When I first read Margit Beerli’s story, I was instantly taken back. While she has some 60 years more life-experience than me, I couldn’t help but reminisce about when my grandmother would tell me stories about her mother as a child, or even her grandmother’s childhood! The phrase “patterns and rules” really struck a chord for some reason. Maybe it’s how sewing was an art on both sides of my family–my mother made her own lined suit as a teenager, along with most of her clothes; my great grandmother on my dad’s side was a beautiful quilter. Maybe it’s my own lack of sewing knowledge or remembering the stories of the women in my family making beautiful garments and bed spreads. Maybe it’s my understanding that times past are times past–something I’m just now getting used to. It’s funny how as we age time seems to literally speed up. As a kid, I remember hearing “one hour and forty five minutes” and thinking that was FOR-EV-ER! But I’ve realized that I enjoy getting older; I honestly wouldn’t go back in time for anything. I enjoy the process age brings us of learning, exploring, pushing, discovering, and understanding. Andrew and a lot of my friends joke with me that I’m an old soul. And you know what? I take that as a compliment and I hope that it’s true.
Margit Beerli, Rinky Dink Pie
My life is simple right now because I choose to live uncomplicated and because I am in the third third of my life. I have raised my family, tripped, stumbled and danced through my middle years and now I’m savoring my surroundings: blooming peonies, the quality of light in the morning on the mimosa tree, the surprise of gold finches suddenly taking flight in a cloud of yellow. In the kitchen, I’m searching, always searching, for deep deliciousness in what I prepare, for seduction and surprise. My pie draws from the past. It comes from my mother’s childhood where there were patterns and rules. Every Sunday, in the summer, the family would meet at the park for a picnic. Mrs. Nelson always brought Rinky Dinks, individual tarts with an ambrosial coconut custard filling. You were allowed to eat one. I will make my pie of the coconut filling and lace the top with a thin criss-cross of dark chocolate. Imagine it: the custard so delicious it makes you stop, close your eyes, and succumb to sensuousness rarely experienced. And then the little bit of crunch and the shot of chocolate toying with the pie. There you have it, simple and deep, calm and seductive, pure and delicious.
Rinky Dink Pie
2 cups granulated sugar
1⅓ cups water
4 ounces angel flake sweetened coconut
7 Tablespoons salted butter
7 egg yolks
Pie dough for one crust
Good dark chocolate, chopped and melted
Bring sugar and water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Cook at a simmering boil for 15 minutes. Add the coconut and continue the simmering boil for another 15 minutes. Cool and add the butter. Beat the egg yolks until they are light yellow and stir into the batter.
Preheat oven to 350°. Roll out pie dough and cut into a circle larger than top diameter of your pie pan Carefully place the circle into the pan, pressing down along the sides and fluting the edge. Pour batter into pastry shell. Bake for about 25 minutes or until the pie is a lovely golden tan. Insert a knife into the center and it should come out relatively clean. Set on a rack to cool completely. Drizzle the chocolate sparingly across the pie. Serve at room temperature. If you are not serving immediately, keep in the refrigerator.
Ah, sugar–we go way back–as far back as I can remember, actually. I would go into the kitchen and bake something when I felt bored, alone, or entertaining myself. I have a very clear memory about how I started baking: I was maybe 8 or 9 and I had been bugging my mom quite a bit about “being bored”. I’m so bored! I would whine to her. She would rattle off her regular list of things I could go and occupy myself with: go play outside, read a book, play with your dollhouse (yes, I interior decorated that thing like you would not believe!), and she’d always throw in “you could always do some chores” in which case I usually found myself something to do pretty quickly. But one day, she added to the list, bake some cookies, and I thought “hey, I can bake some cookies!”. It was one of those self-realization childhood moments–yes, I CAN do that! For an eight or nine year old, that was pretty big.
So I got in there and never looked back. The kitchen became a place of empowerment and positivity–I could make things and make them well. I could create new flavors, smells, and textures all by myself that were delicious. I found refuge in the kitchen. And the irony is the kitchen is a place my mother and her generation worked so hard at getting themselves out of. But positive reinforcement after positive reinforcement (oh, this tastes wonderful! or, Trish, can you make us some of your wonderful _______?) I felt drawn into that room like a bee to honey.
These past three years however, my approach to cooking and to self-healing has grown yet again. Instead of using sugar to give myself a hug, I now use it more sparingly and only for special occasions. And I find that I enjoy it that way even more (and after years of using sugar in one way, this actually surprises me a bit). I also have found that the less I eat granulated sugar in my foods, the less I crave it. I used to get really emotional just reading about the attributes of sugar (seeing words like bad and addictive, etc etc…), thinking to myself the whole time “no one’s taking away any sweets from me!”. Hilarious, I know. But quite revealing when it came to understanding my body’s needs vs. my heart’s needs.
I found these Chia Seeds at my local New Seasons market in their bulk section. Try Whole Foods or your local food co-op too 
So how the heck does Chia Pudding fit into all this? Well let me tell you. It’s one of the best desserts I’ve had in ages and there is no sugar in it. It is sweetened with a little real maple syrup, but the whole fat coconut milk is what really satisfies the sweet tooth. Chia seeds (yes, I’m talkin’ about those seeds that are used to make the infamous Chia Pet–cha cha cha chia!) are great for lowering cholesterol and helping with thyroid issues, along with many other things. And it has to be whole coconut milk–in case you missed the Better Bites post about Healthy Fats, check it out. Light coconut milk is missing most of it’s amazing mineral and healthful properties. Whole coconut milk is not only delicious–and seriously one of my favorite foods on the planet–but it is full of good things like potassium and phosphorous and it is a natural immune system builder. I find that a little goes a long way too because it is so rich, just how I like it!
I use Native Forest canned coconut milk because it is BPA free
The pudding comes out in the consistency of tapioca. These little amazing seeds get a bit gummy and chewy like a tapioca would, expanding as they sit in the coconut milk. You can really use any type of liquid milk or juice for this–mango juice, apple juice, green juice for a more pudding-type consistency–coconut milk or regular whole milk, for a more cream-like consistency. It was even better the second day–a much thicker consistency more like ice cream, after leaving it in the fridge in a tupperware over night. Cheers!
Ch-ch-ch-Chia Pudding via Find Your Balance
4 Tbl. chia seeds
3/4 cup organic whole-fat coconut milk
1 Tbl. maple syrup
Topping options are endless: fruit, nuts, shredded coconut, cocoa, cinammon…
In a bowl, combine seeds with coconut milk. Stir well. Let mixture sit for 20-30 minutes. Stir every 5-10 minutes. The consistency will become thick and tapioca like. Add maple syrup and stir. You may refrigerate at this point for a cool treat, but it’s also good at room temperature. Add toppings and enjoy!
The past few weeks have been tireless. I honestly have no one to blame other than myself–being one’s own workhorse has it’s benefits and drawbacks. The benefits of finding my own path, and choosing how best to accomplish my goals definitely outweigh the negatives. However, I tend to get wrapped up in worries–incessant, ceaseless, never ending lists of worries that try their damnedest to bring me down. This winter, I took a lot of time to pin point the sources of these worries and get to the root of some of my core fears. This, my friends, was challenging! I realized that I fed off of some of my fears, basing my reality in what was little more than a distant childhood memory. How liberating is has been to even just realize this–and now, to be able to take steps and move forward.
The past few days have been especially challenging–I can trace back most of my angst to one little place: impatience. And there are two sides to everything–on the upside, impatience gets a fire lit for me, get’s me going in areas that I may dawdle or procrastinate unnecessarily on. But on the other hand, when I’ve done everything that there possibly could be done, or better yet, I am in the MIDDLE of doing something (like research or planning…) I imagine the final result so clearly, that I just want it NOW. Does this ever happen to you? This is when try to remind myself “Hey girl, slow down. Good things come to those who wait…”, well, I certainly hope that’s true, chimes in my cynical side.
Today I had one of those serendipitous moments where I met with a friend and she was having some of the same concerns. It is interesting, and in a way calming, to hear your own questions being voiced by someone else. It’s like, ‘Hey! That’s what I was thinking too!’ in that way that really brings people closer together. I don’t know why I get in the rut of thinking I’m alone, or I’m the only one who thinks/feels… but it is just not true, for any of us. And that fact is really such a wonderful thing to dwell on for a moment.
Verde means green in Spanish. It’s the color of my city 365 days a year, the color of my eyes, and the color of millions of living things. It is also a color that I’ve been wanting to eat more of. If you are not convinced, check out my post on kale I did a few months ago–talk about a super food. To welcome the warmer weather (WELCOME WARM WEATHER!!! I’ve MISSED you!), I decided to make a green smoothie–just to see how it would go. Would it be palatable? Delicious? Or spit-it-out so bad? I decided it wouldn’t kill me to try, in fact, it would do just the opposite! So what the heck. But after making it, I was so convinced by its great flavor (and especially the way it made me feel long term)I decided that this was going to become a new habit. Green smoothie making would be something I did each week and if I made enough, I would only have to do it once, maybe twice, a week–perfect!
The smoothie I made was juicy and full of pulp, just the way I like it–it had undertones of green but vibrant flavors of mango, ginger, and a little coconut. There are so many combinations, I’ll give you a list to get your creative juices (no pun intended, or maybe there is…) flowing. I found that having a glass of this for breakfast, I wasn’t hungry until lunch–no crazy hunger pains or blood sugar drops mid morning and I felt great. I’ve been drinking the rest of it for the past few days which has been a nice treat and snack. It’s so easy to grab for this, instead of a hunk of cheese or something of that sort (which I normally do), and feel satiated. I’m glad I took the challenge!
Tricia’s Green Smoothie
3-4 leaves dino kale, washed and stem removed, rough chopped
1 hunk (about the size of your thumb) fresh ginger, skin removed
1 tablespoon flax seeds
1/2 cup coconut kefir (you can use yogurt, regular kefir, or just juice instead here)
1 cup pinapple juice
1 fresh mango, skin removed and sliced
1 stick celery, washed and cut into 4-5 pieces, easier for the blender
Blend it and drink up!
Other smoothie ideas:
2-3 cups any greens of your choice, 2 cups papaya, 2 oranges, 3 dates
1 handful lettuce leaves, 1 handful mint, 4 bananas, 1/2 cup water
Winter Smoothie – 1 cup organic frozen berries (any kind), 2 cups fresh spinach, 1/4 inch fresh ginger, water
Spring Smoothie – fresh orange juice, ripe bananas, frozen mangoes, and several large leaves of kale
(extra frozen mango gives lovely thick consistency you eat with a bowl + spoon)
1/2 bunch romaine lettuce, 1 cup strawberries, 2 bananas, water
4-5 kale leaves, 4 apples, 1/2 lemon juiced, water
2 big handfuls mixed baby greens, 2 pears, 2 mangoes, 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
Choc-mint – 2 cups spinach, 10-12 mint leaves, 3 bananas, 2 Tbs. carob powder, 1 cup water
1 handful of spinach, 2 stalks of celery, 2 bananas, 2 pears, 1 apple, 1 cup water
1 small handful of spinach, 2 cups arugula, 2-3 mangoes, 1 cup water
1/2 head romaine lettuce, 1 small pineapple, 1 large mango, 1-inch fresh ginger
1 handful wild greens (e.g. dandelion), 1 small handful mint leaves, 3 cups honeydew melon
3-4 stalks celery, 2 ripe persimmons, 1 banana
1 handful chard leaves, 5-6 kale leaves, 3 large bananas, 1 cup water
1 handful parsley, 3 cups of peeled papaya
I have another guilty pleasure: coconut. I love it in all it’s forms including shredded, the milk, the oil, and coconut water. To me, it is like eating the nectar of the gods–especially with the lack of sun up here in the Pacific Northwest. I wonder if eating the coconut is somehow transferring all the sun it took to grow it, to me. Let’s hope!
And I can’t seem to get enough of it. The other day, I found myself making a big pot of brown rice with coconut milk–the full fat kind. And last week, I got a surprise box of goodies from my school, The Institute of Integrative Nutrition, with some amazing coconut macaroons in there. They were made by a graduate who has started his own business called The Laughing Giraffe Organics. And, they pretty much blew my mind. These are vegan?… and raw? I thought to myself. It was right then and there I decided I was going to trust my taste buds instead of listening to the long list of stigmas those two words tend to conjure up in my mind. Because these were incredible!
So I decided to do a little sleuthing to figure out how to make some of these on my own. I found a lot of recipes out there that use a dehydrator, and I have a feeling that is how the Laughing Giraffe does his too. But I stumbled across another recipe that looked like it was going to be the winner. And as far as I’m concerned, it is–my coconut fix will forever be–fixed! What I love about these little no-bake cookies is that they have very few ingredients: shredded coconut, almonds, coconut oil, agave, and a little sea salt. You can keep them in your fridge in an air tight container for a long time (at least a month, maybe more) and in your freezer for even longer. People, I am telling you, if you are looking for an amazing sweet fix that won’t make your teeth fall out or you feel woozy afterward, then this is your treat. They actually give you a nice burst of energy–try eating one or two of these things before working out or as a mid-afternoon pick me up!
No-Bake Coconut Vanilla Almond Macaroons, recipe adapted via Annaveda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or one vanilla bean, pods extracted
Bon Apetit!
