Oh, A Sprouting We Will Go -- Beans, Grains and Seeds

I have been sprouting beans, seeds, nuts and grains on and off for years. But only recently have I been talking about it with the people that I teach. I thought that it might have been too hippie-like but with the advent of the raw foods movement, along with food safety concerns, sprouting at home seems to be the "right thing to do" right now. There's a chapter on sprouting in RJ Ruppenthal's wonderful book Fresh Food from Small Spaces -- worth getting if you want to grow things.

Here's one of my earlier posts on sprouting.

Well, I am not the only veg RD who thinks that. In fact, Dina Aronson, RD, of the Vegan RD blog has a number of posts about sprouting, with photos. I just wrote about this in my most recent email newsletter. And I have my own photos but I will only post one here.


Until I was teaching yesterday, I hadn't realized that doctors were telling their patients to avoid eating and buying sprouts because they are dangerous. I'm surprised that they remembered that there were food safety outbreaks involving sprouts.


I do not believe that there is anything inherently wrong with sprouting or the seeds. I think that you have to use clean water and maintain hygiene. It's kind of like home canning. Most people get botulism from what they've canned themselves. But that's another story. For now, I'll stick to sprouts. To get the cute sprouter (the Sproutmaster Mini) that you see here, check out The Sprout House online.




Let me know how your sprouting is going by emailing me jill@theveggiequeen.com or leaving a comment below.

More on Flax Your Baking Muscles Recipe Contest

In an attempt to avoid restating everything about the contest, here are more details.

You may enter more than one baked recipe that contains flax but you can only win one prize. Recipes must be original and will become property of The Veggie Queen and Flax USA.

Grand prize is a 12 month supply of flax (ground or whole seed; you choose). Three runners up will win three 12 ounce shakers of Ground Flax Sprinkles and three packages of Roasted Golden Flax Seed Snacks.

Your recipe must contain at least 3 tablespoons of flax, in any form. You may use any type of flour in the recipe, and gluten-free recipes are welcome and appreciated.

Bake something vegan, lowfat, fat-free or any other alternative baking, if you like. You can use sugar, stevia, agave, or other natural sweeteners. The critical decision for the winning recipe is that it has to taste great.

Savory recipes are appreciated just as much as the sweet ones.

Standard recipe format works well and we encourage it:
List of ingredients in order of use, instructions, how many it serves or makes, the usual stuff in a recipe. A note about how you came up with it or why you really like it is good, too.

You must be 18 to enter. You do not need to be a blogger. Please post the name of the recipe on this blog in the comments section and send the entire recipe with your name, email and phone number to flax@crierpr.com.

The winners will be chosen on March 10th and notified by March 16th.

Happy baking.

More on Healthy Eating, Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks

I am thankful that I have my husband Rick to teach me new tricks, or is it the other way around? If I didn't have him, I'd have to rely on my dog as the subject for many of my stories. And when it comes to eating habits there's not much to learn from my dog. He pretty much eats the same dry food every day, except sometimes I remember to put the flax oil, ground flax and/or seaweed sprinkles on his dry kibble. Otherwise, nothing new there. But for the husband, on the other hand, there's often progress toward healthier eating, even if it's in baby steps.

My husband has always asked for flour tortillas - the white kind, very pliable, can be rolled well and have plenty of fat. I have managed to switch him to the organic olive oil brown type that they carry at Trader Joe's. It turns out, though, that when I bothered to read the label, they weren't really much different than the white organic type, or than the regular flour ones. I've tried buying the healthier white tortillas, made by a number of different companies, but my husband complains, something that the dog rarely does. (And if he does, I am able to ignore him.)

I prefer corn tortillas. My favorites are Food For Life sprouted organic corn tortillas and also locally produced hand made organic corn tortillas, which I buy at the farmer's market. I like the latter so much that I was reluctant to share them. But one day my husband saw me eating some yummy looking soft taco, with one of my mish-mash fillings containing vegetables (think tempeh and broccoli or sprouted garbanzos, onion and potato), and asked for a bite. After that he told me that he liked those tortillas and would eat them instead of the flour type, although one cannot make burritos with corn tortillas.

I also eat Alvarado Street Bakery sprouted wheat tortillas, Food for Life Ezekiel tortillas or some other dark version but my husband flat out rejects them. So I still buy the others that he likes when it's burrito time. Now the problem is that I have to share the oh-so-delicious corn tortillas (at $5 per dozen) with him. But in the interest of his health, I am happy to do so, at least most of the time. At least I don't have to share all my great finds with the dog.

Organic Steel Cut Oats at Jamba Juice

As I walked from my car to the bank, I passed Jamba Juice. Since I don't drink juice, especially not gargantuan smoothies with more than a meal's worth of calories and sugar, not associated, with dark chocolate, I usually don't pay attention to the place. But there on the window was a big poster for Steel Cut Oats and how they've gone beyond instant oatmeal. And to sweeten the deal they are organic and topped with brown sugar (you're supposed to laugh now). They're cooked with soymilk, which seems an odd choice to me but maybe they think that it's what people want, and maybe they do.

The juice joint was packed at 5:30 p.m. I don't understand it, and I know that it wasn't for the steel cut oats because those are only available until 11 a.m. They did offer 3 different toppings for the oats: fresh banana with cinnamon brown sugar crumble, blueberry and blackberry compote with brown sugar crumble and apple cinnamon with an apple compote and brown sugar crumble. These are certainly a step up from instant and for $2.95 might be a decent deal. If I'm ever traveling or find myself starving near a Jamba Juice, I might give their organic steel cut oats a try. But honestly when I'm home, with 3 minutes at pressure in my pressure cooker, for far less than $2.95 I could invite you and a few of your neighbors for breakfast, and we can use organic agave and fruit in-season to top our bowls.

The Veggie Queen Shares Vegetable Advice for You

Generally, I don't do a lot of linking to other blogs because I so enjoy writing. Sometimes, though, someone else has written something as well or better than I can. So why reinvent the wheel?

This post was written by Jessica Porter on a blog titled A Grain a Day. You already know that I am into grains but Jessica wrote about vegetables, relating to macrobiotics. I have very strong macro leanings but I am not a full-fledged any-particular-thing. What I choose to eat is my best distillation of the wisdom I possess along with what's in season where I am, and more likely what's in the pantry and refrigerator.

I've run across The Vegan Coach blog more than once. I like the descriptions and how Sassy changes a meal by changing the sauce. It's a concept that I've shared for years, Sassy spells it out so nicely that I wanted to share it with you.

I have resolved that 2009 will be the year that I work smarter and not harder, so I am going to be sharing more of what others do so that I can focus more on what I do -- provide new and interesting information and videos (check me out on You Tube at TheVQ and feel free to rate my videos) related to vegetarian, vegan and pressure cooking, as well as live teaching and speaking.

I have a number of new classes coming up this year that aren't yet posted to my website but include alternative baking, live foods including fermentation, sprouting and salads and a market to table class. I may blog about them before they ever get posted to my website http://www.theveggiequeen.com/.

I always wish you a healthy and happy day but now it's time to wish you a Happy New Year.

Never Too Much Cinnamon for Me

When I eat my special morning cereal, made in the pressure cooker in 3 minutes at pressure, I always add a cinnamon stick during cooking. When it's done, I and then top the bowl with powdered cinnamon; using the word sprinkle hardly describes it. It helps with my blood sugar and I adore the taste.

My son used to chew on cinnamon sticks when he was younger and I let him. I guess that he inherited the cinnamon gene. My husband doesn't comment on it and rarely eats it. To each their own.

Once I mistakenly grabbed cinnamon instead of pizza spice when making pizza and the cinnamon sugar pizza was born in my house. Like cinnamon toast but even better, on the crunchy thin crust. It became one of my son's favorite meals, although I didn't make it often.

This post by Talli sums up cinnamon and its health benefits. I think that the best reason to eat it is because it tastes so good.

Millet on My Mind, Gluten-Free and Yummy, Too

Just recently I posted about millet on my pressure cooking blog. My colleague Robin Asbell wrote an article for Mother Earth News about millet.

Read these 2 pieces and then get some millet onto your plates or in your bowls. While quinoa is one of my gluten-free favorite grains, the price now hovers around $4 a pound. Millet is still in the $1 per pound range and you can't beat that.

Millet is wonderful served savory or sweet and goes well with many herbs and spices. I would, of course, veganize Robin's wonderful recipes, except for the Sunshine Millet Porridge with Apricots and Carrots which sounds wonderful as is.

When you want to eat healthy, hearty, highly digestible whole grains, put millet on your list.

Trip to Cafe Gratitude and Thumbprint Cellars Tasting Lounge: Healdsburg, California

Last week I met my friend and Colleague, Kathy Nichols of http://healthyhabitscoach.com/, for lunch at Cafe Gratitude. Those of you who aren't all cheery and upbeat all the time might find the place a bit too much. For instance, your server will ask you to think about the question for the day. Ours, I believe, was, "what are you most grateful for today?" While I certainly didn't spend a lot of time thinking about it, I did notice that our server didn't check back to find out our answers. (Be aware that sometimes they do, so you might want to ponder a bit and have a snappy retort.)

When you order your food, you ask for dishes with names such as I am Cheerful, I am Celebrating or I am Elated. I got the latter which was the enchilada del dia. Kathy ordered the I am Whole macro bowl but she got a half so I'm not sure if that made her I am Half or was she Half Whole?

And when you order the server often repeats, You are Elated or whatever the upbeat name of your item is. When your item comes from the kitchen, they call out, You are Elated. After hearing a few minutes of this, it was too much for me. And if you happen to have someone celebrating a birthday in your vicinity, you will hear the Beatles song, They Say It's Your Birthday and lots of clapping.

Kathy said that she ate at the Berkeley location once and there were many birthdays, which bordered on annoying or even obnoxious (those are my words, not exactly what Kathy said).

I truly enjoyed eating I am Elated. The enchilada wrapper is dehydrated spinach and the filling was sunflower seeds spiced with chipotle and jalapeno, along with kale and olives. It was savory and smooth and mouth-tingling, in a good way. It came with large mound of perfectly cooked quinoa and less-than-interesting cabbage which might have been slaw but not the kind that I like.

Kathy enjoyed her half whole. And we split dessert, which was somewhat unnecessary but delicious. It was raw tiramisu, the name of which is forgotten. It may be Bliss. And if it was, that is a good description (except for the $8 price tag).

As I said to Kathy, you have to be able to afford to eat at Cafe Gratitude and get all that upbeat goodness. It's a novelty and something very Californian that you ought to check out at least once, if you get a chance.

You can buy Cafe Gratitude cookbooks, either the regular or strictly desserts, and make your own raw gratitudinous food. It will still take a couple of days to not-cook most items but you'll save a lot of green (as in money) by doing so. (I am mostly of the notion that eating salad as raw food is about all the non-cooking that I care to do.)

Last time I ate at Cafe Gratitude, I met my friends Erica and Scott Lindstrom-Dake for lunch. I actually was meeting Erica but she invited Scott which was just fine. I like both of them. They are wonderful people and have the most marvelous (and maybe only) tasting lounge in Healdsburg. You can check it out http://www.thumbprintcellars.com/lounge/ online or in person if you find yourself in Healdsburg.

Did I tell you that they sell my book The Veggie Queen: Vegetables Get the Royal Treatment at the lounge? I feel honored as they sell only a small assortment of items other than their own cute as can be Thumbprint items. Oh, and did I mention that their wines are wonderful? Their viognier won a Gold Medal at the Sonoma County Harvest Fair. And I must admit that I've had my fair share of their dry rose. But I am a bit of a rose nut. (That is not rose but I can't figure out how to get that accent mark in there.)

If you want to take a trip to Healdsburg, feel free to email me at jill@theveggiequeen.com and I will give you some other great tips for where to go. I hope that you have as much fun there as I did and do.

Take the Stress Out of Daily Vegetable and Vegan Cooking

I tell you, I love to talk food, nutrition and health no matter what time of day it is and pretty much wherever I happen to be (which is often somewhere food related). Yesterday I was out walking my dog just before 7 a.m. when I ran into someone that I know, a former cooking class student. She no longer walks because of a bad knee or foot, or something, so she rides her bike. First we discussed the importance of keeping moving and how important exercise is for health. And then the subject turned to eating.

E. told me that she has fallen off the healthy eating wagon and feels as if it takes a lot of time to prep all the vegetables and cook all the brown rice and other things. I told her that when I am home and cook every week night, that we end up with enough food for a week and a half. So I don't actually cook everyday.

In fact, my goal when cooking is to make enough so that it lasts for a number of days (usually 3 or 4) with some to freeze. Right now, I am pressure cooking a pot of brown rice that will easily make 4 to 6 servings, depending upon how hungry I am and if my family wants it.

My husband grew up a "white bread" kind of guy but over the years he has changed his habits some but not completely. Given a choice and without thinking, which is how most people react with food, he will almost always choose the white product over the brown. This doesn't happen much at home because there just aren't always those white options.

But back to the cooking... Literally my timer just beeped to remind me that I was baking sweet potatoes -- 2 pounds of them. You see, I don't just make food for 1 meal since it doesn't make sense. I don't mind eating some of the same foods again in a day or two. I mostly make all the foods that I enjoy eating so whether it's sweet potatoes and brown rice, or quinoa and black beans or blanching vegetables, I almost always make more than I can eat.

And then I just pretend that someone cooked for me when I pull the food out of the refrigerator or defrost it from its hiding place in the freezer. When I shared that with E. I could see the sparkle in her eyes.

"I hope that I inspired you," I said. "Oh, you did," she told me.

And I hope that I can do the same for you. The easiest way to eat more vegetables, whole grains, beans and other whole foods is to make them easy to eat. That means cooking them in advance and enjoying them when you want them.

If you wait until you're hungry and/or tired, it's just too late.

Here's to happy cooking, and a healthy holiday season. Get started cooking now.

I have to go so I can enjoy my first servings of sweet potatoes, brown rice and greens, which I will likely have again, either for Thanksgiving or the following day.

Wild Rice Makes Great Vegan Thanksgiving Feast

I don't post many recipes but this is a really good one that will get people thinking about traditional foods. Wild rice is one of them. And here it is paired with fresh and dried fruit, spices, nuts and sherry. It is delicious the first day and for a few days after. I try to claim as many leftovers as I can but my mother-in-law always asks to take some home. How can I say no?

Fruited Wild Rice
Serves 8 to 10
(Based on a recipe found in Gourmet Vegetarian Feasts, Martha Rose Shulman, Thorsons, 1987)
Serve as a side dish or stuff a squash such as kabocha, buttercup or white pumpkin with this mixture. In any case it is delicious.

1 1/2 cups wild rice
4 1/2 cups water
1 cup chopped dried raisins, cranberries and tart cherries, or your favorites
Sherry to cover the dried fruit
2 small apples, peeled, cored, cut in half crosswise and sliced thinly
1 large pear, peeled, cored and sliced
1/2 cup slivered almonds or other nuts
2 tablespoons apple juice
1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook wild rice in the water for 55 to 60 minutes until the rice grains are split open (or cook in the pressure cooker with 3 cups water for 25 minutes at high pressure with a natural pressure release). When done, drain rice from cooking water and put in a large bowl.

While the rice is cooking, soak the dried fruit in sherry to cover. Drain fruit after 30 minutes and set aside. (You can save the sherry in the refrigerator for future soaking, use it in salad dressing, for a stir-fry or an after dinner drink.)

Heat a large heavy skillet over medium heat and sauté apples, pears and almonds about 2 minutes. Add the apple juice and continue to cook for a few more minutes. Add 1 tablespoon honey, spices, cooked wild rice, drained fruit and salt to taste. Cook together another few minutes, stirring. Correct seasonings, adding lots of pepper if you like it. Remove from heat. Serve mounded on a plate or stuff into a partially pre-baked squash and bake in the oven at 350 degrees F. for 30 to 45 minutes until the squash is thoroughly cooked and the filling is hot.

I am sending this to http://www.funandfoodcafe.com/ for their Vegetarian Holiday recipe round up. I know that no matter what it's a winner for my family .

Quinoa Shines in the New York Times but I am The Quinoa Queen

I usually wear a large button on my chef's jacket that reads, "What's Quinoa?" And I have to say that I am probably responsible for teaching hundreds, if not thousands, of people how to cook quinoa. So, I heard that one of my favorite cookbook authors, Martha Rose Shulman, had an article in the New York Times about quinoa. I completely admire Martha for writing about quinoa but I don't think that her recipe is the best way to cook the grain. She likes to cook it in a lot of water and then drain it. I prefer to put in the right amount of water to start and keep all the nutrition in the grain. The recipe is featured in my cookbook The Veggie Queen: Vegetables Get the Royal Treatment.

And it is a highly digestible grain packed with nutrients, especially protein. If you eat quinoa, you will feel great. Or at least I do.

Find the article on the New York Times website from November 3, 2008. I'd put the URL in for you but I am having a bad computer day so you have to look for yourself.

I have recently posted a You Tube video of me showing you how to pressure cook quinoa -- 5 minutes at pressure. It will hopefully keep me reigning as The Quinoa Queen.

My Japanese Food Week with Yuba

Last week I did a cooking demonstration at the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market. Thank you to all who attended. It was great fun, especially because I got to make Eggplant with Yuba, Ginger and Garlic. I added colored sweet peppers to it and green onions. It was easy, delicious and beautiful and went perfectly with the Massa's brown rice.

Yuba, for those who don't know, which is likely most of you, is tofu skin. I know that this sounds strange. But the good folks at Hodosoy make tofu (and many tofu products which always makes me want to stop in SF at the Saturday market or in San Rafael at the Sunday market to pick them up). They skim off the top layer of tofu to make large, thin sheets of the skin which are about 10 by 15 inches (although I could be way off). I cut them up in strips and put them in with the eggplant but also used one to make a roll with the rice and eggplant dish inside. It tasted very good and looked quite beautiful on the plate, garnished with peppers and green onions.

Tofu skin makes a great topping when making a loaf at Thanksgiving which was in my original cookbook, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, Volume 1 (way before Deborah Madison wrote her book). But back then I had to use dried, rehydrated yuba sheets. The fresh product beats the other hands down. I don't necessarily expect that you'll find it in your neighborhood store but if you happen to be in the San Francisco area, you now know about another wonderful traditional, i.e., not processed, soy product.

Bread -- The Staff of Life

I don't often have to look too long or far to find something to blog about. Today, it's bread and the cost of food.

I ran into my favorite Alvarado Street Bakery delivery guy this morning at my favorite local market Community Market, and we had a discussion about the cost of food, as I stood in front of the organic pasta which suddenly shot up to more than $3 per pound.

Jerry said that many years ago he used to cringe when he compared the cost of Alvarado Street's all natural, sprouted wheat breads to other brands but now, Alvarado Street is at the lower end of bread prices.

We went on to discuss the mark up that some big stores (think regular supermarkets) are making on their bread sales. While the bread was $3.99 a loaf at Community Market, it is often found in the higher $4 range at the supermarkets. The difference goes into the coffers of the market and that higher price often helps offset the loss leaders such as the buy 10 for $10 and the buy one, get one free deals. Think about that.

We also talked about the fact that some white, and not very good for you breads, are around $4 a loaf. What has the world come to?

Those who have read my posts know that I am not hot on bread but when I do eat, I want to choose a brand such as Alvarado Street for a number of reasons -- their bread is made from organic sprouted wheat which is better for you than just whole wheat flour, and they are local, at least to me.

Next time you buy bread, think about who and what you are supporting. Maybe it's time to make a big pot of brown rice, quinoa or some other whole grain.

Wild Rice and Interesting Observations

I really like wild rice. I made my Fruited Wild Rice Dish for an Elderhostel class that I taught last week and then wanted to buy some for myself. What happened was very interesting, as many things are.

I headed to Trader Joe's. While there I was chatting with Linda, the demo lady. We talked about my new pressure cooking DVD, Pressure Cooking: A Fresh Look, Delicious Dishes in Minutes which can be found at http://www.pressurecookingonline.com. I told her that my goal is to get people to shop just a little less at Trader Joe's and to cook more at home. I said that many people probably don't realize that they can make lentil soup in the pressure cooker in less time than it takes to drive to the store.

Linda agreed and then said, "If anyone is concerned about sodium or sugar, then there are lots of foods that they can't buy here." And that's the big downside of processed foods.

Together we walked over to the fresh case and Linda showed me a small package of sweet potatoes with cranberries that was about a pound. She remarked that it was awfully expensive at $3.99, and that it was too sweet for her.

Then I saw a package of diced sweet potatoes in a steaming bag for the microwave. It was 8 ounces and cost $1.69. I was amazed. A pound of organic sweet potatoes is about that much and those were conventional. I thought that was expensive.

Finally, I managed to find my wild rice which cost $4.99 for a 1 pound bag. Wild rice needs to be cooked with a lot of water and 1 cup of raw rice makes about 3 to 4 cooked cups. In the pressure cooker it takes 25 minutes at pressure and on the stove top it cooks in about an hour. I think that the taste is wonderful. It's a whole grain (although not a true grain) and has a fairly low glycemic index (GI). It's a good food choice.

So, when the young cashier, remarked that the wild rice was expensive, I was surprised. He didn't consider the package of Spanakopita for my son expensive at $3.99 but the rice for a dollar more was. He said, "But it's rice," as if that made it inferior to already prepared food.

I think that this is one of the current issues in society -- our priorities are not working. We don't think of good, whole food as important and want our food made for us.

I say, "Let's go back to basics and let our bodies work as nature intended them to." I believe that it will improve our individual health and that of our society.

Happy Thanksgiving.

"Crap" Carbs not Good or Bad Carbs

This past weekend was the busiest farmer's market of the season. I am sure that spring has hit and people have taken notice as I arrived at the market just after 9:30 a.m. and the asparagus was all gone, even the stuff for the ridiculous price of $10 a pound. I needed it for a class but...

I ran into Brad Larsen who was one of the instigators of the Healthy Cafeteria project at Kaiser Permanente in Santa Rosa. He was speaking to me when up walked another person into health, Steve of Santa Rosa Strength http://www.santarosastrength.com. Brad mentioned a clip from NPR about someone comparing diets and saying that the message that people got from the Atkins' diet was to cut out bad carbs such as white flour and white sugar. The part that they didn't get was to skip the beef and brie as good food. The part that they didn't get was to skip the beef and brie as good food. In any case, Brad mentioned "crap carbs" and I much prefer that to good and bad.

People have a lot of issues surrounding what's good and what's bad. And some like to eat what's labeled "bad" just because it's verboten. So, "crap" carb seems more appropriate since I said, "I don't really know anyone who wants more crap, do you?"

It's the same white flour and white sugar, pasta and such that needs to be eliminated.

Brad told me about how he went and cooked for his brother for a week and helped him clean out his kitchen and institute whole, healthy eating, that his brother said that the food tasted better than worms. Now, that is no compliment.

And if you are used to eating pasty white food most of the time that's filled with sugar, salt and fat, then perhaps "real" food tastes like worms. But I will take the "real" food any day for it makes me feel nourished, and it's good fuel for my body. I can't imagine my body wanting to perform on a diet of "crap" carbs all day long. Can you?

Fair Trade Products from Alter Eco

You know when you meet someone and get that warm, fuzzy feeling? You can feel that what they do is from the heart? Well, that has happened to me more than once with Mathieu from Alter Eco http://www.altereco-usa.com/, a company that has fair trade rice, quinoa, coffee, tea and chocolate available in the U. S. I spent quite a while speaking to Mathieu at the Natural Products Expo in Anaheim in March. He is an amazing young man (he's only 32), who credits the success of the company to his French cousin (he and his business partner are also French) whom he calls a genius.

Matthieu holds up a box of the Thai purple sticky rice and tells me that he does what he does for the man whose picture is on the side of the box. "I took that photo," he says with pride. Feeling that his heart is in his work, and it is making a difference, just about brings tears to my eyes, right there on the convention center floor. When you hear something so heartfelt, doesn't it touch you deeply?

And to make it even better, the products are truly wonderful. They include a Thai red rice, the purple sticky rice (already mentioned), regular and red quinoa, and more. I walked away with a bar of dark chocolate with almonds from the El Ceibo cooperative in Bolivia. It's organic and fair trade certified. On the back of the package is the story about the origin of the product. With my purchase, I am helping to support 800 families of the cooperative in the Bolivian Amazon. (This is the kind of Amazon I truly want to support.)

Having always had a desire to join the Peace Corps and make a difference, perhaps this is my way to contribute to a better future for others. Heck, I hear that they are taking older volunteers now and perhaps I will get that chance in the future. In the mean time, I am going to support Alter Eco and their Fair Trade products. I hope that you will do the same.

Latest Book Review for The Veggie Queen cookbook

I am convinced that my cookbook The Veggie Queen: Vegetables Get the Royal Treatment has taken on its own life as book reviews keep popping up on the web. The latest of them was written by Ryan MacMichael of VegBlog http://www.vegblog.org/, a blog of cookbook reviews.

Although I am a cookbook author and recipe writer I still like to read other cookbooks to get ideas and see if I've managed to stay on track with my recipes, as if they go out of style. I have never understood that part of cooking. We may use new ingredients in new ways but the basic recipe is often the same.

For instance, just this past week I made 3 different grains and had them all in the refrigerator. I pretended that I had died and gone to heaven when putting together my lunches and dinners using red and white quinoa, wild rice with mushrooms and Thai Purple Jasmine Rice from Alter Eco, the best of the 3. I paired one of those with my not-quite-yet-famous 2 Minute Tofu and Veggie Du Jour (pressure-cooked, of course) and voila -- an easy breakfast, lunch or dinner.

To get the most out of cooking, I suggest that you make a big batch of a grain, 2 or 3 each week and refrigerate or freeze for later use. You can do the same with a main dish of beans, tofu and veggies. This makes it easier to eat at home than going out and tastier than most pre-frozen food (although Amy's Kitchen makes some great tasting frozen vegetarian and vegan meals).

Use what little time you have for cooking wisely to make great choices such as whole grains like quinoa, brown rice, red rice, black rice, and now purple rice, wild rice, millet or buckwheat. They lead to interesting meals and better nutrition. Oh, and the carbs, these are good carbs. If you don't believe me, then give them a try.

Veggie Queen Teaches Veggies at Elderhostel

About 8 times each year I get the opportunity to teach Elderhostel groups at Bishop's ranch in Healdsburg. The groups range from about 20 to 35 very interesting people who are over 50+ years of age. People who have experience, some more than others. It seems, though, that I have something to teach them. I enjoy my chance to do show and tell, especially with people who hail from areas of the country, other than here in California.

One couple thanked me for my presentation. The husband said that they couldn't get greens in Ohio in the wintertime, while the wife told me that they have 7 farmer's markets in their area. Surely, they must be able to find something green such as collards, mustard, kale, Swiss chard and more. Perhaps salad greens are unavailable but surely there's something healthy to eat.

Today I showed the group how to make Red and White Quinoa with Mushrooms, Greens and Herbs, Salad Mix with Greens, Reds and Oranges with Simple Citrus Dressing and 4-Minute Pressure-Cooked Winter Fruit Compote.

Someone asked me if they could cook the compote without a pressure cooker. So I went explained why the pressure cooker works so well for cooking fruits and vegetables. The fruits and veggies keep their shape and color and the flavorings added, in this case cinnamon sticks, lemon and orange zest, and juice or wine, get infused into the dish. You get flavor, texture and shape not available with regular stove top cooking. If you want to know more, just let me know. And if you want to be informed about when my Pressure Cooking DVD is available, please sign up for my email newsletter by going to The Veggie Queen website at http://www.theveggiequeen.com. I offer recipes not available in my book or on my website on a mostly monthly basis. And because I'm a vegetarian, there is no SPAM.

Whether I am teaching young or older, I enjoy showing and telling about new things. Today that included watermelon daikon radish, Moro blood oranges and green garlic. You never know what I've got up my sleeve. Hopefully it's not too messy.