Hip and Trending Holistic Medicine

Turmeric fans, this is for you.  I’m teaming up with @diasporaco for a GIVEAWAY of a year’s supply of my favorite turmeric. That’s FOUR jars of vibrant, potent, organically farmed, single-origin turmeric grown in Andhra Pradesh, India with a 4.7% curcumin content. TO PARTICIPATE: Follow both of us ( @heidijswanson & @diasporaco ) on Instagram and leave a comment (on Insta) telling me what you’d do with this special turmeric. I’ll select my fave this Sunday (3/31)! To kick things off I’m highlighting a few of my favorite turmeric recipes here. Let’s do this! xx, -h 1. Turmeric Grilled Tofu Spring Rolls – The spring rolls we been eat all spring & summer. Grilled turmeric tofu, asparagus, herbs, and hot sauce. 2. Turmeric Cashews –   Turmeric Cashews tossed with cayenne, nori, and sesame. Inspired by The Good Gut written by Stanford researchers Justin and Erica Sonnenburg. Keep your microbiota happy. 3. Sunshine Pad Thai – The pad thai recipe you’re ...

If you’re looking to make a silky smooth, creamy vegan soup, today is your day. This gem caught my attention because it is quite different than most “creamy” vegan soups I come across. It uses a clever trick to achieve its signature texture. And the resulting soup doesn’t rely on heavy cream or lots of coconut milk. Bingo. The lineage of this soup goes something like this. Genius recipe-spotter Kristen Miglore highlighted this Paul Bertolli recipe on Food52 back in 2011. The CAP Beauty ladies gave it a turmeric and mustard twist in their new book , and I went from there. Adding yellow split peas on top make it a one-bowl meal, nutritional yeast tees up some cheesy flavor notes. I also upped the quantity because, leftovers. The Technique: Make a Vegan Soup Super Creamy The base of this soup is cauliflower. I make cauliflower soup all the time. The thing that makes this recipe special is the cooking technique. You let the cauliflower steam, in the pot, for 15 minutes. You can d...

I gravitate towards the savory breakfast, even to the point of eating leftover dinner in place of waffles, pancakes, or sweet porridges. However, sometimes my sweet tooth gets the best of me. Luckily, I can make a mean bowl of breakfast porridge and amaranth is one of the ways to my sweet-breakfast heart. Amaranth Porridge I absolutely adore amaranth for both the grain and in floral arrangements. When growing, it’s colorful and definitely and eye-catching addition. Yet, the grain, in terms of cooking, doesn’t quite get the same love. Amaranth takes a little know-how. It’s similar to quinoa in that it’s actually a pseudo-grain or better known as a seed. It does not, however, cook up like quinoa. Amaranth, if cooked like any other grain, becomes a bit gummy. Amaranth has a higher level of amylopectin, a main component of starch. This component creates a slightly more gelatinous texture to the cooked grain; think sushi rice versus long-grain rice. The creamy feel of cooked amaranth l...

This dish rings in spring in the best way possible. A creamy carrot-sunflower puree helps keep the risotto vegan while the fresh pea shoots bring the greens.  Making a creamy carrot risotto While I love making a delicious, cheese-based risotto, there’s something magical about taking this classic dish and making it vegan. My first attempts were alright but as time goes on, I find a few more tricks to make a delicious dish without one ounce of cheese. The Grains This might be a bit like cheating but it gets the job done. Traditional arborio rice releases starch, which is where some of the creaminess comes from. Whole grains don’t quite act the same. However, if you pulse the grain in a food processor or blender a few times, you get a bit of grain dust. This dust turns into the thickening agent in the vegan risotto. The best part about this: it’s a formula you can use with many different grains. I’ve found this works well with spelt, einkorn, farro, and barley. I’ve also had suc...

Today I’m going to talk about hot flashes and about how they can make you crazy! In peri-menopause hot flashes will often start right before your period. You may not experience them at all during most of the month or you may have a few intermittently in the middle of the night.  As you get closer to menopause you may start to experience them more often. The reason you have hot flashes is not just that the estrogen in your body goes out of balance. There is a group of chemicals called “catecholamines” that is also connected to hot flashes. Epinephrine and norepinephrine are chemicals made in your nervous system. Their job is to help you get ready for flight or fight when you’re stressed. During your normal cycle, your estrogen levels begin to rise after your period ends. They peak at ovulation and then begin to drop again. When you move into peri-menopause your estrogen levels drop even further than normal. Your body is more prone to hot flashes at this lower level. Interestingly ...

One of the more common symptoms of early perimenopause is irritability.  Prevalent in the early stages of peri-menopause, it can happen even when you’re in your early twenties. Maybe you’re just more cranky than usual, or you feel like your partner or coworkers just can’t do anything right, or might feel like you’re going to explode with anger. I remember in my early 40s this happened to me. For about 5 days before my period, my partner just couldn’t do anything right. The Flow Of Energy In Traditional Chinese Medicine the liver rules the smooth flow of energy in your whole body. It also regulates the emotion of anger and your menstrual cycle. When your liver is out of balance, you will experience more irritability than normal. Your mood and your periods will be affected when you’ve been frustrated or have been under a lot of stress. Western Medicine Explanation: From a functional medicine point of view, it is also all about balance. There is an imbalance between the amount of...

A fresh list of links, recipes, reading, and watch-worthy gems for the week ahead. Enjoy! – To Make: Folkloric Immunity Tonic (Andrea Gentl + CAP Beauty) – Let’s talk about eye health ! (In Fiore + Dr. Elise Brisco) – Photos: Southern India ( in my Insta Stories ) – A few fave asparagus recipes: this , this , this , and these . – Required reading: for aspiring restauranteurs – 2019 Garden Inspiration: reading this , binge watching this – Watching: this & this – Love: Esther Choi’s The Kitchen Gadget Test Show – Reading: this , this , and this . – Warming up To Vegan Pozole (New Yorker) – The House that Love Built – Before it was Gone –  The Truth About Wasabi (video) – Wish list: for my elbow ouchie  (via Healthyish ), daisy lead to match Polly’s daisy collar, a kishu tree, more  Kashmiri amaro Let me know if you have a favorite to add to the list – a favorite recent book you’ve read, podcast you’ve listened to, recipe you’ve cooked, etc!  Co...

Post sponsored by Bob's Red Mill. See below for more details. The Brassicas For these types of salads, I would typically use cauliflower . However, I wanted to keep the color vibrant. The broccoli provides that and I love the texture of the roasted broccoli. Of course, you could always mix in cauliflower, romesco, or even roasted Brussels sprouts. Dressing, a bit extra When it comes to dressing, I usually keep them really simple: an oil and an acid. However, sometimes I like to boost it a bit with the help from creamy items, like tahini. I’ve also really been enjoying finding more ways to use Nutritional Yeast. The nutritional yeast adds that classic pungent cheese-like punch, helping really make this dressing flavorful. Bob’s Red Mill Nutritional Yeast I haven’t always been on the nutritional yeast wagon but as I start to use it more, I’ve gradually fallen in love. The nutty tang has definitely started to play more rolls in my kitchen from the easy, like popcorn, to the sli...

Let me start by saying, if you already make your own nut milks at home, you have to try this. I mean – walk to your kitchen, turn the oven dial, and get some coconut in there. You have to trust me here. I started making homemade toasted coconut milk a few months ago, and it has become one of my favorite things. It’s creamy, rich, nutty, and intense. I enjoy it immensely on its own, and as an ingredient in other preparations as well. It’s a real flavor punch. Imagine all the ways you can use it to make some of your favorite preparations even better. It’s great in chai, in morning oatmeal, baked oatmeal(!). You can use it in a wild range of sweet preparations, but it’s also good as a way to add a little je ne sais quoi , to broths, soups, and weeknight curries. You can see how it comes together in a video of the process here, and you can find the recipe down below, as well as a few notes. Let me know if you make it, and if you do, please let me know how you’re using it! SUBSCRIBE TO VI...

Green Sauce When it comes to experimenting with recipes, sauces are up there as a favorite. It can be easy to completely shift a dish (or many dishes) with one simple sauce. I don’t use a lot of kale outside of a few recipes but using it in sauces ensures I use it all before it goes bad. Saucy Kale Omelette You can swap the kale for other greens such as spinach , chard , or collards . If you’re using spinach, drop the time for blanching. Spinach takes much less time: usually around 30 to 60 seconds. Tarragon I know tarragon isn’t everyone’s favorite herb. You could swap it out for chives or if it’s summer, use fresh basil. Omelette vs Frittata I love a solid omelette for my morning breakfast but if I’m making a dish to feed the family, I usually stick with frittata. You can easily use this same concept in frittata form. I like to use this base recipe and right before I transfer the pan to the oven, I swirl in the kale sauce. Add some Grains Leftover grains? Add a few to th...

There’s an art to creating a beautiful pie crust, and it doesn’t have to be intimidating. If you’re looking to move beyond a simple, basic crust this season, there are a host of next-level pie crust design techniques out there to inspire your creations. There’s really no reason you can’t master the basket weave, the leafy border, or the fluted edge! Have fun with these. 1. Pie Crusts Classics Thomas Joseph shows us a nice range of pie crust design options – a leaf border, a braid border, a honeycomb top (a favorite!), a classic lattice top crust, and he makes it all look easy and doable. Listen up for some of his helpful little tips as well like, how to hide seams. 2. Harvest Leaf Pie Crusts A really pretty video demonstrating a range of beautiful harvest leaf pie designs. There’s the a mega-leaf pie (cool & unusual!), and a couple of free-style approaches with medium leaves. They all bake up beautifully! 3. Twenty Pie Crimping Techniques Watch this one for the corkscrew c...

Pasta videos are one of my favorite things on the internet. To be specific, the making and shaping of pasta using traditional ingredients and methods. There are all sorts of videos out there, and pasta enthusiasts on all the different platforms, but I love watching Italian grandmas (nonnas) the most. I’m going to highlight a handful of favorite pasta videos here, and let these Italian grandmas show us how it’s done. I also want to mention a channel on You Tube, Pasta Grannies , because it’s an absolute treasure trove of pasta videos by Vicki Bennison. I’ve embedded a few favorites episodes down below, definitely poke around the archives as well. There’s also some great inspiration at #pastamaking , and Miyuki Adachi is one of my all-time favorite Instagram accounts. Let me know in the comments if you have any favorites in this vein as well, I’m always adding to my list! 1. Pici Pici(!!!) Pici is my first pasta love, and my favorite pasta to shape by hand. You roll out long spaghett...