Something Different

                    So, I have been having some pretty bad luck with cooking lately. I'll admit it. A lot of what I've made for the last 2 weeks has been either disgusting or very mediocre. Whenever I make things too complicated, even just slightly, it never works out. I get excited about trying new things and start adding a bunch of ingredients. I try this and try that and end up with a meal that tastes, well, boring or way too funky. The flavors aren't allowed to stand on their own or combine with just 1 or 2 other flavors harmoniously, because it's far too busy and crowded. This creates an imbalance = unsatisfying meal. So, I think I learned my lesson: keep it simple. That's my style, and that's what works for me, so I better roll with it.
          I've also been thinking about my health lately. I have been very stressed for a while now and I'm trying to slow things down. My health has suffered and I feel undernourished. I truly believe that our diet and lifestyle need to be adaptable, we are each different and we each go through different stages and phases at different times in our life. In other words, our needs are individual and will change. So, what nourished you when you were 12, may not nourish you when you are 28 and what made you feel great yesterday, may not make you feel good today. I'm trying to become skilled at listening to my body and interpret what it is telling me. I'm seeing this principle at work in my own life. For example, a couple months ago...ish I felt like I needed greens, dark bitter greens like kale and swiss chard. I ate those and felt satisfied. Come summer, I felt attracted to the color red and kept thinking of radishes. So, I bought radishes, ate them and loved it! (I want to point out that I couldn't even remember the last time I had eaten a radish, or even if I had. Not a familiar food!). I also felt a very strong pull towards honey, blueberries and cashews. Again, I followed these feelings and enjoyed eating those foods, they made me feel good!
          For a while there I felt a need to eat more cleansing and plant based foods; fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, honey, water etc... I didn't buy meat for months. I started to feel a shift however and was a bit slow in responding to it, I kept eating according to how I was feeling before. I noticed the implications that had on my physical and emotional health, as well as on my success with cooking! I've been feeling undernourished and unsatisfied. I haven't really been enjoying my food, myself or my life much. I haven't been nourished on all levels by what I have been giving myself. Oh and I got a cold! My high stress has definitely contributed to all of this, in fact it could very well have caused it, or vice versa. At any rate, I came to the conclusion that, right now in my life, I need to eat joyfully and I need to eat building foods! I've been feeling attracted to things like dairy, pasta, red peppers, goat cheese, goat milk, eggs, carrots, chicken, fish, smoothies, berries, beans and vibrant more flavorful herbs and seasonings. So, today I went and bought these types of foods. I enjoyed it! I felt brighter, happier, stronger and more alive just from shopping for them. Tonight I made pasta with red in it, because that is one of the things I've felt drawn to. It was goood! I didn't take a picture because I was a little leary of it not working out, but it ended up tasting so good and satisfying to me. I will share the recipe with you and just let you use your imagination.
         I cooked up some durum wheat semolina linguine, and sauteed some sliced red pepper with sliced zucchini, and sliced green garlic in some water, olive oil, a few sprinkles of dried parsley and powdered dulse and sea salt at medium heat, at the same time. Olive oil can be heated at a low to moderate temperature without hydrogenating (as opposed to most other oils except coconut oil and butter) and adding some water gives you more cooking time because the heat will get the water first. I added chopped up swiss chard at the end, only sauteing until it was half wilted. I drained the pasta, poured the sauteed veggies on top with a little extra olive oil and then sprinkled some goat cheese feta on top! Deeeeeeeeeliscious! I ate a bit too much but I definitely felt builded! I felt an increase in energy and a sense of overall satisfaction and nourishment almost immediately. Yay for listening to your body! It knows what it needs! Of course, if it's telling you you need hordes of chocolate, ice cream, sugar and white bread you might want to re-think what it's really trying to tell you! I thought this was a valuable experience to share. Hopefully it gave you some insight.
       One of my textbooks for school: "Food and Healing", by Anne Marie Colbin, has a chart called "The Five Phases of Food", a theory in chinese medicine. It gives a breakdown of different seasons, elements, flavors, organs, food categories, moods etc... and their connection to each other. Here is an example, http://macrobiotics.co.uk/five.htm. It's part of the thinking behind the macrobiotic diet as well. When I saw this chart I was struck by how closely it matched up to my experience. I'm still going to listen to my body first, not a chart, but it was nice to be validated by one! Chinese medicine is some pretty amazing and intelligent stuff! Take a look at the chart, perhaps it could help you in making your food choices. Well, that's all for today folks. Cheers!