Chia Seed Mousse

 


I love chocolate.  I love raw chocolate, or cacoa.  I put it in my smoothie almost every day - it's a super food & its really good for you.

When I was at Wanderlust this summer, one of the food vendors, Pizza to the People (http://www.pizzatothepeople.net/), was selling chia seed mousse.  It was amazing!  I had experimented with chia seed puddings before, but their's blew mine away.  (check them out if you're in CT - great, great food!)

The first day I had it, I was starving!  I wolfed down one serving & almost immediately went back for another.  Why not?!  It was delicious, it was good for me:)  I got about half way through & realized...I was full.  I realized I was actually full after the first serving.  I just hadn't paused long enough to feel that I was full.

This happens alot, to alot of us.  We eat because we can.  We eat whatever we want, just about whenever we want.  I say I was starving that day at Wanderlust, but I wasn't really.  Thankfully I don't know what it feels like to really be starving.  I was hungry, sure.  But I had eaten once already that day.  I didn't eat so fast that I didn't even taste the mousse - I tasted it alright.  And it tasted so good I wanted more!  But then I just rushed on to the next serving. 

Mindful eating can be a wonderful, enjoyable experience.  What I realized that day, was that we don't do a whole lot of that.  I know I don't do alot of that.  I eat because I want to, not because I need to.  Most of the time, I do actually taste my food.  But there are times when I'm rushed & distracted & I don't.  I know I take food for granted.  And so it becomes a practice.  Mindfulness when eating is just like mindfulness in anything in life - on or off your mat.  It's being present for the experience.  It's feeling gratitude for what you have.

I was very grateful for that chia seed mousee & for the recipe!!  By request, here's my adapted recipe:

1/4 chia seeds
1 cup milk (almond or coconut)
1-2 TBS raw cacoa
1-2 TBS melted coconut oil
1-2 TBS maple syrup

Add chia seeds to blender & run blender to break them down.  Then add milk, cacoa & maple syrup & blend thoroughly.  Once blended, add melted coconut oil to blender.

Yup.  It's that simple.

I enjoy topping it with a sprinkle of raisins, cacoa nibs, nuts & even chocolate chips for an extra treat.

Try it!  And savor each bite!!

Scooby Doo - Where are you?

I do most of the cleaning in my studio, with help from my family & some volunteers.

For the first couple years, I washed the studio floor with a mop.  It doesn't take all that long, but it felt like I never had time to do it.  It felt like just one more thing that I needed to do.

Then I scored a robot floor cleaner for a great price....we named him Scooby, after one of our favorite cartoon dogs.  He's awesome.  Fill him up, turn him on & watch him clean.  He does an amazing job.  And he saves me times. 

Then one day he stopped working.  Nothing major, as it turned out.  But until we straightened him out, I went back to cleaning the studio floor with a mop.

Here's what I discovered...I like cleaning the floor.  I decided that it didn't really take that long.  That it wasn't a big deal.  I love my studio.  And I decided that cleaning the floor meant that I was giving my studio some love & attention & care that it needed to keep it bright & shiny.

Nothing had changed...except my attitude, and so everything changed.

You can do with anything in your life.  Traffic, doing laundry, a weekly meeting at work.  Things outside you don't have to change, but shifting your attitude changes your entire experience. 

We practice it alot in yoga.  Mostly in the poses you've decided don't like.  They're too hard, they're no fun.  Shift how you feel about a pose & immediately the pose feels different.

So now I enjoy the time it takes to clean my studio floor.  That's my yoga off my mat.