Saturday, March 19, 2011

Catching Up and Moving Forward - What Curative Cuisine is up to in L.A.

I have returned to L.A.

I apologize for the absence of posts, but I have needed to savor the much-anticipated reunion with Max and with my life here. Extraction from Portland and re-rooting and grounding in L.A. was a consuming process. Personally speaking, since returning, I have enjoyed/look forward to/continue to enjoy the following highlights:

- once again co-abiding with my love, and cooking him what I've learned, and listening to his content happy tastebud foodgasm moans as he delights in them before going back to working like a grad student slave

- we moved! Closer to the beach, way nicer apartment, extreme upgrade in the kitchen department...

- amazing SoCal weather (thank GOD)

- returning to my burgeoning passion for hoop dance (I found a group, and they hold Hooping Happy Hour on the beach...how cool is THAT?!)

- making new friends! Not to sound like a pep-talking mom on the first day of kindergarten, but making new
friends is fun!

- some juicy developments for Curative Cuisine and my future employment in L.A. (see below)

I have started and halted this blog post so many times now. There is just so much to say, and my re-integration into L.A. was interesting and different than I thought it would be. There's a lot I could say about how the process ended with L and how she's been in the two months since, and there's a lot I could say about what my "coming home" was like and how that experience (and the experience of leaving Portland) differed from my expectations, but I think the most important thing to do at this point is acknowledge the present with an eye to the future. But I do want to just say that L and V (and G and J and the whole family) really touched me in the way that they let me into their lives, and inspired me to cultivate an area of potential within myself previously unfertilized. I remain proud of everyone involved, including myself, and while I know this new direction I'm headed in means going back to school eventually, here's the shape the ultimateultimate for me is starting to take...A private practice, in which I can employ the three main areas of healing that I am most convicted by, and that I think are the most often under-acknowledged in the therapeutic community today: vegan nutrition, therapeutic use of expressive arts, and spiritual development. So what am I going to do in the meantime, you ask? Guess what! I'm already doing it.

Which brings me to the juicy developments: through a sort of professional contact/internship supervisor of Max's, I have been put in touch with a group of people in San Pedro (just south/west of L.A., a little closer to me than Long Beach, for you non-Angelinos) who are interested in having me do for them something similar to what I did for L in Portland. The short of it is I met with them and assessed their needs and expectations, devised a structure for this program and gave them a proposal which they accepted, and so Curative Cuisine continues (!), and I am self-employed for real (sort of). I spend one day a week in San Pedro and cook them lunch and dinner. They frequently have leftovers that last them a day or two longer than that, and I provide them with instruction on what I'm doing/they hang out while I'm in their kitchen and learn stuff, and I e-mail them the recipes for the things they've enjoyed so they can start to move towards doing this for themselves. We've only been going two weeks, and I gain a participant every week so far (we've gone from 1 person to 3 people). There is also an additional location (much closer to my house) that may get up and running on another day during the week. The way the pricing index works that I've devised, they pay per person/per meal, add-ons (like pantry dialing-in) are additional services, and the price of the prepared food drops per person as people get added, so there is an incentive for them to enroll their friends. I cook out of the kitchen of one of the participants, and the other two live very nearby and can easily pick up the food if they're busy that day/can't hang out during the preparation. In the future, we'll have organized activities that people can pay to drop in on, like field trips to farmer's markets and classes on particular topics. We're in the process of putting together a community meal that the current San Pedro participants and I can invite a bunch of people to for a chance to meet me, hear what I'm about, and eat some of my food, in hopes that more will want to participate which will drop the price for everyone.

The first week, for lunch I made them Tofu Scramble (to overcome the tofu paranoia in the house) and dinner was the Quinoa Red Lentil Stew - that was the very first thing I made L & V in Portland (Day One style), and I was feeling nostalgic. Maybe that will be the traditional "first dinner" moving forward. ;-) Those recipes are already up, so we don't need to go there. Before I get to what I made them this week, I need to explain something. There is a catch. It's pretty hard-core.

Here's the crazy catch: the new San Pedro group are people who are wanting to make this change in their eating habits and lifestyle for various health reasons, but the thing they have in common is the TruNorth program - a medically-supervised fasting retreat center in Santa Rosa that believes in regular fasting, and then eating not only vegan and gluten-free, but oil-free, salt-free, and sugar-free as well. !!!!! This is the dietary regimen they would like me to ascribe to in my cooking for them. I'm doing okay so far. Vegan and gluten-free are handled (obviously). I'm becoming increasingly adept at water- and broth-/veggie stock-sauteing, so that takes care of the oil. Seasoning without salt has actually not been as traumatic as expected. Bragg's has a low amount of sodium per serving, a little goes a long way, and it has that nice salty/soy sauce -ish flavor, so that's been helpful. And I was doing basically no sugar added for L in Portland, so all in all....it sounds like an intense, puritanical, challenging culinary pursuit...and yet, I'm hanging in there and it's actually inspiring the heck out of me. It's like a dare. I'm too competitive to not have my creativity provoked. V/GF/SaltF/OilF/SugarF...bring it on! Give me some brown rice and a celery stick and I will build you a freakin' stripmall! Okay, maybe that's taking it a bit far.

Here's what they enjoyed yesterday/week two:

It was a Latin-themed menu. Lunch was a TexMex Bowl and dinner was Cuban Yam & Black Bean Tacos. Pineapple Pico de Gallo with baked/oil & salt-free corn chips was a snack.

The TexMex Bowl contained, from the bottom up: Spanish Rice, BBQ Tempeh, Chopped Lettuce/Cabbage, and Pineapple Pico de Gallo with garnishes of avocado and cilantro.

Here's the recipes for those components:

Pineapple Pico de Gallo (totally a G creation, I can't tell you how many pounds of this I enjoyed while in Portland - adapted for the no-salt thing)
2 cups finely chopped fresh pineapple
1 1/2 cups orange/red/yellow bell pepper (I think orange is the prettiest)
2 cups fresh corn
2 cans black beans
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
3 finely chopped anaheim peppers
1/2 cup fresh squeezed O.J.
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
juice of 1 lime
splash of rice vinegar
small squirt of Bragg's
1 tsp cumin
pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and season as desired. Can easily increase the heat by adding chili powder or sriracha hot sauce (as one participant did) or using hotter peppers than anaheim.

Jessica's Spanish Rice
2 tablespoons veggie broth, for sauteing
1 onion, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 cups of long-grain brown rice
4 cups vegan low-sodium or homemade vegetable broth
1 cup of diced fresh tomatoes
Pinch of oregano
1 tsp cumin
pepper to taste

In a large skillet toast rice in broth for sautéing with onion, pepper, and garlic until rice is golden brown and onion and pepper have softened, about 7 minutes. In a separate sauce pan bring stock to a boil. Add tomatoes, oregano, cumin, and pepper. Add rice mixture to broth. Stir and lower to simmer. Cover and cook around 40-45 minutes, or until rice is tender. Turn off heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Fluff and serve.

BBQ Tempeh I wanted to do soy curls, but couldn't find them in time!
1 package gluten-free organic tempeh, cut into approx. 1" triangles
Organicville brand gluten-free, vegan, agave-sweetened/no sugar, oil-free BBQ sauce
Dried herbs to prepare "rub": sage, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, mace, and black pepper (whichever of these you have on hand) - 1 tsp each

After cutting tempeh, place in a vegetable steaming basket and sprinkle with your herb mixture "rub" and once boiling, steam for 5 minutes to tenderize the tempeh and help it absorb the herbs slightly. After removing the tempeh, place a small dollop of the BBQ sauce in a heating cast-iron skillet, and one-by-one coat each side of each piece of tempeh by dunking it in the dollop and then setting aside in the skillet (replenishing the dollop as needed - this technique saves sauce and calories). Once all the tempeh is in the skillet, turn up the heat to get a nice slightly-blackened scald on each piece, flipping each occasionally. Turn off the heat a few minutes before serving. Makes 2-3 servings.

Yam and Black Bean Burritos Based on Susan O'Brien's GF Vegan recipe
2 large yams
1 tablespoon veggie broth, for sautéing
1 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons seeded and chopped red bell pepper
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup seeded and diced tomato
1 cup tomato salsa (chunky, fresh, homemade or store-bought pico de gallo)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 15 oz. can organic black beans, drained and rinsed
2/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/4-1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
8 rice or hemp or corn (yellow and blue is fun!) tortillas
Guacamole or avocado and cilantro and leftover salsa for garnishment (optional)

To pre-cook the yams, you can either prick the yams all over with a fork and bake in the oven at 400 degrees until soft but not mushy and then peel and cube them, OR peel and cube them and then steam them. I steamed them directly in a lidded pot with a small amount of veggie stock (low-sodium/oil-free) in the bottom for a flavor boost, stirring occasionally. While the yams bake or steam, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and sauté the onion in the broth until soft, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the red bell pepper and continue sautéing for another 3 to 4 minutes, or until the pepper becomes soft. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. When the yams are ready, add to the vegetable mixture. Add the diced tomatoes, salsa, spices, black beans, cilantro, and lime juice. Heat through. Season with black pepper. Heat the tortillas and fill with the mixture, roll, and serve with guacamole, and/or salsa and cilantro.


Healing with Whole Foods Nutritional Analysis:

Black beans - warming thermal nature, beneficial to kidneys, and used for backache/pain

Corn - nourishes the heart, influences the stomach, regulates digestion, tonifies the kidneys

Pineapple - contains bromelin which increases digestive ability, treats edema

Onion - lowers cholesterol, decreases catarrh (phlegm and inflammation of the nose and throat)

Cilantro - cooling in nature (a good counter balance for the warmth-generating ingredients in latin food), reduces signs of heat

Avocado - builds the blood and yin, harmonizes the liver, lubricates the lungs and intestines, a good natural source of brain food lecithin, rich in copper (which helps build red blood cells), and a good source of easily digested fat/monounsaturated oils and nutritious protein

Tomato - tonifies the stomach and cleans the liver, purifies the blood and detoxifies in general, relieves liver heat and blood stagnation, and even though an acidic fruit, as long as used in small moderation, after digestion tomato alkalizes the blood and can therefore be useful in reducing the acidic blood of rheumatism and gout

Anaheim pepper - help remove arterial residues of fat and cholesterol, contributing to heart and artery renewal

Bell pepper - improve appetite, reduce swelling, promote circulation, rich in vitamin c

Bragg's - contains 16 amino acids, a nice way to season things salt-free with low sodium

Orange (juice) - regenerates body fluids, of value for treating inflammatory/highly acidic diseases like arthritis, vitamin C/bioflavonoid content benefits weak gums and teeth

Lime (juice) - antiseptic, most valuable fruit therapeutically for those coming off a high animal-fat diet, destroys putrefactive bacteria, antiseptic/antimicrobial/mucus resolving properties, benefits the liver, improves mineral absorption, promotes weight loss, cleanses the blood, treats high blood pressure, etc.

Cumin - warming, when combined with beans helps diminish flatulence problems, as a very pungent spice promotes energy circulation

Black Pepper - warming, diaphoretic, benefits the lungs, protects against viral infections (colds, etc.), counteracts food poisoning and indigestion

Garlic - antibiotic/antiviral/antimicrobial (even inhibits microorganisms associated with degenerative diseases), eliminates toxins from the body

Oregano - oil of oregano is the most potent way to derive its benefits, but those benefits include antibiotic/antifungal/antimicrobial properties, aids muscular pain due to fibromyalgiaand arthritis

Long-grain brown rice - strengthens spleen-pancreas, soothes stomach, expels toxins, increases qi energy, concentrated in B vitamins and good for the nervous system

Tempeh - highly nutritious, 19.5% protein, low in saturated fats, high in unsaturated fats, contain substantial omega-3's, due to the fermentation process contains a rhizopus mold that is a medicinal antibiotic, increasing the body's resistance to infection

Yam - strengthens the spleen-pancreas, promotes qi, remove toxins from the body, builds kidney function, rich in vitamin A

A couple prep pictures below....the finished results were devoured too quickly for me to get pictures, unfortunately - but can I just say how IN LOVE with the Latin palette of flavors I am? Spending a day elbow-deep in piles of cilantro, yellow bell and green anaheim peppers, pineapple, etc. was a colorful and aromatic, fully sensual experience.

The Taco Filling with Yams, Black Beans, Bell Peppers, etc.

Prepping the Taco Filling

Pineapple Pico, baby!

And a couple general announcements: Curative Cuisine has an online home/I've started a website: http://www.thecurativecuisine.com/ It's not much yet, but feedback is welcome, and in days to come I will be adding components, so stay tuned!

The blog will be moving over to the website at some point in the future, most likely.
Thank you all for your continued support and readership.

Be Blessed,

JRW