There is hope!

Feeling bummed about the weather? Getting tired of it being cold, windy or both? Well, take a look at the buds that just popped on the star magnolia in the backyard.

Tempeh Tuesday

In an attempt to "anjuu" with my body, I have compiled a whole cookbook of healthy eating recipes. Since I'm vegetarian, I often use tempeh as the protein component of a meal. Tempeh begins with soybeans that are then cooked, cultured and fermented into a cake form. If you've been afraid to try vegetarian fare because tofu looks like wet, mushy white sponge, I urge you to try tempeh. It is wonderfully hearty and heart healthy!

Below is my husband's favorite tempeh recipe. God bless the carnivore eating man for sticking with me and my herbivore cooking!


Fruit Curry Tempeh

2-8oz packs of tempeh, cut into small pieces
2 onions (or 1 large) cut into half rings
2 cups water
2-3 T low sodium soy sauce
1 c fruit juice (apple or grape is best)
1 c light coconut milk
3-4 T curry powder
1/2 c dried fruit cut into pieces (pineapple, mango, apricot, etc)

Spray skillet pan with Pam/Mazola spray. Heat pan and then add the tempeh. Saute at medium heat until it is golden brown or brown (might be 7-10 minutes). Add in the soy sauce and stir so the tempeh gets a nice browning. Then add the water, stir and cover. Simmer on med-low until the liquid is absorbed. Remove tempeh from pan and set aside.

Wipe out skillet and spray again with Pam/Mazola. Heat skillet and then add onions and saute until fragrant (3-4 minutes). Add the curry powder to the onions and mix well. Then, add fruit juice. Bring to a mild simmer and add the coconut milk. Once the mix starts to simmer,add the tempeh back in. Cover and simmer on low for 15-20 minutes. It will still be a little saucy-not all the liquid will have absorbed/evaporated. Just before serving, add in your dried fruit and stir.

*Serve with a lime wedge which can be squeezed over tempeh right before eating.

Try visiting this blog

I have found a blog that I just love. When I first started baking bread (something other than my Father's sourdough recipe), my search turned up this blog. Susan of Farmgirl Fare talks about everything from bread making, living in the country, birthing lambs, having cats and feeding her Farm Man. On any given day, you never know what you'll get or what pictures she'll post. Take a look for yourself!

Got some flour, yeast and salt? Make bread!

Those of you who know me know that I'm a fledgling baker. Specifically, bread baker. I got this book, 100 Bread Recipes by Paul Hollywood. It is amazing how so many different breads can exist from combining the same four ingredients: flour, yeast, salt and water. One of my new favorites is Laganes bread. It is a traditional bread made in Cyprus and is usually eaten with fresh fruit and cheese. Me, I prefer it hot, toasted and with lots of butter!

Laganes Bread

1 heaping teaspoon ground fennel
4 cups white bread flour
1 tablespoon salt
2 heaping tablespoons of active dry yeast
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/4 c water
7 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
2 tablespoons black cumin seeds (note: could not find cumin seeds, so substituted 2 T black sesame seeds with no problem)

Activate the yeast in 1/4 c warm water and 2 teaspoons of sugar. Mix and let proof for 5-10 minutes.

Mix flour, proofed yeast, olive oil and water in a bowl for approximately 3 minutes. Cover and let dough rest for 10 minutes. Tip dough onto a lightly floured counter. Knead in salt and ground fennel (you'll knead for about 5 minutes). Put dough back into the bowl and let rise for 1 hour.

About 40 minutes into the first rise, place all seeds into a bowl and pour over just enough warm water to cover. Let stand for 20 minutes (this balloons the seeds and releases their flavors-bet ya didn't know that!).

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Tip the dough onto your floured counter and divide into 4 pieces. I use a sharp pizza cutter to divvy up my dough. It is considered a no-no to just sort of tear or rip it apart. Flatten each piece into an oval shape, 1-2 inches thick (note: make it closer to the 1 inch thick measure, it will rise again). Drain off the excess water from the seeds and spread onto a plate. Turn each loaf in the seed mixture until the dough is completely covered (top, bottom and sides). Put two loaves onto each baking sheet and let rise for another hour.

Preheat the over to 425. Using your finger, press holes over the top of the dough. Then bake the loaves for 20-22 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

First note: I do not have a convection oven. Thus, I baked one baking sheet at a time. If I put both in, there is not enough air circulation and they burn before they cook. So, I put in one baking sheet and baked (leaving the other on the counter). Then, baked the second two loaves. Although the last two loaves had an extra 20-25 minutes to rise, it didn't change the taste or texture. All four loaves turned out the same . . . . Good!

Second note: Last time I made this, I made two loaves and used the other half of the dough to make 16 rolls. Rolls bake for about 13 to 15 minutes. These are great to freeze and pull out to thaw a few hours before dinner.

Final note: If you do not like fennel, just omit it from the recipe. The bread still turns out wonderful. The caraway seeds gives it a hit of rye bread taste.

Happy baking!

Don't like the movie? Change your seat.

My sister-in-law will be celebrating her 30th birthday this week. Like her older brother (my husband), this is causing some anxiety. As consolation, I shared with her how I reward myself as I get older. Every five years, when I experience one of those monumental birthday (30, 35, 40, 45, etc), I celebrate with some extravagent gift. When I turned 30, I got my first new car! Up until then, I had driven used cars or my husband's hand-me-downs. (Note: Husband, I do celebrate one of those monumental birthdays later this year . . . . start planning that African safari!)

This real life situation demonstrates how perspective can change your interpretation of life. I consider my life a movie. I can't change the movie, the characters or the scenery. However, I can change my seat in the movie theater. Don't like my view of the movie today? I'll change my seat and try a different perspective. Don't like that one? Then I'll try again. Know what is great about this? Changing seats doesn't cost you anything but initiative and curiosity.

To Sis D: Happy Birthday! May you continue to fully experience life with initiative and curiosity. Love, Christa

Anjuu with Mother Earth

Whole Foods has made the announcement that it will no longer offer plastic grocery bags in US, Canada and the UK by Earth Day, April 22, 2008. This is wonderful! If you have not done so, I highly recommend buying some reusable grocery bags. Mine are from Whole Foods and cost me less than $2 each. As an incentive, Whole Foods provides you with a 5 cent refund for each bag you bring back and reuse on your next shopping trip. This is good at every transaction at Whole Foods, not just a one time deal.

Stop! Before you reach for that second (or third) napkin, ask yourself if you really need it. We use approximately 6 napkins a day. If we gave up just one napkin per day, reducing our consumption to 5 a day, we could save a billion pounds of paper waste. This is a billion pounds that ends up in our landfills each year!

Do you know what Vampire Standby Power means? It is defined as the power a plugged in appliance uses when in the 'off' position. For example, the hairdryer is an appliance that many of us just leaved plugged in day in and day out. Each day, that hairdryer is still sucking up energy the 23 hours and 55 minutes that it is not in use! Unplugging your hairdryer can save you upto $2 a month on your electric bill. Because of this, I have gone through the entire house and unplugged appliances that are not often used or in rooms that are not used. Unfortunately, my husband won't let me unplug the automatic coffee maker since that needs to be reprogramed each time. I'm hoping I don't go to hell for that.

As this demonstrates, even small changes can make a huge difference. Remember to show your thanks and gratitude to Mother Earth in any and all ways possible.

February 9th is getting closer and closer

In three weeks I'll be in Lima! My gosh! Doesn't leave me a lot of time, so I'm asking y'all for some help.

Along with the 56 items on the packing list (I kid you not, the list is four pages long), there is the following paragraph;


"Each day, as you and your fellow volunteers gather as a team to discuss how everyone is doing and how things are progressing, part of the discussion will include someone reading a 'thought for the day' as a simple reminder of where you are and why you are there. With this in mind, you should think about bringing a copy of a favorite poem, letter, excerpt from a book or whatever you think may be appropriate to share with your fellow team members. Use your imagination."


The floor is now open for suggestions. I have no problem coming up with quotes or 'Christa-isms,' but I get the sense they want something deeper than that.

Any thoughts?

Regards,
Christa

P.S. There is still time to donate! Please contact me if you are interested in donating to my program fee.

Even with this, I'd still take the south

Anyone who knows me knows I hate, despise, absolutely abhor cold weather. Might be my upbringing. I can remember a ton of fun times during warm, sunny, even breath-snatching humid days. Cold weather memories? Not so much. Although, as a kid, watching our cockapoo try to clean the ice balls off her paws always produced laughter in our house.

The pictures above are compliments of my Dad and Paula. Between yesterday and last night, Williamsburg, VA got about three to four inches of snow. Yes, snow does happen in the south, but not as often as up north. I'd still take this south (yes, even the snowy south) over the north any day.

Buddha or Bag?

Some days, I'm afraid of disappointing myself and others. These are times when it is difficult to face the world. On those days, I feel like doing the same thing as my kitty. Go hide in a bag. Away from all the hurts of the world, I get a false sense of security. Not the best tactic to take. In hiding, your view is skewed; your ability to experience your life is limited; and if you only "see" a small sliver of your environment, you could be blindsided. Sometimes by an issue even bigger than the one that sent you into the bag.

On those days, I try to remember what my friend Joyce once told me. "Think about all the people that come into your life as little Buddhas. Not that you should worship them, but that each and every person comes into your life to teach you something, anything." She's right. When I view others as teachers, rather than intruders (or people that can hurt me), I have more confidence in myself and my ability to handle the situation. It gives me a totally different (and often beneficial) perspective.

So, on your rough days, what are you gonna do? Buddha or bag it?

It Will Unfold

I came upon the following quote to describe the '08 presidential campaign:

"The story won't be foretold. It will unfold."

I swear that, as I read this quote, the words stood out in bold text. Those two sentences spoke volumes about life and living. As soon as my feet touch the floor every morning, I start to ponder how I can "control" my day. I can control my schedule, which makes me a slave to my watch; I can control my eating, which puts me totally out of touch with my nature hunger/saity feelings; and/or I can control how others will behave, which sets me up for disappointment in myself or the other person. The list of issues to "control" is indefinite. All this "control" comes at a high price. Drained of energy, curiosity and life, I find that I don't have much life for daily living.

It is hard to come to grips with the truth that "control" is an illusion. Imagine how much freer I would feel if I put all that control behind! Not foretelling the story of life, but allowing the story of life to unfold? Even having this wisdom doesn't allow me to release the "control."

So, here's a toast to a 2008 that I will let unfold. To a life journey that I will greet with energy and curiosity (using my kitty as a model). And when "control" rears its poisonous fangs to strike, may I remember that those fangs are the illusion.

Do you anjuu with you?

Do you "live peaceably" with you? Can you say you accept every single atom that makes up your being? If you answered, "yes," I'm envious.

I thought, that as I get older, it would get easier to love, accept and respect me. Not so. If anything, it is harder. As I've gotten older I've become more aware (even more sensitive) of being perceived as selfish, mean, a failure, ugly and all those other adjectives that we don't like to associate with our "dream" selves.

When do we learn that our opinion of ourself is the one that matters? That being true to one's self is what makes us happy and reduces our internal conflict?

What is the secret to learning this lesson?

Habla espanol?

As part of my exercise, living peaceably with myself and others, I am participating in a 2 week volunteer trip to an orphanage in Lima, Peru. I have so many blessings in my life; yet, somehow I lose sight of that. Giving back, making a difference (even if it is only for two weeks), perspective and an understanding of Peruvian culture are just some of the reason for the trip. I leave on February 9th (less than 5 weeks!). Below I've detailed some of my "prep work" for this exciting adventure.

Valid passport-Check
Air travel ticket-Check
Fundraising efforts-In progress
Knowledge of remedial Spanish . . . .

This is the one I'm working on. Three years of Spanish in high school and none since then, has left me with a gap in my language skills. So, I've rented out the CD set, Immersion in Spanish. Nine CDs in all and I've only gotten through one, the alphabet. Now don't get me wrong; I'm studying, but I can only absorb so much at one time. Besides, I should have a solid foundation. This is the basis of the Spanish language!

So, I listen to the CD a few times, write down the alphabet, pronunciation and practice. Takes longer than it sounds.

Global Volunteers does not require you to have a vast knowledge of the Spanish language. However, it is exceptional helpful to know some more basic words and phrases. Not all the Peruvian staff at the orphanage are proficient in English.

So, back to more studying!

Do you anjuu?

So, who knows what anjuu means? Anjuu is Japanese for "living peaceably." Now how many of us can say that?

Over the next 12 months, this blog will be dedicated to discussing how I'm developing anjuu with friends and family, my internal self, my spiritual self and Mother Earth.

Quite ambitious?

Yes. But, can you consider your life "living" if your not constantly learning and evolving?