A Corner of My Heart

I was reminded how short life is yesterday and how we all give a piece of ourselves to one another and hold an ounce of the other in our hearts. A dear friend, who held a corner in my heart, Will Owsley, took his life early yesterday morning. Will struggled like mad to embrace his talents and in recent years was more in the conversation of how bad life is and unable to see the gifts that are inside or around him. He was honest and exposed. I never knew him in his prime, though I felt safe being raw around his unique ability to reveal the darkside near the end of his life.

At the same time, my raw diet has fallen by the wayside. I thought perhaps that was a calling, to go raw in the past few weeks. It was fun, but today I needed comfort and all the nuts, seeds and raw fruits and veggies are not enough to fill the whole inside of me today.

I spent the night painting pictures to go on my walls, as well as considering that each angel in my life is not going to be here forever and I want to know how to love them up in the most authentic way. I find creating things taps a corner in my heart that invites me to express myself fully and energizes the emotional content into transformation. Normally, this is in writing or cooking, but I see a house full of empty walls that need filling, so I am painting my way to fill them up.

Lunch was an opportunity to embrace the sweetness of today: Blue Corn Bread and Sweet Onion Soup. Blue Corn Bread is definitely blue bread first, with a hint of corn. It is not like your traditional cornbread, more like a muffin loaf, sweet and dense and dark enough to look healthy, but sweet so like a bread with a side of really good friends for brunch.
The sweetness of the onions cooked for a long time in the soup was like a jam for the bread and together perfectly satisfying to soften my heart and help me feel fine looking out on the rain today.

Blue Corn Bread

Dry ingredients:

1 cup blue cornmeal
3/4 cup teff or sorghum flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon mild chili powder (optional)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup organic light brown sugar or agave (if using agave, reduce water by 1/4)

Wet Ingredients:

Two organic free-range eggs or Ener-G Egg Replacer for 2 eggs
1/2 cup light olive oil
1 cup water

Optional add-ins:

1/2 cup chopped roasted mild green chiles or raisins or walnuts

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
• Measure the dry ingredients and mix together in a bowl.
• Add the wet ingredients together, and beat well.
• Add the dry ingredients a bit at a time and mix until it is thick, but not dry.
• Add the optional add-in's: raisins, green chilies or walnuts
• Grease a bread pan and add dough to pan. Pat down to shape into a loaf.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350. Insert a toothpick in center and if it emerges dry, the bread is ready to come out of the oven.

*This recipe is inspired by Gluten Free Goddess

Avo Carrot Saucy Soup

Simply delicious avocado. How else can you satisfy your brain and your belly, your hair, skin and nails and enjoy such a succulent superfood at any age? (avos are great for babies and old people since they are soothing to the digestive system).
Avocado can be added to nearly any dish--from soup to sauces and dressings to desserts. Without further ado, here is a dish from lunch a few days ago that can be as saucy or soupy as you prefer. Laura and I enjoyed it as a dip with celery, in addition to collard wraps filled with extra salty almond pate--it would have been a nice colorful sauce to the wraps as well. Or a soup to begin with. She liked the coconut water, so I decided to add it in to make the soup a bit more saucy! Spring water works nice also. ( :

Avo Carrot Soup
1 avocado
1 carrot
1/4 cup blanched almonds (I removed the skins, but not necessary)
1 T ginger
1 T agave
pinch of cayenne

Blend. Add coconut water or spring water for a thinner consistency.
Enjoy as a starter soup, side sauce, succulent saucy section of your plate to enjoy with sorted veggies or just plain as a saucy soup!

More simply yum way to enjoy an avocado:
*mashed into a grain
*mashed onto a slice of bread
*cut in half and enjoyed with sea salt/lemon on a spoon
*sprinkled with nutritional yeast and enjoyed out on the beach in the sunshine as a protein, healthy fat filled pick-me-up
*however you like it, savoring the taste and chewing well (-:

Eat more avocados. Be at peace. Sleep well and breathe in new life every day in every way.
Trust the process and whenever life gets stressful, be sure to eat well so you can stay centered.

Ethiopian Lentils

2 T olive oil
½ cup red onion, small dice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T fresh ginger, minced
1 tsp. turmeric
1 cup red lentils, soaked for one hour
3 cups butternut squash, cubed
3 cups water

Heat the olive oil in a large pan.
Sautee the red onion in the ghee for about a minute, and then add the garlic and ginger. Do not let them turn brown, but allow them to soften a bit.
Add the turmeric and stir.
Next, add in the red lentils, stir, and pour in the water.
Once the water comes to a boil, add in the butternut squash.
Let the lentils and butternut squash simmer for about 30-40 minutes, and then season well with salt.