Spinach and Yoga

Hello Wellness Warriors,

Hope you are hungry! I have a new yummy recipe for you today. Before we get to the recipe, I would like to share some thoughts on improving Spinach and Yoga . If you have some ideas or thoughts, too, please share! I would love to hear your feedback!

A friend of mine who is passionate about health and trying new recipes, asked me to add more ayurvedic recipes to Spinach and Yoga. Your wish is my command. Well, not really, but I do listen to the suggestions For Katerina and everyone else, who wants to add more ayurvedic recipes to the daily menu, I will post one recipe every Thursday!

Besides that I was thinking about introducing some weekly themes:

Tuesday - Food For Thought articles. Something along these lines: 10 Interesting Facts About Food Combining or Change Your Life With Positive Affirmations
Thursday – Ayurvedic Eats with recipes like today or like this one – Kelp Noodles with Edamame in a Creamy Butternut Squash Sauce
Saturday – Inspiration and Information with links from my fellow bloggers, inspirational quotes, cool workouts and yoga routines, movies, or lectures and other things that grabbed my attention during the past week.

What do you think of the planned changes?

It seems that Spring flowers, sun, and warmer weather inspire people to cleanse and detox. Or maybe it is just the thought of the beach and a bikini that re-awakens long forgotten New Year’s resolutions… On the big scale of things it doesn’t matter what motivates you to lighten up your plate and include more veggies in the diet, as long as you do it!

Vegetables are great for alkalizing the body, cleansing the pipes with fiber, and, of course, stimulating weight loss. The good thing is that cooking vegetables is easy and quick! This recipe is simple and easy to make. (It basically made itself in the oven while I was jumping around to Insanity with my boyfriend.) Goat cheese adds rich creaminess to fibrous veggies, and sweet potato add notes of sweet softness. Spices give the dish a kick and help to digestion. (ayurvedic tricks!)

Sweet Potato, Broccolini and Fennel Baked in Goat Cheese Sauce

Sweet Potato, Broccoli, Fennel with Goat Cheese

• 1 Large sweet potato
• 1 small bunch of young broccolini
• 1 Large fennel bulb
• 1 small container or roll of fresh organic goat cheese. I get mine from Star of Patches goat farm on Union Square and love it!!!
• 1 red pepper
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 ½ cup water
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp ground coriander
• ¼ tsp cayenne
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp basil or several fresh leaves
• salt to taste or dulse flakes

Slice up sweet potato and cover the bottom of a glass or ceramic baking dish. Cut up fennel in pieces and cover sweet potato. Next put broccolini on top.
Mix all the spices, garlic, salt or dulse flakes, water, goat cheese, and red bell pepper and blend on high speed until smooth.
Pour the sauce over vegetables, cover with a lid and bake at 350 for 30-40 mins (until vegetables are done).
Serve with quinoa, as I did, or as a side dish

Vegetables with Goat Cheese Sauce over Quinoa

What are you eating this Spring? Are you doing any kind of detox to lighten up?

Don’t forget to subscribe on the right side bar to receive an email with a Saturday Information and Inspiration post with a whole bunch of interesting links!

Nadya

Image via Wikipedia

How was your first week of 2012?

Mine was exactly what I wanted it to be! I worked a lot of preparing interesting articles for Modern Hippie Mag and Mind Body Green. Technostress, interview with Indigestion Guru, the creator of Colon Karma Cure, and a piece on the connection of overexercising and overeating are coming soon! Hope you had a chance to read through my last article on the Ayurvedic approach to eating dairy. I think it is a very important often misunderstood subject. So please take a look if you haven’t done so already.

Besides writing I was pretty busy experimenting in the kitchen. Amaranth became my new favorite go-to breakfast grain. So good for cold NYC days! I will share the recipes for it next week. Today I want to share another amazing recipe that was inspired by miss Detoxinista: Kelp Noodles with Edamame and Mushrooms in a Dreamy Creamy Butternut Squash Sauce. She used sweet potatoes to make noodles, red peppers and steamed sweet potato to make the sauce and asparagus instead of edamame. I changed it up a bit and it came up so good that I had to share with you!

This dish is gluten-free, vegan friendly, and totally worth the effort. Even my “no chicken – not a meal” boyfriend enjoyed it! Kelp noodles are available at any Asian grocery store and most health stores. They don’t really have any distinct flavor, barely any calories, and serve as a great substitute for regular noodles. They are very similar to glass noodles. Edamame was my favorite bean lately. Rich in protein and fiber, it is so easy to cook and versatile that I always keep a few bags in the freezer. Squashes are very nourishing and work great when creating warming winter dishes.

Kelp Noodles with Edamame and Mushrooms in a Creamy Butternut Squash Sauce

Ingredients for noodles:

• One bag kelp noodles
• 1 small box of mushrooms
• 1 cup edamame
• 1 red onion
• black pepper, 1 tsp turmeric, and pinch of cumin to season
• 1/2 tsp ghee or heat resistant oil

Directions:

• Heat ghee in the skillet and add chapped onion. Sautee until it becomes soft for 3-5min.
• Add sliced mushrooms and edamame. Add a little bit of warm water, cover the lid and let it sautee for 7-10min
• Add kelp noodles and sprinkle all the spices. Sautee for another 5 min

Butternut Squash and Red Pepper Dreamy Cream Sauce
Makes about 2 cups

Ingredients:

• 1 cup roasted or steamed butternut squash chunks (can probably use butternut squash puree, if in a hurry)
• 1 cup nut milk (or non-dairy milk of choice)
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 2 cloves raw garlic
• 1 large roasted red pepper (put slices of red pepper in the oven for 20 min or buy already roasted at Whole Foods antipasto counter)
• 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt or Bragg’s Aminos
• Chile flakes (optional)

Directions:

• Put all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth and creamy. Add more spices if needed.

I am big on turmeric, chile powder and black pepper lately, since it is so cold outside.

Pour the sauce over kelp noodles and serve warm. I served mine with steamed collard greens .

This yumminess didn’t last very long and I already missed it today for lunch! Definitely will make it again soon.

Have a wonderful Sunday and treat yourself to a tasty healthy meal! You deserve it!!!

Nadya

Related articles

• Warm Quinoa Salad with Edamame (spinachandyoga.com)
• Recipe: Butternut Squash & Pear Soup (courtneyoutloud.wordpress.com)
• Seasonal Eats: Butternut, the King of Winter Squash (laist.com)