Updateeeeeees!

I have been trying to update my blog maybe like ten times a day and always and always something comes up. Mostly with the baby. I tried to post about his food, I tried to post recipes for new vegan cookies, I tried to post about motherhood blues as well as happy proud moments. But it is just not happening. There is nothing I can do other than accept the impossible and sigh on the other moms' blogs that I get to read here and there. Though this looks like a post already in place! Yay, that makes me happy! As I write this Kael has a napkin in his hand, trying to go in circles around the swivel chair. I am holding him with one hand and trying to type and he is working hard to eat the napkin. Ok, I saved the napkin from his hands. It's funny of course, if I can remember to take a breath and laugh at this. Memories of managing Organico with 11 employees feels piece of cake compared to trying to get a free minute with this little one, spinach-avocado loaded, 95% breastfed love child.

Green Juice-City Style

We don't have a juicer in our house in Istanbul, but that did not stop me
from making my beloved green juices. The hardcore fans of raw food and juicing
may not approve my friend Maria's method, but I love "love" how easy to make
these juices. I try to drink a liter a day, it helps with milk production
and I make sure to get my nutrients.

1 bunch of parsley
1 inch bulb of ginger
1 apple, with the skin on, no seeds
1 lemon, without the skin, with the white part, seeded
1 cup of water or orange juice.

I prep everything into the blender, add the water and blend on high speed
and then use a nut bag, or a fine cheese cloth and squeeze the juice out of
it. Done!

Super fast, hence the city style and much easier to prep and clean.

You can add all your favorite herbs, mint, cilantro, arugula or other
greens like chard, kale or spinach. I also tried it with kiwi for added
vitamin C and it all worked perfect.

Back home with plus one!

It's been a month, we are in Istanbul. It is a big change from our life in Costa Rica and it is fantastic to be with family other than that i haven't decided how I feel about these bigger than me changes...Lets just say it is different for now.

I love being a mother, I love my baby boy and I love my mother even more after being a mother. It is crazy how my life changed so fast, I think I am still trying to digest the situation, hence diarrea for almost three weeks! It is also very refreshing to know that I can never take anything granted, great news for unpleasant stuff, like being away from my love. I am convinced that life is all about change and how we flow with it. Easy to say but putting it to day to day practice with a smile on my face is for sure my life's work.

Everyday I am reminded of showing gratitude to what I have and I rejoice getting a chance to practice the joy of being alive. Being with family is a great opportunity, as well as being with a baby, as there is nothing more challenging than those two for me right now. Family is family, you know what I mean, they know your buttons well, and the baby, hum, I am learning about that, apparently, my baby also came fully equipped with keys to all my buttons as well.  He does not understand either Turkish or Spanish or English. That sucks, for me! I demand that he understands like our wonderful dog Leroy Brown, what is wrong with this little guy. I just want him to still quiet and wait for me so I can answer emails and check my Facebook. Silly me. But you might think I have lost my mind, well not yet, but almost, if I haven't decided to be in Costa Rica by myself with the baby for any longer. And don't get me wrong, Kael is not fussy or difficult. He is very happy, content and most of the time quiet. Still, this mama had no clue of what real babies are all about:) I am not complaining, it is really fun to be learning again and it is a relief to have family support. I am grateful to be here and I soak in every minute of it.

Right now I am practicing to remember that my baby needs me and I want to be present with him all the time. This is tough for me because it is like good meditation all the time, it doesn't happen that easy. Most of the time during meditation I fly away, losing the focus and turn into day dreaming or active to do list making. Baby is like that too, he is here but I still fly away to millions of other things that I used to think are urgent in my self centered world. It takes time I guess, or I hope!, because so far, I am not 100% present with the baby. I am trying though. And I ask help from everyone around me to remind me if I drift away too long to something that is not as important as connecting with the baby. It is so precious to hold him and to smell him, to feel his skin, once I am present with him in that moment, it is like heaven. I want to breath in many many many moments like this forever, there is nothing sweeter that I have tasted or lived in my life as his feather soft skin and breath touches on my skin and as I hear his little heart beat against my ear. This is my welcome to motherhood blog update, well its been more than six months but better late than never.

Cranberry Orange Muffins

In the middle of feeding the baby, changing diapers and trying to have conversations with my mom and husband, I could not help but not share this recipe. These cranberry muffins are delicious.

The recipe is from Post Punk Kitchen, and followed it exactly. It made 12 muffins! Don't miss these!

instant inspiration

http://stay-ocean-minded.tumblr.com/

Wow!!!

Quick Lunch and Mean Green Dressing

I eat salads pretty much everyday, pretty much same ingredients and
dressing. And of course some of those days my favorite greens and
veggies suffer from my lack of creativity and become a bowl of "boring
salad" again... Don't get me wrong, I love my greens, carrots beets,
avocado and tomatoes but everyday, it really gets old, especially with
the same dressing...lemon, olive oil and salt. My dad is to blame,
because he was in charge of making salads and we had the same exact
salad everyday. Crazy to see how similar we are to our families...even
miles away, even after swearing to be so different from them.

However, today we are out of olive oil. So, I was forced to try
something else other than just lemon and salt. Amazing how inspiration
comes so unexpected, I just gave myself space to follow my senses, not
that it works all the time, but it did today....The dressing was one
of my bests! I can't help but call it my new favorite Mean Green
Dressing:)

2 juicy limes, 2 tablespoons sunflower butter (or tahini), 2 cloves of
garlic, 1 handful of parsley, 1/4 cup water, 1/4 tsp salt. Blend
everything together. Creamy and sooo delicious.

We poured it over salad greens, steamed broccoli, green beans, diced
cucumbers, shredded carrots and a can of red beans. I wish I had an
avocado, but still it was fantastic. Hope you like it as much we
did...The baby is enjoying it now with a few strong kicks and hops:)

Thanksgiving Feast

Let us do all the cooking while you enjoy the company of your family this Thanksgiving. Lots of menu options to choose from, traditional and non-traditional dishes, many desserts and breads. Get the whole feast or choose as much as you need.

All meals are made from scratch with fresh organic produce, no MSG, no preservatives or additives. Pure food with love. All vegetarian, sorry no Turkey. We can accommodate all allergy needs, gluten-free, nut-free, soy free, dairy free.

Contact us for menu options and pricing. There are options for every budget.
bakingfairy@gmail.com

Rainbow Moroccan Feast

I love Morocco and especially it's spices, vibrant, bold, exotic, dreamy...mysterious and gypsy.

As we are packing to move to San Jose, we are pretty low on supplies, a can of garbanzo beans, couscous and some veggies. My husband got limes from the garden and I got the inspiration from Keep it Skinny and voila- colorful, spicy, and easy...lunch, dinner, maybe even breakfast! Damn camera battery died before I could take a picture of the dish and my efforts to locate the charger were hopeless in the moving mess but I managed to take one shot of my Moroccan spice mix, Ras el Hanout! It is delicious!

راس الحانوت RAS EL HANOUT, MAGICAL SPICE BLEND
Ras el hanout, is a spice blend that means literally "top of the shop", best blend of the merchant's spices. You can also make your own at home and there are many different recipes online. After reviewing a few, here is what I came up with:
SEEDS
1 tablespoon each of cumin, coriander, mustard seeds, toast well until fragrant.
GROUND SPICES
1 tablespoon each of ground cardamom, cinnamon, cayenne, turmeric, salt, black pepper and 1 tsp nutmeg.

Toast all the spices together, high heat works great but make sure to stand by the stove, otherwise, keep the heat low and mix occasionally while doing other things. Once all toasted together blend in a spice grinder and that's it. The result was really magical!

Use 1 tablespoon of this mix in the recipe below. It also tastes great as a rice seasoning.

Rainbow Moroccan Feast

• 3 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 red onion, diced
  
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, sliced super thin
  
• 1 can of garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed well
• 1 zucchini diced, about 2 cups
• 1 tablespoon spice mix
  
• 1/2 cup of raisins or cranberries, optional
  
• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1 cup of spinach
• handful of parsley
  
• 1 tomato diced
• salt and pepper to taste
  

For the couscous:

• 2 cups of couscous
• 2 cups of veggie broth
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• Juice of 1 lemon
  

Saute onions and garlic with the olive oil and add the zucchini with 1 tablespoon of the Ras el Hanout. Cook about 10 minutes, but make sure the zucchini is still firm. Add garbanzo beans and raisins. Heat through on low heat, add the spinach and turn off the stove.

In the meantime, prepare couscous according to package instructions. The brand we get here is super easy to make: Pour boiling water over couscous in a bowl and cover for 10 minutes. Instead of water, I used veggie stock, lemon juice, salt and olive oil. After 10 minutes, fluff the couscous with a fork.

Combine couscous with your veggies and taste for the seasoning. You can add more spices as you wish, however I'd recommend to check for salt and black pepper first and then acidity with lime juice and heat with cayenne.

Add parsley and diced tomatoes on top before serving.

By the way, if you have trip planned to Morocco, check out this list from Gwyneth Paltrow. Looks so inviting and magical:)

Pregnancy Memories

We are taking more pictures these days, apparently we need to prove the US embassy that I was pregnant...At least gives me a chance to share the photos online:)

Rainy Day Sunshine, Oat Date Crumb Bars

It is rainy season in Costa Rica. I love the rain, it brings such freshness and cool air to much needed humid Montezuma, but it can really get you if you are stuck home with no vehicle, no dry cloths, no fancy entertainment center and you just can't go dance in the rain because you are pregnant:) Not you, me:)

But then, there is baking, it definitely helps! Both in the pregnancy department and sanity of the mind. These are easy to make oat bars that will make your kitchen smell like a cozy bakery and long for a nice movie with a warm blanket, a cup of tea in your hand, even in the tropics. Also, individually wrapped they make great gifts. It reminds me of a linzer torte, I could swear it tastes very buttery, though these are vegan and gluten-free! Roberto thinks it is a close relative of fig newtons...

The recipe comes from Candle Cafe Cookbook. It is a vegan restaurant/cafe, I have never been to but heard so much of it. Here is the exact recipe from the book. Below is my version with a few changes:

Oat Bars with Apricot Date Filling
1 cup whole pitted dates
1/2 cup dried apricots (or prunes or raisins)
3 cups oat flour, see below for a quick recipe
1 cup coconut flour (if you don't have it, add oat flour instead)
4 cups rolled oats
¾ cup chopped walnuts
1 cup coconut oil
1 cup agave (or maple syrup)
1 tsp. almond extract
 3/4 tsp. fine sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cardamom, if you really like cardamom, you add a pinch more.
1/8 tsp nutmeg
zest of 1 orange

Fresh spices will be more powerful and fragrant. I like to grind up  cardamom and grate the nutmeg. If you haven't tried it before, I highly recommend it.

Oat Flour-Coconut Flour
You don't need to buy oat flour, just blend rolled oats in a blender until super-fine. You can also do coconut flour or any other nut flour the same way. Just make sure your blender is super dry.

Date-Apricot Filling
For the filling soak the dates and apricots in water, better the night before. If you want to bake your bars now, you can also soak them in hot, boiling water while preparing the rest of the ingredients. Once they are ready, drain, and process in a blender or a food processor until smooth. This is your sugar-free filling that is sweet and delicious! You can also use your favorite marmalade, I really want to try this with raspberry. 

Oat Coconut Crust
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine the flours, rolled oats, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, orange zest and walnuts and mix together well. 

In another bowl, combine coconut oil, agave, almond extract, and sea salt. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and mix well. Press half of the mixture into a baking pan. 

Spread the fruit filling over the mixture, top with the remaining half of the flour mixture, and press down lightly.  Bake for 30 minutes, or until lightly browned.  Let cool and cut into squares.

Great for breakfast, road snack, dessert for lunch...Even this monkey enjoyed the smell in our garden:)

Use of Herbs during Pregnancy

I like this site a lot, super helpful information and lots of articles about pregnancy nutrition. It is a little complicated with herbs during pregnancy. Even my dad send me an article saying don't eat ginger. However, if you read through the research, it is the amount and how you use it that makes the difference. Culinary use is different than extracts and oils. Good to know:)

Just made a dandelion pesto again. This time I used 2 bunches of basil, 1 bunch of parsley and 1 bunch of dandelion with 2 roasted garlic cloves, 1/4 cup of olive oil, 3 tablespoons of nutritional yeast, 1/4 tsp sea salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper. Now, I want to bake some veggies and sprinkle this on top. It also makes a great salad dressing....

Lunch today and many days to come:)

It's leftovers!! We had a guest over last night for yummy veggie burgers and we made a lot! So today lunch was ready in less than 5 minutes. My god, best burger I had in a long time! Of course, I am spoiled to have my husband home, so he can bake whole grain buns and cook burgers to perfection with patience, skills I still haven't developed-yet:) It is really fun to be in the kitchen together especially on days that are gloomy gray like this. Also, I learn something new from him everyday, I am truly grateful to the universe for our connection.

Don't laugh, but I will tell you how I built my burger. We had dandelion pesto on hand, so I started with that, added Swiss chard, roasted pumpkin, home pickled cucumbers, tomato and leftover lentil burger on top. Everything was cold and it was great. Now, I know it takes a lot to do all these things at once, especially if you are hungry. The trick is to organize your kitchen in a way that works for you. You can bake bread and freeze, or skip bread and make this into a salad with lentil patty on top.

Roasting veggies is so easy because you don't need to babysit them and wait in front of the stove. They also keep well in the fridge. Kitchen can be a challenge if you are pressed against time, or don't have the inspiration. However, it can also be an artist canvas if you work with ease and use local ingredients. Then you can see the magic happen on its own, painting plates in colorful veggies and watching your inspiration blossom.

Here are the recipes I used for the burger...Something to play with, hopefully some joy and excitement! Have fun!

Pickled Cucumbers:

Using a mandolin, slice your cucumbers thinly. Long English cucumbers of thin Asian cucumbers are the best. If the cucumbers have a lot of seeds take them out because they are hard to digest. Sprinkle pinch of salt, 1/2 cup rice vinegar and a dash of black pepper. Press down with a plate and let them sit for about 30 mins or overnight in the fridge.

You can totally skip this and use fresh cucumbers. That is how I made our burgers at Organico all these years, easy yet delicious and fresh.

Roasted Pumpkin

Pre-heat the oven to 400F.

Wash the skin of the pumpkin and cut into finger thick pieces on the long side. Place them with the skin on a roasting pan, sprinkle sea salt, olive oil and sage. I used dried sage, but you can also use fresh sage or any other herb you like. Rosemary is also great.

Next, make sure to get your hands in the roasting pan and show some love to the pumpkin, covering each side with olive oil.

Bake for 40 mins, turning the pan in the middle. Check for doneness by inserting a knife. Let it cool. If using for the burger, take the skin off. This is also a great side dish to any other meal or salad.

Plantains and pineapples are also a great alternative. You can bake or grill them.

Dandelion Pesto:

1 bunch of dandelion, chopped into small pieces.
1 bunch of basil, chopped.
1 bunch of arugula, chopped.
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 heads of roasted garlic or 2 raw cloves (roasted garlic is creamy and sweet and helps with the dandelion flavor, so if you have time, don't skip this step).
1/2 tsp sea-salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
Juice of a half lemon
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast, optional

Blend everything in a high speed blender until creamy. If you like your pesto chunky, use a food processor instead and process slowly, adding your greens in parts.

Keeps in the fridge about a week.

A super easy spread alternative would be mashed avocado with basil or cilantro with lime and salt. Please don't stress!!!

Lentil Burgers

3 cups of soaked green lentils, about 2 cups of dry lentils soaked overnight.
5 cups of water
1 onion, cut into two
1 head of garlic
1 celery stalk, cut into 3 pieces
1 bay leaf (its ok if you don't have it)

Bring all the ingredients to boil, and cook until the water is gone and the lentils are soft.

Saute with 4 tablespoons olive oil:

1 onion, diced small
2 stalks of celery, diced small
1 medium carrot, diced small
1 tablespoon of tomato paste

It will take about 10 to 15 minutes, until the carrots are almost mushy. Add 2 tsp cumin, 1 tsp black pepper and 1 tsp salt.

Once the lentils are cooked, put them over a sieve and drain the water. Transfer the lentils into a big bowl.

Add the sauteed veggies and combine with 1/2 cup oat flour, 1/2 cup ground flax seeds, 1 cup oats. Mix well with a wooded spoon, pressing into the lentils, like making a dough. There will be still chunky pieces of carrots and celery and that is good. If the mixture is too wet, add more ground flax seeds. If it is too dry, add some liquid from the lentils. You should be able to make patties at this point. It is ok if the mixture looks wet, as long as it holds it shape.

Make sure to taste them and see if you like the taste. Adjust seasonings to your liking, salt, pepper, cumin. I also added a dash of cayenne pepper at this point because it was a little sweeter than I liked, carrots to blame:)

Place the mixture in the fridge for about 30 mins, the flours and oats soak up more liquid. Roberto did the rest of the cooking. He first pan fried the burgers, high heat both sides about 3-4 mins each until browned and then baked 400F for about 10-15 mins, so they dry up inside. It was perfect.

Leftover burgers are great for the next day, they hold their shape even better.

Again, if you want a burger now and don't want to spend the time in the kitchen,think what could be an alternative for the lentil patties...Maybe portobello mushrooms or eggplant steaks?

Additional toppings:
Avocados
Tomatos
Fresh greens
Sauteed Onions
Sprouts
Mustard
Some good organic ketchup if you can find it...

Cheers to the happy times in the kitchen!!

Living Bridge

http://www.snotr.com/video/7331/The_Living_Bridge

This is so amazing, must be such a joy to be part of a family who build things in the nature that lasts for 500 years and help others. I want to do things like this with my family.

Carrot Muffins with Love

We were invited to a brunch this past Sunday and carrot muffins were on the menu. I got really excited to hear that, as it is super hard to find baked stuff around here outside of our own kitchen. Brunch menu was great but no carrot muffins:( Now that could make a pregnant lady go crazy! Hence, they were on my mind since Sunday, I just had to bake them ASAP:) The perfect excuse came when my husband came down with a cold and his favorite cake happens to be carrot cake. This morning, up super early with the sun, I searched for some recipes before having my first cup of red raspberry tea. On a side note, if you are pregnant, I highly recommend red raspberry tea, it helps to strengthen the uterus muscles, that you will need after giving birth.

The first recipe I found was from Angela. It was vegan but not gluten free. Then I found another one but realized it had eggs and skipped that recipe, though it is pretty easy to convert eggs into vegan eggs with flax eggs. I started with Angela's recipe and prepared the flax eggs, don't ask me why!! Totally messed up and mixed two recipes in my mind. Half way through the process, a tiny panic came in, "oh this recipe doesn't have eggs" but then added them anyways and continued making my own carrot muffins. Vegan, gluten-free, coconutty and not so sweet! They turned out super moist, packed with carrots and love.

Vegan Carrot Coconut Muffins- Gluten Free

Adapted from Angela @ Oh She Glows

Yield: 12 muffins

Dry:

• 1 cup gluten free baking flour
• 3/4 cup rice flour
• 2 tsp x-tan gum
  
• 1/4 cup natural raw sugar
• 1 tbsp ground flax seed
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
  
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  
• 1/2 tsp sea salt

 Wet:

• 1/3 cup agave syrup
  
• 1/3 cup coconut oil (or vegetable oil)
  
• 1/4 cup soy milk (or coconut milk)
• 1/4 cup water
  
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons of ground flax with 6 tablespoons of warm water. (Mix well and let the eggs develop while preparing the other ingredients, it will be gooey)
  
• 2 cups grated carrots
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
  
• 1/2 cup raisins, soaked in water and drained (I used prunes because we had no raisins, it came out great.)
  
• 1/3 cup chopped & toasted walnuts
• 1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
• 1 orange zest
  

Directions:

1. Toast the walnuts on the stove, under medium heat. Preheat oven to 400F and line a muffin tin with liners or use a silicon muffin tray.

2. Whisk all dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Separately, whisk together the wet ingredients, flax eggs, oil, water, vanilla, soy milk. Add the wet to the dry and mix until just incorporated.

3. Fold in the carrots, ginger, orange zest, prunes (or raisins), coconut and walnuts. Batter will be THICK!

4. Scoop batter into the muffin liners, filling the batter to the top, making it a little higher than the mold level.  Bake for about 18 minutes at 400F until a toothpick comes out clean. Be patient and wait until they cool for about 15-20 minutes.

Enjoy!!!

A new chapter...

There is a new chapter in this book! It is exciting and scary and of course as my mom puts it, perfectly expected from me. I sold the cafe, got married and I am now pregnant to a baby boy who is coming to be with us in two months. Crazy fast but it feels so good to be alive now. These days life feels like a roller coaster and I am sure the pregnancy hormones are to blame!!!  I have no plans for the future, quite opposite, I am swimming in the unknown, I don't know where we will live, what we will do as we are both jobless right now and I have no clue how to be a mom. Even before that, I cant even decide if I am strong enough for homebirth or ready to fight the doctor who is not willing to wait more than 3 hours for a normal delivery. I know it will all work out, it always does. One way or the other, life goes on. And if I can breath in the middle of this, I thank myself and say I am grateful to be able to recognize the moment. That is all I can do right now. A split second of consciousness that everything is exactly how it is supposed to be.

It sure helps to be in Costa Rica, this constant connection with the nature, feeling the ocean and the green, touching my feet on earth, eating so well thanks to my husband. I can not believe I met someone who can cook better than me! It really helps to get out from my mind and just feel. I am also doing yoga, my own way. Mostly listening to my body and giving myself time to explore my muscles in this phase of my life.  I can not do many of the poses and I try extra hard not to push my self, but most of the time I am really loving this extra freedom I found, to be me. I have the best excuse to myself:) It is a great lesson that I want to take with me after the baby, because really I do love this person now. Even though I don't work 12 hours, even though I don't run 2 hours and do yoga every day...Somehow, I even think I am more beautiful than ever before- most of the time...Then there are the moments of fear, doubt, unknown, worry...pre-postpartum pregnancy thing, that is not clinically coded:) I have that too!

In the middle of this chaos, I want to write more. I want to share more and be connected more. At least to give it a try...

Carob Fudge

I just made this carob fudge, and it is fantastic. Give it a try, I
did not use mint, but hazelnuts and carob are an amazing
combination!!! We are taking them tomorrow to the market to share with
our friends.

http://gnowfglins.com/2007/03/16/nutty-minty-carob-fudge-balls/comment-page-1/#comment-43894

Up in the mountains, Camlihemsin

Its been way too long I updated the blog, but now I have a good reason to write. We discovered an incredible part of Turkey. Up in the mountains, surrounded by rivers and super cute villages. The town we stayed is called Camlihemsin. Everything is what we have missed in Istanbul for the last three weeks...Fresh air, rivers, local food, smiling happy people.

We stayed at a beautiful place, Moyy. Super nice, elegant and friendly. Every detail is done with love and care. The meals were fantastic and daily nature tours were the best. One day we ate in the mountains in someone's house. I dont think you can find a better view, better food in your life. I felt like the luckiest person in the world.

Our guide Ugur is also a published author, he lives there and he also has an adorable coffee shop, called Caynig. His photos are also amazing, so check them out.

feeling good!!!

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g309278-d1463063-Reviews-Cafe_Organico-Montezuma_Province_of_Puntarenas.html

Check out our listing and number 1 position! Sooo happy!

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