Tag Archives: vegetarian food

mushroom and arugula salad

Warm Mushroom and Brown Rice Arugula Salad Recipe (inspired from my Thai Takeout!)

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This absolutely delicious, easy meal was something I whipped up for my fiance yesterday in a few minutes. It was based on, and inspired by 3 things that I found in my fridge when I started pondering what to make to eat.  Also, sorry about the quality of these photos!  My Blackberry camera isn’t the greatest, but I really wanted to share this recipe with you guys!  It’s a great example of how easy you can apply your Beauty Detox/Glowing Lean principles easily into your life…takeout and all!

I had been working on my computer for a while, and when I stopped to take a break I realized how hungry I was. And not in the mood to have to spend a lot of time prepping! I wanted to eat more than just a plain old salad…

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These were the 3 things in my fridge that I had laying around, that stood out to me:

  1. Sliced mushrooms (I love keeping these on hand because they are so easy to work with, especially when you don’t feel like a lot of prep work. They are also high in protein and vitamin D).
  2. Thai food leftovers- well brown rice leftovers that is. That’s all that was left from the day before!  Still, pre-made brown rice… hmm, I can work with that!
  3. Fresh basil.

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I did have a lot of other veggies, and first I made a colorful salad just quickly tossing and throwing what I had on hand together. Sometimes I get those containers of pre-washed wild arugula, for when I don’t feel like breaking down kale. In this salad, I tossed in the wild arugula, microgreens (enzyme bounty), sliced radishes (high in vitamin C and silicon!), purple cabbage (high in vitamins A, C and E, as well as fiber and antioxidants) and baby bell peppers (yep, more vitamin C! Bring it on :) ).

Again, this only took a few minutes, because I didn’t have to wash and dry/break down the salad base (genius those packages are sometimes!), and making the salad first made me snack on a few veggies, since I was super hungry and wanted to nosh on what was within reach. So the moral is make only good things within thou reach when thou art super starved!

I tossed some fresh lemon juice and nutritional yeast through the salad (simple!) and left the salad to the side.

4Next, I started cooking the mushrooms in one of those “green”, non-toxic non-stick ceramic pans I am a huge fan of. No oil needed! Because the ‘shrooms came sliced, again, big time saver. I added some low-sodium tamari (which is gluten-free), a smidge of raw coconut nectar to add a touch of sweetness to my Asian-flared creation, some cayenne pepper, and fresh lemon juice (forgot to add to pic!). Next, i tossed in the brown rice, and stirred for a few minutes, then added the basil last and stirred that for a few minutes.

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After the mushrooms were cooked through and everything smelled yummy, I tossed it into the salad and served it right away. If you are really hungry, you can still eat a bunch of the raw salad component first, but be more heavy in your dosage of ‘shrooms and brown rice. And vice versa if not so hungry. Brown rice is gluten-free, digests easily, low in fat and energizing. Add more shrooms for extra protein, if you like.

Give it a try! You never know when your Thai takeout can inspire a delicious, healthy and winter-friendly, warm/raw veggie meal.

 

Salad Ingredients:

  • 8oz mushrooms
  • 1.5 cup brown rice
  • 1 bunch basil
  • 1T nutritional yeast

Dressing:

  • 1T low-sodium tamari
  • About 1.5 T lemon juice
  • .5 T raw coconut nectar
  • Sprinkle of cayenne (or more if you like it hot!)

 

More Random Thoughts: Raw Food, Yoga…

23 Replies

 

Hi My Loves,

Yes, my brain does like to jump around sometimes. Not in a frenetic ADD way, but more in a way where I get really excited about a lot of different thoughts all at the same time that I want to share! While they don’t all really seem interrelated- well, I think everything really is related.

Here are some random thoughts- to give you an idea of that is playing on in my head:

1.  I know it is cold and winter because my coconut oil has turned white and solid. What should I do? In a word- nothing. We love our coconut oil because it is a wonderful and commonly used ingredient in raw deserts, and because when we apply it topically it penetrates and makes our skin smooth and hydrated. It doesn’t matter whether it is a liquid oil or a solid butter- it will still work the same. I actually like it when the jar I keep near my bed to put on my skin gets a bit thicker and more milky. It is a little easier to scoop out how much I put on. When it is liquid it is a bit more unwieldy, and yes I have definitely oiled my sheets up more than once!

You don’t have to worry about refrigerating coconut oil in any form. If you are mixing a recipe by hand (like my Raw Cacao Truffles recipe) and you are worried that your coconut oil is too chunky to mix well, I would just sit your jar on your stove, which is always slightly warm anyway, and it should liquefy quite nicely.

2. I know it is winter because my body is craving warm food and cooked food sometimes. Great! It is important to transition with the seasons. No one said you have to eat 100% raw to get amazing, fantastic results. Some cooked food can be very beneficial in fact, as long as it is placed correctly and is easily digestible food. I do NOT believe in the die-hard 100% raw food philosophy people that promotes if you eat anything cooked you are doing something really “bad.” Please! Who wants to live a life of restriction?? To me, that is sort of like the calorie-counting people, which are also restricted and have to know how many calories are going into their mouth at all times. I reject both of those schools.

This is really a whole blog post which I’ll do soon as it is getting colder- and could really fill a whole book on how to eat, but I will say a few things. Non-cream soups like Miso soup and vegetable soup are fine. If you feel like something heavier, like a grain for dinner, I recommend quinoa, millet or amaranth after you’ve eaten a salad, and along with some lightly steamed vegetables. You can spice it up and make a whole meal out of it. Delicious!

Days when you eat some cooked food I do recommend being sure to have your Green Smoothie that morning, and also be sure to have a nice green salad beforehand. Remember that if we eat very well most of the time, and follow certain rules, such as the ones I just said, you are not being “bad” for eating some cooked food sometimes!

3.    I know it is winter because I can intuitively feel that my yoga practice needs more fire. Of course, this could apply to other forms of movement. In winter, it is easy to want to close ourselves off, burrow ourselves in our homes and apartments, and withdraw. We are wrapped up in layers and layers of clothes, hustling to get from place to place and spending much less time in the fresh air and the outdoors.

With all this happening, we need to be conscious that we are not closing our heart chakras. We need to find ways to stay open and passionate, engaged with what excites us and makes us feel alive and energized and joyous. We have to put out a bit more effort in the winter to ensure we are still living our life to the fullest and not getting sucked into a familiar routine that just rolls along. Where is the fire??

One way I am actively seeking and bringing more fire into my own life is with my yoga practice and the way I teach yoga. After warming up I am bringing a much more a fiery routine with sun salutations, faster and more modern music than I might usually play in my classes, and series where I have my students move one breath per pose. It is really helping me feel the fire right now. I love it! We much naturally adjust to the seasons and the cycles of nature. How can you bring in more fire into your own life right now?

 

4.    Along those lines, it is a good time to be reminded to remain unattached. With the closing off of the heart chakra and feeling more withdrawn, we tend to get a bit more attached to our routines and the minute components of our life because it makes us feel safe and so we have something to cling to. Have you gotten more upset lately over something that usually wouldn’t bother you? Of course, the upcoming holidays can also add more stress…

Yesterday in fact, I had a few situations that challenged this in me : 1) I was at a crappy airport terminal at JFK with 0 good food selections, and I was truly starving and about to get on a 6 hour flight. I did the best I could- baked rice chips and a not so great salad. Instead of dwelling on being mad at myself for not bringing food, or that I would throw myself off, I focused on letting it go. I also counter balanced it by not eating any peanuts on the airplane- alflatoxin mold! Even if I was near dying I don’t think I would eat those peanuts. :-)

2 ) I take my friends’ yoga class once in a while and I get really excited when I can make it. And yesterday there was an unexpected sub! I noticed that feeling of frustration rising up, and I immediately took some deep breaths and tried to open up. And you know what? I loved the sub! She had beautiful energy. (And yes, I do think it is important for yoga teachers to keep being students as well!).

3) I was stuck in a cab for 2 hours and missed my flight. I had to pay a $50 change fee and got stuck with a middle seat instead of my original window seat. I am actually sitting in that middle seat as I write to you! I did get a bit put off for a minute, but then I realized, DOES IT REALLY MATTER? What’s the big rush anyways? I’m still breathing, still alive, and ultimately, everything will be okay. So I got to LA a few hours later- it is worth getting upset and secreting a large amount of harmful stress hormones?
Things are never such a big deal when we step back and become unattached to a specific outcome (even if we have to force ourselves to do so sometimes), and realize that in the big scope, 99% of the stuff we are attached to can shift, and it is okay. Being unattached in a very important practice, with our food and our lives. We just have to do our best and go with the flow. Everything does happen for a reason!

Love,
Kimberly

Trick or Healthy-Halloween-Chocolate Treat!

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Hey Guys!! Hope you are having a great week. :)

Halloween is right around the corner, and chocolate is in the air!! And probably all around your office, your kids’ schools, and maybe at home right now! As you might be able to tell from some of my recipes, I am definitely a chocolate lover. Make that a cacao lover- the original bean from which chocolate is derived from. Commercial chocolate creeps me out. What’s in THAT can be a real Halloween scare!!!

So if you’re going to Halloween parties, office parties, shopping for treats at your house for trick-or-treaters, or buying for your kids, here are some tips to have the healthiest chocolate possible. I know we don’t have all time to make raw 300 cacao truffles! (Though I will mention that I have done that before for some events :) ), so when we buy we can just make the best choices we can. Eating chocolate does NOT have to mean it is automatically makes us fat, bloated, and zit-faced. :)

- Choose organic chocolate, which has more of the healthy nutrients and flavonoids, and less chemical and pesticide contamination. A Fair Trade certification means that it was made according to the highest standards of social and environmental responsibility. We should choose the organic/Fair Trade combo wherever possible!!

- Choose dark, organic chocolate that is at least 72% cacao. Trader Joe’s, which many of us have access to, has some great organic, dark chocolate choices.

-  Avoid chocolate made from milk or milk byproducts of any kind!!! Pasteurized milk in chocolate zaps the goodness of the chocolate. Fzzzzzzzzzz………… :) Besides its mucus-forming (read: toxin-inducing!) and energy-eating qualities, milk in chocolate can diminish the potent antioxidant benefits.

-    Avoid chocolate products containing any high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) – which leeches B vitamins and other nutrients in our bodies, and raises blood sugar levels…leading to insulin resistance and weight gain.

- Avoid anything with artificial sweeteners. Chemical poison!! All that “sugar free” stuff made with anything artificial is pure crap, and will take our beauty down.

- Avoid chocolate made with soy proteins or soy protein isolates. Check the label! They could be lurking in there. These are highly processed ingredients that could block our bodies’ absorption of protein and depress thyroid function.

Okay sorry about all the “avoids”, but we are still left with plenty of choices if we nose around for the dark, dairy-free varieties. Remember not to overdo any kind of chocolate though, because it still contains caffeine. Halloween can not only be chocolatey-fun, but healthy chocolatey-fun!

I’m headed to Cali so I’ll write from there. Lots of love, Kimberly :)

A Potent Cleanser to be Used Correctly: Garlic

12 Replies

 

Hi my loves!

In lieu of many of us being concerned with immunity and keeping ourselves healthy right now, I thought I would talk about an old, common kitchen friend: Garlic. Well maybe not so much of a friend to some of us! Many of us have strong reactions to garlic. It notoriously may cause some stinky breath, which doesn’t seem to go away for a while…. But this can be offset with some strategically placed parsley. :) I actually love the lingering smell of garlic on my fingers hours after I chop some up for a recipe. (Is that weird???!?)

Garlic can be extremely helpful in cleaning out our bodily houses. Garlic is rich in mustard oils and in conjunction with the cleansing elements that make it up, is beneficial for our whole system. Garlic promotes peristalsis and diuretic action- both of which are important flushing mechanisms to support our ongoing cleansing efforts, as well as boost our immunity. 

Its potency is also an important ingredient to eliminate intestinal parasites. We don’t want parasites and unfriendly bacteria to build up and unbalance our bodies, which can be a contributing cause to not so great skin. So some garlic can really help keep that in check!

Garlic is so potent that is can dissolve mucus in the sinus cavities, flushing this waste out of our systems for good. This is extremely important for my friends that are still transitioning away from dairy! And have you ever felt when you had a bunch of garlic that is was just pouring out of your skin?? Well it probably was to an extent, as garlic can help poisons exit the body through the pores of the skin itself. A little smell might be worth it for some cleansing/purging action!!

Now that being said, garlic has to be respected and utilized properly in our diet. Garlic’s medicinal and cleansing properties are strongest when it is raw and crushed or very finely chopped. Therefore, it is best used in nut pates and blended into salad dressings. When garlic is cooked- as it often is to start sautéing vegetables or roasted and added to certain dishes- it retains very little (if any) of these amazing cleansing properties.
We also don’t want to overdo garlic- especially if we have a very high vibration diet (mostly raw food), and we don’t have much mucus in our body. In these cases it can overly irritate the digestive tract and the lining of our mucus membranes. So use moderation and intuition to assess how much you personally need. It can and should be eaten with plenty of greens. Again, defer to the salad!

Have a great day and see you soon!!

Love!

Kimberly

The Green Baby Movement

10 Replies

baby

Hello my Loves,

Have you ever met someone who is so full of light and love that it just strikes you like lightening that this person is very special? And they stick in your head? And you just want to do everything you can to help them in whatever they are up to?

Well I have met one such person: Mary Boehmer. She is a beautiful young woman who is now my friend and is extremely motivated to bring light and health into the world. She started this amazing organization called BeamGreen.com, which is all about creating healthy babies and health in the world for the next generation! Below is my interview with her:

Kimberly: So, Mary what is BeamGreen.com all about?.

Beam Green - Bio PicMary: BeamGreen.com eco-educational community dedicated to The Green Baby Movement! Beam Green is a Green Social Club for women – a forum created for the sharing of Green knowledge and wisdom in order to guide parents and children towards superior health and wellness.

Beam Green’s mission is to be a positive eco-educational community for families that will assist in the creation of children who are strong, vibrant, and healthy that they contribute to the world in countless ways.

Kimberly: I know that you don’t have kids yet yourself and are not pregnant (right! :) ), so how did the inspiration come for working with pregnant women??

Mary: I speny most of my childhood and College years overwhelmed by “death”. After losing my 42 year old Dad when I was 12 in 1996, and my 17 year old brother when I was 20 in 2004, and having my mom diagnosed in 2005 with two benign brain tumors and helping her undergo two craniotomies- I CAME TO TRULY APPRECIATE THE NOTION OF A HEALTHY HUMAN BODY free of disease! :) I wanted to contribute to the prevention of disease/death and contribute to the opposite side of the coin … LIFE! There is nothing better then healthy, happy children and families!

Kimberly: Wow! Amazing that you turned tragedy into so much love!! (Her story does bring a tear to my eye whenever I hear it.) Tell us a little bit about the importance in detoxifying in preparing for pregnancy?

Mary: A healthy child starts before conception. The healthier the parents re at the time of conception, the stronger genetic foundation of the child. Beam Green suggests that couples prepare at least six months to a year prior to conception by cleansing and building their bodies using certain guidelines that will be shared during The Green Social Club each month. Prevention is a critical component! Cleansing and re-building the body may also have a favorable effect on fertility challenges once any underlying medical problems can be ruled out.

Note by Kimberly: This is not to make anyone feel bad that perhaps didn’t detox at all before conceiving! We can onlypregnancy-baby-massage-how-to do our best with our given information at the time. So if you already have children Mary’s forum can be more about having them lead more detoxed childhoods or getting more info now!

Kimberly: And what are some easy ways that women thinking about getting pregnant can start to detoxify?

Mary: My Top 3: What is Simple is True! (and often makes the greatest impact!)
1) Each 5-9 servings of GREEN vegetables a day. (Do not eat pass 7pm
at night! This will help you to get the best and most healing sleep!)
2) Exfoliate in the shower!
3) Rebound! Rebound! Rebound!

Kimberly: Oooph, eating past 7 is hard for me a lot, but I’m trying! (LOL). So, what’s on the agenda for BeamGreen this year?

Mary: BeamGreen.com will continue to hold its monthly Green Social Club meetings at Tavern on the Green once a month with guest speakers from across the country who are experts on Going Green! Women nationwide and international (we have 15 different countries who watch the archived uploads and live webcasts) can watch the Green Social Club Meetings by going to www.beamgreen.com and clicking on the button at the top of the homepage that says “Green Social Club” Monthly meetings!

Kimberly: Anything else??

Mary: YES :) The ultimate mission of BeamGreen.com and The Green Social Club is to have fun and take small steps everyday, in our own individual lives, to MAKE THINGS BETTER FOR THE NEXT GENERATION.

When you almost have your entire family die (me) you realize that other people’s families are actually your own as well
— that all are equal — if I am a single twenty-something year old girl who has embraced this — then anyone can embrace the notion that we are all detoxing and preparing for the next best thing …. Our next best version of ourselves and our next best version for generations to come.

Just amazing!!

Well have a great day and happy Friday tomorrow!

Love, Kimberly

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What’s Good for You is Good for the Planet

15 Replies

Hey Lovelies,

Happy Earth Day! Though we should be thinking of the earth all the time, it’s great that we have one designated day. What’s really awesome is that whatever is good for us, health-wise, is also good for the planet! It just shows how very deeply connected we are to not only each other, but also to our natural environment- the oceans and trees and wind…

Here are four Earth Day ideas that are close to my heart:

1. Get a great water filter for your house, refill a reuseable water bottle, and buy as little bottled water as possible! The problem with bottled water is not just about the packaging. A huge issue is the source of the water itself! In the US, there are 3 major companies that also make soft drinks (I think you can guess who they are), that also own many of the popular and common bottled water brands. The huge companies don’t have to pay any money to pump hundreds and thousands of gallons of water a DAY, and even get multi-million dollar tax breaks! Then they sell the water that should be free for all, at a profit! This pumping of the water is destroying ecosystems all over our country, sucking water from underground aquifers and drying up streams, wells, and making clean water for farms and individual communities more and more scarce. Uggg…infuriating, isn’t it!

The other thing is that a lot of bottled water is NOT necessarily any better than tap water. The FDA does very little regulating for bottled water, and has no regulations to prevent bottling companies from drawing water next to industrial sites, underground storage tanks, or dumps. Some of these major brands’ bottled water is really tap water coming from places like Queens, NY and Jacksonville, FL, with additional treatment. That is what “purified” drinking water means. Um….are you kidding me???????

2. Only eat chocolate if it is organic. Of course I would prefer it if you guys only ate delicious, raw, organic cacao and and kept it dairy-free. But I know how it can be!!! Sometimes you want a piece of chocolate here and there, and if you stick to dark chocolate bars (preferably 70% dark chocolate or higher), and buy organic, it is certainly okay in moderation.

70% of the world’s chocolate is sourced from counties in Africa. These countries do not have the same perfect growing conditions, natural rainfall, canopy cover and protection as countries near the equator in South America. As a result, this African-sourced cacao is grown with the harshest and heaviest load of horrible chemical pesticides and herbicides that are destroying the environment over there and leading to deforestation, contamination of water sources, and major pollution. What’s even worse is that there is a ton of child labor abuse associated with these crops to produce the harvest super cheap. Because of the $$$$$$, millions and millions of dollars of this cheap cacao is imported into the US and used in tons of  commercial chocolate and cocoa products.

Sorry to be a downer, but shouldn’t we be informed?? Now that innocent little packet of M & M’s doesn’t seem so innocent anymore, does it. Many delis and stores carry organic dark chocolate! So please just try to plan ahead, if you know you like chocolate sometimes, and stock up on the good stuff. That way, if a chocolate craving strikes, you won’t be suck with el vending machine chocolates as the only choice. And just remember that that commercial milk chocolate crap will make you fat, make your skin look duller than an old sponge, and tax your organs! In case you need another reason! :)

3. Boycott commercial corn and corn-based products. Corn is now the #1 crop grown in America, with almost 80 million acres planted annually. Commercial corn requires more nitrate fertilizer and pesticide than any other crop. This tremendous amount of chemicals pollutes our water systems and is destroying the natural balance of our ecosystems.

Plus, four billion barrels a year of corn are processed and refined into high fructose corn syrup which is in tons of food products now.
It’s all wrapped up in scary politics. Have you seen the commercials that are like, “What’s so bad about high fructose corn syrup?” and they have a few pretty people that can’t figure it out and then they all laugh and say, “Oh, I guess nothing!”   Well I’ll say what’s wrong with it! It’s super high-glycemic, its virtual poison to the body, totally elevating triglyceride levels and throwing your body off balance…it will make you puffy and fat and cause wrinkles. Stay away evil commercial corn products!!!

4. Just use and buy less stuff. When I took myself out of Western society for three years and lived in my tent for a while, as well as tiny bungalows and guest houses and only had my backpack, I really learned how freeing and wonderful it is to get by with not that much…stuff. We live in a major consumerist society, that makes us feel like we need so much! Its funny how the more we have sometimes the more we keep wanting and more we think we need…do you ever get that feeling when you go into a Sephora?

Same thing with all those shoes you keep buying! I mean who needs all those shoes??? Ha!! Just kidding.  I’m not going to go there. :)

Have a gorgeous week. Isn’t it awesome that Spring is here?? We DO live in an amazing world.
Lots of love,
Kimberly

Raw Cacao Truffles

44 Replies

I thought I would post a cacao recipe with Valentine’s Day around the corner…an excellent excuse to remember to bring more chocolate into your life!!! But raw chocolate - not the kind with processed sugar and pasteurized dairy. Sorry!! Kit Kat bars and Mars bars and stuff like that are  NOT acceptable. But trust me, with this recipe you won’t want that crap anyway! Your cravings will be totally satisfied and you’ll feel great.  :)

Cacao promotes feelings of love and joy and opens up the energy of the heart chakra. It contains the neurotransmitter anandamide known as the “bliss chemical.” In yoga, ananda means bliss. Even better- cacao ALSO contains anandamide inhibitors, keeping the compound from breaking down quickly and the feeling of cacao anadamide lasting longer, so we feel great longer!

This is not to say that we should eat cacao often- and certainly not every day! It is a very occasional treat. Cacao contains caffeine, and toxic compounds such as theobromine. It has taken off in the raw food world because it tastes good and people want so badly to believe it is good for them, since it is a tasty treat. But the reality is that we do not need it at all in the diet for nutritive value- it is a treat and must be treated as such!

That being said, here is the recipe for your occasional truffles, for special times like this- Valentine’s Day!

¾ cup raw cacao powder (available at health stores)
2 cups ground raw almonds (preferably sprouted then dried first)
1/2 cup raw organic honey
1 Tbs. organic coconut oil
Pinch of Celtic sea salt
1 cup shredded, dried unsweetened coconut flakes

Combine all the ingredients except for the coconut flakes in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Roll up your sleeves, take a small amount of the mixture, and roll small balls between your palms. Add your love! Dip each ball in a separate smaller bowl containing the coconut flakes.

Freeze overnight to harden the truffles.  I keep them frozen until they are ready to serve.

Make for your loved ones, friends, and yourself. :)

Lots of love!
Kimberly