From Jenny’s Garden

Tomorrow Bhava and I will be teaching at the Karma Yoga for a Cause Fundraiser to benefit Shakti Rising. It is such an honor to be invited to present our teachings on Yoga and the Divine Feminine and to Chant the Body Sacred at this event. Shakti’s recovery programs help so many women hurt by trauma and abuse learn to restore their spirit, reclaim their power, remember the light within, and become leaders of emerging women-centered services and societies that benefit all.

All people everywhere ~ men, women, adults, children ~ benefit when women learn to love themselves. And to love one another, too, so today I am sending out love to Jenny Barrett, the creator and Maha Shakti Power Generator behind this event.

The “Shakti Butterfly”

Last Sunday we met up with Jenny and other friends at the San Diego Botanic Gardens to see where we would be teaching and  run through the day’s program. As we were leaving, Jenny gave us each a few vegetables picked that morning from her home garden. I received a small tomato, a long green pepper and the cutest little orange pepper that looked like a baby bell but bit like a sharp-toothed hoary dragon!

Of course, I went home and made Salsa which was especially handy as I had kichari preparing in the Slow Cooker, something I like to wrap with a teaspoon of yogurt and a few arugula leaves in flour tortillas to make burritos for the children.

It was fun to forage for the ingredients for this Salsa, using only what was on hand, and eating with the season by preparing foods that had been (mostly) picked that day. It was also simple to make.

First, I picked and shredded Cilantro from our garden…

Chopped an apple from the Japanese farmer who sells crunchy Fujis at our local Market…

Sliced and diced a cucumber brought to us from Suzie’s Farm….

Minced the peppers, removing their seeds…

Then I ran for a fire extinguisher as this was the hottest little pepper north of the Tijuana River!

Finally, I cut up the tomato and stirred it all together in a bowl with a squeeze of lime, a pinch of Himalayan salt and a drizzle of olive oil.

Thanks to the surprisingly potent pungency of the baby orange pepper, this Salsa was exceptionally spicy, so I renamed it “Salsa Chutney.”  Like a chutney, it compliments almost any dish, but only a small amount is needed.

It is the peppery pungency of Salsa that helps digest beans and rice, and any heavy meal that might include meat, fish, grains, dairy. Heat, including the heating action of a pungent taste, draws circulation to the abdomen which increases the digestive power.

Refreshing ingredients like apple, cucumber, and cilantro balance the heat of the peppers, keeping blood, muscle, bone, neurological and immune tissue cool, strong and intact.

In late Summer, we need to release the heat that has accumulated in our tissues over the three months of warm weather, because too much heat applied to anything will burn, deplete and ultimately destroy. For that reason, Mother Nature, in her loving wisdom, gives us apples, plums, gooseberries, grapes, nectarines, sweet melons, sweetcorn, zucchini, celeriac, green beans, green leafy vegetables and other cooling foods to restore balance.

It is really important to pay attention now and eat seasonally. Autumn sees nature wither and die back, bringing with it challenges to our health, so it is crucial to be here now, so to speak, with your meals. Late September’s Harvest is the key to readying you now for a healthy Autumn.

Late Summer Salsa Chutney Recipe

1 small Tomato
1/2 Cucumber
1 Pepper of your choice: bell, jalapeño, serrano…
1 Apple
1 bunch Cilantro
1 Lime
Olive Oil
Himalayan Salt

Chop the vegetables and apple into small bit-size pieces. Stir together in a bowl. Season with lime juice, salt, even a bit of Sambal if your peppers are not as hot as Jenny’s. Drizzle with oil and serve.

CookingwithSorrel.com

Karma Yoga for a Cause will be catered by Sorrel and Fall Weiss whose gorgeous, natural foods are captured and celebrated on their website, cookingwithsorrel.com.

And so with extraordinary teachers, inspiring events, friends from all over and the beguiling sisters Sorrel and Fally catering, we know we are all going to be very well nourished! I hope you can join us.

Even if you can’t, wherever you are, I wish you a beautiful late Summer Sunday.

In honor of the love present everywhere in nature and in support of the love blazing in your heart ~ Namaste!