by Abigail McShinsky

It’s cold outside! And despite the mild New Hampshire winter we have had, I still find myself sitting near the fireplace at night, a warm, comforting meal in my hands as I wind down for the evening. Often, comfort food is synonymous with dense, gooey casseroles and fried foods – Macaroni and cheese, fried chicken, mashed potatoes. While it is easy to indulge in these foods when the thermometer dips, it can be just as simple to create nourishing healthful dishes that are warming to the core.

Below are two traditional warming recipes with huge comforting potential. I might argue that nothing is more comforting than a large pot of homemade vegetable curry simmering on the stove during the cold winter months. Curry spices are generally regarded for their warming and health promoting benefits – its components support healthy inflammatory response, digestive health and detoxification, among others.

Chai shares many of the same herbs as curry – cinnamon, black pepper, cardamom, as well as ginger and clove, making it another fantastic warming option for long winter nights.

Warming Winter Curry (serves 6)

Ingredients:

One tablespoon olive oil

One medium onion - chopped

2 cloves garlic – chopped

2 tablespoons curry powder (or more to taste)

4 large carrots – chopped crosswise

One head broccolini (or broccoli, if you prefer) - chopped

2 cups snow peas

2 cups garbanzo beans (dried, soaked overnight and simmered for at least an hour – check for doneness) or alternatively, one can organic garbanzo beans

Vegetable stock – enough to cover vegetables in pot

1 cup coconut milk (from can)

Salt and pepper, to taste

In a heavy-bottom Dutch oven or soup pot, add oil and warm over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, and sauté for 5 – 7 minutes until onions are translucent and fragrant. Stir in curry powder. Add carrots, broccolini, peas, beans, and vegetable stock. Simmer for half an hour on low heat. Add coconut milk, and stir to combine. Simmer for another 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot over brown rice or with tempeh for a complete, nourishing meal.

Warming Night-time Chai (serves 4)

Ingredients:

1 cinnamon stick

6 whole green cardamom pods

6 whole cloves

1 (1-inch) piece ginger root, peeled and thinly sliced

4 whole black peppercorns

3 cups water

1 tablespoon loose rooibos tea

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

1 cup organic milk/non-dairy milk

Place cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, ginger, peppercorns and water into a small pot and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to let steep for 10 minutes.

Return pot to the heat and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, add tea, cover and set aside to let steep for 3 to 5 minutes. Strain through a fine mesh sieve, discarding solids, and then return liquid to the pot. Stir in sugar and milk and heat over low heat for 1 minute. Pour into cups and serve.

By Abigail McShinsky

While it was still and quiet this morning, before the sun had even risen in Northern New England, I made my way out of bed. I heated up the teapot on the stove to brew a pot of tea. I enjoyed a slice of pumpkin bread with honey butter, and spent some time with my feline companions before saying good-bye to my husband as he left for the day. Tea in hand, I made my way into my office, sat at my desk, and began reading an article about what it means to live locally.

So much of our society has become global - goods from across the world, instant communications with anyone, anywhere. We are living in the information age, and despite the amazing and unparalleled leaps forward we have made, I would argue that something fundamental is missing. As our foodshed has slowly crept beyond local boundaries to encompass the entire world, and our goods are no longer hand-made by local craftsmen, but created quickly and impersonally by a machine half the world away, we have become detached. Our food has not been cultivated and nurtured by the farmer down the road. The milk we give to our children does not come from a local dairy-farmer. Our furniture, clothes, and other goods are, quite literally, foreign to us. We have lost the personal connection to the things we need to subsist.

Sitting in my office, I began to think about my morning. The still-warm mug of herbal tea I am sipping on was purchased from a local store, but sourced from independent farmers around the world. Though my purchase supported hard-working farmers, I am sure that there are individuals in my community cultivating the same herbs. The green ceramic mug I am drinking from was purchased at a large department store. Had I invested my money in local pottery, I would not be sipping from a mug, but rather a work of art, and supporting an artist in the process. With the change of leaves comes an abundance of delicious winter squashes, and yet I used canned pumpkin puree (sourced from an anonymous farm in an anonymous town) to make my pumpkin bread. The candle I have lit in my office wasn’t purchased from a crafter, though I know that down the road there is a kind woman that makes and sells candles as a way to support her family. There are a near-infinite number of ways in which my morning, and my life, can be re-written locally.

Each decision and purchase we make is the equivalent of a vote, and by supporting local companies (the family owned gas station rather than the large chain) and local services (the mechanic down the street instead of the corporate auto-shop) we are voting to keep our society local. The implications of this are numerous; foreign environmental degradation is often a result of sourcing the raw goods used to create many of the things that we purchase. Poor working conditions and labor laws in manufacturing countries hide behind the comfortable sweater that I am wearing. Carbon emissions from global shipments of goods are rampant. Small business owners are struggling to stay afloat.

During the next five days, we are proposing a week of living locally. It is a locavore challenge spanning far beyond the food we eat, and into the way that we live our lives and the way that we fill our homes. During this week, and with each new challenge, I encourage you to think of the choices you make as a vote - let your voice be heard through the purchases you make and the way you live your life. In fact, I am going to rewrite my global morning into a local one, starting with a cup of tea. I think I have some dried herbs leftover from my garden and some local honey to sweeten it with!