Rataloutli made over the weekend and brown rice with black beans, topped with green sauce – home made slow cooking over the weekend.
Black rice avocado/cucumber rolls sprinkled with sesame seeds with pickled ginger … refreshing:) No I did not make these – a rushed take-out from Whole Foods. Enjoyed with cup of green tea. Breathe. A centering practice to re-frame the day of busy drudgery of tasks to meaningful sense of being in the moment.
I know it’s the last of summer days and time for BBQ – lots of invites over beer, wine, sausages, ribs, meat, meat, meat – How does one avoid while remaining on this program? Embrace the grill life, yes. But, be pleasantly surprised when you take a little break from all that inflammatory foods – grill veggies, grill fried tofu “steaks” marinated in savory sauce. Zen monks in Kyoto eat all plant based foods and still manage to get up crack of dawn or even way before sunrise to engage in pretty hard workout, getting on their hands and knees in the cold, cleaning their abode, martial arts like training, sitting upright for hours chanting and meditating – then into the kitchen to prepare the special foods – that takes energy, stamina, endurance … strength.
Brown Pasta Bowl – toppings can be anything colorful – in this one, beets soaked in sweet sushi vinegar over night, grilled green onions, savory black beans, baby carrots marinated in beet juice and lemon over brown rice pasta – garnished with Italian parsley, all organic.
Stir-mix, not fry, garnish and bed of pasta with green sauces – 2 kinds (1) walnut pesto (2) Trader Joes Zhoug herbal sauce “with Yemeni roots” (warning – quite spicy)… sprinkle roasted sunflower seeds. Other ideas would be with quinoa, avocados, red onions, some colorful peppers. If you are really cutting back, with brown rice mixed with cauliflower pearls or spiraled zucchini ribbons …
Making Chai … with Shasta spring water:) This will replace my usual coffee intake for the 10 days and beyond. I love coffee and know that coffee is not bad for you if taken in moderation – for example just a cup or two in the morning – have been known to have benefits – but as with anything, it’s about the excesses. As a body-lab, for the 10 days, switching to black tea chai & matcha or green tea pre-3pm and herbal chai after 3pm.
Locally there’s a yoga teacher who treats Chai Saturday mornings to all her students after her classes – a tradition for over a decade – all I have is respect … she’s so generous – chai after morning practice highly recommended !
+ Sea veggies and cruciferous in kelp umami broth + farmers market tomatoes 🍅 & greens so flavorful needs no dressing. Umeboshi aged 10 years purchased in Mt. Shasta (btw, water to make the broth from Mt. Shasta too:). Maitake sautered in seseme oil, konbu, hand-crafted organic soy sauce …Maitake is said to have anti-inflammatory properties and thus, considered one of many cancer prevention super foods.
And super green pesto – basil and other herbs – sauce with 🍋 lots of lemon juice from home grown lemons.
10 years aged Umeboshi is hard to come by so I am elated that I found them at Mt Shasta concert hosting – salted plums have formed ume juice jelly – a rare fermented plums of a find that jiggles and sparkles 🙂
Yes, I know what you are thinking – Protein, where’s the protein?
Lots of organic WALNUTS in green sauce – sesame seeds and flavored soy beans folded into rice.
Miso dip for veggies sticks … that’s protein plus fermented food goodness:) Simple and Delish … and you are satiated. Really? REALLY. Real foods, real good.
***note Miso, Soy Sauce, Umeboshi all have one thing in common: all fermented foods.