tricianutricia

Dearest Loyal  Readers,

It's true, I am the lamest, most lame blogger ever.  I know.  In an attempt to woo continued readership, I hereby post some lovely responses to my April Salad Nusletter!

Bewildered in Brookland writes: "i love these. you are a goddess. quick question, any danger in using just rice wine vinegar to dress a salad without the oil? anything so perfect and guiltfree must have a catch no? does it create ear hair growth or anything else threatening?"

dear Bewildered in Brookland,  NO, no worries with using only vinegar, and rice wine vinegar is a lovely choice.  :)

what i like about using oil, is that it adds healthy fats to the salad -- contributing (a) a macronutrient and (b) a sense of fullness after eating.

Here's a recipe for Martin's Red Salad, which I did not get ahold of in time to include in the Nusletter:  

You need:

red chili peppers (chopped fine)

red baby tomatoes (halved)

one red pepper (chop chop chopped)

garlic

plenty of fresh parsley

sea salt

cracked black pepper

and LOADS of lovely olive oil!

Mix and serve!

And finally, my lovely friend Jai sent in her favorite salad dressing recipe: 

Olive Oil

Balsamic vinegar

Tahini

Brown mustard

Maple syrup

A dash each of pepper and salt

 

Yum!!!

Wishing you  health, joy, and a glorious spring,
Tricia

The newest newsletter is hot off the press!

What are your holiday health challenges?  Are candy and cookies drawn to you like moths to a flame?  Are you forced to eat two loaves of Aunt Mabel's fruitcake every year?  Is the office party eggnog named after you?

... and what small changes can you make to create a healthier holiday season?

It's the 3rd annual Herb Day this Saturday, October 11!

In the DC area, the US Botanical Gardens on the Mall will host a day of talks, demonstrations, giveaways, and good mellow family fun from 10 am til 4 pm.  The Botanical Gardens are beautiful, if you haven't been there.  It's free!  

Happy new moon!  Share your bean adventures! 

Read the latest Nutricia's Nusletter, and get your very own free subscription, here.

Hello and happy September!  It's that back-to-school, back-to-reality time of year, and in keeping with that eager, nose-to-the-grindstone sort of energy, the latest newsletter is hot off the press.

In perusing this blog, I notice that I once was quite a prolific poster!  Then came grad school...  alas.  To make up for my online absence, I will now ramble at moderate length:

It's true that there was no August newsletter.  I was in the thick of final exams (finishing up my first year of grad school), and figured  you might not mind one less thing in your inbox.  It gave you more time to experiment with summer recipes, yes? 

To be completely forthcoming, today is not actually the new moon.  The new moon in Virgo was on Saturday, and I didn't think my American readership would be sitting in front of the computer on a holiday weekend.  In the future, would you prefer a newsletter in your inbox on a holiday weekend, or at the beginning of the week?  This fall, newsletter new moons fall at the end of September, near Halloween, on Thanksgiving day, and 2 days after Christmas.  So if you're a Halloween-celebrating, American Thanks-giver Christian, when are you most likely to open my charming emails?

And how about immune boosters?  Do you have any fantastic home remedies?  Questions about curry?  Immunity is a vast subject, so I pared it down to some essentials... though I didn't include vitamin C.  But you already knew about vitamin C, right?  Let me know.

And have a wonderful day.

The newsletter's out!

Do you have any fun summer recipes to share?  Are you perplexed by exotic things at the farmers' market?  

Do let us know.

And have a lovely weekend.

 

Loyal Reader T.R. writes: 

"I have an immense oral fixation and need to nibble on food all the time. Until recently, I chewed sugarless gum in massive quantities, but after reading some information about sorbitol having unfortunate side effects, I quit cold turkey. (I noticed significant differences after quitting the gum.) Struggling, I've gone back to sugared gum (which I quit a long time ago b/c bad for the teeth). Otherwise, I don't eat badly: baby carrots, natural almonds, lots of other kinds of nuts, dried fruit, and on and on. But I just feel like I'm piling on unnecessary calories or carbs just to keep my mouth busy. Sadly, this all started when I quit smoking years ago, and returning to Joe Camel sounds like a bad idea, too.

"Any ideas for food I can eat endlessly without consequence? It doesn't need to taste good, necessarily, but it's hard to keep fresh fruit and vegetables in the office, so I'm looking for some shelf stable stuff. "

I reply:

"kudos on recognizing the negative effects of artificial sweeteners and the positive effects of their removal from your daily routine! that's good stuff.   the thing with "shelf-stable" snacks is that they tend to be high in calories and/or chemicals. fruits and vegetables really are the only things you can eat endlessly without negative consequences -- and even then, if you're watching sugar intake, you need to take it easy on the endless fruit. nuts are fantastic and easy to store, but in moderation.   i will continue to ruminate on this... in the meantime, here are 2 thoughts for you:

1. yes, it's a pain; but consider a plan to stock your world with carrots, celery, berries, lettuce leaves, etc.... perhaps a weekly trip through the salad bar at the grocery store, then divide everything up into daily portions, so you've got your supply all ready to bring with you to the office.

2. look into this oral fixation business. i don't mean to sound flip at all. you've made some serious changes -- quitting smoking, changing up your gum choices -- and there is no need to be a slave to a habit that doesn't serve you. what exactly are you looking for in your need to keep your mouth moving? what did smoking do for you? can you find a way to satisfy that need in a non-snack, non-chew way? i don't know you very well so these are only surface questions. "

The moral of the story is:  if i post your questions on this blog, you get free advice... but no capital letters.  :-)


 

Dear Lovelies, 

Spring has sprung!  The strawberries are ripe, the spinach is ready!  

I am beside myself with vegetation-watching -- so much drama!  Will the mysterious, uninvited squash plant deny the red russian kale the sunlight he needs?  Will the aloes re-adjust to outdoor life?  Will the dastardly squirrels wantonly dig up more innocent iris sprouts?

This threatens to become a garden blog...  a thought worth considering.

In any case, the new Nusletter is out!  Please share your thoughts, stories, comments and recipes here!  And then, go outside and play, for gosh sakes!

Hello loyal readers,  and happy new moon!

The May nusletter has hit the newsstands.  Do you have any thoughts, questions, resistances, or success stories about organic food?  

(I have a friend who likes to point out that "it's ALL organic, duh."  ... which is true -- food technically can't be INorganic, can it?  But you get my point, so bear with me...)

I will do my best not to delete your comments, though for some reason I become technologically impaired when faced with The Blog.  Sigh.

Health, joy, and happy springtime to you!

 The newest nusletter has arrived!  Please wax poetic with stories, recipes, anecdotes, and haiku related to all things leafy and greeen.

Loyal Reader L.A.M. writes: "I was alarmed to read in your newsletter today that there is a downside to the spinach salads that are a lunch staple for me!  I probably have at least 5 or 6 spinach salads every week.  It sounds like that is a problem for calcium absorption.  I guess you would recommend substituting some other salad green for the spinach.  What do you consider to be the best alternative?"

I reply: "it's true, and i was also alarmed when i learned of it, as spinach salads were a mainstay for me also.  so sad....   

Brilliant and hilarious.  "May the farm be with you..."

http://www.storewars.org/tater_tot.html

Apologies to those to whom I've already recounted this story.

So, I was in the grocery store a few days ago -- the "conventional grocery store" as I like to call it, also known as "Giant."  While paying for my groceries, I had the following conversation with the friendly young man behind the register:

Checkout man:  Is this broccoli?

Me:  Yes, this is broccoli.

*****************************
We are in so much trouble, as a nation, if our youth cannot recognize a head of broccoli.  Sigh.

If you celebrate Easter, Ostara, or Spring by dyeing eggs, check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsvRGLQqeVQ

A fun little video on using vegetables and spices to dye eggs!

Happy Spring!

Well, I am obviously not in my right mind... my copy of my Nusletter just arrived in my in-box and it's entitled "Sugar."   Oops.  

I guess I will just claim "Grad School has taken over my brain" syndrome, because the topic is Beverages.  Not Sugar.  Sugar has been done.  I failed to change that line in that there draft copy.  Sigh.

So, send me some stories about how you prevent Brain Loss.  :-)

love T

What do you like to sip on?  What floats your beverage boat?

In other news, March is National Nutrition Month!  

Happy New Moon, 

love Tricia

The Sugar Nusletter is out!  Do you have questions or comments?  Post 'em here! 

Loyal Reader K.R. writes, "Interestingly, [my daughter] Georgia started to be less lactose-tolerant around 3 years old.  She has a lot of other allergies, so we had tested her for dairy allergies, but hadn't considered lactose intolerance.  Anyhoo, the doctor had us eliminate dairy and, turns out the big cup of milk she had each morning was what was giving her tummy aches.  Replaced with soy milk and it's all fixed (even if she has a little bit of milk here and there).  I bet a lot of people get tummy upset, gas, etc. and never think it might be milk!"

Loyal Reader A.M. asserts that my statistics are inaccurate: it's not "70 percent of the world's population" who are lactose intolerant, but in fact 70 percent of people over 5, since babies are built to only ingest milk.  

This is a good point.  I'm curious, though, as to the technicalities of human milk versus cow's milk.

Loyal Reader and Smart-Ass D.S. wants to know, "70% lactose intolerant?  That's just humans, right?"   

Er... I'd assume a higher statistic if we were to include the non-human population.  

Happy day to you!

 The Dairy Nuseltter is hurtling to an inbox near you!  Do you have thoughts on this most controversial of subjects?

I myself am a desperate fan of the Cheese -- it is across the board my default comfort food.  And I find that with raw cheese I feel less bloated.  

To read the nusletter, journey here.

If you are sadly without your own personal subscription, make it happen here.

Happy New Year!

I was a bit horrified to open my copy of my nusletter and see that it was all out-of-proportion, column-wise.  If you download pictures it will right itself and  you can see it in all its aesthetic glory.  Problem will not be repeated in future.  

So, holidays.  New years resolutions.  Any thoughts?  I am very pleased to be leaving the country for the holidays (except Hanukkah, I am still in the country for that). 

My new years resolutions (so far) include:
--learn to knit
--play my darn mandolin
--practice gratitude more consistently

How will you nurture yourself this season?  What's it all about for you? 

Happy New Moon!
 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHXXTCc-IVg

Nice.  And funny!

Plus he's got such good teleprompter technique.  

(A sidenote:  I went to college with a woman who, after graduation, dated Bill Maher.  She also dated Davey Jones, from the Monkees.  Random, but true.)