A Delicious Life

Some of my clients have trouble with sweets. They crave them for various reasons, and frequently people will come to me for help in quitting sweets.

Getting sugar out of your diet can seem like an insurmountable task at times. If you eat anything somewhat processed, or any restaurant food at all, you’re likely to be eating sugar. The worst part is that you don’t even know it most of the time.

When you first start cutting sugar out of your diet, you might find yourself going through severe withdrawal. To ease some of the discomfort, try adding in some sweet vegetables into your diet. Add sweet-smelling spices like cinnamon and cardamom to your veggies, and you might not even notice that you don’t have a bit of sugar on them.

Start with any 2-5 of these vegetables:

Corn, carrots, onions, beets, winter squash, sweet potato, turnips, parsnips and rutabaga

1. Chop the hardest ones - like carrots and root veggies - into smaller pieces. Softer veggies, like onions, can be cut into chunks

2. Layer vegetables in a pot, hardest ones on the bottom - the bottom layer will cook more.

3. Add about 1 inch of water to the pot. Cook until veggies are soft.

4. Empty veggies into a bowl. Sprinkle with spices as desired. Use cooking water as a hot beverage or delicious sweet sauce

I am a big fan of kichadis (sometimes pronounced kitch-e-rees), especially in the winter. The cool thing about them is that they are a really easy one-pot dish that is a complete meal - you get your veggies, grains and beans all in one bowl.  They’re  easy to digest, and they are very good for balancing and healing your digestive system.

I made this one last night and I ate it for breakfast. Think soup is weird for breakfast? Try it yourself and see if you change your mind:

1 cup brown basmati rice
1/2 cup split mung dal
1-2 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter)
1 tablespoon garam masala
6 cups water
1 onion, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 more tablespoon garam masala
1 more tablespoon ghee
2 more cups water
2-4 cups chopped vegetables - try carrots, turnips, celery, greens, green beans, or whatever else you like
salt to taste

Method: Rinse rice and split mung, removing any debris.  Heat ghee in a large pot and add garam masala. When spices start to heat up and smell good, add in rice and split mung and saute for a couple of minutes. Add water, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

In a saute pan, heat up ghee and add chopped onion, garlic and more garam masala. Saute  until veggies get soft and fragrant. Remove from heat, and place in a blender with the 2 cups of water. Blend until smooth. Add mixture into pot with the cooking rice and beans. Stir, and add in chopped vegetables. Cook until veggies are soft, about 20 more minutes. Add salt at the end. Enjoy

This is one of my favorite breakfast recipes. It is especially soothing in the winter months when you need a little more warmth and heat to keep you going. It’s spicy and just a little sweet - and a good chance to try out some cinnamon. This is a very forgiving recipe that can be adapted and changed to your tastes.

Breakfast Rice
Serves 1

Ingredients
3/4  cup cooked brown rice
3-4  tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1-2  teaspoons ghee (clarified butter)
1-2  teaspoons raw honey
dash of sea salt

Method

Combine rice, water, and spices in a small saucepan over the stove on medium high heat, stirring occasionally or in the microwave for 1 1/2 minutes.  When heated thoroughly, remove from heat and place in serving bowl. Add ghee, honey and salt as desired. Eat and enjoy.

Variations

• Try different grains such as buckwheat, millet, oat groats, rye, or quinoa
• Instead of water, you can try heating will a little soy or almond milk for a more creamy flavor
• For a savory version, omit the honey and add savory spices instead of sweet ones - try cayenne pepper, oregano, cumin or sage.
• For a lower-fat version, reduce or omit the ghee

I enjoy lots of spices on my food. I find that so many people neglect to add spice. The most that some people add is salt and pepper. But what about all of the other yummy flavorings that you can add to enhance the flavor of your food? They not only make your food taste better, but they can also keep you healthy and happy. Many spices have healing properties as you will discover when you start to incorporate them into your cooking.

Cinnamon is a tree bark that is usually found dried and rolled up in a “stick” or “quill” form that can be used as is or ground up into fine powder. “True cinnamon” is the variety that comes from Celyon, and it is sweeter and more delicate than what we typically find in the U.S. - Chinese cinnamon.

Why cinnamon is good for you:

• Cinnamon is known as an anti-inflammatory and can prevent unwanted blood clotting.
• Its essential oils are antimicrobial, meaning that it can be used to stop the growth of bacteria and fungi, including Candida.
• Using cinnamon on a high-carbohydrate food can lower the impact that it has on your blood sugar.
• Cinnamon is great for people with type 2 diabetes who wish to maintain more normal blood sugar levels.
• Cinnamon is an excellent source of manganese, and is a good source of dietary fiber, calcium and iron.

Try cinnamon in your morning smoothie, on toast, in Mexican beans, or Middle Eastern-styled dishes. It can be a nice addition to teas, or as a tea on its own, or in your morning hot cereal. Experiment with cinnamon in your dishes and see how it enhances the flavors.

There is a great piece about the history of spices on NPR - how they were brought around the world and contributed to the discovery of the Americas. Columbus was really looking for spices, not the new world. Most of what he took back were not actually spices, but he did manage to bring one — the chili pepper.

I love to use spices in my cooking, and I frequently experiment with different flavors. I don’t really like using recipes when I cook - I prefer to imagine what flavors would go with whatever it is that I’m making. Most of the time, my dishes come out pretty good.

Many spices have amazing healing properties. If you cook with a variety of them regularly, you can greatly improve your health. I will start posting short articles about health benefits of different herbs and spices, and maybe you, too, will be inspired to spice up your dishes.