And I am back!!.....
As a brief little recap of the last couple months since i have written in, Life has Drastically changed! Not just a little change like the simple day to day changes you may witness, but Massive beautiful change. And with that, there is an increasing awareness on healing with seasonally intentional foods.
Over the last week, my amazing creative partner Jana and I dove into a beautiful event of preparing lunches for ~35 acroyogis focusing on the playful and theraputic functions of their art. Co-founders of AcroYoga, Jenny Sauer-Klein and Jason Nemer guided 30 dedicated students with the ayurvedic/chinese medicinal knowledge of Scott Blossom through a movement workshop filled with healing intention, deep serenity, and rawkus laughter.
Alas Jana and I had too many other things going on after preparing the lunches for us to drop our intention and attention into joining the play on the mats. We look forward to our next time though.
Our role as the chefs for this amazing workshop was to do what we do best: creating seasonally minded loved up nourishing bites guided by the principles of traditional medicine. I think we did pretty well! And the following is a day by day breakdown of what we made and why. Each meal filled an intentional role of tonifying or purging specific organ systems according to how the weather presented itself that day and a general understanding of what the eaters were doing.
Remember, food is medicine. Each meal should be another step in healthfully regulating your everchanging being. Lifes dynamic pulse demands an awareness to our surroundings and how our body, mind, and spirit are dancing with it. If we loose track for a day or two or 365, also remember, we are only here right now. And each moment is new!! Give a good sigh from the bottom of the heart and release all those unmet expectations you may have for yourself and others...Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh. Yes!!! Now you are practicing Qigong, and healing your heart. Repeat and feel the energy release and drop your tissues. I think I just saw your shoulders come down an inch!! Beautiful!!!!
Now...on to some nourishing culinary awareness for your moment!
Starting with Monday 11/8/10:
Weather: Sunny yet a little wet. A storm had just passed and all was cold and wet. Fall is here and winter is on its way. Time to return to Earth by grounding out between the seasons. Focus returns to Earth/Spleen/Stomach to tonify lung qi and immunity before qi retreats in winter.
Body needs: Drying damp, warming cold, bring qi in and down rooting into the core and way from extremities. (The acroyogis will be focused on moving qi to their extremities to find awareness and balance within the edges of their physical bodies. Their strength in focused in the core. Yet since the system is aerial, rooting the qi in and down with the food allows for a fresh return to source during every practice.)
The meal: Spiced Ginger Butternut Squash Soup with Coconut and Brown Rice, Deep Greens Salad with Massaged Kale, Avocado, Lemon, Fennel, Frisee, Dandelion Greens, and shaved Beets.
Recipes: Feeding 6-10
1 medium small Butternut squash, peeled, diced roughly (drying, nourishing spleen qi)
1/3 cup ginger, peeled, chopped fine (warming, builds agni/digestive fire spleen qi)
1 medium onion diced (warming, benefits lungs)
1 bulb Fennel, diced (warming, benefits spleen)
3 Carrots, peeled, diced (neutral/slightly cooling, benefits spleen)
1/2 cup goji berries (nourishes kidney)
1 can coconut milk (warming, roots qi nourishes nerves)
2 tbls coconut oil
2 qt water or stock
Cinnamon (warming, moves blood)
Nutmeg
Star anise
Clove
In a lg pot, add coconut oil and onions. Saute on high heat until translucent and beginning to brown (bring out the natural sugars and earth element). Once browning add squash, fennel, carrots, ginger. Saute until ingredients begin to caramelize constantly stirring as to not let ingredients stick and burn. Add coconut milk and stock/water to cover ingredients. Bring up to a boil. Turn down, add gojis, and simmer until squash and carrots are soft. 15-30 minutes depending on size. Add spices to taste including salt and pepper. I am a fan of star anise so I use a little more. Some may like nutmeg more. Use your empassioned expression. Blend. Taste. Adjust seasoning. to achieve and balance the taste, you may need to add a splash of acidity. I prefer lemon or grapefruit with this dish. Apple cider vin works wonderfully as well. Sometimes a dash of sweetness is needed as well. I add in more goji and blend.
The salad is a mix of all ingredients listed and chopped or shaved for easy eating. The idea was to bring in bitter greens to spark digestive fire/activate the triple burner, cool the liver, tonify the heart. Bitter greens do WONDERS for the body. Often times we over work our liver eating at funny hours or even eating too much. This causes heat/stagnancy and within the TCM perspective, that heat follows directly in line to the heart creating anxiety and overbearing the spleen. The bitter allows the heart to relax as digestive fire is stoked and the liver doesnt have to work so hard. Plus there is an amazing amount of nutrient value in bitter greens. The Chlorophyl alone helps clean and oxygenate the blood and allows the liver to release stored toxins instead of always focusing on working.
Seasonal. Fresh. Love your body. Focus your mind. Free your spirit.
Tuesdays menu will come tomorrow!
gorg! thank u ..xoox
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