Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Human Beings

Recipe: Holy Mole!

It's cold and damp here in Portland. I keep hearing about sunshine and warm weather in California. While I love our new house, the fact is, it's not insulated. On particularly cold nights the kids come down and sleep on the main floor with us - it's just too hard to heat the upper floor.

We had plans to get our house clean on Saturday, a couple folks were coming for dinner - and the sun came out. I sat on the front doorstep, the sponge of my heart soaking, and soaking. My skin in love. Mind drowsy. So needing the relaxation and the experience of being a flower opening.

"You have to clean the house," said the Critic that lives in my mind.

"Go away," I said.

"No, you have to clean the house. People will know what a slob you are," he said again. (Strange how my critic is male.)

"I will in a minute. I haven't seen the sun in weeks. Let me enjoy it!"

But it's not the Critic's job to let me enjoy things. It's his job to get me to succeed in some way.

While 'getting stuff done' is important, it's not the only important thing in life. We all have an internal Critic. (Most of us also have a few external Judges around that chime in and reinforce our internal Critics, but I'll explore that another time.) That Critic's job is to evaluate us all the time, and make sure we know when we're 'not doing something right'.

But there's that doing word again. The Critic doesn't know much about not doing.

And sometimes we just need to be human beings. Sometimes we need to take advantage of what is happening now, because it's happening now, and might not be continuing to happen once the work is done.

Like sunshine in Portland.

What does this have to do with food and cooking? Perhaps not much. But it has everything to do with nourishment. And being present. And true health can't happen unless we're not only eating well, but also resting, playing, snuggling, meaningfully working, moving our bodies, ... our entire range of humanness needs exercise.

Are you paying attention to your humanness? If not, don't let your Critic know, he'll use it to beat you up. But do shine a light on it. For your health and happiness.

So, how to deal with the Critic skillfully?

Agree with him. "You're right. I'm not getting anything done. Thank you for doing what you know how to do to take care of me." And check in with the other parts of yourself that understand something about balance. Listen to their advice, too.

And, after listening to everyone's input, you decide.


Holy Mole!

Okay, bad joke. But it tasted really good. Low carb, and without the chili powder it's low salicylate. Any excuse for chocolate!

Ingredients:

* 1 pound ground grass fed beef
* beef lard or other fat for sauteing
* 1/4 pound finely chopped liver (I used chicken liver, I'm not a purist)
* 1 diced yellow onion
* Celtic sea salt to taste
* 1/2 Tbsp Ancho chili powder, if available (I used Indian chili, not as spicy as cayenne)
* 1 Tbsp ground cumin
* 1 Tbsp oregano
* 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon
* 1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa (I used raw cacao, because it's what I have on hand. It's not important, though, as it gets cooked.)
* 2 minced garlic cloves
* 1+ cups bone broth, beef if available, but any bone broth will do


Directions:

In a small stock pot cook the beef and liver in fat of choice over medium to high heat until barely done. Remove to a bowl.

Saute onion in the same pot, adding fat if needed. Sprinkle salt on the onions, and cook until softened and slightly browned. Add the spices and continue to stir and saute for another five minutes until the spices have had a chance to thoroughly cook and meld with the oil and the onions.

Add the broth and meat to the onion/spice mixture. Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer for one hour, stirring occasionally, with the lid off. Add more broth if needed to keep from drying out. Taste for salt and add more if necessary.

Serve over rice if you must, but by itself in a bowl with some veggies and salad on the side is a great dinner, and so much better for you.

Serves 4


Proud to be a part of Real Food Wednesday, hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

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