I’m dedicating this post to my good buddy Fim who is about to join me on the adventure.

First two days on my juice binge went terrifically well. Like I said in my inaugural post, I have some experience doing this, so I feel comfortable with the quirks and funny feelings that may come up in the first few days – feelings of spaciness, head spins, food cravings and nervousness. Trust that these subside. For example I was taking a walk to the grocery story to replenish my stores of roughage and thought I may pass out, but reminded myself I had just sucked down a half sweet potato, half a tomato, an apple and four carrots and I sure as heck wasn’t going to go down for lack of blood sugar, carbs or fiber.

Anyway, here are some more recipes I put together today after getting back from the LA farmer’s market (where for 40 bucks I returned with 8 bags of organic produce).

Keram’s Spicy Stress Buster

1 Stalk Celery
2 Carrots (tops removed)
1 clove of fresh garlic (the spice)
Handful of Italian parsely
Handful of watercress (more spice but sooo healthy)
Handful of chopped collard greens (got these in a bag)
1 leaf of kale
Half organic red tomato

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Put the densest materials into the juicer first. Bunch up the watercress and parsley and put it into the hopper with the tomato so it processes better.

This recipe is great for replenishing the body after a stressful episode. It’s got some bite, but its fun and welcome change from the sugary nature of carrot and apple concoctions.

Garlic is a blood-thinning compound which can be beneficial in this case since stress thickens the blood. Ginger has the same properties. Parsley and collard greens contain magnesium which must be replenished and also works as a very mild sedative and also beta-carotene, a powerful anti-oxidant. Parsley also contains zinc, potassium. Kale has a ton of Vitamin C for immune support and pantothenic acid which is lost during the stress response.

**Another thing I should point out is that, if you have a medical condition or find these juices a bit heavy on your system, it is perfectly fine to mix them in equal parts with water.**

I am your friend, Kale. Do not fear me.

When you DO want a little sweet midday snack, try this out.

Keram’s Sweet Snack Version 1

A delicious, sweet snack for in between “meals”:

1/2 pear (seeded, skin on)
5 strawberries (greens removed)
Ginger (size of the tip of your thumb)
2 carrots
Handful of spinach (for some iron – you won’t even taste it!)

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Have fun, and make sure you are stocked up! You won’t believe how affordable it becomes to nourish your body. Make sure to drink lots and lots of water throughout the day! And don’t be afraid to drink up that juice – at least 4 16 oz servings per day.

I also took the pulp from my veggie concoctions and put it into a pot of sauteed onions, added some spices (dash of cayenne, cracked pepper, oregano, a bay leaf, couple dashes of sea salt, sprig of dill, sprig of coriander, a half cup of quinoa for protein) and lightly boiled it. I ate this when I needed something slightly more substantial.

Don’t be shy with that juicer. You are sucking down life! Drink up and enjoy the reinvigorating benefits.

If you are having a hard time, feel free to chomp on some avocado, walnuts, hummus, or add a bit of olive oil to a red-leaf salad. These good fats will help your body feel satisfied and prevent it from going into starvation mode.

Please remember, these are just my opinions. You must consult with a medical professional before taking on any sort of diet if you have health concerns.

Tags: celebrity diets, farmers market, juice diet, Juice fast, juice for life, juice reboot, juicing benefits, juicing recipes

Recently I watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead – a documentary about a man who finds himself overweight, diseased and unhappy. He decides to challenge himself to take on a 60-day juice fast wherein he will ingest nothing but water and juices made from fresh fruits and vegetables.

The results are good, and he goes on an awareness campaign across America. People try his idea for ten days and see great results, cue victory music etc. Now they have a website that endorses juicing products and talks about the wonders of their “Juice Reboot” program, and even offers some useful recipes. I am glad the movie came out and I hope people watch it.

At any rate, I just got back from a job that required me to travel to Bossier City, Louisiana and stay at the Louisiana Boardwalk for a month. This was like the inverse of the 60 Day Juice cleanse; the Boardwalk is essentially a tourist trap with restaurants like Fuddruckers, Joe’s Crab Shack, Buffalo Bill Wings and Coldstone Creamery. Asking for a salad usually results in a small bowl of iceberg lettuce with croutons and shredded cheese on top, usually covered in thick gloppy dressing. After a month of trying to sort through this fare, I put on another five pounds and felt like a marshmallow that had been left behind the fridge. In a bucket of bacon grease. Time to reset.

I grew up on a diet that intermittently consisted of juicing and macrobiotics interspersed with a light omnivore’s menu (because I don’t like feeling as wispy as I do when I don’t eat any animal protein at all.) So as soon as I got back I bee-lined for Target and bought the first reasonable powerful juicer I could find for under 200 bucks and five grocery bags filled with fruits and veggies (as many from the organic section of the store as possible).

I am not going to provide you an official guide to juice fasting properly or responsibly. I am not going to give you medical advice. You must always consult your doctor before taking on any form of special diet, particularly when you have existing health issues. I am also not going to necessarily share my progress in a daily journal, because that would just be too much work for me and not enough fun. But I will be sure to offer some small tips where I can.

BUT I am going to document some of the juice recipes I come up with. While I do reference some greatbooks on juicing, due to the fact that I have been doing this virtually my entire life, and because I like to experiment and after this IS the Taste Odyssey (da dum!) I hope to share some creative and exciting juice ideas with you. And heck, maybe I’ll report on the improvements I’m seeing (and juice combo mistakes I may make) just for good measure.

Today I woke up anxious to put my new juicer to work. Here is what I put inside it:

Keram’s Kickstarter Energy Blast

• 4 carrots (tops removed always as the greens are toxic to humans)
• 1 handful of raw spinach leaves
• 1 Green apple (always remove apple seeds before juicing as they contain cyanide)
• 1 handful of Italian parsley (push it through the hopper with the carrots)
• 1/3 raw sweet potato

Let me tell you this makes for a very sweet, slightly thick concoction that tastes like a fruit drink. It will definitely start “cleaning you out”. Be sure to supplement your juicing habits with plenty of water throughout the day.

People who go on juice diets tend to feel a little weird the first couple of days as they begin to detox and adapt to the change. It is best to start slow, winding down a heavier diet by transitioning to a diet of light soups and salads. But like I said, I do not plan to offer a dietary guide since I am not a qualified dietician, nutritionist or doctor so again please do your research when embarking upon such a thing.

Look forward to your comments and hope you come along for the ride. Please feel free to share your recipes with me too.

Tags: 60 day juice reboot, Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, juice diet, Juice fast, juice reboot program, juicing recipes, Louisiana Boardwalk

Usually, comfort foods are laden with gravies and hearty meats, but, it IS the new year and I at least wanted to make it somewhat on the healthy side, and deliver a deliciously savory dish that vegetarians and meat-eaters can guiltlessly enjoy whilst bundled up during these cold months.  For this dish, I decided to pull from the “Tuscan Cookery” by Elisabetta Piazzesi. [English edition ©2003 by Casa Editice Bonechi, via Cairolo] maybe it spoke to me because I just recently watched “Eat Pray Love” on a plane while traveling over the holidays, and got a craving for some delicious Italian cuisine.

RIBOLLITA (Rechauffe of bread and vegetable soup)

WHAT YOU NEED:

• 1 Fairly large red-skinned onion
• 2 Carrots
• 1 Celery stick
• 4 Potatoes
• 10 Courgettes(Zucchini)
• 300g/11oz. dried beans
• bunch of Swiss chard
• 1 Savoy cabbage
• 1 Bunch of Tuscan ‘black’ cabbage or kale
• 1 Leek
• Tomato puree
• 2 Days’ stale  Tuscan white bread

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:

1. Soak the dried beans and cook over a slow flame.
2. In a pan, gently fry the onion, sliced.
3. Add the other vegetables diced, with the exception of the cabbage, kale and beans,(which are added later)
4. When the vegetables have sweated out their juice, cover with hot water and then add all the cabbage and kale shredded.
5. Cover and simmer for an hour over medium heat.
6. Add the cooked beans(some whole , some pureed), add salt and pepper as well.
7. Leave to simmer for another 20 minutes, stirring frequently (the beans tend to stick to the bottom of the pan so this is an important step)
8. Add 2 or 3 tablespoons of tomato puree.
9. Slice the stale bread and in an earthenware casserole, alternate layers of bread with the soup until the bread is well impregnated.
10. Leave to stand for a day.

TO SERVE:

Remove the desired amount from casserole and heat it up or “re-boil” it as the name in Italian suggests.

And you have yourself a mouth-watering, hearty, yet healthy Italian dish.  It may take some prep time, but this news worthy meal is well worth the wait.

Buon Appetito!

~FoodDiva

Tags: comfort food, recipe, Recipes, RIBOLLITA (Rechauffe of bread and vegetable soup), savory, soup, tuscan cookery, vegetarian, winter

From my good friend Natalie Bourdeau-Legris comes this tantalizing and totally unexpected creation – A Pork and Pear Tart filled with mouth watering goodness, an incredible discovery on my continuing Taste Odyssey!

Serves 4

What You Need

* 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
* 5 ounces pork sausage, casings removed (or ground pork)
* 1 medium onion, halved lengthwise, 1/2 finely chopped, 1/2 thinly sliced
* 1 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped
* Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
* 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
* 1/2 medium green cabbage, about 1/2 pound, cored and shredded
* 2 dried juniper berries, slightly crushed with the flat side of a large knife (optional)
* 1 bay leaf
* 1/4 cup cider vinegar
* 1 tablespoon light-brown sugar
* Short Pastry Crust (see previous foto)
* All-purpose flour, for work surface
* 4 pears
* 1 egg yolk (for brushing crust)

What You Need To Do

1. Cook the meat
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add sausage/pork; cook until well browned, about 3 minutes, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon. Add chopped onion; cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft and translucent, about 4 minutes. Add sage; cook, stirring occasionally, 1 minute more. Transfer to a medium bowl; season with pepper. Stir in cheese; set aside.

2. Cook the Cabbage
Melt remaining tablespoon butter in the skillet over medium heat. Add sliced onions; cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 4 minutes. Stir in cabbage, juniper berries, bay leaf, cider vinegar, and sugar, scraping bottom of skillet to loosen any browned bits. Reduce heat to low; cook, stirring occasionally, until cabbage is wilted and tender, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Discard juniper berries and bay leaf.

3. Make the pie shell
Roll 3/4 of the dough on a lightly floured surface into a 21-by-12-inch rectangle, about 1/4-inch thick. Line a 13-by-4 1/2-inch loaf pan (or any pan close to this) with dough, allowing dough to drape over edges.

4. Prep the pears
Using an apple corer, remove 3/4 of the core from each pear, leaving stem end intact. Remove another tablespoon flesh from each cavity. Spoon 2 tablespoons sausage/pork mixture into cavity of each pear; set aside.

5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Assemble pie: Spread cabbage mixture in an even layer over dough. Set stuffed pears on top. Roll out remaining dough on a lightly floured surface to a 14-by-6-inch rectangle, about 1/4-inch thick. Cut out four 2-inch circles from dough along centerline, where you will place the pears. Place dough over pie, with pears poking through the holes. Gently crimp edges of dough to seal.

6. Whisk egg yolk in a small bowl. Brush crust with egg wash. Bake pie on a rimmed baking sheet until crust is golden brown and juices are bubbling, 45 to 50 minutes.

Tags: interesting baking ideas, poirs et porc, tarte

A life-long lover of food in all its glorious variety, I’m a latecomer to cooking. Over the past few years, I’ve gotten in to the habit of seeking out delicious-sounding recipes and trying them out, often with great success.  It’s been slow-going, though, and it’s left me with a somewhat limited repertoire and a tendency to fall into ruts.

What occurred to me recently is what I really need is to build up a base of go-to dishes that I can easily throw together. Dishes that require with minimal time and effort to prepare, and can be made using whatever ingredients I happen to have on hand. Dishes simple enough that a recipe isn’t even required.

This weekend I whipped up my first such improvised dish. I had a large bag of pre-washed spinach in the fridge, and wanted to use it in a hot dish (spinach salad is all well and good, but I love the way cooked spinach absorbs flavour). First, I did a quick web search and peeked at a handful of recipes to get a general sense of what ingredients might be common to a cooked spinach dish. Then I boldly headed to the kitchen sans recipe, but in possession of a rough plan of action.

WHAT YOU NEED:

• 1 bag pre-washed spinach
• 1 can white kidney beans
• 1.5 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 a medium-sized cooking onion
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
• 2 teaspoons of lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon of white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg*

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:

• Finely chop the onion and mince the garlic (Time-saving hint: you can purchase fresh garlic that has already been minced and frozen into to cut down on both prep and clean-up time). Rinse and drain the canned beans and set aside.
• In a large saucepan, combine olive oil, onion, garlic and cumin seeds, and warm over medium heat.
• Once the onions started to turn transparent, add the full bag of spinach (don’t worry if it seems like way too much: it’s going to shrink down. A lot. You probably won’t be able to do much more than poke idly at it with a kitchen implement until it begans to wilt).
• When the spinach begins to wilt, add the lemon juice and a  vinegar (Note: white wine vinegar would probably be an even better choice, but I didn’t have any on hand when I whipped this up)
• Add dried thyme and nutmeg. (Quantities in the ingredients list are approximated, as I threw this together on the fly. You could definitely add more or less to taste).
• At this time you could also add some ground black pepper and sea salt.  If you’re watching your sodium intake, it’s probably best not to add any while cooking — you get a lot more bang for your buck if you salt your serving to taste.
• Add the drained and rinsed beans to the saucepan.
• Stir/flip everything everything a few times to evenly-distribute the flavours, and then let beans warm up until the pan is sizzling again.

And that’s it! The whole process probably took about fifteen minutes end-to-end, with the most time consuming portion being the chopping of the onion. As a main course, this produced about two servings; as a side dish it should comfortably serve four. I had some the next day and it reheated well.

One note: if you’ve never cooked spinach before, you may not realize how much it shrinks when you cook it. It shrinks a lot. So don’t be alarmed if you feel like you’ve added way too much: I often find that what looks like enough spinach to feed a small army at the outset ends up seeming quite reasonable in the end. My giant bag of spinach was visually overwhelmed by a single can of beans in the finished product.

So that was my first experiment in basic, intuitive cooking. If you try it — and especially if you make any modifications — please let me know. I’d love to hear about your experience. As for me, I’ll be continuing to experiment with simple, recipeless dishes and will share all my success stories here.

*Thanks to my cousin Nicole for this tip: she always uses nutmeg in cooked spinach dishes. I never would have thought of it but it was indeed delicious!

Tags: quick and easy vegan recipes, spinach recipes, vegetarian recipe, white bean recipe