Cashew Cheese, Persimmon Avocado Caprese, and the Four Sparkling Gems! Yippie!

As you may have been in a recent Yoga class, I have gifted the teaching, The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. I came across this many years ago, loved it, then placed it on the book shelf. A few weeks ago I had an internal experience that I could not find peace in. Lucky for a keen eye, I saw a sparkling gem on my bookshelf, eagerly opened and read within a magical hour. Bamm... my world was shifted upside down. This teaching has brought light into my life when I most needed it. I hope you can receive this gift as blessing to your life. 

The Four Agreements are:

1. Be Impeccable with your Word: Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the Word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your Word in the direction of truth and love.

2. Don’t Take Anything Personally
Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

3. Don’t Make Assumptions
Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

4. Always Do Your Best
Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.

(Above information from http://www.toltecspirit.com/) 

*Check out the articles from this website to learn more, or buy the book! : )

Rich and Creamy Cashew Cheese

This is great on its own and can be flavored to your tastes. Try blending in 1/2 cup chopped parsley and chives; 2 Tbs. diced chipotles in adobo sauce; or 2 tsp. dried herbs (oregano, basil, tarragon) in the food processor after the base mixture has been processed smooth.

• 2 cups raw unsalted cashews, soaked 12–24 hours, and drained
• 2 Tbs. nutritional yeast
• 1 Tbs. lemon juice
• 2 tsp. white balsamic vinegar
• ¼ tsp. granulated onion powder
• ⅛ tsp. granulated garlic powder
• ⅛ tsp. white pepper, optional

Place cashews in bowl of food processor. Process 1 minute, or until rough paste forms. Add 1/2 cup water and remaining ingredients. Process 3 to 5 minutes, until smooth. Transfer to lidded container, and refrigerate 12 hours to allow to thicken. Spread on sandwiches, crackers, or pita.

*(Recipe from November 2012 p.71 Vegetarian Times)

Persimmon-Avocado Caprese

Serves 4

30 minutes or fewer

Persimmons stand in for tomatoes and avocados take the place of mozzarella in this Asian take on a classic Italian appetizer. Use a serrated or ceramic knife to slice the persimmons—straight-bladed steel knives can have a hard time cutting through the skin and tender flesh.

• 2 tsp. toasted sesame oil
• 1 ½ tsp. low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 Fuyu or Hachiya persimmons, sliced
• 1 avocado, halved and thinly sliced
• ½ tsp. toasted sesame seeds
• 1 green onion, trimmed and thinly sliced

1. Whisk together sesame oil and soy sauce in small bowl. Set aside.

2. Arrange persimmon and avocado slices in overlapping pattern on serving plates. Drizzle with sesame oil mixture, and sprinkle with sesame seeds and green onion.

*(Recipe from November 2012 p.64 Vegetarian Times)

“Every human is an artist. The dream of your life is to make beautiful art.”
― Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements

Kamut Lentil Gratitude Salad

GRATITUDE by Pema Chodron“The slogan ‘Be grateful to everyone’ is about making peace with the aspects of ourselves that we have rejected. Through doing that, we also make peace with the people we dislike. More to the point, being around people we dislike is often a catalyst for making friends with ourselves. Thus, “Be grateful to everyone.” If we were to make a list of people we don’t like – people we find obnoxious, threatening, or worthy of contempt – we would find out a lot about those aspects of ourselves that we can’t face. If we were to come up with one word about each of the troublemakers in our lives, we would find ourselves with a list of descriptions of our own rejected qualities, which we project onto the outside world. The people who repel us unwittingly show the aspects of ourselves that we find unacceptable, which otherwise we can’t see. In traditional teachings on lojong it is put another way: other people trigger the karma that we haven’t worked out. They mirror us and give us the chance to befriend all of that ancient stuff that we carry around like a backpack full of boulders. “Be grateful to everyone” is getting at a complete change of attitude. This slogan is not wishy-washy and naive. It does not mean that if you’re mugged on the street you should smile knowingly and say “Oh, I should be grateful for this” before losing consciousness. This slogan actually gets at the guts of how we perfect ignorance through avoidance, not knowing we’re eating poison, not knowing that we’re putting another layer of protection over our heart, not seeing the whole thing. “Be grateful to everyone” means that all situations teach you, and often it’s the tough ones that teach you the best. There may be a Juan or Juanita in your life, and Juan or Juanita is the one who gets you going. They’re the ones who don’t go away: your mother, your husband, your wife, your lover, your child, the person that you have to work with every single day, part of the situation you can’t escape. There’s no way that someone else can tell you exactly what to do, because you’re the only one who knows where it’s torturing you, where your relationship with Juan or Juanita is getting into your guts. When the great Buddhist teacher Atisha went to Tibet… he was told the people of Tibet were very good-natured, earthy, flexible, and open; he decided they wouldn’t be irritating enough to push his buttons. So he brought along with him a mean-tempered, ornery Bengali tea boy. He felt that was the only way he could stay awake. The Tibetans like to tell the story that, when he got to Tibet, he realized that he need not have brought his tea boy: the people there were not as pleasant as he had been told. In our own lives, the Bengali tea boys are the people who, when you let them through the front door of your house, go right down to the basement where you store the things you’d rather not deal with, pick out one of them, bring it to you, and say “Is this yours?” Pema Chodron 

Kamut is the ancient Egyptian word for wheat. Even though Kamut is very closely related to whaet, many people who are wheat intolerant can eat Kamut with no problems. Kamut holds a power packed bite of nutrition with considerable amounts of protein, fiber, and essential minerals. Kamut is a healthy high energy grain with elevated levels of vitamin E, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Phosphorous, Magnesium, Zinc. Pantothenic acid, Copper and Complex carbohydrates.

Kamut Lentil Gratitude Salad

  

1 Cup Dry Kamut, Cooked with about 3 cups of clean water

1/2 Black Lentils, Cooked with about 1 cup of clean water

Red Pepper, Cucumber, Onion, Daikon, Carrot diced in small pieces

Black Olives sliced

Parsley Minced

Optional Tofu diced in little squares

Dressing: 1/2 Cup Rice, white/red wine vinegar, 1/2-1/4 Olive or Sesame Oil, Sea Salt, 1 T Honey, Optional jalapeno pepper or cayenne

Simple. Hand mix Salad ingredients, and blend dressing ingredients, then combine. Smile and give gratitude!

Recently at a Thanksgiving Pebble Hill Service I had the privilege to listen to two amazing speakers named Cindy Greb and Kalie Marino. I will forward a link to a friend’s blog of her beautiful perception.http://blog.beliefnet.com/blissblog/2013/11/alchemical-gratitude.htmlNamaste!