My Favorite Cafes
The bounty of summer produce has been wonderful! Don & I hope you’ve been feeling vital & enjoying the widely varied veggies & fruits at our farmer’s markets.
In this newsletter, I’ll give you the details about two excellent new cafes dedicated to local, organic and whole foods dishes which our friend ss have opened - Yay! I’ve listed our Sep- Nov CookWell class schedule, and included a powerful mindfulness visualization, which I’m sure will benefit anyone who reads it. And lastly, I’ve listed my newest, deliciously fun recipe: amaranth pizza crust (gluten-free), with amazing pizza sauce , along with suggestions on complimentary toppings.
Whether you want to have both Don & I, or just me (Courtney), come to your kitchen for a private or small group CookWell session, OR if you just want to show up to one of our group classes listed below, we look forward to meeting you and helping you incorporate the whole foods diet & lifestyle that works best for you. An outline of exactly what you’ll learn and what we can cook together in each session is posted on The Course page of my website www.cookwell.org. And Don’s website for life path counseling is www.gingerbuddha.com, and he’s also a knifemaker . Don’s been updating our CookWell blog with past newsletter content, free recipes, and links to informative articles. Enjoy!
We’re offering Our Entire CookWell Course
Tuesday evenings in October, 5:30-8PM at Cal Poly Continuing Education $175 (dinner included in each session!)
Enroll Online: www.continuing-ed.calpoly.edu OR 756-2053
CookWell Classes in the beautiful demonstration kitchen at New Frontiers, SLO RSVP with Dusty: 785-0106 x125 or marketing@newfrontiersslo.com
CookWell Session #4: How To Make Sauerkraut & Cook with
Sea Vegetables for Cleansing, Beauty and Longevity
Tue, Sep 20, 6-8PM cost: $30 per person (includes meal!)
We’ll show you step by step, how to make your own raw sauerkraut for probiotic supplementation, and how to cook flavorfully with the types of sea vegetables which bind and expel heavy metals and radioactive substances from the body. We’ll talk about incorporating more raw and living foods into your diet and when is best to do so, as well as strategies for getting off refined sugar.
We’ll demonstrate cooking and serve: amazing chili stew with kombu & wakame sea vegetables, sweet cultured coriander corn bread, and how to prepare sauerkraut
You’ll get 4 handouts for reference: health benefits of the different sea vegetables and recipes for each, step by step for home-made sauerkraut, strategies for getting off refined sugar, fantastic recipes #4
CookWell Session #5: Calcium Uptake, Hormone Balance, & Delicious Gluten & Sugar Free Desserts
Tue, Sep 27, 6-8PM cost: $30 per person (includes meal!)
We’ll discuss 1) calcium uptake and hormone balance guidelines with whole foods diet & lifestyle, 2) the importance of getting low glycemic to prevent most degenerative diseases, how to fresh grind & culture the low glycemic, nutrient-dense whole grains for baking delicious, sugar & gluten free desserts, 3) iron rich and calcium rich whole foods meals for most efficient mineral assimilation, 4) the benefits of periodic cleansing diets for various organs and body systems, 5) emotions as they relate to eating & how to gently work toward the diet & lifestyle best for you
We’ll demonstrate cooking and serve: fresh ground & cultured lemon-lavender-poppy loaf dessert, homemade lemon-tahini dressing over farmer’s market fresh greens, toasted sesame-wakame as calcium supplement
You’ll get 5 handouts for reference: CookWell calcium protocol, guidelines for hormone balance, fantastic recipes #5, colon cleansing guidelines, & strategies for getting lower glycemic as preventative medicine
CookWell Session #1: Whole Foods Cooking 101
Sat, Nov 5th, 10-12 cost: $30 per person (includes meal!)
We’ll discuss: 1) whole foods diet, cooking and lifestyle as preventative medicine, 2) the basics of macrobiotic theory, 3) sprouting & simmering the nutrient-dense whole grains, 4) better digestibility of beans, 5) the CookWell list of wholefoods preparation staples for your kitchen including the best cooking oils for various temperatures, 6) the importance of drinking enough re-mineralized water daily, and 6) blood type basics
We’ll demonstrate cooking then eat together: beautiful pot of black beans with cumin, coriander & ginger, sprouted then simmered whole grain millet & amaranth, ghee to use as a stable cooking oil, and dark leafy greens & seasonal veggie stir-steam
You’ll get 4 handouts for reference: ,list of whole foods preparation staples, recommended reading list, blood type basics & fantastic recipes #1
Whole Foods Cooking For The Holidays
Sat, Nov12, 10-12 cost: $30 per person (includes meal!)
We’ll discuss food combining principals for better holiday meal digestion. We’ll explain why a whole foods diet & lifestyle acts as preventative medicine, and how to discover your unique needs to maintain personal balance. We’ll talk about emotions as they relate to food and how to become more mindful of why we make the choices we do, as well as how to be gentle with ourselves in incorporating whole foods diet and lifestyle practices.
We’ll demonstrate cooking then eat together: yam & portabella mushroom with ginger, coriander & nutmeg (better than candied yams!), ginger-orange-cranberry relish (with maple syrup instead of sugar), delicious dark leafy greens to alkalize and balance heavy holiday meals
You’ll get 3 handouts for reference: whole foods recipes for the holidays, whole foods staples for your kitchen, & recommended reading list
Specialty CookWell Class in Los Osos
RSVP with Courtney for directions: 528-8837 or courtney@cookwell.org
Gluten & Sugar Free TEA PARTY CLASS!
Thursday, Sep 22, 6-8PM cost: $30 per person
We’ll discuss: how to grind fresh & culture whole grains such as millet, oat groats and amaranth for gluten & sugar free baked recipes, and strategies for getting lower glycemic in your diet as preventative medicine
We’ll serve: The Secret Garden’s blended herbal teas alongside our gluten & sugar free desserts!
ginger-orange-carrot cake made with fresh ground & cultured amaranth, millet & oat groats, minced carrot & ginger, orange zest, virgin coconut oil & vanilla stevia
almond-amaranth cookies made with fresh ground & cultured amaranth, virgin coconut oil, brazil nuts, almonds, coriander, nutmeg & stevia
heavenly lavender-lemon-poppy loaf made with fresh ground & cultured amaranth & millet, virgin coconut oil, lavender, lemon zest, coriander & poppy seeds
September Newsletter Topic:
My Favorite Cafes
Roxanne's Cafe, downtown SLO
Our friend & remarkable chef Roxanne Lapuyade has opened her first café in downtown SLO. I say first cafe, as I’m sure she will be dazzling the citizens of SLO for many decades to come with her whole foods chef genius in various forms. Her menu is dedicated to whole, organic, local foods with intuitively genius flavors. Absolutely everything on it is a winner, from the heavenly coconut curry soup to the kitchen sink salad - you’ll just have to experience it for yourself! The café is open for lunch 11-3, Mon-Sat, in downtown SLO, in the charming courtyard of Smiling Dog Yoga (1227 Archer St). *note, the cafe will be closed for a month, Sept 25-Oct 23, for Roxanne’s much needed vacation.
Roxanne has had a long love affair with the full gamut of fresh, local produce, as she’s selected & purchased fresh produce for the Co Op Natural Foods store for several years. She‘s come to know many of our local farmers, so if you want to know about any of the fruits or veggies on your plate at her café, she can tell you who grew it and how. Her skills as a chef she’s developed over many years in the kitchen growing up with both sides of her cooking and baking enthusiast family. As an adult, she’s cooked at Honeymoon Café, and most recently as sous chef at Thomas Hill Organics in Paso Robles. My favorite aspect of Roxanne’s fare is the fact that she uses only whole, unrefined foods - no white flour, white sugar, refined oils, refined salt or any other processed foods. Way to go Roxanne! You’re the first truly whole foods café in SLO since Natural Flavors. I hope you get tons of joy from sharing your delicious & healing dishes with our community for many moons to come!
BeLoved Café, Los Osos
Another dear friend of ours, Heather Sainsbury, has opened a terrific new café committed to organic, local and natural foods in Baywood Park, Los Osos. The cafe’s got something for everyone! Heather calls it BeLoved, as it’s in the same space that was BeLove Café, where Brandie Michele still makes available her rejuvenating, fresh pressed vegetable juices. Brandie and Heather are sharing the space, and Heather is offering delicious (as everyone’s been saying) whole foods breakfasts & lunches. Dishes like: huevos rancheros, breakfast burritos, eggs & greens, or a simple bowl of handmade granola with yogurt & seasonal local fruit. Lunches look like this: sprouted grain OR gluten free teff wraps with avocado, brown rice, seasonal veggies & pesto OR humus, tasty vegetarian soups or stews, and beautiful salads. The Baywood Grilled Veggie Sandwich seems to be the signature dish so far. And here’s the real pleaser for most of the locals; Heather’s got three delicious versions of SLO Roasted Coffee and baked goodies! There’s also 10 different healing tea blends from The Secret Garden. And for the raw, vegan crowd, Heather’s offering Awesome Acai Bowls OR chocolatey Chia Bowls for energy, antioxidants, and omega 3's. And let me not forget the delicious, stamina giving, meal replacer: the green Superfood Smoothie that Brandie made famous when she first opened her raw café in SLO several years ago. There’s even a kid’s menu! How do you do it Heather? It’s all possible with her sweet husband Matt’s help. I’ve been bicycling down to cook with them on Mondays & Thursdays, and loving their fun, upbeat attitude, and the enlightening conversations we have with each other AND with many of the customers who wander in!
Oh! The best part is that the café and the comfy space in the back where Brandie makes her juices, is intended to be to be a hub of mind, body, spirit wellness which offers any kind of healing or consciousness raising talks, classes, workshops, etc., like “Meditation Mondays”. The schedule of these classes will be posted, along with the seasonal menu changes, at www.belovednaturacafe.com
Some would say that the best part is the fact that BeLoved Café Delivers to Los Osos and Morro Bay! Wow! Finally! Way to go Heather!
BeLoved Café hours are: Thur & Fri 7-2, Sat & Sun 8-2, Monday 7-5 during the famous Baywood Farmer’s market which bustles every Monday afternoon from 2-5 right outside the front door of the café. Tuesday the café is open 7-2, and closed on Wednesday.
Everyone at BeLoved café would love to meet & serve you, so stop on by for some healthy, delicious breakfast or lunch next time you’re on the coast.
Mindfulness Visualization
My friend Jeanie recently sent me this brief visualization from Dr. Dan Siegel’s recent book Mindsight. It is so powerful and to the point, I had to include it in this newsletter. I hope it helps you, and whomever you choose to gift it to.
The Wheel of Awareness
From the quiet spacious hub in the center, simply being in presence and in awareness, from that clarity and receptivity, let your attention focus on various objects on the rim of the wheel - traditionally your own breathing (or the breathing of people sitting near you); your own body sensations and impulses - tingles, contractions, itches and aches; your own emotions arising in just this very moment - a flicker of irritation, a twinge of sadness, a wisp of longing; always returning to the quiet spaciousness of the hub to re-center and then to explore again. Mind states of longing or boredom or overwhelm. Desires for a full night's sleep or deeper intimacy with your partner. Ambitions for your daughter's high MCAT scores or your own financial safety net. Entire stories and belief systems about who we are, where we've come from, where we're going; always returning to the quiet hub in the center for a conscious re-centering, re-balancing.
Use this wheel of awareness exercise to become more cognizant of what's missing on the rim. (Most important is to make sure the clear awareness in the center, in the hub, isn't missing.) A conversation with a sibling about a mis-understanding at Thanksgiving, long postponed because we're both too busy. The growing dissatisfaction about our job since the latest downsizing, shunted to the background because the implications are truly scary. The occasional twinge in our knee that we tell ourselves doesn't mean anything too serious and we get by well enough any way.
The Wheel of Awareness hasn't solved any problems yet, simply brought them to consciousness where we can use the models below to re-balance. The Wheel of Awareness creates a receptivity to allow what's been missing to return to our consciousness where our own deeper intuitive wisdom can surface a clear wise action.
Article on Life Balance www.lindagraham-mft.net
September Recipes:
Amaranth flour, preferably fresh ground with a coffee grinder, is a wonderful, gluten-free, low-glycemic, nutrient-dense grain to use for cookies, cakes, pizza crust, etc. Have fun experimenting!
Gluten Free Pizza Crust!: This is an amazing alternative to wheat pizza crust which Don & I invented lately, and it’s so much more nutrient-dense than whole wheat flour. Set your oven to 400 degrees. Rub a cookie sheet with 1 Tbsp ghee, coconut, grapeseed or avocado oil & set aside. Okay. 2 cups of amaranth flour (preferably fresh ground amaranth - a coffee grinder works great for this!), will make one small-med sized pizza (feeds 2-3 people). For every 2 cups amaranth flour, use: 1/4 cup water, 1 egg, 3 Tbsp ghee, coconut, grapeseed or avocado oil, and ½ tsp whole sea salt. As you mix, the consistency should be tough and thick, like cookie dough - there should be just enough moisture that you have to keep mixing for a couple of minutes to get all the loose flour to stick together into one mass. Next just dump the mass onto the cookie sheet and press flat into any shape you like with your hands so that the dough lies ½” thick evenly. You’ll want to pre-bake this crust at 400 degrees for 7 minutes, then take it out to cool a bit & top with whatever your little heart desires. Then bake again for 13 more minutes. Here’s some great topping ideas if I do say so myself: vegan > spread a few Tbsp sesame tahini on first, then spread fresh pesto sauce over the tahini and top with artichoke hearts, mushrooms, olives, spinach, onion, olives, pine nuts, etc. vegetarian > pesto with any veggies you like and Valbreso brand sheep’s milk feta & walnuts
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Courtney’s Amazing Pizza Sauce & Perfect Veggie Toppings: In a deep stainless steel pot, saute a diced yellow onion on medium heat in 5 Tbsp coconut oil or ghee for 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds or so. Next sprinkle in 2 Tbsp ground coriander, 1tsp tumeric powder, and 1/4 tsp cayenne. Stir, saute another 2 minutes, stirring often, and add 1 cup water. Turn heat down to low, and simmer another 3 minutes or so until the onions become translucent. Add 1 bunch finely chopped kale or collard greens, stir and cover with the lid so the greens wilt down in the steam (just takes about 1 minute). Add a 1 tsp sea salt and 1 small can of tomato paste, and a 16 oz can of pureed tomato (no onion or garlic added, as is the case in “tomato sauce”). Stir until tomato paste becomes evenly spread throughout and add 1 Tbsp Herbs de Provance and 1 tsp marjoram. As soon as the tomato sauce comes to a low simmer, stir it again, turn off the heat & set it aside. For veggies to top your pizza, I recommend dicing fennel bulb and broccoli and crimini mushrooms and stirring in a pan on med heat with 3 more Tbsp coconut oil and ½ tsp sea salt for about 3 minutes, then adding some diced summer squash and stirring another minute on low heat. Top your half-baked crust with the amazing sauce you just made, these lightly cooked veggies, slices of fresh heirloom tomato, and Bel Gioso brand mozzarella grated and mixed with minced fresh basil. Oh! Sliced black olives are a must on this pizza too...get ready for heaven!
As always,
Don and I welcome any questions you may have via phone or email: courtney@cookwell.org OR (805) 547-9073. For more information on the ancient whole foods diet & lifestyle philosophies we teach about, see “The Food” page of my website.
We hope to see you sometime soon to share lots of learning, laughter and incredible food!
Namaste ~
Courtney & Don
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