My friends, Kristina and Brandon shared a lunch this weekend… As K says below, they saved some for me, and it was delicious!

Turmeric (a major ingredient and color-contributing spice in curry powder) is one of the best-studied spices, to-date, that is cancer-fighting/anti-cancer. Tyler has been eating enough turmeric over the past couple weeks, I think he’s going to taste “cancer” whenever he comes across it in the future.

Here’s a message and their warm, winter lunch creation:

Hi Tyler,

I’m Leigh’s roommate and friend, Kristina. I’ve been thinking a lot about you in the last couple of weeks (as many people have) and I want you to know that I support you in all the ways that I can: sending positive energy through the Universe, encouraging Leigh, and keeping track of healthy recipes. Sign me up for Team Tyler. Here is a meal full of healthy fats and healing spices.

After a morning of writing and studying at the coffee shop, Brandon (another friend of mine and Leigh’s from KUMed) and I decided to pool our resources and make a lunch to share together. He brought over some ground pork sausage from Marlies’ family farm, raw cream, turnips with greens leftover from his summer CSA, and curry powder (to celebrate my potential new job as a cancer biology researcher studying the cancer-fighting effects of spices). We used a few things I had on hand (mostly from our Door-to- Door Organics delivery) and made a wonderful, warm and flavorful winter lunch.

Ingredients

3 slices of bacon (All natural, local, via D2D organics), chopped

¼ lb ground pork sausage (all natural, local, non-confined)

1 shallot, sliced (you could also use a small onion)

1 bunch turnips with greens

1 tomato, diced

¼ cup chicken broth for deglazing (deglazing is loosening up the bits that stick to the bottom of the pan after cooking the meat and veggies)

salt and pepper to taste

~ 2-3 tsp turmeric

~ 2 Tbsp curry powder

1Tbsp coconut oil

¼ cup raw cream (you can also use coconut milk, instead)

Directions

Cook the bacon and sausage over medium heat until brown (5-8 minutes). Meanwhile, remove turnip roots from greens and chop roots. Separate the leaves from the thick stems of the greens and soak the leaves in a bowl of cold water. Chop stems.

Remove meat from pan, leaving rendered fat. Add coconut oil to the fat and add turnips, stems, and shallot. Deglaze the pan with a little chicken broth and cook until tender (5-8 minutes). Add spices and a little more chicken broth to remove browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Chop the turnip greens (leaves) and add them with residual water to the pan along with the tomato and cover for 2-3 minutes. Add the meat back to the mixture, adjust flavor if necessary, turn off the heat and add cream. Enjoy. 3 servings (we saved some for Leigh!).

For a hardier meal, or to stretch this to feed more people, we could have served it over cooked buckwheat groats or lentils or added some poached eggs on top.

For a lighter meal, you could serve this over mixed greens, arugula or other chopped vegetables.

*You may also substitute other types of meat (ground beef, turkey, etc.) if that’s what you have on-hand.