I have recently had the opportunity to review a new book called Earth Mama’s Spiritual Guide to Weight Loss by Stephanie Rose Bird, author of several self-help books rooted in earth magic and ancestral wisdom. Stephanie is also an accomplished fine artist with work in many galleries and exhibits.
Here is my review of this book in exchange for a signed copy from Stephanie.
Earth Mama’s Spiritual Guide to Weight Loss
by Stephanie Rose Bird. Somerset, England: Green Magic Publishing, 2017.
Spirit helpers, affirmations, meditations and more are all intrinsic to Stephanie Rose Bird’s own roller coaster weight loss journey. More than a “diet” book – and she does talk about food, how we are hard-wired to make certain food choices, and how food addiction affects us –she shares with the reader her insight, backsliding, humor and hope.
There are many useful guidelines in this book, starting with Part I – Wisdom of the Sages. The author, a bit of a city girl, tells us about her experience living in the Australian “out bush”: the knowledge of some of her aboriginal friends; and the earth wisdom she acquired spending time with them. There is an introductory section about herbs and how to prepare them for use, with emphasis on a few herbs (and foods) that the reader will likely use for weight loss supplements. A fun hand-crafting project follows; these are interspersed throughout the book and are designed to inspire and attune the reader with the teaching.
After meeting Gaia, the author takes us on a Goddess Vision Quest to meet our Power Animal. Gods, Goddesses, Iwa of the African diaspora, and beings of the Hindu pantheon: we are taught that they “hear” us in our need. They encourage us with healing and discretion. There is nothing we can’t talk to them about, and nothing they have not heard.
In some of the herbal sections, the author explains how to use flowers for the journey, an especially lovely gesture. Flower Essences, Hydrosols (floral waters), potions, essential oils, the exotic Monoi Tiare oil, all enliven and beautify. The Rose flower affirmations are delightful and relevant. Herbal baths, healthful smoothies, an Ayurvedic primer (including short pieces on Tulsi Basil and Henna), and numerous activities are found throughout the book. I especially liked learning more about the author’s personal relationship with deity, the vast African pantheon and reading the African proverbs such as this from the Maasai: “Happiness is as good as food.”
Stephanie Rose Bird, author, artist, scholar, Earth Mama
I like the author’s approach toward food and eating. She often refers to weight loss as a personal “journey”, and surely this approach can apply to any issue one is dealing with. The book seems to target women, with reference to baby-weight, PMS and menopause, and personal adornment (although this is mostly gender non-specific).
The author loves aromas and aromatherapy, and I am all over that bandwagon. She also loves (as do I!) Lord Ganesha, Remover of Obstacles. What I do not love is the way the book is organized; it could be more useful if the subjects were put into chapters. The author has assembled a good bit of information here and I would like to access it easier. Also, I could appreciate some editing relative to sentence structure and repetitive wording. Perhaps a revised edition in the future?
The generous spirit of this book is to instill confidence, self-esteem and sensuality, finding delight in self and nature, and knowing you don’t have to do it alone. The Goddess has your back on this, and so does Stephanie Rose Bird.
… or, “Gramma, why are there flowers in the salad?”
Yes, indeed, there are flowers in the salad. Many folks are surprised to see even the common violet or nasturtium in their green, leafy salad, but people have been eating flowers for centuries. In dayes of olde, some flowers were pounded with sugar and eaten to dispel unseemly humours, while some flowers have been fermented into delightful alcoholic beverages – another way to improve one’s humor. There are also some flowers that should never be consumed, which I will get to later.
Kitchen Herb Flowers Generally speaking, all the culinary herbs – such as Basil, Marjoram, Oregano, Thyme, Rosemary and Savory – have edible flowers. Normally we try to harvest these herbs before they are in full flower, but some do get away from us, and these flowers are just as useful in the kitchen as the leaves; they pretty much taste the same as the leaf. These flowers can be tossed into salads, minced into omelets or frittatas, and added to rice or soup toward the end of the cooking time. Thyme flowers make a good tea for chest colds and sore throats.
Flowering Thyme
While not often used in cooking, the flower petals of Monarda, often called Bergamot or Bee Balm, add a spicy, minty, almost oregano-like flavor to salads, and they also make a snappy cup of tea, useful for coughs and lung congestion.
Monarda blossom, spicy and pungent
To make a simple herb-flower tea, boil 1 pint water, remove from heat. Place 1 teaspoon fresh or 1/2 teaspoon dried flowers into a teapot or other suitable vessel, pour the hot water over the herb, then cover and steep from 5 to 10 minutes; strain and serve, using honey to sweeten if desired. Do not give honey to babies under one year old.
Flowers from kitchen garden herbs make an attractive edible garnish. This includes the azure-blue flowers of the Borage plant, whose leaves have an aroma and taste reminiscent of cucumber. Flowering herb stems can also be used to make herbal vinegars. Flowering Basil immediately comes to mind, especially the purple types because they will tint the vinegar a beautiful pinkish-purple and taste wonderful.
Borage flower
A fun summer project using edible flowers is to take your favorite combination of flowering herbs – thyme and marjoram, for example – and tie a few sprigs together with kitchen string, and hang them to dry for use later in soups and stews. Put these miniature bouquets into a wide-mouthed glass jar for easy retrieval. They also make useful gifts. You can even string together several of them on a length of jute or twine and make a rustic garland to decorate your kitchen.
Sweet-Faced Flowers As you may already know, all violet, viola, pansy and johnny jump-up flowers are edible, the domestic varieties as well as the wild. It’s hard to describe the taste of a violet flower; it’s almost anise-flavored, yet it isn’t… I guess they just taste like themselves. It’s my annual tradition to use violets in spring salads. The yellow variety that grow in the woods near my home blooms at about the same time as morel mushrooms are emerging, and both are great in risotto. Sweet Violet flowers make an enchanting syrup like nothing you’ve ever had. Many herbal chefs use this family of flowers to decorate butters and cheeses, creating something that resembles a tiny float from the Pasadena Rose Bowl Parade – almost too pretty to eat! Try it yourself sometime, or get your kids to do the decorating, they will have loads of fun. “Sally, stop eating all the flowers, we’re saving them to decorate the butter!”
Basic Herbal Syrup – In a small saucepan, boil 1 quart water with 2 ounces dried or 4 ounces fresh plant material; turn down the heat and simmer uncovered until reduced by half, leaving 1 pint, about 20 minutes. Strain, then add 1/2 cup honey, stirring until blended. If using sugar, use 1 cup sugar and, when adding to the strained herbal decoction, return to medium heat just until dissolved. Decant the syrup into a super-clean bottle, label and date. The syrup should be refrigerated and will keep about 3 months.
A large quantity of Elderberry Elixir, which is a syrup fortified with alcohol
Unusual and Fragrant Lavender flowers don’t often make it into the kitchen, except maybe to flavor Lemonade, or in French herbal blends, but have you ever tried lavender shortbread? Simply add 1 tablespoon fresh or dried lavender flowers to you favorite shortbread recipe, and do not overbake the cookies. Be ready for something special.
Another not-so-common flower in the kitchen is the romantic Rose. There are dozens of ways to eat a rose, from the silky petals to the voluptuous hips.
Rose Petal Honey – Gently press 1 pint clean rose petals into the bottom of a saucepan. Pour room-temperature mild honey into the pan to cover the petals, about 2 cups honey, possibly more, and slowly heat over low until the honey is just warm, a few minutes only; too much heat destroys the healthful enzymes. Put this sticky mixture into a clean jar and close tightly. Store at room temperature for about 2 weeks to allow the rose flavor and fragrance to permeate the honey. Reheat honey again over low heat by placing the jar in a small pan of water (like a double boiler); after it softens, strain out the petals and recap immediately. You could also start over again and make a batch of double-infused honey for more flavor. If you have the time and inclination, you could heat the honey in its jar in the warm sun for these procedures.
She Loves Me… … and I love her too! I am referring to the sunny marigold, but not just any marigold. The orange-petaled flower with the golden center we call Calendula is also referred to as “pot marigold” or simply marigold. Calendula was widely used in Elizabethan times as a food and potherb. The petals can be made into a tonic tea for toning the lymphatic system. Calendula petals are well known as an herb for sensitive skin, and the petals make a golden hair rinse.
Calendula, sometimes called pot marigoldLemon Gem Marigold, note the tiny flowers
You can also eat the petals of the delicate Gem Marigolds (of the common garden-variety marigold), and these have a citrusy aroma and flavor such as lemon or tangerine. You can take the petals of either the gem marigolds or calendula and toss them into pancakes, muffins, or even birthday cakes. I have seen wedding cakes decorated with calendula petals and even the white petals from daisies, much to everyone’s delight. Any of these could be folded into a tub of whipped butter. Just use the petals, as the whole head of any of these would not be palatable.
Wedding Cake decorated with edible flowers
Dandelion petals also fall into the category of edible flowers, even the unopened flower bud is used as food. I’m thinking a wilted spinach salad with dandelion buds quickly sauteed in a dab of bacon grease and chopped hard-cooked eggs – kind of bitter, but tasty.
Flowers with AttitudeMy favorite edible spring flower blooms atop the slender chive stem. The flavor is sweet and biting, with a crisp texture. The separate florets radiate from the central stem and are easy to snip off all at once to use in salads, soups, and scrambled eggs – my favorite! Nothing says spring to me like fresh green chives and their purple blossoms… even now, in my mind’s eye, I am out there in the early morning garden getting my slippers wet and picking chive blossoms.
Chive blossoms
Other edible flowers that are more of a by-product of over-mature garden vegetables include radish YUM! and arugula, which I think taste much better than the leaves.
One popular edible flower with bite is the nasturtium. The leaves are edible as well, but personally I prefer the flowers. Not only are they tasty torn up into a salad or floating blissfully on the sea of a cool summer soup, they can also be dried and used in winter soups too. In fact, the nasturtium, which is native to Peru, contains a natural antibiotic and enhances the immune system. They also fall into the next category of edible flowers.
Nasturtiums in bloom
Stuff It! And I mean that in a most tasteful way. Nasturtium flowers are great stuffed with a bit of garlicky cream cheese and eaten raw. So are hollyhocks (my Gramma Lil called them Polish Roses); just remove the large stamen in the middle before stuffing, and may I recommend a lemony-chive flavoring to the cream cheese, or perhaps a bit of curry powder. Hollyhock flower is also a gentle diuretic when made into a simple tea; it is related to the marshmallow plant, which has been used as a soothing emollient for centuries. Hollyhock makes yet another soothing tea that is good for sore throats and coughs.
Pink Hollyhock flower
Another edible flower suitable for stuffing, which must be cooked before eating, is the squash blossom, especially from summer squash. Be sure to take the male flowers on the long stems and not the female flowers on the swollen stems, or you’ll be robbing your plants of all the zucchini. Squash flowers are also delicious torn up into soups and scrambled eggs.
Squash blossom
Stuffed Squash Blossoms – Pick the blossoms mid-morning after the dew is dried and before they wilt in the heat of the day; remove any insects that may be inside. Do not wash these flowers, and keep cool until ready to use. Carefully stuff a thin slice or two of jack or mozzarella cheese inside, securing with a toothpick if necessary. Next, lightly dredge in seasoned flour; dip into beaten egg; then dredge again in seasoned breadcrumbs or cornmeal. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, fry the squash blossoms in a bit of oil, turning once, until golden brown. Sprinkle with a dash of salt, serve immediately and watch them disappear.
Squash blossoms, stuffed and fried
Just Because they’re Pretty… …doesn’t mean they’re edible! Never eat flowers from the florist; they’re all treated with fungicides, insecticides, and other chemicals, rendering them toxic and inedible even if they’re not poisonous flowers.
Under no circumstances should you eat any of the following flowers, no matter if they are wild or domestic. They are noxious, poisonous, toxic, deadly, or worse. Don’t even touch ’em.
ACONITE BLEEDING HEART (and Dutchman’s Breeches) BUTTERCUP CLEMATIS DEATH CAMAS DELPHINIUM FOXGLOVE (digitalis) HEMLOCK (not the tree) HYDRANGEA (snowball bush) IRIS LUPINE (including the seeds) NIGHTSHADE OLEANDER PEONY PERIWINKLE POINSETTIA SWEET PEA (not the vegetable pea, but the fragrant flower) TANSY WISTERIA
There are others, but these are the most common. I would also advise against eating wildflowers (or any other part of the plant) that resemble the dill plant, even though many are edible, since the Umbel family (their flowers look like umbrellas) has some virulently poisonous members in their ranks. So do certain members of the lily family, like the above-mentioned Death Camas, but onions and chives are lilies too, so I guess you can’t judge a whole family on account of one or two members. If you are gathering wild flowers to eat, be sure to make a positive identification first before picking. If you want to eat garden flowers and aren’t sure which is which, ask at your local nursery or County Extension Master Gardeners for help in identifying the safe from the sorry… Oops! Pulmonary arrest, how inconvenient…
Just a quiet Friday nite in the Shababy/Veitch household, and like many families, Friday Night is Pizza Night. And spooky movies night (or tv shows), like The X-Files.
it’s Spooky out there
In our household, one of us is diabetic, and can’t eat much in the way of what the rest of us would call a “crust” or “bread”, at least not without spiking blood glucose. Gluten-free crust isn’t the answer either to a low-carb pizza, since rice flour and other alternatives to wheat are actually higher in carbs. For this pizza, the approximate total carbohydrate value is around 25g. This doesn’t consider any sort of glycemic index since that doesn’t always seem to apply for measuring responses. http://nutritiondata.self.com/
So we compromise and make a breadless pizza. You could easily serve breadsticks or garlic bread on the side for folks who can eat them.
When I think about it, this dish is more like a vegetable lasagna w/o the noodles, particularly since you have to eat it with a fork, but we like calling it pizza, so humor us if you will.
What I am offering here is a simple photographic instruction on how we make this dish. Slather on the sauce if you wish, pile on the peppers, mound up mushrooms, make it how you like it for your family. In the summer when the CSA is overflowing, I like to use eggplant (my personal fave) instead of zucchini, but since it has twice as many carbs as the squash, we sometimes make both! We love our local CSA, Mountain Cloud Farm. https://www.mountaincloudfarm.com/
Pan-frying in olive oil
First I prep the squash whether peeling or not, then slice into 1/4″ pieces. I usually slice them into rounds, but not this time. Just brown the seasoned zucchini in a medium hot skillet in a bit of olive oil , they do not need to fully cook.
Aren’t they cute?
I like to line the pan with parchment to keep everything from sticking. Next we put the sauce on and some pre-grated parmesan cheese, not necessarily top shelf, but appropriate for this application. I had also fried up a hot Italian sausage that I removed from it’s casing to layer on it’s great flavor. We sourced the sausage at Winter Ridge Market where they make it in-house from local pork. http://winterridgefoods.com/departments/meat/
zucchini pizza in progressItalian sausage kicking it up a notchready for the oven
After the sausage, we added mushrooms and roasted red peppers, along with a sprinkling of mozzarella.
The red peppers were also sourced from the CSA. When we got them home, we roasted off the skins, laid them flat on a tray, and froze them. Then they were placed in zipper bags with parchment in between to keep them from sticking together. We were able to extend the harvest from our CSA, since during some of the summer weeks there is sometimes more produce than the two of us can eat, so we learned to choose what works best for us… yes, we can pick and choose at this farm, can you?
Then of course there is the waiting… I start out with a hot 425-degrees F. oven for about 10 minutes, then reduce heat to moderate and check every 15 minutes or so. Use a fork to see if the zucca is tender; I had to drain off a little liquid in last nite’s batch, perhaps a little more browing in the skillet would have made that unnecessary.
The pizza takes 30-40 minutes, which means you can enjoy some pre-supper libations if you choose, or a game or two of gin rummy. And the results?
be careful, it’s hot!
This dish is plated – bring on the movie!
As for The X-Files, it was the last episode of the series, a bit of a let-down in a way… but after all, it’s only a TV-show, right? I mean, just because you don’t believe in them doesn’t mean…
I love nuts! I’m nuts about them. I’ve never met a nut I didn’t like. So I wanted to share a couple recipes with you for two varieties of spiced nuts.
pecans on the tree
cashews on the tree
The first recipe for cashews is delicious, with no added-fat, while the second recipe is not for the faint-of-heart since it uses a healthy dose of black pepper for flavoring.
cashew nuts
Sugar & Spice Cashews
2 egg whites
1/3 cup natural sugar or ½ cup coconut sugar
1 teaspoon each, sea salt, cayenne, cumin and chili powder
¼ teaspoon each, allspice and ginger root powder
6 cups cashews, whole or large pieces
Pre-heat oven to 300-degrees. Line 3 ungreased baking pans with parchment.
In a large bowl, whip the egg whites until foamy but not stiff. In another bowl, mix all the spice ingredients together, then stir into the egg whites. Stir in the nuts. Spread the mixture evenly in the prepared pans.
Bake the cashews for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, then toss and separate the nuts using a metal spatula. Return nuts to oven, reduce heat to 250-degrees, and bake another 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove cashews from oven, stir again, then place pans on wire rack to cool. Store in airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
pecans, loose and in the shell
Peppered Pecans
1/2 cup natural sugar
2 tablespoons sea salt
2-3 tablespoons ground black pepper
4 cups (about 16 ounces) pecan halves
Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl. Heat a large heavy skillet, preferably cast iron, over high heat, add the pecans and toss for a minute or so, to bring the nut oils out. Remove from heat.
Sprinkle half the spiced sugar over the pecans until the sugar begins to melt, about 1 minute. Add remaining spice and repeat.
After 1 minute or so, pour pecans onto a baking sheet, spreading to cool. Seal air tight to store.
The photos below picture two of the flavored butters we sampled at the Sandpoint Library in September 2010, at the Herbal Pantry Staples and Fall Comfort Foods demonstration, above. There were over 2 dozen folks who attended, and it was a lot of fun. Here are two recipes, neither of which are in my book The Wild & Weedy Apothecary.
Raspberry Butter
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened at room temperature
1/2 cup raspberry puree (from unsweetened fresh or frozen berries sieved for seeds)
1-2 tablespoons honey
Garlicky Dill Butter
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill leaf
1-1/2 tablespoons chopped garlic, about 3 or 4 cloves
2 teaspoons lemon juice, optional
The method of preparation for the Garlicky Dill Butter is the same as for most other flavored butters, that is, let the butter soften at room temperature, add the other ingredients, whip it good (into shape!), and either place in a pretty crock or roll into a log on some waxed paper and then chill to make rounds or pats (the process is messy but good). Just about everyone at the class loved the garlic-dill butter, but I wouldn’t use the lemon juice option unless you’ll be using it on fresh steamed veggies; if it’s just for bread or rolls, I think it tastes better without the lemony flavor, but that’s just me.
For making the Raspberry Butter, I used a food processor, because there was no way the puree was going to blend willingly with the butter. It made a real mess whether I used a spoon or a wire whisk. However, the effort and experimentation was well worth it, because the result tasted sort of like raspberry whipped cream. In other words, Excellent.
Please share your own favorite flavored butter combinations with me, I’d love to try them out!
