Cultured & Well Read

I picked up several books this weekend and am pages away from finishing The Body Ecology Diet. I haven't been able to put it down! I feel like I've been looking for my next food challenge/growth period and this is it! It incorporates eastern medicine, and spirituality as well as food, diet, and cleansing. 

It's focus is on yeast overgrowth in our bodies and eliminating the problem by starving the yeast and replacing it with friendly bacteria through probiotics, cultured vegetables, and kefir. I'm going to use up all the food in my refrigerator now and gradually transition onto the Body Ecology Diet. It's recommended that at first one should consume some animal protein; eggs, meat, or fish. I considered for a moment some organic cage free eggs... but I just can't see feeling good mentally or physically if I do that. So for me the diet will be mostly veggies, cultured veggies, quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat, millet, and sprouted almonds. This is going to force me to get creative which I'm also excited about!

I also purchased a used copy of The China Study which I've been wanting to read for some time now but haven't yet gotten around to it! 

John Simmonds also lent me The Biology of Belief, Healing with Whole Foods, and Timeless Secrets of Health & Rejuvenation. I have quite the reading load, but am feeling so inspired and excited to continue my food education! I'll sit down with a big bowl of veggies, a blanket, and a book about food & healing :) Bliss. 

Even before my reading adventures began, I felt a pull towards being more mindful of my diet. Jesse and I have been drawn to heartier meals with less sugars! I've made this dish twice now, it's a new favorite of Jesse's and so easy to whip up.

Crunchy Quinoa Salad

3 cups red quinoa, cooked (1 1/2 cups dry)

1/4-1/2 cup chopped scallions

1/2 cup chopped carrots

1/2 cup chopped celery

4 tbsp brown spicy mustard

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp balsamic or apple cider vinegar

sea salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together. You can mix the mustard, oil, and vinegar together in a separate container but I've just been dumping everything in and it's worked out fine! I also added tomatoes to mine, but I wouldn't recommend it, they don't go well with the nice crunch of the other veggies. Serve warm or at room temperature, as a side or a meal!

Even before purchasing The Body Ecology Diet, kefir was floating around in my consciousness. I bought a starter on Saturday and made some using vita coco coconut water. I let it sit out for three days and I think it worked! I can see the culture and the taste it tart but I feel like there's still too much sweetness. My kitchen has been cold the past few days and I'm wondering if I should have let it sit longer.

Last night I went to Whole Foods to buy some young Thai coconuts to make more kefir and kefir pudding! I had no idea Whole Foods sliced and re-packaged the coconuts so nicely! I become so thrilled by these things! I bought four, which ended up being plenty. 

To make kefir, I emptied the water into a saucepan and gently heated it to about 92 degrees.

I used about 3/4 cup of my first kefir to start this batch and 1/4 cup to mix into the blended coconut meat to make coconut pudding. (It was so hard not to eat all of this immediately)

I also bought a vegetable culture starter and made my first batch of cultured vegetables! It's something I've always been interested in, but too frightened to do myself. I used cabbage and garlic for this batch. The Body Ecology Book recommends making the brine by blending some cabbage and water instead of squeezing it out of the cabbage. I was so grateful for that advice as the squeezing step seems so labor intensive!

Here it is, documentation of my first cultured veggie experience!

And here is the final result. I'm having some trouble getting the cabbage to stay beneath the brine. I may end up scooping of the top when all is said and done. These jars will be added to the others to ferment in my kitchen. Jesse keeps asking why we aren't making gin instead. 

Here's a snapshot of my current arsenal of foods and supplements. Perfect health, here I come!