A Taste of Smith Center: Taking the Art of Good Eating Home by: Laura Pole __________________________________________________________________ 1632 U Street, NW Washington, DC 20009 Phone: (202) 483-8600 Fax: (202) 483-8601 http://www.smithcenter.org/ ___________________________________________________________________ This resource book has been created as a free educational service for participants in programs sponsored by the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts. No portions of this booklet may be reproduced without permission of Smith Center for Healing and the Arts and the author/editor, Laura Pole. Printing of 4th edition: February 2016 Table of Contents Section 1: From Market to Table - The Basics of Health Supportive Food Preparation ......... 5 Stocking a “KISH” Pantry ................................................................................................................... 6 Basic Kitchen Equipment ................................................................................................................... 10 Menu Planning .................................................................................................................................... 13 Healthy Eating Pyramid ...................................................................................................................... 14 The Basics on Beans and Whole Grains ........................................................................................... 16 Legume and Grain Combinations: ...................................................................................................... 16 Tips on Shopping for Healthy Eating ............................................................................................... 23 Shopping and Eating Season to Season ............................................................................................ 25 Food Storage ........................................................................................................................................ 27 Tips on Food Safety ............................................................................................................................ 29 The Facts About Grilling ................................................................................................................... 31 Section 2: Bringing Your Food to Life - Simple Sample Menu ................................................. 34 Some Ideas for Getting Started ......................................................................................................... 35 The Simple Sample Menu .................................................................................................................. 36 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 36 Getting Ahead Menu ........................................................................................................................... 37 Simple Sample Menu .......................................................................................................................... 38 Shopping List ...................................................................................................................................... 45 Section 3: Recipes ......................................................................................................................... 52 Recipe Table of Contents .................................................................................................................... 53 Section 4: Appendices ................................................................................................................. 140 Resource and Reference List ........................................................................................................... 141 Cancer, Food and Nutrition ............................................................................................................... 141 Books on Food and Nutrition ............................................................................................................ 141 Health Supportive Cooking Classes .................................................................................................. 142 Cookbooks ......................................................................................................................................... 142 Other Books Related to Cooking, Cancer and Healing ..................................................................... 143 Magazines With Vegetarian Recipes ................................................................................................ 143 Websites and Organizations Related to Health Supportive Eating ................................................... 144 Food Sources Links ........................................................................................................................... 145 Websites On Nutrition, Diet, Menu Planning And Personal Chefs .................................................. 146 Websites on Food Storage, Safety, and Other Food Handouts ......................................................... 146 Other References ............................................................................................................................... 146 About The Author .............................................................................................................................. 147 About Smith Center for Healing and the Arts ................................................................................... 147 ii A Menu for Getting Started On the last evening at the Smith Center, we asked you what you were going to take home with you. You realized that you couldn’t fit us “chefs” into your bag, but maybe you decided to add some delicious health supportive foods to your repertoire. I am always thrilled to hear this, and want you to be able to do this in a way that fits easily into your life. If you’re not already used to having whole foods in your eating plan, then I suggest you take it slowly. I was at a similar turning point years ago, and here’s what I did. Back in 1992, I knew I had to eat healthier foods. But, I was working 10 hours a day at the hospital, commuting an hour each way, and traveling twice a month to perform music. I was also reckoning with daily persistent pain. How in the world was I going to learn how to choose and cook food that was “good for me”? I didn’t know much about eating a whole foods, plant-based diet back then, and I didn’t want to be overwhelmed. I bought a couple of low fat as well as vegetarian cookbooks. I learned to make one new “healthy” meal a week. I also began to transform my own favorite dishes by substituting ingredients like extra virgin olive oil in place of margarine, or brown rice instead of white. I also learned how to go into restaurants and choose healthier menu items, or ask the chef to make substitutions (and many chefs were often thrilled to make me a creative vegetarian dish). Within a few months, I had a pretty nice variety of menus under my belt (which, by the way, was becoming looser, as I trimmed down to a lighter, brighter me). A couple of years later, I joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program and received fresh, organic vegetables each week during the growing season. The growers often sent along recipes on how to prepare some of the veggies. I ended up becoming a working member of the CSA, and once a week, got down to my knees and weeded or pruned or dug or picked, “sampling” the delicious fresh produce that I helped to get to my and others’ tables. I found a friend who had been eating a plant-based diet for years, and she taught me and encouraged me to continue to nurture myself and my family through nourishment. We cooked some of our meals together and made extra to take home or to work. In 1996, I went on to become a health supportive chef. You do not have to be a trained chef to choose, prepare and eat delicious health-supportive food. I’m here to tell you that home cooks prepare some of the best and most nourishing food I eat. Whether you or someone else does the cooking in your home, it’s important that you make changes in your lifestyle and eating in manageable “bites”. This book will get you started in learning why and how we choose certain kinds of foods and create certain menus at Smith Center Retreats and cooking classes. I’ll pass along tips for shopping, creating a KISH Pantry (Keep It Simply Healthy), sanitation, preparation and storage. I’ll also give you a sample menu, recipes and shopping list of a week’s worth of meals. You’ll get a copy of the menu from your Retreat, as well as the recipes we used. Finally, I’ll give you a list of resources of websites, cancer nutrition books and cookbooks so you can continue “Eating for a Lifetime”. Om and Yum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Laura Pole, Chefnurcian iii How to Use this Book This book is designed to be a resource to you, based on the requests of former Retreat participants. The main request is for the recipes from the retreat. People want to know about the kinds of oils they should use in cooking. Some want to know about ideas for simple and easy meals or choosing healthy already- prepared foods. Some people want to know about how to prepare whole grains and beans. This book is divided into sections, so that you can go to the part that interests you. Section 1 is loaded with practical information on the how-to’s of stocking your pantry,