Monthly Archive Of March 2010


PKIA RECIPES: OATMEAL

March 2, 2010

Download the shopping list here!

PKIA Shopping list OATMEAL

Instructions:
Pour one cup of oats, add Kombu and cover with water
cover with lid and let rest all night! this helps making the oats easier to digest and the kombu not only aids in the digestive process but also adds minerals!!
In the morning turn on the heat to med low and let it cook for about 30 minutes.

Left Over Recipe:
Add your coconut Oil to skillet
then scoop out you left over oatmeal, add your coconut milk and then bananas…top with fax and get down and grub!
This recipe shows you adding extra sugar is not necessary the coconut milk and bananas add a sweet and rich kick!

PKIA RECIPES: TOM YUM SOUP

PKIA Shopping list for Tom Yum Soup

Preparation:

  1. For instructions on how to buy, prepare, and cook with lemongrass, see: All About Lemongrass.
  2. Pour stock into a deep cooking pot and turn heat to medium-high.
  3. Add processed lemongrass to the pot, including the parts of the lemongrass stalk you didn’t slice. Boil for 5 minutes, or until fragrant.
  4. Add garlic, chili, lime leaves, and mushrooms to broth. Continue cooking for another 5 minutes.
  5. Add Tofu or Shrimp, bell pepper, and cherry tomatoes (if using). Cook 5-6 minutes, or until shrimp is pink and plump.
  6. Turn down the heat to low and add 1/2 can coconut milk plus fish sauce. Test-test the soup for spice and salt, adding more chili and/or fish sauce (instead of salt) as desired. If too sour for your taste, add 1 tsp. brown sugar; if too salty, add a squeeze of lime juice. Add more coconut milk if you want your soup richer/creamier, or if it’s too spicy for your taste.
  7. Serve in bowls with fresh coriander sprinkled over. Enjoy!! (See below for more variations on this recipe.)

Variations:

  • For a vegetarian version, see my Easy Vegetarian Tom Yum Soup Recipe
  • For a more traditional/authentic Tom Yum Soup (without coconut milk), see: Traditional Tom Yum Soup
  • If you prefer chicken over seafood, substitute chicken breast for shrimp (cut the chicken into bite-size pieces).
  • Rice noodles can also be added for a delicious noodle-soup version of Tom Yum.

PKIA RECIPE: MISO SOUP

March 1, 2010

Shopping list 1_MISO

Download and print the shopping list here!

INSTRUCTIONS:

* Soak the Wakame and Shitake mushrooms in 1 cup of spring water (be sure to rinse off your Shitake mushrooms first). Slice the mushrooms once they have rehydrated, but first remove and get rid of the hard stems, leaving the caps to be sliced in to thin strips.
* Add the remaining 4 cups of water to the pot along with the water you used to hydrate the seaweed and the mushrooms (this water is important ’cause it’s got all the mineral from the seaweed in it).
* Bring it to a boil and then reduce the heat and let simmer for 10 minutes.
* Remove about a 1/4 cup of the broth and add the Miso to it, pureeing the Miso into the water by using a spoon (I use my soup ladle). Once it’s blended and dissolved I add it all back into the soup allowing it to SIMMER not boil, for less then 5 more minutes.
* Serve and garnish with scallions!

A Tulip’s Tears…..

Princess Know It All Character

Click below to listen to “Dance Anthem of the 80s” by Regina Spektor:

Those winds of change have felt more like tornadoes on a personal level, but what I KNOW, is that they will eventually drop me off along an edge of some cliff, symbolizing all my desires and wants.  It will be up to me to actually leap into the unknown – ’cause those blowing days can only motivate me to move. With that said, once again, I’m feeling like Dorthy, wondering where in the world Toto has gone……

Last week I had a headache for 3 days straight!!

Hard core, Tylenol, ume boshi plum, Motrin can’t make it go away headache…I felt like a tulip pushing through the last layers of remaining winter ground.  In November, Lena and I had a chat – I told her and a few others that this winter was going to be about going deep inside.  My plans were to bury myself in my writing projects, feed the baby (this site) and take care of myself.

I also stated that by April I’d emerge a full blown Tulip, tangible and colorful..with the excitement of a new romance.  I’ve always loved Tulips, more so than any other flower – well Stargazer’s are pretty rocking.  The last few weeks of winter are the most trying of times, as I have outgrown living inside and am tired of the gray, searching for color everywhere, hungry for inspiration.  Much like a Tulip, pushing my way through the tunnel that leads me to the light of Spring.

So now, that I’m finding inspiration in my closet, I’m happy to announce that I have avoided my schleppy gear and I am now rockin’ things I’ve not worn in 2 years!  This has helped me get up and get it together. Another thing that’s helped, is stepping out into the world. It’ strange but the entire time we lived in our previous house, it felt almost impossible to leave it!  It wasn’t just the cold outside that whispered avoidance, but it was as if the walls were telling me there was nowhere to go…I felt trapped.

Since we’ve moved, I’m moving forward and outside. Mary Alice invited Lola, Bella and myself to attend Peter and the Wolf in Spanish at the Nashville Symphony – the narration was in Spanish.  The girls LOVED it and so did I!!!!

Mee Tracy McCormick Princess Know It All

First of all, the Symphony here is amazing, as the building itself has been done in an art deco style.  The best part was listening and imagining with our eyes closed, Lola surprised us all by talking about it still today.

Lola, Mee Tracy McCormick Princess Know It All

Then this past Thursday night Virgina Harper included the girls and myself to attend a dinner and gathering for Kids with Crohn’s support group.  I was totally blown away with the stories of how these kids and their families have rallied and taken control of their lives, by making dietary and emotional lifestyle changes.  The largest growing group of folks diagnosed with digestive disease’s are children between the ages of 4 and 10 years old, this was unheard of 10 years ago.  Why is this happening you ask?  I have a theory, today’s humans are raised on genetically modified foods – GMO’s, what these GMO’s contain a bacteria that ’causes ulcerations through out the digestive tracks of lab rats, when this bacteria enters a young toddlers intestinal system and is the main source of nutrition guess what?  The tissue is so delicate to start the bacteria eats away at it!   Add to the diet ACID – via tons of wheat, sugar and dairy- oh and drop some fat and guess what? The delicate tissue is attacked by the bodies very own immune system, ’cause our body wants to fight the acid in the blood.  Dang, our babies don’t have a shot in the dark, and if we think they are sick now, just wait…
Next time you hear someone ramble on about how their kids only eat pasta, pizza and mac & cheese or chicken nuggets, say a prayer.

With all this said, I was inspired, inspired to really continue to step it up with my kids and their food – more veggies, less wheat, NO dairy – well occasional, and fight the sugar. Listen, the sugar is tough as NAILS ’cause who doesn’t want to allow a cookie here and there?  Also I KNOW that Bella needs to get in the kitchen with me and participate in this food process, that’s what these kids are doing.  Most kids back in the day helped cook when cooking was cooking.  We’ve got to arm our kids with skills, I see them as being warriors going into the world.  They will KNOW how to heal with food, they will KNOW what food is good for, they will KNOW how to prepare food for themselves and others.  It’s funny this is said to be an alternative way of eating but in truth it’s an ANCESTRAL (thanx Carolyn Ross,MD) way of eating – this is ORIGINAL eating.  My girls will KNOW what I KNOW, my health and well-being is a priority to NO one other than me, with this said – listen up ’cause we are all in the same position.

Saturday morning was a ton of fun too, Lena and I headed over to Lauren Williams groovy casa to put together our new Beauty Section!! I must say I LOVE my job, I love doing what I’m doing, I was reminded of what it means to be successful – happy to get up every morning with something to look forward too! This is success!

Sunday was again another really good day, my friend Marielle invited me to Cheekwood art museum to attend a private lesson and showing of Matilda Geddings Gray Foundation Collection, of Fabergé.

Mee Tracy McCormick Princess Know It All

Once again, I was out hunting inspiration and wondering just how it would appear, I was thrilled to attend this event.  I listened to the curator tell the tails of this Geddings Gray woman as I gazed into the glass cases…what I witnessed was time, I loved looking into a window of time, a time of Czars and Princess’s and great collectors.  What I found fascinating were the amethyst and diamond Tulips, of course they would be there symbolizing my process, a dim light shining down upon them.  In another case not far away were Fabrege’s “Lilly of the Valley”, and of course my mothers image swept passed my eyes..never is she far from my dreams and desires.  The curator asked if any one had questions about the symbolics of such plants, and of course I wanted to know the story of the Tulip.

Legend tells of Ferhad, a Persian youth, who fell in love with a young woman. Her name was Shirin and she did not feel the same about him as he did about her. Because of this Ferhad traveled into the desert to die, from a “broken heart.” As he began to feel heartache, he started to cry. His tears are said to have turned into beautiful tulips.

Maybe with all the change entering my life, my tears are the grief for what I release and for sure they are not wasted, appearing as tulips on my table?

I will keep pushing through the soil of what I want to manifest, not losing sight of what I already have.


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