I am so excited to plant cabbage soon.  We’re amending the garden beds this week to get ready to plant our little starts soon!  Slaw, sauerkraut, stirfries, stuffed cabbage–it’s one of my favorite vegetables!  Cabbage is high in a compound called Vitamin U–not actually a vitamin.  Vitamin U helps the heal the lining of your stomach to prevent ulcers, acid indigestion and to help your stomach cells perform optimally and make the pepsin it needs to break down proteins!  Amazing!  When properly prepared, it also helps to soothe the intestinal wall.  Raw, fermented cabbage, sauerkraut, contains probiotics, beneficial bacteria, to promote optimal digestive function. Enjoy sauerkraut alongside any meal as a condiment.  In Olympia, we are so blessed to have OlyKraut–two local gals pounding out delicious combinations of sauerkraut, spices and love!  Buy a jar and you’ll know what I’m talking about–it’s good stuff! 

Here’s a recipe that’s simple and delicious and goes well with any meal!  Get your Greens!!

1 Head of Green Cabbage, shredded

1 cup cashews

1 cup water

1-2 cloves garlic

1/2 tsp salt

Juice of one lemon

1/4 cup hempseeds

1 T. olive oil

1/8 to 1/4 tsp of fresh cracked black pepper

Start by shredding the cabbage thinly.  Put it in a large bowl and sprinkle the salt right onto the cabbage.  Toss and massage altogether.  This breaks down the cell walls of the cabbage, making it more tender.  Really use some muscle here and break that cabbage down.  It will all start to get really wet–that’s the water seeping out of the cells of the cabbage. 

Now it’s time for the slaw dressing:  In a blender, process cashews, water, lemon, pepper, garlic and olive oil until smooth and creamy.  Sprinkle hempseeds all over the cabbage, then drizzle the dressing on.  Toss with your hands or some tongs–when I’m cooking for just the family, I use my hands (fewer things to wash and I get to lick my fingers!).  Mix until cabbage is coated.  We enjoyed this last night with black beans and rice with dulse on top.  Our three-year-old Ethan Merric kept saying, “Mmm, yum,” and would lick the slaw dressing off his fingers.  Like mother like son I guess.

(By the way, I had a great picture for you all, but I’m having issues with my not-so-smart phone.)

Using cashews and water as a substitute for milk, cheese and yogurt is a great way to add creamy, rich flavors and textures to your foods. 

Eat well & Enjoy!

Eating seasonally is one of the best ways to ensure that you’re giving
your body the appropriate nutrients for that time of year. When it’s
warm in the summer, foods like cucumbers and tomatoes cool the body down. In the fall and winter months, it is important to incorporate the foods of
the season to keep the body warm and dry from the inside out. Paul
Pitchford’s Healing with Whole Foods lists some of the warming foods: parsnip, parsley, mustard greens, winter squash, sweet potato, kale, onion,
leek, chive, garlic, scallion, cherry, citrus peel and date, peppers (esp.
cayenne), oats, spelt, quinoa, sunflower seed, sesame seed, walnut,
pinenut, chestnut, fennel, dill, anise, caraway, carob pod, cumin, sweet
brown rice, ginger, cinnamon, basil, rosemary. Butter is the only dairy
product that creates warmth. Anchovy, mussel, trout, chicken, beef and
lamb are some of the common warming animal foods.

Warming foods help your body deal with the physiological effects of fear
and insecurity. Be sure during the colder months to become more act and
keep your lower back, legs and lower abdomen warm.

Recipes for many of these warming foods can be found in my cookbook Getting
into Food available on this website: www.newharvestnutrition.com

Eat well, enjoy and stay warm!!!

Pickled, sauteed or stewed in gumbo!  It's got to be one of my favorite things to eat!  I grew up sneaking the pickled okra out of the refrigerator as soon as Dad brought it home from the grocery store.  My brother and I needed a jar just for ourselves!  Growing up in Central Texas, pickled okra was on every relish tray at every family gathering; it was sold at every roadside stand along with the freshest Fredericksburg peaches (which, by the way, beat the pants off any Washington or California peach, thank you very much); and it was the preferred summertime snack in the Imel household.  To this day, when I visit my father's house in Texas, there's a jar cracked open, perfectly chilled in the fridge.  Now I look for it on sale and buy up an armload!  Next summer, I'll take a stab at growing my own up here in the Pacific Northwest, but if that doesn't work, I'll reach for San Angelo Texas's Talk o' Texas Pickled Okra to get my fix.

Well, as a child I ate okra because I loved the crunch and the garlic of the pickled kind, the gooey-ness and the flavor of the stewed kind and the absolute indulgent deliciousness of it rolled in cornmeal and fried.  As an adult, I've learned that okra is also appreciated in the nutritional world.  A colleague of mine and I were discussing the supplement industry and how people are becoming dependent on pills for their nutrients rather than food.  She said,  "Why do you need to buy a bottle of okra pepsin?  Just eat some okra for cryin' out loud!"   Makes sense doesn't it?  You can purchase it frozen and use it in your regular cooking.  Or enjoy it pickled as a snack or with your meals.

Supplements are made with standardized inulin from this tasty little vegetable and sold to help folks with sluggish digestion.  Okra is known to lubricate the intestines and keep things moving right along.

If you feel you've tried everything to deal with your constipation, consider these other intestine-lubricating foods in addition to okra:

spinach, banana, sesame seed/oil, honey, pear, prune, peach, apple, apricot, walnut, pine nut, almond, alfalfa sprouts, carrot, cauliflower, beet, whole fresh milk, seaweed

Pickled Okra:  Talk o' Texas Hand Packed Crisp Okra Pickles  www.talkotexas.com    San Angelo, Texas