Sarah Wilson

I know this seems like a really daggy post. But stick with me, at least until the jump. It gets really interesting. See this quinoa recipe below, from 101 Cookbooks, an amazing resource for super healthy food ideas…I challenged myself to make it entirely from stuff pulled from my freezer. There are tricks and things to know…read on…

A full freezer is a green freezer

New York Times food columnist Mark Bittman is a mad freezer nut. He wrote recently in Oprah magazine that storing food in the freezer is actually economical because freezers work more efficiently when they’re full…something to do with solids stay cold longer than gases, so keep the whole lot at a more consistent temperature. Rad. Mark pretty much stores everything in his – flour, lemons, fruit, bacon. I’m not far off.

Some stuff is better frozen

Frozen tofu, for instance, stirfries better.

You eaten quinoa yet? The high-energy, gluten-free grain that everyone’s talking about right now? The stuff is unreal, beyond healthy and is a happy food at this time of year when our bodies need lots of protein and warm comforting textures. Consider this a bit of a cheat sheet on how to cook and eat it:

* For starters, pronounce it right: KEEN-wah. You can get it everywhere now…health food shops, Coles etc.

* DUK? Quinoa has the highest nutritional profile and cooks the fastest of all grains. It is an extremely high-energy grain and comes from South America.  It contains all eight amino acids to make it a complete protein and has a protein content equal to milk, and is super high in B vitamins, iron, zinc, potassium, calcium & vitamin E. It’s gluten-free; easy to digest

* When quinoa is cooked, the outer germ surrounding the seed breaks open to form a crunchy coil while the inner
grain becomes soft and translucent. So it has this double texture, which is fun.

To Cook the Stuff

* VERY IMPORTANT: before cooking, quinoa must be rinsed to remove the toxic (but naturally occurring) bitter coating, called
saponin. Saponin, when removed from quinoa, produces a soapy solution in water.

A little while back, my friend Gez got fired up with me that I included some info about agave syrup, without explaining the downside of the stuff. So, I’ll try to rectify things here…

Never heard of it? It’s a sugar substitute made from a Mexican succulent. Tequila is made from the same plant. The “nectar” tastes a little like honey, but is clear in colour, and is 1.5 times sweeter than sugar. Thing is, it’s popping up everywhere as a “healthy” and “natural” alternative to sugar. And, I have to say, I was sucked in by the sell. Until…

I got naturapath Angela Hywood to explain, eloquently, as always, the real deal:

My view overall: it’s a shame Agave has snuck into the “health natural sweetener” category when its of absolutely no nutritional value at all and as highly caloric as corn syrup.

[From me, Sarah: Actually, Dr Mercola at Huffington Post argues agave is worse than corn syrup, containing up to 97% fructose. Why’s this bad?

A few days ago marked seven years in Sydney for me. July 3 2003 I arrived in Bondi with a carload of belongings and moved in with Bill from the coolhunter (at the time he worked from his bedroom with a following of a few thousand…now it’s in the millions). I’ve moved back and forth from Bondi. I’m back.

And I quite love the place for all it’s scrappy, scruffy, affected, slightly confused antics. If you’re in the area, or visiting some time soon, here a little guide to places I think sum up the place and also give the little basin it’s quirky community vibe.

* Please add your ideas and suggestions to the comments and I’ll add to this list for everyone to read!!

1. Soup at M Deli, Fletcher St Tamarama. Great locals hangout. Their soups are the best. Cauliflower with sage. Spinach and chickpea. They also have Organic Republic’s gluten-free bread there.

I’ve mentioned kale before here. I call it kale. Foodie types with an Italian affection call it cavalo nero. It looks like a more rustic, crinkly version of spinach, and is ssuuuuuuuuuper nutritious. Actually, here’s a fact: Kale’s one of the most nutritious superfoods on the planet, packed with chlorophyll, calcium, iron & vitamin A. Et-a-cet-er-a.

On Saturday I had breakfast at Sopra (if you’ve never been, you must….the one at Danks St Waterloo is the most divine space in Sydney, I think). I skipped the breakfast bit and had the shaved brussel sprouts with kale and poached egg. That’s how much I love the stuff.

I think I’m going to start a series of posts of recommendations. Stuff that works for me, that I use/eat/refer to/get inspired by. I’ve had a number of emails asking me to share this kind of thing. Let’s make it a Thursday thing for a while. Yes.

Just as a note, if you’re looking for this stuff later, it will be filed on the “recommendations” page.

So, this week: what I use when my gut is playing up. I have a litany of stomach issues, many stemming from my auto-immune issues, some from just being an over-eater. It’s been called IBS over the years. I just don’t buy the IBS thing. Nobody just has a cranky gut. As in, it’s just cranky for the fun of it. There’s always something else behind it – a stress issue, an adrenal issue, a sugar addiction, an overly acidic system. Or, in my case, all of the above.

Now, I was going to apologise to anyone who’s eating. But if you’re reading this, you’re probably in my same boat – more interested in finding fixes for your pain than dancing around polite euphemisms. So…. shit, poo, week, diarrhea, squirts, farts… let’s get it out there.

Here’s my arsenal for my various crappy stomach states. Of course, I’m not prescribing anything here. I’m just saying, after much experimenting, the below tricks have come to work for me:

1. For when you’re bloated and gassy like Michelin Man: Mintec. These are capsules filled with peppermint oil that you can buy over the counter at all pharmacies and health food shops.

A while back I did a juice detox…and this week I was invited to take part in another one. Disclaimer: I didn’t pay for this detox, but my comments are freely my own. So, the Lucky You Cleanse, is a five-day deal where you consume nothing but freshly pressed organic juices and coconut water, and a whole stack of water.

The deal: 6 x juices, plus a shot of aloe vera, are delivered to your door each morning for 5 days. It begins with an aloe vera elixir followed by a green smoothie (banana and chia and kale…not so good on the page, but amazing in the gob).  Then comes a range of  fruit/veg juices that use high-nutrient ingredients only, plus a “spicy lemonade” made of lemons, cayenne pepper, apple, stevia and celtic sea salt. 

I’m not about to venture into the food bloggosphere, but I’ve been asked to share the recipe for the muffins I took to this morning’s brunch. I’ve kind of made it up.  Apologies to all home economists everywhere…I know this might horrify you.

So, five bodgy steps:

1. turn oven to 180 or so (my oven doesn’t have a dial)

2. beat 2 egg yolks, 1/2 cup honey and some grapeseed or camelia or just plain olive oil (2 tbls?) with a stab-mixer

3. add this glug to a bowl containing a cup each of grated pumpkin and almond meal, 2 cups of gluten-free flour (I used buckwheat and some besan flour), a big shake of cinnamon, 1 tsp of baking powder, a handful of chopped basil leaves and a fistful of chia seeds.

Chia seeds are a superfood – the most nutritious on the planet, according to some. They contain 19 amino acids, stacks of omega 3 and, oh, the fibre…when added to liquid they get a glutinous coating that makes one’s bowels work somewhat smoothly.

4. then stir in enough water (I don’t really know how much) to get it to a thick consistency (I use the stab-mixer again) and stir in egg whites that you’ve whipped up a treat

5. finally, spoon into muffin trays that are lined with little squares (10cm x10cm?) of baking paper and POP into the oven. After about 5 minutes I sprinkle with some pepitas and then bake for another 10 minutes or so.

Trust me, these will work out. Don’t worry about exact measurements, so long as the consistency is cakey. Bear in mind the chia seeds soak up stacks of liqued. So if you end up with a runny batter-like stodge, add more chia seeds.

*Get fancy and sprinkle with fresh torn basil and some flowers flogged  from the neighbours garden when presenting to friends at brunch when you’re 25 minutes late.

Yum.

A few months back I tried out a juice detox. It worked lovely wonders.  So I decided to give Eat Fit Food’s detox a try. Theirs runs for 10 days, all the food is delivered to your door in the wee hours of the morning, it includes 3 meals plus 2 x snacks and juice and you really wouldn’t know that you’re detoxing because the food is exciting. Not drab. Every day is different. The cost? It works out as $56 a day. That’s for EVERYTHING you’ll eat in an entire day.

This is a new addition to my blog – food I like. From time to time I’ll flag a new food/food discovery that does good things – ethically, environmentally and nutritionally, or just in a makes-me-happy-when-it-sets-off-a-salivary-explosion-in-my-very-being kinda way.

First up, is Loving Earth’s organic, raw chocolate (slogan: healthy, sustainable, fair). I eat it as a twice-a-week treat after lunch. It melts in your mouth and feels like a food stuff, not a guilty indulgence.