Savory Mushroom Caps

Serves 4-5

Based on Wendy Esko’s, Eat Your Veggies

Please your palate with this plump inviting hor d’oevre,

Benefits: mushrooms actually help discharge old poultry. How great is that!

An hors d’oeuvre that’s actually delicious ‘n good for you at the same time!

8-10 large mushroom, stem removed              1 teaspoon shoyu

1 cup sourdough unyeasted bread, cubed        1/4 cup water

2 Tablespoons onion, minced                            1/4 teaspoon dried sage, crushed

2 Tablespoons celery minced                              Corn oil

1/4 cup cooked seitan, minced                           1 teaspoon parsley, chives, or scallion, finely chopped

***

Follow these easy steps:

Heat several teaspoons corn oil in skillet

Saute onion 1 minute.

Add celery & seitan & sauté 1 minute.

Place in a mixing bowl, with remaining ingredients.

Stuff each mushroom with this yummy mixture.

Place stuffed mushrooms on oiled baking sheet.

Bake at 350 20-25 minutes until juicy & tender.

Ooops, careful not to eat ‘em all up!   Save some for your guests!

It’s a very odd thing ~ as odd as cam be

That whatever Miss T eats turns into Miss T!

~ Sir Walter de la Mere, Author

1873 – 1958, Kent England

Can you believe it’s almost Thanksgiving? Just one week, and you sit down to dinner with guests at your very own table! Are you ready?!!

Perhaps these hints will smooth your holiday weekend, and you will truly enjoy yourself and your company!

Ready your table soon as you can! We did it today, one week out! Extra leaves, table pads, tablecloths – and the folding chairs are all in place! Reconfirmed the guest list – we’re all set knowing our numbers! Believe it or not, this took a good 3 hours, and we gladly checked it off our to-do list!

This organization maximizes my cooking time which is important since all our dishes are prepared fresh Thanksgiving Day! No cooking a week or so early and freezing these beautiful vegan and macrobiotic dishes. Our 5 o’clock dinner time is easily met, and we also will have served breakfast and lunch to our visiting family and friends –  with us, numbering 7!

Errands, shopping, personal paperwork are up to date! Especially with family coming in town, we complete everything else to truly focus on this wonderful time together, and sharing special places in Atlanta. Five extra folks staying with us means readying guest rooms – checking closet light bulbs, shelves, sprucing up the bedrooms! Guest bathrooms too, well-stocked 2 weeks out!

Now, the meals. Thanksgiving is my very favorite holiday! Loving the tastes, gatherings and wonderful historical story of sharing harvest. Thanksgiving memories shared across this great country.

Well, I’m ready to start cooking, having shortened my preparation time considerably, and you can too.! I call it prepping, just like I prep for my macrobiotic cooking class! That’s right! This Sunday just before Thanksgiving, I’m giving a Vegan and Macrobiotic Cooking Class for Thanksgiving and I have just completed measuring all non-refrigerated ingredients. Set on individual trays for each of the 8 recipes we will make in the class. That’s the trick! Each tray holds the recipe and ingredients of a single dish, copied from my macrobiotic cooking class Thanksgiving recipe handout, so it’s easy to identify each dish. Here’s an example. For ease, the pumpkin pie actually has two trays: one holds ingredients for the filling – the different spices, the kabocha squash; the second tray separately holds the flours & the rolling pin for my famous pie crust, with room for the additional items we add Sunday morning.

Getting a jump on gathering these ingredients, and leisurely measuring ingredients saves so much time Thanksgiving Day. Giving me one more chance to ensure my recipes are understandable, and  all ingredients made the final shopping list. We shop early Friday morning for my Sunday class. Before the crowded weekend, and by then we know our final numbers for the class, and the produce is still exquisitely fresh for Sunday! Early morning class day I gather all refrigerated items, adding them to trays before starting to prep each dish. And we’re off and running!

And you can do this too! Turn on your favorite music, get to grooving around your kitchen, pantry, dining room, and wherever else you may have extra table space. We set up two extra card-tables in our living room, so our 23 guests will sit in close proximity, and those tables are holding my trays for my macrobiotic cooking class. Have fun prepping your holiday cooking this Thanksgiving, and you’ll learn to enjoy this shortcut whenever you entertain!

I just came across this Cranberry Sauce Recipe you might enjoy this year! It’s always fun trying new tastes, and this one is sweet, and really stretches those organic cranberries! From Gail Jack’s wonderful book of American Macrobiotic Cooking, she credits it to her friend Alice, from Becket, Massachusetts! Thank you Alice and Gail!

I call it sweet smilin’ cranberry sauce! And you would too if you saw my sweet husband’s smile when he tasted it for me tonight!

SWEET SMILIN’ CRANBERRY SAUCE

from Gail Jack, Amberwaves of Grain

1 cup organic cranberries

2 cups apples, chopped

1 cup apple juice, Whole Foods, not Gravenstein!

pinch Si Salt sea salt*

Rice syrup to taste

1 1/2 teaspoon kuzu

• Place cranberries, apples, apple juice and sea salt in a saucepan.

• Cover, bringing to boil & simmer til cranberries soften, approx 15 minutes.

• Add a little rice syrup, if too tart.

• Dissolve kuzu in little cold water & add to sauce; cook & stir til thickened & clear.

*Si Salt Sea Salt – preferred in Macrobiotic Diet recipes, fine, still contains 67 trace

minerals, available at the Kushi Institute Store 800 . 645 . 8744!

Hope you and yours enjoy this free Macrobiotic Diet Recipe,

Wishing you a very, healthy, Happy Thanksgiving!

Are you new to a vegan, vegetarian, or macrobiotic diet and wondering what in the world to feed your family this Thanksgiving Dinner? Well, wonder no more, and stop fretting about all the delightful yummy wishful dishes you are missing this year! Because, here is Thanksgiving memory food created at its very best! Gourmet tastes featuring the finest healthy ingredients! Exactly what you’re looking for! Without sugar, eggs, dairy, and poultry, msg, etc.

You’re Invited to

Holiday Cooking Class Series

A Macrobiotic Thanksgiving Dinner

featuring

Tofurkey with Herbed Stuffing

Southern Pecan Mushroom Gravy

Cranberry Sauce

Vegetable Medley

Pumpkin Pie

Sunday, November 22

1-4 pm

$45.00 per person

We will be cooking a Tofurky, or as my granddaughter Brittany calls it, a Faux Turkey! Unbelievable taste – you’ll relish it and wonder why you suffered with turkey all those years! Now, if you had store-bought tofurkeys in the past, they do not even come close to comparing with this incredible taste of a fresh home-made look-alike turkey breast made from the best tofu. Filled with amazing Herbed Stuffing, and everyone’s favorite: Southern Pecan Mushroom Gravy. Homemade Cranberry Sauce, Pumpkin Bread, and Pumpkin Pie featuring Franciscan Monk, Brother Ron Pickarsky’s award-winning crust. Every dish features organically grown vegetables and other products.

RSVP your reservation to hold your spot with Kushi Institute trained Marsha Rueff at 770-396-9413. Your  check will hold your place. Please send to Marsha Rueff, 1130 Trailridge Lane, Dunwoody, Georgia 30338.

This class might even be worth your trip to Atlanta! Can’t make that particular date? Other dates can be arranged, and private classes also available.

Summertime, and travel to other time zones may be on your agenda! So how do you make the most of your trip, and eliminate the jet lag issue, truly enjoying each and every moment of your stay? Especially if you’re like me, with so much to do before leaving, it’s hard to get to bed on time that final departure week.

On a Macrobiotic Diet it’s so easy! Three simple, magical words: ume sho kuzu!

What’s that? A very soothing drink, easily made, in about 7 minutes. Three ingredients plus water: umeboshi plum, shoyu – a special soy sauce, and kuzu – the harvested root of the kudzu plant. Yes, the very plant that grows throughout the southern states, covering huge trees along the highways. Imagine the strength of that hardy plant’s root, harvested for this drink, and coating your intestinal walls. No wonder this drink boosts our immunity! We love teaching this in macrobiotic cooking class because it is helpful for so many health conditions.

• Just dissolve 1 teaspoon of kuzu in 1 cup cold spring or filtered water.
• Bring to a boil, stirring continually to avoid lumping.
• Add one-third umeboshi plum
• Once the water becomes transparent, add 6 drops shoyu.

Drink while hot. Enjoy this drink daily two days before the trip, and the day of travel, and if possible the following two days. You may also repeat for your return home.

Especially at this present time with concern about the swine flu and travel, the ume-sho-kuzu drink becomes a no-brainer for travel because it is considered the Macrobiotic Diet Antibiotic!

*Top quality ingredients can be ordered from Natural Import Company at 800 . 324 . 1878

• 89500 Sakurazawa Shoyu 5 oz.
• 89333 Mitoku Umeboshi Plum 6 oz
• 89408 Mitoku Kuzu 3 oz

For more information on benefits of Ume Sho Kuzu, and macrobiotic cooking classes, please check our website:

www.atlantamacrobiotics.com or email: marsharueff@mac.com

Books: The Macrobiotic Path to Total Health, Michio Kushi and Alex Jack    See the section on Home Remedies

Warren Kramer internationally-known Senior Macrobiotic Counselor will be in Atlanta July 15-20, 2009. Teacher for the Kushi Institute, Strengthening Health Institute, the Macrobiotic Cruise, and New England Macrobiotic Center, Warren brings a wealth of knowledge gained from the eleven years he served as Michio Kushi’s private assistant, as well as over 25 years counseling throughout the world.

In Atlanta Warren will be giving private consultations, macrobiotic cooking classes, and evening  lectures in the Dunwoody area. Attend all events & have a private consultation, and you will receive 15% savings on lecture and cookings classes Thursday through Sunday.

Please contact Marsha Rueff to reserve consultation time with Warren and your choice of venues  at marsharueff@mac.com .

Phone contact: 678 . 643 . 5662 or 770 . 396 . 9413.

For Warren’s bio please visit www.macrobioticsnewengland.com

Saturday afternoon, July 18, please join us for a macrobiotic cooking class, Wrap it Up! Awesome Sandwiches & Wraps! July 18, 1-4 pm The Rueff Home, 1130 Trailridge Lane, Dunwoody, Georgia 30338

Everyone adores sandwiches, and Warren has his favorites, so do we all. Get ready to sample some new varieties, and discover this wonderful new repertoire to delight your palate as well as everyone in your world! Perfect for summer, and quick for taking food-on-the-go! A great idea for travel too. Slip your favorite wrap into a wax paper bag, and this in turn into a plastic one – look at Whole Foods for the non-petroleum plastic baggies as well as the wax paper ones too! And you are well on your way! Especially great for overseas flights.

Why else are sandwiches and wraps great to learn in a macrobiotic cooking class? Two  simple words: cravings and satisfying! That’s right, even following a macrobiotic diet we experience cravings for foods, and having a sandwich or wrap alternative proves very satisfying, and just nips that craving in the bud.

And they don’t have to be loaded with mayonnaise, ketchup and bright yellow mustard. You will learn so many variations on this theme as this class opens lotsa possibilities for you. Get ready for a whole new take on your macrobiotic diet! And you’ll still get to enjoy homemade pickles and Santa Barbara olives! Perhaps this new quality is even better than you ever imagined! Yes, Warren will be teaching everybody’s favorite fun food!

 Right after we’ve finished tasting the goodies of this fun macrobiotic cooking class Warren’s lecture, How to Discharge Sweets & Dairy applying the 5 Transformations will absolutely astound you! A perfect afternoon!

Warren Kramer internationally-known Senior Macrobiotic Counselor will be in Atlanta July 15-20, 2009. Teacher for the Kushi Institute, Strengthening Health Institute, the Macrobiotic Cruise, and New England Macrobiotic Center, Warren brings a wealth of knowledge gained from the eleven years he served as Michio Kushi’s private assistant, as well as over 25 years counseling throughout the world.

In Atlanta Warren will be giving private consultations, macrobiotic cooking classes, and evening  lectures in the Dunwoody area. Attend all events & have a private consultation, and you will receive 15% savings on lecture and cookings classes Thursday through Sunday.

Please contact Marsha Rueff to reserve consultation time with Warren and your choice of venues  at marsharueff@mac.com .

Phone contact: 678 . 643 . 5662 or 770 . 396 . 9413.

For Warren’s bio please visit www.macrobioticsnewengland.com

Friday July 17, please join us for a special evening’s lecture, Menu Planning Essentials, July 17, 7:30-9 pm The Rueff Home, 1130 Trailridge Lane, Dunwoody, Georgia 30338

Always participants request this menu-planning class every time Warren visits. It truly is one of the most important lectures. Why? Because all the theory from macrobiotic books has to actually happen in the kitchen. In YOUR kitchen, to be exact. And Warren’s Menu Planning Class is key! Based on his years of working with Michio Kushi and Denny Waxman, Warren guides us step by step using the principles of yin and yang according to Macrobiotic guidelines. Involving our input in the process. Yes, this is an interactive lecture.

See it this way: we’re implementing a new way of eating, and especially considering we have health concerns to correct, eating well-planned meals becomes essential. The hit-or-miss-grab-whatever-is-ready-to-gulp-down when we come home from work is history. We can do better than being too famished and tired to cook. Now we want a welcoming meal, featuring the best food choices. Because now we know better. And now we are using macrobiotic principles to enhance our health and well-being. You see, macrobiotics is a way of eating based on the energetics of food. That is to say, it’s based on how the foods make us feel after we eat, and what kind of energy we have the next day, too. What kind of energy the food charges our bodies with. Way different than a calorie or carb or protein based diet like most of the new-fad diets circulating the last few years, don’t you think?

Your macrobiotic diet is very special, and Warren’s presentation of developing macrobiotic menus for you and your loved ones is truly an art, and it’s very easy to adapt. From this plan you will learn to shop for your week. Even how to substitute foods according to the season and what’s available organic. Plus you reap the benefits of being with this group and hearing their keen experiences cooking macrobiotic diet. Warren actually plans with the group a whole weeks worth of meals! Yep, we do it together, so turn your thinking cap on. You’re going to experience where to start when planning a meal, and the logical steps from there. It’s way different than you may think, much easier, and funner too!

Who would ever think you can get a workout cooking? Well, you just better believe it! Welcome to my kitchen, designed for cooking our macrobiotic diet! I could call it the macro gym! Just the iron skillet alone weighs about 5 – 6 pounds, so who needs weights when you’re pumping these babies in the morning? Expert that I am for frying tofu – a favorite for our take-out lunches, and I’m flexing those biceps pretty strongly!

Just this week I’ve been preparing carrot daikon drink, a special cleanser for the intestines after having a bit too much bread on the Cote ‘d’ Azure last week. Using this ceramic grater and doubling the ¹/4 cup carrot and ¹/2 cup daikon for my wife and I, got me thinking about this physical workout! I was sweatin’ like at the Club! Couldn’t believe it!

And what about lifting the Le Creuset cookware we  enjoy, or the Brazil on My Mind cookware like used in the Babylonian days? That sandstone is pretty hefty stuff, and we only the have the smallest size!

Ever made Gomashio? You’re stirring the surigochi around the suribachi! I mean, you’ve gotta enjoy a strong arm to crush everyone one of those sesame seeds like Aveline Kushi answered, when she was asked in a macrobiotic cooking class: How many seeds do I need to crush? I wish I could have seen the lady’s face when Aveline softly said, All of them my dear, just all of them.

Tonight I just prepared the Natto. Stirring that little container of fermented beans with a pair of cooking chopstix for 100 counts! I gotta tell you, I was ready to stop at 25. But no, I kept going and going! It’s the sticky part the stirring creates that benefits you when eating natto, and we were going to get our money’s worth! What a treat! Here’s the macrobiotic diet recipe for natto: just add mustard, chopped scallions and a bit of shoyu, and bingo, you’ve got some dish! And muscle tone to prove it.

Now Koi Koku is the kicker! You’ve gotta put on your favorite music and get ready for a stint in the kitchen to do this dish. We made it just about 2 months ago to correct a lack of B-12. It’s a strong dish, and we’ve made it before for our clients, because it takes lots of energy and strength to matchstick 3 1/2 or more pounds of burdock! You see, the amount of burdock is the same weight as the carp – and it’s almost impossible to find a carp less than 3 1/2 pounds. Ours was 5 pounds cut up, so you do the math. That cutting took 2 of us 1 1/2 hours. 

And what about washing these heave-ho pots! Our Le Creuset wok – for example – is one big hunk of steel and solid enamel – gotta be 8-9 pounds! Initially I used to call myself the Chief Macrobiotic Dishwasher, and I was feelin’ my muscles everytime Marsha called – Fred, please help me out here. Even though she tried to keep up with the dishes, & pots and pans, there would be a sink full. I have become very efficient in that department, and developed more arm strength in the doing. Now I’ve graduated to sous chef and can tell you there is plenty muscle activity in all  this specific chopping, dicing, slicing, matchsticking, and chunky cutting. And you know, even the shopping is a body builder! Lugging those bags! We buy the apple juice in these huge gallon containers and we always buy a few at a time.

So, just hope to have whetted your appetite for a great adventure in macrobiotic diet, and macro-muscle making in the process. I mean to say the food is the greatest we’ve ever enjoyed, and it certainly puts us in the direction of health as our macrobiotic counselor, Warren Kramer often says. Isn’t it great to think we can muscle tone at the same time we’re eating right! So let’s keep on kitchen pumpin’! 

You’ve sipped Green tea at the Chinese and Japanese restaurants, usually in the teeny cups they keep refilling over and over again. And this may or may not affect your sleep depending on your other intake of caffeine for that day. Yes, there is caffeine in this tea, although it’s less than coffee, but present. It’s from the leaf of the plant, and for those of you fortunate to have experienced Japanese Tea Serving you may have learned all about those special green leaves, and seen them crushed into the fine powders.

Well, on a Macrobiotic Diet there’s something even better than that! Bancha Twig Tea! And it has only miniscule caffeine – which means it’s there, but almost undetectable, especially the best Mitoku quality. And it’s helpful for so many conditions. I love covering all the benefits in my macrobiotic cooking classes. Here are a few for you to enjoy!

The loose twigs make a wonderful drink, and actually assists digestion. Just boil 5-7 minutes, to a light brown shade and enhanced aroma. Please enjoy in the morning, and I often take a thermos with me for the day when I’m away from home.

Need a more relaxing drink? Add a little apple juice, and voila, feel the tension melt away in your shoulder blades.

Feel the beginning of a headache coming? Add up to 6 drops shoyu (Macrobiotic Diet recommended soy sauce) to a drinking cup, and pour the tea over the shoyu. Now this is amazing. As the tea disperses the shoyu throughout the cup, guess what? When you drink this Sho Ban Tea, your blood is alkalined and the symptoms of the headache disperse and poof, vanishes! I keep a small bottle of shoyu at my desk, and have helped myself and other clients numerous times.

Do you sometimes get a sore throat or laryngitis? Gargle with salted bancha tea throughout the day, and you’ll nip it in the bud!

Travel with Bancha Twig Tea bags wherever you go! I had them at the beach years ago when I ran into a stingray, and guess what our Senior Macrobiotic Counselor Warren Kramer had me soak my foot in? Yep, Bancha Tea. It took the poison right out of my foot, so there I was the Marco Island Hilton hotel, foot in sink, soaking in bancha tea, while I sipped my Sho Ban for the trauma of the sting, and I was out dancing that very same night!

Serves 4-5

Benefits: Daikon strongly dissolves fat, oil and discharges animal products from past eating habits.

The root is especially helpful for the intestines and the tops cleanse our lungs! A perfect combination in healing our bodies! There are additional recipes we cover in our macrobiotic cooking classes. This recipe below is inspired by Michio Kushi and Alex Jack in Healing Foods

• 2 cup daikon root, diced
• 3-4 cups daikon tops, diced
• Pinch of si salt
• Shoyu to taste, 8-10 drops

1. Place daikon root in enamel cast iron pot, add water to cover.
2. Place tops over roots, lightly sprinkle with si salt.
3. Simmer 15 minutes.
4. Add shoyu 3 minutes.more.
5. Remove from pot and serve.

Use within 10 days, then make fresh! Enjoy your own personal ratio! You will learn your ratio from your macrobiotic counselor, and it will be perfect for your own condition. Sometimes this will change on future appointments as your condition improves. Learning how to make gomashio in a macrobiotic cooking class is a must! You have to see it, feel it, crush the seeds throughout the process, and reach the incredible aroma in a hands-on macrobiotic cooking class so you know what you are wishing to achieve. Perfect gomashio is the best!

Benefits: this delicious condiment actually is a digestive aid. Sesame seeds are rich in protein, calcium, iron and B vitamins.

Healing Foods, by Michio Kushi and Alex Jack

• 1 part si sea salt  to  16-22 parts sesame seeds, rinsed

1. Dry roast salt for 10 minutes til shiney and grind in a suribachi until fine.
2. Meanwhile, in another skillet, roast the rinsed, wet seeds for 5-10 minutes, stirring to prevent burning.
3. Seeds are ready when they no longer stick to the wooden spoon, and you can easily crush them between the pinky and thumb of your less dominant hand.
4. Add seeds to ground salt, and crush seeds in a circular motion around the suribachi until all the seeds crush.
5. A special brush allows you to get the most crushed seeds from the suribachi grooves.
6. Let cool to room temperature before storing in the sealed non-transparent container.

Gomashio stays fresher away from sunlight.