Easy Whole Foods Cooking for Busy People (8-week series)

Easy Whole Foods Cooking for Busy People (8-week series)
**discounted class fee!**

When: Begins May 2nd
Taught by: Leslie Ashburn
Fee: $160/series; $30/class

Are you interested in healthy eating but not quite sure how to practice it? Are you overwhelmed by the task of cooking for your family?

This is the cooking class for you.

This 8-week series is intended to provide a very approachable and affordable way to commit to your cooking journey.

Leslie's vegan macrobiotic cooking classes are for people who seek a healthier lifestyle and a natural approach to diet and healing. Learn how to bring more balance, flexibility, and joy into your life through the power of food. In each class, you will discover the importance and health benefits of a whole foods plant-based diet. Only the freshest, organic, seasonal ingredients are used in a variety of sumptuous and enticing ways. The recipes shared in the class are easy to prepare, even if you have just a little bit of cooking experience.

Classes include an introductory lecture, demonstration, recipes and educational material. The atmosphere is casual, interactive, and friendly. All questions welcomed during the cooking classes. We sit down to enjoy a delicious taste of the food, followed by cooperative cleanup.

Series includes recipes for:
grains
beans
sea veggies
greens
root veggies
round/ground veggies
soup
dessert

Early Registration is required. The entire series is $160. You can sign up ala carte for $30/class.

Power Foods: Public Cooking Class

Date: March 19, 2010
Time: 5:30 pm	to	8:00 pm

In this class, you will learn how you can utilize the macrobiotic approach to gain more energy and a happier outlook.

You’ll learn how to use some of the world’s healthiest foods rich in fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Recipes include:

• Hearty Peasant Soup
• Tempeh Bacon Sandwich w/Sundried Tomato and Olive Tapenade
• Marinated Beet Salad
• Dark Chocolate Truffles

Pan American MOA 3510 Nuuanu Pali Drive

Leslie, the teacher, is an internationally trained chef who brings an ease and expertise for creating cosmopolitan macrobiotic food in people’s homes, changing stereotypes about what it means to eat healthy. She lovingly prepares colorful, dynamic plant-based dishes including macrobiotic cuisine, international cuisine, food-based remedies, sugar-free desserts, seasonal gourmet dinners, and more, with the highest quality local, seasonal, and organic ingredients.

link to Leslie's website where you can register for this class: Power Foods

Tying the knot

KP4_5232.JPG
Originally uploaded by Kanu Hawaii

I was honored to be invited to Kanu Hawaii's 2nd Birthday Party. I was learning how to tie a variety of knots. Great fun!

Cooking Class: Ready, Set, RENEW!

Date: January 10, 2010
Time: 4:00 pm	to	6:30 pm

For many, holiday indulgence often leads to weight gain and digestive problems, among other ailments. This class is intended to help and inspire you to get back on a path to health after the holidays.

You’ll learn:

• Foods to avoid so that you can detox
• Foods to add to help digestion and build natural immunity
• Ideas for healthy snacks
• Mindfulness techniques during meal time
• How to start becoming a more conscious consumer

Leslie’s recipe demonstration will include:

• Tempeh Collard Wraps
• Tahini Sauce
• Vegetarian Pho
• Pears with Blueberry Sauce

You taste the food and take home the recipes.

Leslie’s classes are very interactive, friendly, and informative.

For payment and location, please see my website.

Stagnation

If you have been feeling stagnated in your life, take a look around your home and also, in particular, in your refrigerator.

HOME:
Do you have stacks of things that haven't moved for eons, that you never use, and that you are hanging onto "just because"? Clean them out!! Make room for new fresh things in 2010.

REFRIGERATOR:
Are you vegetables fresh as can be? If they are wilted, old, and turning yellow, PLEASE, do yourself a favor and throw them out. Vegetables are best when fresh. Do you really want to save money and use the excess up if that means you also feel wilted and old after eating them? Everything has energy - please be mindful and conscious of the energy you're choosing around you. Maybe it's time to shop one extra time per week and also perhaps buy less when you do go shopping so you don't waste.

Pantry Must-Haves for Macrobiotic Cooking

For healthful and varied macrobiotic cooking, I recommend these following items. Don't know what they are or what to do with them? Try a Google recipe search and see what pops up! This can be a great way to build your repertoire of recipes. Stocking these in your pantry helps make cooking easier so you can just pull out something from your cupboard to prepare for delicious and tasty meals.

1. Brown Rice Syrup
2. Miso (I have white, barley, & brown rice)
3. Umeboshi and Brown Rice Vinegar
4. Unprocessed & Unrefined Sea Salt
5. Sea Vegetables (nori, wakame, arame, hijiki, kombu, dulse)
6. Dried Shiitake Mushrooms
7. Whole Grains (brown rice, barley, quinoa are a few great ones)
8. Dried Beans (azuki, lentil, black turtle, garbanzo/chickpea, pinto are some good staples)
9. Cooking oils (olive oil, toasted & untoasted sesame)
10. Shoyu (soy sauce) and/or Tamari (make sure this does not have msg, food coloring, or any other addditives or preservatives)
11. Kuzu root starch for desserts and sauces

Beyond Potatoes, Tomatoes, and Spinach

Hearty greens and savory roots add pizazz to your meals. However, potatoes, tomatoes, spinach and chard are ubiquitous in cooking, especially vegetarian and vegan. Perhaps you have not given much thought to some of the wonderful variety that is available (many which are grown locally and organically here on Oahu)?

For greens, try some of the hearty winter varieties that are high in minerals like calcium and iron. You can steam, blanch, saute, have raw in salad, and put in soups, stews, and casseroles:

• Collards
• Kale
• Mustard Greens
• Watercress
• Broccoli Raab
• Tatsoi
• Daikon and radish tops
  

For root vegetables,

• Hakurei turnips
• Carrots
• Parsnips
• Burdock/Gobo
• Lotus/Hasu/Renkon
• Sweet Potatoes/Yams
• Rutabagas
• Daikon
  

Yum

50116898[1]
Originally uploaded by macro808

Dinner Menu for "Last Supper"

50117071[1]
Originally uploaded by macro808

Great friends

DSCN0129
Originally uploaded by macro808

We had 9 tables of friends enjoying the meal. Anjali and Brian have almost never missed a dinner since they found out about them. Thanks you guys for your support.

Waiting in line for the final Macro Dinner

DSCN0127
Originally uploaded by macro808

We had our last Macrobiotic Community Dinner on 12/16/09 after almost 4 years of serving the community vegan macrobiotic food. Thanks everyone for supporting us!

>> 12 TIPS FOR STAYING HEALTHY FOR THE HOLIDAYS <<

1. Take a healthy and delicious dish to share with everyone at holiday
gatherings.

2. Stop eating when you are 80% full. There are always plenty of
leftovers during the holidays. You'll probably get a chance to taste
it again.

3. Fill your plate with smaller portions of each dish. Overeating is
one of the culprits of holiday sluggishness and extra holiday pounds.

4. CHEW each bite 20-25 times or more (no matter what you eat). This
can keep you from overeating and give you more time to enjoy mealtimes
with friends and family. It also leaves you more satisfied with what
you eat.

5. Eat a healthy meal before going to holiday parties, and take a
healthy dessert with you. It makes all that decadent (and fattening)
holiday food easier to resist.

6. If you eat snacks at parties, SIT DOWN to eat your food. Our bodies
process and digest food better when we are sitting down.

7. Use rice syrup, barley malt, maple syrup or agave nectar to replace
the sugar in your holiday desserts.

8. Set holiday GOALS for your health with a friend or family member.
It is always easier to resist temptations when you have a buddy and
someone to whom you can be accountable.

9. Take time to tell someone how much you appreciate them.

10. Holidays are usually busy and stressful. Treat yourself to a
shiatsu or healing massage to help you relax.

11. Make a list of things for which you are thankful.

12. Take time to reflect on what is really important to you in your
life. (And make sure you are spending at least some time doing these
things)

Enjoy your holidays! And remember the rule:

If you eat something that you know is not the best for you....
SAVOR and ENJOY every bite, and leave the guilt out of it.

Rebalance Yourself After Overindulging

Overdid it this Halloween and turned yourself into a sugar zombie? Here's what you can do...

Eat simply for a little while: focus on a plant-based diet such as whole grains, beans and bean products, vegetables, sea vegetables, and naturally fermented pickles.

Try a macrobiotic home remedy called ume-sho-bancha.

Ume-Sho-Bancha

This tea is reputed to help relieve fatigue and obtain relief from over-consumption of sugar, fruit, or acid-forming foods and beverages.

½-1 umeboshi plum (no msg, sugar, or food coloring)
½-1 tsp traditional handmade shoyu
hot kukicha tea*

Place umeboshi in a cup and mash with a chopstick. Add shoyu. Pour in hot tea and stir well. Drink liquid and eat plum while hot.

*Kukicha is a Japanese tea made from the stems and twigs of the tea bush and can be found in your local health food store.

This remedy is very strong, so do not drink too often.

Healthy Holiday Cooking with Slow Food Oahu

Date: November 15, 2009
Time: 4:00 pm	to	6:30 pm

Holidays can get a lot of people down. So many of us overeat and eat the wrong foods, leaving us feeling sluggish and grumpy. There’s another way to celebrate (and even meat lovers enjoy these dishes)!!

Leslie will teach everyone how to make healthy whole food dishes that keep your energy strong and your body light, while at the same time maintaining all the flavor that you love.

• Holiday Rice
• Shiitake Gravy
• Watercress, Fig, Artichoke Heart Salad
• Pumpkin Bread

To reserve your space at this special event, please RSVP by Monday, November 6 to Michelle at SFO.reservation@gmail.com . In your RSVP please include your name, member status, phone or email and the name of any nonmember guests you would like to bring. THIS EVENT IS LIMITED TO 15 PEOPLE, so please reply quickly if you know you would like to attend.

Non-members who are not guests of a member may sign up after October 19.

The cost for members is $35 and nonmembers is $40, and payment must be received by Friday, November 13.

Directions and further details will be sent to all confirmed participants the Wednesday prior to the event.

http://www.slowfoodoahu.org/

Class will be held at Baby aWEARness in the Manoa Marketplace, on the second floor above Bank of Hawaii.

Optimal Health and Healing Through Macrobiotics a BIG SUCCESS

We had so much fun and learned a tremendous amount from Warren Kramer while he was here on Oahu. If you were unable to attend, he'll be back in April of 2010. We are already planning lots of interesting classes for you.

The whole event was very refreshing and revitalizing for me personally. Thanks Warren!

You probably don't experience these things, like fatigue, but if you do....

I had lunch with Warren Kramer after his morning consultations today and asked him, "What are the most common reasons people come to see you?" Here's what he said:

#1 FATIGUE!!
Weight Issues
Hypoglycemia
Skin Problems
Allergies
Arthritis
Osteoporosis
Headaches/Migraines
Reproductive Issues: PMS, Infertility, Menopause
Addictions
Heart Disease
High Blood Pressure
High Cholesterol
Anxiety, Fear, & Depression
Eating Disorders
Anemia

Warren is here to teach us all how we can address these naturally, using food and energetic medicine to heal ourselves. Restoring Your Natural Healing Ability is our first lecture! It's all about how to get out of the way so we can allow our bodies to heal and perform at their peak.

OPTIMAL HEALTH AND HEALING THROUGH MACROBIOTICS

Chard and Marigolds

Chard and Marigolds
Originally uploaded by macro808

This afternoon, I had the wonderful opportunity to go to Kahumana Biodynamic and Organic Farm in Waianae, HI. We spent the first part of the afternoon in the field harvesting chard for the Waianae Farmer's Market and then went into the packing shed to wash and bunch the greens. My job was to bunch them together. Mother Earth certainly shares her bounty and only asks to be treated respectfully in return.

Easter Egg Radishes

Easter Egg Radishes
Originally uploaded by macro808

One of the additional vegetables that was harvested are these gorgeous Easter egg radishes. They just seemed positively triumphant in this photo!

Warren Kramer cooking classes coming soon!

Cooking for Hearty Appetites:
Fried Chickpea Patties
Pinto Bean Soup
Sweet Vegetable Jam on Steamed Bread
Coleslaw w/Tahini Mayo
Stirfried Portabello Mushrooms and Broccoli Rabe
Pear and Apple Pecan Crisp

Cooking for Natural Beauty:
Hato-Mugi and Bean Salad
Cucumber Soup
Light and Refreshing Pressed Salad with Citrus Dressing
Boiled Daikon w/Sweet Miso
Arame Cucumber Noodle Salad w/Shiso Leaf Dressing
Sweet and Sour Apple Kanten

Go to Leslie's main website, and head to the community calendar, to see more and to register.

OPTIMAL HEALTH AND HEALING THROUGH MACROBIOTICS

Sunday Breakfast

typical breakfast
Originally uploaded by macro808

People ask me all the time what I like to have for breakfast. Here's a photo of what my typical breakfast looks like. In this photo, it's a mixture of brown rice and oats, topped with dried apricots and almonds, a side of blanched kale, and a handful of fresh raspberries. My beverage of choice lately has been green tea. Itadakimasu...