Alyse’s Adzuki Bean Ginger Miso Sea Veg Soup

Traveling on foot and by mass transit in spring rain.
Quite different from the winter drizzle. Especially when a wet blooming daphnie shrub scents the air. Fresh green buds popping open everywhere. I have been an Oregonian for most of my life and know intimately the wet NW world well. Drying out in the Utah Wasatch mountains for 4 years was a nice break from the wet of the NW. And neither David or I ever missed the wet dark grey rainy winters here. I spent most of last week in Portland, commuting by train from Seattle and back, relying on the trolly, light rail and bus to get around the city to my appointments. I had a very pleasant place to stay on the edge of the North end of the Pearl along the Willamette river. Thanks very much to the my brother and sister-in-law going on a week long vacation and opening up their lovely home to me to use in their absence. It was far enough to provide some good quality walking exercise to get to mass transit and then on to my appointments. Then the mile walk to the train station. (yeah, in retrospect I could of called a cab. but it did not cross my stubborn green sustainable mindset! There is always room for some improvement next time) proved quite the adventure in wetness in a deluge downpour, dragging a wheeled luggage bag and a wheeled grocery bag of leftovers to make the train back to Seattle. My shoes and coat proved to be excellent at water repellent as promised on the tags when I purchased them (YAY) and my pants and bags were, well. Soggy soaking wet. Luckily I did not bring my computer and the iPad I borrowed from my David serendipitously was snuggly positioned between two large ziplock baggies containing my collapsible bowl and a wash cloth/hand towel. So it was saved from getting water damaged. As I am trying to integrate more green-ness and wean myself from paper towels. The deeply entrenched habit fields of wasting is not that easy to shift but I am well on my way of changing in my "mighty" effort to save trees in the amazon or even here in our PNW forrest which looks sadly denuded. My computer back pack failed the water repellency test. Not so good since I assumed all during my travels in Europe during December and then back and forth from Seattle and Portland all winter that this pack was actually designed to shed water. How lucky to find out, umbrella-less and sans computer. And thanks to mostly dry weather in Europe. I am ever so grateful heaters on trains next to the windows when you are fortunate to get a window seat assignment. I eventually dried out and warmed up. To help with the warming up, I had the last of my left over soup and salad to eat for dinner on the train ride. Especially when rounded out with some dark chocolate to let melt slowly in my mouth while reading my book on the iPad.

Seaweed Cravings
I left it open for inspiration when I arrived in Portland to what I would be doing for meals other than visiting the New Seasons on Hawthorne Blvd or in the Whole Foods in the Pearl to explore the options available. First I noticed the kelp noodles made by Sea Tangle and then right next to the noodles, Sea Tangle's seaweed salad caught my eye. The lights lit up in my brain and of course, plump ginger root would make an active zing and add warmth. Then miso to lightly mellow it out. Crusiferous veggies and carrots, along side of the geen leek that gestured seductively. tightly packed heads of garlic called out to support the cast. And then a shallot too. A symphony of supporting flavors was building to cast a lovely soup into the decided action of nourishing satisfaction. The rest is history and my daily meals and detox needs were solved. Exploring my sister-in-laws pantry I found shoyu and sesame oil. A friendly note inviting me to "use what ever I needed" gave a welcoming sense of finishing my soup's flavors with the right balance of the sweet and salt and fresh sea flavor of the sea. I sent prayers of love and support to Japan. A Bitter moment to pause in the heart ache of sadness and greif for all her people and land affected so deeply by the earth quakes, tsunamis and nuclear disasters. How does one wrap their mind around what the devastating loss happened there? I can only pray. Make some soup and breath gently into my heart.

Now don't get me pegged into a devout purist up on a pediste of total disciplined health. Please, I am so so human and deeply flawed with moments of complete will crumbling into decadence of the undisciplined unconscious moments of choice influenced by adrenal cravings to get the "type A rush" going. I admit all of this and the consequence was I screwed up my blood test "fast" royally by waking up from a dead deep sleep to forcing myself out of bed at 6 am with a dark heavy rain beating down on the roof of cold yuk going on outside. I walked right up to my brother's brand new shiny fresh coffee bean grinding, spitting out "espresso into a cup" machine into which my willing hand held that cup of adrenal boing of to early in the morning! I even thought to steam some coconut milk. Whoops! I did not even blink a guilty eye. Not one ounce of shame. Just pushed that magic green blinking button. It tasted so good and I found the bus stop, caught the correct bus in the blustery cold wet dark morning wide awake. The young receptionist from the clinic was on the bus! She helped introduce the next transfers to catch and I made it to my blood draw appointment 20 minutes early full of life to find out I had. totally. screwed. up. my blood test with that break in awareness of what part of no food or drink must not cross the lips do you not understand? Everyone at the clinic treated me kindly. I was just one of many who had made the same lack of consciousness slip up. Not to worry. I would teach myself to ignore that shiny coffee shrined high tech worship machine sitting in its reagal corner of the kitchen. Sigh. I left the clinic only slightly chagrined but firmly committed to returning early the next morning. I was hungry. Walking on SE Hawthorne blvd. at 8:30 in the early fresh morning air. What's a girl to do but continue more shameless-ness and walk right in with attitude through the wind curtained protected doors into the warm kitchen smells,and open arms of Bread and Ink Cafe, to be seated at a lovely window seat and fall deeply in love with the gay biker rough and tough on the outside leather jewish dude with a soft marshmallow love heart on the inside who served up a damn good shameless local eggs and blue cheese, caramelized onion breakfast along side a bottomless cup of the best damn coffee I swear I have ever tasted in Portland. I called up my sister-girl-friend willing and able to spontaneously on the spot join in eating eggs with some cheese shamelessly together and have bonding girlfriend chat catch up. Irony is now my blood panels will reflect that yummy but high on the sat. fat meal which I had managed to avoid since the yummy trip to Europe in December. :) What can I say. Bread and Ink is good no matter what meal of the day you choose there. B&I has survived and become a Hawthorn blvd icon since 1983. Apparently there is a waffle window on the side of the building for the waffle freaks of this world. Hmmmmm.....

So back to the uber healthy detox soup I created the night before. There is no smugness of good girl strident health nut here. As you have read. I indulge when I indulge. But then I eat what I eat what I eat no matter. And this soup was noshin good and hot warm comfort on some cold grey rainy nights and afternoons with ginger to make my heart sing without the fat globule stroke causing Bread and Ink eggs and cheese breakfast of delight. Ha ha.

Here's the recipe of ginger and seaweed and crunchy squeaky kelp noodles which don't have a particular flavor except to soak up what is in the broth or what ever you choose to coat them with. The kelp noodles are long and fun to suck up or cut up if you prefer not to play in your noodles. A versatile, no carb, no need to cook noodle. I have learned these kelp noodles wont protect you from radiation but they do provide some minerals and crunch and offer a nice gluten free substitute. On the other hand the seaweed salad is stellar and a winner. Organic too. I perused the iles of seaweed choices at Uwajimaya, a large Asian super market in Seattle to find some comparisons and I could not find anything organic. Serval possibilites that looked like they came close contained MSG alongside the sea salt to preserve the seaweed. Notice that you will have to rinse the seaweed salad several times to remove all of the sea salt. For us foreign to the flavor of seaweed other than the occasional sushi bar visits, adding ginger, shiitake, shoyu and miso balance out the seaweed flavor. Bringing it round and down to a mellow flavor that supports the bright warming zing of ginger.

Affairs of Living posted an timely monthly challenge for the wee little but powerful Adzuki bean. So I am marching right up to the March challenge since I was singing the adzuki bean song (don't ask, it's that bad) while I put this soup together. I was alone in a nice loft townhouse and that requires my own voice of creative expression while making this soup come into being. I will not share the song but the soup. Yes!

On the Affairs of the Living post you will find a lovely yam and adzuki hash from the Whole Life Nutrition blog which is in my que to be made soon here. And for those who have found my little blog and read this post that wish to trot off and follow the links. I will be right behind you shortly exploring too. But first I have to make more food to feed David. He's looking a bit peaked while I post this....

Enjoy!

Alyse’s Adzuki Bean Ginger Miso Sea Veg Soup
Gluten free and vegan
a detox soup

Soak over night 1/2 cup adzuki beans. In the morning strain and rinse well and add to a pot. Cover with enough cold water to 3 inches above the level of the beans, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cover with a lid and cook until the beans are soft. Add more water if needed. Set aside for recipe.


Recipe:
1 bag Sea Tangle kelp noodles
1 package Sea Tangle seaweed salad, soak for 5 minutes and rinse several times, set aside. (or you can substitute with 3/4 cup dried hajiki seaweed soaked in hot water for 5 minutes and rinsed)
1 box organic veg stock (aprox. 2 cups)
4 garlic cloves minced
2 medium shallots minced
1/8 cup (heaping) of fresh ginger root minced
6 medium shiitake mushrooms thin sliced, stems removed
2 tablespoons white wine (optional but flavorful)
1 medium head of broccoli cut into small bite sized pieces
2 large carrots cut in half and then in half again and into small pieces
1/2 lb. of fresh asparagus cut the tough end off about a third up and then into bite sized pieces
1 small yam cut into very small pieces (so this will cook fast)
3-4 tablespoons organic shoyu
2 heaping tablespoons miso (use organic and non GMO for best health results- may favorite is South River)
a dash of toasted sesame seed oil

Saute the minced shallot, garlic and ginger in about 1/2 tablespoon coconut oil for a few minutes. Add the shiitake mushrooms to the saute and continue till the mushrooms shrink and sweat. You can add a splash of white wine (if on hand) at this point if on hand and let the wine simmer and reduce back to nothing. Add the box of veg stock. Add the sweet potato. Stir well and bring to a boil then turn down the heat to a simmer till the yam is soft. Now add the broccoli, carrots, and asparagus and return the heat to a simmer for a few more minutes to soften the veggies but keep a crisp bite to them. Stir in the well rinsed seaweed. Turn the heat off and stir in the miso, dash of sesame oil and shoyu. Taste to adjust for more shoyu if needed. Place the kelp noodles into bowls. Ladle the soup over the noodles. A great chop stick meal. With slurp potential.

I found a good dressing made by Braggs, Ginger Sesame made with their live apple cider and olive oil.
I got a ripe avocado and a couple of tangerines and
made a mixed green salad with some of the avocado and some tangerine wedges. Balanced out the soup quite well.

Springing into A New Life

Boing. Of course I have to back up and catch you up since my posts stopped over a year ago.

It's been one wild ride. First I designed a vegan/veg cafe, wrote and tested the menus, built a website, negotiated a lease, worked intensivly with a SBA counselor, wrote a beautiful over the top business plan, and raised the capital to open. A big beautiful dream bursting with creative passion, healthy food all joined together with a yoga studio and wellbeing center. My business partners were all very excited to build this sustainable multi small business community model of shared space which would actively cultivate a vibrant health giving community gathering space in Park City. It all came together in less than four months. I was stoked. Then it all came to a screeching halt. Bam. Days before I was to sign the loans that would set the cafe in motion for securing and signing the lease on our space my health crashed. I had a flu bug that wouldn't let up with another layer of symptoms that the doctors thought was heart disease though no one could put a finger on it. I had zero energy which was a huge contrast to my whirling hummingbird vitality. The heart symptoms continued to intensify even as the flu finally subsided 5 weeks later. So I had to make the responsible decision to back away and shelve my cafe. A definite grieving process. In late August, many tests later and with no definitive results, we drove to Portland so I could begin work with a naturopathic heart specialist physician. I discovered living for two months at almost sea level reduced my symptoms and I committed to the alternative healing therapies not offered in Utah. A hard decision to accept. David and I packed up and moved back to the NW leaving behind the mountains and our love of Utah powder skiing and summers filled with hikes, bikes and horses. Finally my body gave a big huge health hint. After Christmas and a whirlwind 2 week visit in Europe with my daughter, I experienced a stroke and was rushed to the ER. An MRI confirmed small artery disease in my brain and heart. The treatment of multi step Oxygenation Therapy along with hyperbaric oxygen chamber sessions combined with more supplements than I care to list my body is turning around the bend of returning energy and lessoning symptoms. It's not over yet but I do see the light at the end of the tunnel. I have worked up to walking over three miles. Not everyday but I can make it happen every other day. I have recipes stacked up, tested and ready. We just found cute little bungalo in Seattle. Our fingers are crossed as the application goes into the landlord's hands that he thinks we will be the fit. After months of transitional living in my mother in-law's tiny mother in-law apartment. We were getting used to a small living space. Telling us we could scale it down to a smaller space. Maybe not as tight as 500 square feet but... It has been a total joy to get to know David's mom and dad and pass the living with the in-law family test with flying colors. And I am so ready to unpack our stuff into a new place with an awesome kitchen to create food in. I am hoping the ears will have enough sun for a little kitchen garden.......and maybe Seattle will open it's arms to my idea of a vegan veg cafe-yoga studio -wellbeing center..... Who knows.

So. I've sprung forward to the next piece. A new blog is being designed (in my head and on the computer) it's not ready yet but soon. Soon. New healthy recipes to share! In another couple of weeks e should be in the moving, unpacking, and settling faze. For months now I have been exploring, driving and walking all over the parts of Seattle neighborhoods we were attracted to. Getting a feel for the parks, shopping and neighborhoods. Wondering were do we belong? Getting used to the rain and regrowing the webbing between our toes. just in time for new beginnings and spring.

Breakfast Quinoa Porridge

I haven't posted in a long while. I have been really distracted by creating a cafe.Yes! It has been very exciting, stressful and a huge amount of work to create this dream. This is one idea of a hot porridge we want to serve in the mornings. I get way too cold eating raw granola and almond milk. So I turned to studying the Ayurvedic doshas to better understand how to support and balance my body at this altitude and winter. According to Ayurveda, each of us has a unique mix of three mind/body principles which creates our specific mental and physical characteristics. These three principles are called 'doshas'. Most of us have one or two doshas which are most lively in our nature, with the remaining one(s) less significant. The three doshas are known as: Vata, Pitta and Kapha. It was fun to learn that I have been intuitively balancing my body and mind by adjusting my diet. So my blog here reflects this in the types of food I am drawn to prepare eat and share with you.

It was a cold 11 degrees out when I woke up this morning. Since it was so early and I was hungry, I dug in and started enjoying my breakfast before I decided to shoot some photos on the porch railing just outside the front door. Hence the spoon in the porridge. I loved the idea of the steam which was easy since it was so frickin cold out! We are creating this to fuel a morning of cutting up the fresh powder on the slopes.


I love this porridge with warmed almond milk.
serves 4

1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon ginger root minced
3 majool dates pitted and minced
1/4 cup walnuts
1/4 cup almonds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup goji berries
1/2 pear cut into small pieces
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamon
1 tablespoon chia seed

The night before, place the goji berries in a small bowl with 1/4 cup water. Place the walnuts, almonds, and sunflower seeds in separate bowls. Fill each with water and soak over night.
In the morning, heat a pan to medium high and add the quinoa. Stir constantly and listen to the pops of the quinoa seeds and toast lightly. Pour into a bowl and return the pot to the stove, add the water, salt. minced ginger and dates. Stir to mix well and bring to a boil. Add the quinoa and reduce the heat to low. Cover the pot and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir the quinoa and add the rest of the ingredients. Let rest for 5 minutes or so.
Serve with warmed almond milk.
The last ingredient: Enjoy!

Vegan European Drinking Chocolate

My sweet kitty, Tia kept me company for this cup of warm thick and rich drinking cacao. Though, she looked more like she was hunting the birds singing nearby.

Fall has been cold this year. Right before the snow storm last week, the horses have been moved 3 hours away to a lower elevation for the winter. Sigh, my job is finished for the year and I miss their sweet low nickers and whinnies of greetings when I arrived to feed, water and ride them. I do know they are happy to rejoin their herd settle into life there.

Since I live at about 7000 feet in the sky, have a vata constitution, (an acceptance that I live in the clouds, sky, air) and I have been eating mostly raw. I have not wanted to give the raw light food up. Yet, I am cold. My body is cold. Today, wool hats, sweaters and thick socks have come out of storage and layered onto my body. Yoga, hula hooping, hiking are helping to get my circulation to warm up. But then I thought of one of my favorite places in Portland called Cacao and their European drinking chocolate. I paused for a moment this late afternoon, now that sounded warm and really good to me! A chocolate craving to fulfill, I decided on the spot to recreate their wonderful spicy ambrosia sans the dairy milk and see if I could get close to the memory of a fall, wintry cold and rainy, miserable, blustery Portland day. Where a visit to Cacao with my daughter for a warm cup of thick, creamy, dark and rich chocolate drink made all the difference in the world to us. A slice of heaven on earth. The only draw back to that memory was the side affects of dairy on my digestive track about 20 minutes later! Yeah, I am sure I can erase that part quite easily.

I am happy to say that today, I have made my daydream come true. I am only missing the last ingredient. My daughter's company to share a cup with. So I will wait for her return from Norway in January to make that part happen.

You will need a double boiler to make this work. I made one out of a small sauce pan with a stainless steel bowl that nests into but doesn't touch the bottom of the pan. Fill the lower pan with 1/4 water making sure the bottom of the top bowl or pan of the boiler doesn't touch the water level. You only want the steam from the water to heat the upper pot or bowl. Now set the heat to medium low. Do not let the water boil. You do not want to burn the chocolate. The temperature of the drinking chocolate should only come to about 95 degrees max.
This makes enough for 2 small but hearty cups of heaven to share with a best friend/lover - or your daughter!

Add to the upper part of the double boiler:
3 oz bittersweet dark chocolate pieces
1 oz raw cacao powder
8 oz hazelnut or almond milk. (I like hazelnut milk for this, but almond milk will work too)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons agave
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of cardamon
teeny pinch of red pepper
1 tablespoon virgin coconut oil

Whisk till smooth and melted. Pour into cups. Drink immediately.

Alyse's Amazing Raw Gazpacho

The flavor of this soup deepens quite nicely if you can let sit overnight in the fridge before serving.

4 large vine ripened red and golden heirloom tomatoes, diced
6 medium tomatios, paper peeled off and diced
1 medium sweet onion diced
1/2 english cucumber diced
1/4 to 1/2 jalapino, seeded, deveined and diced very fine
juice of 2 limes
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon Real Salt to taste
1 ear fresh corn, corn kernels cut from the cob
1/3 cup fresh minced cilantro

Combine everything except the corn and cilantro. Place 1/2 of the mixture in a blender and blend till smooth. Pour back into the bowl of ingredients and stir well. Stir in the the minced cilantro. Refrigerate until serving.

Top garnish
1 ripe avocado sliced open and split into halves. Dice and scoop out both halves into a bowl.
juice of one lime
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro minced
Salt and pepper to taste
Mix everything together. Place a spoonful of the avocado garnish on top of each bowl of soup.

A healing Journey; Learning to live in my body and heal with food.

Before: That's me, 200# on my 5'4" frame, in 2003. Looking at this now, I can now see how little trust expressed in my eyes back then.



After: Sedona AZ on summer solstice hike in the dessert in 2007, up in the center of the back of a wondrous womb cave.

I had to include a photo that shows how fun it was fun climbing up to this magical indentation in the cave. Getting down was a bit more complicated.


Allowing myself to be photographed in a swim suit. Don't even think I let that happen in years past!!!



I have been shy about sharing this part of my personal life. And it is one whole reason I have created this blog. Healthy healing alive food.
My ego reasoning was not to whine or build up the past. It is just my old story. I have learned not to live in old pain stories since that only perpetuates those bothersome and boring painful ways. "No whining" was the motto I learned to adopt as a brand new mom with a brilliant two year old daughter combined with my brilliant (and exhausting) idea to solve single mom hood with owning and operating a home daycare center in order to stay at home with my child. Built in friends and a social life for at least one of us. Yet, flash back 2 years earlier, while living a single young and idependant 24 year old woman's life in Alaska, I let a psychic hold my hand at a party when she looked deeply into my eyes to tell me I would move across the waters and have 10 kids! Now THAT Scared me out of my wits, that crazy old psychic did! Now I say, Thank GOODNESS I did not birth all but 2 children predicted and found a way to fullfil the rest of her prophecy by providing income, food and shelter and just LOVE and care for 10 little incredible souls for 6 to 9 hours per day for 3 years!

That said, I have learned to live right in the moment now over and over again and again. That is my experience of how the now works as an artist and mom. From my passions and to share from my heart. So it has taken time to put to words my journey to share without bringing back the old hell of growing up as an adult. (I am referring to the unspoken but truth of adulthood! That rarely do adults share with their children)

I have met many many women like me. struggling with self esteem, weight, hormone and body balance over the last 10 years that I have worked as a psychic, angel channel and angel portrait artist. As I let my psychic gifts serve and assist clients, I would learn of many ways to also assist myself. Because of the nature of my work, where the higher realms beam down great love and support for each and everyone of us, I became very good at letting this shine in through each session with a visceral tangible sense to open everyone I worked with. Anchoring heaven on earth. But this did not mean in anyway that I was perfectly healed. No, far far from it. I was also on my own personal healing journey too. My children always inspired me to grow, improve and become the best I could so they could also learn from my modeling to do this for their very own selves.

For 22 years I worked steadily on my spiritual journey. Healing and processing my child of origin wounds. For 12 years I delved deeply into an earth based Native American spiritual journey, where I explored my life through sweat lodges and vision quests. Attempting to get "grounded" since I was pretty much up in the clouds. Which was one way of trying to get back into my body. (It really took another 10 years for that to begin to happen!) Along the way I developed my passion for creating food to share with others by starting up a small catering and personal chef business focusing on Mediterranean, pacific rim and Americana foods. Healthy, organic but heavy on the wheat, cream, butter and meats.

I also studied herbalism for 3 wonderful magical years starting back when I was in that uncomfortable pregnancy with my second child. This brought about the beginnings of awareness of healing with plants rather than relying on a pill or antibiotics. I loved studying and learning and wild gathering plants to be turned into healing teas, tinctures, and salves. Still diet evaded me and I continued to experience more and more intestinal discomforts. When I would visit a doc for support, I was told "it was all in my head", as they did not know how to address this on a dietary track and I would refuse to take their pills.

In 2000 I began my pyschic career and along the way discovered many forms of energy healing, reiki, shamanic healing. I delved into learning each practice, opening and experiencing first hand and through working on others with alternative healing therapies. I was amazed at the changes in myself. Yet I still could not drop my weight. I could not "see" that I had to go to the body level and look at what I was feeding myself and how this was affecting me. I resisted entering into and living fully inside my body. Though I had learned to build many bridges to the wounded parts of myself, it is very typical of PTSD where the neuro system trips into fear fight or flight, messing up the endocrine system's fine tuning. It was easier to stay well insulated (fat) and detached from the unfriendly scary world of my past traumas as a child, teenager and young adult that continued to overlay and affect my life as an adult.

16 years ago, during the pregnancy with my son, my weight soared to 200 pounds and stayed there for 13 years. I could not seem to drop the baby weight. Before this I did not have a weight issue. I did not gain extra weight with my first child. And dropped back to my normal weight after her birth. This was a new me and I adjusted by convincing myself to just get used to it and accept since I had no idea how to deal with it. Anyway that is how I adjusted to this. I did not have steady health insurance and even the health insurance I shared with my husband then, ended with the divorce. I continued to work for myself, cleaning houses and giving psychic readings full time. My kids had health care covered by their dad during that time. And except for another short and lousy marriage, I was a single mom with 2 amazing children to raise. My finances suffered because daily I experienced painful bouts of morning gut pain and diarrhea (scary with blood) from the time I awoke to about 11 am. From 11 am on I would work hard, but I was exhausted and drained with mood swings up and down everyday. I would just push hard relentlessly through my days. I craved sugars and carbs to keep me going each day dipping with a huge crash around 4 pm, which I would remedy with a nice grande vanilla mocha double latte and some sweet treat. The caffube would keep me up till midnight while I worked in my studio on my business after the kids were in bed. My weight would swing up and down between 10 and 15 pounds hovering between 180 to 200. I was never able to succeed at reducing my body size beyond this. Looking back, I believe I was starving back then, eating regular balanced, but not overly huge meals, unable to absorb nutrients and losing all my food's nutritional value to diarrhea, though you would not have known this by looking at me. At 5'4", I was over weight, bloated, pale, with loads of acne and cold sores. My self esteem was very low and I was discouraged. Yet, everyday, I walked my dear pug dog faithfully. Nice long brisk walks in our neighborhood park. My dog ate a homemade raw meat dog diet. I always joked that my cats and dog ate better than we did! Why did I not listen more closely to my own jokes?

(While on a hike on Mt Adams in Washington state, my sweet dog, Lili pug, shares my journey of releasing my excess weight. It's a very hot day when the temp shot up to over 90 degrees in less than an hour, Lili pug's pushed in snout can not cool her body temp efficiently, as this was very dangerous for her, we are several miles from the trail head so I poured water from my drinking bottle on her to cool her core temp and had to resort to carrying her while she cooled down. I am about 30 pounds along in releasing my weight.)



I have been mostly gluten free for 6 years starting back in 2003. By simply removing wheat from my diet I was able to discern that my body is intolerant and sensitive to gluten but I am not diagnosed as a celiac. Yet I still could not lose weight. After this I began eliminating other foods and found out my body is lactose intolerant and sensitive all processed sugars, tapioca starch, potato starch, corn starch and flour. (so much for the gluten free flour mixes!)

I can eat a small amount of gluten (wheat) at a holiday meal or celebration and not suffer if I do not continue to eat gluten, refined and processed foods day after day. So I save the wheat and a bit of sugar and dairy for the holiday or family birthday gathering. I celebrate that I am able to eat sprouted grain bread once or twice a week without any issues. It is amazing how you can begin to like a sprouted grain bread over artisan breads! And yet I have learned to enjoy this. Since I have an intolerance to dairy this has been a doorway into exploring a vegan diet (and chia seeds!). Though I am not inclined to be strict or dogmatic about diet, I learned I can tolerate small amounts of goat cheese and raw milk yogurt. If I consume any kind of pasteurized dairy for more than a couple of days my symptoms return very quickly. All of this has been well tested out during Christmas holidays when my kids are all craving and wanting our old family traditional foods and I break down, drag out the recipes prepare and sample everything.

In 2006, my beloved and new boyfriend (now life partner) gifted me with a gym membership where I started a daily exercise workout including weights and cardio, hiking and biking. (I love my bicycle rides! and I no longer hate hills!) In 10 months I lost 80lbs! At that time we adjusted how we were eating by removing all refined sugars, dairy, (except the wee bit of goat cheese and raw yogurt) fruit juices and grains except for sprouted grain bread, brown rice and quinoa. We focused on eating fresh veggies, legumes, leafy greens, and fresh fruits. I now have energy and vitality and my body back. My life has taken a 180 degree turn into health and vitality. There is always some interesting healing and processing to do with what I now at almost 50 have discovered is part of growing and expanding into being me. A work in progress and never, never boring when this perspective is applied!

It was no picnic to dissolve 80# of fat. I experienced many healing crisis and detoxing of non water soluble impurities and toxins store in my body fat. That opened the door to learning how to assist and support detoxing the body with hydro colon therapy, herbs and supplements. I also got the opportunity this year to remove all the mercury fillings in my teeth over a 5 month period. Of course this added another round of detoxing to support this procedure.

For me, there is nothing like eating a fresh raw or partially raw meal. And then there is the body feeling afterward. Light and clean, full of energy and vitality I can go on to the next task of my day with energy. No sluggish sleepy feeling. I never get sick. That was not the case 4 years ago! I love supporting the local farmers at the farmers market. I look forward to the day I can develop, plant and nurture my own garden of greens and veggies. I have all the plans and visions in my head ready for the garden to come. For now, I sprout indoors on the kitchen counter and use the sprouts on my salads and wraps. My own indoor garden of sorts.

In this blog I share my favorite recipes I have created and eat daily. Some are just my versions of basics you can also find in raw recipe books or blogs, others are my personal creations or tweaks of inspiration based on recipes I have tried and expanded on. Raw food carries a very vibrant, alive flavor. There is a "wow" response from tasting raw creations of food. I love sharing this with you. The experience of eating live enzymes and the vibrant life force of raw is one of the reasons I keep at this. When I return to regular cooked food, the taste is flat and the food weighs heavy in my gut. No contest. I also include warm vegan soups to eat during the cold mountain winters. I just get way to chilled otherwise. If it weren't for the skiing, I would live along the ocean side where the waters are warm enough to surf and play in the waves. This I know.

(living proof of joy; that I could live just fine by the ocean, sliding down the waves. My goal for turning 50 (!!!) this coming year is to learn how to surf! Stand up on a board! If it were not for my age long dream of starting up a raw/vegan cafe here in Park City, (tba, if we get the funding needed to sign the lease! Yeah!) I would talk David into relocating maybe Santa Cruz or Santa something else along the southern coastline of the Pacific ocean. But, skiing still causes passion to activate when I think of the coming winter season just ahead....)


I share my food creations from my heart. May my journey gift you with insights into your own wonderful journey and path through your life. What doesn't fit for you, just leave behind. But if something fits for you, you are welcome to make it your part of your own. We are all on this incredible ride of living here on earth, spiritual beings expressing life and creation in human bodies. May you find joy and peace along the way.
Namaste

Sprouted Grains, Nuts and Seed Porridge

I have been remiss on keeping up with this blog. It has been a busy summer and amazingly I have not spent much time on the computer! Yay!
This is a breakfast I have been eating all summer, inspired by a tiny taste of something kind of similar made by a lovely raw catering company here in Park City. One small bite and I immediately knew this had to be part of my morning, EVERY morning. So I made up my own version from the taste based on what I like and it has been part of my mornings except when I run out, forget to time it right and find myself in the 4 day process of sprouting and soaking everything. This past year has been my year of learning to sprout and add sprouts to my daily foods. From wheatgrass juice to salads and wraps to this yummy breakfast. The activation of living enzymes added to as many meals as possible gives you the benefit of live enzymes to aid your ability to fully digest and absorb all of the nutrients of the foods you are eating. Thus giving you more energy and vitality to go about your day. And a more alkaline based diet. I do not feel really full after this meal, just really good. When you soak and sprout a grain you change it from acid structure to an alkaline base. If I eat a slice of whole grain bread, I am eating a slice of carbs that turn to sugar quickly. In me that means a fermentation process in my gut that gets the gassy results of sugars fermenting. Poot power = too much sugar! This goes for gluten free breads too. And yes, I have found a gluten free bread claiming to be "whole grain". Kind of a funny joke if you research the grains in the ingredients and try to figure out how corn starch and tapioca starch is a whole grain.
Anyway, I digress into personal experiences of foods I have learned to eliminate.

This breakfast porridge is an easy (but lengthy) 4 day process of soaking and rinsing and sprouting in bowls on the kitchen counter. No dehydrator or high speed blender. Just learning to sprout and soak. All good skills to acquire for a healing healthy live food diet.

Technique: You will need to rinse the seeds and grains twice a day. If you don't you will experience some smelly and very slimy seeds and grains. Yuk. You will have to throw out and begin again. (I have made every mistake I am listing!) Rinsing twice a day with a colander will keep this process from happening. Refrigeration will stop the sprouting process if you start all the sprouts and grains soaking on the first day instead of staggering the process. (I have listed the grains that take the longest first.) Though you will have a not as fresh porridge. You will find the quinoa, and sunflower seeds will win and sprout after the first day. Leaving the amaranth and millet to poke along for another 2 days. The sprouted grains need not be very long tails. The longer you let the tails grow the more "greeny" instead of "grainy" they will taste. Once you see the very beginnings of short little white tails on the ends of each grain, the process has been achieved. An alive and enzyme rich food! It is ideal to have all organic ingredients. The apple juice and apples will oxidize and turn brown. You can add a teaspoon of lemon juice to keep this from happening.If your home is below 72 degrees you may find the sprouting process may take another day.

Oh, I forgot. This porridge will make you really, really regular! I also last a good 4 to 5 hours before wanting anything more than some fruit before the next meal. I have been taking care of horses everyday during the sumer months and riding 2 to 4 hours on trails and cross country most mornings. This breakfast holds me till I can get off, take care of tack, brush horses down, pasture and feed them and drive back home. Stinky, dusty and smelling like horse sweat. See why I have been ignoring my blog. Way too much fun. I do have stacks of recipes I have been creating and eating all summer to share. I am sorry but the horses won over posting!

1/2 cup millet
1/2 cup amaranth
1 cup quinoa
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup pepita seeds (green pumpkin seeds)
1 cup walnuts
1/2 cup chia seeds (don't need to soak)
1 cup goji berries
9 majool dates pitted and chopped
4 apples, slightly tart to green work best
1/2 cup chopped cacao nibs
3 tablespoons vanilla extract or one vanilla bean split and scraped
1 teaspoon cinnamon

The morning of day one, soak the amaranth and millet in fresh water for 8 hours. At the end of the day rinse and set out the bowls of wet drained millet and amaranth on the counter over night.

The morning of day two: rinse each well in cool water and strain and leave out. At the end of the day, rinse again in cool water and strain and leave over night on the counter.

The morning of day three: Repeat the rinsing and staining. Now fill 3 more bowls each filled separately with quinoa, sunflower seeds and pepita seeds. Fill each bowl with fresh water to soak over night.

On the morning of the fourth day (At the end of this day you will assemble all the ingredients for your breakfast starting the very next day): rinse all bowls of grains and seeds and set out. Now fill another bowl with the walnuts and fresh water to soak all day. At the end of the day rinse all bowls well in cool water. Place the goji berries and chopped dates in a bowl of warm water that just covers the dates and goji berries to soak while you are assembling all of the other ingredients with the grains and seeds in a large bowl. Juice 3 apples and add to the bowl, dice up the last remaining apple and add to the bowl. Chop the soaked and drained walnuts and add to the bowl. Add the softened goji berries and chopped dates to the bowl. Stir to combine everything well. Store in a sealed container in the fridge. To serve. Place about 1/2 cup in a bowl and top with your favorite fresh fruit and either fresh almond milk or your favorite fresh fruit juiced.
*If you want to see more of the horses I have been loving on, go to the flicker link on this blog.