Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Yoga...with Nicole Summer 2011



Just playing around in my 4 p.m. all levels class. This was our impromptu acro-yoga class!

And again at my Intermediate level class, savasana offered Nicole-style! Viparita Karani-Legs up the wall! I love this picture because it captures, for me, that feeling of total bliss after a challenging yoga practice. Sweat, smiles, surrender. Ahhhhhh...

Clafoutti and Coq Au Vin

My favorite (cooked) meal in the world is Coq Au Vin (a French chicken dish) served with white rice, dessert and a good bottle of wine. It's not necessarily the most healthy meal but making it makes me feel so alive and happy. I used to cook it as an act of service to my family. And it still is. The preparation is extremely time consuming. Lots of cutting with your hands, can't sub with a food processor. But this time was special because I decided to try a new cooking method. Would this effect the outcome of my act of service? Oh dear. Here we go.

On this day, in 2011, there is no reason to spend 24 hours cooking a stew. With the invention of the slow cooker it's a no-brainer. SO, I made coq au vin in my slow cooker and guess what?! It was just as good as when I slave over the hot stove for hours on end. Act of service-check. This is the trusty slow cooker I recommend:


The recipe I used can be found on Whole Foods website
Taste the wine (red or white) before you use it. Make sure that the flavor works for you. I tasted from 3 bottles before I found the right one. :)

You may hear that original recipes call for a rooster. This is so old school and would only offend a French person if you were to use a rooster. Chicken is the acceptable and preferred replacement. There are some pretty funny stories behind the rooster though. Some say it was a way for neighbors to get rid of annoying roosters in a "astuce" way because, of course, you would invite your neighbor over for dinner and forget about the whole thing. Ha!

For dessert I attempted an old French recipe, clafouti. It worked brilliantly, even with the extra large mound of berries I added to each ramekin. They came out bubbly and puffy just like a souffle. Such a good feeling when you pull out a pan of puffy desserts. Who'da thought?

Cultured Veggies. So Sophisticated.



After years of paying $20-$40 for Mason jars of cultured veggies I finally worked up the nerve to make my own. Approx. 20 hours of internet research, blog stalking, an inspiring old friend who is doing it as a business (www.straightfromthevine.com) and a trip to Whole Foods later I was ready. Really ready. And hungry. Hungry not just for food but nourishment that makes me FEEL GOOD. If the food I'm eating happens to also clean my guts at the same time all the merrier.

When I expressed my enthusiasm over my incubating jars people would all ask the same thing: What are cultured veggies? Body Ecology, the school for healthy eating, (http://bodyecology.com/articles/cveggies.php) defines: Cultured vegetables are made by shredding cabbage or a combination of cabbage and other vegetables and then packing them tightly into an airtight container. They are left to ferment at room temperature for several days or longer. Friendly bacteria naturally present in the vegetables quickly lower the pH, making a more acidic environment so the bacteria can reproduce. The vegetables become soft, delicious, and somewhat "pickled." During this fermentation period, the friendly bacteria are having a heyday, reproducing and converting sugars and starches to lactic acid. Once the initial process is over, it is time to slow down the bacterial activity by putting the cultured veggies in the refrigerator. The cold greatly slows the fermentation, but does not stop it completely. Even if the veggies sit in your refrigerator for months, they will not spoil; instead they become more like fine wine, more delicious with time. Properly made, cultured vegetables have at least an eight month shelf life.

Interesting stuff, eh?

I started with a red cabbage base because I like colorful food. You could use green cabbage as well, I think it breaks down faster. Then I decided I would do 3 different recipes: sweet, salt and spicy variations.

The sweet was my favorite. It is the lightest colored of the three. It's also the one that collected a syrup-like consistency as the bottom of the jar. It's like a treat to eat. If your idea of treats include fermented veggies.
Sweet cultured veggie ingredients: 2 cups shredded red cabbage, 3 small chopped gala apples, 3 shredded carrots, 1 shredded beet, lemon juice (I cheated and used bottled lemon juice. This would not fly obviously if I were trying to sell this stuff), a pinch of Hawaiian sea salt. I ended up adding 2 more pinches of salt after they cultured.

The salty was my second favorite. It was also the one I made the least of, but probably would be the one I would take to a raw food meet-up because of its common flavor combination.
Salty cultured veggie ingredients: 1 cup shredded AND chopped red cabbage, 2 shredded carrots, 2 inch knob of peeled julienne ginger, 2 tablespoons of dried fennel, 1 pinch of Hawaiian sea salt.

The "Muy Caliente" or spicy variation was my big experiment and sadly, my least favorite. I found a new spice at the grocery store, Jamaican All Spice. It's got cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. Sounds diverse, right? No, it over powered the simple mix. The spice itself is the size of a small pebble, only broke down a little bit so when you chew on this cultured veggie mix you have to fish out the spice with your fingers when your teeth find it. This one will not be making it out of the house I'm afraid. No, no sharing of you my pretty little deformed jar of health.
"Muy Caliente" cultured veggie ingredients: 2 cups shredded red cabbage, 2 cups chopped beets, 2 pinches cayenne pepper, 10-15 pieces of Jamaican All Spice, 1 pinch Hawaiian Sea Salt.

If anyone has interest in trying cultured veggies please contact me! I will give you some of mine to try and we could make some together. It's something that I see as a community sharing platform. If we all eat from the same garden then we can control immunities, diseases, illness in a much more educated way than the fragmented approach to healthcare we have now. So, let's get well together and grow together!

Happy noshing!

Impress a friend with a Key Lime Pie Shake


This is the most amazing shake I have ever tasted!

Recipe provided thanks to my new favorite cookbook: Living Raw Food by Sarma Melngailis:

Serves 2
Equipment: juicer, blender

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups fresh apple juice (from about 3 apples) (I used green apples)
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (from about 3 peeled limes) (I juiced them in the juicer with the apples)
1 ripe avocado
2 bananas (I didn't use bananas in the first shake I made and it was more juicy. The banana gives it the "shake" texture)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons agave nectar (light or dark, it won't effect taste)

In a blender puree all ingredients.

So easy and yet SO tasty! It's a satisfying treat after yoga.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

70.3 Cozumel is the new goal. Couldn't I have at least ponied for somewhere cooler???
I think my friend Vy talked me into a half Ironman relay last night. Oh dear. THIS is why smart people don't drink alcohol!

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

New yoga pics






These are recent pictures (April 2011) from a shoot at Felix Sanchez' Gallery with make up pro Victoria Calloway. We chose to focus on yoga poses and 2 looks: one more traditional and one kinda rock star. I liked the rock star the best! ;)