It’s a Delicious Life!

It’s spring again, and according to the temperatures, almost summer!  Dr. Tae Yun Kim is very much in tune with the seasons and loves to create different dishes for different seasons.  In this first picture, is a new version of traditional Korean cold noodles; it is new because it has very untraditional, yet incredibly healthy new ingredients.  New recipe coming up!

When she is not busy on her new book tour, Dr. Tae Yun Kim loves to work in her garden, growing many of the ingredients for her special dishes.

Here you see a bed of sook, or mugwort as it is called in the USA.  It is a very healthy herb, helps to cleanse the blood and is a great spring food; but you can dry it and make it into powder and tea.

And here is Dr. Tae Yun Kim‘s version of sook fried in batter – incredibly delicious and healthy!  What a win!  And it’s so simple!  Just whip up a simple savory batter, dip the cleaned sook into it and fry briefly, until the batter is cooked through.

And if you have missed the big news, Dr. Tae Yun Kim just published her new book, an all new version of “Seven Steps to Inner Power – how to break through to awesome!”  You’ll definitely want to read this one, and if you live in Southern California, you can still catch her on her book tour.

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Bountiful Spring Soup

One of my favorite things to do is gather wild vegetables and herbs – and use them.  This time of year offers abundant wild vegetables, and what to me and so many other people looks like just another weed, to Dr. Tae Yun Kim they are very precious foods.  When I am lucky enough to get to accompany her on a wild herb picking adventure, she talks about how when she was little, those herbs saved her life.  If you follow my blog you might remember that when she grew up, she was rejected and abused and eventually abandoned just because she was a girl – and during the time of having to fend for herself she relied on those wild herbs.  Later on, when Dr. Kim was training under a Buddhist monk in the Martial Arts, he passed onto her an amazing treasure of knowledge, not just what you can eat, but how to use all manner of herbs for healing all kinds of conditions.

In the above basked you can see some herbs that are easily available in most places, such as young dandelion, shepherds purse, purslane and more.  This particular basket includes a few green onions that had gone astray and grown way outside the actual vegetable garden.

In addition to the great taste, wild herbs also help detox your body after winter.

To use them in soup, soak these herbs well in apple cider vinegar for about 10 minutes, change the water, and repeat.  Then chop them up into big pieces, including the roots if you can, and boil until barely tender.

For the soup base, you really can you use any broth you like.  Chicken soup is a great one as is beef.  The most traditional way to eat the herbs is boil them briefly in “bean paste soup” or Deng Jang chigae as it is called in Korean.

Let’s go outside and gather some herbs!  Just be sure you know which ones are edible.

 

 

 

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Korean noodle soup

Today is a sort of guest post from a wonderful Korean lady that came and cooked for Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim a couple of days ago.  This was really great, after a hard Jung Suwon workout nourishing food is always wonderful to have!   I had the pleasure to watch her prepare this soup, and it looked like a special art form to me!

She was certainly applying Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim’s teachings while she was cooking – to focus with love and care on the food you are making, and to only think beautiful, positive thoughts about how much this food will bring health and happiness to the person receiving it!

First, to make the broth, boil water with crushed garlic and roughly cut yellow onions.  Add small dried fish (you can get those at most Oriental markets) and some anchovy sauce (it is naturally gluten-free.)  Let this boil gently for about 20 minutes, being careful to not let it boil down too much.

Meanwhile, cut carrots, green onions, zucchini if you have them, into matchstick size pieces and saute separately in olive or sesame oil.

Beat a couple of eggs, fry gently and cut into thin strips when they are done.

Boil the noodles, being careful not to overcook.

If you are gluten-free, be careful as to what noodles you use.  If noodles come in packages like this:

without any label, don’t use them!  These might taste good and look fantastic, but without any description and documentation, you will have no idea what is in them!  And yes, these were the noodles this lady had brought.  Luckily she didn’t cook the noodles in the soup, but in a separate pot, so all was well.

I like to use brown rice noodles and my family enjoys those as well.

Now you can start assembling this delicious soup:

Into each bowl, put one serving of noodles, then arrange the sautéed veggies and eggs beautifully on top.  Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim emphasizes how important it is for the food to look good, it needs to have eye appeal, like in the picture:

Gently add the soup (only the liquid part) and top with some crumbled seaweed.

Now, after a prayer of thanks, open mouth, insert spoon………

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Quick, very healthy and gluten free lunch sandwich

It’s Memorial Day weekend, and we practically live outdoors now, especially since the temperatures are wonderful, around 65 degrees!  Perfect!

Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim has invited us to all kinds of great outdoor activities, including a BBQ.  But until then, hungry warriors are storming Jung Suwon, and something has got to be done about that!

It can’t take too much time to make food either, so here is a very healthy and very fast sandwich idea to keep Jung Suwon warriors going!  This can be made with regular bread, or, like I do, with your favorite gluten free bread.

Asparagus sandwich:

Pre-heat oven to 400 F.

Wash, and thinly slice lengthwise a handful of asparagus spears (about 6 or so spears per 2 sandwiches).  Sautee in one tablespoon of oil, with freshly crushed garlic, and add a tablespoon of chopped cashew nuts.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Saute until the asparagus is crip/tender.

While you saute the asparagus, toast 2 slices (per serving) of your favorite (gluten free) bread, and spread thinly with mustard.  Put on a layer of thinly slices avocadoes.  Heap the asparagus mixture on top of the avocado slices, and top with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese.  Broil for a few minutes until cheese is melty.

If you have really ravenous Jung Suwon warriors knocking at your door (or anyone else for that matter), you could also add a basted egg on top.  Either way, it’s delicious!

Happy Memorial Day to all, and please take a minute or two and think of all our service members and the great sacrifices they make to make the world a better place to live in!

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Healthy all natural detox soup

Dandelion

I have always been intrigued by natural foods, and living off the land.  But I didn’t know just how much you can literally live off that land!  Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim has opened up my eyes as to what you can eat, and what is better left to the cows!

When Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim was just a little girl, she was abandoned by her parents during the Korean War, because she was considered “just an extra mouth to feed.”  During that time, she learned to fend for herself, and quickly learned how to pick “weeds” and make food from it.  At the time, it was just for survival, but now Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim teaches that these “weeds” are very healthy and cleansing and work as a wonderful body detox, especially after the winter months.

The following “recipe” is just a guideline, a lot will depend on what you can find, and your taste buds.  But here I will share how Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim showed me to prepare this.  Incidentally, this soup is wonderful after a strenuous Jung Suwon class, when you crave food, but need something light and healthy.

First, go outside and see what plants you can find.  If you don’t know plants very well, you could go to a local health food store and buy some dandelions, it will work well.

Otherwise, here are some plants you could use:

Stinging nettle

stingless nettle

Sorrell

Pick a bunch of very young leaves only.  No flowers or old leaves – just the very young sprouts and tips of leaves.  Wash very well in water with Kosher salt, several times.  Chop into bite sized pieces (they are probably the right size if you picked them at their ideal “age.”)

Saute some onions and ground garlic in olive oil (if you prefer butter, that works too), until onion and garlic turn beige to light brown.  Add half of the wild herbs and briefly saute.  Add some flour (I use Shirley’s gluten free mix (see bottom of page), but you could use any gluten free combination you like, except, perhaps, coconut flour and almond flour.)

Brown the flour and then add either chicken broth, or water.  I prefer water, as it lets the fine flavor of the wild veggis come through, but chicken broth is also very good.

Put this in a blender and blend until smooth.  It should be nice and creamy.  Add salt and pepper to taste, but don’t overpower it.  The main flavor should be the wild herbs.  Finely chop the  rest of the herbs and add into the soup, just slightly heating it.

And that’s it, it’s that simple!  You could of course, get fancy and add a dollop of sour cream.  Or, if you want it more “Korean” flavored, mix in some goju chang.  (spicy red pepper paste.)  Or you could add some croutons and even some chicken.

But, as Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim points out, sometimes the simple things are the best!  I happen to like this soup the simplest way possible!

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Bringing joy through cooking

A dear blogging friend that lives on the East Coast somewhere, is going through a great loss in her family right now, and we are saying lots of prayers for Shirley and her family.

Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim emphasizes the importance of helping others, especially when they are going through hard times.  And not just in word but also in deed.  “When someone is down,” Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim says, ” extend a helping hand!  Show your support through actions!  Bring some food if possible – the last thing you want to do is to think about what to feed everyone.  When you lose a loved one, Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim continues, you need some time to go through the grieving process. ”

While unfortunately I can’t be there other than through prayer, I did think about what I would make if I lived closer.  “Energy doesn’t have any distance,” Great Grandmaster explains, ” if you think great thoughts about someone, that someone will feel that one way or another.”

It would need to be some sort of easy to eat finger food.  You wouldnt’ want to task a grieving person with too much prep work and dish washing!  It also needs to be super easy to reheat.  And it should be fast to cook so you can run on over and deliver.

I started with the leftover cooked chicken – deboned it and chopped it up.  Sautéed some chopped onions and garlic in olive oil and added the chicken, and then added some mixed greens – a combination of spinach, chard, and Bok choy, but don’t limit yourself – use what you have!  I also added some oriental mushrooms in this version, but really, only your creativity will decide.  Add lots of love to the mix!

After the vegetables are about 3/4 done, turn off heat and let them cool off.  During that time, put a couple of eggs in a blender, add some sort of milk, whether dairy, soy, or coconut is up to you.  Add some salt and pepper and any herbs or spices you feel like putting in.  (I kept it simple and just did salt and pepper.)  I added a handful of grated cheese as well.

Prepare your favorite gluten-free pie crust, or use pre-made if you like.  You can also use some leftover mashed potatoes if you have any, or you can also bake without any kind of crust, which is what I did for myself.

Line cupcake pans with paper or foil liners.  If you are using pie crust, cut out rounds big enough to be patted into the muffin or cupcake pans.  Bake until light brown in pre-heated oven, then let cool off.

Take a small amount of the chicken-vegetable mixture and put into the crust or cupcake form.  Squeeze out the liquid, and put in enough to fill about 2/3 of the cup cake pan. Spoon or pour in the milk/egg mixture, leaving about 1/2 inch from the top.  Repeat until all cup cake liners are full.   Bake about 10 minutes at 350  or until a nice light brown.  They taste delicious hot out of the oven, or cooled off.

Enjoy, dear Shirley, wishing you all the best and may God pour out His blessings on you.

And for all other readers, go ahead and make these for someone you love!

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Sometimes you feel like a nut….

As some of you might know, I have had some foot surgery and haven’t been in the kitchen a lot the past week.  Unfortunately, no regular Jung Suwon workouts for me!  And of course, I’ll have to watch what I eat even more as a result.

Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim recommended cashew nuts.  As is her style, she just sometimes mentions things along the way.  “Try some cashew nuts,” Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim might say, “see how you feel.”

Right off, I liked that idea.  I mean, I always give a try to Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim’s suggestions, but this one was really easy – I already love cashews!

I was a bit concerned about the high fat content in nuts – but as it turns out, Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim was right on the money even with that:  The cashew nut is nick-named the “low fat nut!”  Even so, it’s a good idea to not overdo it.

But just a small handful has a lot of nutrition in it!  Number one, it’s naturally gluten free and the most allergy free nut there is.  Number two, the fat it does have, is good for you!  Number three, it has a high amount of magnesium, which we all know is good for the heart.  And so the list continues.

Come to think of it, a perfect Jung Suwon post-workout food!  Just a small amount gives you a lot of nutrition, and after a hard workout, I don’t like to eat a large amount!

So then, Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim encouraged me to find “more things to do” with cashew nuts – and find I did!  I had no idea you can make so much with them – beyond the obvious, like cookies and breads – you can even  grind them and make cheese!  But before I pass on a recipe for that, I better make it myself first and get it Jung Suwon warrior appetite approved!

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More tomato love

Don’t these cherry tomatoes look really good?  I love them!  They are perfect after a tough Jung Suwon class, as they help you cool down, plus, as Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim points out, they are packed with vitamins and minerals and are great to replenish your body.

Today we are blessed with some torrential rain, which I think is awesome!  To me, this spells soup!  But since it’s a weekend, it’s not just plain tomato soup which I told you about yesterday.  This is a soup that eats like a meal!  Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim teaches her students about proper nutrition, and balance.  Not only do we need to balance our bodies after a Jung Suwon workout, we also need to make sure we have a balance of all the nutrients we need!

So todays tomato soup is “enhanced, ” as Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim likes to call it.  It is the same recipe as I posted yesterday, except today I didn’t run it through the blender and left it chunky.  But go ahead and make it whatever consistency you prefer.  While the soup is cooking, get started on the “enhancements.”  In this case, Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim’s version of matzo balls.

You can start out with your favorite matzo ball mix (comes in nice little boxes such as this:

One quick note about kosher foods.  Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim at times recommends the use of Kosher ingredients, and even mentions this at Jung Suwon.  Why?  “Kosher foods are prepared under strict supervision, under the watchful eye of a Rabbi,” Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim explains, “Kosher foods therefore are pure and clean.  You do not need to be Jewish in order to benefit from Kosher foods.

Prepare the dough according to directions, and add some ground beef (that you have boiled out, and drained well.)  Add some finely chopped Italian parsley and/or any herbs you like.  Let this mixture sit for at least 30 minutes.

In a large pot, bring salted water to boiling, then put in the matzo balls you have rolled meanwhile.  Keep them small-ish, maybe as big as half an egg.  Turn the heat down and let the matzo balls simmer for 15 – 20 minutes.  Drain and put into the tomato soup, let it simmer for another 5 minutes, then serve and enjoy!

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Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes!

So, in trying to do my “internal spring cleaning,” as Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim recommended,  I am feeling great, inside and out.  Skin nice and soft, lost a couple pounds and generally feeling better.  The tomatoes, in conjunction with some “kick butt” Jung Suwon classes, have worked miracles in my body, mind, and spirit.

Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim has a lot of special tomato recipes.  A couple of days ago I started with some very basic ones.  Here are some more!

Basic tomato soup:

This is my absolute favorite and it is so simple!

First, sautee a chopped up onion in some olive oil. Use good quality oil, it does make a difference.  As Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim always reminds, us, we are what we eat, so we want to use the best available ingredients!

Add freshly chopped garlic, and chopped up fresh tomatoes.  Add chopped parsley and basil.  If you like it spicy, add some freshly chopped Jalapeno pepper.  At this point, if you want to get fancy, you could add bell peppers, celery, mushrooms etc, I prefer mine very plain.

Sautee until tomatoes are soft, season with salt and pepper.  Let it cool a bit, then put in food processor until very smooth and thick.  I love it plain, as is, but you can eat with some nice, crusty bread, or rice, or even put some noodles in it!  It’s awesome however you eat it!

Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim also recommends stuffed tomatoes.  They are simple, easy, and you could even prep them before you go to Jung Suwon class, so that when you come home you got a good, light meal ready!

Here is Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim’s special stuffed  tomato recipe:

Pre-heat oven to 400.

Take a medium to large tomato, wash well with kosher salt.

Slice off the top, and hollow out.  Put it into a small, oven proof container and bake for about 15 – 20 minutes until firm/soft, but not mushy.

Meanwhile, sautee some onions and garlic with some finely chopped potatoes.  You can add parsley, green onions, or even spinach if you like.  When one, add a couple eggs and sautee until just creamy, then put it all into the tomato. Top with some cheese, and bake for 5 more minutes.

Now enjoy!

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The powerful Tomato

Here is some more of what Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim is teaching about internal cleansing.

(disclaimer:  I am not a doctor or nurse of any kind, so please check with your physician before you start any cleansing program, new diet, or anything that could have unwanted side effects. )

I personally, on the advice of Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim, am increasing the amount of tomatoes in my diet by a lot, for one week.

Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim mentioned in Jung Suwon class the other day, that tomatoes have powerful cleansing and healing qualities.  You can find the scientific data all over the internet.  But Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim – although she knows all the scientific background – goes strictly by Ki energy.  Great Grandmaster Kim mentioned that right now the energy is right for some good cleansing, losing weight, internal housekeeping and such.

Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim also points out that no two people are the same, so therefore no program will fit all people.  For me, personally, I will have breakfast every day, and then tomatoes the rest of the day, for one week.

What I can recommend though, is for everyone (that isn’t allergic to them) to incorporate more tomatoes in your diet.  I love them a lot just plain, and eat them like an apple.

They are also great slized or quartered, with just a little salt, or with some balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  Or your can use the sauce you learned to make here and enjoy that way.

Or, slice them up and have them with some parsley, as parsley is also a wonderful cleanser and has incredible amounts of vitamin C.

Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim recommends that it’s always best to combine internal cleansing with an exercise program.  Of course classes at Jung Suwon are awesome for that, as you are guaranteed to sweat out everything.  But any type of exercise that will make you sweat works great!

Let me know how you will use more tomatoes, and stay in tune for more tomato related updates tomorrow!

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