Look better naked Spring Rolls and Ahimsa

Its been 5 long years after my last blog. I should be 5 yrs smarter , and be more serious but not.
This is one of mine most favorite dishes so far and is guilt free ( you can eat as much as you can) and will give you poops from heaven next day!
 Lets start with recipe .I will be honest with you I cant make this dish, my fingers are not as skilled as my amazing wife Alexandra. In honor of Ahimsa no animal was hurt during this blog.Why Ahimsa is so important in our life? Food is energy for a body  and mind. How your body can function if energy is based on suffering, we cant close our harts on minds on terror which is happening in factory farms.
I could bring hundreds of examples, but I like to you do a homework in this matter.
Another way to practice none violence is to create less garbage . Recycle everything , all of our food scrubs ending in worm farm and will be transform into soil.
We can practice Ahimsa any time , because violence has many faces, we can be violent by our actions,by our words and by our thoughts. Thats enough about Ahimsa . Lets heal our body and mind with that amazing   dishes.



This dish will take you about one hour( If you are skilled roller )to prepare and few minutes to eat.
So lets start!

Ingredients:
We are using most organic  but you are making your own choice There are two ingredients missing on this pictures , as we forgot to harvest mint and basil from our garden.
So lets see what we got :
2 Avocados
4 carrots
1 medium green cabbage
Basil just small bunch
and Mint hmmmmm
Banh Trang  Spring Roll Wrapper
 For a peanut sauce
about half cup ( we are mostly eye balling ) Peanut Butte
1 tb of sugar( or to taste)
about 1 tbs of soy sauce ( depending on your salt dependency)
juice from whole lime
about one inch of ginger

Now if you  are paying attention you may notice that on the right is some strange looking vegetable with garlic on top. Is not in this  recipe but i got your attention now. It is extra side dish I will reveal later.

Should I mention that you need to wash your veggie before ?   If not I am telling now.. wash your veggies and fruit always .
Quick yoga input Ahimsa is first element of Yamas and and means no  violence in any way.
Cut cabbage on 4 pieces, and peel   carrots ( did i mention wash your veggies)

If you have one use it ,food processor is the best :saving time and fingers  and making life easier.
Remember when you are hurting yourself in anyway is  against Ahimsa .
But if you are skilled with a sharp objects( like knives)no need for that fancy equipment.
 As per chef Alexandra veggies need to be chop very fine   or we have a problem ... rolling .

 
So finally all is cut and chop to pieces ( make sure you got all fingers) . On this picture i included missing ingredients basil and mint  from our garden , but you can use from the store to.
We are ready to rolling rolling rolling

Did I mention wash your veggies and your herbs?

 heat a Little bit of water in the pan ( not to hot)

grab a rice roll paper and

Submerge into water ( that why cant be hot or you burn your fingers ) just for a few second, you will know when it will become soft like a jellyfish.

Those pictures explain everything. Dont be to greedy thats practice of Aparigraha will talk some other time. Dont put to much of goodies or you going to have problems with rolling rolling rolling.

 Flip over ( like  making a fat burrito) left side in right side in and roll.

Sounds easy but it will take some practice, beer may help to relax , its safe now as we not using sharp objects anymore.

Lets have  some fun.. ginger

Peanut Butter

hmmmmm dont put your cat to the food processor, just pet him and give some treats 

Sugar and soy sauce and hot water ,

Lime juice and start the engine !!!!

 did you forgot about this side dish?? this is Luffa .The fruit must be harvest in young stage, but dont you worries......if you forgot about harvest luffa becomes a nice sponge. So if you pick luffa to late you can always scrub your partner back in the shower.

 If you drink a beer wait a few or ask someone sober to peel and cut int pieces for you

 Use coconut oil make nice and warm and add some garlic hmmmmm garlic we love garlic ( no kissy kissy tonight )

add some luffa fry it for few minutes

 and food is ready .

Feel free to leave a comments questions

„Łazanki z kapustą” or lazanki and spirituality in yoga for regular guys .

So  you hear a lots  about  spirituality in yoga  class. I was  always turned down by yogis, ohming before or after class, "seating in full lotus with eyes closed meditating and yet  outside of yoga room not so holly at all.

If this  is spirituality in yoga I want to stay away from it  as much as possible. .... this is not  spirituality. True spirituality is in your heart. First limb of yoga Yamas means universal morality,There is 5 of  yamas

-Ahimsa non violence in ANY way

-Satya  truth or not lying

-Asteya  non stealing

 -Brahmacharya   "sexual continence" but also can be use to knowing when is enough

-Aparigraha    none greed

Practicing those 5 simple rules you will realize, that you are not the center of the universe. That every step  you  make, every word you say even every though got effect on the  world outside your  own.

If you  not achieve freedom  in your heart, millions  of  ohms and  hours  of meditations  will not  help you to  achieve even slightly what  you can call spirituality. Focus on uncover your true self, person who's got compassion for neighbor, stranger on the street, animals . Person who realizing, that practicing Ahimsa (non violence) and eating food which was based on suffering is  dimming that light we  have in  our  hearts, that  light we  so bow every yoga class saying Namaste. If you are really practicing Ahimsa, it will start on your plate, eating  food which is based on suffering will cloud  your heart, and soul. You need  to realized, that you can achieve more spiritual awakenings when you  start with your  food.

As Paul McCartney said, “If slaughterhouses had glass walls, we would all be plant-eaters.”

To produce meat  which is  on your plate (you  not  even get discussed  that  I have use word “produce”) millions and millions of animals need  to be  killed every day in US. One of  the numbers I found was  that there is  a million chickens an hour are killed in USA. And  I am not  even talking  about  their  existence (again you did  not  get discussed by word existence not  live) from time  they are  born to time they are killed. All of this animal raising and killing is happening and it is invisible.

You are paying for their suffering, for their death, it does staining your soul. You don’t need to be animal lover to feel compassion and honesty. You simply need to listen to your heart.

So  bottom  line  is before you start chanting  ohm, find  compassion and  love  in your heart, if  your  heart  is  stained, it  will become deaf to  your chants , it will become  blind  to your  meditation, it  will not  feel a  warm of beautiful words of yoga.

Lets start  with very popular Polish dish Łazanki z kapustą,  problem  with reading  polish  letters? I will  make it easy for you Lazanki with cabbage. Very simple  dish , take  about  40 min  to make, best  to  listen to Mozart.

Łazanki z kapusta (Lazanki)

Dish like always is  under $10 and  you can feed  whole  family of  4 maybe even 5  if  someone doesn’t eat to much.

Recipe is so simple that  there is no way  you can screw  this  one. If  you do screw this one, my advise to you  is  stay  away  from kitchen, or  contact me personally for  little one on  one. There is light  in the  tunnel  for  every one.  

Main ingredients are: Cabbage, vegan pasta( I like to use very thick one) and  pepper. Rest its up to  you. For this  dish I  used Smokey tofuturky mushrooms, onions, tomato and carrots, garlic.

First you need to cut out whatever you call inside the cabbage  

Cut cabbage  in small pieces

(remember  use cutting  board and don't cut  your fingers, you will need them later)

Put shredded cabbage to steamer.

Add some carrots  to cabbage (same safety regulation using knife) 

I will be  honest with you. I add carrots so they will  looked cool in the  picture and  by accident turned out  to taste awesome.

Never be afraid  to experiment, make changes not only to dishes but  also in life.

In frying pan (I love using woke) heat some coconut oil , add onion, garlic, mushrooms and tofuturkey,add some caned tomato and sauté for some time.

In  pot   heat water and cook pasta to your liking. Eventually your stove  should looks like this ....that  is  a one sexy looking  kitchen

Combine all ingredients in glass baking dish, and add a secret  spice.

(scroll down for secret spice)

 secret spice: fresh ground pepper .....

 Done and done put to the oven (400F /35 min) and  should looks like  this:

But don't get  to excited yet,  because before you eat should looks like  this :

 litlle bit of red wine, or awesome beer will improve your taste but not  your  cooking   skills. Remember drink responsible even at home. See you  next time pumpkins.

Warrior 1 benefits and Damn good Sandwich

So I made  that sandwich  and my  love one was hungry (  me and she we both love  food and eat), after first  bite  she said, this is damn good sandwich you should  post it  on your  blog. If  you like this sandwich, you know now who you should  thank, but if you don't like  blame  me .

Sandwich is  so so simple , its should be illegal.  What  you need is :

some healthy bread ( make sure  is free of GMO , high corn fructose syrup and other ingredients you cant pronounced) spinach ( or  any favorite greens) avocado, awesome tomato , and if you need  some fat in your  body I like  to use  earth balance coconut spread and  of course  "Home-made-Tomek-Sauerkraut" .You can use some  mustard , or little  bit  of  horse radish  . ( always read ingredients, some of brands are using powdering milk for horse radish.

 Rest is  easy, but  because you  like to be spoon feed it  and  you love  instruction , there it is making  sandwich by  Tomek 101.

First spread a coconut butter evenly on bread ( mine  is still work in progress

Second  spread avocado and  put  layer of awesome home  made sauerkraut

( no  nibbling before lunch, I know is tempting)

Put spinach ,or other greens  on top and sliced of tomato's. 

Now you can add little  bit of horseradish , or mustard , or just plain. Poke me on FB   if  you think that is a best sandwich ever. One side effect , you may have slightly gasses , so share sandwich with everyone who will be around you . 

Warrior one ( Virabhadrasana 1) benefits :

-Strengthens and stretches the legs and ankles

-stretches the groins chest, lungs and shoulders

-stimulate abdominal organs

-Increase stamina

Relieves backaches (  good  for pregnancy)

avoid if you have  flat feet  ,osteoporosis, sciatica or diarrhea

Why become a plant eater reason N.1 and my mom Sauerkraut recepie

Why to become a plant eater? Well, there is so many reasons I don't even know when to began.
I will start from the top from our  brain. There is something  most of us eventually will do: we get  old .Yes I know there is  a big  shock for  you , but  true is bald and delicious ( like  vegan food) you will get  old . But  getting  old  doesn't meant  to not enjoying live, you can do most of  your  activities despites your  age. Today  I will share with you some of researches of  Dr. Neal Barnard.

He is a  researcher, doctor and author of dozens books  on healthy food. In  one  of his last book Power foods for the brain, reveals how simple diet changes can shield the brain memory loss, stroke and Alzheimer"s. And I know  how serious that topic  is, his researcher are amazing  and   ideas  are simple  like a whee.
 
We think  that  getting  Alzheimer is  jus  normal cause  we get  older . Really???? in 50 and 60 getting  heart attack in your 50 was considering just getting  old , and  now data proves that   doctors were wrong.

One of  the facts I will share with you is that in 21st century Americans will spent  more time carrying for parents then they did for their children. What??????yes  you  read correctly.
I am not going to  bored you with so many facts, just  few of them . Our brain needs protective shield to protect itself  from toxic metals.

Ok not  lets cut to the chase. Some data from research. Chicago Health and aging  project start track what people  were eating. Ten years later they found ( are you ready???) that those people who were eating the least amount of saturated fat, as you know, the fat that is in dairy products and in meats particularly; bacon fat,chicken fat, cheese fat, ice cream fat, that saturated fat, the people who ate the least of that and the people who ate the least trans fats — which are in some fried foods and snack foods like donuts — the people who avoided both of those, their risk of Alzheimer’s was cut by as much as 70 or 80%, just a huge change. Can you believe it? that much ?  I think  this is a good reason to not eat meat. As old person I want to remember my children, my love ones I wan to be able to read a book and remember what was about it. One last fact ( there is way way more , but I  got plans for today and still want to show you how to make your own Kwaszona kapusta( Sourkraut) hahahhaha  try to pronounced that and later make fun of my accent) ( yes if you don't realize yet I am ESL )  .

Those who has most saturated fat intake in their body their brain aged 19 beyond the aging people in the lover levels. So if you are heavy meat eater and you 50 yrs old , your brain is  50+19  = 69 years old. Well, that's explains a lot !!!!!

Now how to make your own Sauerkraut ( kwaszona kapusta)  . I will not tell you  how good is  sauerkraut and how many awesome dishes you can make . You can even eat  just itself, or jut put on your vegan sandwich .

Sauerkraut ( kwaszona kapusta)

Keep in mind , You don't need fancy equipment to make your own Sauerkraut.
All ingredients you can get from local grocery store ( best one is Caputo's )

So you need cabbage , salt, carrots and apple. So simple like warrior one. One think you need to know is ratio. For 9 pounds of cabbage you need 2.7-3 oz. of salt .You can experiment with  how many apples or carrots .Very helpful is to use food  processor, but if  you like it play with  knives you don't need it.  First  cut  cabbage on small pieces  and either run them thru food processor , or  shred with  some of you awesome  knives.

Add shredded apple and  carrot

Mixed all together .Now you are ready for some punching yeahhh
( remember ahimza none violence).
For fermentation I used simple jar  my lovely love got me from targetto. 

Now lets punching begins .
Put a layer of  shredded cabbage on a jar and add salt
( between half to 3/4 tb spoon) and spread evenly
Using your clean hand make a fist and  punch a cabbage!

Make sure that there is no air  between layers , punch good , really  really good.
If  you don't like it using your hand you can use someone else  hand or anything for that matter. There will be  some juice  from  cabbage, and that's what  we want !

Rest is just repetition, until you use all cabbage/carrot mixture.

Make sure  at the end that you have a  layer of cabbage  juice  on  top. Put a chees cloth over a top of  jar , something  to cover a  cabbage ( I used plastic top  from Tupperware container)  and something heavy to put  on top . You can use rock ( make sure is clean ) or...

I used jar with water .... now wait 5 -7 days and  enjoy it  !!!!!