The Doctor Cooks

Meal Planning Basics

Some time ago, my husband and I were discussing the difference between his health and mine.   My diagnosis:  too much processed food. He had been eating breakfast and lunch at his company cafeteria for many years.   If we dined out at dinner, then he ate three processed meals a day.  So, at best he ate one home cooked meal daily.  I ate two to three.  Thus our commitment to planning and preparing meals every weekend was born.  Was it worth it?  You bet!  Now, my husband rarely gets sick, his mood is bright and his allergies and joint pain have all but disappeared.  We both feel great!

Every Friday evening, I decide what to make considering what came in my CSA bag and what the farmer’s market is likely to be selling.  This summer, I usually planned a soup, a couple of bean and vegetable or grain and vegetable salads, a pasta topping such as Sicilian Caponata, or Fresh Summer Tomato Sauce, and a few easy vegetables sides, such as roasted beets, steamed asparagus, or sliced turnips.  With autumn here, I will be switching from salads to one pot stews and easy bean dishes to serve over brown rice, quinoa, potatoes or squash with steamed dark leafy greens on the side.  Either way, simple is my modus operandi.  We try to cook everything in a couple of hours on Sunday afternoon.

It’s important to review all of the recipes before cooking.  Plan to soak beans the night before.  Instead of preparing each recipe separately, group similar tasks together, such as chopping, roasting and pressure cooking.  Prepare simpler dishes while another is in the oven.  Annemarie Colbin uses this process in her classic Book of Whole Meals.  Make a few of the delicious menus from this book and you will get the knack.  Here’s how I did it last week.

KC Veg Health Friendly Eats

Wondering where to eat out and stay healthy in Kansas City?  Check out City'sBest2006.

Summer into Fall

It’s transition time.  After weeks of summer veggie stars like zucchini, eggplant, peppers and summer squash, I welcome the autumn vegetables:  lettuces, dark leafy greens and particularly winter squash.

Winter squash are mildly sweet, great for breaking a sugar habit.  They are rich is vitamins A and C, potassium, dietary fiber and manganese.  Manganese is best known its role in energy production.  It is required for the function of superoxide dismutase, an antioxidant enzyme that neutralizes free radicals produced during energy production.  It has many other roles including hormone production, building nerve tissue, keeping skin wrinkle free and our bones strong.

So this week's menu is a blend of summer and fall.  We’ve been enjoying a “pile-up” of spaghetti squash, the bitter green arugula and Sicilian Caponata.  The sweetness of the spaghetti squash and the caponata cuts the bitterness of the arugula.  It’s a truly tasty and colorful combination.

BENEFITS OF GRASS-FED ANIMAL FOODS

Animals raised on factory farms are routinely fed genetically modified grains, slaughterhouse waste, chicken manure, and municipal garbage.

Because ruminants have evolved to eat fibrous grasses (not starchy low fiber grain) they are more prone to disease when they are reared on a diet of grains rather than pasture and pasture forage.

Compared to corn and grain-fed cattle, beef and dairy products from grass-fed animals have higher levels of vitamin E, beta-carotene, vitamin C, and omega-3 fatty acids

The manure from pasture-fed animals is easily taken up by the soil as natural fertilizer. In factory farm feedlots, the animals are confined to such a small space, the manure collects and runs-off into area waterways, increasing algae and bacteria levels.

Source: http://www.eatwild.com

USDA ANNOUNCES U.S. LONG GRAIN RICE SUPPLY CONTAMINATED

From Organic Bytes:  Newsletter of the Organic Consumers Fund

Dr. Klug notes:  Short and medium grain rice unaffected.  Read more>>

USDA Secretary Mike Johanns has announced that domestic and export stocks of long grain rice has been contaminated by a genetically engineered variety of rice that is not approved for human consumption. Johanns said that the contamination was admitted to be the fault of Bayer Corporation, but the USDA doesn't know how widespread the contamination is. According to Johanns the biotech rice poses no health risks, but could damage the U.S. $1 billion rice export market, since many nations refuse to import genetically engineered rice. Japan has already announced a ban on long grain rice imports from the US. Last year, Japan and the EU banned US corn imports as a result of yet another GE contamination scandal.

Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_1584.cfm

NEW! Change Your Life, Change Your Waistline

Get a free sneak preview of our new class at University of Masters "Change Your Life - Change Your Waistline" with Tricia Greaves.  Join her and co-host Pamela Harper on a special complementary telephone class.

Tuesday, September 19th and 6pm pacific time

Click here to register and reserve a space for this free introductory class.  The lines will fill up quickly so reserve your spot now

This introductory class highlights Tricia's new special series that offers an interactive, solution oriented approach to permanent weight loss through mind, body, spirit healing. When you love yourself, you love your body.

Doctor Cooks Weblog Honored

The Doctor Cooks Weblog is the This Mama Cooks blog of the week at www.thismamacooks.com.  This mother of two and freelance writer offers a lovely review of my weblog.  “When I not cooking, I’m blogging,” says Anne-Marie Nichols, and she does so daily.  "Recipes, cookbook reviews and product critiques from a Mama who loves to cook."  Now don't we have something in common!

The Doctor Cooks Pantry

The Whole Foods Way begins in the kitchen.  While preparing for my teleclass, "The Whole Foods Way in the Kitchen," I went through my pantry and asked the question “What would a beginner in the Whole Foods Way need to prepare the recipes on the Doctor Cooks Weblog?”  Here’s the list.  With your pantry stocked and some fresh produce, you are ready to cook the Whole Foods Way.

My favorite mail order source for anything I can't find locally is Goldmine Natural Foods.

The 100 Mile Diet

The everyday-American meal contains an assortment of foods that have traveled an average of 2,000 miles to get from farm to fork. For those concerned about energy conservation, greenhouse gases, and oil dependence, the types of food we choose to eat are as important as the types of cars we choose to drive (or avoid). Industrial agriculture and long-distance food transportation generate between 20-25% of all climate destabilizing greenhouse gases in the U.S. Given this fact, buying food that is locally or regionally grown can dramatically reduce energy consumption and greenhouse pollution.. The local food movement has received a recent boost with the new trend of the "100 mile diet," the brainchild of Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon. "We're the kind of people that ride our bikes everywhere, so we wondered why we were going to all this effort when our food was flying around the world," says Smith. The diet trend, which requires participants to only eat foods grown within a 100 mile radius, is catching on across North America. Philadelphia journalist Elisa Ludwig took up the 100 mile diet for 12 days to learn more about the foods she eats. "If eating local is a moral imperative, then every meal is an opportunity to do the right thing," says Ludwig, who kept a daily journal of the experience.

Read her journal entries here: http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_1463.cfm

Reprinted from Organic Bytes 8/17/2006, newsletter of the Organic Consumers Fund

Find Locally Grown Food Near You

See the new sidebar "Find Locally Grown Food Near You" for locating a CSA, cooperatives, buying clubs, farmers markets and other local food sources near you.  It's on the right side of the The Doctor Cooks web page.