I use the kitchari recipe from Food as Medicine by Dharma Singh Khalsa.  He’s got a basic bean/rice one and a slightly more complicated one with veg and healing spices.  I’ve only made the savory vegetable one, which is what M wants.  I sprout my beans before I cook them, to make them more digestible and to make the nutrients more bio-available.  If you go that route, don’t sprout the beans into full on stir-fry style bean sprouts.  Once the tails start to poke out, they’re done.

Mung Beans & Rice (from Food as Medicine)

• 1 cup mung beans (or 1 cup of mung beans after sprouting)
• 1 cup basmati rice
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 inch piece of kombu seaweed (optional, adds minerals and makes beans more digestible)
• 9 cups of water
• 4-6 cups of assorted vegetables (carrots, celery, zucchini, broccoli, etc.)
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• .5 teaspoon pepper
• 1/3 cup ginger root, minced
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 heaping teaspoon turmeric
• 1 heaping teaspoon garam masala
• 1 teaspoon crushed red chilies (more or less to taste)
• t tablespoon sweet basil
• seeds of 5 cardamom pods
• sea salt or Braggs Liquid Aminos to taste.

Soak beans overnight.  Wash beans and rinse rice at least 3 times. Bring water to boil.  Add bay leaves and kombu seaweed let boil over medium-high heat.  When the beans have boiled and are soft, about 40-50 minutes, add rice, lower heat to simmer, and let cook for another 20 minutes.

Clean and cut vegetables.  Add vegetables to simmering rice and beans and continue to cook for approximately 15 more minutes.  In the meantime, heat oil in large frying pan.  Add onions, ginger, and garlic.  Saute over medium high heat until brown.  Add turmeric, pepper, garam masala, and red chilies. Add this mixture to the pot with the beans and rice.  You will need to stir often now to prevent scorching.  Add sweet basil, cardamom seeds, and sea salt.  Continue to simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes, stirring often.  You may have to add extra boiling water until the rice and vegetables are completely cooked.  The consistency should be rich, thick, and soup-like — with ingredients barely discernible.

Simpler Mung Beans & Rice (from Food as Medicine)

• .5 cup mung beans
• .5 cup white basmati rice
• 1 inch piece of kombu seaweed (optional)
• 9 cups water
• Sea salt or Bragg’s Liquid Aminos to taste

Soak beans overnight. Wash beans and rice. Bring water to a boil, add beans and kombu seaweed, and let boil over medium high heat for 40-50 minutes until soft.  Add rice and let simmer for another 20-25 minutes until done. Add sea salt to taste.  You can also add 1 tsp of ghee or olive oil per person before serving.

Caveat: I haven’t tried this recipe as written.  I’m a bit suspicious about the bean/rice to water ratio.  It looks to me like it will end up too watery.  Leave me a comment if you try it and let me know how it goes.

Zucchini & Asparagus Kitchari (VegNews, Mar/Apr 2009)

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1.5 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground fennel
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 2 cups yellow split mung beans
• 1.5 teaspoons salt
• 8 cups water divided
• 1 cup basmati rice
• 2 cups zucchini, diced
• 1 cup asparagus, sliced into 1 inch pieces

In a large pot, heat oil and saute cumin, coriander, fennel, and turmeric for 1 minute.  Add mung beans and salt, saute for another 2 minutes.  Add 7 cups of water and bring to a boil then simmer for 30 minutes.

Add rice, zucchini, and asparagus.  Add remaining 1 cup of water, stir, bring back to a boil, and then simmer for another 20 minutes or until rice is fully cooked.

Caveat: I haven’t made this one either but I’ve been meaning to try it. I’ve have the torn magazine page as a bookmark in Food as Medicine for over two years now.

The program really emphasizes goal setting and life-balance. The provide lots of tips on how to organize one’s life to incorporate this eating style as a permanent habit.  Plus, it’s a spiritual mission.  I’m planing to renew my long-stagnant meditation practice and spend lots of time cycling (moving meditation).  You can bet I’ll be in the hot tub a great deal too. Knowing I get to do two weeks worth of extremely cleansing eating is a big motivator for me.  I’ve been doing the 11 week initiatives at Raw Food Rehab since April.  Consistently! So far I’ve lost a few pounds and I’ve made biking to work a daily habit and I’ve increased the number of days I spend 100% vegan per week.   I’m more psyched about sticking to it now that I’m going to OHI.  I’ll experience less detox reaction if my diet before the trip is clean.

My long term goal is to reduce (or eliminate!) my use of prescription medications.  The program will be an excellent launching point for that. Only 6 weeks until vacation time! I’m counting the days.

Weekend prep

• Sprouting  (I’m going with lentil)
• Dehydrate kale chips for snacks
• Dehydrate some gingered almonds
• Make pates
• Make salad dressing
• Wash greens
• Cut up sturdier vegetables (carrots, bell pepper, etc.)
• Marinate some veggies (mushrooms, bell pepper, zucchini, etc.)

Breakfasts

• Miso soup
• Veggie scramble
• Green juice or smoothie

Lunches

• Asian marinated veggie wrap
• Spinach and seaweed salad with oranges and sesame dressing
• Three seaweed salad
• Vietnamese style cabbage salad

Dinners

• Sushi
• Pad Thai
• Stir un-fry on parsnip rice
• Spring rolls

Snacks

• fruit
• kale chips
• veggies with asian pate dip

It’s also useful for quick desserts.  You can break it up and use it as a crumble toppings for fruit crisps or pies.

Apple Cinnamon Granola

3/4-1 lb pitted dates (1-1 1/2 cups packed)
1/2 cup purified water (approximately)
1 lb (2 1/2 cups) raw buckwheat groats, soaked and sprouted
1/8 lb (3/4 cup) currants or raisins
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded or shaved coconut
1/4 cup sunflower seeds, soaked 4-6 hours, rinsed, drained
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds, soaked 4-6 hours, rinsed, drained
1/4 cup sesame seeds, soaked 4-6 hours, rinsed, drained
1/4 cup flax seeds, soaked 8-12 hours in 1/2 cup purified water (do not rinse or drain)
1 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Loosely separate the dates and put them in a high speed blender.  Add the water and blend to form a smooth paste, adding more water if necessary.
2. Combine the buckwheat groats, currants or raisins, shredded coconut, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, flaxseeds, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl and stir well or mix with your hands.
3. Spread 1/4 inch of bater (4-6 cups) evenly on a dehydrator tray lined with a nonstick sheet.  Repeat until all of hte batter is used.
4. Dehydrate for 8 hours at 105 degrees, flip the granola onto a mesh dehydrator screen, and continue dehydrating another 24 hours until completely dry.
5. Break the granola aparat or crumble it into chunks.
6. Store in a sealed glass jars in the refrigerator for up to 3 months.

Note: use the larger amount of dates for a sweeter granola.

Note: toasted buckwheat groats, known as kasha, is a very popular Middle Eastern grain and can easily be confused with raw groats.  Make sure to buy raw, hulled, buckwheat groats.

Note: for a pretty presentation, you can score the batter into 1″ squares after you put them onto the nonstick dehydrator sheets.

Note: to sprout groats, first soak them in water to cover for 8 hours or overnight.  Drain and rinse them, and put them in a colander over a plate, to catch any water.  Allow them to sprout for 12-24 hours, rinsing them every 12 hours.

Variations

Apple cinnamon granola – add 4 cored and shredded apples.

Berry granola – eliminate the cinnamon and add 1 lb of fresh or frozen berries.  Be sure to fold those in last.

Granola bars – spread the granola batter 1/2 inch thick on nonstick dehydrator sheets, then score into squares before dehydrating.

Serve with love

Sprouted Quinoa & Hemp Seed Tabbouleh
Yield 8 cups. Serves 8 regular portions or 4 entree sized portions.

Quinoa Tabbouleh

Salad
3 cups quinoa
3 bunches parsley, finely chopped
1 bunch mint, finely chopped
1/2 cup hemp seeds
3 cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and diced
3 bunches scallions, minced
2 cups grape tomatoes

Dressing
1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp sea salt
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp hemp seed oil

Soak quinoa 8 hours.  Sprout quinoa until it’s as soft as you would like, minimum 8 hours.  Be sure to rinse every 8 hours of sprouting.  I usually soak the quinoa overnight, rinse in the a.m., and then make the salad in the evening after another rinse.

Put all salad ingredients into a large bowl.  Mix dressing ingredients. Add dressing to salad.  Toss gently.  Chill for several hours to allow flavors to blend and develop.   I like to bring the salad back to room temperature before eating.

Serve with love!

The trick is to keep on keeping on.  I did start sprouting my buckwheat.  And, I’ll stop by the store again this evening and get the requisite corn.   How can I avoid this type of forgetfulness in the future?  By sticking to my regular organizational habits.   I’m a big fan of David Allen’s Getting Things Done (a.k.a. GTD).  I use a GTD plug-in and Outlook to manage my schedule.  Everything is synchronized with my Blackberry.  Usually I write my shopping lists as an Outlook task.  If I want it on paper, I can print it out before I go to the store.  I tend to read my list right on my Blackberry though.  No need to waste the paper.

I haven’t been able to synchronize my Blackberry with my desktop computer as often as I’d like.  I’m a Mac user, but run Windows in a virtual machine (VM) on my workplace Mac.   I’ve been having many, many, many problems with the VM.  Blackberry software doesn’t play well with it.  So, I’ve not been using my GTD as much as I should.  I’m not offering this as an excuse, but as an explanation.  If I know how an obstacle presents itself, I can avoid those obstacles.  In this case, I can make sure to use the tools I’ve already got.

Of course, my computer has been crashing a lot today.  Just because the solution is simple, doesn’t mean it’s easy.  It will resolve itself soon however.  I’m getting a bona fide PC from my tech people at the office.  Once that’s installed it should be a bit easier to stick to the GTD habit.

Meanwhile, I’m planning another juice fast for tomorrow.  And, this is really exciting, M. has agreed to do the fast with me!  And she’s agreed to help me with the juicing and clean-up.  How rad is that?  I think this is M.’s first juice fast.  My goal, as usual, is to make it the entire day on beautiful green and fruity juice.  I’ve broken my past two mini-fasts at the dinner hour.  It’s difficult for me to resist the food M. and Z. are eating for dinner.  It will definitely help to have M. doing the fast with me.  Once I make it through one 24 hour cycle, my next goal will be to make 48 hours, then 72 hours, and so on.  I’d like to build up to one full week.   The idea of that is kind of scary right now.  I’m going to focus on just one day.  It’s just one day! And I know I can do three days – I’ve done that much in the past.  And I know I find it easy to do 3/4 of the day.  It’s only the evening that trips me up.  The key to success will be (a) keeping full on nutritious delicious juice and (b) finding things to do in the evening so that I won’t focus on food.   Perhaps a yoga class.  More likely that I’m going to be making  raw granola – the buckwheat sprouts I’ve started should be ready by tomorrow evening.   Good thing I don’t find the pre-dehydrated mixture very appealing as a snack.  I won’t be tempted to eat it while I’m fasting.  Oh! I can also post all the recipes and photos from all the things I’ve been making this week.  I should have enough to do to keep myself busy and fasting tomorrow evening.

I’ve had a few set-backs this week so far.  I know I can turn it around by thinking positively and by remembering that I have all the time in the world to nurture myself.  I don’t hurt anything by shifting my schedule up a day or so. Flexibility is key.  I always tell myself, “start the good work today.  Tomorrow never comes!” Which is true.  But it’s also true that I can’t stress out over timing.  I need to trust myself that things will happen.  The universe unfolds as it ought to … as long as you’re prepared, you can take advantage.  I will be prepared.

My excuse was that I didn’t sleep well last night.  I probably only got about 3 hours worth of shut-eye. It made for a very grumpy morning.  I was so tired, I forgot my vow to be vegan all week and had a few sips of the princess latte that M. brought to me in my bed (yes, I’m very spoiled).  The rest of the day has been the most vegan-y of vegan eating. I’ve made a 5 cups of pro-biotic packed green smoothie.  Enough for breakfast and afternoon snack.  Lunch was a big-ass salad with .25 cup slivered almonds and some fat-free balsamic vinegar dressing.  Dinner is going to be leftover carrot/cauliflower/tarragon soup and some steamed veggies done up in my own stir-fry sauce. I’ll post the recipes for all of those separately.

M. and I have been eating a lot of recipes from Donna Gates’ Body Ecology book, including the carrot/cauliflower/tarragon concoction mentioned above. I’m still feeling utterly wretched in the digestive realm so I’m sticking to vegan-ism this week.    The best way to do that is to make sure I have good yummy food handy.  Keeping it anti-candida a la Body Ecology help the tummy troubles.  Fortunately the soup recipe yields an abundant amount of food.  M., Z., and I will be eating this all week.  Add a few salads or steamed veggie sides and it’s a full meal.  No need to think or do much when it comes to the food I’m eating this week.

That leaves me time to focus on some longer term prep.  It’s easier to stay raw when I have some staples stashed away in the pantry.  I try to make  a big batch of this type of food each quarter.  On tap this week: “Golden tortilla chips” , “Pizza flax crackers” , and  some “Grawnola.  These recipes are time intensive, although little of that is hands-on.  There’s soaking and sprouting to do.  And I need to consider the amount of space available in my dehydrator plus how long each recipe is going to be taking up space inside. It’s a little tricky to have things ready-sprouted in time for the dehydrator opening.

This is the food prep schedule I’ve planned on top of everything else I’ve accomplished today.

Tonight :  raw chocolate macadamia ice cream, peach cobbler, and my green smoothies for tomorrow’s breakfast & lunch.

Monday a.m.: rinse sprouts, rotate fruit, soak 2.5 cups of hulled buckwheat groats

Monday p.m.: drain and rinse buckwheat, start sprouting it, rinse alfalfa sprouts, make golden tortilla chips and put them in dehydrator for 24 hours.

Tuesday a.m.: rinse alfalfa sprouts, rotate fruit, rinse buckwheat sprouts, soak 1/4 cup each of sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, and flax seeds.

Tuesday p.m.: take tortilla chips out of the dehydrator, cool, and put into ziplock freezer bags, store in the fridge.  Make grawnola, put into dehydrator for 24 hours.

Wednesday a.m.: rinse sprouts, soak 2 cups of flax seed.

Wednesday p.m.: make pizza flax crackers, put into dehydrator for 24 hours.

I’ll decide what other staples to make on Wednesday.  By that time I’ll need a night or two off from food prepping.