Malibu Beach Recovery Center

The air is filled with the scents of spring.  It is more than ever a pleasure to go to the Farmer’s market and see what is in store for us this week.   When you get accustomed to eating what is “in season” you will never look back.  Every bite is as tasteful as nature intended it to be.  Furthermore, that is when Nature’s pharmacy is at its best: the sugar levels are at their highest, the vitamins and minerals at their most digestible and easily assimilated by the body.  

I acknowledge how convenient it is to buy food in advance and let your printed lists guide you through a week’s worth of meal plans, but the pure joy of biting into a ripe pear or seeing how a crunchy baby kale can fill your plate with delicious tartness is one of the many pleasures of buying fruits and vegetables in season.  Even cheese has seasons and one who has not longed for months before the Vacherin cheese was finally on the markets in their oak rims, and for only one week every fall, does not know how much the scarcity of it makes it all worth it.   

The flip side of this is that products can disappear as quickly as they show up.  I just got used to purchasing a new variety of tangerines called the Sumo tangerine, with an intense sweet orange flavor and unmistakably easy to peel skin, when, all of a sudden, it disappeared from all markets altogether.  The same can be said for figs, one day they are here and plentiful and the next gone. So, no blinking there.  When it’s good and ripe, that’s when produce is good to enjoy.

Generally speaking, I save a couple of hours for the farmers’ market every weekend.  I probably only need half an hour of full shopping time, but each merchant has a special story to share, and the communal feeling that can be experienced at the market is one of many sources of inspiration in the kitchen.  Not only do you meet the local chefs who need very little nudging to share their use of the product that you have not yet tasted, but your fellow-shoppers all are prompt to chime in with their personal experience. Many cooking schools feature “Follow the Chef at the market” classes, but you can make up your own without spending a dime when you engage with the locals who share the same interest as you.

The advantage of learning the four or five main techniques of cooking will enable you to let the market decide for you what is ready to make it onto your meal planning list.  Sauté, braise, poach, roast, sear…  this is all simple and one size fits all.  Making yourself more familiar with basic spices and condiments will bring you the diversity that you need to make up your own recipes as you go. Learn the combinations that are the trademark of certain cultures and your kitchen will entice you with new adventures.  Be creative in your search for complementary ingredients.  Then go to the Farmer’s Market and go crazy with inspiration.  Cooking is fun and can be enrichment for both the body and soul.

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Bon Appétit,

Licia

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Romantic Dinners are all about getting back into that special mood where you acknowledge the feelings that you have for that special someone: the attention to details, the anticipation, the time spent thinking about how this particular event will unfold, all of this consolidate the magic of that exceptional relationship. 

One would think that we could treat our relationship with ourselves with as much consideration and kindness.  As you progress in regaining control over what fulfills you, what makes you happy, what treatment you deserve from yourself and others, this empowerment will generate feelings of respect, of newfound admiration of the way your body can serve you and this relationship will be the most rewarding experience you will ever go through. 

But, I am digressing from my active assignments at the Malibu Beach Recovery Center there.  Let’s stick to preparing a simple Romantic Dinner according to the rules of the Malibu Beach Recovery Diet for that special someone.

Here is an amazing elegant dinner that can be mostly prepared in advance to free up your time to be with your loved one, food that will be amazing to enjoy and easy to share and that will leave the stamp of “Incredible!” both in your memory and in your taste buds.

First -- little cucumber bites filled with tuna tartare. This has to be one of the easiest bite sized dishes that renders an amazing result.  The spiciness of the tuna tartare wrapped in the cool and crisp cucumber makes this a favorite all around. It looks and tastes irresistible but yet is very light and airy when you bite into it.

In addition to this tasty appetizer, I could not resist giving you the recipe for a playful take on caprese.  The thinnest slices of raw beets sandwich a creamy goat cheese filling with a rosemary cream sauce. Nothing prevents you from cutting your beet slices with a heart cookie cutter to make it even more special.

The main dish is a lovely plate of scallops cooked in a lemon-infused olive oil and topped with a sweet agave-lime combination sauce.  Once again, the dish explodes with taste and brightness but is simple and sophisticated.  Serve with a side of brown rice with chives.

Our dessert is the epitome of what a light dessert should be: the incredible burst of flavors leaves the senses completely fulfilled and energized. 

When you think of an amazing meal, this can be achieved in total harmony with the principles of the Malibu Beach Recovery Diet, and no sacrifice whatsoever to taste and quality.  

Treat yourself well, you totally deserve it.

Licia

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While the holidays are always a time of reflection and of rejoicing, it might not always come at the perfect moment where we are able to enjoy it.  I remember being single at a time where all I could see around me were people strolling around in couples, lovingly embraced as they picked the perfect tree, and making the loneliness that I was feeling an even more acute and real emotion.  I remember having to whip up a Christmas dinner when money was scarce and I sincerely could not afford to blow my budget on one meal and therefore jeopardize my attempts to feed my family the rest of the week.  I also remember Christmas day creeping up on me  when I had had no time whatsoever to prepare and shop and spend an insane amount of preparation time anticipating the event.  And yet, it had to happen...

If any of these situations sound familiar to you today, please remember that the real meaning of the holidays is what we carry inside of ourselves.  The loneliness makes place to our caring for ourselves in the most abandoned way: we are our ultimate resource and treasure, and, although it is nice to have others help us in this journey of loving ourselves, this feeling has to stem from a genuine understanding that we are the ultimate person responsible for our own welfare.  Our body, our mind and spirit are entrusted to us from beginning to end and we are worth every effort to respect them and supply them with sustaining energy, both in the physical world and in the spiritual world.

As far as the Holiday splurge, any meal at any time of the year can be made festive by utilizing everyday foods and dressing them up a bit.  I remember this one time where I found a bag of frozen shrimp in my freezer and made my version of Lobster bisque at a fraction of the price.  The end result was mind-blowing and almost felt like when you snatch a sale item at a price so low you feel that the tag belonged to another item...  This would be my appetizer of choice  for a Holiday meal.  

Then, an everyday item like a chicken breast gets a holiday makeover with a little extra touch and still manages to get a ton of flavor across.  Brussels sprouts are an all-time favorite for me and pair well with this dish, adding robust flavors to the more mellow chicken.

And for dessert, tender pears get all dressed-up with a creamy vanilla sauce and end the meal on a festive and enchanted note.  

Who knew that everyday food could be so elegant and yet so easily put together.

Happy Holidays!

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Licia

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“ I am thankful for....”

I remember when my parents would go around the Thanksgiving table and ask us to state for what we were thankful.  I wanted to say something that was personal enough that it sounded like I really made an effort to be sincere and was fully capable of measuring the importance of the celebration, and yet compete with my sisters’ thankfulness to shine in their eyes.  You had to be witty in my family to shine!

I also remember my mother searching high and low for a decent turkey in France, a country that couldn’t care less about Thanksgiving.  For the French, the history of the Americas started when they sent Lafayette to rescue General Washington’s American revolutionary war against the British.  Like many bi-cultural families, we tried our best to preserve our American culture while being in France and vice-versa.  

However, as I grow older, the meaning of “Giving Thanks” is so much more apparent than a once-a-year tradition.  It is the acknowledgement that different cultures can coexist, that we can incorporate in our food choices many ingredients that were foreign to us only a short time ago and respect them as an added source of nutrition and curiosity.  

The gift of food from a stranger or from a friend is an invitation to read into his soul.  It is, in the case of this country, the inauguration by British settlers of a British tradition dating back to 1536 which became a celebrated American holiday.  From the first they included in their New World festivities the resident population they had befriended, as well as the bounty of naturally and locally harvested goods.

We always come back to the notion that locally cultivated goods are the ideal source of nutrition and sustenance for our tired bodies and souls. Whether it is at our co-op, through your CSA boxes (don’t bother looking it up: it stands for “Community Supported Agriculture”!), or a co-worker who brings you lemons and avocados from their favorite trees, we have forgotten what it is to exchange food as gifts.  Yet, we accept the gifts of chemicals, additives, genetically engineered corn or wheat, and all sorts of nasty additives that corrupt our relationship with food, create illness in our bodies, sustains our addictions and brings us to the brink of our graves.

Can we, for a short time, rediscover the pleasure of eating a diet that is actually good for us?  That helps us think and be smart, that encourages the optimum balance of our major organs to nurture our natural defenses? That encourages us to be more active, in charge and discriminating and justifies choices we make to protect our immediate and larger-scale environments?

We can be thankful that the fastest growing means of communication allows us to realize that this is not just a local happening, but a global concern.  We can realize that this is a movement that is far beyond an individual prayer at the dinner table.  It is a choice of survival, both personal, deep-rooted, and intimate, and also at the level of our communities, our schools, our leaders and the rest of the world.

Yes, something to be really thankful for this month...Thanksgiving Turkey Breast with Crimini Mushroom Gravy, Squash Gratin, and Apple Tart with Chocolate Drizzle.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Licia

www.sharemorethanfood.com

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September is here... I can’t believe that summer is almost over, school started early (almost inconspicuously!) and the markets are still basking in the most fragrant fruits and vegetables I have ever tasted.

However, all seasons have their do’s and don’ts and for me, fall is all about making the most of the current vegetables on the market and making them last from one meal to another.  As a result, we are going to test out recipes that can be made today with the best ingredients on the market and repurposed throughout the week.

I have always had a fondness for leftovers... they are the hidden value of a good homemaker, the penny-stretcher of our failing economy, the reinventing force behind the daily meals that we must put on the table on a daily basis.  

As I came from France and its daily food shopping expeditions, I was kind of a strange occurrence amongst all of my American friends who shopped once a week and that was it!  For me, not knowing on Monday what I would be in the mood to eat on Friday made it almost impossible to have one huge and rigid and so definitive shopping list for the whole week.    You see, in France, going to the market was our Facebook and Twitter and such.  The interaction with specialized merchants on a daily basis was our source of information, of gossip and of social networking.  To this day, I have not lost that habit.  I have, however, developed a solid sense of repurposing leftovers to a science, and the recipes below will be a testament to how one pot can hold many, many meals.

For those who follow the Malibu Beach Recovery Diet, the benefit of following these recipes are multiple.  Let me explain!  When you crave food and find yourself in that semi-conscious want of something comforting, yet not knowing exactly what will do it for you, what will prevent you from going back to high-sugar, high-starch or processed foods, is having on-hand, at a moment’s notice, the right ingredients to make a delicious meal, snack or comfort binge.  Yes, we have those cravings... and it’s all right to acknowledge it.  

But in those cases, you want something that satisfies you as well as it does not impair all the efforts you have consciously made to stay on track.  That moment when you have the ability to reach into your refrigerator and have a micro-minute of pleasure, you can orchestrate it to be something that is actually good for you.

Let’s start:

Tapenade

Uses: 

• as a spread on sandwiches to replace mayo or butter
• on toasted pita bread for a quick snack
• add a tablespoon to salad dressing for a Mediterranean taste
• add to whole-wheat pasta for an instant flavor kick

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup green olive

1/2 cup black olives

2 garlic cloves

1/2 cup finely chopped roasted red bell peppers

2 garlic cloves

2 Tbsp olive oil

Place all ingredients into a food processor and pulse until chopped fine but not blended.  Put in a jar and refrigerate.  Can be stored three weeks in the refrigerator.

Chicken

It seems redundant to enumerate the many benefits of chicken but, if cooked right, chicken breasts can perform many duties throughout the week.

• Covered in a tangy mustard sauce when it finishes cooking.
• Cubed in a salad to add protein to a meal
• Sliced thin to add to a panini or a sandwich
• Shredded for an instant quesadilla or taco
• Added to a vegetable soup to bring it to meal-status
• Just because it’s great in a good dipping sauce....

Licia's Mustard Chicken

INGREDIENTS

1 package chicken breasts, boneless, skinless, preferably organic

2 Tbsp grained dijon mustard

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Place a heavy pan (that can go into the oven – i.e. with no plastic handles)on the stove on high-heat.  
2. Pat dry the chicken breasts and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.
3. Add olive oil to the pan and watch carefully until the oil glistens and shimmers at the bottom of the pan.
4. Add the chicken, placing the side where the skin used to be first. Let the chicken cook, undisturbed until the chicken no longer sticks to the pan, and the breast is golden brown, approximately 3 minutes.  Flip to the other side.  Wait a few minutes until the other side gets golden.  At this point, it is not important that the chicken be cooked since it will finish in the oven.
5. Place the pan into the preheated oven and cook the chicken for 10 more minutes approximately, until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part registers 170 degrees.  Remove the pan from the oven and let it sit for 5 minutes.
6. Add 2 Tbsp of mustard to the pan juices and bring to a boil.  This will be the sauce to your first meal with the chicken you have just cooked.  The rest can be refrigerated for the many leftovers we have enumerated above.

Vegetable Medley

Here are the basics:

Baby tomatoes:  slice them in half, add a couple of slices of chopped onions, one avocado and 4 Tbsp of dressing for a really, really good tomato salad in less than 3 minutes

Edamame: already shelled, adds substance to a pasta dish

Zucchini: slice, chop and sauté with 2 cloves of garlic and a tablespoon of chopped basil. 

Butternut squash: buy already peeled and cubed. Have it ready to add to soups, salads or on its own with diced nectarines. Superb!

Peeled carrots, celery sticks, zucchinis: Mix one cup of yogurt with 2 garlic cloves and 2 Tbsp of basil and you have a Greek feast.  

Fruits

Apples: 

• Slice them really thin to add texture to your salad
• Microwave them for 10 minutes with agave syrup and nuts for a candied apple feast.
• Have them ready, sliced thin to dip into cashew butter for a nutritional snack.

Frozen Raspberries

• Pulse them through a blender or food processor for an intense coulis, spread over chocolate cake or vanilla ice cream

Fruits for Smoothies

• Use a good blender to mix yourself a smoothie.
• Go with color combinations (reds: strawberries, raspberries with apples and peaches) or yellows: mangoes, pineapple, apple juice)

Nuts

Cashews, Almonds, Pine Nuts: Use them as snack foods or add them to salads.

Eggplant

Finally, one of my favorite recipes (found in "From Tapas to Meze" by Joanne Weir).  I have left this recipe for the very end, because I want you to pause, pay attention and revere -- is the recipe for eggplant jam.  No, I am not kidding, and once you make one dish of this succulent dip-sauce-spread you will totally undertand what I mean.

Eggplant Jam 

INGREDIENTS

• 3 medium eggplants
• kosher or sea salt, or similar flaky salt
• olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon or allspice
• 1/8 tsp harissa, or hot sauce
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) water
• 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp chopped parsley

1. Rinse and dry the eggplants, then use a vegetable peeler to remove the peel in vertical strips, leaving about an inch (3 cm) of space between each peeling. Slice the eggplant lengthwise, about 1/2-inch (2 cm) thick. 

2. Sprinkle a modest amount of salt on the eggplants and let stand vertically in a colander for about 30 minutes, shaking it every once in a while over the sink to extract some of the eggplant juices.

3. Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC). Brush two baking sheets fairly well with olive oil and lay the eggplant slices on the baking sheets in a single layer, then flip them over.

4. Bake the eggplants for about 25 minutes, flipping them on the baking sheets midway during baking.

5. Once the eggplants are cooked, put them in a large bowl with the garlic, paprika, cumin, cinnamon or allspice, harissa, and water, and mash them well with a fork or potato masher.

(Not all the eggplant skins will break up into little pieces. They do get rather soft during the double cooking, but if you’re the kind of person bothered by them, you can briefly pulse the cooked eggplant in a food processor or chop it on a cutting board with a chef’s knife.)

6. Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet and cook the mashed eggplant mixture on rather low heat, stirring frequently so it doesn’t scorch on the bottom. It tends to stick a bit, but just scrape in those brown bits which might form on the bottom of the pan.

7. Continue to cook the eggplant until it’s thick and most of the moisture is removed, about 20 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice and let cook another minute, then remove from heat and add the parsley. When cool enough to taste, check and add a bit of salt and lemon juice. 

This recipe can be used on almost anything you love: grilled chicken, fish, pasta, bread, crackers, fruit slices or vegetable sticks.  I will soon become a staple of your pantry as it has become of mine.

Enjoy!

Many of us see the coming of the summer as a great way to remind us of our New Year’s Eve resolutions to eat better, be healthier, make commitments to better ourselves and enjoy our lives to the fullest.  The appeal of fresh fruits and salads at the farmers market, the many invitations to wear skimpy outfits at the beach, the length of the available daylight and our general seasonal impulses make this a season to reflect on the choices we make.  As a baker by choice, this is a hard one for me, believe me!

However, we have immensely successful tools to help us, not that they are necessary new, but their benefits have been newly rediscovered and are now celebrated in the press as the best way all around to take care of your body, the best diet out there to successfully lose weight and the overall better way to go!  The Los Angeles Times recently cited a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association that demonstrated the benefits of  "a low glycemic index diet rich in whole grains, fruits and vegetables and designed to prevent sharp spikes in blood sugar."

The low glycemic diet that is practiced and implemented at the Malibu Beach Recovery Center, emphasizes the use of whole, organic products, fruits, vegetables, the systematic exclusion of processed and overly manufactured, industrialized goods, the balance between satisfaction and nutrition enhances our bodily functions, accelerates recovery and allows peak performance at any age and in any condition.  We have, in addition, seen physical transformations that were nothing short of miraculous: within days, patients have better skin coloring, bright eyes, shiny hair… well, that’s if they had hair… we can’t work that miracle just yet!  They would also express how their level of energy had increased and how much clearer their thought process was becoming.

I am a firm believer that the body is an extraordinary healing machine that, if steered in the right direction, can blow us away by its ability to renew and regenerate itself.  The low-glycemic diet is one of those tools.  It is nothing short of extraordinary… but, though our knowledge of the value of ingredients, some pretty nifty cooking skills and a taste for experimentation, we have also made it fun, delicious, surprisingly tasty and overall very,  very satisfying.

Enjoy!

Click below on "Continue Reading" for the recipes.

Bon Appetit!

Licia

www.sharemorethanfood.com

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NOTE FROM JOAN:  Jillian, one of the alumni, called last week to say she made a commitment to supply snacks to her favorite 12 Step Meeting.  Almost every meeting takes a break midway through the program so that attendees can drink loads of coffee and eat sugary cakes and cookies.  Jillian asked for "legal" dessert recipes  (translation: in accordance with the no sugar principles of the Malibu Beach Recovery Diet™) she could prepare at home and bring to the meeting.  Of course I asked Licia, the dessert maven, to create a special blog for Jillian.

LICIA:

As you are on your way to recovery, there is an irony that you are going to 12 Step meetings where you will surely be offered high-sugar, starch-laden desserts to make you feel appreciated and honored. 

Most organizations that cater and support drug and alcohol patients have not yet explored the relationship between the food that you put into your body and the effects that these foods have on your moods, your willpower, your sense of reward, your insulin levels and your dopamine distribution rehabilitation.  This is what makes the Malibu Beach Recovery Diet so complete, thorough and successful: it treats addiction from a holistic perspective and enables you to take control of your recovery in the most global way so that the efforts and progress you accomplish are sustained by a lifestyle transformation and a lasting response from your body, mind and soul.

In that respect, we have always tried to serve our patients healthy desserts, at the Recovery Center and provide them with easy recipes to follow after they graduate.   Bring them to a 12 Step meeting and open the eyes of your fellow meeting-goers to the benefits of the Malibu Beach Recovery Diet.

These three recipes are crowd pleasers and will further demonstrate how delicious natural desserts can be.  Add to this the recipe for Sweet Potato Brownies that we shared a couple of months ago and you will have a wide range of goodies that you can “legally” feast on.

Click below on "Continue Reading" for the recipes.

Bon Appetit!

Licia

www.sharemorethanfood.com

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“Sugar is the new cocaine and it’s free.  It is time that we, our elected officials, our health practitioners, our school boards, took a stand to protect and inform the general population on how to stand up to a greedy and ever changing enemy: Out from our schools, our restaurants, our prepared products…  Out from the drinks we trustingly give our children… Those products have to come with a warning label similar to cigarettes:  Beware, this product can and will kill you.  It destroys our health, our genes, our immune system and the life expectancy of our children.”

- Chef Jamie Olivier, The New Food Revolution

Teaching cooking every Sunday at Malibu Beach Recovery Center, we had to learn how to do without sugar.  Being French and a baker by passion, it was probably the hardest conversion I could imagine.  However, the rewards were immense.  When you remove sugar from your kitchen staples, food becomes more intense, the taste of each ingredient shines, spices are present to enhance the natural beauty of the finished product.  You gain in range what was previously hidden: taste, flavors, hot, intense, smooth, mellow, rich, sharp, tangy, and the list goes on and on.  Foods were at last given a chance to stand up for what they truly were; this was the most revealing factor to me.

Within this experience, we discovered how to cook with the natural juices of the fruits (when fruits were not at their peak, a quick stir-fry or a 10 second trip into the microwave brought them back to life and enchanted us with strong head notes and lasting aftertastes).  We learned about the intense flavors of dark chocolates.  We found that whipping cream had the tang and slight acidity of raw milk.  The more we enjoyed these foods, the less we missed sugar and its overpowering presence.

The trend has hit restaurants across the world.  The highlight becomes the ingredient, and more recently even in its molecular form.  The priority is given to the freshness of ingredients, the balance of natural flavors, and the restraint in preparation methods.

Lately filmmakers and reporters have begun to focus on the ugly truth about Sugar.  Each new documentary, new article or television report makes me more appalled at how this global enemy has made its way into our lives and is there to stay, present in all types and varieties of ingredients, foods, dishes and drinks.  If you read closely the ingredient list when you purchase a product at your favorite store, you will be amazed at the pervasive way it has made its way into most of the foods we consume.  If sugar were tobacco or heroin, you would see it being banished at all cost in a matter of minutes.

The relationship of the Sugar industry and the power that it holds on the Food industry makes it an uphill battle to gauge, much less win.  It is their interest to use sugar (or it’s cheaper substitute, high-fructose corn syrup) in all of our foods to make food taste more palatable, allow cheaper cuts, less costly ingredients, and increase profit margin.  It is in sugar industry’s interest to make you an sugar-addict, whether it is with or without your knowledge.

A great documentary by Brian McKenna, called Big Sugar first allerted me to these facts.

Another movie, Hungry for Change, just came out in limited release and explains the many disorders that sugar induces in our bodies. 

Here are some numbers that demonstrate the staggering truth about sugar-related illnesses:

• The average American consumes an astounding 2-3 pounds of sugar each week, which is not surprising considering that highly refined sugars in the forms of sucrose (table sugar), dextrose (corn sugar), and high-fructose corn syrup are being processed into foods such as bread, breakfast cereal, mayonnaise, peanut butter, ketchup, spaghetti sauce, and a plethora of microwave meals.
• In the last 20 years, we have increased sugar consumption in the U.S. from 26 pounds to 135 lbs. of sugar per person per year! Prior to the turn of this century (1887-1890), the average consumption was only 5 lbs. per person per year! Cardiovascular disease and cancer was virtually unknown in the early 1900's.  

For additional facts about sugar click here.

We can make a conscious choice to eliminate harmful sugars from our bodies and from the food that feeds them.  It has become a fun challenge to discover the many ways to we can make great tasting sugar-free foods such the following brownie recipe that has become one of our favorites.   The secret ingredient will surprise you.  

For the brownie receipe click below on "Continue Reading."

Licia Jaccard

www.sharemorethanfood.com

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When March comes along, my kitchen slowly comes out of hibernation.  You no longer want the warming and hearty stews of the winter, but new produce and vegetables don’t yet have the crisp and intense taste of spring.  It’s kind of a mid-season, with a little bit of this and a little bit of that, but not the excitement of farmer’s market stalls that blows your senses with an overload of ripe and sweet new crops.

I, however, find that I have millions of things to get started that were put off in the winter, and time to prepare dinner always has to be quick and yet tasty.  This month, I will share with you three outstanding recipes that can get you from kitchen-to-table in less than half-an-hour.  I find that the most challenging time when following any specific diet is when you need your food now and yet have nothing prepared to quench that sudden impulse.  This is when you might be tempted to reach for fast food, sugary confections or whatever container looks half-way decent to your impatient eyes.  Having ahead of you a few ready-made treats to allow you to stay within reason is paramount. 

First, let me share with you the best crustless quiche recipe that has not only saved me from tempting excursions on my diet, but also provided tomorrow’s lunch and maybe dinner too.  The moisture content in a quiche is one that allows easy reheating without drying; you can eat it hot, warm or cold, and it can also substitute itself for a tasty snack or, when accompanied by a salad, for a full meal in itself. The other advantage is that the custard base is always the same, and can accomodate a variation of modifiers: from leftover smoked salmon to a cup or less of al-dente vegetables, a basket of cherry tomatoes or caramelized onions, even a few ounces of shredded chicken, it is one of the most versatile dishes ever.

Accompanied by a robust salad with an acidic base to counteract the sweetness of the eggs like a peppery arugula salad with a lemon dressing and rosemary infused croutons, this meal provides you with all the proteins, carbs and oils that you need to make your meal feel complete and satisfying.

I am one who never can end a meal without a touch of sweet and the recipe thst I am about to share just blew me away.  I was searching for a quick way to use the remains of a berry salad I had left and not only the simplicity and quick execution of it but also the infinite potential to incorporate whatever flavor I could imagine when the summer comes along, are two elements that put it right on top of my favorite list.  Try the recipe as written and then play with it to use the best fruits that the farmers market will yield throughout the summer.

As you can see, there is no reason to  think that, because you are frightfully hungry, you cannot incorporate your dietary requirements in a meal crafted top to bottom in thirty minutes or less.

For the recipes, click below on "Continue Reading."

Bon Appetit!

Licia

www.sharemorethanfood.com

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First of all, my best wishes to all of you for a happy, healthy and peaceful New Year.  May all your dreams cometrue and all your resolutions last more than a month! For me, healthy eating is one of the  hardest ones to maintain.  Do not get me wrong, I love the farmer’s market and cooking a beautiful dish that makes your heart and your eyes sing, and your body show you endless grattitude.  However, our world is surrounded with the worst possible combinations when it comes to food.  Do not get me started on the power of an industry that cares more about dollars than it does about a nation’s health.  It is mind boggling that we have just come to realize what has litterally been pushed down our throats by unscrupulous corporate giants.  And those combinations are addictive and it takes serious willpower to walk away.  We have all been made aware of the catastrophic impact of sugar in our lives, and if not, just imagine a four-year old on Halloween night and you pretty much have the picture of what sugar addiction can cause to your mind, body and blood sugar.

Another excess in our food stream is salt, sodium, soy sauce and all other combinations that greatly contribute to the increase of major diseases as indicated by this article in the NY Times:

“Although there has been on-and-off controversy about the value of limiting dietary salt, there is no question that a high level of sodium in the diet raises blood pressure and the risk of chronic hypertension by stiffening arteries and blocking nitric oxide, which relaxes arteries. Hypertension, in turn, contributes to heart disease and stroke, leading causes of death.  Potassium, on the other hand, activates nitric oxide and thus reduces pressure in the arteries, lowering the risk of hypertension.”

Unfortunately, highly processed foods gain in sodium what they lose in potassium, therefore creating an inbalance that puts our health at a higher risk.

Once again, we are reminded that we are the keepers of our bodies and that, if the convenience of eating out, whether fast food or not, is something we have grown accustomed to, the trade-off might be a couple of years shaved off of our life expectancy, whether we like it or not.

The key for me to reclaiming control over our food is to use simple recipes that use fewer ingredients, being able to assess their level of processing and using herbs and spices instead of salt to bring out the true flavors of each ingredient.  The following recipes for Creamy Cauliflower Soup, Sea Bass Steamed in Lettuce with Rosemary Oil, and Chocolate Mousse (an MBRC favorite) all have in common is the amazingly clean and strong flavor of each component. 

When we compare the ease of preparation and intensity of flavor from a simple meal such as this one, we enter a whole different word of refinement and enjoyment where fast and heavily processed foods will no longer hold their appeal on us.

Click on Continue Reading (below) for the recipes.

Enjoy!

Licia

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The Holidays are coming fast and along with them a feeling of sadness and excitement all at once.  I enjoyed my share of large family dinners and tables bustling with noisy children who load their plates with their favorite foods, only to slump into a food-induced apathy as the meal goes on and on.  The Children are off leading their own lives and many of my relatives have passed -- the last only a few months ago.   The sweet memories of these past celebrations brings along the void that they left behind.

However, the celebration of Thanksgiving is one too significant to neglect and I decided to offer you a reduced version of Thanksgiving goodness, in size but certainly not in flavor.

As you all know, the visual impact of the food we eat is extremely important in that it stimulates the brain to set in motion the digestive process.  For this reason, I selected recipes that deliver a bright and festive picture before you even bring a fork to your mouth.

We are starting with an all-time favorite combination of salad with cranberries and goat cheese, with toasted pecans for an added crunch.  Remember, always keep your palate stimulated with a blend of sweet and savory, creamy and crunchy, so that every bite is an adventure and your taste buds are never bored.  Paired with a simple mustard dressing, it is a tasty and beautiful salad that prepares your appetite for the main dish.

Because the prospect of consuming a 16-pound turkey might be a little daunting,  here is a winning turkey recipe that is easy to prepare and will provide the same satisfaction as the traditional turkey and gravy dinner.  Any leftovers can be easily frozen for future use.

And the traditional pecan pie is not one to be missed.  The difficulty came from replacing the forbidden corn-syrup component used to bind the pecans together; this version leaves nothing to be desired from the familiar original.  Furthermore, this pie travels easily, can last a good week if need be, and will be delicious as is or warmed for a few minutes.  Our clients love the fact that whipped cream is an allowed part of the Malibu Beach Recovery Diet, so if you wish to be totally sinful, beat a cup of whipping cream with a little vanilla extract.  Your pecan pie takes on a five star restaurant rating.

Happy Thanklsgiving to All,

Licia

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NOTE from Joan Borsten:

In January 2007, nine months before we opened the doors of what is now known as the Malibu Beach Recovery Center, we asked Licia Jaccard to help create an American version of the French low glycemic  diet that was to be a key component of our treatment system.  The diet was based on the findings of Michel Montignac.

Licia was an obvious choice.  We knew each other from a gourmet light website.  She was from Kansas, but raised and educated in France.  She was a Cordon Bleu graduate.  She was able to read Montignac in the original text.

By the time we opened, she had configured hundreds of recipes to match the requirements of this delicious and healthy diet.

We subsequently added a weekly cooking class to the program, recognizing that if addicts benefited from the effects of the diet during their stay at the clinic, helping them continue this regimen when they returned home would be beneficial to most of them.  In addition, it provided a much needed break and recreation from the rigid schedule.  Then we added an online cookbook which clients could go to for not only recipes, but rules, shopping lists, and a guide to eating out. Now Licia will be writing a monthly blog for alumni, families and the general public, sharing some of her amazing recipes.  Bon Appetit. Joan

LICIA JACCARD WRITES:  

When Joan asked me to write a column for the blog, of course it was not about treatment... anyone would do that way better than I ever could.  Those of you who know me can bet that it’s about food, and more specifically about desserts.  Although I will definitely try to incorporate savory items to this blog, I also know that most patients suffer from serious dessert withdrawal when they first start on this new life adventure.  This aims to help with your sweet cravings... 

I went to the Farmers Market yesterday in search of that one ingredient that would trigger dessert-mania and found the most ridiculously sweet french prunes, called Quetches in France, and Italian Prunes here in the US... go figure! 

The benefits of these prunes healthwise, are that they are good source of fiber, potassium, vitamin C, and lutein and zeaxanthin, pigments that help protect your vision. They are also a great source of antioxidants that will help neutralize harmful free radicals.  In addition, their extreme versatility in the kitchen allows them to be paired with both savory and sweet dishes, used in pies and compotes, as their texture will not easily break down and the fruit will remain tender but whole after cooking.

Because this type of fruit contains less water than other varieties of plums, they lend themselves perfectly to desserts. 

I would like to offer two special recipes that are easy to make and delicious to enjoy.  Neither of them contain sugar and, after tasting them, you will be amazed at the true richness of the taste of the fruit.

Licia

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While teaching the cooking class last Sunday at the Center, I looked at our clients, all busy chopping and dicing, and as usual marveled at how quickly they start looking and feeling healthy.   I’m talking shiny eyes, glossy hair, and glowing skin within 7-8 days of arriving at an alcohol and drug treatment center.  

The Malibu Beach Recovery Diet is one of three spokes in the holistic wheel which makes our treatment program unique.  The other two spokes are the yoga breath work and food supplements (we currently have most clients taking synaptose, a very effective food supplement developed by Dr. Kenneth Blum. PhD  to correct imbalances in the brain’s reward system by reducing cravings and creating an overall feeling of well-being).

This holistic overlay, developed in Europe, expedites brain repair and allows clients to quickly achieve enough clarity to get maximum advantage from the program of individual therapy, family therapy, process groups, and the 12 step work which are also integral parts of treatment. 

Just as when you have hypertension, high cholesterol or diabetes, changing your diet and getting more exercise of the right kind can influence the numbers, we have found that our alumni stay sober if they continue to follow the principles of the Malibu Beach Recovery Diet, do some kind of yoga each week, take recommended food supplements and attend AA or NA meetings.

The basis of the Malibu Beach Recovery Diet is the Gycemic Index ("GI"), a scoring system that ranks foods based on their effect on blood sugar levels. The GI covers only carbohydrates—most of the foods you eat — such as fruits and juices, potatoes, rice, pasta, breads, and cereals that contain sugars, starches, and different types of fiber. That’s because foods that are high in carbohydrates have the greatest impact on your blood sugar. Other foods, such as fats and proteins, have little effect on blood sugar.

When you eat carbohydrates, they are broken down in the mouth, stomach, and intestine to smaller units that the body can use for fuel. These units are a sugar called glucose. Glucose supplies power to every cell in the body. Without it, you wouldn’t be alive.

Scientists have learned, though, that different carbohydrate foods cause blood glucose levels to rise at different rates. Some foods cause glucose levels to rise quickly after you eat them. The result is a virtual “gush” of glucose into the bloodstream. Other carbohydrate foods cause glucose levels to rise more slowly—a “trickle” so to speak.  The GI is a system that separates the “gusher” foods from the “trickler” foods. By eating less of the gushers and more of the tricklers, you can keep your after-meal blood glucose levels more in check.

Because the Malibu Beach Recovery Diet is not about losing weight, we don‘t ask alumni to count calories or pay attention to the values of the GI index.  All they have to do is follow some simple rules designed to keep their moods balanced and their blood sugar at normal levels.  The goal of the diet (combined with the daily yoga breath work and food supplements), is to raise and sustain the chronically low dopamine levels of addicts and those suffering from depression and anxiety.    Over the years Dr. Blum’s research has concluded that it is not only alcohol, street drugs and prescription drugs that depress endogenous Dopamine levels (dopamine is one of the most important "feel good" brain chemicals) but poor eating habits.

The Malibu Beach Recovery Diet is based on eating three meals a day and several snacks, comprised of an abundance of allowed products which enrich and enhance the culinary possibilities and introduce ingredients that may not have been a habitual staple in their past nutritional habits.   No more endless cups of coffee and energy drinks, no more fast food, no more candy and sugar. 

To keep it simple, alumni have access to an online cookbook which includes all the rules of the Malibu Beach Recovery Diet, simple but elegant recipes, shopping lists for what to buy from Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and standard supermarkets.  We will be adding shortly advice on how to order when dining out.

Many  people – incoming clients and professional visitors – have confessed that the first time they were invited to the Center for a meal, they filled up enroute with a Big Mac or Subway sandwich.  They were expecting a “diet” that was healthy but tasteless, composed of foods they would never voluntarily eat. 

I don’t remember anyone leaving without complimenting French chefs Cyril Landrat and Yannick Marchand for an amazing food experience.  This includes the delicious deserts the chefs have learned to make without white sugar, brown sugar, or even honey.

Many also remark on the attractive ways foods are presented.  I find that after spending 30 or more days at the Center, clients begin to appreciate the value of presenting each meal in an eye-appealing, appetizing manner.   When I went to visit Rachel C., one of our alumni now living at no frills sober living in Los Angeles, she was tasked by the house manager to prepare lunch.  She apologized that the food was not gourmet or even healthy by Malibu Beach Recovery Center standards, but it was beautifully plated:  Several slices of apple were turned upward so the color of the bright red skin complimented the white of the tuna fish sandwich, and the orange Doritos.  Good going Rachel!

Here are recipes for a meal we recently prepared in cooking class.  Bon appétit.

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