Expect to see new recipes regularly, more beverages and seasonings (upon your request), and more of the DIY food, gardening, and herb projects we have going on here on our property.

The new site comes with a new picture-intensive design that we hope you love.

Finally, we are particularly excited that we have roped in a new weekly writer for this website: 11-year-old Frederick, my son. You have seen Frederick chasing chickens and picking blackberries but he now promises to tell you about it in his own words. He kicks off his work with a tale of wild plums. Be sure to leave an encouraging comment.

Three generations of “Rose” now contribute to our site, ranging in age from 11 to 70. Our team brings a combined 100 years of experience in both gardening and cooking. Mom brings the bulk of the wisdom and Frederick the freshness to “Fresh Bites Daily.”

If you have subscribed to the feed via FeedBlitz, you should receive all of the new content, uninterrupted. (*Fingers crossed*) If you haven’t, you can subscribe to the RSS feed right here.

Check it out.

Skunk Cabbage

We have a plant here that locals call “skunk cabbage.” Over a year ago on a lark I actually picked some and tasted it. Somewhat predictably it was skunky. In fact it was so bad that I could not palate it at all and I spit it out — I’ve eaten spiders, crickets, beef kidney and more so that’s saying something. An Internet group of edible foragers informed me that the plant is poisonous (!) and not even skunk cabbage (!). If you are a forager, ID the plant yourself with a good field guide from your local area. A good source ID’d the plant for us and gave us some usage history, but when it’s you actually eating a new food, do a double-check.

In the meantime, I deindexed this page and pictures from search engines and so hopefully they won’t add to the confusion.

For anyone finding this page and wondering about “skunk cabbage,” it is a common name that refers to different species in various parts of the country. Look for regional-specific information in your search.

In the background we’ve been working hard on a new website — Traditional Foods 2.0 perhaps. We’ll unveil it on our return.

Take care everyone. We hope you can get some fresh air too.

When faced with a need for lemon juice, as in making lemonade, consider removing the zest before squeezing the lemons. Why throw away an opportunity to save flavor and save money? Lemon zest often substitutes well for vanilla in many recipes.

Check out these easy steps for preserving that zest.

Lemon Zest Steps

1. Wash and dry the lemons.

2. Grate the zest, taking as little of the white as possible. The white membrane is bitter. It is best to leave it behind.
3. Spread the grated zest on a piece of kitchen parchment paper laid out on a baking sheet.
4. Place the loaded baking sheet in a warm place. If you have an oven with a pilot, place the baking sheet in the oven. If you have a dehydrator, you can use the dehydrator with the temperature set to 100 degrees.
5. When the zest is crumbly dry, in a day or two, store it in a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid and place the jar in a cool, dark place.

For optimum flavor, soak the zest in a bit of warm water for about 30 mintes before using. If you are using the zest in baking, use some of the liquid from your recipe to soak the zest before adding it to your batter.

What could be easier? For more fun, try zesting different varieties of citrus. From one variety to another, you will find a broad spectrum of flavors to work with. Have a great time!

The question plagued my husband and I so much that we did not plan to have another.

In my first pregnancy I had psychotic episodes just before the birth and in the first few months postpartum. For two years I was basically incapacitated. From there, my mental health improved each year.

The cost of pregnancy was extreme emotionally and financially. While we did not feel as if our family was complete, we did not plan another child. Instead, I researched nutrient deficiencies and depression and wrote a book about it. The book was in press when I discovered that I was pregnant again.

With the pregnancy discovery, I buckled down, employed my best depression-fighting tools, and tried not to reflect on the irony that I was about to test the worth of a book I spent many months on.

As it turned out, the book works.

I made it through depression-free but you’ll see from the story below that depression is complicated enough that we need to pull out all the stops. I list the main tools I used below as a starting point for you.

Correct Your Deficiencies

Deficiencies come in all forms. Nutritional deficiencies are a big part of my own depression story. I spent the formative years of my life on low fat diets of bagels and imitation cheeses. Nary an Omega-3 fatty acid was to be found. I proceeded through life managing nonetheless until my body was charged with making an entire new person. As my first son’s brain developed in my womb, he sucked the limited Omega-3 stores out of me and I went bananas from the lack. I produced the milk that grew him out of his infancy as well, a food that also required Omega-3 fatty acids and many other nutrients. It took about six years to recover from my task of producing him.

I was seriously deficient in Omega 3 fatty acids, B vitamins, and magnesium, all nutrients that can at least aggravate depression if we do not have enough in our diets. Zinc is another culprit as is iron in the postpartum case. The entire Rebuild From Depression book centers around these nutrients — how to identify and correct the deficiencies — as a testament to how important they were in my case.

If you are deficient in certain nutrients, the change you need to make is typically fairly easy: Take a supplement or eat more food containing that nutrient.

However, many of us face deficiencies that are much harder to correct: deficiencies in sleep, relaxation, and even in fun.

Challenge yourself to improve those deficiencies as you work on your nutrients

Put Yourself First (aka “The List”)

“The List” may be the most powerful tool I used in my pregnancy. Though my book includes “a list” of nutrient deficiencies associated with depression, “The List” is something entirely different and maybe even more important in fighting depression in pregnancy and postpartum.

When my first son was about five years old, I created “The List” for moms-to-be to avoid my extreme case of depression. Jokingly I offered “The List” to my husband as a “Future Baby Agreement.” Of course, we did not expect to have another and he agreed to “The List” readily. We laughed and moved on.

A year later I discovered I was pregnant. I brought the list out, presented it to my husband, and he looked like a deer in the headlights. You will see why.

“The List” — Future Baby Agreement

1) If I say I need something, the correct response is:

“I will figure out how to make that happen.”

The incorrect responses are

“Are you sure?” or

“How much will that cost?”

2) Do not expect me to earn more than $XX a month (5-8 hours of work each week). I cannot be a money machine and a baby machine at the same time. If other money needs to be made, someone else needs to do it. And if my demands from item #1 on the list exceed my own earning power, that should not be my problem.

3) If we need more funds to pay for #1 on the list, reducing retirement savings is far better than me going bananas. Retirement is still decades away. The mental institution is just a few miles away.

4) If it becomes unreasonable for me to earn even $XX a month, then revert to #1 on the list.

5) Should I earn more than $XX a month, the excess will pay for additional household staff at my discretion.

6) I will not require us to move to a deserted island during my pregnancy so that you can harvest wild seafood for my dinner while I bask in the sun. Though it is my pregnancy fantasy, I won’t make it a requirement under Item #1. It would, however, make a handsome holiday gift.

“The List” worked.

I knew how important it was for me to put myself first and so did the rest of my family.

My code phrase in invoking the list was “I need….” When I said, “I need…,” I got it.

I asked for nothing unreasonable, just for what I needed. In one memorable moment I was having difficulty with a client contract and I gave it up to our financial detriment. We could have used the money but the cost was really too high. My husband never even whispered disapproval.

The focus on “what I need” retrained my thinking. During the normal rhythms of daily life postpartum, I lay next to my second baby Alastair thinking to myself, “I need to rest.” This was a coded message to my brain: Forget the house and work, relax your muscles, and just lay here for a while.

“The List” is important and it works.

Anytime we can manage to put our needs first as our bodies grow a new human, everyone will benefit.

(I really do want to add as an aside that I love the fantasy in my list about all of that household staff I was going to hire. It’s sure a good idea if you have the money. There are obviously plenty of people out there right now looking for work.)

Do Nothing That’s Not Necessary

It’s difficult to emphasize how precisely I am using the word “nothing” here, but on many days of my pregnancy, I did nearly nothing. I did shower and I tried to work for about three hours each day. I ate food that my mother cooked for me. (Thanks Mom.) Beyond that, I learned all of the games I could play with my son while lying on the couch. Saving my energy was critical in my case. It probably is in yours too.

Sleep Is Everything

I can get by with one night of just a few hours of sleep, but I cannot get by with two sleepless nights and certainly not in pregnancy. If one night was a bad one, I had no assurances that the next night wouldn’t be equally bad. I treated every night like sleep was the most important thing in the world.

It probably was.

Postpartum I actually kept a stash of over-the-counter sleep aids to use as I needed them. Although I would normally pass on any medication while breastfeeding, I saw the sleep aids as a tool in a pinch to avoid a path to stronger pharmaceuticals.

Focus Your Brain On Something Analytical

I made a great personal discovery while I was pregnant: When my brain was focused on an analytical problem, it could not worry or feel anxious or be depressed. If I could engage in such an analytical activity in the first place (which would have been difficult if I had already been feeling pretty lousy), I was home free.

I found my activity in my second pregnancy: C programming to make graphic displays of data. I do realize how absolutely obscure this is but you can find some of my food graphs on the website. All of those graphs are programmed, not generated through a point-and-click software. Programming requires a great deal of focus which makes it difficult to worry about climate change or the economy. You might want to poke your eyes out when you cannot find a missing semicolon in your program, but if you can get past those frustrations and produce something cool, you have distracted yourself and been productive.

The absolute obscurity of this example is probably evidence that our brains are so different that we need to find our own solutions.

As a less obscure idea, I discovered a second brain tool in my pregnancy. My son and I were in a restaurant playing the card game “war” while my husband was playing my son’s game “Rush Hour Junior.” My husband couldn’t find a solution so I couldn’t resist attempting it myself. It was a difficult puzzle even though it was intended for children and took me about five minutes to solve. I then tried another and another and said, “Is there a senior version?” Indeed there was a senior version and I am now a proud owner. During my pregnancy I could lay down, play the game, and keep my brain engaged.

If my brain is engaged in “Rush Hour,” it cannot be anxious or stressed.

Score.

Avoid Unnecessary Worry

We moms worry too much on our best days and pregnancy is just a giant worry invitation. I did two things in my pregnancy that may have saved my life. Adapt them to fit your situation if you can.

(1) I asked a friend to be my pregnancy case manager. I am extremely lucky to have a good friend whom I trust who was the director of a county mental health agency. She understood well my desire to avoid medication but she knows how serious depression and psychosis can be. In my first trimester I talked to her about my wishes and asked her to intervene if she thought it was appropriate. I knew that she would institutionalize me if she thought it would save my life but I knew she would also find the best situation for me if she had to do so. I asked my midwife to contact my case manager if she thought there was something serious in my pregnancy that needed to be addressed or if she felt it appropriate for any reason. In doing so, I was able to let go of my greatest fear: harming myself or my baby. I knew my situation would not escalate to that point.

(2) At my 20 week ultrasound, I asked not to be told about markers for Downs or other congenital conditions unless they needed to be acted on in the pregnancy itself. If action was necessary, they were to contact my case manager. I was just weeks shy of forty years old and I knew I was rolling the dice anyway in terms of risks to the baby. I didn’t need more fear in my pregnancy from the presence of one “marker” that may or may not be “fear-worthy.”

This decision turned out to be an important one. My son was born with a birth defect: bilateral club feet. From twenty weeks in pregnancy to forty is a long march as it is. It would have been unbearable for me had I known about the club feet. I would have ruminated on all of the possible related conditions, none of which were present in my son’s case. I very likely saved a complete breakdown by not knowing about the feet.

Pregnancy Management

While the images of “joyful pregnancy” are compelling, change your expectations and get creative with your depression-fighting tools.

Some women have an easy time being pregnant and then there are the rest of us.

An abridged version of my book Rebuild From Depression: A Nutrient Guide is included in a giant flash sale June 10-17 only. It is an abridged version but it is the guts of the research in the book. The other 34 books, coupons, and freebies are great bonuses. Don’t miss the sale. Check it out here.

Strawberries are a big deal.

But we sometimes have so many that they begin to dry out and lose their shiny red charm. What to do? The kids love shiny red charm. They really do!

This is our latest intervention for tired strawberries: Make a strawberry lemonade concentrate. It’s dynamite!

Here’s how.

Steps

1. Wash the berries. Even if the berries were previously washed, if they are sitting around long enough to begin to dry out a bit, they probably need another good rinse.

2. Remove the green tops and slice the berries into 1/4 inch slices.
3. Layer the berries with honey or sugar and freshly squeezed lemon juice in a wide-mouthed jar. Don’t worry about the proportions. You will make adjustments when you mix up the drinks later. You just want plenty of lemon and plenty of strawberry. They sing beautifully together.
4. Press the berries down so they are completely submerged in liquid. You may need more lemon juice to finish the job.
5. Store the jar in the refrigerator over night or longer while the flavors blend.

Mix the concentrate with icy water to make your drink as strong or weak as you like. You may want a bit more honey. Spoon some strawberry slices into each glass. They are fun to eat when the lemonade is gone. If you have a home soda machine or seltzer, try mixing this concentrate with fizzy water for a bubbly lemonade.

This concentrate keeps well for about five days in the refrigerator.

This recipe comes from Sylvie Shirazi, Gourmande in the Kitchen. She is a wizard with simple and impressive desserts. We took this recipe from a larger offering on her site — a strawberry parfait. There is no end to how creative you can be when you have the right building blocks. This lemon curd is one of those blocks.

When you make up the following recipe it will seem like a precious small amount of curd. Actually it is — this recipe makes about four ounces. With the first taste you will realize that you need only small amounts to work magic in your dessert projects. Sylvie combined hers with whipped coconut cream. We’ve combined ours with regular whipped cream, with a cream cheese-gelatin mixture, and we have used small amounts of it alone.

You will love the thick creamy texture and intensely bright lemon flavor. This is an opportunity for your creative juices to go into orbit.

Lemon Curd Ingredients

• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

• Grated zest from 1 lemon (Sylvie used 1 teaspoon of lemon extract which is a good alternative if you do not have access to fresh lemons.)
• 3 tablespoons honey
• A pinch of sea salt
• 2 tablespoon buter
• 1 egg and 2 egg yolks (preferably pastured eggs for that bright color in the yolks)

Lemon Curd Steps

1. For best results use a double boiler. Your curd will cook by the steam coming from the pan below.
   2. Cut the butter into pieces and add them to the top of the double boiler along with the lemon juice, lemon zest, a pinch of salt, and honey.

2. Whisk this mixture until the butter is melted then remove the top pan from the heat and set it aside.
3. Separately whip together the egg and the yolks until well blended and light.
4. Using a wire whip slowly stir the eggs into the lemon juice mixture and return the container to its position at the top of the double boiler.
5. Stir the mixture continuously until it forms a custard. This could take as long as five minutes. As soon as the custard thickens, remove it from the heat. You do not want this precious curd to overcook.
6. Allow the lemon curd to cool and then store in an airtight container with a tight-fitting lid. It will keep for up to two weeks in the refrigerator.

Be creative and have fun. This is one building project the kids will love helping you with. It is foolproof. Imagine what you can build through a whole summer season of fresh fruit.

Marilyn has a cool blog with great ideas, so we HAD to give this a try. Besides, it seems that near the end of citrus season we always have more oranges than we can reasonably consume. The quantities are high and the prices are low. I have no willpower to resist.

Our food dehydrator is always ready to use on demand which makes it so easy to give a new idea a quick try. With our first batch of orange slices the color was bright and the texture crispy. We ended up with a gallon of dried slices and a kitchen that smelled heavenly.

The real measure of success in this house is not how lovely a food is or how good it smells, but will someone actually eat it. We brought out the dried orange slices in the fall when the bulk of the summer fruit harvest was gone. The orange slices were gobbled along with dried apple and pear slices. “Yum! Put some of those in my lunch bag,” my grandson suggested.

Thank you, Marilyn! We add a new member to the dried fruit stash we keep in the pantry.

This is so absurdly easy, you will want to give it try.

Dried Orange Slices Steps

1. Wash and dry the fruit.

2. Slice the oranges into 1/4 inch thick rings.
3. If your oranges have seeds, pick them out. Our oranges are seedless, making this project a quick one.
4. Arrange the slices on the dehydrator trays and set the heat to about 110 degrees. You could go with a higher heat and do the oranges in less time but the lower heat helps preserve the orange oil in the rind and with the oil comes the flavor.
5. Depending on how large your oranges were initially, the drying time may be as long as two days. Start checking after the first day. The oranges should be crispy with no indication of moisture.
6. Allow the slices to cool to room temperature before storing them in airtight containers with tight-fitting lids. We store ours in gallon-sized glass jars in order to enjoy the beauty of the fruit. Keep your containers in a cool dark place to preserve the color of the fruit.

Dried Orange Uses

• Quick snacks and travel food

• Garnishes
• Grind into powder and use to flavor soups, stews, baked goods.

We keep popsicles like these stock in our freezer. My boys get excited over the treat and, frankly, it’s a pretty easy and healthy way to treat yourself.

We make these by filling popsicle forms with fruit and then pouring in lemonade and freezing. Any fruit juice would do but I do like the clear color lemonade provides. Any fruit will do too.

Berries are popular around this house and we’ve experimented with using fresh and frozen berries in these treats. Both end up frozen anyway so you wouldn’t think it would matter. However, the downside to starting with a frozen berry is that it will tend to bleed a little more into the lemonade than will a fresh berry. If that aesthetic does not bother you, then you may be able to save a significant amount of money buying frozen berries.

For the strawberries pictured, I started with a fresh berry and cut them in slices the width of the popsicle forms so that their shape would show well in the finished popsicle. Red raspberries and watermelon wedges are another great red option.

Lemonade Ingredients

For the lemonade, our stock recipe is about 1 1/2 cups of lemon juice to one gallon of water, sweetened to taste with honey. Make sure the honey is well-dissolved and stirred into your drink. It does not need to be particularly sweet for these popsicles, just move it past the “tang” of the plain lemon drink.

Popsicle Steps

At the risk of “overly obvious,” this is how we make the popsicles:

1. Place your first layer of fruit in the bottom of your popsicle mold. Add your second layer of fruit.

2. Pour lemonade into the popsicle mold leaving 1/4 inch or so of room at the top for the popsicle expansion.
3. Shove the popsicle sticks into the fruit, hopefully spearing a larger piece of fruit.
4. Freeze for several hours or until frozen solid.

We used dried tomato powder and basil but as you’ll see below, you can substitute dried tomato for the powder and fresh basil for the dried basil (with only a slight change to the process).

Tomato Basil Dip Ingredients

• 1 cup softened cream cheese or dripped yogurt
• 1 cup sour cream or lebneh (approximately)
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 heaping tablespoon dried basil (or 3 heaping tablespoons of fresh basil leaf shreds)
• 2 heaping tablespoons of dried tomato powder (or 4 heaping tablespoons of finely chopped dried tomatoes either soaked in water to rehydrate or stored in oil)
• 3 tablespoons of water (approximately, if using dried tomato powder)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (homemade citrus salt is a great variant)
• 2 heaping tablespoons finely grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest

Tomato Basil Dip Steps

1. Soften your cream cheese at room temperature so that it is easy to work with.
2. Add your olive oil to a skillet over medium heat.
3. Add minced garlic to the skillet. Allow it to saute for about 30 seconds. Add the dried basil for an additional 30 seconds. Add the tomato powder for 30 more seconds. (Fresh basil and rehydrated dried tomato can be added directly to the cream cheese.)
4. Add water to the skillet to hydrate the tomato and basil until it forms the consistency of a watery ketchup.
5. Whip your room temperature cream cheese with a wire whip.
6. Add oil, garlic, tomato, basil, and water mixture to cream cheese. Mix well.
7. Add sour cream until your dip reaches the desired consistency.
8. Add lemon zest, grated cheese, and salt.
9. Adjust for salt.
10. Garnish with grated cheese and fresh basil if available.

Ideally, make this dip a day in advance to allow the flavors to blend. The flavors will be nice for about three days though the dip can last a few days longer.

Candied orange peel is a nice finisher for a garlic-laden meal. It cuts the garlic and ends things on a sweet note.

Chop the candied slices into small bits to add to baked goods like breads, cookies, and cakes. Add them to savory dishes like pilaf, roasted vegetables, or slow-cooked chicken dishes. Sprinkle the candied orange peel on a green salad along with toasted pine nuts. Delicious!

You could go a step further and dip half of each slice into a fine melted chocolate. Cool the slices and you have gourmet candy to indulge yourself or give as gifts.

You will find a number of processes online for making candied orange peel. I’ve tried a few and have settled on this as the one that best fits our use of oranges on a daily basis. The process is simple enough, it just takes a bit of time.

Use organic oranges to avoid the plethora of chemicals that get sprayed on mass-produced orange crops. Better yet, grow your own. That takes a while, so as you wait for your own precious oranges, look for a friend who is growing enough organic oranges to share with you.

As for sugar, I have tried using an unrefined sugar instead of the typical white sugar. Unfortunately, the unrefined sugar makes a dark and much more tough peel. It is great to use as an ingredient in cooking but it is too tough for projects such as chocolate-covered orange peel. It is too brown for any project where you want to see the bright orange color. Use the sugar of your choice.

Candied Orange Peel Ingredients

• 10 oranges, cut in half and squeezed of juice

• 2 cups water
• 4 cups organic sugar

Candied Orange Peel Steps

1. Slice the squeezed orange halves into quarters.

2. Place the quarters into a pan large enough to cover the quarters with cold water.
3. Starting with cold water in the pot, cook the orange peels until they have reached the boiling stage and have boiled for five minutes.
4. Pour off the water and replace it with cold water. Repeat step 3 two more times. These two times will not take as long as the first time because the pot itself is already hot. The boiling remove some of the bitterness from the peels.
5. After the third boil, strain off the water and place the orange peel quarters in a strainer to cool.
6. When the peels are cool enough to handle, scrape the white pith out with a spoon.
7. Slice the orange peels into 1/4 inch wide strips.
8. In a large pot heat the water and sugar, stirring to dissolve the sugar crystals.
9. When the sugar water begins to boil, add the orange slices. Stir them around a bit, pressing them down into the sugar water. Turn the heat to simmer.
10. Simmer until the orange peels become translucent. This could take as long as an hour. Check them every 15 minutes or so and press down the slices to keep them well into the syrup.
11. Place a cooling rack on a cookie sheet for receiving the orange peels.
12. Spread the slices out on the cooling rack.
13. If you have a gas oven with a nice warm pilot light, place the candied peels in there to dry a bit. No pilot light? Turn the oven on low and dry the peels for a couple of hours.

Store your candied peels in a glass container with a tight-fitting lid. They should be fine for about six weeks. If you plan to keep the peels longer than that, consider freezing them to maintain the bright flavor.

Save the syrup. It is a treat unto itself. Use the syrup to sweeten herb teas, to pour on pancakes, as sweetener in salad dressings. You will have no shortage of ways to dispose of your orange syrup!.

We women are born with all of the eggs we will ever have and the egg quality we are born with varies from person to person. As time marches on for each of us, our egg quality diminishes. Egg quality drops precipitously at 35 and at 40. Some of us fight against that quality to create a family; some of us will pass on that struggle to our children.

Scientists discover new factors everyday that help us improve egg quality, sperm quality, and all of the other factors that keep us from having as big of a family as we may choose. Everyday, scientists vindicate a healthy diet in general and, specifically, fertility superfoods as keys to overcome some of the fertility barriers we may have inherited from our own grandmothers.

As brief examples, there is promising research on these foods as fertility-boosters:

Omega 3 Fatty Acids and Antioxidants

Finding: Infertile women are more likely to have lower levels of beneficial Omega 3 fats and antioxidants.

Citation: Savita S Mehendale, Anitha S Kilari Bams, Chaya S Deshmukh, Bharati S Dhorepatil, Vandana N Nimbargi, Sadhana R Joshi. Oxidative stress-mediated essential polyunsaturated fatty acid alterations in female infertility. Hum Fertil (Camb). 2009 12(1):28-33.

Folate, Zinc, and Antioxidants May Prevent Fertility Problems

Finding: In a review of scientific studies, the authors find an important role for folate, zinc, and antioxidants in male and female fertility.

Citation: I M W Ebisch, C M G Thomas, W H M Peters, D D M Braat, R P M Steegers-Theunissen. The importance of folate, zinc and antioxidants in the pathogenesis and prevention of subfertility. Hum Reprod Update. 2007 Mar-Apr;13(2):163-74. Epub 2006 Nov 11.

Reducing Oxidative Stress Improves Pregnancy Outcomes

Finding: In a review of scientific studies, the authors find an important role for folate, zinc, and antioxidants in male and female fertility.

Citation: S Estany, J R Palacio, R Barnadas, M Sabes, A Iborra, P Martínez. Antioxidant activity of N-acetylcysteine, flavonoids and alpha-tocopherol on endometrial cells in culture. Anticancer Res. 1998 Nov-Dec;18(6A):4083-90.

Reducing Oxidative Stress Improves Pregnancy Outcomes

Finding: In a review of scientific studies, the authors find an important role for folate, zinc, and antioxidants in male and female fertility.

Citation: Juan J Tarín, Sonia Pérez-Albalá, Antonio Cano. Oral antioxidants counteract the negative effects of female aging on oocyte quantity and quality in the mouse. Mol Reprod Dev. 2002 Mar;61(3):385-97.

From the Ethicurean:

To counteract billions in marketing dollars, parents must start young.

When the subject of McDonald’s came up during a Christmastime car journey with the in-laws, Frederick chimed in: “McDonald’s food tastes good because they put chemicals in it.”

Gasps were audible. I took the opportunity to discuss some of Eric Schlosser’s information in “Fast Food Nation.”

During a recent snowy weekend, I reinforced the message with some more “Omnivore’s Dilemma” storytelling. Here is Frederick’s version.

I found this rub on All Recipes. The full post includes a seasoned couscous that you may be interested in. We had our chicken with some brown rice pilaf that is standard fare in our home. (I make enough for 3-4 meals at a time.)

This is a rich curry flavor with little to no heat depending on the chili powder you use. If you like heat, use a hot chili powder or some cayenne pepper. When you have mixed up all the dry ingredients you will probably think this is plenty for two chickens. Use it all on one! This is not too much flavoring.

For best results, brine your chicken before applying the rub. The brining process ensures a moist tender chicken. The rub ensures unforgettable flavor.

The following recipe has been adapted a bit from the original. You will probably adapt it still more. The important thing is to find the flavors that bring your family running to the dinner table!

Roasted Curried Chicken Rub Ingredients

(For one chicken)

• 2 tablespoons smoked paprika

• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 8 teaspoons curry powder
• 4 teaspoons onion powder
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon powdered sage
• 1/4 teaspoon powdered ginger
• 4 teaspoons light olive oil

Roasted Curried Chicken Steps

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare your roasting pan.

2. Wash and dry your brined chicken with paper towels.
3. Rub the chicken inside and out with olive oil.
4. Thoroughly mix all the dry ingredients in a small bowl.
5. Use all of the rub to liberally coat the inside and outside of your bird. The amount of rub may seem outrageous to you. Get past that! The amount of rub is what produces the full, rich flavors.
6. Place the rubbed chicken into a roasting pan, breast side down, and place in the preheated oven.
7. Roast for 30 minutes and turn the chicken on its back.
8. Roast another 30 minutes and turn the chicken again.
9. Roast for another 30 minutes with the chicken on its back. Baste the chicken with juices from the pan a few times during that last half hour.
10. Check for doneness by one of these methods:
    • Use a thermometer: 175-180 is ideal.

    • Pierce the thickest part of the chicken with a sharp knife — the juices should be clear and not pink.
    • Slice into the thickest part of the meat and checking for color: If there is any pink showing, put the bird back in the oven for further cooking. Check again in 15 minutes.
11. Allow the cooked bird to rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing. This keeps more juice in the meat and makes for prettier slices of white meat.

Try not to shout and holler while you eat. This chicken is that good!

Yes, you could buy some of that toxic-smelling oven cleaner, spray it on, and wipe it off. Your kitchen will smell like a toxic wasteland and your burner pans won’t be much cleaner than they will be with this “volcano” method. Every science fair has a variant of this cleaning project: pour vinegar over baking soda and watch it bubble and fizz.

Stove Top Cleaning Steps

1. Simply remove your burner pans and place them on a cookie sheet or in some container that will hold a bit of vinegar.

2. Sprinkle the burner pans with baking soda.
3. Pour regular white vinegar over the soda and pans.
4. Watch it fizz and say “Oooooo!” (Do it while your kids are away if you want the job all to yourself.)
5. Let it sit for at least 30 minutes and, at best, some hours.
6. Scrub with a metal scrubber or good abrasive scrubber.
7. Rinse and repeat as necessary.

The burner in the picture was treated two times and allowed to soak about 30 minutes each — a short time because of the anxiousness of the helper in the picture. After two scrubbings, there was still a bit of black on the pans but the pans more than met my standard. Your standards may vary.

Here’s the scoop. The giant chicken processors brine their chickens before sending them to market. Brining is rather like marinating. With brining, the chicken soaks in a salt water bath for a couple of hours. During that time, the flesh of the chicken absorbs and holds water.

Brining has two advantages:

1. The meat of the bird will be moist and juicy when cooked.

2. The weight of the bird is increased by the water and you get to pay more for it.

What about the free-range chickens? Brine your own!

The process is super simple and you will end up with the most amazing chicken.

1. Place 1 gallon of water in a large container.

2. Stir in 1/2 cup of salt.
3. Place your uncooked chicken in the brine for a couple of hours in the refrigerator.
4. Discard the brine, rinse and dry the chicken, and you are ready to go.

Brining can get a bit more sophisticated, but that is not necessary for fantastic chicken results. For more brining savvy check out Brining 101 at Cookshack.

Frederick: “You can COOK a banana?”

Me: “Yes, just pull your stool closer to the stove so you can stir these bananas and keep them from burning.”

I gave Frederick a couple of options as to what we would add to the ice cream. We ended up making candied nuts because he was so fascinated with the idea that sugar can melt in a skillet.

Besides the wonder of watching this happen, Frederick got to listen to the story of how badly his mother got burned on just such an operation when she was his age. Amanda was at a friend’s home. She and her buddy were cooking without supervision.

Lesson: “Frederick, this is blazing hot and you never try it by yourself!”

While some of the roasted banana recipes out there call for oven-roasting, we opted for roasting the banana slices on the stovetop so Frederick could be more hands-on. Feel free to use your oven!

The final product was rich and satisfying. Frederick excitedly served bowls of ice cream to the family. His first ice cream! What a delicious reminder to get your chores done!

Roasted Banana Ice Cream Ingredients

• 2 very ripe bananas

• 2 teaspoons butter
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 cup sucanat (or sugar of your choice)
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• Candied nuts

Roasted Banana Ice Cream Steps

1. Melt the butter in a small heavy skillet.

2. Peel and slice the ripe bananas. Toss the slices into the butter and cook. Five minutes will take care of this. Stir often. Better yet, stand there and continue stirring to prevent a burn. Enjoy the aroma. Heavenly!
3. Pour the cream and sugar into a blender. Add the egg only if you are certain of its freshness. We used one still warm from the nest.
4. Add the rest of the ingredients other than the nuts. Blend well. You want the banana to to unrecognizable. This ensures a thorough blending of the roasted banana flavor through the ice cream.
5. Pour the ice cream mixture into a container that will sit in the freezer for a couple of hours. Stir the mix now and then.
6. Process the ice cream according to manufacturer’s instructions for your ice cream maker.
7. When the ice cream is finished, fold in the candied nuts.
8. Serve immediately as soft-serve or return the ice cream to the freezer for a few hours. Use the same container you did before to save washing an extra item.
   ]]> http://www.traditional-foods.com/recipes/roasted-banana-ice-cream/feed/ 0 http://www.traditional-foods.com/recipes/rich-dense-nettle-soup/ http://www.traditional-foods.com/recipes/rich-dense-nettle-soup/#comments Wed, 24 Apr 2013 11:33:07 +0000 Jeanie Rose http://www.traditional-foods.com/?p=6812 Are you looking for a spring tonic, possibly an almost-free spring tonic? Stinging nettle can be your answer. We have decided that it is on the top of our list for staying healthy.

   With renewed focus and dedication to nettle, we are tracking it’s life cycle and finding new stands of it. By far, the easiest to forage and the most delicately flavored is the early spring nettle. Read our post on spring nettle or a more general discussion of nettle leaf for more information on foraging.

   Having a delicate flavor means that the nettle can be more highly concentrated in juices and soups. This is the point of our rich and very green soup described here. When a green is this concentrated, then you can have just a cup of it with a meal, along with some other offerings. If the green is not concentrated, we make a whole meal of the soup to get enough of the greens. This can become boring after a bit and we struggle to continue with our soup consumption.

   Additions of thick cream and cream cheese make the soup satisfying and appealing to the little guys in this family. When they have a half cup of soup they’ve taken in more nutrition than most full plates of food can offer.

   Before you begin your soup making, thoroughly clean the nettle. Those leaves hold on to find bits of sand. Get rid of them. Here are our instructions for cleaning any green. This process is essential when cleaning nettles.

   Dense Nettle Soup Ingredients

   

   • 2 quarts rich chicken bone broth (or vegetable broth)

   • 2 tablespoons coconut oil
   • 1 large onion, diced
   • 5 garlic cloves, minced
   • 2 teaspoons Herbs de Provence
   • 1 gallon cleaned tips of stinging nettle
   • 1/4 cup dry white wine (optional)
   • 1 cup whipping cream
   • 1 cup cream cheese
   • sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
   • 2 heaping tablespoon sorghum flour or thickener of your choice
   • 1 cup water

   Dense Nettle Soup Steps

   1. Heat the oil in the largest skillet you have.

   2. Saute the onion and garlic together until the onion begins to brown. Stir often. You want the onion brown, but not burned. Sprinkle on the Herbs de Provence.
   3. While the onion is cooking heat up the bone broth in a large soup pot.
   4. Pile the washed greens on top of the onion mix and toss lightly for a few minutes. The large pile will wilt to almost nothing…or so it will seem.
   5. Puree the nettle/onion mix in a food processor, being caution because of the heat. You may need to do this in multiple batches, depending on the size of your processor.
   6. Add each batch of pureed nettles to the soup pot with the bone broth. Stir well so the nettles do not stick to the bottom of the pan.
   7. When all the nettle mix has been pureed and added to the soup pot, add the cream and white wine, if you are using wine. Keep the soup pot over a very low flame.
   8. Place the cream cheese in the food processor. Add a large ladle of soup. Process until smooth and creamy. Add more broth if necessary. You want a slush, not a paste.
   9. Stir the cream cheese slush into the soup.
   10. Taste for salt and pepper, making any necessary adjustments.
   11. Measure the cup of water into a medium bowl and add the thickener. Use a small wire whip to mix it up and break up any lumps.
   12. Slowly add the thickening mixture to your soup, stirring the whole time.
   13. Keeping the soup over a low flame, allow it to cook for another five minutes while the thickener does its magic. If you prefer a thicker soup, you can repeat the process.
   14. Serve up in warmed bowls and be healthy!
   ]]> http://www.traditional-foods.com/recipes/rich-dense-nettle-soup/feed/ 1 http://www.traditional-foods.com/blog/pollan-painting3/ http://www.traditional-foods.com/blog/pollan-painting3/#comments Tue, 23 Apr 2013 17:30:16 +0000 Amanda Rose http://www.traditional-foods.com/?p=6590 The blast-from-the-past Pollan Painting series celebrates the release of Michael Pollan’s new book Cooked. Some five years ago, my own little Frederick, 5 years old at the time, sat with me one rainy weekend as I read Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma. I read chapters to him and he painted a related painting. This painting was posted on the Ethicurean back in 2008. (See Pollan Painting #1 — “Children of the Corn” and Pollan Painting #2 — “Chicken Little at Magic Mountain.)

   From the Ethicurean:

   Michael Pollan’s chapter about boar hunting reminded some of the people in this house of my own hunting training.

   “Do you know the barrel end of a gun?” I’ve been asked.

   “Hey watch your mouth! I’m real good with that BB gun!”

   Frederick has seen the effects of wild boars, which wreak havoc on the lawn at the local elementary school, but he has yet to see one in person. On our recent “Pollan painting” weekend here in the Sequoia National Forest, he imagined wild boars cute and pink.

   

   ]]> http://www.traditional-foods.com/blog/pollan-painting3/feed/ 0 http://www.traditional-foods.com/recipes/orange-olive-oil-ice-cream/ http://www.traditional-foods.com/recipes/orange-olive-oil-ice-cream/#comments Thu, 18 Apr 2013 14:16:00 +0000 Jeanie Rose http://www.traditional-foods.com/?p=6822 Does the thought of olive oil in ice cream make your nose wrinkle? Before this past weekend, that was my experience but having used olive oil in cookies and cake in these past months, I was feeling more adventuresome.

   Check out olive oil recipes online and you will find them all pretty much the same. Jenny’s recipe at Nourished Kitchen (here) stands out as more nutritious, so that was my starting point.

   While we all love ice cream and watch our nutrient intake, I am especially conscious of what the little guys are getting. It’s so satisfying to see them working their way through mounds of ice cream, knowing that the ice cream is stacked with health benefits.

   Use the best ingredients you can manage. We had a bottle of olive oil from Mountain Rose Herbs, saved for a special occasion. This was the occasion. If you do not have access to fresh pastured eggs (like from your own hen house), then do plan to cook the yolks in the milk like a custard before cranking up the ice cream. (Read more about raw egg safety and how to pasteurize your yolks for ice cream). For sweetener I used local honey, purchased to help the boys fight allergies in the spring. Use whatever sweetener works for you and your dietary specs.

   Jenny flavors her ice cream with blood oranges and food grade orange oil. We had no orange oil and the blood oranges were lovely but fairly tasteless. Turning those oranges into an ice cream ingredient does not improve the flavor.

   Punt! By the time I discovered the deadness of the blood oranges, I had already assembled some pretty dear ingredients in the mixing bowl. More than that, we had our taste buds ready for orange ice cream. As a result, besides the orange zest, I added chopped candied orange peel, a splash of citrus-y Triple Sec and a tablespoon of the syrup left from making the candied orange peel. (Yes, you can make your own).

   Having gone into creative mode, I now decided that a bit of shaved chocolate would be a splendid addition to the ice cream. It was!

   The acid test in evaluating this recipe came when we fed the ice cream to Matt and Cody who had been burning tree prunings, part of our wild fire preparedness. These two guys are not ones who would order olive oil ice cream at the deli. When they were almost done, we told the guys about the olive oil. They were stunned! The were especially stunned about the amount of oil in the recipe.

   Cody has an ice cream maker and a serious interest in making this ice cream for himself. Did this recipe pass with flying colors? Indeed!

   For the load of food value in this ice cream, none of us felt the discomfort of having over-indulged but it was a number of hours before anyone considered eating again. Talk about stick-to-your-ribs!

   Orange and Olive Oil Ice Cream Ingredients

   

   • Zest from 2 oranges

   • 3/4 cup high quality extra virgin olive oil
   • 2 cups heavy cream
   • 2 cups whole milk
   • 6 egg yolks (very fresh from pastured chickens)
   • 1/3 cup honey
   • 2 tablespoon Triple Sec or 8 drops of food-grade orange extract
   • 1/2 cup chopped candied orange peel
   • 1 tablespoon syrup from making candied orange peel (optional)
   • 1 good pinch sea salt
   • 1/2 cup good quality grated chocolate (or your home-made chocolate chips)

   Orange and Olive Oil Ice Cream Steps

   

   1. In a large mixing bowl whip up the egg yolks and mix in the honey until the honey and yolks are totally blended.

   2. Slowly add the milk as you continue to mix.
   3. Add the cream, orange zest, Triple Sec, salt and syrup (syrup’s optional). Mix well.
   4. Taste for sweetness and salt. Make any necessary adjustments.
   5. Stir in the chopped orange peel.
   6. Place the mixing bowl in the freezer for an hour or two to get a jump-start on the ice cream making. Stir it up every 30 minutes or so. During this chilling time the candied orange peel begins to release flavor into the mix. A good thing!
   7. Run your ice cream through your ice cream maker, following instructions in the owner’s manual.
   8. When the ice cream is done, spread it out in a large container (e.g., glass pie plate) that has been sitting in the freezer for this occasion. Nothing melts your newly cranked ice cream like putting it in a room temperature container.
   9. Sprinkle the grated chocolate over the ice cream surface. When you are ready to scoop the ice cream, the chocolate will appear as a swirl rather than a total mix of chocolate bits in the ice cream. Call me picky! I just like the look of that. It seems more planned and artistic. Call me opinionated. You’re right!
   10. Place the ice cream container in the freezer for another hour or so to really firm it up. The oil and the Triple Sec will keep the ice cream from turning into an immovable brick, easier to scoop, creamy to eat.
   11. Scoop the ice cream into cold bowls and garnish with orange slices and mint or lemon balm. Do enjoy! This stuff is amazing.
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