Apple, cherry, mint smoothie

A seemingly odd blend becomes a delicious symphony to the taste buds. Adapted recipe from my favorite cafe in Van. 

Apple cherry mint smoothie:

2 apples, cut into slices

1 cup of cherry juice

OR

1 cup of cherries, pitted and 1 cup of apple juice

(whatever you have!)

1/3 cup fresh minced mint leaves OR ¼ cup dried leaves, soaked in boiled water

1 inch piece shredded ginger

2 tb lime juice

Optional:

¾ cup Ice (if you want it cold)

3/4 cup ground oats and ½ a banana (if you want a meal replacement)

Blend everything together and enjoy! Serves 2. 

Hot and Sour Chickpea Soup (vegan)

Hot and sour chickpea soup

-1.5 cups cooked chickpeas

(a quick and easy alternative to canned chickpeas: soak a big batch of chickpeas in a crockpot for 24 hours. Place on a cookie sheet in the freezer. When they’re frozen, break into pieces and store in a ziplock bag.)  

-3-4 big leaves/stalks of chard

-1 cup of lentils, soaked in boiled water for 15-30 minutes

-1 small onion

-1 green chilli, with seeds, chopped in to small pieces (if you like it HOT add another one)

-1/2 ts cumin

-½ ts turmeric

-1/2 ts salt (or more to taste)

-3 tablespoons coconut cream

-4 tablespoons lime juice

-3 cups of water

-2 ts cooking oil

-1 inch (cubed) piece of ginger, shredded with fine grater

Heat oil on a pan. Fry onions with green chili and ginger. Add cumin, turmeric and salt. Transfer to crockpot or large pot on stove. Add chickpeas, water, lentils, and chard. Cook until lentils are soft. 10 mins before serving add coconut cream and lime juice.

Serve over brown rice.

Dutch Red Cabbage Soup (vegan friendly)

-1 tb oil

-1 small onion, chopped

-1.5 cups chopped red cabbage

-1/4 cup vinegar

-1 apple, chopped

-1-2 potatoes, chopped

-1-2 cloves of garlic, minced

-1/3 cup barley

-2.5 cups of water or (chicken/veg stock)

-salt to taste (about 3/4 ts is good if you aren't using stock)

-optional: more sugar to taste

-dollop of yogurt

-pepper to taste

Heat oil in a pan. Add garlic, and onions, fry till translucent. Add apple, cabbage, vinegar, barley. Stir fry on med heat until apple and cabbage are soft. Transfer to big pot, add water and salt to taste. Simmer until barley is soft. Serve with a dollop of yogurt and pepper. Tastes like circa 1910. 

A Look into The Past

Tonight I was with my Oma (who has now become my neighbor). I asked her if she can share a few of her amazing recipes with me. She referred me to three 30 year old cookbooks. They all looked to be time-tested classic church cookbooks. The first one I opened and read the forward and was quite startled to see the words of---my Mother? A young twenty something year old pastor's wife compiling all those classic recipes that I am wanting to re-visit today. Thanks Mom!

My first impression of these great books, seeing the entries from so many other people I still know today: I am so reminded of how food keeps people together. I hope that through this meager blog I can follow in my Mom's footsteps to try and find a way to keep a dialogue going about food. From old-coil books to a modern blog--same same. I am going to post these most cherished and classic of the classic recipes as I bring them back to life in my own kitchen.

Thoughts on the food crisis: Permission to Grieve?

I found the week where the food prices were announced to rise particularly heavy. Hearing the news anchor state matter of factly that the rising costs would push 1 billion people dangerously close to starvation was a lot to handle.




I had some deep discussions with friends and family members over this issue. Because I was pretty distraught, people tried to console me, saying something to the effect of: "You do what you can, and then you enjoy your life, knowing you've done all you can."



The question I have in response was, do we have permission to grieve? Do we have permission to stop the rat race of our lives for a moment, or perhaps a few days to truly ponder what this means for our world? What should our reaction look like?



(Now here's where I get all spiritual on you: But I just have to go there in my own head and heart):



If God is a supreme being overseeing this impending catastrophe, what is God's impression? Is God's heart broken? Should mine be too? If God is a force, say like the wind, with no hands and no bank account, maybe I need to step in and do something, because if I don't, God can't exactly reach in and stop anything.







It so happens that I read the Bible. I read it not so much seeking divine inspiration or answers to questions such as these, but more so as an interested bystander. I've found over time that I really honestly get so much out of it if I am reading it like I would read any other book, with my eyes open and my head on my shoulders.





On this occasion the Bible seemed to give me a bit of an answer to my questions, or at least gave me the permission I was seeking to indulge in the experience of grief. This portion of the Bible was written in response to the siege on Israel, in a time when calamitous events fell upon the people. Let's just say: they were hungry!



From Lamentations 3:

18: "Cry aloud before the Lord...Let your tears flow like a river day and night. Give yourselves no rest, give your eyes no relief."

19: "Rise during the night and cry out. Pour out your hearts like water to the Lord. Lift up your hands to him in prayer, pleading for your children, for in every street, they are faint with hunger."

From Lamentations 4:

vs. 4: "The parched tongues of their little ones stick to the roofs of their mouths in thirst. The children cry for bread, but no one has any to give them"

vs. 5: "The people who once ate the richest foods now beg in the streets for anything they can get. Those who once wore the finest clothes now search the garbage dumps for food..." (And to this I think, what if that was us? How would we feel about hunger then?)

vs. 9: "Those killed by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger. Starving, they waste away for lack of food from the fields"



Hunger is an age old problem. In our "modern" times, it seems that not much has changed for the poor of this world- except, there are many many more poor people today.



A few thoughts from this. I found my permission to grieve (indulge in a little "pointless" grief); but I can also respond to this. I, or we? can take on the spirit of love and compassion, and "be the change". The world's riches would only need to spare around 1$ a day to feed the world's poor. You can argue that money can't solve the problem--I wonder what the Red Cross would have to say about that? I'm sure they would agree to an extent, but think about what would happen if the world's richest billion gave $365 more each year to credible aid organizations. That would mean 365 billion dollars each year. Maybe it wouldn't solve the problem but who can't say it wouldn't help a little here and there? I believe powerlessness is a myth and we can all do more, and we can all encourage our family and friends to do more.



One more closing thought on hunger that I came across in my favorite cookbook, More With Less, written over 25 years ago:



"In the short term, there is probably nothing anyone can do to forestall mass starvation in some rice-dependent areas. But the very least we can do is to take a symbolic stand and cook rice with reverence, taking care that each precious grain swells to it's fullest but stays firm and separate from the rest. Perhaps we could even inaugerate our own rice ritual-- a moment of silence for those who are not getting enough" -Raymond Sokolov


So, those are my thoughts.

Where to go from here?

World Food Program- the UN's stab at the problem: http://www.wfp.org/

Free Rice-play educational computer games and rice will be donated to fight hunger!: http://www.freerice.com/

Mission of Mercy Canada- feeding program- They feed over 12000 people in Calcutta every day: https://missionofmercy.ca/Main.py/?donate.index#Feeding%20Program

I also reccomend the following authors with books on global economic issues: Jeffrey Sachs, William Eastery, and Naomi Klein.

If we all do a little, maybe a little will change. If we all do a lot, maybe a lot will change. And judging by the state of things...I think we all need to consider what "a lot" means.

Buckwheat Pancakes

My Husb and I were trekking in Nepal about 2 years ago. Very hard but one of the best experiences of my life. The day we reached our highest point,just a few KM from the Tibetan border, we sat in a cosy little ramshackle house and devoured some hearty buckwheat pancakes, whilst taking in the unobstructed view of Annapurna II.

Recently I picked up some buckwheat flour to try and re-live the experience. It worked! I could taste the nepal/tibet border. It tasted smokey, old fashioned, and somehow just plain whole.

Buckwheat is a "happy food" as it increases seratonin levels. Maybe that's why I was so dang happy while trekking in Nepal.

Buckwheat Pancakes:
2 eggs
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup buckwheat flour
2 cups milk
1/2 ts salt
1 ts baking powder
optional: flax seed; chopped apple; walnut meal; or chopped bananas
mix together.
fry on a hot frying pan in copeous amounts of vegetable oil or butter. I use sunflower oil.

enjoy with yogurt, syrup, and the works...

madras curry

Here's a secret. If you like a paste or sauce, look on the jar and try to make it from the ingredients listed on the back. This is what I did today and my madras curry tasted DE-licious.

What you need:

1/4 cup of water
mix into the water:
1/2 ts. salt
1/2 ts. pepper
1/2 ts. onion powder
1/2 ts. coriander
1/2 ts paprika
1/2 ts garlic powder or fresh garlic
1 ts. cumin
1.4 ts. turmeric
1.2 ts. ginger powder or fresh ginger

when you have a nice thick paste, add
1/4 cup coconut milk
3 ts. oil

You also need some plain yogurt on hand.

Now you have your curry paste, start up your deep dish frying pan, add some oil, add onions, meat or tofu, and whatever veggies you want. When the onions are soft, add the curry paste.

meanwhile, make some brown rice in a separate pot.

Simmer your curry for 20-25 minutes on low heat until your veggies are soft, and, if applicable, your meat is cooked. As you are simmering stir in 3 heaping tablespoons of yogurt.

Serve with raita:
Raita is just finely cut cucumbers, yogurt, maybe a little lemon juice and some type of fresh herb all mixed together.

And add some type of hot sauce as this curry is otherwise not spicy (good for babies!)

Serve your curry over rice with cilantro and another dollop of yogurt.


mmmmmmmmmmmmm