Autumn recap

I have been a busy bee cleaning out my hive and cooking up lots of fall inspired dishes.  The cold weather makes me turn to squash, apples and hearty grains.  I have been compiling many photos and recipe ideas for you to enjoy but have not had the time to sit down to post them all.  Look for a new post in a few days with all the goodies I have been creating over the past few months. See you soon!

Back to my roots

My mother and I in the kitchen I grew up in

I recently had a week long visit to the house I grew up in.  I stood in the kitchen and had vivid memories of cooking.  I remember my mother coming home from work and starting the night's dinner. I would stand by my mom or help her prepare whatever she had decided we were going to have.  I remember the smells the most.  I remember the feeling I would get when I smelled something delicious from my bedroom and it would bring me to the kitchen.  The safe place, my true home. 

I never knew it was something I loved until I was older but at the time it was just plain fun.  I remember making my mother breakfast in bed as eggs were my specialty.  I remembered rifling through the pantry and the numerous spices my mother had and landing on curry powder.  I didn't even know it at the time but I was making authentic Indian food as 10 year old.  I would whip up curried potato and pea stew like I had been born into it.  I can still hear the sizzling and the happiness it would bring me.

Even then I felt peace when in the kitchen.  Years later it was my mother who suggested I go to culinary school.  It was never something I had ever given a thought to but once spoken I felt it to be my path.  I loved every minute of that 4 month intense course.  I commuted every day to Manhattan with my knife bag and chef's whites.  It felt good to have a passion.  Ever since then I have been involved with many facets of the culinary world.  From restaurants, health food stores and being someone's personal chef.  I have enjoyed all of these roles but I am still holding out for my own place.  I see it in my mind, I taste the food, hear the customers chatting and it fills me with hope.  One day, maybe.  I do know that when that day comes I will have my mother to thank.  I will thank her for being my inspiration and for showing me that I can accomplish anything I put my mind to.  Thanks Mom for knowing me better than I know myself and for trying every concoction(good and bad) I came up with to get to where I am now.

Working on my final at The Natural Gourmet Institute

Your skin needs good food too

Your largest organ, SKIN!  

Whatever you put on it is absorbed and digested just like food in your tummy.  I try to put as many natural ingredients in my body as I do on my body.  I am always on the look out for beauty products that are as close to nature as they can be and also cruelty free.  If it has to be tested on an animal to make sure it is safe then I want absolutely no part of it!  I go so far as making my own skin products as often as I can.  This time I made Grapefruit Sugar&Salt Scrub.  This scrub will have you glowing from head to toe.  The summer sun can dry out your skin and exposure to swimming waters, whether it be ocean, chlorine laced pool, or river/lake water can do the same.  I needed an Epidermis pick me up so I combined a few ingredients I already have in my cupboard and created something magical. I used extra virgin olive oil and grape seed oil  which are excellent antioxidant fighters!!!

Grapefruit essential oil is so good for fighting cellulite, boosting the lymphatic system, reducing muscle fatigue and stiffness,  giving your mood a positive lift and helping acne prone skin. It is also very high in Vitamin C which will help combat those mid summer AC induced colds. It also smells amazing!  

Here is the recipe I used to fill a 10 oz container.( I reused a store bought body scrub container)

2/3 c kosher salt(you can used sea salt if you prefer)

2/3 c organic unbleached sugar

25 drops Grapefruit essential oil

1/4 c c extra virgin olive oil

1/2 c grape seed oil

Put the sugar and salt in a container.  Add the grapefruit EO and give it a mix.  Add the oils and mix gently.  This scrub should not be too greasy.  If you see too much oil pooling on the surface add small amount of equal parts sugar and salt.

 I suggest wetting your body in the shower and turning the water off.  Take generous handfuls of scrub and massage into skin in a circular motion to stimulate the skin and lymph.  Rinse off, towel dry and GLOW!

Every day ingredients

Grapefruit Sugar&Salt Scrub

Guacamole and Popsicles

Summer is not lost on me.  I barely heat things up but with good reason.  My love affair with the avocado was a long time coming.  I used to balk at the sight of them but now I can't keep my hands off of them.  Especially for breakfast, the good fats keep me going through the morning.  I can eat an avocado with a spoon straight from the skin, mash it with some apple cider vinegar and salt or turn it into green gold with some fine diced jalapeno, garlic and tomato.

SO GOOD!

I recently found myself in the company of Champagne grapes.  These tiny versions of their larger cousins are sweet and tart and very addictive.  With the excess grapes I decided to make a frozen treat.  Champagne grape and yogurt creamsicles were born.  I put about 1 cup of de-stemmed  grapes(after rinsing the grapes very well) in a small sauce pan with 1 T agave, and 1/2 c water.  I brought them to a boil and reduced to simmer for 20 minutes.  I put the mixture in a strainer and mashed them through, resulting in a beautiful grapey syrup with a bit of pulp.  I mixed the syrup with 1 1/2 c full fat Greek yogurt, 1/4 c of half & half and 1 T agave and 1/8 t vanilla.  I mixed it all together and placed in the molds.  24 hours later I was enjoying a sweettart creamy treat.  Perfect for an after dinner summer dessert.  You could do this with any fruit you have on hand.  Blueberries and raspberries would be delish too!

Champagne Grape Yogurt Creamsicles

I hope you get to make these creamsicles.  Find some fun molds and see what you  can come up with.

Where did a year go?

It seems hard to believe that I have not written in a year.  It saddens me to know that I had been employed, for over a year, at a culinary job that has made me hate food and cooking.  It is true. The one thing that brings me more peace and happiness in my life was stolen from me at the hands of poor taste.  I should never have let it happen but paychecks are so enticing even when you lose sight of what is really important.  Safe to say that I have ceased the former job and am on my way to retrieving my culinary spirit.

For the past 10 + years I made it a point to live my life in a holistic way.  In cooking, healing and conversations I found myself outlets to cultivate my craft.  I never thought that I would lose sight of that.  But I did.  In today's society we are constantly at a gallop.  Do we ever stop think about what our true path is?  Making money seems to be the main goal these days but what is it bringing us?  How many of us are truly happy?  Where are the days of sitting around a table every night and sharing our simple moments over good, hearty home made food?  How many people actually sit down for dinner with their families anymore?

Dinner used to be the best time with my husband.   We would sit, talk and dine on whatever goodness I had created.  Over the past year that practice fell by the wayside.  Cooking during the day in a soulless kitchen rendered me completely unable to conjure anything in my own kitchen.  It was disheartening and made me question if I even knew how to cook anymore.  When you forget how to do the one thing that was always your  intuition, what do you do?  You quit your job!  I always heard of people doing this but never thought I would have to do it myself.  Now here I am.  Starting from scratch, almost.  I am piecing back together my passion and acknowledging the fact that it is OK to figure things out even after so long of thinking I knew.   My new job is ME.  Finding the heart of my craft and expanding exponentially.  Come with me on this journey, if you like, and see the healing magic that food can provide.

That said, I am ready to cook again.  In the four days of being unemployed I have been cooking up a storm.  I have made all the things that have been requested of me over the past year but never got around to.  From homemade marinated mushrooms and local cucumber pickles, a new take on an old Tettrazzini recipe, Caprese salad with fresh basil from my garden and local tomatoes and last nights perfectly grilled local veggies.

My workbench

I feel renewal beginning.   I forgot how good it is to have my OWN knife in my hand.  I miss the way it hits the butcher block board as it slices through a tomato.  How an onion sliding off the blade into  sizzling butter seems the most incredible smell on earth.  How did I go so long being so detached?  This is my medicine, my way of making bad go to good. The sounds and smells of good ingredients turning into magic was lost but now found.

I have a new camera and a new desire to cook.  Keep in touch readers, if you are out there.  I hope you can keep me company while I rediscover whole foods.

Thank you.