We had a great webinar/workshop this past Saturday morning and thanks to all who attended. Here are the week-by-week juicing ingredients. Feel free to add other ingredients to your juices but just make sure that a majority of what’s in your juice reflects these ingredients. 
 
Week 1: celery, lettuce, asparagus, cucumbers, lemon or orange, parsley 
Week 2: dandelion greens, asparagus, avocado, garlic, parsley, black or daikon radish (you won’t need a large amount of this last ingredient as it is rather strong) 
Week 3: apples, beets, carrots, pears, spinach, papaya 
 
Also here is a list of cruciferous vegetables. For now, do not juice these raw unless specifically indicated in your detox protocol. 
 

In light of our worries about radioactive particles affecting us on the West coast, here’s a simple recipe for seaweed soup that is tasty and will increase the levels of nonradioactive iodine in your body!? 
 
Ingredients 
 

 
Directions 
 

So I came across this awesome gluten free blog called Cake and Commerce. This East coaster works in the commercial food industry and specializes in foods for gluten intolerant people. She happens to also appreciate whole unprocessed foods so I think I’ll be following her blog in the future. She had a recipe that looked incredible for gluten free chocolate oatmeal cookies and I needed to try it TONIGHT. I must say that the results were phenomenal and I feel like they’re one of the best cookies I’ve ever made, gluten free or not. I changed the recipe a little bit to reduce the sugar content and also because I have a 1 kg bar of chocolate that is a bitch to chop up so I also reduced the chocolate content. Feel free to make them more chocolate-y. Try this out and let me know what you think! 
 

Ingredients:

Directions:

Yesterday Pema had a little cold with runny nose and sneezing so I made her a little tea that she sipped all day long. She kicked the cold and was totally fine today so I thought I’d share this simple recipe. 
 
Handful of fresh peppermint leaves (appropriate for first onset cold symptoms) 
10 sprigs of fresh thyme (antibacterial and antifungal for nasal congestion) 
5 sprigs of fresh oregano (also antibacterial and antifungal for nasal congestion) 
Peel of one orange or tangerine (dissolves phlegm) 
 
Steep in hot water for at least 15 minutes. May be resteeped but first infusion will be the most effective.

I’ve been experimenting a bit with coconut flour. It sucks up a lot of moisture so one doesn’t need to use much in baking. I modified a recipe I found on www.nourishedkitchen.com and it came out INCREDIBLE. Zero gluten and a ton of fat. So for those of you who can’t tolerate gluten but dairy and eggs are okay, this is a great recipe and extraordinarily simple to make. 
 

 
Preheat oven to 350. Simply put all ingredients with the exception of the fruit in a stand mixer and mix until smooth. Add in the fruit and mix to just incorporate. I used a loaf pan lined with parchment but I’m sure other baking dishes will work. Bake 30-40 minutes. Seriously, I can’t believe this cake doesn’t have flour and is so rich and yummy.

I’m a big olive oil snob. In the future, I’ll post about what to look for in terms of good quality extra virgin olive oils, how to store them, etc. but for now here’s a report from UC Davis that analyzed a variety of different “extra virgin olive oils” and the results are very revealing. Some highlights: 
 

 
UC Davis Olive Oil Report

I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve only recently made pancakes. I’ve actually never really liked them so much because I’ve always found them so heavy in my stomach in the morning. Oh and not to mention the blood sugar rush. I was inspired by my friend Caylie to make the Buckwheat Pear Pancake recipe from Good to the Grain. Because I generally dislike cooking foods that are out of season, I decided to modify the recipe a little bit. 
 
Dry Mix 
1 c buckwheat flour 
1 c spelt flour 
2 t baking powder 
3/4 t sea salt 
 
Wet Mix 
2 T melted coconut oil 
1 1/4 c rice milk (I’m sure coconut milk would be even better) 
1 egg 
1-2 bananas, mashed 
 
Sift the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl and set aside. Combine the wet ingredients and gently integrate into the dry ingredients. Do not overmix or else you might get a heavier pancake. Cook as you would a normal pancake but be sure to oil the pan well with coconut oil (or butter if you’re not on the anti-inflammatory diet). Personally, I felt this combination was sweet enough due to the bananas so I didn’t need any syrup (which I don’t even have anyway). But you could always make your own syrup with coconut oil (or butter) and honey. By the way, nonstick pans are evil and can kill birds so I hope you all throw them away and use a stainless steel exterior pan or cast iron skillet. 
 
Now I’m on a pancake kick and am inspired to make pah jeon. 

If any of us have told you to consume more foods that are high on the ORAC index (high in antioxidants), know that culinary herbs and spices are among the highest. Even more than regular vegetables and fruits. So I decided to geek out and put all of the indexed culinary herbs on a spreadsheet to graph out for you. Keep in mind that all fresh herbs are good but note which ones are the highest. I personally like to get my fresh organic herbs from the farmers markets. One of my favorite farms that I don’t get to often because they are only at the Santa Monica market here in LA is Coleman Family Farms. Brandon and I visited their farm years ago and their herbs truly have a lot of… “Qi.” But there are a few stands at the Hollywood market that has excellent herbs as well. Even better would be if you grow them yourself! I always put a ton of fresh herbs in my salads either mixed in with the lettuce or incorporated into a dressing (perhaps a non-dairy green goddess?). I also like to make pesto and pistou with an assortment of fresh herbs. I don’t recommend cooking fresh herbs too much as that will inactivate some of the antioxidant activity. 
 

I like foods with function. And I love curry. So here’s a simple recipe that I have been making a lot that is high in antioxidants (some of these spices are high on the ORAC index) and easy to digest since coconut oil bypasses the gall bladder. Keep in mind that whole spices are the most flavorful so you can toast whole seeds and grind them in a spice grinder instead. Also feel free to use whatever vegetables are seasonal at the farmers market. 
 
Ingredients 
 

 
Method 
 

I have searched far and wide for a tasty cake recipe for a 1st birthday that doesn’t include a bunch of crap that I don’t want to feed my baby nor other babies who aren’t ready for wheat, sugar, etc. So I tweaked a few regular cake recipes that I thought would be baby-friendly and here is the final result which I based on Heidi Swanson’s carrot cake recipe. I doubled this recipe to fit a “1″ cake mold by Wilton and it was perfect. 
 
Ingredients 

 
And here are the fruits of my labor… It was delicious considering it was healthy and I’m so proud of my cake!