Tag: recipes

Journal, Nutrition + Health, Seasonal Eating, Summertime

Field Notes: September 1st, 2024

by RebeccaLeave a Comment on Field Notes: September 1st, 2024

Somehow the last full month of summer went in a flash. When I look back at all the little moments through memories on my phone, I realize there was baby, or I’ve barely captured anything at all.
I’ve now been back to work for a full month. I have felt constantly pulled between wanting to be in two places at once. And balancing work with breastfeeding or pumping regularly – in short, the last year or so of pregnancy and new motherhood has given me a whole new appreciation for mothers.

And in the more granular, events both in our neighborhood this past week, and in my community of people have shaken me the last few days. Tragedy, shock, personal fear. While we can all do hard things – sometimes we just wish for others to stay at the top of wheel of fortune just a while longer. And of course we wish that for ourselves.

Reading

Enjoying

  • A Vegetarian Ceviche that tastes pretty much the same as the imitation crab-based one I grew up with. I’ll be leading a virtual Cook-Along in the next few days if you’d like the recipe and/or to cook-along with me!
  • Gluten-Free Sourdough Pizza with this Quick Homemade Pizza Sauce. I made a Margherita Pizza for the first time ever last week and it was AMAZING – using this dairy-free mozzarella.
  • an adapted version of the Vaghareli Makai corn salad recipe in Heidi Swanson’s Near & Far.
  • This playlist. And also this one, which I personally refer to as Temple Morning. Our baby has mostly listened to Gregorian chants or Sanskrit mantra songs, and he came into this world to a different playlist of the same (now his bed-time songs).
    I’ve always been a big music person but my tastes have changed with the years. In the last few, I’ve realized I need music that calms my nervous system rather than amps it up. It’s safe to say I’m in a spiritual/chanting phase.

Nutrition and Food/Cooking Questions

  • Should I be avoiding chocolate due to the recent headlines about heavy metal content?
    A recently published study on heavy metals in chocolate is a bit alarming, and should be taken into consideration as lead and cadmium are toxic. For most individuals, this means limiting your portion sizes, choosing products that have somewhat lower amounts, and consuming chocolate less often. See Consumer Lab for more details on brands and products. This is especially true for pregnant women, young children, and anyone with chronic health conditions. This doesn’t mean you have to avoid chocolate completely – just be conscious of just how much you’re consuming.
  • What do you think of soy products? I try to avoid them because of health risks.
    Soy really has gotten a bad wrap over the years. This is usually true because of its phytoestrogen content. Traditional soy foods including organic tofu, tempeh, and edamame actually are linked to preventing the health conditions that many are weary they’ll promote. This is because the phytoestrogens act like a “key” in an estrogen receptor “lock”, and they replace the key that estrogen would have inserted into that receptor lock. In fact, we see that up to two servings of traditional soy foods per day can be helpful for preventing breast cancer, both pre-and post-menopausal, and higher soy consumption is associated with reduced risk of death after cancer diagnosis. Consuming soy may also help with the symptoms that often present in the menopause transition.
    For the same reason as the estrogen lock and key description above, men need not fear soy products either.
    You’ll want to seek out organic products as non-organic soy is commonly genetically modified and will have heavy glyphosate use during crop production. The takeaway here is that as long as you’re consuming soy in traditional ways and not in ultra processed products, it’s beneficial in well balanced and diverse eating patterns.

    Until next time ~ Rebecca

    p.s. if you have nutrition or cooking questions, you’d like to submit, enter them in the comments, or submit via the contact form. If you’d like to sign up for my periodic newsletter, you can do so here.
Journal, Nutrition + Health, Running, Seasonal Eating, Sports Nutrition, Summertime

Field Notes: August 10th, 2024

by RebeccaLeave a Comment on Field Notes: August 10th, 2024

Something I’ve been thinking a great deal about the last few weeks is the shift that occurred internally for me within the last couple years regarding becoming a mother. Since childhood, I’ve always aspired to have kids some day and when I was younger, I thought it would occur much sooner than it did.
But then William and I got married, and we just weren’t ready. For years. There was a lot that went into that including a health crisis, turbulent finances, politics in this country, the climate upheaval (also a crisis, actually). But ultimately, there was being ready for the lifestyle adjustment. And a switch in my brain that hadn’t flipped. Until it did.

Since having our baby, it’s become even more dramatic. At first, I worried that I’d lose myself and my ability to make time for the other things I enjoy. We’re only a bit over three months in so there is much of parenting we haven’t gotten to yet, but one thing we discussed early on in planning for a child was that we were going to include our child (or children) in doing the things we love rather than give up ourselves for the sake of our new person(s).
As it turns out, in the first few months anyway, that last aspiration is quite challenging. We’re still trying to get back into a regular routine of going to church and we’re several months yet from being able to go for a run together, let alone a day-trip adventure run. But it’s certainly a work in progress.

My parents were visiting recently, and since they live so very far away now, it was extra special to see them enjoying their latest grandchild. With that, here are some other tidbis of what I’m enjoying.

Reading

  • “Matrescence,” and the Transitions of Motherhood: If I’ve suddenly transitioned to talking a lot about motherhood, you can blame my new brain!
  • A diet-wide Mendelian randomization analysis: causal effects of dietary habits on type 2 diabetes: In this study, poultry consumption was positively correlated with type 2 diabetes, and intake of dried fruits and cereals was correlated with lower incidence of T2D. Pretty counter to what the low-carb tribe will have you believe. According to study authors, “possible reasons include the breeding process, where commercially bred chickens may be exposed to hormones and antibiotics, which can act as endocrine disruptors and potentially affect glucose metabolism. Additionally, processed chicken products often contain high levels of sodium and preservatives. Cooking methods also play a role, as fried or fat-added chicken products can be high in saturated and trans fats. These cooking methods can lead to the formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) through frying, grilling, and high-temperature baking. These fats and compounds are known to increase oxidative stress and inflammation, which are contributing factors to the onset and progression of type 2 diabetes”
  • Impact of Plant-Based Dietary Fibers on Metabolic Homeostasis: “The gut microbiota contributes to metabolic disease, and diet shapes the gut microbiota…”
    There are a lot of caveats to this study since it was done on mice, they were on a high-fat diet, and the implementation of dietary fibers was via supplementation rather than as part of a well-balanced diet. But the results are where I start to reference oats and oatmeal consumption again! The authors found that “Only βeta-glucan supplementation during HFD-feeding decreased adiposity and body weight gain and improved glucose tolerance compared with HFD-cellulose, whereas all other fibers had no effect. This was associated with increased energy expenditure and locomotor activity in mice compared with HFD-cellulose.” Guess what the richest source of Beta-glucan fiber types are? Yep, it’s rolled oats, and oat bran!

Enjoying

  • Speaking of oats, I made my Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble recently and it is super easy and delish!
  • This flatbread with roasted zucchini, hummus, and a crunchy, seedy salad.
  • Kohlrabi Soup – Kohlrabi means “cabbage turnip” and that’s essentially the best way to explain what kohlrabi is like; a combination of the two. Admittedly, I like both cabbage and turnips more than kohlrabi, but we grow a handful every year, and they are amazing in this soup.
  • Apricot, Date + Turmeric Bars: a favorite fruit/nut snack bar with balanced carbs + protein for athletes.
  • The Olympics! So far, I’m extremely behind and mostly watching Equestrian Dressage (which was my sport back when I had a horse), Equestrian Eventing, Road Cycling, and all the (distance) track and running events. And if you’re able to but haven’t yet watched the opening ceremony, I highly recommend.
  • Nigel Slater’s garden
  • Making elderberry syrup. ‘Tis the season.
All those health-promoting polyphenols in elderberries make for purple hands for a couple days after syrup making!

Nutrition and Food/Cooking Questions

  • I see that you are not an RD. What does your CNS credential mean?
    This article explains the difference well. I’ll add that the training to become an RD and a CNS are similar but also quite different. An RD pathway will have a big portion of training for acute care (like in a hospital), and/or planning for creating nutrition plans for an institution, whereas my training leaves that out and focuses solely on preventative and chronic conditions. Additionally, a CNS will have functional medicine training and a focus on integrative health and getting to the root cause of an imbalance, as well as training in using herbal medicines and other traditional approaches, in addition to food and nutritional supplementation. Ultimately, in many states an RD and CNS share the same licensure, meaning we have the exact same scope of practice.
  • What’s an easy summer vegetable side dish?
    Roasted summer squash and/or zucchini! This is such an easy go-to that’s mostly hands-off, delicious, and easy on digestion (unlike all those crunchy summer salads). Just chop up a bunch of zucchini and/or yellow summer squash, lay out flat on a parchment lined baking pan, preheat your oven to about 400-425 degrees F, and lightly season with salt and pepper. You can add other spices too, such as thyme, Herbes de Provence, or Italian Seasoning, but they’re not even necessary. Roast until soft and slightly golden on the edges/bottoms, stirring once or twice throughout. No need for any oil or water in the pan; the squash will create it’s own juices and make it just the right consistency.
  • What’s been growing well in your garden this year?
    Every year some things do well and others flop. I’ve already mentioned the boysenberries and blackcurrants in previous posts, but we also had a great harvest of black raspberries, and the everbearing strawberries are coming back around for their smaller second harvests. As for vegetables, many things are growing great! We have a steady supply of yellow crookneck squash right now, zucchini (hence lots of delicious roasted squash!), green beans, carrots, broccoli, and there were several heads of amazing cauliflower a few weeks ago. We also have a whole garden full of giant sunflowers. Such perks of constant joy.


Until next time ~ Rebecca

p.s. if you have nutrition or cooking questions, you’d like to submit, enter them in the comments, or submit via the contact form.
If you’d like to sign up for my periodic newsletter, you can do so here.

Ayurveda, Balanced Plate / Meal, protein

Gluten Free Flour Tortillas or Flatbread Wraps

by Rebecca1 Comment on Gluten Free Flour Tortillas or Flatbread Wraps

A few years ago, I started making various quick gluten-free flatbreads to use in meals when I wanted a grain but needed something quick, easy and different from the usual rice or quinoa or millet or buckwheat. I would often choose a slice or two of my whole grain gluten-free sourdough in that instance, but often I don’t have any bread handy either.

The flatbreads, made with just a couple flours, a pinch of salt and water, were a little lackluster, and William ate them unenthusiastically. Somewhere in the many months of making them, I happened upon the addition of psyllium seed husk. I also use psyllium husk in my sourdough recipe – it’s an essential ingredient for the stretch that gluten-free bread doughs will otherwise lack.

The psyllium addition has been a gamechanger. The flatbreads have become flour tortillas, or wraps, which I went over a decade without, and burrito size tortillas for various burritos and wraps – also a warm welcome after so long without.

The bonus is: these come together really quick! Like just as quick as the much less pliable flour/water/salt version. And if you only want enough for a meal, any leftover dough can easily be refrigerated until the next day, and rolls out super quick as you’re reheating leftovers.

Probably the only thing you’ll be wishing you had is an even larger pan to get these as absolutely large as you can possibly want them. :)

Gluten-Free Flour Tortilla or Chapati Flatbread

This is a quick and easy flatbread that can be used to make thin flour tortillas, or as chapati flatbread as a whole-grain addition to a balanced meal.

Prep:  15-25 minutes  | Cook: 20-30  minutes  | Serves: 4

12 grams / 2.5 Tbs. psyllium husk (rough husk form, not powder
240 ml / 1 cup warm water
180 grams / 1 ½ cups whole grain gf flour mix
  (or a 50:50 mix of  brown rice and sorghum flour)
¼ tsp. mineral salt

  1. In a bowl, whisk the psyllium husk and warm water. Within a few seconds, a gel will start to form. Set aside until needed. 
  2. In a separate larger bowl, stir the flour(s) and salt together, then add the liquids and mix with a wooden spoon until all the flour is mixed in.
  3. Then, give it a thorough knead by hand. Squeeze the dough through your fingers and work your way around the bowl, scraping off the sides as necessary. The final dough should come away from the sides of the bowl and be very springy to the touch. It shouldn’t be too sticky. It doesn’t have to be perfectly smooth – so long as it’s homogeneous with all the ingredients well combined and no clumps of flour or psyllium gel, you can proceed to the next step.
  4. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into 4 to 6 equal portions. If making four, this will yield burrito size tortillas or flatbreads – if you’re making them quite thin.
  5. Cover the pieces you are not currently working with with a towel to prevent them drying out.
  6. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough into a thin tortilla, or if you’re wanting a thicker flatbread, you can also use your hands.
  7. For a tortilla, aim for very thin, about 1mm thick. This works best when your countertop is well-floured and you rotate the dough frequently to prevent it from sticking to the surface. As necessary, dust the top of the tortilla and your rolling pin with more flour.
  8. To cook: Heat a large cast-iron pan over medium-high heat. The pan is ready when a droplet of water sizzles on its surface.
  9. Place a tortilla into the hot pan and cook it for about 45 seconds. 
  10. Once you flip it, it should puff up in places with bubbles of varying size appearing. Cook on the other side for about 45 seconds to 1 minute. The tortilla is done when you begin to see large dark brown spots on the underside.
  11. Tip: If your tortillas are cooking/browning too quickly, reduce the heat. If they’re taking longer than a minute per each side to cook, increase the heat.
  12. Transfer to a clean dish towel and cover – this will help it stay soft and flexible. Continue cooking the remaining tortillas.

Notes: The tortillas are best served warm immediately after cooking, but can be stored for 1-2 days and reheated.
You can also store the uncooked dough in a covered container in the fridge for a day to quickly make 1-2 fresh tortillas as needed.