Monday, December 28, 2009

Delicious Broccoli Salad

The last week has been magical and fun. Spending time with friends and family, reliving memories and seeing the girls with sparkles in their eyes.
The recipe in this post is one from Beatrice Arroe. Noah and I served this salad at our wedding, everyone loves it!
Delicious Broccoli Salad:

  • 1 bunch broccoli, cut into bite sized chuncks
  • 1 handful almonds
  • 1 cup scallions, or green onions
  • ¾ cup raisins, currants or olives
  • DRESSING BLEND:
  • 1 cup coconut milk
  • ½ cup tahini
  • ½ cup red onion
  • 1 whole lemon, juiced
  • ½ whole jalapeno pepper, seeds removed
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 3 tablespoons oil, to taste
  • 2 tablespoons vinegar, to taste
  • 1 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon corriander
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt, to taste
  • 1 teaspoon ginger, (optional)
  • 1 Tablespoon agave, to taste
Cut and toss body ingredients into a bowl.
Blend dressing ingredients in a blender, add to body ingredients, massage together and enjoy!


Broccoli is cooling in nature, and helps reduce eye inflammation. It is slightly diuretic in action. Broccoli reduces pitta and kapha. Broccoli contains twice the vitamin C as an orange, and almost as much calcium as whole milk-and its calcium is better absorbed by our bodies. Broccoli contains selenium, is a modest source of vitamin A and alpha-tocopherol vitamin E, and has value as an antioxidant.
(The leafy greens--not the blossoms--offer the most nutrients)
Yumm.

Hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season!
Pray for snow!
xoxoxox
Michelle

Please check out my personal site at: www.MichelleBerryShaffer.com

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Vegetable Medley Soup

Merry Holidays!
Its the day after Christmas, my family is going skiing and I am thinking of something that will satisfy them after a day of fun in the snow! Soup! Yumm! Delicious warm soup!

This soup recipe is one I picked up from the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center in Patagonia, Arizona! It has quickly become one of my family's favorites as well as a favorite of the Live Food class that I teach on Wednesdays! It is delicious and sooooo good for you!
Thanks Tim and Michela for all your wonderful teachings and recipes!

Vegetable Medley Soup:
  • 3-6 whole bell peppers, s-bladed
  • 1 bunch spinach, s-bladed
  • 1 bunch celery, 2mm-disk
  • 1-4 bunches cilantro , or basil s-bladed
  • 2-3 cups sundried tomatoes, soaked, s-bladed
  • 4 whole avocados, diced
  • 1 ½ cups pumpkin seeds, or hemp seeds, whole
  • ½ cup cumin
  • ½ cup olive oil, or sesame oil
  • ½ cup lemon juice, or 2 Tablespoons apple vinegar
  • ¼ cup kalamata black olive brine
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ tablespoon cayenne pepper
  • ½ teaspoon hing, or garlic
  • 1 cup miso
  • 4 cups nettle, dandelion, or rooibos tea
To make tea:
1/2 cup nettle, or dandelion or rooibos dry tea.
3 cups tea kettle water
steep for 20 minutes.

Add all ingredients to a bowl and serve. You may choose to warm on stove till soup is warm to the touch or you may use a candy thermometer and heat to 120 degrees.

Note: When I say s-bladed it means to use the "S" shaped blade in your food processor to chop ingredients. Be careful not to process to much and puree it. Just chop.

Nettles are used throughout the world to build vitality, nettles are delicious and if your in a moist area, free for the taking! But do take carefully! (Preferably with gloves) To harvest the leaf, you come at the leaf from the bottom, folding it along its central crease, yanking it gently from the mother plant, and then rolling it up so as to enclose the top of the leaf (where the stingers are most commonly found).
Nettles are persistent perennials that can grow taller than 2 meters (6 feet). Nettles grow in multiple thin stalks arising from the ground. Nettle leaves are typically collected, eaten and or dried in May and June, just before coming into flower. The stems and leaf tops of the stinging nettle plant are covered with thin, hair like protrusions. These protrusions, if touched, release a stinging fluid containing histamine and formic acid, which causes temporary burning and irritation. This injection, which is like and ant's bite, increases circulation, and provides external treatment for arthritic pain, gout, sciatica, neuralgia, hemorrhoids, and scalp and heir problems. Nettle juice can be used as a hair rinse to restore natural color. Nettle extracts are used in many shampoos.
Internally, nettles are a kidney tonic with diuretic properties that help flush the blood and cleanse blood through the kidneys. Nettles afford allergy relief, enrich the blood, and thicken the hair. Due to their iron rich content and ease of absorption, nettle juice is more effective than spinach juice in building blood. Nettle leaves are highly alkaline. They neutralize and dissolve acidic wastes in the blood. Its power to purify the blood will do wonders for chronic skin ailments. Its effective against eczema on the upper body, especially on the face and neck, and ears. This benefit is likely due to its high silicon, chlorophyll, and vitamin C content.
Nettle juice is perfect for weight reduction. Nettles are also good for hypoglycemia, as they help reduce blood sugar levels, and they also ameliorate high blood pressure. Used for anemia and excessive menstruation, nettles also build overall energy and chi. Nettles reduce pitta and kapha and can be used, in moderation by vata.
Wow!
Stinging nettles probably originated in Eurasia, although there is some evidence that they were growing in the Americas when the Europeans arrived. Some of the strongest varieties grow in the United Kingdom and Germany.
Mythologically, the Nordics associated nettles with the thunder god Thor. Nettles were perceived to protect one from lightning. The incredible strengthening properties of the nettle plant really do make one more resistant to the elements.
When nettles are eaten, the saliva neutralizes the sting, so that one cannot be stung in the mouth or throat.
Mother nature provides her unique balance by providing a remedy for the nettle sting by allowing burdock to grow in the same locales as nettles. Mashed-up burdock leaves applied to the skin relieve nettle stings. Also the juice from the stinging nettle leaves acts as an antidote to the sting as well, when applied topically.
Simply and amazing plant!

Hope you all are having a wonderful end of the year!
Lots of hugs and blessings!

Michelle

PS. The information contained in this post came from the books, Eating for Beauty, by David Wolfe, and The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia, by Rebecca Wood.

Please check out my personal site at: www.MichelleBerryShaffer.com

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Walking Lightly Soup

It's that time of year, when I love to eat tons of soup! There is absolutely nothing like soup! By nature its eccentric, in the fact that no two are ever alike!

This is the soup I make most often out at the ranch. It is derived from the basic soup recipe in the book Sunfood Cuisine by Frederic Patenaude. I have posted the basic recipe below, so check it out; try it and create something new every time!

Walking Lightly Soup:

1 whole apple
1 whole avocado
1 bunch greens (mustard, arugula, collards, broccoli, spinach, baby lettuces, or other favorite greens)
1 bunch herbs, (basil, parsley, cilantro, or other favorite herb)
1 whole zucchini
2 tablespoons miso
dash nama shoyu
2 cloves garlic
1 inch ginger
dash cayenne pepper
2 to 3 cups blessed water or more if needed
Place all ingredients in a blender, blend and serve!


Basic Soup Recipe:

*2 cups non-sweet fruit
Choose between cucumber, tomato, zucchini, pepper, or tomatillo. You may choose to use one or more of these.
*1 to 2 cups liquid
Use one cup first. Then if needed, add more liquid at the end. Choose between blessed water, coconut water, or vegetable juice.
*1 to 2 cups greens
Vegetables or herbs. Choose between kale, parsley, spinach, arugula (also a spice), celery, and your favorite herbs and veggies!
*1/2 to 1 whole avocado, meat of one young coconut, or 2-4 Tablespoons of tahini.
*4 Tablespoons olive oil, or other cold pressed oil like flax or hemp.
*2 Tablespoons Miso
*1/2 to 1 whole apple
*1/2 teaspoon sea salt, or 2 tablespoons nama shoyu (or Bragg's for gluten sensitive)
*1 inch ginger (optional)
*1 clove of garlic
*1 pinch cayenne pepper
Blend all ingredients. You may choose to create a chunky soup by dicing some of the vegetables, or adding some. Warm it up till it feels warm to the touch! But not over 120 degrees so that you may preserve the enzymes and keep the soup ALIVE!
Some other great additions are kelp noodles or zucchini noodles, marinated or grated vegetables, chopped avocado, chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, olives, or sprouts.

Be creative, have fun and enjoy!


"Good Soup is one of the prime ingredients of good living. For soup can do more to lift the spirits and stimulate the appetite then any other one dish."
~Louis P. De Gouy, The Soup Book (1949)

Many Blessings! ~ Michelle

Please check out my personal site at: www.MichelleBerryShaffer.com