„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  !!!!!

  

Finding my true Self and "end of the week" Bigos

Very often we hear in yoga class "find your true Self, be yourself. What's that means ??? When first time  I have heard about true Self  I thought what  it is ? I am looking  into mirror and what I see (  very often I don't like what I see specially in the morning) is me true self.  Hmmmm, not really true.  After practicing Yoga , and I mean yoga ,not just a postures we have  glimpse of that true Self.    All of  us have experienced those glimpse. It may be trigged in contemplating nature, during meditation  ,prayer  or during "kick ass " yoga practice. Imagine you being a whole sky, and your true Self is sun. Sometimes they are clouds on sky , but still we know that sun  is  up there. We don't think that only clouds exist, that only clouds are up there. We know  that any moment sun will arise we love those moments , and we are waiting  for them. Sky is your mind clouds are your thoughts, sun  is your true Self.

 How do you feel in those rare moments? who would not like to see a sun all the time ( you can move to California) or you can stop identify yourself with your thoughts ,every day minds   and possession. That's how  you get lost that rare connection with your true Self .Which leading us to alienation and results in suffering.

Ask yourself a question , how long  are you happy with  buying a new things ? A day  a week...what's after  that ,happiness  disappear and we need  to look  for new drug of choice, new car, new phone new purse or shoes, when this is  end? . You need  to ask yourself question, what do you want  from  live, when  you say stop, I got everything and I don't need anything else.  When day like this come , this will be a day when you wake  up a sun  in  you , when you start seeing  glimpse of your true Self , this will be  your road to happiness.  
Sutra 1.2 "Yoga citta vrtti nirodha. "Yoga is cessation of the misidentification with the modification of the mind" or version for less grammatically correct " Yoga is stilling fluctuation of the mind."

Stop identify yourself with your mind, start enjoy live one breath  per  at the time.
I am sharing    part of thoughts  one of my hero Kris Carr who has been diagnose with cancer and heal herself with diet, who for me totally get it what is essence of  live and yoga :

Honestly, I have a very deep connection with myself. I think I get my strength from

my friendship to myself to be really basic. I get a CAT scan every year and a half
and I bring that up because, of course, I get scared. A friend of mine recently said,
“I just never see you down.” When I have those moments, it is really time for me to
go deeper into my own practice of mindfulness and really be in the moment more
than in the future or in the past. The past is, “Why was it me? I thought I was
good. Haven’t I been through enough? Gosh, if I didn’t have cancer, maybe I would
have children.” All of those places that I could go to. The future is, “What if the
scan is bad this time?” “What if the slow moving tumors became aggressive?” I get
emails from people weekly with my disease that aren’t doing well, what if it is my
turn now? All that does, both of those stories can create a paralysis in me and can
bring me to a place of depression and of endless suffering. What I try to do and I
don’t have a very clear way to articulate because it is a practice that I do for
myself, I acknowledge it, that there is pain there. I acknowledge that there is
something going on that I wish wasn’t going on and then I really try to go to the
breath and maybe sit for however long in silence and just bathe myself with love,
right now in this moment all I can do is breathe in love. Right now in this moment
all I can do is exhale suffering. I do that until I am able to move like a wave from
that space and what is interesting is after that, the choices that I make reflect how
good I feel. I might go downstairs and make a green juice. Maybe I will go outside
and get some greens for my salad because all I have is right here, right now.
Thursday is Thursday and yesterday is gone.
So, I hope that articulates in some way how I am able to keep the brightness alive.

Now time  for another Sexy  Vegan  Yogi Polish recipe .Today I decided to introduce you to crown of Polish kitchen  Bigos ( AKA "end of the week") Traditionall bigos needs lots of  meat  ,but  because you are sexy vegan, I will share with you how to make that awesome dish without killing  any earthlings.

Bigos

You will need :
1 head of white cabbage
2 pounds of sour cabbage (best home made will  give recipe soon, or you can get in Caputos in polish section) 
1 can of organic tomato paste(15.5oz)
4 fresh tomato ( you can use canned)
1 package of any fresh mushrooms
handful of dry mushrooms
 Fried tofu, you can use meat substitute  of any kind ( I told you this is"end of the week")
2 onions
coconut oil 1 Tbs
salt ,pepper, 3 -4 bay leaves
 
Now lets fun begin:

• put dry mushrooms to hot water to 20 min or until get soft 
• after removing the core ,shred  the cabbage  and cook  for 15-20 min, add sour cabbage bay leaves and pepper 
• in frying pan heat up coconut oil add shredded onion (it will smell so delicious that your partner will stop watching tv or facebooking and will come to kitchen , but don't get distracted, you need to  stay focus ,bigos will not make it Self) 
• add onion to cabbage 
• to the same pan add  fresh mushrooms fried tofu or meat substitute, fried till your satisfaction and add to cabbage. 
• add tomato sauce and sliced fresh tomato and dried mushrooms.

Cook on medium settings for hour, stirring occasionally ( don't burn or  you will  loose you partner interest on your doing)
 
Best Bigos  taste next  day, but if your hunger raise you have my permission on snacking after hour of cooking. Best with bread or mash potato's. Whole dish is less than  $10.00 and totally vegan. One thing .... after that awesome dish you will have poops  from haven .
See you next time   

 

 

How Polish food can become hip ?

Lets turn Polish kitchen upside down. No meat, no cheese, no eggs, no butter, no fish in other words we will be  cooking  and eating diet strongly based  on plants. Why you asking ? No I am not  crazy . Polish food  is awesome,  but not  necessary healthy. I am Polish dude 45 years old and I am not using any animals products in  my diet ,cooking is my hobby , specially polish dishes , like my mama thought me .... yes     I am a  mama boy  ,and she taught me how to cook.

If you interested how to loose  weight, build muscle and have stamina for exercises ( those fun one too) you may find some tips  in this  blog . Why vegan food? First at  all, vegan is sexy . Can you imagine any animal based products being sexy???? piece of meat is not sexy is just  piece  of meat.
What about  all those  veggies and fruit, almost everything from mother nature is sexy.
Banana, peach, apple, pear, plum, cabbage (?) carrot.... Second ( or maybe should be  number 0ne) vegan is healthy . But  lets keep  this  blog  short and sweet, so lets just look below for first polish /vegan dish

 "Golabki"(Cabbage Rolls)

"Golabki"(Cabbage rolls)  best cooked  wearing yoga  outfit, so   you can do some  warriors posture while preparing  that awesome  dish  because will take  some time to make it. Make  sure  you don't snack during preparing  meal ( I always do ) so you can  eat more  latter .

You going to do some shopping first  . Best ingredients are organic and  none GMO . But if you can't get organics ( WH is so  expensive ) none organic will do. Always ask questions at  your local store.
We as peeps we have tremendous power in our wallets . Every dollar is a vote .I am shopping for  veggies and fruit  at Caputo http://caputomarkets.com/t/StoresNaperville ( my personal sex shop)
Shopping list ( you can copy and paste )
All Prices are estimates and also change with season .

Prep  time about 1 hr
Cooking time 25 min
Whole dish is under $ 10.00 and will make around 25-30 golabki

You will need:

1 Savoy Cabbage 
4  heads of  portabella mushrooms ( big)  buy loose less expensive  2.5 2 yellow onion 
4 carrots  
1 cup of  white Rice  ( brown more healthy ) 
1 teaspoon  earth bound coconut spread  
1 jar  tomato basil marinara from TJ 
1 tea spoon of pepper

• First strip cabbage naked (Remove leaves ). 
  
•  In a large saucepan boil water and add washed cabbage leaves and steam/ boil for 10 min. Not for too long be cause will become soft and easy to break it.

• Start cooking  rice  and  do your  first  warrior  pose so you will look cool if  someone will check on you in the kitchen .

• Chopped onions and  fry them in coconut spread ( or just in  water )

• Cut portabella mushrooms in small pieces and add them to  onions ( time for warrior 2 )

• Add chopped carrots  and  rice and  mixed  with onion and shrooms (this will be  your staffing )

• In the mean time put  the cabbage leaves out so  the can get cooler.

• Put few  broken leaves on side , (don't eat them by now you  must be hungry) wind removing pose will help with some cramps.

• You can  shave it down the  center stem  off the back the leave by  slicing thru horizontally 

Sound simply  enough???If  you don't know how, you can practice head stand.
Now you need some skills hands ( you can ask friend or spouse for help)
Place  mixture on each leaf; fold in sides. Starting at an unfolded edge, roll up leaf to completely enclose filling. Place seam side down in a skillet. In other words roll up like burrito.

Put about 1/2 cup of tomato basil marinara on bottom  deep cooking pot.

Spread some extra leaves on bottom of the  pot and place golabki seam side down in a skillet.
Make sure that they are tight and close together ( like little birds in nest seeking for  warm companion) on each layer put  some tomato basil marinara .

Cook medium high  for 20 min.
Awesome with mash potato and some mixes salad .
Time for eating.
Enjoy it