Hi Everybody!
Please find the May 6, 2010 Wholly Macro Delivery Menu in the Weekly Delivery Menu section below.
And right on cue, mid-May every year, the weather is really heating up.
We have a nice light spring - summer menu planned for this week.
A sunshine-y miso corn chowder.
Brown rice with mung bean sprouts, freshly sprouted right here, by us, in the Wholly Macro kitchen. There is absolutely no way that store bought sprouts can ever compare to fresh sprouts.
Our Famous homemade BBQ seitan. And for those of you who have never had homemade seitan, there is nothing to compare to that either. It is a labor intensive true culinary treat that can't be found in any store except for the Wholly Macro kitchen, and a few other die hard kitchens around the planet!
The bean dish is nice. The marinara sauce / sweet vegetable jam that it is served with is like eating nectar for your pancreas. It gently relaxes the middle portion of your body, allowing it to open up and breathe deeply. Try directing your attention to the middle part of your body. Check and see: is it tight? Do you feel a restriction there, preventing you from taking deep abdominal breaths, and preventing the energy from flowing freely through your entire body? Now visualize relaxing that part of your body. Just let it go as you breathe deeply all the way down into your abdomen, and relish in the feeling of a completely relaxed abdominal region (and lower back). Eating foods like naturally sweet vegetables allows that to be your natural state of existence. Simple sugar on the other hand tightens and hardens that area of your body.
Strawberries are everywhere at the moment. The perfect spring / summer fruit. Slightly sour, therefore stimulating the liver to produce bile and flush fats, yet slightly sweet and juicy, re-hydrating and relaxing a hot "bod"!
I didn't leave the vegetable dish out. I left it for last because I wanted to say a few words about kuzu, an ingredient we use repeatedly in dishes here at Wholly Macro, this dish included.
The root of the kuzu plant, a member of the legume family, is prized in Oriental Medicine as the traditional medicine of choice for digestive, and many other disorders, and as a premier cooking starch / thickener.
It has been part of the cuisine of China and Japan for more than two thousand years! The very starch that makes kuzu an outstanding jelling and thickening agent in cooking is also responsible for its medicinal action. Kuzu's complex starch molecules are able to enter the intestines and relieve over acidity, bacterial infection, and excess water / bloating, and relieve abdominal aching and intestinal irritation.
Kuzu also contains a high concentration of naturally occurring plant flavonoids, which are powerful antioxidants that have the ability to inhibit the contraction of smooth muscle, thereby increasing blood flow to, and relieve cramping in, the intestines. These flavonoids give kuzu it's strong medicinal / healing effect on both the digestive and circulatory systems.
Clinical studies in China also show that kuzu root reduces high blood pressure, relieves chronic migraine headaches, and eases tight neck and shoulder muscles. In fact, in China, kuzu flavonoids have successfully treated sudden deafness caused by restricted circulation, have been shown to lower cholesterol levels, reduce the risk of blood clot formation, and protect against heart disease.
Although research on the medicinal value of kuzu is done in both the United States and Asia, it is studied and documented much more extensively in the East than here. (No big surprise).
As a medicinal remedy kuzu is an important ingredient in a number of special drinks. You can consult a macrobiotic consultant or an acupuncturist for a use appropriate for your condition. In addition, research has shown that eating foods made with kuzu have the same healing effects, and is considered good preventative medicine.
A simple kuzu tea can be made by diluting 1 tablespoon of kuzu root in 2 tablespoons of cold spring water. Add the mixture to a pot of one cup of spring water, and bring to a boil, lower the heat to a simmer, stirring until it thickens and becomes translucent. If you want to increase the power of this tea, mince � of an umeboshi plum and 1 teaspoon of fresh ginger juice, and add it to the pot at the end, gently simmering for 1 minute.The umeboshi plum alkalizes the blood by neutralizes lactic acid, and the ginger aids digestion and circulation, and warms the body. A few drops of shoyu can be added at this time also, for taste.
This tea helps to relieve chronic headaches, relax stiff shoulders, ease discomfort associated by over eating, heartburn, and indigestion, heal intestines ravaged by Colitis and Irritable Bowel Syndrome, relieve all sorts of respiratory ailments such as hay fever, asthma, allergies and tonsillitis, and is even well researched to be good for alcohol cravings and hangovers! It sounds too simple to be true, but believe me, it works! But please, seek medical attention also for any of the above symptoms / conditions at your discretion.
Roots are the focal point of a plant's energy and have always been an important historical part of the human diet and natural medicine chest. Just a little bit of research shows us that kuzu root defined this fact!
An important reminder: Next Sunday, May 9, from 3 - 4 PM, I will be the guest speaker on a Macrobiotic Healing Miracles Free Telephone conference call. These calls happen every Sunday at 3 PM, and every Monday at 9 PM. You can access info about the calls by going to this link: http://phiyakushi.com/miracles. Or you can just dial in directlyby dialing 218 862-7200 and entering code 900368 when prompted. You can call and join the call any time during the hour long call. These calls are inspiring and informative, and are creating a great sense of "community". We hope you will take advantage of this fine opportunity!
We wish you the best of health, truly our greatest wealth, as always. Just ask (or observe) someone who has "lost" their health to see if this isn't the absolute truth.
Gayle and Jaime / Wholly Macro
