Stone Soup – A Gift from My Mom

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It was my mom’s birthday this week and as I have been reflecting on how much I appreciate her, and how much she has influenced me over the years, my memories linger on a very specific formative moment when I was in 4th grade and we made stone soup together. Perhaps you know of that old story about a wanderer who comes to a poor village looking for food and comfort.  He knocks on the villagers’ doors one by one, only to be turned away on each and every occasion.  The excuses have to do with scarcity: “We only have a few carrots”; or, “we only have a bag of onions and nothing more”.   He lights a fire in the village square and fills a pot with stones and water, saying something along the lines of, “It’s ok, I’ll just make stone soup.  But a sprinkle of salt would … Continue reading →

Sunflower Pesto

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Most of us know that Vitamin D is the “sunshine” vitamin but what you may not know is that Vitamin D can be found naturally in a few specific foods: fortified foods such as dairy products, fatty fishies such as canned sardines, herrings, and tuna, fish oils, liver, offal, egg yolks, shellfish, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds and sunflower seeds.  While I should be clear that the levels of Vitamin D that are found in these foods are are not very high, and we still need to get out in the sun and in some cases supplement this important Vitamin, its worth knowing about those foods such as sunflower seeds that contain Vitamin D. Enter a good friend of the sunflower seed, basil, specifically the basil in my garden and yours that is about to be annihilated by the first frost.    Leafy greens contain calcium and basil is no exception. The … Continue reading →

It’s time to hit Kale right at its sweet spot

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Lacinato (Dinosaur) Kale  Ok.  So you’re probably thinking what IS it with these health nuts and their kale?  I mean, come on, its kale this, kale that, kale chips that cost $5.87 for 2 ounces (I just googled them and that IS what they cost). What’s the deal with kale and why should I eat it?  It looks VERY green – like, grassy-tasting-green – and that one time I did try it I wasn’t very impressed. Well, I am here to tell you that right now is exactly the time to hit that kale and to give it another try.  I have eaten kale every day for a week and a half for lunch and there is a reason why.  It’s not because I force myself to eat kale because it’s good for me. It’s because right now, today, my body actually wants kale and I’ve been craving it every … Continue reading →