In 1990, I was running a cross-country ski lodge in the Wenatchee Mountains of Washington state. Both my guests and I thought that my cooking was pretty healthy, because I served vegetarian food with lots of fresh ingredients and some whole grains, but I was still using plenty of white flour, sugar, and fat. I even had a can of that white stuff they call "vegetable shortening" stashed in the cupboard for my piecrusts!

Then I met the man who was to become my husband. Lance didn't like to eat any processed food at all, but he was ever-so-tactful. He ate my food, even when it made him feel uncomfortable. He knew I had a potential, so with a hint here and a comment there, he convinced me to change my way of cooking. I started using 100% whole grains in my baking, even in desserts. I never need to add bran any more, or worry about whether or not we get enough fiber. There's more flavor in everything too.

I threw away the can of white stuff the next year when I moved to Lance's 40-acre homestead in the eastern Oregon pine forest. I didn't buy any more margarine, either. Artificially hardened fats (look for the word "hydrogenated") are worse for your arteries than the ones nature made, like real butter, because your body doesn't know how to react to foods not found in nature.

We don't get hung up on our food choices. We eat whatever's put in front of us when we go out, and sometimes that includes highly processed foods or meat. We just figure that if we eat right at home, which is 95% of the time, we'll be better able to stay healthy.

At home, we don't eat meat at present because Lance grows all the vegetables we could possibly eat. In our chilly, dry High Desert climate, this means we currently eat a lot of cabbage-family, root vegetables, greens, peas, and potatoes. Garlic grows great here, so I use it generously. We are learning how to grow feed crops, and only when we can give them wholesome food will we get goats and chickens for meat, milk and eggs. For now I buy milk and eggs from the small, local health-food store.

For fruit, we get strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, and rhubarb from our garden. Our apple trees aren't big enough yet, so I buy apples by the box from a nearby orchard. Combined with the organic grains and other natural foods from the health-food store, our garden produce furnishes us with a very healthy diet and plenty of organic matter to compost and improve our native soil (which was a good starting point for soil, but very low in nitrogen and organic matter.)

As I began to cook this way, I found that there weren't very many recipes for the way I wanted to make things. I like my food ingredients simple and unprocessed, but I like a lot of herbs and seasonings so the food is flavorful and interesting. I also don't like overly fussy, involved preparation. I started writing down my original recipes and collecting them in a looseleaf notebook. As the notebook got fatter, Lance encouraged me to think of writing my own cookbook.

(Update: You may now be able to find The Morning Hill Cookbook by Jennifer Stein Barker on Amazon.com or eBay.)

More-Than-Tabbouleh

This traditional Middle Eastern salad can be turned into a main-dish salad with a few simple additions.

Serves 4 as a main dish:

1/4 cup dry lentils
1 1/2 cups bulgur wheat
2 medium-sized tomatoes, diced
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon minced fresh mint
1 small cucumber, peeled, quartered,
and sliced
1 medium carrot, sliced thin
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup olive oil
Pepper to taste
1 head red- or green-leaf lettuce

Boil the lentils in a small pan with 2 cups of water until they are tender, but still whole. Place the bulgur in a large bowl, and drain the cooking water from the lentils over it. Put the lentils in the refrigerator to cool. Add enough more boiling water to the bulgur to cover it, and let soak until all the water is absorbed. Taste the bulgur, and if it is not tender, add a little more boiling water as necessary and soak until tender. If you add too much water, the bulgur will have to be drained and squeezed in cheesecloth to remove the excess moisture.

When the bulgur is tender, add the lentils and all the other ingredients. Toss to mix thoroughly, then cover and chill for two hours or overnight. Serve on a bed of fresh leaf lettuce.

Borscht

Serve with a dollop of yogurt and a sprinkle of dill weed for a traditional touch. Good with rye bread, too. Serves 4 as a main dish:

2 tablespoons oil
1 medium onion, diced
3 cups shredded cabbage
3 or 4 carrots, coarsely grated
4 beets, peeled and grated, or 1 can shoestring beets
1 15-ounce can crushed tomatoes
4 cups stock or water
4 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Heat oil in a 5 or 6 quart stock pot or Dutch oven. Add onion and sauté until soft. Add cabbage, carrots, and beets (if fresh), and a little water, and sauté another 10 minutes. Add more water if the vegetables start to stick. Add tomatoes, stock or water, tomato paste, honey, and vinegar (if your beets are canned, add them now, using juice for part of the stock). Bring to a boil, lower heat to simmer, and cook, covered, until vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and serve.

Variation: leave the beets out. Instead, add two potatoes, quartered and sliced thin. It may not really be borscht without the beets, but it sure is good anyway.

Chili Potatoes

A new twist on old favorites. Be sure and get the best chili powder you can find. The best kind is made from ground roasted chilies and nothing else. My favorite place to buy it is El Ranchito Mexican Grocery and Restaurant in Zillah, Washington.

Serves 2 to 3 as a main dish:

2 pounds small red potatoes, diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 large clove garlic, minced
6 medium mushrooms, sliced thin
2-3 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon oregano, crushed
2 tablespoons tamari
Tabasco to taste (2 dashes)
1 green pepper, diced 1/4 inch

Scrub and dice the potatoes, leaving the skins on. Steam or boil the diced potatoes until they are tender (save the water for soup stock).

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a deep heavy skillet, preferably cast iron. Add the onion, and braise with a little water as necessary until the onions are golden all the way through and quite soft. When the onion is about half done, add the garlic and mushrooms. When the onions and mushrooms are almost perfect, add the chili powder, cumin, oregano, tamari, and Tabasco to taste (starting with two dashes), and enough water to keep it from burning. Simmer a few minutes, then add the green peppers and simmer three minutes more. There should be just enough water in the mixture to keep it from burning.

The potatoes should be done by now, but if they aren't, then put the chili mixture aside and keep warm for a few more minutes. When the potatoes are done, stir them into the chili mixture, mix well, and serve with a big salad, red wine and corn bread!

Strawberry-Almond Torte

This delightful dessert is the perfect way to take advantage of the bounties of strawberry season.

Makes one 10 inch torte:

1/2 cup crunchy almond butter
1/2 cup honey
2 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 egg whites, beaten

Filling and glaze:

3 pints strawberries
1 tablespoon orange juice concentrate
2-3 tablespoons honey
1-1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

Prepare a 10 inch springform pan by oiling the sides lightly and lining the bottom with bakers' paper. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, beat together the almond butter, honey, egg yolks, and almond extract until well-blended. Sift together the flour, cinnamon, and baking powder, and stir into the almond butter mixture. Gently fold in the beaten egg whites.

Spread the mixture in the prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, until it is golden and springy to the touch. Run a knife around the inside of the pan, and then remove the sides. Remove the cake from the bottom of the pan, and cool on a rack. Prepare the glaze.

Wash and hull all your berries, and reserve the best for the filling. Mash the less perfect ones until you have 1 cup of mashed berries. Add the orange juice concentrate and 2-3 tablespoons honey (depending on the ripeness of the berries). Dissolve the cornstarch in the berry mixture. Heat gently on the stove, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil and thickens and clears.

When the cake is cool, and the glaze is still hot, assemble the torte as follows: Turn the cake upside down on a large plate. Spread a thin layer of the glaze over the cake. Arrange the good berries artistically on top. Pour the rest of the glaze over the top of the berries, working it over and between them carefully. Chill at least 1 hour before serving.