Gluten Free Tu B’shevat
What is Tu B'shevat you ask? Why it is the holiday of trees established by the Talmudic rabbis sometime between the 3rd to 5th century --the early part of the Middle Ages.
As the daughter of liberal Jewish activists (my parents met at a civil rights meeting in the 1960's) I've always been really into this holiday which is described by wikipedia as follows:
Tu Bishvat is considered by secular Israeli Jews and organizations to be the Jewish equivalent of Arbor Day...Ecological organizations in Israel and the diaspora have adopted the holiday to further environmental-awareness programs.
I remember the rituals of Tu B'shevat growing up --to celebrate my family planted trees. Additionally, I have a very personal connection to this holiday. According to the website Think Baby Names:
Elana \e-la-na\ as a girl's name is pronounced ee-LAHN-ah. It is of Hebrew origin, and the meaning of Elana is "tree".
Here's more on Tu Bishvat from about.com:
An annual new year for trees was established by Talmudic rabbis so that Jews could calculate the age of trees and know when they could be harvested. Jews celebrate Tu B'Shvat by serving dishes containing fruit mentioned in the Bible either for a regular meal or for a Tu B'Shvat Seder ceremony.
When I saw my Rabbi today he had many interesting ideas to share with me about Tu B'Shevat. According to Rabbi Gavriel, the words that make up the name of this holiday have a simple relevance. The celebration falls during the 15th day of the Jewish month of Shevat. The Hebrew letters "tuf" and "vuv" make up the numbers 6 and 9 which add up to 15 --are you still following this?!
He further explained to me that this holiday is not the New Year of the Trees, it is the New Year of the Tree, and it is thought that the reference to "tree" could be a mystical reference to the Tree of Life. For more fascinating information of this type, you can take a look at my Rabbi's column. He provides further detail on this wonderful holiday we call Rosh Hashanah Ilan or Tu B’Shevat.
According to wikipedia, Tu Bishvat (Hebrew: ט״ו בשבט) is a minor Jewish holiday. This year, it will fall upon the dusk of February 7 through the dusk of February 8, 2012. Generally, Tu Bishvat falls on the second full moon before Passover, or, in a leap year, the third full moon before Passover.
Roasted Cauliflower Soup
Soup is good food. Especially healthy soup made with a mere five ingredients.
This quick and easy Roasted Cauliflower soup recipe is one that I found in a recent issue of Bon Appetit. Except their recipe had butter and heavy cream; I've de-Paula Deened this recipe so that it is the pure delicious essence of a vegetable without all kinds of unnecessary other ingredients and flavors.
...continue reading Roasted Cauliflower Soup
Coconut Bars
These rich and moist coconut bars are made of not one, but three different forms of scrumptiously healthy coconut, including shredded coconut, coconut oil and coconut milk in their ingredients list.
I have Shirley at Gluten Free Easily to thank for this recipe as it is based upon her famous gluten free Crustless Coconut Pie. I'm a big fan of Shirley's crustless pie recipes. They're perfect when I'm looking for a quick and easy, yet simply tasty, gluten free dessert.
I find that this this coconut bar recipe tastes a bit like a macaroon bar. If you want to jazz up your coconut bars and get really decadent, try drizzling them with dark chocolate.
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Weekly Paleo Meal Plan
This Paleo Plan is for my friend Leslie Dietrich. Our children play baseball together and Leslie and I had the pleasure of thrift shopping our way through Waco, Texas last summer when their team was in the Regional Little League World Series Playoffs.
Like me, Leslie has a host of auto-immune disorders. Unlike me, she still eats gluten and grains. Leslie asked me for an eating plan that she could try for one week to see if the symptoms in her hands and other parts of her body would change. One week is probably not long enough (30 days is optimal) for seeing results from a change in diet. So if you want, just repeat this meal plan 4 times, or make your own, using the recipes from this site and Paleo sites such as Everyday Paleo or Paleo Parents.
Please note, this eating plan is not designed for someone who is trying to lose weight, this is not a diet plan. This is an anti-inflammatory eating plan that can be used by some people to improve overall health and wellness. If you do need to lose weight, feel free to refer to Loren Cordain's book The Paleo Diet
This post is for people that want to incorporate more nutrient dense foods into their diet by eliminating the grains that are toxic to a large percentage of us. So, eat your veggies. They're far more nutrient dense than grains. Or as my dear Dad has been saying for the past 40 years, "Eat the rainbow!"
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Mocha Mousse
You can whip up this primal-friendly chocolate Mocha Mousse in just a few minutes. All you need is a food processor
I plan on serving this Mocha Mousse in little ramekins to our New Year's Day guests. As always we will have an assortment of people with a variety of food allergies and food restrictions. For those that cannot have eggs I will be serving my Vegan Nut Free Gluten Free Brownies. For those that cannot have chocolate, I will make Gingersnaps. I will be sure to have something for everyone at our little New Year's Day dessert gathering.
Here's to a wonderful 2012 for everyone, filled with fun, food and good health!
...continue reading Mocha Mousse
