How to make tasty food as medicine was the theme of the private hands on 3 hour cooking lesson, I taught last week.

I already knew my client’s dietary preferences and goals for the lesson: delicious butternut squash dishes for healthy gut and strong bones with no oxalates. 

First, we sat on the couch in front of the roaring cozy fire to finalize the menu before going into the kitchen.

“How about cooking with sea vegetables and making a teff vegetable loaf along with a lentil stew and a vegetable soup?” 

Then we created the menu for the lesson:

• Teff (grain) vegetable loaf with butternut squash and onions, garlic, basil, thyme, and fenugreek
• Americana lentil vegetable stew with butternut squash, Jerusalem artichokes (a prebiotic), and onions with fresh herbs from my organic garden: sage, rosemary, thyme, oregano.
• Nourishing soup with burdock, to nourish and blood, balance hormones, rich in fiber and aid digestion, just to name a few. Also in the soup, fresh nettles and seaweed. 

Then we went into the kitchen. First, I made us a nourishing nettle tea. Yum!

I explained that it had a texture like barley, and is gluten-free. After I mentioned my fond memories of teaching how to make a Mediterranean, marinated sorghum salad with fresh picked chives, mint, parsley, and oregano. She was excited to add that to our list of dishes. She wanted to learn how to cook it today.

It is common for folks to be curious when they see all the organic beans and whole grains I stock in my kitchen in open shelves. Also, typical for the menu to change as we cook.

Now it was time to cook.

First, I demonstrated knife skills.

And we chopped up the onions and butternut squash, enough for 2 dishes.

I wanted to cook up the teff loaf first to give it time to set.

With mindfulness and Loving Kindness in the Kitchen, my client smelled fenugreek, a spice new to her. Yes, let’s put that in the teff loaf. 

I love introducing clients to teff, a versatile gluten free grain, high in fiber, calcium and iron, with a low glycemic index and a rich almost chocolatey flavor.

When teff cools, it is cuttable. Perfect for pie crust and loaf with no baking. An endless variety of spices and vegetables makes it full of creative and flavor possibilities. 

When the butternut squash and teff were tender, water absorbed, after about 15-20 minutes of cooking, we turned off the heat and add some fresh chopped oregano. Tasted it and were pleased. Poured it into a loaf pan and went on to cook up the lentil dish.

Then onto the soup.

She also wanted to learn how to cook with sea vegetables. She tasted and munched on raw organic Maine Coast Sea Vegetables’ kelp. Yes, let’s put that into the soup and let’s sauté dulse and add that to one of then dishes, she said with enthusiasm.

When the 3 hour lesson was over, she packed up a full shopping  bag with all the dishes, that I taught her to cook: the teff vegetable loaf, vegetable soup with sorghum and kelp, and the vegetable stew with garden fresh herbs.

Leslie, “thank you so much for our time tonight. Truly magical thank you for your patience with me.I’m so grateful for all you shared and taught and for this yummy food I now have to eat this week . I had some of Teff and the lentil stew. It felt very healing and surprisingly filling so much goodness and freshness in this food. You’re quite the food priestess thank you for sharing your magic.

💓💓💫

-Reina, Easthampton, MA

photos by Tracey Eller