Hasselback Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, & More + Herbal Seasoning Recipes
It’s the time of year when I’m working my way through the last of our stored root vegetables and winter squash looking for ways to extend their lifespan and nutrition. With this in mind, I spent an afternoon last weekend hasselbacking. In its simplest form, hasselbacking is a special cutting method for raw vegetables (also some fruits and even bread) before roasting. The most common version is Hasselback potatoes: the Potato à la Hasselbacken or, in Swedish, hasselbackspotatis. The glory of this cutting/cooking method is that it allows you to get flavorful fats and your favorite herbs and spices down inside the food so all that deliciousness gets roasted in. Plus, hasselbacking makes your food so pretty!
Food as Medicine | Tea Talks Roundtable
In this “Tea Talks Roundtable,” Jiling discusses the topic of “Food as Medicine” with herbalists Christa Sinadinos, Rona Leah, Jana Kilgore, and Mary Colvin. With our collective herbal experience as two professional cooks, three book authors, two herb school founders, and five herbalists working with different populations, teaching styles, and botanical expertise– you can expect a fun and delicious conversation!
We explore:
everyday strategies to integrate Food as Medicine into your average diet and lifestyle
delicious culinary spices
common wild herbs (in different bioregions) to supplement standard kitchen herbs
easy to find foods and herbs that can be used medicinally while traveling
breakfast strategies and considerations
nutritional snacks
different preparations for common wild herbs
specific recipes like Rona’s Herb Sauce, Demulcent Waters, Christa’s Schug, and Jana’s Morning Chai!
DIY World Spice Blends
All too often it’s easy to use the same spices over and over again. If they work, then why not? I sprinkle Italian seasoning on just about everything. Turmeric powder and smoked salt are two other popular staples in my houshold. But this season I was determined to bring some new flavors into my kitchen. I’m thrilled to say that these blends did just the trick!
Homemade Mushroom Bouillon + Seasoning Salt Recipe
If you love the convenience of instant noodles, but want to avoid the unhealthy additives in store-bought ramen-style soups, we have the perfect solution; easy, quick, homemade mushroom bouillon powder with extra herbal goodness! Whether you use it as powder or make it into bouillon paste, this DIY mushroom bouillon offers up the delicious umami flavor and health-supporting superpowers of shiitake mushrooms combined with an herb-centered seasoning salt blend, plus added protein, fiber, minerals, and vitamins from nutritional yeast flakes. It’s perfect for noodle bowls, roasted and sautéed vegetables, omelettes, and more. You can make the seasoning salt and the bouillon in less than fifteen minutes and keep them on hand for super-quick meals in the future. Just be sure to purchase ramen or gluten-free noodles without unhealthy preservatives, and you’re on your way to a delicious, healthy, super-fast noodle bowl.
Mushroom Bouillon Powder And Paste + Homemade Seasoning Salt Recipe
My youngest son loves ramen: both the hand-pulled noodle restaurant version and the instant kind. His passion for instant ramen is left over from his first foray, years ago, into the adult world of supporting himself on minimum wage. Thankfully, as he’s matured, he’s become more concerned about eating real food without the MSG, tBHQ, and astronomically high sodium content that is typical in grocery store ramen. But quick easy ramen is still the food he reaches for when he’s in a hurry and needs a fast meal… which explains my quest to develop an easy, healthy, homemade bouillon powder/paste that he can add to his noodle bowls in place of those unhealthy flavor packets that come in store-bought instant ramen noodles.
Healthy Breakfast Recipes: Power Powder Blends
Trying to get everyone in the family out the door with everything they need on a busy morning can be challenging. It’s hard, when you’re trying to juggle so many balls at once, to make time for a healthy breakfast. Happily, our friend Jiling Lin has some great ideas that you can make ahead so you and the ones you love can start your day with something substantial to feed your body and mind. Jiling Lin has created 3 Power Powder blends to add to your food and beverage creations. These powder blends are delicious and easy ways to incorporate herbalism into your daily life. Feel free to mix and match herbal powders according to your seasonal needs and individual constitution. Have fun, create something delicious in bulk, and store it in a big jar to easily satisfy your daily breakfast needs!
