Welcome! This is a way for me to share about my experiences as they relate to myself, family, health, compassionate cooking, baking and yoga. Enjoy!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Take Five

Breathing is such an essential part of life.  However, we get so caught up in the events of the day, that we forget to take a few moments to recognize our breath and how important it is.  Life is busy for every person, just in different ways.  Taking as little as five minutes everyday, can really make a huge impact in our lives.  It's hard to believe that such a little change can make such a big difference.  The positive benefits you will feel from practicing just five minutes of conscious breathing will amaze you.  You don't have to do anything fancy or have to be in a certain area to practice this.  You could be in your car (parked of course), at your desk, anywhere.  It does help to find a quiet place, but sometimes you work with what you have.  Begin by closing your eyes, take a deep breath in through your nose, completely filling your lungs, pause and then slowly begin to exhale through your mouth, pause again.  Do this three times and, while you're doing this, try to empty all the thoughts racing through your mind.  To help with this, you may want to say to yourself "in" as you breathe in and, "out" as you breath out.  After three full breaths, just breath normally in and out through your nose.  If you find your mind filling up with all those thoughts again, just keep saying to yourself, "in" with each in breath and "out" with each out breath.  If you want to set a timer for five minutes go ahead and do so, that way you're not worried about watching the clock.  After practicing this daily for awhile, you may find you don't need to set a timer and that you sit for as long as you're comfortable.  Not to say that we all aren't human and may have our moments, but I guarantee they will be less and you will be able to bounce back quicker after moments of chaos.   Bringing peace and calm within you is a tremendous gift to give to yourself.  Not only will you benefit immensely, but those around you will too as you begin to approach everyone and everything in a less hectic manner.  

Friday, January 13, 2012

Chocolate Pumpkin Doughnuts

This recipe is from VegNews magazine, I tweaked it slightly.   These are also gluten-free.  I didn't really taste the pumpkin, but the doughnuts still tasted really good.  Also, the original recipe said to fry them in oil, but I just couldn't bring myself to do that so I baked them as I usually do with my donuts.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 C.   Bob's Redmill All Purpose GF Flour (Red label bag)
1/2 C.      potato starch
1/4 C.      tapioca starch (or flour)
3/4 C.      cocoa powder (use a good quality brand, like Ghirardelli)
1 tsp.       guar gum (or xanthan gum)
4 tsp.       baking powder (aluminum free)
3/4 tsp.    salt
1 tsp.       cinnamon
1/2 tsp.    cardamom
1 C.         coconut sugar
3 Tbsp.    vegan margarine
2 Tbsp.    ground flax meal mixed with 4 Tbsp. water
1 tsp.       pure vanilla extract (gluten free)
1/2 C.      non-dairy milk or cream (I used soy in this recipe)
1 C.        canned or pureed pumpkin
               melted coconut oil for donut pan


Pre-heat oven to 325 F.  In a medium bowl, combine all dry ingredients, whisk to combine.  In a large bowl, cream margarine and sugar until smooth.  Add prepared flaxseed meal, vanilla, milk, and pumpkin, mix until very smooth.  Gradually add flour mixture until well incorporated and a sticky batter forms (almost dough like).  You can chill for an hour to make it easier to handle, but you don't have to.  Oil the doughnut pan with coconut oil and them push batter into each ring, pushing down on batter to make it even and smooth on the tops.  Bake for 8-10 minutes.  Immediately remove from oven, flip the pan upside down over a cooling rack and tap the donuts out.  Allow them to cool completely.  Ice how you prefer.  See below for the chocolate glaze recipe I used.


Chocolate Glaze Recipe:

8-10 oz    good quality dark chocolate (vegan of course)
2 Tbsp     melted coconut oil
1/2 tsp.     sea salt
                 coconut sugar (optional)

Melt chocolate in double broiler or in small saucepan over medium heat.  Stirring constantly.  Once completely melted and shiny, remove from heat and stir in oil and salt.

Take cooled donut, dip into chocolate, evenly coat top and sides.  Sprinkle sugar on top.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Gluten Free Pasta with Creamy Avocado Sauce

I was in the mood for avocado's so I decided to try something different.  I was determined to make something for dinner that had avocado's in it.  The sauce is a raw recipe which makes it even healthier (not to mention all the nutritious ingredients that go into it).  This recipe is the perfect combination of flavors and goes well with pasta because the heat from the pasta warms it up just enough.  Using the gluten free pasta allows your body to conserve energy rather than having to digest all the processed flour from traditional pastas.  Even if you don't have gluten allergies, I highly suggest you give Jovial brown rice pasta a chance, it's amazing!  The recipe below if for 2-3 people, but when I made it, I doubled the sauce recipe because I knew I would be using the entire 12 oz. box of pasta.

Ingredients:
1 large ripe avocado (cut in half, pitted, scrap out the creamy inside of both halves)
2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice (if you really like lemons you could add another Tbs.)
1-2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 Tbs. fresh basil
2 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil (cold-pressed)
6 oz. Jovial brown rice pasta (capellini)
Additional salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
Follow package directions to cook pasta.  Do not over cook it.  Jovial capellini takes about 7 minutes, immediately remove from heat and rinse.

While pasta is cooking combine garlic, lemon, salt and oil in food processor.  Process until smooth.  Add avocado and basil.  Process again until all ingredients are combined.  Season with additional salt and pepper if desired.  Set aside until pasta is done.

While pasta is hot, place a large spoonful on top, mix into pasta.

If you have additional sauce left over, store in an airtight glass container.  For leftovers, re-heat noodles, not the sauce.  Once noodles are re-heated, then again, place spoonful of sauce on top and mix.

*Tip to re-heat noodles: try not using the microwave.  Place desired amount in strainer and run hot water over them for a minute or so.  They taste so much better this way.

If may not look like a lot of sauce, but you don't want to pour it on like traditional red sauces.

This recipe is packed with nutrition and it takes all of 10-15 minutes to make.

Enjoy!