San Franshakti Yoga & Ayurveda in San Francisco with Kate Lumsden: Cookbook Challenge Week 1 in Review: The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters

Adventures in the Kitchen! This was such a fun week of cooking. As a huge fan of Alice Waters and her work (both in the kitchen and out supporting better food in schools), I choose The Art of Simple Cooking for this week. Her french inspired cuisine seemed especially appropriate since I would be breaking in my new Le Creuset pots from a few very generous Santas. I had been pining away after some Le Creuset pots for sometime and apparently someone was listening! I wasn't sure if I was setting my expectations for my new pots too high, but they really do cook everything beautifully! I highly recommend investing in one or two. This particular oval french oven is getting a lot of use.

Though many of the recipes were delicious, this is an Ayurvedic blog, and I only want to post the recipes that tasted amazing and made me feel great given the time of year. While the recipe I'm choosing to pass along was by far the most delicious I made, there were many others that were quite tasty. I've posted photos to show some of them off.

Final Thoughts on Week 1: My digestion is saying, "What the heck is going on around here?!" This was a week of delicious food prepared in simple yet thoughtful ways, but at the end of the day, my digestion wants my plentiful spice rack back. I added cumin seeds to my soup tonight and was in heaven. I love the basil, parsley and sage that complemented the Art of Simple Food dishes, but ultimately, I want 51% traditional Ayurvedic spices especially given the time of year. (Winter time is notorious for digestive disturbances.) I've very pleased with my idea of using one non-Ayurvedic cookbook one week and then an Ayurvedic cookbook the next; phew! Until next week...