Serves 4

Full-bodied and full of flavor, wild mushrooms enrich the earthy taste of celery root in this pureed winter bisque. Makes an excellent side for meat, tempeh or a bright green salad.

Cooking Tip: Allowing the dried mushrooms to cook into the stock (vs. soaking them in water to reconstitute) will enrich the stock (and the soup) with “umami“, a flavorful, savory taste that adds body and depth of flavor to foods.

Cooking Tip: Celery Root (celeriac) is an ugly, knobby root often passed up at the market. It has a taste between celery and parsley, with a starchier, earthier flavor. It makes a fabulous soup base, but can also be eaten raw, grated into salads. Make sure to cut away the thick, fibrous skin (the skins can be washed and used for Homemade Vegetable Stock)

SOUP
2 teaspoons olive oil or butter
1 yellow onion, diced
1 (approx. 1 pound) celery root (celeriac), peeled and diced
1 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried chervil or parsley
1/4 teaspoon black or white pepper
.5 ounces (14 grams) dried chanterelle mushrooms (or any variety)
5 cups chicken or vegetable stock, plus an optional cup if needed
1/2 cup cream or optional nut cream (see recipe below)
Squeeze of lemon juice
1/2 – 1 teaspoon salt (check sodium content of stock!)
Parsley leaves (for garnish)

CASHEW CREAM (OPTIONAL)
Blend in a blender until smooth:
1/2 cup cashews, soaked in water to cover for 30 minutes to soften
1/2 cup stock

Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onions, celery root, thyme, chervil and pepper. Saute for 6 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.

Add the dried mushrooms and 5 cups of the stock. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

Transfer the soup to a blender or food processor and puree until smooth (you may have to work in batches). If the soup is on the thick side, add additional stock until it reaches your desired consistency.

Add the cream, lemon juice and salt to finish. Garnish with the parsley leaves.

Food photo by Jackson D. Carson

Copyright Alison Anton. 2010. All rights reserved.

Sad to say it, but I believe that this kind of treatment is typical for commercial slaughterhouses. It really backs up the necessity to purchase meat from local, organic humanely treated sources. Small farms are best.

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Now more than ever, there’s a looming concern about whether or not our kids are getting the right nutrition at school. Are they eating meat from commercial, large-scale slaughterhouses? Has the produce been sprayed with dangerous chemicals? Are they serving milk with hormones and antibiotics? Are kids eating processed junk food high in fried fats and refined sugar? Inquiring moms need to know.

In an effort to increase nutrition at schools and provide kids with lasting education in nutrition and health, an organization called Farm to School is sweeping the nation. These programs connect local farms that provide fresh, seasonal and organic foods (including produce, meat, eggs and dairy) to school lunch programs. Kids not only get to eat the food, but also get involved in how it grows. Students visit the farms, start gardens, and implement recycling and composting programs at school.

And it’s good for the farmers too. Schools implementing the Farm to School program buy shares in the farms, ensuring that the farm has the resources for the growing season ahead. It’s a win-win for everyone: Farms, schools, kids, parents, communities and Mother Earth share the wealth.

All but nine states now have at least one Farm to School Program, and those numbers are growing fast. The Farm to School website has clear resources for how to get a program started at your child’s school, including state and federal policies, funding opportunities, forums, publications and links.

Check it out! FarmToSchool.org

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Kids need carbs, there’s no doubt about that. My concern is that kids are getting too much refined carbohydrate in the morning and not enough long-sustaining energy foods like protein and good fats.

There’s also a concern for developing food allergies and intolerances. Most kids are eating the same foods everyday for breakfast — usually refined wheat products. Small bodies aren’t quite ready to tolerate the same foods each and every day, especially allergy-triggering foods like wheat, milk and sugar. It’s fine to serve boxed cereal or pancakes one or two times a week; the problems arise when the same foods are consumed every day.

The best way to address both these issues is with a rotating morning diet. This way, kids are getting a variety of foods each morning throughout the week. Here’s an example:

Monday - Turkey sausage or scrambled eggs and hashed browns
Tuesday - Multi-Grain Maple Mush
Wednesday - Shrek Shake
Thursday - Meat, veggie or miso soup with brown rice
Friday - Fresh Fruit with Almond Butter Cream
Saturday - Low sugar boxed cereal (mixed with nut butter for protein and fat)
Sunday - Whole wheat pancakes with flaxseed

Try the rotating breakfast for a few weeks and ask the kids how they are doing in their morning classes. Some kids will need more carbohydrate in the morning, others will fair better with more protein and fat. If you find it’s too hard to rotate foods every morning, start with rotating the foods every four days.

The easiest breakfasts are yesterday’s left-overs: Hearty soups with grains; hamburgers, turkey or soy patties scrambled with eggs and veggies; casseroles and even steamed vegetables from dinner last night make super weekday breakfasts in a hurry. It’s only cultural conditioning that says we need to have sweet foods in the morning.

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This is largely due to the insufficient income for cocoa farmers. The major chocolate companies (Hershey’s, M&M/Mars and Nestle) still refuse to pay a fair trade price for chocolate. Why? Because Westerners are addicted to getting chocolate for cheap. Since we can get it at such a low cost and at an arm’s reach, we assume chocolate is a dime a dozen. In all actuality, chocolate should be pricey; it is an arduous crop to produce, taking 400 pods of cocoa to yield just one pound of chocolate.

The “fair trade” label is part of the solution. Buying fair trade is a commitment to pay a little more so that the farmers get their fair share. It also means that the chocolate was purchased from farms that do not practice abusive child labor.

What can you do? This year, purchase fair trade chocolate to hand out to your little ghouls and goblins. It’s a little step, but a little goes a long way.

Buying fair trade Halloween chocolate is easy:

Global Exchange has individually packaged chocolate treats online. I’m doing the gold coins this year – I see a big pumpkin filled with sparkley treats for little fingers to grab!

For store bought chocolate, the following companies produce fair trade chocolates. They can be found at grocery and specialty stores:

Equal Exchange (100% fair trade)
Divine (100% fair trade)
Ithaca Fine Chocolates (100% fair trade)
Dagoba
Green and Black’s
Endangered Species

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If made with whole grains, tortillas give kids some added protein, fiber and B-vitamins to get them through their day of thinking hard and playing hard. If you can, try to get the brands that offer sprouted grains. Sprouted grains are easier to digest and the nutrients absorb better into the cells.

Sprouted grain tortillas are generally a little stiffer than regular varieties, so it’s recommended to heat them first before wrapping. Even regular tortillas taste better toasted. Just place them over the burner (gas or electric) and toast for several seconds on each side. Line your favorite ingredients on top of the warm tortilla, then wrap and go.

Recipes:
Chicken Quesadillas
This easy Mexican favorite is a hot item for lunch boxes or after school snacks…

Burritos Gone Bananas
Bananas, nut butter and agave nectar rolled up in a neat little package…

Heirloom Tomato, Cream Cheese and Spinach Wraps
School’s in! These light and fun wraps have vitamins-a-plenty to ward of the flu that comes with the start of the school year…

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Whole grain flours can have a strong flavor and heaviness, but if added into foods with a mix of all-purpose flour, toasted wheat germ, or ground seeds, the flavors meld right in without a sneaking suspicion. The food actually tastes better, too. Baked goods that have only refined flours tend to leave us wanting — there’s no texture nor real taste.

Try these as a start (and see the recipe for Whole Grain Fluffy Flapjacks!):

Whole Wheat Pastry Flour — Since it has less gluten than regular whole wheat flour, pastry flour makes for light and fluffy pancakes, waffles and muffins. Try a mix of whole wheat pastry and regular whole wheat for more texture; you might want to start with 3/4 pastry and 1/4 regular.

Toasted Wheat Germ — Adds a nutty, sweet flavor and is high in B vitamins and fiber. Replace up to 1/2 cup of flour with wheat germ in your favorite recipes. It can also be sprinkled onto cereal and sandwiches.

Ground Flaxseeds — Talk about added nutrition! Flax is high in beneficial fatty acids for proper brain development in kids. It also has lots fiber. Sneak this one into baked goods, cereals, smoothies and sandwiches.

Ground Nuts and Seeds — Many kids don’t like nuts. It’s too bad because nuts and seeds are high in good fats, protein and minerals. Grind them up and add them to your baked goods, even cakes. Replace up to 1/2 cup of flour with the ground nuts.

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Sweet fruits are one of the top ingredients in raw desserts. Fresh and dried fruits are bursting with sucrose, glucose and fructose (nature’s natural sugars) and many have just as much sweetness as refined tables sugar. Dates, for example, are a common ingredient for raw dessert crusts and fillings, and have a 75-85 percent sugar content.

Now I don’t normally advocate sugar, but we’re talking about desserts here. Fact is that desserts are sweet. There is a difference between using whole fruits instead of table sugar, though — it’s in the fiber. For those who have experimented with the Atkin’s diet, you’ll remember that deductions in carbohydrate (sugar) intake can be made with the addition of fiber. Fiber, as well as protein and good fats, slow down the rate at which the sugar is absorbed into the bloodstream. Since raw desserts are made mostly of high-fiber fruits and an array of nuts with high-quality fats and protein, they won’t spike sugar levels as high as desserts made from table sugar and refined flours.

Ingredients for Raw Desserts

Fresh, organic ingredients give raw desserts their natural sweetness and delightful textures. Here’s the top three foods that make up raw desserts:

Nuts and Seeds – Raw chefs always have a food processor at easy reach for chopping, grinding or pureeing nuts and seeds for a variety of uses. Course-chopped nuts can be used as a base for crunchy-textured crusts; ground nuts are used for finer crusts as well as a base for cookie and cake dough; and those with a higher fat content, like cashews, pine nuts, macadamias, coconuts and Brazil nuts, can be pureed into creamy mousses, whips and parfaits.

Bonus! Soaking Nuts and Seeds for Optimal Nutrition

Fresh and Dried Fruits – Summer’s bounty of fresh colorful fruits make it the ideal time for raw desserts. Just as in baked desserts, fruits are used as a filling for tarts and pies, and can be pureed to make dessert sauces to top custards and cakes. Dried fruits can also be used. Most are soaked and then pureed to sweeten fillings and crusts.

Natural Sweeteners – Strict raw-foodies only sweeten with the simplest of sweet ingredients: whole fruits. The less dogmatic approach is to add mildly refined sweeteners in small amounts. These include: raw unfiltered honey, raw agave nectar, stevia, date sugar and even maple syrup. Most raw desserts incorporate dates into crusts and fillings; in most cases, their naturally high sugar content makes them more than adequate.

What Makes a “Raw” Food Raw?

A raw food is exactly that — it hasn’t been cooked. This means that all the delicate vitamins, phyto-nutrients and enzymes originally present in the food have not been cooked out, damaged or destroyed. Since these highly nutritional aspects of the whole food are left intact, raw desserts are actually good for us in moderation. You can’t say that about baked desserts, which are filled with sugar, flours and dairy products.

Generally, raw food is considered raw if it hasn’t been heated above 105-120 degrees. If a raw food has been left in its original state, or even if it has been dehydrated between 105-120 degrees, the enzymes and vitamins have not been destroyed and the food will remain truly raw.

Getting Started

Many of my raw dessert recipes require little more than a food processor and a pan, but a few other basic kitchen tools can make it easier and just more fun. If you are starting to experiment with raw foods in general, you’ll definitely want to consider the last two.

Springform Pan – Another word for a cheesecake pan. This pan has a removable side and allows cakes to hold their shape after they’ve been setting up in the fridge. Springform pans come in many sizes, from a single-serving to a 12-inch round, square or rectangle.

Tart Pan - A tart pan makes a short crust for a single layer of fruit to lie attractively on the bottom. Like springform pans, they also have a removable side to keep the filling from dumping while removing the tart. They come in single-serving sizes to a 12-inch round, square or rectangle.

Pie Plate – Whether it was handed down from mom or purchased, most home-cooks have at least one pie plate laying around the kitchen. A pie plate is good for thick crusts that hold deep, chunky fillings.

Dehydrator – A dehydrator adds chewiness and crunchiness to certain desserts that might be left soft and soggy without some kind of drying technique. If a dehydrator is set within 105-120 degrees, it will take the water out of the food without cooking it. As long as the heat stays low, a raw food will remain truly raw even if left in the dehydrator for 12-plus hours. I recommend the Excalibur Dehydrator – it allows you to adjust the temperature. I found mine new on eBay for $200.

Food Processor or High-Speed Blender – Although a food processor is all one really needs for raw desserts, many raw foodists enjoy the luxury of a higher powered blender to really cream and smooth pureed foods. Its fast blending acting can puree leafy greens into smoothies in just 30 seconds! I recommend the Vita-Mix Blender; it’s pricey, but worth it. Find it new on ebay for $280.

Now all you need are the healthy ingredients to create your raw works of culinary art! ‘Tis the season for a variety of fresh, ripe fruits at the organic farmers’ market. You can purchase nuts and seeds at your local natural foods store. The best choices are organic, vacuum packed nuts that have been processed and transported in lower temperatures. These are becoming more accessible at natural foods markets and on the internet.

So don’t knock it ’til you try it. People new to raw foods always proclaim how neat it is to “cook” raw in the kitchen. “It’s so alive!”, they say. And once you try it, you’ll be a believer too!

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I recently questioned myself (as parents often do) while selecting a box of hemp milk from the shelf of my local health food store. Before I serve my children this so called “foundation food”, I felt the need to do a bit of research. Since both hemp and marijuana are cultivated from the cannabis sativa plant, are hemp seeds really a good choice for my kids?

I found that hemp seeds are not only safe to consume, but that they are one of the plant kingdom’s most concentrated, complete and balanced sources of all 8 Essential Amino Acids (complete protein) and Omega-3 and Omega-6 Essential Fatty Acids (good fats). They also contain key nutrients, minerals and live enzymes – all beneficial for growing little bodies.

After my investigation on this wonderful little seed, it was time to do the taste test. I mixed some hemp milk, frozen peaches, plain yogurt, and a splash of maple syrup in a blender and placed it in front of my girls. They both loved it. It is such a nice feeling when a healthy after school snack goes over well… and no… they didn’t even hallucinate!

RECIPE:
Hemp Milkshake – This high-protein shake makes a perfectly healthy after school snack, a cool delight to beat the heat, or a light dessert to end a summer day…

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Having kids choose between 2-3 kinds of vegetables can help foster self-esteem by giving them a role to play in the preparation of their meals. This gives them a certain boundary (“we’re definitely having vegetables”) yet enables them to choose for themselves from what has been offered.

Kids usually have a good intuitive sense of what their bodies want – forcing them to eat something they don’t want can have a negative effect in the long run, defeating the purpose altogether. The ultimate goal should be to spark a positive association with healthy food at an early age; allowing kids to have a say in the matter can do the trick. Even a two year old can decide between carrots and beets!

RECIPE:

Glazed Butter Baby Carrots

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Rersearch shows that children are naturally born with good control over their food intake — they eat when they’re hungry and don’t when they’re not. When they want to skip dinner, it’s usually because they’ve come home from school hungry and have been munching on who knows what in the afternoon. Giving them an afternoon snack that is both healthy and satisfying can help tremendously, and will keep the snowball effect from forcing and bribing them to eat dinner from rolling too far.

Most kids will get their appetites going for dinner if they have a part in the planning and preparation of a meal. It gets them excited, even proud, about what they’ve created and the choices they made. They now have a vested interest in eating it!

Having them choose between 1-3 kinds of foods can help foster self-esteem by giving them a role to play. For example, “Would you like carrots, corn or beets for our vegetable tonight?” This gives them a certain boundary, yet enables them to choose for themselves from what has been offered. Even a two-year-old can decide between carrots and beets!

A healthy kid-friendly kitchen might have easily accessible jars filled with nuts and seeds, sweet dried fruits, popcorn and other yummy snacks at arm’s reach. You would find whole grain breads and cereals, healthy cookies or muffins and an easy to grab bowl of fresh seasonal fruits. Carrot and celery sticks with nut butters or hummus might be found on the bottom shelf in the fridge.

Take a walk through your own kitchen, looking in the cupboards and pantry. Read the ingredients lists. Do you feel okay with your kids grabbing and eating the foods that you see? If you don’t feel okay with your kids running amok through the kitchen eating the foods that are there, then maybe a revamp of your pantry is in order.

I know it’s always easier to say than do when it comes to feeding kids, but starting off with these few tips will help. So let them eat!

Recommended cookbooks:
Healthy Food for Healthy Kids, Bridget Swinney
Healthy Cooking for Kids, Shelly Null

Recipe:

Oatmeal Pecan Pancakes

For those of us with the curse of the sweet tooth, we all know that eating healthy can come to a dead halt with just a simple craving.

But with the healthier alternatives available for us these days, we don’t really have to feel that we’ve sunk into a deep dark hole. While we can admit that we are in the “sugar zone” — or chocolate zone or whatever our zone of choice may be — we can take a breath, find some humor about it, and most importantly take a minute or two to think about our options.

If you are the “right here, right now” type, resolve that it may take a little more effort than simply just opening the fridge or freezer for ice cream, a soda or boxed cookies. If you don’t have anything a little healthier, can you take 10 minutes to make a quick trip to the natural foods market for a better option?

A couple of my brand name quick-fix favorites are Amazake rice drinks (a sweet, thick beverage made from sweet rice) and Blessings Fudge Raweo Cookies (raw cookies made with ground almonds, cashews, honey and carob). They’re sweet, but are a healthier option to sugar and flour. I also enjoy a good chocolate-dipped protein bar with at least 15 grams of protein and 10 grams of fiber to offset the carbohydrate. It should also have some green blends to boost anti-oxidants.

If you like spending time in the kitchen, try experimenting with desserts using pureed fruit, agave nectar, brown rice syrup or barley malt syrup instead of white sugar. These options have less impact on insulin response and make for a smoother rise in energy compared with white sugar. Honey is very sweet and impacts the system in a similar way to sugar, but I use it occasionally, as it comes power-packed with antioxidants and immune building nutrients.

So you don’t have to hit the floor anymore when it comes to cravings. With all the delicious but nutritious options available to us these days, the curse of the sweet tooth could actually be a blessing!