My Favorite Recipe Links

These are a few of the recipes I've found around the internet that are delicious exactly as they are--wouldn't change a thing!

Raspberry Coconut Macaroons: http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2012/03/raspberry-coconut-macaroons/


Tandoori Spice Blend: http://mynewroots.org/site/2012/09/whole-roasted-tandoori-cauliflower-with-mint-chutney/

Weekend Pancakes: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Whole-Wheat-Oatmeal-Pancakes-241530 

Pesto: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/five-herb-pesto-recipe.html

Savory Zucchini-Ricotta Cheesecake: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/zucchini-ricotta-cheesecake-recipe.html

St. Patty's Day Dessert (Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes): http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2011/03/14/irish-car-bomb-cupcakes/

Honey Walnut Pumpkin Bread

I followed this recipe:

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/1461

Notes: I made the following changes:

• Added a dash of cayenne to the batter
• Used wheat germ, not oat bran
• Sprinkled 1/3 cup chopped walnuts on top, instead of added them directly to the batter. Next time, I might also sprinkle on some cinnamon sugar mix.
• Spread 1/4 of the batter into a small loaf pan and added chocolate chips to make pumpkin bars.

They turned out really well, and they're good for you too! I might try using maple syrup in the future for a slightly different taste/texture.

Cranberry-Wheatberry Salad with Chives

I found this recipe in an issue of Yoga Journal, tweaked it a bit, and fell in love.  It's a great salad to make on the weekend and have leftovers for lunch the next week.  I served it over a bed of wilted greens with smoked tofu.

Ingredients:

1 cup wheat berries (I use hard red)

2 cups water

3-4 tablespoons olive oil

2-3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon lemon juice

large pinch of salt

1/3 cup dried cranberries, soaked for 6 hours in water, then drained

1/4 c chopped chives

1/4 c chopped parsley

freshly ground black pepper to taste, and a pinch of brown sugar optional

Place the wheat berries and water in a pot, bring to a good boil, then reduce heat to a simmer for about 40 minutes, until the berries are soft and chewy in texture, with no crunchiness left.  (Note: the original recipe called for 3 cups of water, and that was way too much!  I ended up having to drain the wheat berries like pasta.)  Set aside.


To prepare the dressing, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, and lemon juice, along with the salt.  Add the cranberries and mix well, then fold the entire thing into the wheat berries.  Mix in the chives and parsley, add pepper, and add more salt if desired.  You can serve immediately for a warm salad, or chill in the fridge before serving.  Either way, the results will be yummy!

Easy Weeknight Curry

I have never made curry before from scratch, but I just had a craving for it last night.  I decided to give it a go, and here's what I cam up with:

Easy Weeknight Tofu Curry

Ingredients:
2 tsp each fresh coriander seed and cumin seed
1 large sweet yellow onion
2 cloves garlic
1 potato, scrubbed and diced
1/2 lb asparagus stalks, chopped
1/2 head of cauliflower, cut into small pieces
2 small-med tomatoes
1 block extra-firm tofu
2 T butter or ghee

1 can coconut milk (I used lite, but regular works too)
2 T your favorite curry powder
1/2 tsp of salt (more to taste as it cooks)





How to make it:

1. Toast the seeds in a fry pan with no oil, then grind up in a spice grinder or 
2. Melt the butter over low heat in a large and deep saucepan, and add the ground seeds to let the butter soak up the flavor.
3. Increase heat, add onions and potato, and saute until translucent.  Add garlic, stirring to get all ingredients covered in spice.
4. Add tofu and all other veggies except tomatoes.  Continue sauteeing and stirring until they start turning bright and colorful and softening a bit.  Then add tomatoes and curry powder.  Saute until everything is evenly coated with butter and spices.
5. Add coconut milk, salt, and more butter to taste.  Simmer for an hour or more--the more the better, because the spices get more and more infused the longer everything cooks.
6. Add more spices, salt, etc. to taste as it cooks.

Serve with rice, naan, etc. You can adjust the recipe to include any vegetables you want, use meat or paneer in place of tofu, or halve the recipe (which is what I did) My friend who doesn't like curry (which she didn't tell me until after we made it!!) thought it was absolutely delicious.  Go figure.  Oh, and it gets even better after a couple days in the fridge.  Dee-lish!

Whole Wheat Carmelitas

Carmelitas are an old standby in my family for a quick and easy bar cookie that everyone loves!

1/2 c plus butter, melted
3/4 c brown sugar
1 1/4 c whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon (plus freshly grated nutmeg to taste)
1 c oats
3/4 c chocolate chips (dark or milk will work; semi-sweet mini chips are my favorite)
1/3-1/2 c butterscotch caramel ice cream topping

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix all ingredients from butter to oats (including oats) until crumbly in texture.  Press 2/3 of the mixture into the bottom of a greased 8x8 baking pan, reserving the rest for later.  Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes, until puffed and golden.  Remove pan from oven and sprinkle on the chocolate chips, spreading evenly.  Drizzle butterscotch evenly over the

Notes: you can always add nuts if you wish.  I'm just not a fan of nuts in my baked goods.  Also, I've found that using mini chocolate chips gets a better chocolate-to-crust ratio.

Reaching My Breaking Point

Sometime in the past few months, I started referring to myself as "recovered," rather than "in recovery." I didn't know exactly why I made the switch, or how I personally distinguished between "in recovery" and recovered.  What I did know was this: I simply couldn't see myself ever going all the way down the road to my eating disorder again.  Even if I were to have slip-ups along the way, I trusted in what I'd learned so far to talk about it openly, reach out for support, and stop the downward spiral.

But even with this fluid definition of recovery, I had had enough conversations with my treatment team and support people to start believing that I'd never fall prey to to even the thoughts again.  For me, "recovered" was beginning to mean being completely done with the eating disorder and constantly at peace with my body. 

So I was pretty shocked when I found myself fully engaged in an episode of actively using eating disordered behaviors during finals week.  Afterward, I wasn't quite sure what to make of it.  I was afraid to tell anyone, even my therapist.  Did it mean that I was no longer "recovered"?  Had I been fooling myself into believing I was doing better than I actually was?

Surprisingly, no.  Returning to ED symptoms was not a relapse or a failure in recovery.  It was simply a signal to me that I had reached my breaking point with stress, and it was my body's way of telling me that I was asking too much of it.  My mind-body-soul had reached the point where it was dealing with so much stress that it knew of nothing else to do but revert back to habits that used to comfort and distract me.


I have ultimately decided that the symptom episode will be no more or no less significant than I choose to make it.  And at this point, I've let it go.  I took it for the red-alert signal that it was, and I responded by adjusting my expectations of myself during that week.  I took it as a message that I needed more self-care, less self-judgment, and that I also needed to shift my expectations about how much I could accomplish.  I set my intention for the rest of finals week to frequently check in with myself and make sure that my personal needs were being met.  "Powering through" the stress simply wasn't an option.

Last week, I learned that recovery, like life, is messy.  I was reminded that no state of being lasts forever.  Mastering recovery, self-care, and learning to cope with stress in a healthy way is never really a done deal.  But in my mind, that's a good thing.  It makes life dynamic and exciting, and it gives me the chance every day to learn something new about finding that inner peace that I trust will always be available to me, as long as I'm willing to plug out of my old habits and plug into my heart.

What to Do With a half a Can of Pumpkin, part II

...or you can use a whole can, as I've discovered gives a richer pumpkin flavor to the soup.  Anyway, here's my curried pumpkin soup recipe, a new staple for me during the winter time!  If you are using the second half of a can of pumpkin, just halve the entire recipe.

Curried Pumpkin Soup

1 head of cauliflower

1 whole 15-oz can of pumpkin

1-15oz can lite coconut milk

2T olive oil

1 T red or yellow curry paste (flavor preference)

1 T fresh grated or minced ginger

1 tsp salt, more to taste

Steam the cauliflower until it is easy to break apart with a fork, and puree in blender until completely smooth (it will be a mashed-potato-like consistency).

Stir together pumpkin and coconut milk on the stove over medium heat.  Allow to come to almost a boil, stirring occasionally.  Add cauliflower and olive oil and heat again.  Add curry paste, ginger, and salt, and any other spices you think will add pizazz.  Serve or freeze until use.  It's especially delicious served on a cold winter's day with crusty rustic rolls to dip!