Corn Bread a la Fuhrman

B"H

This past week, I managed to catch some interesting programs on PBS -- we have three relatively local PBS stations -- 13, which is the NY station, 8, which is based in Central NJ and 21, which is based in Long Island. The last of the three is my favorite since they have a lot of Jewish themed programs. The first of the three made a mistake years ago when they aired a very anti-Israel piece, a Palestinian propaganda piece, but I digress. Because of the preceding, I prefer to support 21.

In any case, the PBS stations were having one of their money press weeks (I can't remember the term they use for it -- I'll probably remember while I'm drifting off the sleep) and they show some of the more popular programs. Some of my favorite (in addition to their Jews in Baseball program and several other Jewish themed programs) are the health/diet themed programs. They had a few Qi Gong classes that I liked and a couple of programs about diet. One was a program hosted by Dr. Mark Hyman (which I loved) and the other was a program hosted by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. I have bought and read Eat to Live, though I should probably reread it.

This just happened to be aired the same day as I had seen Dr. Fuhrman on Dr. Oz's program and he talked about "G-BOMBS" -- which he referred to as "GOMBS" on the PBS program. "G-BOMBS" stands for:

• Greens
• Beans
• Onions
• Mushrooms
• Berries
• Seeds

(in "GOMBS", the two "B" words are put together as one entry).

In any case, I'm trying to incorporate the "G-BOMBS" foods into my diet (I have been trying to lean toward vegetables and fruit as much as possible for several years now, but I digress). So, this morning, when I decided to make corn bread, I did it with this in mind.

I took two cups Gluten Free corn meal (I can eat wheat gluten but not the whole wheat grain, but the Gluten Free corn meal has no wheat in it) and added some cinnamon and cloves (1/2 teaspoon and 1/4 teaspoon respectively). Then I added some organic baby food -- 1 jar (or squeeze package) each of sweet potato, winter squash and a fruit veggie mix (was it apple and winter squash?) and blended them in another bowl. Then I added them, along with 1/4 cup dried mung beans that I had cooked until they were soft (in 1/2-3/4 cup filtered water until the water was absorbed) and 1/4 cup sesame seeds and 1/2 cup unsweetened almond "milk" and mixed them together. I put them in a loaf pan and then baked them at 350 degrees for about an hour (check at that point and bake longer if needed).

The corn bread turned out to be delicious. I ate it with my sauteed veggies (mushrooms, scallions, garlic, carrots, zucchini, purple kale and home made veggie sausage -- the only one on the list I missed in this meal was the berries -- I hope to remedy this tomorrow by making blueberry preserves with 1 bag of frozen organic blueberries and a bit of stevia).

Sweet Potato and Peanut Butter Soup

ב"ה

It's that time of year again; the soup time of year. During the summer, I eat a lot of salads. But during the winter (a bit of defining here -- to me, in the cooking sense anyway, Summer equals warmer weather and Winter equals colder weather), I try to make a soup of some sort. Both soups and salads offer one the opportunity to eat a filling, vegetable based dish before eating a more calorie dense course.

This soup is easy, particularly if you have an immersion blender (which I do). I take a large sweet potato and cut it into smaller pieces. I then put the sweet potato into a pot with 4 cups (1 quart) of water and my spices -- I like the curry spices -- so I use 1 teaspoon each turmeric, paprika (sweet), coriander, and 1/2 teaspoon of cumin, chili powder and 1/8-1/4 teaspoon cloves (optional). Any other spices you like are nice too. I boil the sweet potato, covered (cover it after the water starts boiling), until the sweet potato is very soft. At this point, if you want, you can peel off the skin, but I prefer to leave the skin on.

While the water is still warm, mash the sweet potato a bit and add 1/2 cup all natural peanut butter of your choice (I like chunky). Stir the peanut butter in to soften it. At this point, if you like, add your choice of sauteed vegetables (mushrooms of all sorts, garlic and onion family veggies, zucchini, greens, etc.).

Get your immersion blender and blend the ingredients very well. If you don't have an immersion blender, use a blender or food processor to puree the ingredients.

This soup stays well (but not long, since it's so delicious, you can't help running to warm some up) in the refrigerator.