Happy Birthday Ingrid! She is 9 today and loves dulse!!

Dulse, Carrots and Celery-by Aveline Kushi

Spring or filtered water

2 Cups carrots halved and sliced on a diagonal

1 Cup celery sliced on a diagonal

1/2 Ounce dried dulse

Pour a little water into a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the carrots and cook until soft. Remove, and put carrots in a bowl. Add the celery to the boiling water and simmer until done. Wash the dulse and soak it for 2-3 minutes. remove and cut into small pieces. remove the celery from the heat and drain it. Add the celery and the dulse to the carrots. Mix and serve.

Arame with Sweet Corn-by Aveline Kushi

1 Ounce dried arame

1 Tbsp dark sesame oil

1 Cup onions, sliced into half moons

Spring or filtered water

2-3 Tbsp tamari soy sauce

2 Cups fresh sweet corn kernels

Clean the arame and put it in a strainer to drain. Oil a frying pan and heat it. Saute the onions for 1-2 minutes, stirring to ensure even cooking. Add the arame on top and enough water to just cover the onions. Add a little tamari soy sauce. Cover and bring to a boil, then turn flame to medium-low, and simmer for about 20 minutes. Add the corn and a little more tamari soy sauce to taste. Simmer for 10-15 minutes and then mix until the liquid has evaporated.

-Because it is still a little early for fresh corn, I used Organic frozen corn.

Yudofu-by Aveline kushi

2 Cups spring or filtered water

1 Strip kombu

2 Shiitake mushrooms

1 Pound fresh firm tofu, sliced into 1-inch thick slices

1 Bunch watercress, washed

Tamari soy sauce

Sliced lemon

Gingeroot juice

Finely chopped scallions for garnish

Place water, kombu and mushrooms in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for several minutes. Remove shiitake and kombu and set aside for use in another recipe. Return water to a boil and add the sliced tofu. When tofu becomes hot, add the water cress and let sit for a few seconds. make a sauce in a small pan: For each person combine 1 tablespoon of tamari soy sauce, i tablespoon of hot shiitake stock, a drop of squeezed lemon, and 1-2 drops of gingeroot juice. At the table serve sauce individually to each person, garnished with scallions. the tofu is then picked up,dipped in the sauce and eaten.

-This was so delicious! But with a smack to my forehead, I forgot the watercress. It’s still sitting on my counter.

Week 4 recipes:

22- Tempeh shish kabab

23-Arame with corn

24-Dulse with carrots and celery

25-Gomashio

26-Baked trout

27-Kanten

29-Kombu chips

Mixed Pressed Salad-by Aveline Kushi

1/2 Head medium-sized cabbage, shredded

2 Carrots, sliced or shredded

1 Bunch red radishes, sliced, plus radish tops, thinly sliced

2 Tbsp sea salt

Mix the vegetables and salt together and press for 30-45 minutes. The pressure may be reduced as the water starts to come out. Before serving, squeeze out the remaining water by hand and, if the mixture is too salty to the taste, rinse briefly.

Yay! Week 3! Well done everyone! So what has been you or your families favorite dish so far?  My children loved the maki sushi and the noodle dishes, they called the tempeh dish “Tempeh nuggets” , my brother came for a visit and really liked the radish dish and of course the pancakes were a big hit!

Wakame cucumber Salad – by Aveline Kushi

1-11/2 Cups spring or filtered water

1 Cup sliced soaked wakame

2 Cups cucumbers, halved and sliced

Tamari soy sauce

Brown rice vinegar

Grated fresh ginger

Put the water in a pot and bring it to a boil. Add the wakame and simmer for 1-2 minutes. Drain the wakame and allow it to cool. If the wakame is hard, cook it for a total of 3-5 minutes. Put the cucumbers in a bowl, add the wakame, and mix. Prepare a sauce by mixing a small amount of tamari soy sauce, brown rice vinegar, and grated fresh ginger. Pour the sauce over the wakame and cucumbers and mix.

-I used about half the wakame. Wakame is not a favorite of my kids, they like it best if chopped very fine and in smaller amounts.

Steamed Collard Greens with Tamari-Vinegar Sauce -by Aveline Kushi

Spring or filtered water

3 cups thinly sliced collard greens

Tamari soy sauce

Brown rice vinegar

Put a small amount of water in a pot and bring to a boil. Put the steamer in the pot. Set the collards in the steamer and steam for several minutes, or until done.  The greens should be bright green and slightly crisp. Remove them and put them in a serving dish. Mix a small amount of tamari soy sauce and brown rice vinegar, and water together to make a sauce. Pour 1 teaspoon of sauce over each serving of collard greens.

- I like to cut my greens after they have been cooked, I believe they hold more minerals in that way.

Boiled Cabbage with  Sesame Umeboshi sauce -by Aveline Kushi

4 Cups thinly sliced cabbage

2 Cups spring or filtered water

2 Tsp kuzu

1-2 Umeboshi plums

1 Tbsp sesame seeds

Boil the cabbage just until it is bright, colourful green, about 2-3 minutes. Drain the cabbage but save the boiling water. Make a sauce with the boiling water, the kuzu, and umeboshi plums. Pour the sauce over the cabbage. Wash the sesame seeds and roast until golden brown.Put the seeds on a chopping board and chop. Sprinkle the chopped seeds on top of the cabbage.

Variation: A little grated fresh ginger may also be added to the sauce. Another good topping is a mixture of 1/2 teaspoon of pureed miso, 1 tablespoon of brown rice vinegar, and a few sesame seeds.

-I used Umeboshi paste instead of plums about 1/2 tbsp.

- My children like this when I add a little tahini to the sauce.

Red radishes and kuzu sauce -by Aveline kushi

1 3-6 inch piece kombu

10 whole red radishes, tops removed

spring or filtered water

3 Whole umeboshi plums

1 Tsp shiso leaves from the umeboshi plums

1-2 Tsp diluted kuzu

Sliced scallions or boiled parsley sprigs for garnish

Put the kombu on the bottom of a pot and add whole red radishes. Add water to almost cover them. Add the whole umeboshi plums, but remove the shisho leaves in which the plums were pickled and save for salads or pickling. Cook for abour 30-40 minutes, over low heat. Remove radishes and put them in a bowl. Strain out the kombu, umeboshi pits, and shisho leaves from the cooking liquid. Thicken the liquid with 1-2 teaspoons of diluted kuzu and simmer for several minutes. Pour the kuzu sauce over radishes. Garnish with sliced scallions or with sprigs of boiled parsley. Slice the shisho leaves and put them at the side of the bowl with the radishes.

Variation: For a less salty taste, usu only1 umeboshi plum.

-I did not have Umeboshi plums so I used Ume plum paste about 1 tbsp. Also that meant that I eliminated the shisho leaf as well.

- I cooked this dish for only 25 minutes. the radishes just looked right at that point.

(April fools)

Summer Style Fried Rice, by Aveline Kushi

1-2 Tbsp Dark sesame oil

1 Cup crumbled tofu

1/2 Cup diced onion

1 Tbsp chopped scallion roots

1 Cup fresh corn kernels (scraped from 1 medium sized ear of corn)

2 Cups cooked brown rice

1-2 Tbsp tamari soy sauce or sea salt

1/2 Cup chopped parsley or scallions

Toasted nori strips

Heat a frying pan and add the oil. Add the tofu and scramble for 2 to 3 minutes. Add onion, scallion roots, corn and rice. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and cook for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the vegetables and rice are hot. Add a little tamari soy sauce or sea salt. Cook a few minutes longer. Just before the dish is ready, add the chopped parsley or scallions. Mix the rice and vegetables well. Serve and garnish with toasted strips of nori. If you want to keep the parsley or scallions bright green, do not cook them with the rice; simply use them as a garnish.

- If you have no roots on your scallion(green onion) You can use the tops.

- I used frozen organic corn niblets because it’s too early for fresh corn.

- I also used Shoyu instead of tamari .

- I served rice with steamed brussels sprouts with lemon rind , carrots with apple cider vinegar and black sesame seeds, parsley, green onion and a little roasted red pepper on the side.

Tomorrow I will be starting my spring cooking challenge.  If you don’t own Aveline Kushi’s book(The Complete Guide To macrobiotic Cooking) don’t fret, I will be posting all the recipes as well as photos and you can follow along. Or, pick your favorite cookbook  or Chef to follow. The point is adding new recipes to our daily repertoire.

As I look at my bookshelf I realize that I have many favorite cookbooks and admire many Chefs.  For instance Wendy Esko, Christina Pirello, Jessica Porter, Jack Bishop, Warren Wepman, Lima Ohsawa and Meredith McCarty to name a few.  For some reason when I travel I always end up finding room for “The Complete Guide To Macrobiotic Cooking ” by Aveline Kushi. I know that macrobiotic cooking has changed over the years,  There’s a little less salt a lot more variety, but my Father was healed from cancer by using the cookbooks of amazing women and their families  like Cornellia Aihara ,Lima Ohsawa, Aveline Kushi and Wendy Esko. Those are my roots . My comfort foods. So let’s begin!

This first week all  recipes will be using Grains.

1-Summer style fried Rice

2-Maki sushi

3-Arepas

4-Noodles and broth

5-Fried noodles

6-Seitan Kinpira

7-Buckwheat pancakes with strawberry kuzu sauce

Please post comments and photo’s of what you are cooking!