Here we are, mid-July and in the full swing of summer! I almost can’t believe it’s almost six weeks until our school year starts again. It seems like summer just got here and now fall is right around the corner. Anyway, time marches on, whether I’m ready for it or not! It is a reminder to me that I need to stop and breathe, live in the moment more, slow down. I need to notice what’s happening around me, instead of running through each day to the next. Do you ever feel like life is speeding up?
One reason this is so important to me right now is because we just came back from vacation. I keep joking that I’m going to invent a new word for vacation with kids, because it’s not really a vacation in the true sense of the word when you take the kids with you! To be fair, my kids travel well and they aren’t demanding about running from activity to activity. If they’re in the sand at the beach, they’re happy. And, I made sure to meditate and do yoga almost every morning before everyone got up, so I got my soul nourishment. But I didn’t sleep enough while we were away, and it’s tough to be tired at the end of a vacation. Then we came back to an empty refrigerator (of course!) and a full week of work, so it’s been a hustle to get reset at home.
Anyway, one of the things I recommended at my Tea Talk on Food As Medicine in June was to eat a rainbow. By that, I generally mean to eat fruits and veggies in a variety of colors. This helps us to get lots of vitamins and mineral as well as antioxidants to help us stay healthy and protect our bodies. But lately I’ve been cooking foods in one color – kind of monochrome. It’s been a little strange. Before I left, I made a beet soup, scratch marinara sauce from the tomatoes in my garden, and hibiscus tea – all red foods. And now I’m on a purple foods kick. It’s not really on purpose, but it’s what I want to eat. I’m eating blueberries, purple rice, purple cabbage and purple sweet potatoes. And they’re so good!
Just washed purple potatoes
Baked with butter and fresh black pepper. Yum!
So this week I’m going to give you my Sauteed Asian Purple Cabbage recipe – it’s easy and crazy good!
Sauteed Asian Purple Cabbage
Ingredients:
Half large purple cabbage, shredded (slice against the grain, but not super thin – it’ll get soggy)
One medium onion, diced
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
Soy sauce or tamari (gluten free soy sauce)
Sesame oil
Siracha or other spicy sauce (optional)
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
The star ingredients!
Supporting actors…
Slice and dice your veggies.
Saute your onions and garlic in coconut or olive oil. Don’t salt – the soy sauce will be salty enough.
Add cabbage and cook for 5 minutes. Then add the soy sauce (or tamari), umami paste if you have it, and the hot sauce if you like it spicy. Grind lots of black pepper over the veggies. Fresh ground black pepper is good for digestion! Cook until the cabbage is still slightly crunchy. Turn off the heat and drizzle with the sesame oil. Sesame oil is great for finishing, but lots of heat isn’t good for its stability, so don’t cook with it, just add it at the end. And don’t skip this oil – it’s the star flavoring!
Enjoy this over rice or fresh salad greens, or as a side dish.
What colors are you eating during these wonderful days of summer? How are you making sure to slow down enough to enjoy this season? Please share in the comments below!