Bring it on Basmati Breakfast Balls

This recipe is great for those days when you just want to stay in bed and hide under the covers. These Basmati balls are soft on the inside, can be easily frozen and microwaved, and are packed with protein and anti-oxidants so you can face the day with sweetness and sustenance.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups of cooked Basmati rice (option to substitute for another kind of rice)

• 2 cups of sweet potatoes

• 1/2 cup of cooked red onion (option to replace with celery, fennel, or carrots)

• 1/4 cup of Garbanzo Fava flour (Bob’s Red Mill)

• 1/4 cup of water

• 1 Tablespoon of olive oil

• 1 Tablespoon of Hemp Hearts

• 1 Tablespoon of Ground Flax Seed

• Seasonings: salt, pepper, rosemary, etc.

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 350

• Cook the rice, sweet potatoes, and onions, unless you’ve got them leftover from another meal

• Combine them in a big bowl

• In a separate bowl, blend the flour, water, oil, hemp hearts, ground flat seed, and seasonings

• Fold in the wet ingredients to the rice mixture until coated.

• Scoop the mixture onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper and sprayed with oil.

• Bake for 30 minutes

• Enjoy! Then tackle day.

Simmering Squash with Savory Sauce

Everything simmers before it boils, a pot, an idea, a temper. This simmering squash dish comes with a delicious, Indian sauce that I didn’t make. It’s okay to use ingredients that someone else made. I’m working on a recipe, but it’s still in the simmering stage.

INGREDIENTS:

• Butternut Squash

• 1 can of garbanzo beans (drained, rinsed, and peeled)

• 1-2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil

• Curry powder, salt, cumin, etc.

• Korma Sauce (Maya Kaimel)

• SIMMERING SAUCE:

  • 1 can of Coconut milk (regular or reduced fat)

  • 1 small today

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees

• Slice the squash in circles, score one side of each circle

• Heat olive oil and spices in a pan, sear the scored side

• Place on parchment paper sprayed with oil, seared side up

• Bake until soft (30-40 minutes)

• Rinse the garbanzo beans, peal off the outer casing

• Simmer the beans in the Korma sauce (you may want to add a little water)

• Place squash on a bed of lettuce or arugula (optional: tomatoes, avocado, etc.)

• Pour over the simmer sauce garbanzo beans

Deliciously Dense Squash and Banana Protein Muffins

The word, dense can have negative connotations, like when you were in third grade (or college) and someone asked what night Saturday Night Live was on. But dense can also mean saturated, with substance and flavor. These deliciously dense squash and banana muffins are dense in texture and content since they’re made with protein powder and other nutritious ingredients

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup of smashed squash

• 1 cup of smashed bananas (2 bananas)

• 1/2 cup plant milk

• 1/2 cup of Coconut flour

• 1/2 cup of organic coconut sugar

• 3 Tablespoons ground flax seeds

• 3 tablespoons oil

• 3 tablespoons plant-based protein powder

• 1 teaspoon of baking powder

• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon (or other spices)

• Raisins (1/2-1 cup - Optional)

• Walnuts (1/2-1 cup - Optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Pre-heat oven to 350

• Smash cooked squash and banana

• Add plant milk, sugar, oil, and cinnamon

• Blend until smooth

• Add dry ingredients: coconut flour, flax seed, and baking powder

• Blend until smooth

• Divid into lined muffin tins

• Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until firm.

• These are meant to be moist, so they’ll always be dense and delicious

Craving Curry Cauliflower

Let’s be honest. No one really craves cauliflower. It’s kind of bland. Besides, cravings are confusing by nature. You may really be craving a passionate romance or an exotic adventure, but when all you have is chocolate, that’s what you crave - or what you think you crave. I’m all for emotional eating, if it helps.

Sometimes, I try to switch to curious eating instead of only eating my emotions. This recipe has some curious and surprising combinations like maple syrup and curry. I find that most cravings are rooted in the yearning to be surprised, to experience the unexpected, and to eventually stumble upon a little bit of awe. This is just a recipe, but hopefully, it’ll surprise you too.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 head of cauliflower (or 1 bag frozen)

• 1/2 cup of dry barley

• 3 cups Veggie broth (or water)

• 1/2 onion + 1 pear

• The Secret Sauce:

  • 2 Tbsps EVOO

  • 1 Tbsp Maple Syrup

  • Curry powder (salt, pepper, cayenne, etc.)

  • Squeeze of lemon

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Pre-heat oven to 400

• Brush the secret sauce on the cauliflower

• Cook the barley in the veggie broth

• Saute the onion first, once it’s soft, add the pear to carmelize

  • Optional: Add mushrooms, celery, or carrots

• Place cauliflower on the barley

• Option to top with something sweet and crunchy like Honey Pumpkin seeds

• Remember why you love cauliflower!

Brave and Bold Mushroom Barley Soup

Being brave and bold sounds exhausting, doesn’t it? Just the thought of it makes me want to take a nap. However, there are people in this world who have to be brave and bold whether they want to or not, whether they’re up to the task or not. I always thought that bold and brave was synonymous with strong and tough, but now I think that soft and sweet might also be the essential ingredients needed to face the world. This soup is filled with hearty vegetables, fiber, and a little inherent sweetness of its own.

Ingredients:

• 1 sweet onion

• 4 stalks of celery

• 1 box mushrooms

• 2-3 large carrots 

• 1 box organic vegetable soup

• 2 cups of water

• 1 cup barley

• 1-2 fresh pears

• 1/2 tsp of avocado oil & honey

• Seasonings - Salt + pepper, sage, TJ's mushroom

• Instructions:

• Saute onion and celery in oil and honey until soft and sweet

• Rinse barley, add to pot of boiling liquids

• Add carrots and mushrooms when barley is partially cooked, add seasonings to taste

• After it’s almost fully cooked, add the pealed pears, cut them up, drop them in, and let them soften. This adds a burst of sweetness to the soup.

Say Hello Sweet Potato & Kale Soup

I started this Chakra Chef project at the beginning of the Pandemic, so this soup used to be called, “Stay-At-Home,” but now that we’re back in the world, let’s just say hello to each other. To boost the protein in this recipe, add some garbanzo beans or even a little protein powder. To boost the gratitude in the world, say hello to someone with a smile and share some kindness. Even though we’re out and about these days, you never know what someone else is going through.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 sweet potatoes (orange or white)

• 4-6 cups vegetable broth (or water)

• 1 onion

• 2-4 pieces of celery or fennel for a ‘punchier’ flavor

• 1 cup garbanzo beans

• 1 apple or pear

• Seasoning suggestions: sage, fennel, salt, pepper, cinnamon, caraway seeds

• 2 cups of finely chopped kale

• 2 Tbsp tahini or hummus

• Pistachio nuts or sesame seeds

• Instructions:

  • Wash, peel, and slice up sweet potatoes

  • Cut up celery and fennel

  • Rinse garbanzo beans (if from a can, otherwise properly soak beans)

  • Add vegetables and beans to the boiling liquid and cook until tender

  • Use a blender or an immersion blender to make this soup creamy

  • Don’t be shy about adding more water or broth

  • Slice up the apple very thin

  • Add the apple and kale until they’re soft

  • Top with a dollop of tahini or hummus

  • Optional - sprinkle with pistachios, sesame seeds, or some slivered, honey almonds

Artful Carrot & Parsnip Soup

This soup adds a little crunch to the creaminess with roasted parsnips and potatoes on top. As the author and marketing Guru, Seth Godin says in his book, The Icarus Deception, “Art has no wrong answer.”

Ingredients

• 1 package of large orange carrots

• Fresh ginger (or powdered)

• Suggested seasonings - Curry powder, turmeric, coriander, salt, pepper

• 2+ cups Vegetable broth (1 carton or substitute for water)

• 1 small sweet potato

  • Option to substitute for squash

• 1 small apple, skinned, cored, and sliced thin

• 2-3 colored carrots for some diversity

• 1 parsnip

• Two golden potatoes

• Olive oil

• 1 spoonful of tahini or hummus

Instructions:

• For the soup:

  • Add cleaned and chopped carrots and sweet potato to boiling broth or water

  • Add spices and cook until carrots and sweet potato are soft

  • Add apple to the soup mixture

• For the topping

  • Preheat oven to 425

  • Slice the colorful carrots, parsnip, and golden potatoes very thin - use a cheese slicer or a carrot peeler to get these really thin

  • Brush with olive oil and salt

  • Bake until crispy

• Serve the hot soup with a dollop of tahini or hummus, add the crunchy roasted veggies on top

• Love your mouth!

Full of Wonder White Bean Stew

The phrase, full of wonder is not the same as the word, wonderful, which has become synonymous with great, fabulous, and other over-used superlatives. While a soup can’t technically be full of wonder because it’s made with physical ingredients, we can always add the spice of wonder to anything in our lives. Wonder is just basic curiosity combined with a dash of awe. Just be willing to be surprised like when you bit into this tasty, traditional white bean stew with mango in it.

Ingredients:

• 1 can of White Beans (about 1 cup or dried beans, soaked)

• 1 carton of vegetable broth (or two cups of water)

• 3 small potatoes (sliced thin or cubed)

• 1 red onion (sliced thin)

• 3-4 pieces of celery (chopped)

• 3-4 carrots (sliced)

• Fresh rosemary, several sprigs (dried, about 1 tablespoon)

• Olive oil (2-3 tablespoons)

• Salt & Pepper to taste (or other seasonings)

• 1 cup of mango cubes (frozen or fresh)

Instuctions:

• If the beans aren’t already cooked, soak and cook

• In a large pan, sauté the potatoes, onion, and celery (you can zap the potatoes in the microwave if you’re an impatient chef).

• Season with salt, pepper, and Rosemary

• Add the beans and carrots, stir and add the broth (or water)

• Bring the mixture to a boil, then simmer over the stove for 10-15 minutes so the flavors sink in and the liquid reduces and the carrots get soft

• Add the mango and some more fresh rosemary or other seasonings

• Enjoy!

Liven Up Your Life Lentil Stew

There are so many ways to liven up your life with food, laughter, a long walk, a call to an old friend, a good book, a jolt of gratitude, a hot, new romance, or with this lentil stew. I know, the hot, new romance sounds better. The unexpected ingredients of apricots and cherries add sweetness and liven up the silky flavor of the cooked lentils. Top it off with the crunch of the slivered almonds and you’ll feel a sense of surprise and sweetness in every bite. Sprinkle with a savory sauce of tahini and lemon, which makes this a stew with a symphony of flavors.

This is a very “orange” recipe, which will remind you of your creative, flowing second chakra.

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup of lentils (red, orange, or yellow)

• 1 carton of vegetable broth (low sodium)

  • You may need some additional water (1-2 cups)

• 1/2 cup of dried apricots (sliced)

• 1/2 cup of dried cherries

• 3 tablespoons of tahini

• 1 cup of boiling water

• 1 pear - ripe and juicy

• 1/4 cup Slivered almonds

• Instructions

  • Rinse the lentils, pour into a pot or a pan with high sides, add the vegetable broth, bring to a boil

  • Soften the dried fruit with boiling water in a separate bowl. Let it sit and cool, but don’t drain the water

  • Let lentil cook through on medium to low heat until they’re tender (15 minutes)

    • You may need to add some water to the broth while cooking

    • You can also add some wine or cooking sherry

  • Season with interesting some spices of your choice like Masala, Curry, Cardamon, Cinnamon, or a turmeric/ginger combo

  • Slowly mix in three heaping tablespoons of tahini so the remaining broth turns into a sauce.

  • Take the skin off the pear and slice it into chunks

  • While the lentils are simmering in the stew, add the dried fruits with the remaining hot water. Then add the pear pieces

  • Top with some crunchy nuts like slivered almonds or pistachios

Still So Sweet, Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers

As we get older, we can get crankier and crustier (speaking from personal experience here). Perhaps it’s from having consumed too many news programs (harsh reality) or from watching too many episodes of FRIENDS (harsh non-reality). We’ve had disappointments, lost our innocence (personally and as a country), and still have dental issues, even if we flossed religiously. Whatever the reason, sweetness may have eluded us at times.

I say, let’s bring it back! While you’re making this recipe with all its inherent sweetness, remind yourself of a time when you were sweet and acted with heartfelt compassion. What a nice person you are! If you want to get semantic and deep, get still (close your eyes, notice your breathing) then purposefully sprinkle in that sweetness from your memory into this recipe. How we feel about something while we’re doing it, impacts both the experience and the outcome.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1-2 Sweet potatoes cooked, mashed (about 1+ cup)

• 1/4 cup of dry lentils (red matches best), about 1/2 cup cooked

• 1/4 cup of dry basmati rice (or any rice), about 1/2 cup cooked

• 1 small apple or pear, peeled and diced

• 1-2 tablespoons of maple syrup

• 2 tablespoons of oil (olive, sunflower, etc.)

• 1-2 cups of spinach

• Optional: For burgers that are a little more like cake, add 1/4 cup of flour (Gluten free, rice, coconut, or garbanzo bean flour) + 1 tsp of baking powder

• Optional: Add protein powder, ground flax seeds, hemp seeds, or chia seeds

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Pre-heat oven to 375 (Fahrenheit)

• In a large bowl, mash together the sweet potatoes, rice, lentils, apple, oil, and maple syrup/honey.

• Add the seeds, flour, baking powder. You can also mix with a hand blender.

• On a baking sheet, layout a piece of parchment paper, spray with oil

• Place scoops of veggie burgers on the parchment paper (yields about 12 burgers)

• Spray the top with oil and any seasonings (salt, onion powder, etc.)

• Bake for about 20-30 minutes until top is golden brown

• Eat as many as you like!