Carmen's Cuisine

Today’s One Kind Thing is to listen to what I want for breakfast. This rainy Monday morning called for Cranberry Oat Muffins, while listening to Winter Harp! I adapted a recipe from @joyoushealth, adding 3 Tbsp avocado oil, 1 tsp pure vanilla, coconut milk instead of nut or rice milk (because I had some leftover in the fridge), and I used fresh (frozen) cranberries instead of dried, because I love the sour bite! They are gluten-free, sweetened with maple syrup, high in fibre and deliciousness!! I topped my first one with almond butter. Who knows what the other 11 will get up to...

Today’s One Kind Thing: taking a wee bit of time to make a tasty meal that beats take-out! Even as a chef, this doesn’t happen every day. But it feels so good when it does. Breaded cod with gluten-free panko, almond flour, garlic & herb double crust, wilted spinach with turmeric-caramelized onions, maple pecans & pumpkin seeds with lemon. Coconut yogurt-honey-Dijon-caper-dill sauce. Mmhmm!!

Holiday Support! Friends... I am thinking of all the stresses we have been through. Some are feeling overwhelmed with so many balls in the air, and some are navigating that melancholy and sometimes despairing place of utter loneliness. My desire is for us to feel connected and loved and not alone for a minute. I am opening up Carmen's Cuisine services for the first time in many months. Would you tell me what you most need in the coming month? 1: A healthy (yummy!) holiday e-c...ookbook 2: A few live video classes featuring things like healthy desserts, appetizers, vegetarian meals, batch cooking, immune-support meals... 3: Three weekly menu plans with recipes and shopping lists. I so very much appreciate you. And if you just feel the need to connect... PLEASE do so. Reach out to me, or to any of your peeps. We need each other. And we are all going through stuff. Let's go through it together.

Why this Persimmon Chia Pudding = Self-Love. I could tell you how delicious this is (ridiculously so), but what I really want to tell you is a story of self-care. 6 weeks ago I took an epic fall on a log on the beach and broke 2 ribs on my back - right behind my heart. This sort of pain stops you in your tracks. It becomes impossible or extremely painful to do almost every single thing we take for granted. Reaching forward or up with my arm. Bringing a handful of water to my... mouth after brushing my teeth. Standing. Walking. Breathing more than careful shallow breaths. Pulling up pants (I went pantless for 3 weeks). Sleeping in any other position except sitting up, for almost a month... It was exhausting and frustrating ... and one of the most self-loving things I ever went through. I needed to listen to my body. Really listen. I began to understand what it needed in ways I had not paid attention to before. Pain makes you pay attention. My body needed for me to be brave and patient through the pain that never really went away for several weeks. It was making and knitting together actual BONES!! What a magic thing that is. Some nights I ‘laid’ propped on pillows wishing I could do something to avoid feeling it, and then realized, it’s ok, it won’t kill me to feel this pain. And I’m so lucky that it will go away once I’ve healed. So many people live with chronic pain all their lives. All I needed to do was rest, listen to my body and ask for and receive help. I had a solid handful of dear friends who showed up in ways that brings tears to my eyes. I learned when my body was finished with pharmaceutical pain relief even while I was still in pain. It learned to accept and use more natural healing treatments, once the intensity of the initial crisis was over. Every day I could feel the changes in how much I could move and breathe. It sometimes occurred in waves - one good day followed by more pain the next. Healing is not a linear process. Another lesson in acceptance and patience. There are now pockets of time where I have to move in a certain way to feel the pain. My body is a miracle. Is this not the same with an emotional healing process? It happens in waves, requires patience and bravery, and is much supported by loving friends. This breakfast is a reflection of how I am listening and being brave. I know right now that need to give my immune system all the love it can get, which begins in the gut. So I included coconut kefir full of probiotics, chia seeds, homemade hemp milk, and cinnamon. The bravery comes in with the persimmons. Believe it or not I have never tried them before! Oh boy have I been missing out! I am feeling braver in many areas of my life these days, including attending to my feelings when they are not pleasant, trying new things, and fostering new connections. Here’s to recognizing the bravery in each other. Even if it’s merely from the first taste of persimmon.

Squirrels breakfast (as evidenced by the cone flakes), and mine.