The October Unprocessed Vault: Day 15

Cathy Elton was "just your average barbecue-lovin’, pie bakin’ chowhound chick" when she found out she had a 90% blocked artery in her heart at the tender age of 44. Determined to continue to enjoy delicious food, she found creative ways around her dietary restrictions.

Although weekday breakfasts are simple, I like to make something special, like this Roasted Beet and Sweet Potato Hash, on the weekend or on a day off from school.

For us to ride out the obesogenic flood, we too need skills: for eating healthfully in spite of it all, and for fitting fitness into your crazy modern routine.

Here’s a canning primer, complete with a bit of canning history, reasons for the current canning resurgence, and even a bit of troubleshooting, should your preserving project go awry.

Parents often ask me for tips to get their own kids to eat healthier. This is the approach we use in our classes, and if you can make the time to do this at home, you’re likely to find success, too.

I hope you’re all having a good time, learning a lot, feeling great, and — most importantly — enjoying lots of wonderful, unprocessed food! It’s time to check in! And, here’s the replay of yesterday’s Google Hangout with Dr. Yoni Freedhoff.

This avocado cucumber soup is a wonderful anti-inflammatory recipe due to all the phytonutrients in the avocado. You also have natural fiber, vitamins A, B, C and K with more phytonutrients and antioxidants from cilantro and mint. And if none of that excites you, dig in anyway, because it’s a really tasty, refreshing soup!

Halfway through the month, it’s time for a check-in. In the spirit of supporting each other, I’m hoping you will share one "actionable" morsel that you’ve learned so far this month.

I’ve named this recipe Pumpkin Pie Spiced Applesauce because it’s become shorthand for those warm, aromatic spices that we all love (or love to hate) this time of year. However trendy they may be, there’s no denying that adding spice to homemade applesauce elevates it beyond any grocery store version and makes a very convincing argument for going unprocessed.

Kelp may very well be the next "It" food! Known as wakame, arame, kelp, hijiki, seaweed is a staple ingredient in Japanese cooking and is prized for its salty, umami character in the culinary world.

Somehow they’re even better a few days after you first make them, so don’t gobble your way through the whole batch right off the bat.