Ya Gotta Luv a Fresh Start

Nothing says it like a fresh year! Happy 2011 in 16 more hours. Thanks for 2010 and onward and upward with all things forward and positive.

2010

THE

END

of a good hard time learning

2011

A WHOLE BEGINNING

to learn anew

Yahoo!

New Year, New You......

2011's a moment away. The last five years, I redefined what and how I ate. Though a year more, my mind and body seemed to restart a decade younger. Now tackling a whole new way of writing a recipe comes at a time when I am moving companies in the direction of more vegetable centric fare.

In 2010 some folks claimed me a 'tree hugger' putting vegetables, herbs and spice as center of my eating! I say 'Nuts to them! Awaken from your passe ways!' Who wouldn't want tasty, fun flavor chocked full of digestible energy in the center of a plate. Move over food pyramid. Get lost old time bad eating. Enter the year of the body.

2011 Vegetable Alchemy claims premium center stage. A thoughtful diagram below for your thoughts. Today, December 29, 2010. 2 days and counting.

Midnight, January 1, 2011. A New Year, a New You! Vegetable Alchemy onward!

2010-2011

Nothing better than knowing what is ahead.

But one very important trend that will turn

into a world focus:

vegetable alchemy.....add it to your

New Year's Eve Resolution:

food with flavor, fun, fitness and fame!....

Enjoy

Daikon, fresh and fun!

In adding a new page, WHAT IS? to my website, Vegetable Alchemy I kept thinking of how I best explain the wealth of health in self care with the the right, fresh fun food. Taking a minute to grab a copy of Jean Carper’s Food Pharmacy, you will be amazed at the scads of fab reading. A couple of her key statements from years of research are:

1) Foods are full of pharmacological agents

2) Foods do act as drugs in the body

3) Which foods you eat do make a health difference at the cellular level.

4) You can direct your own health taking advantage of the new scientific information about the therapeutic powers of food.

5) By making small changes in your diet---by deliberately eating more of foods known to have positive health effects, you may prevent and alleviate both acute and chronic maladies.

Now HOW GOOD IS THAT! I don't understand why we don't just start at life day one and change the way we eat from the start! Let’s put it to task with this fabulous daikon soup of Chinese origin I urged from my friend, The Web Goddess! Care free, easy cooking.

Daikon Soup

1 ½ lb white daikon, peeled, and cut into 1-1 ½ inch cubes

2 qts. vegetable or chicken stock, could be low sodium stock in the box

½ cup dry rice cooking wine (a very lightly flavored wine)

2 (4 oz) pork shoulder or blade, on the bone, (could be optional)

1 teas sea salt

¼ cup cilantro, chopped coarsely, leaves only, save stems for other uses

Method

Place stock in three quart sauce pan. Add pork and bring to simmer. Skim.

Add wine, daikon salt. Cook slowly until meat is tender, about 50 minutes, slowly.

Turn off the heat. Remove meat and cool slightly, covered. Cut meat from bone into 1 inch cubes and return to daikon broth. Bring back to light simmer. Reseason if necessary adding a little finish of fresh black pepper. Ladel into bowls topping with fresh cilantro.

Voila VegetableAlchemy! Hello Winter! Hello good body! Good bye opportunity for sniffles!

The Nano Kitchen

What does a veghead spring roll have to do with the nano kitchen? Everything. But more importantly WHAT is the nano kitchen? Imagine those chopsticks saying: 'michael foley's nano kitchen at your service!' The nano kitchen, it is you, it is me. We are this wonderful place inside of us where food makes its most compelling impact. Inside out, or from the outside in, we see it everyday in the mirror. We are what we eat, and I have always said, 'FUN things happen at the molecular level.'

Nano, a smaller form of molecular. So next time you step up to order or make your favorite spring roll, consider the nano kitchen where eating for a purpose gets you the best kind of 'self care' you can enjoy. Add those herbs you love, in this case it is mint.

Mint, comes in many varieties where Spearmint is probably the most popular. Added to sauces, dressings, cakes, toothpaste or simply as a garnish it probably originated in the Asian or Mediterranean close areas as often represents a sign of friendship in history. Rich in Vitamin A and C it also has smaller amounts of B2. Vitamin C is an important antioxidant. I love it in spring rolls because FRESH is the name of the game. Cook it and it changes and loses potency. For those of you who might be allergic to mint, replace it with basil, same family, different face! 'Fun things happen at the molecular level.' Vegetable Alchemy at your service!

75 trillion Pixel/Cells and Counting

Spice, Spice, my Kingdom full of Spice

Let me live happy, let me live wise

Make mine a long journey

That this fit body does guise.

Spice, Spice, my Kingdom for that Spice

An ode to the maker for code does he have

To me comes the potient

A mix for the salve!

EVERY day I wake or head off to sleep I think of myself the same way: I am an organized mass of just about 75 trillion cells, give or take a billion or so, just like a computer screen is awash with pixels. Each cell has color and frequency, dimension and an application. HOW amazing we are. That thought sends me thinking of how, when I eat, I add the right, tasty nourishment to each of those tiny bright lights that make and shape me into how I look and feel.

Think about it. Each of us is our own Human Web@. Keep the light shining bright. For me, a little exercise, sleep to restart, balance with fun food that functions in a colorful tasty way keeps that frequency free, clear and running smooth. Enter the world of Vegetable, Herbs, Spice. The new VHS for the body@.

Roasted Cauliflower with Tumerica and Ginger*

Ingredients

2 tbl blended olive oil

1 tbl black mustard seed

1 jalapeno, finely diced

1 tbl fresh ginger, grated

1 teas tumeric

1 head cauliflower, broken into large pieces

Method

Heat oven or toaster oven to 425 degrees. Toss all the ingredients with a touch of fresh sea salt and coarse ground pepper to taste. Toss onto 12 X 12 inch piece of aluminum foil. Bring up sides lightly an put into oven Roast until just crisp, about 20 minutes. Serve as snack, side or entree.

* I love this adapted from the Food Network and roast it whole with a touch of added olive oil to keep it moist turning the oven to slow roast at 350 for about an hour, then serving whole with fondue forks.

A True Pharmacopeia of Rockin' Health

Depend more on food and less on drugs to preserve health. Here is a food pharmacopeia of goodness in my stirfry salad with a touch of oyster sauce and soy. The cut, stirfry and flavor is what a good cook is all about. Simple, clean, healthy and fun.

Ingredients

1/2 cup of you favorite fresh vegetables cut into 2 inch pieces, such as cabbage, peapod, pepper, onion, scallion, tomato, celery, carrot, bamboo shoots

2 cl garlic, slivered

1 tbl ginger, slivered

1 tbl mixed olive oil

1 teas soy*

1 tbl oyster sauce

1/4 cup water

Method

Heat a cast iron pan, wok or your favorite saute pan. Add the oil and then starting with heavier veggies, start to stirfry adding more as you go, tossing and grabbing a sip of wine in between!

As the veggies cook combine the soy, oyster sauce and water. Add the ginger and garlic. Stirfry again. DO NOT OVERCOOK. Let veggies be crisp!

When all is tossed and glistening, add the liquid mix, toss and serve. Enjoy with a friend, or eat it all by yourself!

* for those who want an alternative to soy, use a pinch or so of coarse sea salt.