O2 Yoga

At this time of year, many of us are coming out of the winter doldrums. Well, at least I am. As you may know, our family unschools which is a way of saying that we educate our children and ourselves through experience. I bring this up because most people have a schedule and structure to their lives that doesn’t take into account the natural rhythm of the body, seasons, and nature. Because my kids don’t go to school and neither my husband nor I have a 9-5 job, we are living with less external structure than most. Even though we have lived like this for sometime, I am still very susceptible to the idea that I should be productive and in a high energy state all the time.

Naps
I have always loved naps. I remember when I was a kid, I would crawl up on the back of the sofa and nap like a cat in the sunshine. When I was in college, my friends always thought I must be sick because I would sleep in the middle of the day. When I start getting cranky and grumpy around 2 one of my kids will usually say, “Mom, you need a nap.” And they are always right! When I was in my 20s and 30s I desperately tried to even out my energy level. I took ginseng, and stopped drinking coffee, and tried all kinds of things to keep myself from hitting that tired state during the day. It never worked. I have finally come to accept that this IS my natural state. We are constantly being told by advertising and media that we should feel great all the time and should never be tired. The reality is that our energy, just like the seasons, ebbs and flows. It is not supposed to be constant and steady.

Productivity
The same goes for being productive, creative, happy, focused, constructive. All of these qualities are not nor should not be constant. They need to be in balance with their counterparts. In yogic philosophy, there is a concept called Avidya which translates to clouded thought or mis-perception. Some forms of avidya are, wanting without needing, needing to be right and others wrong, and most pertinent to this discussion, identifying with one’s thoughts and feelings. For example, when we are being productive and feel happy, that means that we are successful. If we are being unproductive and feel unhappy, that must mean that we are failures right? How could the same person be both in a short period of time? The answer is, we can’t. Is a tree a failure because it has lost it’s leaves and is resting? Are dogs unproductive when they sleep during the day? Okay, maybe they are but they don’t care!

Work in Progress
I am a long way away from not identifying with my state of mind. Every winter, I feel cold, lazy and unmotivated for much of the time. Every winter, I think to myself; what is wrong with me? Every spring, I start to feel better and forget that I ever felt the way I did in the winter. Winter is the natural resting cycle in nature and it should also be a resting cycle for us humans. For me, 2pm seems to be the winter of my day, when I need to rest and reset. The key for all of us is to find a balance to our natural tendencies. If you tend towards inertia, you may need to push yourself to be more active. If you tend towards overextending your energy, you may need to be more open and receptive to times of rest. The key is not to NOT have extremes in your life but to learn to balance them with their counterparts.

My sons have a good friend, Tommy, who is gluten-free and vegan. He spends a good deal of time at our house so I have made it my mission to be able to feed him and then by default everyone else. It is rare that there is less that 10 hungry mouths to feed at our house so I always cook for at least that many! Since Tommy has become a part of our family I figured, I should work on some recipes that would make everyone happy. Tommy’s brother, Cameron, a burgeoning vegan chef, and I made this meal together the other night. There were NO leftovers! This is a variation on VegNew’s Mac and Cheese.

Ingredients:

1 bag Tinkyada Brown Rice Spirals

1 cup chopped broccoli

2/3 cups vegan margarine

1/4 cup chopped shallots

2 cups cubed potatoes

1/2 cup chopped carrots

1 cup chopped onions

2 cups water

1/2 cups raw cashews

2 teaspoons chopped garlic

1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

4 teaspoons sea salt

2 Tablespoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 package Crunchmaster Multiseed crackers

-Put on salted water and cook pasta as directed. Add broccoli at end of cooking process to water. Drain.

-Put 2 cups of water on stove and add shallots, potatoes, carrots, onions. Bring to boil and then simmer for 15 minutes.

-Process to smooth in blender margarine, cashews, garlic, mustard, salt, lemon, pepper and cayenne. Use enough of the veggie cooking water to make smooth. Add the rest of the cooking water and veggies and process till smooth and creamy.

-Mix cooked pasta, broccoli, and sauce together and place in large rectangular baking pan. Sprinkle with cracker crumbs and paprika. (I put the crackers in a food processor to make the crumbs.

-Bake at 350 degrees for 1/2 hour.

Serve with a fresh green salad. Enjoy! This will serve about 10 or leave you with plenty of leftovers.

On my way to teach class last night, I kept thinking this thought; “God it is a beautiful world,” as I gazed at the flowering trees and bright sunshine, listened to the birds, and smelled the spring air. At the same time, I was listening to the news and overwhelmed with the horror, devastation, and fear that is simultaneously everywhere.

This morning I am here in Cambridge listening to sirens, newscasts, and my phone going off constantly with concerned friends and family. I keep thinking; it is a beautiful world, it is a horrible world. There is no making sense of any of it. All we can do is be kind, be generous, share what we have, take care of those who need our help. This isn’t a temporary thing. There is work to be done, every moment of every day. There are vulnerable beings who deserve our protection and our love.

What can we do? Do whatever we can, whenever we can, without hesitation. Many of us were not right in the middle of the action at the finish line. We did not participate in heroic acts. There are a million acts of kindness, generosity, compassion, and love that can be done everyday. I believe that everyone of you make a difference in this world. Sending out my love, respect and hope as far as it will go. Peace, Mimi

Okay, so most of my recipes are adaptations of another recipe that I have used and tweaked. Just like my yoga classes, I have trouble making the same exact recipe twice and am always changing things slightly based on my mood. This one is adapted from a recipe in Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar ,by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. I am secretly in love with both of these women. I was first turned on to vegan cooking through their website Post Punk Kitchen, theppk.com. I have every one of their cookbooks and love them all. Oh, where was I? Oh yes, awesome vegan and gluten-free cookies, that’s where. (Am I creating lots of suspense? Are you dying for the recipe? Just a little bit longer…)

A note on gluten-free baking:

I am not an expert by any means but I have many friends who are gluten-free. I also believe that folks who don’t eat gluten probably feel a bit like vegans in the disenfranchised department. It is frustrating to go places and not find anything to eat.

I have tried 3 different gluten-free flour mixes. I know, I could mix my own like the great chef Holland, but I am lazy. Well that is not exactly correct. I am usually making 5 different things at the same time so having all the flour in one place is nice for me and the mess that I am creating in my kitchen.

So far, Trader Joe’s makes the best, second is King Arthur. I do not like Bob’s Red Mill because of the strong after taste. I think it is the garbanzo bean flour they use. My guess is that Bob’s Red Mill is probably the healthiest, alas, but I don’t like it for cookies. I am sure you savvy bakers out there will have a lot to say about this. Please do, I will print whatever suggestions you have.

Chocolate-Mint Crinkle Cookies (Vegan and Gluten-Free)

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Cover 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

1/3 cup non-dairy milk

1/2 cup  vegan chocolate chips  (I like Trader Joe’s brand)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp peppermint extract

1 Tbsp ground Flax

1/3 cup canola oil

3/4 cup sugar

Warm the milk in a sauce pan until just warm. Add the chocolate chips and stir until completely melted. Pour into a bowl and add the oil, sugar, and flax and combine well with whisk. Add the extracts.

1 1/2 cup gluten-free flour

2 Tbsp cocoa powder

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Sift dry ingredients together into bowl with wet and mix to combine well.

Put in fridge for 1/2 hour or so so you can work with the dough.

Make 2 dishes:

1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar in one

1/2 cup granulated in the other

Roll the cookies into a ball and cover with granulated first then thoroughly coat with the powdered sugar.

Place the cookie balls on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.

Bake at 325 degrees for 12 minutes.

Let cool on the sheet for 5 minutes or so and then transfer to a cooling rack.

Enjoy!

Now that the days are a bit longer and the sun seems to be shining more brightly, I feel ready to take on the next phase of O2 Yoga Cambridge. I must admit that last year was both exhilarating and exhausting at the same time. I am not sure my family and I are fully recovered but we are always up for a new challenge. Everyone has been asking, “When is the cafe opening?” Our answer is, “um, soon, very soon.” The truth is, it really is opening soon. We have had quite a few hurdles to jump over, and there are still more in our path, but we feel like the time is right to start. So, although we won’t have an opening date for you in the near future, we will soon. And when we do, we will let you know!!

We are not restaurant people. Oh sure, I worked as a waitress and bartender for many years but I never worked behind the lines so to speak or did ordering or any of that. Luckily, the ever talented Karen has lots of experience and is looking forward to heading up the cafe. (Karen, you make everything seem possible!) That said, the past year has given us the time and the inspiration to take this on. Our vision for O2 Cambridge, is to create a place where people can come and hang out. They will be able to take a class, get a massage, do some shopping, and meet their friends for tea or lunch. This is a place where community is building and the cafe will only expand it.  The momentum has been there for years in Somerville; students pouring out of class chatting and wishing there was some place where they could go sit down, have something to drink or eat and connect more with their O2 friends. Our friends at 3 Little Figs in Somerville say they know when class gets out because they are flooded with smiling relaxed people with yoga mats on their backs!

We are so excited (and of course quite nervous) about finally opening the cafe of our dreams. We have been bringing people together over yummy vegan food for years at our home. My friends have often told me that I should open a vegan cafe, write a cookbook, or both. I would just smile and nod and say, “Yes, with all my free time! I would love to but…” And now, here we are, ready to take it to the next level. That said, we are putting everything we have into this vision of a space where things happen, where relationships are formed, ideas realized, and the world changed because of it. You will see more of my husband, Steven, my kids, Dylan and Deven, and even the dogs, Shanti and Mate’, in the coming months as we start the build-out in the front of the house of O2 Cambridge. If you think the Cambridge studio is already beautifully designed, and most people do, wait until you see what Steven will do with the cafe. Steven drove to RI last weekend and picked up our pastry case! Picture vegan cupcakes, cookies, and other yummy treats. We also have established relationships with new companies, Organic Living Superfoods, and Life Force Juice. (You’ll find Organic Living Superfoods in Cambridge starting this week.)  These guys are local, passionate, and ready for O2. Just writing these words puts butterflies in my stomach. (Do people still say that?) I have always said that the physical experiences of being anxious and excited is exactly the same. It is simply your interpretation of that experience that makes it one or the other. Hmmm, which is it for me, anxious or excited? Honestly, a little, okay, a lot, of both.

I made this for my kids the other day and it was gone within an hour! Okay, they had some friends over but still. It is really delicious and simple to make.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup almond flour

1/2 cup whole-wheat flour(I bet you could use a gluten-free flour for this to make the whole thing gluten-free)

1 cup rolled oats

2 Tablespoons ground flax seed

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup sugar

Mix all of these ingredients together with a fork

Add:

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup either melted Earth Balance or coconut oil

2-3 Tablespoons of water (this you sprinkle in after you have added the oil. Kind of like when you make a pie crust.)

Mix together with a fork or a pastry cutter until well combined

Press 1/2 into a well greased square pan and bake at 350 for 15 minutes

Mix together whatever fruit you have on hand (about 2-21/2 cups)

I used frozen blueberries and chopped fresh apples but pears, strawberries, and peaches would be good too.

Mix the chopped fruit with 2 Tablespoons flour and 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Put the fruit on top of the baked crust. Add the second layer on top and bake for another 20 minutes or so or until slightly browned on top.

I served it with lemon Soy and Co yogurt on top. My kids had vanilla coconut yogurt on it and that was yummy too!

Enjoy.  (Full disclosure: I doubled this recipe and cooked it in my favorite cast iron skillet. okay, I double almost every recipe I make. My husband says I cook for 20 but we always have hungry folks stroll into our house. And, if you want left-overs (and who doesn’t), or you are cooking for 20, double it.)

What does it take to live life with a sense of integrity? How many choices do we make each and every day which could reflect and support a belief system? More importantly, how many choices do we make each day which we don’t think about? Is it possible to think about everything? Is it advisable or enjoyable to do so? Isn’t it nice sometimes just to do something because it feels good, or is fun, or makes us happy? Do these things need to be mutually exclusive from well-thought out choices? I don’t think so.

Sometimes, I think that I think too much. Oh, the irony of over-thinking over-thinking. I know, this sounds a bit crazy but I am constantly evaluating and re-organizing my choices and thoughts to make sure that they are consistent with a broader view of the world. I have many blind-spots as I would guess we all do. I can be impatient with people who don’t appear to put thought into their actions. That alone is a blind spot.

Getting ready for another teacher training always puts me in a philosophical state of mind. Many teacher training candidates ask me how much yoga philosophy they will learn. I always have a difficult time answering that question. Oh, I could say, we will spend between 5-10 hours discussing the yoga sutras. However, I believe that everyday, every moment is time spent on yoga philosophy, or more broadly, life philosophy. I don’t think the yogis had a monopoly on concepts such as; do unto others as you would have done unto you, or, tell the truth, or do no harm.

Yoga practice is a great place to practice many concepts of yogic philosophy, but outside of class or teacher training is really where the challenge lies. Everyday, we have the opportunity to challenge ourselves to be better, more integrated, more compassionate beings. I had a wonderful conversation with Karen Shanti Caiazzo about her meditation practice and her meditation teacher. She made an excellent point; rather than reading, talking, thinking about being a better meditator, she just gets on her pillow and practices meditation. Shri K Patabhi Jois would say; “yoga is 99% practice and 1% theory.” Some great sage said; “Less talk, more action.” I don’t think I can outthink my mistakes. I need to make them, learn from them, and then try again. Hopefully, those mistakes will teach me something about humility and patience.

I do not like cumin. There I said it. Why does every black bean burger seem to have a Tablespoon of cumin? Now, if you like cumin, then just add some to this recipe. If you don’t, well, you will probably love these healthy, yummy burgers. They freeze well if you happen to have left overs.

The beans: Do you have a pressure cooker? Are you afraid to use it? If you cook regularly, and love beans as I do, you gotta start cooking them from scratch. It is so easy once you get the hang of it. All the hype about soaking over night, no more. For black beans, all you do is put a 1 cup of black beans to 4 cups water. Guess what? The “salt will make your beans tough” is a myth! Go ahead and salt the water to taste. That will give a nice flavor to the beans. Add epazote if you have it. That is said to do a couple things; decrease the gas inducing quaility of the beans, and add a distinct but subtle, classic Mexican flavor.

Soon, I will be offering cooking classes at the new cafe and will do a whole lesson on pressure cookers and beans!

Okay on to the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups black beans-partially drained (canned or home-cooked)
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro
1 Tb. Chipotle Chile powder (adjust for heat-you can use other chile powders here too. Most commercial chili (note the spelling) powders are really a combination of various spices, not just chile in the Mexican sense which means a fresh or dried pepper. Also, almost all commercial brands contain cumin, cumin-haters beware!)
1-11/2 teaspoon salt or MSG-free Adobo
1/2 cup fine cornmeal or Masa Harina (the flour used to make corn tortillas)
1/2 cup flour or gluten free flour mix
Mix together with wooden spoon. Use a potato masher to mash up the beans a bit.
You should be able to create a patty in your hand. If too wet, add a bit more cornmeal or flour or both.
Optional Ingredients to add after mashing: 1/2 cup sweet corn, 1/4 cup mild canned green chiles, 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke.

Heat up 2 Tablespoons olive oil in a cast iron skillet Medium low. the burgers should sizzle when placed in the hot oil. Cook to brown on each side, about 5 minutes. I like them crispy so I flip them twice. Drain on a brown paper bag.

Serve on a bun with the usual burger fixings or on a plate with fresh salsa, avocado, hot sauce. You know what to do here right??

There are so many ways to give back to people who you love, who take care of you, who make you happy. We have been going to Maya Tulum for 12 years now. I am a firm believer in giving time, money, energy, and love directly. It is easy and often more convenient to send a check to an organization, yet you don’t always know exactly where it is going. In the years that we have been going to Maya Tulum, we have gotten to know many of the people who work there along with some of their families. They clean the cabanas and yoga rooms, make sure that all the participants have what they need, and most endearingly, take special care of my kids. They know them by name and are often making them special drinks or towel animals or teaching them words in Spanish. Steven and I decided that we wanted to thank them by bringing down gifts for their kids.

The first year, we just brought a few backpacks, toys, and art supplies for a couple families. We then realized that we would like to do this for all of the kids and grand-kids so we asked for help from all the lovely people who were coming down to the retreat. We kept building on this idea until 2011. Last year we brought down 12 laptops to donate to a local Children’s Center in Tulum. This year we went back to the backpacks. There were 58 kids on our list! It took us 2 days to make a backpack for each kid based on age and gender. We took three more trips into town to add supplies for kids that were lacking. We then labeled them, tied together the siblings’ bags and delivered them to the front desk. Special thanks to Elliott, Diana Milan, Carol Ciaravino, Steven, Dylan, Deven, and Lila Miller (Tim Miller’s daughter and good friend of my boys). It was a lot of work but so worth it. Here are some photos from 2011 taken by Jim Martens. I will add lots more of this year and put them up on our Facebook page. Thanks to all of you who brought down things for the kids. They were really thrilled.

2011

When it is cold outside, I love to bake bread. Lately, I have been making a lot of focaccia, which also makes in incredible pizza dough. This recipe lends itself to all kinds of creations and toppings but by far my favorite is fresh tomato, olive oil, rosemary and Kosher salt.

I use a bread hook in my stand mixer which makes it a lot less messy and time consuming but of course you can hand knead.

Make sure all ingredients are room temperature except the warm water of course.

1 3/4 cup unbleached bread flour
1 3/4 cup stone-ground whole wheat flour
(enough flour for rolling and or kneading)
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1 packet active dry yeast
1 teaspoon garlic powder
fresh or dried herbs of your choice (I put in 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil)
(put above ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly)

In a measuring cup put 1 2/3cups warm water (approx 105degrees) and 2 teaspoons olive oil.

Mix the liquid into the dry with a wooden spoon. The dough should be sticky so add a bit more water if you can’t get it to mix in all the dry.

Knead with dough hook on lowest setting for 10 minutes or by hand.

Place in an oiled bowl with lots of room to grow. The dough should be elastic and easily formed into a ball. I coat my hands with flour or olive oil to keep dough from sticking. Cover with a damp towel and place in warm spot for an hour or so or until doubled in size.

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. I use a pizza stone which stays in the oven and heats up.

Split the dough in 1/2 and recover the second ball. Roll out on floured surface until thin. Place the dough on a pizza peel covered in a light dusting of corn meal or a cast iron pan or cookie sheet with corn meal.

Spread olive oil over entire surface with the back of a spoon and add toppings. If you are using sauce or anything wet, it is really important to get it in the oven quickly, especially if it is on a pizza peel or it will stick to it.

Place in oven and cook for approximately 20 minutes. Keep an eye on it. It should be evenly browned. The thinner the dough the quicker it cooks.

Buen Provecho!