4 Healthy Recipes For Your Holiday Table 😋

Vegan Green Lentil Balls

Ingredients:
2 cups green lentils (cooked in water and cooled)
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp dry thyme
A handful of parsley (chopped)
1/2 tsp red flake pepper
1 clove garlic (minced)
1 onion (grated)
1/2 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 cup oatmeal breadcrumbs
2-3 tbsp olive oil

Oatmeal flour to coat

Put all of the ingredients together (except flour) and kneed with your hands. Better to let it stand for 20-25 minutes in the fridge.
Use a scoop (dusted with flour) to shape each ball. Spread some flour on a tray. Roll them, shaking the tray. I use a large tray which is easier to shake and cover them with flour.
Heat the skillet on medium heat. Add one spoon of oil and brown balls until golden brown, shaking the skillet and using a wooden spatula to roll the balls around. Serve with pasta sauce! Healthy, tasty and fun to make! Kids will love it 💕A good way to make them eat lentil.

Easy Seedy Savory Cake With Herbs 🌿

Ingredients:
A handful of dill (chopped)
1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup oil
1 1/2 cup rye flour
1/2 cup grated feta cheese/ or shredded tofu
3 tbsp yogurt/or soy yogurt
1 egg (For vegan version, 1 tbsp chia seed+ 1 tbsp warm water instead)
1 tsp baking powder
Sesame, flax seeds, black seeds

Mix your main dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder) in a bowl and set them aside. Mix egg, yogurt, oil and add the dry ingredients. Add dill, thyme and cheese using a spatula to gently push them to the sides to make it well. Transfer the dough into a small Pyrex dish (greased with oil).
I prefer to use a glass dish for this cake and greasing with oil instead cooking spray) Sprinkle with seeds and bake for ~25-30 minutes at 350 F (175-180 C). Let it cool. Enjoy your tea or coffee with a slice anytime. Also makes a delicious breakfast! 👍

Ginger-Cinnamon-Apple Almond Cookies

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup blanched almond flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
3 tbsp coconut sugar
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1 apple(peeled and grated)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Pinch of kosher salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
(For vegan version, 1 tbsp chia seed+ 1 tbsp warm water instead)

Put all the ingredients adding only 1 tablespoon of grated apple in a bowl and make a cookie dough. Make small balls and press them just a bit in your palm and place on a prepared cookie sheet. Top with grated apple each cookie. Bake them at 325 F/ 170 C for 13~15 minutes. Let it cool. These easy and delicious cookies make your house smell like cinnamon!! Happy Holidays!

Stuffed Pepper With Bulgur -Lentil and Basil

Ingredients:
6 green pepper (cut off the tops and set aside after washed)
Filling;
1 cup green lentil (washed and rinsed)

1 cup bulgur wheat (washed and rinsed)

A handful of dill and basil (chopped)
1 onion (chopped)
1 tomato (grated)
1 clove garlic(minced)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp turmeric
3 tbsp olive oil
Boiling water

Sauté onion and garlic in olive oil. Add lentils and bulgur; keep sautéing for 5 more minutes. Add the rest of the filling ingredients and saute a couple of minutes more. Add a cup of boiling water and cook until lentils and bulgur softened. Put aside.
Spoon into peppers and cover each with the top of peppers. Place them in a pot and add boiling water ( don't cover the peppers). You might need to add more salt. Cook until the peppers have softened. Allow to cool. Put the peppers onto the service plate. This is a tasty and healthy dish to add your Thanksgiving tables🙏 Enjoy!
Happy Holidays!

Fabulous 50’s!

As Oprah Winfrey said; “Every year should teach you something valuable; whether you get the lesson is up to you. Every year brings you closer to expressing your whole and healed self.”
Brave 20’s, confident 30’s, balanced 40’s and wise 50’s..Yes, I can name these life stages like that, 50’s are different from any other of the age milestones. Mentally, it feels like living in Galapagos Wonderland 😉😁 Every one has their own unique atmosphere. A place for so many people to dream about. We keep saying time is important and not to waste it. But this year, I say ‘time is the most important thing we have. It is a treasure!’
Alright, I have to admit, I am fifty and my body started to give strange signs this year. I started doing yoga 13 years ago. I was in New York. Yoga has always been a part of my life ever since but has not been in my daily routine. Now, I’m back to doing yoga daily to stay flexible, positive and beating the herniated disk problem and back pain that have appeared lately, after I fell down last year. After I hit 50, I also noticed that there is no other way for me to get rid of those aches and pains, except for exercising. My body is changing and I have to welcome my 50’s healthier instead of complaining about my age and its changes. Even five minutes of yoga lifts my mood and makes me feel good. So, here I am ready to make my 50’s fabulous. In the end, I have only one life and it depends on my only body.🧘‍♀️
More and more questions have been coming to my mind. What do I really want to do for the rest of my life. Why don’t I cycle anymore? When was the last time I did it? Why have I never tried a purple dress before? Why do I keep delaying this? Is this the only thing I delay? Oh, the answer is scarier then bungee jumping 😆 Waiting for the right time? When is it? If I read a post like this years ago, I would say ‘midlife crisis‘🙂 Is it? Or noticing what the time takes away from us and brings to us instead? Today, I feel the same way. Things I don’t want to do, I simply don’t force myself to keep doing ‘em. I don’t have to stay in touch with some people that give negative energy. I spend more time with my loved ones instead. As a nature lover, stepping on sand, listening to birds sing, sound of waves hitting rocks on sand, touching the basil leaves while doing yoga and smelling it, like heaven! Inhale and exhale saying a mantra ‘I love nature’, ‘I love myself’ and think how lucky I am that I welcomed my 50’s healthy.
The world is changing. Eating habits, thoughts, beliefs..So many different diet types occurred so far. Even the well-known food pyramid changed. The new design, called ’MyPlate’. Some of us have quit eating meat. Some of us turned vegan and don’t even eat any animal products. Some people gave up eating wheat, even though they don’t have gluten allergy. Is wheat really that bad?

A good read!
The food industry is putting us on a way and name it a healthier way to live ??
A few days ago, one of my friends suggested a book which I have heard of but haven’t got a chance to read before. It was a good reminder. Many thanks to him 🙏 I have a few friends that are fighting cancer lately. I wish I could do more for them than searching and sharing this review. Have you read ‘World Without Cancer by G. Edward Griffin? It is an interesting book to read. In his book World Without Cancer, he argues that cancer is a nutritional deficiency that can be cured by consuming amygdalin (Vitamin B17).
From my research, between the years 1500-1800 many sailors have died. They were caught in a so-called ’scurvy’. A lot of people died and some of them got a lot of income from it! Then they found that, ‘Scurvy is only vitamin C deficiency, not a disease! Maybe cancer is just like that! The colonizing world and the enemies of humanity established the cancer industry and made it into a business? No one dies of an illness called scurvy nowadays. Because it gets cured.
One of many alternative cancer therapies that shows great signs of prevention and possible treatment. Just include foods with B17 in. In its purified form developed for cancer therapy, it is known as Laetrile. What are these foods?
Wheat bud is one of the anti-cancer medicines. It is a rich source of liquid oxygen and the strongest anti-cancer matter named laetrile.
Apple seeds! There is an old saying you probably know; “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”. The tiny black seeds found in an apple’s core and not sweet. They contain amygdalin. It is a form of cyanide. As we know, Cyanide is an extremely poisonous substance. The good part is it would take around 200 apple seeds to cause poisoning and the danger is in chewing the seeds as it can cause a reaction between the substances and the stomach lining.
Amygdalin is a part of seeds of fruits in the rose family, which includes apples, almonds, apricots, peaches, cherries, prune (dried plum)lima beans, clover, sorghum and many other things.

The author contends that the answer is to be found, not in science, but in politics and is based upon the hidden economic and power agenda of those who dominate the medical establishment. The book “World Without Cancer” has up till now been prevented from being translated into many world languages. Why? This book is totally worth reading if you haven’t yet!

It is 95 F outside. I did my yoga practice this morning and I’m starving for green lentil and bulgur stuffed bell pepper (Next post) 🙂 I haven’t done it for a while. Today is the day 😁 The recipe is on the way!

What is next? Gooo to the kitchen. Stop summer laziness! Touch your fresh basil leaves again! Mmmmmm... Heavenly🌿 Love it ! Start cooking Yonca! 😁😊 I am doing it, because I am loving it.💕

Happy Mother’s Day 💕

I was 35 when my son was put into my arms. Hugging, smelling him for the first time was like a watching sunshine after thunder. He is the one and only who made me a mom. Aria turns 16 this year. Memories..singing right now 😊🎼  Wow.. It was like a blink of an eye all the way we walked together.
Life is like making a cake. There are certain ingredients like flour or oil but in the end if you want to make a change , you have to change some ingredients, add or delete some. It depends on you..softer, more flavorful, replacing healthier ones, sweeter or making it more colorful.

Early in the morning I was doing yoga and he walked through my mat in silence (I felt it, just waited for him to get closer what ever his plan was 😁, because he never wakes up that early 😂 and opened my eyes. He had put a beautiful purple plant (matches well with the mat 😂💜) in a pot in front of me. He gave me a huge hug which is the best thing a mom could ask for.. he said ‘smile’. I already was so happy, impossible not to smile and got this shot. He made my day 😁.

This lovely lady is my mom! I miss her and will always love her!  Rest in peace mom.

My surprise for my son is a carrot cake. No pecan on top but added in it just the way he liked.

Carrot Cake

I hope you all having a wonderful Mother’s Day ladies. Sometimes a bunch of flowers they brought with a big smile on their faces, sometimes a phone call, hearing their voices, feeling love from the bottom of their hearts 💜 is the best Mother’s Day gift, isn’t it?

Homemade Sauerkraut Recipe/ Step by Step

Homemade sauerkraut is one of the easiest and least expensive options to add probiotics to our diet. Plus, I just noticed that making sauerkraut is a great arm workout. 😁👍 Have you ever had the experience of making your own sauerkraut yet? All you need is cabbage, salt and a jar. I used sea salt. That’s all!

Basically, massaging shredded cabbage with salt (~10 minutes) The salt pulls the water out of it. Keeping it submerged under the liquid in an oxygen free environment without killing the Lactobacillus. The lactic acid fermentation allows the good bacteria to stay.
Perfect for layering into a sandwich. Delicious, benefitful and crunchy.

 

Ingredients:

1 head of cabbage 

2 tbsp sea-salt 

Spring water (just a little if needed)

*Start with really clean tools and knead the cabbage with clean hands.
*Discard the wilted, limp, outer leaves of the cabbage. (Save one or two leaves for later)
* Shred the cabbage and transfer it to a large bowl.
* Add salt and knead, squeeze with your hands very well.
* Transfer to a jar ( two-quart)

* Press and make sure there is no air in the shredded cabbage.

* Be sure that the cabbage stays submerged in liquid.
* Add spring water if needed.
* Use the reserved leaves to cover and press down the shredded cabbage.
* Cover the jar with a clean cloth and use a rubber band to secure it.
* Letting the cabbage ferment at room temperature (for beneficial bacteria to grow)
* Keep the jar in a cool and dark place for the best result.
* Over the next 24 hours, press the cabbage every few hours ( I use a jam jar filled with rocks) or use a wooden spoon.
* Store the jar for 3-10 days. Make sure that the liquid level is high enough after 24 hours. If you need to add water, dissolve one teaspoon salt in a cup of  water. The kraut will continue to ferment and became tastier after.

*If you see a layer of mold on the outer leaves, don’t worry, simply discard it. Your sauerkraut is still ok. Unless it smells off.
* When you see bubbles, foam and white scum on the surface of your sauerkraut is normal, a sign of healthy fermentation. 👍

* Start tasting it after 3 days. If you think the taste is good, refrigerate it. You can eat it every stage of the process.

The sauerkraut will last for months in the fridge. So, let’s make a big batch next time 😁 

Creamy Green Lentil Soup

A bowl of homemade soup brings a bunch of benefits together to your body with natural ingredients. Can soups are high in sodium and often contain the chemical BPA. Nothing is better than a bowl of homemade hot soup to warm up in a rainy day. It was raining cats and dogs here, yesterday. We all love this soup! Do yourselves and your loved ones a favor, get in the kitchen, make your own soup and serve them a bowl of health benefits today 🍵

Ingredients
1 cup dry green lentil (rinsed)
1 carrot (chopped)
1 onion (chopped)
2 garlic gloves (crushed)
1 red potato (chopped)
4 cups of water,

2 bay leaves🍃
1/2 tsp black pepper,
2 flakes fresh mint/ chopped or
1/2 tsp dry mint

Sea salt
1tsp hazelnut oil (or olive oil)
1 cup milk 🥛  (regular or non dairy)
Cream for garnish ( or vegan sour cream)

 

Put lentil, potato, carrot, onion, garlic in a bowl and add water. Simmer until all the vegetables are soft.  Remove the bay leaves. Use blender to purée the mixture. Add milk, spice, oil, salt and cook until boiled. Serve into the bowls and garnish with cream. Easy, healthy, delicious 😋 nourishing and comforting. Mmmmmm 😋

 Being in the kitchen 

can be turned into joyful time 

spent alone.

Happy cooking!