Be Kind

I went back to Kripalu Yoga & Retreat Center this month. As usual, it was an amazing experience. If you follow me on Facebook, then you may have already seen the pictures. I will write about it on here too.

The last time I was there was May 2013. In one of the stairways, was a poster-size version of the above refrigerator magnet. It reads, "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle" by Anonymous.

The first time I read that, I said, "TRUE THAT!" When the saw the magnet for sale in the Kripalu store, I didn't hesitate to buy it. I have looked at that magnet every day for the past two years. It became a mantra of sorts. I can't say I always followed it but I did my best.

And in a moment in time when kindness should have been in the forefront of my mind, it was not.
I lost the dearest of friendships because I had a self-centered, angry reaction upon hearing personal and painful news from this friend.

Everyone makes mistakes, yes. Mistakes, however, come with consequences. So be kind. Some folks must be loved from a distance because their issues are too toxic to bear. And some folks are meant to be loved up close  - friends, lovers, and family - deeply and profoundly, flaws and all, simply because you cannot imagine your life without them. And why would you want to imagine life without them?

Love is who we are. Love is the glue that holds us all together. Love is part of our final thoughts as we leave this earth. Love is what we are greeted with when we enter this world. Time is short. Love yourself and your peoples is my message :-).

Avocado Cayenne Salad, Almond Thins, and Cucumber Dill Soup

I keep coming back to food as healing. In the midst of grief, it's been a struggle. Raw food is a like an old pair of jeans. You swear all out you are going to fit those Size 8's again....one day. You felt sexy as hell when you were wearing them, and now....not so much. That's raw food.

Post-raw chef school I know for a fact that my culinary point of view is easy and quick vegetarian/vegan/raw vegan. What I learned through Matthew Kenney Culinary was how to be a raw chef in a restaurant. What I must be is a home chef and cook. I unofficially have a full-time job (I get an official offer next week...cross your fingers). I am divorced mother to two special needs boys. All that food you all saw me make in school is not what I do at home. It's not practical. But raw food is the one and only thing that has EVER made me feel spectacular. And that is what I want for my children. I don't have it all figured out, but I'm on my way.

Oatmeal with raspberries, apple, banana

I have figured out this much:
- 32 oz of water with lemon or lime juice first thing in the morning
-Breakfast is soaked oatmeal with 3 fruits. Today's fruits are blackberries, apple and banana. Also includes unsweetened almond milk, dash of cinnamon, very little maple syrup.
-Lunch, a big ol' salad with lots of veggies

Still working on the rest of it.

I even made my first all-raw meal in a very long time. The salad is from Brendan Brazier's Thrive book. Almond Crackers is a Russell James recipe. They are the best raw crackers I've made hands down. The soup is from Victoria Boutenko's Green Smoothie Revolution. 

I also figured out that I HAVE TO write. It's a calling. I can't explain it. My blogging has been hit or miss since 2013. I have to write about everything. If it helps me and helps other people, then I'll write about it.

See you soon.
Love,
Althea

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Be Kind

Black-Eyed Pea Salad

At the Washington, DC Black Expo in 2000 or 2001, I sampled a Black-Eyed Pea Salad offered by Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor. She is a culinary anthropologist, and best known for her PBS show and her books Vibration Cooking: or Notes of a Geechee Girl, and Vertamae Cooks Again.

I never forgot that sample. It's tastiness shocked me. I had never considered beans, especially black- eyed peas, as the star of a salad. How good could it be? Bad ass good, it turned out. I believe she said she used Italian dressing in hers. Whatever the ingredients, if it's been over ten years since I ate something and I still remember it, then that is one hell of a food memory.

I was craving this salad last week. There's plenty of versions of this on the internet. I chose the Neelys version, then changed it a bit after reading the reviews. This is their original:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/patrick-and-gina-neely/black-eyed-pea-salad-recipe.html
They use canola oil, sugar, and parsley. Olive oil tastes better. This salad does not need a lick of sugar. And cilantro reigns over parsley any day of the week.

This is my version:

Black-Eyed Pea Salad (V, GF)

Ingredients

1 large tomato, diced

1/2 medium red onion, finely chopped

1 small red bell pepper, finely chopped

1 jalapeno, finely chopped

2 tablespoons chopped green onions

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 cup unseasoned rice wine vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 (15-ounce) cans black-eyed peas, drained

Directions

Combine the first 6 ingredients in a bowl.

In a separate small bowl, whisk together the rice wine vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Toss all together and let marinate for at up to 8 hours in the refrigerator before serving.

Twenty minutes is all it took to make this salad. Do leave it in the fridge for a few hours to let the flavors marry. Add some avocado for more body. You can even switch up the beans. Black beans would be good. Let me know when you all make it!

Love,
Althea


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Black-Eyed Pea Salad

My Babies!

I've imported all posts from "Healing My Sons" to this one. So many people ask me about my kids and how they are doing. It makes more sense to talk about them here. If you go to the "Autism" label on the right side of the blog, posts about them will show up. This is them on November 27 at the National Aquarium.

And speaking of them, Raymond had another seizure on Saturday morning. This was his first one since February 2011. We're going back to Johns Hopkins for a re-evaluation. I'll let you all know what happens.

We've been juicing from Drew Canole's fitlife.tv. I think he's redesigned the site because I can't find the recipes anymore. Here are the ones I have made:

Morning Call: 4 kale leaves, 1/2 broccoli with stems, 1/2 head of cabbage. (I add 1 whole peeled lemon. Makes it go down a whole lot easier.)

Waldorf Salad: 2 celery ribs, 2 green apples

Full Immunity: 2 cloves garlic, thumb size ginger, handful parsley, 3 carrots, 1 apple (surprisingly tasty) 

And this is what I've been eating lately. Harmony Spinach Salad, and a salad with Roasted Tofu.

This one is cauliflower sushi, spinach, and and a salad with Body Ecology Diet Dressing (3 tablespoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt). 

I am also thinking of moving this entire operation to Wordpress. I want to intergrate mochaangels.com with a blog, making it an all-in-one site. If anyone has any experience with this, please share it with me.

Love,

Althea

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My Babies!

The Best Thing I Ever Ate: Pasta and Salad

I made my version of Chef Chole's Avocado Pesto Pasta two weeks ago. Chloe won a Food Network Cupcake Wars earlier this year. The judges RAVED about her cupcakes (and her competition was like, "What the hell? Vegan? How good could they be?) I've made vegan cupcakes and cakes, and they are truly better than traditional versions.

Chole's win piqued my curiosity about her food, so I gave her pasta a try.

As I was eating it, I kept saying, "This is good...No, this is really good...Man, this fantastic!" It became clear this was the best pasta I'd ever had. But when I ate it alone, it was good, not "The Best Pasta Ever." I realized it was the salad dressing plus the pasta that made it "The Best Pasta and Salad I Ever Ate." Make both of them together!

The creaminess of the pesto matched with the sharpness of apple cider vinegar in the salad dressing explode on the tongue. They go together like peanut butter and jelly.

You know how Cookie Monster says, "Cookies are a sometimes food!" This pasta and salad combo are a sometimes food. It has avocados, cashews, and oil. All of those are good fats, but they are fats nonetheless.

I got some GF linguine and went to town. Chloe's version (see below) has pine nuts. I am allergic to them (and they are expensive! $10.00 for 8 ounces of nuts??) so I went with cashews.

Althea's Version of Avocado Pesto Pasta
Pesto is (GF) and (RV)
Ingredients

• 1 pound linguine, get GF if you have allergies (for fully raw vegan, use carrots, zucchini, or butternut squash, or yellow squash)
• 1 bunch fresh basil, reserve some leaves for garnish
• ½ cup raw cashews
• 2 avocados, pitted and peeled
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 5-6 cloves garlic
• ½ cup olive oil
• nutritional yeast, to taste
• Sea salt, to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper

Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Add linguine and cook according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, make the pesto by combining basil, cashews, avocados, lemon juice, garlic, nutritional yeast, and oil in a food processor. Process until smooth. Season generously with salt and pepper. Add more salt, pepper, nutritional yeast, and/or garlic as needed.
Toss pasta with pesto. Divide pasta among serving bowls and garnish each serving with a basil leaf.

Body Ecology Diet Salad Dressing (RV) (GF)

• 2/3 cup organic unrefined oils(a combo of EVOO, flaxseed, or an flaxseed/evening primose blend)(I use EVOO only)
• 1/3 cup organic apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice)
• 1 tsp. Celtic sea salt

Place all ingredients in a container and shake vigorously or put in blender. Use on top of your favorite salad. Or, as you see in my photos, fresh tomatoes.

Put the pasta and salad on a plate or bowl together. Throw some fresh cilantro on top of your salad too, or extra basil. Oh, it's so good.

Chef Chole's version

http://www.chefchloe.com/

Avocado Pesto Pasta (V)

Pesto is (GF) and (RV)

Ingredients

• 1 pound linguine
• 1 bunch fresh basil, reserve some leaves for garnish
• ½ cup pine nuts
• 2 avocados, pitted and peeled
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 3 cloves garlic
• ½ cup olive oil
• Sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes or sliced sun-dried tomatoes (optional)

Preparation

Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Add linguine and cook according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, make the pesto by combining basil, pine nuts, avocados, lemon juice, garlic, and oil in a food processor. Process until smooth. Season generously with salt and pepper.
Toss pasta with pesto. For an extra touch of color and flavor, top pasta with cherry or sun-dried tomatoes. Divide pasta among serving bowls and garnish each serving with a basil leaf.

Love,
Althea

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The Best Thing I Ever Ate: Pasta and Salad

I LOVE Kale!

How many times have a shared a kale salad with you all? I've lost count....so here's another one :-).

From the Oh She Glows Blog:

Weekend Glow Kale Salad

• 1/2 large head of kale (about 4-6 cups)
• 1 cup finely chopped red onion
• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 1/2-3/4 cup chopped carrot (2 small carrots)
• 1 English cucumber (2 cups chopped halves)
• 1 avocado, chopped
• 1 & 1/4 cup chopped grape tomatoes (or other variety)
• 1/2 cup mixed raisins and Goji berries
• 1/4 cup hemp seed
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
• Dressing: 1 batch of Lightened Up tahini-Lemon Dressing
• Your desired fresh or dried herbs

Directions:

1. Chop vegetables and mix in a large mixing bowl. Reserve hemp seed and walnuts for sprinkling on top.

2. Make your Lightened Up tahini-Lemon Dressing in a food processor and process until smooth.

3. Tear the leaves off of the kale and rip into bite-sized pieces. Wash and dry kale leaves.

4. Mix the vegetables, kale leaves, and full batch of dressing (3/4-1 cup) in large bowl until thoroughly combined.

5. Place in fridge to ‘marinate’ for 10-15 minutes. Serves 4. Keeps in fridge in a sealed container for 1 day.

Lightened Up Tahini-Lemon Dressing

Ingredients:

·    1/4 cup Tahini

·    3 garlic cloves

·    1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)

·    1/4 cup Nutritional yeast

·    2 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil

·    1 tsp kosher salt + freshly ground black pepper, or to taste

• 3 tbsp water, or as needed

I only used raisins, tomatoes, avocados, raisins, and red onion in mine. I could easily eat this everyday.

And to cap it off, I made a green juice: a handful of kale leaves, 2 cucumbers, 1 apple, and a dash of Queen Afua's Green Formula.

And speaking of Queen Afua, a friend of mine is transcribing the interview. (Finally!) I intend to have it live, in different parts, in early July!

Love,

Althea

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I LOVE Kale!