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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A beautiful breakfast surprise

As you might know, I have had foot surgery a couple of weeks ago, and I haven’t been very mobile as a result.  So, because we live in a very busy world, I have been having cereal for breakfast – gluten free, nutritious and delicious cereal.  I do cook still, but it’s all a lot simpler than what I would normally do.

You can imagine my complete, and delighted surprise when this appeared for breakfast this morning:

Gluten free French Toast!

Delivered with a big smile by a wonderful, 16-year old Jung Suwon warrior.  He not only had the idea all by himself, but also had made it all by himself!  And this from a kid who had been a notorious trouble maker, but whom Dr. Tae Yun Kim has helped transform from a troubled youth to a true warrior!  How beautiful this is!

I was filled with gratitude – and not just for the delicious breakfast – also that there are people who care, and that Dr.  Tae Yun Kim is one of these people.  But not only does she give youngsters a chance – she does so repeatedly.  This young man has had some “relapses” as we shall call it, however, Dr. Kim isn’t one to give up.  With the patience of a Saint she keeps helping.

So, today I wanted to share my gratitude.

“A very powerful expression of love is simple gratitude.  Why is gratitude powerful?  When you express gratitude, you are acknowledging that something good exists.  This action energizes that good thing and gives it momentum to continue existing. “

(The First Element, page 140)

Thank you, young warrior, for such a delight!  I will always remember this day!

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