HAPPY MARCH

Hello and Happy March. Winter is finally on its way out and spring is right around the corner.

This is an excellent time to play around with herbs and spices. Many herbs and spices can help boost agni (metabolism) or digestive fire. And they can help to cleanse out the stagnation of winter.

In the winter, we spend most of our time indoors, cuddled by a fire, reading, or watching our favorite TV shows. This decreases our level of activity, making us a little more sedentary. Also, our bodies crave the high carb comfort foods that warm us up from the inside.

I believe in following the rhythms of nature, and listening to your body. So winter is a time to slow down and enjoy some of the heavier foods. But everything in balance and moderation. So as soon as the winter begins to thaw, it is time to renew. Many people think about spring cleaning, and immediately think of cleaning their houses, or gardens. But we forget that our bodies also could benefit from a little digestive cleaning as well. Spices such as chili powder, garlic, pepper, cloves, nutmeg & cinnamon, all help to stimulate our digestion.

Cleansing spices can definitely help stimulate our digestive fire and clean our bodies from the inside out. One of the easiest foods to make for a digestive spring cleanse is Kitchari. It consists of mainly rice and lentils. Below is one recipe for kitchari.

Check out my facebook page www.facebook.com/ayurvedasabrina for a quick video of how I make kitchari.

Ingredients:

2 C white basmati rice

2 C yellow lentils

1 coarsely chopped red bell pepper

1 coarsely chopped yellow bell pepper

1 coarsely chopped orange bell pepper

dandelion greens, chopped

24 oz of bone broth

2 Tbsp of ghee

3 garlic cloves, chopped

green onions (optional)

avocado (optional)

Salt & pepper to taste

Chili powder to taste

Turmeric powder to taste

Melt ghee in large slow cooker. Add rice and lentils. Add broth. Add chopped peppers and dandelion greens. Add garlic, salt, pepper, chili powder, and turmeric. Set slow cooker to high. Let cook for about 1 hour (depending on you slow cooker)

Top with green onions and avocado and Voila!!!!