Breakfast Salad

We've discovered breakfast salads. Normally, back in the states, we'd blend a salad in the morning with kale, frozen fruits, nut butters, and some avocados. Here, though, we've opted not buy a blender since we're going home in July and we're trying to keep our lives free of machinery we won't be taking back with us. While blended salads are absolutely delicious and the nutrients absorbed very easily in liquid form, we're just eating the breakfast salad. It's simple, quick, refreshing, filling and its incredibly high in nutrients. It's also gorgeous to look at. Try it for yourself. It tastes even better if you use organic ingredients. And better for the world if you know where that organic produce came from. Go for it!
And tell us what you thought.

First, fill the bottom of a large bowl with lettuce and arugula and slice a banana on top.


Next, dice an apple and put that on top.


Take an orange, peel it, and dice and spread that on top.


Dice a 1/2 an avocado. Spread on top. Almost done.

Sprinkle cinnamon to your liking. And eat it up. Preparation time 5 min. Yum.

Until next time,
Be Well Little Cell

Lean on me.

We have a few friends who have begun the process of really taking drastic measures to change the course of their health, the health of their families and the incidentally the health of the planet. It isn't always easy but it's worth it. One of our dear friends is Myriam. The following is a letter Matthew wrote in a time when Myriam reached for support as those around her couldn't grasp the importance of what she is attempting. We all thought you might benefit from the support too. You can do it!


Hello Myriam,
I've been wanting to write to you for awhile now both to offer support in your transition to a healthier and more fulfilling lifestyle and to just to tell you what's been going on for us here in this little corner of the world. It's unreal how fast time goes. Entering our second year, it seems like it's going faster than ever, not necessarily in a bad way. We are loving everyday here and feel blessed to have this opportunity to be in a fascinating and rich culture like France. At the same time, we are both very excited to come home again. To rediscover the unique people, places and choices that life offers us back home. Oddly enough, my appreciation for my own country and culture continues to grow the more time I spend here in Europe.

For me, it's really been one long lesson in gratitude. European life is in certain ways much simpler and immediate than life back home. Having no car, we walk most of the places we need to go. The city is beautiful and pedestrian friendly and Ruth and I have both found that walking is a lifestyle choice we prefer, both now and for the future. The body feels better as does the soul. There's less stress and without even trying I've found it to be a sort of active meditation which allows me to air out the little frustrations that our busy modern lives encourage. Cause make no mistake, however romantic and enchanting French life can be, it is every bit as full of the little daily challenges and difficulties as life back home. I really believe we go too fast for our own good.

That's why we've made the decision to continue with a very modest yet vital lifestyle. We have quite happily spent the majority of our time in our little city. Many people would consider this odd or even tragic to have voyaged so little outside of our region. But to us, it has been a choice which has paid rich dividends, so to speak. We have an abundance of time, very little stress, kind and interesting friends and the liberty to do truly amazing things. Next week, we go to Paris for three days to watch tennis, visit a museum and check out whatever else interests us. We feel at home here in many visceral ways. So why come home many people ask?

Because we honestly feel that our home country is just as rich and fascinating as European life. I have a hard time understanding why so many Americans have accepted the mediocrity that has come to characterize their country. To us, America is a place of loving family and friends, incredible opportunity both personal and professional. It's has some of the best thinkers and doers in the world today. You just gotta dig a little to find them. We feel blessed to come home to this country, to be welcomed by you and Kerry, to see our family grow and to have the opportunity to continue to do the things which we are passionate about. We are truly blessed to have this choice.

In regards to food, I think you're making some amazing progress towards the goals you've set for your life. I encourage you not to think in black and white terms. Let pleasure be your guide and invite discipline into the mix only to the extent that it is able to peacefully coexist with that pleasure. Remember that every bite of high-nutrient food is both a blessing and a victory for your cells regardless of whatever nutritional goals you might have. And what we call discipline is often just the ability to create space apart from an admittedly crazy society and its eating habits. So start small.

When you are alone or with others that share your nutritional goals, try to create an environment with all your favorite nutrient-dense food choices and only those foods. Give yourself the gift of discovering the pleasure these foods can provide when they don't have to compete with salty, sugary foods. If you can create a home environment that offers only pleasurable, high-nutrient food choices, you will restore a more deliberate aspect to your food choices. Each time you desire something outside this diet, you leave the house and go and get it. Walk if you can because it will allow you plenty of time to meditate upon that choice without judgment.

If you can create this opportunity for yourself, you'll have a great foundation to build upon as you go forth into the world. If someone brings food into your house which doesn't correspond with your nutritional goals, tell them if you have the courage. If not, throw it out or give it away as soon as possible. It's only after you've been able to create a disciplined and highly pleasurable home food environment that you'll be able to extend it to your work, social outings and other events as you desire.

In the beginning, don't expect to be successful in the most challenging food situations. For instance, worrying about food in a party or social outing with all the excitement and craziness that entails is neither fun nor healthy. We know foods can be addictive so treat that knowledge with respect. An alcoholic doesn't kick his addiction with his old drinking buddies, nor a sex addict in a strip club. If you choose to go to a party do your best to find pleasure in whatever high-nutrient choices are available but don't beat yourself up if you desire other foods. If you find no joy in your actions, you won't succeed.

There's nothing inherently wrong with eating any type of food. Your nutritional goals are there to invite more pleasure into your life. The more you break from your diet, the more you'll naturally have to ask yourself if you want to reach the nutritional goals you've set for yourself. If you do, then you'll either start accepting fewer invitations to parties (knowing it's natural to snack at them) or you'll start creating more pleasure in the situations you've already mastered (at home, with a few friends, etc.) so as to resist the temptation to overeat at parties.

This is the best advice I have in addition to continuing to educate yourself about personal nutrition and well-being. We have such blessings in the West and such untapped power to introduce peace and justice into the world simply by bringing more presence to our personal food choices. Each dollar spent and each forkful consumed is an opportunity to remake the world. An opportunity we can no longer afford to take for granted. I think you're exactly where you need to be. Welcome to a conversation that matters.

Bonne continuation et tiens-moi au courant.
Matthew
Until next time,
Be well little cell.

Take An Honest Inventory

An autopsy study in the New England Journal of Medicine found more than 85% of adults between the ages of 21 and 39 already had atherosclerotic changes in their coronary arteries.

Aside:
Fatty plaques and streaks are the beginning stages of atherosclerosis. If there are atherosclerotic changes in the vessels near the heart, that also means the vessels everywhere else in the body have fatty plaque changes too. Brain vessels for instance and the vessels in the genitalia - vessels of particular interest to me. Vessels are vessels and fatty plaques don't just choose heart vessels.

The 1992 Bogalusa Heart Study looked at autopsies performed on children killed in accidental deaths. The study confirmed the existence of fatty plaques and streaks in most children under 12 years of age as well as teenagers!

And why is this the case, you may ask? I'm convinced it's because we all go around thinking we're the ones who feed ourselves and our kids a "healthy" diet.

I think we need to re-evaluate the language we use.

Do we and our children eat 90% of calories from whole unrefined, unprocessed foods, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds and beans every day? If you've answered no, how about 50%?
If you answered yes to 50%, try for 80%. If you answered no to 50%, even though you can't tell, you're setting yourself and your children up for future health care problems. Maybe its time for a change of heart, pun intended.

And we don't seem to care because why again? Because we've heard it so many times already and we're just too damn busy, right? Because we can't seem to wrap our brains around our nation's love affair with low nutrient foods and our own poor choices around them? Why is this still okay with us?

Because each of us, individually, think we aren't the ones. But we are. I am. You are. We are the Americans we're talking about. Those are our children in those autopsies with the fatty plaques in their blood vessels and we're more concerned with what? What could possibly be more important than this?

So let's take an honest inventory. It's important to put the ego aside here and try not to get angry and try not to make excuses for yourselves and one another.

But even if you do get angry (which is what I did at first); think about it some, sleep on it and see how you feel tomorrow. We'll try again, then.

Here's an easy way to take inventory right this minute and a good rule of thumb in general.

Sit up straight, reach down near your belly button and grab the extra flesh there.

If you're a man and you can pinch more than a 1/2 inch near your umbilicus, you're overweight and at risk for health complications.

If you're a woman and you can pinch an inch of flesh or more, you're overweight and at risk for health complications.

Yes. You.

An inch is not very much, I know.

And you can keep saying things like "live fast, die young", "death by chocolate", "life is short, play hard."

You can say that but I don't believe you.

I have a very dear friend who is dealing with her father's decline from Parkinson's disease. When she reports to me how things are going with him, my heart aches for her in a way that I cannot easily describe. Before I go to sleep at night, I ask the universe to please bring dignity to him as he nears his tragic death, which is taking a toll on too many people, mostly him. I'm certain we would make changes now if we could foresee our own death similar to his. I bet he would if he could.

And yes, your diet in early childhood and what you eat right NOW indicates what kind of death you will die. And yes, diet does have an impact on autoimmune diseases and too many other preventable diseases that we, Americans, die needlessly of. Yes, indeed, it does.

And so I don't believe that you really don't care about the kind of death you will die or the kind of death your children will face or your parents. With all due respect, I don't believe you. I bet you want for yourself, The Good Death.

The death where you go peacefully in your sleep without morphine, medicines, tubing stuck in every orifice, diapers on your ass, mind numb and confused, unable to recognize your surroundings. You don't want that, I'm sure of it.

The Good Death is after having spent so many delightful years with your spouse, children and their children, memories intact, all 11 body systems working together in sweet synchronicity, walking, laughing, and participating, right up until the very end. I bet you want that for your parents, yourself and for your children too.

Up until recently, I really tried to hide the drastic changes we've made in our diet, feeling rather embarrassed that we don't eat the same way others do. I'd sheepishly salt my soup dishes when having friends over. One time I brought a gorgeous veggie packed quinoa salad to my neighbor who gently, of course, said it was "a little bland" and she salted the shit out of it and poured some yogurt on top. I felt embarrassed of myself. But no more. From now on I'm not hiding. I'm saying it out loud. Fruits and veggies, nuts and seeds, beans every single day, every single meal for me please. No thank you on the salt. No thank you on the cream. No thank you on the daily dose of packaged, refined, processed toxic diet. No thank you.

I'm looking for The Good Death. The long, clear, agile, laughter and joy filled life, followed by an uneventful and peaceful passing in my own bed. That's what I want for myself and those who will be responsible for me during my eldership.

It's my dream for you and yours too.
Until next time,

Be well little cell.

References: Eat To Live by Joel Fuhrman, M.D., Ch.1 pg 15 - Digging Our Graves with Forks and Knives - The Effects of the American Diet, part 1.

Bender, R., C. Traunet, M. Spraul. and M. Berger. 1998. Assessment of excess mortality in obesity. Am. J. Epidemiology. 147 (1): 42-48; Wolf, A.M., and G.A. Colditz. 1998 Current estimates of the economic cost of obesity in the United States. Obes. Res. 6(2) 97-106.

So What?

I changed my diet last year and I lost 30lbs. So what? I saw on the news, this guy, who weighed 900lbs and had to be evacuated from his home by emergency rescuers. Who cares if I lost 30lbs because we've all lost our perspective. A human who lost 30lbs is nothing compared to a human who should consider losing 750.

We have been so heavily bombarded with nutritional and dietary information that we can't really care that much more about the less sensational words or testimonials.

A drastic, potent, and life-altering change in diet where one person loses 30lbs off her overburdened skeleton can not compete with the sensations of technology and the lethargy and boredom from heap-upon-heap of nutrition and dietary information. Just more words. Who cares?

But for me, losing 30lbs by eating a 90% plant-based diet rich in micronutrients and phytochemicals has relieved my knee and hip pain.

Losing 30lbs by eating a "nutritarian" diet means I no longer have headaches, premenstrual symptoms, I sleep soundly at night, my outlook on life is a happy and satisfied one, I feel more alert, I wake up happy to face the day, I enjoy exercising, my moods no longer fluctuate, I take no medications - ever - for anything, I'm rarely sick and when I do get sick, it never lasts long and I always recover 100% without relapse. My vessels are pliable and my beautiful cabernet colored blood flows through its tubing without effort delivering all my high nutrient packages to open-armed cells, happy to receive these necessary building blocks for a long healthy happy dementia, diabetes, cancer, arthritis, auto-immune disease-FREE life.

So for me, losing 30lbs was sensational.

And 30lbs is a lot of weight. This little cutie weighs 10lbs. If you strapped one on your back, one on your chest and held the other in your arms for a while, you would feel the weight of 30lbs. It's a lot.





Be well little cell.

Can I Get a Hell Yeah!?

Before we begin this next dialogue, it's important to note that Matthew and I are not vegan and we are not vegetarian. We don't have a label for the changes we've made in our diet but if we adopted one, we'd go with "nutritarian". Nutritarian is a label coined by Dr. Joel Fuhrman which describes someone who eats a nutrient dense diet. That means, first and foremost, everyday, we eat the foods available to us that contain the highest amount of nutrients possible. We don't eat animal products on a regular basis anymore. What does 'regular basis' mean? That means we eat less than 3 servings A WEEK of animal product type foods (ie. meat, fish, cheese, milk, eggs) One serving is about the size of the palm of your hand or a deck of playing cards.

We do live in France and we have tried the cheeses, the meats, and the pastries. And they are tasty. But not any better than the meals we prepare at home that are full of gorgeous colors, textures and variant flavors. The way we eat adds an enormous amount of joy to our lives. Our bodies are healthy, strong and fit. We still have fun and are definitely not deprived. Okay, so with that said, on with the post.

High nutrient food for thought:
EnvironmentalHealthReport.com

Kevin: Great. You mentioned global warming, again, and I think we should probably talk about that because it was an added portion of the film, "Eating." What are some of the implications of the way we eat, as related to global warming and the environment?

Mike: It's methane, that's the major thing that's been overlooked. I'm no expert in it, but what I did was summarize what the experts have said. It's hard for people to visualize this, but there are hundreds of millions of cows, and other livestock out there, that emit methane, both through the mouths and their rear ends. It goes into the atmosphere and methane is a powerful heat-trapper, much more powerful than carbon dioxide.

Ruth (not part of the transcript, by the way): So, he's talking about cow farts and cow burps and breaths. That's kinda funny isn't it?

Carbon dioxide will stay in the atmosphere much longer, but methane really traps heat. Studies have shown that, in fact, methane has caused nearly half of the global warming to-date. The number one source of methane is the animals we raise and eventually eat. So, the good thing about methane is that it only stays in the atmosphere for eight years. If people would cut back on their consumption of animal products, you could recycle out very quickly. There could be a more immediate impact on global warming, on cooling. That's not going to happen, but, say, everyone in the world cut back 1/3 of their meat consumption and reduced the livestock accordingly. That could have a major impact on global warming, and quite soon. Whereas carbon dioxide that stays in the atmosphere for so long. It's not going to have such an immediate impact on it and that's what we need is an immediate impact, because we're right there, as they call the tipping point.
-Mike Anderson – Author of DVD film EATING and book, The Rave Diet

And in a related story....(CNN) -- A Belgian city has decided to go "veggie" for a day in an effort to highlight the environmental and health costs of eating meat.

Ruth: "eating meat" means all meat - beef, pork, fish, game and foul.

Stock breeding is a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions.

The city authorities in Ghent, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Brussels, have declared Thursdays "Veggie Day," (Veggiedag) and are asking residents to get involved and opt for vegetarian meals at least one day a week.

It says Ghent is the first city in Europe to try such a scheme.

According to the city's campaign publicity, eating less meat can help to minimize the ecological footprint of your food because stock breeding has a detrimental impact on the environment.

It points to data from the United Nations which says livestock is responsible for generating around 18 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.

It is also hoped that Veggie Day will have a positive health impact in the fight against diet-related illnesses such as obesity, cancer and diabetes.

On Wednesday organizers provided residents with meat-free recipes and a list of vegetarian restaurants at a "launch party" in the center of the city. Ghent claims to have more vegetarian eateries per inhabitant than Paris, London and Berlin.

The organisers cite UN data arguing that meat production and consumption are to blame for 18% of greenhouse gases – more than cars. "If everyone in Flanders does not eat meat one day a week, we will save as much CO2 in a year as taking half a million cars off the road," said the EVA.
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Ruth: I'll say it again different than I've said it before. If we could come out of our cheeseburger induced happy haze for a minute and feel the true gravity of some of this relevant information being provided to us, we would change.

If the government didn't subsidize industrial meat farming, you would pay somewhere around $90.00 per pound of meat, which would make buying meat cost prohibitive on a regular basis anyway. Doesn't the idea of this make you stop and think?

C'mon people, wake UP!!
The American Diet consists of the following:
51 % Animal products = meat, dairy, fish, foul, game and pork
40 % Packaged and processed - SCARY and DANGEROUS.
4 % Fruits and veggies - HOW SAD IS THIS??!! -
5 % Grains

When you see statistics like this, and you know eating this way ourselves and feeding this diet to our children - who will not outlive their parents if we don't change what we feed them - don't you want to make DRASTIC changes and make them TODAY?
Don't you?

I mean, can we really continue to feel cool and cute going around saying things like "If it moves I'll eat it" or "I just love cheese tooooooo much". I mean really? Is that all we've got? If we're the GREAT AMERICA that we like to go around spewing that we are, we should really think about getting in the game with the big dogs in Belgium and make a MOVE already. Try to save ourselves, our children and the freakin' planet. Let's do this already.

October has pumpkins and pumpkins are delicious and easy to cook.

Potimarron soup = Mini pumpkin soup

INGREDIENTS: Small Pumpkin, white beans (dried), onions, carrots, leeks, spinach or chard (lots and lots of greens)
Directions:
1. Cut the pumpkin in half, clean out the middle and chop into large chunks (don't take off the peelings)
2. Dice the onions, the carrots and the leeks and water sautée them in a large stock pot for a couple of minutes.

3. Add the beans and the pumpkin

4. Cover with water about 3 inches over the top of the veggies and cook until the pumpkin is soft and falls apart and the beans are soft all the way through.

5. Add the spinach/chard/or other leafy green of your choice at the end.
6. Turn off the heat. Let the greens wilt. Mix them in with the soup and serve it up.


Eat it and feel proud. Leave out the salt.
Know that your body, your child's body, and the planet thank you.

Be well little cell.

The Salad is the Main Course

If we could really consider the gravity of these statistics, we would change.

The average American consumes 3600 calories per day, yet the Center for Disease Control estimates that 95% of all Americans are significantly undernourished.

The Center for Disease Control estimates that for the first time in our nation's history, the current generation of children will not live as long as their parents.

Source: Dr. Joel Fuhrman, Eat Right America Food Scoring Guide, www.EatRightAmerica.com

If you can't possibly make the jump to a mostly plant-based diet, Dr. Fuhrman recommends eating the salad first.

Feed yourself and your family a large salad first. Then serve the rest of the planned meal. Here is a list of high nutrient veggies. Build up those nutrients in your cells. Decrease the toxins.

Make the Salad the Main Course

Nutrient-dense, low calorie foods must be the backbone of any healthy diet. Rather than juggling proportions of fat, carbs and protein, we should focus on getting as many micronutrients (vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals) in as few calories as necessary. True hunger is satisfied by adequate micronutrients, not a set number of calories. You can eat many empty calories without feeling full. This is how you end up overweight. Or you can eat delicious foods that contain few calories but satisfy your hunger in addition to preventing heart disease and cancer, our two biggest American killers.

But what are these foods? Below is a list of the healthiest foods on the planet. Bon appetit!

Top 30 Superfoods / Nutrient Score
1. Collard, mustard and turnip greens 1000
2. Kale 1000
3. Watercress 1000
4. Bok choy 824
5. Spinach 739
6. Brussel sprouts 672
7. Swiss chard 670
8. Arugula 559
9. Radish 554
10. Cabbage 481
11. Bean sprouts 444
12. Red peppers 420
13. Romaine lettuce 389
14. Broccoli 376
15. Carrot juice 344
16. Tomatoes and tomato products 190-300
17. Cauliflower 295
18. Strawberries 212
19. Pomegranate juice 193
20. Blackberries 178
21. Plums 157
22. Raspberries 145
23. Blueberries 130
24. Papaya 118
25. Brazil nuts 116
26. Oranges 109
27. Tofu 86
28. Beans (all varieties) 55-70
29. Seeds: flaxseed, sunflower, sesame 45
30. Walnuts 29

And here's a quick and delicious salad dressing that we love

Raw almond butter - 1 or 2 tablespoon
Balsamic or fig vinegar - 1/3 cup
Unsweetened fruit juice - 4 tablespoons
Mix it up with a fork, don't add salt, pour it on and eat it up!

And until next time,
Be well little cell.

What's cookin' good lookin'?

This is an example of a nutrient dense dinner.
Dinner
Veggies, bean and rice taco-style sandwiches
Loads of Steamed Chard with sautéed shallots
Shredded Carrot and Mache Salad
Dessert
Basil Fruit salad with raw almonds, walnuts and sunflower seeds


First, a gentle reminder that cancers, diabetes and heart disease begin decades before they're even detected in the human body as symptoms and are primarily a result of our feeding practices. We'll touch more on our magical cell factories and they're machinery in later posts.

But me just say this again in a different way.
Diseases of affluence are diseases like cancers, diabetes and heart disease. These are the diseases that Americans are sick with more than any other country in the world. Cancer, diabetes, and heart disease are diet-related and most importantly, unnecessary diseases, people.

The war on Cancer is already won - if we let it be. It's already won with the veggies, fruits, beans, nuts and seeds as the unsung heroes in this epic battle. The battle is indeed epic too because the same high quality food heroes that can beat cancer and reverse heart disease and diabetes can also beat the asses of chronic migraine headaches, depression and autoimmune diseases.

If you want to live strong, don't wear a yellow rubber-band around your wrist and give your money to the next 3 day walk for the cure. Go to the freakin' produce isle and start eating the greenest stuff you can find and feed it to anyone who comes to your house for dinner. And feed that stuff to your kids too. They'll eat it if you eat it. They'll eat it if they have no other salty, sweety, *processed type stuff to choose from and you'll find a way to help them eat it if you understand that feeding them anything else on a regular basis is contributing to their future as a sick adult and even sicker nation.

*processed = any product that is sold to you in a package with more than 2 or 3 ingredients.

And don't be fooled if you think you're exempt. I thought my diet was pretty nutritious too until I had some very real diabetes symptoms. It's natural to think we're not the ones who'll be sick. But unless you eat a high nutrient, mostly plant-based diet, which means that 90% of what you eat is plant-based and high nutrient, you're not exempt. Even if you don't have symptoms of disease now does not mean the disease process hasn't begun in your body. Childhood feeding practices play a large and important role the disease process.

Take an honest look at what you eat each day and then recognize that the act of eating and what you put in your mouth is one of the most powerful acts you take part in each and everyday. You could provide for yourself and your family a powerful act of kindness, respect and healing by introducing a new nutrient dense way of eating into your life. You and your children could live a healthy, long, uninterrupted, pleasurable life without prescription medications and without the fear of chronic, debilitating illness in old age.

So, give yourself the gift of a few hours to play around in the kitchen. Give yourself the gift of spending some time with beautiful food magical enough to reverse even the most stubborn diseases. Give yourself and your family the gift of making your kitchen a happy and vital place to be. You're making the home. It's a lost art. And it's a gift that can help save humans and the planet.
Seriously, how can you refuse?
The quantities that you buy of these ingredients will depend on how many people you're feeding. We cook for the 2 of us and we eat a lot. It may take some experimenting to find out how much you need to buy and cook for yourselves. Make enough so that you actually get full and if you make too much, the leftovers are fantastic the next day.

When we first started shopping in the bulk and produce isles, it seemed rather expensive, but then we crunched the numbers and we were spending about the same amount of money that we would spend going out, taking out and buying packaged and processed meals and foods.

When we began buying most of our foods in the produce isle and local open air markets, the quality of our food increased, which means the nutrient levels in our cells increased, which means our cell factories, the magic factories that make up our entire body, have less toxins and more nutrients. And the garbage we made by buying less packaged product decreased, including recycling, which is still ultimately garbage. So take note that when you shop this way, you buy less in the way of packaging. Children and the planet will thank you since you won't be contributing as much to our hidden and dangerous landfills.


Sidenote: Eating a high nutrient diet is the most effective fight against the Swine Flu. Your immune system gets strong by feeding the cells micronutrients. The most nutrient dense foods are plant-based. Bottom line. So eat the veggies, beans, nuts and seeds first. And then wash your hands about 3,000 times a day. In that order.

So, on with the menu for tonight along with a few recommendations.

We recommend you really try and give yourself plenty of time to cook and make the atmosphere in your kitchen enjoyable. My favorite atmosphere changes regularly depending on the season and such : ) Right now, I'm really enjoying good jazz and a glass of quafable red wine with Mati at the table too. I cook, he DJ's and we chat each other up. We've been enjoying Art Blakey lately with a little Herbie Hancock thrown in. But it changes frequently.

The ingredients are documented below in the form of a shopping list. You should only have to go to a few isles in the grocery store; the produce isle, the isles with the grains and beans and maybe the section with the condiments.

Shopping list:
Beans and grains section
Whole wheat (organic) flour (3 cups)
Bulk dry kidney beans or a bag
Brown basmati rice
Produce Section
Red leaf lettuce
Mache or Baby Spinach
Cucumbers
Red peppers
Yellow peppers
Red onions
Tomatoes
Carrots
Avocados
Shallots
Swiss chard
(Buy and make lots of this. It's highly nutritious and delicious and should be a major part of your meal)
Bananas
Melons
Oranges
Any other fruits you'd like to mix in. The more variety, the better. Go for it!!
Nuts - Make sure they're unsalted and preferably not roasted
Pine nuts
Walnuts
Almonds
Sunflower seeds
Condiments and Spices
Stone ground dijon mustard- unsalted
Balsamic vinegar
Dried onion flakes (A delicious staple in our kitchen)
Bay leaves

I’ll keep this as simple as I can. Read the instructions first and print it if you need to and most of all Have FUN

Okay, so in the order of efficiency, first put your kidney beans on to cook.
You'll want 3 parts water to 1 part kidney beans and 2 bay leaves.
Bring them to a boil and then turn them down to medium heat.
They'll need an hour or an hour and a half to cook.
You'll know when they're done because you can pierce them easily all the way through with a fork.
Whole Wheat Tortilla Time
3 cups of whole wheat flour(organic, preferably) in a big bowl
1 cup of water added gradually and you mix with your hands
Work the mixture into an elastic-y ball of dough and then divide it into about 12 or 13 equal dough balls.
Heat a non-stick pan on medium heat.
On a smooth surface, roll a dough ball into a little flat tortilla and cook it for 30-40 seconds on each side. (you’ll need extra flour to use for your surface so the dough doesn’t stick to the rolling pin or the surface you’re rolling on)
If you don’t have a rolling pin, which I didn’t for a while, you can use a bottle. It works too.
Or you can just stretch them out. Be creative.
You may need to remove your pan from the heat from time to time until you get your timing down. Rolling the dough and cooking your tillas at the same time can be tricky but its you’ll get it.
If you can’t bear the thought of this, buy yourselves some quality whole wheat tortillas without salt. – but I highly encourage the handmade method. It’s like working on art in the kitchen. You are a painter, sculpture, artist person with magic tools and even if its hard at first, it will eventually be rewarding. Your kids will think its fun too.

Next the Rice.
Once you put your beans on to cook, in a medium pot, put 2 parts water to 1 part rice and bring that puppy to a boil.
Then turn in down to a simmer and let it cook for 15 minutes or so.
You’ll know when it’s done because the water will have cooked away and the rice will taste yummy ; )

Wash and chop your veggies
Wash your red leaf lettuce and shred it. Put it aside or in a big bowl or something on the table.
Peel the cucumber if it’s not organic and slice it into thin rounds or match sticks or whatever shape you feel like. Be creative. and then put them on a platter or in big bowl.
Slice your red peppers. and put them in with the cucumbers
Slice your yellow peppers and put them in with the cucumber too
Slice your red onions very thin. Very thin so as not to overpower the other veggie flavors and put them in with the cucumbers too.

Check on your rice if you haven’t been.
And your beans.
Maybe give yourself a refill on the vino : )

Wash your swiss chard and chop it.
Use those big white celery like stems too. Rich in nutrients.
Slice your shallots

Now for the Dessert.
Chop, slice and dice all the fruit and put it in a big salad bowl.
Put the salad bowl in the fridge to chill.
Coursely chop the walnuts and almonds and put them aside to top the fruit salad.
Keep some extra fruit washed and by the whole piece in a bowl for those who’d like more dessert. Plus it looks so pretty on the table. You’ll have a fruit frenzy.

Next make your Carrot Mache Salad
Grate at least 4 carrots. I like about 1-2 carrots per person. You’ll have A LOT of grated carrot.
Put the carrots in a big salad bowl.
Diced your tomatoes small. Throw 'em in with the carrots.
Wash and coursely chop the mache. If you don’t have mache, baby spinach will work too.
Put that in the bowl with the carrots and tomatoes.
Add Balsamic vinergar and mustard to taste.
Mix a handful of pine nuts in there and you’re good to go.

When your beans are done cooking, and you’re just about ready to eat, time for chard steam.
Water sautée your shallots
When they’re translucent, add all that magic swiss chard.
Turn off the heat, add a lid and let the chard wilt.
Put it in a bowl on the table.

Put in all on the table.
Eat it up.

Divide the chard between the peeps eating and serve it up.
Combine the beans and rice in a bowl and give everyone a hearty helping.
Put the nice warm pile of tortillas on the table.
The mustard too.
The dried onion flakes.
Put the carrot mache salad out too. Give everyone a hefty helping of that.
Isn’t it pretty?
And the giant bowl of mixed veggies.
Chop the avocados and put those on the table too

Me, I like to spread mustard on my tortillas
then smash some bean and rice mixture
add all the veggies I can and eat it like a taco. It’s my favorite.

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Until next time,
Be well little cell.