Quickie Winter Soup Recipe 01/29/2010
In cold wintery days when the rain is drizzling down your windows and you need something warming, health-giving and full of flavor, opt for soup! Here is a delicious stew that is sure to create a spark in your mouth! (Kids love it, too.) 2 Tblsp. olive oil or grape seed oil 2 cups onion, chopped 1 c. celery, chopped 2 Tblsp. Old Bay Seasoning 2 Tsp. Thyme, powder or leaves 2 c. chopped tomatoes 4 cups water 2 cups sweet potato, diced 1 zucchini, chopped 1 large carrot, chopped 2 c. cut green beans, frozen or fresh 1 c. fresh or frozen okra, chopped 2 c. fresh or frozen corn before serving, add 2 Tblsp. Soy sauce, Tamari or Bragg's 2 Tblsp. Fresh lemon juice Saute the onions in the oil, add the Old bay, Celery and Thyme, saute 5 minutes more (add a bit of water if you need to keep it from sticking) Add the tomatoes with their juices, and the rest. Cook on med-low heat for 20 minutes and then turn off the heat. Add the Bragg's and lemon juice before serving. Yummy! *If you want added protein, you can serve over cooked quinoa. Delish! *Sprinkle some nutritional yeast for a cheezy flavor. *Sing positive music or say a little mantra or prayer while cooking. This puts that vibration into your food and it will pass on to others when they eat it! You can play good music, too. Be happy, smile and fill your food with love and life! Making "Healthier" EASIER! 01/20/2010
Here are a few tips on getting healthy and staying healthy! 1. When you get home from the grocery store or farmer's market, wash those vegetables immediately! Get all the greens washed and prepped for salads and smoothies. Clean greens are WAY more appealing when you are hungry! 2. Prepare the fruits and veggies for your morning smoothies and place all the ingredients for your smoothies in individual containers. Make enough for 3-4 days of smoothies. That way you can wake up, hydrate, do your morning routine and then empty your one container of goodness into your blender, add water and whirl! (You can do the same for salads if you like. Pre-make the salads. Mix them up and have them in containers ready to eat. I often make one GINORMOUS salad and place it in a lidded glass bowl for the family to eat on for 2-3 days.) 3. Have a good dressing. Have two or three! Make your own! If you do not have a great dressing recipe, try this on for size; it is awesome! 1/3 cup raw tahini 1/4 cup flaxseed oil (coldpressed) 1/4 cup olive oil (coldpressed) 1/4 cup water 1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice 1/3 cup chopped onion 1/4 cup Tamari or Bragg's Liquid Aminos 1 garlic clove (optional) Blend it all up and add it to salad or dip veggies into it. YUM! 4. Do not stock junkfood in the house. If you buy it for your kids, stop! If you buy it for your spouse, stop! It does no one any good! If your spouse absolutely HAS to have the stuff, tell them how important it is to you that you not have the temptation of junkfoods and processed foods around while you are implememting new habits that serve your highest goals. Ask if they can buy that type of food for themself and keep it at work or elsewhere. If they STILL must have it at home. Designate a shelf in the cupboard for that person and place those processed items there. If it is your children that say they have to have it, remember you are the parent. Here are some guidelines that help children learn good eating habits. 5. Take plenty of healthy snacks when you leave your house. Make sure your have choice. I find if I take one snack with me, say something mroe salty, I will end up wanting something sweet. So, take raw niuts and dried fruits (dates and pecans are a great instant sweet-tooth fix!); veggie slices and maybe a dressing to dip them in, bring a green smoothie or fresh fruit. It may seem like alot, but packing a small sack with plenty of choices will save you money and keep you smiling all around. There are so many ways to help yourself when it comes to staying on track. The most important thing to remember? If you get off track, do not beat yourself up about it! it is ok. Just try to make a better choice for your next meal or snack! In Peace, Kirsten The Power of Positive Thinking 01/17/2010
We take in nutrients from our food, the body utilizes those nutrients and then the body rids itself of the waste-matter; Solid, liquid. Ideally we take in foods that give us what we need. Proper foods that are fresh, living and full of life-affirming goodness. Many times we take in foods devoid of these qualities and so our bodies suffer. Likewise in life we have experiences; Many experiences -from the moment we are born into our precious bodies until the day we leave our physical forms. Ideally in life we process our experiences, learn from them what we can and then eliminate that which is not needed; Eliminate that which does not serve our highest purpose. We store these past experiences in our unconscious and subconscious minds where they can overflow into our daily lives and our conscious living resulting in negative self image, negative patterns of behavior or thought. We will explore ways to rid ourselves of past negativity and trauma in a future newsletter. For now, we are going to focus on changing our everyday thinking habits. Positive affirmation has been around for thousands of years and is nothing new. Words increase in power through repetition and when those words are positive they increase at an even more rapid rate. Why? Because Life, which is found in everything, from you to me to the chair you sit on to the air you breathe began with thought. Nothing exists that did not first begin with a thought. And Life wants nothing more than to advance. It is an intelligent substance. When you think or speak or act positively, Life becomes interested in you. When you begin to make it a habit out of something positive, Life starts to really become interested and hangs around more, finding faster ways to help you advance as It wants nothing more than to see you grow! Here is a quick exercise in positive affirmation or mantra; Think of something you think or say to yourself that is negative or keeps you down in some way... ...do you have it yet? It can be something from this morning or something from your childhood that has been carried all these years. You decide. Here is my example: I am not good enough. Let's say I have had this thought for 20-sum years. 'I am not good enough.' My mind my repeat these words thousands of times through-out the day and the problem with this is I am allowing my mind to control the situation and when I repeat this mantra thousands of times, I begin to shrink a little bit and believe it. My new mantra to replace the old one will be "I am good enough now". I will use this mantra in the other mantra place whenever the old mantra tries to sneak in. At first it will seem like you are CONSTANTLY having to replace the new mantra! And believe me, the old one will be annoyed and try very hard to push it's way into the front of your mind, but you must not let it. As soon as the thought begins to enter... push it aside with your new positive mantra. "I am not..." *** "I am good enough NOW" "But, I ..." "I am good enough NOW" "I am good enough now. I am good enough now" The first few days are the most challenging. But the old mantra sees the new mantra for what it is -a jack-hammer and it will learn to stay away. In a matter of days or weeks, your new mantra will be the reigning champion and the old mantra will cease to exist. It is worth the effort. Then you can move onto another negative pattern of thought and begin to replace one at a time until your mind is new and fresh and focused on all things positive. When you are focused on the positive, you will find that more and more good things happen to you. Because cause and effect are real. A like cause produces a like effect. Focus on the negative and that is what you'll get. It is your decision! All thing can be ours, if only we stand up and claim them! Try it. I challenge you. Begin now. In Peace, Kirsten  increasing energy in minutes 01/07/2010
Increasing energy in the body can be facilitated in so many ways! One wonderful yogic technique is by channeling the breath through the right nostril. When we inhale through the right nostril and exhale through the left nostril it gives us a more focused, action-oriented mind as well as helps to minimize negative thinking. Try this technique the next time you feel that 'afternoon slump'. (You know...when you start thinking of coffee, sugar or chips to pick you up!) Sat Nam On beauty 01/05/2010
There is a famous quote that is often attributed to Nelson Mandela, but in fact was written by Marianne Williamson. It is one poem from her 1992 collection entitled A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles" So beautiful and so very, very true, these words ring loudly for us to hear; To really hear. To take in. To absorb, and to remind us to listen to ourselves and learn who we are and why we are here. Our Deepest Fear Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually who are we not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. - Marianne Williamson Be the biggest YOU you can be! ~Kirsten Baca |
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