bananas, cinnamon, and . . .

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Walking away from the Mercado 10 de Agosto on Calle Larga in Cuenca without carrying a big bunch of bananas is not easy. For one thing, those big bunches of bananas look rather tempting piled so high, and, for another thing, when at the mercado, one bunch doesn’t look like much when next to piles and piles of bananas. So I buy and buy big bunches of bananas and then I’m in a race to eat them.

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In the process of eating the big bunch of bananas (20!), I discovered that they’re scrumptious when thoroughly mashed and sprinkled with good quality cinnamon. One early morning, I decided to start the day that way. I shook and shook the bottle on two thoroughly mashed bananas. Then I noticed the color wasn’t quite right, and picked up the bottle – it was cayenne pepper. I looked at those mashed bananas, and wasn’t sure what to do. Then I reached for the cinnamon.

The bite of cayenne, the sweetness of bananas, the delicate taste of cinnamon – you might want to try it. Oh, yes.

I hope you can say it was a wonderful day.

Sweet dreams!

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“As soon as you wake up, take your first conscious breath, stop and say thank you, thank you, thank you.” – Panache Desai
www.panachedesai.com

Let’s cook


What to cook? What about pasta, onions, and mashed sweet potatoes, sprinkled with spices, salt, pepper, and olive oil or coconut oil?

First the planning: This dish easily lends itself to an increase or decrease of ingredients, it depends on your tastes. As long as the penne is dressed with enough cayenne pepper, Celtic salt (or another good quality salt), pepper, organic spices, a good quality olive oil or coconut oil, it should be a delicious meal.

The  ingredients:

1 lb. organic Penne

2 or 3 large sweet potatoes

1 T. diced ginger

2 or 3 large organic onions, halved lengthwise, then sliced

1 T. garlic, chopped

cayenne pepper

turmeric, cumin, cardamon

olive oil, or coconut oil

Boil enough water for penne.

Put the thinly-sliced sweet potatoes in a medium-sized pot and cover the bottom with water. Add chopped ginger and gently simmer until soft. Check on them a few times. Stir during the cooking, also check that there’s enough water. When cooked mash them in the pot along with the ginger. Set aside.

In the meantime, add penne to the boiled water, and boil according to directions.

Heat at least two tablespoons of olive oil or coconut oil, and saute the two sliced large onions slowly. When transparent add the chopped garlic and a few shakes, or more, depending on taste, of turmeric, cumin, and cardamon, continue to cook until nicely browned. Then add a few shakes of salt and pepper. Mix the onion mixture with the penne, cayenne pepper, and olive oil or coconut oil. Then add the mashed sweet potatoes, along with a few shakes of salt and pepper, more or less depending on taste, and mix very well.

Serve and enjoy.

Last week I prepared this in Richmond for Alicia and Michael. They liked it, and asked if I would please prepare it again the next evening. I said, “Why not?”

Have an extraordinary day!

spices herbs plants

Many of us have just begun to realize the huge benefits of spices, herbs, and plants and allow them into our domain. They’ve always been there for us to learn about and use, though it seems many of us weren’t ready. However, judging from all the information available to us in this decade, we are ready now, right? In the light of that, let’s pay homage to a few spices, herbs, and plants.

I feel that the book, The Indian Grocery Store Demystified by Linda Bladholm, is a labor of love, and I highly recommend it. Lot and lots of information can be found in the easy-to-read, rather thick book. If I had a bookshop it would be openly displayed, and I’d amuse myself by watching how many people would stop, look, and happily buy.

Turmeric is “antibacterial, antiviral, antiinflammatory, antioxidant, antiparasitic, and a diuretic,” – the list goes on. The above-mentioned book tells us about the benefits of turmeric. I take it stirred in R.W. Knudsen organic tomato juice, along with a dash of cayenne pepper, these three ingredients seem to agree with each other and produce a smooth-tasting drink. There’s no doubt about all the benefits, we just need to read and understand and be comfortable with what we’re ingesting, and think about the right dosage for our body. It’s certainly essential in the cuisine of India, not only in curries, pick up a cookbook and find that page after page turmeric is used.

Cayenne Pepper: The following website suggests a passion for cayenne pepper and to click on and read about its innumerable benefits is to know the why of the passion. www.healsa.co.za/cayennepepper.htm it’s written that it “was compiled by Dr. Schulze’s Curezone.com”
www.curezone.com

The Spice Terminal at Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia has cayenne pepper from Africa that’s 1,000 times spicier than what we’re accustomed to, and the person behind the counter said to take it very, very, very sparingly. I didn’t dare touch it, I’ll be back when I’m ready though. When I first began ingesting cayenne pepper I went into coughing fits at each attempt, and I often caught my “dear ones” rolling their eyes and saying, “Why are you doing this?” and “Stop taking it.” I couldn’t though because I knew that the benefits far outweighed the coughing time it took to get used to this spice. Now I happily shake it on fried eggs, into soups and stews, on cooked pasta, and stirred into drinks, etc. Indeed!

Just to let you know, the high quality of the teas at The Spice Terminal are irresistible, and lifting the glass lid off one of the containers of tea and having its wonderful fragrance come rushing out, is to be hooked, and then the words come tumbling out, “Excuse me, may I have half a pound and how much should I use when brewing a pot?”
www.readingterminalmarket.org


Cinnamon, too, has healing properties that are many, put a piece of bark in your coffee cup, add it to the water you’re taking out with you for the day, sprinkle the powder on toast, in yogurt, – you’re limited only by your imagination. Let’s remember to pay attention to using the right amount and not go overboard. Susan Smith Jones, Ph.D sums up the benefits of cinnamon very nicely in the September/October 2011 Well Being Journal, under the title The Healing Remedies in Spices.
www.wellbeingjournal.com
www.SusanSmithJones.com

Gingerroot remedies has a long list, too. I’m looking at a book by Mark Stengler, ND on Natural Healing, and there are three pages about the healing properties of ginger. I think that that says something about this rhizome – “a stem that runs underneath the surface of the ground.” I’ve subscribed to Mark A. Stengler’s Natural Healing newsletters; he’s “in private practice in California…adjunct associate clinical professor at the National College of Natural Medicine, Portland Oregon…author of many books….”
www.markstengler.com/articles


It boggles the mind to learn just how numerous and beneficial herbs are (along with spices and plants). The simple title of a book by Maria Treben, HEALTH THROUGH GOD’S PHARMACY, gives us an idea, in few words, of the power of herbs to heal.
www.mariatrebenherbs.com

Triphala and constipation . . . in the book SPONTANEOUS HEALING, Dr. Andrew Weil, wrote . . . “Another Ayurvedic preparation, called triphala, is the best bowel regulator I have come across . . .” and, he continues, “it’s much better than Western herbal remedies for constipation.” The mixture of three herbs can be found in capsule form in health food stores.
www.drweil.com

Have you been to the Indian grocery store Kalustyans Foods in Manhattan? To see the array of spices, herbs, foods (upstairs, downstairs), etc. is a real treat. Triphala can also be found there.
www.kalustyans.com

Aloe Vera, I would be here all week if I had to summarize all the benefits of just these few spices, herbs, and plants, so again I’ll call upon a professional, Scott E. Miners, the Editor of Well Being Journal wrote about Aloe Vera and Digestive Health, along with Topical Healing Powers of Aloe Vera – Personal Stories of Healing, in the September/October 2011 issue
www.wellbeingjournal.com


Snake Plant, this plant is wonderful and I talk to mine and thank it for doing what it does. It’s “the only plant that produces oxygen and removes carbon dioxide at night.” For the technical aspects of air purifying with
plants,
www.wolvertonenvironmental.com

I’m a novice and there’s much to know. I find it all so fascinating, and so slowly, cautiously, and happily I’ll continue to explore and learn about the amazing world of spices, herbs, and plants – those that the Divine One created for the benefit of all living beings. You, too?

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Lots of renovating went on at Reading Terminal Market; and, along with that, the owner of The Spice Terminal closed after many years — and so no more cayenne pepper from Africa and the whiffing of the fragrant teas in that space.