Joys In My Life

One of my favorite comfort foods is also a recipe that is supposed to be good for cleansing and digestive issues. Mung beans are supposed to be the easiest of beans to digest and soaking your beans makes them even easier to digest. I thought I had posted it on my blog, but when I went to search for it so I'd have easy access to the recipe I couldn't find it. I had to go searching all my whole foods cookbooks to find the computer print out the original version was on. There are many different recipes for kitchari. This is mine which is tweaked from a recipe that Yoga Journal published once on their website. Enjoy! 1 cup mung beans (soaked in water overnight) 1 cup brown rice (can be short grain or basmati) 1 tablespoon chopped ginger 2 tablespoons shredded coconut (can be dried) handful of cilantro 3 tablespoons of butter or ghee 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon each of salt, pepper, cardamom, ground cloves, tumeric 3 bay leaves In a blender, blend the ginger, coconut and ci...

I've finally made Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah). I found some rough instructions on the web how to make a good grain salad with it and I really changed it a lot. What I really liked about this is I was able to have it on the table for dinner in less than 30 minutes. This is a perfect summer worknight supper. This was our main dish as in the summer we like to eat light. I put this over a bed of lettuce and sprouts as our main dish. 1 cup quinoa 2 medium zuchini, halved and sliced 1 small bunch of brocolli cut into flowerets 1 red bell pepper juice of one lemon olive oil garlic powder sea salt pepper Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook the quinoa in 2 cups of water in a saucepot, uncovered until the water is soaked up by the grain. Then turn off, put a lid on it and let it sit until the rest of dinner is ready. While the grain is cooking, slice up the veggies, put them in a roasting pan cover liberally with olive oil or lemon infused olive oil. Sprinkle garlic powder, sea salt an...

On the macrobiotic dinner menu tonight, I had the following: Miso soup with ginger Brown Rice Tempeh Kinpira (carrots and burdock) Braised bok choi The braised bok choi is my own recipe, but it is very easy. You can do this with any upward-growing vegetable, like kale, escarole, or bok choi. Braised Bok Choi I head bok choi, chopped into medium size pieces olive oil chopped garlic In a medium size sauce pot over medium heat, saute the garlic in the olive oil until the oil is flavored with the garlic. Add the bok choi, stir in with the garlic and oil, cover and let steam in it's own juices. Serve hot.

I'll start with the recipe. I will have to tell you, I really have never liked tofu. I would pick it out of dishes and eat around it. Something about the texture I didn't like. I must admit that's been changing, and I've been trying some tofu recipes lately just to see what I think. This is from Jessica Porter's book "The Hip Chick's Guide to Macrobiotics." I modified very few things, and it is so yummy! I had it for dinner last night with a fresh romaine lettuce salad and then I had it for lunch again today too. I must admit I was looking forward to the leftovers! The other thing I liked about this recipe is that it's very good for a dinner you need to get on the table in less than 1/2 hour. Most macrobiotic dinners take around an hour to put together, because that's how long it usually takes to cook brown rice and other whole grains. It's nice to have this macrobiotic recipe in my back pocket for nights I have to get my dinner ...

I've been really enjoying "The Hip Chick's Guide to Macrobiotics" . It sounds like a fluffy name, and maybe not worth it, but the recipes are great and she really packs a lot of information in here and makes it make sense to a layman. Here's the recipe I mentioned the other day that even DH and DD ate with gusto. They told me this one they will eat as well as me. I made a few changes from her original recipe. This is what I made: 1 8-oz package whole-wheat udon or soba noodles (I bought rice and whole-wheat udon noodles at my health food store) 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil 1 onion, diced pinch of sea salt 1 carrot, cut into matchsticks 8 mushrooms, sliced 3 teaspoons shoyu (it's a japanese soy sauce) handful of frozen corn kernels 2 cups of sliced cabbage 1 yellow or red bell pepper sliced to complement sizes of cabbage 1/4 cup filtered water 1 scallion chopped Cook noodles according to instructions on package, drain, rinse with cold water and set asid...

Wow, was yesterday rough! Work was having problems that continued until I went to bed, but at that point, I knew it could wait until the morning. Today is much better. I love how much Phoebe knows me. It was just her and I going to her ice skating practice last night and coming home, I was still feeling stressed, knowing I had to work more on the work issues when I got home and got her in bed. Phoebe asked me to play my iPod music on the way home. As I let is shuffle through the songs over the car radio, sometimes I decide to skip through a song I'm not in the mood for. A few times Phoebe asked me to put it back - like for two of the Beatles' songs. Also for Green Day's "Holiday". That one cracked me up. She said, "Mom, go back. You want to hear that one. You'll thank me for it!" And she was right. Something about going back to music that sounds like what I loved in my teenage angst days can bring me out of a bad mood - some Dead Kennedy...

I might just start believing in all this "different foods impart different energy" thing of macro-biotics. I've been feeling very scattered in my brain lately. Yesterday afternoon definately very scattered. So this morning, I had a bowl of oatmeal (the 5-minute kind) with walnuts, raisins and some rice milk. I felt so much better, more grounded, just like the books said I would. It's an amazing feeling. BTW, carbs from whole grains are a big part of a macro-biotic diet. Just no processed carbs - white flour, white rice, etc. I had an ultrasound and some bloodwork this morning at the REs office to time ovulation so we can schedule the endometrial biopsy. I've got something big cooking on the right and even something else starting to look like a contender on the left. And this is on my own! Ovulation has definately never been my problem. So looks like I should ovulate soon. Hope DH doesn't mind a little BDing tonight, LOL! I really liked the vibe in...

I could tell I was still in a lot of pain when I wrote my last post, just by reading it. Things are going OK. I'm back at work today. I still had a bit of shoulder pain for most of the morning, but it's starting to dissapate. Now, I'm just mostly suffering with my bruised up belly. It feels good to be back at work. I got a lot accomplished just this morning. I have to run in a few minutes to pick up a cup of green tea to help me through a big department quarterly meeting. I have been very good with the macrobiotic-type diet so far. No coffee, just one cup of green tea a day. It's pretty much vegan, although I can have fish once or twice a week. You'd think that it would close off a lot of eating possibilities, but I think because of the big ouch I've just been through, I'm taking it a lot differently this time. I'll post more about what things I've been eating and what's working.

Hi all. Sorry I was gone for so long. Lots have happened. We had a great time on vacation in Disney. Phoebe collected Disney pins as souveniers and she went on every big bad roller coaster in each of the parks. We also got to go to the one water park, Typhoon Lagoon. She learned to love Epcot as much as us. She loved the pastries in France the most. My favorite ride was Soarin'. I wouldn't go on a roller coaster if you put a gun to my head. Thankfully, DH went on all the roller coasters with Phoebe. I also got my period when we were on vacation, so I got to call the RE to schedule my laporoscopy. I had the surgery this past Friday, 2/22/08. I'm a bit disappointed as it turns out the endometriosis was pretty bad. The doctor said he got about 90% of it. It's a bit disheartening considering all the Chinese herbs and supplements I've taken. I guess it's good to know what I'm up against and that at least there is a reason for all these problems. ...