze into a ball, chop and dress. We have a video that shows the whole thing at www.cookusinterruptus.com. Then they love some dressing like Lemon Tahini Sauce or Coconut Peanut Sauce and just your favorite salad dressing.

Braising – ooh la la. Sauté the cut greens in butter or olive oil until glossy and then pour a few tablespoons of good flavored liquid (like tamari and sake) over the top, cover and let it do its thing for about 5 minutes.

Massaging – yep, it’s a cooking technique taught to me by Jennifer Adler. You cut the greens into thin strips, add a teaspoon of salt and massage with your hands for 2 minutes. This breaks done some of the tough plant tissue and pulls the bitterness out. Dress them with olive oil and your favorite vinegar and add things like currants, pickled red onions, glazed walnuts, gorgonzola and you are in greens heaven.

Wilting – yes there’s the traditional wilt in a skillet and that’s ok but my favorite is to chiffonade the greens, dress them in lemon and olive oil and then plop some hot whole grains (wild rice, brown rice, quinoa) on top and let the grains wilt the greens. The coolest salad I know uses just-cooked wild rice to do the trick. We just posted the video: Emerald City Salad .

Let’s eat leaves.

Out of Touch

When I ask my students at Bastyr University to feel the cookie dough in order to tell when the mixture is right, they ponder the words but have no idea what they mean. When they ask if “this” part of the fennel is okay to eat and I suggest that they see if their fingernail glides easily in or not to test for tenderness I am met with the same alien stare. Touching the food, especially before eating it, seems odd. And if I talk about knowing when to take the cookies out of the oven by smell they seem to think I am some breed of tantric chef or have never heard of a timer.

Since I teach in a nutrition department I am working with students whose minds have been filled with visions of invisible polyphenols. They need the one required cooking class we offer to bring them back to earth. We all need to get back into the sensuousness of food, the fun, the joy. Surely every bite can’t and shouldn’t be about a calorie, a gram, a fatty acid or potential bone health. We gotta start trusting that foods that have very few ingredients, no boxes and loads of flavor are the ticket to joy and health.

Consider the fun and satisfaction of:

• Smashing garlic
• Cracking an egg
• Dicing celery

Touch:

• The tight buds of local broccoli
• The smooth surface of baby bok choy
• The flexibility and fuzziness of a peach

Smell:

• Sautéing mushrooms in butter
• Chai simmering on the stove
• Cumin and coriander when it hits hot ghee

See:

• The juicy curves of the raspberry
• Happy yellow corn kernels
• Shiny black beans

No box with a happy giraffe and empty health promises can stand up to this natural beauty. At my best, I don’t see cooking as a chore or as a nutritional science project, I see it as a release from all the thoughts and emotions that drive each overloaded day; a chance to relax my mind and rely solely on my senses to entertain me.

Feeding Babies Isn't Rocket Science

I was interviewed recently for an article about baby food. As those who have read my book Feeding the Whole Family know, I don’t really believe in “baby” food; I believe in “family” food. Therefore I thought it was very open-minded of the writer to have a conversation with me.
A few years ago, several articles were published that debunked the measured way we feed babies. Basically the experts were saying that the idea of offering food in some particular order is silly. They agreed that serving babies food with no salt, no spices, and puréed smooth enough to feed a dysphasia patient is unnecessary. One doctor called the whole belief system about the way we introduce foods to babies “mythology.” A subsequent article from these revelations was called “Enchiladas not cereal.” I couldn’t agree more.
Babies can eat what we eat.
Around the globe, babies are started on solids with a variety of foods. In Oceania, babies are given pre-chewed fish, grubs, and liver. The Polynesians prefer a pudding-like mixture of breadfruit and coconut cream. Inuit babies are started on seaweed and seal blubber, while Japanese health-care providers recommend a thin rice porridge, eventually made thicker and topped with dried fish, tuna, tofu, and mashed pumpkin.
Meanwhile, most American physicians and new parents still debate whether processed cereal from a box or processed fruit from a little jar is better.
To the rescue comes a slew of nouveau baby-food products. One company takes a respectable dish like vegetable curry, purées it, and puts it in a jar for parents to buy. This, of course, begs the question: Why not serve baby the curry dish the parents are having for dinner?
Another new product, called Homemade Baby (“homemade” — hello? Definition, please!), puts food in packages and trucks them in refrigerated units to your favorite high-end grocery store. There’s also a national brand of frozen certified organic baby food.
We have a cool new store in our area called Eat Local, where you can pick up pricey refrigerated prepared food for your family made from local produce. They have a section for babies, too, called Local Baby.
Stop the machinery! Feeding babies baby food is a really short-term project, maybe six months at most. The point is to get baby prepared to eat with the rest of the family, not be a cause for purchasing special prepared food so baby can learn to expect high-priced separate meals.
Recently the dad of a 14-month-old who had just purchased a copy of my book told me that he is addicted to fast food and that ain’t gonna stop, but he wants his child to eat really well. News flash: Kids eat what their parents eat. Does he believe that his boy will munch on raw organic carrots while his dad throws back tater tots?
OK, I’m ranting. But feeding babies can be such an intuitive no-brainer. Feed them a little of what you’re eating, mashed up. And if you’re not eating fresh real food — whole grains, fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, eggs — clean up your act.

New review of Cynthia's book in the Library Journal

Lair, Cynthia. Feeding the Whole Family: Recipes for Babies, Young Children, and Their Parents. Sasquatch. 2008. 320p. index. ISBN 978-1-57061-525-2. pap. $21.95. COOKERY
Lair’s (coauthor, Feeding the Young Athlete) cookbook has something for each member of the family, from the small child to the adult with a sensitive palate. Its basis is in whole foods, a refreshing change from new cookbooks chock-full of prepared and convenience foods. Though the recipes incorporate only whole-food ingredients, they do not ignore the modern necessity of the quick and easy-to-prepare meal. An outstanding recipe is the French Lentil and Potato Stew, a hearty and healthy weeknight soup with subtle flavors. The book offers advice on how to raise healthy eaters and what staples to have on hand in the pantry, as well as a solid dose of food politics. It’s fabulous for the young mother or father who wants to start a baby on healthy solid foods but also helpful for those wanting to integrate whole-food recipes into their usual repertoire. Highly recommended as an addition to any public library’s cookbook collection.—Claire A. Schaper, Franklin Inst., Philadelphia

Culinary Couples

We enjoy classic culinary combinations such as Champagne and caviar, meat and potatoes, salsa and chips. There are thousands of these pairings that make for joyful eating. Most are based on complimentary flavors, but there are also nutritional reasons behind some of these long-standing marriages. I want to talk about three whole-foods couples that have been paired together in dishes for ages, for reasons that go beyond taste.
Whole grains + legumes
Most grains are lacking the amino acid lysine, while most beans lack methonine. What one lacks, the other one has. Together, they provide all eight amino acids.
Vegetarians need to pay attention to this combination in order to meet protein needs. Black beans and brown rice, black-eyed peas and cornbread, tofu and soba noodles, lentils and whole-wheat bread, chickpeas and quinoa are all yummy examples of this important dietary combination.
Nightshades + dairy
The nightshade plants (tomato, potato, eggplant, peppers, and tobacco) are high in alkaloids, which, according to some, may subtly remove calcium from bone (Colbin, A. Food and Healing, Ballantine Books, pgs 176-180). Dairy products have enough calcium to make a baby calf double its bone structure in six months — maybe more calcium than we smaller, slower-growing humans need. I believe the two have been kept together in dishes to balance their effects. Eggplant Parmesan, Caprese salad (mozzarella and tomato), baked potatoes and sour cream, chili with grated cheese, and spaghetti with marinara and Parmesan are delicious representations of this important pairing. Those who eat no dairy products need to be wary of eating too many nightshade vegetables to guard against calcium loss.
Soy foods + sea vegetables
The cultures that have used carefully crafted soy products in their diets have also included plants from the sea. Soy foods are thought possibly to be de-mineralizing and possibly to lower thyroid function. Sea vegetables are amazingly rich in minerals, including iodine, which stimulates the thyroid. Maybe that’s why they’re usually found together in traditional cuisines. Miso soup with wakame, tofu served with nori flakes, and hijiki seasoned with tamari are three examples.
I’ll bet you can think of more. Keep these couples together. Don’t let them file for divorce on your plate.

What happens next?

We're shooting more videos soon. Tell us what you'd like to see. What recipes? Should Steve get a job? Do you want to learn about curry? Packing a lunchbox? Learn more about Jane's band?