Month: February 2022

It’s a great time to come visit us at the Roadrunner Park or Ahwatukee Farmers Markets. Nearly all of these ingredients are in season and currently available at the markets. Most of us need more ways to eat leafy greens and I’ve always been a big fan of small salad turnips. This low heat method, yields a deliciously juicy salmon dish.

Ingredients:

1.5 pounds salmon filet

4 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

Sea salt

4 garlic cloves, peeled, smashed

1.5 pounds small turnips, scrubbed, halved, quartered if large

Freshly ground black pepper

2 bunches Swiss chard

1 small shallot, finely chopped

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Toasted sesame seeds (for serving)

Preparation:

1) Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Pat salmon filet completely dry with paper towel and place in a large baking dish. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, sprinkle with lemon zest, and gently rub into fish. Season with salt and scatter garlic around. Bake until salmon is medium rare (mostly opaque but still slightly translucent in the center) 20-30 minutes depending on thickness of filet.

2) Meanwhile, combine turnips, 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 cup water in a large skillet; season with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook until turnips are fork tender, 15-20 minutes. Uncover and cook, tossing occasionally, until liquid is evaporated and turnips are golden, 5 minutes.

3) While turnips are cooking, remove ribs and stems from Swiss chard leaves. Thinly slice ribs, stems and leaves crosswise. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in another large skillet over medium high heat. Cook shallot and Swiss chard ribs and stems, stirring often, until beginning to soften, about 3 minutes. Add Swiss chard leaves and cook, tossing often, until leaves are wilted, about 2 minutes. Toss in cilantro, parsley, and lime juice. Season with salt.

4) Drizzle salmon with sesame oil. Serve salmon with Swiss chard and turnips, topped with sesame seeds.

ENJOY!

It’s bee pollen season at the farmers market. Every year about this time, people with seasonal allergies start showing up for a jar of local honey because they “heard it helps.” Most natural honey is a saturated solution of glucose and fructose. Raw and unfiltered honey from anywhere in the country you live in contains small amounts of pollen, propolis, royal jelly and hydrogen peroxide, providing all of the medicinal value of honey.

Bee pollen is the male part of all flowers collected by bees looking for nectar. Bees store it in the hive to eat with honey throughout the year. Bees are the ultimate preppers to emulate. Pollen is mostly made of crude protein, carbohydrates, enzymes, vitamins and trace minerals.  It is a shining example of a SuperFood.  It provides more energy than it takes to digest.

I believe that eating American raw honey while in America is a tasty treatment for allergies because of the nutritional support pollen provides that is suspended in unfiltered fresh honey.  Minor allergy attacks throughout the day might be soothed with a spoonful of honey, while a concentrated pollinated honey might be desired for extra strength and performance.

Sensitivity to pollen presents as an itchy throat or eyes and inflammation. My parents generation called it hay fever. Eating honey is micro-dosing pollen.

If you search the internet for praise or problems with bee pollen, only believe about half of what is said and consider the source. The biggest problem with bee pollen typically occurs when consuming too much too soon. Always remember that honey and pollen need a lot of water with a pinch of sea salt to do the most good. Start with a few grains of pollen at a time mixed in your honey jar and use as a sugar substitute. High performance athletes utilize pollen and honey mixed into homemade power bars and sports drinks.

A majority of medical professionals say the benefit of consuming bee pollen is not worth the risk of anaphylaxis. There is no official scientific proof that honey and bee pollen do us any good, yet married beekeepers eating honey daily live longer than all other careers or lifestyles with the least amount of cancer.

Pollen Power Ball Recipe

Mix 1/3 bee pollen, 1/3 honey and 1/3 cocoa powder and a pinch of sea salt. Roll into a ball the size of a quarter, wrap in cellophane.  This mix is shelf stable and suitable for high energy demand of extended heavy labour and marathon-like exertion.  Sensitive people should not consume this amount of pollen.

The Original Electrolyte

For rapid hydration, juice 1 lemon and stir in an equal part honey and add a pinch of sea salt, then dilute to one gallon. Drink fresh or allow to ferment.

Super Treat for kids of all ages

I have a silver spoon bent slightly to hold honey level in the freezer.  Cold honey has the texture of caramel.  Replace the treat of a plastic honey straw  with the ease of refilling a favorite silver spoon with trusted goodness over and over again.  Any spoon will do, but a spoon special to you makes it a ceremony to be cherished with zero guilt of any kind.

Kenny