Eat! #10 Yogini Style

What's up in our series on Conscious Eating: simplicity!

As a yogi who teaches all eight limbs of yoga, again and again I encourage folks to take your yoga practice ("yoking the powers of body mind and spirit") off the mat and into your life in deliberate and meaningful ways.  Conscious Eating is a perfect avenue for the embodiment of all those intentions you have to nourish yourself, engage with the world, and appreciate the simple pleasures of all that is good about food!

The natural grace and nourishing attitude of the yogi is a therapy for everyday living. To get more insight into the message why yoga is therapy, take a look at this short video posted by IAYT, one of the teaching and research organizations I belong to.  You'll get a better understanding of how the whole picture pulls together to give you the best preventive health care available.

How we relate to food is a big part of any yogi's practice.  "You are what you eat" said the sage to the student.  So why do any of us think that a diet that is devalued in nutrition doesn't matter? Time to help ourselves and the others in our lives to be more vibrant.

So with that, on to our conscious eating tips for the day!


My subject today is the humble side dish, and as always my style is to give you fabulous ideas to run with rather than recipes you must learn.

So why are sides humble? Do you hear mothers all over America calling their kids home for dinner with the lure of applesauce? Not really - but put enough interest and diversity out there and the shift from main meat to diverse sides is hidden a treasure.  Like time honored "tapas" or any multiple appetizer main meal, you can create more interest for yourself and your family by getting creative.

Main Meal

Some humble choices to remember! Mix, match and highlight the simple things...

Try using a large round tray with multiple small dishes filled with several of the following:

• applesauce (yup) with cinnamon and toasted almonds
• crunchy pickles
• beans of all sorts, baked or crockpot
• hard boiled eggs (deviled are delish)
• sliced tomato, mozzarella and basil
• chick peas and scallions vinaigrette
• sliced cucumber with cracked black pepper
• rice crackers or whole grain crackers or flatbread
• fennel with EVOO + vinegar dipping sauce
• stuffed baked potato
• olives
• celery with yogurt dip
• mixed nuts
• salad greens topped with whole grains, nuts, dried or fresh fruit, or cheeses
• peanut butter or almond butter as a dip
• cherries dipped in yogurt then in toasted coconut
• skillet yam slices
• avocados with salsa
• tuna/tofu/egg/your favorite - salad
• pears with goat cheese
• cut fruit

You get the idea.

Easy access foods that are interesting in combination can make a meal out of "nothing."

I purposely kept it simple here to celebrate the idea that cooking and eating at home doesn't have to look like "three squares a day."

Use your own creativity, and most important, use what's in the fridge!

Add-ins

Most everything looks better, tastes better and is better with fresh herbs.  Use liberally and creatively.

The addition of toasted nuts, raisins, sunflower seeds, dried cranberries and the like can make any salad more interesting to even the most jaded anti-salad eater.  Healthier too.

Fruit - cut up - will be polished off with more gusto than a bowl of apples any day.  Why is that??
Serve drizzled with honey or a lemon squeeze for special goodness.

My list here is just the tip of the humble iceberg.  What would you add?
Let us know!

Namaste,
Gael

Eat! #9 Buzz Juice

"If I'm trying to eat more consciously and want to add more of the good stuff into my daily bread, do I have to consume the entire produce aisle?"

Good question!

Just in time - after my own recipe in our last post for a green breakfast smoothie, I received an email  from my friends at MacroLife Naturals with more good ideas for simple pick me ups that pack a one-two punch and deliver the goods.  You can check their website for more info on the products.

Greetings Goddess Sister;

Love your blog- thank you greatly!

 

Here’s my newest  favorite….I call it buzz juice.  You can do with Greens or REDS but I like best with my macro greens.  

Buzz Juice

1 Scoop of Macro Greens® 

1000 mg Vitamin C powder             

1000 IU's liquid vitamin D-3           

(Capful of ACV - Apple Cider Vinegar)

Dash of stevia, or a little organic maple syrup

Fresh lemon juice

4-6 ounces of water or fresh juice

 

WHEN I’m in a rush I just add the Capful of ACV - Apple Cider Vinegar-  Very alkalizing.

 Reds Tea

Also on those days, when you just need something smoothing and comforting make up a hot cup of Miracle REDS®  Soothing Tea

8-oz Boiling Water add,

1-2 Cinnamon Stick cover and steep for 5 minutes. 

Once cooled to warm add 1 Scoop Miracle Reds®     

Enjoy the calm.  Sylvia Ortiz, founder

 Sage advise for the day

Whenever you create a new intention for greater health, and commit to acting on it in some way, you set a whole series of energetic responses in play.  Your choices need not be big ones as much as they need to be heartfelt ones, with clear intention for health, nourishment and enlivening.  In this way each small step activates the whole intention. You will be amazed at how far that intention will take you.

Bon appetit!

What's on your plate?
Gael

Eat! #7 Boulder Latte

Even though I live on the East Coast, I love - really love - camping out west.  If I had my druthers, I think I might have moved to Boulder Colorado long ago.  (Some obvious clues that give me away include the tent, the hat, and the home-made latte I'm gripping in the midst of a camp-out. Tres chic!)

On the subject of chic, Boulder's own Elephant Journal online always offers me good reads, and I like to go for the funny stuff. I get enough of the serious yoga/buddha/mystic side of things on my own time, but Ele has it all...and the particular post I've linked you to below says plenty about our subject of food: Joe Yeoman discoursing about his change in eating habits.

Too funny!

And wise...  It's worth the read ... Enjoy!!

How Elephant Journal turned a leather jacket wearing Mustang driving corn-fed beef Iowa hick into another flower child of Boulder


Now onto the rest:

Main Meal

My hubby's recipe for livin' the good life: Soy-almond latte (and he serves me every morning in bed!! Yup...unless I'm in a tent of course...)

I am categorizing this as a main meal - first because it is my daily breakfast staple - and second, although it is liquid, the amount of soy and almond milk adds up to a hearty belly full.

You will need:

Cappuccino machine or milk steamer
vanilla soy
vanilla almond milk
honey
cinnamon
English Breakfast tea
Roobios tea

To top it off:
dark chocolate to sprinkle over the top
a little sugar in the raw if you want a sweeter variation


Here's a video clip of the entire operation












Add-ins (or tag alongs in this case)

fiber bar
granola
fresh fruit

Sage advise for the day

You know the part about getting served in bed? Sometimes I'm awash in challenge and responsibility, and that latte is the best part of my day.

Love the one you're with.  It really does mater.

What's on your plate??
Gael

Eat! #6 On the Road

I've been on the road this week and I'm focusing on just a few conscious eating tips.

The first is water, water, water.

After that, remember to eat regularly. Don't wait for the big restaurant date. Overeating and ordering due to hunger rather than nourishment will ruin your healthy intentions.

Buy nuts, fruit, hummus, yogurt, rice crackers and tea and keep it on hand for between meals.

Add more veggies to your meals...same intention as at home.

Keep active - get out and on your feet.

Best advise? Use the "lucky space" whenever and wherever you can! What's lucky? Park FAR from your destination and walk. It's just a shift in consciosness but it has lifetime benefits for a more fit mindset. You can also get off a train or bus one stop early, and always use the stairs.

Keep your trip on track for healthy eating and even more physical activity than usual and you will come home truly refreshed.

Bon appetit!
What's on your plate?

Gael

Eat! #5 In Praise of the One-Pot

Soups and stews and one-pots oh my...

So here's a pic of the sriracha sauce I've been talking about, and it's just one of many sources of heat.  For me just a couple of drops can make all the difference.  There are lots of chili type sauces in bottles and jars - and sometimes I just use dried chilies and throw them into the pot to change the personality of what might have been somewhat banal before.

So why change it up?

My mission today is global!

I'd like to see a place for all those leftovers that get thrown into the garbage in hundreds of thousands of households across the world.  It seems so negligent and unthinking that we can't do better than that, at least in our own homes.

I don't know if bringing an enlightened attitude to the nasty habit of food waste will help feed "the starving children in China" (clean your plates kids) but it will surely make a difference in the wasted time, effort and expense that so many people complain about with the rising cost of food.

Besides - I think it actually will help the starving children of everywhere when we become more conscious of our relationship with the cycles of food delivery period. 

Here's what to do whenever you look in the back of the fridge and think "what am I gonna do with that??"

Think soup.

Every soup or one-pot meal has it's own charm, so I'm just going to give you a few of my own basics, and I'm only touching the surface!  Cooked leftovers go in at the end.

What's good and good for you:

• I can't sing the praises of the humble crock pot enough.
• start with water or use any broth of your choice.  I like the organic broth that comes in boxes in the supermarket as a starter.  One box gets stretched into many times it's size in this household...
• buy fresh herbs, cut them up and use liberally in any one-pot.
• you can use any and all veggies, snippets of meat or tofu, every grain imaginable, legumes, beans, spices, and all your pre-made ingredients are fair game.  
• the box of whatever you brought home from the restaurant last night that had that fabulous sauce on it is fair game.  Five bites of a favorite dish might not seem worth taking home, but once added to a soup concoction it can make all the difference.
• freedom to explore = good use for almost every type of leftover in addition to a marked reduction in those throwaways from the back of the fridge.
• put items that do not need more cooking in to the pot at the end or you will pulverize them especially pasta, rice, pre-cooked grains or dumplings...these all go in the pot at the end just to cook through.
• don't eliminate unusual additions such as cooked potato or yesterdays yam.
• feel free to add just one or two substantial ingredients from a previous dish skipping other items (like soggy bread etc. :)   
• most everything is fair game.

Main Meal

Simple Soup

Here's where I went today, this soup as simple as it gets:

During passover when the markets were jammed with all things kosher, I picked up some jars of matzo balls - a comfort food from my childhood since I grew up in a Jewish neighborhood and was given matzo ball soup by a number of kindly neighbor mom's who seemed to lovingly dote on their children with it.

Into my crock pot went a box of organic chicken broth (use veggie as desired), all my fresh herbs on hand (rosemary, parsley, bay leaf, thyme) chopped carrot, peas, kernels from corn on the cob, celery, a small potato, and a few hot drops.  Cook.

Shredded cooked chicken cutlet can be added. So can tofu. Keep the whole thing on crock pot simmer till ready to serve.

Add the matzo balls in toward the end. 

I also added pre-cooked egg noodles. (Use soba noodles, angel hair pasta, orzo as well, cooked separately and reserved.)


Voila!

Add-ins

I have found you can cook all beans and legumes "as is" after rinsing, no mater what the bag or recipe says about pre-soaking, but do get them going first.  Black beans, white beans, split peas, lentils - right into the broth or water! Cover and they will cook nicely.  Add herbs in the beginning - veggies according to hardness as you go - cooked foods near the end.

You have probably noticed I work with the philosophy that any and every meal can be enhanced by adding more of the stuff that is already nutritious on it's own.  If I can find space for a veggie in any meal for any reason at all, in it goes!  If you are not already a high-veggie type, this one conscious shift toward the creative use of veggies (whether typical in the dish or not) can be a dramatic benefit to your overall health.

Grated cheese over the top of soup is a time honored tradition. Most hard cheeses work. 

Crusty bread rounds out the meal.


Sage advise for the day

Mantra: repeat daily...

"What veggies do I have on hand...how can I add them to this meal..."

Bon appetit!
What's on your plate?

Gael

Eat! #4 Marney Soup

In time for Mothers Day.  May happiness be in the heart of Earth Mothers everywhere.  May we nourish and be nourished through our offerings.

This week my friend and colleague Chef Marney White offered one of her healthy (and awesomely easy) recipes for Mystic blog readers to enjoy, and I scooped it up!

This is Marney's lead in: 

"It’s got 5 ingredients, is high-fiber, high protein, and very low fat.  It’s also ready in about 45 minutes!  Freezes great, if you want to make a double batch and freeze ahead in 2-portion servings, as I have always done. Enjoy..."

The experience of sharing food is one of the most powerful communications we humans can indulge in.  How we create our meals is just one way of doing it. 

Thanks Marney! 

Main Meal

Pumpkin Red Lentil Soup

By Marney White, from her 1999 cookbook, “Healthy Body, Happy Life”

3 qts vegetable stock

1 lb. dried red lentils (which are actually orange in color)

1 16 oz can pumpkin puree

¼ c onion, chopped and pureed

¼ c celery, chopped and pureed

Salt & pepper to taste

2 Tbl olive oil

Warm a 6 qt stock pot, and add oil.  Add onion and celery and sauté. Add lentils, then vegetable stock.  Cook over medium heat until lentils have broken down and become soft.  If necessary, add up to a 4^th quart vegetable stock until soup is at your ideal consistency. (It’s better when thicker.)  In the last 10 minutes of cooking, now on low heat, stir in the can of pumpkin puree and add salt and pepper to taste.

Add ins

Soups are amazingly versatile.  Do you have a cooked grain on hand? Using the soup as a "sauce" can make a substantial meal for a hungry appetite.  Legumes and grains go well together! Use your imagination...

Sage advise for the day

  

Healthy home cooking can be easy - let all thoughts of kitchen drudgery dissolve. 

Hearty soups = less pots and pans = easier still.

Make one pot meals a kitchen mainstay and you'll save all sorts of time and effort, plus you'll have many more reasons to stay close to hearth and home where your own good nourishment lives.


Bon appetit!

What's on your plate?

Gael

PS - visit Marney for more good things to eat - and check out the the desserts from this award winning chef. Awesome!  www.marneycakes.com  and  www.marneycakes.blogspot.com

Eat! #3 Tomatoes

This is the third in our Conscious Eating Series for the month of May, the time when Moms delight in the prerogatives of Mother's Day, and families get the nudge (or kick in the butt as the case may be!) to create opportunities to appreciate each other and home values. 

For me this includes more eating together - more picnics and outings - and more awareness of the relationship we have with the green Earth and new things growing. 

May reminds me of the blessing of all this.

All through my 20's I was fortunate enough to have a food mentor - Vincenza Scarcelli - who let me watch, and help, and simply absorb what she knew about food...and she knew plenty.  

Particularly memorable was the time we went out on the lawn (the LAWN mind you)  and picked dandelions, then went out back and scooped a net through the water of the Long Island Sound catching bunches of lowly minnows for what was to become a simple and delicious fried pattie of sorts made from stuff I thought I'd never even go near much less EAT! 

I was fortunate to have an authentic role model from the "old country" when the place I came from was Brooklyn.

I hope you've had a food mentor somewhere along the line - and if not, it's never too late to find one.  Food and love, once connected, can make a huge impression.  We all respond to that.

Use this blog to know you are loved through the connection to foods I offer you here.

For details on cooking exactly what's in this post, you may want to reference the first post in the series and review either the lentil stew or the chicken in simmer sauce, but if you don't need specifics and merely want a mind-bending recognition of gourmet simplicity from leftover goodness, then here it is raw and uncensored...

So imagine you're hungry for something fabulous.  Long, loping strands of pasta sounds good and you've got some tomatoes on hand, and bits of the dishes you cooked from the past couple of days.

ok, super. Here's what you do...we are going to make your leftovers (ingredients, remember??) look like a king's ransom in 10 minutes...

Main Meal

1. cook up a box of linguine
2. cut up two or three fresh tomatoes into chunks and put them into a saucepan.  Add 1 cup of lentil soup and 1/2 cup or more of the simmer sauce gravy from the chicken dish of the day before (shred and add some of the chicken too if you'd like).
3. cook and blend everything together for 5 minutes or so until the tomatoes soften ever so slightly.
4. pour over the linguine - and sprinkle liberally with some of that fine grated locatelli romano you bought the other day. Top with some pricey pignolis, or the more routine but still delightful toasted pumpkin seeds, and fresh basil if you have it.
5. salt and pepper to taste, or add a dash more hot sauce (like sriracha) for some bite.

Add-ins

Toss a small amount of the greens from your salad in with the tomatoes when you start the sauce until just wilted.

Add peas right from the bag - run through a strainer under hot water for a minute. No cooking required, and peas go with everything. My brother told me that.

Sage advise for the day

A word on tomatoes - always get the best of the season.  Good looks does not always = best.  Some of the sweetest tomatoes are plain ugly.  Be brave and taste the bounty.

Farmers Markets rock :) 


In a fancy restaurant, this dish would be on the special menu due to all the prep time for the lentils to cook...and the simmer sauce to absorb the flavors from the chicken and fruit...and the presence of awesome freshness like vine ripened tomato and the fine grated cheese.

You can do it all yourself by being open minded and creative in pulling things together from leftovers you've already prepared.

Bellisimo!

What's on your plate??

Eat! #2 Dumplings

Next up in our series on Conscious Eating - quick and easy Dumplings.  Good and good for you!  Is there anyone out there that doesn't love fat juicy dumplings stuffed with all sorts of goodies? My Japanese friend Felly used to make them - from scratch. That was awesome.

Me? I go to the supermarket and stock up from the frozen section for a fraction of the cost of my restaurant favorites.  Shrimp, chicken, pork or veggie filled are common varieties.

My intention with this series is to highlight healthy, diverse, make at home meals..staying with and keeping our connection with real food.

Here's the part that makes it all worthwhile: 15 minutes for the whole meal. No kidding. Here's the deal...

Main Meal

1. Use a large saucepan. Cut up a head of broccoli, place it in about 2 inches of salted water and cover till boiling.  Lower heat and add a can of water chestnuts and a bag of frozen dumplings right over the top.  Close the lid and steam about 5 more minutes tops. Drain and plate.
2. Meanwhile put up some jasmine or basmati rice cooked according to directions.
3. Make a dipping sauce: combine 2T soy sauce, 2T water, splash of rice vinegar, pinch of sugar and a few drops of seseme oil.  
4. Serve with fresh chopped green lettuce and tomato salad, fresh lemon and EVOO.

Add-ins

Top dumplings with sesame seeds, scallions and/or strips of toasted nori seaweed.  (I used all three.)  Add ground pecans, walnuts or almonds to the salad.

Bonus

Treat yourself to some ginger water - great for digestion and tastes delicious!  Just use a piece of fresh ginger root in a pitcher of cool water.  Either grate it and drink up - or strain if desired - or better yet freeze the ginger root in chunks.  When you take it out of the freezer it will defrost into a softer version of its former self and you can squeeze the juice right into your water.

Sage advise of the day

The investment you make in condiments that delight your tastebuds will repay itself many times over.  Sesame oil is one of those things. Use sparingly.

Bon appetit!

What's on your plate??


Namaste

Eat! #1 Vegi Face

One of the first books I remember reading on yogic lifestyle referred to food.  Right up my alley! Written by the controversial Da Free John it was called The Eating Gorilla Comes in Peace.

I've since come to my own philosophies and guidelines for living a spiritually driven life, but never moved one inch from the recognition that a relationship with food IS spiritual and the way we approach it, embrace it, embody it and appreciate it is a spiritual discipline meant to be enjoyed.

I was recently asked to write a regular column for the holistic magazine Vitamin - the premier issue will be launched in August.  My column will offer tips, philosophy and examples of Conscious Eating and it got me thinking - how can I make the juice of this fabulous topic come alive in simple ways that can make an everyday difference to busy multitask-loaded people (like myself :)

I decided to take the next several posts here on Mystic blog and devote myself to the subject through a series called "Eat!"  I'll post some gorgeous pix of fresh fruits and vegis to get you in the mood - then go into tips about how it works for me in my household. I've literally devoted my kitchen life to thrifty, healthy, time saving ideas, and I definitely speak from experience. We've all been through hard times and some of mine are doozies.  My friend Heather reminisced with me the other day and made me laugh out loud.  She said "you can take a nickle, stretch it into a dime and make it look like a quarter."   I didn't realize it was so obvious!! I do have a passion for food though, especially whole grain, organically grown, feel good, great smelling, fabulously nourishing, awesome tasting food - and I can't remember a time when I wasn't devoted to it.

I have also been a busy multitasker since...forever...and some of the go-to qualities I take for granted in slinging food around the kitchen and having it turn out well might be a hard won victory for someone else, so I've decided to share some of what I do.

Comments are totally welcomed!!  I'm here to offer some thoughts and share with you what my own Spring menu is looking like as we go.  I've also got some travel on my calendar, so that will be an interesting perspective...

To get started, these are just some of my own ground rules:

• mixing prepared foods (canned or jars) with fresh food makes sense
• always read the labels; if you see preservatives in there, put it down.
• mixing cooked food with raw food (like salads and fruit) also makes sense
• mouth feel and texture do matter
• so does color - the more the merrier!
• buy a crock pot
• add veggies whenever and wherever to whatever you can (called "add-ins" - more on that as we go...)
• if you eat meat, make it the side instead of the main event
• keep it to fish and fowl for the most part, or consider going veggie for a while
• educate yourself about complete proteins 
• if you do go veg... I did for 16 years and I was happy, healthy and strong...check out the attached article from Saavy Vegetarian and others like it:  "Vegans and vegetarians can't help getting all the essential amino acids, through eating different combinations of grains, legumes, nuts & seeds, vegetables & fruit several times throughout the day. Read more...
• buy fresh - make plenty - freeze liberally
• forget the concept of "leftovers"... pre-cooked food = "ingredients for the next meal"
• think like a sous-chef and prepare lots of ingredients at one sitting
• there is always enough time, enough choice and enough in the budget to eat extraordinarily well
• if you can make it yourself, you can probably make it better :)

Once you give up the nasty habit of semi-nutritious eating, or plain old bad food eating (God forbid!) your body actually does know what it needs to nourish itself with.

Ok so here are my bon mots for today illustrating the "some prepared/some fresh concept"- as well as the add-ins which boosts interest, nutrition and variety.

Note - never turn on the oven for just one thing.  Scout around for what else you can prepare while the oven is on.

Main meal:
Chicken pieces marinated in a jar of Trader Joes Curry Simmer Sauce. (This sauce is particularly good - but you can find your own version most anywhere in the Thai section of your grocery - or your own cookbook.)

Add-ins - pineapple chunks, green peas and water chestnuts.  Cover and bake.

Brown jasmine rice. Make enough for more than one meal, divide and freeze.

Green salad with pumpkin seeds and raisins.  Oil and vinegar dressing.

Extra in the oven:
Frozen corn with a dab of butter, salt and pepper.  Bake until slightly browned. Unbelievably sweet.

Bonus meal:
Crock pot lentil soup - or stew - depending on how much water you add.

Rinse a bag of lentils, add twice as much water, can of tomatoes, any number of green fresh herbs (rosemary, thyme, bay leaf, basil) chopped potato, garlic, salt and pepper, and a squeeze of sriracha hot sauce.  Pass the EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) over the top and go.  Add a splash of red wine vinegar when it's all done and stir around.  Serve with a good fresh grated locatelli romono.

Sage advise for the day:
Know what you can skimp on.  Don't make it the cheese :) 

Bon appetit!

What's on your plate??
Gael