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Laura

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Today’s Recipe: Sauteed Carrots

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You may have noticed a pattern now with the recipes. Yes, I am trying to provide easy and tasty vegetable recipes for all of you that have had the excuses of: too complicated, too time-consuming, “I don’t really like vegetables”, tired of the same old thing, etc.

Sauteed Carrots

2 c organic baby carrots

1 T BUTTER, yes REAL BUTTER

1 tsp olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Other ingredients as listed below in Variations

Melt butter in a non-stick skillet on medium high heat. When the butter starts foaming, add the olive oil. Dump in the carrots, toss around in the butter, salt lightly and cover. Sautee for a few minutes, stir, and recover. Lower the heat to low. Sautee another few minutes and stir and check. Keep cooking till the carrots are getting a little brown around the edges and are soft from the steaming process.

Variations: I think these are great just like this, but you could also add some grated orange rind (which you grate with a microplane grater, just the very outermost skin of the orange); or you could add a little honey to make it more of a candied dish. Alternatively, you could add some minced or pressed garlic about halfway through, or you could add grated or finely minced fresh ginger. Or you could begin with some onions, which would make it a little more oniony and sweeter. Or you could dump in some finely chopped scallions near the end for a bright flavor. Or you could add some sesame oil near the end for an asian flavor, perhaps throwing a teaspoon of sesame seeds at the end.

You can really do a lot with this simple basic dish. Be creative and try new things. This is a quick, go-to dish that only takes a few minutes while you warm up the main dish that you cooked two days ago.

Spring Detox Time

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Now that we are getting into the last of winter, many people are feeling cabin fever. Part of this feeling of being a little fat, a little sluggish, and a little down may be due to the accumulation of toxins from the long winter of holiday foods, perhaps increased alcohol intake, breathing less outdoor air, and exercising less often.

It is traditional in many cultures to detoxify through fasting and other means at this time. The fasting associated with Lent is one example.

People ask me all the time about what I suggest for a ‘cleanse’. I have many approaches that I can recommend, but this year I have begun using a system that I believe is very thorough and deep. It is a month long program of using a group of three supplements to upregulate liver and kidney detoxification processes, along with a series of meal-replacement type shakes that enhance that process by optimizing nutrition for detox, as well as doing the colon cleansing that is such an important part of cleansing.

This system comes from Designs For Health. (www.designsforhealth.com) The educational program  is often done in a group setting, but can also be done individually.

I have just finished the month-long process and I am really feeling clearer, more energetic, and have lost some weight. I have found I am craving sugar and processed foods less, and can sense the effects of food on my system much more clearly.  I intend to do the process once or twice a year from here on.

Call the clinic and I can discuss the program with you. It can be customized for the individual.

More next time about food-based detoxification ideas.

Today’s Recipe: Cauliflower “Mashed Potatoes”

In the search for low carb things that would satisfy the urge to eat mounds of carbs, this one has really served my family well. At first you may be struck by the fact that it does not exactly taste like potatoes, but rather like cauliflower. Over time you will learn to love it just for itself. It may be familiar to many of you, but here is my rendition. In accord with Schwarzbein principles, full fat cream and butter are used. You may substitute olive oil or lower fat half and half, but the nutrition benefits of the full fat are tremendous.

Cauliflower “Mashed Potatoes”

1 large head cauliflower, rinsed, leaves and core removed, broken into smaller pieces

2T butter

1 T dehydrated chicken stock. (not boulliion) or 2 T chicken broth/stock

1-2 T heavy cream

Salt and pepper to taste

Steam the cauliflower till very tender. Place in food processor along with butter and chicken broth and whir to chop fine. Drizzle in the cream while whirring to get a creamy but still thick mixture. It will not be as thick and stiff as mashed potatoes, but will be just as yummy.  Season with salt and pepper.

You could do variations on this by adding sauteed chopped green or red bell peppers after it is done, or steam some onions with the cauliflower. Or saute onions and add them at the end. Or you could use half potatoes and half cauliflower.

Today’s Recipe:Easy Crustless Quiche

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Along with my committment to promote the eating of more veges and fruits in my home, I focus on the importance of high quality protein foods. Eggs are one of the most perfect foods on earth, and I am lucky enough to have a wonderful source of farm fresh ones. I encourage everyone to find such a source, or just try to buy the best ones you can at the supermarket. I look for the most expensive ones, locally produced. Here is a simple quick recipe to use your healthy eggs and get even more veges into your diet.

Easy Crustless Quiche

6 eggs

1 c milk

1 1/2 cups zucchini, sliced

1 1/2 c chopped red bell pepper

1 c chopped onion

2 c shredded swiss cheese

1 T dried chopped basil

nonstick spray

1 T olive oil

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Spray a pie plate or other casserole with nonstick spray. Whisk the eggs and milk till well combined, season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring the olive oil to medium heat in a small nonstick skillet and saute the onion till soft. Put the zucchini and bell pepper into the pie plate, add the onions and cheese. Pour the egg mixture over the top. Bake for 1 hour or until the top is browned. It will puff up during cooking and then flatten down after cooling.

Today’s Recipe: Sauteed Brussels Sprouts Shreds

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This winter I challenged my husband to try to get 9 servings a day of fruits and veges. Somewhere I had read that and it sounded like a good idea to see what it would be like. Of course, he was home all day eating apples and oranges, and I was at work eating snacks of high protein like cheese and nuts to keep my energy up. So I had to really get in a lot of them at suppertime.

In the spirit of getting as many veges as possible, from the greatest number of sources, I have found this recipe to be a great one. For all you brussels sprouts haters, you might be surprised at how sweet and yummy they can be. I think this recipe originally came from Gourmet and it has been a favorite at many family holiday dinners.

Sauteed Brussels Sprouts Shreds

2 lb or so brussels sprouts, trimmed. Shred them by putting through the slicing blade of the food processor, or just cut each one into tiny slices, as thin as possible

2 T Extra virgin olive oil

2 T butter or more, REAL BUTTER ONLY

1/2 cup toasted chopped pecans, or sunflower seeds, or pine nuts, or whatever you like. Toast in the oven till just a little brown and fragrant, about 325 for 10 minutes. Stir often.

In a large skillet on medium high, combine olive oil and butter. When they are hot and melted, dump in the brussels sprouts shreds and get to stirring. Cook and stir. Add some salt and pepper to your taste, cook and stir till they are a little yellow, softish and sweet. You can taste. If you like they can be more raw, or more cooked if you want. I like them to be a little bright green mixed with some soft yellow ones for a balance of less and more cooked. Add in the nuts and serve.

This keeps well in a tightly closed container in the fridge. One batch will provide me about 5 two cup servings. That is equivalent to about 20 official servings of veges. These are so yummy that I pretty much don’t make brussels sprouts any other way. None of the bitterness of other methods of cooking.

Now get to the vege eating!

Today’s Recipe: Bone Broth Soup with Mexican Flavors

Bone Broth Soup with Mexican Flavors

1 qt bone broth (cook large beef soup bone for 12+ hours in 2 qts water with 1 T vinegar till bone is porous) (http://www.westonaprice.org/Broth-is-Beautiful.html)

2c cooked soy beans (previously cooked in pressure cooker, or canned, with their broth)

1 1/2 c cooked corn (I used frozen from last summer)

1 qt tomatoes (frozen chopped from last summer)

2 green and 2 red bell peppers, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

1T ground corriander

1T Mexican oregano

1T black pepper

2 t salt

1T homemade hot sauce

Water to make about 2-3 quarts

Mix everything together and simmer on low heat for a couple of hours. Adjust seasonings.

Thinking About Detoxification

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As spring approaches, people naturally think about detoxification. I offer several approaches in my office and make recommendations depending on the person’s preferences and what I think will serve them best. In general, we want to increase the body’s detoxification activity by several approaches: 1) improve the function of the liver in it’s biochemical pathways of breaking down materials, 2) improve the kidney to remove waste from the body, 3) cleanse the bowel of long-held fecal material, 4) stimulate the lymphatic system to carry wastes away from all the tissues.

While we are doing that with a specific program of supplements, we want to support the process by having you eat an extremely carefully chosen group of foods that help by 1) lowering your insulin response to carbs, 2) avoiding adding any artificial materials such as food additives and drugs found in meat, 3) reducing your dependence on caffeine and alcohol. Hopefully the foods consumed during the period will start you off into a new way of thinking about your food.

“Food is the first medicine.” This is part of a famous quote and I see it in my practice every day. We can do all the acupuncture, herbs, and supplements possible, but the effect of those things can never be stronger than the food we eat. Food is the basis of all our biochemical building blocks. Without proper building blocks our body cannot renew damaged tissue, clear out wastes, and give us the energy to do what we want. People with poor diets have worse outcomes with acupuncture than those with better diets.

You are what you eat. Last year while speaking with a colleague we discussed this topic. I said “people who eat nothing but garbage have pretty unsatisfying responses to acupuncture.” He responded, “and garbage is not very motivated to improve itself.” Sad but true.

I was encouraged today when I heard that the President and Mrs. Obama signed a memorandum and promised to fund a program to improve nutrition in the schools by increasing the funding for vegetables and fruits in the school meals. They also highlighted the topic of schools growing gardens where children learn about growing food, provide food for the meal programs, and even sell produce to local groceries to raise more money for the school meal programs. Fantastic!

So, my challenge for today: eat only one serving of gluten-containing food and eat 6 servings of fruit or vegetable. One serving of bread is one slice, one serving of fruit or vegetable is 1 cup raw or 1/2 cooked. YOU CAN DO IT!

Acupuncture of Iowa First Blog Post

Greetings Readers!

In this blog, I will provide information of interest and use to my patients as well as all seekers of health. I will write articles on nutrition, exercise, topics in Asian medicine, research on health-related topics, and personal thoughts on various topics related to health.

Please check frequently to see what is on my mind at present.

You may respond by email. I will answer at my discretion. Sorry to those of you who do not receive a response, hopefully I will address your thoughts in a later post.