More Fruit and Flower Infused Waters

Fruit and Flower Infused Waters

I just couldn't resist sharing today's refreshments.

They're so pretty, frosty cool, and delicious too!

On the left:  Cherry and Marigold (next time I would cut the cherries)

On the right:  Nectarine and Day Lily

What combinations have you come up with?

Fruit and Flower Infused Waters

Strawberry and Wild Rose

Looking for some naturally sweet summer refreshment? 

You can make plain water pretty and delicious as easy as 1, 2, 3!

1.  Add a few pieces of fruit and some edible flowers to your water glass or pitcher.

2.  Infuse for a few hours.

3.  Enjoy!

Blueberry and Lilac

Want more inspiration and recipes?

42 Flowers You Can Eat

Watermelon Hibiscus Water

Jasmine Infused Water

Lavender Water, DIY Infused Water Station

What's your favorite infused water recipe?

Sugar Beet Salad

Warm weather and refreshing salads go together like... um... beets and mint!  Lol!

What you need:

• 1 large sugar beet
• 1 large handful of mint
• 1 small handful of sunflower seeds
• 1 small handful of dried cranberries
• Pickled carrots

What to do:

1. Wash and trim the beet and mint.
2. Grate the raw beet.
3. Chop the mint.
4. Cut the pickled carrots into slivers.
5. Add the sunflower seeds and cranberries.
6. Mix together and serve!

Sweet Lime Soda

Summer is here and the hot weather is making me thirsty.

I can't get enough Sweet Lime Sodas! 

 

When travelling in India, lime sodas were my very favorite thirst quencher. 

They were also the first culinary souvenir I recreated for family and friends back home. 

They come in sweet and salty varieties, but the sweet one is most likely to appeal to our western lemonade palates.

 

What you need: 

 

• 1 Tbsp. lime juice or the juice of half a small lime.
• 1-2 Tbsp. raw sugar or simple syrup to taste.
• Club soda or sparkling water.

What to do:

 

1) In a glass mix lime juice and sugar or syrup until dissolved. 
2) Top up with club soda or sparkling water. 

 

Trust me - mix the ingredients in this order!  If you add sugar to the club soda you get something more like a science experiment!  Woosh!! 

Well, you don't really have to trust me... lol! 

After all, in yoga shraddha is all about personal experience, so you're welcome to try it for yourself!

 

Optional - You can add ice, a slice of lime or some mint leaves if you like. 

You can also experiment with flavored sparkling waters.

I made the one on the left with mint sparkling water and presto - Easy Virgin Mojito! 

Yum!

 

Quick and Easy Homemade Pickles

Once upon a time when I worked in a cucumber patch, I had an easy recipe for refrigerator pickles. 

Yesterday I found an even easier and healthier recipe on A Beautiful Mess!

Emma's pickles are low in salt and sugar, take very few steps, require no boiling and are ready for sampling the next day!

So far, I've made four small jars:

1) Carrots with Fennel and Mint
2) Cucumber with Dill and Peppercorns
3) Radishes with Sambar Spices
4) Beets with Mint

By lunch today, the pickles were beautiful, crunchy, delicately infused and delicious,  I'm especially thrilled with the radishes!

Emma says they last up to a month in the fridge, but I'm sure I'll eat them before then.  I'm already looking forward to new combinations and salad dressings with the leftover infused vinegars.

Let me know what flavors you come up with!

Kali's Kitchen

It seems to me, one of the most profound skills in meal preparation is the timing.  The art of transforming raw ingredients into nourishing and appetizing dishes, all ready and fragrant when your guests arrive at the table is no small task!

Lately I've been referring to my tiny cottage kitchen as Kali's, a place where delicious things manifest, and are devoured with relish, sometimes comepletely unexpectedly! 

I've noticed though, that like the Coconut Smoothies (go to the Kali's Kitchen Prasad page for the recipe!) that are sometimes served on the front step or sipped in the car or in the temple-living room, Kali's kitchen has no edge!  Kali's kitchen is my yoga mat, my relationships, my mind... In fact it seems, Kali's Kitchen is everywhere!

Kali is the great Mother Goddess of time and material nature.  She is sometimes frightening, sometimes sweet.  Like time itself, she can be comforting, or terrifying.  Kali's nature is to transform; to thrust us into the purifying fires, and bring forth the rasa, the divine flavor of each individual.

My teachers have always emphasized that spiritual concepts need time to "cook".  We need time to roll the ideas around, rearrange them, chew on them, combine them with the other ingredients in our spiritual pantries, and last but not least, subject them to the fire of our intellect and our own experience and roast 'em till they make us drool!

There is a saying in Sanskrit that in any situation, we learn just 25 percent from our teachers.  We learn 25 percent from eachother, and figure out 25 percent by ourselves.  The last 25 percent, we learn over time...

Many of you have studied with me during your Hatha Yoga Teacher Trainings or weekly asana classes.  We cover alot in a very little time.  I encourage you to give yourself time to integrate the ideas and allow them to grow fragrant in your own mind.

I often wonder how you're doing, and hope I run into you again so I can ask, "So how's that stuff we studied together cooking for you?"  So I offer you this, Kali's Kitchen, as a place to revisit those ideas once you've had a chance to gnaw on them for a bit, or to gather more of the ingredients you find appetizing to craft the feast that is your own personal philosophy and your own personal sadhana, or spiritual path.

I pray that this offering may nourish you; that you may savor the rasa, the juice of this beautiful lineage of teachings we have the privilege of exploring together. 

May the Goddess of Time treat you kindly.  May you be blessed with noble companionship and as many pots of tea as it takes to reach enlightenment in this lifetime! 

Om...