Homemade Chai - Yoga in a Cup!

Another fantastic recipe I'm sharing from the most lovely Rebecca of my 2005 yoga teacher training. We often enjoyed this during the cooler months as we listened to our beloved teacher, Diane, talk to us about yoga philosophy. Every cup brings me back! There are real benefits to sipping a delicious cup of chai. The spice mixture enhances warmth, digestion, and circulation.

• Fresh Ginger - sliced, and you can leave on the skin if it is organic
• Black Pepper
• Cardamom Pods
• Cinnamon Sticks 
• Cloves
• Allspice
• Your choice of Loose Tea - black for a more traditional chai, rooibos for earthy flavor without the caffeine, peppermint is very soothing, especially in the evening - it is your choice!

Start with the whole spices, and crush in a mortar and pestle.No proportions to stick with. Add a little of everything and play with it until you've developed YOUR individualized version.

WET VERSION: Combine ingredients and add to a pan filled with cold water. Heat on high until it comes to a rolling boil, then turn the heat down and allow chai to simmer on low with a cover on for a good while (at  least 20 minutes... can leave simmering for hours.) The longer it simmers, the stronger and the better! You can leave your pot of chai out on the stove for a couple days, reheating and enjoying. When you've used half the pot, add more water and reheat. the spices are so strong and like to be used to their full potential.

Serve with milk of your choice and some honey.

DRY VERSION: A different way of creating this chai is to combine all the ingredients dry. Dehydrate the ginger and add as well. Place in a large air-tight container and use as desired for individual batches. I bulk-ordered organic rooibos and made a 2-quart container of chai mixture. A great place to purchase your spices bulk and at a lower price is your local Indian grocery. They usually have great selections and pricing on tea as well. It probably won't be organic, though. You can also go on-line for wholesale pricing on spices if you really love this tea as much as I do and plan to drink it often. The jar I made has lasted several years. I need to replenish my supply soon! When you are ready to make chai tea, follow the instructions for the wet version above.

Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream

 Enjoy the Autumn Harvest Season with Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream!
Vegan, Gluten Free, Soy Free

1 can coconut milk (full fat)
1 tbsp corn starch
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla'
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp clove
12 oz pumpkin puree (canned or freshly roasted)

Bring coconut milk to simmer in pan. Add the sugar and corn starch. Whisk to eliminate lumps, stirring continuously as the mixture thickens substantially. Remove from burner and allow to cool to room temperature.

Add coconut milk mixture and pumpkin in blender. Puree. Add vanilla and spices and mix thoroughly.Place in refrigerator for 2 to 3 hours.

Remove from refrigerator and follow directions for your ice cream maker. You can enjoy as soft serve or place back in the refrigerator for several hours for a more firm texture.

Serve with shortbread cookies. If you'd like to be decadent, you can drizzle caramel sauce over the top. Enjoy!

NOTE: Feel free to experiment with spices - allspice, nutmeg, and ginger (fresh if possible) are great as well. just taste for flavor prior to pouring the liquid from the blender and adjust as needed. Have fun with it!

Vitality Salad Dressing!

This is inspired by the lovely Rebecca, the beautiful yoga teacher and cook who provided sustaining vegan meals to our yoga teacher training in 2005. More of her recipes to come. I've modified to be soy-free.


Vitality Dressing

Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Raw Coconut Aminos
Tahini
Nutritional Yeast
Salt
Pepper
Dried Basil
1 clove garlic, pressed or minced

Mix ingredients in a glass jar by shaking. Use your taste buds for proportions that you like. This is different every time I make it according to what I have. Feel free to add different spices for desired flavor profile. And most importantly - Enjoy!

Autumn Chili - A Salute to the Autumn New England Harvest

Looking into my refrigerator last week, I was faced with beautiful, seasonal, fresh and seemingly unrelated items from our local Heirloom Harvest farm share. I met the meal challenge with a chili that far exceeded my expectations! This dish is sweet, savory, and spicy. This convenient crock pot meal is guaranteed to warm you on a brisk autumn day while getting you out of a flavor rut. Vegan, gluten free, nut free and soy free, this was approved by my 5-year old picky eater, my easily-pleased 16-month old and my foodie and former sous chef husband. The entire crock pot of chili was gone in less than 24 hours!

The rest of this blog and recipe is up over at MassMoms. Top with Cashew Cream (recipe posted on my blog as well.) Enjoy and let me know what you think! I'm on my second batch. Blessings!

Raw Carrot Curry Kraut

Inspired by a recipe from Conscious Eating, by Gabriel Cousens.

1 small head red cabbage, shredded
1 small head green cabbage, shredded
1 medium head green cabbage, juiced
3 cups carrot, shredded
3 cloves garlic minced or pressed
2 Tbsp Curry powder

Try to use organic produce if possible. Always rinse thoroughly. reserve the large cabbage leaves. red the green cabbage, red cabbage, and carrots. Mix in curry powder and garlic. Press mixture down into the bottom of a large glass mason jar or pickling jar until juices begin to release.

Juice 1 medium green cabbage on coarse setting. Collect all juice and pour into the jar with the vegetable mixture. Discard the fibrous pulp. The mixture should be completely covered with the juice, with about 1/8" of liquid on top.

Cover the mixture with the cabbage leaves. Cover the cabbage leaves with plastic wrap and then place a large bowl on top the plastic wrap in order to keep the mixture submerged. Cover with glass cover. Place the jar in a room temperature area and cover with a towel. Allow to ferment between 4 and 7 days. The warmer ambient temperature is, the more rapidly the fermentation will occur.

Once complete, you can scoop the Curry Kraut into glass jars and store in the refrigerator for up to 6 months. The Curry Kraut will continue to ferment, albeit slowly, so the flavor will continue to mature over time.

Discard if there is any visible microbial growth, any off odor, or if the Curry Kraut fizzes or gives off a lot of gas upon opening the lid of the storage jar.

CSA share week 10/4 - Season is ending with a punctuation of squash and greens.

Sad the season is ending. However it will be nice to step away from food processing and preservation for a while and focus on my newest interest - vegan and raw food preparation - inspired by this season's fresh and delicious harvest! The lack of recent blogs is indicative of the massive amounts of food gleaned the last few weeks from the farm share and other local picking excursions.

This week:

• 2 pie pumpkins
• 4 lbs eggplant
• 1 lb carrots
• 1 head broccoli
• 1 head cauliflower
• 1 bunch collard greens
• 1 LARGE bunch kale
• Unlimited peppers
• Take some tomatillos
• Unlimited PYO raspberries
• Unlimited PYO husk cherries

We also picked up our apple share and purchased 1 lb of hen-of-the-woods foraged mushrooms from a gentleman selling them at the barn.

More processing. On the agenda is baba ghanoush, salsa, vegetable soup, pumpkin bread and roasted seeds, veggie korma.