Sean's Spicy Curry Shrimp with Veggies

My brother's friend, Sean, posted a picture of this recipe on Facebook the other day and I insisted that he pass it along my way.  If you're a veggie like me, you can leave out the shrimp and perhaps add in some beans or firm-cubed tofu.  Below is his description, the recipe and a little bit more about him!  ENJOY-


Classic one-pot wonder: Sean's spicy curry shrimp with veg's
This recipe was literally born out of the union of parts of my friend's red curry dish she makes, ingredients I found on the back of the Thai Kitchen can and the fact that squash and broccoli slaw were the only veggies I had left before my next grocery run. Many people would serve this type of dish over a bed of rice, or a pile of grains as I call it, but I challenge you to enjoy it as is.

Ingredients:
About 1/2 or more of a julienned sliced onion
A bunch of shrimp, peeled and deveined, of course
2 tablespoons, or so, of red curry paste
1 can of coconut milk (unsweetened, unpressed, I like Thai Kitchen brand)
2 sliced or cubed small fresh yellow squash
1/2 bag, or more of Dole Broccoli slaw
Sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Slice and dice your squash and onions
2. Clean up, or unthaw your shrimps
3. Toss them, along with the broccoli slaw, into a large sauté pan, or medium-sized pot
4. Let the veggies soften up pretty good, then toss in the shrimp, coconut milk and red curry paste
5. Add salt and pepper if you are feelin' frisky
6. Cook until shrimp is an opaque pinkish-white, veggies are to your liking and the smell of coconut curry fills the kitchen

Note: If you want to make more, just add more of everything and keep tasting. It's not a measurement-specific kind of dish.

Being a bachelor and follower of the Paleo diet, I tend to make a ton of these one-pot wonders for myself. I like throwing my favorite flavors, veggies and proteins together and hoping an edible dish magically appears. I aim to get 3-5 meals out of one recipe to save time and avoid having to eat out for lunch the next day.

CYH's Song of the Moment: Reboot the Mission, The Wallflowers feat. Mick Jones

When I think of the Wallflowers I think of the 90s and those few hits they had.  I haven't thought about them since, until I heard this.  So fun and the video, even more fun.  Enjoy!

September is National Yoga Month

We all know that yoga is good for us, but sometimes it doesn't hurt to be reminded! Read on and try and think about taking a new yoga class this month in your area to change things up a bit. It's important to keep an open mind with your practice and be inspired by different teachers.  Click here for more details.

10 Reasons to Practice Yoga

1. STRESS RELIEF: Yoga reduces the physical effects of stress on the body. By encouraging relaxation, yoga helps to lower the levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Related benefits include lowering blood pressure and heart rate, improving digestion and boosting the immune system as well as easing symptoms of conditions such as anxiety, depression, fatigue, asthma and insomnia.

2. PAIN RELIEF: Yoga can ease pain. Studies have demonstrated that practicing yoga asanas (postures), meditation or a combination of the two, reduced pain for people with conditions such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, auto-immune diseases and hypertension as well as arthritis, back and neck pain, and other chronic conditions. Some practitioners report that even emotional pain can be eased through the practice of yoga.

3. BETTER BREATHING: Yoga teaches people to take slower, deeper breaths. This helps to improve lung function, trigger the body’s relaxation response and increase the amount of oxygen available to the body.

4. FLEXIBILITY: Yoga helps to improve flexibility and mobility, increasing range of movement and reducing aches and pains. Many people can’t touch their toes during their first yoga class. Gradually they begin to use the correct muscles. Over time, the ligaments, tendons and muscles lengthen, increasing elasticity, making more poses possible. Yoga also helps to improve body alignment resulting in better posture and helping to relieve back, neck, joint and muscle problems.

5. INCREASED STRENGTH: Yoga asanas (postures) use every muscle in the body, helping to increase strength literally from head to toe. And, while these postures strengthen the body, they also provide an additional benefit of helping to relieve muscular tension.

6. WEIGHT MANAGEMENT: Yoga (even less vigorous styles) can aid weight control efforts by reducing the cortisol levels as well as by burning excess calories and reducing stress. Yoga also encourages healthy eating habits and provides a heightened sense of well-being and self-esteem.

7. IMPROVED CIRCULATION: Yoga helps to improve circulation and, as a result of various poses, more efficiently moves oxygenated blood to the body’s cells.

8. CARDIOVASCULAR CONDITIONING: Even gentle yoga practice can provide cardiovascular benefits by lowering resting heart rate, increasing endurance and improving oxygen uptake during exercise.

9. FOCUS ON THE PRESENT: Yoga helps us to focus on the present, to become more aware and to help create mind body health. It opens the way to improved concentration, coordination, reaction time and memory.

10. INNER PEACE: The meditative aspects of yoga help many to reach a deeper, more spiritual and more satisfying place in their lives. Many who begin to practice for other reasons have reported this to be a key reason that yoga has become an essential part of their daily lives.
Text courtesy of Yoga Alliance.

Stiff Neck Frustration

This is what my neck has felt like all day, heavy!
Go away negative thoughts zebra!

As I type here right now, I may as well have one of those huge white neck braces on because I can barely turn my head.  I woke up with a MAJOR stiff neck.  I can easily turn to the left, but forget about turning to the right.  I have to move with my whole body or only turn my eyes towards the right.

Yea, you're reading this right - the limber yoga teacher who stretches, does pranayama and works out each day has a stiff neck.  But, how the heck could that be?  Let me enlighten you...

Last night as I got into bed I was restless after a loooong day at the office.  At the office, even though I'm the wellness director, much of my day is spent behind a desk, staring lazily at my glowing computer screen, typing away while remaining sedentary.  I'm flooded with things to do (aren't we all) and hop from one thing to the next.  It can get pretty hectic, so sometimes my shoulders will shrug up towards my ears as I hunch over my keyboard while my leg shakes for minutes/hours out of nerves.  My commute is a little over an hour and a half (just one way) so I'm in the car for at least 3 hours each day driving on some of the most populated highways in the tri-state area.  Anyway, last night was a beautiful summer night and I'm lying in bed with both windows cracked open to the sound of the crickets.  On any normal night this would lull me right off to a wonderful night's sleep.  However, for some reason my mind was filled with NEGATIVE thoughts.  I was feeling stress in my chest area, couldn't seem to relax my body and certainly couldn't slow down my thoughts.  I try taking some deep breaths...not working.  I catch myself creating these stories in my head about the day...things I didn't do, things I shouldn't have said, blah blah blah.  Finally after tossing and turning, I fall asleep and have a long night of that kind of half-awake state but deep dreaming.  The content of my dreams were uncomfortable.  The alarm goes off at 4:45am and I awake feeling like I didn't sleep at all.  I sit up and immediately grab my neck/shoulders and feel the shooting pain.  I must have slept on it wrong, I thought.

Then I got to thinking.

I didn't sleep on it wrong...last night my mind was consumed by negativity which paraded through the rest of my body creating stiffness, inflammation and stress!!!!  This is the perfect example of what you think, you become.  Well while drifting off to sleep last night my thinking was off in a totally dark direction and my body became a nervous, tension-filled wreck!  

Moral of the story:  Your body hears your thoughts.  It hears exactly what you're saying to yourself and the tone you're saying it in.  Tonight I'll go to bed consciously changing the tone of my (inner) voice. I'll speak only sweet, soft thoughts, while inviting every muscle in my body to relax.
Now, doesn't that sound pleasant compared to last night's rest?!

This blog post was originally posted on Live. Breathe. Grow.'s blog. I'm an Inspiration Nation blogger for them, and so proud of it!

Breaking Up with Gluten

"That's it, gluten! We're officially over." says Lauren to the delicious and pliable whole wheat wrap on her plate. (She throws it into the garbage then wipes away a tear.) But then, the week after, she's enjoying the most delicious balsamic marinated grilled tofu melt on top of thick ciabatta bread. Heaven. The next day, bloated and crampy she throws the breaded parts of her yummy left overs into the trash and becomes emotional because she's forced to break things off with gluten yet again. (This emotional roller-coaster of a relationship with Lauren and gluten continue on and on.)

I've hesitated eliminating gluten for years now, in fear of having some sort of reaction to it and sure enough, I do. I have a gluten sensitivity which, for me, means that certain foods make me achey, BLOATED, congested, heachachey/fog-headed, and sluggish (both digestively/mentally/physically). Sometimes the effects come on a few hours after eating something with gluten, but often times they come the next day and may actually last for as long as 2-3 days. I can't take it anymore! As I'm writing this my bloated belly is petruding through my dress and the thin belt around my waist feels like it's going to bust off at any moment.  I need to chill out on gluten.

I went gluten free last fall for a little over 2 months and felt GREAT.   However, since then I began adding little bits of gluten back in here and there.  I avoid it whenever I can but as you have read, I do have some slip ups now and then!  As with all of the evolutions in my diet, I know it takes time to implement and stick to new changes. Saying goodbye (even limiting gluten) seems to be the hardest, but I have absolute faith that I will get there. I've already implemented some simple changes that have been really tasty and nutritious. For example:

-I love peanut butter and jelly so now I've been enjoying them on rice-cakes (which have always been a favorite food of mine).  Or on Ezekiel bread (see link and more about this below)

-I have been enjoying my hummus with chopped up carrots, celery or peppers.

-I'm placing things that I would normal eat with bread over a bed of greens or wrapping in a collard green.

-I've been limiting the amount of soy sauce I use when out eating sushi, and using Bragg's Liquid Aminos for the sushi that I order in.

-I grab whole pieces of fruit to snack on throughout the day and have been making my own fruit/nut bars.

-Luckily I've been off pasta and pizza for quite some time, which gives me hope because I NEVER thought I could move away from those foods. I swear by brown rice pasta, and even got the rest of my Italian family on it.  I've been making vegan pizza's on Ezekiel sprouted wraps (Please note, Ezekiel still contains gluten, but does not bother me as much as a white or whole wheat flour wrap would. You must explore what foods you can tolerate and can't with your gluten sensitivity. Those with an allergy towards gluten (or celiac) would NOT be able to consume products such as these.).  

Thanks, Ryan.  Now I will think of you each time I want
some fluffy bread & feel better because you have my back.   

The list goes on...and basically all of the changes have resulted in eating more whole, real foods at each meal which has been great! But just as with most meaningful relationships, you'll have a difficult time separating and calling it quits, and I'm clearly in this stage. I'm writing this to remind everyone that I struggle just like everyone else with making changes to my diet. During times like this I really have to take the advice that I give to my clients and be patient, stay focused, make the best decision I can at every meal and most importantly remind myself that it's OK if I slip here and there.

Have you gone gluten-free and have any ideas, stories, recipes or suggestions? Please share!

Wendy's Brown Rice and Edamame with Almonds

Last fall I picked up and left for a journey out to California.  I checked into the Sivananda ashram in Grass Valley for a weekend of chanting with Jai Uttal.  The experience was unreal.  Anyway, that was where I met and connected with Wendy!  Please check out her recipe below and look forward to a few more in the future.  Thanks, Wendy!


About Wendy:  I’ve been veggie on and off all my life but recently moved more to plant based whole food (of Forks of Knives, etc.) diet.   Cooking is a meditation for me…chopping and dicing and experimenting with flavor and texture.  

I’m a nurse practitioner in Campus Health at NAU (Northern AZ Univ) and constantly appalled at the poor diet of my students…. So I’m teaching a lot of this to them as well.

My quilt quild has a huge potluck holiday party every year. Last year I was signed up to bring a salad. I hadn’t been to the grocery store in almost 2 weeks (I had been busy!) and so my challenge was to make something out of what I had on hand.  I didn't have a lot to work with, but I did have some frozen edamame.  I found an edamame salad recipe that I thought I’d try, but when I made the dressing I just didn’t like the smell or the taste.   It was time to create something myself.

I love the combo of ginger, soy, garlic, and honey, so decided to wing it and here’s what came out...it was a hit with just a tiny bit left after the food line died down.  I had the leftovers for lunch the next day and it was even better!

Brown Rice and Edamame with Almonds

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups water

1 cup brown rice

2 1/2  cups shelled, steamed edamame beans

1 cup roasted almonds

2 generous Tbs honey

2 tbsp fresh shredded/minced ginger

1 clove crushed garlic

1/3 cup soy sauce

Directions:

Bring 2 ½ c water to a boil; add 1 cup brown rice.  Reduce heat and simmer 45 minutes, covered until all the water is absorbed.

Steam edamame according to package directions, or about 5-7 minutes. Cool and remove the pods. You’ll need about 2-3 cups of the edamame “beans”

While the rice and edamame are cooking, prepare the dressing.

Whisk together honey, ginger, garlic, and soy sauce in a small bowl or glass measuring cup.  In a serving dish, combine the rice, edamame, and almonds and toss with the dressing.

Refrigerate for 2-3 hrs or overnight.

So easy, so good, so healthy.

Pause during work and click this each day.

Whether you work in an office, at home, or just plain need a break...click on this link at least once per day to R E L A X and enjoy.  A few minutes away from your day to break, breathe and re-ground yourself will only add to your productivity and well-being.  Bookmark it in your computer now!

GAIAM Life Meditation Rooms