superfood fatigue and quinoa fritters

I have been feeling a little despondent about cooking lately, not as enthusiastic as I'd previously been. Over the weekend a name was put to how I'm feeling- superfood fatigue.

I'm getting tired of doing the superfood dance. I have seen enough kale to last me a lifetime. But I'm definitely not alone. Maybe how I'm feeling has driven my reading, but at the moment there are a few people having a diet crisis, questioning the longevity of the paleo/vegan/elimination/sugar-free lifestyle. Have a look here and here and here for some really interesting insights into people dealing with the big, daily issue of what and how to eat.

bone stock

I got a few fat beef marrow bones yesterday and put them in a pot to make stock. I'm drinking some now.
Bone stocks are a fundamental element of the wholefood way of eating and symbol of the tenets of this regime- heal, nourish, delight. Bone stocks are a deeply nourishing, warming and delightful treat for your body.

As a chef, stock making is a foundation skill that all my cooking is based on. But at home I'd given it up. Couldn't be bothered.
Too much trouble.
Too fiddly.
What was I thinking?

the new regime, old habits and breakfast

As I mentioned earlier, I have been on an elimination diet to reduce inflammation for about three months. But for the past month I have been wavering, attempting to see which foods I can re-introduce. This process is difficult for me, because I have long standing and deeply entrenched diet mentality, which generally means if I am 'off' then it is 'on', a free for all. I found it hard to re-introduce one food at a time, because, well, dairy products usually accompany eggs, and wheat, in the from of 'cake' or 'muffins'....you see? One in, all in. On it, or off it.

The first disruption to the good diet routine was the change in weather. The breakfast shake was making me feel cold and sluggish, and it goes against all the TCM advice about the best foods to eat for this time of year. As you'd expect in autumn, I was craving hot oats, toast and peanut butter, gallons of tea.

So I gave in. Ate that stuff. Got achy, got loopy in the mind, got cross with myself. Decided that being on the regime was better than being off it and so I'd have to work out the new way to live with this diet, because it was here to stay.

not always so serious

All day long I talk about food, and wholefood, how to cook food, ways of thinking about food, and the benefits of eating wholefood. All day. I'm surprised anyone even likes me. I can see how I could be a bit boring and/or intimidating. Food is a subject I'm passionate about, and more recently my passion has included the subject of how one's health is so deeply connected to what one consumes.

When you are into wholefood, once you have gained an understanding of what that means, you find yourself spending a lot of time soaking, fermenting, sprouting, culturing, boiling, braising and washing foods to prepare them to be eaten. It all becomes very serious, the tasks of breaking down nutrient inhibitors, removing toxic layers, encouraging good bacterial growth. It's all about what you must do to the food, before the food can work for you. Serious stuff.

so easy to make, you'll never buy it again - Almond Milk

Recently I embarked on an anti-inflammatory diet regime. I say 'embarked' because it is a journey and I am still on the path, having ventured off it to my detriment. The beauty of this diet is that, for me, the results (decreased pain) were swift and the consequences of wavering from the regime were equally as swift (returned pain).

The 3 week elimination diet kickstarts with a shake, meal, shake system, which I totally ignored, because no regime that denies me dinner is ever going to stick. Luckily I am a chef and once I unearthed the rules and reasoning I was able to adapt the ingredients of a shake to a meal with no loss of effect (well, I think, anyway!)

But the breakfast shake was a hit, I loved them and the world of superfoods opened up to me. There was just one icky part for me- finding acceptable milk replacements.

buckwheat for Jan

 At times, as the years have passed in my cooking life, I have found an ingredient or a process posing a challenge for me. As time has passed I discovered that if I think about something long enough, read the recipes, think, read, think, eventually I find myself reaching a point where I get out the ingredients (which I have amassed during the thinking phase) and make something..considered.

Reading recipes is not always a preparation to actually make that dish. It assists with my understanding of how the ingredient can be handled, how other people think about using it, the potential of the ingredient. Much to my husbands chargrin, I rarely follow recipes (he is meticulous and thorough, he shudders at my answers when questioned about how much of anything has gone into a dish,). I tend to gain an understanding through reading, then take the element I want to work on and start to build up practice.

Cooking quinoa and Ottolenghi

I have been watching with delight the SBS cooking series by London based Israeli chef Yotam Ottolenghi. His classic home-style dishes, coupled with this unending enthusiasm for cuisine from his home region and his brillliant style with food has re-ignited my interest in Middle Eastern food.

The food of this region is steeped in history and culture, locality and availability, tradition and ceremony. The culture is of the table, people regularly plan to eat together and share food, even in the most informal of circumstances. It is a beautiful and forgotten part of our life, the importance of the table and the need to anchor the day (especially for a family) by sitting to eat together. It seems that for so many people today 'dinnertime' is so easily pushed aside to make way for other activities, to the detriment of everyone, I think.