This past week I was quite busy: working at my new job (manager at my brother’s outdoor gear shoppe), writing blog articles, and supporting my younger son’s preparations for a weekend-full of violin concerts.  Knowing that there would be little time to cook on the weekend, I planned ahead and prepared a big meal on Thursday, since I got off work earlier that day.

When planning the week’s menu, I created a vegan loaf recipe that calls for cooked black beans and cooked millet. Typically, I would cook those foods the day before cooking the loaf, but this week I only had time for cooking that one day, so the night before I soaked the beans and grains, and the next day I cooked them before making the loaf. While the beans and grains were cooking, I began assembling the loaf ingredients.

Please, please, please buy organic food whenever possible! It is better for the health of our bodies and it is better for our sacred earth.

Millet
Soak 2 cups millet overnight. Add pinch of Himalayan krystal salt, bring to boil, then simmer covered for 20 minutes. You can use the leftover millet for several days: it tastes great heated for breakfast with any combination of nuts, seeds, dried fruit, and maple syrup. For lunch, it is yummy mixed with salad greens, flax oil, apple cider vinegar, and nutritional yeast.

Black Beans
Soak 2 ½ cups black beans overnight. In the morning change the soaking water, and then when ready to cook, drain and add fresh water again. Cook beans with 1 medium yellow onion, chopped; 4 cloves of garlic, chopped; 1 jalapeño pepper, chopped; 1 cup arugula (or other greens) chopped tiny; 2 Tablespoons brown sugar; 1 ½ teaspoons salt. Bring beans to boil, add all ingredients except salt. Cook beans for 1 ½ hours, add salt and cook for 30 more minutes.

Vegan Loaf You’ll Love
2 cups cooked black beans
2 cups cooked millet
½ cup applesauce
4 cups French sourdough bread, torn in small pieces
1 cup parsley, cut tiny
½ cup sunflower seeds
1 ½ Tablespoons soy sauce
1 Tablespoon vegan Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons cumin, ground
¼ teaspoon black pepper, ground
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 Tablespoon dried basil
1 ½ teaspoons turmeric, ground

Light a candle, breathe in Love, breathe out Gratitude, then combine all of the above ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well. Pour 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil into a 9x13” glass pan; spread oil with a piece of bread, then enjoy that bite of oily bread! Pour loaf mixture into pan and spread evenly. Top with the rest of the sourdough loaf, torn into small pieces. Cover the bread with 2-3 Tablespoons vegan butter and 10 oz. vegan cheese, grated. Bake 30 minutes uncovered at 375 degrees.

I hope you enjoy these hearty and healthy recipes. If you have any questions, please post them in the comments below this article. After cooking these recipes, please let me know how they turn out for you.

May all beings have food to eat each day.

May all beings know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

See me live talking about my soup cookbook here: Yogini Bliss on YouTube

Photo of Teja taking the vegan loaf out of the oven by Teja’s son Gabe.

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This morning my boys enjoyed a breakfast of leftover polenta with maple syrup on top. Polenta is a dish made from boiled cornmeal that is popular in Italy. I learned how to make it years ago in a cooking class, and yesterday I pulled the recipe off the shelf and adapted it to my vegan diet. The dinner turned out so fabulous that both boys really loved it, and my older son even exclaimed, “You should make this and sell it at one of those summer festivals!”

I’m smiling as I type this, because it was so rewarding to cook something that I love and then not just one, but both boys gave it a thumb's up! This simple yet incredibly delicious dinner consisted of polenta, sautéed vegetables, and fresh arugula (the spicy green that President Obama was criticized for liking). Here are the two recipes, as best as I can remember them this morning. Please comment here (below this article) if you have questions.

~ Please buy organic food whenever possible! It is better for the health of our bodies, and it is better for the healing of our sacred planet earth. ~

Polenta
2 cups polenta
6 cups water
2 teaspoons sea salt
2-3 Tablespoons vegan butter
5-6 Tablespoons vegan cheese
sprinkle or two of ground black pepper

Soak the polenta in the water for a few hours. Add salt; bring to a boil. Stir constantly with a whisk (to prevent clumping) while it boils for ten minutes. Turn off the heat. Whisk in the vegan butter, vegan cheese, and black pepper.

Sautéed vegetables
3-4 tablespoons grapeseed oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
15 crimini mushrooms, sliced
2-3 tablespoons soy sauce
1-2 teaspoons cinnamon
1-2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons dried basil
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ cup pecans, chopped
4 oz. jar of capers
sprinkle black pepper

Sauté onion in oil for 5-10 minutes, then add mushrooms and soy sauce. Stir well, then add spices, and sauté for about 15-20 minutes – until onions and mushrooms are soft. Then add pecans, capers, and black pepper, and sauté for 5-10 more minutes.

Please let me know how you like these recipes!

May all beings have food to eat each day.

May all beings everywhere find Peace within.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

See me live, talking about my soup cookbook here: Yogini Bliss on YouTube

Photo of Teja’s sons by Teja Shankara.

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On December 30^th I created a vegan winter stew for you. I had such fun taking photos and writing down this recipe. I posted the preparation photos on my Facebook wall (search “Tejaswini Rachel Ann Shankara”) and I promised to post the recipe here on the Teja Blog.

Preparing mantra-infused vegan food is one of my favorite spiritual practices. Before I began cooking, I lit candles and waved some incense around my cottage temple. I turned on my current favorite chanting CD: Jai Uttal’s latest creation, “Bhakti Bazaar” (and speaking of Jai, have you seen his music video yet? Click here on his name to view it: Jai Uttal)… and then the magic began in my kitchen/artist’s studio! I do hope you enjoy cooking this stew as much as I enjoyed created the recipe for you:

Yogini Tejaswini’s Vegan Winter Stew for You

1 cup garbanzo beans
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
12 brown crimini mushrooms, chopped
1 yam, peeled and chopped
1 vegan vegetable bouillon cube
3 celery stalks, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 ½ Tablespoons basil, dried
1 tsp. black pepper (well, only put this much if you want an experience! – it was a bit peppery… perhaps begin with ¼ tsp. and see how much you like.)
2 tsp. sea salt
½ Tablespoon garlic powder
1 cup Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped
juice of 1 lemon (preferably a Meyer lemon!)
5 medjool dates, chopped

Please buy organic whenever possible: it is better for our precious body temples and it is better for our sacred Mother Earth!

Soak garbanzo beans overnight. Drain, rinse, and add 12 cups of fresh water. Bring to boil, then continue to cook as you keep adding the vegetables and other ingredients in the order they are listed above. I added the basil, pepper, salt, garlic powder, parsley, lemon juice, and dates after the beans had been cooking for 1 ½ hours. Total cooking time: 2 ½ hours.

Delicious served with toasted sourdough bread. Please let me know how you like this vegan winter stew.

May the nearly one billion who are starving have food to eat this year.

May all beings know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photos of vegan winter stew by Teja Shankara.

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Recently people have been asking for more vegan recipes, so this past Friday night, while my boys watched a movie, I made up this recipe for vegan risotto. Of all my regular spiritual practices, one of my favorites is cooking with love in my heart. When we prepare food in a loving way, the meal is then infused with spiritual vibrations that are healing to those who eat the food.

To help yourself get in a loving state for cooking, light a candle or some incense, turn on some music, or sit quietly for a few minutes before you begin. If you notice any agitations in your being, simply cultivate the Witness part of your consciousness and intend to cook with love in your heart, even if you are temporarily in a funky or contracted state. Remembering “this too shall shift” helps me a lot in those moments. Regardless of your mood, I do hope you will enjoy preparing and eating this vegan risotto.

~ Please buy organic whenever possible.
It is better for this sacred earth,
and it is better for our beloved bodies. ~

Vegan Risotto Ingredients

1 ½ cups long grain brown rice
½ cup wild rice
1 vegan vegetable bouillon cube
¼ cup flax oil
1/3 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1 tsp. Himalayan krystal salt
1 tsp. black pepper
2 Tablespoons fresh ginger root, chopped finely
2 Tablespoons grapeseed oil
2 small red onions, chopped
15 crimini mushrooms, chopped
5-9 cloves of garlic, chopped finely (or more – or less – depending on how much you love garlic!)
parsley (Italian leaf preferred)
arugula

Soak rice overnight and cook in the soaking water with a pinch of Himalayan krystal salt and the vegan vegetable bouillon cube. While rice is cooking, sauté onions, mushrooms, and garlic in the grapeseed oil. Combine cooked rice and mushroom sauté with the flax oil, yeast, salt, pepper, and ginger. Toss well. Serve topped with parsley and arugula. Enjoy!

May all beings everywhere have food to eat each day.

May all beings know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photos of Teja’s table and vegan risotto by Teja Shankara.

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Yesterday my dear friend Judy and I attended a World Peace Prayer circle. It was a very nice gathering, and afterwards she joined me for a little kirtan (call-and-response singing) at my temple cottage. I played harmonium and sang “Shiva~Parvati, Namo Namah” and she sang the same back to me while playing a drum. We ended our chant session with a sweet chant to Sita~Ram. I could feel the healing sound vibrations buzzing in the room after she left, and I felt so grateful that my life is now filled with so much God.

I turned on my new Reiki CD, “Reiki healing WAVES” by Parijat, and enjoyed cooking myself a tasty vegan dinner. When the food was ready, I said out lout, “Dinner’s ready, honey,” and then I answered myself out loud, “Okay, honey!” Do you ever joke out loud with yourself like that?

When I sat down to eat, I was delighted by the taste sensations, so I took a photo and planned to write out the recipe, but then I got distracted by a 3-hour skype video call with my dearest soul sister Ananda. This morning I don’t recall the exact amounts of the ingredients, so I will just share how I made the vegan tempeh dinner, and you can adjust the amounts to suit your tastes.

First, if you remember to marinate the tempeh earlier in the day, it tastes better, but if not, then just marinate it while you’re cutting the onions. Tempeh is a fermented soybean food, and I have read that it is a healthier option than tofu. It has a really wonderful nutty flavor, too.

Sauté two small sweet onions (chopped in strips) in toasted sesame oil. Once the onions soften, add the tempeh (cut in strips), along with its marinade (toasted sesame oil, soy sauce, a little water, garlic powder, ginger powder, black pepper, orange zest). Cover and let cook for ten minutes, then turn tempeh strips over and put chopped kale on top with the juice of about one-fourth of the orange. I put about 4 big Russian kale leaves and stems. Cover and let cook for about ten more minutes. Serve with rice. I made a combination of brown and wild rice that was really delicious with this vegan tempeh dinner.

Let me know how your version turns out!

May all beings have food to eat each day.

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of Teja’s vegan tempeh dinner by Teja Shankara.

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Last night my older son had an interesting dream, in which we were in a boat on the ocean, and a woman was offering us fish and butter. Due to my vegan diet, I said no, and then suggested to the boys that we dive down and find some seaweed to eat instead!

Why do I choose to eat a vegan diet? I choose to not eat meat, fish, eggs, and dairy for many reasons: because I care about the suffering of the creatures, because I care about the environment of this Beloved Mother Earth, and because I care about the health of my body.

There is no denying that the creatures suffer. No matter how “humanely” or organically the animal products are produced, the creatures still suffer. More than doing a lot of research (and there is plenty of information available for the scientific types), I turned inward and meditated on the fish and animals, and then I could no longer find any justification for eating animal products.

Mahatma Gandhi said, “Spiritual progress does demand at some stage that we should cease to kill our fellow creatures for the satisfaction of our bodily wants.” And Dexter Scott King, son of Martin Luther King, Jr., said the following: "Veganism has given me a higher level of awareness and spirituality." (Vegetarian Times, 10/95) I have found this to be true as well. Since I shifted to a vegan diet, my meditation practice has deepened and I feel more mentally clear and more spiritually awake. Now I more keenly sense the interconnectedness of all things.

Regarding the environment, I recently joined a page on Facebook, called The Green Club, which has very good information, including the fact that livestock production contributes more to global warming than all of the cars and trucks combined. For that reason, a town in Belgium has declared Thursdays to be meat and fish free days, and Paul McCartney has started a major campaign called Meat Free Monday.

There are also many studies indicating that vegans enjoy improved physical health. I feel so much bliss in my being when I am cooking organic vegan foods, and that bliss vibration goes into the food and then into the beings who eat the food. I am grateful that my son dreamt that I was suggesting we dive for seaweed instead of eating fish and butter. I see that as a positive sign, that he is integrating my vegan ethics into his being.

May all beings have food to eat each day. May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of organic produce from farmers’ market by Teja Shankara.

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While my parents were visiting Ashland for my cousin’s wedding last week, we had a cool and rainy day. At first I witnessed myself feeling a bit funky over the weather, but then I surrendered and made the best of it. For some reason, dressing a bit bohemian often cheers my mood, so I put on a bright red shirt, a floral skirt over a pair of jeans, and a colorful silk headband over my head. Thus adorned, I enjoyed an interesting conversation about life and death, at the coffee shop with my Mom and my older son.

As we walked home in the light mist, I suddenly became inspired to cook a pot of soup for everyone. I could hardly wait to get home to go through my kitchen and create a soup with whatever was on hand. Often called “stone soup,” my version included leftover garbanzo beans and brown rice, onions, garlic, kale, oregano, basil, cumin powder, cinnamon, clove powder, medjool dates, raisins, a can of pumpkin and even a can of baked beans! Before I started cooking, I lit several candles in the kitchen and waved a stick of incense about the cottage. I also turned on the lively music of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelly (with The Quintet of the Hot Club of France) ~ an album called “Souvenirs” that is sure to uplift the foulest of moods. (To hear the first song, click on “Honeysuckle Rose” here.)

After serving the soup to my parents and brothers and sons, I reveled in the bliss of our cozy kitchen lunch. Outside it was grey and dreary, but inside we were warm, dry, and blessed to eat soup, salad, and bread.

With nearly one billion people starving on the planet, each time I eat such good organic vegan food, I am filled with gratitude.

May all beings everywhere have food to eat each day. May all beings know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of Teja by Teja’s older son. Photo of cozy kitchen lunch by Teja Shankara.

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Today’s date is 8-9-10. That has a nice ring to it. It kind of makes me feel like a little schoolgirl again. In this blog, I will offer the recipe for the garbanzo beans I cooked for the happy Mt. Ashland picnic dinner. (See my last two blog posts for the other recipes from that dinner.)

I really enjoyed cooking the food for that evening adventure. I was so excited to be getting out of town (for a few hours), that I cooked the food with a lot of love and inspiration.

One of my favorite spiritual practices is chanting (singing) while cooking delicious vegan meals. Lately I am really enjoying my new CD, “Light of the Sun,” by Mukti. As I cooked the garbanzo beans and chopped the vegetables, I sang along with Prajna Brianna Vieira. I especially love the song “Jai Jai Ma” in which she sings to Ammachi: “I don’t care about heaven, I don’t want to go that far – Only want to be just where you are – I don’t care about freedom, I just want to sing your name – Oh let me live just for your name…”

So, for the garbanzo beans, soak 2 cups overnight. Discard soaking water and add fresh water, so it covers the beans by about 1 inch. Bring to boil, then simmer covered for 1½ hours. Then add the following:

1½ teaspoons sea salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon dried oregano
1 Tablespoon dried basil
1 teaspoon garlic powder
optional: 1 or more cloves of minced garlic

Stir, and simmer covered for 30 minutes more.

Let me know how you like these beans. And, as always, please buy organic food whenever possible, to honor your body and to honor this precious Mother Earth.

May all beings everywhere have the food they need each day.

May all beings know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of sunset on Mt. Ashland by Teja Shankara.

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In yesterday’s blog, I posted the recipe for the vegan salad I made for the happy Mt. Ashland picnic dinner. Today I offer the recipe for the rice dish.

Soak overnight:  1½ cups long grain brown rice and ½ cup wild rice. Cook in the soaking water, along with 2 Tablespoons extra virgin coconut oil, sprinkle of Himalayan krystal salt, and 2 teaspoons ground cumin powder.

In a large bowl, mix the following:

1/3 cup raisins
8 medjool dates, pitted and chopped
2 Tablespoons raw ginger root, chopped finely
¼ teaspoon Himalayan krystal salt
1/16 teaspoon ground black pepper

Add the rice to that mixture and stir well.

Please let me know how you like this rice dish. And please buy organic food whenever possible.

May all beings everywhere have food to eat each day.

May all beings know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of trees on Mt. Ashland by Teja Shankara.

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In my last blog article, “Happy Teja,” I said that I would soon share the vegan recipes from that happy mountain picnic dinner. Today I will share the salad recipe, and then I will share the other recipes in the next few blogs.

For the salad, in a large bowl, combine the following:

juice of one lemon
3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
¼ teaspoon Himalayan krystal salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

To that mixture, add the following:

1 heaping cup of purple cabbage, chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
1 cup of Italian leaf parsley, chopped (include top half of stems; discard bottom half of stems)
3 green onion tops, chopped
1 Tablespoon maple syrup

Mix well, then add lettuce. I used about ½ head of red leaf lettuce, but you could substitute green leaf lettuce or romaine lettuce. If you are serving more than two people, use the whole head of lettuce. Chop or tear lettuce in strips, then mix well with the above ingredients.

I hope you enjoy this salad…. Let me know your experience of it!

And, as always, please buy organic food whenever possible. It is so much better for our bodies… and for our beloved Mother Earth. May all beings everywhere have the food that they need each day. May we vision ourselves into a world where “starvation” is a word devoid of meaning.

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photos of vegan picnic dinner on Mt. Ashland by Teja Shankara.

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