And now a word from somebody else

Just got back last night from New York – another super inspiring weekend at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. Once I have time to let it all soak in I can't wait to share with you all some of the things I learned from Sally Fallon. (Are any of you already into raw milk?) Aside from school, I also had a great meal with an old friend at Gusto Organics near Union Square. It wasn't cheap, but the beef was grass-fed and the beet-parsnip soup was delicious.

Alas, I haven't even had time to unpack and it's already Monday and back to work. So here's a video I'm sharing with you until I get to writing a full post of my own! I'm a big fan of Mark Bittman already because of his cookbook How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. Enjoy!

There's no place like home, especially for meals

Lately I've been a bit of a gypsy going back and forth to New York for my weekends of school at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. It's ironic that during these weekends I'm forced to eat some of my least healthy meals, often while riding on a long bus ride! Not exactly the loving home cooking that is recommended...

Sometimes I do a really good job of finding real food. Sometimes I cave to whatever is available. The way I see it, every meal is an experiment. Here are some of my very scientific discoveries!

Pictured above, top left:
This was a surprisingly good Harvest Rice Bowl from Au Bon Pain that I ate on the bus ride down to New York. Have you been to Au Bon Pain? As food court food goes, Au Bon is one of my favorites. There are a few vegetarian options and this salmon curry rice bowl had brown rice and no dairy of any kind. Pretty sweet.
Meal grade: B

Pictured above, top right:
This meal I'm very proud of. Using Yelp.com (a fab resource) I hunted down the tiny Green Symphony market and found myself amidst a buffet of all natural dinner choices. All the ingredients were listed, making choosing easy. I went with some kale, beansprouts, chickpeas, and a turkey meat hawaiian meatball. Random! But it was a great meal costing only $5.50.
Meal Grade: A

Pictured above, bottom left:
I've written about Souen before so just let me reiterate how much I enjoy their food! The thing about eating a macrobiotic meal is that you know you are going to get an excellent variety of real, whole food. In this case I went with their Planet Platter and a side of pickles. No fear of scary sugar/fat laden sauces or anything that would upset my stomach. Score!
Meal Grade: A+

Picture above, bottom right:
Ok, ok. I had this awhile ago but I need to confess. During the holidays the only place open at the highway rest stop was McDonalds. I was curious about this Big N' Tasty burger...seemed like a stab at a slightly healthier burger option. Turns out they just stick an extra large piece of lettuce on it. Way to go, Mickey D's!
Meal Grade: D


When you travel, how do you handle food on the go?

Squash Fritters and Starting School

It happens all the time – despite my best intentions, food goes to waste because I only need, say, HALF an onion or 1 cup of cauliflower instead of the whole head. The remainders sometimes sadly are forgotten until they go bad and with a heavy heart I toss 'em in the trash. Which reminds me I need to figure out how to compost, apartment-style. Anyway, with 3/4 of a butternut squash aging in the fridge, I was determined to find an easy recipe to use it up tonight. No one recipe was quite right so I combined a couple of ideas and came up with some quite delicious veggie fritters! Kickass.

Butternut Squash Fritters
2 cups butternut squash
1/2 onion
1/4 cup amaranth
8 oz. tofu
1/2 cup cashew pieces
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 Tbl. olive oil
1/2-1 cup soymilk
S+P to taste
Ghee, for frying
Tamari, as dressing.

Preheat oven to 275. In food processor, grind cashews. Add tofu and combine. Set aside in bowl. Again in food processor using grating blade, grate squash and onion. Add to cashew mixture and blend. Add amaranth, flour, eggs, oil and S+P and mix well. Finally, add enough soymilk to create a sort of batter. It should not be runny at all, just moist enough to hold together.

In cast iron skillet, heat 1 Tbl. ghee over medium heat. You could use oil instead but the smoking point of ghee makes it less likely that your fire alarm will go off. Drop ice cream scoop-fulls of veggie batter onto skillet and flatten with a spatula. Cook for a few minutes and flip. Cook until browned. Since you will be working in batches, keep cooked fritters in the oven to stay warm. Serve with tamari and a green salad or green veggie side dish!

Part of my reason for using up extra stuff in the fridge is because I'm going away for 3 nights to start school at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition in NYC! It's going to be once or twice a month until July and at the end I'll be certified as a holistic health counselor, ready to work with individuals and groups. It's so exciting! This is a field I am (obviously) so interested in and committed to. It feels awesome to start something fresh and do something I believe in. So, the travel back and forth to NYC might be rough but I'm going to do my best to stay sane and get enough rest so I actually make it through my classes. So much more to come about this, I will surely be writing more in the future about the program. Biggest news for weekend #1 is that Marion Nestle, author of What To Eat, will be speaking. Stay tuned and in the meantime, use up that leftover celery in the fridge, would ya?