First you roast some almonds.

5-10 minutes at 350 degrees will do.

Chuck 'em in a food processor... grind them into a coarse meal.

Get out your green herbs, and add a lot. The more, the better! You're looking at parsley.

Grind the almonds and herbs into a finer meal.

Then get out your oil and vinegar.  Everything here goes unmeasured.  You have to use your intuition.  Oil to vinegar should stay at a 3:1 or 4:1 ratio.  You want enough liquid added so that when you blend it again, the product will be runny. If it’s too runny, it’s a dressing.  If it’s on the thicker side, it’s a sauce.  Big deal.  They’re both delicious.  Also, find your dijon (1 TB) and black pepper.

Oil, vinegar, dijon, and black pepper. (Salt optional).

Blend it up!

Nice and smooth.

This is awesome served on… everything.  Over rice or quinoa, on toast, on boiled/baked potatoes, on salad…

Roasted Almond Herb Dressing/Sauce

ROASTED ALMOND HERB SAUCE:

• A bunch of almonds (roasted)
• A bunch of parsley (or a half-bunch)
• Enough oil and vinegar to make it runny. (3:1 or 4:1 ratio).
• 1 TB of dijon
• black pepper & salt (optional)

I was thinking some kind of casserole, and mashed potatoes seemed like an okay idea.  So I cut up a few to boil them:

Small pieces boil faster.

I then put about 4 cloves of garlic, a few peppercorns, and some coriander seeds into some oil for a saute.

4 cloves chopped garlic; a few pepper corns; a tsp of coriander seeds in 1-2TB olive oil.

Then half-mooned 2 onions.  Chucked them in.

2 onions

Went into our fridge to find some kale…

That's a lot of veggies.

Chopped up a head of kale.

And mixed it in.

Mixed in the kale and added over a tsp of coriander powder.

When the potatoes were done, I drained them in order to mash them… but it didn’t feel right.  I left them as they were, and put them in the bottom of the dish.

Changed my mind about mashing them.

I set about to make a low-fat white sauce.  1.5 cups of whole milk, with two heaping TB of corn starch (or white flour) whisked in, and heated until thick (stir it continuously).

Milk and corn starch. If you want more flavor, add 1-2 TB of butter. What you see on my fork is a little bit of green curry paste I found in the cupboard. It's just a tiny bit, to give the white sauce a little flavor.

When that was done, I poured it over the potatoes, which I liberally seasoned with black pepper.

Poured the white sauce over the potatoes.

Then I heaped the onions and kale on the top.

Layer stir fry on top.

Since it was no longer a vegan dish, I decided to lightly sprinkle some Parmesan cheese on top.  *White sauce can be made vegan (coconut white sauce is epic).  At the time, I had no other milk substitute to use.

The experimental casserole.

Since everything was already cooked, I popped it in the oven on 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, just to let the cheese melt.

I try to make low-to-no added sodium recipes, light on animal-sourced ingredients.  For more flavor, add melted butter to the white sauce, add more cheese, or use salt.

POTATOS, ONIONS, & KALE IN WHITE SAUCE:

Bottom layer:

• 4-5 potatoes, in full moon slices (boiled)
• ground black pepper

• 4 cloves garlic
• some pepper corns
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 head of kale (chopped)

• 1.5 cups of milk (or milk substitute)
• 2 TB of corn starch (or white flour)
• 1-2 TB butter (optional)
• 1 TB of curry paste or whatever you can dream up for subtle flavor (optional)

Get yourself some beets.

Chop them into little bits.

Throw them in a pan with some butter (or coconut oil).

I try to keep things pretty low fat, but the more butter, obviously the better things taste.

I covered it and let the beets cook through.

That's steam. Check to make sure the beets aren't burning, and maybe add a little water at the bottom to hasten the cooking process.

Once cooked, sprinkle a little bit of flour.

2-3 TB of flour will do.

Now, I’m sure there’s a better way to do this, but I’m lazy and I hate needlessly dirtying more dishes.  If you stir it up long enough, the clumps will go away. Add water (or milk) as needed for smooth consistency.

You can add salt or butter, to improve the flavor, or just eat them as they are. Beets are high in sugar.

Sexy beets.

CREAMED BEETS:

• some beets, chopped up in little bits.
• some butter, as much as you want (or coconut oil).
• some white flour (2-3 TB will probably do)
• a little water, to prevent burning and help the mixing.
• salt (optional)

Things I always have: shredded coconut, cinnamon, and raisins.  And I think they’re friggin’ delicious in just about everything.

So I took my butternut squash and began to dissect it.

If anyone knows a more efficient way to skin a squash, do let me know.

I save my seeds.

...and I stick them in my dehydrator. The rest of you can roast them.

Once all the squash was cubed, I stuck it in a pot with some water at the bottom.

There's water in the bottom.

And then I added my favorite flavors.

Raisins, coconut, and cinnamon.

And steamed it until soft, mixing it occasionally.

Mushy. Looks done.

Stuck it in my blender, and added a little chunk of butter (I would have preferred coconut oil, but we were fresh out).

Butter or coconut oil for some fat. I had no milk, no yogurt, and no sour cream. (Being vegan-friendly, I don't use them much anyway).

Add a little water and liquidize!

Don't forget to add just enough water so it won't stick to the sides.

Bam.  Done.  Roasted butternut squash definitely yields a better flavor, but I wasn’t about to stick around for an hour.

Blend until smooth.

Garnished with coconut.

LAZYMAN’S COCONUT-RAISIN-CINNAMON BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP

• 1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• a handful of raisins
• a handful of coconut shreds
• a few dashes of cinnamon
• a chunk of butter, or a heaping TB of coconut oil
• a little water

I started by cooking up some of my pre-soaked black lentils (they actually sat on the counter in water for 2 days).

1/2 pot of lentils, covered in water. That's 1/2 tsp of cardamom on top, and there are some ginger slices in there, too (1 square inch).

And then set about sauteing some onions and shallots in a sauce pan.

Sauteing 2 onions and 2 shallots in olive oil

Added cumin, corriander, and cayenne.

1 tsp cumin; 1 tsp corriander; 1/2 tsp of cayenne

I let it do its thing for a couple minutes, and dug out a big can of tomatoes.

Can of tomatoes, which I swiftly dissected with a knife.

And afterward, I impatiently dumped in all the lentils, with the water and chunks of ginger.  (Because my lentils were pre-soaked, they cooked super fast).

Amazingly, my sauce pan was just big enough.

I added some extra oil (for some fat), covered it, and let it simmer.  The longer these things sit, the better the flavor.  I don’t use salt, and some may find it bland.  Add salt to taste.

Sweet. (There's an extra 1-2 TB of oil in there)

Add salt to taste. Or maybe a dollop of yogurt, sour cream, rouge ail, or whatever else you can dream up.

BLACK LENTIL SOUP

• a bunch of pre-soaked black lentils (1/2 pot)
• cardamom powder or a few pods (optional)
• sliced giner (about a square inch)
• a couple onions
• a couple shallots
• a couple splashes of oil
• cumin (1tsp)
• coriander (1tsp)
• cayenne (1/2 tsp)
• giant can of tomatoes
• NO SALT (optional)

NEEDED:

• Assorted vegetables, in chunks, in a dish/pan
• pepper, oil, and any herb you want (herbes de provence never fail)
• a little water at the bottom
• an oven, obviously (420 degrees sounded good to me).  30-40 minutes.

Chunks of onion, potato, carrot, brussels sprouts, and this lovely striped root vegetable my roommate bought, plus pepper and herbes de provence, a splash of oil, and some water in the bottom (to prevent burning).

Chucked it all in dutch oven (a roasting pan will do just fine), mixed it up, and tossed it in the over (420 degrees) for about 30-40 minutes (I can’t remember).

What we have here is a medley of vegetables to eat throughout the week.  You can serve them over a whole grain, eat them alone, dress them with something extra.  The point is it EAT MORE VEGETABLES.

FOUR INGREDIENTS:

• garlic
• lemon (whole)
• ginger
• chilies

the garlic (antibiotic and antifungal)... 8-12 cloves

…plus and ENTIRE lemon, rind and all.  Just try to de-seed it.

1 whole juicy lemon (antioxidant)

Peel about 1 square inch of ginger…

the ginger (warming), to carry the heat.

Then add a few chilies.

Chilies (pungent) to burn out the bad stuff.

Blend it!

Food processor is needed.

And presto!

Rouge Ail

A little bit goes a LONG way.  Use it as a curry paste, to flavor hot and spicy soup, or as an accompaniment to any dish.  You can smear a little on a piece of bread.  But be prepared for heat.

This oil-free, salt-free paste is like medicine.  A little bit a day to keep the bugs away.

onions in olive oil

…and decided to chuck in that bag of near-over-the-hill slimy mushrooms.

added the near-off mushrooms

…emptied the last of my rosemary, and went heavy with black pepper…

rosemary and black pepper

…and I let it simmer and juice for a while, before chucking in a ton of cabbage.

big old pile of cabbage

I thought… hmm… this is boring.  What else can I chuck in there?  I’ve got some left over barley in the fridge.

my left-over barley

Hmmm…. this is starting to feel like a soup.  Soup needs liquid, and something to “fatten” it.  Enter the water and oil.  And some whole pepper corns.

added water and 3 TB of oil... and some pepper corns

It simmered.  But something was missing.  There was no excitement.  Until my eye caught the long-forgotten mustard.

Found it! Dijon. 1 TB.

Bam.  Done.  Covered it and let it stew for 5-10 minutes.

Gorgeous.

• 2 onions
• sack of mushrooms
• 1/3 green cabbage
• some barley
• water to cover
• 3 TB olive oil
• ground pepper + some whole pepper corns
• some rosemary
• 1 TB dijon
• NO SALT!  NONE.

Onion-Mushroom-Cabbage-Barley Soup (or is it a stew?)

The subject of carbohydrates is also highly controversial.  Everyone agrees that sugar (a carbohydrate) is harmful in our modern amounts–especially fructose when it doesn’t come directly from a fruit.  For non-fruit-and-vegetable carbohydrates, such as beans and grains, the jury is still out.

Gluten, a protein found in high quantities in wheat, is getting the spotlight as everyone’s new favorite fad diet.  ”Gluten free” is a popular labeling tool to make consumers feel all warm as fuzzy about their purchase.  My co-worker reported not too long ago that his shampoo bottle said “gluten free.” “It’s not like I’m going to drink the stuff!” he exclaimed.  So what’s all the hype about gluten, starch, and carbs in general?  Are they good for us?  Bad for us? Do they make us fat?

Before we go into it, let’s take a look at digestion…

The digestive process can be divided into two main categories: mechanical and chemical.  Mechanical is simple: processing a food, and chewing it.  Chemical digestion, however, is a little more complicated.  It occurs in the mouth, the stomach, and the small intestine.  Digestive action is dependent on receptors that send messages to the brain, which responds sequentially by sending water, digestive enzymes (from the pancreas), enzyme precursors, coenzymes, electrolytes, acids, bases, buffer salts, hormones, and more.

Chemical digestion begins in the mouth with the secretion of amylase, an enzyme that breaks down starch.  Stomach acid, however, neautralizes amylase and effectively stops starch digestion, until it is resumed again in the small intestine (considering that carbohydrates are quick to leave the stomach, this makes sense).    Protein digestion is mechanical in the mouth (not chemical); protein is broken from long to short chains of amino acids in the stomach’s hydrochloric acid.

When starches are consumed without proteins, the acidity of the stomach approaches neutral and it will not hinder starch digestion.  When proteins are consumed without starches, stomach acid becomes strong.  But when starches and proteins are consumed at the same time (a hamburger, chicken and rice?), the body must provide two opposing digestive mediums, and it cannot.  The result is impaired or partial starch digestion and impaired or partial protein digestion.

Partial grain digestion can have adverse health effects.  ”Undigested particles of grain get stuck in the microvilli of our intestinal walls, building up with time, ultimately undermining our ability to properly digest other foods because of this interference. If the interference becomes extreme, a host of intestinal and auto-immune disorders can result including leaky gut syndrome, gluten intolerance, celiac disease, and irritable bowel syndrome,” (Kristen M., from foodrenegade.com).

Partial animal protein digestion also causes problems.  Animal proteins contain no fiber and so they pass through the digestive tract more slowly.  In the words of Dr. Douglas N. Graham, a leading spokesman for raw foods, “At one hundred degrees, in a dark, wet environment, undigested meat will go bad (rot) rather rapidly.  The partial digestion of meat that occurs when it is eaten with grains very often accounts for the putrefication so obvious when feces are expelled.”

Grains don’t putrefy.  But they do ferment, producing some ethanol (alcohol) and gas.  While there is nothing inherently harmful about gas, alcohol does not belong in the body, as it is a poison that kills cells with which it comes into contact.  Alcohol is also an addictive substance.

Chemists have also discovered over a dozen separate opiates in wheat (opium is a narcotic known for its addictive and sedating qualities), which explains the “brain fog” people often report from too much gluten.  Turning to a high energy food that leaves you feeling drugged and addicted is not advisable.

Gluten in most starchy foods is mucous-forming, leading to congestion and impaired breathing.  Due to this, as well as their digestive speed, starches (particularly wheat) are ill-advised for athletes.  Starches are recommended due to their slow release of energy, but from an athlete’s point of view (athletes demand rapid energy release), this makes little sense.  Eating a complex carbohydrate after a training sessions has the athlete waiting for hours before he obtains any benefit, and by then, the receptors for glycogen storage are less sensitive, leading to delayed glycogen repletion.

Slow digestion requires much more digestive energy, when compared to the rapid digestion of fruits, resulting in lower “net” energy.  Simple sugar is the body’s preferred source of energy: glucose and fructose.  The two behave very differently in the body.  Glucose goes right to the blood stream to fuel muscles and cells.  Fructose gets metabolized into the liver and is converted into fat (roughly 30%–an evolutionary survival strategy, I’m sure) and glycogen (the fuel reserve for the muscles and brain).

Sugar and starch (which breaks down into sugar) are highly addictive–sugar, primarily, because we are hard-wired to seek sweet foods as naturally bioavailable sources of energy; and both sugar and starch (high-glycemic starch, really… like flour products and processed grains), due to their direct influence on serotonin (the happy neurotransmitter) levels.  Once released, serotonin elevates the mood, having a powerful effect on our demeanor.  Cravings for sugary and starchy foods are typically your brain’s attempt to make you feel better.

If that weren’t enough, there are the acid-forming properties of grain that should be considered.  Grains (and beans, nuts, and seeds) contain phytic acid (phytic acid is tightly bound in the phosphorus content of grains and legumes, especially the bran portion of grain or the outer layer of legumes. It is considered the “principle storage form of phoshorus.”).  The human body is more alkaline, and a diet high in acid-forming foods leads to blood acidification, de-mineralization (and alkaline minerals are pulled from the body’s reserves in order to neutralize acid), and inflammation.

Grains only entered the human diet about 10,000 years ago–a mere blink in evolutionary time.  Traditional human societies all found ways of coping with phytic acid.  According to Kimi Harris, author of thenourishinggourmet.com, “Phytase is the enzyme generally present in phytic containing grains and legumes that neutralizes phytic acid. Sprouting, soaking and fermenting raw grains allows phytase to become activated, which then reduces the phytic acid. We as humans do produce some phytase in our bodies, which explains why some can eat a high, unsoaked whole grain diet without negative impact. Since lactobacilli and other digestive microflora can also produce phytase, those of us with a robust intestinal health will have a much easier time digesting grains, soaked or unsoaked.  But regardless, all of us can benefit from less phytic acid in our grains.”

• Sprouting — This is when the whole grain kernel is sprouted.
• Soaking — This is when the already milled whole grain flour is soaked in an acidic medium like buttermilk, whey, yogurt, lemon juice, or vinegar before being cooked.
• Fermenting — This is when the grain is naturally fermented with wild yeast, as is the case with all sourdough breads.

More recently, due to the Industrial Revolution and the hyper-mechanization of grain milling, the advent of processing techniques to increase shelf life, the saturation of refined carbohydrate products into supermarkets, and the subsidization of grain production, never have grains been so negatively influential in the human diet.  We have abandoned most of our traditional processing methods.

So what to do?  Should we stop eating grain?

No.  But consider the following tips:

1) Grain should not dominate the diet.  The majority of carbohydrates should be sourced some whole fruits and vegetables.  Too often we see individuals who consume scarce amounts of fresh produce and subsist off cheap, easy-to-eat grain products.  Grain should be an accompaniment, not a centerpiece of the dinner plate.

2) Avoid as much as possible (consider the true social impact of eschewing all of it) hyper-processed grain products like most store-bought bread, cakes, cookies, pastas, pita chips, crackers, pancakes, etc.

3) Eat a variety of whole grains, and consider soaking, sprouting, or fermenting them before consumption if you suspect you have impaired digestion.

4) Abandon the old starch-and-protein paradigm, to improve digestion.  Whole grains are a great morning recommendation, as they do give slow-releasing energy for daily activity and concentration.  They are fiber-rich and increase satiety.  Save your protein for later in the day, especially after your training sessions, in order to give your body the building blocks it needs when it shifts into repair mode (rest and sleep); or, eat protein separately as a small snack.