Macrobiotic & Gluten Free Carrot Spaghetti Sauce

Holy Carrots! These are some organic carrots that grew in the garden here, aren't they girthy? I decided to make one of my favorite macrobiotic recipes with these big boys, a delicious carrot spaghetti sauce that uses NO tomatoes and gives this traditional (american-ized) Italian dish a sweet yummy twist! This carrot sauce can be used on anything you would use regular spaghetti sauce on- like noodles, lasagna, or gluten free pizza crust!

You will need:

• a bunch of carrots
• one small beet (to turn the sauce red!)
  
• red onion
• herbs (basil, thyme, oregano, parsley, bay leaf, sage etc..)
• celery
• shittake mushrooms (optional!)
• olive oil
• sea salt or ume paste
  

When I made this dish yesterday I didn't have all the ingredients on hand to get a picture of (no beets to turn it red and no mushrooms for extra flav'ah) , but it still came out delicious as always! Here is what you do:::

• Chop up the carrots, celery, and beet to simmer down till soft (30 mins or so)
• Put in a blender or smash up the carrots with a fork
• Add in herbs, salt and mushrooms to the carrrot sauce and cook in a pot another 10 mins
• In a separate pan saute the chopped onion (with some herbs) till soft (7 mins)
  
• Add onions to the blended carrot sauce and serve over noodles!

Voila! A tomato free spaghetti sauce that tastes better then the 'real' thing eva' did!
XoXOooo

Milk Paint Recipes & Suppliers

Why did we ever stop using it? Milk paint was the most long lasting and highly regarded form of paint for thousands of years until the industrial revolution brought about the mass manufacturing of goods. The paint can was invented, milk paint would have spoiled in the can, more chems & metals were added to paint each decade, and the rest is a history that now leads most people like zombies to the unhealthy paint aisle in Home Depot. Over 50 years of advertising from these companies & suppliers has people believing that toxic paint mixed with mildewcides, ammonia, metals (at one time lead), and formaldehyde is somehow superior to the long lasting qualities of how paint was originally made - safe and 100% natural. In reality chemical based VOC paints are of far less quality because of the serious health hazards involved with out gassing - these companies are ripping us off by trying to can their poison and save face by telling us these additives are making a better product for our homes, when it's only better for their bank accounts. Read more about how toxic VOC containing products in our homes effects our health & indoor air quality on the EPA's website HERE.
Luckily you can still buy completely non toxic milk paints or even make your own! This is probably the healthiest most organic choice of paint out there... if you know of something better (pretty) please share info about it in the comments section. :)

Here is list of DIY Milk Paint Recipes:
Milk Paint Recipe on Appropedia - One of the best tutorials!
Fabric Milk Paint Instructions at Helium
Powdered Tempera Milk Paint Recipe at eHow.com
Milk Paint Supplies at NaturalPigments.com
Milk Paint Recipes and Pigments at EarthPigments.com

1870 Milk Paint Recipe at Pioneer Thinking - I love this website!

This Old Crack House Milk Paint Recipe

Here are Milk Paint Suppliers Who've Made It For You:
Old Fashioned Milk Paint Co. (see photo above)
The Real Milk Paint Company

Happy Painting!

DIY: Apple Sauce from Scratch is Easy!

Apple sauce is surprisingly one of the easiest recipes to make from scratch- it takes only 2 ingredients, hardly any effort or thought, and very little attention. Yet is so delicious & smooth you'll never be able to turn back to the store bought apple sauce... that cold, lumpy, almost goodness but not quite enough.
I learned to make yummy organic apple sauce from reading macrobiotic cookbooks, so this recipe is also very healthy!

WHAT YOU NEED:

• 3-5 Apples - I use organic "pink lady" apples, look for one with a robust or strong flavor.
• 1/2 Ume Plum (pitted) OR pinch of Sea Salt

That's it! Simply cut up the apples into a few slices each (taking out the core/seeds), you can choose whether to leave the peelings on or not. I cook the peeling because it adds to the flavor and they taste really good simmered down- but if the texture might weird you out don't include the skins. Add the ume plum (or pinch of salt) in the pot with the cut up apples, then add filtered/spring water that covers 3/4 the way up the apple mountain. Bring to a boil, and then let it cook on medium low for 1-3 hours.

If you keep on cooking longer on a higher temperature you can make apple butter, which is a very dark brown apple treat.

YAY! yum yum yum. Macrobiotic, gluten free, vegan and organic!

Recipe: Gluten Free, Macrobiotic & Organic Wraps

Being diagnosed with Celiac Sprue (and various food allergies) was a pretty huge blow to my cooking skills- which were heavily cajun and super de duper delicious. To say I went into a food funk for the last 7 years is an understatement... and I seek outside inspiration, but rarely click with most recipes. My dream is to have a personal chef who comes up with cool new ways for me to work with a limited diet, keeping me out of the food allergy duldrums. Then along came my friend Evan, the master of food manipulation! With a list of the foods I could actually eat he tinkered away to come up with 3 solid recipes and totally succeeded- I feel like I've lost my food allergy virginity now because this first recipe I am sharing with ya'll is soooo yum yum I could have died. Thank gawd for Evan being a sauce genuis, here's the recipe in his words (in bold print)!
Basics : vinegar > salt > rice syrup > olive oil > pot of boiling water
Ingredients : whole lettuce or steamed/cooled cabbage leaves > radish (daikon if possible) > carrot > scallion > red onion > parsley > bean sprouts > rice noodles > protein (fish/tofu/tempeh) > whole lemon or lime ...

1.Pick whole leaves from lettuce or cabbage and wash. If cabbage, lightly steam to soften and then cool.
2.Shred to finger length pieces and place in ice water bath for 2 minutes. Then keep cold till using.
Carrot > Red Onion > Radish
Any crunchy veg can be used for this part.
Salad
Puree ¼ whole red onion + small handful of parsley + 1 radish + teaspoon vinegar + juice from ½ lemon or lime + pinch of salt + pinch of rice syrup
Dress shredded veg + bean sprouts and marinate for 5-15 minutes before serving (leave at room temp)
Protein
Fish

i. The end result is finger sized pieces of fish. You can do any variety of cooking like broiling/pan cooking/frying
ii. If you have a large piece of fish, steam and then cut into fingers.
Tofu
i. Cut into 1” wide and 2” long pieces.
ii. Cook by frying/pan cooking/baking/broiling
Tempeh
i. However you like it, so long as it’s in large enough pieces.
Noodles
Cook rice noodles according to package and immediately immerse in ice water for 5-10 seconds to stop cooking.
Remove from ice water and lay on a damp paper towel.

As you can see there are alot of variations, which is great when catering to food allergies - Evan gives choices of proteins and veggies and doesn't put exact measurements because it is something each person will have to make to taste.

These goodies in the pic above are the ingredients for the marinating sauce which was so yummy, that when I first smelled it in the blender my nose tingled and I felt like I couldn't stop grinning. Mmmmmm.

Assembly:
1. Lay out lettuce/cabbage leaf and place ingredients in lower 1/3, just below the halfway point.
2.Wrap bottom over filling and roll halfway up.
3.Fold in sides, tuck and wrap to the top
4.EAT
When I got to the end, I couldn't figure out whether I was supposed to put the wraps on top the noodles or put noodles in the wraps... I ended up with them on top (maybe cause I got lazy though!) Plus, I think I don't actually know the official way to wrap- I was tucking corners into an abyss of cabbage...then they'd slowly poke back out. Could this be related to the same affliction my mom told me I had with folding clothes? :)

How rockin' does this organic dish look though!?! Thanks Evan (of the Nerditry blog) for coming up with something so awesome, and where DO the noodles go?