Oatmeal Crusted Pizza

For the longest time I have been wanting to make homemade tortillas and pizza crust.  With one down, I heard the next is easier.  When I began my initial search I found countless recipes that required the dough to sit over night.  Although, I'm an extremely patient person when I find new recipes I get in the zone, ready to get my fingers dirty and begin a new tasty journey.  This one required a day, no bad, but I was destined to find one that was instant and I did, thanks to the help of ifood.tv.  With a few simple ideas I already had in mind for the toppings we I began making this outstanding, quick, and simple pizza recipe.

An excerpt from my food diary:

Curiosity is my heart with a dash of wonder I begin to my way to the kitchen.  Before I gather my ingredients, I glance out my kitchen window acknowledging the clean sun giving light to space.  The afternoon has arrived so I welcome it with a silent meditation on my deck.  With the help of JoJo my basset hound together we look at the plants, smell the still air that has no trace of existence until  my body welcomed its next breath of air.  I begin flooding my body with consciousness with every breath I take.  As I whisper "thank you" to the glorious masterpiece called Earth, I remind my dog how blessed I was to have a gorgeous addition to my already handsome family.  With all the gratitude one could possibly display, I close the patio door in silent awareness and begin cooking.

Oatmeal Crusted Pizza

Crust (this will make enough for 3 people)

• 1 1/2 cup oat bran cereal
• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/4 cup skim milk or water
• 3 tablespoons olive oil 

Toppings

• 1 teaspoon ground oregano
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 clove chopped garlic
• 1/8 cup parsley
• 1/8 cup chopped red bell peppers
• 1/8 cup chopped basil
• 1 cup mozzarella
• 1/8 cup favorite Marinara or pasta sauce
  
  Directions
  1)Pre-heat oven to 425.  In a large bowl combine oat bran cereal, flour, and baking powder together, stir until contents have been evenly mixed.  Stir in milk or water (I used water) and olive oil, keep mixing until it forms a sticky ball.  Let dough sit for 10-20 minutes.
  

  

  Note: Remove any jewelry, I got dough in my ring!

  

  2) When it's has sat long enough, transfer dough to a baking sheet, with oil on your fingers begin pressing dough and spreading it thin.  It will be sticky so your fingers are gonna get messy.  Put in oven for 18 minutes.

  

  3) In a smaller bowl combine topping ingredients in any order with oil topped last. Mix.

  

  4) Take a breather, indulge your senses in any scent that may be new to your environment.  Welcome them with love and presence.

  5) Once pizza dough is done, spread sauce and toppings on top of pre-baked dough, and toss mozzarella on top.  Stick in oven for 10 minutes at the same temperature.

  

  
  

  While enjoying your pizza or waiting for it in the oven.  I would like to reach out and hand you the opportunity to bring peace and stillness in your hearts.  While you wait if your alone or with a friend take some time to see what is going inside of your body, you are reading this, waiting for the pizza, but  most importantly you have this one beautiful life.  Give it attention.  This silent attention is of great gratitude and appreciation for what nature has gifted you with, the gift of life.

Spaghetti Squash

I'm so excited with every cell in my body to share this outstanding recipe with you.  Recently I went to the chiropractor in hopes to cure my migraines. Thanks to my doctor everything is going well now, also included more work outs into my daily yoga practice.  As we were reaching the end of my last session he told me about how spaghetti squash is his favorite.  With this exciting path being mentally paved in the moment of my new recipe reception, I gathered the material needed to begin my clear headed celebration.  It was outstanding.
 

Enjoy! :)

Spaghetti Squash

• 1 Spaghetti Squash
• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 1/2 onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 jalapeno
• your choice of vegetables
• Feta cheese

1) Preheat oven to 350

2)Cut spaghetti squash evenly in half.

3) Take out pulp and seeds from the inside of the squash.

4)Face down, place seeded squash on non-stick baking sheet, give it a kiss if you'd like, and put in the oven for 30 minutes.

5)During the oven cycle, sauté bell peppers, onion, garlic, and jalapeno until they have been thoroughly cooked.

6) When the squash is finished, with a fork or spoon begin scraping the sides, as you scrape you will begin to see them string as they break away from the wall of the squash.

7) Mix together contents and top with a light dash of feta cheese.  Try it and enjoy the meal that the earth has given you.  I was overwhelmed with joy after I took the first bite!

Spinach Pasta Dip

Let's get started on this wonderful appetizer that is fit for a quick snack or for company.  The spinach will surely bring a smile to your face and more importantly to your heart. And our main focus is our body, anything that has happened this week or even the past 10 minutes let it all go and let your heart rest in the now.  If we your mind wonders a few times, remain focused on your breathing, what you take in and what is let out, the pause in between and the start of a new breath.  This will open the door to inner body awareness which is the goal when we enter the temple, the kitchen.  Today we will begin with inspiring words of Gangaji.  Let her words be a healing process that will guide you home.  Soften your body as you enter the stillness of your heart.  Drawing the attention from thinking to feeling and from doing to being.

Spinach Pasta Dip

• 1/2 cup orecchiette pasta
• 1/4 cup of sour cream
• 1/8 tbsp garlic powder
• 1/8 cup parmesan cheese
• pinch of salt (for taste)
• 1 teaspoon black ground pepper
• 1 1/2 cup leaf spinach
• 2 tbspn red bell pepper
• 1 tabspn basil
• 2 tbspn cream cheese
• 1 jalapeno (save the seeds)

1) Bring small pan of water to a boil adding the orecchiette and jalapeno slices when boiling begins. Drain and save 1/4 cup of water. Preheat oven to 325.

2) add sour cream, cream cheese, garlic powder, salt and pepper together, add spinach second and basil and jalapeno seeds (1/2 teaspoon approximately)

3) Once combined, stir in water and pasta into mix.  Place on baking sheet and put in oven for 10 minutes.

Take out and serve with crackers or chips!

Quick update

Hello all again! Recently my focal point of my agenda has been to find a job and study for my SAT retake in September.  The search for my job has come to a great end, now I have income to keep cooking.  Today has been a big lane changer, because I took a mental dive into the vegan world by watching "Forks over Knives" so from this point on I will be cooking a lot more vegetables.  As much as many people claim that this task is difficult since we have had years of animal intake, I believe it can be accomplished simply in the art of doing.  As far as my SAT's have gone I'm excited to share that I'm quite prepared, I'm polishing my skills in mathematics since it's been years.  Throughout my studying, I focused a lot on my inner body, breathing, touch, feels, letting my senses work to their best ability to enable me to open up my heart for new information to enter.  I'm to thankful to have such an easy walk, currently I look forward to whatever any moment has for me, and completely satisfied with whatever outcome is concluded for my life.  I will be posting a new post tonight, spinach dip and tomorrow 2, my new favorite spaghetti squash and oatmeal crusted pizza (no yeast necessary!)


With all the love in my heart,
Jaycee

Max Ehrmann's "Desiderata"

Max Ehrmann 




Desiderata


Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.
Max Ehrmann, Desiderata, Copyright 1952.

Kuku-ye Bademjan

Those who eat too much or eat too little, who sleep too much or sleep too little, will not succeed in meditation. But those who are temperate in eating and sleeping, work and recreation, will come to the end of sorrow through meditation. -The Bhagavad Gita

We will begin this tasteful evening with a silent meditation.  This meditation will require you to sit on the floor.  When introducing your body to a quiet practice it would be humble to feed your body with silence, there for put to rest any distractions, whatever is on the outside will be transmuted into what is real, what is inside.  You may also do this practice on a chair, make sure you're spine is erect for comfort.  I will begin drawing a guideline then you will begin.  While sitting, bring your hands on your lap, palms face up, and eyes closed.  Start with a few breathes to bring your attention from your thinking, to your body, from doing to being.  Make your focal point at the beginning your breathing, in then out, if your mind starts saying "in and out" draw your attention more to the silence in between each breath, our goal is to rest our thoughts and enlighten our souls with intuitive attention.  While breathing, focus on how your stomach expands and goes back in with each breath, this will be your opportunity to switch from being your thoughts to the awareness of those thoughts. Do this for as long as you please and when your ready, begin drawing your awareness to the feeling energy inside the palms, the length of each finger, the air pushing against your finger tips, the weight of your hands on your legs.  This practice will be important while cooking, the way you use your hands, how you are moving, how you are cutting, and so on.  Bring the awareness up the arms for 30 seconds each until you are at your chest.  Feel the energy of your awareness in your chest then back to the stomach to wrap up this meditation.  Breath. Keep focusing on your breaths as you begin to open your eyes and begin walking towards the kitchen meditatively.  Let's begin cooking.

Kuku-ye Bademjan

Recipe

• 1 egg plant
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 tbsp chopped parsley
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tspn baking powder
• 1/2 tspn flour
• 1 tspn salt
• 1/4 tbsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tspn turmeric (substituted for saffron)
• 1/2 jalepeno

Directions

1) To remove bitterness, start by peeling your eggplant, cut in 3 length wise slices, and immerse in water, soaking for 20 minutes.

2) After 20 minutes are up, evenly wipe each slice with olive oil and cooking on medium heated skillet.  Cook both sides for 6 minutes each or until you can easily sick a fork threw it.

3)Next, in a food processor introduce each slice and blend until mashed.  You can also use a fork and smash them as an food processor alternative.

4) In separate mix, olive oil, eggs, garlic, parsley, lemon juice, baking powder, flour, salt, pepper, turmeric, and (optional) jalepenos ( I LOVE SPICY :))

5) After eggplant is mashed diligently, stir in contents with egg mixture.

6)Pre-heat oven to 350.  Put oil at bottom of baking pot. Stick pot with oil in oven for 1 minute then pour egg mixture in pot. Put in oven for 30 minutes.  Take out put 1 tbspn oil on top, spread and enter pot in the oven for 30 more minutes or until crisped.

Serve with honey drizzled on slice.  Let sit for 5 minutes, before cutting, my slice came out messy because I cut a little too early (feedback said it looked like elephant feces,  maybe that's what the Persians got inspired from).  I'm looking forward to opening up my eyes to a variety of cultural foods with excitement to share with everyone my journey.  Love with your soul smile with your heart. Namaste.

References

http://barefootandcooking.com/2011/01/eggplant-kuku/

http://www.eatingoutloud.com/2009/03/persian-eggplant-kuku-kuku-ye-bademjan.html

Baked Salmon with Kale Chips

Currently, I am in the kitchen deciding what to eat for lunch while reading the Jack Hawley translation of The Bhagavad Gita.  Affirmatively, I opened up to the introduction and couldn't help but feel a rush of happiness and started crying, oh it was the best cry I have ever had the opportunity to experience.  Jack Hawley you really know how to introduce a book, with such passion and pure love behind each word describing the beauty behind The Bhagavad Gita, it brings me such joy and great honor to be reading this ancient text.  Every time I've picked it back up, my focus was no longer on eating but on this burst of splendor emotion that has been so influential on my current cooking task.  I'm going to dance now with my music on the right, specifically C'est Si Bon by Emilie-Claire Barlow, with the grace of your heart feel free to join me in celebration to this beautiful life, where ever you are at, I invite you to be thankful for this generous gift.

Before we get started on our festivities, I would like to reach out and thank all who have read my blog so far and have given me such wondrous feed back.  Sincerely, thank you.

Although I usually begin with a simple meditation, let this dance be your way of thanking your body for being so great to you, put aside any self doubt, stress, frustration, and laugh because none of it truly matters at this point.  What really matters, is that your reading, your breathing, possibly laughing, and above all, being.  That's what everything comes from, your basic functions of reading, your interest in spirituality all come from the one source that remains the same, the body and more specifically the heart.  While dancing, love, feel each breathe as it flows to your stomach, feel the life energy throughout each inch of your body till every cell can vouch for this exciting moment in our lives.  With all the love in my heart and quiet excitement, A Taste of Satori.

Baked Salmon with Kale chips

Salmon

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 lb Salmon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 garlic glove (miced)
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 teaspoon oregano

Salmon/Kale chip sauce

• 1 1/2 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped basil
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon rosemary
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon worchester sauce

Kale Chips

• 1/4 large bunch of Kale
• 1/4 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

And if desired, a bottle of your favorite wine, Moscato went well with this meal

1) Preheat oven to 300 and begin spreading apart kale from large bunch.  Take kale off of stem, disposing of the stems once naked, break off kale in 2 inch pieces, some will be smaller and that is completely fine!

2) After successfully separating kale pieces, begin to wash. After completely washed pat dry with towel or paper towels, they need to be completely dry.

3) After drying is complete, in a new bowl add kale and pour olive oil, on a baking sheets begin taking each piece of kale and evenly spread olive oil and single layer each piece on sheet. (Make sure not to let oil sit or drench kale, just a light spread of oil) Put in oven for 18 minutes, when finished let it sit out till ready to serve.

4)Preheat oven to 425. Begin seasoning salmon with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, thyme, and oregano in a bag. Bake for 16 minutes or until desired temperature has been met.

5) While salmon is baking, combine all ingredients for sauce.

6) Pull out the wine and celebrate!  The kale chips are a new favorite of mine, this recipe introduced me to the outstanding flavors the kale holds when baked.

When you sit, practice what is called conscious eating, during the practicing body awareness, incorporate taste bud awareness, that is chew gently, taste while separate each flavor in your mouth.  As you swallow, swallow with passion, and feel the food as it softly makes way to your stomach..  This will surely bring a peace to your heart and calmness to your mind.  Let this culinary meditation be your healing practice, to heal your body and soul.

With much love,

A Taste of Satori

Reference for kale chips were inspired by http://forecast.diabetes.org/recipes/kale-chips