Healthy Autumn Fruit Cobbler

I admit that I’m hopelessly plagued by a persuasive sweet tooth. Holidays like Halloween and Thanksgiving bring gastronomical temptations galore, trumping my otherwise healthy diet. You can imagine my excitement for Sweet Gratitude: A New World of Raw Desserts, a book chalk full of delicious guilt-free recipes! In honor of our current “Season of Temptation,” I’d like to share this delectable prescription for Pear, Persimmon, and Pomegranate Fruit Cobbler (from Sweet Gratitude). Good luck in your kitchen endeavors, and enjoy!

Fruit Cobbler

Makes one 9×9x2-inch pan of cobbler

WALNUT CRUST/TOPPING
3 cups walnuts
2 ounces date paste (weight)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon liquid vanilla
⅛ teaspoon salt

Process all ingredients until walnuts are still slightly chunky. Once ready, separate the crust into two equal portions. Sprinkle one portion evenly over bottom of pan and lightly compact. Reserve the other portion for the topping.

FRUIT FILLING
8 cups sliced fruit of your choice
(any combination of fruit or berries)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons agave syrup (optional)
1 tablespoon liquid vanilla
11/2 teaspoons cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon salt

FRUIT FILLING DIRECTIONS
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Evenly distribute the filling on top of the crust. Then crumble the remaining crust on top of the fruit and gently press. Decorate with fresh fruit slices.

Variations: Use pecans instead of walnuts for the crust/topping. This cobbler lends itself to endless variations of fruit that can be used. Be creative—use what you love and what is in season for the best result. Some of our favorite cobbler combinations are:
Apple/strawberry, white peach/raspberry/mango, pear/persimmon/pomegranate, and berry medley cobbler (blueberry/strawberry/ raspberry/blackberry).

Storage and life span: This dessert is best on the day it is made. Over subsequent days the cobbler will begin to juice and the nuts will get soggy. Keep covered in the fridge for up to two days.

Want to try your hand at Raw Cacao Fudge? CLICK HERE for the recipe.

Healthy Macrobiotic Kitchen: Corn, Asparagus, Tuna, Parsnip Fries, and Salad Recipe

To me, this photo speaks for itself. A simple and nutritious meal for one, the recipe can easily be multiplied to feed more mouths. Simon Brown recommends Corn, Asparagus, Tuna, Parsnip Fries, and Salad as a perfectly balanced macrobiotic lunch. From Macrobiotics for Life: A Practical Guide to Healing Body, Mind, and Heart (Summer 2009).

What is your ideal lunch? C’mon, impress us!

Corn, Asparagus, Tuna, Parsnip Fries, and Salad

1⁄2 to 1 ear of corn on the cob (depends how hungry you are)
1⁄4 piece of umeboshi*
2 to 4 asparagus tips
1 parsnip, around 6 inches long, cut into large matchsticks
Olive oil for frying
1 to 2 tablespoons of rice or chickpea flour (or you can use any other flour you have on hand)
Sea salt (to taste)
A 3– to 4–inch piece of fresh, preferably line-caught, tuna
3 to 4 tablespoons unhulled sesame seeds (either brown or black)
Pea-sized portion of mustard (English, French, or any other good-quality, sugar- and additive-free mustard that you enjoy)
2 to 4 radishes thinly sliced
A few fresh lettuce leaves
Sesame or sunflower oil for seasoning (optional)
Cress for garnishing (optional)

Pour water into a pot big enough to give the corn plenty of room. Bring to a boil over a medium to high flame and cook the corn for around 5 to 10 minutes. Take it out, let it cool for a few minutes (or until it’s cool enough to handle) and then gently and lovingly rub the umeboshi all over it. Put it on your plate.

Use the same water to quickly blanch the asparagus for one minute (or, for a change, you could place a bamboo steamer on top of the pot and steam the asparagus for a couple of minutes). Take asparagus out and leave it to cool, or rinse it under cold water to stop it from cooking further.

Boil the parsnip matchsticks for about 5 minutes. Take them out and dry them with an unbleached paper towel or a cotton kitchen towel.

Heat up some olive oil in a skillet (you can use a bit more oil than usual, as parsnip absorbs more than most other vegetables). Combine the flour and salt, and roll each piece of parsnip in the mixture. Fry for a few minutes, turning so the parsnips get lovely golden color on all sides.

Place them on your plate next to the corn.

Switch the flame off and swipe the skillet with a clean paper towel—make sure you have plenty of paper so you don’t burn your fingers—to clean up any bits left from the parsnip. Alternatively, you could either get another skillet (if you have one) or give the one you used for the parsnip a quick wash, taking every precaution not to burn your hands.

Bring the clean skillet back onto the stove, pour in some olive oil, and heat it up. Put the sesame seeds into a flat dish and gently press each side of the tuna into them. Fry for a minute or so on each side, making sure that the middle remains raw. Take it out and put on the plate. Put mustard on top of the tuna (you can gently smear it over the surface if you’d like). Add the lettuce leaves, and place radish and asparagus on top. You can season the salad if you wish. However, both the tuna and the parsnips are quite rich, so it is nice to have something unseasoned and fresh-tasting as a contrast.

* umeboshi=pickled plums

I hope you’re all as inspired as I am! I encourage you to share your cooking adventures, from mishaps to accomplishments, and from one healthy kitchen to the next.

Important Message from Sergei Boutenko

Check out this important message from one of our favorite North Atlantic Books authors—raw foodist Sergei Boutenko!

CLICK HERE to learn more about the Boutenko books!

Change Your Diet, Change Your Life

If you’ve paid any attention to the media in the last few decades, you’ve probably come across the term “macrobiotics.” After all, Gwyneth Paltrow, Joe Pesci, and Madonna are ardent followers of the diet. As we’ve seen in the news, it’s become a popular natural remedy for fighting cancers. But what is macrobiotics really, and what’s all the hype about?

Simon Brown, author of the highly popular book Modern-Day Macrobiotics, doesn’t just brush over these answers in his new book Macrobiotics for Life, but explains the ins and outs of the macrobiotic lifestyle, taking an insightful look at everything from sleep cycles to offering daily recipes that have the power to truly change your mental state.

Why are people so excited about it? There is a laundry list of reasons why people are adhering to macrobiotic principles:

1.) To lose weight and look good

2.) For recovery from serious illnesses

3.) It tastes delicious

4.) For love of its philosophy and the connection to nature

5.) Ecological reasons

6.) It enhances focus and increases energy

7.) For insurance against later diseases

In its simplest form, the diet consists of foods low in fat and high in fiber, including a variety of vegetables, whole grains, and unfermented foods. While , to some, macrobiotics is simply a health-conscious relationship with food, Brown goes much further, preaching macrobiotics as a way of transforming every area of our lives, such as how weather affects our moods, and nutrition in children. Brown incorporates self-reflection, adjusting attitudes, and core beliefs as an essential part of the process of transformation. Brown studied under Michio Kushi, who has been credited with bringing the Macrobiotic Diet to the U.S. in the 1960’s. Brown takes a friendly and positive approach to the lifestyle, focusing on empowering students and clients rather than enslaving them to a strict and gruesome regimen. His celebrity clients include Boy George, Alicia Silverstone, and Michael Maloney.

Here are some interesting quick-facts from the book:

* Primitive foods such as sea vegetables, fermented foods, and shellfish may encourage us to think more about our primal desires for sex and survival.

* Modern processed soy foods such as soy milk, yogurt, cheese, spreads, and sausages may increase the risk of degenerative brain disease.

* Strong stimulants such as alcohol, caffeine, and sugar can open our heart centers chaotically.

* We can time how long food takes to travel through our digestive systems by swallowing whole kernels of corn.

* Gravity plays a part in digestion, and sitting up straight during and after a meal can improve digestion.

* Our skin is the biggest and heaviest organ we have.

* Chanting, singing, or talking can vibrate bones in our bodies that massage the surrounding tissue.

* Symptoms of being too ‘yin’ include feeling cold, being lethargic, feeling depressed, having clammy skin, and having a victim mentality. Symptoms of being too ‘yang’ include feeling hot or irritible, having dry mouth or itchy skin, being angry, stressed, and obsessing about details.

Brown urges readers to give the macrobiotic lifestyle a try. “We can easily go back to the way things were if a change doesn’t work out well for us.” Here at North Atlantic Books we attempt to keep followers in the know on leading innovations in health, heart, and mind and hope you find Macrobiotics for Life as inspiring as we have.

What is your experience or opinion on the macrobiotics diet? Are there aspects that you like and other parts that you disagree with?

A Soup for All Seasons

Until I had my first transcendent sip of creamy clam chowder, I was under the impression that soup could only be a clear, lightly flavored broth to clear the palate after a meal. Growing up as the child of Chinese immigrants, I remember asking for my favorite — winter melon soup — for my 12th birthday. It was (and is) a fragrant amber liquid with translucent rectangles of winter melon and pork so soft and mild it melts off the bone.

As a vegetarian, I miss this soup a lot. Fortunately, I now have A Tradition of Soup to fall back on. More patient and maybe just a little more knowledgeable than my mother, this is a treasure trove of Chinese soups and wisdom, from the light tong I grew up with to heartier rice porridges and noodle soups. Author Teresa Chen delves into the philosophy behind Chinese soup, its many ingredients and healing properties within Chinese herbal medicine, techniques and equipment for both quick and slow soups, and just about everything you could think to ask about soup.

(An illustrated glossary with color photos and pronunciation guides empowers even the tyro Chinese soup maker to march boldly into an Asian supermarket and emerge with the right ingredients. Chinese is a difficult language to pronounce, but being able to point at a photo and gesticulate should land you that elusive dried bird’s nest or tree fungus.)

And of course there are the recipes: a huge variety of soups for every taste, function, and season. From a quick, colorful spinach and tofu soup to a medicinal ginseng chicken stew, there’s something for everyone — including vegetarians craving winter melon soup. In the vegetarian section, I was delighted to find:

Four Items Plus Winter Melon Soup

(A balancing, cooling soup)

• 1/4 cup lotus seeds
• 1 piece Mandarin orange peel (about 1/3 of a whole peel)
• 3 TBS foxnuts (1 oz), rinsed
• 1 cup raw pearl barley (2 oz), rinsed
• 3 honey dates, rinsed
• 2 lbs winter melon, scrubbed, seeded, and cut into 2″ cubes with rind on
• 3 carrots, peeled and roll-cut into 2″ pieces (optional)
• 3 thin slices peeled fresh ginger
• 4 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced (optional)
• 1/4 cup lily bulb scales (1 oz), rinsed

Rinse and soak lotus seeds in warm water for 1 hr, drain, and remove any green centers. Soak Mandarin peel, drain, and scrape off and discard the white pith.

In a large pot, combine lotus seeds, orange peel, foxnuts, barley, and dates with 2 1/2 quarts water and bring to boil over high heat. Continue to cook for 30 min. Add winter melon, carrots, and ginger, return to a boil, then reduce to medium and simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Add fresh mushrooms and lily bulb scales and cook for an additional 30 minutes. Serve hot.

***

Short of having a wise Chinese grandmother with the time and inclination to teach you, A Tradition of Soup is the next best thing. Impressively thorough and full of delicious and unusual recipes, this book may just open up your qi and tonify your blood. It will, at the very least, offer you a rich sampling of Chinese food culture, kitchen lore, and soups.

This post was written by our marketing intern Jennifer.

CLICK HERE to read more about A Tradition of Soup.

CLICK HERE to see all of North Atlantic’s books on food and healing.