Come harvest time and the nippy nights of November, many of us spend more time at home cooking, answering the healing call of the season. It’s an especially rewarding time for foodies and cooks, as autumn menus are chock-full of nutritious comfort foods and nostalgic aromas. I like to imagine that I’ll prepare a big pot of soup every Sunday night, for quick, healthy lunches to fortify my workweek. I particularly love creamy vegetable soups, but struggle to find recipes that don’t depend on heavy cream for richness and flavor. More and more Americans are discovering that we’re healthier and happier with dairy consumption kept at a minimum — if only skipping the cheese and cream was that easy!
Certified Nutrition Consultant and Ayurvedic Practitioner, Amy Aiello, is here to help. She started her business, Radiant Balance, to help clients find nutritional healing and attain better overall health through small changes to everyday habits. Aiello, who has worked with natural medicine for over 15 years, believes that medicinal cannabis belongs in any cook’s pantry, particularly when paired with healing ingredients like coconut milk. Aiello writes that coconut milk has a long history of being used for vitality and contains immune boosting, medium-chain fatty acids that are easy to digest.
“In the autumn season when the weather is cooling down, eating easy to digest fats such as coconut helps nourish our nervous systems, protects the body from unwanted sickness and leave us feeling more grounded,” writes Aiello. Partnered with medicinal cannabis, coconut milk is the perfect healing substitute for heavy cream in soups and desserts.
For November’s “Healing” issue, we featured three canna-friendly recipes that depend on the rich flavor and nutrient rich properties of coconut milk. By infusing our coconut milk with kief, a medicinal boost from cannabis is incorporated in every dish.
Canna-Coco Milk
Ingredients:
64 ounces coconut milk (please, not low-fat or light!)
½ gram kief
Instructions:
Set a large double boiler on the lowest setting possible. Add coconut milk and kief. Gently stir with a whisk to incorporate. Let this mixture heat on the lowest setting for one hour, keep a close eye out for scalding (if this happens, remove periodically from heat). Don’t worry about the skin that will form across the top, it will be strained out. After one hour, place a fine mesh strainer over a large glass bowl (or 64 ounce Mason jar) and strain the canna-coconut milk.
Be sure to label your canna-coco milk and store in the fridge. Use within a week.
Creamy Veggie Korma
Recipe courtesy of Amy Aiello of Radiant Balance
Ingredients:
1 yellow onion, diced
2 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 yam, diced
1 cup butternut squash, peeled and cubed
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 cauliflower head chopped
1 cup green beans, ends trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
2 cups spinach or chard, loosely chopped
6 ounces tomato paste
12 ounces canna-coco milk
2 cups vegetable broth
2 tablespoons coconut oil
2 teaspoons coriander seed
1 teaspoon mustard seed
2 teaspoons Garam Masala
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 lime, juiced
1 bundle fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
Instructions:
Heat coconut oil in your largest sauté pan or soup pot over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, ginger, coriander seed and mustard seed. Sauté for three-to-five minutes. Along with ¼ cup water, scrape into blender or food processor; blend until smooth. Return to pot and add yam, butternut squash, carrots, tomato paste, veggie broth and remaining spices.
Cook on medium-low until veggies are just tender. Add cauliflower and green beans. Cook for five more minutes, before adding spinach (or chard) and canna-coconut milk. Cook until greens are wilted, then add lime juice and cilantro and turn off heat. The Veggie Korma will intensify in flavor over the next few days. The potency of THC depends greatly on strength of kief, but these proportions are moderate. Enjoy!
To learn more about healing foods and Radiant Balance, follow Amy Aiello on Facebook, Instagram or contact her directly at (707) 834-9822 or radiantbalance707@gmail.com
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