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Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Leaf Mold Gold


Doesn't look like much does it? When I first gathered last autumn's leaves together, the pile was much larger. At the time they were tough and loose and didn't seem they would do me much good in a hurry. So I kept them moist, turned them now and then and waited. Now the pile is an almost black mass that falls apart at the touch. I'm still learning about its uses. One is to continue layering it in my compost piles. Another is using it as a mulch. Mulch conserves moisture in the soil, making it possible to water plants less often and also keeps the soil from getting packed down when watering.


These activities respect nature. Instead of throwing it all away in the dumpster, they can be utilized. Collected grass clippings can be used as a mulch also.

How about that old Christmas tree the neighbors tossed in the alley?

It's good for acid loving plants such as roses.


 From out of decay comes new growth, new possibilities. This is Lord Krishna's perfect system.

Tasty Take-Outs

Kali yuga is very dark and yet we can sprinkle some light and love in the simplest ways. Take for example when a loved one must trudge off to an outside job everyday and yet come lunch break, in the midst of coworkers, he is able to open up a packed lunch that consists of home cooked items, including enough maha prasada from one's local temple to share.

Some good take out ideas are below:
Deity maha (especially sweets and savories for distribution)
Corn on the cob
Bean burrito with cheese, sour cream and salsa
Various chutneys to balance all six tastes (Ayurveda)
Stir-fried paneer chunks in a subji
Creamy and spicy paneer sandwich spread
Hummus with sprouts in a sandwich
Ground toasted sunflower seed sandwich spread (with salt, pepper, tahini, lemon juice, dill and hing)
Olive pesto for sandwiches or dip
Grilled cheese chapatis with spinach leaves and braised tomato
Homemade chips with sour cream dip
Samosas  or kachoris with chutney
Iddlis or dokla
Corn bread
Pizza slices
Homemade pasta in tomato sauce
Pasta salad
Seitan subjis
Fresh fruits such as mango or banana or cut up into a fruit salad
Potato salad (w/sour cream or thick yogurt, chopped celery, dill, salt and pepper)
Various veggie salads with simple dressing like olive oil, fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper
A barat burger on a bun with lettuce, sour cream and sprouts (recipe upcoming)
Mung bean or urd dahl barats in yogurt
Tapioca and potato tikkis or paneer tikkis with tomato chutney
Cucumber raita, chickpea raita,
Stuffed paratha
Banana puri
Homemade nut/peanut butter and various fruit jams on bread/chapatis
Toasted bread seasoned with with butter and hing
Deep fried or baked bread sticks
Various desserts- apple crisp, cookies, muffins, cinnamon roll, cookies, fruit fritters, donuts, filled donuts, candied pecans…

Various pakoras and chutney
Bitter melon chips
Dried fruits
Spring rolls with sweet and sour sauce
Hopefully you are feeling inspired what to make next day. These can be mixed and matched into various combinations. And hot soups and beverages are the norm in a Stanley thermos to supplement with during cold winter months. Also bags and containers that can keep foods warm or cool are surely a good investment.

At first, it may take more time to prepare various homemade fare, but gradually as one gains proficiency, things won't take more than an hour tops. One way is by preparing ahead. One can spend half an hour the evening before doing prep work and half an hour next morning doing the actually cooking and offering. For example, the evening before I may put together a pancake mix and then only have to add the water and a little yogurt the next morning for breakfast. And for the next day's lunch plan, I could make chapatti dough ahead of time to use in the morning. I can also precut veggies and have them in the fridge ready to go. Prepare corn and also have the water in a covered pot with salt, ready to heat up in the morning and boil the corn. Another help is to start dahl the night before on an electric range and allow it to cook very slowly with a method I posted earlier (keeping on a rack above the burner, if the heat can't be brought low enough) or with a slow cooker (since a gas stove requires running a vent all night), so it will be ready by morning. My method works best if you are an early riser able to check on it. Or if you put a lot of water in the pot and then start boiling away the excess as soon as you rise..

Now don't forget to include maha tulsi leaves to further remind the lunch recipient of Krishna when he first opens his lunch!

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Advice for Ladies

(or what I learned from devoted wives)

Even though traditionalist devotees and promoters of varnasrama are the greatest defenders for the rights of domestic women, experience suggests a lady should try to avoid taking part in such issues. Mostly because her foremost duty is to be peaceful around her beloved husband, so that both may execute their duties undisturbed.

But more importantly is so not become sidetracted from the real goal of life. From the perspective of eternal time, Srila Prabhupada says "To preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness, to practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness, to convince Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that's all, no other business. We don't take part in politics, sociology, and mental speculation, 'science,' or so on, so on, all nonsense. We reject, all kicked out. That is the perfection. It is simply waste of time. These are all superficial. Just like waves in the sea. Where is the meaning? The waves are going on"( Morning Walk -- May 8, 1975, Perth)

Krishna consciousness reveals that this material world is and always will be full of disturbances created by the material desires of both women and men, and ISKCON from a superficial viewpoint is no exception. So, even if one problem were to be resolved, then surely another will be there, because material miseries are relentless. Rather it is imperative to grab the opportunity given in this human form of life for getting free from this whole material entanglement.

After all, Bhagavad gita chapter three is all about the importance of prescribed duties for the satisfaction of Vishnu. Why do we have to argue for them? Rest assured, everything will go on as it should according to the sweet will of the Lord. There will always be, most gratefully, qualified persons empowered to or even needed to take charge and try to fix things. That is their nature that they wish to dovetail for purification. Also because the law of Mother Nature is that things will go one way (all for a reason, by Lord's will), but then go back the other way. She's all about balance.

The general public, for example, are already tiring of so many fatherless children, lack of extended family support, weakened, untrained men and unchaste, stupid women. So why should we waste our time? Why should our happiness depend on what others are doing? Or even what an institution is doing? Instead we can become fully absorbed and satisfied in the service, instructions and pastimes of Lord Krishna and His dear devotees right now. Just try to do that and everything else will be put into proper perspective. Rest assured. Krishna has a plan. He is in control. 

Friday, June 24, 2011

granola

                                                   
                           
(For about 3-4 servings)

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups rolled oats (I now grind my own oat berries, on coarsest setting)
a handful of walnuts
a handful of almonds
about a dozen cashews
about a dozen pecans
a tablespoon of sesame seeds
1/2 t cinnamon powder
2 T ghee
a generous 1/3 cup sugar or as desired
1/4 cups water
a handful of raisins

PREPARATION:
Put the oats in a baking pan
Coarsely chop up all the nuts and add to the oats
Add the sesame seeds and cinnamon
 Bring the water and sugar to a boil in a saucepan and stir until sugar is dissoved, then add the ghee.
After cooling a bit, pour over the oats mixture and stir well
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes to bake evenly.
Stir in the raisins last 5 mintures or at the end of baking.
Cool and then offer to Krishna in a big bowl with fresh, creamy milk poured on top.


VARIATIONS: So many recipes out there give more ideas for ingredients like sunflower seeds, coconut, dried fruits and brown sugar. Also this was a super rich banana bread and the extras got cut up and dried on low heat into cereal type pieces, then added to finished granola which was finally topped with fresh fruit, namely bananas. You could taste cinnamon, too, which was in the banana
bread.