A Mindfulness Jar, & My Khichadi recipe

Happy Mindful & Meatless Monday!

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend.

My weekend was busy, and yet it gave me energy for the week ahead.
On Saturday I had the opportunity along with a few other reiki practitioners, to assist at a special event called “The Lover & the Beloved” hosted by Surreina Gallegos Gerbman and Stella Davies at YogaWorks in Westlake Village, CA. Here is our happy group of “reiki hands”…

If you are not familiar with reiki check out this site for some general information:
http://www.reiki.org/FAQ/WhatIsReiki.html

Reiki was first introduced to me by my beautiful friend Jenni.
It has been instrumental in controlling my psoriasis (along with following a plant-based eating regimen). I was so inspired by what it had done for me personally, I completed my Reiki 1 & 2 training last year, and I look forward to continuing my journey to receive my “master” this year.
If you haven’t tried reiki, I highly recommend putting it on your to-do list.

On Sunday the twins and I had fun at a kid’s birthday party, and then I went for a date with my hubby. I always love getting a date night in on the weekends. Weekdays are full of adventures with the kiddos, and it’s lovely to slow down and enjoy those sweet moments with each other without interruption.:-) We had dinner and saw Black Panther – which has set a box office record this weekend as the biggest February debut ever! I’m a total sucker for Marvel movies, popcorn, and I’m a big fan of the movie theater experience – so good times all around!

Earlier during the week I was trying to get into the rhythm of taking the twins to and from their extra curricular activities that we recently signed up for. I had forgotten how challenging this could be, my older two are driving and with one in college you tend to “forget” the driving and planning involved in running kids around to activities.
My 4 year old boy really wanted to play soccer, so we are currently giving that a go for him. As I was sitting with his twin sister watching him run around the field with his ball at practice, I was jarred out of my “just chill on the blanket and take a breath” moment by a fellow mom. She was yelling at her son that was crying – “Stop that! You sound like a teenage girl!” Now my tired ass is seeing red immediately. I’m thinking are you f’ing kidding me? But then I hear Tony Robbins voice in my head (I’m currently reading “Awaken the Giant Within”)…are you feeling angry or disappointed? Ok Tony, disappointed. Checking in with myself lowered the intensity of my emotional state, and I took a deep breath.
I was reminded of the Gloria Steinem quote “I’m glad we’ve begun to raise our daughters more like our sons – but it will never work until we raise our sons more like our daughters.”

While I think it would have been inappropriate for me to run up and try to “educate” the mom who was doing the yelling, having a conversation about it with my 4 year old girl was a must. “That mommy is so silly – Mary (her 16 year old sister) is a teenage girl, does she cry like that?”

The change starts with us Moms (and Dads too), please let’s not be passive about this! We have the power to influence the next generation of humans, let’s not leave it to culture and a gender stereotyping media.

Which brings me to this Mindfulness Jar project I did with the twins this week. A weird side note..these jars somehow remind me of one of my favorite toys as a kid called Fluid Fantasy by Whamm-O.
The jar is a great sensory tool that teaches kids how mindfulness can help calm us down when we are in an angry, sad, or upset state.
When you shake up the jar and all that glitter is whirling around this is how our mind is when we are angry – we can’t see clearly. When we can’t see clearly we can say or do the wrong things. See how the glitter starts to settle to the bottom of the jar and you can see clearly through the jar? Our minds are like this – if we take the time to settle our minds by practicing mindfulness (breath work, taking a run, etc) when we are angry or upset, we are able to think clearly and make better decisions.
Using recycled jars is a great idea, I just didn’t have any on hand.
The plumber’s tape is a must. We made one and tried to just hot glue the lid – glitter water disaster. Also, using distilled water keeps your water from getting funky later.

Wrap the plumber’s tape around the top of the lid of the jar.

Add the distilled water almost to the top of the jar and then pour it into a small pot and warm it up with the glitter glue.
Using a whisk mix the water and glitter glue until combined.

Pour the mixture into the jar
and add a few drops of glycerin (which slows down the glitter).
Set the jar aside to cool off completely.
When the water has reached room temperature (jar is cool to the touch), have the kids add some glitter.

Screw the lid on tightly.
Shake it up and enjoy!
Here is what ours look like:

Now to the Khichadi/Kitchari recipe. I love one-pot meals, and one of my favorites is Khichadi . It’s an Indian dish I grew up with, which can be described as a savory porridge made of lentils and rice.
It’s got that warm, mushy, comforting vibe – but it’s healthy, a classic Ayurvedic dish which is easy to digest and nourishing.
You can switch up the veggies. I like to use cauliflower cut into small pieces, as well as butternut squash too. This one features peas & carrots.
You can soak the lentils overnight to improve the digestive qualities of Khichadi (if you have a tendency towards gas and bloating), but I never seem to remember.

Ingredients
2 to 4 Tablespoons – melted coconut oil or ghee
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1 cup onion, small dice
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ginger, peeled and grated with microplane
1 cup Basmati rice (rinsed and drained)
1/2 cup moong dal/split yellow mung beans (rinsed and drained)
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
4 cups vegetable broth
1 to 2 tsp Himalayan pink salt or to taste
1/2 cup small dice carrots
1 cup frozen peas
Large handful of cilantro, finely chop leaves (some tender stems ok)
Method
Heat oil over med/low heat in a 3 qt pot.
Add cumin seeds, stir.
When the seeds start to pop (after about 30 sec), add onion.
Cook stirring frequently until onions are slightly golden around the edges.
Add garlic and ginger, stir.
Add rice and lentils, stirring and scrapping the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to remove any ginger that has begun to stick and ingredients are combined.
Add spices, stirring to coat the rice and lentils with the spices.
Add vegetable broth and salt, stir.
Increase heat to medium and bring to a simmer.
Add carrots and peas, stir. Bring contents of pot back to a simmer.
Reduce heat to low and cover.
Cook for 45 minutes, until rice mashes easily with a fork.
Stir in cilantro. Serve.
Add a dollop of Earth Balance, Ghee, or Indian pickle if desired on top of the individual serving.