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Milk Kefir, Granola and Berries – Probiotic Breakfast for Energy & Health

​A large percentage of your immune systems is housed in your gut. For a healthy gut, consuming probiotics such as milk kefir, which are full of  beneficial bacteria will help our digestive tract with digesting food. It also helps to absorb vitamins, and support our immune system. This will give one a fighting chance during cold and flu season.
 
Start your day healthy with an easy and slimming breakfast so delicious, it could be eaten as a dessert, yet beneficial for a active lifestyle and brain function! 

Learn How to Make
​Dan Dan Rice Noodles (Gluten-Free) 

Dan Dan Noodles (dan dan mien) is a fast and versatile Sichuan style hawker/street food dish. Traditionally egg noodles are served in a nutty, spicy, smoky sauce with crispy pork, and other condiments such as peanut flakes, and green onions.  However, if you are like me, living in rural N. America, without a Chinatown in sight, you can substitute a number of ingredients, as well as to suit your dietary needs. The flavour profile should be spicy, sour, slightly sweet, and smoky.

Sourdough Starter Discard Double Chocolate Cake

This is a rich, moist, quick and easy decadent chocolate cake recipe using just sourdough starter discard, with no extra flour added. It is extremely versatile, with simple ingredients a baker would have handy such as sourdough starter discard, butter, chocolate, eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla, and cocoa power. You can dress it up with a creamy chocolate glaze, hard ganache, whipped cream, simply dust with icing sugar, or serve plain.

This cake isn’t a very sweet cake, and perfect for chocolate lovers. If you want it sweeter, increase the sugar. If you prefer it to be less rich, decrease the chocolate and/or cocoa to your liking.

Sweet Red Bean Porridge

Call this dessert or snack what you like --- Sweet Red Bean Porridge, Pudding, or Soup. I call it deliciously easy and healthy! Sweet red bean porridge is a classic Chinese banquet dessert. The only necessary fundamental requirements are the red beans (also known by its Japanese name, adzuki beans, in the western hemisphere), rock sugar, and dried tangerine peel. It is so versatile, you can embellish it accordingly to region or country with highlights such as mochi, black or white glutinous rice, lotus seeds, tapioca, red dates, dried longan, sago, ginkgo nuts, white fungus, lily bulbs, coconut milk, pandan leaves, etc.

The Cyclical Nature Of New Beginnings
– Lessons from Mother Earth.

In the Northern Hemisphere, we have four seasons - Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn. Each and every season has its own unique raison d'être.  Each evokes moods and meanings to the season. We are entering the New Moon in January. It will carry us into a resting and cleansing phase. It is a perfect opportunity for rejuvenation. It is the space between breaths. It is down time. Down isn’t necessarily a bad thing although weather and the darkness affect our feelings in winter. The rhythms of our lives are more subdued, and we desire the wrappings of warmth and cosiness. In urban centres, this duality with all the trappings of bright lights and 24 hour energy can be conflicting to our nature. We yearn for the chance to slow down; to reflect, rest and refuel. I am lucky that I, living in rural Canada, see the stars on a crisp winter night and hear the howling of the wolves in the silence of the night. Is it any wonder the January Moon is also known as the Wolf Moon or the Snow Moon?

DON’T GIVE CHRISTMAS A BAD WRAP!

Wrapping paper cannot be recycled. The glossy and glitter surface is made of plastic material. Moreover, countless softwood trees are made into pulp, bleached, and dyed with both synthetic or natural dyes. Recycled paper is not any better. It still goes through a bleaching and dying cycle, which as far as I can see is a bit of greenwashing.  To me, wrapping paper is both an energy waste for the planet as well as for myself.

When you think about it, traditional gift wraps, contrary to popular belief, were actually made of cloth, bark, and other natural materials; and yes, you can always reuse gift bags.
 
Here are some alternatives. I have been wrapping gifts this way for so long, I had to chuckle that this isn’t an “alternative” but rather, a normal way of life for me. 

How to Make Milk Kefir - Fast & Simple Recipe

In recent years, there has been a strong interest in beneficial fermented foods with natural occurring probiotics, such as milk kefir. Store bought milk kefir is usually pasteurized with most of the beneficial microbes destroyed during the process. This is to ensure uniformity and shelf life, but it also limits their good bacteria to a minimum amount. Traditionally homemade milk kefir contains billions of CFU (colony forming units), a spectrum of beneficial microbes, which is the whole point of eating probiotic foods.

Do you have 3-5 minutes in a day? That is how long it would take to make milk kefir. Why not make your own? It is easy, and cost effective.

Easy & Versatile Sourdough Starter Crackers

There are many ways of utilising sourdough starter discard. Here is one of them. I personally have always found a way to repurpose the discard. Perhaps it should not be called a discard. Why not called it a repurposed sourdough starter?
 
This is a versatile recipe where you can add or omit cheese, herbs, citrus zest and juice, a bit of bacon, or... The dough is essentially a blank canvas in which you can paint an array of colours and textures.

Gulkand, a Sun-Kissed Rose Petal Preserve

Gulkand is a luxurious Indo-Persian Ayurvedic caramelized rose petal preserve. The literal meaning of gulkand is – gul= rose/flower and kand=sweet.
 
Gulkand is made with rose petals collected at their peak of freshness, and sun cooked with sugar slowly over the course of time. Traditionally, the Damascus Rose is used for Gulkand due to its intense fragrance favoured by perfumers, and sweetened with Misri, a type of rock sugar/candy. However, any old heirloom aromatic rose and sugar will suffice. I use a double petal Rosa Rugosa from my garden, and only organic sugars.  

Rose Lassi: Drink of the Gods and Goddesses

Delicate, and elegant, the rose is far more than an eye pleaser. The healing properties of roses are known throughout cultures; practised in Native, European, Persian, Ayurvedic, and Chinese Traditional medicine. It is consumed as food, drink, medicine and made into perfumes. It offers us physical and well as emotional healing. One whiff of rose scent would help to uplift the spirit, making a believer out of any skeptic.

The Medicinal Rose - Stop and Eat the Roses

Exquisite and fragrant, genus Rosa, in the family Rosaceae, is associated with alluring beauty and love. It is well versed in mythology, poetry, literature, religion, folklore, art, and songs. Let us not forget the result of eating Rose Petal Sauce in the novel, Like Water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel.
 
All roses are edible, and are in the same family as apples, quinces, apricots, and raspberries, as well as ornamental trees and shrubs such as hawthorns. However, by law, there are only certain Rosa species recognized for use in the food, drug and cosmetic industry, such as heirloom or wild varieties like the Apothecary’s Rose.  Hybrid roses, bred for ornamental purposes lack the properties needed for culinary, medicinal and cosmetic purposes.

A Beginner’s Guide to Fermenting Foods

Vegetables, fruits, herbs, legumes, nuts, meats and diary were first fermented as a means of preserving perishables. To get the most out of a harvest, people had to find a way to make the bounty last for winter, famine, or long distance transportation.  While fermented foods were a necessary means of survival, it has also developed into an art form in many cultures. From sauerkraut, cheeses, sauces, and vegetables buried in earthen pots, these foods have been enjoyed and sustaining humans in various cultures and civilizations for thousands of years. Fermentation not only prolongs the life of the foods in a healthy, sustainable way, the food is preserved without the use of chemical preservatives, relying on microbes to do the job for us.

The Science and Health Benefits of Sourdough  Demystified

​Chewy, soft, slightly tangy, mildly sweet and aromatic, a crusty loaf of sourdough bread made in a time-honoured tradition is a labour of craftsmanship, and an object of beauty, with a depth of flavour unachievable in yeast breads, commercially or homemade.

The Birth of a Healthy Sourdough Starter
​(How to Start and Maintain a Sourdough Starter)

Making sourdough bread is committing to a relationship with your starter. Think of it as your new born baby since your starter is also a living organism. It needs regular feeding at intervals, and they are all different with their own quirky characteristics. Although a step by step set of instructions may help guide you, just like a formula for your newborn baby’s feeding and napping schedule, adjustments will be needed on an individual basis.
Born in Malaysia, raised in Toronto, Rachel Thoo is a graphic designer turned culinary consultant and catering chef. She has catered for notable VIPs including dignitaries and entertainment/sports personalities, as well as gala corporate and cultural events. She has also worked as recipe developer for major North American food corporations and publications. 
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These days, Rachel conducts gardening, culinary and fermenting workshops/retreats at her home on 100 acres in Northern Ontario, Canada, where she lives in creative harmony with nature. Rachel’s mission is to ensure the wisdom of our ancestors is preserved for future generations.
Images ©2002-2019 Rachel Thoo
All photos are the property of Rachel Thoo unless otherwise stated. Permission may be granted for usage with appropriate credit.