Bamboleo Jambalaya

Let me start off by saying that the title of this post is based on the extremely loose connection that Bamboleo is my favorite Gypsy Kings song, and sometimes I like to blast it when I'm cooking! Anyway...

Can something with andouille sausage REALLY makes it's way onto a blog titled "Journey to Good Health", you ask? Well, the answer is yes. What I go for here is home cooked 'real food' that is as close to natural as I can get. In this recipe I used an organic, no nitrate and gluten free sausage made by Wellshire Farms that I purchased at Whole Foods.

There are many ways to vary jambalaya. In this recipe here, I substituted ground chipotle peppers for the cayenne pepper that is traditionally used. It is a little less spicy and adds a nice subtle smokey flavor. And, I also (of course) used brown rice. I mean, COME ON! Don't you want to get down with all the benefits of the whole grain? And in this dish, even the white rice die-hard's will not know the difference! Also, usually this is a 1 pot recipe that calls for cooking the rice in with the rest of the ingredients, but I kept them separate to show another way to use leftover rice.

Ingredients
Serves 6

1 2-pound bag of frozen peeled and deveined shrimp, thawed with tails removed.
1 package of andouille sausage (4 sausages)
2 red bell peppers, cut into strips
1 medium onion, diced
1 clove of garlic
8 oz of frozen peas
2 cups of diced tomatoes
1 8oz can of tomato sauce
2 cups of brown rice (4 cups cooked)
1/2 cup of vegetable stock
2 tablespoons of fresh thyme
2 tablespoons of fresh parsley
2 teaspoons of ground chipotle pepper (or more if you like it HOT!)
2 tablespoons of olive oil
salt & pepper

1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and peppers and sautee for about 5 minutes or until they begin to soften. Then add the garlic and cook for a few more minutes.
2. Add the shrimp, andouille sausage, diced tomatoes, thyme and parsley. Season with 2 teaspoons of salt, 1 teaspoon of black pepper and the ground chipotle pepper. Continue to saute for a few more minutes to blend the flavors.
3. Add the vegetable stock, tomato sauce and peas. Bring it to a gentle simmer and cover. Let simmer over medium/low heat for about 10-15 minutes. Stirring often.
4. Now, add the cooked brown rice to the mixture, gently and in batches. Mix thoroughly.
5. Reduce heat to low and let it sit (covered) for about 10 more minutes to let the flavors go through the rice.
6. Taste/adjust seasonings.

Honestly, are you kind?

OK, let's take a break from the recipes for a minute to gather up some food for thought.

The holidays are over. If "thank god" is what you say, then I must admit, I'm with you. What I mean is that I'm not sad to bid farewell to the rushing, stressing and over-indulgence that seem to be their evil partner in crime (although the indulgence part is always fun for a while!). So why do I bring it up? Well, because along with the above recountal, there is also the spirit of giving and kindness associated with the season, and once it's all said and done, these too can wind up in the recycling bin for another year. Something to think about and remember going forth in the new year?? Put up with me here...

The spirit of giving. The thought of it drives me to consider the traits of humankind and dive deep into the introspection of my own core values and beliefs. But it is not just about the giving, it's what lies behind the giving. People feeling good when they give.

Most of us display unconscious acts of kindness every day. Holding the door open for a stranger, being polite to the checkout clerk, letting a fellow driver go in front of us on a busy road. We do this for various reasons, but whatever the reason, we are spreading kindness and sending out a positive flow of energy. Kindness creates a sense of warmth and openness that allows us to communicate much more easily with other people. It generates a spirit of friendship in which there is less need to hide what we feel or what we're doing. As a result, feelings of fear, self-doubt and insecurity are automatically dispelled; while at the same time, other people find it easier to trust us too. (Got that from the Dalai Lama!).

Now I'm no psychology expert, but it's obvious to me that there is something to be looked at here. We were all born the same. Innocent, untrained and perfect. We laughed when we wanted to laugh and cried when we wanted to cry. We were honest and (I believe) that we were all kind. But as we grew into adults, many sequences of events took place in our lives. These events shaped our perception on how we should think, feel and act. A bi-product of this happening is that we distanced ourselves from our truth, and through a desire to protect ourselves, we forgot how to be honest (another topic for another time).
There are so many values to consider when figuring out where we stand as human beings. How do we want to live our lives - what is important to us - how do we want to interact with others? Are you jaded and cynical? Are you honest and kind?

A new twist on an old favorite

Dear hummus, my friend and life long go-to snack, oh how I respect thee and am utterly grateful for those who pioneered your existence. I have yet to meet a person who doesn't adore you for your creamy texture, versatility and flavor. I will forever be your cracker.


Phew! Glad I got THAT off my chest. Well, now that the garbanzo is out of the can, I can share a new twist on this old favorite. The inspiration came to me when I was talking with some girlfriends about healthy snack recipes, and wanting to incorporate seasonal ingredients to otherwise common foods. An easy way to jazz up something ordinary and impress your house guests during the holidays, perhaps?


So here is the recipe for my sweet apple and walnut hummus. Allergic to walnuts (physically allergic or mentally allergic)? You can substitute with your favorite nut. There are no rules with hummus except that breaking the rules can sometimes result in a tasty new idea! Be adventurous.


Sweet Apple and Walnut Hummus

1 can of chick peas (garbanzo beans)
1/2 clove of chopped garlic
2 tablespoons of sesame tahini paste
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1 apple
1/2 cup of shelled walnuts
4 tablespoons of fresh parsley
1/4 cup of water
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper to taste


1. Drain and rinse the chick peas and put into a food processor with the tahini, garlic, lemon juice, 1/2 of the apple, 1/4 cup of the walnuts and 2 tablespoons of the parsley. Also add about 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper to start and then adjust seasonings after tasting.
* Note: You will be putting 1/2 of the apple, walnuts and parsley into the hummus and using the other half of them to garnish the top after.

2. Begin pulsing to combine ingredients, slowly adding the oil in through the spout until blended. Now continue pulsing while adding the water in through the top. Add or leave out some water depending on desired texture.

3. Chop up the remaining 1/2 apple and add it with the remaining walnuts and parsley to the top of the hummus after it's plated. Serve and enjoy with your favorite crudite.
*Note: You can make this a day in advance and store in the refrigerator. Just leave out the extra toppings until you're ready to serve.

In a recent trip to the emergency room, I discovered several things about our health care system first hand that were upsetting, disturbing and down-right bewildering! One of which I will share here in this story. It is about what to consider when using antibiotics, and how there may be more to think about than what we are told from our health care professionals.

So there I lay....
wearing my "Just Say No to GMO" tank top, waiting for the Doctor to come in and tell me what the plan was to take care of this extreme infection moving it's way up my leg from a cut on my foot. I was far from oblivious to the irony of this situation; Sunday night out celebrating my graduation as a Holistic Health Counselor and Monday night being admitted to the hospital. But this is where medicine is truly essential and amazing, saving lives and taking control of the 'out of control'.

So in came the Doctor...
and I was informed of the inevitable obvious; that I was in need of some antibiotics and that I would be spending the night. Needless to say, there was no excitement from me. Pillow fights and ghost stories would surely not be taking place here and I could definitely not expect a movie or some popcorn. But none the less I was where I needed to be and I knew that.

That leading me to the first of my discoveries.

My first reaction when I heard the news that I would be given extreme doses of antibiotics was utter disappointment. Along the way, I have learned so much about what goes on in our "gut" and why we need the friendly bacteria that reside there:

• They are a first line of defenders for our immune system.
• They enhance B complex vitamin production.
• They can lower cholesterol.
• They have anti-cancer capabilities.
  

Unfortunately, antibiotics kill off all of the bacteria, not just the bad, and it is up to us to put the good ones back in.

So with that in mind...
"Hey Doc., what about my friendly flora?" I asked, and the Doc. chuckled as he exited the room, making a barely audible statement about how everyone should take a probiotic supplement. Ha ha ha, I thought. Wait, but no, I was being serious.

At that point I went on to request a probiotic supplement several times, each time hearing "sure we should be able to get you that", but never finding it on my bedside wheeling cart. Why on earth was this so difficult? I wondered.

It then occurred to me that I would only receive one part of the healing process here and this was what disturbed me. How can there be a real follow-up plan for patients exiting the hospital when the remedy is so incomplete? What about all the people who come through here who have no idea about the necessity of healthy intestinal bacteria? Who think that the only reason to eat yogurt or take a probiotic while on antibiotics is to avoid getting the dreaded 'other' infections. And I don't know about you, but before I knew about this, I was often not persistent with these preventative measures if I did not feel the need to be.

I feel that this is just one example of the incomplete treatment that people receive from our health care industry.

Then I was given the food menu....
You always hear the same complaints about hospital food, right? "It's gross, I wouldn't feed this to my dog, did they find this on the moon?" etc. etc. etc. Well, although the complaint department in my mind is in agreement with these statements, how about considering this: This is a place full of people who are sick...where are the options for the foods that heal? Why is it so difficult to put together a menu with whole foods and real foods that taste really great and nurture the body? So making the best of the menu options at hand, I requested some real food. The items I ordered were not on the menu, I had to ask for them and the choices were limited.

This raised the observation for me again that there is a big piece missing here. Although the treatment that I received was absolutely necessary and the hospital did a fine job of getting me "back on my feet", I was only given a part of the "solution". I feel that there is change that needs to take place in this industry that will tie in the scientific and hard thought research of medicine with the holistic and well based principles of living for optimum wellness.


Wouldn't you agree?

Probiotics are found in fermented foods and can also be taken as a supplement.

Examples of some fermented foods:

Yogurt

Sauerkraut

Soy Sauce

Tempeh (fermented soy)

Kefir (fermented milk drink)

Natto (fermented soy)

Kombucha (fermented Tea)

Foraging For Food

If you are like me, the idea of foraging your own food brings out the earthy adventurer in you and gets your mouth watering for a taste of true life. I smile at the thought of strolling through the woods to come across a brook lined with tasty little edibles, ones that have grown untainted by today's modern farming methods and are bursting with the integrity of the earth, the sun and the rain. Ones that haven't had their genes altered so that someone could give them a pesticide bath without killing them. Ones that fill me with the roots of who I am and where I came from.

And then I come back down to reality, and remember how I didn't receive a degree in Botany and that nature is full of potent little poisons that mask themselves in very beautiful ways. This is an unfortunate reality. So I consider my options.....do I go on a seemingly endless journey of foraging lessons, or do I bury my nose in a library of encyclopedias? Sounds like an over achievers errand to me. And then Eureka! How about I start my own little corner of the world foraging extravaganza in my very backyard!

Does this sound mystical in some way to you? Do you see unicorns? Well then I have made my point! All the beauty of the Earth as we should know it is right at our finger tips!

Yes I am talking about your very own vegetables and herbs in your very own corner of the globe. It is as simple as a trip to the garden center or any place that sells edible plants.

Take it to whatever level works for you. Start small and work your way up. Planting a garden can be anything you want it to be, however big or small. Grow your favorite herbs in pots or plant them in your flower beds. Most herbs are perennial or biennial (Just google the herb you want and type in perennial or annual and the info. will come up). Many herbs have bright beautiful flowers and would be a wonderful addition to any landscape. So this Spring when you make your trip to the garden center, consider the value you will get from edible herbs and how fun it would be to go out and snip off some fresh sage or rosemary for tonight's dinner.



RECIPES


Fresh Basil Pesto
4 cups of fresh basil leaves, stems removed
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup of pine nuts
3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients except for the olive oil in the food processor, blend until you reach a smooth paste. Slowly add in olive oil through spout while pulsing to combine.

*** Use pesto on grilled fish or chicken. Add to salads for a flavor punch. Substitute other herbs or greens in place of basil such as cilantro or arugula.***



Roasted Garlic and Sage Oil
2 cups of extra virgin olive oil
8 whole garlic cloves , peeled
2 cups of fresh sage leaves, shredded
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper

Preheat oven to 350. In a small glass casserole dish combine the garlic, oil, salt and pepper and cover with aluminum foil, roast for 30-40 minutes or until garlic is starting to brown on all sides. Stir around the garlic every 10 or 15 minutes so it will cook evenly and not burn. Once garlic is fully roasted add the sage and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

** Serve on your favorite ravioli or pasta. Use as a bread dipping oil. Drizzle over some roasted potatoes or butternut squash.***

Mom's Real Food Recipe Carnival

In this month's Find Your Balance newsletter, Michelle suggests to her readers to pay tribute to moms and grandmas and post one of their real food recipes here. Well, although this recipe is no where near healthy, it is a tribute to my mother, who passed away almost 2 years ago, and it comes along with a kind of funny story.

The first Thanksgiving after my mother passed away posed a question among my sisters and I...who is going to make the hollandaise? We all remembered our mother's sauce like it was yesterday, but no one knew the recipe. All we knew was that it bursted with the zing of fresh lemons and that Thanksgiving wouldn't be the same without it.

So I was delegated the task. And, as many of you know, this sauce is a little daunting when you have never made it before (even for me with professional cooking experience).

So, I decided to make it on the day of Thanksgiving while we were all together at my sister Debbie's house.

Things were going fine, I was at the oh so crucial double boiler stage, trying not to put scrambled eggs on the menu, when it happened. My brother in-law who was leaning over me watching like a hawk, tipped a glass of white wine (a very nice sauvignon Blanc) right into the sauce! He screamed "oh no, what did I do!" So we sat down, took a deep breath and oh so timidly dipped a spoon in for a taste.............and it was absolutely delicious. So as it turned out, there was only one way mom's sauce could be improved upon...........by adding a half cup of your favorite white wine.

Patricia's Super Lemony Hollandaise

3 Egg Yolks
1 1/2 Sticks of Butter
The juice of 4 lemons
and now...1/2 cup of your favorite Savignon Blanc

1. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in medium sauce pan
2. In a medium sized mixing bowl (one that will rest nicely on top of your boiling water pot), whisk in the 3 eggs lightly.
3. Reduce the water to a simmer and place the mixing bowl over the pot.
Continue lightly whisking eggs and slowly add in a cube of butter one at a time until blended.
*** Remove from heat for a moment if the eggs are getting to hot. You don't want scrambled eggs!
4. Once all the butter is blended, add the fresh lemon juice and get your brother in-law to knock in the white wine. Remove from heat and serve room temperature over fresh steamed broccoli and cauliflower!