High Protein Sardine Toast: Now In My Fifties, Brain-food and Anti-Inflammatory foods are my the new way of life.

We're eating as much pure and fresh as possible, and less processed foods. Anyone else giving clean ingredients priority in their life?

As we try to eat more pure and fresh, we realize our ingredient list has become a little repetitive, however, luckily, it’s summer now, and we’re blessed with a season of abundance. We’re hoping to turn our summer bounty into some delicious dishes!

Last year, in one of my August newsletters, I shared with you, our decision to cut out all refined vegetable oils (canola, sunflower, safflower, soybean, peanut, corn, “vegetable” oil, and all seed oil) cooking and consuming only organic avocado oil, organic & unfiltered extra virgin olive oil, organic & unrefined coconut oil, organic ghee, organic grass fed butter, and organic pastured beef tallow. Did it help? Yes, cutting these oils made a drastic difference in my body, resulting in less adult acne, and less inflammation, much less pain in my legs. That’s it. I’m hooked. No mas. I’m sticking with the anti-inflammatory way, as best I can.

In late Spring, we planted organic tomato seeds and they are ready! Even though we do this every year, it feels like the first time. The anticipation that exists for the months leading up to harvest keeps us so excited, responsible and nurturing, almost as if these tomatoes (a variety of herbs, a variety of lettuces, different micro greens, cucumbers, shallots, radishes, garlic, citrus trees, etc) were our children. Remember, we weren’t able to have children…(my body), so it’s only natural that all this vegetation gets massive amounts of love and care.

Not sure if I’ve shared this with you? I grew up in a major agricultural zone in Central California, considered the tomato capital of the world until the 1980’s. Besides tomatoes, crops like cherries, asparagus, beans, beets, walnuts, and almonds were exported to other countries, for top dollar. Almonds are still the cash crop, but unfortunately, most of the area is now paved with industrial warehouses, and is considered Amazon country, —who, by the way, can deliver items from Italy, the very next day, so I guess it’s okay? My husband grew up in a beautiful European forest, growing potatoes, cabbage, making sauerkraut, foraging for wild mushrooms and sorrel, taking care of chickens, and goats….so it’s pretty obvious, we both have an inner farmer who wants to come out, lol…

Onto the Salad: Over the weekend, we turned some of our organic harvest into an extraordinary salad! It might not look like much, but it was shockingly delicious. There’s something about a simple meal that was created from freshly harvested produce, even if was grown in garden containers, on the side of the house, in a busy Los Angeles neighborhood. We brought in our arugula, cucumbers, tomatoes, chives, shallots, baby cilantro (microgreens), and purple garlic. We quickly made a couple of Sourdough Skillet Pizza Crusts and piled everything on top of it (you can barely see the crust peeking out from underneath, bottom right of the photo), adding some organic Castelvetrano olives, avocado slices, and sardines. Sardines? Yes, sardines! The high-protein brainfood we need, providing us with the good fats to keep our brains plumped-up and in working order, as we navigate through life in our fifties. Hubby orders the little tins of Bela Portuguese Sardines in spring water from Vitacost or Amazon. I’ll be keeping track of, and compiling ongoing notes/lists that will help catapult anti-inflammatory recipe creations in my head, in preparation for my new little ebook, hopefully ready in Spring 2025.

Now for the Vinaigrette: We took our homegrown shallots, mixing with organic, unfiltered, olive oil, fresh lemon juice, dijon mustard, sea salt and Herbs de Provence.