Addicted to potato chips? Try these instead – easily made at home, they are jam-packed with nutrients, and satisfy even the most voracious of snackers.
You’ll need :
1-2 bunches of fresh kale
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Sea salt
Directions:
1. Thoroughly wash and dry kale (I suggest using a salad spinner). Preheat oven to 175 degrees.
2. Tear kale leaves into small, potato-chip size pieces.
3. Place leaves in large bowl. Toss
with olive oil, vinegar and a tsbp sea salt. Note: I prefer to do this to taste, but maintain a 2:1 oil to vinegar ratio.
4. Lay kale pieces out in one layer on baking sheet (s).
5. Place in oven and allow to bake for 50 minutes or until edges are slightly brown and chips are crispy.
6. Remove from oven and let cool. Place in serving bowl and enjoy!
Ditch the Starbucks bagel and try this instead – contains protein, calcium, and a host of nutrients and vitamins! I made this for breakfast this morning in a total of about 5 minutes.
You’ll need:
A blender or food processor
1/2 cup Almond milk
Chia seeds (ground or whole)
1 peach, diced
5 whole strawberries (fresh or frozen)
A handful of bluberries (fresh or frozen)
Directions:
Place fruit in blender
Cover with 2 tbsp chia seeds
Add almond milk
Blend! (Make sure cover is on!)
**This makes a thick and hearty smoothie. If you prefer a smoother consistency, add more almond milk/water to taste.
Enjoy!!
I love tea parties. Now, I’m not talking about the little girl parties where you attempt to get your teddy bear to sip tea out of fine china. I’m referring to the grown-up, ladies’ exclusive, mid-afternoon get together. These parties bring together wholesome food, cultural traditions, and a celebration of feminine energy.
I extremely blessed to have a number of amazing and inspiring goddesses in my life, and every so often we are able to coordinate our busy schedules for tea. We sit around my kitchen table and discuss life, yoga, romance, and spirituality while munching on delicious snacks and sipping a variety of teas.
Typical snacks include homemade hummus, carrots and celery, almond buttee and crackers, and a fresh fruit (in season). Teas range from mint (if there’s fresh leavea growing in the garden), to a strawberry hibiscus grown and packaged locally in NYC. We sweeten with agave, honey, or a plant based raw sugar, depending on our tastes. And often, one of us will bake scones or a fruit pie and bring it to share.
Want to have your own goddess tea party?
1. Identify the goddess’s in your life. These are women that empower you and those around you…and its even better if they all get along (or will surely get along once they meet).
2. Determine a good meeting place. Maybe this is your home, maybe its a local fair-trade cafe, or maybe its another goddess’ newly renovated backyard.
3. Talk to your goddess’s. Flesh out a good time and confirm across the board. Let them know if they should bring anything (snacks) and what the parameters are.
4. If you’re hosting, get your tea table ready! Pick out and prepare tasty (but healthy) snacks and teas.
5. Welcome your goddesses and get the conversation rolling!
Tea parties are a time for honest and open communication in a supportive atmosphere. Healthy food should complement the healthy conversation, as we strive for purity inside and out. Creating this positive energy will bond you and lay the foundation for further inspiration and empowerment.
In the yoga world (and perhaps, the rest of the world), there is a heated debate about the consumption of meat. At the heart of this debate is the principle of ahimsa, or non-harming. Many schools of yoga preach that eating any animal product or byproduct is equivalent to consuming negative energy, and thus creates further karma that must be worked out in future incarnations. In other schools that adhere to Ayurveda (the sister science of yoga), there are certain types of people that require meat to remain in balance. And then there are schools that say “Do what works for you.”
With all of this conflicting information, what is a yogi(ni) to do?
Let’s start with fleshing out ahimsa a little more. This means non-harming. Not just to animals, but to every living thing. Now, even if you adhere to a strict vegan diet, you are still picking fruits off plants, which may cause harm to the insects that would like to feast off of them. Indeed, in order for a crop to be fruitful (especially on North American farms) insect repellents (natural or otherwise) are utilized. Ahimsa? Not so much. Not to mention that being a vegan is great, but forcing those ideas onto others could also be considered a form of harm.
The food cycle has been carrying on since the beginning of time, and was designed in accordance with the universal intelligence. You learned about this in science. Plants grow from soil, the small animals eat the plants, larger animals eat smaller animals, dead animals are broken down by decomposers and the nutrients are returned to the soil so that plants can grow. Where do humans fit in here?
Vegans eat no animal products or byproducts, thus only eating plants, and typically in raw form. Vegetarians typically consume animal byproducts (like honey, which does not harm bees to produce if done in a natural setting). Everyone else consumes a little of everything. Most vegans I know will cite animal cruelty as the primary reason for their dietary choice. Many vegetarians feel the same way, but typically second it with health, spiritual, or consciousness based reasons.
So, who’s the “better” consumer?
The answer comes not from what you eat, but where your food comes from. As you practice yoga, your vibrational quality (consciousness) rises, which urges you towards foods that are naturally and holistically better for you. By choosing foods that are better, you automatically raise your consciousness, so you can get there through either or both ends. For example, meat is not inherently evil, but choosing meat products from places where animals are slaughtered in factory settings incurs negative energy — you are literally consuming all of the fear and anxiety that arose in the last minutes of the animal’s life. Strawberries are plant based and fabulous, but in the wintertime in New York, they are not local, typically not organic, and thus require a great deal of fossil fuels to get to your plate. In the same vein, plants that are genetically modified may contain harmful components, thus causing harm to your own body, which should be the first place you are practicing ahimsa.
Remembering the acronym SOUL can help you to make conscious food choices. S = Seasonal O = Organic U= Unprocessed L= Local. Ahimsa at its finest, it ensures that the least amount of harm possible is done in every aspect of getting the food from the farm to your table.
Where to get SOUL food? Try a local farmer’s market, or see if there is a CSA or Co-op operating in your area. If space allows, try your own hand at farming. And stay tuned here, as I’ll be posting deliciously nutritious recipes sure to entice even the most stubborn of carnivores, and taking you on the journey of turning 10 acres into an intensive farming experience.
Delicious Durga 