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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Happy Healthy Stuffed Bell Peppers

When I grew up in a small town in Austria, food seemed to be very regimented.  I grew up thinking you could only eat spinach with fried potatoes and eggs, since it’s the only way I ever had it.  Or you had to eat roasted chicken with rice, but never with potatoes or noodles.

Dr. Tae Yun Kim set me free on all this limited thinking.  She explained that food needs to not only be healthy, made of organic, fresh ingredients, and be tasty, but also needs to look inviting.  And there should be a good variety and not always the same old thing.

So, although we love soup a lot, by now we are temporarily “souped out” and ready for bright spring dishes.

So here is Dr. Tae Yun Kim‘s recommendation to beat the winter soup blues.  These stuffed peppers are very simple, yet very healthy and appealing.

You start by washing the peppers and cutting off the top, like in the picture.  Dry the inside well and set them in a well oiled, oven safe pan.  Set the oven to 350 degrees.

For the basic filling, mix cooked (brown) rice, pre-boiled ground beef, eggs, (I get good results with 1 egg per pound of ground beef) finely chopped parsley, cilantro, yellow and green onions, mushrooms, salt and pepper.

For added nutrition, Dr. Tae Yun Kim adds hemp seeds, a good handful of it, and chia seeds.  If you like it hot, add either finely chopped jalapenos, or hot red pepper.  Mix very well and stuff the peppers.  Put back the “lid”, and add tomato sauce into the baking pans.  I like to keep the sauce very spicy and chunky; make sure it comes up 3/4 the height of the bell peppers.

Bake for about half hour, and enjoy!

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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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Turkey Soup

On a rainy/snowy/rainy day like today, soup for dinner is a must!  Want to see what today looked like?

Turkey soup is very popular in our family and while I am positive that pretty much every family has a perfectly good recipe for turkey soup, this one is worthy of trying.

It just so happens that it is one of the many versions of soup that Dr. Tae Yun Kim has created.  It is easy to prepare, outstandingly delicious and happens to pair perfectly with her brand new gluten-free bread recipe.  The fresh herbs really make this superb!

Don’t worry – not these girls!  Those are quite safe.  Those are wild turkeys roaming the area.  They get to live on Dr. Tae Yun Kim‘s property freely and nobody bothers them.

To make the soup, here is what you need

Ingredients:

2 whole turkey wings

about 1/8 c raw minced garlic, or more if you can handle it 😉

Himalayan salt to taste

black pepper to taste

1/2 medium yellow onion, cut into small strips

2 stalks celery, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces

1 medium size carrot, cut into bite siz slices

1 cup mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 small zucchini, thinly sliced

3 stalks broccolini, cut into bite size pieces

4-5 stalks of asparagus, cut into pieces

2-3 sprigs of fresh Thyme

1 large sprig of fresh Rosemary

1/2 cup chopped parsley

1/2 cup chopped green onions

Before you get started with the actual soup, you’ll need to pre-boil the turkey, as Dr. Tae Yun Kim recommends, to get rid of as many impurities as possible.  To do this, cover the turkey wings with water, add 3Tbs Kosher salt and some crushed garlic and let come to a boil – boil until the foam stops bubbling up.  This probably will take about 10 – 15 minutes.  Drain, rinse, rinse your pot well and fill with about a quart of water.Cut the turkey wings into sections, and add to pot, season with salt and pepper.

Let it come to a boil, and cook for about 15 -20 minutes; then add the onions, herbs, carrots and celery, let boil for 5 minutes, and add rest of vegetables, adding the parsley and green onions just before serving.  You can serve this with any kinds of (gluten-free) noodles and/or bread.  It is most delicious with this particular bread! The blend of herbs and mushrooms and all the other flavors really makes this soup special.  Go ahead and give it a try!

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Creative Food choices in winter

As much as we like soups, there comes a point in the dead of winter when you just do not want soup for a while.  When your inner self wants to rebel a little and make-believe it’s warm and sunny outside and you want some – gasp – cold noodles.

Dr. Tae Yun Kim takes this concept to a whole new level.  With her limitless creativity, intuition and Ki energy, she creates food that appeals to body, mind and spirit.

While you might say ramen is bad for you – Dr. Kim just smiles and makes food that not only tastes great but is also good for you. There are many healthy versions available nowadays.  And for us gluten-free folks – not to worry, you can make these with not only ramen noodles, but different kinds of rice noodles or sweet potato noodles.

This culinary Masterpiece started out with the Korean pepper paste (yes, also available in gluten-free now), garlic, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, organic brown sugar or honey, chopped parsley and cilantro, grated or finely chopped Asian pears and Asian radishes, sesame seeds and a touch of sesame oil.  Dunk the cooked in drained noodles, and serve.  Add any cooked and cooled meat or chicken to this, and any chopped veggies and/or fruit.

Proportions are difficult to tell, because some like it sweeter and some like it hotter and some prefer more lemon juice than others.  Key is try until you love it!  🙂

Now go enjoy!

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An attention catching casserole

Isn’t this a beauty?  It didn’t only look good – it tasted fabulous!  It’s one of those simple dishes that you might overlook because of its simplicity but trust me, it’s worth checking out.  And no matter how many casserole recipes you have, and have made – I suggest give this one a try anyway.  I promise you won’t be disappointed!  And don’t be deterred by my beautiful aluminum foil pan – this was for a friend that had surgery and needed to be transportable and disposable.

While I was putting this together,  thought about some things Dr. Tae Yun Kim has said that keeps sticking in my mind (and I love that it does.)

“Just as you put energy into your food when you grow it or prepare it, you also fill your environment with your energy.  A room full of people creates an energy field that can be positive or negative, depending on everyone’s intent.”  (The Silent Master, page 76)

Well, I certainly put a lot of love into this dish and to everyone around me!

To recreate it, start with either a nice steak, or if you need to watch your budget, you can use stew beef.

First, in a little oil of your choice, saute your meat of choice briefly, and add ground garlic and cut up onions.  Stir fry until just barely starting to get tender, then add other veggies of your choice.  Here is what I used:

Add a couple of jars good quality tomato sauce or spaghetti sauce, and let it heat up.  Add some hot red pepper, I used some very spicy Korean red pepper powder, and it took this dish over the top!

While you are sauteing the meat, start boiling water for your pasta.  I love small shells, so that is what I used, but you can use maccaroni or whatever pasta you prefer.  If you are gluten-free, like me, make sure you get gluten free pasta and cook according to the directions on the package.

Cook pasta until it still has a good “bite” in the middle, drain and rinse briefly.  Preheat oven to 350.

In an oven proof casserole dish, put a layer of the meat-veggie sauce, then add a layer of pasta.  Put some grated cheese on top, or if you prefer, dot with spoonfuls of cream cheese with herbs.  Add the rest of the sauce, and put in the oven for about 20 minutes or completely heated through.  Just before done, you can sprinkle more grated cheese on top – serve right after the cheese has melted.  Good luck and Guten Appetit!  Or, with Dr. Tae Yun Kim‘s immortal encouraging words, “Dig it in!  Enjoy!”

 

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Korean Style Pancakes

I am pretty sure that there are as many different Korean Pancake recipes as there are kinds of kimchi!  And they are all very delicious.

As usual, Dr. Tae Yun Kim takes it to another level altogether.  She starts out with the basic concept, and then goes on to “healthify” it as we like to call it.  She mixed up a basic pancake batter, where she combined a “home-grown” egg,  “a little water” and whisked until was all well combined, with some salt and garlic powder added.

Then she added flour, enough to get the consistency of regular pancake batter.  If you are gluten-free, be sure to use xanthan gum or physllium powder with your gluten free flour to make the batter hold together.

Dr. Tae Yun Kim likes to kick the heat notch up a bit and adds some grated jalapeno to the batter, or finely chopped parsley.

Then, this time, she added some carrots that had been pre-cooked just enough to be very firm but not crunchy any more.  She added sliced tofu, onions, and other veggies, along with sliced up kosher hot dogs.

Then, after the batter started to barely turn solid, here comes another surprise:

Dr. Tae Yun Kim added another thin layer of batter over the top.  After a quick and swift flipping over, the newly created art form looked like this:

Doesn’t that make you want to run in the kitchen and make on of these RIGHT NOW???

And even though there are no set amounts of ingredients for this savory pancake here on this blog yet, do go ahead and try – you really can’t go wrong!  And you will thank yourself you did!

 

 

 

 

 

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Food that’s good for you any day

 

A dinner that starts out with ingredients like the ones above – how can it be anything but healthy and delicious? Especially when it is prepared by Dr. Tae Yun Kim?

She is not only one of the highest ranked Martial Artists in the World, motivational speaker, best-selling author, CEO of a high-tech company, TV show host, founder of the TYK fashion clothing line and so so much more, she is “in tune with the food.”  As Ki energy Master she knows what’s good and what isn’t.

Here you can see what those raw veggies turned into – lovingly combined with Korean sweet potato noodles, baby squid, brown rice cakes, and Korean red hot sauce.

To switch it up a bit, Dr. Tae Yun Kim also introduced this tummy pleaser:

This one started out with potatoes and kosher hot dogs.  Did I mention before that Dr. Tae Yun Kim uses a lot of Kosher food because it has to be handled in a very clean environment, with prayer?

After they were sautéed briefly, just enough to be barely tender, green onions joined in the fun, as well as tofu, sweet potatoes, yellow onions, and another version of Korean hot sauce. There are as many versions of Korean hot sauce as there are kinds of kimchi, as there are kinds of bread.  Each cook pretty much has her own tweak.  Many of them have gluten in it, and MSG. Dr. Tae Yun Kim‘s version doesn’t have either, and tastes clean and pure.  For an exact recipe – sorry folks but that’s gonna be in her cookbook!  As a hint, it has gluten-free “gochu jang” (hot red pepper sauce), apple cider vinegar, sugar, crushed garlic, sesame oil in it.

Go ahead, be bold and try it out and see what version you can come up with!

 

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Healthy Korean Style Stew

The title purposely says “Korean Style”, because with Dr. Tae Yun Kim there is no restriction or limit on her creativity.  She bases many of her innovative dishes and creations on the Korean cuisine of the time she was growing up, when all food was by default organic, grown on healthy soil with no chemicals applied to either ground, plants or animals.

Nowadays she shops for organically grown fruit and produce and grows a lot of her own fruits and vegetables.  She makes sure any poultry and meat she purchases came from healthy, happy, organically raised animals.

She still cleanses the meat before using it by using this method (from a few blog posts back.)

In these pictures, Dr. Tae Yun Kim started with chicken pieces, and sautéed them in some water seasoned with salt and garlic.  She added tofu and vegetables, starting with the hard varieties like carrots, onions, Brussels Sprouts and Yucca root, and then follows with mushrooms, zucchini and cabbage.

As sauce, she added her very own brand of hot sauce.  I know, not fair!  To make a close approximation of that sauce, you take a couple of spoons of gochu jang, available in any Korean store.  For us gluten-free folks – there are gluten free varieties available online and they are every bit as good.

To this you add a spoon of garlic, a couple spoons of raw sugar, and some apple cider vinegar and lemon juice.  Heat up, stir vigorously and add a few spoons to the stew, enough to cover the meat and veggies but not so much it turns soupy.  Taste and adjust seasonings.  You can add some chopped up jalapeno’s of you love it really hot.

Lastly, add some cilantro, green onions, and parsley, according to your own taste.

This stew can be served over brown rice or acorn noodles, or use chap chae noodles.  Either way, it is amazingly delicious!

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Memory or future vision? Sweet and Spicy

So yesterday I shared with you a quick and easy, yet tasty and very healthy dish that will help you get back on track after all the Holiday feasts we’ve been having.

Dr. Tae Yun Kim has many such recipes.  Today, I am sharing another one of her gems.  This is more for hot summer days, but I am thinking, if you are in a cold weather area like I am right now, and look outside and see snow in big piles, maybe you would want to re-create summer in your heart and stomach, and try this delicious beef-noodle salad that is sure to delight your taste buds and make you think of balmy summer afternoons.

So how do you make this beautiful salad?  Very simple!  If you have some leftover beef roast, or chicken, tear it into bite sized pieces. If you want to use eggs, boil a couple, peel and quarter.  Cut your veggies and fruits into bite sized pieces, smaller is better – tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, kale, cabbage, cucumbers or any other combination you like.  Add some berries, we had home grown blackberries and strawberries.  But apples, oranges, or pears work well, especially now in the winter when you may not have fresh berries available.

The noodles in the picture are Korean acorn noodles, they are superb with this dish.  Since they are not gluten free, substitute any gluten free pasta, or you can leave it out altogether.  I just happen to think pasta adds nice texture and flavor, and Dr. Tae Yun Kim explains that noodles are a symbol of long life, and who wouldn’t want that?

Now that you have your ingredients ready, make the dressing.  This is pretty spicy, so use as little or as much red pepper and garlic as you need. You start with apple cider vinegar and lemon juice, about 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar and a few Tbsp lemon juice, add a teaspoon toasted, crushed sesame seeds, about a Tbsp raw sugar, red pepper flakes, and a touch of (gluten free) soy sauce , and add a bit of water and some olive oil.  Mix the sauce with the veggies first, then add the meat and the noodles.  Toss well, and put on plates and decorate with the cut up eggs. Enjoy!

Doesn’t that make you feel like digging out your bathing suit and going for a swim?

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