I finally got my hands on some fresh wild California Ramps, on sale at Whole Foods. And after my indulgent ramps photo shoot, the white truffle essence hovering in the air was making me woozy for a delicious ramps tasting. Since I was a ramps newbie I wanted to keep the flavors clean, crisp and simple.



Ramps and Shrooms: A Perfect Pair. I decided to add a bit of shiitake shrooms to my tasting recipe, ramps and shrooms go hand in hand. Come along for my ramps tasting experience and my simple recipe ahead...



How Do I Cook Ramps?



Ramps look a lot like scallions, but must be handled more delicately. Ramps have delicate wispy spring green leaves shooting out of the crisp white and purple root stems. I didn't know exactly how to chop the ramps up for cooking. A few recipes I found online instructed to chop them up pretty harshly and add them to a saute dish for some all around flavor. But since I was doing a tasting I wanted as little chopping as possible. I wanted to really taste these ramps!



Here's my ramp tasting process:



1. Clean the ramps. Pull off any dead or wilted layers around the bulb.



2. Chop off the rooted bulb. Just a tiny slice because a lot of the ramp flavor is in that tiny white bulbed end.



3. Do a 1 inch rule. Chop the ramp into about 1 inch strips starting with the white bulb. I liked keeping the white bulb slice and the purple stem slice separate so I could taste the differing flavors of the ramp.

4. That's it for prep. Now onto the recipe:



Simple Wild Ramps Tasting



Here's the ingredients:



5-6 small wild ramps, chopped as stated above.

1 Tbsp olive oil

5 shiitake mushrooms, cleaned and sliced thin.

3 Tbsp veggie broth

1 garlic clove

1/2 tsp salt

freshly ground black pepper



Prepare the ramps:

In a hot skillet, add the oil, veggie broth and garlic.

When liquid is sizzling, add mushrooms.

Saute for 1-2 minutes uncovered.

Add in a pinch of black pepper and the thick ends of the ramps (white bulbs and purple stems, leave out the green leaves thus far.)

Saute for another minute on med-high.

When the ingredients look just about perfect, add in the green ends of the ramps and cover pan for about 30 seconds. The steam from the pan should cook the ends very quickly.

Uncover and do a quick stir with your spoon to mesh all the flavors together.

Turn heat off.

Sprinkle a dash of salt and grind some fresh pepper on the dish-still in the pan.

Toss salt/pepper with the dish.

Plate in small servings dishes while still steamy hot.

The smell will be divine!

Serve with some crusty bread and small forks.



Let the ramp tasting begin.

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Orignal From: Simple Wild Ramps Tasting

发贴者 healthlifeblog 时间： 5/03/2009 0 评论    

I don't know what it is about ramps, but they fascinate me. Maybe it's the fact that they are in-season for such a limited time. Maybe it's the fact that trend-setting chef's like Tom Colicchio of Craft NYC likes to add ramps to the tasting menu and at the same time wild ramp seekers are foraging through the woody wilderness collecting these treasured green sprouted roots. High brow, gourmet, earthy and wild all at the same time. Oh yeah, and the fact that they have a flavor reminiscent of white truffles doesn't hurt either.

Wild Ramps from California. I had never tasted or even seen a ramp! So when I spotted wild ramps for sale at my NYC Whole Foods Market, I was thrilled, excited and ready for a veggie photo shoot....

My Ramps Photo Essay. Here are a few of my ramp photos. I wanted to get every beautiful inch of the lovely green leafed, purple stalked, white bulbed, rooted ramps. But I'll let the ramps speak for themselves...

(and yes I will be posting my ramp tasting recipe in the next post!)

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Orignal From: Ramps: Veg Photo Esssay.

发贴者 healthlifeblog 时间： 5/03/2009 0 评论    

A new report from the American Lung Association has ranked the most polluted cities in the US. Cities are rated on three criteria: ozone, short-term particle spikes and long-term particle averages.



Healthiest Cities. These included mostly cities in the wide-open spaces of America's heartland, far from heavy industry. Healthy rankings went to cities such as: Cheyenne-WY, Santa Fe-NM, Honolulu-HI and Great Falls-MT.



Click ahead to see some of the unhealthiest cities which include Los Angeles, Pittsburgh and more...





More Report Findings:



The Worst: The ALA found that the worst places to breathe are: Los Angeles, Bakersfield, Visalia, all in California, for ozone pollution; and Bakersfield, Pittsburgh and Visalia in terms of average particulates.



Pittsburgh recorded the highest number of particle pollution spikes, which are jumps in the number of particles in the air that can last for many hours or even days.



Beware Los Angeles residents: "Los Angeles, which has a lethal combination of heavy traffic, sunshine and heat, had 195 days last year in which the ozone levels were high enough to be unhealthy for sensitive groups. On another 55 days, it was unhealthy for anyone and on 11 days, the ozone in the air was judged as very unhealthy."







More of the Best: The lowest, nearly non-existent, ozone levels, were found in cities like Billings, Mont., Carson City, Nev., and Fargo, ND. Only two eastern cities were on any of the three least-polluted lists. Portland, in heavily forested Maine, had among the lowest spikes in particle emissions, and Port St. Lucie, on Florida's Atlantic coast, had among the lowest ozone levels.



Improvements: New York, Charlotte and Washington have succeeded in reducing pollution dramatically over the past 10 years. California is introducing cleaner diesel fuel for everything from trucks to boats.



Why it Matters: Six of every 10 Americans - 186 million people - live in places where their lives are endangered by the air they breathe, according to Stephen Nolan, the American Lung Association National Board Chairman.

"Air pollution is a major threat to human health," he said in a prepared statement. "When 60% of Americans are left breathing air dirty enough to send people to the emergency room, to shape how kids' lungs develop and to kill, air pollution remains a serious problem."



Read the report on CNN here: full report.

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Orignal From: Most Polluted US Cities: Amer. Lung Assoc. Report.

发贴者 healthlifeblog 时间： 5/03/2009 0 评论    

Healing Fountain - importance of good nutritious food - A conversation between Omarian Atman and Jahron on the GoldRing Healing Fountain. Science shows as the moves forward in its evolution so does humanity. coherent coupling - kale, tomatoes, squash, potatoes, fruit, nuts, soil, bacteria, life, rainfall, environment, sunshine, temperature. As they grow they make decisions on how to grow. Seeds, plants, flowers, vegetables. Gold Ring Healing Fountain: goldringhealingfountain.wetpaint.com ...

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Orignal From: Healing Food Health Life Light Nutrition Science - Healing Fountain

发贴者 healthlifeblog 时间： 5/03/2009 0 评论    

Most of us have been warned about what to do to protect our selves from the Swine Flu like washing your hands frequently and coughing into your elbow or tissue. We still want to do those things, but our biggest and best defense is a healthy immune system.  More than anything else your immune system must be strong enough to fight off viruses and other illness.

How do we build up our immune systems? Here are some basics:

• Consume whole foods as part of a well balanced food plan and eat less processed foods. You will obtain more nutrients and antioxidants which help fight off illnesses.


• Avoid sugar and white flour products (chips, white crackers/breads, pretzels, muffins, etc.) as they negatively impact the immune system upon consumption. Be aware that sugar is present in numerous foods that you may not even think about, like condiments and even fruit juice. Especially avoid sports drinks/sodas where you'll easily pick up about 13 teaspoons of sugar in a mere cup and a half serving.


• Get enough sleep! When you are tired it is more difficult for your immune system to fight off viruses. Your body needs to rejuvenate and strengthen itself regularly and this is one way it does it.


• Learn positive coping measures to cope with stress. Avoid "comfort food eating." (I know it's a lot easier to say than do!)


• Exercise is a double bonus immune enhancer. Movement activates the release of immunostimulatory factors which then turns on various populations of our immune cells and it also helps your body get rid of toxins. As a double bonus exercise decreases your stress level.


• Drink your eight glasses of pure filtered water daily. This also helps get rid of toxins.

Later in the week  I'll discuss some other things which can help protect you from illness!

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Orignal From: Prevent Swine Flu

发贴者 healthlifeblog 时间： 5/02/2009 0 评论