Shabu Shabu

Wow! This is embarrassing!  I haven't posted in two months.  Okay, okay, I have been busy.   Shabu shabu is the magic word today.  Are you craving red meat but still want to keep your girlish figure?  Make it shabu shabu style.  I have done this with lamb twice and yum.  So when you go to the grocery store you buy lamb very thinly sliced.  I am talking like thin like paper. Of course, I am exaggerating when I say like paper but you get the idea.  VERY THINLY SLICED. 

To cook the lamb.  Boil water.  Once boiled, get a slotted spoon or ladle and chopsticks.  Pick up a piece of the meat with chopsticks and place on top of the spoon.  Keeping the meat on the spoon, holding it with the chopsticks, dip into the boiling water.  While it is cooking, move the meat around making sure the whole piece is cooking.  You will see the meat quickly turn dark as it cooks.  Try to keep it slightly pink because since it is so thin, it cooks very quickly.  It literally cooks in minutes.  I would say about 1-2.  Take the meat out of the water and place it on a plate and move on to the next piece.  Serve with a low fat seasoning such as soy sauce. 

Mana Food Bar Restaurant Review

Craving Vegetarian fare? or just plain vegetarian?  This is the place to go.  DELICIOUS!!  The atmosphere is pretty typical Wicker Park and a little hipster.  BUT you know what I will be the first to say this...I don't mind hipster-ish places.  Especially this one!  It is cozy and could be romantic.  It also has a heated outdoor area for those who like to dine outside.  I will admit the heated outdoor area was a little chilly for me.  I do tend to get cold easily so if you are the same then bring a sexy scarf or wear a huge sweater.  Also, it is not entirely hipster.  There were these god awefully boring people sitting next to us all night that just entertained us through out the night with their conversation.  The menu has many great options AND you can choose the size you want your food to come in so if you want many small things to share with another person, which is really the best way to dine with a friend.   So here are my ultimate favorites:

Backed Goat Cheese- O.  M.  G.  Wow Wow Wow.  Good. 
Mana Sliders- These tiny little burgers made of brown rice and mushroom you just want to keep eating and eating
Chili-need I say more?
Creamy Polenta- creamy goodness. 

BUT please try other things.  Ok go there.  Ok bye bye.

Psoriasis

 I did a little research for a friend that has psoriasis.  I also included personal suggestions for him as an individual that I left out, but I thought maybe someone else could benefit from this.  Anyone have conditions they would like me to research?  Send me an email!

Omega-3 fatty acids have been shown in some cases to decrease symptoms of psoriasis.  Look for an omega 3 that has high amounts of EPA/DHA.  I would not suggest buying Walgreens brands.

In general fatty acids are great because they release a body substance known as Leukotrienes which is beneficial to heal wounds and injuries.  This is great for a skin condition, or inflammation of any type of arthritis.  Examples of foods rich with fatty acids:

• Whole grains (a lot of companies try to sell whole grain breads, which is propaganda) you want to look for unmilled, freshly milled, or sprouted bread.  Other whole grains: buckwheat, oats, barley, brown rice
• Dark green vegetables (spinach, kale, broccoli, collard greens, romaine lettuce)
• Flax seed oil is a great oil rich with fatty acids. 
• Seeds and nuts (sesame seeds, pumpkins seeds are great and can be added to recipes)
• Seaweeds (so go out with friends for sushi.  Get some sushi rolls with miso soup)

Beta-carotene/provitamin A foods are beneficial too!

• Carrots
• Winter squash
• Pumpkin

Try Goat’s milk as an alternative to regular milk.  It is shown as the best animal product for skin diseases. 

Watch oysters and shrimp.  They can aggravate symptoms.

Different teas to try:

• Dandelion root
• Echinacea root
• Burdock Root

Beet and Avocado Salad---Beauty in a tupperware dish

I got this recipe from my school mate Lori Sherlock, who can I say has amazing style.  She has purchased the new Betsey Johnson boots that came out this fall and are these boots are everything I have looked for in a boot.  Sigh.  Well anyway back to this delicious recipe.  I would literally say this is beauty in a bottle.  The avocado is great for regulation of hormones, and beautifying skin.  The beets are great for a women's menses.  Regulate a woman's menses and the woman is even more beautiful then they were before.  Why?  Less crabby, or emotional, more energy and they just look and feel better.  So adding these two ingredients together is so beautifully harmonizing.  If you are a man, don't shy away from this recipe.  Especially if you are prone to dry skin, dry hair, nosebleeds, hemorrhoids, and are a vegetarian.
P.S.- I didn't have tarragon and the recipe will still just as good with out it.  I just added more lemon and used a garlic wine vinegar
. 
Serves: 4
Time: 20 minutes (with precooked beets)
Ingredients:  3 or 4 medium boiled beets. Cooled, peeled and sliced.   2 ripe but firm avocados, peeled, pitted, and sliced.  1 small red onion, minced. ½ cup extra virgin olive oil. 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar. ¼  cup freshly squeezed lemon juice. 1 fresh tarragon leaf, minced. Salt and pepper.

• Arrange the beets and avocados in alternating layers in a dish or shallow bowl. Mix together the onion, olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, and tarragon. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

TCM Analysis:
Beets- Sweet, neutral. Enter the spleen, stomach, liver, heart. Strengthen middle jiao, nourish blood, calm shen.
Avocado- Sweet, bland, cool. Enters lung, large intestine.  Strengthens spleen and stomach, nourishes yin and blood, clears heat, promotes fluids.
Onion- Pungent, neutral. Enters the lung, stomach and large intestine. Clears heat, relieves toxicity.  Transforms phlegm and damp.
Lemon- Cooling, very sour, astringent.  Generates fluids, resolves phlegm.
Red wine vinegar- Warming, moves blood, circulates liver qi, resolves dampness.
Olive oil- Lubricates intestines
Tarragon- Acrid, warming. Circulates qi
Salt- Salty, cold. Enters the kidney. Eases bowel movement, clears heat, nourishes kidney
Pepper- Pungent, warm. Enters stomach, large intestine.  Warms middle jiao, expels damp and cold.

Sweet Potato Fries

When I am craving a burger I always make these fries.  I got this idea from an old roommate I lived with over in Logan Square between 2007-2009.  Her name was Dalila and she always had this regal quality to the foods she made. 

Ingredients:
1-2 sweet potatoes, chopped into fry slivers.  The thinner it is cut the shorter time it takes to cook.
1/4 cup of olive oil
1/2 teaspoon of Salt
1 tablespoon of Rosemary- these are all REALLY estimations.

Preheat oven to 375.  Pour a thin layer of olive oil on a baking sheet, make sure it covers the whole area is spread evenly, and is not too thick.  Sprinkle chopped Sweet potato slivers on baking sheet and spread them evenly over the sheet.  Sprinkle salt and rosemary to taste.  I like a lot of rosemary.  I would normally bake for about 15 minutes but it really depends on how thin the potato are sliced.  They should be easily pierced with a fork. 

Sweet potatoes are good for constipation or diarrhea.  Added with olive oil they make have more of a benefit with constipation.  They also treat excessive thirst, and weak kidneys.  With its action on the kidneys, men with premature ejaculation or impotence problems would benefit with sweet potatoes.    The rosemary is great for different types of pain.  I would not necessarily say joint pain although it may help.  I would say mostly it is great for abdominal cramping around a woman's period and the common tension headache. 

Baked Sweet Potatoes with Ginger and Honey

Source: All recipes.com

You know that awesome dish that we eat on Thanksgiving with the marshmallows, sugar, butter, milk, and goodness?  Yes, I was craving something like  that but didn't want to use those ingredients.  Not that they don't taste amazing but that is a dish you eat once a year.  This dish has that same sweet flavoring but with out the extra pounds that you gain that time of year.  I didn't have walnut oil so I used olive oil and sprinkled raw walnuts in the dish before baking.    

This recipe is great for anyone with digestive complaints specifically nausea, vomiting, and constipation. This would be a great dish for the first trimester of a pregnancy if someone is experiencing a  lot of morning sickness, in that case, add more Cardamom. Sweet Potato also treat excessive thirst, and weak kidneys.  With its action on the kidneys, men with premature ejaculation or impotence problems would benefit with sweet potatoes.

Ingredients

• 3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1/2 cup honey
• 3 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
• 2 tablespoons walnut oil
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, toss together the sweet potatoes, honey, ginger, walnut oil, cardamom, and pepper. Transfer to a large cast iron frying pan.
3. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Stir the potatoes to expose the pieces from the bottom of the pan. Bake for another 20 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are tender and caramelized on the outside.

What season is your fruit? ....Kinda sounds like a bad pick up line

http://crossfitsweatshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/fruitsveggies.jpg

As the trees, flowers, and weather changes so does our body.  Our environment changes and so do we.  We change because we are affected by the environment but also since we are a being of energy.  With energy, nothing is constant and it is always changing and transforming.   It is really easy to think we are always the same person, however don't we all have a favorite season? Aren't there small changes we notice in our moods, and emotions between winter and summer?  Not only do our moods change but our appetites and digestion change.  Sinus problems, allergies, asthma gets better or worse depending on the time of year.  Everything waxes and wanes.   This is why with each season it is important to change what you eat.  To eat what is in season.  Yes, it may be hard at times and not always possible, but effort and awareness are important.  I find myself craving grapefruit in the winter.  Does that  mean I won't eat grapefruit? Hell no, it is Yummy but I put forth an effort to eat cranberries, brussel sprouts, cauliflower too. 

I am technologically challenged and need someone to help me post links so sorry about the shotty picture.  I included the link so you can see things up close and I also suggest google searching in your area.  Epicurious.com has a great interactive map for the state you live in.