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Inside the Faery Kitchen ~ Creating Harmony of Heart & Home
I’m always cooking up a storm in my life, whether it be through my creative projects, new ideas, challenging myself, or literally in the kitchen. “Creating life as a work of art” is my motto carried out through every level of living. And one of my loves is creating inspiring vegan dishes in the kitchen and hosting a Faery feast!
In the past this was isolated to doing it mostly for myself, as I lived a life of solitude in many ways, but with balance pervading my life, I have enjoyed extending my passions into a love of creating for and hosting others.
I love being challenged to find new culinary inspiration, love decorating and nurturing our home, and making others feel like queens and kings if I can when they step into our home.
This deepens the gratitde I have for our new home that allows me to be the Faery I am in all the ways I love to be, whether nurtured by the Forest for my work and well being, or nurturing others who pass through this Forest Portal.
And that’s exactly what I was up to this past weekend…creating a warm welcome for a dinner party we hosted.
These photos are a peek inside the Faery kitchen and what I was brewing with love and magick.
Dinner was a twist on a recipe a friend/chef gave me years ago that I tweaked of ginger chickpea fritters that had yummy flavors of green onion, ginger, chipotle peppers, cumin, mango juice etc… either coated in crushed macadamia or walnut, done in the pan with veggie broth over half red quinoa and half herbed pine nut couscous with side simmered broccolini and mango, and topped with Thai peanut sauce (this was my fav) with blends of coconut milk, lime juice, mint, apple cider vinegar, and more. I then garnished it all with mint leaves on top and served with a simple side salad of spring herbs, avocado, and grape tomatoes.
I then completed the dinner with a special pineapple upside down cake extravaganza mandala with homemade coconut whipped cream.
Cooking is where I experience, very literally, how the process is the fun. Sometimes it’s simple and quick and other times very involved. So there’s definitely a timing factor involved, and planning ahead with more complex things, but there’s also the spontaneity of the moment in following inspiration and intuition.
This happens much faster when I’m pulling together something just for us at home with what ever I have on hand. But in the case of a dinner party or event, there’s definitely the element of surprise mixed with calculation…making it a balanced experience of both sides of the brain being used.
My favorite thing is to find and blend unusual and complimentary flavors in a burst of yummy explosion in your mouth.
Faery alchemy!
In the end, if I find myself with a smile on my face, I know I’ve followed my heart and am exactly where I need to be.
And for everyone who has been asking me to put together a cookbook of my own creations over the last several years, I’ll just say that there is one coming in the near future. So stay tuned…..
Holiday Nourishment Inside & Out
It’s been a cozy, nourishing, simple, yet potent Christmas Full Moon and Winter Solstice. And with it being a Cancer Full Moon, it was no wonder that we felt called to share this time quietly at home mostly to ourselves with some time mixed in that was celebrated with family.
It was all about being cozy, nurturing, and nourishing from the inside out, which includes both tummy and inner world.
I spent time on Winter Solstice in my own ritual of complete solitude, which included working with my crystals and sacred shamanic gifts the Earth, animals, and Peruvian shaman had given me.
Yes, I dug deeper and continue to, getting honest with some of my deepest desires and how to be even truer to them.
But alongside that, nurturing in general just has felt to be most important since I decided to take my sabbatical and continue to be focused inward, although am back.
And that nurturing definitely includes good, comfort, nourishing food!!
I was wondering what to make for our Christmas Eve dinner on our own, and of course Miss Laura chimed in with sharing her vegan meatloaf recipe that unfolded a long texting between us about food, recipes, yummy ideas….and ending in us sharing a virtual meal from across the states.
You can read about her meals and get some of the recipes at that link, along with others here: Vegan and Vegetarian Holiday Options
I ended up making these all vegan dishes:
- chickpea vegan meatloaf with maple glaze and creamy thick coconut mushroom gravy
- roasted brussels sprouts
- coconut milk/rosemary mashed potatoes made with yukon gold and sweet potatoes with chives and “bacon” bits
- almond snowballs that taste just like marzipan
- little strawberry elves
- turmeric lemonade
We also, like Laura and her David, then shared a vegan, Whole Foods bought Christmas meal Dave’s family got for us at their house, which included a Celebration Field Roast, mixed grilled brussels sprouts and potatoes, cranberry sauce, and grilled mangoes, followed by a vegan chocolate birthday cake for Dave’s brother’s wife along with some of my snowballs I brought over that were hits. It was here we also took the only Christmas photo I have of us.
Even the photo seems to reflect the nurturing and comforting energy that has surrounded and supported us, inside and out.
And Christmas night we wanted something light when we returned home, so I created my version of the tempeh cobb salad Laura also had shared with me.
I made mine with Arugula from my mini garden, chopped carrots, cherry tomatoes, chives, cucumbers, vegan bacon bits, ground pepper, “fried chicken” tempeh – tempeh marinated in tamari, lemon juice, olive oil, and dried rosemary covered in bread crumbs on the skillet and tossed together with a home made mustard dressing with apple cider vinegar base.
We were given a gift certificate to a local, cozy, eclectic restaurant – The Gypsy Den – and so we enjoyed that last night with warming comfort foods like vegan stew, chili, rye bread, veggie wraps, and a piece of coconut cake. I especially enjoyed the Mayan cocoa with almond milk in a giant warm mug.
And now, after the last Crystal Magick workshop I’ll be teaching here, which Nature conspired to make a perfect day of sunny warmth to teach it outdoors on the beach, my mouth is watering to have Christmas Eve leftovers and just-baked organic Italian bread whose aroma is calling to me right as I finish this off!
Today’s workshop also touched on how to uncover and work with deep, hidden, and repressed emotions, and so the Full Moon’s Cancer energy continues to nurture deeply and anchor in the heart of all matters.
Sometimes the heart of things for us Faeries, is simply the nourishing meals of hearth and home.
At the least they sure do balance all the energy being channeled. And that helps us keep our feet on the ground when our wings would be taking to flight rather easily. 🙂
Home Made Chunky Vegan Lentil Stew
Chunky Vegan Lentil Stew
So, as an artist this creative expression extends to my cooking. Hence, I usually just cook by eye and heart and each time my dishes turn out a little bit different, making each meal unique. But since I was asked, for the recipe of last night’s creation by several people, I made note of what I was doing (to some degree – lol!) to provide a recipe.
My suggestion is to put in whatever your drawn to and speaks to your tummy and to adjust the amounts, as my likes aren’t everyone’s. Just use this as a skeleton template to bulk it up with your heart’s fancy! It’s fun to just be creative in the kitchen and create new tastes.
Easy Chunky Vegan Lentil Stew:
1 cup of organic sprouted green lentils from Tru Roots
2 cups of organic veggie broth and 2 cups of organic mushroom broth (you can also just use water or all veggie broth or whatever veggie broth base you desire)
2 garlic cloves
about 1 1/2 – 2 cups of marinated tomatoes (balsamic and spices are yum) or for ease you may choose a full can of organic fire roasted tomatoes with chipotle peppers)
about 2 tbsps of organic vegan worcestershire sauce (i am generous with this because it really brings a nice taste to it)
about 1 tsp of organic thyme
about 1 tsp of organic rosemary
1 10 oz. package of organic frozen chopped spinach
about 1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
about half a cup of organic mushrooms
1/4 tsp of cayenne
3 large organic carrots chopped
one bunch of organic celery (was like 10-12 stalks) chopped
about 2 cups of organic fingerling potatoes chopped
and some ground black pepper to taste
I like my stew to be chunky and the veggies cooked, but to still have a little crunch. So I start by pouring in the broths and bring them to boil and then one by one I add the ingredients, starting with the lentils. (the cool thing about using the sprouted lentils I mentioned is that they cook really fast!) I don’t do any prep before, except the marinating tomatoes, if I go that route, otherwise I just chop up everything in between stirring and boiling and keep adding until everything is in.
This way it already gets cooking and there’s not much down time to wait and you don’t need to overcook. When completed I then lower the heat and let it simmer for about 20 minutes and voila!
Very simple. Super healthy. Great comfort food and warming for chilly weather.
Makes a nice large pot (you can also double or triple and have tons more left over) but I usually have enough for about 3 meals for 2 people from this. It just depends on how much you eat. With a hearty stew it’s not necessary to eat tons and you can always make some great garlic bread to go with it or whatever you like.