Mystic Pineapples

The Mystic Cookbook, the secret alchemy of food, Denise Linn and Meadow Linn 2012 USA

“To Activate Clarity: Eat Yellow – Yellow foods can stimulate the intellect as well as communication. Yellow is associated with mental discrimination, organisation, attention to detail, evaluation, active intelligence, happiness, concentration, and clarity of thought. Yellow is a colour that stimulates flexibility and adaptability to change. Yellow kitchens tend to be gathering places for family and friends to chat about their day. Plus, healing vitamin C is found in lemons and grapefruit. Summer squash, yellow peppers, sweet corn, pineapples, yellow watermelons, and other yellow fruits and vegetables fill you with glowing yellow energy; and they contain beta-carotene that promotes healthy eyes” the authors.

Hawaiian Rainbow Kebabs

20 bamboo skewers

Marinade: 3 tblsp brown sugar; 2/3 cup pineapple juice; 6 tblsp tamari; 8 cloves garlic, crushed; 1 tsp grated fresh ginger

Kebabs: 450g beef, cut into 4cm cubes top sirloin works well); 225g button mushrooms; 450g sweet potatoes (1 large or 2 small), peeled and cut into 4cm cubes and par boiled; 450g very small gold potatoes, parboiled (if large, cut them into smaller chunks); 2 green bell peppers, cut into 4cm square; 1 red onion, cut into 3cm chunks; 1 fresh pineapple, cut into 4cm chunks; 1 275g pkg cherry tomatoes; vegetable or canola oil

If using bamboo skewers (available in most grocery stores), soak them in water for at least 20 minutes to keep them from burning on the grill.

To make the marinade, combine the brown sugar, pineapple juice, tamari, garlic, and ginger in a large bowl.

Cut the beef and wash the mushrooms. Add the beef and mushrooms to the marinade and stir to combine. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate while preparing the other ingredients.

Bring 2 pots of water to a boil, one for the sweet potatoes and one for the gold potatoes. Meanwhile, peel and cut the sweet potato. When the water is boiling, add the gold potatoes to one and the sweet potatoes to the other. Parboil until just barely soft (about 5 minutes for the sweet potato and 10 minutes for the gold potato). This is a bit tricky. If they’re overcooked, they’ll fall off the skewer. But if they’re undercooked, they won’t cook at the same rate as the meat and vegetables on the grill.

Drain and rinse the potatoes with cool water. Pour them back into the pots they cooked in and toss each with 1 tblsp vegetable oil. This will keep them from sticking to the grill.

Wash the tomatoes, and cut the peppers, onions and pineapple. I find it helpful to put each ingredient in a bowl and line them up on the counter. That way the kebabs can be made assembly-line style.

Fire up the grill. When the grill is hot, carefully oil the grate with a paper towel dipped in vegetable oil.

It can be fun to put the ingredients on the skewer in the order of the rainbow. Depending on how you assemble the kebabs, you may end up with leftovers of some ingredients. In this case, you can either save them for another use or make some haphazard kebabs with whatever vegetables are remaining.

Grill over medium heat, about 5-10 minutes per side, or until the potatoes are cooked through and the meat has reached desired doneness.

If you have leftover marinade, you can gently boil it in a small pan until any uncooked meat juices are well cooked and the sauce has reduced. This makes a tasty glaze to drizzle over the kebabs.

Gratitude Granola 

Makes about 10 cups

5 cups old-fashioned rolled oats; pinch of salt; 2 tsp cinnamon; ½ tsp freshly ground nutmeg; 2 to 3 cups raw seeds and raw chopped nuts (pre-roasted nuts and seeds will burn); suggestions: walnuts, pecans, almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, and flax seeds are all delicious options; ½ cup shredded unsweetened coconut (optional); 2/3 cup honey or maple syrup; ½ cup coconut oil, vegetable oil, or canola oil; 2 cups dried fruit (must be added after cooking because it will burn otherwise); suggestions: raisins, golden raisins, cranberries, cherries, blueberries, strawberries, chopped apricots, chopped peaches, crystallised ginger, chopped mango, chopped papaya, or chopped pineapple

Preheat oven to 180°C

In a large bowl combine the oats, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, nuts, and shredded coconut. In a smaller bowl combine the oil and honey. Mix the liquid ingredients with the dry and stir to combine. If you’re using coconut oil in its solid state, you may need to use your clean hands to mix it all together. The oats should be uniformly damp and taste delicious when samples. If they’re too dry, add more oil and/or honey. If not delicious enough, adjust ingredients until it passes your inspection. This is part of what making granola so much fun!

Spread the raw granola evenly between two large baking sheets and put them into the oven on the lower-middle and upper-middle racks. Stir frequently, and halfway through the baking time, rotate from top to bottom. Bake until crisp and golden, about 30-40 minutes. The oats will become crisper as they cool. Stir in dried fruit. Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.