Cookbook Challenge Update: mid-November

The cookbook challenge is well underway now, and it's been two weeks of not eating out. I did go to Mount Madonna last weekend and so got to eat the food from their kitchen as you can't cook there (see below). The food is generally tasty and healthy, so it's not too hard to do for a few days. There are always lots of things to choose from as it's buffet-style service and it can be tempting to overeat I find. After going there monthly for almost two years, I now eat only until 2/3 full and don't go overboard with their delicious homemade bread, and my digestion is far more comfortable for it. Yay!

Lunch at Mount Madonna: baked yam, brown rice with sesame seeds & flax, zucchini & chard with olive oil & dulse, lentil soup with parmesan cheese (the cheese isn't so ayurvedic, oops)

I've included photos of my Ayurvedic Meal Planner from last week and this upcoming week. While it looks like "Whoa! How does she have so much time to cook all that?!", it's actually been really easy because most of the recipes are simple and knowing ahead of time what I'll be making enables me to be super efficient! I'm really loving it even though I've never been a real 'meal planner' per say. I've really loved just about all the recipes I've made, and most of them have been from The Yoga Cookbook & Easy Green Organic as I posted about before. EGO especially, is very simple and for those of you who are intimidated by the kitchen, I recommend this cookbook. This week I'll be integrating a few recipes from Crazy Sexy Diet by Kris Carr, a book I was turned on to by a private student of mine. While I'm not about to go vegan or raw (dear me no!), I am looking forward to trying out some of her cooked recipes like the Buddha Bowl (kinda like kitchari and vegetables, just cooked separately). I'll let you know how they go. 

Week before last's Menu

This week's menu!! With recipes from The Yoga Cookbook, Easy Green Organic & Crazy Sexy Diet. You can see how I'm prepping for the next day with the starred items at the bottom of each day. 

our beloved fridge: home to my meal planner, schedules, notes & things that make me smile

I'll be posting a medley of Oat-based recipes that I've enjoyed over the last week, but here's a look at something I made today: Quinoa Croquettes from Anne Getty's cookbook. They were tasty but not blog-worthy, I'd say. Perhaps I should have followed her instructions to do it with a yogurt cilantro sauce rather than sauteed kale & eggs. hmmm...maybe next time.

before eggs...

with eggs, yum. Perfect Saturday lunch. 

And lastly, I finally successfully made dosas! Ok, so they're not technically dosas, they're more like Pesarattu as an Ayurvedi on facebook pointed out to me. I don't fully understand all the differences but these are made from cooked mung beans, cooked basmati rice, ginger and water. They were delicious, and especially rewarding when my bf's and my first attempt to make 'dosas' was more akin to thick spongey mung bean pancakes- yummy but definitely not pretty.

My version of dosas! with coconut cilantro chutney, steamed butternut squash and cauliflower with spices.