The Revolving Door or The Refrigerator Door

Some days when I am creating in the kitchen I am opening and closing the refrigerator door constantly. It would be better if it were a revolving door, and at least less cold would be lost with each pull on the handle.

Soooooo, when you are creating, or cleaning up from creating, become aware of how many times the door is opened. Notice the lightbulb that dutifully assists you and feel the rush of cold air that escapes. All of this activity increases the demand for electricity.

Begin to practice a new habit in the kitchen. Create a pile of items to go into the refrigerator and open the door once. Be aware at the beginning of cooking as to what is needed from the refrigerator, and again, try to open the door as little as possible by being aware of what you are doing and what is needed.

Just reading these words can plant a little seed that can slowly take hold! Celebrate creating in the kitchen, share the food with others and minimize the footprint on the earth!

Namaste,

Sydney

Sydney's Quinoa Salad

The following recipe follows the new plate guidelines. This recipe offers a combination of fruits (mango, cranberry), vegetables (celery, lettuce), grains (quinoa), and protein (pumpkin seeds, quinoa) and no dairy sidebar to make this meal light and satisfying.

Rinse the quinoa well under running water (run water for a good 20 seconds). Dry roast in the saucepan before adding the water to alkalinize the grain.

Quinoa Salad (3 Servings)

1/2 cup quinoa

1 cup water

large pinch of salt good

1/2 cup mango, chopped

1/3 cup celery, chopped

3T pumpkin seeds, lightly roasted

1T mint, chopped

3T dried cranberries

lettuce to garnish

T=Tablespoon

t= teaspoon

Dressing

4T olive oil

2T lemon juice, freshly squeezed

1/4t salt

1t honey

1/8t red pepper flakes

Dry roast in a saucepan, then add the water and salt. Bring to the boil, cover with a lid and simmer gently for 15 minutes. Allow the cooked quinoa to sit, covered in the pan, for 5 minutes before turning into a bowl to cool.

When the quinoa is at room temperature add the prepared mango, celery, mint and cranberries. Combine the dressing ingredients in a small bowl, whisk it all together and poor over the combined salad. Stir thoroughly. Fold in the pumpkin seeds at the time of serving. Letting the salad sit for 30 minutes enhances the flavors.

Serve, give thanks and enjoy!

Namaste,

Sydney

Gardening

Amanda Cooke mothering Mother Home Gardening            Growing your own food is a journey not many take in these times of abundant inexpensive and high calorie foods that fill the shelves of super markets just a short car drive away. To know and see with your own naked eye how a seed transforms into the plant that produces the next ingredient of your recipe is to know the secret of good eating itself. When are cucumbers in season? How do I maintain an affordable year round supply of fresh herbs for cooking, tea, and medical uses? Nothing is more whole and local than fresh food you produce in your care on your very own land or inside your home. With your home garden you will avoid the carbon footprint of transportation and processing of both conventional and organic industrial agriculture. You will become more in tune with the earth cycles and all the wildlife even in your own backyard. Producing your own food is one of the most rewarding and fulfilling experiences, to connect with your food in a whole new way and to bring to life an entire meal with your bare hands!  You have the freedom to grow whatever vegetable you please. All it takes is a trowel, some seeds, and a good spirit to get started in one of the most ancient yet constantly evolving arts. Outdoor Garden The key to a successful garden is early and proper planning. Organizing which vegetables you are going to plant when and where will help you acquire the materials you need and prepare the area in enough time for your hardiness zone. Make a calendar and a garden map. Keep a good record of your seed varieties and harvests. Intercropping, or planting specific crops together, will help your plants defend themselves against pests. Designing your garden according to permaculture principles will help your garden be environmentally and economically efficient. Pick an area that receives at least 9 hours of sunlight. The more sun the merrier for heat loving tomatoes and peppers while water loving greens prefer shade. Align your rows so the longest length runs north-south to allow your plants equal access to the southern sun. Next, producing and maintaining adequate soil nutrition is crucial. As I once learned, "feed the soil not the plant." Plants need three main macro-nutrients: potassium, nitrogen, and phosphorus, and a whole range of micro-nutrients. Composting your kitchen and garden waste, like food scraps, weeds, and leaves, will provide your plants with enough "food" while reducing the carbon emissions necessary to transport the organic material to the landfill. If your compost is working properly, there should be a nice earthy scent.  Your seeds are the foundation of your garden. Purchase organic and well-adapted seeds like those from most heirloom seed companies. Try and avoid seed companies like Monsanto and its subsidiaries that genetically modify their seeds. If you can, talk to local farmers and gardeners about which varieties grow well in your area and ask if you can buy seeds from them. Saving your seed will ensure a better crop every year!

Sydney's Leafy Green Vegetables

This recipe was inspired by a friend with a beautiful vegetable garden. Our friend Resi came to visit us and she brought, literally, a bucket of swiss chard. What to do with such an abundance?! Change dinner plans from a restaurant with friends to home with friends, and create something tasty! Thank you Resi for inspiring all of us to eat our greens! Leafy Green Vegetables (4 servings) 1 bunch of leafy greens (swiss chard, collards, kale, mustard greens) 2 cloves of garlic, halved and then sliced thinly 1 dried chili pepper or ¼ tsp pepper flakes 2 T olive oil 1 T water 2 cobs of corn, cooked and corn cut from the cob Salt, pepper, herbs (as desired and available)   Wash the leafy greens and remove the leaf from the stem. See the photo to note the way in which the hand slides along the stem and a gentle squeeze of the leaf brings the two apart. Once this art is mastered much time will be saved in the prep work of the greens. Spin the leaves to remove most of the water and then chop roughly.    Heat the olive oil in a wok or a large frying pan. When the oil is hot add the sliced garlic and the chili pepper or pepper flakes. Cook for about 30 second to let the flavors release. Add the greens in a big bundle, and add the large tablespoon of water. Quickly seal with a lid. Let the vegetables steam for about a minute. Then using a flat wooden spoon or spatula, turn the greens over so that top goes to bottom and bottom comes to top. Cover again and cook for a further minute. Turn off the heat. Let the greens sit for half a minute while gathering the corn and seasonings. Remove the lid, take out the whole chili pepper, add the corn, salt, pepper and available herbs. Scoop into a serving dish.  Sit, give thanks and enjoy.

Eating Our Way Out (Part 5)

Sydney MacInnis Founder mothering Mother Holistic Nutritionist and Yoga Instructor Let's discuss our eating! As I work at a mothering Mother cotton bag demonstration at a large health food retailer, I see the same consumerism as in other major grocery stores. There are perhaps a few less preservatives, but lots of packaging. Even if it is not a packaged food, why not purchase it without the packaging? A meeting of company executives is taking place right beside me, 3 plastic bottles on the table, wrappers from consumed packaged items lay in the garbage bin, out of sight. Are we walking a walk of awareness? Are we bumbling along?  Do I want to bring in a quote from the eclipse?   We moved house this past month. Do I need to describe the scene to anyone?! We could not wait to get the kitchen stuff unpacked, just enough to boil some water for pasta, toss some greens with oil and vinegar and serve it on plates with accompanying cutlery. After 2 dinners out we were so excited to eat at home! Learn to love your own cooking. It is much better for you than food from unknown hands, ingredients from unknown sources. Sure, with lots of our own home prepared foods we are uncertain of the hands that have cultivated it, and brought it this far along the production line, but we can at least affect the last part of the chain, before the food goes into our bodies, by handling it ourselves. The vibration will be different, and you will know the amount of fat and sugar and salt that was added.   Remember, the way that marketers and tasters were able to reconcile on low-fat foods was to increase the sugar content. It was a trade off of one stimulant for another. At some stage it is about getting quiet, and still, very still, but still awake. Sitting, consciously, listening, feeling. The mind races at an unbelievable speed, dipping into memories, planning, imagining (that would be worry and fear!), rewriting and .... on and on it goes. Be aware and listen to the voices in the mind. Our food is often a method to pacify ourselves from these voices. Or to alleviate a voice that tells us to eat something for our own happiness, or survival. This is so much of what makes it difficult to change our eating habits, and hence our shopping hablits. We may wonder if we will be okay without the "comfort" food. Food, it will fill our senses. How are you filling yours?  The following is a quote from a book called "To Bless the Space Between Us" by John O'Donohue. "Our consumerist culture thrives on the awakening and manipulation of desire. This is how advertising works. It stirs our desire and then cleverly directs it toward its products. Advertising is schooling in false desire; it relies on our need to belong, our need to play a central part in society, not exist on the fringes of it. Because awakened desire is full of immediacy, it wants gratification and does not want to be slowed down or wait. It wants no distance to open between it and the object of desire; it wants to have it now. This manipulation of desire accounts for the saturation of our culture with products that we don't need but are made to feel we do. There is no end to false desire. Like the consumption of fast food, it merely deepens and extends the hunger. It satisfies nothing in the end....  This blind greed is at the heart of our environmental crisis." Desire can fuel us in both negative and positive ways. Unchecked desire can lead to addiction, nurtured desire can lead to creative awakening. May your desires fuel something quietly residing within you, something that takes you to your personal "fringe". Enjoy the beauty and quietude the summer months offer. Eat well, be well. Namaste, Sydney

Carrot Cake

Carrot Cake

1 cup grated carrot, packed

1/4 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped

1/4 cup raisins

4 ounces crushed pineapple, drained, or the equivalent in grated apple

1/2 cup soft whole wheat flour

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch of ground ginger, ground cloves, grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1/2 cup safflower oil (or an equivalent baking oil)

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup sucanat (sweetner, available at most health food stores)

Mix the carrots, nuts, raisins, pineapple, flours, baking soda, baking powder, spices, and salt in a bowl that is large enough to mix all ingredients together. In a separate bowl, use a hand whisk to beat the egg, adding the oil, milk and sucanat, thoroughly combining. Pour the wet ingredients over the flours and carrot mixture and mix together by hand. Pour into a prepared 8" x 8" pan, or muffin pans. Bake at 350F for 22 minutes, less time for the muffins (maybe 15 minutes). Remove from the oven, test for doneness in the center of the cake, and then let sit for 5 minutes before removing onto a rack to cool.

Or, double the recipe and bake in a buttered bundt pan. The cake is so moist and the shape of the cake is beautiful!

Once the cake or muffins are cooled, either enjoy as is or frost lightly with the recipe below.

Icing

1 cup plain yogourt, strained overnight (see below)

1 teaspoon, or more, maple syrup

4 drops vanilla flavoring

Pour the yogourt into a small mothering Mother produce bag. Press on the outside of the bag to bring the yogourt together at the bottom of the bag. Close the drawstring and hang the bag overnight (or for an 8 hour stretch) from a tap so that the whey can drain into the sink. Or a nylon seive over a bowl will work. Get creative here and create your own draining technique, just being sure that the bag is freely hanging and not touching the drained liquid.

Once draining is complete, remove the yogourt to a bowl, stir in the maple syrup and the vanilla. The cake can be iced completely, or individual slices can be iced as you eat the cake. Play around, mostly enjoy the delights of your work and the gifts from the Earth and the cows!

This recipe was inspired from the winter carrots (see Blog). All of the work can be done by hand which allows the creator of the cake to work in silence and to instill his or her own energy into the food.

Namaste,

Sydney

Mother Nature's Dryer

The wind is gusting outside, and calling us to bring out our laundry. After the cold and dark winter, it is time for the clothing to have some fresh air. Let your clothing experience the excitement of spring as it blows around on the clothesline. It is a beautiful sight!

And then when you bring the laundry in, take deep breaths of that fresh smell, perhaps reminiscent of childhood. So pure, so indescribable, not to be replicated in a lab and added to dryer sheets. No, this smell must be experienced first hand. Add to this experience the gentle brightening  agent of the sun, reducing the need for artificial brighteners.

So go ahead, do your laundry, your bills and your Earth a favor. Abandon the earth-costly dryer in favor of Nature's dryer!

Namaste,

Sydney

How far can half a burger go?!

Welcome to motherthemother. This blog is intended to create a dialogue around ways to mother Mother Nature. She is the ulitimate Mother, the Mother for all. At this period in time our attention and care is needed to mother her back to health.

There is much to focus on to help the Earth. We hear and see it in the media. It has become part of our daily dialogue. In this blog we are creating a connection between how we eat to the health of our being and the health of the planet. The two are intimately connected.

Tonight I am beginning to prepare dinner for our family. There is a half of a large hamburger leftover in the refrigerator. What to do with it? No one wants to eat it in its dense existence as a 2 days leftover.

I have taken this half burger and crumbled it with a fork, combined it with some sauted onion and tinned tomatoes. I added a few herbs and the mixture is simmering away. Nothing unusual in this. Simple spaghetti sauce for a western family. The amazing thing here is that the half burger will be enough to serve 3 people!

The concept of moving the meat serving to be a side bar on the plate, or even off the plate, is receiving increasing dialogue. The environmental cost of beef production and the protein that it provides is just not adding up on any scale. Twelve to fourteen pounds of grain to make one pound of beef. Think of how many would eat the grain before one, two or three ate the pound of beef.

Health wise there is little research that promotes a red meat diet over a plant based diet. Is there even any research supporting this?

So, the non-meat eater (me) will serve the half burger to her family tonight. A nice salad will round out the meal!

Namaste,

Sydney

Get the Green Light for Responsible Dining

Joanna Falcone mothering Mother  The Green Movement has undoubtedly taken the world by storm. As one who considers herself environmentally conscious, I strive to seek out options. I opt for reusable over disposable, fair trade over conventional, local over imported, and when it comes to restaurants, I choose green. A new criterion has been added to restaurant rankings. In the past, being a four-star restaurant meant your food, service, and atmosphere were exceptional. Now, possessing the coveted four stars can also mean that you are the greenest restaurant around! In the U.S., the Green Restaurant Association has established a system that ranks restaurants depending on how green their practices are. There is a wide range of standards that must be met in order to apply for certification. It is based upon how committed the restaurant is to water efficiency, waste reduction and recycling, sustainable furnishings and building materials, sustainable food, energy usage, chemical and pollution reduction, and use of disposables. Points are awarded depending on how dedicated the restaurant is to the green standards. Take energy usage. A restaurant receives 3.75 points if it utilizes an Energy Star furnace, while it gets 10 points for not having an air conditioner. In terms of waste, to even be considered, a restaurant must recycle all plastics, glass, paper, cardboard, and aluminum; dispose of its grease to be used for biodiesel or some form of energy; and compost all pre-consumer waste (food scraps etc.). They receive more points if they compost post-consumer waste (food and packaging), utilize compact fluorescent light bulbs, paperless billing, a reusable bag/mug program, or have no bottled water on site. Basically, as restaurants are assessed based on these standards, they rack up points and are given a two, three, or four star rating. Two-star certified green restaurants have to acquire a minimum of 100 points, while four-star certified must have at least 300 points. Another aspect of the program encourages continual progress on the green front. For a restaurant to maintain its certification, it has to show some form of addition to its green program year after year.   Personally, I would be more inclined to dine at a restaurant with the green certification. To me, it means the establishment values the environment from which our food is grown, which translates into a love for wholesome ingredients. Wholesome ingredients mean delicious food that makes you feel good- a key in any dining experience.  Now for most of us, going out to eat is a special occasion. But that does not mean you cannot take a doggy bag from the certification standards. Bring some tidbits from a green restaurant home with you. Your kitchen can be greener if you use locally grown or organic produce (grown under 100 miles away). While a vegetarian or vegan diet contributes the least to your kitchen's carbon footprint, if meat is prepared it should be grass fed beef, cage free chicken, or free range beef/pork. These livestock raising methods have less impact on the environment than commercial factory farms. After the meal is over, it's time for the clean up. Cleaning products should be non-toxic and disposable plates/cups/cutlery are a definite no no. A green kitchen will be sure to keep your family and the environment happy and healthy. To find a certified green restaurant in your area, visit Dinegreen.com

Sydney's Granola

Making granola in your own home ensures freshness while also reducing costs. Buy your ingredients with mothering Mother bags at a store that offers good quality ingredients. Measure, stir, bake and enjoy! 4 cups rolled oats 1 cup almonds, chopped ¼  cup pumpkin seeds 1 cup sunflower seeds  ¼  cup safflower oil ¼  cup maple syrup 1 rounded t vanilla 1 rounded t cinnamon ½ t salt Dried fruit (raisins, dates, apricots) t = teaspoon                          Warm the oil and syrup over low heat.  Remove and add vanilla.   In a large glass dish, such as a Pyrex® dish, combine remaining ingredients, except the dried fruit.  Pour the liquid mixture over the dry ingredients and stir well to coat all grains.  Bake in a 300F oven, stirring every 20 minutes, for 45min to 1 hour.                          Let cool completely. Add dried fruit, if desired, and mix to combine. Store in airtight containers. To avoid rancidity, eat within 3 weeks. This is good as a cereal or as a snack.  Makes approx 6 cups.

Eating Our Way Out (Part 3)

Sydney MacInnis Founder mothering Mother Holistic Nutritionist and Yoga Instructor It is the time of year for new beginnings. Nature is telling us that with the bulbs that have pushed up out of the ground and the buds that are on the trees. "Spring cleaning" is an old expression that is based on this connection to Nature.  Spring cleaning in the home gives us a feeling of lightness, a shedding of winter's clutter and the newness of spring. Can we "spring clean" our bodies? Although it is a new and radical concept in the west, fasting can offer similar effects for our body and hence our health. Right now I am in the midst of a spring cleansing. Initially it is a scary concept to consent to not eating for several days. Fresh vegetable juices provide the sustenance to maintain an energy level, and minerals, vitamin and enzymes to provide nutrients that support the systems of detoxification that are now in high gear. During a fast, the digestive system gets to take a break, a much needed holiday, and we all know what that feels like! Now the attention has gone from digesting to detoxifying.  So what happens during this process? The toxins are unwanted leftovers from digestion. They exist throughout our system, and during a fast they begin to retreat from the extremities and make their way to the organs of detoxification through the blood stream. Some toxins are dumped into the digestive tract and carried out through the bowels. As well, the lungs provide a location for detoxification and this is when yoga breathing practices help to expel toxins. The kidneys filter out toxins and expel them through  the urinary tract. Drinking copious amounts of  liquid, water in particular, aids this process. And then the largest organ in the body, the skin, detoxifies as well. Dry brushing of the skin activates this center. Beyond the physical aspects that require attention and care, what happens on the mental and emotional level? Fasting offers an opportunity to retract from the high energy needs of living, and gives us a chance to become quiet, to be stiller, to be more of an observer than a contributor in the activities of day. Stepping back gives us a chance to explore the quieter part within us, a chance to experience our emotions unmasked by food and drink, and an experience with the world around us that is unique.  Fasting is a temporary activity. To live our lives without contributing to the world around us is out of balance. But living our lives without pausing, without opening the door to that inner world, is out of balance. Bring balance to your body, your mind, and your spirit through the fasting adventure. I invite all of you into this space that we share. Namaste, Sydney