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nov/dec 2013 issue 05
Finding the magic in simplicity and healthy food for your family this holiday season. a letter from mia Happy Holidays! I know it’s not even Thanksgiving yet, but in our house November starts a string of family birthdays, and marks the beginning of all the things we want to make for friends and family — the kids have already started knitting scarves and making headbands, and I have started organizing photos for an end-of-year album. And there is also the Advent calendar that I organize late at night, figuring out a mix of fun activities and quiet times, giving and getting. For our holiday magazine, we asked experts in various fields – including health, self-nurturing, and parenting – to share tips on how they simplify their holidays. We are also very excited to share our interview with Béatrice Peltre of LaTartineGourmande.com, as well as our talk with Nancy Mellon on storytelling at the dinner table. And you won’t want to miss this month’s article by Greg Georgaklis of Farmers To You, giving us the straight story on conventional versus organic farming and animal production, and how to easily find the most delicious and nutrient-dense natural foods for your family. As always, interspersed throughout are our amazing recipes – delicious, nutritious and, above all, easy to make. We continue to focus on gluten-free and vegan recipes, but this month we also include recipes made with eggs – a safe way to give our kids their much-needed omegas! And remember, the StayBasic magazine isn’t just leisure reading; we encourage you to embrace our list of simple to-dos, to put our experts’ ideas into action as you begin or continue your family’s journey toward greater health and happiness. Our mission and our passion is to help busy moms like you enjoy a less crazy, more fulfilling life – giving you recipes for delicious meals and snacks that deliver more nutrition, energy, and health; sharing strategies to navigate overpacked schedules with ease and improve your time at home; and encouraging you to move mindfully, step by step, toward the life of your dreams. We know it’s possible and we’re committed to helping you get there – including bringing you something really exciting in December... We will also be sending you special offers and incentives throughout the month, so if you haven’t signed up for our mailing list yet, make sure you do! You won’t want to miss original recipes and expert advice that will help you take those simple steps toward the life of your dreams... in the meantime, we hope you enjoy happy, healthy holidays!
staybasic nov/dec 2013
Questions or Comments? info@staybasic.com
CONTRIBUTORS
Article Submission Queries articles@staybasic.com
BĂŠatrice Peltre Food Writer, Stylist and Photographer www.latartinegourmande.com
STAYBASIC TEAM
Nina Manolson Health Coach www.soulfulmom.com
Mia Moran Founder and Art Director Kate Tirone Senior Writer and Editor
Yolanda Taylor Owner of Lexington Power Yoga www.lexingtonpoweryoga.com Jennifer Goodman Simplicity Parenting Coach Eva Rawposa Raw Food Chef www.uncooking101.com Kelley Grimes Counselor, Artist and Self-nurturing Expert www.intruthandbeauty.com Liz Vance Founder of Mucky Kids www.muckykids.com Nancy Mellon Teacher, Artist, and Expressive Therapist www.healingstory.com Greg Georgaklis Founder of Farmers to You www.farmerstoyou.com
staybasic nov/dec 2013
CONTENTS A life inspired: Thoughts on food, culture and culinary traditions with Béatrice Peltre of La Tartine Gourmande 10 Ways to Make the Holiday Season Healthier and Happier — setting you up for an amazing New Year! The Joy of Storytelling at Family Meals with Nancy Mellon of Healing Story Dairy-free Holiday Drinks a.k.a. Decadent Winter Smoothies Facts About Farm Fresh Foods with Greg Georgaklis, founder of Farmers to You Recipes Action Items
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Copyright © Mia Moran, www.staybasic.com, 2013. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. If you are interested in highresolution versions of anything you see here, please contact mia(at)staybasic(dot)com.
staybasic nov/dec 2013
photos on this page from BĂŠatrice Peltre
A life inspired: Thoughts on food, culture and culinary traditions with BĂŠatrice Peltre of La Tartine Gourmande
staybasic nov/dec 2013
Béatrice Peltre is a Boston-based food writer, stylist and photographer whose work has been featured in many places including Saveur, Food and Wine, and the New York Times. Having grown up in France and traveled widely, Béa brings her love of cooking and culture to life through her beautifully styled photography on her award-winning blog, La Tartine Gourmande, a gorgeous companion to her bestselling cookbook of the same name. We sat down on a beautiful autumn day in New England to talk about how working moms plan for healthy eating; gluten-free foods she carries with her during her busy day; and the lessons both mothers and children learn from spending time together in the kitchen. mia: You once told me that your mom baked every weekend. That made a big impression on me, and I have been baking on Sundays every since. Tell me about growing up in your mom’s kitchen and how that influenced you.
[My mom] was very organized in the way she thought about meals because as a working mom she couldn’t shop as often, so even before leaving in the morning, she was preparing things.
béatrice: Well, my mother was a “working mom”; she and my father worked at the school in the village where I grew up. She was very conditioned with her schedule: go to school in the morning, come back, have lunch ready, and go back to school. She was very organized in the way she thought about meals because as a working mom she couldn’t shop as often, so even before leaving in the morning, she was preparing things – we’d wake in the morning and smell soup cooking on the stove! That way, when she came back at 11:30, half the meal was already done and with just a few finishing touches she would have lunch on the table. On Saturdays she would bake cakes, and she would always make two – because she was working and didn’t have as much time. When I became a university student with a tight schedule, I would do the same – cook before I went to class – because I could not resolve myself to eating poorly, on the run. My mother-in-law commented the other day, “I can’t believe you haven’t even had breakfast and you’re baking a cake, you’re making soups!” I don’t have much time but I want to be able to come home, have a bowl of soup, and leave. So I still cook in the morning. My mother definitely influenced my way of thinking about how to prepare food, to make sure I always have something nice. mia: I’ve had to learn that myself in the last five years – planning ahead – but now it’s habit. I do the same thing; in fact, I woke at 6:00 this morning and made soup. Did you have a sense that your mother enjoyed it? béa: She obviously enjoyed it – but also, this is just the way things were done. I come from a small village where there were no restaurants, no take-outs – this is just what we did. The whole sense of homemade, and having a warm meal for lunch, not just a snack or sandwich. When I was at university I remember a teacher saying, “Béa, when you have children things will change.” And I kept telling her, I don’t think so, I think it’s just a question of organizing things differently. That doesn’t mean that it’s not work – of course it’s work, you just have to put some time aside to do it. But if you have a priority of eating healthy and feeding your family well, you can do it. When she said that to me, I remember thinking, Well I will prove to her she’s wrong! Obviously now that I have my daughter, I cook differently, so I agree that some things change. Maybe it’s simpler meals, but you focus on quality ingredients, shorter preparations, or, if you make homemade stock for example, you make a big pot and freeze some – you do things that will facilitate your work flow when you want to prepare from scratch. It’s not impossible, it’s just...
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Holiday Smoothies
dairy-free
holiday drinks
staybasic nov/dec 2013
10 ways
to make the Holiday Season
Healthier and Happier setting you up for an amazing New Year!
Love the magic of the holiday season! Lights, candles, songs, ice skating, making crafts, baking, making gifts, buying gifts, gathering with friends, reading by the fire (surrounded by kids on chilly days or cuddling up with someone special late at night), playing cards, sledding when there is snow, hot tea, hot cider, longer visits with family, holiday performances, cooking — and space and simplicity within and between these moments.
Make time for the spaces.
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1
make healthier versions of holiday classics Nina Manolson of soulfulmom.com gave us a healthier version of potato latkes. She wants to enjoy the Jewish tradition, but in a healthier way. It’s traditional to have oily food to celebrate Chanukah. It symbolizes the miracle of oil burning for eight nights after the temple was re-dedicated by the Maccabees in 165 BCE. This recipe is a bit of a twist on traditional latkes because it uses sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes add color and nutritional oomph to this recipe. Sweet potatoes are very rich in vitamins and minerals and their sugars flow into the bloodstream more slowly than white potatoes. Also, the sweet potatoes simply make the latkes deliciously sweet. Oat flour replaces the traditional wheat flour which is often used to thicken the batter. Simply use gluten-free oats and you’ll have a gluten-free recipe. See recipe here »
staybasic nov/dec 2013
THE
JOY OF
STORYTELLING AT
FAMILY MEALS
staybasic nov/dec 2013
This month, StayBasic had the honor of interviewing Nancy Mellon, MA, a teacher, artist, and expressive psychotherapist who specializes in storytelling as a healing art. She is the author of Body Eloquence, Storytelling & the Art of the Imagination, Storytelling with Children, and The Knottles. Through her courses, workshops and talks, Nancy teaches adults how to use storytelling to build greater awareness and consciousness. Here, we learn from Nancy how to help our children to create connections between their inner and outer worlds, and develop creative and pleasurable perspectives on their daily food. Nancy Mellon reminds us that we all have a delightfully playful and wise storyteller within us. “Adults can sit down at the table with the intention of being a Storymother or Storyfather with the children,” Nancy says. “That intention opens up the heart, and the listening of the whole digestive system. It embraces all the directions around us, rather than just the ‘going-forward head’ that gets so engaged these days during our usual daily lives.” For most of us, dinner conversation turns to whatever has been going on that day or that week, or what’s coming up on the calendar this weekend. Nancy points out that creating stories together engages us in a creative experience, not merely a rehashing of current happenings. “Storytelling, just like prayers and singing, warms the communication network around the table, helping us to feel that the whole person is invited to the table, not just the good student or just the office worker or just the mom who’s driving everybody through the endless roads...” This sounds wonderful, but how do you actually open to the joy of storytelling in the midst of daily meals? staybasic nov/dec 2013
The Facts About
Farm Fresh Foods with Greg Georgaklis, founder of Farmers to You
Greg Georgaklis has been involved in agriculture for over 30 years, as a farmer, business owner and advisor. He served on the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture, and after moving to Vermont in 2007, was hired by several not-for-profit and Vermont state agencies to work directly with and advise organic producers and conventional farmers in need of a new road map. Greg has an MBA as well as several horticulture certifications. He is regarded as an expert in many areas of farm sustainability.
staybasic nov/dec 2013
Coming in December from
staybasic
A Guide to Sweet and Savory Bean Dishes
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staybasic nov/dec 2013
recipes
{gf} gluten-free {df} dairy-free {v} vegan / no animal products
staybasic nov/dec 2013
Coming in December from
staybasic
A Family Guide to Amazing Gluten-Free and Vegan Treats
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staybasic sept/oct nov/dec 2013 2013
We are here to support you all year long! StayBasic has always focused on helping you make simple, small changes that add up to a happier and healthier life for you and your family. In December, we will be launching a new program to help you in an even bigger and better way. You won’t want to miss this announcement, so make sure to open all your emails from us in the coming weeks. Who knows? The exciting information we bring you next month may be just the tool you need to get you on track toward the life of your dreams.
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