Sally, Hello!  Your soup sounds amazing…can I come over for dinner?  I love when someone cooks for me! 🙂
But seriously, everything you listed is incredibly wonderful for your mind and body!  Those spices and herbs are all loaded with antioxidants!  LOVE IT!
Reach out anytime for ideas! Let me know what you’re working with.

OOOOOHHHH!!!  I love all of these spices and they are all SUPERB for your brain health! I use them all the time! LOVE!!!

If you want to talk spices, let me know!
😀 Honor

Helen, I love it!  Yum!!!
Any fun dishes coming up this week?
😀 Honor

My thoughts are healthy fats and smart carbs!  Try a snack of quinoa with full fat coconut milk and cinnamon.  Or a roasted yam with some almond butter drizzled and some cinnamon (I just roast them whole with skin on…takes about 20 minutes or so depending on your oven and the size of the yams…cook a few and snack on them over the week).  Or indulge in dry roasted or sprouted nuts and seeds every day.  
Also, there’s a recipe here for waffles you’ll love!  Lather those with almond butter and drizzle with a blend of strawberries and stevia or monk fruit!
Let me know if you want more ideas!
🙂

Sounds good. I’m a big fan of both quinoa and sweet potatoes. Have some quinoa ready to eat right now. Hadn’t thought of it as a snack but like the idea. Reminded myself last night to pick up some organic sweet potatoes. As you say, they are delicious baked. Haven’t tried them with almond butter but will do that. Great idea.

Do eat dry roasted nuts. How to you sprout seeds?

Please feel free to provide additional ideas. I need a list to have ready for myself.

If links to outside videos are allowed, the presenter in this mentions that the method he’s using for sprouting wheatgrass also works with other types of seeds – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ_c07PaLZ0

What do your greens wear?  Would like ideas for salad dressing.  Thanks!

Helen, Sweet potatoes are so yummy with almond or cashew butter, or even coconut butter and a sprinkle of cinnamon & nutmeg.  Eat the skins for added fiber!
I eat both raw and dry roasted nuts.  Avoid nuts roasted in any oils.  
If you do want to toast your own, “sprouting” is when you soak your nuts overnight then rinse to help aid in digestion.
Lay out the sprouted nuts on a sheet pan and roast in the oven at 375 for 8 minutes, toss and return until golden.  They will have a nice pop after they cool!  I like to sprinkle mine with a tiny touch of salt, maybe some fresh herbs minced up. Yum!

Sally, “What do your greens wear?” I love it!!! Haha
I keep my dressings super simple!!!  In fact I have been eating a kale salad at home lately that I love and I prefer Apple Cider Vinegar (Braggs) for all the amazing health benefits, Olive Oil, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.  
I also love lemon or half a squeezed orange and olive oil.  I do make vinaigrettes or a caesar sometimes (using cashew cream, garlic, red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper.)  I also love thinning out Hummus with a little extra lemon juice to drizzle on salads.
I could go on and on…
Love salads! I often eat them for breakfast!!!
😀 Honor

These are the type of simple, affordable ideas I wanted   Thank you!

Helen – years back, had an oxtail stew with brussels sprouts, onion, and chayote squash, with bay leaf and either soy sauce or fish sauce instead of salt (do the sauces fit with this program, Honor? The stew doesn’t taste right otherwise).  It’s usually cabbage instead of brussels sprouts around here at the moment.  If the squash isn’t around in your area, Helen, maybe zucchini instead?  I think it tastes light enough to be similar to chayote, but doesn’t take as long to cook through.

Sally – have you tried yuzu dressing?  If you don’t use bottled, there are some recipes online, but either way, I like the ones with sesame seed oil.

Anyone – Finally took the plunge and started a batch of sauerkraut in February. Am still alive after eating the result. I’ve only ever tried pairing it with sausage, but what else does it go with?

I would avoid grape seed oil as we have found that cooking with it at very high temps is actually not the best.  We used to use grape seed oil quite a bit, but we are always always learning!!!  Stick with Macadamia Nut Oil, Avocado Oil, and Coconut Oil for cooking at higher temperatures.
Sesame and Flax are SUPERB for your brain health!!!  Also awesome for your gut! Stick with citrus like lemon for dressings then.  Lemon is excellent for balancing your pH!
I love that you are finding local goodies.  And thanks to Amazon and the internet, sourcing specific ingredients is easy.  However, I am always here for alternative suggestions!
For intake, always think healthy carbs and fats (nuts, seeds, oils)
😀

Thank you M21.  Have not tried yuzu — yet.

Didn’t know that about grapeseed oil since one of the videos recommends it I believe. Currently have coconut butter but not coconut oil. Will add coconut oil to my shopping list. Thank you.

Meanwhile, not sure what to use. Maybe coconut butter?

Helen

M21 LOVE SAUERKRAUT!!!!
Fish sauce is fine if it’s Red Boat or similar that is just anchovy (no sugar).  The salt content is high, but we both know a little goes a long way so a couple of dashes is fine! (Daniel Amen recently gave me the stink eye for using it in chicken lettuce cups…we both know it gives it flavor, but he couldn’t handle the funk! haha!  I love fish sauce in Pho, Asian Chicken, on and on and Anchovies are excellent for your brain…but again avoid it with sugar in the ingredients!)
We also use low sodium Tamari versus Soy Sauce because it is gluten free!  And I love Yuzu!  Bright citrus flavors, but watch sugar content of course! 😀

Psh.  If Dr. Amen won’t have the fish sauce, more for the rest of us. 

Question on saffron, though, which was recommended for my brain type.  In terms of benefits, it looks good, but in terms of culinary usage, I’m not sure how to incorporate saffron into food I’m more likely to eat every day.  Maybe because I can’t think of how to use it effectively in Asian food – I prefer turmeric for that, and for its color, benefits, and relative cost.  Add it into the rice cooker with brown rice, maybe – but part of why I eat rice is because it’s relatively bland, so the taste doesn’t outshine whatever else it’s served with, therefore seasoning it with saffron is something I think likely to change that.  Any suggestions?

Haha! 😀
So, I hear you about saffron.  Since you’re a spice fan like me, you now what it’s all about.  Saffron is indeed so wonderful for us!!!  Consider these options:
Add some to a spiced hot cacao sweetened with monk fruit or stevia and some cinnamon, to tea or tea latte with warm almond/coconut milk.
Add it to occasional quinoa or oatmeal or coconut yogurt in the morning.
Add it to quiche or simple scrambled eggs.
Add it to chicken, seafood, lamb dishes!  (Saffron Lamb burgers or meatballs with a few other spices would be AMAZING if you’re into lamb!  Serve it with a shirazi salad).
I have a recipe here for seafood paella with cauliflower rice.
😀

Thanks much – chicken dishes and scrambled eggs might work.

Helen, maybe try Coconut Aminos instead of Soy Sauce!?!?!

Honor – I tend to use soy sauce frequently, so cost and accessibility is something of a concern.  To be fair, I haven’t looked for specifically non-GMO soy sauce brands, but if I have to make a special trip for Coconut Aminos or non-GMO soy, I’m less likely to get those, benefits or no. Taste is another concern – if those ingredients make a noticeable change to a familiar dish, I’m likely to skip those ingredients.  I think all this boils down to – in your experience, what non-GMO soy sauce or tamari brands have you found in non-specialty supermarkets?

What is coconut aminos? I’ve never heard of it. Think I’ll try low sodium tamari. I’ve heard it’s good.

Helen

https://www.epicurious.com/ingredients/how-to-cook-with-coconut-aminos-article

Soy sauce is a standard ingredient in a lot of recipes I call comfort food.  The article says there’s a sweetness to Coconut Aminos, and to have a soy sauce alternative with a coconut-like flavor (coconut oil, coconut water, etc.) in familiar foods is something I’d find very off-putting, so I’m a bit wary of that sweetness and of buying a bottle of something I might not end up using.

Fair!  
And yes, low sodium tamari is great!

YUMMY!!!  I love love love a good beef stew on cold and gloomy days!
😀

How Fun!!! Let me know how it turned out!
😀

Hi Helen! Here’s the url. It was delicious and made the house smell really good, too. http://www.doctoroz.com/recipe/jamaican-beef-patty  It wasn’t really a patty, though; it was more of a taco meat scramble.

MMMMM! Thank you, swilgenburg. This includes a lot of spices I love. Look forward to trying it.

Helen

Oh yummy! Made that Jamaican beef patty for dinner tonight. Delicious! Thank you for the recipe swilgenburg. It’s a keeper.

Coach Honor, I could see using this as the beef for burritos. Might work well to wean my grandsons off packaged mixes. Although I enjoyed this with beet greens and sweet potato, my grandsons would likely prefer something a little more like the tacos or burritos they’re used to. What healthy items might I use as wraps?

Thanks for your help. Note that I mentioned this recipe to my brother-in-law tonight. He sounded so interested that I’ll plan to make it when we’re at the cottage together this summer. Would be nice to wean my sister and her husband off their use of convenience foods too.

Love to get more beef recipes as easy and as delicious as this one!!!

Helen

What about lettuce for wraps?

Lettuce is a great suggestion!
Cabbage leaves and thin sliced round jicama are also awesome.
I love to use the cauliflower/almond flour/egg tortillas that I have a recipe for here under “nourish my brain.”
Coconut wraps are great too but need to be eaten right away.
😀

I’ll have to look for that recipe. Thank you.

Helen