January 17, 2016, part 2

Tonight I felt compelled to make pork. I've skimmed Alisa Vitti's book, "Woman Code" and this is a good time in my cycle to eat pork. So, I stopped in at the local grocery store to get a pork tenderloin.

We also have a plethora of mushrooms and I am not wasting mushrooms rights now, so my dear hubby gets to have the creamy mushroom soup all to himself (which is why you see his soup in a bread bowl). I would eat this at another time when I'm not cleansing, and trade yukons for the russets.

The tenderloin was simple and quick. One thing I've been using in my cookin regularly are salt/herb mixes. 

This is one of my favourite ones I'm using a lot right now. It's a 'Mexican Blend' with Himalayan salt, red pepper and I think oregano and a couple other ingredients. I bought it at a local arts mall at the holidays (Allied Arts here in Bellingham). 

Trader Joes has several mixes both in a grinder as well as in a shaker.

Simple Tenderloin Roast

2-2 1/2 lbs tenderloins
1-2 Tbs. Cider vinegar
3 medium to large cloves of garlic
1 T. Whole mustard seed
Spicy salt and pepper grinder

Preheat oven to 375F
Prep the tenderloins by tying it up and generously sprinkling with salt and pepper. Peel and cut garlic cloves in large chunks and shove between the tenderloins.
Take the third garlic clove and press it into 1t. Olive oil. Add vinegar and mustard seeds and mix thoroughly. Maybe crush a few seeds while you're at it. Slather on the top of the roast, which will become the bottom as you put it in the pan.
In a cast iron pan, heat up a tsp. oil of choice (bacon grease would be the logical choice) and place tenderloins starting mustard side down and sear the outside of the tenderloin.
All seared? Pop it in the oven for about 35-45 min, or when the center reaches 145F.

Simple Mushroom Potato soup

1/2 lg onion, chopped
1t. olive oil
1Tbs. butter
3 c. fresh mushrooms, sliced and/or chopped in large chunks
1 lg. russet potato, diced/sliced in 1" pcs.
1/2 t. salt
3-4 c. broth

Heat 1T. olive oil in a 2 qt. soup pot on low. Let it warm just a bit. Add chopped onion. let it sweat and start to cook on the edges. Add butter til melted, then add mushrooms and stir. Sauté on low to medium for about 7 minutes, or until the mushrooms start to deepen in color and wilt a bit. Add potatoes and stir around. Add broth (my broth was vegetable broth made from frozen veggie scraps along with about a 1/2 c. leftover marinaded artichoke juice from breakfast). Err on the side of less liquid vs. more. You can always add liquid if it's too thick, but it gets tricky when it's too thin.

Cover and let simmer about 20 minutes, or until potatoes are soft. I use an immersion blender, but you can use the blender method, just be careful about exploding hot liquid in a blender - use the lowest setting. Add extra liquid if it's too thick, but be careful not to add too much. The soup will thicken a bit as it cools, too.

January 17, 2015

I am an artist, This is my brush

I am a warrior, This is my weapon

I am creator and destroyer.

Standing over my fire, I sense urgency. Prepare for battle! Prepare for ecstasy!

This is my altar. 

What I create, I offer to the Highest Good. 

A toast to sustenance and joy and a little ecstasy if you're looking for it.

January 14, 2016

Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry

I don't always plan my dinners so much as think of what ingredients I have and let the recipe reveal itself to me. And then I decide if it's worth the effort and adjust accordingly.

I had planned something more structured, but tonight was one of those true magick nights where I just went on intuition and impulse.

1/2 lb of flat iron steak 

Sriracha

Coconut aminos

Olive oil

2 garlic cloves

1/2 lg. Shallots

Red pepper

Coconut oil

2 heads broccoli

Salt 

Mexican salt spice mix

random veggie broth or beef broth you have in the fridge/cupboard.

2-ish tsp. Sesame seeds

2-ish tsp. Sesame oil 

Throw steak on a plate and slather each side with about 2Tbsp. Sriracha and a few shakes of coconut aminos. Let it sit while you cut up the veg. Get your garlic press ready. 

When you feel like the meat's marinated enough, or you're hungry and you're ready to cook, turn the burner on and let the pan heat up. Slice the meat up and put some olive oil in the pan.

I like to watch the oil start to shimmer in the pan and roll it around so there's a nice even coating on the pan.

Throw the beef in and watch it sizzle. 

Stand in awe of this glorious display of chemistry as you toss the beef around the pan and let it sear a bit. 

Towards the end of the searing, squish one garlic clove in and stir it up, yum.

Add some salt and watch it dissolve on the pan.

Set the meat aside and get ready for round two! Scrape as much of the garlic and meat bits out, but don't waste too much time scraping the pan clean. Put a teaspoon or so of coconut oil in the pan and again, watch it melt (yes, stand there and enjoy some more awesome displays of science/magick). Swirl to coat the pan and start adding veggies.

Add the juicy ones first - red pepper and shallot. Stir and toss for about 5 minutes (I rarely time myself but the color wil start to mellow and the veg will soften). 

Add some more salt. I have some delicious salt and hot pepper and herb mix in this grinder.

Add the broccoli on top. Hopefully you cut them into smallish florets so they cook relatively quickly. I peeled and matchstick sliced the broccoli stalks and threw them on last, just as the broccoli started to turn bright green. 

Stir and cook. Here's where I added some veggie broth because I wanted it a little juicier. I could have added the can of diced tomatoes I have had randomly sitting on my counter for the last several days, but the veggie broth was calling.

Finish with the sesame seeds and oil. Serve over rice or just eat it up.

Day One - I survived!

First day anxiety is a real thing for me. It has prevented me from starting several projects or goals in the past, but I am learning to embrace my fear and step out of my comfort box little bits at a time.

I am approaching my training the same way. My first conscious thought is what my day will bring me. If I start to feel overwhelmed, I just remember: It's one day. I've already planned for it, and hopefully I did some preparation the night before. I just have to roll out of bed and do what I agreed to do according to the plan I set out the night before. Past Me has made sure everything is set out and ready to go for the day. Which is another challenge. I tend to flake out in the evening pretty early, which if I don't prepare for my next day, gets my morning off to a rocky start. So it all starts in the evening. 

Last night I planned my day out. I knew I'd be going to cycling class and then straight to work, so I had to really be on top of it. I spent about 30 minutes getting ready here's my quick and dirty check-list:

• Finalize my menu and my schedule - For more strategies on developing a good habit of pre-planning, check out www.MonaPlanner.com There are also lots of great menu-planning resources out there.
• Put my food in serving sized containers - Check out BeachBody's 21 Day Fix for a reminder of portion size and more strategies to help eat a well rounded menu.
• Picked out my clothes for my workout - set on the bathroom counter where I can't miss 'em and I don't have to turn the bedroom light on
• Packed my clothes for work in a bag and set them in my 'staging area' next to my purse
• Made sure all my smoothie and coffee making items were clean and ready
• Set my heart rate belt and my phone out to charge
• Set my alarm for the appropriate time (usually 5:30am)

I am proud to say I managed to get out of the house on time having meditated, made coffee and my smoothie. I grabbed my pre-packed clothes and my lunch bag and off I went.

Now, it's almost time for bed, and I've accomplished almost everything on my to do list. I'm feeling pretty good - just a few last things left to do before bed and I checked more off my list than I left on, so I'm calling today a success.

2016 - winter training plan

I'm training my mind body and spirit this season. Training includes:

1) Efforting meditation every morning - I have a very specific order of events here so it becomes unconscious: get out of bed, pee, come downstairs, Toss down a cup of cool water with my probiotic, make a hot cup of water with two or three drops of dōTERRA wild orange, go sit in my meditation spot and get right to it. 

2) Mobility: after sitting in meditation for 10-20 minutes, I am ready to start moving. Those in the CST world would recognize my list of movements, but generally, I focus on Breathing with my movement for about 20 minutes.

3) Starting Monday I get right to my training plan. I'll be using the 4-day training wave with the focus that I must keep my heart rate in the appropriate zone no matter what I am doing. My primary goal here is to have my heart rate strap and my phone ready. I'll be rotating Clubbell Yoga with Flowfit and Clubbell Athletics. More on this in another post.

4) Drink my smoothie immediately after training! Why do I always wait so long?)

4) Prepare food each day. - I have a rotating list of simple dishes when I'm working to detox like I will be these first two weeks. I keep the menu simple, light and frequent. I double most recipes for plenty of leftovers, and make sure I have a good mix of veggie dishes and fruit 'desserts' and toss meat in with the veg from time to time. I like having a hash dish I can eat for breakfast, and a big hunk of steel cut oats. 

5) Do something for me each day. This could be taking a bath, reading something inspiring, spending time knitting/crocheting, writing. 

6) Have a meaningful interaction with someone. Some days it's just my husband, some days it's dozens of people (or even hundreds if I'm on stage) I interact with throughout the day. This sometimes is all I need to feel like I've had a successful day.

Life goes on and I also intend to remain flexible and present in the moment. 

Today and tomorrow I am taking the last of the 'me time' to prepare food and finish writing out my goals and decorate for the holidays. 

Ginger Curry soup

This afternoon, I finally got an hour alone in the kitchen to cook. This is one of my favourite flavors of autumn.

1 T. Olive oil

1-2 yellow onions

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 t. (?) Fresh ginger

1 1/2 t. Hot yellow curry powder (Muchi)

1t. Salt

4c. Broth/stock 

1T. Honey

Chop your onion and mince your garlic now, but don't mix them up. Now, coat the bottom of the pot with about 1T. Olive oil. Turn heat on low and wait until the olive oil starts to shimmer. Toss the onions in, stir them around and let them soak up the olive oil. Stir every 1/2 minute or so for the next 5 minutes, to gently sautée the onions. While this is going you can tackle the butternut squash however you need to get about 1" chunks of peeled squash. 

I have a serrated veggie peeler as well as a smooth peeler. I used both today...

Peel the carrots and chop into 1" chunks.

At some point, I turned off the stove and threw the garlic in to soak while I finished chopping. If you don't need to, just give the garlic a minute or so to heat through, but not to get browned (it happens fast). 

Grate the ginger and stir it in with the curry and salt until all the onion is well coated. Add the cut up orange veg. Add the water/stock. I didn't have any stock handy so I used Better Than Bouillon.

Cover and simmer 20 minutes, then take the lid off and let it heat up the house and thicken a bit. 

I have an immersion blender, but if you don't, you can use a blender but do very small batches and let the soup cool for a while (30+ min) before scooping into the blender.

I topped my bowl with a dollop of sour cream.

Deeelish!!

Spinal Twists

You don’t have to be an advanced yogi to reap the benefits of a practice that includes some spinal yaw. Besides the more obvious flexibility one gains, there are several other benefits, such as:

• Increased circulation
• Improved digestive function
• Strengthens the back to help reduce back pain caused by daily activities such as sitting for long periods
• Opening chest, shoulders and back helps release tension and increase feelings of relaxation

 Access the above benefits with any of these poses:

Twisted Lunge-clubbell in torch; Shinbox w/arm thread; Down dog w/cross-bind; Seated spinal twist w/straight leg & knee bind

This picture shows only a few different ways we can access these benefits through a practice that incorporates ‘yaw’ or spinal rotation, but there are more. 

It doesn't have to be complicated. Take a moment to reconnect with your breath and release tension in your spine in a simple spinal twist at your desk.

Sit straight and tall in your seat, evenly balanced on your sit bones, breathe in and get tall, as if someone were pulling the crown of your head up with an imaginary string. Exhale and rotate shoulders, drawing your shoulder blade down your back towards the opposite hip. grasp the back of your chair for support but don't pull yourself beyond where your body can take you on its own. Expand into the pose with each inhale, deepen into the twist one the exhale. When you are ready to switch sides, unwind on the exhale.

Try adding one or two to your day and notice the benefits of released stress, improved digestion and a stronger spine.

Slainté Mhath,* (*Gaelic for "To your good health")

Roxanne Sailors

Clubbell Yoga and Clubbell Athletics Coach

Musician-Maggie’s Fury