nakedjen

Ready? Set? Go!!

There is so very much that I wish to chat with all of you about, but first we had a contest. We did. 

The winners were chosen by the little widget from Random.Org and it turns out that Stephanie and Stardustdawn will each get the teas for their dogs.  But, remember, you're all going to receive a sample of Honest Kitchen Food (and they have a new, completely grain free food coming in September for both Cats and Dogs) and so if you get an email from me asking you for your mailing address it is simply so I can get the information to Honest Kitchen so you all can get your FREE STUFF!  So please don't think I'm sending you porn.  This time, it's not!

Meanwhile, though, I feel like I'm about to burst at the seems with all the goings on and things I want to talk to all of you about because there's good and there's bad and there's funny and there's sad and it feels like I haven't typed with my fingers flying across a keyboard just to share the words swirling inside my head in so long that my head now resembles a hornets nest that was designed by Tim Burton with help from Edward Scissorhands.  Who, yes, I realize is the darling OF Tim Burton, but he has the Scissorhands!  There are missing bits and pieces you see.  It is his design.  Courtesy of Mr. Burton.  All swirling somewhere above my neck where a head is supposed to be. 

That's me. If you were to see a photo.  There isn't one.  Use your very beautiful and active imaginations.

Let's leave you with a list.  Of the topics to come.  Just, so, you know, there's something to at least keep us all honest and perhaps maybe you all want to write the blog posts instead?  There's a thought.  At this point, given the Tim Burton Hornets Nest state of my head, you all might do a far better job.  You're all brilliant writers!  Here, have a go!

• Eating Raw and Yoga Every Day
• Cherry and Sasparilla Kombucha
• Guerrilla Drive-In ~ Salt Lake City style
• There's Enough Phish for a Feast
• Google Is Trying To Kill Me
• If I'm Not Nakedjen, Then Who Am I?

Ready

Vitamin B3

It's the new moon.  A new month.  I was blessed with two new friends in the last two days.  A naked girl who loves her beets could really get used to that kind of luck.  I suppose it wasn't luck, really.  It was just the goodness of this blog, of my words that get shared, of hearts that resonate in just the right ways so that even the bits and bytes flying through space can't stop them from connecting.

We are surrounded, all of us, by kind and gentle and kindred souls.  I know, I do, that it is so easy to not look up, to focus on those angry birds on your own personal screens, to ignore the guy sitting on the bus beside you.  To pretend that your world stops at the end of your fingertips and the tips of your toes.

This week, though, just for me, I want you to share your glitter and your magic and everything that makes you especially you.  I want you to look a stranger in the eyes, I want you to smile, I want you to make contact with your heart with just one new person.  If you can, if you're feeling bold, ask to hear their story.  We all have a story we're really hoping to share.  Sometimes we just need a loving heart who is willing to listen.  Go and listen with your ears, your eyes and with your hearts.  Go and share your glitter.

 

There was the most delightful sounding recipe for grilled peaches infused with cinnamon and slathered with bourbon on NPR this morning.  It isn't time for peaches, quite yet, here in Salt Lake City, but I'm pretty certain it is time for peaches in other parts of the world.  If you're lucky enough to be living where peaches on the grill make perfect sense right now, I want to encourage you to put peaches on your list for the farmers market and make these.  I'm making them, I promise, as soon as we have peaches here.  I really can't wait.

My list for this week:

• Beet Greens
• Microgreens
• Arugula
• Roasted Garlic Bread
• Radishes
• Basil
• Mint
• Garlic Greens
• Squashes
• Whatever else strikes my fancy

I'm taking my newest friend to the market tomorrow morning.  She's going to hug my farmers with me.  I want you to hug your farmers, too. 

There's Really Love In The Bottom Of My Coffee Cup

Scene: Interior. Coffee Garden. Early Saturday morning. Long line of sleepy eyed half-dressed hipsters snaking from the register past the cream and sugar island and nearly out the door. 

I am very near the back of this line and, as I do, I am spacing out thinking about the million other things that need thinking about on an early Saturday morning when the crusts of sleep are still clinging to the corners of my eyes. 

Then sweet Ben, my cute barista, gets my attention and waves me over.  I hesitate and say aloud, "But I'll lose my place in line..." as my feet carry me directly to him anyway. 

He giggles at me and says, "It's perfectly okay, because I've already made you your coffee.  Just how you like it."  I look down and there, on the counter between us, is my twenty ounces of fair-trade organic light roast shot through with four shots of espresso.  

"You, of all our patrons, do not wait in line," he whispers. 

Believe it of not, I'm speechless.  It's such a small gesture of kindness, but it is also such a huge beautiful loving thing for Ben to do for me. 

I want to hug him, but there's a counter separating us and it is impossible, so I give him my best megawatt smile, glitter from my eyes, and tell him just how very much this means to me.

I'm not sure he really knows.  There's really love in the bottom of my coffee cup.  There really is.

This is a story of boy meets girl, but you should know upfront, this is not a love story.

Summer decided, just this week, to put on her finest party dress, throw a few flowers in her sun-kissed hair, brush her cheeks a rosy pink and to come strutting right into town with a swagger that would make even our best drag queens a tad jealous.  Sunscreen should be on everyone's shoulders and noses on every day here in the high desert, but now that Summer has decided to finally pull back her dark cold curtains and give us best golden smile, it is really important to slather it on. Wear a hat, kittens.  Wrinkles only look good on Sharpeis.

Speaking of dogs, it is really much hotter now and I want to remind you that dogs don't belong locked in cars.  I don't care if you're cracking the windows.  They don't sweat the way we do, their bodies don't cool the way our bodies do.  Leave the dog at home in a cool, well-ventilated spot with plenty of clean, fresh water to drink. 

Also, let's not drag the dog along while we're on our bicycles.  It's a short few steps between trotting along beside you to collapsing on the sidewalk from heat exhaustion.  Buddha and Stella want you to exercise your sweet dogs, yes.  Just remember that they're wearing fur coats in 100 degree weather and might be happier with a wander about Liberty Park early in the morning.

Or...they might enjoy going with you to the Farmers Market.  Salt Lake City is one of the only Farmers Markets that I know where dogs are just as welcome as their humans.  Buddha LOVES the market because it gives him a chance to give therapy to all those people who do not even know they might need therapy.  He spends the whole time we're there giving out his famous Buddha love and he really does seem to have an infinite amount to give.

On the list for this week:

• Beet Greens
• Basil
• Garlic Greens
• Radishes
• Arugula
• Peas
• Shitake Mushrooms

I had the incredible good fortune to meet (and hug) and organic farmer last week who is new to the market and is growing some of the very best beet greens and beets that I have ever had.  He's new to the market and is growing his vegetables on a large ranch in Morgan, Utah.  He even invited me to come and see the farm!  I bought more beet greens from him than anyone would ever expect a single person to buy, but it is a testament to my insanity about beets that they didn't even last me until Wednesday.  I am going to buy MORE this week. 

Here's how I ate the majority of them this week. 

I toasted a slice of the very delicious roasted garlic bread that I get from the market.  On to that I slathered some of my raw cashew hummus.  Then I added some sliced fresh organic tomatoes.  A quick grind of fresh pepper.  Then topped the whole thing with the fresh beet greens. 

That's it.  EAT.  I really pile the beet greens on top of that open faced sandwich.  It almost looks like a plate of greens with something hiding underneath.  Again, I just love them.  And now I just love that farmer who is growing them so I can eat them!

What's on your list for this week?  Make sure you hug your farmers and thank them for all that they do.

Arugula Awareness

The opening of our Salt Lake Farmers Market did not disappoint.  I hugged my farmers, I wandered the dusty pathways, I discovered new artisans with wares I wanted to bring home and got to personally thank others whose special designs I'd already purchased in the past.  It really felt as if all of us, every single one, was waking up from a long winter's nap and pushing out our new best selves to share and wonder at the sunshine that was in absolute abundance.

Of course, the winter has been long and difficult.  There was snow just two weeks ago so I was amazed that my farmers had anything to offer, but of course they did.  Farmers understand our earth and those who live in Utah are a particular lot of hearty who somehow coax beautiful vegetables from these high desert benches.  I'm so grateful for them and for the food they bring for me to eat.

One of my favorites is bringing me bunches of baby arugula this week.  He also may have a spicy radish or two tucked in his basket, as well.  We've had a very good, warm, week full of sunshine and a few thunderstorms so I'm hoping for the best.  Arugula is known as rocket in the United Kingdom and it was while living there that I first fell in love with it.  I never feel like I can eat quite enough.  It is just that good.  But I'm a girl who truly loves her spicy, if sometimes bitter, greens.  They just make me feel truly alive.  If you happen to be one of my readers who actually lives in Salt Lake City and you'd like to join me at the Farmers Market for a shopping trip and to hug some farmers and perhaps even some tips about what might be good to cook, just email me or contact me on Twitter.  I would love to have you come along.

On the list for this week:

• Arugula
• Radishes
• Sprouts (If you truly are going to the SLC market, see SADIE'S FARM..they're amazing)
• Roasted Garlic Bread from Vosen's
• Beets
• Red Potatoes
• Green Garlic
• Spring Onions

I want to share a really easy recipe of my own that I love making in these early summer days.  It is my own version of potato salad that eliminates the need for mayonnaise.  I'm not a fan of mayo, at all.

Warm Potato Salad with Arugula

• 4 or 5 small red potatoes cut in a medium dice
• 1 small red onion, peeled and diced
• 3 tablespoons capers 
• 4 TBS chopped fresh basil (i usually make ribbons)
• 2 small garlic cloves, peeled and finally chopped
• extra virgin olive oil
• Fresh Arugula

Preheat oven to 350.  Into the bottom of a covered casserole dish (pyrex or otherwise) pour a generous amount of olive oil and add the basil and garlic, salt and pepper.  Stir to mix. Add the chopped potato, red onions and capers.  Stir everything to coat with the olive oil mixture.  Cover and place in the center of the pre-heated oven.  Roast for 20 - 25 minutes.  It is done when a fork can pierce the potatoes easily, but they're not totally mushy. 

Remove from the oven.  Remove lid and stir gently, again, just to distribute the flavors. 

You can eat this while it is still warm (and it is best that way).  To serve, pile a bunch of fresh baby arugula in the center of a salad plate and top with a serving of the warm potato salad.  Devour.

Of course, I know that many people who are NOT VEGAN will feel that this would be best with crumbled bacon added to the mix.  I've been told that it is awesome by my bacon loving friends (I do have them).  So, if that's something you want to make your potato salad the very best, fry up the bacon and crumble it on top before eating.  I don't think it is necessary to roast it with the potatoes and, honestly, I think the added fat in the roasting process might throw off the goodness. But, like all recipes and cooking adventures, you're the chef and it is, in the end, always up to you.

Happy Eating!

You can't force a thing to grow. You can't interfere with it. It's all hidden. It's all unseen. You just gotta wait til it pops up out of the ground. Tiny little shoot. Tiny little white shoot. All hairy and fragile. It's a miracle.

It feels like we wait forever and longer than even that for the Salt Lake Farmer’s Market to open each year.  This year, winter is really refusing to actually budge and we have enough snow that the ski resorts are staying open well into July.  I’m hopeful that there will actually BE vegetables for the buying on Saturday, but, honestly it has been the wettest and coldest and rather angriest of Springs and I am not sure what we’re going to find.  Still, I’ll be there to hug my farmers.  I will always hug my farmers.  I hope you’ll go hug your farmers, too.  I’m going to start sharing my Farmers Market Shopping List on Thursdays along with a recipe (or two) for the bounty.  If you’re inspired, link to your own lists and recipes, too.  I’m always inspired by what you’re making to eat.

Farmer’s Market Shopping List

v Spinach

v Beets

v Basil

v Garlic

v Sprouts

v Dandelion Greens

v Peas ??

v Onions

v Mint

I suggest making this pea soup with the fresh spring peas that I hope you'll find at your market.  Easy to make a vegan version, if you're so inclined.  And I've shared this recipe for the beets.  Here's to eating fresh, organic foods and sprouting free from a long and sleepy winter.  Finally.

Coffee in Bed

He's very often in the line just in front of me.  We stand together, he in front of me, nodding the neighborly recognition of hello, but not really talking because it is before sunrise and before coffee and words would puncture the cocoon of still quiet that envelopes each of us, holding our thoughts cozy and safe. 

He's in pajamas. Always. A distinguished wool robe tied at the waist over his bright comic printed pajama pants.  His feet shorn with Ugg slippers.  Sometimes there are socks. Sometimes there are none.  Sometimes there's a scarf and sometimes he's sporting a toque, but it always depends on what happens to be spitting from the skies outside.  This morning, it was raining and much colder than it ever should be this late in May, but his head was bare.  

He always gets two dog biscuits, two freshly baked scones, and two lattes.  One is extra hot and with whole milk.  One is not quite so and also not quite filled.  There's some extra doctoring he does to that one, after he receives it from our barista.  

It's like this most every morning, on those early mornings, when I am there and he's there, just in front of me in his pajamas.  Coffees in hand, dog biscuits in the pocket of his robe, the scones tucked into a bag, he floats back into the dark morning.  Back to his wife who he wakes, gently, with breakfast.  In bed.  Just like that.

I say, often, that I am happily unmarried.  I believe that I am.

This morning, though, as Philip quietly gathered his coffee and biscuits and scones, I realized that if there's one thing in this world I do long to have it is someone who will get me coffee, and a scone, purposely remember biscuits for the dogs, and wake me gently while he's still in his pajamas.  

My heart could get used to sharing love with someone just like that.  Yes, please.

100% Pure Love

Remember last summer when I thought I was absolutely going to just fall over and die, perish even, because they had removed my beloved Kombucha from the shelves of all the stores?  How I went into a true spiral of depression?  How Emily Gilmore told me that I was an addict, that I shouldn't have such a visceral reaction to a juice, that I was surely an alcoholic because I needed my daily 4:00 p.m. fix every single day or I just did not feel like myself?

It was a long and awful drought of a life without my special elixir while the FDA and the makers of kombucha sorted out the ins and outs and details and I was kind of like a rabid dog in my quest to find it.  In Oregon, while I was at the fair, there were home brewed versions available that I purchased and carried back with me to Utah like some sort of bootlegger during the prohibition and then there were all kinds of crazy rumors that you could get Kombucha here and there and everywhere else but in Utah and in late October, just as I was ready to pack up my dogs and move us part and parcel back to California where I was certain I could get my magic juice, on the very day I had made this declaration truthfully, I walked into Whole Foods here in Salt Lake City and it was as if choirs of Mormon angels were singing choruses of hallelujah because the refrigerator shelves were literally sagging from the weight of the multiple bottles of GT Dave's kombucha that had somehow miraculously reappeared.

God truly does work in mysterious ways.

The truth of the matter is that GT Dave's, the maker of my favorite kombucha, had to reformulate their magic potions and what was inside the bottle no longer was quite exactly the same as what used to be inside the bottle.  Now, psychologically, I was oh so grateful to be holding and drinking my daily bottle of elixir that I tried to convince my physical body that it was all just exactly the same.  My physical body, though, can not be fooled so easily.  

The good news, though, is that I am one very resourceful and determined naked girl who happens to also not be afraid to ask a lot of questions and ask the universe to help her to find the answers she really needs.

The answer, in this case, turned out to be right in my own kitchen.  I just started brewing my very own kombucha.  I happen to be (sometimes even I forget) a master herbalist and a person who actually understands the medicinal benefits of tea.  I owned my own organic medicinal tea business for the last five years.  Kombucha is nothing more than fermented tea.  It turns out, actually, that I've not only been able to make some pretty magical kick-ass delicious kombucha that my body truly loves and appreciates, but I also have been able to apply my own herbal wisdom and create some brews that are truly medicinal for the specific needs of my own body, as well.  I've only shared it with friends, so far, and I'm not sure how I could possibly grow this to share with all of you, but I'd really love to be able to do so.  Dreamsweet Kombucha feels like such a beautiful possibility.

GT Dave originally brewed kombucha to help his own mother's battle with breast cancer.  He started in his mother's kitchen and he had no business plan and only wanted to provide the gift of kombucha with anyone who might benefit from it. It was quite successful for her and his promise is to provide the freshest, purest, and most potent kombucha available.  (Sounds like a little company like Dreamsweet, doesn't it?) I know that's still his promise, even now, despite the very long and intrusive fingers of the FDA getting all complicit in the special bottles of organic and raw kombucha he provides.  Which is why, honestly, I'm very honored to be a part of his relaunch and reintroduction of his products back to a public that, well, already loves and adores him.

Now appearing on ENLIGHTENED bottles of GT Dave's SYNERGY Kombucha at a health food store near you, Nakedjen, The Beet Fairy.

As I said, I've always believed there's magic in those bottles.  Somehow, honestly, I can't think of a better place for a naked beet fairy to be. 

P.S.  Buddha and Stella are trying to win a vacation! If you've read this far, can you be a dear and go LIKE them in their effort?

 

 

Soul Shine

There is innate goodness, and true love, in all of our souls. It's my hope to let it shine brightly.

A thank you arrived today from one of my readers.  I feel Henry's own words to me so well explain, succinctly, the very reasons that I keep sharing my love and myself with all of you and have not closed up shop, even though lately I've been tempted to do exactly that for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with anything buy my own inner demons.  Inner demons can get really noisy if you allow them to do so.  Sometimes, it is really difficult to quiet their noisy cacophony of voices.  A genuine thank you, a kindness from so far away, a reminder of the good, really does help.  

Jen, I have learned from your blog about issues such as the environment, human rights, food, and body acceptance.I was always shy. By your writings and photos,I have learned to accept my body.

 

Thank you!

 

xox Henry from Illinois

Henry is just one of so very many of you who has touched my own life and helped to transform my heart and my life, as well.  This truly is a conversation that happens here.  I want to just say thank you for listening and to let all of you know that I am also really listening to you.  Thank you for being the twinkling points of light in my darkest days. 

Shine on!

the kite string that once connected the moon to the earth

It has been a long while since I shared a recipe.  Of course I've been eating.  I'm always eating.  Lately, I feel like I'm eating too much, but that's the thing about these long snowy days in Utah.  Especially when your house has very little heat at all.  You forage for root vegetables in your cellar and spend the dark days concocting things that might fill your belly and help you to feel just a little bit warmer. 

When I'm not at home, but out and about and find myself in the company of others and eating in restaurants, I am always excited to see beets on the menu and will usually order them, especially if they're the vegan option.  They're often not the vegan option because there's some sort of cheese sprinkled on top, but by asking nicely to have that eliminated, voila, a vegan option! 

So I give you my vegan version of a warm beet salad.  With candied pecans.  And even a *cheese*. Crafted from macadamia nuts.  It's warm, it's filling, and it uses all parts of the beets which are chock full of all the good things a body needs.  Especially in winter.  In a house in Utah that has very little proper heat.

WARM BEET SALAD WITH CANDIED PECANS AND MACADAMIA NUT CHEESE

Ingredients

• 1 large bunch (at least 4) organic red beets with the greens
• 4 - 5 fresh cloves organic garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 4 tbs. extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup organic pecan pieces
• 1/4 cup organic raw sugar
• 2 tbs. earth balance
• 2 tsps. herbs de provence (or rosemary, thyme, tarragon mix)
• 1/4 cup macadamia nut cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Trim the green leafy tops (save these, as we'll be using them) and the roots from your beets and wash the beets well.  Chop the beets into quarters and then eighths and place them in a small baking dish or roasting pan.  Toss with 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 1/2 tablespoons of the chopped garlic, and 1 tsp of the herbs de provence.  Cover and place in the preheated oven for 45 - 60 minutes.  The beets should be quite tender when they are done.

While the beets are roasting, in a small heavy skillet over medium/low heat, melt the 2 TBS of Earth Balance.  Add the pecan pieces and sautee until they are just starting to brown.  Then sprinkle with the raw sugar.  Continue to stir continuously to coat all the pieces evenly.  Everything will begin to carmelize, just slightly, and this is your cue to turn off the heat.  Continue to stir and remove the candied pecans to a small bowl. 

When the beets are done, remove from the oven and allow them to rest in the covered roasting pan.  Then in another heavy skillet over medium heat, heat the remaining 2 TBS of olive oil and the remaining chopped garlic.  Saute for about 1 - 2 minutes.  Tear the beet greens into 2 - 3 inch pieces, add them to the skillet and saute until they are just wilted and tender.  They should be a very bright green.  Sprinkle with the remaining herbs de provence and season with salt and pepper. 

To serve, plate the greens, then some of your roasted beets, sprinkle with candied pecans and a smattering of your macadamia nut cheese.  A splash of really good balsamic vinegar can also add a really nice touch, but it isn't even necessary! 

The combination of sweet, tangy and just bitter flavors in this dish is a fantastic party for your taste buds.  It's hard to even believe that it's really and truly vegan!