Yummy Rice Dish

I am getting ready for my retreat this weekend coming up in Ojai, and one thing I always go away with from these retreats is inspiration on the way I cook and eat. From the past retreats I have found this quick and simple-to-cook meal that I love making. This is one of my staple foods I make whenever I’m Hungry (NOW), and NEED to eat, and want to eat healthy…It’s easy, delicious and fun to create in the kitchen…Have fun!

Come ‘Celebrate Life’ with me this weekend in Ojai, CA.  We are going to eat incredible food all weekend, cooked for us by an incredible chef.

Here’s the recipe for my fav rice dish…

Ingredients:

– 1 cup basmati white rice
–  Celtic sea salt
– 1/2 inch of ginger
– 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
– 1/4 bunch dandelion greens
– 3 stalks/leafs of chard
– 2 celery sticks/stalks
– 1 tbs coconut oil
– 1/4 bunch cilantro
– 1/2 lemon
– 2 roma tomatoes*
– 1/2 avocado*

*optional

Preparation:

Wash/rinse rice three times in the pot we’ll cook in. Add 2 cups of clean, filtered water. Bring to a boil. Lower heat to simmer, bring to boil while on low heat, and place the lid on pot. Put your timer on for 20 min.

Sliver the ginger with or without skin, your choice. Heat a fry pan to medium heat with olive oil in pan. We don’t want the olive oil to get too hot, so when it starts to heat up (you can tell by the smell of the oil being stronger). Add ginger to pan. If they are sizzling up when you put them in, lower heat or turn off for a few minutes. Add ground cumin seeds to pan.
Cut the stalks of celery into 1/4 inch slivers. Add to pan. Turn heat back on for a few minutes to get them cooked.
When the rice is complete, add the mixture to pot that the rice is in and mix it up, put the lid back on and let sit for 5 min.
Using the same fry pan that we used for the celery mixture, we’ll heat up again for the greens. Cut up the chard and dandelion greens into thin sliver style cutting. Heating the pan to medium with coconut oil in it. Add the greens. Cook to desired style, and add to a mixing bowl with the rice.
Cut cilantro into small slivers.
In the bowl, mix up all the greens, rice and celery mixture with salt (dash to your desire) and squeeze lemon. If you have tomatoes, mix in also. Two big serving spoons are fun to use, or salad tongs/spoons.
Add cilantro as last touch. You can either mix it in, or sprinkle on top of mixture.
Avocado can be cut up into cubes and scooped on side of each bowl.

Enjoy and share with friends. Can feed up to 4 adults.

Veggie Sushi, My first time

Tonight I was going to make my easy-to-make favorite, veggie hand rolls. And I got crazy-wild with an idea to make a cut roll. I happened to have a bamboo rolling mat in my drawer, and it came together really easily.

Try it, it’s fun – AND YUMMY!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

– nori wraps
– 1 cup brown basmati rice
– 1/2 lemon
– 1 avacado
– 1/4 bunch of kale
– 1/4 bunch of cilantro
– salt
– bamboo roller
– (optional) 1/2 tblsn Ghee, or butter
– flat wooden sticky-rice spreader.

 

Cook the basmati rice…I’m not going to explain that – because if you don’t know how to cook rice, I can’t help you, LOL. But I will give you a little secret to making it for the sushi. Add little extra water in the pot to begin (only about a few tablsn’s). Put in a little butter or ghee in when it starts to boil, mix it in with a little salt. The point is for it to be a teeny tiny bit more moist than regular rice.

While the rice is cooking, let make my favorite kale concoction: wash and cut the kale up into little bits, I like it small for this dinner. Saute the kale in some olive oil for a few minutes until it’s soft. put it in a bowl, add lemon and cut Cilantro to the bowl, and little salt (dash).When the rice is done, add a couple of dashes of salt, stir and let sit for 5 min with lid back on it.

Now, the fun part. Make a hand roll by placing rice, veggies and avocado into center, and use your hands to roll from  corner to corner, tucking in the end as you roll.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To make the cut rolls: Place the nori sheet down on the bamboo mat (should be about the same size), add a couple of scoops of rice. Press the rice down with a flat wooden spoon or fingers to the edge of the sheet, covering the whole thing.
Close to the center line, put some kale concoction down the line, and add tow strips of avocado into center line. Using the bamboo roller, press the one side up and over the veggies with both hands firmly on the bamboo mat. Keep rolling to the other side. Unroll the bamboo, and voila! Sushi roll.

Now cut it into pieces and serve.

Serves two healthy ladies.

Japanese Fusion Soup

This is the first time I’ve ever attempted to make a soup because I never really knew where to start, but I had a little guidance from a friend and went from there. You can’t really go wrong here. I wasn’t sure what I was doing, but it turned out great! Make sure you don’t add too much salt in the beginning, it’s better to add in the end if needed. You can also go a little easier on the cayenne if you’d like to make it less spicy.

What you’ll need:

• 1 inch long ginger root
• 1 large clove garlic or 2 smaller cloves garlic
• dash of cayenne
• 3 carrots
• 2 bunches bok choy
• 1 large zucchini or 2 smaller zucchinis
• brush tops of fennel
• 4 eggs
• soy sauce
• 1 medium radish
• 1 small handful wakame
• 2 squares kombu
• powdered broth (1/2 tbs)
• 1 frying pan
• 1 large pot (for soup)
• 1 small-medium pot (for poaching eggs)
• 4 serving bowls

First, you’ll want to slice all of your veggies into long, thin strips. Peel and slice ginger, and peel and mince garlic. Finely chop the fennel, and rinse the kombu (don’t wipe off the white minerals, gently dab dry).

In a frying pan, saute carrots with a bit of olive oil using medium to high heat. Once hot, add a generous amount of soy sauce and cover with a lid.

While you’re sauteing the carrots, add 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil to one of your pots and saute the ginger and garlic. After a few minutes, you can add the zucchini and a 1/2 teaspoon of Himalayan sea salt to your pan with the carrots and stir in the radish, fennel and a couple drops of soy sauce with your pot of garlic and ginger.

From here, consolidate! Add everything that you sauteed in the frying pan to the pot and add a dash of cayenne. Now, fill the pot halfway with room-temperature water, add 1/2 tablespoon of vegetable broth powder, bok choy, a small handful of wakame and 2 squares (broken into strips) of kombu. Turn heat to lowest setting.

Pour soup into bowl, add a poached egg and serve!

Today’s Green Drink

I have loved the ‘green drink’ ever since my very good friend introduced me to them about 4 years ago. The concept is from a great book called “Greens for Life” by Victoria Boutenko. It’s a blend of fruits and veggies, all raw and put into a blender and made into, pretty much, baby food. I usually have a good full glass in the morning and then sip throughout the day. I feel like I get enough greens for the day as well as have great energy. No more espresso for me!

Here’s mine this morning…

– 1/4 bunch Dandelion greens

– 1/4 bunch parsley

– 4 kale arms

– 2 chard leaves

– guava

– pear

1/2 apple

– water

-1/2 lime with rind sliced off

Directions:

Fill your blender container with half water. I have a Vitamix, so it’s a little easier with a super powerful blender like this, but if you don’t you can use what you have and do it in stages. For example, put in the fruits first, blend a little, then stop, and add the veggies. You may need to add these in stages also. This may be too much for your blender, so you can cut the doses down. You can’t really go wrong, just play and add things you may have and replace the greens with greens leafy veggies you have on hand right now.

The fruit helps to cut the bitter of the greens and makes it easy to drink.

I love my green drink and hope you enjoy creating yours as well!

The GRAND green drink!

Roasted Yams

I love roasted yams right now! They are so hearty, simple to prepare and make a great addition to any meal. Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 large yam, or 2 smaller yams
• olive oil
• salt (optional)
• cinnamon
• baking pan/sheet

Preheat your oven to 350. Make sure to put your rack in the middle. Put about 3 tablespoons of olive oil on your baking sheet.

Thoroughly wash your yam, and definitely make sure it’s organic! Peeling the yam is optional (I don’t). Cut it into small cubes and spread them evenly on your baking sheet. Drizzle a generous amount of olive oil over your cubes and then add your salt (to taste). Mix everything together with your hands, add a little sprinkle of cinnamon then pop in the oven for 35 minutes.

(Optional: You can flip your yams about halfway through)

ENJOY!

Sick and tired, and Ayurveda to the rescue

Woke up this morning with a sore throat, and a bit of a fever. Natural remedies were stirring in my head, what should I do to take action? My brain was a bit foggy, so wasn’t sure what to do. It’s usually the case when we get sick. It’s as though all the things I “know to do” go away with the snot pouring out of my nose…

Luckily I have some knowledge about Ayurveda and other wellness practices, perfect for occasions like this. I started taking drinking water with lemon juice squeezed in, and made some soupy kitchadi – which is a staple food when practicing Ayurveda, because it’s a detox dish; easy to digest, and high in protein (mung bean and rice porridge type of food). My mom and dad used to feed me this slop (as I thought of it back then) when I was sick.

Here’s what I made this morning:

1/2 cup of whole mung beans (soaked for 1 hour in clean water)
1/2 cup of white basmati rice – cleaned 3 times with tap water
6 cups water
1 Tbsp ghee*
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
2 Tbsp ghee
1/4 tsp each ground turmeric, coriander, cardamom, black pepper and sea salt
1/2 tsp each cumin and ground cloves
1 Tbsp fresh grated ginger
chopped fresh cilantro
Braggs to garnish (optional)

In a large saucepan, heat 1 Tbsp ghee and add cumin seeds. Brown lightly, then add the rice and mung beans, stirring to coat. Add water, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 45 minutes.
In a small fry pan, heat 2 Tbsp ghee and add all dry spices. Saute a few minutes, then stir in ginger. Allow to combine a few minutes, then add to rice and mung. Cover and cook 20 minutes longer.
Serve garnished with cilantro and a splash of Braggs, maybe even a squirt of lemon.

This amount makes me enough for a whole day, possibly two.

*NOTE: ghee is an ayurvedic dairy fat that is healing and soothing for digestion and good for all doshas (body types/imbalances).
And, mung beans can be found in bulk foods department in Wholefoods types stores and indian grocery stores….

I love having this anytime I need a rest from my addiction to “regular food”. It’s easy, has a good amount of protein (mung beans), and is super nourishing.

I feel better already and am going to fast on this, and add some greens on the side, for the rest of the day!

Yummy Ayurveda!

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