part of an email from the boat

I am feeling much much better and filled with lots of hope. We are getting closer and closer to our big purpose here, well actually it is all our purpose but it will be great to have patients. I love all the military people so much!! I needed some sudafed & i went up to 'sick call' for the staff, they just had me fill out a form with the drugs i wanted and walk one floor down to pharmacy and they just give it to you. They really take care of us. They provide sheets, wool blankets, 3 hot meals & if you don't clean up your stuff--they throw it away!! haha I can't believe the groundwork that has been laid for us here by the military leadership with governments and their people on the ground right now. It is a HUGE operation we are running mostly for good relations and in a real disaster that we could just plug in in these places. The medical stuff is really a drop in the bucket, unless you are one of those who gets it!! I sat behind the helo barn today and relaxed with Amy Wilde from Cananda and read scriptures until a cloudburst. It's not as hot today but still very humid.

Ok, so i have much to teach you, my little pumpkins. My experiments are fording new gastronomical streams & puddles. The first thing we need to discuss if we haven't is the amazing (nearly) free food source of soaking your own beans. Don't buy them in a can! It's a huge rip off. You only get like a cup & 1/2 for a buck & change, where the same $ for dry beans goes a long way. I have the big cans from the Welfare Square Cannery of black & white (aka great northern). I like kidney too & pinto. Just soak a bowl of 'em in water overnight or while you're at work or even just a couple hours is ok. Then just bring to a boil, & simmer for....a long time. Like 1.5 hours or so. I did finally get a crock pot so that would be really simple to.

So i recently did so w the white beans, like maybe a quart of them, boiled with garlic, garlic salt, lots of salt & some cayanne (of course). They are awesome just wrapped in tortillas w cheese. Who needs taco bell? I had one yesterday at my computer while charting on my cancer patients & happily averted eating some lucious- looking, but dangerous cookies that would have ruined my day..

The other thing i did w the white beans has been mixing them w this greek-ish rice pillaf i made up. Now the oven is not my strongest arena, but i'm working on it. I suppose that's because you need recipes & i'm clearly not really into that.

Greek-ish Rice Pillaf:

2 cups brown rice

1/4 cup amaranth (a tiny grain like quinoa)

1/4 cup 9-grain hot cereal

juice of 2 lemons

1/2 inch ginger root diced tiny

1 onion diced

like an inch of a butter square or more

what else?.. beef broth 1 can, a bit of parmesano

some of that mrs. dash or somthing like on top

after the butter melts & onions are clear-ish

put the rice & stuff in mix it well & fill the casserole dish up w water

bake at 375/400 for 45 min on the top looks bubbly done.

The key now..is to serve the beans & the rice together WITH WHOLE PLAIN YOGURT.

It rocks with the lemony rice. I put some yellow bell peppers on top too.

Next,

My neighbors made this last night; it was so awesome. They certainly know about food.

Pork loin wrapped in prosciutto

baked with sliced yams & pears!

i think there was balsamic over it?

maybe ACV

it was so lovely, especially the pears.

They say the brussel sprouts @ Eva are important. Keep meaning to go there..

I feel like i had more fabulous discoveries in the kitchen, but i will keep you posted.

Tye is a Genius

My Friend Tye cooks a lot like me--& tonight he was on. Throwing things together from what's around..First we had some sweet/salty cabbage his Mommy made; just a few bites. He found the recipe on the fridge it was cabbage, vinegar, sugar currant jam & something else.

Then he made these ridiculous brussel sprouts. I LOVE BRUSSEL SPROUTS!! People who don't are missing out on a succulent delicousy & probably just haven't had them cooked right.

In a wide, shallow pan he boiled them for like 10 min then poured off the water (they were cut in half first) then he sauteed them in cheap red wine that had two grizzly bears fighting on it--butter & a dash of vanilla! Genius, like i said.

We also had those uncooked tortillas with extra sharp Tillamook--so important-- and some cooked white beans from the fridge & the best part? OREGANO. So tasty. On the side i had a big pile of the mango salsa from Costco as a salad. After some impromptu yoga i had a couple chunks of crystalized ginger. O yeah! & in the sprouts--fresh raw pinenuts i shelled by tapping them w the handle of a big knife (like i open garlic cloves)

& just to remind myself later...Erin, my roomie told me about garlicky BS's & apricot Yams. i gotta remember that. Big Casserole coming soon!

G

G wanted me to share the soup I threw together today, a hearty, nourishing, creation:

 Creamy Cauliflour Brussel Sprout Soup

sauteed a large onion,

added 3 or 4 strips of bacon.

threw in maybe 3 cups of brussel sprouts,

a head of cauliflour, cut up

a can of corn (more would be ok too)

2 cans chicken broth,

1 can cream of chicken soup,

1 can evaporated milk,

black pepper

let it all simmer on low until veggies were soft.

I'm sure you could substitute regular milk or if you don't have cream of chicken soup just add extra milk and chicken broth, stir in a bit of flour (shake it in something with milk of course to avoid lumps)

Eat up!      -Victoria

sweet sweet

Awesome breakfast fuel for long city winter run:

Toast, butter, Adam's PB & a huge banana i bought the other night @ Tesoro w a gallon '0' 2% when it was like 2 degrees outside.

Just piled it all on there

soooo tasty! & guilt free..why should we have guilt over eating? makes no sense.

Honor your hunger

I wanted pesto-y pizza.

I had a plan (whole foods w E) & a back-up plan (tupperware 'o' the green in my purse in case the pizza was over to put on tortillas & cheese @ Elliott's b/c everyone knows he ALWAYS has tortillas & cheese.) Turns out that God made the plans even better! They had veggie/artichoke pizza i put my own pesto on & chatted laughed listened to my yogi girls Michiko & Toni upstairs while Elliott bought more tortillas & cheese.

Holiday Musings

We had such a wonderful Thanks-g holiday in Lund, NV. It was so clear & beautiful--in weather, priorities, intentions & soul food... Mom & i corroborated a couple days before on what to pack for car food & to supplement the generous TG meal(s) provided. She brought carrots, broccoli, spinach, apples, clementines, oranges, bread etc. I brought Adam's crunchy PB, boiled eggs, Tillamook Antique White Cheddar (Not to be missed; it's from Costco--hereafter called "The Tillamook") and sun-dried tomato hummus. Notice all my contributions are high protein (& fat.)

This was intentional b/c the last time i traveled w Mom all she brought was veggies and cereal & i couldn't really get satisfied on such simple carbs. I always need a balance that includes some protein for meals. (Plain fruit IS great for a little snack or especially right before or after a workout for some quick energy.) But this idea of being satisfied at each meal is big for me, so that i don't want to overeat later. Many of us have a tendency to want to keep fat/calories/carbs low so we can lose weight or avoid weight gain...right? This is actually a form of dieting--"unconcious dieting"1--which like any formal diet, sets us up to crave, overeat or even binge. If you are cutting calories = not getting enough FUEL for your body, it puts you into a starvation mode, & then when you next gain access to any food with the nutrients you need (fat is a nutrient people)-- you will scarf like the Auschwitz guards won't give you more till next week! In other words--I invite you to eat when you're hungry & move on--no need to obsess about if it's the "right" food. & ps I invite you to avoid ALL fitness/"women's" magazines like plague as i believe they are terribly harmful to our self esteem/body image/diet mentality etc

Ok, enough of that ranting.. with the aforementioned supplies we created many meals, mostly just setting the table nicely, praying and putting together granola/fruit piles with milk or greek yogurt (and sliced egg or PB!) or open faced turkey sandwiches in the car w ricotta cheese, w Mom's agave-cranberry sauce daubed on. (i'll ask her to post that somewhere) She is a real genius w low sugar pies & deserts. I'll encourage her to start writing down "recipes."

As far as the actual TG meal goes--I loved the Grandma-style green beans, the yams w oranges, stuffing (of course!) & dark meat turkey w gravy. I avoided the potatoes & rolls b/c they are really just filler..and had jello salad & yams for dessert. Again, eating slowly helps us to be joyfully grateful for each delicious bite & to honor satiety cues sooner. What a blessing to celebrate with family & enjoy such a special holiday tradition!!

1 Tribole, E, Resch, E. Intuitive Eating; a revolutionary program that works. St.Martinn's New York: 1995.