Jackson: the baby snow leopard

I met little Jackson yesterday in Glen Ellen.  He is a baby snow leopard born May 22nd this year.  What a gorgeous experience to see, touch, play with and photograph this beautiful animal.

I met Jackson at a Snow Leopard Conservancy event in Glen Ellen.  We've know Dr Rodney Jackson who is the director and founder of the conservancy and his lovely wife, Darla, for several years, through a mutual friend but this is the first time we'd been to one of their events.  Rodney is the leading expert in the world on snow leopards.  A fascinating man.  He works closely with rural herders and farmers who live in areas where wild snow leopards live and whose lives are directly impacted by the leopards when they prey on their livestock. He educates the people on how to protect their livestock and live with the snow leopards, rather than killing them.   I encourage you to take a look at their website for information on where he works and what the conservancy does.  Snow leopard Conservancy

Snow leopard Jackson was named after Rodney - even though its been said that Rodney would have been a better name for the leopard!!  Jackson (junior!) came from Project Survival Cat Haven and is an ambassador for his species.  As Rodney said, its difficult for people to support the conservation of a species if they've never seen one, so he arranged for Project Survival Cat Haven to bring Jackson to meet us.  What a delight.  Those lovely spots, big eyes and huge paws definitely work their way into your heart.

It was a lovely event - nice lunch, talk on what the conservancy does etc and precious time watching a beautiful animal.  Thanks to all who arranged it and were involved.  It was a truly special experience.  I restrained myself to only 86 photos so if you want to see more than I've put here, just let me know!

August's harvest: Pears

Today we harvested about 3/4 of our large red pears.  They each weigh about 300g (12 oz) and we picked loads.  Sadly, we don't know precisely what variety they are - but think they are a red comice sport. Red sports were first discovered in the 1900's in Oregon.  A "sport" is a naturally occurring transformation that develops occasionally on fruit trees.  It's shape really isn't very traditional pear shaped - more round with no real neck and it starts out as a dark, dark red. When the fruit is young, its nearly black in color, but it does go lighter as it grows and then ripens.

As with all pears, it is best not to let them ripen on the tree, as if left on the tree, they ripen from the inside out for the center is mushy by the time the outside flesh is ready.  So these pears have gone into our "fruit" fridge in the garage.

To tell if a pear is mature enough to pick, the rule of thumb is that, while still on the tree, if you lift the pear to a horizontal position from the usual vertical hanging position, the stem will detach if it is ready, but won't if it needs longer.  (This does not apply to Bosc pears however, which are difficult to detach from the tree, ripen or unripe).

Once picked, pears need to be cooled.  Some varieties need only a day or two in the fridge (Bartlett), but others (Anjou, Bosc, Comice) need 2 - 6 weeks for optimal ripening.  Without this chilling, picked pears will just sit and sit and eventually decompose without ripening.

What ever variety ours are, they need a few weeks to ripen.

After their chill, the pears need to be at room temperature for 4 - 7 days, depending on the variety to complete their ripening.  The longer they've spent chilled, the less time they need at room temperature.

By the time our family arrive in a month, these should all be perfect!  Let's hope they like pears :-D  These are the juiciest, tastiest pears!

We still have to pick our other pear tree...maybe we can wait a couple of days for that.  Pears anyone?

Strategies for making lifestyle changes: Slow down and chew thoroughly

This is one thing I need to keep working on: slow down when I eat.  I eat too fast and maybe you do too?  It's not a good thing.  The food we swallow should be well chewed so that it is liquid when we swallow it.

The first part of digestion begins in the mouth.  This is where the enzyme amylase, in saliva, is mixed with starches and their breakdown begins.  If you put food in your mouth and swallow it without proper chewing, you've missed this first step of digestion and the body has a harder time digesting that food later.

Yes, I know all the excuses: "I like my food hot. If I eat it slowly it'll be cool by the time I've finished". But if you are eating your food fast, after the first mouthful, you don't even taste it, never mind being aware of its temperature.

Or then there is "I don't have time to eat it slowly".  Well, we all need to make time.  It takes just a few extra minutes to properly chew a meal as opposed to wolf it down quickly.

Take some food into your mouth and chew it for at least 30 chews.  The more you practice, the easier it gets.

Here are some studies to consider:

• Research conducted at the university of Pennsylvania determined that diners consumed more overall food and calories when they sped up their eating pace and consumed fewer calories when they slowed down.
• Research on thousands of Japanese office workers showed that fast eaters ate more calories than slow eaters, tended to gain more weight, and were more likely to have insulin resistance.
• Research shows that there is a lag in time from when you have consumed enough food to trigger fullness and when you actually feel a sense of fullness. The more slowly you eat, the more time you have for the fullness signal from your stomach to reach your brain.

So how can you practice this skill?  Here are some ideas

1. Change something at the table where you normally eat - for example, put a candle or ornament on the table. When you see that, it'll trigger a reminder to slow down.  Each night, put something different on the table - it can be something nice or something odd like a ruler or box - anything that catches your eye and makes you stop and think.
2. Put down your utensils between mouthfuls or if it is something you are eating with your hands, put the food down between mouthfuls.
3. Don't fill up your fork until you've finished what is in your mouth.
4. Eat without distractions. If the television is on, or you are reading - you tend to eat quicker - so slow down and think about the taste of each mouthful.
5. Put a clock or timer on the table and watch just how fast you normally eat.  Then chew 30 times and see how long this takes.  Seeing the clock go round is a great reminder to slow down.

Not only will these slow down tactics help you eat smaller quantities, it'll also help your digestion.

The "chew" idea is also important with foods like smoothies.  A large part of smoothies is carbohydrates and starches, so when you "drink" your smoothie, make sure you also swish it around your mouth, and use chew like action with your teeth, so the saliva can start its amylase enzyme reaction to breakdown that carbohydrate.

Let's start with our next meal or snack.  Put something on the table now to remind you.  Lets give amylase a chance!

Homemade vanilla extract

I decided I'd try my hand at making vanilla extract today.  I understand the homemade stuff is far superior to most that you can buy, so I'm giving it a try.

Homemade Vanilla Extract: Day 0

It's easy enough to make. You just need alcohol and vanilla beans.

Homemade Vanilla Extract: Day 1

Take 250 ml of alcohol - I used an inexpensive vodka.  Split 3 vanilla beans lengthwise and then in half and add them to the vodka in a sealable bottle.

Put in a dark place like a cupboard for 2 - 3 months.  Shake occasionally.

After 3 months, decant out a small amount and use as you would bought vanilla extract and top up the rest with fresh vodka. You can keep your original stock going quite a while.

So mine is in the cupboard.  I hope I remember in October.  I shall put it in my diary!

Book Review: The China Study Cookbook

This week, I'm reviewing a cookbook: The China Study Cookbook by Leanne Campbell.  This is the "official companion to The China Study".  If you haven't read the China Study by Colin Campbell - you should - and I'll maybe review that another day.

Anyhow this companion cookbook came out this year - 7 years after The China Study.  It is written by the daughter of Colin Campbell and features recipes for "easily prepared plant-based food with no added fat and minimal sugar and salt with the goal of promoting optimal health without sacrificing taste".

The recipes are divided into the following categories:

• breads and muffins
• breakfast dishes
• appetizers and salads
• soups
• sandwiches
• entrees
• side dishes and 
• desserts

The breads all rely on whole wheat flour and sucanat for a sweetener. It would have nice to vary the grains a little - especially offering at least one gluten free option.... maybe even just for the corn bread?

In the breakfast section there is the usual french toast, crepes, muesli, scrambled tofu, smoothies, hash.....Nothing really excited me in this section.

A big downside to this book for me was the photography.  I really didn't find the pictures to be appetizing.  They tend to be close-ups of food with no real styling at all - just the odd basil leaf thrown in. Not one photo made me want to cook that dish.  I do like to see recipe photos and rarely buy a book without them - but they have to be good photos.

Recipe http://www.thechinastudy.com/endorsed-by-t-colin-campbell/the-china-study-cookbook/recipes/

The sandwich section includes chickpea burgers which sound nice but again include vital wheat gluten and panko breadcrumbs so need quite a bit of conversion for gluten free.

I am very familiar with making recipes gluten free so its not that this book loses "marks" for me in this book. It is that I don't find it very interesting.  For example - hummus wraps: chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice to make the hummus then spread on a wrap with a bit of lettuce and tomato.

One recipe that did catch my eye was African vegetables - but the photo again was awful.  And its not that all the recipes are trying to be really easy - the majority of them have more than 12 ingredients in them!

So I have to say, this book is not my style.  The recipes don't grab me, many have lots of ingredients, there are no gluten free options (but it also doesn't suggest it is gluten free), there is quite a lot of sucanat in several recipes...and there is not one recipe that I have thought I wanted to try.

There are plenty of other plant based, no added oil, sugar or salt cookbooks I would recommend over this one.

So do yourself a favor - read The China Study and Colin Campbell's new book Whole, but skip the cookbook.

Kitchen tools: Bamix immersion blender and grinder

I love my Bamix.  I've had one for years - originally had one in England so that must be over 20 years ago.

The Bamix is an immersion blender with a small processor/grinder attachment.  I actually rarely use it as an immersion blender but use it all the time with the grinder. It gets used a few times every week especially as it is my go to piece of equipment for grinding my flax seeds.

I also use it for making nut butters. As the grinder is only a small size, it makes great nut butter.  I never want large quantities anyhow so it is perfect.

Today and last week I used it for a batch of nutella, as I'm making nutella ice cream for friends this weekend.  If I'm making nutella ice cream just for me, I make everything in the grinder - as all it is one tablespoon of healthy nutella plus one frozen banana.  Whip them up and you get yummy ice cream. I'll be making enough ice cream for 3 of us so  the bamix made the nutella and I'll use my regular processor for the frozen banana bit.

I also use the grinder for spices, herbs, nuts, seeds, making bread crumbs, etc.  You can use dry and wet ingredients in it. Unlike a coffee grinder, which many makes you can't wash properly, the bamix grinder comes apart for easy cleaning.

The immersion blender comes with different blades for doing different things. There is a flat disk useful for whipping and you can whip non dairy milks into the texture of cream with that as its so powerful.  Great for fancy coffee drinks if you like those.

It is more expensive than other immersion blenders but it is also more powerful and the small size of the grinder is perfect so many things.


Here's my latest version of a healthy nutella recipe - just made with my Bamix:

1/2 cup roasted hazelnuts
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon raw cocoa powder
1/2 tablespoon coconut nectar or sweet freedom
1/8 cup water

If the hazelnuts aren't already roasted, dry roast them in a pan and the rub them in a kitchen towel to remove the skins.

Place the hazelnuts in the Bamix grinder and grind/blend, stopping frequently to scrape down the sides.  It does take a reasonable amount of scraping - and grind for about 5 minutes until the consistency of a nut butter.  Add the remaining ingredients to the grinder and whip in the grinder until smooth.

Store in the fridge.

Healthy nutella ice cream (vegan, gluten free, sugar free, dairy free)

To make healthy nutella ice cream, for one person, blend 1 chopped frozen banana with 1 tablespoon of healthy nutella.  Enjoy!  Easily multiplies up for more people.

Quick and easy bran muffins

These healthy bran muffins probably took 30 minutes from start to eating!  Not bad, I'd say.

They were inspired by a box of rice bran I had in the cupboard and that had been in the cupboard quite a while - unopened.    I was sitting fancying a sweet-ish snack and the idea of a bran muffin came into my head.

Each muffin has more than 6g of fiber in it, is gluten free, dairy free - and there's no added oil.

Here's the recipe if you want to make something quick, easy and healthy.

Makes 6 regular size muffins
3/4 cup bran (I used rice bran)
1/2 cup whole grain flour (I used GF sorghum)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
7 tbs non dairy milk (I used flax milk)
1 small pot of unsweetened organic applesauce (4oz)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup organic raisins

Preheat the oven to 350F/175C.

Use a silicone muffin tray or muffin baking papers.

In a mixing bowl, mix the bran with flour and baking powder and soda.  Add the remaining ingredients and mix to combine.

Spoon into the muffin cups and bake for 15 - 20 minutes, until a toothpick insert inside one, comes our clean, or when pressing the top of the muffin, it returns its shape.

Cool on a rack - if you aren't tempted to eat them while fresh and warm!


The raisins can be omitted or substituted with nuts or other dried fruit.

Strategies for making diet and lifestyle changes: When in doubt, throw it out

How did you get on last week in finding daily motivations for change? Did you spend a little time writing out your "advantages" card which tell of the advantages of making changes in your lifestyle and diet?  I hope you did and didn't let that sabotaging voice in your head stop you from doing it.

This week we are going to look at preparing your home for diet change. Its time to get organized. The state of your kitchen can influence how your follow your diet or lifestyle chosen plan. If these rooms are messy and disorganized, it can make you feel out of control and less confident.

So spend a little time organizing your food space.  If you have food items in your cupboard or fridge that aren't on your current eating plan - just throw them out.  You may hear a voice in your head saying

I don't want to throw away food. It's a waste of money.

But the money is already gone so don't add to the waste by wasting calories on bad food.  If the food isn't in your current eating plan, eating it means you waste the food in your body. Your body doesn't need that food and the likelihood is that it doesn't contain good nutrients for healing and health.  So in my reckoning, I'd prefer to see it as a waste of money and thrown in the trash instead of a waste in my body.  Let the garbage have the waste instead of my body.  I want to focus on putting food in my body that is healing and nourishing.  Not waste.

See if you can spend sometime in your kitchen and reorganize.  Throw out those foods that aren't nourishing for our bodies.  Get rid of that processed food. You can do it and then you'll feel more empowered to stick to your plan.

If you look at something and aren't sure if you want to keep it or throw it - remember

When in doubt, throw it out

You want to put good nourishing foods in your body, not waste.

July Harvest continues

The yum continues!  This has been a fabulous month for our home grown fruit and vegetables.

Delicious juicy nectarines!

Top of the list this month has to be our nectarines.  They are large and juicy and picking one perfectly ripe from the tree and enjoying its flavor is like a slice of heaven.  It feels like such a luxury to eat perfection twice a day!

But that doesn't take anything away from all our other goodies.

This month - in fact this evening- we've polished off the apricots.  We've enjoyed them most of all cooked with a little water and a single cardamom pod (removed before eating) and some cinnamon and cloves. The spices complement the fruit so nicely.  I was amazed at how the cardamom brought all the flavors together.

Apricots

The tomatoes are coming along well now.  Here they are prepared with some fresh basil, balsamic vinegar and Kite Hill Cassucio cheese which is a non dairy, vegan cheese made using traditional cheese making techniques, but using almonds and macadamia nuts.

Yes, our new collapsible bucket came out again for the harvest and was quickly filled up!

But I'm sad to say that our one failing this month was the padrone peppers. We had been enjoying them so much but couldn't keep up and have now learned our lesson. If you let them grow large, their heat grows exponentially!  I prepared one each for us to top a yummy mushroom risotto when my friend was here for  the weekend. I was the first to taste it - and gosh - was it powerful! To think that when they are small, they are quite delicate and you can eat them whole, seeds included.  Be warned - at 3 inches long - don't try eating them at all! Phew!

Yes, the red cabbage, purple potatoes and cucumber also continue. How many rainbows can two people eat????

Roll on August and lets see what yummies that brings. What's been your favorite this month?

Book Review: Power foods for the brain

This week's book for my review is by Dr Neal Barnard and is entitled: Power Foods for the Brain: an effective 3-step plan to protect your mind and strengthen your memory.

The book is about how you can use foods to protect your brain and optimize its function and even reduce your risk of Alzheimer's disease, stroke, general cognitive decline,  and other less serious disorders such as low energy, poor sleep patterns, irritability and lack of focus.

Dr Neal Barnard is President of the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine, which is a non-profit organization involved in promoting preventive medicine and responsible research in medicine.

He has written many other books : Neal Barnard Amazon Book list, many of which I have read.  Power Food for the brain is his most recent, just out this year.

The book clearly takes you through a 3 step program to protect your brain:

Step 1 deals with what foods are "power foods" for your brain - which can shield you from toxic metals, which can protect you from harmful fats.  It also tells you which foods you should avoid.

Step 2 looks at how you can strengthen your brain through exercise - both cognitive exercises and also physical exercises.

Step 3 shows you tips on how to improve your memory while you sleep and goes over which medicines and health conditions affect memory.

A final section then helps you put all this into practice and includes some menus and recipes, written by Christine Walternyer and Jason Wyrick.

Dr Barnard has a great way of providing clear and easy to understand information, all based on plenty of scientific research. I've attended several of his lectures in the past and he is a great educator. This comes over in this book. As does his sense of humor.  His use of analogies really helps get the information across to the reader.

Dr Barnard advocates a plant-based diet and offers the evidence behind this - but also demonstrates the real power of good nutrition.

Here's a short video of Dr Barnard on the Ellen DeGeneres Show discussing Power Foods


It shows you what an approachable guy Dr Barnard is. You'll find lots of other videos of his online - so have a search and learn more!

This is a great book. If you are beginning to notice some cognitive decline, get a copy and even if you don't do his whole program, you'll find lots of little tips for improvement.

Kitchen tools - four way timer

When I teach my cooking and nutrition classes,  a frequent question asked is "what is my favorite gadget or kitchen tool?"

I don't hesitate in my reply.  However, my response isn't what they expect - some cool, unusual tool that does something fancy and clever.  No, my favorite tool has to be my kitchen timer.

It is definitely my favorite because without it, I'd hardly cook anything successfully!  I'm one of those people who becomes very focussed on what she is doing.  So if I've put something in the oven for 20 minutes or so, I then move onto doing something else and my attention has a new focus.  Then suddenly a bell rings and I'm reminded that something else is going on!

I can't tell you how many meals or dishes I'd have ruined without a kitchen timer. Every time something goes in the oven I know I have to use the timer. That's just the way I am!

But in a way, my timer isn't just a basic timer.  It is a four way timer, meaning that I can time 4 different things at 4 different times.  This is really useful in classes when 8 people are cooking different things.  I assign them a number and when the timer buzzes, I just read out the number on the timer and they know who its ringing for.

Surprisingly, I also use all four timers just when I'm cooking alone too.  I love multi-tasking and if I'm cooking, I can be doing lots of cooking.  So then the only tricky bit is my trying to remember which dish is timer 1 and which is 2 and 3, 4!!!  My mum bought me this timer a few years ago in England.  Good choice mum!

I do actually have another timer  - but he just sits in the drawer.  Here he is:

This duck timer was bought for me for Xmas by my hubby.  When the time is ready, he quacks. The only problem is, he quacks randomly also.  He sits happily in the drawer and all of the sudden, nothing has happened, but we hear this quacking noise!  He does 3 or 4 quacks and then shuts up for a couple of days, and then starts again!

He's not a great timer and my husband has suggested throwing him away - but I feel there is this sort of life to him and it seems too mean to throw him!  Also, it brings a smile to your face when you suddenly hear this quack, out of the blue!

What's your favorite kitchen gadget? Is it fancy or is it just a life saver?  Do tell.

Vegan gluten free scone recipe

In my book club this month, the chosen book was Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. I'd never read any Daphne Du Maurier books before but really got into Rebecca and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The person hosting our discussion decided, true to the book, that she would put on an English tea with scones - as Mr and Mrs de Winter had every day at Manderley, in the book.

As I need gluten free food and don't eat animal foods or sugar, I offered to make my own scone - rather than have her make something special for me. I've actually never made gluten free scones before, never mind vegan gluten free scones, so it seemed like a good challenge.

And I've had some success.  I did actually use a little fat in the recipe. Normally I bake without oil but I was changing so many things in a recipe that I left in the fat.

The scones have a wonderful texture to them and taste just like a good scone should.

They didn't rise in the oven however and didn't brown on top as you would expect from a traditional scone but I rolled them thick so they didn't look flat - and the taste more than made up for lack of browning.

I had them with homemade sugar free plum chia jam.  Delicious.

Here's the recipe: Makes 6
150 ml non dairy milk (I used almond milk)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
270g gluten free flour mix
2 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp vegan margarine (I used earth balance)
25g raisins
1 tbsp coconut palm sugar

1. Pre-heat the oven to 425F or 220C.  Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper.
2. Add the vinegar to the milk and let sit.
3. Sieve the flour into a bowl and stir in the baking powder.
4. Rub in the margarine with your fingers until fully incorporated.
5. Stir in the sugar and raisins.
6. Add nearly all the milk solution and bring the mixture together with your hands to form a soft dough. Don't over work.
7. If necessary add the remaining milk to bind it all together.
8. Roll out gently on a floured board to a thickness of about 1 inch.
9. Cut out the dough with a pastry cutter and place the scones on the baking tray.
10. Reroll the dough scraps as needed to use it all up.
11. Bake the scones for around 20 minutes.
12. Leave to cool and enjoy with sugar free jam and coconut cream, if desired.

They are best eaten the same day that you make them. I will be trying the recipe again, without the fat and will let you know how I get on. I think I'll do savory scones next too.....with some nutritional yeast in them to give a cheesy flavor.

I hope Mrs de Winters would be satisfied and wouldn't return them to the kitchen!  I think she'd enjoy them, like I have!

Strategies for making diet and lifestyle changes: Part 1. Motivate yourself daily

This is the first of a series of blog posts about different strategies that will help you make changes to your diet and lifestyle.  While we may have a diet all planned out, the kitchen stocked and know what we should be doing, sometimes our head gets in the way and the thoughts we have can sabotage our plans. So each week, we'll look at a different strategy for coping with changes.  We'll try and figure out what to say to ourselves, when we have sabotaging, unhelpful thoughts.

To start off, we'll look today at how to motivate yourself daily.  You can start using this even before you make any diet and lifestyle changes.  Its all about reminding yourself of why you want to lose weight or increase exercise or stop smoking/drinking or.....whatever change you are contemplating.

Maybe you are thinking that you don't need reminding - you'll always remember.   But that's not always the case when temptation arises or you start thinking the following kind of thoughts:

• it's okay if I eat this
• it doesn't really matter
• I've been good all day
• Just a little bit
• It's too hard to resist
• Just a little taste
• I deserve it
• Everyone else is eating it

To combat these thoughts or visual temptations, you need to have a written compelling list of reasons as to why you are making these changes.  And then you need to read this list regularly several times each day.

Examples of reasons or the advantages these changes will make in your life could be:

• losing weight will improve my self confidence
• I'll feel much more at ease with my partner if I lose some weight
• I'll be able to join in family activities better without getting puffed and exhausted so quickly
• I'll be proud of myself for my achievement
• I can bend down without groaning
• My health will improve
• I'll be able to get off/reduce my medication
• I'll look better
• I'll feel better about myself
• I won't have to worry about diabetes
• I'll be able to go up the steps
• I won't feel self conscious when I go into a room of strangers
• I'll enjoy shopping for clothes
• I can wear more fashionable clothes
• My husband will stop nagging me

Whatever your reasons are for making the changes you want to make, write them out on one or more index cards. List them all.  Using an index card means that they are all listed on something small enough that you can carry with you. You can put it in a pocket, or a purse or handbag.  

When you've done this - read the card every morning before you have breakfast to create a reminder for the day ahead.  As you read them, think about achieving every advantage. Reading actually makes you reflect more, rather than just recalling them in your head - so take that minute or two and read through each one.  If other advantages occur to you, add them to the list as the days go by.

Now you need to read them again at least once or twice during the day, so consider putting reminders like a sticky note in the kitchen or bathroom or in the car, saying something like "take 30 seconds".  This will act as your reminder to read the list again, and reinforce your motivations. 

You may find yourself resisting reading the cards, but use those reminders and take those few seconds, as the more you do it, not only do you continue to motivate yourself, but you will also build your self-discipline. Go find some index cards now and start writing your "Advantages Card".