Quick Salads

Here are a selection of delicious salads created with minimal work! The colors and flavors of the vegetables did all of the work!

All of these salads were ready for my family to eat while I was out for the evening. I grabbed a container and had my meal on the go! Take out from my favorite restaurant - home cooking at its best!


Beet Salad

Country style home cooking!

Beets, washed, whole and skins on
Yellow onion, diced
Apple cider vinegar
Salt, pepper
Fresh thyme (or any fresh herb that you have on hand)

Cook the beets in simmering water until they are cooked all of the way through. A skewer or knife inserted into the beet should go through easily. Let cool in the saucepan. Then move to the refrigerator and chill.

Peel the skin from the beets with your hands, or with a paring knife. The skin will easily peel off if the beets are thoroughly cooked. Dice the cooked beets. Add in the diced onion, pour over a couple of tablespoons of vinegar. Season and stir.

The flavor of the salad will develop further if it is now left in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight. Stir before serving.

You will quickly get to know how much onion to beet proportion you like, and how much vinegar you need to pour over the beets. Herbs are optional.

Enjoy the simple bounty!
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Cooked Eggplant Dip
Eggplant
Tahini
Salt, pepper

My talent lies in cooking, not presentation!

Oregano, fresh or dry

Wash the eggplant. Trim off the stem end and then cut in half lengthwise. Place cut side down on an ovenproof glass dish. Cook in a 350〫oven for about 30 minutes. Gently squeeze the eggplant to see if it is cooked.

Leave the eggplant to cool for 30 minutes. Using a spoon gently scoop the pulp from the inside. The skin will not be eaten. Mash the pulp gently with a fork, season and refrigerator. Use about 1 tablespoon of tahini for each eggplant.

This salad also has more flavor if it is left to mellow for a little while. If you used dried oregano, this time will also allow the herb flavor to develop.

Enjoy with vegetable sticks or crackers or pita, or on the side of a tossed salad. Is this baba ghanoush?! Maybe, with our own simple spin on it!

Kale Salad
1 bunch of kale, washed, remove leaves from stem
Diced yellow pepper
Grated Carrot

Simple kale, so green, so healthy!

Fresh Thyme

Dressing
Sesame Oil
Half of a lemon, juiced
Salt, pepper
Tamari

Chop the kale lightly. Cook it quickly in a wok, or similar pan. Remove the kale as soon as it begins to wilt. Let sit for 10 minutes. Add the vegetables, really you can add any vegetables that you have on hand, and season with a herb. Pour over the dressing ingredients. Toss, and eat. If it is going in the refrigerator, cover and allow to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving.


Eat well even when you are on the go. You feel better, Mother Nature feels better!

Add in a fork and cotton napkin and this is a wonderful portable meal!

Shanthi

How-to Series Video 11

More Bean Burger Photos

Breadcrumbs are easily made in the food processor from bread ends.

Then put all of the ingredients into the bowl of the food processor.

Mix to blend and mulch together. Leave some chunks in the mixture - do not puree!

After covering lightly with the breadcrumbs, cook in a frying pan to crispen and brown the crumbs. No fat is necessary. Gently turn to cook the other side.

You can see a little green in one of the burgers - I had some cilantro on hand and I chopped it up and added it to the mixture.

For the full recipe refer to the mothering Mother newsletter. Sign up for the newsletter is on this home page.

Eat simply, live simply.

Shanthi

How-to Series Video 10

Still Falling, Floating..... Autumn WInds

I was at lunch yesterday with a friend. I found out that she is going through a very similar experience with this fall season. Are there others out there that are feeling the effects of the fall?

Knowing that I would find some comfort reigning in my life, I have continued to watch the food consumption. Do you know that feeling, when you don't know what to do next, so having something to eat fills the void! Stepping on the scale each morning is helping me to remind myself that the answer will not be found in food.

Oh, I can hear the Yogic sages saying it, the answer is within you. Sometimes "within" feels like planets and light years away! I have thrown out lots of possibilities for the fall, and they will land as they need to, and I will reach a moment when I will exhale completely, and say that the sages were right, the answer was there all along.

Until the Light comes in, meditation and yoga are good tools that will help me search. Family life has changed, work life has changed, the weather has changed...  I need to remember to be good to myself.

To Stay Grounded During Fall 
Eat cooked foods
Eat root vegetables (to ground you)
Add a little oil to foods (the winds of the fall dry you out)
Pay attention to bowel movements (prone to dryness and constipation)
Spend time in Nature
Begin to create a daily meditation time, morning is best (even if it is just 5 minutes - it is a start)

Share your Fall Free Falling experience with us!

Shanthi

How-to Series Video 9

Check out our cooking demonstration teaching you how to prepare millet either as a hot breakfast cereal or a delicious side to your meal! 

The Winds of Autumn

Although fall is not officially here, I can feel the winds increasing and the effects of the "Vata Season" on my already vata sensitive body. Vata is a dosha in Ayurveda, the amazing science of healing that originated in India thousands of years ago.

When I return to the academic new year in the fall, the winds of change blow around me. It is very easy for me to get "unbalanced", so the meditation practice and diet are very important. Amongst the uncertainty of the changes I am tempted to just nibble away the day, until I have exhausted that option. I need to ground myself in some boundaries and limits.

So, away with nibbling, and in with committing and harnessing this energy that I have. Our home has changed dramatically with the shift of another child going to college. And he is far enough away that there is not the opportunity for casual visits. Looking forward, focusing on the new, eating well, and knowing that there are so many new doors to open, keep me grounded for today.

Letting the winds of fall lift me off of the Earth, swirl me to something new, and then gently place me down, is a process of Trust. I am trusting, trusting that each day is a Salutation of the Dawn, of the "dawning" in me of all that has not been so far but can be!

Shanthi