Hail to the Dinosaurs!
One quick note, and then we'll talk healthy food
for dinos.
We ran a scratch and dent sale on Friday, and we
had a huge response. Other than a few CD's, all
of the scratch and dent items are gone.
However, if you're looking to save some clams on
an order, order several items together so we can
ship them in one box -- but email first and ask
for a shipping quote. Tell us what you want and
where you live, and we'll figure out the best
shipping option and get back to you.
We can save you some major clams on shipping
if we combine orders, especially if you live
outside the USA.
On the food front, if you've read Knife, Fork,
Muscle, you know I'm a big fan of healthy,
wholesome food, prepared in simple but
appetizing ways.
Healthy food is good for YOU, of course, but
it's also good for your children or grandchildren.
After all, kids model the behaviour of adults.
If kids see mom and dad eating healthy (or
grandma and grandpa eating healthy), it's
a very important lesson for them.
And youngsters are very impressionable --
so lessons learned when they are young may
last for an entire lifetime.
Case in point . . .
Our seven-year old granddaughters had a sleep
over at our house on Saturday night. So we
were playing their favorite games with them
after dinner.
One of them was building a zoo out of Lincoln
Logs and populating it with toy animals and
(of course) toy dinosaurs. That was in the
living room. Trudi was helping her.
Meanwhile, the other one wanted to play a
card game with me in the breakfast room. We
used some new cards that are marked like
regular playing cards, but have photos of wild
edible plants and flowers on the back -- and
on the other side, instructions on where to
find, and how to harvest and prepare each
wild plant.
So we played cards for awhile, and she won,
and that was good.
But even better -- she asked me to read the
names of the "pretty flowers" on the backs of
the cards.
So I read the first one, and explained that it
grew in the woods, and you could gather the
leaves and eat it as salad or cook it in soups
or stews -- or harvest the roots, and bake
them like potatoes.
She thought that was great -- and promptly
held up another card.
"What's this one?" she asked.
Anyhow, we went through the entire deck of 52
edible plant cards, and talked about all of them --
including the ones that are growing in our yard
and our garden. We have at least a dozen of
them somewherre in the yard.
Dandelion leaves were her favorite, for some
reason. She loved the idea of eating dandelion
leaves.
That was smart, because dandelion salad was
one of Steve Stanko's favorite foods -- and it
has something like 8 times the antioxidants
in cultivated spinach -- along with twice the
calcium, three times the Vitamin A and five
times more vitamin K and vitamin E. (See
Jo Robinson's wonderful book, Eating on the
Wild Side. Great book, highly recommended.)
So I was delighted when she announced that
she wanted to eat "dandelions for breakfast".
She even left the card on the table so she would
remember the next morning.
Sunday morning rolled around, and the girls
were up early -- and the foraging began.
We went out in the yard and gathered blackberries,
raspberries and strawberries -- and dandelion
leaves -- and some spinach, mixed salad greens,
chard, arugula, kale and sorrel -- along with
some edible flowers. (Note: not all flowers are
edible -- many are not -- but we grow edible
flowers as a salad garnish in one of the garden
boxes.)
We took everything inside, washed it off, and
put together a combination fruit and vegetable
salad. I did a rough calculation of the nutrition
content, and it was "PDH" -- which is short for
Pretty Darn Healthy.
It was also "PDT" -- which is short for Pretty
Darn Tasty.
And I just learned that on the way to summer
school this morning, she told her dad that she
got to eat dandelion leaves for breakfast on
Sunday morning -- and it was the best
breakfast ever. Move over Mickey's D's --
we've got you beat.
Steve Stanko would have approved.
By the way, if you go foraging for dandelion
leaves, do NOT eat any leaves that have been
sprayed with any chemicals -- or that grow near
a busy road with lots of traffic and petroleum
fumes. We let them grow in our garden boxes,
so we have fresh and healthy dandelion greens,
and we know they are chemical free and safe
to eat.
And of course, if you want to try other wild
edible foods, get some expert guidance on
what is safe to eat. There are plenty of good
books and other resources available, and in
most places (here in Louisville, for example),
there are folks who teach classes on it. Be
smart and be safe!
As always, thanks for reading, and have a
great day. If you train today, make it a good
one!
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. Knife, Fork, Muscle covers healthy eating
for Dinos. You can get the hard-copy right
here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_nutrition.html
We're also releasing the little monster as a series of
e-books. The first book in the series covers protein
requirements for Dinos -- and your best sources of
high quality protein. Go here to grab it:
http://www.brookskubik.com/knifeforkmuscle01_kindle.html
E-book 2 in the series will be out soon. Be looking
for it!
P.S. 2. My other books and courses are right here
at Dino Headquarters -- along with links to my
other Kindle e-books:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "Train right and eat
right. Right training and right eating brings
righteous results." -- Brooks Kubik
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