On Life As A Picky Foodie

Spring has sprung, my friends! 

We’ve been outside playing – it’s quite incredible to watch my daughter experience this wonderful season for the first time.  The breeze on her face makes her squeal, she smiles and shuts her eyes tightly when she turns her face to the sun.  Every little discovery is a whole world onto itself -- who knew things like grass, leaves and mud could be so amazing!

Here’s a lovely recipe to celebrate the season of (re)birth:

Rainbow Salad
(serves 6 as part of a larger meal though this is definitely a main meal kind of salad if you so choose.  It keeps for a couple of days in the fridge, so you can make a larger batch and have it for a few lunches in a row.)

This salad is beautiful to look at, and beautiful to eat.  Shredding the beets and carrots add a wonderful texture -- juicy and light, earthy and fun.  The roots help us stay grounded and focused even when all we want to do is escape and enjoy the gorgeous day.  The deep red beets nourish our blood and help us women in what is uniquely ours.  But that doesn’t mean men can’t enjoy it just as much.

Shred:
- 2 large beets
- 3 large carrots

Finely Chop:
- a small handful of wild garlic leaves (about ¼ cup) -- optional
- 100gr arugula (rocket)
Mix the above ingredients in a large bowl.

Then add:
- a handful of raisins
- Juice of 4 lemons
- 1T apple cider vinegar
- 2 cloves raw garlic, minced
- sprinkle of sea salt.

Other add ins:
-  a handful of almonds, pecans and unsweetened dried cranberries (I lightly roasted the nuts for some extra crunch)
OR
-  pistachios (shelled, of course)
-  1 nori sheet, ripped into little bits like you would paper
-  1-2T wakame flakes  
-  a sprinkle of dulse.

“My children / partner won’t eat that” is a response that I often get from clients. It’s not that they don’t want to make dietary changes, but the other people in their household will not agree to or go along with such things.

Wives fuss about their husbands’ eating habits. 
Mothers fret about getting vegetables into their children. 

Women spend hours in the kitchen making three, four, five different meals to satisfy every palate, and then worrying about getting missing nutrients in somehow.

There have been entire cookbooks written about how to “hide” foods – most notably by Jessica Seinfeld (the wife of the famous comedian) and Missy Lapine (who sued Mrs Seinfeld for plagiarism a few years ago).  Both of them advocate stealthily pureeing vegetables into every recipe so that kids (and fussy adults) won’t know they’re actually consuming healthy ingredients. 

Marion Nestle, food policy and nutrition guru rightly points out that, on the flip side, there is a trust issue involved.  How can a child (or an adult for that matter) keep believing the person making the food after they discover that ingredients they hate are being forced upon them anyway?  Personally, I would feel done over.

I’m thinking about recipes that involve beets in brownies, squash in pasta sauces, spinach in burgers.  And while these are wonderful and creative ideas, I think it is about how they are presented -- or whether they are mentioned at all.  I find the sneakiness problematic. 

When kids are involved, what is more important: nutrition or trust?

Where allergies are concerned, I think the dilemma is non-existent. And so too with food choices made for ethical reasons:

A few years ago, I went to dinner at a friend’s house.  They had my list of allergies and knew how sensitive I am to certain foods.  We enjoyed a great meal and had a lot of fun but on my way home, I started to feel ill.  I was dizzy, my stomach was upset, and a migraine soon set in.  DW called our hosts to find out whether they had mistakenly put anything in our supper that I might be having a reaction to.  The wife admitted that she had, in fact added a teaspoon of bouillon (containing yeast, gluten and sugar) to the soup.  Instead of apologizing, she remained incredulous: “It was just a teaspoon!  How much harm can that cause?” was what she said.

Other people I know who are a stealth vegans were at a dinner party once where the host proudly announced that the dinner they had eaten contained beef stock.  “But you liked it, didn’t you?” he demanded as if that was the point!

I don’t think I need expain how harmful these two events were to the friendships involved. 

There are great ways to enjoy healthy fare – it’s simply a question of figuring out how you like it. 

This week I made kale chips. It seems everyone is into kale chips these days.  Food bloggers have been raving about them ad nauseam and the market is exploding with packaged versions.  Still, the store-bought ones are never as good as the homemade version.  The first kale chips I enjoyed were whipped up by my friend, Ella from the The Regal Vegan.  They were crunchy, savoury, tasty, satisfying.  And healthy. 

Speed and ease have become of primary importance these days and these little gems are both.  (not to mention easy on the wallet!)

Kale chips are ridiculously delicious and if you google them, you’ll find that there are a million ways of flavouring them.  I kept things simple: a drizzle of olive oil, a sprinkle of salt, a smidgen of spicy smoked paprika.

If your partner or family has a hard time with things like kale, I dare you to whip up a batch.  Chances are, everyone will start thinking of this famous leafy green – symbol of all things terribly healthy – in a whole new way.

They’re kale, they’re crunchy, they’re in your face delicious – no need to hide anything anywhere (except maybe an extra batch for yourself before grabby fingers polish them off)

Kale Chips
(this recipe is for a baked version.  They are also a great raw snack if you have a dehydrator)

You’ll need:
-  a bunch of fresh, raw kale
-  any flavourings (options include soy sauce, salt, vinegar, nutritional yeast, smoked paprika – I recently read a recipe using cinnamon!)
-  oil (olive, toasted sesame)

*** the options are endless ***

Preheat the oven to 176 Centigrade (350 Fahrenheit)

Rip washed  kale off the stalk into large bite-sized pieces

In a bowl, mix the raw kale and the flavourings until the leaves are well-coated.

Spread in a roasting pan

Bake for 8 minutes.  Allow to cool before eating so they get nice and crispy.

Note: although these kale chips can happily be eaten on their own, they also make a great garnish in soups.  If you're missing some crunch, sprinkle some of these guys on top of a creamy potage!  For example, the spicy heat of smoky paprika provided a wonderful topping on sweet winter squash soup. 

When we get home from a long trip, one of my favourite things to do is go through my closet.  It feels a little bit like shopping, and a little like a treasure hunt.  What forgotten gems will I find?

Part of this is a practical reality – the requirements of LA sunshine vastly differ from those of rainy London – and part of it is that I simply don’t get rid of much (I just know I’ll need that pair of six-inch wedges right after I give them away!) 

Some bits and bobs come everywhere with me.  Like the long black sweater that fit when I was at my thinnest and carried me through my pregnancy.  It’s so flattering, so comfortable, so deliciously simple.  I can dress it up or down, it doesn’t crease and packs compactly.   

Other pieces I forget about until I’m cleaning out my closest, or packing, or looking for something else.   Those reunions can be emotional and exciting.  They can also make for a great charity shop run. 

And so it is with food as well.  Some recipes I could not live without.  I make them again and again and they don’t get old.  Others are filed away for special occasions.  Or never again.  This week, I pulled out an old favourite and made it brand-spanking new.

Many of us who remove gluten, dairy or other foods from our diets worry about having to give up beloved dishes.  But much like we clean out our closest, and an outfit that we thought we could never live without suddenly seems stale and dated, so too our palates change.

When I was a child, I loved pancakes. 

More to the point: I loved my grandfather’s pancakes. 

My grandparents lived a ten-hour flight away, so we only had pancakes during our summer visits.  On any random morning, my grandfather would put on his apron (two of which I now cook with) and get those eggs a’cracking.  I can still smell them, hear my grandfather whistling, and taste the maple syrup (it was all about Aunt Jemima back then).

His pancakes were paper thin – I guess most people would refer to them as “crepes” though my grandfather called them “pannekakkes” -- and yet crisp and doughy at the same time.  They were perfect. 

After my grandfather passed away, and when I discovered my food intolerances soon afterwards, I figured I would never eat pancakes again. 

To avoid disappointment, I shoved any thought of them to the back of my mind, like I would chuck an old sweater that I’m not quite ready to part with to the back of the dresser. 

Until this week. 

Pancake day rolled around and I decided it was time to try my hand at making a Picky Foodie version: gluten, dairy, eggs and refined sugar free.  
(note: I don’t avoid eggs for allergy reasons, but I try to minimize the amounts of animal products I consume)

I remembered the sugar crashes from my past -- definitely better to avoid those this time around.  One way to minimize the effect baked goods will have on blood sugar is to use whole grain flours instead of their refined white versions.  I decided to include robust, intense buckwheat flour.  While many people (myself included) dislike buckwheat (also referred to as kasha), I have come to really enjoy it as a flour.  Buckwheat flour adds a certain depth and earthiness to breads.  I wouldn’t, however, use it for cakes as it isn’t the slightest bit sweet.  

The result was a fluffy yet substantial pancake, about half an inch thick, with a taste bordering on savoury.  I figured we could each use maple syrup and toppings to tailor the sweetness to suit our individual needs.  Besides, I love sweet/savoury medleys. 

We topped them with maple syrup (organic and produced in small batches these days – no more brown, flavoured liquid), bananas and fresh blueberries.  They were absolutely divine. DW gave them a big ol’ thumbs up as well.  And best of all, neither of us experienced any kind of crash afterwards (a definite plus when you’re caring for a ten-month old).

(DW had the leftovers a couple of days later with ham and eggs, some maple syrup and blueberry jam.  According to him, the combination was orgasmic)

I know my grandfather would have loved them.  He too found great pleasure in testing, trying, recreating, and inventing in the kitchen. 

Jewish Shrove Tuesday Pancakes (gluten-free and vegan)
(adapted from veganbackpaker.com)
Makes 6 large pancakes

1 cup buckwheat flour
1 cup all-purpose gluten-free flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
1/3 cup water
2 T maple syrup
1 ½ cups rice milk
1 t apple cider vinegar
2 medium bananas, mashed
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
½ t chia seeds*
1 t vanilla powder
Coconut oil for the pan.

Preheat  a tray in the oven to 120 Centigrade (about 250 Fahrenheit) – will be used to keep the pancakes warm.

Sift the dry ingredients together

Mix in the maple syrup, rice milk. 

Combine the wet and dry ingredients.  Add the vinegar and mix well.

Heat a non-stick pan on medium heat and melt a sliver of coconut oil.  Once the oil has melted, make sure it covers the surface of the pan and then using a ladle in, scoop into the pan.  Use the bottom of the ladle to flatten into a pancake. 

When the edges start to brown, flip the pancake (about 2-3 minutes)

Keep in the oven as you make the whole batch.

* Chia seeds are wonderful. They are easy to digest, full of fibre and Omega 3s and they are wonderful to help balance out blood sugar.  

Hello, "DW" here.  Lover of all things cappuccino, Pad Thai and Picky Foodie (I’m her husband). I’d like to discuss something today very close to my heart: time, or rather, the lack of it (and how I recently discovered a way of getting more out of the little bit that I do have).

We’re a busy family, and time is at a premium.  I’m a professional writer.  This means that theoretically, I’m the master of my own destiny.  Every day I count my lucky stars that I have no boss, no commute, and any timetable I’m plugged into is usually of my own creation.  

However, on a recent business trip to Los Angeles, that was not the case.

Morning, noon and night, I attended meeting after meeting on a crazy schedule that was dictated by others, planned in exquisite detail.  It felt like boot camp.  Each day had a metronomic regularity to it -- driving, meeting, driving, meeting, looking for a bathroom, driving, meeting, and so on.  At night, I would Skype my much-missed family, collapse into bed, and set my alarm for 6am so I could do it all over again.  

What’s more, I needed energy to be constantly “on,” all day, every day.  There was no margin for error.  

For the first time, the reality of “you are what you eat” made sense to me.   

Eating well while being constantly on the road can be a tall order.  Nutrition often falls by the wayside and in the past, I would more often than not give in to convenience. I had neither the headspace nor the time to plan ahead.  

A typical U.S. gas station sells petroleum products, chewing gum, and high fructose corn syrup in a variety of flavours and temperatures.  It being L.A., taco stands, fast food joints, hot dogs, noodles and burgers beckoned from billboards and signage on every street corner.  Try finding a sandwich that’s not laden with every E number in the additive alphabet, even in ‘upscale’ supermarkets.

Previously, I would have succumbed to these quick fixes.  If I needed a boost before a meeting, I’d have munched on a muffin in the parking lot.  But this trip felt different.  

Over the past few years, with my wife’s help, I’ve started trying to eat more healthy, green foods.  Although I still can’t say that greens are a natural choice for me, I have -- slowly – become aware of the effect they have on my wellbeing.  Last year, on a family trip to California, I found my desire for them had taken a leap forward.  I’m not sure why.  I think a lifetime of food habits don’t disappear overnight.   

This latest business trip proved to be some kind of tipping point.  Suddenly, energy was the premium. So I trusted my instincts, and took a first step.  I had a 'green' day.  Berries and an apple for breakfast, followed by a kelp noodle salad with mixed greens for lunch, a "green power" juice in the afternoon, a salad in the evening sprinkled with nuts, seeds and dried fruit. Even though I knew deep down what would happen, the results surprised me -- I felt fantastic. All day.  I sailed through a tough schedule and negotiated frantic freeway traffic with tons of energy and a clear head.  

For the rest of my stay in L.A., I made it my priority to choose green, veggie and raw as frequently and as plentifully as I could.  

As the days passed, I started to feel what my body needed for consistent, optimum energy. Salads, vegetables, and those amazing raw kelp noodles (they really are insanely delicious) filled me up and kept me alert, satisfied and powering through my day.  I made sure I was sipping lots of water, I put together a healthy trail mix for the car. In fact, I often took a detour in my already car-heavy travel plans to ensure I got a good, green meal.   

And it wasn’t just on the road.  I filled the fridge of the place where I was staying with green juices just in case I was running late in the morning and didn’t have time for a proper breakfast. 

If I'm sounding like a saint here – rest assured, I wasn't. I still had my morning coffee, and I had moments when I simply didn't have the option of eating what and where I would have wanted.  But the equation for me was simple: 

me + more veg = better day all around

Why this change of gear?  It’s my belief that these nutritional upgrades came slowly, through a long-term and continual process.  My life has recently filled up with these tentative steps towards healthier choices.  What I have not been is consistent.

It's not like I don't know the downside.  I know full well that no matter how much I desire a rich, cheesy burrito at lunch, twenty minutes later, I’m exhausted and reaching for an espresso to get me through the afternoon.

It’s taken me months, if not years, to internalise that when I eat more greens and more vegetables in general, I don’t just avoid exhaustion -- I feel positively great.  I’ve known in theory what’s “best” for me, but it’s quite something to actually experience it so profoundly.  

In L.A., I asked myself the same question at every meal: how will this food make me feel afterwards?  How will I feel for the rest of the day?  My choices weren’t about “being good”, or even “eating right”.  They were about “eating smart” and powering through. Finally.

The trip was a great success.  After two weeks, I returned home without the usual fatigue and flu-like symptoms that normally accompany me after periods of stress.  I put that down to my food choices.  (I have to admit that it also helped that, being L.A., the produce was exquisitely delicious.)  

Then, on my return, something began to bug me.  Why don’t I eat this way when my schedule isn’t as tight?  Why can’t I eat such supportive foods when it’s just me? Why don’t I go for greens more often?

Perhaps, the answer is: time.  You can bring a horse to water, but you can’t make it eat watercress.  Not until it knows, from first hand and consistent experience, what that watercress will do for it.  It took me time to realise how good I feel after eating greens and how that affects everything from my ability to concentrate to my relationship with my family, to the smell of my breath and the quality of my sleep.  It has taken me time to actively start seeking out healthy food.  It will take me more time to integrate these changes into my daily routine. But every choice I make, I still ask myself the same question: how will this food make me feel? 

Playing with our little girl every morning, I wish these moments would last forever.  As time goes by, I see how little of it there really is.  This only makes me appreciate the hours I do have and I for one want to squeeze every minute out of every day.  So today, as I go to work, I’d like to make use of the food that I eat to support that goal, make choices that will help me get the work done, live a longer and more vibrant life, so I can be with my family, and play with my daughter some more.    

DW’s Green Breakfast Smoothie
(serves 1 hungry writer – should easily keep him humming until lunch)

-  1 ½ cups liquid (coconut water or homemade hemp mylk*)
-  1 banana
-  1-2 pitted dates, depending on size and sweetness
-  ½ pear (optional)
-  1 T cashew nut butter or a handful of cashews
-  large handful of greens: watercress (a favorite), spinach, butter lettuce, kale (3-4 leaves, stalks removed) – use one kind of greens at a time and be sure to rotate them.
-  1T (rounded) raw cacao
- 1T mesquite
- 1t ionic minerals
- 1t supergreens powder (we use this one in the US and will try this one in the UK when we run out)
- 1/4t ashwaghanda (optional)
- dollop of Omega 3/6/9 oil (optional)

Briefly blend the mylk, fruit and greens.  Then add the rest of the ingredients and blend WELL (there’s nothing worse than a gunky smoothie).

Serve immediately.

*  to make hemp milk, use ½ cup hemp seeds to 1 litre of water.  Blend well.  Keeps up to 3 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator.  You can do this with pretty much any nut or seed.  You can also strain the liquid, depending on personal preference.  I keep it as is so we get the extra fibre.  

DW’s favorite Green Juice
(serves 2 as a non-alcoholic aperitif or a great afternoon pick-me-up)

Juice:
- 3 cucumbers
- 1 lg head of lettuce
- 4 pears
- 1 knob ginger

Drink immediately