My internet friend Maria, has done a really big, beautiful, magic thing. She made a cookbook baby. It’s called Mindful Vegan Meals and it goes on sale TODAY. It’s so much more than just a cookbook though, it’s a memoir of eating disorder recovery and falling in love with food again. Maria is incredibly honest with her story and uses it as cathartic inspiration for any reader struggling with the same.
The recipes in this book are just as you would expect from Maria (if you know her work) – unique, plant-based, and instagram worthy. The recipes range from Greek classics (made vegan) to nourishing salads, incredibly beautiful desserts, and healthy drinks/tonics. She’s constantly putting together ingredients that I would have never thought to combine.
Like this turmeric celery chia water! It’s the perfect drink to wake up your digestive system in the morning. It’s packed with flavor and unlike anything else. It’s made using a blender and a nut milk bag. So no need to have a juicer or anything like that.
As Maria says in her book, celery juice is great for fighting acid reflux, bloating and indigestion – so it’s the perfect drink to start your day with. Plus turmeric is full of anti inflammatory properties, so this drink is basically a magic tonic for your body.
The drink is fresh and spicy, and sweet, and (yes, tastes a little like celery), but man it’s good. I would have never thought to combine all of these ingredients, but I’m so glad I tried it. I’m very excited to wake up tomorrow morning and drink a glass.
More good-for-you drinks/tonics: 5 Minute Faux Kombucha + Probiotic Coconut Chai + Pear Mint Morning Tonic
Recipe from Mindful Vegan Meals ©Maria Koutsogiannis, 2018. Reprinted by permission of the publisher, Page Street Publishing. Order your copy here.
Turmeric Celery Chia Water
Ingredients
- 30 oz water
- 2 lemons, juiced
- 3/4 cup celery, chopped
- 1 cup fresh mint
- 2 cups honeydew or cantaloupe, cubed
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- dash of maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp cayenne (optional)
- 1 tbsp chia seeds
Instructions
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Add the water, lemon juice, celery, mint, honeydew, turmeric, maple syrup and cayenne to a high-speed blender and blend for about 2 minutes or until completely smooth.
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Pour the mixture through a nut milk bag or a pieces of cheesecloth into a large bowl to catch all that goodness. Use one hand to grip tight at the top of the nut milk bag (or gathered up cheesecloth) while the other pushes the mixture through (this is super relaxing for me.) Once you've strained all the liquid, transfer to a large bottle and add the chia seeds. Give it a good shake, then let the juice set in the refrigerator for 20 minutes before enjoying (unless you used very cold water.) You can use the leftover pulp in smoothies!
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Store in a bottle, in the refrigerator, for up to a week!
SELF GENTLENESS. It’s a topic I’ve been pondering a lot recently. The word came to me in a restorative yoga class and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head.
Self gentleness is different than self love or self kindness. They’re related, sure, but they aren’t the same thing. Self gentleness is more the methodology by which we approach the other two concepts. It’s the softness with which we approach our thoughts, our actions, our life.
I love it because gentleness has such a visceral feeling to me. It’s my mother stroking my hair while I lay my head in her lap. It’s the touch of a yoga teacher. It’s the soothing sound of my grandmother’s voice. Gentleness has a sensation in my body. So now we must ask, how do we provide that for ourselves?
Gentleness goes beyond the physical, although it can be especially important when caring for our body. I am currently in the midst of trying to deal with some chronic pain. I’ll talk about it more soon, but for now let’s just say that finding gentleness in the way I treat my body has been especially important. Physical self gentleness looks like Turmeric Celery Chia Water in the morning, taking breaks from my desk when pain becomes too much, applying salves and oils, seeking new doctors, going to restorative yoga, and finding slower movements. I try to constantly ask myself, how can I treat myself more gently?
Gentleness becomes most impactful, I think, when applied to your mental and emotional being. This gentleness is more subtle. It applies to our everyday thoughts, or most ingrained patterns, the stories we tell ourselves. Approaching these things with gentleness – for me – is a completely new approach. I can be brash, I can be a pusher, especially to myself. But can’t we get to the same finish line, even if we’re being gentle with ourselves? I’m thinking yes.
It’s a new way to approach self care. It’s easier than the lofty and somewhat all encompassing phrase “self love.” You may not yet know how to fully love yourself, but you can start to treat yourself with more gentleness. Be a soft place for your own heart, mind and body to land. Create more space for self gentleness.
