INSTANTPOT RECIPE ALERT!

This Red Pumpkin Dal recipe flow is adapted from #everydayayurvedacookbook for the instantpot. It’s a favorite of mine and so easy when you put it in the pot in the AM, then eat when you have the lunch break. Enjoy!

Red Pumpkin Dal

Ingredients:

1 cup red lentil or split mung beans

3 cups water

1 can coconut milk

2-3 cups cubed winter squash (any and all!)

1-2 tbsp seasonal spice mix (see my cookbooks for more!)

Direction:

1. Pressure cook for 5 minutes.

2. Hand-blend if you want it real smooth.

3. Serve with a sprinkle of toasted coconut.

Have you adapted any of my recipes for your IP? Please share below so everyone can benefit!

Ashwagandha!

One of more famous Ayurveda herbal friends.

The name of this herb from the Himalayan foothills means “smell of a horse.” While the root does smell like horse, its use is also said to bring the strength of a horse. This is a common tonic herb for male reproductive vitality, and an adaptogen, which helps the body cope with stress.

Best used in milk.

Botanical name: Withania somnifera

AKA: Winter cherry

Parts used: root, bark

Rasa: bitter, astringent

Virya: heating

Vipaka: sweet

Qualities: heavy, unctuous

Actions: nourishes all seven tissues, improves strength and reduces fatigue, improves memory

Rtucharya: winter

Contraindications: can be heating in excess

Ayurveda texts describe the importance of shifting our diet and routines with the seasons...

Ayurveda texts describe the importance of shifting our diet and routines with the seasons, but something I keep meeting in my Ayurveda practice is the pervasive effects of changes that AREN’T due to nature.

Culture can also be a factor in lifestyle rhythms, and have huge impacts on health. In some places, fall is a time of massive change in daily schedules as children and university students go “back to school” and they as well as their families are swept into a sudden shift in the demands and timetable of daily life. It is wise to take into account the effects such changes have on the system!

If you think about it, it makes sense the digestion, or sleep, or nerves might go through the ringer a bit as things are suddenly quite busy, and quite different, from how they were a week or two ago. Simplifying the diet can make things a lot smoother, as well as taking care to implement a few touchstone routines, such as a consistent lunchtime or bedtime, to ground down the days while change is afoot.

Consider a Fall Community Cleanse as an opportunity to establish these rhythms, with a little help from your friends.

Dude. Seriously. What’s the deal?? CAN we mix fruit with other food???

If its cooked, yes. The idea is that the fruit is introduced to the agni, pre-digested a bit, and it is working out its differences with the foods while they stew together. Regardless, Ayurveda may recommend you not do this every day, for optimal gut health.

Raw fruits for dessert or on the side, not so much.

Personally, I notice if I keep it simple, like just 2-3 ingredients: hot grain, bit of ghee, cooked fruit. It works. When its gets complicated and there’s lot of fruits, or some proteins plus grains plus ghee- or EGGS. Then I get gassy. THIS is how you know if its working. Gas.

Another thing I notice, honestly...as the years go by I am less drawn to mixing fruits with foods, and go for savory a lot more often. Period. I hardly eat fruits in the cold months. Except, of course apple crisp. It all goes out the window for apple crisp! : )

How do you cook fruits with food and how often??

FALL BREAKFAST RECIPE ALERT!

I can’t tell you how many people have told me over the years that this is their breakfast on those “I don’t know what to eat” mornings. When you’re not super hungry but you know you need something. Don’t eat something weird and processed- eat this!

Ghee Bomb Apples

The easiest recipe yet: 

Stir-fry one apple in a tsp ghee, add a Tbsp or 2 of water if it sticks.  Top with sweet cinnamon and ginger powders.  A light, warm breakfast.  Note: this works great with peaches too!!

Is it apple time yet where you are??

CILANTRO!

I’ve been using this to garnish my soups and dosas, and making herbal water from its seeds. In Ayurveda medicinal substances are understood by their qualities- here’s the break down on cilantro, excerpt from the medicinal foods directory in The Everyday Ayurveda Guide to Self-Care:

Coriander and cilantro are different parts of the same plant. Their classification is the same, but the seed’s medicinal capacity is much stronger. Cilantro leaf is used all the time in Ayurvedic cooking to add color and cool. The seed is often the main ingredient in spice mixes.

Botanical name: Coriandrum sativum
Also known as: cilantro
Parts used: seeds and leaves
Rasa: pungent, astringent
Virya: cooling
Vipaka: sweet
Qualities: dry, light
Actions: improves absorption, is a diuretic, reduces burning sensations

How do you like to use cilantro or Coriander?

BIG HUGE NEWS FOR AYURVEDA PROS.

This has been 15+ years in process my friends. My interest in supporting the professional field for Ayurveda Health Counselors and Practitioners continues to grow, the more I work with y’alls (and the more I look back on my own struggles). My next move is to help you offer seasonal community programs safely and effectively to build your community and practice.

My community cleanses were an essential part of building my consulting practice. Bringing clients into community to share the work motivates, inspires, and keeps the relationship with Ayurveda fresh. Building a detox into an on-going wellness plan is potent indeed, and gets great results.

These seasonal detox programs have sowed seeds of change in participants. They come back season after season, they learn themselves better each time. These offerings have grown, and now sharing my model, evolved over fifteen years, with other practitioners is a natural progression for Ayurveda to continue to find her seat in those willing to undergo a process, and to help practitioners find their way into holding space for others.

What do you think?

Space is limited for Fall term, application required. Please find the link in my bio and LMK if you have questions AFTER following the link and reading about it.

Baked Apple Madness!

OMG, this is such a favorite, people show up at my house with bags of apples and hopeful smiles. It comes together quickly and is a balanced meal unto itself while following the “rules” about combining fruit with food. Believe me, you, if I eat baked apples with nuts and oats and all kinds of crazy fillings, I will be a hot air balloon. Thus, I made this recipe. Personally, I eat them alone and not as a dessert (again- the wind!) Fruits and fruits alone. Let me know if you make these and please give me a story about sharing it!

4 large apples, cored
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup raisins
4 dried figs, finely chopped
2 dried apricots or dates, finely chopped
3 tsp sweet spice mix
1 cup apple juice, cider, or water
16 whole cloves, for decorating the apples
4 tsp honey, optional for garnish

Preheat oven to 350.
Mix all the filling ingredients together in a bowl and let them soak while you core the apples.
Pierce each apple with four cloves (for flavor and decoration). Place the apples side by side in an 8x8 baking dish.
Spoon the filling into the cored apples, letting some sit on top of apples. Pour remaining juices over top and into the pan.
Bake for 25 minutes or until very tender. For added flavor, you can “baste” the apples by spooning some of the liquid from the bottom of the pan over the apples part way through cooking.

Note to self: if you don’t get bloated when you mix fruits and foods, don’t worry about it. Just don’t do it every day. Questions? I’ll bet you do. Post ‘em in the comments.

Pat is on the back for healthy habits this fall!

Habits hinge on each other, as a daily routine winds along a path of interdependent activities. The time you get hungry for lunch depends on when you had breakfast. The time you fall asleep depends on the time you woke up that day. Adding even one of these routines is a big deal. Go ahead, pick an easy one, and see how it changes you. I’ll bet you come back for more.

And remember, bodies want to be healthy- it’s their job. Helping them out a bit with wise choices is a great practice that adds up to a longer, happier life.

Should skinny people do a cleanse?

Knowing when to introduce building qualities and when to introduce reducing ones makes all the difference. One must be strong enough to cleanse without creating a deficiency in the tissues. A person with zero body fat should not lose weight in the name of a seasonal health regimen.

For this person, undertaking a cleanse might look like not eating junk food, and eating only foods that nourish the body. This allows a clean-up to go on. But it also requires a focus on nourishment, and preparation of good food, possibly more than three times daily. Cooking, grocery shopping, sitting down, and eating.