3 Days to a New You!

Looking my best a few years back at the beach.

This has been the Winter of celebration.  It seems every other night we are entertaining in our home, out to a restaurant, or enjoying the role of guest to a variety of generous friends.  All of this is great, wonderful in fact, but comes with it is a bit of a walk on the dark side, and by dark side I mean flour, sugar, cheese, alcohol and animal protein (not necessarily in that order).  I notice the late nights and over indulgence make the mornings less enjoyable.  It's harder to wake up and I'm often a bit grumpy.  And I have seen my belly get its pillsbury dough boy attributes!  Yesterday was Sunday, and I was grumpy and needing a change!  We woke up early and I got a quick start on my chores, dog walk and clean the coop, and had a cleansing breakfast of carrot-celery-cucumber-kale-lemon-mandarin-ginger juice.  Then we hopped in the car and drove up the coast to surf a legendary surf spot I had never paddled out at, Swami's.  On the drive, looking at the beautiful ocean and snow capped mountains, I had the thought that in 3 days you can change your life.  Each meal, each hour of the day, is an opportunity to establish habits, or as we call them in yoga, samsaras.  Many habits we repeat in approximately the same way every day for decades.  But if just a few times in a row we establish a different habit, it may just be enough of a hiccup in your routine to establish some change.  Three days of concentrated effort seems like an appropriate amount of time to me to make a little dent into the pattern of habituation.  I'm in a pattern of excess and focus on pleasure over health.  I believe that if I focus for three days on a pattern of vibrancy, health and positive attitude, it will be the jumpstart to Spring that I need!  Yesterday certainly proved to be one of the most beautiful in my life, surfing in the sunshine with my husband, over hearing the locals say, wow, did you see that girl!  Patio lunch of California veggie sandwiches, curry soup, and veggie juice at Swami's Cafe.  Working in my garden while my new chickens free range around me.  I feel better already.  Woke up early this morning, feeling great.  Walked my dogs down to the beach just in time to see the full moon set into the ocean.

Goldilocks Yoga

I've taken about a dozen yoga classes this last month at Sol Yoga Studio, most of the classes with the same teacher, Alyssa Runyan.  I came up with this concept to describe my experience, Goldilocks Yoga.  This class isn't too short or too long, it's just right (60 minutes).  This room isn't too hot or too cold, it's just right (about 90').  This class isn't too hard or too easy, it's just right.  This last year I've been struggling with a love hate relationship with Bikram's Yoga.  I love the difficulty, the heat, the seriousness, but I hate it too!  It's difficult to fit the 90 minute + regime into my already active days.  And the heat an really wipe you out if you aren't properly prepared.  The postures are difficult and I continually strain my hamstrings, neck and calf muscles.  And I miss sun salutations when I take a Bikram's class.  I'll keep attending my local Bikram's studio, it's a convenient couple blocks from my house, but I'm getting used to a lighter version, after all, does yoga need to be difficult?

PS.  I tried a new class today at Sol called Surge.  It was not my thing, and honestly what I was expecting when I first attended classes.  Blaring dance music and overly difficult movements at a fast pace.

Moral of the story: shop around, try different teachers and locations, experiment, discover what you love, what challenges you, and even what you despise!

Vegetable Fried Rice and Golden Potatoes

This is my go to dinner when I have a bunch of leftover rice in the fridge.  It's so simple, and you can use whatever sort of veggies you have on hand.  This time I used purple onion, green onion, cabbage, swiss chard and cilantro.  But first I started my potatoes as they would take longer.  I cubed 3 or 4 golden potatoes and cooked them in several tablespoons of hot olive oil.  After a few minutes I added 2 cloves of crushed garlic.  I cooked this on medium heat for about ten minutes, stirring occasionally so they wouldn't get stuck to the pan.  Once they started getting golden, I transferred the potatoes to a smaller pan and continued to cook over low heat.  Next I sautéed to onion in some oil, and after a few minutes added the rest of my chopped veggies.  I sprinkled some soy sauce in the pot and mixed it in with the veggies.  Once the veggies were getting soft I added one beaten egg to the pot and mixed it up once it was cooked, breaking the egg up a bit.  Lastly I added the leftover rice and stirred it all together until hot.  I have left all quantities out on purpose, this is a go with how it feels recipe!

Chickens!

I told you a few weeks ago about my new found desire to raise chickens.  I went to my favorite creative resource, Pinterest, and began discovering the complexities and simplicities to keeping chickens.  We don't have a backyard, so hopefully, to my neighbors joy, our chickens will be kept in the front yard. 

They need to be completely enclosed, so that no animals or poachers can get at my chickens!  They need a nesting box to lay their eggs, a perch to sleep on, and area to scratch a romp during the day.  Luckily I have a man in my life who is handy with a tool built and found materials.  He rustled us up some pallets and an abandoned armoir and built us a chicken condo reminiscent of a horse corral.  We purchased chicken wire, chicken feed, pine shavings and a little invention called a chicken nipple.  I did the research, especially on a website called backyard chickens, and explained to my husband what chickens need and he did the building.  I was really impressed with how great the finished product looked, and for very little money!

Now for the chickens, I wasn't ready to start with little chicks, they need to be kept at a constant temperature and fed special food.  After a few months they grow their adult feathers and are called pullets. Depending on the breed, they mature into hens at about 4-7 months and are hens.  Chicks just cost a few dollars, pullets a few tens of dollars and egg laying hens more like $60.  You can find chickens for sale at all of these stages on....Craigslist!  So there is the age of the chicken, but there is also a variety of chicken breeds, just like dogs.  They have different color bodies, lay different color eggs, get to be different sizes, have different temperaments, etc.  I became fascinated with Ameraucana chickens because they lay a blue-green egg.  My other interest became the Black Copper Maran because their eggs are dark brown and are the most prized of French chefs!  I browsed the Craigslist offerings all through the construction of our coop, and when my honey said he was a half day from finishing, I began to make phone calls, and discovered two nice gentleman in the eastern parts of San Diego county raising chickens on their properties.  First I met with a young man and his wife and toddler.  They had a large coop on the property behind there home.  It was one big coop with about 50 birds, maybe 8 roosters.  He had Ameraucanas, Leghorns, and about 4 other kinds I can't remember.  In his house he had a hamster cage fills with little chicks.  I bought two 4 month old Ameraucanas from him for $30 each.  Then I took back roads west, passing over the 15 to a friendly older guy who I had already learned from our phone call, was all too happy to offer me all sorts of useful information on raising chickens.  He was more of a breeder hobbyist, trying to create the most perfect example of the French Black Copper Maran.  He had lots of smaller, but still big that you could walk in, aviaries each with one rooster and about 5 hens, as well as coops with younger birds and breeder filled with chicks.  He walked me around to each coop and told me about what he had going on.  It was great, I learned a lot, and can definitely call him now if I need for a question.  He sold me one Maran, also about 4 months old.  I was going to buy 2 month olds for him, but when I showed him the Ameraucanas I had already purchased, he picked out another older bird for me that he thought would be a better match.  She went into her own box and I headed west to get my new chickens to their new home on the beach before sunset.  My husband had put in all the finishing details while I was gone, nesting boxes, the ladder walk-way to get them in to their henhouse at night.  I put the ladies into their new home and fed them some chopped bok choy and cornmeal.  At sunset they instinctually made their way up their ramp to their henhouse and went to sleep.  It was amazing!

 

Simplicity is Self Love

Making Time to Surf with my husband is one of life's indulgences!

It's Valentine's Day, and soon it will be my birthday, and I'm spending time this week, this month, taking care of myself.  It is easy to be a martyr, to sacrifice for others, to scrimp and save for a rainy day.  For a martyr, it seems inappropriate to spend money on yourself, spend time on yourself, to boost yourself up.  Sometimes we get away with offering ourself a treat if it hurts, exercise classes that make us sore, diets that leave us unsatisfied...It takes a certain amount of courage to accept some indulgence, some pampering, some quiet time to yourself.  I have budgeted some indulgence for myself recently.  I've already written about a yoga promotion I'm taking advantage of this month at Sol Yoga.  I'm loving my handful of classes there each week.  In addition I have become a bit of a turncoat to my profession and gotten a Massage Envy membership.  Now for about $100 a month I have unlimited yoga and a massage each month.  I've also been enjoying weekly acupuncture sessions these last two months, today's session was particularly blissful. The acupuncture is part of my entrepreneurial plan of barter, I receive healing and my practitioner enjoys the same, as well as lots of tea!  Now, its a sacrifice loving yourself, its about discernment.  I could spend my money on brazilian waxing, coloring my hair and nails, beautiful designer clothes, entertainment or other such pleasures, or I can choose to spend my money on organic food, massage, acupuncture, tea with a friend, and treats for my puppies.  This week I am making a special date with myself each day to love myself, to honor myself, and to boost myself up so that I have the inner strength and balance to be of service to others.

Dinner Party!

We have a house guest and I'm feeling quite grown up, having painted my grown-up step-daughters bedroom and turned it into a proper guest room.  So it's a dinner party tonight on a cold winter evening.  It won't be vegan, but organic and healthy, to be sure!

The Menu will include:
Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Hummus Dip and other Veggies
Arugula Salad
Vegetable and Goat Cheese Tart
Mushrooms
Spicy Lamb Lollipops
and for dessert an assortment of Coconut Bliss Ice Cream

Let's start with the crust for the Tart, I'll use an american standard, Martha Stewart.  Going to substitute some whole wheat flour.
1 1/2 cup White Flour
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 cup unsalted Butter cut into small pieces
teaspoon Salt
Cold Water
The technique for pastry dough is just like the scones I made a few days ago.  Whisk together the dry ingredients then add the chopped up butter and gradually work it between your fingers, breaking apart the butter into the flour until you get a sandy, crumbly mixture.  You add a little cold water at a time into the crumbly dough until it starts to stick together.  If you add too much water and it gets sticky, you can add in some more flour to fix it,  Once you've finished, form it into a ball and squish it to make a thick disk.  Wrap this in some plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.  When it has chilled, roll it out on a floured surface to about 1/4 inch thick.
1 Onion sliced and then caramelized, cooked slowly in 2 tablespoons of butter until golden colored
Asparagus
Brussel Sprouts
Goat Cheese

Next I'll start the Cauliflower, I made this recently for another Party.  It was great!  Mix together all the following ingredients and cover a cauliflower and let it sit an hour then bake for an hour at 350.
1/2 cup Coconut Yogurt
1/2 teaspoon Smoked Paprika
1/4 teaspoon Turmeric
1/4 teaspoon Cumin
1/4 teaspoon Coriander
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Pepper
1 tablespoon Lemon Juice

Lamb Shank cut between the bone to form small "lollipop" slices
1/4 cup Oil
1/4 teaspoon Smoked Paprika
1/8 teaspoon Turmeric
1/8 teaspoon Cumin
2 teaspoons of a blend called Zesto Pesto, rosemary, basil, marjoram, onion, parsley, and more
1 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Pepper
Mix together all the seasonings and the oil and work it all over the lamb, let it sit for an hour.  I cooked the lamb in a hot and oiled cast iron pot a few minutes on each side.  It was a big hit, no leftovers!

Blueberry Scones

I've been having a lot of fun lately getting up early in the morning and baking something wonderful for breakfast.  I went pretty decadent last time with Cinnamon Rolls, and wanted to be a bit more hearty this time around and settled on scones.  I looked up scone recipes on Smitten Kitchen, and of course, she had several.  One looked like a particularly good base for me, with whole wheat flour and oats, Oat-and-maple-syrup-scones.  I cut the recipe in half and made a few other changes, like making my own coconut cream instead of using milk.

the dry ingredients

3/4 cup white flour

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup oats

1 heaping tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon sugar

pinch of salt

1/2 cup butter cut into little pieces

2 tablespoons of maple syrup

2 tablespoons coconut cream (fresh coconut meat blended with water)

2 tablespoons coconut yogurt

1 cup blueberries, I used frozen wild berries

It's very simple, heat your oven to 350 and prepare a cookie sheet with some parchment paper.  Mix together the dry ingredients in a big bowl, flours, oats, baking powder, sugar and salt then work the butter into it with your fingers until you get a crumbly consistency like bread crumbs.  In another bowl combine your wet ingredients, syrup, coconut cream and yogurt and then gently blend that into the dry ingredients with a spatula.  Finally, gently fold in the blueberries.  I made about 5 good sized mini-baseballs with the dough and pushed a walnut down onto the top of a couple of them.  I baked it for about 18 minutes.  Delicious!

scraping the meat out of a coconut

the batter when finished mixing

scones ready for the oven

the finished product, success!

Candlelight Breakfast, why not?!?

Food Rules

Rule #1 in the preparation and consumption of your food, keep a calm and pleasant mood.  If you are in a violent mood, it is best not to eat or prepare food for others until your mood has calmed.  When cooking for others it is best to be in a positive frame of mind, praying and singing while cooking are encouraged!

Rule #2 choose Organic options whenever possible.  If you are to eat the skin of the fruit or vegetable, always buy organic. Examples are celery, lettuce, tomatoes, blueberries, kale, carrots, apples, broccoli, and nectarines.  If it has a thicker skin, I sometimes choose conventional sources, usually to save a few dollars.  Some examples are avocados, bananas, onions, ginger, peppers that will be roasted, and citrus fruit.  For meat and dairy I choose all organic options and try to cut back on the consumption of these products, using them only as a condiment or special treat.

Rule #3 choose Whole options.  This means less processed food, less frozen food, less boxed and canned food, less bottles, less plastic...you know what I mean.  Try to buy each ingredient simple, clean and close to source.  Farmers markets are a great place to get your food, in San Diego there are farmers markets every day of the week in different communities.

Rule #4 this is rule 3 expanded, make things from scratch and from all organic ingredients.  Make your own bread, nut milk, tomato sauce, Kombucha, pasta, juice, broth, sprouts, cookies,....if you buy it from the store pre-made, is it possible, instead, to produce on your own?  Sometimes it can be a little messy or challenging the first time or two, maybe there is an initial expense of supplies and tools, but quickly you will learn to make these products, free from preservatives and additives.  In this aim,I making preparations to raise my own chickens at home.  I have read that home raised chicken eggs are higher in nutrients and much lower in cholesterol, probably from the lower stress levels in there existence.

Rule #5 For the preparation of food glass, ceramic, metal, and wood not plastic make for better kitchen implements.  For the most part we don't get food to go, it's wrapped in so much styrofoam and plastic, toxic waste!

Rule #6 try to make the right amount of food so there isn't waste. If there are leftovers, only use glass for the storage of food, not plastic, and eat your leftovers within a day or two. 

Rule #7 no microwaves!  If you want to heat up leftovers, do so in the oven or add a little water and heat it up in a small pot.  If you do use a microwave, NEVER microwave your food in plastic or styrofoam, put it on glass or porcelain!  I also don't use many big appliances, no need for a kitchen aid mixer to make bread and batter, do it by hand!  In my kitchen there is no glorious kitchen arid mixer, no cuisinart, no dish washer.  I do have a juicer, a blender and a miniature cuisinart, remember that none of these kitchen appliances existed 75 years ago!

Rule #8 recipes are suggestions, get creative and make things your own!  If you are creative in the kitchen like me, take a photo from time to time to remember what you've made in the past so you can reproduce it.

Infused Alcohol

This is the final product, frosty from the freezer,  Hibiscus Vodka.

A very simple treat, all you need is vodka, or booze of your choice, and tea type things.  I used dried Hibiscus Blossoms, Chamomile Blossoms, and Lavender Blossoms.  Soon I will try Cacao Nibs, Coffee Beans and Vanilla Pods (maybe all together).  Quantities were about 8 ounces of alcohol to 1 tablespoon of dried flowers.  I let the mixture sit for about 3 days and then drained the mixture.  I rebottled the vodka and put it in the freezer for safe keeping.

Here is the vodka, just after adding the vodka to the flowers, it is instantly changing color!

This is how the hibiscus flowers looked after I drained the vodka.  I think it looks like bacon!