Tip the Scale in Your Favor - With Alkaline Foods

This Week

As much as I'm aware that cooked tomatoes are acidic and leave behind all kinds of toxic waste (a condition called "acidosis") I still enjoy them once in awhile and by employing the following guidelines, with no noticeable detriment to my body. You too can get away with an occasional step off the UnDiet path when you know how to balance the acid and alkaline content of your meals.

Avoiding & Correcting Acidosis

If you're having just a small amount of cooked tomatoes and they're not a regular part of your diet then correcting with one of the recipes in this issue will be enough to counteract the heavy dose of acidity.

If you're having a large serving of cooked tomatoes such as a tomato based pasta sauce, or chili then choose as many of the following tips as you can comfortably follow:

• Chew your food well. Saliva is highly alkaline.
• Don't have beverages with your meals or within 2 hours of eating a meal.
• Eat highly alkaline foods before, with and after a highly acid meal.
• Avoid or minimize these highly acidic foods for several days after eating an acidic meal:
  • meat
  • dairy
  • eggs
  • salt
  • cereal products
  • coffee (leaded and unleaded)
  • sodas
  • alcohol

Highly Alkaline Foods

• apples
• beets
• carrots
• celery (highly alkaline - chewing a few stalks when experiencing heartburn are as effective as OTC anti-heartburn products!)
• cherries
• coconuts
• cucumbers
• figs
• goldenseal tea (drink an hour before your meal or two hours after)
• lettuce (the inside leaves of romaine are especially alkaline
• oranges
• radishes
• spinach
• strawberries
• string beans

Alkaline Recipes

Sweet Cayenne Slaw

Set aside in colander to drain (save juice for another use) 

1/2 cup fresh orange sections, cut into bite-size chunks

Mix together in small bowl

1 teaspoon fresh orange or lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

pinch of cayenne pepper

Blend in

1/2 cup creme fraiche or sour cream

Add drained oranges and

1-1/2 cups carrots, peeled and grated

Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

Sesame Carrot Salad

In a small skillet over medium heat, stir until garlic is golden and then discard it.

1 medium garlic clove, mashed but not diced in

3 tablespoons canola oil

Add to oil and cook, stirring, until they're golden.

1/4 cup raw sesame seeds

In a bowl toss together sesame seed mixture

8 medium sized carrots, grated

2 tablespoons fresh orange or lemon juice

sea salt and black pepper to taste

Savory Waldorf Salad

Mince the fresh tarragon. Cut the celery into 1-1/4-inch matchsticks, reserve celery leaves for garnish. Cut the apples into 1-1/2-inch, matchsticks. 2.

In a bowl whisk together

2 tablespoons mayonnaise, preferably soy

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon unfiltered, unpasteurized apple cider vinegar

1/4 teaspoon Sucanat

1 teaspoon fresh tarragon, minced

sea salt and black pepper to taste

Add and lightly toss until coated with dressing

4 stalks celery, julienned

1 medium apple, julienned

Strawberry Spinach Salad

If I'm serving this during the Christmas holidays I call it Christmas Salad (um-m, it's red and green). Children that won't eat it any other time of year, love it now. It's the same theory behind naming Black Couscous. Children will put things into their mouths they wouldn't normally even allow into their field of vision if you make it fun or gross.

Arrange 1/2 pound young spinach (washed and spun dry) and 1 pint fresh strawberries, whole or sliced on individual plates or in glass bowl

Place in blender

1/2 cup unrefined sugar

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

1 tablespoon poppy seed

1 tablespoon onion, minced

2 dashes Worchestershire sauce

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/4 cup unfiltered, unpasteurized

apple cider vinegar or fresh orange juice

Add in steady stream with blender on low speed - dressing will be creamy and thick.

1/2 cup walnut, pecan, or sesame oil, or mix of these

Drizzle over salad and garnish with sliced almonds, they taste better toasted, but it's up to you.

Radish Soup

You can call this soup Avocado Gazpacho, Cucumber Soup, whatever. I like Radish Soup because it sounds weird and therefore invokes the "children will eat weird and gross things" theory.

In a large bowl, combine

4 cups Fresh Tomato Juice

3 tomatoes, seeds removed and coarsely chopped

1/2 cup radishes, finely chopped

2 avocado, pit removed, peeled & chopped

1 tablespoon cilantro, minced

1 cucumber, peeled, seeds removed & chopped

1 stalk celery, diced

1 yellow bell pepper, diced

1/4 cup unfiltered, unpasteurized apple cider vinegar or fresh lemon or lime juice

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

2 cups black beans, drained

Cover and refrigerate soup at least 30 minutes to give the ingredients time to meld their individual flavors.

Spinach Dip

If you have lots of fresh spinach you can use it instead of the frozen. Start with 8 cups. Wash well and place in large covered pan over medium heat for 3 minutes, stirring once or twice. Remove from heat and allow to cool. When cool enough to handle squeeze to remove as much water as possible, & finely chop.

In a bowl stir together

2 cups frozen spinach, thawed, squeezed dry & finely chopped

1 cup creme fraiche or yogurt

1/4 cup mayonnaise, preferably soy

1/2 cup radish, minced

1/2 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded & diced

2 medium onions, diced

1/4 cup green onion, minced

2 small garlic cloves, crushed & minced

1 teaspoon unfiltered, unpasteurized apple cider vinegar or fresh lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon dried tarragon

sea salt and black pepper to taste

Serve with fresh vegetables or toasted Protein Bread.

Tips & Tricks

Some suggestions for removing cooked tomatoes from your diet:

• Try red bell pepper, yellow tomatoes, or carrots in place of for tomatoes in cooked dishes.
• Look for recipes to substitute for cooked tomato dishes. For instance there are many white chili recipes which taste delicious and don't use tomatoes at all.
• Remove tomato sauce from recipes and replace it with Dried Tomato Sauce or Paste at the end of the cooking time.
• Use pureed roasted red bell peppers in place of tomato sauce.

Step Ahead

Turn off the lights and get out the candles. Candlelight is calming and relaxing. You'll slow down and savor your meal instead of rushing through.

$$$avers

Carrots are one of the least expensive vegetables. I wait for them to go on sale, then buy the biggest bag they have, which in my market is twenty-five pounds. Then I:

• extract for carrot juice, some to have now, some to freeze
• grate very finely, some for now, some to freeze (frozen raw carrots work well both raw ana cooked when thawed) - very finely grated carrots make excellent raw garnishes for hot dishes. They are completely soft ,as if they've been cooked.
• grate on a larger grate to use in salads
• puree to stir into casseroles, stew, and soups

If I have the time and the inclination after dealing with twenty-five pounds of carrots I'll go on and make carrot soup, otherwise I just freeze the puree and make soup later.

Step By Step

1. Make up any recipes in this issue that interest you.
2. Apply this issue's Tips & Tricks to your menu planning.
3. Check out some raw food cookbooks for more highly alkaline recipes:
   • The Raw Gourmet access to FREE recipes which change regularly as well as a FREE seven part course chock full of good info and recipes which I highly recommend.
   • Vegan & vegetarian recipes - all raw & uncooked! These FREE recipes aren't all properly combined but still well worth checking out.
   • The Sprouting Book - Ann Wigmore / Paperback / Your Price: $6.31 (Save 20%) - Order
   • The Blending Book - Ann Wigmore / Paperback / Your Price: $8.90 / Order
   • Recipes for Longer Life - Ann Wigmore / Paperback / Order
   • Dining in the Raw - Rita Romano / Hardcover / Your Price: $15.91 (Save 20%) / Order From chef, restaurateur, instructor, health-care provider, and dietary consultant Rita Romano comes a recipe book that combines the techniques of macrobiotic, vegan, allergy-free, and raw food disciplines. 700+ recipes.
   • The Uncook Book: Raw Food Adventures - Elizabeth Baker / Paperback / $14.90 / Order
4. Are you ready to move on to the next Step, Level 4 Workouts?

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