1 1/2 cups sliced onions
1/4 cup rolled oats
6 cups chopped zucchini (3-4 medium zucchini)
2 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried basil, or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons tahini
2 teaspoons umeboshi or rice vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
In a large pot, layer the onions, oats, and zucchini. Cover with the water and bring to a boil. Add the salt, dried basil, and black pepper. (If using fresh basil, see below.) Reduce heat to simmer, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 40 minutes.
In a blender or food processor, puree the zucchini mixture with the tahini, vinegar, lemon juice, and fresh basil until well blended. Return the mixture to the pot, reheat, and simmer for 5 minutes. Serve immediately.
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Posted in Candidiasis, Diet, Eczema, Main Dishes, Recipes, Snacks, Stevia March 26th, 2008 by Kimm | No comments
Ghee is butter that has had the solid fats and salts removed by slow simmering. Although it’s often thought of as a part of Indian Cuisine, it can be used in place of oil for sauteeing in any cuisine and can even be spread on toast instead of butter. Ghee is better for you as it is relatively free of oxidized cholesterol and it also has a much higher burn temperature and is less likely to become rancid. It will keep for months if store in a closed container in a cool dry place.
Ghee is surprisingly easy to make and homemade is more cost effective and fresh then ghee purchased at the store.
From The Hare Krishna Book of Vegetarian Cooking:
Begin by heating the butter in a large heavy saucepan over medium heat until it comes to a boil. When the surface of the butter is covered with a white foam, reduce the heat to as low as possible and simmer uncovered. From time to time remove the solids that accumulate on the surface. Make sure the ghee doesn’t burn. If ghee
is cooked over too high a heat or cooked too long, it will darken and give off a pungent odor.
How much time you need for preparing the ghee depends on how much you are making (see table below). The finished ghee should be golden-colored and clear enoug~ to see through to the bottom of the saucepan. Carefully ladle the ghee into a can or crock and allow it to cool uncovered to room temperature. The milk solids skimmed off
the surface and the solids remaining in the bottom of the pan can be mixed into cooked vegetables, soups, and grains. Ghee properly prepared and stored in closed containers in a cool dry place will keep for months.
Preparation and Cooking Time of Ghee
| Quantity of butter |
Cooking time |
Yield of ghee |
| 2 Ibs (1 kg) |
1/2 hr. |
1 3/4 lbs. |
Note: I’ve made this with one pound of butter and it turned out fine.
Posted in Ayurvedic Cooking, Diet, Recipes March 8th, 2008 by Kimm | No comments
The only itch relief I’ve been getting these days is from Ibuprofen and my feeling was that I just couldn’t do without it. The last bottle I bought had new warnings about Ibuprofen causing redness and rashes definitely not what I want! I’m on my third day without any Ibuprofen. I barely slept a wink the first night for the itching but day two, night two and today - day three - have been, to tell the truth, not too bad. And it seems like my rash is doing better. It’s too soon to tell for certain what if any effect the Ibuprofen was having but I think it’s worth dropping it for awhile if you are using it for eczema itch relief to see if it’s aggravating your skin.
Posted in Eczema March 4th, 2008 by Kimm | 2 comments
It is significantly cheaper to grind your own specialty flours but you need a grain mill to do it. A bag of organic quinoa flour from Bob’s Red Mill is $6.19. You can buy a pound of organic quinoa at Trader Joe’s or even Whole Foods for $1.00. So at 25% of the cost of buying the flour you can grind your own - with the added bonus that the flour is completely and absolutely fresh. Just about any specialty flour: amaranth, coconut, almond, barley, brown rice, black bean, corn, spelt, millet, oat, and rye to name some can be quickly and cheaply made yourself.
A good grain mill isn’t cheap though so a purchase of this type probably makes more sense for someone who plans to use non-wheat specialty flours on an ongoing basis.
The grain mill can also be used for other things including, of course, grinding your own wheat.
Back when I ate soy - I ground up soy beans and made my own homemade tofu using the recipe from The Farm cookbook. The mill easily handled the soy and worked perfectly for tofu making.
We bought the Jupiter Family Grain Mill 8 years ago and are very happy with it. You get quite a bit of control over the coarseness / fineness of the flour grains and the machine is sturdy, simple to put together and take apart, and clean. I see that some website are selling it for around $200 and that sounds about right given inflation and what we paid for ours.
Posted in "Bread", Diet, General, Recipes March 1st, 2008 by Kimm | No comments
