Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Vegetarian Cassoulet

So for some reason I've been thinking a lot about detox lately. Now I know at least for us New Englanders Spring (the season of internal/ external detox!) is far from having sprung, and it is still quite cold (lets talk about 5 degrees last night). I suppose that is why I created a vegetarian version of a wonderful stick-to-your-ribs french dish cassoulet, but added some wonderful, delicious detoxing dandelion greens! Essentially what they do is stimulate bile production from your liver, which in turn flushes out many of the toxins that are accumulating there as well as promotes paristalsis...I suppose lets just call that the intestinal elimination of said toxins. If you'd like, you can read more about dandelion greens on this post that I wrote about a year back (god, actually exactly one year back...talk about synchronicity!) This dish also has wonderful rosemary to support the circulatory system, parsely for loads of vitamin c and its heavy metal detox qualities, thyme for its lovely antimicrobial properties and tons of yummy beans and veggies for fiber, nutrients and vitamins! Oh yeah, and all of the above for their *phenomenal* flavors!



Sunday, February 9, 2014

My First Adventure into Fermentation....Homemade Yogurt!

Hey everyone! Well the snow and cold have certainly not been relenting here or anywhere else. Yesterday we just got nailed with over a foot of snow! And while it certainly makes life a bit more difficult, it is oh so beautiful and gave me my first ever "adult" snow day since graduating college! With all this time on my hands, I thought I'd make a recipe I'd been wanting to try for a while, but that takes a good amount of time and watching to complete: homemade yogurt. Now don't get me wrong, this recipe couldn't be easier, it just requires you to be there to complete simple steps every few hours-- kind of like making homemade bread. Very hands-off, but takes a little while.