Just Released

It was spring three years-a-go when I decide to take the suggestions from clients, family, and friends to share my healthy recipes. Today I am happy to announce that I am doing that with my recently published cookbook, Trish's Dishes- Family Meals for a Healthy Lifestyle.

Trish’s Dishes is a collection of more then 100 whole food recipes that have been the basis for reversing the crippling effects of my childhood battle with osteoarthritis. Also, these are the meals that I raised my 3 wonderfully healthy children on, so they are "kid tested and approved."

Trish’s Dishes has something for everyone. From breakfast to dessert (and snacks too!), enjoy meatless alternatives to classic dishes paired with assorted whole grains and no refined sugars. You can try something new and learn about unfamiliar ingredients in a chapter I call "What is That Anyway???" Or find a way to make your favorite dish a little healthier.

To receive a copy of Trish's Dishes- Family Meals for a Healthy Lifestyle., you can click on the link, or if you are in the Philadelphia area contact me to find out where you can pick one up. It will soon be available at Amazon.com and Borders.com. It will be closer to six month before it will be available through Barns & Noble.

I know that you will enjoy these wonderful recipes as much as my family has!

Some benefits of Dirt

It is time to get out and start digging in the dirt again. After flooding rains yesterday and gusting winds today I will just have to wait. I have always started planting my vegetable garden in mid-March so I am really inching to get to work and prepare the soil for planting. The snow-peas, lettuce, carrots and beets are my first seeds to be introduced into the spring soil. But there is so much more to be gained from gardening then a harvest of delicious life-enhancing foods… harmony. After this very snowy, cold winter I could really use the reunion with the fertile mother earth and all her gifts.

There is just something about working in the soil of mother earth that can bring you into harmony with your world. Many gardens already know the stress reducing benefits of working with dirt and plants but it has gone farther then that. School principals stated that after a day where the students have been working on gardening projects that there are fewer disciplinarian problems. Students are observed working more cooperatively with others during and after these projects. Similarly convects given the opportunity to work in landscaping and gardening project also showed a decrease in hostile behavior.

It is really magical how the earth can give each different seed just what it needs to be a whole and complete food with its own special set of nutrients to give. Likewise the earth can give people the peace and harmony within so that they can be whole and complete with so much to give. So start making your plans to shed the winter stress by getting out in the dirt.

Food may not only be the newest “fashion” trend but also the environmentally proactive way to help the planet. Food has become so fashionable that while people are turning away from so many popular past trends food is still gaining popularity. In fact as book sales have declined in so many areas cookbook sales are continually on the rise. While we are eating out less we are trying to still bring that spark to our meals to make them as special as eating out. One way we are doing that is by buying fresh, organic and local when possible. This is where we become an agent for positive change for our environment. Every time we choose foods that have little to no processing and where chemicals are not need for a long shelve life we take a step forward to giving ourselves and our planet a healthier longer life.

Here is hearty winter meal using sweet root vegetables, fresh herbs and mushrooms. For me living in Pennsylvanian mushrooms are always local and plentiful.

Mushroom Stew

12 oz. seitan, broken into bit size pieces
½ -1 pound of your favorite mushrooms, mix it up, bite size
3 cups of assorted fresh vegetables, such as carrots, parsnips, zucchini, chopped
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, removed from stem or 2 tsp dried
2 sprigs of fresh thyme, removed from stem or 2 tsp dried
⅛ cup or less of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
½ cup water or vegetable stock
¼ cup of red wine

In a mixing bowl toss the first 9 ingredients to coat. Put into a baking dish. Add in the water and wine. Bake at 450° for 45 minutes covered. Remove from over-baste and return to oven uncovered for 15 minutes if needed. Serve with bread and a salad.


(Excerpts from Trish’s Dishes Copy right 2009)

Progress

The past few weeks I have been working continually to prepare my cookbook, "Trish's Dishes - Family Meals for a Healthy Lifestyle", to be submitted to the publisher. January 24, 2011 all my work was turned over to Infinity Publishing. I never would have guessed how much more goes into getting a cookbook published other then creating recipes and a lot of cooking. Who would have guessed that by writing a cookbook I would learn how to use a computer really good.I could not have done it with out the continual help and support from my daughters, Guenevere and Tonya.

Now the really hard parts starts, the waiting until I get to see the finished product. I am looking to have books available for sale Spring 2011 through Buy Books on the Web, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, pretty much everywhere.

Holiday Garland

My dream kitchen would have a large fire place where I could hang my herbs and fruits from to dry. For now the dehydrator in the corner of my kitchen has been working non-stop all fall. I have been drying jalapeno peppers, stevia, apples and bananas not just to preserve them, they also make great snacks for school or long car rides as well as healthy gifts. I gave my dad a basked filled with dried fruits and nuts for his birthday, he love it. But the last load in the dehydrator was now for eating it is for decorating. I like to decorate my kitchen for the winter holidays with garlands made from dried apples, dried oranges, and fresh cranberries. I hang it over the entrance to the kitchen with a sprig of mistletoe in the middle. Here is how I do it...

take 2 apples and cut them in about 1/4" slices cross-way so that you will be able to see the star inside that is make by the seeds. Cut 2 oranges the same way so that you can see the sections. Put them into a dehydrator or a gas oven with just the pilot-light on for about two days or completely dried.

You will also need a bag of fresh cranberries, fishing line or heavy thread measured out to length you will need for area you will be hanging in, and a large sewing needle. Mark the center of the thread with a marker. Thread your needle and put a knot at the end.

When your apples and oranges are dried arrange them on a table in a pattern that you like knowing that you will be adding cranberries in between. Starting with a cranberry put your needle through the center from end to end. Do this again with the same cranberry to secure the end of your garland. Now you can continue adding cranberries until you are ready to add an apple or orange. Go on stringing the pattern of fruit adding cranberries between the apples and oranges until you get to the center mark of your thread. If you want your garland to be symmetrical just reverse what you have just done. When you get to the end of your garland take the needle through the last cranberry twice like you did in the beginning and knot. The cranberries will naturally start to dry and shrivel and they may leak some of their juice so be careful that it is not hanging against anything that could get stained. Now you are ready to hang your garland in a doorway, window, a fireplace, or on a tree and enjoy.

When you are done with your garland after the season has past take your fruits off the thread and put them outside for the animal to enjoy.

Happy Holidays!

Mixed-Berry Cobbler

A few weeks ago I went to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia for a getaway weekend with my honey. After a full day of hiking, spotting coyotes, and playing with the many very friendly deer we headed to the lodge for a much anticipated dinner. To my pleasant surprise the menu items were made mostly with local ingredients. We both had a wonderfully satisfying meal yet the desserts coming past our table were very inviting. One in particular caught my attention, the wild-berry cobbler. I now could not wait to get home and make this distinctive dessert.

I decided to make my version, mixed-berry cobbler for Thanksgiving for those who like something other then the traditional pumpkin pie. But do not wait for a holiday to try this very simple recipe.

First I made some very berry sauce and whipped cream. Then I took some all natural animal cracker and broke them in half. Into an individual dessert bowl I spooned in some warm very berry sauce then I put in the broken animal crackers and covered them with more sauce, then topped it off with a dollop of whipped cream. I need to go buy some more berries so that I can make it again!

Enjoy

Mixed-Berry Cobbler

Very Berry Sauce

3 cups mixed frozen berries
¼ cup brown rice syrup
¼ cup water
2 Tbs. cold water
2 Tbs. corn starch or kuzu

Combine the berries, brown rice syrup and ¼ cup of water in a sauce pan. Stir and bring to a boil. Have ready the corn starch and 2 tablespoons of water mixed together to make a thin paste. Slowly pour the cornstarch mixture into the boiling berries while stirring, it will quickly get thick. Remove pan from the heat continuing to stir for about 1 minute more.


Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tsp. vanilla
¼ tsp. stevia

Add all the ingredients into a blender in the order that they are listed while on medium speed. Cover and turn blender speed up to high. When cream has gotten thick, about 30 seconds, it is done.


(Excerpts from Trish’s Dishes Copy right 2009)

How good for us are the fall foods?

The third harvest of the season is here but sometimes with the availability of most any type of food all year long we may forget to focus our eating on the foods in-season. When you eat the foods that are in season you are supporting your body in thriving through the weather conditions of that season. As we now head into the colder months you will notice that falls foods are denser then spring foods. They are packed with more nutrients, fiber and they hold more water within rather then being juicy. We too need to retain extra nutrients and fluid in the winter. The cold will cause more oxidation to occur in our bodies so we also need more antioxidants to maintain and heal. These fall foods are abundant with antioxidant such as vitamin C, E, carotenoids, flavonoids. The B vitamins are so necessary in the proper function of our nervous system and their ability the help other nutrients work at their best. As we become less active in winter our metabolism slows down so we need to all our cells to be working strong and effortlessly the abundance of minerals in these fall foods helps do just that.

So eat up on all these wonderful fall delights so you will be strong and healthy throughout the winter months.

Pumpkin, Butternut squash, Acorn squash; Vitamin C, E, flavonoids, carotenoids, fiber

Parsnips; Vitamin C, folate, fiber

Cranberries; Vitamin C, fiber, phytonutrients

Apples; Vitamin C, fiber, Phytosterols, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium

Red Beets; vitamins A, B1, B2, B6 and C, calcium, magnesium, copper, phosphorus, sodium, iron, fiber, flavonoids

Cabbage; vitamin C, E, fiber, calcium, magnesium, iron, carotenoids

Daikons; Vitamin C, digestive enzymes

Kale; vitamin C, K, Folate, calcium, potassium

Nuts; B vitamins, vitamins E, F, copper, fiber