Lemon Chicken with Rice Pilaf and Apraragus

I've been on a cooking binge lately and when I saw this recipe I was a little hesitant, I'm not a chicken thigh fan. However, the recipe called for 12 lemons and I have more lemons then I can use right now. I'm not complaining, being a Missouri girl I still marvel at having my own citrus trees. As you can probably guess since I'm putting the recipe on my blog, it was amazing!! I cut the recipe in half and it worked out fine. It's not necessarily a low calorie recipe due to the fat content in a chicken thigh, I guesstimated about 800 calories for the meal, but the ingredients are all healthy.

Lemon Chicken with Rice Pilaf and Asparagus

12 chicken thighs, bone in, skin on (free range if possible)

1/2 tsp salt

freshly ground pepper

1/2 cup olive oil

1 1/2 cup lemon juice (about 12 lemons)

2 Tbl. red wine vinegar

8 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tsp red pepper flakes (I doubled this)

2 Tbl. dried oregano

1/4 cup fresh parsley (optional) *

1. Preheat oven to 425. Rinse chicken thighs and pat dry. Place thighs skin side up in an oiled baking dish, sprinkling the thighs with salt and pepper. Bake for 35 minutes.

2. While chicken is baking whisk the olive oil slowly into the lemon juice, I used my braun hand blender to create an emulsion. Add vinegar, garlic, red pepper, oregano, and parsley; whisk well.

3. Remove chicken after 35 minutes and drain fat from pan. Pour the lemon sauce over the chicken and return to oven for another 15 minutes. 

4. I served this with Near East rice pilaf (follow the directions on the box) and I put the asparagus on the grill, brushing them with a mixture of lemon/olive oil/pepper/garlic, this has become our favorite way to eat asparagus. I put the rice on the plate first, then the chicken on the rice (I had some caramelized onions in the fridge so I added them to the rice and chicken) then poured some lemon sauce over the whole thing. To my surprise, the chicken thighs were delicious! 

*Parsley is not my favorite, but it is a great source of vitamin C and K. Here is a link outlining the other benefits of parsley: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=100

Wok Aromatics? This Stuff Rocks!

 

Andrew Weil and his work is what got me started on this healthy path to eating almost twenty years ago. Each time I go to Phoenix I make it a point to go to his restaurant True Foods, when I found out they had a cookbook I had to order it. Tonight I made his chicken teriyaki served over brown rice. It was really good, but what truly put it over the top was the wok aromatic you add to the stir fry. Freeze what is left, adding two tablespoons for every four servings of stir fry, serve over rice or quinoa. 

Wok Aromatics

1 lemongrass stalk, thinly sliced (about 1/3 cup)

1/3 cup fresh ginger

5 or 6 green onions, white part only, coarsely chopped

1 1/2 tsp. sambal oelek chili paste

Cut the lemongrass and ginger across the fibrous stalks, then combine the first three ingredients and blend in a food processor until finely minced. Transfer to a lidded jar and mix in chile paste. Use immediately and freeze what is leftover.  

This stuff is totally worth the work. It made the stir fry tonight…delicious!  

A Coming Out of Sorts

Religion, or my perceived lack of, has been a recurring theme of late. As a yoga teacher my faith has been questioned for years and my soul has been lovingly worried over by family and friends who harbor a strong Christology. So, this is a coming out of sorts: I teach yoga, I love and honor all religions, but my DNA is Christian. I'm even a card carrying member of the Methodist Church these days. Granted, it's a very liberal group of Christians that I hang with who are comfortable enough with their own faith to embrace my Buddhist leaning ways.

However, I do not feel that my religion of birth is the only path to salvation, I have too many non-Christian friends for that kind of arrogance. I embrace and revere all religions. I have become teary-eyed at the beauty of a Diwali ceremony, at the reading of the Torah, sitting and meditating in front of a towering Buddha, or reciting The Lord's Prayer. My faith is rooted deep and the study and appreciation of other traditions is, in my opinion, only strengthening my commitment to Christian values.

Through the study of yoga and its philosophy I'm much more intent on cultivating the values of peaceful humility and compassion as taught by Christ these days then I ever was before and I'm pretty confident that if I ran into Jesus at a coffee shop and struck up a conversation (I'm wont to do that) that he would approve of how I'm living my life. So my religion is something I practice daily, not just the three times a year I show up at church. I think Ziggy Marley said it best "love is my religion" and I think Jesus would be ok with that.

Meatless "Meat"balls Done Three Ways

This holiday season we went for some unique choices for our main courses as we try to cut down our meat consumption. I made my first vegetarian nut loaf for Christmas, which I will not share with you since it was weird and made me sad. However, for New Years Day I scored BIG on my "meat"balls. I adapted a recipe I found at Very Innovative Parties and my guess is this will be a "go to" recipe in the future for me. I cooked them with a sweet and sour sauce, recipe below as well. 

Here is the basic recipe for the "meat"balls: 

5 eggs(yes, you need them all) 

3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese (Tillamook cheddar is my favorite, but any cheese would work)

1/2 of a medium onion, roughly chopped

1 cup nuts (walnuts or pecans)

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried sage

4 slices of any nutty whole wheat bread (torn by hand works fine, pretty small pieces)

1. Mix all ingredients in a food processor till well blended if you have one. I don’t have a food processor so I used my braun hand mixer, start with the nuts and onion and blend until paste like, then add the other ingredients and mix by hand.  

2. The mixture will be wet, but you should be able to scoop up a bit and form it into a ball. If not, add more breadcrumbs. I used 1/4 cup of Italian breadcrumbs from my pantry. Form into balls, a small ice cream scooper works well, then place in a baking dish. It’s ok if they’re touching and spread a little.

3. If you are going to use them in place of meatballs with pasta or to bbq, they can be cooked plain at 350 degrees for about 30-40 minutes. They are done when lightly toasted and dry to the touch. The "meat"balls can be used immediately or frozen. 

Sweet and Sour Sauce:

Follow the recipe above until step 2, then make the following sauce:

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup vinegar

1 cup apricot jam or preserves 

1 cup ketchup

1 tsp oregano or basil

Dash of hot sauce (or more)

1. Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl, whisking till well blended.

2. Pour over the prepared meatballs, being sure to cover all of them.

3. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

4. These can be served the day they are made, but they are actually better the next day. 

Two other uses for the "meat"balls:

Put the already cooked balls in a crockpot and cover with BBQ sauce. Cook until heated through. Serve as a main course with sides of your choice.

Add balls to a jar of spaghetti sauce and serve over pasta. 

Expectations of Christmas Past

I grew up in a small town on the Missouri River, as did my parents, and their parents before them. Every Christmas Eve my mom would clean the house and my dad would go out to the store for food. The house was ready, Jack and I waiting with barely containable excitement, and a spread had been laid out for the guests:  cold cuts, wonder bread, Ruffles potato chips, beer, pop, and lots of homemade sweets. The relatives would descend on our house, grandmas, aunts, uncles, cousins, sometimes from both my mom's and my dad's side of the family.

After opening presents the kids would watch television or play games and the adults would stay at the kitchen table drinking and playing poker. We would sneak back into the kitchen for cookies and to hang out if we were bored and tried to join the adult conversation. If my Uncle Ricky was winning he would lean over to me, smelling of beer with a cigarette hanging from his mouth, and he would hand me a twenty. He's still a cash kind of gifter, when he's got any cash to give.

It was a loud, raucous time and we kids ran wild. I didn't know anything else and I thought it was great!

That was my expectation of Christmas when I went out to make my own way in the world and, as Buddha said, expectations create suffering. We live in California, we have one child, our closest relative is a thousand miles away, and I am estranged from my mother. For years a melancholy would descend on me come Christmas time, but not this year.

I have been sensing a shift deep within me for some time, but it was so intangible that it was hard to know if it was real. I think (with my ever lingering self-doubt I wouldn't want to be too emphatic), but I really think I'm actually happy exactly where I am. So tomorrow the three of us will get up and unwrap gifts thoughtfully purchased based on knowing one another intimately, the dogs will tear up the boxes and shred the wrapping paper, we will eat cinnamon rolls fresh from the oven, and it will be good. I think this shift has been about appreciating what's right in front of me and letting go of expectations of Christmas past.

Wishing you all  peace and the ability to appreciate exactly what you have today. Now I'm being pulled back to the television by the soft glow of electric sex gleaming in the window. 

Tapping Into Atman

As a girl I sensed the atman within me, but I didn't have the vocabulary to express it. You see, I was raised a Baptist. In the Bible Belt of America curiosity about the higher self, the idea that we are all pieces of God, was not encouraged, so it sat dormant for years.

I eventually found my way to an Eastern Philosophy class at Austin Community College and my path was forever altered. Now I am the teacher at a community college asking my students to tap into their own atman on the yoga mat. I love the full circle aspect of this story.

Who are you? What is your true nature? I could make a lot of money if I had the answer to these questions. I fantasize about myself as though I'm the Midwest version of Deepak Chopra, but unfortunately I have no answers. The true essence of who we are is what I've been meditating on with my students this week, really it's what I've been meditating on for a lifetime. In Hinduism they call this essence atman. What does this word, this concept, truly mean? It's the universal self, the underlying force for all our authentic interactions. It can be tricky to find in the busy world we live in, but not impossible.

The plastic world around us reveres material goods above all else and piles a lot of stuff on top of our atman. It takes hard work and diligence to stay tuned-in and connected to your authentic self.

When I was a child I remember watching a bully on the playground pushing some kid around and my heart hurt.  Even though I didn't have the courage to stand up and speak, I was tapping into atman then. It doesn't always start with action, it starts with a knowing. A gut feeling about right and wrong.

I continued to hear the voice (that's always how I describe atman, as a voice in my head that guides me), not the voice from the self my parents told me I was, not the voice that desperately needed me to fit in, but the voice deep within...and I began to allow this voice to guide my actions, my words. The voice was shaky at first, but it was not going to be ignored  any longer.

I began to feel as though I wasn't comfortable in my own skin when I didn't honor atman. Like wearing clothes that are wet and too small. So how do you tap into this essence? How do you open to hearing your voice? For me it started with meditation. I noticed each time I got off my cushion and went back into the world that the voice was easier to hear.

Since I've been allowing atman to guide me I have less drama in my life, there is less second guessing my decisions, and I rarely feel regret. Allowing the inner voice to guide me means weighing what is not only right for me, but for all those around me as well. I think this is how we were wired to be in the first place, we just have to unearth it. So go out and be the change you want to see in the world. Or ask yourself “What would Jesus do”? Or simply follow your hearts guidance, it knows what to do if you listen.    

Friday Musings

I want to believe in the best of our human nature. 

Better to be a realistic optimist then a delusional pessimist.