There’s a lot of recipes out there. I like this one.

1 bunch kale
2 Tbsp hemp oil
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
2 Tbsp fresh basil
1 lemon, juiced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp Celtic sea salt

Add the ingredients to a food processor and whip with an S-Blade until finely chopped.

This one for quinoa with walnut kale pesto from glutenfree girl also looks good.

And there’s this New York Times recipe for pasta with kale pesto and roast pumpkin.

You can freeze it and use it just like you would pesto. Here are some ideas for using Kale Pesto

1. mixing it with goats cheese for a dip
2. putting a spoonful over a grilled white fish
3. putting a spoonful on pasta tossed with butter
4. saute it with other vegetables like brussel sprouts or asparagus
5. eat it on a salad
6. put it in an omelet

Also, try with pecans and nutmeg. Go forth and experiment!

It’s funny-but-totally-get-able: because all three are great sources of antioxidants, I have a very healthy attitude to all three. I don’t binge on them. I don’t obsess about them. I just really, really enjoy them, consuming them when my body feels like them. It’s amazing when you back the fork off something, you can feel clearly what is best for you, hey!?

Antioxidants basically stave off the oxidization process in the body (which damages cells and wreaks cancerous, aging and inflammatory havoc). Bloody welcome relief for anyone with autoimmune disease – we can actually benefit somewhat from consuming antioxidant foods.

Just some random factoids I came across this week:

Chocolate:

Chocolate  is good for you…until you eat it every day: the evidence continues to grow that the stuff is good for you—but only, natch, in moderation – 1-2 times a week. Here’s the thing…the same studies found daily doses have a negative effect on the anti-inflammatory processes in your body.

Green tea:

* Green tea really is greener: it’s carbon footprint is much less than a cup of normal tea or coffee. FYI, while we’re on the topic… when boiling water for tea, bear this in mind – if you boil more than you need (as most people do), you could easily add 20g to the carbon footprint of each drink. Also, How you boil the water makes a difference too. The least expensive and most carbon-efficient way to do it is to use an old-fashioned stove-top kettle on an appropriately sized gas hob. This is greener because inefficiencies in our power stations and distribution systems make electricity a relatively wasteful and high-carbon way of producing heat.

Red Wine

* If you eat red meat, drink red wine . Neither are great for you if you’re inflammed. But a girl’s gotta live. Like really live. Mercifully you can sin all at once and do a little less damage. Protein softens the wine’s tannins, and red wine also helps counteract potentially harmful substances — oxidized fats called malonaldehydes, or MDA — released when meat’s digested.

Know this: more and more studies are showing it beats inflammation. And fights cancer. I eat it as often as I can and it’s made major inroads into my puffiness from that damn ole thyroid disease. SO MUCH SO, MY RECENT TEST RESULTS WHICH I GOT BACK YESTERDAY SHOW I’VE REDUCED MY ANTIBODIES TO NORMAL LEVELS. It wasn’t just turmeric. But it was from diet! Yes. It can be done. PLEASE be heartened by this. Read more about how I heal my auto-immune disease here.

Turmeric has been called one of nature’s most powerful healers. It has great anti-inflammatory properties which can help arthritis. It is anti-bacterial and anti-fungal. It is said to be a digestive aid that will settle the stomach. Turmeric contains a rich source of antioxidants that help fight against free radicals. It also is said to have anti-platelet properties that help protect against strokes and heart attacks. Studies have also shown that it has a beneficial effect on the liver. In Ayurvedic medicine, it’s a blood purifier. It also normalizes the sugar levels and is very beneficial for diabetes patients. Here are 20 reasons to add turmeric to your diet.

The one that stands out for me is it’s an anti-inflammatory- it inhibits the enzyme which is responsible for inflammation, puffiness and throbbing. Stacks of recent studies are showing how effective it is in bringing down swelling in the cells.

If you have auto-immune disease of any sort: turmeric is your friend.

New York Times blogger Merrill Stubbs also cites it as the new food every top restaurant is using right now. And it made Oprah’s list of the top superfoods for 2010

How to eat turmeric

1. Use the raw root where possible (it looks like ginger, but’s skinnier and is orange on the inside)

2. Make a tea – grate it with some ginger and put in a teapot with lemon wedges and some maple syrup

3. Eat it with cauliflower..the combination of these ingredients has been proven to prevent and help in the treatment of prostate cancer. Here’s a great recipe for a turmeric cauliflower soup from Buff Chickpea.

4. Grate it into basmati rice with some cardomom pods.

5. Stir fry veggies such as broccoli, onion, carrots and sweet peppers, and add a pinch of turmeric along with some ginger, garlic and tamari

6. Grate some into hommus.

7. Add to a banana smoothie. Serious! Or add to a squeezed veggie juice.

8. It’s unreal in Moroccan and Indian dishes. I love it with lamb. Try this Moroccan lamb stew recipe from Wholefoods.

9. A reader just reminded me of this one, too – add to scrambled eggs for kick and colour.

Following the toxic audit on my apartment that I wrote about on Sunday, two rather big things. I have to move out of my apartment. And I’ve tossed my frying pans.

I’m moving because my bedroom is on top of the fuse room for the entire block. I’ve always thought this was a bonus – my room is nice and warm in winter. Nicole the building biologist asked if I have immune problems because the crazy, schizophrenic magnetic field action in my room would be wreaking havoc, she’d imagine. Boy do I ever – I have auto-immune disease, and it’s taking an eternity to heal. “How long have you been living here?” Four years. “How long you had auto-immune disease?”. Three and a half years. Ahhhh….

I’m not a dramatic over-reactor. But I can’t ignore this.

But to the pans. Non-stick pans are coated in Teflon, which is what makes them slippery. Oh, how I’ve loved Teflon in the past! The way it cooks eggs. And nuts. No mess. No oil.  Problem is that a chemical that’s released when you heat up Teflon is leaching into everyone’s blood stream and is making us sick – cancer, birth defects, HORMONE DISRUPTION and high cholesterol (ironically, given non-stick saves on cooking oils) are the oft-cited effects.

Studies are going back and forth. For a full discussion, read Slow Death by Rubber Duck. They go through the arguments and come out categorically telling everyone to get rid of non-stick pans.

Also, know this:

* manufacturers are nervous and are voluntarily phasing the stuff out. A few years back DuPont, which makes polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) resin, which is what Teflon was called when it first popped up as a laboratory accident back in 1938, reached a $US16.5 million settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency; apparently the company knew all along that Teflon was bad for us.

DuPont has promised to eliminate another chemcial – PFOA – from all Teflon products by 2015. When heating a Teflon pan up to a very high temperature – which is what we tend to do to cook, say, a steak – PFOA is released into the environment. 2015 is too late for those of us with pans in our cupboard, but.

3M have voluntariily taken PFOS out of their products. One can only guess it because they think there might be issues!?

* Teflon is EVERYWHERE. It’s seeped into the blood of 98% of Americans. It doesn’t breakdown. Our stomach acids can’t get rid of it. It’s a slippery little sucker.

* Manufacturers advise you don’t keep pet birds near where you cook with Teflon. It kills them.

* In a strange twist, smoking in the presence of Teflon is VERY toxic – particles decompose in a ciggie, causing polymer fume fever. Very wrong. In so many ways.

How to Kick Non-Stick:

* Marian Burros, the food writer for the New York Times, got rid of her Teflon pans. She tested dozens of pans by making a trillion omelettes, and she wrote that the black enamel frying pan made by Le Creuset was as good as Teflon and even managed to cook eggs that didn’t stick.

* The Slow Death boys say this:

- buy a pan with a solid base

- black cast iron skillet is best, but don’t cook too many tomatoes or high-acid stuff on them

- to avoid food sticking – heat to a high temp before putting food on, use enough oil and use a plastic spatula, not metal.

What do you cook with? What works? What brands do you love? I’m going to go out shopping later this week….

Reader Meg contacted Scanpan to ask for the deal on their stuff (thanks Meg!!). Very useful info. This was their reply:

"As stated below PFOA and PTFE did exist at the beginning of the manufacturing
process on products manufactured prior to 2007 in the Classic and Scanpan 2001+
ranges however these chemicals were filtered out by the end of the production
process. After the coating of the non stick compound (PTFE) the products were cured
in an oven by a set time and temperature. During this curing process all fumes were
burnt off and filtered out.

As to Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid – I have no information on this chemical being
present in the Scanpan cookware. I’ll email Denmark for a response on PFOS."

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. Also, many starchy vegetables, like corn and peas, are better frozen than “fresh”. Starch breaks down as soon as the veggie is picked. Freezing stalls enzyme break-down. So those peas? They’re frozen not long after they’re picked and are in better nick than those that travel to the markets than to your local shop and then sit in your fridge for a few days…

But bear this in mind…

Watch out for freezer burn – make sure everything is covered, filling containers to the top. Sauces and pesto can be stored with a layer of oil on top. Cooked beans and rice  can be topped off with water.

10 Things to freeze now

1. Fruit: puree fruit that’s about to go off in little batches, then add them to smoothies or porridge. Freeze berries or stone-fruit halves spread out on trays, then put into containers, so they don’t freeze together in a block.

2. Stock: Me, I store my leftover stock (that I’ve made, or from one of those Tetra paks) in icecube trays and pop one out when I’m making a stirfry …for flavour and great de-glazing action. To save space, I sometimes reduce the stock and just add more liquid when I thaw it out.

3. Beans and grains: I cook my brown rice, quinoa, chickpeas, etc in large batches to about 90% done and freeze in batches, topping them up with a little bit of water or stock. Then they’re ready to go for dinner, or porridge. Chickpeas and other beans are great – you can crumble off a handful as you need them, like peas.

4. Stock-making material: Mark Bittman provides this tip.

Scraps of poultry (most of the chicken parts we don’t eat are good for stock), meat (again, especially the less-used, bonier parts) or fish (heads and skeletons in particular), vegetable trimmings, bones and more. Keep separate bags for each, adding to them when you can. Remember, though, that stock is not garbage soup: Carrot and potato peels, cabbage cores, and the like can be used, but in moderation. Animal organs are best avoided (fish gills and guts must be removed, and offal in general makes bitter stock).

5. Tomatoes: I cut fresh ones up into 1/8ths and freeze, breaking them off as I need them). When they thaw the skins slip off a treat. Nice.

6. Bacon: I’m addicted to the stuff. I slice off from the stack as I need it

7. Herbs: Again, Mark provides this tip – freeze in ice cube trays covered with water.

8. Vegetables: I buy organic veggies in bulk and blanche them to 90% done and freeze in portions, ready to throw in a salad or a strifry or with a rice portion and a tin of tuna for lunch. Kale, spinach and broccoli, I find, work really well.

9. Egg whites: I don’t really have a need for this, but Mark rates it: If you make a lot of custard, or other recipes that call for a lot of egg yolks, you will have extra whites. Freeze them in batches of two or three for making meringues, macaroons or angel food cake.

10. Nuts: nuts and seeds work sooooooo well frozen. It keeps them really fresh. I like to eat them frozen as a snack. A great way to make use of those huge bags of almonds they sell in the supermarket cheaply.

So, the 101 cookbooks recipe. I made it (and make variations of) using all stuff from my freezer. It uses quinoa and kale, two of my favourite ingredients right now. Sometimes, for lunch, I just grap a portion of quinoa or brown rice, a portion of kale and some frozen peas, toss in a few capers and at lunch I heat it all up together and toss over a tin of Greenseas tuna. Snappy!

Kale and Quinoa Recipe

a splash of extra-virgin olive oil
a pinch of fine grain sea salt
1 shallot, minced (this can be stored in ice cube trays)
3 cups cooked quinoa (see my post for instructions)
1 cup corn,
1 1/2 cups kale or spinach, finely chopped
2 cups extra-firm nigari tofu, browned in a skillet a bit
1/3 cup pesto
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted
1/4 cup roasted cherry tomatoes

In a big skillet or pot heat the olive oil and salt over medium-high heat. Stir in the shallot and cook for a minute or two. Stir in the quinoa and corn and cook until hot and sizzling. Stir in the kale and then the tofu, cooking until tofu is heated through. Remove the skillet from heat and stir in the pesto and pumpkin seeds. Mix well so the pesto is spread throughout. Turn everything out onto a platter and top with the cherry tomatoes.

Serves 4 – 6.

** To roast cherry tomatoes: Heat oven to 350F degrees. Cut each tomato in half and arrange in a large oven-proof baking dish. Mix together a big splash of olive oil, a spoonful of brown sugar, and a few pinches of salt – pour this over the tomatoes. Gently toss them a bit, making sure they all get coated, finishing with each tomato facing cut-side up. Place in the oven and bake for 45 mintutes or so, until the tomatoes are shrunken and sweet.

* 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.

Basic Quinoa
Serves 4
* Rinse one cup of quinoa and add to 2 cups water in a saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil.
* Reduce heat to a simmer and continue to cook covered for 15 minutes or until all water has been
absorbed.
* Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes covered; fluff with a fork.

This is how I eat it:

* I cook a lot of quinoa at once and freeze it in batches, then have it as a porridge, adding cinnamon, banana and yoghurt.

* Or I eat it like couscous, or rice. Because it’s so high in protein, it serves as my grain and protein in a meal. I’ve even made a risotto with it.

* Sometimes I dry-roast the rinced grains for 5 minutes in saucepan before adding liquid. Gives things a toasty, nutty flavour.

A recipe from the gorgeous Aran

Aran is a food stylist who’s recently gone gluten-free.  I met Aran via my blog and we chat every now and then. Her blog Cannelle et Vanille is one of the prettiest things around. That’s puddings above.

Quinoa Pudding with Macerated Strawberries and Pistachios

I like mine a little bit more liquid. If you like a drier version, omit the heavy cream

makes about 4 8 oz servings

3 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream (optional)
1 vanilla bean
1/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 cup quinoa

1 cup strawberries, diced
1 Tbs sugar

chopped pistachios

Place the quinoa in a strainer and rinse it with cold water for a few seconds.

Combine the milk, cream, sugar, salt and vanilla bean in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer. Add the quinoa and stir. Reduce heat to medium low and cook for about 30 minutes stirring every few minutes. If skin starts to form on top of the milk, just stir it back in. The milk will reduce and thicken. Ladle into bowls or jars.

Place cut strawberries in a bowl and sprinkle them with sugar. Toss them and let them sit at room temperature for about an hour until juices start to come out.

Top the puddings with the strawberries and chopped pistachios.

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? Your body metabolizes fructose in a much different way than glucose. Unlike glucose, fructose is broken down in your liver just like alcohol and produces many of the side effects of chronic alcohol use, right down to the "beer belly. Most cells in your body can directly use glucose as a fuel source, so it's normally "burned up" immediately after consumption.]

The Pesticides. There are also concerns that some distributors are cutting agave syrup with corn syrup – how often and to what extent is anyone’s guess. In addition, the FDA has refused shipments of agave syrup due to excessive pesticide residues.

The Saponins. Agave is known to contain large amounts of saponins. Saponins are toxic steroid derivatives, capable of disrupting red blood cells and producing diarrhea and vomiting. There is also a possible link between saponins and miscarriage by stimulating blood flow to the uterus, so if you’re pregnant, you should definitely avoid agave products.

It’s Nutrient Void. Agave syrup is not a whole food. Nearly every brand is fractionated and processed, devoid of the nutrients contained in the original, whole plant.

Dr Mercola posts this helpful guide to which sweetners are best to use:

Avoid ALL artificial sweeteners.

Avoid agave and high fructose corn syrup

Limit sugar of all types as much as possible. You can buy pure glucose (dextrose) as a sweetener, which has none of the adverse effects of fructose if used moderately. It is only 70 percent as sweet as sucrose, so you’ll end up using a bit more of it for the same amount of sweetness.

Use raw, organic honey in moderation or avoid it completely as it is 70 percent fructose which is higher than HFCS. However the fructose is not in its free from so that moderates the damage. But each teaspoon of honey has nearly four grams of fructose so you will want to carefully add the total grams of fructose (including fruits) and keep them under 15 grams per day.

Use regular stevia in moderation, but avoid stevia-based sweeteners like Truvia and PureVia because they have undergone more processing.

To his list, I would suggest using maple syrup (the pure stuff). Dates (added to a smoothie or melted in hot water) are also good.

* An update:

Luke The Reader just emailed this, too: http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA400722/Is-Agave-Syrup-Dangerous.html

On the flipside xx sent this link (from an agave producer): http://www.livingtreecommunity.com/store2/articles/truth-agave.pdf

Someone else with this avatar:idontreallywanttobecontactablebutilikeyourblogcoolchick@me.com  sent this http://betterworldcookies.blogspot.com/2010/06/why-i-use-agave-nectar-examination-of.html

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.

2. Gluten free bread at Organic Republic Bakery, Glenayr St. The best gluten-free bread I’ve ever had. The owner spent 7 years experimenting with the recipe. It shows. The spelt scones are ace, too. Jed’s across the road is an institution. But you’ll go there and find yourself saying something like, “OMG, that place is soooo Sydney” because the service is so abrupt. Just saying…

3. Happiness at Aquabumps gallery, Curlewis St. Eugene who runs the gallery and blog has become a mate. I see him down the beach most mornings. He takes pictures of people in the morning at the beach and posts them on his site. You can buy the images, like the one above, at his gallery. Happiness.

4. Sugar-free chocolate at The Suveran, Oxford St Bondi Junction Pete runs this place. Pete is rather intense. All the food here is gluten, sugar, dairy, soy, wheat, etc etc free. YOU MUST EAT ONE OF HIS CHOCOLATES. They are rather unromantically referred to as Fungal Fighting, Low Glycemic Chocolates…“Sugar free, Dairy free, Flour free, Gluten free, Wheat free, Yeast free, Grain free, Soy free, Egg free, Legume free, Tap Water, & Nightshade free”, sweetened only with coconut water and made with organic cacoa nibs, macca, licorice etc etc they are bursting with energetic love. Two doors down is the sister fruit and veg shop. Fantastic kale. And fresh coconuts.

5. Tea at Gertrude and Alice, Hall St. A gorgeous bookshop cafe and an institution for local writers, dreamers and lay-abouts. Their chai is great and is served in kooky antique cups and saucers. I spend hours reading on the couch. Their licorice and dandelion tea is also sweet.

Other notable mentions:

- Gluten-free pizza at The Corner House, Bondi Rd. Go the one with white anchovies.

- Glass of wine, chorizo and peas, a hipster vibe and gorgeous service at Flying Squirrel, Bondi Rd

- A perch on a stool at sunset at The Shop…with wine and a cheese plate (they have the best wine glasses here), Curlewis St.

- A massage from Victor at the place on Campbell Pde with the sign “Pain? Fatigue? We fix”. Bad smurf towels on the table, terrible Chinese pop music in the background. But firm. Very firm.

- Breakfast at Trio on Campbell Pde THE BEST SERVICE IN BONDI and great gluten-free bread.

- A coffee and a sit in the sun with locals at Gusto, Hall St

- The newspapers, a buckwheat muffin and dandy tea at The Organic Shop on Gould St

- Yoga classes at Dharma Shala, North Bondi

- Chats with friends and a Morrocan mint tea in the courtyard at Greens cafe, Glenayr St

- A sand run at sunrise on the beach, and a meditation at the south end of the beach (in the sun).

- And, finally, a swim in the pool and a sit in the sauna at Icebergs ($5). The best view ever. The happiest place ever. The most colourful characters with dumb-ass stories sitting next to you in the steam ever. Followed by a green tea at the Crabbe Hole pool cafe.

Please feel free to add your own suggestions below if you live in the ‘hood!

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. (Pics below courtesy of spoon fork and chopsticks)

Kale’s in season now (in Australia).

Buy it organic if possible. I buy it for $2.50 from Suveran in Bondi Junction…theirs is the best I’ve come across. But it’s suddenly very fashionable and you can buy it in Woolies and Coles. As with most fashionable things. The stem is inedible, cut or pull the leaves off before cooking.

When I’ve been a bit crappy with my eating, I eat kale.

I juice it with grapefruit, ginger and beetroot. Or I eat My Stupidly Simple and Healthy Fridge Surprise Soup (see below). I make the soup in batches and freeze it, pulling it out for lunch or dinner when I need insta-health-boost.

My Stupidly Simple and Healthy Fridge Surprise Soup

• Whatever veggies you’ve got lurking in the fridge – pumpkin, swede, turnip, celery (including the leaves), parsley, broccoli are best – chopped roughly. About 4-5 cups should do the trick. The more, the better. Also, onion and garlic. I also like to throw in some fresh tumeric (a VERY effective anti-inflammatory).
• a bunch of kale, give or take.
• some red lentils (washed, unsoaked)…if you feel you need the protein
• 500ml of stock (whatever flavour). I keep those litre packs in my cupboard. Any I don’t use I pour into ice trays and use in stirfries later.

Bring stock and some water (about 500ml) to boil, chuck in veggies  (the harder ones, and the kale, first) and lentils. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Blend with a stab-mixer. Serve with either a blog of sheep’s milk yoghurt or a swirl of hemp seed oil, or both. And a squeak of Himalayan rock salt. Freeze the rest in individual portions. Done.

These next two recipes, courtesy of the Health Emporium in Bondi, are also great.

Kale and olive gluten-free pasta

• 250g kale, finely sliced
• 400g dried (gluten-free) pasta
• 3 tbsp butter or olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• ½ cup walnut pieces
• ½ cup pitted black olives
• 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
• freshly grated parmesan cheese

Cook the pasta until tender. In the meantime, blanch the kale for 5 minutes in boiling water, then drain. Heat the butter or olive oil in a large fry pan, add the garlic, walnuts or olives, & cook for 3 minutes. Add the kale, drained pasta, vinegar, salt & pepper, mix well. Cook for a further 3 minutes, sprinkle with parmesan & serve.

Braised Kale (a nice n simple Sunday night meal)

• ½ large bunch kale, finely sliced
• 3 rashers bacon (or proscuitto), sliced finely
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tsp red wine vinegar (or lemon juice)
• ¼ cup pine nuts, toasted
Put kale in a small amount of boiling water, cover & simmer very gently for 20-30 minutes, then drain. In the meantime, heat olive oil in a large fry pan, add bacon & cook until brown & crisp. Stir in garlic, fry gently for 2 minutes. Toss through kale, pine nuts, vinegar, salt, pepper & more olive oil if necessary, & cook for a few minutes.
Vegetarian version: leave out bacon or proscuitto & stir through finely grated parmesan.
Bruschetta: for kale bruschetta grill sourdough bread, brush with olive oil, rub with a garlic clove, & pile on braised kale.

This one is from 101 cookbooks:

Pan-fried Beans & Kale

• 1/2 bunch kale
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 – 3 big handfuls of cooked large white beans (cannellini are good)

• 1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
• 1/3 cup walnuts, lightly toasted
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Finely chop the kale, wash it, and shake off as much water as you can. Set aside. Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in the widest skillet you own. Add the beans in a single layer. Stir to coat the beans, then let them sit long enough to brown on one side, about 3 or 4 minutes, before turning to brown the other side, also about 3 or 4 minutes. The beans should be golden and a bit crunchy on the outside.

Add the kale and salt to the pan and cook for less than a minute, just long enough for the kale to lose a bit of its structure. Stir in the walnuts and garlic, wait 10 seconds, then stir in the nutmeg. Wait ten seconds and stir in the lemon juice and zest. Remove from heat and serve dusted with Parmesan cheese.

Serves 2 – 4.

And, finally, these little snacktasticas. Everyone’s obsessed by kale chips. I get it.

Kale Chips

• 3 or 4 large kale leaves, with stem removed and cut into 5cm pieces
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp Olive Oil
• A few pinches of salt

Preheat oven to 180 c and line a baking sheet with baking paper. Whisk together vinegar, oil, and salt, and toss with kale leaves. Place on tray. Bake 10-15 minutes, flipping halfway through until crispy. Do not overcook.

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. Cheap, simple, natural. I take one before I go to bed when I’m in trouble, so I can sleep. The peppermint oil relaxes the muscles in the lower bowel and colon. Often I get bloated in the afternoon. If I’m going out for dinner, I take one just before heading out and it aids my digestion.  They leave you with great minty breath, too.

2. For when you’re stuck, plain and simple: Nature’s Sunshine Lower Bowel Stimulant. I use these for emergencies. When things haven’t budged for a while. The container says to take 1-4. I generally find 1 or 2 at night ensures action in the morning that’s not too dramatic, if you get my drift. I’ll take one the following night, too, to coax my system back into the habit of morning movement, but never more than two nights in a row. They’re all natural and from various barks and roots.

3. For keeping things smooth (#1) slippery elm powder: this is a little wonder bark, this one. I add a teaspoon to hot water (sometimes I had cinammon…the flavour is quite nice…a bit mapley) and it becomes a mucilaginous tea that soothes the stomach. It works for both constipation and diarrhea, and is also good for insomnia when taken at night. I think both Coles and Woolies sell it in their health food aisles.

4. For keeping things smooth (#2) psyllium husks: another mucilaginous drink when combined with water, these husks are super cheap (a few dollars for a big bag) and easy to add to a juice in the morning. They taste of pretty much nothing, so can be added to gluten-free muffins and breads (they make them less crumbly), or to porridge or muesli. You know Metamucil? Pretty much a psyliium husks with added bits (and more expensive). Since they’re pretty much pure fibre, they’re also good for balancing out GI and great if you’re detoxing, cos they “drag” everything through your system.

5. For keeping things smooth (#2) Intestamine: A great nutritional supplement containing slippery elm and glutamine and aloe vera to help maintain the integrity of the gut lining longterm. More of a product you’d take in conjunction with advice from a nutritionist.

* I ingest one of the above most days, in the morning, just a teaspoon. I mix it up a little, so my system doesn’t get used to one or the other. With all three, it’s vital that you drink lots of water before and after because they absorb a lot. If you don’t drink water with them, they can have the opposite effect, turning into little hard balls of fibre (esp the husks)

6. For keeping things even smoother: chia seeds. I’ve written about these slippery little suckers before. They are really effective. Again, drink lots of water with them – they absorb 10-17 times their weight in water and will grind things to a halt if left unwatered. I sprinkle a teaspoon on my cereal, toss a few teaspoons in muffins or salads or stirfries.

7. For when I get a little off-track: breakfast yoghurt. A guy in a health food shop in Bangalow shared this one with me. Take half a cup of yoghurt, stir in a teaspoon of slippery elm powder and drizzle with a tablespoon of hemp seed oil. Add frozen berries to make it palatable.  I know it sounds seriously disgusting. It’s not all that bad. Hemp oil is a little like flaxseed oil - high in essential fatty acids etc. You could use flaxseed oil instead. With both oils (avail at health food shops; needs to be kept in the fridge and should NEVER be heated)  you should be drizzling on salads daily…they are your friends!!

8. To fire things up every day: lemon juice in hot water. Easy, simple, every morning as soon as I wake up. I keep a bowl of lemon wedges in my fridge ready to go. Organic apple cider vinegar is also good for when my system feels sluggish (and bogged down by too much fat, or stodge, when I’ve been eating not so well). I’ll take a capful in the morning (straight), or before a meal. It gets the gastric juices well fired up. I sprinkle the vinegar with the hemp seed oil on my salads.

9. I avoid or just don’t eat the following: gluten (cutting it out has changed my life), dried fruit, fermented soy products, too many beans and pulses, alcohol on an empty stomach, eating fruit with other foods, fruit salad (it’s best to eat one fruit at a time because different fruits digest at different speeds), brown rice that hasn’t been soaked overnight (more on this later), deepfried food, unsoaked nuts (again, more on this in a later post) and….sugar!

10. What about booze? I seriously limit it these days. When I do drink, I go for organic red wine, vodka and soda, the occasional martini and Campari with soda. Actually, Campari before a meal works really well for me…it gets my digestion flowing, which is what the 64 herbs and spices it’s made from are meant to do. It’s literally a tonic and not too high in alcohol.

11. And the stuff I just want to mention briefly: definitely take probiotics (I won’t go into detail on this front…a specialist should be advising you on which to take), yoga is  God-send, as is any kind of DAILY exercise (doesn’t matter what it is, just getting blood flowing through the stomach helps), fennel, chamomile and licorice root tea is ace (peppermint doesn’t agree with me for some reason) and also look out for Chi Nei Tsang, a Taoist stomach massage which, OMG, gets things so balanced. Not many people practice this…I know a woman called Laura at Gwinganna does…so if you come across it, share the deets here!

What about you? Share your tips now!!! And feel free to describe things in terms of poo, farts, shit, and other ablutive outbursts!