Atlanta Macrobiotics

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

Thursday July 16, please join us for a special evening’s lecture, Sweet Seductions – Breaking the Sugar Addiction, July 16, 7:30-9 pm at the Rueff Home, 1130 Trailridge Lane, Dunwoody, Georgia 30338. A special topic for Warren is a natural from his intense research on hypoglycemia which earned him great respect from his colleagues and clients. This incredible expertise extends to the amazing material Warren has gathered to speak on sugar addiction. So vital today! Can you believe the average person today consumes 147 pounds of sugar annually? Yes, people are caught in a sugar addiction – as Warren explains, take that morning sugar away, and watch people barely being able to move in the morning. One of the worse foods we can consume, Warren explains how to step off the sugar roller coaster ride once and for all. He will describe the difficulty our health endures when we consume sugar. Knowing this valuable information is very helpful when we are choosing a different and healthier macrobiotic diet and lifestyle. You will learn healthy alternative sweetners as well as satisfying sweet dishes and beverages far easier on our bodies, relaxing and helpful to our health. We will serve a delicious non-sugar dessert and tea recommended on the macrobiotic diet! Maybe you can even guess the source of minerals in this yummy dessert! You’ll find out in Warren’s lecture!

Suggested reading: Sugar Blues, by William Dufty, journalist and husband to Gloria Swanson, writes the history of sugar, and how the ill effects of sugar have been known hundreds of years.

The Macrobiotic Path to Total Health, by Michio Kushi and Alex Jack

Breakfast of Champions! Gets You Up and Keeps You Going!

So, why attend a class about breakfast! What’s so special about this one meal to warrant a Macrobiotic Cooking Class called Breakfast of Champions. Numerous reasons! One of the first questions asked about Macrobiotic Diet is: what do you eat for breakfast?? do you really have miso soup in the morning? What’s wrong with dry cereal and skim milk for breakfast?

Want the skinny on breakfast? Ever notice Dunkin’ Donuts logo: we get you up and keep you going! Sure do! All that sugar and caffeine, and guess what happens to our blood stream at 11:00 AM & 3:00 PM? Hypoglycemic dip ~ we are falling on our face, and needing what??? Another coffee break: latte, donuts, breakfast bars to get us going ‘til lunch.

And now, folks, here’s the Macro take on breakfast: providing sustainability. How would soaring energy til 12:30 or 1:00 fit your bill! Perform all morning, and be the wiz at work, home, home-schooling, driving without dozing, exercise/yoga/walk strongly. In other words, enjoy peak performance throughout your day.

Easily achieved with a macro breakfast: composed of a grain and a vegetable. Our rice and other whole grain, warm nourishing dish would keep the 3 bears and Goldilocks happy forever! And you too. Delish and sweet without sugar, it’s so easily digested we can concentrate on tasks at-hand, rather than sluggishly, barely being able to navigate through the morning. Looking for the donut cart to peel around the corner. Vegetables for breakfast??? you ask. I know it seemed so different to me too, but just think about it. Veggies get the digestive tract moving, so what better time than first thing in the morning? And speaking about time, wanta know the best time for eating breakfast? Best before 8 AM. Between 5-7 AM, and we’ll explain more about this in the class. Really Creamy Porridge that’s Not Oatmeal – oatmeal is sooooo mucous forming we just save it for when we’re traveling and can’t get our other grains!

Here’s more about the selections & health benefits you will learn in this Macrobiotic Cooking Class: Breakfast of Champions

Join us!!   February 26, 2011           1:00 – 4:00 PM                  $45 per person

RSVP marsharueff@mac.com

770 . 396 . 9413                          cell: 678 . 643 . 5662

Your check holds your spot: please mail to 1130 Trailridge Lane, Dunwoody, Georgia 30338

Yummy Macro Creamy Porridge
Inspired by all the wonderful breakfasts we create day-to-day
Benefits: Containing a nearly perfect balance of nutrients & energy, brown rice restores brain cells,
intestines, spine digestion, & nerve endings. Healing Foods, by Michio Kushi and Alex Jack

Sauteed Greens & ‘Shrooms
Inspired by Wendy Esko, Eat Your Veggies
Benefits:  Turnip greens are loaded with calcium, iron, dietary fiber and vitamins A & C. They help strengthen blood,
tonify the liver & gallbladder and prevent bone loss. Daikon tops, are especially helpful as well as broccoli, collards,
kale – all especially high in vitamins A, C & calcium.  Mushrooms help remove harmful effects of old chicken.
Healing Foods, Michio Kushi & Alex Jack

Creamy Corn Grits
Taught by Fatim and Warren Kramer. Benefits: Corn benefits the heart, and is a lighter cracked grain.
Healing Foods, Michio Kushi and Alex Jack; lectures of Warren Kramer

Fried Polenta Squares
Benefits: Made from dried corn, grits is a source for niacine & lysine.
A light breakfast to get you up & out the door! Easy ‘n quick because you are already cooked those grits!
They’re just waitin’ for you!

Bancha Tea
Benefits: Soothing, beneficial effects on digestion, blood quality and the mind, without caffeine.
Healing Foods, by Michio Kushi and Alex Jack

*********

Now, what about when company comes for that special brunch, or out-of-town visitors for breakfast? Oh, we’ll be showing you great Macrobiotic Cooking Class answers for a fancy-schmancy company brunch/breakfast! And these dishes serve a great purpose too! Memory food, relaxing, and yet without sugar, eggs, dairy, and can even be gluten-free.

Blueberry Pancakes & Blueberry Sauce
Inspired by Cooking the Whole Foods Way, Christina Pirello
Benefits: Relaxes, lovely memory-food from childhood celebrations and gatherings
The Sauce actually has kanten flakes ~ a sea veggie ~ adding minerals to our sweeteners.
Great for a lazy weekend morning!

Blueberry Sauce
My parents discovered this in New Orleans ~ I was 8
Benefits: Just about the yummiest pancake topping on the planet! Blueberries are antioxidents, too

Mochi Pecan Waffles & You Won’t Believe It’s Not Maple Syrup
thanks to Yoko and Charlie Kendall for this wonderful Mochi, and great idea for Waffles!
Benefits: You can have a Belgian Waffle without eggs, flour, sugar & butter! Qwik, qwik, & no clean-up!

Tofu French Toast & A little Pan-Fried Dulse Bacon
from The Kind Diet, Alicia Silverstone & Cooking with Rachel, Rachel Alpert
Benefits: You get to wow your family with a much healthier version of everyone’s favorite breakfast dish!
Benefits: Dulse has minerals only found in sea veggies, and has the distinction of maybe reminding you of
the taste of bacon, without the harmful effects.

Macro Cappuccino
Inspired by Warren Kramer’s class
Benefits: Relaxes, satisfying drink, can also serve as a dessert

Scrumptious Desserts! We’re talkin’ macrobiotic, vegan without sugars, eggs, cream or other dairy products. Some ingredients are even used in macrobiotic home remedies. Meaning, they actually promote health, like soothing kuzu, aides digestion, and kanten flakes, a sea veggie full of minerals. Isn’t this amazing! And for sweeteners we use Suzanne’s Brown Rice Syrup or Barley Malt which are actually made from grains. Being complex sugars, not simple sugars, they go through all steps of our digestion process and don’t cause havoc with our blood sugar. These sweeteners appear in some macro home remedy drinks, such as Ame Kuzu and Warm Barley Kanten. You can be rest-assured these are not artificial sweeteners causing ill side-effects – no saccharin, splenda, or tropical stevia located here. We enjoy these sweets a few times a week, and find ourselves satisfied. Free from candy bars & cakes we use to crave.

What’s the ideal Macrobiotic Dessert? Gentle desserts, just cooked stove-top, rather than baked in the oven. Here’s the reason: when we’re changing our health, we avoid hard, baked ingredients with flour products so cookies, pies, cakes are not recommended daily fare. Instead we enjoy fruit cooked stove-top with a lovely kuzu glaze, or fruit kantens creating a luscious pudding consistency. Or select a parfait with fresh fruit, using kuzu rather than dairy for the creamy sauce. With locally-grown organic melons and berries soon available & ready to cool us down this summer, May’s perfect timing for a sweet macrobiotic cooking class featuring desserts!

S’pose you’re wondering: if I wish to be really healthy, why would I want to eat desserts anyway? A very insightful question! Here’s the reason. Just like deer are attracted to a salt lick, humans desire a sweeter flavor for eighty percent of food. That may seem like a lot, but just look at all the sweet vegetables we enjoy, as well as fruit, and there you have it. Even sauces served around the globe often have a sweet taste. And sometimes we just want a little something to end the meal, clear the palate, as Margaret mentioned when we prepped our Leftover Macrobiotic Cooking Class yesterday. And these milder treats keep us out of  t-r-o-u-b-l-e, like all traditional brimful of sugary, creamy, buttery sweets everywhere we go.

Another reason for learning good quality Macrobiotic Desserts is serving company and even friends stopping by. You feel confident something in your fridge is yummy-as-the-Ritz or NYC’s Serendipity – even serving friends who aren’t eating macro. You’ll enjoy your dessert, and their compliments. Recently we delighted Abe, the insulation expert inspecting our home, with our Apple Crisp, & we joined him too, natch! Learn some delicious, healthier desserts in this macrobiotic cooking class, and you won’t have to be singing this old song:

If I knew you were comin’ I’d've baked a cake, hired a band, goodness sake!
If I knew you were comin’ I’d've baked a cake
Howdya do, howdya do, howdya do?

This macrobiotic cooking class features desserts you can use frequently plus just one over-the-top for very special occasions, well, maybe two over-the-top! Sometimes we just need something a little more special, or when we entertaining. I mean wouldn’t you just love to serve a mini chocolate truffle? What if it had kanten flakes in it instead of eggs & a little Eden Blend Rice/Soy Beverage instead of butter & cream?

And that little chocolate chip cookie I made this December? Chips sweetened with barley malt, without dairy! So delish I gave them to lots of people in our world. One sweet note on top of a letter ~ Sure enjoyed those chocolate chip cookies! Thanks, Mailman Mike tells it all. Bet you’ll like them too! So like Rosemary Clooney sings, Come on-a my house, I’m gonna give you candy …!

Come on-a my house, my house,  I’m gonna teach you cookies and truffles and tarts,
Come on-a my house I’m gonna teach to you … some sweet, yummy, healthier macro things..

Join us in Atlanta!  Macrobiotic Center of Atlanta

Saturday May 15              1-4 pm        $45 per person

RSVP: marsharueff@mac.com 770. 396  9413

Menu*

Fruit & Berries Tart, A Macro Perfection
Possibly the Yummiest Rice Pudding on the planet
Blueberry Pie
Chocolate Truffles
A very teeny, harmless Chocolate Chip Cookie
~ Peach Compote with Kuzu ~
perfect recipe for blueberries, apple, pears & more!

* menu choices may change slightly as new desserts are being tested! check for updates!

RSVP please,  soon as possible!

Your check to Marsha Rueff holds your space:
Please mail to 1130 Trailridge Lane, Dunwoody, GA 30338

Let me tell you about our daughter Karyn. When our granddaughter, Brittany, was 18 months old, Karyn called me saying, I just gave Brittany her first macrobiotic cooking lesson! She cut the vegetables, stirred the food, measured the water, added the rice, and made gomashio!

Music to my ears. With all the love we have for our children and grandchildren, it’s so gratifying to know they are choosing healthy foods and lifestyle. And even teaching the next generation when kids adore playing in the kitchen with mommy! When it’s fun!

Karyn’s pantry and fridge contains all the foods on a macrobiotic diet, plus some traditional items for company. And her children know the difference. When Brittany was about 2 she declared in a children’s music group her favorite food was TOFU! All the other children claimed french fries, chicken wings or pizza. Macrobiotic food, as you learn in macrobiotic cooking classes, is very tasty, and kids love that genuine taste and aroma. It smells so good is a familiar comment in a macrobiotic kitchen.

Brittany and her sister Alyssa often participate in meal preparation, and even help select recipes, browsing macrobiotic cookbooks for some new, yummy dish. They have taken many Whole Foods cooking classes for kids, even the week-long summer camp. They assisted in these classes as well. At age 10 Brittany and Alyssa have each assisted during Warren Kramer’s cooking classes at our home, truly contributing. Kids love to help, and teaching them cooking skills while they are young and helping is fun for them is the key!

So what macrobiotic dishes are perfect kid-starters? Scrambled tofu – you get to scrunch up the tofu in your hands, and chop the veggies. Mochi waffles with Suzanne’s Maple Rice Syrup. Tempeh and seitan, deep-fried! Pasta salads with pickles and olives, blanched veggies, and yummy dressing. Kanten fruit desserts blended into a strawberry mousse or orange soufflé. Creamy pureed vegetable soups without the cream. Nori rolls with almond butter, cucumbers and whatever else your kids like. Fried fish, hummus dip and crunchy veggies. Tempura everything! Parsley’s the best, broccoli and other greens, even nori rolls. Kids love stirring the batters, and let them be inventive! Even if you are on a stricter diet, they might add coconut or healthy rice crispies to roll the battered seitan and what a treat you have!

You’ll want to buy the tiny iwachu iron pot for the deep frying, and sometimes we just keep ours on the stove. You can order this pot from Essene in Philadelphia by calling:  215 . 922 . 1146.  Sometimes you may have to describe the pot: it’s round with an iron handle, and wood lid, costing approximately $49 plus shipping. You definitely want the small size which allows you to use less oil.

Kid’s school lunches! Let ‘em look like everyone else. Sandwich, fruit, noodles, hummus and blanched veg, nori roll if they are comfortable with it. With all the sushi and nori rolls prepared at the grocers today, this macrobiotic favorite way of carrying rice and veggies might be the in thing.  And when they get home have a hearty dish to tide them over for dinner. Leftover warm soup & steamed sourdough bread may be very welcome on a cold afternoon. Or if you drive them directly to an activity, bring a favorite dish in the car. Pasta and sauce, fried tofu, warm apple juice, fried seitan, thermos of warm bancha tea. Let them request!

And making meals easier for your new attendees! Sometimes your youngsters get inquistive, asking what’s for dinner? I always just answer dinner. Especially if your kids show any resistance. Learn their favorites, and include them often!

Relax, have fun with the macrobiotic foods and let your kids have a fun ride on your new regime for health. Everyone benefits in the long run, and what wonderful peace of mind, knowing your children have the best quality food, and healthy horizons ahead! That’s Everything!

Great macrobiotic books for families with kids:

The Macrobiotic Community Cookbook, by Andrea Bliss Lerman features kids favorites made in the macrobiotic cooking style: pizza, stoganoff, lasagne, burrito, millet-cauliflower mashed potatoes that make perfect potato pancakes, without any potatoes at all. And lots more.

Sweet and Natural, by Meredith McCarty features 120 desserts without sugar, eggs, butter, cream and yeast. Pies, tarts, cakes, cookies – everyone delights in these recipes.

Grains and Greens from the Deep Blue Sea, by Mark Hanna and Sandy Purkel features recipes from the Macrobiotic Cruise. Each one becomes your new favorite! So get ready to try them all! The Millet Croquets taste just like tuna fish, and the tartar sauce is amazing! The desserts are wow! Can this really be good for us! Yes indeedy!

Cooklets by Melanie Waxman. All Melanie’s recipes are terrific, and you might want to get the complete bound issue. Having seven children of her own, Melanie has excellent recipes for children in Cooking for Children section, and throughout all the cooklets! Try the Soba Knots in Oodles of Noodles! With 7 children of her own, Melanie is the expert  keeping kids interested in their health eats!

Cooking the Whole Foods Way, by Christina Pirello. Delish cuisine, kids will enjoy & request their favorites!

Cook Your Food to the Life You Want, by Christina Pirello. Christina Pirello’s recipe books are quite excellent, as she has taken traditional European recipes and perfected the macrobiotic conversion for you.  Amazing variety to delight all your family!

Macrobiotic Diet considers better & healthy food choices when we might revert to old food cravings. This list suggests healthier substitutions, among the favorite dishes we teach in our macrobiotic cooking classes.

This list of food may be very new to you right now, and not seem meaningful. Soon, once you become familiar with these ingredients and dishes, this chart will prove helpful to overcome cravings of old flavors and eating habits.

See Meredith McCarty, Sweet & Natural for 120 dessert recipes
Christina Pirello – 5 cookbooks of wonderful recipes meals + desserts