LifeStyle Revolution

Food is fuel is food is fuel is food...

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived... Henry David Thoreau 

I am sort of tickled about the rising price of gas.

No, I don’t have a stake in the oil business—in fact, I unfortunately drive a big car (to accommodate a 90 lb. dog and a son who plays the double bass).

The reason I am excited about the price of gas is that it is getting Americans to stop driving and start thinking. It’s forcing us into a Lifestyle Revolution…and I like that!

All of the sudden people are walking—Actually Walking! And riding bicycles. And carpooling. Cities are scrambling to add more busses and trains to accommodate increased ridership. It’s a Green Bonanza!

But personal transportation is just the beginning. You see, Cheap Oil and Cheap Food have been secret bedfellows for the last few decades. We’ve gotten comfy shipping lettuce from California to New York and importing apples from Chile and New Zealand. We’ve even gotten used to buying milk from an industrialized dairy twelve states away when there is a local farm in the next county.  

Industrialized food is not just a carbon footprint issue: It’s about e-coli, mad cow, pesticides, hormones and antibiotics. Did you know that more than 70% of all antibiotics produced are used in American industrialized meat production? Can you say, “antibiotic resistant bacteria?”  (I’ve got a seriously cool post coming out in the next few days about this, so stay tuned…)

Buying direct from farmers supports the local economy, the environment and, most importantly: Your Body.

If you are interested in reading more about eating locally, here are two books I really enjoyed... Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver is a real gem. Kingsolver’s writing is, as usual, alive and delicious, and this book chronicles her family’s year of eating only food that was grown by them or on neighboring farms. Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally, was written by a couple in the Pacific Northwest who ate only foods grown within a 100 mile radius of their home. 

While subsisting forever on foods that only grow in your metaphorical backyard (which likely excludes olive oil, coffee and dark chocolate) could be a bit of a buzz-kill, buying locally when it comes to dairy, meat and eggs—and especially in-season produce—is a no-brainer.

So in the summer, when produce is growing rampant, and delicious tomatoes, sweet corn and herbs are plentiful, it’s easy to be a Locavore. Here’s a recipe  from the NY Times food section a few years back. I’ve adapted it by changing the cheeses and using all organic ingredients.  It’s one of those dishes that I find myself fantasizing about in the middle of winter…

The Locavore’s Best Summer Pasta. Ever. Served with a salad from my garden.

Roasted Tomatoes:

• 2 1/2 pounds tomatoes (imperfect or overripe is fine)
• 1 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons sugar

Assembly:

• Salt
• 1 pound pasta (I used rigatoni)
• 4-6 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 2 tablespoons really good olive oil
• 2 ears corn, raw if very fresh, or lightly steamed
• 2 pints cherry or grape tomatoes
• 12 ounces smoked mozzarella (the original recipe calls for plain, fresh mozzarella)
• 1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano (or Parmigiano-Reggiano)
• 1 cup mixed herbs torn into small pieces  (I used basil, purple/cinnamon basil, thyme, a tiny bit of rosemary and parsley)

Roast Tomatoes:  Heat oven to 275 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut tomatoes into slices about 3/4 inch thick. Lay slices on a baking sheet and brush with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and sugar. Bake 15 minutes and reduce heat to 200 degrees. Continue baking, turning half-way through, until tomatoes are shrunken and chewy but not crisp, 4-6 hours.

To assemble the pasta: Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta, and cook until al dente. Meanwhile, chop roasted tomatoes very finely until almost a paste. Place in a large serving bowl and add garlic, butter and olive oil. When pasta is cooked, drain well and add to the bowl while still hot. Toss well.

Slice the corn from the cobs. Add corn, fresh tomatoes, and cheese to the pasta. Toss well. Add herbs and toss again.

Serve along with a salad of whatever is the freshest and most delicious stuff you can find. Here I’ve got some leaf lettuce from my garden along with the first full-sized cuke of the summer and a handful of lightly steamed purple beans. I also had a small bunch of broccoli in the fridge so I steamed that up and added some shredded purple cabbage.

For salad dressing, I made my usual vinaigrette with chopped shallots, Dijon mustard, white wine vinegar and olive oil. Shake it all up in a little jar and it keeps in the fridge for about a week.

 

 

 

 

Ocean Revolution

Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck... Dalai Lama

Eat fish, it is full of Omega 3s. Don’t eat fish it is full of mercury. Eat fish, it is good for your heart. Don’t eat fish, we are ruining the marine eco-system. AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! By the time I figure this out I could starve to death.

Until recently, most people considered the ocean to be a salt-water womb providing a never-ending source of food. But now we are learning otherwise. Industrialized-fishing, non-sustainable fish-farming practices and polluted waterways have rendered many species extinct (or nearly so) and left many others chock full of mercury and PCBs. Bad for the environment. Bad for you.

What’s a Conscious Foodie to do?

Organizations such as the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), which was created by the World Wildlife Fund, are working to certify fisheries that are sustainable and to have a labeling system (much like the “Organic” labeling for produce) that will identify these practices. They've got a way to go, but they are on the right track. Check out their site for more in-depth information.

And in the meantime, here is a link to a list that categorizes fish that as Safe, Sometimes Safe, and Best To Avoid. This list provides some good guidelines for choosing fish that is good for the body--and for the environment.

Salmon is one of those fish that appears in all three columns of the list. The safest salmon is Alaskan, wild caught, and as you can imagine, the variety with the highest price tag…often upwards of $25 lb. Salmon to eat “occasionally” would be from CA, OR, WA or other wild caught varieties. Don't even think about eating farmed salmon, or salmon from the Great Lakes.

Salmon happens to be a favorite in my house. Given what I've learned, however, it mostly shows up as a companion rather than in a starring role these days. But if I’m going to splurge on the best possible salmon, here’s how I’ll prepare it:

First, an hour or so in a marinade of:

• 1/4 cup soy sauce or tamari 
• a few cloves of chopped garlic
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• juice of one organic orange
• 2 tablespoons of real, organic maple syrup (grade B or C if available)
• chopped herbs such as lemon thyme, basil, oregano and rosemary

Then, I preheat the grill on high and lower it to medium just before putting the fish on. I like to grill salmon skin-side down first and let the skin “stick” to the grill… after the first side is cooked through I use a spatula to separate the “meat” from the skin and then flip it back onto the skin thus protecting the delicate flesh from direct heat and keeping it from flaking apart.

Served with some steamed green beans from the garden...mmmmmm.

Remember Who You Are

I’m a seeker too. But my dreams aren't like yours. I can't help thinking that somewhere in the universe there has to be something better than man. Has to be... Charlton Heston as George Taylor in Planet of the Apes

When I was in California a few weeks back, I passed this mural every day on my way to have breakfast, and I got totally fixated on it.

Maybe it is because it totally looks like me circa 1974—minus the young Italian girl version of The Tom Selleck mustache. Or maybe because it serves a necessary purpose in Southern California where there are a few people who actually need a reminder of who they are—either because they are too stoned or because they have had enough plastic surgery to not recognize themselves with a photo ID and a mirror. Whatever.

But then this mural got me thinking about something that The Husband asked at a school meeting a few years back… 

We were at a gathering where a panel of Waldorf School Graduates was entertaining a firing squad of anxious parents who had questions about academics, grades, SAT scores, college entry, etc. The Husband was not too concerned about the numbers. 

Instead, what he wanted to know was whether or not the graduates had gained the wherewithal to choose a career (read: life path) that made them happy.

I was like, “Wow!” That’s one of those beautiful things that only a guy who was raised as a Buddhist would think to ask. And it’s one of those things that can make the difference between a life that is fulfilling and one that reeks of dreams passed by.

In a society full of plastic good looks “Reality TV” and pharmaceutically-induced stupor, it can be difficult—if not impossible—to remember the truth about who You actually are. And without access to that truth, a whole lot of ruckus can ensue. 

Homeopathy is a modality that can see that ruckus for what it really is: the place where the convergence of the physical, mental and emotional states of being got a little stuck.

Physical symptoms are often a reflection, or indeed an extension, of places on the emotional plane that are not in line with a person’s truth.

Figuring out “your truth” is not always an obvious thing, nor is it always synonymous with perceived dreams and goals. Truth is a much more subtle energy. 

Reaching that magical point where we have harmony between who we are at the soul level, and who we are in our daily life, is the holy grail of the journey toward self-awareness and an integrated state of being. And it is the expressway of the road to health.

Finding your truth doesn’t happen overnight. And sometimes, catching a glimpse of it is the most we can hope for in this lifetime. But it is certainly worth looking for.

Perhaps today you could take a few moments to think about the You that may actually be stuck underneath the façade and expectations of your job, your family, your friends and society. And perhaps in that moment you will catch a glimpse of the elusive energy of your own divine truth. 

And if you finally get a good sense of what's been hiding under there all these years--for goodness sake, call your homeopath and let her know what you found!

 

 

 

Homeopathy Is Green Medicine

People say I’m extravagant because I want to be surrounded by beauty. But tell me, who wants to be surrounded by garbage?  ...Imelda Marcos

(This is the third of four in the series on Homeopathy as: Complementary, Alternative, Green and Sustainable Medicine. Check out: Alternative Universe and A Nice Complement, Indeed to read the earlier posts)

As we as a nation embark on the Ultimate Quest For Greeness, medicine shines as a beacon of golden opportunity for change—but the potential lies buried under mountains of medical waste, oceans of pharmaceutical byproducts and an attitude of inertia.

Single-use gloves, syringes, soiled dressings, tissue samples, medical devices and radioactive materials illustrate how (for obvious reasons) safety must often supersede ecology in this attempt to diagnose and treat the ills of our Western society.

But we’ve got a huge problem in that we are creating more waste than we can effectively deal with. The WHO (World Health Organization) estimates that affluent countries like America produce upwards of 6 kg per person, per year of medical waste. With a current population of 304,537,292, that gives us at least 1,827,223,752 kg of medical waste each year.

And it’s not just about volume. Much of this stuff is super dangerous. About 20% of the waste is considered hazardous (meaning: infectious, toxic or radioactive) and, again according to the WHO, we are a long way away from being able to safely deal with it all.

The same goes for the pharmaceutical industry. Alarming information about drug residue in our water supply is no joke. The latest statistics show something like 80% of our water harboring traces of pharmaceutical medications. (Check out this site for a really good look at the problem) Although we are told (ahem) that the traces are not enough to do actual harm, do you really want to be taking a bath in a cocktail of Viagra, Advil, Vioxx and Prozac?

I am by no means an expert on how hospitals and drug companies can minimize waste, but there are some obvious things that we, the Regular People, can do to facilitate change.

The biggest step that we can make is to take charge of our personal wellbeing. This includes how we eat, how we move our bodies, how we engage in relationships and how we choose to utilize healthcare.

I hate to get preachy here, but I think that many of us use the medical system as a crutch—and we are encouraged to do so. If you really want to get fired up, read this article from Tuesday’s NY Times regarding the recommendation that overweight eight year olds be given Statin drugs to lower cholesterol; give me a break!

I believe that first steps absolutely, positively need to be built around lifestyle modification and personal responsibility—with medicinal treatments being used only after all other avenues have been exhausted (obviously, critical and emergent needs are in a completely different category).

Safe and effective alternative therapies such as Homeopathy, when properly utilized, can provide a positive support mechanism to bring the body to a better level of health and vitality—without bringing harm to the environment. 

As a modality, Homeopathy is about as Green as Green gets.

First off, it doesn’t require a lot of diagnostic testing, equipment or expensive machinery. In fact, if need be, remedies can be prepared in a completely low-tech, manual process.

Homeopathic remedies are made from simple substances that, for the most part, come from the plant, animal and mineral kingdoms. For example, in the plant kingdom, there are remedies made from chamomile, nutmeg, onion and wild rice; in the animal kingdom, there are remedies from crushed bees, snake venom and dolphin milk; from the mineral kingdom, potassium, phosphorus, calcium carbonate and plain ol’ salt.

And because of the unique method of preparation used in (FDA regulated and approved) homeopathic pharmacies, only tiny amounts of any substance are ever necessary to produce high-quality remedies. This means that we are never stripping the earth of resources or harming animals in the process.

Being Green, when it comes to medicine, is about a lot more than waste reduction…

Green is the color you get when you blend a conscious attitude about your own personal health with an open eye on the bigger picture.  And that is something that each and every one of us can—and should do. 

Don't think about it as having to go cold turkey on the ways you currently live your life. Don't even think about it as being difficult or expensive or scary. Instead, think of it as being an Eco-Logical way to take charge of your own health and wellness. Right Now. 

 

 

 

 

 

The Tao of Scheduling

This ain’t no party. This ain’t no disco. This ain’t no foolin’ around. This ain’t no Mudd Club. Or C.B.G.B. I ain’t got time for that now… Talking Heads

I’ve been thinking a lot about time and scheduling now that summer is in full swing and the rhythm of my home is more Bob Marley than piano concerto.

As a working mother, I have spent much of the last 12 years trying to conjure up ways to maximize the time I spend with my family, while maintaining a career that I love and a lifestyle that does not include a microwave. Factor in a husband who, as a professional photographer, has a completely unpredictable schedule and does much of his work on the road, and, well…

It has been a continual evolution that is both fantastic—and fodder for a sit-com.

As this summer approached I was trying to work out how to give my children the beauty of downtime while keeping up with my ever-increasing load of professional responsibilities. And not lose my mind in the process.

Welcome to My Parental Paradox. 

Over the years I have grappled with each stage of their development—and my own—to find the balance point and keep the whole thing rolling. This continual evolution has been enlightening and utterly exhausting as each new stage requires a completely different management strategy. What works when they are young—and portable—is barely relevant when they shave.  Add to that the fact that family members often have differing temperaments—resulting occasionally in incompatible needs and wants—and you might as well have Rube Goldberg draw up a plan for the summer.

So what do you do when the schedule hits the fan? Take the yoga off the mat.

I love that expression because it takes the common parlance of yoga as flexibility, balance and strength, and allows it to flow into the larger sphere of life. Which is exactly what is needed in situations like this.

Yoga is about being in the moment and breathing rather than struggling against force. It is a concept that helps us to find our center in the cacophony of modern life. It is active and passive, abstract and concrete. And it is about trusting in a larger truth.

Sure, spending more time actually on my yoga mat would be an excellent idea right now, but a walking meditation with the dog may be all I get today. And while yoga doesn’t exactly answer the question of how to get Number Two home from tennis on Tuesday, it does have a way of adding rhythm to the schedule and a little rhythm may be just what I need to dance my way through a busy summer... 

Figgy Piggy

Yo the sun don't shine forever, but as long as it's here then we might as well shine together, better now than never... P. Diddy

It’s amazing how much can happen over the course of a week. While we were gone our garden went through a growth spurt…the radishes matured, the tomatoes and cucumbers started to appear, and the lettuces were ready for salad. And there were figs at the food co-op.

It may be because I met The Big Fig many years ago in NYC (“Here comes the tricky part”) or because I grew up eating fresh figs from my Aunt’s backyard tree, or because the colors are so gorgeously muted…whatever. When I see fresh figs, I absolutely cannot resist. My neighbor Laura has a newly-planted fig tree that I am anxiously waiting to pilfer (ummm, I mean pick) from, and we are thinking of adding a fig tree to our ever-evolving landscape.

But in the meantime, I bought a pint of figs.

And from my garden, I gathered arugula and oak leaf lettuces, radishes, yellow chard, parsley, green and purple basil and some oregano.

For the salad, I used the arugula and oak leaf lettuces and radishes, to which I added quartered figs drizzled with walnut oil and white wine vinegar and topped with some candied walnuts.

When arugula leaves get a little more mature, they become more peppery. At that point I love to add a sweet component to complement the spicy zing.

In this case I used candied nuts but I also like to caramelize figs by sprinkling a little raw (or maple) sugar on them and placing them sugar-side-down in a hot skillet. Another way to enhance figs is by putting a little balsamic vinegar on top and then putting them under the broiler for a minute or two. I’ve been known to take a caramelized fig, add a schmear of blue cheese and wrap it in an arugula leaf. And then I make the mmmmmm sound.

The pasta dish was built around a grilled, spicy chicken Chorizo sausage. In my on-going quest to use meat as an accent rather than a centerpiece, this highly-seasoned sausage went a long way to round out the dish.

First I heated a few tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil and added a lot of chopped garlic (at least six cloves). Just before the garlic started to color I threw in the stems of the yellow chard and then the chopped leaves of the chard and radish tops. (I have heard that radish greens are good in salads but I find the texture way too prickly to eat raw…cooked, however, they are really yummy). 

When the leaves were just wilted, but not cooked, I turned off the heat and let them sit.

When the pasta was cooked, I mixed in the wilted greens with cubed smoked mozzarella, a clove of finely-chopped garlic and the sliced Chorizo sausage. Then I added a handful of chopped fresh herbs (basil, parsley and oregano).

Although the pasta was delish just as it was, when I had the leftovers for lunch today, I added a few oil-cured olives and some chopped sun-dried tomatoes and, I gotta say, it was even better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Homey

No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow... Lin Yutang

I am a traveling homebody—no matter where I go, I inevitably fall into a comfortable rhythm to make myself feel at home…while far away from home.

This week, as I have been working and visiting in Los Angeles, I was happy to settle into a routine that included daily breakfasts at Urth Caffe in Santa Monica, a restaurant that features local, organic food that is prepared with beauty, flavor and a side of ethics. (Rumor has it that they are also known for treating their employees very, very well.)

Anyway, they serve the most incredible lattes made from the organic, fair trade, chemical-free coffees and teas that they import and sell under their own brand. This was the first time I had a “tea latte” (prepared with steamed milk just like a coffee latte) and it was absolutely divine.

Here are photos of two of my favorite breakfasts…one sweet and the other savory:  “bread pudding” made from a cinnamon brioche and topped with caramelized banana, and a Mexican omelet with fresh salsa and a side of local baby greens.

Delicious delights that served as a lovely and healthful start to the day.

Sustainable Healthcare?

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win... Mahatma Ghandi

In the science section of Tuesday’s NY Times, Abigail Zuger, MD wrote a review of two new books that look at opposite sides of the medical treatment equation. In short, one book encourages preventative tests, screenings and treatments while the other maintains a certain skepticism about over-treatment and (what I would term) fear-based medicine.

This dichotomy is something that I deal with a lot in practice and often acts as the litmus test for how people approach their health care choices.

Health is a multi-dimensional concept that has little to do with how well a person scores in diagnostic testing. Yet our current medical mandate does little to facilitate actual health individually, globally or economically.

There are a few things that have to be determined in order to set up a cogent thesis about this. First, there needs to be a good definition of “health” and what it means to be healthy. And second (this is the part that is most difficult to explain) is the need to see health from a wider perspective and to understand how our standard model—which operates on the idea of being sick, not well—is not sustainable and is working against us in terms of our states of health and well-being.

I recognize that it is impossible to deeply explore these complex concepts in one post, so I’ll settle for planting some seeds in hopes that meaningful conversation will take place and further learning will ensue. As such, I leave you with more questions than answers…and encourage you to post your comments.

So…what is health?

I like to think that health is freedom. It is a state of being where one is not focused on discomfort or illness but rather has the capacity—both mentally and physically—to lead a meaningful life with energy to create, to work and to engage in community.

But given that we are human, and are ultimately going to die, how do we deal with the inevitable bumps in the road?

Can a person be "healthy" if they have cancer? Auto-immune disease? Bi-polar disorder? AIDS?

Can health be attained—and sustained—by simply re-thinking the paradigm of how we live? And how we utilize our medical resources?

Would it be easier to be healthy if we had a society that put as much energy into understanding body, mind and spirit as it did in watching television, playing video games and shopping?

What if we got to the point where the industrial food lobbies didn’t have carte blanche to mis-educate the public with bogus claims about the "safety" of genetically modified, irradiated and chemically concocted foods?

Are some of the ways that we currently treat illness more dangerous than the diseases themselves?

Is it possible that the exponentially increasing occurrences of diseases such as cancer, asthma, autism, allergies and depression are a backlash to the last few generations who have been over-vaccinated, over-medicated and weaned on a diet of chemicals and preservatives?

Is it possible that medical tests are sometimes done with a nod toward avoiding possible malpractice suits?

Is it probable that when a doctor has only 15 minutes with a patient it is nearly impossible to get a comprehensive understanding of the situation and as such, (expensive) testing is sometimes used to complete the job?

In the same vein, is the over use of pharmaceuticals a way to “do something” when no other options are available to the practitioner? (When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail...)

If our medical “authorities” were trained to give care in a more holistic way (i.e. the way that a family doctor operated fifty years ago), would they have more to offer than simple medicinal suppression of symptoms?

How can we do all this when our ailing economy is dependent on broken systems like health insurance, pharmaceuticals, big-box stores, subsidized farming, etc.?

Is radical change possible for the average American?

There you have it folks. I can hear the wheels spinning and the ideas beginning to percolate. And I hope that forward-thinking people—which you must be if you’ve read through to the bottom of this post—will continue to give their energy and ideas to bring our world to a healthier and more sustainable place.

Be the change you want to see in the world…. Mahatma Ghandi

 

 

Road hard and...

Out in the woods/Or in the city/It's all the same to me
When I'm drivin' free, the world's my home/When I'm mobile
Hee, hoo!/beep beep!...The Who, Goin' Mobile

Summer has officially arrived, marked by the solstice and the first road trip of the season.

I love a road trip. Setting out early, before the sun is officially awake, singing along to radio tunes, stopping to eat at a rest stop on the highway. Eeeeewwww, I don’t think so!

Trying to eat while on the road is not easy. I have heard many people say they would rather starve than eat from a fast food joint at Exit 19, and I agree with them. But eat you must…so how?

When leaving from home, I pack a cooler full of food and snacks. Whole-wheat bagels with organic cream cheese, dried mangoes, tamari almonds and few apples can get you quite a ways. Sometimes I’ll split and freeze the bagels the night before so that they act as ice packs in the cooler for the first few hours.

We’ve had a few travel-food bombs over the years and have learned that packing bananas ensures that everything in the cooler smells like bananas, and yogurt explosions seem to occur for the back seat passengers with alarming frequency. So we now opt for sandwiches and wraps... things that are easily eaten out of hand and that keep well. If there is time for a picnic: cheese, bread, grapes and a nice pate can turn a ho-hum drive into a beautiful day.

This past weekend we drove our boys to their summer camp in Vermont. It was a momentous occasion because this is Number Two’s first time away and he has been looking forward to it all year.

Farm and Wilderness Camp is as groovy as it is green: Composting toilets, organic food—much of which is grown at the camp—and no electricity. It is a true cooperative community with values that support and reinforce the way we are trying to raise our children.  As a Quaker camp, there is Silent Meeting time, which is used for contemplation, reflection and meditation. I have heard again and again that this time of quiet observance is really respected by the children… quite a joy in this age of ADD and the Wii.

After setting up Number Two in his open-air cabin (three-sided and open to the lake), and visiting Number One—who is old hat and happy to be back at camp—we gave our many hugs and left as two, not four.

We decided to try a different route on the way home and as I was performing the all-consuming jobs of talking, knitting and (oh, right) navigating, we missed a turn and found ourselves in one of those quintessential Vermont towns with exactly the right mix of clapboard buildings, cows and funk.

Just when I was about to get a talking to about slackin’ on the navigating job, I spied this place. We jumped out of the car like Starsky and Hutch to check it out.

The shop was chock-full of good food, cool folks and local vibe. We took our time, admired the soulful design, got a few delicious smoothies and some healthy snacks and set off knowing we had experienced the true magic of a road trip.

So with the food dilemma for the drive home solved, the rest of the trip could be spent enjoying the beautiful scenery and wondering how the boys were adjusting to camp life...

Happy summer!

Eat your recycling

To shake your rump is to be environmentally aware... David Byrne

Left-overs just don't fly in my house and as such I have to be really clever about how I present anything that has been seen in the prior 24 hours. 

The one thing, however, that gets "recycled" all the time and without any complaint is bread. 

I love bread and I love to make bread--especially since I went ga-ga over Zoe Francois' book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Zoe is an old friend from Minneapolis and when I heard about her book, I bought it immediately and got down to business. This book actually shows you how to make really good, crusty homemade bread quickly and easily. It is a no-knead dough that can sit in the fridge for up to two weeks. I have since become a baking banshee.

Anyhoo, left-over bread shows up as croutons on a caesar salad, bread crumbs in a meatball, as french toast for breakfast or--my personal favorite--as a panzanella.

Panzanella is a Tuscan bread salad that is often called "left-over salad" because it can be made with just about anything. I like to call it Farmer's Market in a Bowl. I've read plenty of intimidating instructions on how to get the bread to just the right consistency of wet, dry, soft and dense--but frankly, I've made it with fresh bread, stale bread, toasted bread and soaked bread and each time it was delish. 

I used to think that tomatoes were a crucial ingredient because of the juice/moisture they provide. But trying to eat in season--and refusing to eat anything that tastes like cardboard--leaves plenty of occasions when tomatoes are just not an option. In this case, roasted peppers make a fine substitute. 

A few weeks ago, we were wined and dined by our dear friends Bettina and Patrick. An incredible meal was artfully served and frankly, I was in heaven. The panzanella that they made was so good that I had to have another the very next day--and have made about five more since. Each one has been totally different depending on what was on "compost row" but my favorite so far includes the caprese flavors that Bettina highlighted. 

Caprese Panzanella a la Bettina:

4-6 cups cubed bread

2-3 large (organic) tomatoes cubed

1 1/2 cups cubed fresh mozzarella (plain or smoked) (organic and raw if possible)

2 cups lightly steamed fresh organic veggies (i.e. green beans, asparagus, snap peas, shelled peas) cut into bite-sized pieces

1/2 cup shredded basil leaves

1/2 cup pitted Calamata olives

Toss together in a fancy serving bowl with a few glugs of fruity olive oil and some red wine vinegar. A little salt and pepper and let the magic begin.

This salad does nicely if it has a few hours for the flavors to combine and the bread to achieve a nice texture.

A couple of variations to think about:

Change up the type of bread to experiment with texture and flavor: I've used sourdough with rosemary and olive oil, olive bread, a hearty whole wheat, a semolina baguette...

Greek style: Roasted red peppers, cucumber, oregano, Calamata olives, feta cheese and red onion with walnut oil and red wine vinegar

Mediterranean style: Capers, tomatoes, anchovies, grilled eggplant and Vidalia onion with olive oil and balsamic vinegar