3. Health - Fitting Out!

3. Health - Fitting Out! What is Fitting Out and why does it make a difference in your health and well-being? Nature and birds teach us something, and so does Zemach Zohar, a former Israeli sergeant, as he advises us to escape the matrix.  Also, use the Circle of Life tool as a way to determine your satisfaction with your overall life and wellness. Part of wellness, eating the rainbow, obviously.  Check out my Godmother-Myrtia’s Marinated Vegetables – Lahanika Marinated recipe, it’s delightful and robust.   Nouna’s MARINATED VEGETABLES Lahanika Marinata The French call these bite-sized marinated vegetable appetizers, “Legumes a la Greque”. MARINADE: 6 cups water 1/2 cup dry white wine 1 cup olive oil 1 cup fresh lemon juice (approximately 4 lemons) 10 sprigs parsley 1 stalk celery with leaves 1/2 teaspoon fennel seed 2 cloves garlic, chopped 2 sprigs fresh thyme 2 teaspoons salt 10 peppercorns, cracked 10 coriander seeds, crushed VEGETABLES: 2 pounds - a combination of any of the following: small boiling onions of uniform size (1-inch in diameter), peeled and left whole (or frozen boiling onions, defrosted) tender young green beans, trimmed but left whole trimmed artichoke hearts, quartered (or frozen artichoke hearts, thawed) small carrots, peeled and cut length-wise into sticks small zucchini or yellow crookneck squash (6-inches long), sliced in 1-inch widths (if small squash are not available, half a larger squash length-wise and slice each half into 1-inch widths) small green, red or yellow peppers, seeded and cut length-wise into 1/2-inch strips celery stalks of uniform size, peeled and sliced into 1-inch widths cauliflower florets, cut into bite-size pieces broccoli florets, cut into bite-size pieces small whole mushrooms of uniform size (1-inch in diameter) GARNISH: 1 bunch red leaf lettuce 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley DIRECTIONS: Yield: 10 appetizer servings or 6 salad servings Combine marinade ingredients in a large pot and bring to a boil. Lower temperature and simmer for 1 hour. Strain marinade into another pan, discarding herbs and seasonings. Return marinade to pot and bring to a boil. Add onions and when marinade returns to a boil, lower heat to simmer, cover pot, and cook onions until tender but not falling apart (15 to 20 minutes). Using a slotted spoon, transfer onions to a large container with a tight fitting cover. Raise heat and bring marinade back to a boil. Add green beans and when marinade returns to a boil, lower heat to simmer, cover pot, and cook beans until tender but still crisp (20 minutes). Transfer beans to container with onions. Continue in this manner with remaining vegetables, never cooking more than one vegetable at a time. The following chart gives the cooking time for each remaining vegetable. Artichokes: 10 to 15 minutes, depending on size Carrots: 10 minutes Zucchini and yellow squash: 5 minutes Peppers: 5 minutes Celery: 5 minutes Cauliflower: 5 minutes Broccoli: 3 minutes Mushrooms: 3 minutes When all the vegetables have been cooked, set marinade aside and cool to room temperature. Pour cooled marinade over vegetables, seal container with a tight fitting cover, and refrigerate vegetables for 12 hours or overnight. To serve, lay a bed of lettuce leaves on a large serving platter. Drain vegetables in a colander (reserving marinade for storing leftovers) and arrange pieces attractively over lettuce. Moisten vegetables with a little reserved marinade and garnish with chopped parsley. NOTE: Leftover vegetables will keep for several days refrigerated in marinade. The marinade can also be reused for preparing more vegetables.