Home made granola Ⓥ

Raw granola, before going into the oven

Buying granola is such a chore, as when I start reading the ingredients’ list, I’m put off. So much crap they put in there, even in organic granola. Obviously, it comes in plastic or whatever packaging, hence I’ve started making my own. It’s super simple! It demands quality ingredients, that I buy from organic shops that are packaging free, or mostly. Basically, you buy in bulk, and can bring your own jars & reusable bags.

 

Baked granola, cooling on tray

 

My inspiration for today’s recipe is a mix of two of my favourite recipe websites & cookbook authors: Angela Liddon, Oh She Glows Every day & Minimalist Baker.

 

 

Ingredients

Dry

• 1 1/3 cups rolled oats
• 1 1/3 cups raw nuts/ seeds (I used almonds, cashews, sunflower & pumpkin seeds)
• 2 tbsp chia seeds
• 1 tbsp flax seeds (preferably ground)
• 1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tbsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/4 tsp sea salt

Wet

• 1 tbsp (15 ml) coconut or another neutral vegetable oil (suitable for baking)
• 1/3 cup agave syrup (sub with brown rice or maple syrup )
• optional: 1 tsp vanilla extract
• optional: 3 tbsp peanut or almond butter

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees.
   
2. Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
   
3. In a small pan over medium low heat, melt the (coconut) oil. Once melted, take the pan from the heat source & whip in agave syrup and vanilla extract. Pour over the dry ingredients and mix well with a wooden spoon.
   
4. Spread the mixture evenly onto a a large baking sheet or tray and bake for 10 minutes, stir, then turn the cooking tray to ensure even cooking. Bake for another 8-12 minutes. The coconut oil will help this granola to become crispy, check carefully as it browns quickly (my first time making granola: the granola baked too long & had a slight burnt taste, I ate it anyway…).
   
5. Once the granola is visibly golden (about 18 minutes in this case), remove from the oven and let cool completely on the tray before storing in glass jars.

It’s delicious with some coconut flakes, dried raisins or cranberries & maca powder with your favourite type of plant based milk or yoghurt, but also wonderfully eaten just like that as a snack.

Om shanti -ॐ शान्ति

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Water kefir Ⓥ

My yogini friend once gave me all these water kefir grains. And initially I’d make kefir regularly. But then I moved house, the kefir grains moved with me, and just hadn’t gotten around to it. Until last Friday. It’s been so hot and drinking kefir was just what I needed. So I thoroughly cleaned a glass bottle (but you can also use glass jars, mason jars for example) and got to work. Again I was surprised at how easy & fast it is too make !

Ingredients

• Filtered water
• A few organic lemon slices
• 3 tbsp of (brown) sugar
• 3 tbsp kefir grains
• A few dried raisins (sub with dried apricot or fig)
• Optional: add a few slices of ginger

Preparation

1. Drain the cultures from the kefir and rinse in tap water. Set the cultures aside.
2. Mix the sugar with a bit of hot water in the bottle or jar you’ll use until dissolved.
3. Fill the bottle (jar) with the filtered water (not all the way to the rim).
4. Add the lemon slices, raisins & kefir grains, stir with a wooden spoon.
5. Cover the bottle (jar) with a cheese cloth and set aside (not in the fridge). Leave on the counter in a not-sunny place for as long as you want.
6. After a few days you should see some bubbles coming from the cultures and at the top of the water. Three days seemed to create a good amount of fizz. You can drink this Kefir as is, or do a secondary fermentation for more flavour and more bubbles.

Om shanti -ॐ शान्ति

Incredible egg free chickpea salad Ⓥ

This is a fabulous recipe if you have lots of chickpeas because you basically need the aquafaba to make chocolate mousse… Angela Liddon from Oh She Glows has delicious and relatively easy recipes and I used this recipe from her cookbook and then tweaked it. The salad is wonderful on toast, but also with raw vegetables as an aperitif.

I used kala namak (black salt or Indian volcanic rock salt) which give the salad its distinct egg smell and taste. It’s really crazy how it resembles egg salad without the cruelty. Use just a little bit as it can quickly be overpowering.

Ingredients

• 1 jar of of chickpeas, drained and rinsed (save the liquid aka aquafaba in the jar)
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup finely chopped pickles
• 3 tbsp store-bought or homemade veganaise
• 2 tbsp minced fresh cilantro
• 2 tbsp minced fresh parsley
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 2 tsp turmeric powder
• 2 tsp turmeric curry powder
• 1 tsp paprika powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp of chili flakes
• 1 1/2 to 3 tsp fresh lemon juice, to taste
• 1/4 tsp kala namak or sea salt, or to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

1. In a large bowl, mash the chickpeas with a potato masher until flaked in texture.
2. Stir in the green onions, pickles, fresh herbs, mayonnaise, and spices until combined.
3. Season with the lemon juice, salt, nutritional yeast and pepper, adjusting the quantities to taste.

Om shanti -ॐ शान्ति

Fast noodle soup Ⓥ

Some nights, you just don’t have time to prepare an elaborate meal. Welcome this relatively quick home made noodle soup! This soup can be made with real (soba) noodles, gluten free noodles or spaghetti or linguini, whatever you have in your pantry or suits your taste.

You can substitute the textured vegetable protein (also known as TVP) with tofu as well (I like to season it and stir fry, not just boil). Enjoy !

Ingredients (2P)

• Brown rice noodles (or other vegan noodles of your choice) for 2
• 1 cup of TVP (dry)
• Vegetable stock (enough to boil the noodles)
• 1 broccoli head
• 2 tbsp miso (I used chick pea miso)
• 2 tbsp tamari or shoyu sauce
• 1 tbsp of tahin
• Optional: 1 cm of fresh ginger
• Black pepper

Preparation

1. Clean & wash the broccoli. Cut the broccoli in small florets; the stem in small pieces; peel the ginger and slice thinly.
2. Make the vegetable stock according to the package instructions, add the TVP, let simmer for about 10 minutes.
3. In 2 soup bowls, mix the miso & tahin with a bit of the vegetable stock to a liquid paste.
4. Take out the TVP with a slotted spoon and put aside.
5. Add the ginger and the noodles in the stock and set the timer for them to cook al dente.
6. Stir fry the TVP with some tamari or shoyu sauce and some spices of your choice for a few minutes, until crispy.
7. When there are 3 minutes left on the timer, add the broccoli to the stock.
8. When the timer is ready, take the noodles, ginger & broccoli out of the stock with a slotted spoon & divide over the 2 bowls.
9. Add some of the stock & mix well.
10. Add the fried TVP to the soup.
11. Season with black pepper & some more tamari to your taste.

Option: you can add some (toasted) sesame seeds or gomashio to your soup.

Om shanti -ॐ शान्ति

Summer schedule & student prices for all at Sampoorna Yoga Studio

Summer has started at the studio where I teach! In July-August there is an adapted schedule and you enjoy reduced rates:

Summer schedule:

There’ll be one class per day (except Wednesday, when there’s a morning and evening class). All classes are 90 minutes, and all classes are suitable for all levels of practitioners. No need to register for the daily classes, just come!

Summer rates:

From 1 July – 31 August everyone is eligible for the reduced rate normally offered only for students/ the unemployed.

10 classes: 90€ (pass valid 4 months)

20 classes: 150€ (pass valid 4 months)

1 month: 75€

See the full price list here.

The teachers will vary depending on holiday schedules of the team – check the schedule online to see who is teaching.

Hope to see you soon in the studio. I’ll teach there on 7, 10, 20 & 22 July.

Om shanti -ॐ शान्ति

Teaching schedule June/ July 2018

We’re already almost Summer ! This first half year has passed so quickly.  Check out my schedule until August:

• Thursday 14/06: 6:30PM- 90 minute class at EU Council
• Thursday 21/06: 6:30PM- 90 minute class at EU Council
• Thursday 28/06: 6:30PM- 90 minute class at EU Council
• Friday 29/06: 6:00PM – 90 minute class at Sampoorna Yoga Studio
• Saturday 30/06: 11:30AM – 60 minute class at Sampoorna Yoga Studio
• Thursday 5/07: 6:30PM- 90 minute class at EU Council
• Saturday 7/07: 10:30AM – 90 minute class at Sampoorna Yoga Studio
• Tuesday 10/07: 7:00PM – 90 minute class at Sampoorna Yoga Studio
• Thursday 12/07: 6:30PM- 90 minute class at EU Council
• Friday 20/07: 6:00PM – 90 minute class at Sampoorna Yoga Studio
• Last class before my Summer holidays: Sunday 22/07: 4:00PM – 90 minute class at Sampoorna Yoga Studio

Hopefully we’ll meet in class(es), or otherwise in the new school year.

FYI: in case you are pregnant, please inform me prior to attending the class, you can participate without a problem, but I’ll need to point out some alternatives forPranayama, the sun salutations, as well as for some asanas.

Om shanti -ॐ शान्ति

Join the Brussels Yoga Mala 2018: 108 Sun Salutations for charity

Since 2010, a bunch of very motivated yogins in Brussels organize the Yoga Mala around the Summer Solstice. All participants donate some money and all the proceeds go to a charity. Why 108 ? Good question, Shiva Rea has written a beautiful article about it, read it here.

So please join in on Sunday morning, 17 June 2018, as the Yoga community comes together for the 9th time in a celebration of the unity of Yoga to raise money for charity (cause still to be decided).

As we welcome the Summer Solstice let us offer our gratitude to life by saluting and honouring the Sun. We will practice a Yoga Mala, a prayer in motion of 108 rounds of Surya Namaskara (Sun Salutations).

The practice will be a meditative flow, and whether we as individuals are able to do 1 or 108 rounds, the importance lies in our participation and intention – as a collective we will complete the Mala. There will be different teachers leading the rounds of Surya Namaskar, the practice is the Sivananda Hatha Yoga tradition.

Being there together in a spirit of loving-kindness, peace and joy is what it’s all about. And who knows what wonders will come from that…

The event is family-friendly, so children, partners and grandparents are warmly welcome. There will be Yoga for kids in parallel with the Mala, and other fun activities. Tea and biscuits for after!

You can also make a difference, so come and make it happen together with the Brussels’ yoga community.

Practical information:
Date: Sunday 17 June 2018
Time: 10h30 until approximately 12h00
Venue: Autoworld Museum Mezzanine, Cinquantenaire Park
Cost: EUR 2 Museum entrance fee, plus a donation for charity. The suggested donation is at least EUR 10, but we appeal to everyone to give what they can.
What to bring: yoga mat, bottle of water, open heart and lots of energy!
Like the Facebook page & join the event.

To register please send an email with your name and contact details and pay your entrance fee & donation into this bank account: 035-7387485-06 (IBAN: BE85 0357 3874 8506). Upon payment you will receive a registration confirmation by email.

Anyone interested in volunteering to help either on the day or in preparations please let us know via that email address as well !

Check out the Sivananda hatha yoga Sun Salutations here:

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“O nourishing sun,

Solitary traveller, controller,

Source of life for all creatures, spread your light

And subdue your dazzling splendour

So that I may see your blessed Self.

Even that very Self am I!”

Isha Upanishad 16

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Om shanti -ॐ शान्ति