Wild, Not Wise

Migration

2011-08-02T08:54:00.001-07:00

I am moving my blog to Wordpress, as I've become aware of a lot of issues Blogger has been having. Please continue to follow me there: http://wildnotwise.wordpress.com/

I Bow To the Lizard Feet...

2011-08-02T05:14:00.000-07:00

I did my first run in my Vibram Five Fingers today! I got them about a week and a half ago, but I've been wearing them around to get a feel for where they might rub my feet. Yesterday, they just felt great all day, so I went ahead and ran in them. I did 2.5 miles and felt great. We'll see if my calves agree later today.

After I turned in my lizard feet (seriously, look at that color combo!), I went ahead and did a short yoga practice, just Surya A and B, standing poses, paschimottanasana, and inversions before shavasana. Felt good. I was a little worried about doing Surya right after a run, but I put down my yoga towel and just went for it. No weakness and no slipping. Sweet.

Now I'm unwinding with breakfast and a cup of milky chai. I've modified 101 Cookbooks carrot oatmeal cookies to use the zucchini that has exploded in availability right now. I might post a recipe later this week, or I might tweak the recipe just a bit. But they're a yummy breakfast. I've brought a nettle infusion to drink mid-morning if I feel drained, since it really felt like my body was just screaming for nutrients yesterday.

Lunch Salad and Power Outage Musings

2011-08-01T18:50:00.000-07:00

Here is my beautiful lunchtime salad. Raw kale, spinach, red pepper, cucumber, tomatoes, boiled egg, and cheese. I added oil and vinegar for dressing right before I ate it. It took me an hour to eat and was completely delicious and vibrant-tasting. I even got myself a new lunch container this weekend so that I could fit the whole thing in one box, instead of bringing it in pieces. A nine-cup container.

Yeah, that's a lot of salad.

But I was glad I'd had my huge shot of vegetable nutrients when I got home to a dark apartment. No power. No chance I'm cooking dinner with no water to wash things and a fridge that really should be kept closed. I thought I was destined for takeout for the evening.

Luckily, the power came back on shortly after I got home and I was able to make dinner, these veggie burgers, which I served over a salad with chipotle mayo. Followed with chocolate ice cream and a couple energy bites.

I swear my body has been starving today, tearing through food. Even when I wait and ask myself "am I really hungry?" I end up saying "heck yeah" after a while. I'm hoping this will make my run tomorrow evening better. Well, it's late and I should go to bed. Enjoy looking at my beautiful salad!

New Month, New Beginning

2011-08-01T07:40:00.000-07:00

So today is the first official day of my new yoga project: building a daily Ashtanga practice. I awoke at 6 a.m. and did 5 rounds each of Surya A and B, and the fundamental standing poses, followed by the Salambasana sequence, Matsyasana, Padmasana, and Shavasana. I still have a lot to learn, but I enjoyed the starting point this lent to my day.

I also made a batch of breakfast cookies yesterday. I had a couple of these with a cup of milky chai before heading out to the weight room where I did my standard lifting routine: 5x5 Australian pull-ups, barbell squats, bench press, and deadlift; then 3 sets of planks and side planks. Followed by yogurt and nuts and another cookie. I'm feeling great, and definitely feeling the mental effects of a morning yoga routine.

Another epic salad for lunch. Maybe I'll post a picture of it later. All vegetarian, though I did add eggs and cheese for protein. Apricots and cottage cheese on the side. The store was out of the kind of cottage cheese I usually get, so I opted for Nancy's cultured cottage cheese. I had bought this one before and was freaked out by the "live cultures" and "tangy taste." That was before my traditional-foods journey. Just seemed like cottage cheese to me now. Maybe a little tangier than Organic Valley, but that could also be the lower salt content.

The view from midmorning suggests this will be a good day.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Energy Bites

2011-07-31T14:01:00.001-07:00

This is a quick little recipe I whipped up on Friday night to have before my run on Saturday. I knew I wanted a small hit of carb and plenty of good-quality fat. I used virgin coconut oil, natural peanut butter, almonds, flaxseeds, and some additions for deliciousness. I don't have a photo because I can't seem to keep my hands off them long enough to photograph them.

They are mildly addicting, so I keep them in the freezer (they melt fairly quickly at room temp) and only eat them one or two at a time.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Energy Bites

Melt together:

80g honey

45g peanut butter

25g coconut oil

Add to:

20g cocoa powder

30g ground flaxseeds

75g sliced almonds

27g chopped dark chocolate

1/4 tsp salt

Mix everything together and press into a parchment-lined container. I used a 4"x4" plastic container. Refrigerate overnight, then cut into 16 pieces. Store uneaten bites in the freezer.

Yoga and the Weekend

2011-07-30T14:56:00.001-07:00

Today, my plan was to go downtown to a yoga class, but I decided that I didn't want to start working the hour-long Metro ride into my weekend schedule. So instead I went for a run in the morning, had a lazy day, and made sure stop eating by 2pm so I could do my yoga practice in the late afternoon.

I'm coming up on a month of doing yoga every day. I've learned a lot about myself and my connection to my yoga practice and I've decided I'm very attracted by the Ashtanga style of yoga. Unfortunately, there are no Ashtanga teachers outside of downtown DC in my area, so I'm looking at an hour-long Metro ride if I want to go to an Ashtanga studio. That pretty much rules out a Mysore practice, as I cannot commit to riding into DC 3-6 times a week. Sorry. Not going to happen.

But I can use ashtanga.info to learn the sequences. I've been practicing yoga for years now, so I know the postures; I just need prompting on the vinyasa sequences. I've also been looking at getting a primary series DVD. I think for the month of August, I'm going to commit to a full Ashtanga-style practice, practicing 6 days a week, resting on Saturdays and Moon Days. Honoring the moon connects with my own personal spirituality as well.

I'll log my progress, and hopefully I'll be able to get part of the way into the primary series by the end of the month. I did a long-ish practice today, doing 5 rounds each of Surya Namaskar A and B, the sequence of fundamental poses, some of the early primary series poses, and the finishing sequence. It felt good, and I can't wait to continue this practice.

The Wild Woman's Dilemma

2011-07-28T07:01:00.000-07:00

What to eat? Yeah, I'm channeling Michael Pollan and pondering the idea that, because we can eat anything, should we eat everything? In my case, this is a resounding NO. Some foods give me a migraine. No uncertainty about it; there are certain things that make me more likely to get one and certain foods that every time I have them, I end up with a pounding headache by the end of the day. Other foods are shadier. Gluten, for example, doesn't cause me immediate, acute symptoms, nor do I have any signs of nutrient deficiency due to intestinal damage. But sit me down to a multi-course Italian meal with bread/pasta at every course and I've been known to be clutching my aching tummy before dessert.

Which brings me to that to which I alluded yesterday: traditional foods. First of all, yeah, it takes a lot of time to only eat soaked grains and sourdough bread. Plus, all that fat is calorie-dense, and it definitely leads to weight gain (though sugar is an equal culprit) for me. I need to watch how much I'm eating. I'm of the opinion that cultures prized animal foods because they were harder to come by than plant foods. This didn't make plants any less an integral part of everyday life and diet.

So for now, I'm trying to stick to the simple precept of "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants." No, this does not mean going vegan. Or even vegetarian. Or low-fat. It just means that the bulk of my diet, by volume (not calories, necessarily), will be made up of plants. A bit of fruit in the morning with some nuts and seeds, a big salad at lunch, and a dinner that is focused around a giant pile of vegetables, cooked in quality fats, and served with a modest amount of meat.

Also, I'm lazy when it comes to driving to the farm to get beef, and we're down to 2 or 3 lbs. of ground beef in the freezer.

What this does not mean to me: fake meats, soy, butter substitutes, too many sweets, skinless chicken breast as a main protein source.

What it does mean to me: lots of vegetables, my beloved kale, maybe a bit more fruit, occasional treats, nuts, some grains and beans, broths, small amounts of high-quality meats, lots of dairy, using ghee and coconut oil in modest, controlled amounts.

We'll see how it goes.

Ye gods, she's back!

2011-07-27T11:15:00.000-07:00

So yeah. It's been a while. Hi.

Where have I been (besides Rome, but you knew that)? Well, I've been playing with other things. Other diet ideas. Neglecting my herbs, but being more diligent about my yoga.

I've been exercising. Lifting weights. Running. Jumping and cartwheeling and dodging and bending (seriously). It's been a wild couple of months.

Which brings me back here. Because I'll always be a wild woman at heart. Who knows where I'll go with this, but I think maybe I should try to update here more often. Maybe share some recipes. Some thoughts.

For example: I've come to the realization that trying to stick wholly to traditional foods, in the Nourishing Traditions vein, causes me to gain weight. There, I said it. And it's not friendly, look at my beautiful womanly curves weight, either. I am a small-framed person with a naturally thin body type. Excess weight hangs around my belly and rear like teenagers at the movie theater. And it does nothing for how I feel about myself. So yeah, I'm not going to go vegan and start eating corn-syrup-laden fake foods, but I'm going to start going a little easier on the bread-and-butter and steak. More salads. Fewer desserts.

So, hi. I guess I'm back. Be seeing you.

Breaks and Travels

2011-05-16T06:10:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been almost a month since I've posted. My readers will be glad to know I'm still cooking, still going on wild jaunts, and still dosing my coworkers with herbal remedies. And I've also just come home from over a week in Rome. So nine days of Italian food, Roman ruins, European sun, and leisure time has left me inspired and refreshed, ready to get back in the kitchen. Of course I took lots of pictures. There are no diets or rules when I go to Europe, so expect to see a fair amount of bread, pasta, and pastries. But I feel great, and I'm ready to try to bring Roman leisure time and voluptuousness into my every day life.

I Eat What I Eat

2011-04-18T09:35:00.000-07:00

There's always a fair amount of talk around the traditional and paleo eating blogosphere about how to explain paleo/traditional eating to neophytes. I like some treatments and dislike others, as is typical in most things in life. In particular, I tend to dislike explanations that focus on rules and what not to eat, rather than the spirit of evolutionarily-appropriate nutrition. I dislike approaches that even mention macronutrient ratios, except to explain that that's not what it's really about.

And, when it comes down to it, I dislike explaining how I eat in any concrete terms because I never really follow one way of eating in any sort of dogmatic fashion. I have ideas about what is optimally healthy, and I have ideas about what I find pleasurable enough to ignore some degree of "optimally healthy" and I mix them as I see fit.

In short, I eat what I eat.

If you want to know how you should eat, you really oughtn't ask me. If you want to hear my arguments concerning the relative health benefits of certain things, especially saturated fats, eggs, and meat, then ask away.

But that's not a recommendation to what you should eat.

If you cannot bear the thought of eating a fuzzy animal, then every bite of lambchop will be fraught with guilt, and that's not healthy. We make choices, both based on what we think is best for us AND how it affects us emotionally. Personally, I like dairy foods. I realize that my ridiculous cravings for butter and cream whenever I try to give up dairy are more due to some opiate quality of dairy than an actual, physical need, but I don't discount the emotional need. And raw cheese and cream are far healthier for me than some other emotionally-driven food choices.

Pick your battles, people. And realize that nutrition, like medicine, is not an exact science. Dr. Campbell has proven, if nothing else, that it is always possible to use biased analysis to support any hypothesis you have. So even if you agree with the spirit of a particular health researcher's position, take their findings with a grain of salt. Yes, certain things are self-evident, like the fact that large-scale grain consumption would have been impossible before agriculture emerged 10,000 years ago, and that humans evolved for much longer than that. But certain populations have obviously had a head start on certain genetic adaptations. So read the science, and decide what's worth it.

For me, MSG is very high on the "not worth it" list, not because of any objective scientific research, but because it gives me blinding migraines. But grains are a grayer area. I'm beginning to suspect that I have a specific reaction to gluten, so that might end up on the "not worth it" list shortly. For now, my husband's homemade bread is definitely worth it, but pizza probably isn't. Non-gluten grains, especially white rice, are practically a non-issue, as I'm not prone to uncontrolled weight gain.

So, while I agree with most of the tenets of evolutionary and traditional eating, I don't consider myself a "paleo dieter" any longer. There's just too much variation to it to be a useful way to describe anything. And, more and more, I'm realizing that nutrition, like spirituality, should be a personal, private journey.

This post is part of Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade.

Archevory

2011-04-13T07:47:00.000-07:00

It's official (and has been for a while, but I'm always fashionably late to the party): Dr. Kurt Harris' blog has gone from PaNu to Archevore. Archevore, which is loosely Greek for "one who eats of the essentials," is a reimagination of the Paleo diet, keeping the spirit and losing the dogma. Avoid new-fangled foods that cause problems and don't worry about ratios of this or that. Yeah, Omega-6:3 ratios are important, but what is more important is avoiding industrial seed oils and not fearing saturated fat. You do that and your ratios will fall into place.

Why do I like this?

Well, apart from the obvious allure of a man who knows how to use his Greek linguistic roots, Archevore more completely espouses the idea of evolutionary nutrition, not as a Diet, but as a way of thinking about food. Choose foods according to essential rules that are designed to help you avoid the majority of life's problems and don't obsess about the rest.

Don't obsess about the rest. Yeah, I need that part. I like to obsess. And control. And cling to dogma. But if I can focus on avoiding industrial oils, refined/gluten grains, and sugar, I think I could feel a lot better about being healthy. So for now, I'm focusing on eliminating sugar and gluten. I already don't eat much in the way of seed oils. And if I want to get some rice when I'm out at a Mexican or Asian restaurant? I'll go for it.

And, since I haven't posted a food picture in a while, a taco salad (lettuce, carrot, grass-fed beef with spices, avocado, fresh salsa):

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop

Vegan Marital Troubles

2011-04-10T05:06:00.000-07:00

Well, it's finally happened. One of my favorite advice columnists has finally tackled the outcome of vegan menacing. A woman wrote in and was published in the Sunday Carolyn Hax column asking how she could get her husband, who has recently strayed from their initially-mutual veganism, to relearn the fanaticism. And I was so proud of Carolyn for her response: For all your talk of compassion for animals, you're not being very compassionate to the one you married.

AND she brings up ethical omnivory. And "those pointy teeth."

It's great that she didn't turn this into a discussion of whether or not veganism is morally superior, or whether eating meat is wrong, apart from the pointy teeth comment, but rather seemed to frame this in a similar way to how she responds to people complaining about a loved one not conforming to some minutia of their religious beliefs. That is, after all, what this is.

Way to go, Carolyn Hax!

Rendering Tallow

2011-03-30T04:33:00.000-07:00

I rendered some more tallow this weekend. I got a blob of suet, about a pound, from my grandmother a little while ago because she bought it to feed the birds and they wouldn't eat it. It's been in my freezer forever, and since I had to clear out the freezer to make space for more beef, I decided to render.

This time, I decided to use Mark Sisson's technique of processing partially-frozen suet in the food processor to get small pieces, and then used Ann Marie's technique to render the fat in the crock pot.

It took about 3 or 4 hours. 3 hours in, the beagle became very interested.

When it was done, I had a bunch of cracklins, which I strained through a coffee strainer in a mesh sieve.

After that, I had just over a half a reused ghee jar full of pale yellow tallow. It's since cooled to a nice, creamy white color. I used some to brown some ground beef the other night. It's nice to have tallow again. I highly recommend the crock pot method. I basically just set it to low and forgot about it until I heard sizzling. I did stir occasionally, and I took the lid off at the end to allow the last bits of water to evaporate, but all-in-all, it's pretty hands-off, and there wasn't much splattering.

(Yes, I did share some of the cracklins with the dog. He loves me best now.)

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday with Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

On Not Obsessing About Hunger

2011-03-28T08:07:00.001-07:00

First of all, a warning: If you are squeamish and/or male, you may not entirely enjoy today's post.

When it comes to food, I'm a pretty obsessive person. I tend to plan my life, and especially my meals, far in advance. I like to plan to make sure that I'll always have food at my fingertips in case I get hungry. I guess it goes back to my flirtation with hypoglycemia as a teenager, when I would frequently get irritable or irrational when I was hungry, or would even pass out. So I make sure that I always have healthy, real food around me, so that I'm not faced with a choice of hunger or unhealthy snacks.

But really, is this healthy? Is it healthy or natural to always have food to quell the voice inside that says "Hey, I want food?" I would argue no. For so much of our existence, humans have had limited access to food. If I were a peasant working in the fields in the Middle Ages and my stomach rumbled, would I be able to just drop everything and have snacky time? No.

So one of my goals this year is to be less obsessed with food and hunger. Go hungry a little, and convince my body that it's not the end of the world. Avoiding sugar and refined grains really helps.

And this morning, I found another beneficial practice: Find something else to think about. It can't just be anything, it has to be something that occupies your whole mind and seems dire, at least at first.

See, what brought this to mind was my run this morning, which I started out already a little bit hungry. I usually know when I'm going to get my period, but lately my morning temps have been a bit erratic, possibly because my thermometer needs a new battery. So I was 75% sure I wouldn't get my period today, but would probably get it tomorrow. So I went off on a 3-mile run with zero protection, just the layers of clothing I was wearing against the cold. About a mile in, I felt a familiar sensation: Menstrual cramps.

Crap.

I could tell that I was wrong about my prediction of my period. I just knew that it was going to start momentarily. I mentally went through the layers of clothing, trying to figure out just how much of it was going to be ruined by this. How dark is black clothing, anyway? Is it going to show through? Am I going to leave little tracks? I finally talked myself down about halfway through the run, and just focused the rest of the way on finishing my run despite some pretty annoying cramps.

When I got home, I found I had not started my period, so there was no mess.

I also realized that I was no longer hungry.

After a stretch and a shower, I decided that I could eat something, so I had a dish of yogurt. But I didn't have any real, physical signs of hunger afterwards until about 10:30 this morning. I'm currently enjoying a cup of pu-erh tea because I'd rather not eat my lunch early, and I feel like my hunger is bearable.

Now, we can't all have female emergencies all the time when we're feeling hungry and cranky. But I think this incident has served to show me that meditation is a powerful tool. I didn't try to focus on not being hungry ("Don't think of an elephant," anyone?), but instead found another, completely unrelated topic, to occupy my mind.

Maybe next time I could try meditating on writing my thesis or something.

Quick Meals and a Weekend Brunch

2011-03-26T06:36:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd take this Saturday morning to share some of the quick meals, along with my brunch today, which was decidedly un-quick.

Egg Foo Yung is one of my favorite applications for a quick, often meatless, meal. Eggs are fairly cheap, and these omelette/pancake things tend to use pre-cooked veggies, so they're good leftover vehicles. This one used leftover roast chicken, collard greens, and some sliced onion. Just fry up the onion, shred the chicken, chop the greens, and stir the whole thing into 2-3 beaten eggs with a dash of tamari. Pour into a pan and cook covered for 3-5 minutes, flip and cook until browned.

Stir-fries are another great quick meal. This one is ground beef with carrots, onions, curry powder, cabbage, and coconut milk. Brown the beef, add the onions and carrots, add the curry and coconut milk, and then the cabbage and cook covered until the cabbage is tender. Delicious and quick, and the fat from the coconut milk means I can use a little less meat and still have a filling, nutritious meal.

This is my brunch from today. Definitely not fast, but so worth it. It's Saturday, after all. I fried up some slices of sweet potato in ghee and bacon grease, and served it with a scramble of eggs, kale, and bacon. All washed down with some green tea. Yum!

Disordered Eating and Paleo versus Veg*nism

2011-03-24T11:48:00.000-07:00

There's been a lot of talk about "orthorexia," starting a while back, specifically targeted at people who eliminate modern convenience "foods" like high fructose corn syrup and refined sugar/flour from their diets. There's an idea that "any diet that eliminates a whole food group is too extreme" and you should eat "all things in moderation." People think that people eating a traditional or paleo diet are disordered because they don't eat (as many) grains, or sugar, or because they won't just eat a sandwich for lunch.

I say, screw that.

As I've mentioned before, I am a recovering disordered eater. Guess what I found? Vegetarianism was the single best method of restricting my food that I found. And it's not just because you're limited in your food choices and you have a good reason to turn down food and claim that you'll eat later. No, the main reason why vegetarianism made starving myself so simple was because it's so darned socially accepted! No one immediately jumps to the conclusion that you're out to deprive yourself if you go vegetarian. After all, there are two perfectly acceptable reasons to go: for social reasons, and for "health" reasons. I mean, everyone knows animal foods are bad for us, right? And everyone knows animals are fuzzy and adorable and only a monster would want to kill them, right?

Incidentally, I would ask if any of these "animals are fuzzy" types have ever been in close quarters with a chicken or a pig. Those buggers are nasty. A pig will eat a human if given the opportunity, and I don't just know this from the movies; a friend of mine fell in the pig pen at the farm near our summer camp one year and got attacked. By a pig. Yeah, just like Wilbur or Babe.

So, now, you have a bunch of people who have a legitimate argument for why their way of eating is healthier, more natural, and possibly even more sustainable than a veg*n diet based on large-scale monoculture agriculture and industrial soy. They eat all sorts of foods that we've been eating for thousands of years as humans. But no, because we reject foods introduced in the last hundred years, we get labeled disordered.

And all the while, teeny weeny vegan girls get to say "Oh, I'm a vegan; I can't eat that" and get away with real disordered eating.

Disclaimer: I'm writing this mostly from a personal point of view, and to show that it's ridiculous to label real foodies disordered when other restrictive diets are so mainstream. I'm not at all trying to imply that all veg*ns are disordered. If you're doing it and you're healthy and you're not basing your diet on processed fake food, more power to you. Also, "veg*n" is used as a catch-all term for vegetarian and vegan, and is not meant to imply that "vegan" is a dirty word.

This post is part of Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade.

Banh Mi at home, and Pork Liver Pate

2011-03-24T01:00:00.000-07:00

Crazy week with no posting last week, but I do have something new to share. I made my own banh mi sandwiches. Banh mi are awesome Vietnamese sandwiches with French influence from the imperialist period. I've found a great little deli near work that makes them and I've learned to love the combination of creamy mayo and pate. Couple that with the 3 lbs. of pork liver I have sitting in my freezer right now, which I got for free from Lynne Ferguson at Ferguson Family Farm, and you have a recipe for homemade banh mi madness!

First, I made carrot and daikon pickles by jarring up some julienned veggies with a vinegar-sugar-and-salt brine with spices. Yum. Then, I got to work on the pate. The recipe is below, if you're interested. Most pork pate recipes call for other meat besides the liver, but I used bacon instead. Then, I made homemade mayo. I put the whole thing together on a piece of French bread with grilled marinated beef and some fresh watercress, since my store was out of cilantro. Super-yummy.

I also made a modified version for breakfast by spreading mayo and pate on a fresh roll and stuffing it with carrot and daikon pickles!

Pork Liver and Bacon Pate

4-6 oz. of bacon, chopped

1-2 Tbsp. ghee

12 oz. pork liver, sliced or chopped

1/2 onion, sliced

1 clove of garlic, peeled and crushed

splash of white wine

3 Tbsp. softened butter

Put the bacon in a cold pan and turn the heat on to low or medium-low to render out the fat without crisping the bacon. You want really wiggly pieces here. Add in the ghee, turn up the heat to medium, and move the bacon to the edges of the pan. Add the pork liver pieces and saute until browned. Add the onions and garlic and a generous splash of white wine and simmer the whole thing, covered, for a half an hour or so. Let simmer uncovered to let most of the liquid evaporate off. Let this cool for a while. When it's cool, process the meat mixture to break up the larger pieces, then process some more with the softened butter. Salt and pepper to taste. Makes about 2 cups of pate.

This post is part of Pennywise Platter at The Nourishing Gourmet and Simple Lives Thursday at GNOWFGLINS.

Book Review: Ancient Bodies, Modern Lives

2011-03-23T09:44:00.000-07:00

I haven't done a book review on my blog before, but I just finished reading Ancient Bodies, Modern Lives: How Evolution Has Shaped Women's Health, by Wenda Trevathan, and I thought I'd give some of my impressions. My overall review of this book is that it's a great read. Just as I think all women should read Taking Charge of Your Fertility, I think this book should be up there, too. It gives insight into the evolutionary basis of certain things unique to women's health.

The book focuses on reproduction as a woman's function, which is reasonable. Really, the function of any organism is to reproduce. But it goes into detail, talking about maturation of a young girl, menstruation and puberty, and conception. It discusses pregnancy and childbirth, as well as lactation and early child-rearing. But one of the most interesting things I found was that the book focuses two chapters on the post-reproductive phase (menopause and beyond). While other mammalian females decline in fertility or may even stop ovulating late in life, human females are the only mammal that spends a large portion of her life in a healthy, post-reproductive phase.

Of course, as a young woman, I found the earlier chapters more interesting. Tidbits about the menstrual cycle, such as the fact that the hormones secreted during the luteal phase (after ovulation but before menstruation) of the menstrual cycle can increase energy. The sudden withdrawal of these hormones at menstruation may be one explanation for some PMS symptoms. But post-ovulation, a woman's immune system is suppressed to keep the immune system from attacking a potential fetus, which is, after all, 50% foreign material.

The last chapter gets a mixed reception from me. After a book that talks about how women in "health-rich" countries have higher hormone levels and how eating more fat can alter hormone-levels to be closer to those in health-rich women, the book's final admonition for leading a healthy life is a parroting of conventional health wisdom: eat lots of whole grains and veggies and fruits, not too much fat or meat, and wear sunscreen. Kind of disappointing that an author with obvious evolutionary cred hasn't done much looking at the evolution of human nutrition. Also, a minor complaint, she pays little heed to the practice of women charting ovulation. She seems to think that commercial ovulation kits are a sign that fertility signs are hard to read, when my opinion is that it's a sign that there isn't enough education of women about their own fertility cycles.

All in all, however, it is an insightful look into women's health. The main message is that most of the "problems" that women face are in fact natural, healthy stages in a woman's life. The best thing that medicine can do is to stop treating women like they are broken in some way, as established medicine tends to treat things like menopause or even miscarriage (yes, miscarriage has an evolutionary basis), and instead treat only the things that really are problems. Also, good nutrition seems to always be good, though we may disagree on what that means, exactly.

Quickie: Pu-erh Ginger Tea

2011-03-17T06:25:00.000-07:00

I haven't had the inspiration to write a new post, but I thought I'd share a new find with you. I've recently begun drinking Rishi Ancient Tree Pu-erh Ginger tea. It's not terribly cheap, but I can infuse each batch twice, which is nice. Pu-erh is a fermented tea product that's known for its peculiar flavor. Generally, you either love it or hate it.

And I find it delicious. It's very gingery when you smell the loose tea, but after it's brewed the ginger mellows to a zingy top note. The main scent that I notice in the brewed tea is a profoundly earth note, almost like fresh, damp dirt. It sounds strange, but it makes for an incredibly smooth cup of tea with none of the acidic notes that can give tea a nasty aftertaste in the back of my throat.

It's definitely caffeinated, but I find that it doesn't give me the shakes like coffee does. The caffeine kick comes on slowly, like a warmth spreading through my body, and makes me feel motivated and energetic, not jittery, and I find that it wears off fairly quickly. I don't crash, but I don't find myself laying awake at night, even when I have a cup of tea at 3 p.m.

I use 1-2 heaped dessert spoons of loose tea leaves in a tea ball, steeped in about 8 oz. of boiling water. I use spring water, since it's what's available at work, but I'm sure filtered would also work. I steep it for 5-6 minutes, then remove the tea ball and reserve it. When I finish one cup, I can put the tea ball in another cupful of water and steep it again for 5-6 minutes. It's just as delicious as the first.

This post is part of Simple Lives Thursday at GNOWFGLINS.

Food Snobbery: A week in pictures

2011-03-11T03:42:00.001-08:00

This week, I've decided to go back to being a total food snob. I've mostly succeeded. I had a piece of Croatian walnut roll that a coworker's wife made, but that's exotic enough to still be snobby! And I've been enjoying my nightly piece of Salazon chocolate: good-quality dark chocolate with sea salt. Here are some of the meals I've been enjoying as part of my snobby week.

Calvados-steamed salmon with roasted carrots and broccoli

Spinach pesto meatballs with roasted beet and fennel salad with lavender balsamic vinaigrette and shaved Parmesan

Breakfast: A baked organic potato with pastured butter, miso-nettle-ginger soup, and plain yogurt

Bacon and onion frittata with roasted beet salad with honey-mustard vinaigrette

Spinach Pesto Meatballs over salad with balsamic vinaigrette

As you can see, I've been putting a lot of effort into planning meals that are unique and have a blend of flavors that is complex but not overly busy. It's all been so much fun, both to cook and to eat, and it's given me plenty of inspiration for weeks to come.

This post is part of Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade.

A Full Plate: Chicken Paprikas

2011-03-10T05:59:00.001-08:00

This is a quickie, but a goodie. I made chicken paprikas last week to use up some sour cream that I had and celebrate the arrival of my Mountain Rose Herbs order, which contained 4 oz. of paprika (!). It's a delicious, simple dish, and perfectly suited to a weeknight, though I did come home a little early to cook it.

Chicken Paprikas

(based on my Hungarian grandmother's recipe)

6 strips of bacon, baked and chopped, grease reserved

8 chicken thighs (about 2 lbs., with bones and skin)

1/2 onion, sliced

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 Tbsp. paprika

salt and pepper, to taste

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup sour cream

1-3 tsp. arrowroot powder

Brown the chicken thighs in bacon grease in two batches until the skin is crispy and brown in the bottom of a Dutch oven. Remove to a plate. Add the onions and garlic and saute until fragrant, probably less than a minute. Add the paprika and stir to coat with grease. Add the chicken broth, scrape the bottom of the pot, and add the chicken back to the pot. Simmer, covered, for about an hour. Then, stir together the sour cream and arrowroot and a small amount of cooking broth. Add this back to the pot along with the chopped bacon and bring back, just to a simmer. Don't let it boil after adding the sour cream. Serve over egg noodles or with potatoes or with biscuits or (if you are very traditional) egg dumplings, which are called nokedli in Hungary. Makes 4 generous servings.

This is part of Full Plate Thursday at Miz Helen's Country Cottage

A New Addition

2011-03-10T05:44:00.000-08:00

Today I'm going to take time to bid welcome to the newest addition to my culinary and herbal household. Her name is Lavender and she was a holiday gift from my aunt, though she just arrived a couple weeks ago. She's already beautiful and seems to be enjoying her sunny spot in our living room.

See how she's already showing some of her color? These spikes were there when she arrived and are beautifully fragrant. It's amazing how fresh, growing lavender has a spicy and minty note to its herbal fragrance. I've already harvested a few spikes that were starting to wilt and used them in a vinaigrette earlier this week. She's already enriching both the atmosphere and the flavor of our home!

This post is part of Simple Lives Thursday at GNOWFGLINS.

On Being a Food Snob

2011-03-08T06:25:00.000-08:00

I have previously written about how real foodies are marginalized and why that's ridiculous, but today I want to address the food snobs. You know who you are. Don't worry, I'm one, too!

Being a "snob" has such negative connotations. Snobs are those people who look down their noses at everyone else, disdaining them for failing to maintain a quality of life that they consider adequate. They judge people based on their lifestyle, not considering that many do not have the means to maintain lavish lifestyles. That sounds bad, right?

So why don't I think that being a "food snob" is a bad thing?

I'll tell you: The label "snob" is not generally a self-imposed one. People will call others "snobs" with various qualifiers to indicate that said snobs are behaving in some negative way. "Food snobs" are those who are obviously deficient because they reject whole swathes of "normal" foodstuffs in the American diet. Anyone who insists on high-quality food and ingredients is instantly labeled a "food snob."

And that is why being a food snob is not a bad thing. It is proof that you have expressed your preference for high-quality, sustainable, real foods, rather than settling for the industrial, hyper-commercialized edible food-like substance force-fed to the masses, starting with the advertising and the industrial lobbyists' agendas that saturate our everyday lives. We snobs are the ones sitting and enjoying our food for what it actually is, rather than what the chemicals injected into it makes it taste like.

So when I say that I am spending week cloistered in strict food snobbery, that means that I'm enjoying real food, cooked from scratch with care. No rules or regulations other than "Eat. Real. Food." How could that be bad?

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

Why Hello There

2011-03-06T14:55:00.001-08:00

Hello there, my long-neglected readers. I've been terribly busy, what with having a birthday last week, and haven't had a chance to update much at all. Rest assured that I have new recipes and herbal topics to cover soon.

Otherwise, what I've been doing:

I had my birthday party a week ago, which included homemade snacks and a beautiful homemade layer cake. No, not really healthy, but very very delicious.

I had my birthday lobster with my grandmother yesterday! It's quickly becoming a yearly tradition, since I like lobster a lot more than I like most desserts. I had broth-based clam chowder, steamed lobster, mussels, broccoli, chorizo, a few bites of Boston cream pie, and a cup of Moroccan mint tea. Yum.

I've also been out way more than usual. I went out tango dancing Wednesday night at an awesome little bar in DC. Then, last night, I was out past midnight at a party. It was fun, but I can't wait to get back to bed early, waking early.

For the coming week, I've decided that my birthday festivity week led to a little more sugar and junk food consumption than I'd like. So I've decided that for a week, I'm going to try to be a total food snob. If it's not great food, I'm not eating it. We'll see how that goes!

Coming soon to Wild, not Wise:

Spinach Pesto Meatballs

An introduction to the newest addition to our apartment

My portable herbal pharmacy

See you later in the week!

Simple Natural Beauty: Basic Hair Care

2011-02-23T09:28:00.000-08:00

This is the big one. I am like Jo March in that my hair is my one vanity. I don't wear makeup and I've never been able to stick to a skin care routine that's too complicated or reliant on expensive products. But I do love to take care of my hair. In college, I donated my waist-length hair to Wigs for Kids, cutting back to a funky, shoulder-length shag. I also dyed it burgundy. I felt fun and hip again, but I also felt less feminine. Fast-forward to about 3 and a half years ago, when I got all my previously-dyed hair cut off and started growing out my natural hair color. I have a few grey hairs, but I don't plan to color my hair again.

In 2009, I joined the Long Hair Community and really got serious about growing back my beautiful long hair. I experimented with a lot of different methods of hair care, but I eventually found one that meshes well with my views on natural products, as well.

Washing:

I alternate between washing with diluted baking soda and washing with diluted Dr. Bronner's soap. My basic baking soda routine is to add a tablespoon of baking soda to a hair dye applicator bottle and then fill the bottle to 4-5oz. with water. I shake it up, apply it to my scalp, and massage it in for a bit before rinsing. To wash with Dr. Bronner's soap, I put a teaspoon or two of soap in the applicator bottle and dilute it with 2-3 oz. of warm water. This I also squirt onto my scalp, and then lather it up with my hands. Rinse well.

After washing with an alkaline solution, you need to re-balance your hair. I achieve this by putting 2-4 Tbsp. of apple cider vinegar in a pint-sized jar and filling it the rest of the way with warm water. This I pour over my head, making sure it gets everywhere. Then I rinse again. This rinse will also remove any mild soap scum that might have resulted from the interaction of your water with the soap.

I do find that if I use soap exclusively, I get tangly buildup on my ends. I have to use baking soda at least once every couple weeks to keep this at bay. The main point is that I only wash my hair 2-3 times a week. I try to schedule washes for days when I go running and my hair will be sweaty, but if I do go running on a non-wash day, I will just rinse my hair with water.

After Washing:

I like to use oil on damp hair in order to condition my hair, provide slip for detangling, and hold in moisture. I have used coconut oil in the past, but I find that in the winter, it is hard to get it to soak in before it solidifies. So I mostly use liquid oils. My favorite right now is grapeseed oil, which is very lightweight and provides excellent slip. I also use sweet almond oil for a richer oil.

I apply about 1/4 tsp. to the ends of my hair with my palms, working my hands up my length. I have hair down to the middle of my back, so someone with shorter hair will need less oil and someone with longer hair will need more. I did not find oiling to be useful until my hair was well past my shoulders, as applying oil too close to the scalp can sometimes leave your hair looking greasy. I apply oil before putting my hair up in a towel turban, but after a light towel-blotting.

Troubleshooting:

I have to stress that this is just my personal hair care routine. I've done a lot of experimenting to get to this point, and what works for me will not work for everyone. If you have curly hair, you may find that you need more moisture. One thing you might try is the Oil Shampoo Method, which has been successful for people who need more moisture out of a wash. I use this method once in a while, with Dr. Bronner's soap as the base, to alleviate scalp itching in the winter, but I cannot use it regularly as my hair does not need this much moisture and it leaves my hair looking greasy.

You can also experiment with different oils, or how much oil you use. If you have coarser hair, you may need more oil; if you have finer hair you may need less. Right now, I find that grapeseed oil is the closest thing to a lightweight silicone serum that I can find using natural products. The almond oil is richer. You can also look at this list to choose a different oil or butter, based on your needs.

Also, if you have harder or softer water, you may need adjust the strength of your diluted vinegar rinse, or use a different acid. If you have blond hair, you may want to use lemon juice or white vinegar, as apple cider vinegar has been known to darken or redden blond hair. If you find that your hair feels waxy after washing with soap, you need to increase the amount of vinegar in your rinse. If your hair feels limp, lank, or greasy, you need to reduce the amount of vinegar in your rinse.

One more caveat: The first time I tried washing with baking soda, as part of the "no 'poo" method, I found that the baking soda stripped out all the artificial color in my hair, leaving the dyed length of my hair brassy and faded-looking. It was also visibly damaged. It made it easy to show the hair stylist where to cut to get rid of the dyed stuff, but if you want to continue coloring your hair with chemicals, you may want to skip baking soda washing. If you want to try something more natural, consider henna, indigo, or other herbal blends.

I hope this primer on my basic natural hair care has given you some ideas to help make your beauty routines more natural! Next, I'll share some of my hair styling tips for very long hair.

This post is part of Simple Lives Thursday at GNOWFGLINS.

Comfort and Food

2011-02-22T11:16:00.001-08:00

We've all heard of comfort food. Those guilty, high-fat, high-calorie, high-sugar vices that we all seem to have. Those treats to whom we run when life gets tougher. Chocolate is a biggie. Or baked goods. Or things that are fried.

I'm not here to debate what makes us crave the comfort foods we crave. Some have even tried to postulate that the specific craving we're having points to a specific issue or deficiency. Personally, I just know that I had a crappy Friday and (therefore) weekend, and I'm spending today not being terribly resistant to the bags of candy my coworker brought in.

But I'm not stressing about it. After all, if you're stressed, and running to comfort food, and then stressing about the comfort, then it's just going to compound the problem. As long as I'm getting some good, nutrient-dense foods as well, I'll take the good with the bad. Anyway, plenty of "comfort food," like the plate pictured above is what I would consider awesome, nourishing food. Meatloaf with homemade gravy made from homemade broth, mashed potatoes with butter and cream, and broccoli with butter.

And I did have my glass of nettle infusion this morning to boost my adrenals.

A Quick Pick-Me-Up: Custard Steamer

2011-02-16T18:01:00.000-08:00

One thing I discovered that I love is milk steamers. At a coffee shop, a steamer is basically a flavored latte without the coffee. That is, hot milk and flavoring mixed together. But ever since I learned that citric acid can have MSG in it, and most flavor syrups have citric acid, I haven't ordered any flavored coffee drinks out at coffee houses. But I can make my own, with nourishing sweeteners, like honey and maple syrup, and organic flavorings. And today, I learned that adding a beaten egg yolk and heating it with the milk makes a rich, drinkable, warm custard.

Custard Steamer

1 cup whole milk (milk and cream would be amazing)

dash of salt

1 tsp. or so of honey

1 egg yolk

flavoring of choice

Heat the milk, salt, and honey until the honey dissolves and steam starts to rise from the milk. Beat the egg yolk in a small dish (I used the mug from which I drank it and just rinsed it in between) and add about 1/3 of the hot milk. Add this back to the milk in the pan and heat over medium heat until it thickens and simmers at the edges. Made with milk, it will take on the consistency of half-and-half, and just barely start coating the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and stir in flavoring of choice (vanilla is always good). I like to strain it into a mug and let it cool for 10-15 minutes before drinking. It thickens as it cools.

This post is part of Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade.

Don't miss the newest article at Wellness the Wild Woman Way!

Millet Porridge

2011-02-16T17:54:00.000-08:00

While I used to eat oatmeal in cold weather, my new favorite thing is millet. It's gluten-free, and it happens to be the cheapest bulk grain at my organic store. I thought I'd share my recipe for basic millet porridge for you, since it's such a frugal way to base a meal. I mostly eat it for breakfast, but it would make an excellent bed for any kind of topping. I've made hearty meals, with meat and eggs on top of millet, and I've made simple breakfasts of millet with butter and honey.

My current favorite is to fry up some sliced mushrooms in ghee and then push them to the side, fry up an egg and top the millet with butter, fried egg, and mushrooms. Delicious, filling, and no added sugar, so I don't get hungry again mid-morning like I do with sweet breakfasts.

Basic Millet Porridge

1/3 cup millet

1 cup water + extra for soaking

dash of salt

The night before, put the millet in a container and cover with water (at least a cup). Add a splash of an acidic medium, if you wish. Millet is low in phytic acid, so it does not need a long soaking. In the morning, strain the millet and bring a cup of water to a boil. Add the salt and the millet and cover, turning the heat to low. Simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until the liquid has absorbed. Serve topped however you like. Makes one serving.

This post is part of Pennywise Platter at The Nourishing Gourmet.

Don't miss the latest article at Wellness the Wild Woman Way, about stinging nettle!

Simple Natural Beauty: Basic Skin Care

2011-02-15T13:18:00.000-08:00

I've decided to start a Wednesday series devoted to my beauty rituals, which I base around natural ingredients and simple practices. Today, to officially begin the series, I've chosen to focus on my personal skin care routine. As a teenager and younger person, I never experienced much acne, and even now, I rarely get more than one or two blemishes at a time. While proper skin care can help a variety of ailments, I find that the biggest influence on ones outward appearance is diet. When I nourish my body with appropriate, natural foods, my skin looks healthy and glowing.

So beyond my diet, I use very little on my face, and I use almost nothing that I would not eat. My everyday skin care ritual is broken up into two parts: morning and evening. In the mornings, I rinse my face with plain water. If I shower, I just let the water run over my face as I wash the rest of me, and if I do not shower, I splash my face with water from the sink, or else sometimes use a soft washcloth.

In the evenings, I spend a little more time on my face. Most nights, I wash with warm water and a wash cloth. Then, I use a little Thayer's witch hazel toner on a cotton pad, and finish with a thin layer of frankincense and myrrh scented shea butter on still-damp skin. The shea butter absorbs overnight, and my beagle seems to love the scent when he jumps up on the bed with me.

It helps that I wear no makeup on a regular basis. If I get a blemish, I may use a little rhassoul clay as a spot treatment, perhaps with a little lavender essential oil, but in general, I try to avoid bothering my skin as much as possible. At least once a week, or so, I do a modified oil cleansing, using a mild sea buckthorn soap after removing the oil, and following with my witch hazel and shea butter. I've used jojoba oil in the past for oil cleansing, but right now I use grapeseed oil. It is a nice, light oil that makes a good cleansing oil, light moisturizer, or hair oil. I try to time this oil cleansing to be the night before I plan on washing my hair, so that if I get some oil in my hairline, it will be washed away in the morning.

An oil cleansing ritual can be as simple or as lavish as you want it, though I tend to stick to a simple massage of oil, followed by a hot, damp cloth to steam my pores. In the future, I will post about special-occasion skin pampering that I may do on a lazy Saturday, or when I want a luxurious pick-me-up.

This post is part of Simple Lives Thursday at GNOWFGLINS.

Small Pleasures

2011-02-15T03:15:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a great Valentine's day, but a stressful day in general. The main stressor was something so completely out of my control that I had to just get over it because obsessing about it wasn't going to make anything better. So I decided to see how many small things in my evening I could find that brought me joy.

Salad with citrus and olive oil. This was our appetizer for Valentine's day dinner, and ever since I cut up a grapefruit that I had lying around and toss the segments on top of a salad for a random lunch, I've loved the flavor of citrus, olive oil, and salt.

The color and scent of red kale. It's not really red; it's purple. It has my absolute favorite color combination, purple and green. And it has a particular scent, almost perfume-y. It's not a green scent, but it is amazing. As I chopped kale for my lunches this week, I took a moment to stick my nose in and inhale the scent. It calmed me.

Simple roast chicken and boiled potatoes. I never knew how easy a fantastic meal could be. Roast chicken is my go-to meal for company because it seems so complicated, but really all you do it salt a chicken and put it in a hot oven. And boiled potatoes with butter and salt seem to be my ultimate comfort food.

Finally, when all else fails, a cup of sage tea and a relaxing nighttime beauty ritual will always calm me down and leave me ready for restorative sleep. Good morning, everyone!

This post is part of Tuesday Twister at GNOWFGLINS.

A Monday Morning Kind of Post

2011-02-14T07:54:00.001-08:00

It's Monday morning. Always a good time to take stock of what you're been doing and where you're going. Last week, I did lots of blogging, lots of cooking (as usual) and even started researching and writing my next Wellness the Wild Woman Way article. This in addition to my normal job. I hope I can continue my productivity this week!

I also made a nice big Mountain Rose Herbs order. I highly recommend them for all your herbal/natural needs. They have lots of nice, bulk dried herbs, spices, teas, oils and butters, and other supplies for herbal healing and natural living. I ordered a pound of pink Himalayan sea salt because I love the little jar my mother gave me for the holidays. And I got some peppercorns and paprika because I use them until I run out and then have not-as-fun food. I also ordered some more sage (my favorite stress-relief herbal ally!), some peppermint leaf, and some lemon balm, along with some small, corked jars so that I can bring some dried herbs to work to make healing herbal teas without going home. I'll blog about my office-apothecary set when I get it done.

Today is Valentine's day (or Lupercalia, or some extension of Imbolc, if you prefer), and I'm cooking a nice meal. I also made a soaked cherry-chocolate-chip loaf for the office. I'm also starting a capoeira class tomorrow night. So I guess my goals for the week are to keep busy, keep active, and keep blogging!

A Wild Woman's Shortcut: Ti-fusions

2011-02-11T08:03:00.000-08:00

Today's tip is a quickie. I've posted before about nourishing herbal infusions, as taught by Susun Weed. But sometimes I don't put together an infusion before I go to bed, or I just want an herbal pick-me-up without steeping a lot of herb for a long amount of time. So I've started making what I call mini-infusions or "ti-fusions" (a mix between a tisane and an infusion). I use 2 Tbsp. of dried herb in about a cup and a half of boiling water, and cover while it steeps for 30-60 minutes.

The resulting brew is stronger than herbal tea and retains the characteristic rich taste of the infusion of the herb, but it's weaker than a full infusion, and stays warm so I don't have to reheat it. Also, since it's less potent, I feel comfortable taking familiar herbs and mixing them, rather than just making a simple like I would for an infusion.

They are also effective. I make ti-fusions of red clover, which is one of my favorites since it's so expensive, and then still drive away a headache easier than a tea. Nettle ti-fusion gives me a little nudge of nourishing energy in the mornings, and red raspberry leaf ti-fusion soothes moontime difficulties. They may not be as potent as a full infusion, but they are a good compromise between being frugal with your dried herbs and still getting the benefits of water-based herbal preparations.

Meat Pies: A Frugal Way to Use Leftovers

2011-02-09T18:16:00.000-08:00

Another quickie showing one of my favorite ways to use up leftovers. Last week, I cooked a 5-lb. pot roast. While we ate a great deal of the meat for Sunday night dinner with a guest, and had it again the next night, I was not in the mood for more pot roast later in the week. So I chopped the meat, added sauteed vegetables, and simmered it in some of the reserved broth. I thickened the broth with a spoon of arrowroot, and then baked the whole thing in pie crusts for meat pies.

I used a standard pie crust recipe, with an added egg for structure to the crust, and a little more flour for the amount of butter I used. I also used half spelt flour and half white whole wheat flour, since I knew the meat filling could handle a heartier crust. The resulting pie was rich, filling, and altogether different from a bowl of pot roast with broth. Meat pies are a great way to recycle food without it seeming like "leftovers, again!"

This post is part of Pennywise Platter at The Nourishing Gourmet.

Don't forget to check out the debut article at Wellness the Wild Woman Way!

Simple Homemade Balm

2011-02-09T09:15:00.000-08:00

This is a quick remedy that I made a while ago, but recently found pictures and realized I'd never posted it. I love lip balms. Growing up, my dad always had a Chapstick with him, and made sure, as we got older, that his kids did, too. My mom would put Chapsticks in our Christmas stockings. And, yes, I did put a few of them through the wash. That's a nasty surprise.

But as I've moved to more natural products, I no longer use petrolatum-based lip balms. I also find that vegan lip balms don't have the same benefits as a good beeswax balm. I like Burt's Bees, but it's expensive. Plus, beeswax balm isn't just good on lips.

I make my balm with about 1/2 oz. of beeswax and an ounce of liquid oil. The balm pictured is beeswax and sweet almond oil. I grate the wax and melt it into the oil over low heat, then pour it into a pot and stir it with a toothpick occasionally until it sets up. It's nice and soft and melts on my fingers. It also makes a nice treatment for the ends of my hair.

This post is part of Simple Lives Thursday at GNOWFGLINS.

Be sure to check out the latest article at Wellness the Wild Woman Way!

Super Bowl Snacks

2011-02-07T15:54:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd post some pictures of the goodies I made last night for the Super Bowl. After last year, my husband and I decided we liked staying in and enjoying the game with just the two of us, so that's what we did again this year, even though we weren't snowed in.

I made chili fries to start. The chili was the perfect topping chili I have ever made. I cooked up a slurry of about a teaspoon each of chili powder, cumin powder, garlic powder, and dried oregano (maybe only 1/2 tsp. oregano) in some ghee, then added 6 oz. of ground beef and some chopped onion. I added a can of Muir Glen fire roasted tomatoes with green chiles that I had pureed in the blender and let the whole thing simmer for about an hour. I served it over homemade oven fries, but it would be great on organic hot dogs, too!

Then, we had mini-burgers. With raw cheese. On homemade wheat buns. And plenty of beer to wash it down. I had my favorite, Saranac Brewery Black Forest. Delish.

This post is part of Tuesday Twister at GNOWFGLINS.

Walking the Wild Ways

2011-02-05T09:22:00.000-08:00

Being a wild woman is about walking the wild ways, finding the wildness, both in yourself and in the world around you, and embracing the wild world's abundance. The wild ways are not the wilderness, not somewhere that you need a trip to visit, though there are some beautiful wildernesses in this world; they are the places you find, the places you make for yourself.

Today I went for a walk, embracing the rain and the cold, slipping on a pair of thin shoes so I could feel the shape of the earth beneath my feet and the wet and the cold. The world was thawing today, the water running down the sides of the piles of frozen slush that lined the trails and coated them in some places. The lake surface was glassy and still, awaiting the moment that it might burst through its icy coating once more, rippling and throwing sunlight. The whole of the landscape spoke water; even the air felt thick with it. Little points of moisture condensed on my face as I walked through the trees. The whole park was painted in grey and brown and bits of green where holly and pine and ivy accented it.

And even though I was walking through a city park, next to a major highway, I could feel the wildness of this place. The tangles of limbs and leaves and needles mixing into the humus of the forest floor lay where they fell, not arranged by any gardener. And when I took the steep path out of the parking lot, back up towards the road, I felt a distinct sense of emerging, from the wilds back into civilization. It is restorative in a deep way, nourishing a place untouched by sleep, food, or hot drinks.

After emerging from my journey through the wilds, I returned to my home, removed wet things and wrapped up in dry things, and made myself a cup of sage tea.

{an aside: Please visit my new page, Wellness the Wild Woman Way, which will have articles about nutrition, herbal healing, and wellness practices.}

Whole Grain Pita Bread

2011-02-01T08:08:00.000-08:00

Last week on Thursday, I got to stay home, pretended to be a pioneer in the morning before we got power back, and then made homemade pita bread because, after the power came back on, I had watched the last episode of Rome and was craving Mediterranean nibbles. It was good, but kind of off-the-cuff. This time, I actually mostly followed a recipe, although I used the same cooking method.

Homemade pita is delicious and very very cheap. The entire recipe below costs less than a dollar and a quarter, roughly, and I used organic, high-quality ingredients for everything. It's fairly quick, although I bet a long-soaked or sourdough version would be delicious, too. And since pita doesn't really rise like a regular loaf, it tolerates less kneading, lower-gluten flours, and just generally more shenanigans than a regular loaf of bread. I may try making an entirely-spelt version in the future.

Homemade Pita

2/3 cup water, at room temperature or slightly warmer

1 tsp. dry active yeast

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1 cup spelt flour

1 cup white whole wheat flour

Mix together the water and oil. Sprinkle the yeast over the top and set aside to let the yeast dissolve. Mix in 1/2 cup of spelt flour and see if it seems bubbly. Add the rest of the spelt flour, the salt, and half the wheat flour. If you have been using a spoon, abandon it and get your hands sticky. Mix in enough of the rest of the flour so that you have a slightly soft dough, but one that can hold a ball shape without oozing. Form into a ball and put into an oiled bowl. Cover and set in a warm place for 30-45 minutes. Then, divide the dough into fourths and shape each fourth into a flat round, about 1/8-1/4" thick. You can lightly oil the flats, if you wish, with olive oil. Broil for 2-4 minutes on each side, until puffed and browned. Eat right away with butter or oil, or else let cool and wrap tightly in foil. Makes 4 pitas, each about 6" or so in diameter.

This is part of Pennywise Platter at The Nourishing Gourmet.

{an aside: please visit my new website, Wellness the Wild Woman Way, where I hope to share articles about general health and wellness topics}

Vegan and Nutritious

2011-02-01T07:37:00.000-08:00

This is a quickie post, and don't miss my earlier post below, but I thought I'd share a recipe I developed this weekend. I made truly-pantry muffins. They happen to be vegan, but don't hold that against them because they're full of nutritious stuff like coconut and almonds.

Coconut-Almond-Chocolate muffins

1 cup coconut milk

1/2 cup Rapadura

dash of salt

splash of vanilla extract

1/2 c. of slivered blanched almonds, chopped

1/2 c. desiccated coconut flakes

1/2 a bar of dark chocolate, chopped (so, 50g chocolate)

1-1/2 c. white whole wheat flour

1-1/2 tsp. baking powder

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and oil a muffin pan with coconut oil. Whisk together the coconut milk, Rapadura, salt, and vanilla until the sugar is dissolved. Then, mix in the flour, almonds, coconut flakes, flour, and baking powder. Fill muffin cups about 3/4 of the way full. You should get 12 muffins. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until browned and firm to the touch. Try not to burn yourself trying to eat the muffin straight out of the fridge. I'm told they would be good with coffee.

This post is part of Tuesday Twister at GNOWFGLINS.

{an aside: Please come visit my new website, Wellness the Wild Woman Way, where I shall be posting more formal articles on health topics that I deem interesting and relevant to the season}

Thoughts on a Frigid Imbolc

2011-02-01T06:53:00.000-08:00

Today is the pagan feast of Imbolc. The traditions have lived on, in all places, in the tradition of Groundhog's day. It was believed that the Celtic crone-deity Cailleach gathered the last of her firewood for winter on this day, so if she knew that winter was to last a while longer, she would make the day bright and sunny so she could gather plenty of wood. I guess a groundhog looks a little like an old woman, and if she could see her shadow, that means it's sunny out.

Well, it's gray. And cold. And they're forecasting freezing rain for the afternoon, evening, and into tomorrow. Cailleach would not want to get out of her warm bed, let alone venture out and do manual labor. So I suppose that means the promise of spring will be fulfilled sooner rather than later.

In my little corner of the world, February is when the dawn starts coming noticeably sooner, when the threat of ice and snow begin to wane, and when the temperatures begin to rise, just a little bit. It is the time when I start venturing out earlier in the mornings to go for my run, or even sneak out of my office for a half hour during the day to walk in the open air. It's a month of warming, of the beginnings of foods starting to come back to the table. The hens will start laying more; the sheep and goats will give birth and the milk starts flowing.

Tonight, I shall make a meal of pancakes with sheep's milk cheese and honey, with a side of hardy greens and garlic, to remind us that, though winter may be deep, spring is always promised to us at the end.

{an aside: I have launched a new site, Wellness the Wild Woman Way, where I plan to share more article-like thoughts on specific health and wellness topics. I hope you stop by and say hi.}

Italian Chip Steak Skillet

2011-01-26T09:16:00.000-08:00

In the interest of maintaining my Sugar-Free Challenge commitment last week, one of the additional changes was to drastically reduce my intake of grains. This means I had to increase my intake of meats, eggs, fish, veggies, and dairy. Fruit I saved for special treats, since it was my only sweet. One thing I've found about grain-free eating is that it tends to get expensive for me. I don't stick to an exclusively grain-free diet, but I do try to eat a lot less grain than the average American (2-4 servings per day, rather than the 6-11 recommended by the Food Pyramid).

But I can keep it cheaper. The last time I visited Hedgeapple Farm to buy more local, pastured beef, I stocked up on cheap cuts of meat. They were having a sale on rump roast (think pot roast) and chip steaks (think Philly cheese steaks), so I got 2 5-lb. rump roasts, 4 packs of chip steak, and some of the bulk 5-lb. packs of ground beef. Chip steaks are especially wonderful because they thaw relatively fast, are cheap, cook really fast, and offer a nice variety rather than eating ground beef all the time.

There are, however, only so many bread-less Philly cheese steaks a person can eat. So I mixed it up a little. This week, we're having chip steak, three ways. Tuesday night, I made an Italian-inspired chip steak skillet meal. It cooks in one skillet, has no unfamiliar ingredients, and is delicious and hearty.

Italian Chip Steak Skillet

2/3 lb. of chip steak (also called sandwich steak, or use thin-sliced beef of another type)

Ghee or clarified butter (coconut oil for dairy-free)

salt and garlic powder

1 medium green bell pepper, sliced

1/2 onion, sliced

1 can organic diced tomatoes (get the no salt added kind!)

1 oz. grated Parmesan cheese (optional, omit for dairy-free)

Lay the beef out on a plate and sprinkle with salt and garlic powder. Be liberal. Let that soak in while you slice up the veggies. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat and melt your fat. Toss in your veggies and cook for a few minutes, until the onions soften slightly and begin to pick up a bit of color. Remove them and set aside. Add the meat to the hot pan and let it brown. When the meat starts to brown, add the veggies back in, along with the entire can of tomatoes. Bring this to a simmer, make sure all the meat is poked down into the sauce, and turn the heat to medium-low. Let this simmer for 10-15 minutes, until the meat is cooked through, the veggies are tender, and the sauce has thickened slightly. Serve it up, over rice or pasta if you want, or on its own for a hearty grain-free meal. Top with grated cheese. Makes 2 generous, grain-free servings. Could probably stretch to 3-4 servings if served with rice or pasta.

This post is part of Pennywise Platter at The Nourishing Gourmet.

Illness and Comfort

2011-01-26T08:59:00.001-08:00

One of the reasons for my various long hiatuses (hiati?), besides my stressful day job, is that I have gotten sick twice in the last two months. First, I returned from Brazil with a stomach bug; then, I found myself with a terrible flu during my Yule holiday. Well, I admit, I did resort to some Advil to bring my fever down while I had the flu, but I also made sure to eat plenty of nourishing foods.

The best of the nourishing sick foods is probably soup. Nourishing soup is made with homemade bone broth. I had both chicken and duck broth in my freezer, and was particularly stocked because I had cooked both a chicken and a duck within a week of getting sick. Since we eat a lot of beef, and I don't purchase many beef bones, this was a wonderful coincidence.

For my get-well soup, I boiled some soba (buckwheat) noodles and steamed some kale. I simmered the broth with some tamari and sliced ginger. Then, I put noodles, kale, and chopped leftover chicken in a bowl, topped them with raw green onions and garlic, and ladled the hot broth over them. I forgot to take a picture of this, but a hard boiled egg is a wonderful way to finish it off.

How is your cold and flu season going? I hope this soup finds you in good health, or brings you back to it!

(This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays at Kelly the Kitchen Kop)

Sugar-Free Challenge

2011-01-12T05:40:00.000-08:00

So I joined The Nourishing Gourmet's Sugar-Free Challenge. And Kimi put up a link to my blog with my name on the list, so I figured it would be a good idea to blog about it a little. Yeah... sugar. I like sugar. I actually consider myself to have a rather large sweet tooth, though I don't indulge it as often as I'd like. But, I have decided that over-indulgence in sweets is the reason I put on a little weight in 2010, so I've decided to cut back.

The challenge comes at a good time. I got a nasty flu over my holiday vacation, and I'm just now starting to get my appetite back, so I don't feel the need to snack as much as I used to. I'm getting better at making meals that satisfy me. But I do still indulge in the odd piece of candy from the candy jars all around me at work. And, even when I've avoided sweets all day, my one vice lately is a cup of Equal Exchange Hot Cocoa after dinner.

So, it's only a week. I can cut out my cup of hot cocoa, and focus on eating only wholesome, nourishing foods. I'm also trying to transition as close as I can to a lacto-paleo way of eating, at least for most meals, so this will help support my sugar-free efforts. Perhaps, this will lead to another Whole30 challenge later in the year; we'll see.

Eat The Egg Yolk, People!

2011-01-07T08:35:00.000-08:00

So many places I turn I see people eating egg whites, supposedly in the name of health. My younger sister used to even buy the expensive Omega-3 eggs, and then throw out the yolks because she didn't like them. So I just wanted to post a rant and try to convince people to eat those yolks. No, I'm not going to cite studies, although they do exist, that say that the dietary cholesterol in eggs is not a risk factor for heart disease. Nor is the saturated fat. Nor am I even going to cite information that says that egg whites prevent the absorption of biotin.

What I did do is put the nutrition information for eggs, egg yolks, and egg whites into my nutrition software. Guess what? A large egg contains 6g of protein, 27% of the RDI of vitamin B12, 22% of riboflavin, 13% of vitamin D, and even some vitamin E. Just the white of that egg? It has just over 3g of protein and 13% of the RDI of riboflavin. Yes, people, almost HALF THE PROTEIN in an egg is in the white. And virtually all of the beneficial nutrients. And if you look at equal volumes of egg white versus whole eggs, the whole eggs actually have MORE protein than the egg whites.

Eat the egg yolk. If you're on some diet where you avoid fat at certain times, save the egg yolk and eat it later, when you're not avoiding fat. If you're avoiding fat all the time, stop. Egg yolks are practically the whole reason for eating an egg anyway.

Housewifery

2010-12-29T08:34:00.001-08:00

This week, I'm home from work for the holidays. I'm enjoying it immensely. I've already hosted one dinner party, and I'm doing a brunch party tomorrow. I've also been cooking some lovely, nourishing meals, as well as doing some baking. I made an orange-spice cake for Monday's dinner for which I may post a recipe, and today I've made some homemade granola for my husband. No, it's not the most nourishing thing, seeing as I didn't soak the oats, but I did use blanched almonds, unsweetened coconut, and I used grass-fed ghee and organic grade-B maple syrup, so that it's full of good fats and minerals. It's also rather tasty. The trick was baking it in a lower oven than most recipes call for, and stirring it every 10 minutes.

I think I would enjoy being a full-time homemaker, but I do also enjoy being a scientist, so I have no plans to quit my job anytime soon. I am, however, considering writing a cookbook for women who think that busy women can't also make fabulous homemade meals that make their husbands feel like the luckiest man in the world. Seriously, I'm so not old-fashioned, and yet there's something supremely satisfying about hearing my husband brag to his friends about the meals I make him on a regular basis.

Garlic and Cranberry

2010-12-14T09:45:00.000-08:00

I know I've been away for a while, and now I update twice in one day (see my earlier post!), but I wanted to share this. I was in Brazil for a few days, which involves two long flights, one 8-hour and one 10-hour. Now since I like to just sit and chill on a flight, I only got up once on both of those flights combined. Needless to say, in addition to the traveler's tummy that hit me, I also came home with mild urinary symptoms. I wanted to share the routine I've been using to try to kick it on my own without having to figure out where my new primary care doctor is!

Cranberries:

Cranberries are the go-to for urinary problems. Back when I had recurrent UTIs, I drank cranberry juice or ate blueberries every day. Both of these fruits contain a substance that prevents bacteria from sticking to the lining of the bladder [source: my doctor from 3 years ago]. But sugar can exacerbate UTIs, so it's important to get unsweetened juices. I used to buy Knudsen's Just Cranberry and mix about 4 oz. into a glass of lime-flavored seltzer as a tart morning cocktail. But this time, I had cranberry capsules on hand, so I've been taking one of those with each of my meals.

Garlic:

Garlic is a natural anti-microbial, which can kill off strains of multiple-drug-resistant E. Coli [see this abstract], so I thought I might try it for my problem. If nothing else, garlic is anti-viral and might help prevent a seasonal cold/flu [Source]. But in order to have maximum potency, it's important to crush the garlic and let it sit exposed to air for 10 minutes. So before 2-3 meals a day, I crush a clove of garlic, then I eat it with my meal.

This has the side effect of making most of what I eat taste like garlic, which I don't mind, and I do tend to have garlic breath, even just after brushing my teeth. Oh, and garlic is a bit spicy, so take it slow and have water handy. The last thing is that it's important to take garlic with a meal. I got wicked indigestion taking it before my meal rather than in the middle, but waiting until at least halfway through fixed that. And I've been eating plenty of yogurt because, hey, it's still an antibiotic and might mess with my gut.

A Note about Uva Ursi:

The traditional UTI cure that gets a lot of press in herbalist circles is Uva Ursi. I first heard of this when my mother-in-law recommended it, but I looked it up and it seems tricky. First of all, it's not recommended to take it often. Supposedly you're not supposed to take it for more than 5 days in a row, and you're not supposed to use it as a treatment more than 5 times in one year [Source]. So not a good preventative. And maybe a little scary/strong. Since I like a nourishing approach to herbalism, I decided to give Uva Ursi a miss and stick with foodstuffs first.

Results:

I took one day off work to treat myself with a focused effort of lots of fluid, cranberry pills, and garlic. I took garlic and cranberry 3 times that day, and made sure I was drinking such that I had to urinate strongly about once an hour. Then, I kept taking garlic and cranberry (although I sometimes forget my garlic with lunch, so it's only 2-3 times a day), and have made sure I'm staying well-hydrated. I've also been avoiding alcohol and caffeine, but I've been drinking lots of strong nettle tea as part of my liquid, because it strengthens the urinary system. I'm so glad I was able to clear this up on my own, and I'm even considering keeping up with the garlic more long-term.

(Disclaimer: I am not a health professional, and have no medical training. Please don't use this information as an alternative to the opinion of a professional.)

A New Direction

2010-12-14T06:55:00.000-08:00

Earlier, I wrote about how I'd like to take my love of real food and natural health and turn it into a wellness consulting business. I even made a new Google account with an email address and a separate blog to act as a website for this hypothetical consulting "business." Well, taking even a low-level course to get any kind of herbalist or nutritional consultant certification is not in the financial picture for me right now, but I think still have something to offer. So I've decided that I'd let my blog followers help me out. If you're interested in chatting with me about nutrition, and even getting a copy of some of the meal-planning documents that I use personally, please contact me at wildwomanwellness [at] gmail [dot] com. This is, of course, free of any charge, and it is my hope that anyone who enjoys my style of life and meal planning will help spread the word when I actually do decide to strike out semi-professionally.

Materials that I have personally include:

A meal template, which I can use to plan six meals in a matter of less than an hour
A shopping list template that I use to organize my grocery shopping so I don't forget anything anymore
A list of products that I keep on hand for natural healing
And over a year of experience trying to live my beliefs about nourishing, traditional foods, and how I've navigated the pitfalls, while still being a productive grad student!

Still Here

2010-11-19T05:16:00.000-08:00

When I started grad school, I found myself miserable all the time about school. I cried a lot. Then, one day a friend of mine invited me out running. It was amazing, and I learned that the vigorous activity helped release some of my stress. I dove in, joining the Runner's World forum with the user handle "Not Dead Yet." It was a reference to my favorite Monty Python movie, as well as the feeling I got when I went running. See, I'm asthmatic, and in those early days, I would be gasping after a mile or so. I built up, and ran a marathon, and now, while I won't be running a marathon anytime soon, I can pop out the door for a 3-5-mile run with no problems.

But I still have "not dead yet" moments. A not dead yet moment is when you know you're pushing yourself to some limit, but you're just not ready to give in and walk it off. Right now, I think I'm there with my work life. I'm trying to prepare to defend my PhD thesis in the spring, and the combination of thinking about that, and still trying to maintain a rich personal life has been draining. I've adored reading all the blogs in my feed, but I just haven't felt like blogging myself.

So this is a notice that, yes, I am still here. My computer miraculously has worked for the last month or so. And I do promise to return to posting my thoughts on real food, herbal healing, and unique spirituality.

A Disappointing Update

2010-09-28T05:18:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a couple days since I've posted. My computer died again on Friday. I have been using my husband's, just to check email mostly, but my first priority right now is getting my files off my hard drive before taking my computer in to be fixed. I'll try to post something proper later this week, hopefully an overview of our Mabon feast from last week.

Feasting

2010-09-23T08:21:00.001-07:00

This post is part of Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade.

Every day is a feast in modern life, it seems. Every day we live our lives saturated and over-stimulated, with abundance at every turn.

It lessens the impact of the true meaning of the feast. When we can grab a super-sized double-cheese-double-burger with extra large fries and a grande iced latte at the drive through any day of the week, we lose sight of the fact that, for most of human existence, eating was something that could not be taken for granted.

Or clothing. Or shelter. All these things were products of hard work.

True, we work for our money. But how many of us actually craft anything by hand anymore? How many have made a garment, or even a loaf of bread?

When food is made by hand, we appreciate the meaning of a feast. The feast is abundant and varied, each dish taking time and care to make. This is why holidays were called feast days. Tonight, I prepare a harvest feast for myself and my husband, and we shall appreciate the meaning behind a feast because it all comes from us.

A Season of Gratitude

2010-09-23T08:01:00.000-07:00

This post is part of Simple Lives Thursday at GNOWFGLINS.

Today is the first full day of Autumn, and the Equinox, when traditionally is celebrated the second of the three pagan harvest festivals, Mabon. It also happens to be the full moon, so the Harvest Moon actually falls on the Harvest Festival. Neat.

In honor of what is called pagan thanksgiving, I want to share some of the blessings that I've recognized in my life over the past year:

About a year ago, I first discovered traditional, nourishing diets, and was able, by changing the way I eat, to go from at least one migraine per week to going over two months without a migraine. I now have one maybe once a month, usually when I'm stressed or the weather is strange.
I'm so glad I've started researching herbal remedies in the Wise Woman tradition. Adding nourishing infusions to my lifestyle seems a gentler way of healing than just having remedies for acute symptoms.
I'm thankful that I have a wonderful husband who supports all these changes I've made, and has even added his own.
I'm thankful for the understanding and support of my family members, despite the fact that they don't have the same philosophies.
I'm glad that I've had a year full of learning and productivity, and I look forward to taking the next step with my degree and getting a new job.

Kale Vinegar and Poached Eggs in the Garden

2010-09-22T04:38:00.001-07:00

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop, and Pennywise Platter at The Nourishing Gourmet.

One of Susun Weed's recommendations for women at risk for osteoporosis is to make herbal vinegars with plants that have a high calcium content. Similar to the nourishing practice of adding a spoonful of vinegar to broth to help extract minerals, tincturing calcium-rich plants in vinegar helps to extract calcium into the vinegar. I made kale vinegar this summer by packing a jar with fresh kale and then filling it with apple cider vinegar.

This vinegar can then be used when cooking more greens to help release their calcium, as well as add more calcium to the dish. I use my vinegar to poach a combination of kale, mushrooms, garlic, and a couple eggs for a nourishing, grain-free breakfast that benefits from the wisdom of the herb woman.

Poached Eggs in the Garden

1/2 portabella mushroom, chopped into large pieces

1-2 Tbsp. butter or ghee

2 cloves garlic, chopped fine

2-3 cups chopped kale

2 eggs

1 Tbsp. kale vinegar

1 Tbsp. water

Saute the mushrooms in some butter or ghee over medium heat until cooked through. Reduce the heat and add garlic and more butter, and saute just until the garlic becomes fragrant, less than a minute. Add the greens and toss with the garlicky, mushroomy butter. Add the water and vinegar and immediately crack the eggs on top of the greens. Cover and steam for 4-6 minutes, or until eggs are done to your liking. You can add salt and pepper if you like. Makes one hearty serving.

Whole30 Final Recap

2010-09-21T05:42:00.000-07:00

Well, yesterday was day 30 of my Whole30, and I finished strong. I learned some things, and saw some changes, but not as dramatic as some people seem to. I guess partly that's validation that my diet is pretty healthy to begin with.

Can I just stop here and say how glad I am I'm back on butter? When I was cooking my eggs and greens this morning, I sliced a thin slice just to eat. Yum.

Anyway, I did find some things that I'm going to keep in my cooking rotation:

Coconut curry veggies as a side dish.
Egg-based stir-fries -- don't need no rice!
Girl Gone Primal's Pizza Cake. I make it with chopped broccoli instead of cauliflower and it's so yummy, and pretty frugal, since it's only 2 eggs per person.
Grain-free breakfasts. Yes, I will eat oatmeal occasionally when the weather gets cold, but eggs and smoothies are great breakfasts for me.
At least one grain-free dinner per week.
Sweet potatoes. They are my friends.

I am, however, adding dairy back to my diet today, and grains tomorrow (although I might start tonight). I'm glad I've gotten past needing a sweet every day, so we'll probably start treating dessert as a once-a-week thing, rather than a nightly thing, and I'm not even tempted by cookies at work anymore. But I'm glad I have my butter back.

One more thing: Pictures. I did look at my before and after photos, and, honestly, I didn't notice that much difference. Yes, my tummy was a bit flatter, but I've also been increasing my running and exercise over the last month, so I'm going to take more pictures in another month to see how a month of WAPF-style eating, coupled with increased exercise, changes things.

Chicken Puttanesca

2010-09-20T04:35:00.000-07:00

This post is part of Tuesday Twister at GNOWFGLINS.

I love Pasta Puttanesca. There's something amazing about the combination of tomatoes and olives and capers. Of course, all that pasta is far from the most nourishing thing: If you get white pasta, it's empty carbs, and if you get wheat pasta, you have to worry about anti-nutrients.

And anyway, I've been on a paleo diet for the last month, so pasta of any kind is out. Which is why I decided that sugo alla puttanesca would be amazing over chicken. But not just sliced, grilled, boneless skinless chicken breast (because, seriously, who actually likes that stuff?). Rather, I used it to braise a pot of bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs.

The result was delicious. A chicken-y, tomato-y, sharp broth and tender chicken. Yum. I made this for my lunches last week, and served it over roasted squash. The sweetness of the squash went really well with the acidity of the sauce, but I suppose you could serve it over any vegetable, or even a grain pilaf or polenta.

Chicken Puttanesca

8 chicken thighs

1-2 Tbsp. coconut oil

1-2 Tbsp. olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 small can of anchovy fillets, chopped fine.

2 Tbsp. capers, drained

about a cup of pitted olives (I used a combo of black and green olives that I had marinated for a party, but Kalamatas would probably be better)

2 cans diced tomatoes (I used Muir Glen No-Salt-Added Fire Roasted tomatoes)

heavy pinch of red pepper flakes

Heat coconut oil over medium-high heat in a large pot and brown the chicken thighs in the oil. I did this in two batches. Remove the chicken to a plate, reduce the heat, and wipe out some of the spent oil. Heat the olive oil, garlic, anchovy, and capers over medium-low heat until the garlic starts to sizzle. Add the olives, tomatoes, red pepper, and chicken. Simmer for 30-60 minutes, until the chicken is done and tender. Salt and pepper to taste. Makes 4 servings.

Whole30 Week 4 Recap

2010-09-19T03:39:00.001-07:00

Well, I'm nearing the finish line. Inspired by Kara at Wilde About Health, I've decided that I don't want to be paleo forever. Apart from anything else, I like to run. Long-ish distances (half marathon is my favorite race distance, so far). So I feel better when I have grains/potatoes/dairy in my diet, and I do the activity to merit them.

This weekend, I took body pictures to compare to my "before" pictures that I took four weeks ago (no, I'm probably not going to post them). It was the same time of day, and I'd had roughly the same number of meals, the difference being that four weeks ago, I had a bean-and-cheese burrito for lunch, while yesterday I had pulled pork and veggies.

Oh yeah, the Kensington Farmers Market yesterday -- brilliant. I suggested it originally as a brunch outing with my mom because I figured we could pick up some local veggies, maybe some fruit, and some eggs, and go home and make a big, paleo-compliant veggie scramble for brunch. But mom wanted to try eating there. So I gave the barbecue stand guys the third degree and found out that they smoke their meat with just salt and pepper, add the sauce only if you want it, and they don't put sugar/mayo/dairy in their cole slaw. So I munched on some of the best pulled pork and cole slaw I've had in a while, sans bun and sauce. Yum.

I've enjoyed my Whole30. Even through my period, I've had sweets cravings, but nothing unbearable, and I was able to hold onto the idea that hitting a reset button to kill my sugar cravings was worthless if the first thing I do after I'm "done" officially is to gorge on sweets. I'm not going to do that.

I do still have two more days left, so I'll post a Whole30 full recap after that.

Yes, I Cook From Scratch

2010-09-16T05:16:00.000-07:00

This post is part of Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade.

I am a graduate student. I work varied hours, sometimes coming home early, sometimes I do work at home, and sometimes I'm gone for 10+ hours. And, yes, I cook almost all my meals from scratch.

People find this to be weird. This goes back a bit to my earlier post on my old blog about real foodies being marginalized. It goes back to my dental checkup, where the hygienist marveled at the idea that I make dinner every night. Yes, every night (occasionally, maybe once a month, we'll get something out or pick up take-out from a local cafe). It goes back to an anecdote from a friend on an online community where someone implied to her that "modern women" don't cook from scratch for their families. Well, excuse me, but if a PhD student in physical science isn't a modern enough woman for you, then maybe you need to re-evaluate your concept of modernity.

Of course, I realize that plenty of people don't know where to start. Cooking from scratch seems so complicated and time-consuming if you've never done it. Everyone starts from scratch, so to speak. I personally started cooking quite a bit from boxes and cans. It wasn't great, but it was a start, and it taught me what combinations I liked, so I could continue on to make my own versions of things like mac and cheese, and baked beans.

The traditional foods movement speaks a lot to me as a home cook, not because I plan to quit my job and become a full-time homemaker, but because I enjoy the connection to my food. Perhaps it helps me feel more connected to the land, to touch and smell the products of her womb. Every week, my favorite farmer to visit is the guy who always has out a wealth of roots -- sweet potatoes and potatoes. He also has tomatoes, squash, and peppers sometimes. Or green beans. But I like him best because he always looks like he just finished digging potatoes from the Earth.

And that's the kind of connection I want with my food. To hold and examine and smell each item as I decide how best to turn it into a meal crafted with loving energy. Even though I don't have children, our little family of two can still benefit from the energy that goes into homemade meals. It's not about feminism or modernity, but about putting something into my body that I took the time to infuse with meaning and energy, rather than a paper-wrapped sandwich hastily put together by an overworked fast food employee.

So I ask my readers, where on the cooking-from-scratch journey are you?

Another Moon Time

2010-09-16T05:02:00.000-07:00

Well, I have a bit of an explanation for my slightly off feeling last night: I started my moon flow this morning. It's a little early, somewhat unexpected, but I decided to treat myself this morning.

First, I made myself an infusion of oatstraw (for nerves), a little catnip (for cramps), and some red clover blossoms (for femininity) and let that infuse for an hour. While it infused, I drew a daily tarot card (Queen of Pentacles, appropriate I think), and did some flow (*snort*) yoga and meditation.

Then, I showered, dressed, and pulled out my moon beads to mark this time as a special time of the month. I'm feeling meditative and very feminine right now, but I will try to get my Pennywise Platter offering up later today (Edit: decided to submit yesterday's spice rub instead).

The Wild Woman's Way

2010-09-15T18:44:00.001-07:00

This post is part of Simple Lives Thursday at GNOWFGLINS.

Today started out pretty well. I ended yesterday's work day with some solid data-taking, and was able to finish up before lunch today. Started copying files over to analyze tomorrow. A leak right over my experiment miraculously stopped leaking. I even took some tentative steps towards the future by emailing a researcher whose project I find fascinating and whom I'd heard might be needing some new post-docs.

But I just heard back from him. Positions have been filled. Phooey.

Add to that the fact that I made a batch of brownies tonight that I have not touched (they're half for my husband and half for a coworker who was very understanding today). Yeah. It's torture; they smell amazing. And the combination of being disappointed over the job news and the smell of chocolate is making me want to dive right into a brownie or five.

But I didn't.

Instead, I took a breath, relaxed, and thought of something that I suggested to someone else. I had my husband make me a cup of tea. Red clover tea. Sure, red clover is all the rage these days among alternative fertility bloggers because of its estrogenic effects, but it's also a source of salicylic acid and an all-around feel-good tea. My husband actually turned me on to it when I had really bad allergies because he swears by it as a decongestant. And the flowers are pink.

When I was in Idaho, I saw red clover growing wild just everywhere. Made me want to carry scissors with me wherever I went. They rambled around front yards and along roadways, waving their vibrant blossoms at me in greeting. They're nearly impossible to miss or mistake (although we did see a thistle that was similar in shape and color).

So I have my old mug from the Ithaca farmers market, and a muslin bag full of pink blossoms, steeping in water, and the world is still right. It's self-medicating, a little wiser than chocolate or alcohol, but still in my own wild way.

(Red clover picture from here)

Kibbeh-Inspired Spice Rub

2010-09-15T10:36:00.001-07:00

This post is part of Pennywise Platter at The Nourishing Gourmet

A few months back, I posted a meal on Twitter that was "Lebanese spiced beef patties." Wardeh of GNOWFGLINS asked "So what makes them Lebanese?" Okay, the truth is, I'm about as Lebanese as apple pie, but I found a recipe for kibbeh and used those spices to make some delicious spiced ground beef that made delicious spiced ground beef patties that reminded me of my absolute favorite local restaurant (because it serves kibbeh), the New Deal Cafe.

And thus begun my love affair with the combination of cumin with what I consider "pumpkin pie spices," i.e., cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, etc. (no cloves, cloves overpower). So what better to toss with chicken wings for a Middle East inspired party? The concept started life as being kebabs, but I switched to chicken wings when I discovered that wings were about half the price per pound (maybe less) of boneless breasts. Plus, I got bones!

Kibbeh-Inspired Spice Rub

2 Tbsp. cumin

1 Tbsp. sea salt

2 tsp. nutmeg

2 tsp. allspice

2 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. chipotle chile powder

Shake all ingredients in a container until combined. Toss with meat, fish, or sprinkle into hummus (careful, it's got salt in it). Makes just over 1/3 cup of rub.

Sage Tea and Cod Liver Oil

2010-09-14T07:23:00.000-07:00

There is a nip in the air, and a distinct feeling of it being my sixth year of grad school starting.

Yup, that means it's about time I thought about writing my thesis and defending it and getting my degree.

Eek.

So, needless to say, I'm a bit stressed, and getting less time to sneak out and run around in the sunshine in the middle of the day. So I've turned to my two favorite stressful-no-longer-summer remedies: sage and cod liver oil.

I have blogged about sage before. I consider Salvia officinalis to be my personal herbal ally, my comfort on a rough or headache-y day, and just all-around a good aromatic mint to have around. But I hadn't, till now, tried it as an infusion. I made a teensy amount (0.15 oz. dried sage in a 4-oz. baby food jar of boiling water) and have been stirring a teaspoon or two into a short glass of water every morning.

But, even better, I've been using that water to chase my morning shot of cod liver oil. And not just my usual, Carlson's CLO from the organic store -- I splurged and bought a bottle of Green Pastures Blue Ice Fermented Cod Liver Oil. I only have to take 1/2 tsp., so I shoot it right down my throat and chase it with sage-water. Yum.

This morning I even added a small dish of sauerkraut as a companion to this (pre-breakfast snack).

My husband thinks I'm weird.

Oh, I got the Oslo Orange flavor, since I thought it would be the most similar to my lemon-flavored Carlson's CLO, but I don't really think I taste the flavoring. Since I don't care for cinnamon as a flavoring, I might try the Mediterranean or unflavored next time.

Post-Run Sweet Potato

2010-09-13T04:24:00.001-07:00

This post is part of Tuesday Twister at GNOWFGLINS.

Ever since I switched to real foods, my biggest issue is figuring out what to eat after I run. Generally, especially since I've been running on Sunday's, I have a fresh slice of homemade bread that my husband makes every week for his sandwiches. But that's not Whole30-compliant. And, anyway, it's not that great of a post-run snack anyway.

So, inspired by Robb Wolf's assurance that a sweet potato makes a great post-workout snack, I came up with the idea to eat a baked sweet potato after my run. And since I had leftover dried apricots and pistachios from Book Club sweets, I made a topping. Interesting note: Since 5 miles takes me between 45 and 50 minutes (yes, I just gave away my pace), I can put the sweet potato in the oven when I'm leaving, and it's done by the time I finish stretching (or showering, depending on the size of the sweet potato).

Topped Sweet Potato

1 sweet potato, baked

2 dried apricots (unsulphured, please), chopped fine

1-2 Tbsp. pistachios, chopped fine

1-2 Tbsp. unsweetened coconut flakes

dash each: cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg

1 Tbsp. coconut oil (when I'm back on dairy, this will be butter)

Unwrap your sweet potato and slit it lengthwise, like a baked potato. Push the ends together to expose the vivid orange flesh. Mix together the next four ingredients, and strew over the top of the potato flesh. Drizzle/melt the oil over that. Dig in.

Paleo Book Club!

2010-09-12T13:12:00.000-07:00

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday with Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

Today was my paleo/Whole30-compliant book club! I was so proud of my efforts. Not only did anyone comment on anything but the deliciousness of the food, but we didn't even touch the bag of chips one of the girls brought!

We had nibbles: olives and nuts. I marinated canned olives in lemon juice, garlic, and herbs. They were delicious.

We had a big bowl of Mediterranean salad, with tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, pepper, olive oil, lemon juice, and cilantro. It was supposed to be parsley, but in my defense, the two do look an awful lot alike. I didn't realize my mistake until I ripped a handful off the bunch and got a whiff.

These are (were) broiled spiced chicken wings. I tossed them with a Middle-East-inspired blend of spices (cumin, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, etc.) and broiled them. Delish.

And shrimp, in case someone didn't want to eat chicken for some reason. Also, I love shrimp and my husband does not, so I rarely cook them. They're tossed in the same spice mixture as the chicken.

For dessert I made fruit-and-nut balls. They're basically a recipe for homemade Larabars, made with dried apricots and roasted pistachios, then I rolled them in balls and rolled them in coconut. So yummy. And there are leftovers of these, since one of the girls brought cupcakes. Oddly enough, the cupcakes did not tempt me, but I wanted to dig a spoon into the whipped cream and cream cheese mixture she brought to frost them.

And I even saved all the bones from the chicken wings, which, along with the tips, will make great broth!

(Oh yeah, the book was Nemesis, by Isaac Asimov, but only two of us had read it. I really liked it, though.)

Whole30 Week 3 Recap

2010-09-12T03:17:00.001-07:00

This week was not as good. While I didn't technically eat anything forbidden to the program, I did discover one of my personal paleo-food weaknesses. Trail mix. No chocolate or seed oils or anything. Just unsweetened dried fruit and dry roasted nuts. And yet I find it impossible to stop eating. I ate most of an 8-oz. bag between Sunday and Labor Day, and then made myself another pound to bring to work. Soooo yummy.

But all those nuts and dried fruit? Don't agree with the system. Felt bloated, a little clogged. Frankly, I think nuts are more inflammatory/bloating to my system than dairy ever was! So this week, I'm cutting back on the nuts. I'm going to bring cut up raw veggies for snacks, and I have a few cans of sardines.

Because, seriously, if I'm not hungry enough to eat a can of sardines, I probably wasn't really hungry to begin with, right?

But I'm still at it. Still eating pretty clean. My skin is a little clearer, just starting this week, but next week (week before period) will be the real test of that. And I feel good. I guess I didn't eat too poorly to begin with because I don't feel like I've made a huge change in my body, just how much I crave sugar.

Since people last week asked, the meals are a breakfast (eggs scrambled with peppers, zucchini, and mushroom, topped with raw salsa), a lunch (stir-fried shrimp, breakfast veggies, and eggs, seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic, drizzled with a touch of toasted sesame oil, and topped with avocado), and the liver dinner from the last post!

Nutrients and Food Cravings

2010-09-10T06:56:00.000-07:00

This post is part of Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade.

Most people on the Whole30, it seems, crave sweets or pasta or chips. Me, I was jonesing hard for butter the first two week. This week, it's liver pate, which contains its fair share of butter. Oh yeah, and cheese.

Yeah, I'll admit, I had the odd craving for a piece of chocolate or a slice of bread (with butter!), especially after my husband brought his warm, freshly-baked, homemade loaf out of the oven on Sunday.

But really, this week has been all about the liver.

And, oddly enough, I've been starting to think I might be deficient in folate, mostly from spot-checking my days' vitamin values in CRON-o-meter. I generally am hard pressed to make 50% of the RDA. And, odder still, chicken livers are high in folate. Curiouser, and curiouser.

I've come to the realization that, in the absence of overstimulating sweeteners and flavor enhancers, my body really loves and craves nutrient-dense, real food. I've always been a fan of higher-fat diets, ever since I saw what a diet high in cocoa butter did to my skin and hair (What? I was a high-school senior working at Godiva!). This month's experiment has clinched it for me. I'm desperately hoping that dairy doesn't cause any acute reactions for me, because I think that cheese and cream are going right back into my diet, along with butter and yogurt.

Oh, and as for liver, last night's dinner of beef liver and onions, fried in beef tallow (pictured above) proved me right, at least to myself. Usually the texture of beef liver gives me pause after one slice, but last night I plowed through two full slices practically without coming up for air, and probably could have eaten another!

Stracciatella alla Donna Selvaggia

2010-09-09T03:50:00.000-07:00

This post is part of Pennywise Platter at The Nourishing Gourmet.

As my readers know, I am currently in the middle of a paleo plan to help me jump-start my return to traditional foods, and kill my sugar cravings. I think it's going pretty well, but one issue I have is my food budget. Now it's hard to eat out on the Whole30, so that's helpful, but I'm just not used to having meat more than two or three times a week.

Generally, we'll buy either a pound of beef or a 3-4-lb. chicken, and stretch that to as many meals as possible, and then have one meal based on fish, one on beans, one on eggs, and perhaps a pizza. Of course, the beans and pizza are out. I can stretch our budget by buying two dozen eggs, but I struggle to feel full on an egg-based meal that doesn't include 3 eggs per person!

This is where bone broth comes in. Bone broths have a protein-sparing effect on the body, so eating a broth-based meal means I need to include less protein overall in the meal. I've already done a coconut-milk-and-broth curry soup with just vegetables, but this week I still wanted a little protein boost. But instead of 3 eggs per person, I could get away with just 3 eggs for both of us.

Stracciatella alla Donna Selvaggia (egg drop soup in the style of the wild woman)

2 Tbsp. fat (I used the beef fat from the top of my broth)

2 leeks, sliced and washed

3-4 cups of homemade bone broth (I used beef)

2-3 cups of chopped kale

3 eggs, beaten

salt and pepper to taste

In a heavy pot over medium heat, saute the leeks in the fat until soft. Add salt to the leeks to get this going. Add the broth and bring to a vigorous boil. Salt and pepper to taste. Add the kale and cook until tender. Bring the soup back to a boil, then drizzle the egg mixture into the soup, giving it a minute to set up before stirring to break up the egg strands. The soup will thicken slightly. Serve immediately. If you're not paleo, a chunk of homemade bread is good with it. Makes 2 servings.

Observations of the Wild Runner in her Natural Habitat

2010-09-08T06:28:00.001-07:00

I went for a run today. This is hardly news; I run three times a week, usually in the mornings. After a week off from barefooting, I went back to going barefoot for the last few minutes of my run. It's great the reactions of others when you're going barefoot, especially when you're a late-20s female, and they are young males.

In my .4 miles barefoot, I impressed a gaggle of middle-school-age guys waiting at their bus stop. The audible wincing, the "whoa"s and other comments made me smile, and gave me a little kick for the end of a 4-mile, weekday morning run. Then, when I was back at my apartment complex, one of the guys walking to the bus, said "So you ran right out of your shoes?" with a smile.

Yeah, I can't wait to get back into barefoot completely.

Braised Beef with Onions

2010-09-06T04:16:00.000-07:00

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday 9/8/2010

So now that I have my computer back, I'm going to try to share more of the recipes I've been making on a daily basis, especially while I'm on the Whole30 program for the next two weeks. One great recipe I've found for a grain-free existence is pot roast. It's a great way to take a reasonably cheap cut of meat and turn it into meals for most of the rest of the week.

I start with a rump roast from my favorite farmer, Dr. Scott at Hedgeapple Farms (seriously, if you're in the MD/DC area, I can't recommend him enough). This was a whopping 4.5-pounder. Now, since I like fat, I didn't trim an ounce off this guy. I sear him and soak up his browned bits with some sliced onions and garlic cloves, and simmer the whole thing in homemade stock with a few bay leaves.

About an hour into braising, the whole apartment smelled amazing... and I still had a couple more hours left to wait! I tossed some cut-up root vegetables in to roast alongside the Dutch oven about an hour-and-a-half before we ate, but I think the low roasting temperature didn't get along with them, so I'll have to re-evaluate the vegetable accompaniment.

But the roast itself was amazing. I "carved" it with a pair of tongs, and ladled on the rich broth, brimming with soften, gelatin-infused onions, and dug in. This will be my lunch for the next week, and I think I'll be able to get another dinner out of it, too!

Braised Beef with Onions

1 4.5-lb. rump roast

1 medium onion, sliced

2 fat cloves of garlic, peeled

3-4 cups of homemade beef bone broth (reserve the fat that collects on top)

salt and pepper to taste

3-4 bay leaves

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Salt the meat. Sear it on all sides over medium-high heat in the reserved beef fat in a heavy Dutch oven. Remove to a plate. Saute the onions in the drippings until browned, add the garlic, and add pepper to taste. Add back the meat, and pour the broth in. It should come at least halfway up the meat. Add bay leaves around the edges of the meat, cover, and place in the oven for at least 3 hours. When it's done, you can remove the meat and the bay leaves and reduce the broth for a sauce, but I like it as it is. Makes 6-8 servings, and great leftovers!

Whole30 Week 2 Recap

2010-09-05T14:41:00.000-07:00

Well, after today, I'm officially halfway through my Whole30. This week has been one of thinking, and of odd cravings, and of lessons. I made it a week without nightshades this week, though I can't say I feel any differently, so I'm adding them back during the coming week, to see if I feel worse. I definitely hit my stride in planning and eating simple, paleo meals.

Currently, I have a 4.5-lb. chunk of grass-fed rump roast braising in some homemade beef bone broth (it gelled!) in the oven. That should give me meat for most of the rest of the week, especially if I supplement with one meatless dinner made from the rest of the broth. My running is getting back to where it was, and I completed a 5-miler this morning on a decently hilly course without even feeling tempted to take a break.

I also planned my strategy for after my Whole30. I do not plan on staying paleo for the rest of my life; that was never the idea. But I think this plan is a great tool for resetting one's food preferences, attitudes, and ideas. And I intend to do some focused tests to see if I have any acute sensitivities. After this month, I shall add back butter, wheat, and milk on separate days, to check for an acute reaction, and then proceed with a Price-style traditional diet, focusing on foods from the British Isles (oats, leeks, kale, fish, meat, and dairy) as much as possible for a month. And then I'll assess how I feel after a month of traditional food, versus how I feel at the end of my Whole30.

Oddly enough, I've noticed that my cravings have changed. I no longer crave candy or pizza, but I find myself craving butter and cream and chicken liver pate and soaked oatmeal porridge. Yes, I have the occasional craving for honey or maple syrup, but if I catch a glimpse of the last peanut butter cup sitting in the secretary's candy dish, I don't really have to fight myself to leave it alone.

And I've found, most importantly, that all these cravings are fleeting anyway. When I'm truly hungry, I find myself able to want food, rather than a particular food. One of my biggest problems prior to this was that I made poor choices when I was hungry: even if I knew I had a nice packed lunch, I would abandon it to go out for burgers if asked. Now, as long as I have Whole30-style food on hand, I have no problem eating that, rather than wanting something else. And that is something, at least for me.

Lessons from Five Days Without a Home Computer

2010-09-04T10:28:00.000-07:00

I got my computer back! It's nice to have unlimited access to a computer (particularly the internet) whenever I want, but I will say I had a nice, relaxing week. Here are some things I learned:

1.) My morning and evening routines are much more relaxed when I'm not surfing the internet. I get ready to go to work earlier and get to bed earlier. It's really nice, and I think I've even been sleeping better.

2.) Everything is still there even if I can't check it right away.

3.) It really only takes me 5-10 minutes in the morning to check my comics and blogs. Seriously.

So, three quick lessons. I somewhat enjoyed being partially unplugged in the mornings and evenings, so I think I shall try now to lay off the excessive web surfing. We'll see how long that lasts...

Tomorrow: Whole30 Week 2 recap!

Following your Joy

2010-09-02T08:15:00.000-07:00

Anyone who reads this, or my previous, blog knows that I am passionate about food and health. I love to eat well, and move as often as I can. Lately, however, I've been finding myself periodically floundering in my chosen career path (most decidedly not food/health-related) and I've toyed with the idea of looking into nutrition consulting, either as a new career or as a way to supplement my life in a more directed way. Personally, I have a lot of experience with various diets, and the ways they affected my health, and I have a strong drive to learn and understand a variety of sides in the diet debate.

I also love spreadsheets and organizing my thoughts, so I think I might be useful to someone who doesn't think as quantitatively as I, should they want someone to help them put together meals and menu plans the way I do.

But I don't know where to start. I've done some web searching, and even contacted a local nutrition consultant who demonstrates at our farmers market about her trajectory. If anyone has any insight or personal tales on becoming a nutrition consultant, please leave me a comment with your email and I would love to correspond.

Whole30, Week 1 Recap

2010-08-29T10:33:00.000-07:00

So I've been following the Whole30 plan for the last seven days. The first few days were a little rough, although some of that was unrelated, as I was sidelined with a migraine the first two days. But, oddly enough, the migraine was a blessing in disguise, as when I have a migraine, I tend not to want to eat, and this killed any food cravings I might have had. I ate when I needed to, and had no problem making good choices.

By Day 4, I started getting into the swing of paleo eating. I did find that I simply wasn't eating enough food most days, so I made an emergency stop at our natural foods store to pick up extra snacking supplies. I got some kiwi fruits, a pack of Applegate Farms roasted red pepper sausages, and a Larabar (Cherry Pie flavor). I did eat the sausages and the kiwi. Oh my, but after several days off sugar, kiwi tasted like candy!

I did not eat the Larabar, as I see Larabars as kind of the nuclear option of sticking with paleo/Whole30. While it fits the letter of the food allowances, it is uncomfortably close to a candy bar for me to feel truly paleo when eating one. But I have them in my desk, in case I'm desperate for food, so that I don't end up running for the vending machine.

That said, I've only gone upstairs to the floor with the vending machines once this past week, and it was to use the showers after my afternoon run. By Day 7, I was able to navigate a party at my mom's house, making Whole30-approved choices without feeling deprived or marginalized, despite the fact that they had evil cupcakes. But I did take "my" cupcake home for my husband to eat tonight before he leaves on his trip.

Next week, Whole30 as a "single lady," while my husband is out of town, and an attempt at a nightshade-free week!

Just Had to Share This: Best Paleo Lunch Ever

2010-08-25T10:44:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting here eating my lunch after a 3-mile lunchtime run, and gosh but it just seems like the best lunch ever. Now, maybe hunger is the best sauce, but I think there's something to the combo of sweet/salty/rich/fresh that this lunch box serves up.

Six-Layer Paleo Lunch

1/4 bunch of kale, chopped

1/4 butternut squash, sliced and roasted (I did 450 degrees for like 20 min., the night before)

1/4 each of red and green bell pepper, sliced

handful of broccoli sprouts

1 can of wild salmon, drained and flaked

1/2 avocado, sliced

Layer squash atop kale, cover and nuke for a minute. Layer on peppers, sprouts, salmon, and avocado. Eat. Makes one serving.

How I did this was to pack 4 different tupperwares with kale and squash, then put all the peppers I'd need for four servings into one container, sprouts in another. The avocadoes go in whole form and the salmon in cans. That way, I can nuke the first two layers, and add the rest of the layers right on top of that tupperware. I might post pictures later, if I get them, but I rarely have my camera at work...

Whole30, Day Three

2010-08-24T05:01:00.001-07:00

Well, I survived my first two days of Whole30 with minimal issues. I did have a killer, day-and-a-half migraine, but I'm reasonably certain that it was a combination of weather and that-time-of-the-month that precipitated that. I have been having oddly few cravings for sweets. I had maybe a scant handful of almonds with a tablespoon-ish of unsweetened dried blueberries as a snack yesterday, and then some carrots sticks with almond butter just before dinner, but I realized after the fact that the carrots alone probably would have sufficed. I've been forgetting to take pictures of my meals.

I made a lovely steak to eat with friends on Sunday night. One friend brought broccoli to go with, and the other brought some local fruit for dessert, which was marvelous. I had preceded it with a 4-mile run, some Whole30-compliant coconut-and-squash custards (ingredients: coconut milk, eggs, squash puree, spices if you want them), and a big salad for lunch. Yesterday, I had leftovers for lunch (mmm... steak...) and eggs with roasted veggies for dinner. Yum.

So far, I've learned that I don't need to eat nuts along with my coconut milk and blueberry smoothie in the morning, so I'm saving them for a snack later today. Pictures later in the week, I promise.

Lessons Learned From Running in a Flood

2010-08-20T06:49:00.000-07:00

Okay, so my computer is definitely dead. I'm reduced to borrowed computer time, so don't expect my posts to be any more regular than they were before I jaunted off to Idaho. But, in the meantime, I thought I'd share some thoughts I had while running Wednesday morning.

Anyone from the DC area probably knows that Wednesday morning was not the best time to go running. It was pouring rain, and pretty much every river, lake, stream, creek, drainage ditch, and kiddie pool was contributing to Aqua-pocalypse (hey, it worked for Snowpocalypse!). But hey, I wanted to go running! And it's not like there was lightning and a tornado watch like last week (double oops). So here are lessons learned in the half hour that I slogged and high-kneed it through my course.

1.) You never know how deep muddy water is. This may sound very Zen... until you end up shin-deep in water and your eyes get very wide.

2.) Run like you're running barefoot, even if you're not. Actually, I had this driven home 2 weeks ago while berry-picking when I drove a sharp stick all the way through the soles of my sneakers. Yeah, I was present enough to feel it puncture the insole, so it didn't get too far into my foot, but if I'd really been walking like I was barefoot, I wouldn't have stepped on it in the first place.

3.) Heavy rains are the best way to get the roads almost completely to yourself. Seriously, there weren't even any squirrels crazy enough to be out there with me.

4.) Not crazy, dedicated.

5.) Tree branches sag when they are heavy with extra water from the rain. When the rain is heavy, bigger branches sag. Leaves can cover up larger branches that aren't moved by simply brushing with one hand ahead of your face.

6.) The human face is remarkably resilient.

7.) I really don't bruise on my face, even though I bruise everywhere else to easily.

8.) Seriously, I'm not crazy, I just don't like to miss a run.

9.) After the first 2-5 minutes in the rain, you're saturated. You're not going to get any wetter, so you may as well stay out as long as it takes to finish.

10.) I actually really like running in the rain. Yes, Wednesday was ridiculous, and some of those raindrops were big enough to hurt, but I'd choose rain over full sun pretty much any day.

11.) Yes, raindrops can hurt.

12.) Again, not crazy. Dedicated. Seriously.

Coming up next time I get some blogging time: I'm starting my first Whole 30.

Adventures and Updates!

2010-08-16T07:59:00.000-07:00

So I've been quiet for a long time. I meant to start blogging again this weekend, but my computer has been malfunctioning intermittently, and didn't want to start up this weekend. Consequently, since weekends are a good time to upload pictures, I haven't uploaded any of my recent photos. I can, however, give a small recap of what I've been up to, and a promise to try to get a real blog entry up as soon as I can.

First of all, I spent 2 weeks in northern Idaho, visiting my husband's family. It was a great time, full of cooler weather, lots of fresh produce from my mother-in-law's garden, and my first experience tasting raw goat's milk (delish!). I also went huckleberry-picking, and my father-in-law has promised to dehydrate our share and send them to us (yay!).

Then I had my first week back after vacation. With the new moon around the same time I was trying to get back to work, I was feeling very stagnant, so I didn't immediately get back into the swing of things. I think I made all of 2 herbal infusions last week. Oops. But I've been eating alright, probably because I was so sick of all the fast food from the weeks before, and now I'm starting to feel more myself.

Wild Week!

2010-07-23T15:18:00.001-07:00

Wow, it's been quite a week! But I survived, and my reward is a trip to one of the most beautiful natural landscapes I've seen in my life: northern Idaho.

But back to this week. There have been some blessings, some reliefs, and some trials. For example, this morning I got back from my run, and went in to take a much-needed shower. I had all sorts of wonderful things planned: shaving my legs, doing a deep conditioning treatment, etc. But I turned on the taps, and the water didn't warm up. Ever. But that was okay, it's been hot enough that a cold shower really didn't feel too bad. And it didn't steam up the shower.

I also have started my moon time, with all its accompanying wonders. While I love to observe my cycles, I don't appreciate the mood swings. My emotions have been all over the place, and it didn't help my stress level. So today, I made myself up one of my favorite stress-relieving remedies: Sage tea, steeped really strong, sweetened with some honey, and poured into a big glass of whole milk. Delicious.

So this week has been tough, but I've gotten past it, and I'm looking forward to my trip tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll be able to post some pictures of the mountains.

Frugal Frittata

2010-07-22T06:13:00.000-07:00

So all the pictures for this recipe are still on my camera, but I wanted to get the recipe up for Pennywise Platter today. This is a classic Spanish tortilla, made for two. It's nutrient-dense, and uses eggs, which are frugal, potatoes, which are even more frugal, and green onions, which I always end up wasting when I get them because they always come in bunches that are bigger than I need.

I used a recipe from Simply Recipes for inspiration, but then adjusted the amounts to fit what I needed and had on hand. It's incredibly simple, if a little labor intensive. I suppose if you were so inclined, you could steam the potatoes instead of frying them to save a little time, but I imagine it would leave your tortilla wetter.

Anyway, I thought you would enjoy another simple weeknight meal. Anyone who read my menu plan on Sunday knows that I wasn't really planning on making a tortilla, but I ended up with a few more potatoes than I needed, and a few extra green onions that were not going to last to the end of the week.

Spanish Tortilla

adapted from Simply Recipes

3 small red potatoes, sliced 1/8" thick

3 green onions, white and light green parts sliced

olive oil

salt

4 eggs, beaten with a little milk and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Add olive oil to a small pan over medium heat. Add the sliced potatoes in about 3 batches, so that there is a single layer of potato slices in the bottom of the pan. Fry on both sides until cooked through, and maybe slightly golden. As the potatoes cook, remove cooked slices to drain on a paper towel before cooking more. Salt the hot potatoes. When the potatoes are done, reduce the heat to medium-low, add more oil if you need, and add the green onions. Saute until slightly tender and fragrant, then remove from the heat. Add the potato slices back in, overlapping them in about 2 layers. Pour egg mixture over the potatoes, and give it a little shake to make sure everything is even. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until a sharp knife inserted in the center comes out clean, and there is no oozing from the cut (the tortilla will puff slightly). Loosen from the pan and invert on a plate. Cut into wedges. Serves 2.

A Hearty Meal

2010-07-21T06:38:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know it's hot. But when I get home after working a long day, and I know I might be getting up to go running or do some dancing or whatever in the morning, I want a hearty meal, one that will stay with me at least until I go to bed, and not send me running for my secret stash of chocolate by 8pm.

This is a hearty meal. It is all cooked, but could be served along some raw sauerkraut, or topped with raw cheese, or sour cream for some enzymes.

I simply love it. I've been making it with my homemade sage sausage that I made with Ferguson Family Farm's fresh ground pork. They raise Berkshire hogs on pasture, y'know. If you're in the MD/DC area, I suggest you look around for them. The woman who mans (womans?) the booth at our farmer's market is awesomely knowledgeable and very friendly.

And they do chicken and beef, too! I need to remember to order a turkey, I think...

Sausage, Pepper, and Potato Skillet Meal

a scant pint of small potatoes (or 3-4 medium), in 1/2" cubes

your favorite cooking fat (I think ghee would be awesome here)

salt

1/2 lb. bulk sausage

1 green bell pepper, diced

1/4 onion, diced

raw cheese (optional)

Heat the skillet over medium-low heat, and add a good tablespoon or two of your fat. When it's hot, add the potatoes and give them a bit of salt. Cook, stirring every 5-10 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked through (takes about 30-40 minutes for me). Feel free to get off your feet while you're waiting to stir. When the potatoes are cooked, push them to the edges and add the sausage. Brown on one side, then flip to brown the other side, crumbling it up a bit with the spatula. Then push the sausage to the side and add the veggies. Cook them through, then stir everything together and cook for a few minutes. Serve, topped with raw cheese, if you like. Makes 2 hearty servings.

This is part of Real Food Wednesday.

Toes

2010-07-20T06:15:00.001-07:00

I try to live as naturally as possible, eating local food, and using personal care products that use as few harmful chemicals as possible. Plus, I run as often as my body will let me. These two factors pretty much add up to no nail polish. Seriously, I don't know exactly what they put in it, but it has to be bad, as awful as that stuff smells.

Have you ever closed the bathroom door and painted your nails without turning on the fan? Not a good idea.

But I want cute toes. And I want cute toes that I don't have to think about very often, that won't chip. And that don't involve nasty chemicals that stink. So I've gone the henna route. Unfortunately, henna is one of those creatures that's pretty personal, so I can't make any guarantees that you will like the color henna gives on your nails. It's also messy, and takes a few hours to give a stain, and then you have to let it oxidize.

These are my toes after their very first henna application. As you can see, they're pretty orange. After one more application, and a few days to oxidize, it turned into this:

I like it.

So how does one henna one's toenails? Personally, I mix up a small amount of Jamila henna (body-art quality) with enough warm water to make a creamy paste. I let it sit for 24 hours, covered in plastic. Then I use a teensy bit (maybe 1/4-1/2 tsp.) to dye my nails and pack the rest into the freezer in small blobs. I've recently discovered that if you freeze your blobs in the cut-out corners of a plastic bag, they come with their own little applicator. Then, I let the henna sit for 1-3 hours. You can wrap your feet in plastic (that silly picture earlier), but that will result in a little staining on your skin.

But don't worry, the stain on the skin wears off in a couple of days, and the stain on your nails will last pretty much forever. Doesn't chip. It does grow out, so if you don't like the color, you have to wait until your toenails grow out. Not a big deal for the little guys, but I rarely have grown out more than half the big toe's color before coloring again. When you color again, there will be a little demarcation where you colored previously, but it blends pretty well. Your tips might get a little dark, but I still like it.

Hooray for cute toes!

Cucumber-Carrot Salad

2010-07-19T06:42:00.001-07:00

This is a recipe inspired by a friend of mine. He posted the recipe on Facebook, which sounded delicious, but I promptly ignored it and came up with my own version. His original recipe called for peanuts fried in Worcestershire or soy sauce. I forgot to buy whole peanuts at the store, and I always have peanut butter around, so I made the dressing into a kind of peanut-sauce hybrid. Maybe I could have used a little more peanut butter -- the moisture of the veggies will thin the dressing out a lot, so use your judgement.

This was a wonderful lazy meal for a Sunday night, complete with cold noodles and boiled eggs. The eggs and noodles could even be made the night before (in the middle of the night while the house is cooler... maybe), and assembled cold for dinner the next day. You'll probably want to put a teaspoon or two of oil in with the noodles to keep them from sticking together.

Cucumber-Carrot Salad

1 cucumber, seeded and cut into half-moons on the bias

2 carrots, peeled and julienned

2 scallions, white and light green parts sliced

Dressing:

1.5" ginger, grated

1 clove garlic, grated

juice of 1 lime

2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar

3 Tbsp. tamari

1/2 tsp. honey

1/4 tsp. chili sauce

1-2 Tbsp. peanut butter

2 Tbsp. peanut oil

Mix together the dressing ingredients and pour over the veggies. Toss to combine, and refrigerate for an hour or so to let the flavors meld. I served this with cold whole-wheat noodles, and boiled eggs, for 2 meal-sized servings.

Mindful Menus: Flexibility

2010-07-18T08:45:00.000-07:00

"Locked into a rule ... , how can I be ready to receive the abundance of the universe, the mother's nourishment in its multifaceted forms?"

~Susun Weed, Healing Wise

This week for my Mindful Menu, I looked at the value of menu-planning with flexibility. Yes, I like to have a menu plan, and I generally do better at the market/stores when I shop with a list based on a weekly menu plan.

Then, my mother showed up last night bearing the bounty of a visit to a local farm run by old friends of the family. And most of what she brought did not fit into the plan I had made for my week. Being as I am, my first instinct was anger, anger that she had surprised me with a challenge to my plan. But why should I be angry that my mother has provided me with nourishing food, grown with love, and gathered and gifted with even more love?

So I changed my plan.

Then I got to the market, and the meat lady was out of ground beef. Being in the flexible mood I was in, it was no problem. I got ground pork. And it went on from there.

Week of July 19th:

Sunday: Cucumber-carrot salad with peanut-ginger dressing, cold noodles, boiled eggs

Monday: Homemade sage pork sausage with peppers and brown rice

Tuesday: Salmon cakes and buttered kale

Wednesday: Crustless quiche with cucumbers and carrot sticks

Thursday: Ground pork, caramelized onions, and fried apricots, tossed with whole-wheat pasta, and served with sauteed yellow squash

Friday: Potato soup made with homemade chicken stock, with cheddar cheese and sauteed yellow squash

Saturday: Vegetable omelet with vegetables leftover from the week, plus raw cheese

A Good Start

2010-07-17T06:41:00.001-07:00

Welcome to the new and improved Wild, Not Wise blog. With a new blogging style, and a new-ish location, I'm feeling the need for renewal and rededication. In a week, I go to visit my in-laws across the country, and I know I won't be able to stick to my food philosophy as strongly, so I want to start in a good place. This past week, I've been drinking black tea instead of herbal infusions, and eating a lot more packaged and fast food. And I'm totally feeling it.

So I thought I would rededicate myself to the real food cause, and to my own health, with a blog post about good breakfasts. What does a wild woman eat for breakfast?

Eggs. I love eggs for breakfast. Bacon goes well with eggs, but it's a catch-22 for me because the local farmer who raises her Berkshire hogs on pasture puts nitrates in her bacon, while the nitrate-free bacon I can get at the store is hormone-free, but ultimately commercial. So bacon is a rare treat.

Lately, I've played a little with adding my own spices to the ground pork from the lady at the farmer's market. So maybe I'll try adding that to my breakfast once in a while. But I don't like to eat too much meat. Apart from everything else, it's expensive.

But fried tomatoes and mushrooms. I love fried tomatoes and mushrooms with my eggs. And I usually have a piece of fruit. Yogurt is key, plain and full-fat. And a cup of tea or herbal infusion. This week, it will be herbal infusion.

Of course, sometimes I just mix it up and have berries, cream, nuts, and honey. Because variety is the spice of life.

Hello, Again

2010-07-15T05:37:00.000-07:00

I realize it has been a long time since I've posted here. I haven't abandoned herbalism, but I've toned it way down. I still drink my herbal infusions, and look for natural ways to treat myself. My hormones have stabilized since going off hormonal birth control, and this month has been my first normal fertility chart!

I realize I never posted about the brandied violet syrup I made back in April. It's been delicious, added to a nighttime cup of chamomile-lavender tea, or drizzled into champagne for a Beltane cocktail. I steeped the little violets in water for 12 hours, then boiled the strained infusion with an equal weight of wildflower honey, and bottled it with an ounce or two of brandy to keep things fresh. It's fragrant, and honeyed, and has a teensy kick. It's not purple because of the dark color of the honey, but that's okay.

In other news, I've been changing my beauty routine. I've discovered that my hair prefers to be washed frequently, with commercial products, which is a little discouraging because I always dreamed of a beauty routine that consisted of homemade soaps and herbal preparations. Oh well. I've been using Desert Essences' line of fruity shampoos and conditioners, which are more-natural, and paraben/synthetic-fragrance-free, at least.

I've also discovered that I adore the look of natural wood hair toys over embellished, or dyed materials. So I'll leave you with a shot of my hair up with a moon-shaped fork I recently received from the Etsy store Raven's Croft.

Personal Update, or Why I Hate Horny Trees

2010-05-11T17:29:00.000-07:00

So the last few weeks, I've been struggling with allergies. I pretty much only drink nettle infusion, when I feel well enough to even prepare an infusion, and the rest of the time, I supplement with nettle tea. That, plus my neti pot, are keeping me free of sinus infection, so far, but it's still tough to be congested all the time, sneezy, itchy, and having poor sleep.

Which has led me to my next endeavor, which I discussed earlier today on my food blog. I'm going paleo/primal. For now, I'm keeping dairy (it's the last step in the PaNu 12-step program), but next week I might cut that, since dairy can cause congestion. We'll see if it works, but part of the wise woman approach is integrating herbal remedies with lifestyle changes, and paleo nutrition ideas hold a lot of merit, I think. I'm thinking about going orthodox paleo during the month of June.

On Stress and Herbal Tea

2010-04-29T10:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had a bad day.

That reminds me of kindergarten, when I had regular clashes with my teacher over her inability to understand me and my particular quirks. I had a calendar that I marked every day with a happy face or a sad face. The sad faces were for days when I inappropriately burst into tears at school or in public, and the happy faces were for most other days. Most of the happy faces occurred on non-school days.

Yesterday was a sad face day. The stress of grad school, coupled with a clash with a coworker, sent me into a tailspin of bad feelings, self-doubt, and a lot of tears. I ended up leaving the lab suddenly, over an hour before I meant to, and going home to a dark room, a fuzzy blanket, and a snuggle-buddy (actually two: dog and husband).

And amidst all this was herbal tea.

Looking back on it, I probably should have seen the stress building when I reached for the oatstraw to make my infusion a couple days ago, after days of nettles for my allergies. Oatstraw is supposed to be an excellent calmative, a remedy for jangled nerves and chronic anxiety. But yesterday, I reached for my more potent ally: sage. I didn't even put honey in it, just a teaspoon in a muslin bag, steeped in boiling water until it was cool enough to drink. As I sipped, I felt the stress melt out, and felt my body relax. I should probably start bringing sage to work with me.

In Honor of my Newest Follower

2010-04-24T17:22:00.000-07:00

My journey to herbal medicine is a winding, circuitous one. It somewhat starts with my husband, who drinks Traditional Medicinals Gypsy Cold Care tea when he's sick rather than running straight for the Sudafed. From there, I met his mother and grandmother, who raised him with natural remedies. My mother-in-law was always my go-to resource when I had a problem that conventional medicine couldn't solve.

But the other thing that brought me to herbal medicine and homemade remedies was being a member of the Long Hair Community. This vibrant, eclectic community of men and women brought together by a love of growing long, healthy hair loves to share recipes for hair treatments, many of which are mixed up in the kitchen, rather than the lab of some cosmetic company. Well, today I noticed that I have a new follower, one of my hair idols from this community. So as a shoutout to her, I'm going to share a proto-type herbal hair vinegar I made for re-acidifying my hair after washing my hair with homemade (by someone else) cold-process soap.

Herbal Hair Vinegar

I made this on a whim, and would much prefer to use fresh herbs. The rosebuds didn't seem to do much scent-wise, so I would probably stick to sage and nettle alone. It has a lovely, herb-y scent, and I swear it makes my hair shinier. Be careful with this if you're blonde, as I've heard sage can darken hair.

In a 500-ml jar, put:

0.30 oz. dried red roses

0.25 oz. dried nettle leaves

0.30 oz. dried sage leaves

Fill jar with pasteurized apple cider vinegar, cover (use a jar with a plastic lid or put a piece of waxed paper between the vinegar and the lid if you want to prevent rust from forming) and let steep for at least 6 weeks. Strain and use for hair rinses. I use about 2-4 Tbsp. diluted in a 23-oz. jar filled the rest of the way with water. I pour this mixture through my hair immediately after washing with soap, and then rinse it with warm and then cool water.

Moon Time

2010-04-22T06:20:00.000-07:00

Well, I had hoped to write about my brandied violet syrup today, but I was inspired (or rather, interrupted) by my old friend. I recently went off hormonal birth control, and just got my first non-pill period this morning, so I thought I'd share some of my herbal allies for my period. So far, most of these are untested, but I have high hopes.

1.) Infusions and Teas:

I love my nettle infusion, especially during allergy season, and my oatstraw infusion is supposed to help moodiness and frazzled nerves, but I'm adding a couple to my arsenal for the next week. Catnip is supposed to be soothing and sedating, good for menstrual cramps, and to help get to sleep. My wish this morning was just to curl up around a mug of catnip tea and spend the day on the couch. But I had to get up, so I packed a few bags of my other menstrual ally, red raspberry leaf. It's good for strengthening all parts of the female system, and I find it very stimulating, but not jitter-causing like caffeine.

2.) Chocolate:

Yes, there is controversy, and I know sugar and caffeine aren't supposed to be good for PMS, but I find that when I'm having my period, I crave chocolate strongly. And I like to listen to my body. Chocolate is very specific, and I don't know much else that can truly satisfy that craving. I get dark chocolate, sweetened with organic evaporated cane juice, and lightly salted with a sprinkle of unrefined sea salt. It's called Salazon Chocolate, and I just adore it.

3.) Spiritual Practice:

My bloodstone pendant is particularly meaningful to me at this time of the month. I sat in a short meditation this morning to calm and ground myself, and to help melt away my cramps and tension. I said a prayer to the cthonic goddess Hecate, who rules the realm of menstruating women. And I read my Tarot, drawing the Star card, which felt particularly appropriate as I watched the smiling blonde woman on the card pour out libations to water and Earth.

Small Steps

2010-04-13T18:48:00.000-07:00

One of the foundations of the Wise Woman Herbal by Susun Weed is the idea of nourishing herbal infusions. These are water-based preparation using a large volume of dried plant matter, infused for a long period of time. In her articles, Susun recommends steps toward a more nourishing lifestyle, including the consumption of nourishing infusions daily. She focuses on what she calls nourishing herbs, which are food-like herbs, rich in vitamins and minerals, which can be taken in quantity without much fear of side effects. Her favorites seem to include nettles, oatstraw, and red clover.

Oatstraw, in particular is supposed to be effective at reducing anxiety and nerves. As someone with anxiety issues, I found this particularly attractive. The flavor is mellow and grassy, and I've found I do not like it sweetened, but it is better warm.

Nettle is Susun's wonder-herb in some ways. It's rich in vitamins, calcium, and other minerals. It's considered a good supporter of the blood and general body systems. Other traditions recommend it for general health and vitality. It does have a distinct spinach-y taste, but I find it tastes amazing after a run, especially in warm weather.

Currently, I alternate most days with nettle and oatstraw. I've been a bit heavier on the nettle during allergy season, and I have red raspberry leaf on hand for when I'm PMSing. I've also purchased some chickweed to possibly drink once a week. Infusions are really simple; the only thing they require is a couple extra minutes and someone to remind you to prep them ahead of time. In fact, it's a little like soaking grains or making sourdough. I make up my infusions at night to drink in the morning. I weigh out 1/2 oz. of herb into a 500-ml jar, then fill it with boiling water, cap tightly, and let sit on the counter overnight. In the morning, I strain into a mug or saucepan (to heat before pouring into a mug) and enjoy.

Everyday Health

2010-04-08T19:29:00.000-07:00

Wise woman healing may begin in the weed fields, and I've had some good times the past week in the fields, but it blossoms in the kitchen. Making medicines comes secondary to making nourishing foods, using allies to prevent ill health before having to treat it. So today I thought I would share my wise/wild woman lunch. In my efforts to consolidate my lunches and make them more convenient to carry with me to work, I went out and bought a brand new, big, sturdy container in which I make myself a sort of improvised bento box.

I like to make sure I have a whole-grain, a vegetable (preferably a green), and a protein. Mushrooms are wonderful. As Susun Weed tells us, they contain potent anti-cancer properties. Plus they just taste earthy and rich. A dressing gives a zing from apple cider vinegar and a salty broth of tamari. I plan to experiment with miso, and herbal vinegars. And of course, oils. Olive oil is my favorite, but sesame oil is velvety and rich.

This box is composed of a pasta salad made from whole-grain rotini, chopped Kalamata olives, and a dressing of equal parts olive oil and apple cider vinegar plus a half part of tamari. On the other side is a handful of chopped dandelion greens flavored with chickweed. Across the center is a lashing of sauteed shitake mushrooms and garlic. And it's topped with a hard-boiled pastured egg. A satisfying meal fit to ensure this wild woman doesn't get the blues.

Introduction

2010-04-07T04:46:00.000-07:00

Hello! Some of you may know me from my food blog, "Running with Knives." You may know me as someone who's always willing to experiment with healthy eating. I've tried raw food, vegan, vegetarian, primal, traditional, and most of what I've learned is that there is no optimal diet for every person in general. Similar to my running, I've learned that in eating, it's best to listen to my body.

My body has long told me that it doesn't feel quite right with all the chemicals that day-to-day existence involved. I react strongly to side effects, to the point where a cup of coffee after lunch can keep me up much of the night. And I struggled for over a year with frequent infections, to which doctors responded by throwing more and more antibiotics at me. I came out of that with a trashed immune system, enough yeast in my body to start a bakery, and a new addition to my previously-short list of allergies.

Well, I've had enough. "Wild, Not Wise" is going to be my chronicle of my forays into herbal healing, in the Wise Woman tradition. Most of my information will from from Healing Wise by Susun Weed, and articles on her website. While I'm not yet experienced enough to call myself a wise woman, I like to think of myself as a wild woman, running free in the outdoors, asking nature to help me feel well.

Welcome to my new blog, and I hope we can share ideas together!