FOOD | HEALTH | SPIRITUALITY - Page 12 of 13

Recipes Tags: Easy dinners, Side dishes, Vegetarian protein

By Lisa, March 29, 2016 Posted in Ayurveda, Ayurvedic Recipes, General, Gluten-Free Recipes, Vegetarian Entrees

Savory Chickpea Pancakes with Curry Leaf Chutney

Photo by Roger Winstead

When my husband and I recently hosted Vaidya Smita Naram in our home, she taught me to make a classic yet simple and intensely delicious Ayurvedic dish: chickpea pancakes with curry leaf chutney.

Dr. Naram is a world-renowned pulse master and Ayurvedic physician, a pharmaceutical herbalist and nutritionist — and she also happens to be a marvelous cook. She has a successful restaurant in her panchakarma clinic in Malad, India (outside Mumbai), so I couldn’t have been more excited about spending some time in the kitchen with her. And we did have fun! Not a meal went by that one or the other of us wasn’t saying “wow!” I was thrilled that she loved my American approach to Ayurvedic cooking, and I loved learning to make this traditional dish that I’m sharing with you today.

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By Lisa, March 12, 2016 Posted in Articles, Events

What Is Pulse Assessment and Why Is It Important?

If you suffer from any kind of chronic pain or illness, it’s invaluable to understand what kind of energetic imbalances may be at the root of your health problems. A skilled Ayurvedic practitioner can “read” your pulse and get an instant picture of your doshas, a Sanksrit word that refers to the energetic organizing principles of all life. When the practitioner takes your pulse, he is feeling the state of balance or imbalance in the doshas.

When you meet a pulse master, he or she will greet you and then place their fingers on your wrist for a few or several seconds. Then the practitioner will

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By Lisa, January 1, 2014 Posted in Articles, General

Welcome to Sacred & Delicious!

First things first: Welcome! Welcome to you and welcome to Sacred & Delicious: Food • Health • Spirituality.

Food. Health. Spirituality. These are my passions, and they come together in my life like ingredients being mixed in any good recipe—interdependent and interconnected. I find that life loses its luster without delicious food, good health and time every day—even just a few minutes—for the body and spirit to rest and rejuvenate.

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By Lisa, June 29, 2015 Posted in Ayurvedic Recipes, Gluten-Free Recipes, Quick Vegetarian Recipes, Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes

Black-Eyed Pea Salad

Here’s an easy-to-make, completely satisfying vegan Black-Eyed Pea Salad. Quick, delicious and healthy to boot.

Black-eyed peas are especially appreciated by vegan and vegetarian cooks because the peas will be tender after boiling in about 30 minutes, unlike harder beans such as black beans and chick peas that take an hour or more to cook in a regular pot. With black-eyed peas you’ll have a protein-rich main dish that you can build a summer meal around with very little labor—a gift to the cook on a hot summer night.

If you’re too hungry to wait for the black-eyed peas to cool, no problem! This quintessential Southern food is equally appealing when eaten warm after it’s just been cooked. Once the salad is chilled, it’s an ideal dish to serve at your 4th of July picnic.

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Recipes Tags: Gluten-Free Recipes, Soups, Summer soups, Vegan Recipes

By Lisa, May 30, 2015 Posted in General, Soups, Summer, Summer soups

Refreshing Summer Soups: Roasted Beet and Fennel

It’s summer—at least it feels like it after a week of 88 to 90 degree weather here in Raleigh, North Carolina—so bring on the cool specialties like this Roasted Beet and Fennel Soup. Cool soups are a perfect way to refresh yourself when you’re over-heated.

Did you notice that I said “cool” rather than “chilled”? Let’s zoom in on that thought.

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Recipes Tags: Asparagus, Cumin/Coriander, Seven-Minute Sides

By Lisa, April 29, 2017 Posted in Asparagus, Ayurvedic Recipes, General, Gluten-Free Recipes, Seven-Minute Sides

Seven-Minute Sides: Sautéed Asparagus

Need a quick side dish to finish off a meal with perfection? Enter sautéed asparagus, my favorite side to accompany almost any menu. It comes in especially handy when you’re making a complex main dish that is time-consuming and you need an easy recipe to complete the meal.

With organic asparagus still in abundance around much of the country, I’m offering this recipe as a follow-up to last month’s asparagus soup. Asparagus complement many menu centerpieces, from legumes, vegetable entrées and casseroles to more omnivorous fare. You can add asparagus to a salad for panache. Surprise your beloved with asparagus in a goat-cheese or all-veggie sandwich.

I call this recipe a seven-minute side,* but if you buy pencil-thin asparagus they will cook in three minutes! If you buy the extra-thick stalks, the dish could take as long as 10 minutes, but that’s prep to plate.

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By Lisa, March 26, 2017 Posted in Asparagus, Soups, Summer soups

Welcome Spring with Asparagus Soup

Magnificent spring! O, how we welcome your abundant blessings! For my toast to spring I offer you, dear readers, this easy Asparagus Soup recipe, a sneak-peek from Sacred & Delicious: A Modern Ayurvedic Cookbook. It’s still cool enough during these early spring nights to enjoy the warmth of a delicate vegetable soup, though this is one of the few vegetable soups that I also enjoy at room temperature on a warm day.

When I initially crafted this recipe, my intention was to make a creamy soup, but the asparagus smelled so good before I added milk that I served it dairy-free and have ever since. If you’re accustomed to dairy and think you’ll miss real cream, I suggest that you try adding a swirl of whole coconut milk for a sensual flourish when you serve the dish to your grateful guests.

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Recipes Tags: Chocolate

By Lisa, February 9, 2015 Posted in Articles, Ayurveda

Chocolate and the Sweetness of Life

When my husband and I married, almost twenty-one years ago, we exchanged pieces of chocolate as part of our wedding ceremony. The event was conducted by my mentor and friend, Diana Vela. At the point when Tom and I fed each other chocolate, Diana spoke these words on our behalf:

“I, Tom, share with you the sweetness of my soul, and may we share in the light and food of life together. I, Lisa, share with you the sweetness of my soul, and may we share in the light and food of life together.”

Although I had always loved chocolate, its sweetness took on a new layer of meaning for me in that sacred moment!

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By Lisa, January 14, 2015 Posted in Cabbage recipes, Gluten-Free Recipes, Sweet potato recipes, Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes

Dressing Up Humble Red Cabbage

I usually have a plan for dinner. After all, I’m a Virgo with four planets in Virgo. We tend to details. But I didn’t have a plan last night, and when I got home at 6 p.m., ready to hunker down for a Carolina ice storm, what I really wanted to do was work out before cooking. So I quickly wrapped up some sweet potatoes and put them in the oven to bake, postponing my thoughts about the rest of the menu. Thirty minutes later I was finally ready to cook, but my menu was still an empty page.

As resourceful (or sometimes desperate) cooks often do, I opened the refrigerator door looking for inspiration. The red cabbage that had been ignored for a few days was calling my name. My first thought was to make a quick stir-fry, using cabbage as the focus since I

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Recipes Tags: Cooking with ghee, Holiday recipes, Sweet potatoes

By Lisa, December 19, 2014 Posted in General, Gluten-Free Recipes, Holiday Recipes, Recipes, Sweet potato recipes

Holiday Sweet Potatoes with Glazed Pecans

Photo by Roger Winstead

There are few things more Southern than sweet potatoes and pecans — pronounced pee-cans, where I come from (and that’s with an emphasis on the first syllable). I dreamed up this recipe about 25 years ago, and the dish immediately became my holiday tradition, replacing my mother’s tried-and-true sweet potatoes with pineapple and marshmallows. As I began cleaning up my diet, I made only minor changes to improve how this healthy comfort food affects how I feel. I switched from using butter to ghee, still delicious but without the dairy reaction. And I replaced brown sugar with coconut sugar.

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