Sprouted Bread aka Essene Bread

Vegan

I've heard it said sprouted bread is the earliest bread in history.  While I have no way of verifying that information, it does seem to be recommended as superior to modern bread made from flour, for its digestibility and nutritional value. It has a natural sweetness and although takes longer (a few days to sprout the grain, a few hours to bake), the actual hands-on time is shorter and way simpler than yeasted loaves.

Of course, the texture is completely different (chewy and crumbly) and therefore best suited to being spread with some nut butter and fruit for breakfast or a snack, you could potentially use it for a sandwich-like creation, especially with the little bagels I made this time around.

The base recipe will make a plenty-tasty sprouted bread from just wheat berries as the sole ingredient. I usually play around with flavor, adding seeds, orange juice or zest, dried fruit, cinnamon, etc.

Sprouted Bagels, inspired by The Happy Raw Kitchen blog

Pumpkin Miso Muffins

Vegan and sugar-free

An unexpected twist on a savory muffin. Quite delish! Recipe from Just Bento

Masala Chai #2: Yogi Tea

Vegan

This is a nice little concoction : )

Taking a break from studying Greek patterns

Recipe is from 3HO Kundalini Yoga

Per serving:

1. Bring 10 ounces (about 1 1/3 cups) of water to a boil

2. Add spices, cover and boil 15 to 20 minutes
- 3 whole cloves
- 4 whole green cardamom pods, cracked
- 4 whole black peppercorns
- ½ stick cinnamon 
- 2 slices fresh ginger root

3. Add ¼ tsp black tea*, let sit for a few minutes

4. Add ½ cup "milk" and reheat (I use oat "milk")

5. Strain, sweeten with honey if desired

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Health Benefits as described by 3HO:

• Black pepper: blood purifier
• Cardamom pods: digestive aid
• Cloves: beneficial to the nervous system
• Cinnamon: strengthens the bones
• Ginger root: healing for colds and flu, increases energy
• Black Tea: *a homeopathic (minute) dose of black tea acts as an alloy for all the ingredients, creating just the right chemical balance (I add 1-2 tsp for a caffeine boost)
• Dairy Milk: the milk in the tea helps in the easy assimilation of spices. While it was not a part of the original recipe, Yogi Bhajan (Kundalini Yoga teacher) permitted the use of soy milk as a variation.

Plumped-Up Miso Soup

Vegan (or Pescotarian*)

If you've been to a Japanese restaurant, chances are you've had miso soup. The stuff is salty, delicious and wakes up your digestive system, so it's usually served as an appetizer.

For some years I had been making it a meal in and of itself, by adding vegetables and rice noodles. The process is dead easy and results delicious and filling:

1. Heat sesame oil in a pan (careful, as it goes from hot to smoking rather quickly)
2. Briefly saute thickly sliced carrots
3. Fill pot with boiling water and use a bit more hot water to dissolve a glob of miso paste in a bowl with a whisk (you can add more later according to taste)
4. Keep soup at a gentle simmer (if it goes into a rolling boil, the miso will lose some of its nutritional value)
5. Add quick-cooking veggies like broccoli, bok choy, as well as dried seaweed (I've used wakame, nori, arame, hijiki)
6. Rice noodles: the easiest method is to toss them in at around the same time as veg in step 5, but if making a big pot of soup, they will start to disintegrate after being heated repeatedly. The other option is to make them separately. Cooked brown rice is yet another alternative.
7. To serve, put cooked rice or rice noodles in individual bowls, add cubed soft tofu and ladle broth and veggies on top. Enjoy!

* Since coming to Asia, I've discovered miso paste with fish, as well as miso soup cooked with fish pieces, making it that much heartier and richer in flavor. I like it both non- and veg.

Shakshouka (Eggs Poached in Tomato Sauce)

Ovo-veg (Ovo-lacto if you use a cheese, like feta)

photo credit and recipe: Indulge & Devour

This is such an easy, fun and satisfying dish.

I've made it adding any ol' kind of veg:

- just stagger the cooking times (eg. grated carrot can go in with the onions, sweet peppers need only a few minutes if you like them a bit crisp, heavier sprouts like soybean are a nice addition stirred in just before the eggs are cracked in, leafy greens arranged on top around the eggs, to steam once the lid is on)

- this dish benefits from veggies cut into similar-sized small piece: eg the soybean sprouts were delish, but I will chop them up next time, so they get integrated into the tomato stew.