Good day Health Trekkers,
Hope you are finding this with warmth inside your soul and out. We here in the Northeast have come upon the warmer temps or shall I say been steamed into warmer temps with the sudden heat (don’t get me started on global warming do we need any more proof-geeze). We are between the end of spring and beginnings of summer and another change over. I hope you have been welcoming the spaces you hold for house and comfort to carry this season, allowing for a clearing into this new energy.
Such acts as opening and cleaning windows, doing good sweeps of porches, incense/sage rooms, getting rid of tattered items and donating gently used wears encourages this change over. When it comes to the kitchen, it’s a good opportunity to start revisiting what these warmer temperatures support as cooking practices and what of the season can bring from nature’s bounty to further enjoy your meals.
So lets review a few good macrobiotic changing season kitchen and meal practices:
1. Staple grains: Typically for me with spring the first item that I look forward to switching is my choice of rice going from short grain brown rice to long grain basmati or jasmine. However the temperatures have really only now set the stage for this transition. I like to keep a little bit of short grain around for days when I’m finding particularly fatigued and in need of comfort. Generally speaking I stop pressure cooking for spring and summer but again, with the temperatures I held onto it a little longer. I continue to use millet and rice as my primary grains but many people incorporate their diet with wheat and barley for spring menus.
2. Vegetables: I love the season of more warmth because of what can be found at the farmers markets. Such gorgeous abundances of leafy greens, fertile wild plants (eaten in small amounts), sprouted veggies so many varieties of strong rising energy vegetables are seen everywhere. The beautiful array of gorgeous shrubbery to accompany a nice pot of your favorite herbs to add to your cooking kept on your patio. Summer season brings opportunity to eat some small amounts of fruits like melons perhaps and raw varieties of vegetables like cucumber. I enjoy the first bites of vegetable sushi and some seaweed salad that I leave to enjoy just for these warmer temps and treat myself.
3. Cooking practices: While early spring brings lighter cooking methods of steaming and saute of less seasoning and more fermented foods such a natto and tempeh are ones that I particularly look forward to and a nice pressed salad can be very cooling and refreshing. I eat sauerkraut in small amounts all year-long but crave it particularly during this time so I make sure to be aware of how much I eat. Moving into summer, simple cooking practices continue and I like to add quick boiled salad and easy noodle dishes. Basically the hotter the season, less time in the prep so we can be outside enjoying the sun :).
All of the above prepared with a feeling of light harmonizing with the season and accompanied with good friends and family are a wonderful way to enjoy the season. Hope to see you enjoying yourself in the seasons bounty.
In health,
Safara
