finally here’s the recipe for the best pancakes ever…

slightly adapted from “Buttermilk Pancakes with Blueberry Compote” from Bon Appetite Cookbook.  (I discuss the short story behind this in March 2012 archives.)

1 1/4 c. mama’s coconut blend flour (we’ve made it with regular flour and other coconut flour but mama’s is the best one so far for these crepe-like pancakes)

1/4 c. sugar

1 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1 c. buttermilk

1 c. sour cream

1 egg

2 1/2 t. vanilla extract

3 T. softened butter (this extra butter was supposed to go in the skillet for cooking but my son added it to the batter and I think it along with the consistency and texture of mama’s coconut blend flour help lock in that crepe-like texture that we all found so amazing.  We tried these pancakes with regular flour and without the butter, and it wasn’t the same.)

Mix all ingredients together.  Heat skillet over med. heat and add butter.   Ladle in batter and cook until bubbles break on the surface and golden on the cooked side.  It can be challenging to flip these so you might want to try one at a time first and then you can help use the pan to flip it.  (You might be awesome pancake flippers though! and then never mind:)

savor the day

I have just experienced Meadow Linn’s cooking and it was amazing!!!  I just pre-ordered her cookbook “The Mystic Cookbook” on www.amazon.com.  She is so lovely and has a way of making the food so healthy, delicious, and nurturing;  I am a huge fan!:)  Her blog is www.savortheday.com.

thou canst not stir a flower without troubling a star

All things by immortal power

Near or far

Hiddenly

To each other linked are

That thou canst not stir a flower

Without troubling a star.

–Francis Thompson

tombo tuna with quinoa cakes and purple cabbage

I was inspired by two mahimahi recipes in Canyon Ranch Cooking by Jeanne Jones and ended up with Tombo Tuna with Quinoa Cakes and Purple Cabbage with a Roasted Red Bell Pepper Sauce.  Very good and gourmet-like, healthy, my kids ate it, easy but dish intensive.  Definitely worth it!

Roast oiled red bell peppers in oven about 400 degrees F  or so for 35-40 min. along with 2 cloves of garlic (I just notice when they are getting charred a little bit and then I wrap them in the tin foil to sort of steam a bit while they cool and I’m doing other things. Peel off the skin and charred parts and put in cuisinart.  Add 1/4 c. plus 1 T. water and 2 t. bouillon, 1/4 c. red onion, drizzle olive oil, salt to taste.  I only roasted about 1 and 3/4 red bell peppers and with the strength of my garlic I ended up adding some roasted red bell peppers from a jar, about 3 large hunks which was probably about another 1 1/2 bell pepper.

I made 1 c. quinoa (first rinse in warm water to get rid of the bitter saponin) and add a little bit under 2 c. water with 1 or 2 t. bouillon with a pinch of salt and bring to boiling and then turn down heat and cook covered on low heat for 20 min.  Remove from heat and fluff with a fork.  I added an egg to the quinoa and mixed.  Heat 1 T. butter and 2 T. olive oil over med. heat and I filled a small soy sauce shallow bowl about 3-4 inches across and gently pressed down and flipped into the hot pan for about 7 min. each side.

For the purple cabbage I put 3 T. rice vinegar with 1 t. honey and 2 T. thinly sliced pickled ginger (I used the brand “the ginger people organic pickled sushi ginger”–very good) into a bowl and mixed along with a pinch of salt.  I added 2 c. purple cabbage and tossed and drizzled a little canola oil and tossed and sprinkled a little sugar and tossed.

I heated a pan with olive oil and cooked the tombo tuna I had lightly salted for about 7 min. each side (depends on how think it is and how you like your fish).

My husband told me that I had upped (is that spelled right?) my game and it was better than anything he had cooked in a very long time.  He is a very good cook with specific tastes so obviously I took that as a compliment.  He said that he was no longer cooking (not that he’s cooked much lately unfortunately).  I took a moment and then told him this was my last hurrah and that I was retiring followed by a “That’s it for me.  I’m outta here.” a la Seinfeld’s George Castanza-esque, leaving on a high not before anyone knows what hit ‘em!

Right now!!! anita moorjani online at hay house radio and her new book

Anita Moorjani (a woman who had a near death experience) will be on www.hayhouseradio.com today, March 21, 2012, at 4 p.m. (PT) and 1 a.m. on March 22, 2012 and on March 23 at 8 a.m. and at 1 p.m. and 7 a.m. on March 24 and 1 a.m. March 25.  You can check the schedule at hayhouseradio (schedule by day).  Moorjani also has a new book called Dying to Be Me. www.anitamoorjani.com   Hay house radio also has an app which is fantastic and free!

Update:

I have noticed that hayhouseradio.com keeps replaying the Anita Moorjani interview occasionally so you might want to check out their schedule if you are interested.

our search for love

(This is my Persian Buttercup/Ranunculus Rose) that I am waiting for the snow(!) to stop falling so that I can plant it.  Notice the heart in the middle of it from the angle from which I took the picture!)

I saw Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, a Sufi mystic, on Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday last week and cannot stop thinking about his conversation with Oprah.  So in case you missed it, here are the notes I took.  (Yes, I am a nerd. ;0)

“Whoever walks towards

Him with his foot,

Until the beam of His love

Shines out to guide the soul

Since I  learnt that He longs

for me, longing for Him

never leaves me

for an instant.”

(from the book:  Sufism:  The Transformation of the Heart)

***The Beloved/God is in your own heart, closer to you than your own breath.

***God is Love and we are servant to One (God/Beloved) and in service to many (our fellow people of the world).

***This world is God’s world (so we need to take care of it as it does not belong to us).

***The zen koan that changed the life of Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee was:  ”The wild geese do not intend to cast their reflection.  The water has no mind to receive their image.”

The heart has to break open for the Sufi (it breaks the ego).  The Beloved is with those whose hearts are broken for His sake.  It’s not all about you/your ego.  Live in alignment with God asking How can I serve?

***Wheresoever you turn, there is the face of God (in everyone).

Vaughan-Lee talked about the Oneness and being intimate within the heart and dissolving into the Oneness with God/The Beloved within your own heart.  He said it is felt as Bliss, the nearest which he can compare is that of lovers meeting physically.

***There is so much love.  We are made of love.  There are oceans of love on the other side, waiting for us.  We must die before we die and feel that and know that.

***We must listen to how God wants us to reconnect to God within us, whether through music, painting, service, etc.; we have to listen and respect the voice of God within ourselves.

“He who expects to change the world will be disappointed, he must first change his view, when this is done, then tolerance will come, forgiveness will come, and there will be nothing he cannot bear.”–Hazrat Inayat Khan

and then a week later I came upon this quote in Vaughan-Lee’s book “Traveling the Path of Love”  –”When you think you have found Him, that very instant you have lost Him.  And when you think you have lost Him, then you have found Him.”–Abu Sa’id Abi-L-Khyr

The Spiritual Rules of Engagement

In Yehuda Berg’s book, The Spiritual Rules of Engagement, he states, “When we are unable to recognize our Light, we feel empty.  It’s only the illusion of emptiness, but it feels like emptiness, nonetheless.  So  what do we do?  We crave something to fill this perceived vacuum.  And once we’ve found someone who we think is filling the hole inside, we worry incessantly that he or she will leave us and we will be left feeling that terrible emptiness all over again.  But the irony is that we were never empty to begin with….Rest assured, you will always have doubts because there is no perfect man out there, just as there is no perfect woman….Most importantly, by remembering that you are full of Light and perfectly complete without a man [or woman], you begin to see that there is no reason to fear being abandoned.  You couldn’t be abandoned if you tried:  God’s light will always be with you.  It’s up to you to acknowledge and accept this profound truth.  It’s a life-changer.”