New Home

Hi Everyone!
Thanks to everyone who has stopped by my little corner of the world!  My interests are always changing and I couldn’t start a new blog for each one… that would be too overwhelming.

I decided to create a new place where I can freely be myself and not be limited to one topic or interest… My new home is www.noriann.com.  Please feel free to stop by and hang out!

Love to you,

Nori

Yoga Flow Playlist

Music adds so much to my workouts… it helps get me in the mood and it helps me push a little harder.

This is a playlist I put together for my yoga flow practice… Sometimes I just like listening to it to make me feel hopeful and happy… I hope you enjoy it!

To view this music player you need to have Flash Player 9 or newer installed and JavaScript enabled. This flash MP3 player for website was built with PodSnack.

 

If you’re having a difficult time listening to it on this player, click here to listen on Grooveshark.

 

Here’s the complete list:

Now We Are Free- Gladiator

I Can’t Make You Love Me – Tank

One Day – Matisyahu

Pachelbel Meets U2 – Jon Schmidt

Fields of Gold – Sting

Malmo – The Album Leaf

Simple Man – Lynyrd Skynyrd

Will You Be There – Michael Jackson

Marry Me – Train

Hallelujah – Bon Jovi

I Won’t Colbie Calliat

Desert Rose – Sting

Keep Breathing – Ingrid Michaelson

Only You – Joshua Radin

I’m Alive – Kenny Chesney

Breathe in Breathe out – Mat Kearney

Imagine – Jack Johnson

Droplets – Colbie Calliat

Pictures of You – The Cure

Attraversiamo – Dario Marianelli

#41 – Dave Matthews

The Long Road – Eddie Vedder

Somewhere Over the Rainbow- Israel Kamakawiwo

Jimbo’s North Park Rumble Inspired Recipe

In San Diego county there exists 4 of the most wonderful natural grocery stores… Jimbo’s.  Such a silly name… such an amazing place.  Their mission: “We do the Right Thing, by Providing the Highest Quality Organic and Natural Foods”.  It’s become kind of a “date spot” for a dear friend and me.

I love grocery shopping at Jimbo’s.  They have all of those really hard to find items like agar agar, cultured coconut yogurt, and quinoa flakes.

They have an AMAZING smoothie bar, deli, dessert case, and salad bar.  My friend and I love going there and picking out different pre-made salads and sharing them.  When I find a salad I love (which is pretty much ALL of them), I like to take a picture of the salad and another picture of the ingredient list.  Then I like to try and recreate the salad at home.

This week I tried my hand at Jimbo’s North Park Rumble… It’s this amazing blend of kale and yam, and the dressing has this amazing kick to it.  Here’s my version… it’s been awhile since I ate it from Jimbo’s so I just played around with the ingredients until I liked the taste.  There’s a few spices in it, so play around with them to your liking.

Jimbo’s North Park Rumble-Inspired Recipe

1 bunch kale

1 yam

Dressing:

2 TB Olive oil or sunflower seed oil (sunflower I think would be best- mellower taste)

2 tsp tamari low sodium

2 tsp brown rice vinegar

1 1/2 tsp honey

1/8 – 1/4 tsp red chili flakes (adjust to what you can handle)

1 tsp curry powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Stab the yam a couple times with a fork so it doesn’t explode.  Rub with coconut oil and put in the oven for 30 – 40 mins at 350 degrees.   Mix all dressing ingredients together.  Let the mixture meld together while you prepare the rest of the salad.

Tear the kale into bite size pieces and put into a salad spinner.  Fill the salad spinner with HOT water and drain.  Fill it a 2nd time with HOT water and let the kale sit for 3-5 mins to get it slightly wilty.

Drain and spin to dry.  Transfer to a large bowl.  Test the yam with a fork to see if it’s done cooking.  When it is done (soft), take it out of the oven and while it is still hot, cut with a serrated knife into bite sized pieces.

While it is still hot and steamy, add the yams to the kale.

Pour the dressing over the top. ** Here’s the key to working with kale** Stir, stir, stir… and then stir some more.  Stirring gets all the dressing and yams worked into the kale.  I like mixing it all together while the yam is hot because it softens the kale further and because the yam breaks down and gets worked into the kale.  Once you’re done mixing it all together… you end up with this beautiful and yummy mess.

I took a bowl of it to my last night of class the other night and was surprised to hear that my classmates liked it!  It’s always risky not doing the “normal” type of salad…

I hope you enjoy it too!

Love and health to you!!!

How to Cook Romanesco

There are many things I love about shopping at the farmers market… Oh how I love thee… let me count the ways…

1. Supporting local farmers.  Many times it’s the actual farmer who is selling the produce… I love knowing the people who grow my food (and take pride in it).
2. Eating organic.  Organic foods have the highest nutrition and they are not laden with nasty chemicals. Not all produce at farmers markets aren’t organic so make sure to look for the mandatory signage and talk to the people selling the produce.
3. Eating what is in season.  This is the best way to eat for a number of reasons. -It’s readily available so it should cost less. -It tastes the best. In the case of fruit, when it’s in season, it’s usually ripest and sweetest. -It provides variety.  And according to Dr. Elson Haas, “Nature provides the foods that keep our bodies in balance at certain times of the year”.  When I eat what is in season, I usually branch out and try new things.

I like to try one new thing every week when I visit the farmers market.  This week I’m trying Romanesco.  It’s a beautiful cross between broccoli and cauliflower.

 

When you look closer the florets look like miniature Christmas trees.

I whipped up this recipe and I really liked Romanesco… I think I’ll pick up another one next week.

Citrus Romanesco

1 Head romanesco

1 TB Coconut oil

1 Garlic clove – minced

1 tsp Fresh thyme – remove stem

1 small shallot – dice into small pieces

Lemon zest from 1/2 lemon

Lemon juice from 1/2 lemon

Quinoa – prepared

Wash and cut Romanesco into individual florets.  Steam.  While romanesco is steaming… Melt coconut oil in a pan.  Saute garlic, thyme and shallot.  Add lemon juice and lemon zest last.  When the romanesco has finished steaming, pour garlic mixture over the top and toss.  Serve romanesco over quinoa.  Enjoy!

I recently read that eating citrus with our food helps our bodies to absorb the minerals, so I’m trying to add lemons, limes and oranges to just about everything I can.  I really enjoyed the lemon in this dish… I felt that it brought out the flavors and just made the whole thing taste FRESH.

Can I Still Eat Healthy If I Don’t Have The Fancy Equipment?

I must admit that I’ve often limited myself and wondered if I could eat healthy if I don’t have all the fancy  schmancy equipment I see on all my favorite raw food or healthy living blogs and websites.  I’ve had blender envy for quite sometime… for over 2 years now.  I’ve done a lot of research and decided that I really want a Blendtec.  I’ve also developed dehydrator envy.  I’ve had this condition for probably 1 1/2 years.  I really want a 9 tray Excalibur with paraflex liners.

I know exactly what I want and I saved up the money to purchase these items, but circumstances pop up that make it difficult for me to purchase them… I was so excited and was set to purchase the Blendtec at Costco this week.  Months ago an employee told me that there would be a Blendtec roadshow this week at my local store.  Yesterday I decided to double check online and found out that they’re not going to be there… not in the next 4 months at least.

I have a blender and it works just fine… it’s a Cuisinart 2 in 1.

It doesn’t blend up an apple stem seeds and all and it doesn’t blend things at warp speed and magically convert things to hot soups… but it works.

I have a dehydrator… It’s a Nesco Gardenmaster Dehydrator.

It’s circular in shape, so it’s difficult to make crackers and full sheets of bread and I don’t have individual liners for each of the 4 trays so I have to cut out parchment paper instead… but it works.

Could you hear my whiny tone?  This morning I finally heard that whiny tone in my head and I was embarrassed.  I finally realized and said to myself… “Nori, you have all that you need.”

There have been so many times when I ran across a recipe and I just threw my hands up and dismissed it because I thought, “I don’t have those fancy tools to make it perfect.”  I put off trying things because I made excuses and put limitations on myself.  Sadly I have done that in other areas of my life too… decided to give up without even trying and then shifted the blame to other people or circumstances to make myself feel better.

Getting back to food, there is this fermented coconut water, fermented coconut yogurt, and lime coconut ice cream I’ve been wanting to try, but dismissed all the recipes because I did not have the “right tools”.  Today I decided to move past my whiny self and I picked up the 4 young coconuts I need for the recipe.  I’m going for it with the tools that I have on hand.  It might not come out like the original recipe, but who needs perfection?… I’m sure it will taste just as yummy.

So the lesson I took from all of this?… No excuses Nori.  I CAN eat healthy even if I don’t have all the fancy equipment.  I have all that I need.  Not only with kitchen tools but inside myself as well.  I have all that I need in this moment to move forward and continue on in this journey to healthy living.

Internal vs External Health

I feel like I’ve hit a turning point in my overall health and self-perception.  I used to exercise and diet for external goals.  I wanted to get a flat tummy, I wanted 15% body fat, I wanted to wear a bikini, I wanted to get toned… and on and on…  And my self-perception and happiness were tied to those external goals… once I have a flat tummy, I will feel self-confident… once I’m at 15% body fat, I will be healthy…

Being on the Body Ecology diet and doing yoga has taught me to focus on my internal health.  I am now eating things that my body likes and are the right combination so that my internal organs can function properly.  I don’t “cheat” and eat things that I know are not good for me like I used to… That’s been the hugest shift.  I’m now accountable to my internal health and I know that my body will know the difference.  Right now I’m choosing health and balance over cinnamon rolls and chocolate cake.  Maybe down the road my body will be able to handle those things… I’ll just wait and see.  

I now exercise out of pure enjoyment… right now I practice yoga and cycling because I love how they make me feel… And I can honestly say, that this is the best I’ve ever felt.  I no longer look in the mirror and criticize myself.  I no longer beat myself up over something I ate.  I no longer get depressed after I’ve stepped on the scale… because I no longer step on the scale.  I’m learning to listen to what my body needs and I go with it and I’m feeling really healthy.  My body is healing itself and I am loving that.

 

The Body Ecology Diet

I’m on Day 6 of the Body Ecology Diet… I wish that I started recording my journey from Day 1, but I have to say that this is a major shift in my brain.  I’m planning out my meals on Friday and I go to the farmer’s market on Saturdays to pick everything up.  On Saturday and Sunday I prepare my meals for the week.  Since I’m just cooking for myself, I’m finding that choosing and preparing 3 meals pretty much gets me through the week.

This week, I prepared

• Starchy Vegetable Soup pg 269
• Quinoa Hash pg 279
• Stuffed Peppers pg 280

All of these recipes are from the Body Ecology Diet book.

All of the recipes were pretty tasty.  My favorite was the Quinoa Hash.  I used red royal quinoa and I really loved the color and taste.  The red color made it look similar to real hash.  The taste seemed more mild than regular quinoa.  I realized that I had been preparing quinoa wrong… I should have been soaking the quinoa before cooking it.  The book recommends soaking grain-like seeds for 8 – 24 hours before preparing.  I found that this really made the taste more mild.  It it strongly suggested to soak the grains because “When the digestive tract is weak and lacking an inner ecosystem, it will not be able to break down the phytic acid found in all grains, beans, nuts, and seeds.  Soaking removes the enzyme inhibitor.” – from Body Ecology Diet

My boyfriend only tried the Starchy Vegetable Soup and he really liked it.  I need to do more research on preparing leeks though… I made the soup on Sunday and my house still reeks of leeks… LOL  Seriously though… it does.

Going off of my memory….

Day 1: Ok.  I prepared my food and I was satisfied.

Day 2: Ok. I took my food to work, but I was surrounded by cookies and See’s candy.  I still was able to walk away from the candy

Day 3: I’ve never been addicted to drugs, but I was starting to believe that I understood the feeling of withdraws and cravings.  I was still surrounded by cookies and See’s candy at work and I salivated every time I looked at it… I still was able to get through the day without eating it.

Day 4: I became a really witch.  The sugar cravings were consuming me and I got real grumpy.  I wanted to pull into every frozen yogurt shop I saw.  I drove past places and thought… “ohhh… they have great pastries there, or ohhhh… they have yummy desserts there”

Day 5: I’m still craving sweets, but I created something that curbed my cravings.  I’ll share more on that on another day.

Day 6: I’m doing better.  I went to the farmer’s market and I found some new ingredients for my cultured veggies… I’m excited to try something new.  I always feel better with a fresh bag of produce.

My energy level seems the same.  My skin is a little clearer and it has a different glow to it.

The part that has been the most difficult for me on this new diet is eliminating fruits from my diet.  The only fruit I can have is berries… strawberries, blueberries, etc.  It’s cool that the berry season is coming up, and we have amazing local farms where I can pick myself… but until then it’s difficult.  I can’t grab an apple and keep it in my purse for later.  I’m really not sure what my emergency snacks can be yet.

Onward with this healthy journey…

Candida and Thinking About a Mostly Raw Diet

This weekend I ran across this article and Donna Gates.  For several reasons, including stubborn acne and a low immune system, I’m pretty much convinced that I’ve been dealing with a candida infection for years. While I cannot afford a $500 2 hour consultation with Donna Gates, I am able to make a small investment in her book.  

After reading most of the reviews on her book I started thinking about introducing some non-raw products into my diet… specifically raw goat’s milk. 

I have to back up and say that my decision to go raw was solely based on my desire to live a healthier lifestyle due to my family health history.  You can read more about it here.  Yoga has been teaching me to make adjustments during this journey.  I am learning to do exercises that are actually enjoyable for my body and now I’m learning to do the same with food.  Instead of being on a completely restrictive diet, I am learning to eat things that make me feel energized, healthy and positive– for the most part that is raw fruits and vegetables.  Desserts, breads, pastas, and meat tend to leave me feeling weighted down and tired, so I try to avoid them… but sometimes I allow myself to eat them. 

I ordered the book today and I’m looking forward to reading it and making some adjustments in my life.  Just like we don’t have put any conscious effort into healing a cut on our finger, I believe the rest of our bodies are miraculous self-healing machines if we give it the proper nutrition and rest.  I’m excited to learn more about the proper nutrition my body needs!

I was on a long drive home today thinking about making these changes in my diet that include non-raw foods… really I was coming to terms with it.  I didn’t want to feel like I was giving it all up… and then tonight while browsing through Facebook, I ran across this article… so interesting and just the encouragement I needed!

In Protest of SOPA

http://blog.reddit.com/2012/01/stopped-they-must-be-on-this-all.html

Strawberry Ginger Banana Smoothie

YUM.  Nom Nom.

I just made some major slurping sounds with my straw.

Perhaps the title doesn’t sound appetizing, but oh.my.gosh… it really is.

I’ve been craving ginger lately… I have no idea why.  I never eat the stuff.  But I absolutely loved the heat it brought to the smoothie.

Here are the ingredients:

• Frozen strawberries
• Frozen mangos
• 1 Ripe banana
• Grated ginger
• Homemade almond milk
• Honey
• Splash of vanilla

I felt like I was really indulging because there were no greens in the smoothie, but man was it good.

By the way, I really love my glass straw too.  I feel luxurious and responsible using it.  I carry it around with me everywhere.  I love that I’m not creating more waste.  Here’s where you can get one of your own: http://glassdharma.com/

If you get one, I highly recommend picking up the cleaning brush and hemp sleeve.