Meditative Cooking

There is a lot of mystery around what meditation is and what it means.  I’ve been meditating somewhat regularly for the past three or four years, ever since I read Russell Simmons’ book, “Do You!,” (an incredible inspiration for any wanna be entrepreneur).  For me, meditation is basically a prolonged period of intense concentration.  It doesn’t sound particularly relaxing but the fascinating thing about concentrating intensely on one specific thing for a period of time is that you cease to stress about anything that would ordinarily make up the background chatter that is present in your mind when you’re not in deep concentration.

I began my meditation practices by concentrating heavily on my breathing (and I still do this from time to time).  Breathing is a very relaxing thing to concentrate on – it has an innate peacefulness that makes it easy to concentrate on for 15-20 minutes.  Ever since we started Coup de Taco though I have very rarely sat down for a typical cross-legged, breathing based meditation and instead I’ve found relaxation and the ability to center and ground myself while I’m cooking.

There are times in the kitchen when I’m cooking three or four dishes at once  but every once in a while I get to focus on just one dish.  Recently it’s been the Cuban black beans.  I don’t really have a specific recipe for the beans and so I have to cook based on the smells, sights and taste of the dish as I progress.  Instead of thinking while I’m cooking, I just look deeply into the pan.  For five or ten minutes I don’t let anything enter my mind besides the very sight of the beans.  For those minutes the world around me fades into nothingness and what’s left is just the beans.  Even my own sense of self diminishes and I feel part of the beans rather than a person who is acting upon them.  The beans become very alive to me – the color of the dish pops out starkly against the silver-gray of the pan.  The smell of the dish becomes very potent and I can sense very subtle progressions in smell as well as sight as I pour each ingredient into the pot.  I am guided naturally from ingredient to ingredient without a set plan – I am just moved by the smells and sight of the dish.

Importantly, the stress of my day fades away completely for these five to ten minutes while I’m concentrating on the dish because there is nothing else in the world to me at the time.  For the moment, beans are everything and the rest of life is a dim white noise, barely noticeable in the background.  If I was worried about the truck or a new dish or paying our employees, all of those things fade out and all that’s left is the smell, taste and sight of black beans simmering.  It’s worth allowing yourself those five to ten minutes a day to concentrate strictly on one thing that brings only peacefulness and no anxiety.  Best of all would be to concentrate that intensely on everything you ever are doing in an effort to beat back the background banter of your mind, which is the source of your anxiety.

For me, it’s very difficult to maintain that level of concentration all the time but at the very least I grant myself those few minutes of meditative cooking to release my mind from the anxiety of the rest of my life.  It may just be five minutes of bliss but it sets my mood for the rest of the day.

[Via http://coupdetaco.wordpress.com]

Two Times the Tasty

Last night, I did something magical. I actually doubled our dinner so that I would have a second meal for later use. This allows me to schedule my laziness in advance. This tasty display is actually in my freezer right now.

It’s a Chili-Cheese Potato Casserole, by the way, made with lean ground turkey. No, it won’t end up fuzzy with chili-tasting freezer burn. The recipe comes from Once a Month Mom, who knows her poo when it comes to freezing food for later use.

I started cooking this thing with good intentions and very few ways to store it. The original plan was to freeze it in the pan we were eating out of. However, the more I stirred and seasoned, the more it looked like that idea wasn’t going to work. Thankfully, I had a throw-away pan on hand. I could actually use another set of Rubbermaid containers. They can take a serious beating. I know this from experience, since a few of them have fallen out of my freezer onto the tile floor multiple times — and they are still going strong!

Very Nice Rubbermaid Set for Under $20:

• Rubbermaid 7J98 Easy Find Lid 24-Piece Food Storage Containers

More Once a Month Cooking Recipes That I’ve Tried:

• Don’t Panic – Dinner’s in the Freezer: Great-Tasting Meals You Can Make Ahead
• Don’t Panic–More Dinner’s in the Freezer: A Second Helping of Tasty Meals You Can Make Ahead

[Via http://rachelcericola.wordpress.com]

Applesauce

It’s winter, which means our CSA box has apples. And more apples. Did I mention apples?

In an effort to use up the apples, I decided to make applesauce. Nothing special, I took 3 – 4 pounds of the apples we had (fiji’s, red delicious, and others) chopped them and cooked them down. I did add a cinnamon stick, a little nutmeg and 2 – 3 tablespoons of sugar.

Apples

I cooked until they were mushy and then processed for canning.

Even better, last night I used the applesauce as the filling for some apple turnovers. We usually have squares of puff pastry in the freezer so I defrosted 2 of those. Add a little bit of apple filling, make a triangle, crimp, milk wash, bake at 400 for 20 minutes or so. Serve warm with a little vanilla ice cream.

It worked well. The pastry was savory rather than sweet, so next time I might sprinkle some coarse sugar on the outside before baking. But it was very tasty.

Have at least as many apples again, so will probably make more applesauce this weekend. Particularly given we’re getting another big rainstorm and the weather is going to be miserable.

[Via http://lauraatkins.wordpress.com]

Green Breakfast of Champions

I heart coffee and coffee hearts me. But I think my insides deserve a breakfast that gives back a little more than some caffeinated pep in my step.

Over the Christmas holidays while I was gorging on salted peanuts, salted triscuits and red wine I started to feel really bloated and instead of eating better (nizzle say whut?) I decided to fantasize about being a super healthy raw food vegan. I watched this almost cultish video on the raw food lifestyle called Raw for Life . This movie, full of these energentic, passionate raw foodies hailing the electrifying powers of raw food sucked me right in. Listening the benefits of something as simple as increasing the amount of greens one eats made alot of sense to me. Green is good! So I decided then and there that when I returned home I would explore the raw lifestyle – I also acknowledge that peanuts are not raw so our love affair was coming to an end. Note to self: increase peanut consumption while you can.

When I returned home I was magically gifted with a friends used Vitamix which I’ve come to believe is almost a requirement for successfully eating raw. (This used Vitamix was nice because not only did I save a couple hundred bucks I didn’t purchase anything new. Woot!

So far the Vitamix has been great and I have been drink a ton of greens. After alot of thought I realized that I could not commit to the raw lifestyle but I could improve my eating habits by stuffing my face with more raw veggies vs those lovely salted nuts.

Green Breakfast Smoothie

* This is an ever changing recipe so be creative!

2-4 cups of greeny goodness (kale, spinach, collards etc)

1/2 cup of frozen fruit (blueberries or raspberries)

1 cup of vegan milk (I use almond or soy)

1 cup of veggies (carrots or zucchini seem to work best)

1-2 scoops of protein powder (I used pumpkin seed protein)

1-2 tbsp of ground flax (Omega III’s are your friends)

water (amount depends on whether or not you want a smooth smoothie or a chewy smoothie. Sometimes a chewy one makes you feel like you’re having a real meal.

Add together and blend the hell out of it. Enjoy!

[Via http://funhealthyvegan.wordpress.com]

Coupon Game Success!!

Today, I am claiming a small victory at the grocery store!!  I went in prepared and came out a victor.  I matched my coupons up with what was on sale – especially the buy 10 save $5 items.  Then ground beef was on sale (with my store saver card) and so was frozen chicken, both of which my family eats a lot of.  Then I had some coupons for cleaning products – buy 2 get this product free (one of the options was on sale too).  Then I had 2 coupons for a new product out – $1 off a package of toilet paper and a $1 off OR a free roll.  So here is the list of what I got:

2 boxes store brand corn flakes, 96 oz. bleach, 12 rolls toilet paper made from recycled paper, 1.5 pt. ice cream, 3 boxes fiber granola bars, 6 bags fish crackers, 2 containers of disinfectant cleaning wipes, 3 lbs. store brand frozen chicken pieces, 1 lb. polish sausage, 8 lbs. ground beef

The grand total before discounts and coupons was about $82.  I paid $33.27!!  Yeah for me!!  The store paid me $1 to take the toilet paper out of the store (they read the coupon wrong in my favor) and I got the bleach and cleaning wipes for $2.01.  I know there are people out there who do a far better job playing the coupon game, but this was the best success I’ve had yet, so I just had to share.  I’m learning and that’s what it’s all about!! 

Now, on to my challenge to cook from what I have for the next 2 weeks (minus milk, bread and lunch meat).  I have the menu planned and ready to go.  I’ll let you know how it goes…

[Via http://krismares.wordpress.com]

Be a Rich Online Kitchen Utensils Retailer

The attraction of kitchen utensils for the mail order dealer is that every household is a potential target. Saucepans, frying pans etc sold as matching sets can be promoted either as useful gifts or for the purchaser’s own use.

Detail the qualities for cooking purposes of the particular materials the pans are made of, stressing how easy it is to use and to clean them and how they enhance the excellence of whatever is being cooked — or whatever their virtues really are. High street shops tend to display their kitchenware in a rather unhelpful manner, leaving potential buyers with little upon which to base their buying decisions beyond appearance and price. Mail order can score by talking informatively to the intelligent cook.

Price/weight ratio is good for sets of items, and sometimes acceptable even for single items. After-sales problems should be few.

A well produced catalogue of items can be advertised in the classified columns. Particular items or sets can be sold off the page by well designed display advertising.

Follow-up possibilities include the complete range of kitchenware in particular and of household items in general.

[Via http://dropshipping.co.za]

Forgetting meals and planning meals

When you have your first home, window-shopping never grows old; but without will-power, the looking could easily turn into buying.  Thus, enter my conscience — my sister Sarah.  She and I have a perfect system — don’t let the other buy anything unless they absolutely love it, need it, and can afford it.  Whether we’re trying to add some decor to a bedroom or searching for the perfect pair of jeans, we’ll always turn to the other and ask, “What do you think?”  And if the other responds with a hesitant, “Well,  you might be able to do better,” the purchase is usually off.  Besides, when you’re trying on clothes, it doesn’t hurt to have a supportive shopping-buddy by your side.  With such a friend, if you feel fat while trying on an outft, it’s always the outfit’s fault and has absolutely nothing to do with you!

Late this afternoon, after hanging out with Sarah for an hour or two, I tidied up the house and did some dishes to pass the time away, as I had a writer’s group to attend this evening.  It wasn’t until about 4pm that I realized that I didn’t have anything planned for supper…  I have a weekly, food schedule that I follow and base my grocery shopping against.  It’s the only way I can balance working 40 hours a week and making dinner every night.  There’s a notebook stuck to our fridge, which lists what I plan on making when.  This week, I somehow I over-looked Sunday.   How I jumped from Saturday to Monday, I have no idea.  How does one do that?  I could understand if I maybe skipped over Monday by accident, but forget about Sunday? 

I am blaming this predicament on the busy schedule of this week and do realize that it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.  There’s no use crying over spilt milk, right?  Oh, wait, we were out of milk too… Sooo, I honestly did feel frustrated, especially since I didn’t have time to go to the store and pick up some supper items.  But the good thing is that we were able to use up the last of the left-overs.  Thank goodness veggie chili makes a lot!! 

Speaking of meal planning, I just started a spreadsheet for specific food items, so that I can organize the recipes I’ve made.  For example, I have a specific page designated for chicken, beef, vegetarian, fish, dessert, and breakfast.  I record the recipe name, the cookbook number (I designated numbers to my favorite cookbooks), the page number, and then check off the subcategories if the meal is company worthy, healthy, quick, or a make-ahead meal.  That way, if I’m looking for a quick meal that’s good enough to serve company, I just pull out my spreadsheet and scan down the columns until I find a recipe that is checked off in those two categories.  I’ve honestly only done this for two of my cookbooks up to this point, but I’m hoping to get more done because it saves me time in the long run!

 Well, another week is here…    Happy Monday in advance everybody!

 

Well, another week begins…

[Via http://lovingsimplemoments.wordpress.com]