Yule

Happy New Year !

Sound odd ? Not really. Today is The Winter Solstice and the beginning of the Solar Year. In our household it is one of the Winter Holidays, and it is usually celebrated on the eve of the event with decorations and a special meal amongst other things.

 Food is a part of most celebrations in some way. It is universal  in language. The participants may not understand the event celebrated in full , but they know when something smells and tastes good ! We had a meal with things that were in some way representative of the sun , the returning light  and I will share the pictures and recipes. It's going to be a big cooking week for me here with Solstice, Christmas Eve and Christmas  ! Good thing is I can make it nourishing !

Let's start with Soaked Sun Bread

Soaked Sun Bread

2 – 2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 stick butter, melted
3 tablespoons buttermilk

2 tablespoons active dry yeast
3 eggs, beaten
3 tablespoons sugar( I used Splenda)
1/2 teaspoon salt
zest of one lemon (optional)
 Mix yeast and milk. Let stand until foamy. Stir in eggs, sugar, 2 cups flour, butter, salt and lemon. Mix well, adding flour as necessary to form a dough.Knead on a floured surface for 8 – 10 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic.Place dough in greased bowl, cover with a cloth, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1-2 hours. Punch down dough, knead gently, and divide into two portions. With one portion, form a round flat ball to make the sun’s face. Use a knife to carve eyes and a mouth. Use a bit of dough from the second half to form a nose and eyes and mouth
Divide the rest of the second half into six portions.Shape into a rope, cut rope into smaller sections to form spirals and place around the edge of the face.
Cover the sun and allow to rise again in a warm place for about an hour.Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Bake the sun bread for about twenty minutes or until lightly brown. Cool slightly before slicing.( we don't slice him, but kind of rip off pieces !)

Then bring on dinner ! We had  apple Maple glazed ham, spiced red cabbage ( red ball like the new born sun) sweet potatoes with maple butter ( orange like the sun and it goes well with ham) and orange cranberry sauce ( again, orange and red like the sun at different times of the day). All seasoned with herbs and spices that are "firey", like the sun itself.

Crockpot Rotkohl (German Red Cabbage)
1 medium/large red cabbage, shredded
1 med sweet onion, diced
2 med (or 1 large) apple, granny smith or other sour kind, peeled, cored and diced
2 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp honey
1/2 c. apple cider vinegar
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp mulling spice, in a cheesecloth bag or tea steeper
1 c. water
1 tbsp butter
salt and cracked black pepper to taste
1/2 c. raisins
1/2 lb bacon, diced (optional)

   1. If using bacon, cook until crispy and drain on a paper towel. Then use the bacon grease to saute the onion.
   2. If not using bacon, saute the onion in the butter until translucent.
   3. Add rest of ingredients into crockpot, set on low for 6 hours.
   4. If you’re going to use a stock pot or dutch oven for this, the cooking time would be between 1 and 2 hours, depending on amount you make.
   5. Remove spice bag before serving. This seems self-explanatory and yet…maybe it’s just me.

Smoked Ham with Maple Apple Glaze
3 to 4 pound, semi-boneless cold smoked ham
1 to 2 large tart baking apples, such as Granny Smith, peeled, cored and coarsely chopped
2 to 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 to 3/4 cup pure maple syrup

Preheat the oven to 325º F.

Rinse the ham well with cold water and pat dry.  Place in a baking dish or roasting pan large enough to comfortably hold the ham, and cover tightly with foil.Bake the ham until completely heated through, about 20 minutes per pound.  About 10 minutes before the ham is done, melt the butter in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat until it begins to foam.  Saute the apples in the butter until tender and golden, about 5 minutes, and add the maple syrup.  Increase the heat slightly and continue cooking, stirring frequently, until the syrup begins to thicken.  Remove from the heat and set aside.Remove the ham from the oven and increase the temperature to 350º F.  Carefully pour the juices from the ham into the skillet with the apple/maple syrup mixture and stir to combine.  Spoon the glaze back over the ham and return to the oven.  Bake, uncovered, for an additional 15 to 20 minutes to glaze the ham, basting it every 5 minutes.Remove the ham to a cutting board and allow it to rest for about 5 minutes before carving; reserve the glaze from the pan.  Carve, spoon the glaze over the slices and serve.

 Cranberry-Orange Sauce

    12 oz fresh or frozen Cranberries
    1 lg. organic Navel Orange
    1/2 Cup  Sugar or Sucanat ( I used Splenda)
    1 tsp. ground Cinnamon
    1/8 tsp. ground Cloves

    Rinse cranberries, and discard any spoiled ones. Finely grate or zest the orange peel. Cut orange into quarters, and add to a blender, along with the orange zest. Pour in enough water to make 1 cup, and blend until roughly chopped. (You don’t want a smooth puree; keep it “pulpy.”)
 Pour juice into a saucepan, along with sugar, cinnamon, and cloves. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Pour in cranberries, and return to a boil. Stir over medium heat for 8-10 min. Be careful!! Cranberries start popping & will splatter!! (When not stirring, you can partially cover the pot with a lid, to allow steam to escape, but keep some of the splatter inside.)

    When most of the cranberries have popped, and the liquid has started to thicken, remove from heat. The sauce will continue to thicken as it cools. Pour into jars to store or into a serving dish. Refrigerate or freeze if not serving immediately.

An evening of fun and games took place, and then it was time for desert- gingerbread and home made eggnog

Soaked Flour Gingerbread

Combine and soak overnight
1 Cup Buttermilk or Kefir
2 ½ C Freshly Ground Spelt or White Wheat Flour
Next day  add
¼ lb Butter or Coconut Oil
¾ C Sucanat ( I used Splenda)
2 Eggs
¾ C Molasses
2 teaspoons Baking Soda
½ teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Powdered Ginger
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
Pinch Cloves

Pour the batter into a greased and floured 9 x 9 baking dish.   Bake in an oven preheated to 350 ° F for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake’s center comes out clean

Egg Nog

    6 beaten egg yolks
    2 1/4 cups whole milk
    1/3 cup  sugar ( I used Splenda)
    1 tsp vanilla
    1 cup whipping cream
    2 Tbsp  sugar
    Ground nutmeg (optional)

 1) In a medium pot, mix the egg yolks, milk and the 1/3 cup sugar. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture just coats a metal spoon . Remove from heat. Place pot in a sink or bowl of ice water and stir for 2 minutes to cool mixture off a little. Stir in vanilla. Cover and chill for 4-24 hours.
2) When you're ready to serve:
Beat the whipping cream and 2 Tbsp of sugar  until soft peaks form.
3) Transfer the chilled egg/milk/sugar mixture to a punch bowl. Fold in the whipped cream. Serve immediately. Sprinkle each serving with nutmeg. If you find it a little too thick or too sweet, simply stir in a bit of milk to thin it out.

Happy New Year !

It's an evolving process

I have been doing a lot of internal questioning the last few days. It seems to be something that has come out of watching Food Revolution, Ruby, reading many weight loss blogs and events in my own life. While weight loss is what we are working for as a measurable goal, health is much more of the focus.While calories and fat grams and sugars are important, they are not the first things I think of when planning meals ( or the things the guys ask about or look for.) It has evolved into a quest for eating real, actual, nutritiously dense foods with minimal chemical additives because it best fuels our bodies. This is meeting a desire to keep our food budget down, in an attempt to rebuild the financial cushion that was taken with the purchase of the car. Are things like Arnold's Deli Thins really superior to homemade bread in monitored portions ? Is any "organic" cereal supoerior to home made granola ? Questions like this flow in my mind. Before we began the weight loss journey, I was making all of our bread products, baked goods, yogurt and more, because it proved to be more economical. Once we began weight loss I gave these up in favor of commercially made pre portioned pre packaged items. It worked until I began to question just what it was that we were putting in our bodies in the name of lower fat and calories. I am going to stop doing this, and learn how to make my own and portion it out accordingly. It should be easy after all this weighing and measuring of everything else. I am going to spend today baking and mixing and so forth as Bob is taking Nick with him to work and an event after work. I can refresh my memory without interruptions on some skills.

Yesterday's eats were as follows

Apple cinnamon raisin oatmeal for breakfast

Lunch-Split pea soup with peanut butter on homemade whole wheat soda bread ( in the freezer from March) , carrots and celery

Dinner- roast zucchini, broccoli, peppers and mushrooms with Sesame Braised Chicken and Cabbage

Sesame Braised Chicken & Cabbage

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts -- cut into 1 inch pieces
4 cups green cabbage -- sliced thin
4 cups finely chopped kale -- stems removed
1 medium-sized onion -- cut in half and sliced thin
1 TBS minced fresh ginger
2medium cloves garlic -- minced
½ cup + 1 TBS chicken broth
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1 can diced tomatoes -- (15 oz) drained
2 TBS rice vinegar
1 TBS extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup chopped scallion tops
1 TBS sesame seeds

Prepare ingredients as listed above.
Heat 1 TBS broth in a stainless steel wok or large skillet. Healthy Sauté onion in broth over medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until translucent. Add garlic and ginger and continue to sauté for another minute.Add chicken pieces and cook for a couple of minutes. Add turmeric, coriander, and mix with chicken. Add kale. Sauté for another couple of minutes, stirring constantly.Add ½ cup broth and bring to a boil on high heat. Reduce heat and simmer over low heat covered for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.Add cabbage, diced tomatoes, and vinegar and simmer for another 4 minutes. Remove from heat, toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper.Serve sprinkled with minced scallion tops and sesame seeds.Serves 4

Tumeric is a very healthy spice ! It smells warm like ginger and orange but with an earthy sort of character.Turmeric (Curcuma longa), the bright yellow of the spice rainbow, is a powerful medicine that has long been used in the Chinese and Indian systems of medicine as an anti-inflammatory agent to treat a wide variety of conditions, including flatulence, jaundice, menstrual difficulties, bloody urine, hemorrhage, toothache, bruises, chest pain, and colic. It gets it's yellow color from curcumin.Curcumin has anti-inflametory affects , which work the same as chemically produced substances like hydro-cortisone and Motrin. Unlike these substances, curcumin produces no toxic affects such as intestinal bleeding and decreased white blood cell count.It can provide inexpensive relif for conditions like arthritis, IBS, Cystic fibrosis as well as inhibit the growth of cancer cells.It also seems to help prevent different forms of cancer as well as Alzheimer's Disease.

I was hoping to head out for a nice walk by myself today, but the weather has decided this would be a great day for a thunderstorm with heavy rains. Looks like it will be hall walking between playing with a few recipies !

My own food revolution- 4 bushels of produce for the week

Yesterday was our weekly Shop and Chop day.We go as a family for a couple of reasons. First, it makes a terrific learning opportunity for my son. He knows how to follow a list, how to identify more kinds of produce than most adults , how to read a nutritional label and is now learning about price per unit and how to make a substitution. Second reason is that in shopping together there are no arguments about where the money goes. Shopping together can be a lot of fun and many hands make quick work. It seems that my son is not the only one learning . We have been watching Jamie Oliver's Food revolution, and my husband thought Jamie was perhaps exaggerating about the sugar content in flavored milk or picking on an isolated brand. He has started reading food labels himself ( house rule is that if it has more than 13 grams of sugar per serving it does not get bought ), and has discovered this problem to be true. He has also discovered this truth about many "lite" yogurts and so forth. He has also become shocked at the sodium levels in things. It's a whole different food revolution going on in this house !

After breakfast we headed out , and did our usual use of the store's boxes instead of bags ( easier for us to get in the car, put on a cart and use to bring out the scraps from chopping) and Bob noticed that we had bought 4 bushels of produce for the week. No more or less than we have bought every week for quite some time. There is rarely anything that gets tossed, and he is beginning to agree that we are becoming rabbits. 6 hours of chopping and cooking later, I had it broke down to ready to go veggies and salads for the week. Here are the salads being offered in MY "school lunch "program.

Quinoa with Orange and Basil serves 8

1 cup dry Quinoa (prepare according to package)
1 Handful chopped fresh Basil + some for garnish
3 Oranges: cut into small pieces with pith and seeds removed
1/2 c dried cranberries
1/2 cup pecans or sliced almonds
1/2 Lemon or 1 Tbs Lemon juice
juice from 1/2 Orange
1 T Olive Oil
Salt to taste
chopped Green Onion (Scallions)
1 Dash the following spices:
ground Black Pepper
Cinnamon
Tumeric

Prepare quinoa according to package.
Let quinoa cool and toss with all of the above ingredients.

Coconut Fruit Salad

1 cup cantaloupe -- cut into bite sized pieces
1 cup honeydew melon -- cut into bite sized pieces
1 cup pineapple -- cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 cup green grapes -- cut in half
1/2cup red grapes -- cut in half
1 pint organic strawberries -- cut in half or quarters
1/2 pint blueberries -- (1/2 to 1)
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

Mix all ingredients together

24 Hour Cole Slaw

2 cups shredded red cabbage
2 cups shredded green cabbage
1 onion, chopped
1 golden beets, shredded
2 carrots, chopped
1 apple, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
3/4 cup water
1 cup cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups splenda
1 teaspoon celery seed
Toss veggies together. Heat , vinegar, water and spices,Bring to boil.
Pour over cabbage - onion mixture. Chill 24 hours.

Broccoli Slaw (because I had several huge broccoli stems )


5 large broccoli stems, peeled and shredded
3 carrots shredded
1/4 c mayonnaise
2 T rice wine vinegar
1 T honey mustard

Combine and refrigerate

After all that chopping , it was time to make dinner. Happily, I took care of that prep while I was doing the other chopping

Chicken and roast vegetable salad

1 zucchini , sliced
1 fennel bulb sliced
1 red pepper cut into strips
1 onion cut into wedges
16 baby bella mushrooms sliced
1/2 lb asparagus sliced
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic minced
1 teaspoon dried crushed rosemary
1/8 teaspoon pepper
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
9 cups mixed salad greens
dressing of your choice

Preheat oven to 400. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray.
Place all veggies but salad greens in a zip lock and toss
with the vinegar, garlic, rosemary and pepper to coat.
Place on cookie sheet and roast for 30 minutes, or till tender.
Meanwhile grill the chicken breasts and season as desired.
Cut chicken breast in strips. Divide salad greens into 3 portions,
top with 1/3 of the roast vegetables and 1 sliced grilled chicken breast.

After dinner we settled in for an evening of Huggermugger . I love playing these kinds of board games with my son especially ! Bob is another word geek and we always have a great time , but with my son it serves to be a better indication of knowledge mastered than a paper test. It always calms any anxieties I have about what he is actually retaining or understanding , and it makes for a lot of family laughs ! All in all it was a very good day !

Nutrition is a powerful thing and remebering the rest of my life.

It was a very cool, rainy day here yesterday. The temps did not reach the 40's , so it was another day of hall walking and Wii. It was the kind of cool damp where you began to expect the rain to turn to snow, but it never did. While the weather was miserable, we were pretty bubbly and began the day with the following

Steel cut oats with pears, apple , blueberry and pumpkin seeds. Oats are always a good way to start a day ! After breakfast, we hit the halls for our first walk of the day and then jumped on the Wii to get in almost a full hour of exercise before hitting the schoolwork. I was feeling quite energized when we began , and then suddenly discovered that an unwanted visitor made an appearance- she seems to visit most adult women ever 28 to whatever days. This made my energy go from peppy to
However, there is no sick day for mom's , so press on ! We jumped into ( okay...energetically stepped into ...err, slid into) school, then another walk, and then a break for lunch. I was feeling more droopy as the morning wore on , and suddenly so ravenous that I could eat floor tiles if not bolted down. Our metabolism changes with that visitor ( for some complex reasons) , and the ravenous hunger you get is your body demanding different nutrients as fuel or the journey. Instead of simply diving into anything, I thought about what fuel my body was in the greatest need of, and whipped up a creation I call scrambled eggs with stuff
I took some shredded cabbage, red pepper, scallions, mushrooms and kale, sauteed them in water and then tossed on some Mrs Dash and egg beaters. The veggies made it incredibly bulky, and immediately following lunch I felt back to my perky self. Yay nutrition !

After school was finished and a third was was taken I started looking or school materials , and stumbled onto two documents that many of you may be interested in about personal fitness action plans. First one is called Fitting fitness in ( click on the link to follow) and another called
Minimalist fitness- how to get in shape with little or no equipment .Both have some really handy tips about routines and exercise that can be done anywhere with little or no equipment. We are going to add many of these to our own daily routines.

Dinner was wholewheat pasta with roast vegetables ( zucchini, eggplant, butternut squash,broccoli, red peppers, asparagus) and chicken legs with mango glaze ( actually 100 percent mango papaya fruit spread that I found at our market with some garlic powder added).
The evening found me in a conversation with my middle sister about my mother. Mom has Dementa and Parkinsons Disease, and my middle sister is her caregiver. Lately mom has taken a turn for the worse and has begun to be physically violent with my sister whenever it is time to change her clothes or get her in the shower. Mom is fully incontinent, so changes happen often every day. Mom thinks that my sister means her harm and starts trying to defend herself, picking up anything nearby and beating on my sister with it as she struggles to change her clothes. Mom only responds to her, and it seems that it is time to look into a care facility for mom. She is only going to get worse, and if she progresses like most patients with this disease, she is going to begin to experience swallowing problems and more in a short time. My sister is feeling very guilt ridden about this, so I am trying to get her to see that this move is to be thought of more as the best care for her needs instead of failure or abandonment. Not going to be an easy argument. However, it does serve as a powerful personal reminder that no matter what the scale or clothing sizes or tape measurements say, your life is defined by a lot more than just these things. I am someones mom, daughter, wife, friend, sister, lover, counselor, Reiki worker, teacher,fiber artist, Blogger and a whole lot more. While the numbers on the scale may prove to be an indicator of how physically fit we may or not be for these challenges and roles, it does not define our abilities to preform them or even who we are. That lies with something much deeper, more far reaching and of greater concern to many. It is true for me, and every other person on a weight loss journey. We are not single faceted, one dementional beings, and it is important to keep that in mind. Life happens while you are busy executing plans based on your perception of your impact on the world.