Today the only beverage I drink is water all day and a green smoothie every other day.  I don’t eat processed foods at all and I am a vegetarian.  I do eat eggs and milk products so I’m considered Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian.

Before I became vegetarian I was very picky about my food.  I wouldn't try anything that looked too ‘strange’ or ‘different’ from what I was used to eating. That meant lots of fried food, lots of junk food and lots of drive through. One thing I never ate as a child was eggplant.   I never really even knew what an eggplant was until I was an adult, and never tasted one before a year ago.  Shocking I know.

One dish I tried recently is Baingan Ka Bharta.  Bharta is a smoky eggplant dish that uses cumin, onion and tomatoes to create a curry that can be served with rice and/or Naan.

Photo Credit - Renee Olson

Ingredients

1 eggplant

4 tbsp. oil (Canola, Sunflower or Olive) 2 for the eggplant and 2 for sautéing the garlic & onion

1 tsp. Cumin Seeds

1 large onion – chopped fine

1 tbsp. garlic – chopped fine

1” piece of ginger root – grated fine

1 green chili (remove most of the seeds – seeds = heat)

1 tomato – chopped fine

½ tsp. coriander powder

½ tsp. cumin powder

½ tsp. garam masala powder
1 glass of wine - add to chef throughout the cooking process

Photo Credit - Renee Olson

Photo Credit - Renee Olson

Process

Start out by preparing the eggplant to roast by cutting it lengthwise and scoring the inside of the flesh in a diamond pattern.  Add salt and olive oil to the top and place skin side down in a baking dish.  Place in 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until the flesh pulls away from the skin easily.  Scoop out and set aside.

Photo Credit - Renee Olson

Get a large pan on medium heat and add the olive oil.  Add cumin seeds to the hot oil and cook until they stop sputtering.

Photo Credit - Renee Olson

Photo Credit - Renee Olson

Photo Credit - Renee Olson

Photo Credit - Renee Olson

Add the onions and cook until clear then add the garlic and ginger and fry for about a minute. 

Photo Credit - Renee Olson

Next add the finely diced tomatoes and all the remaining powdered spices.  Cook for about 3-5 minutes and stir constantly to avoid the mixture from sticking.

Photo Credit - Renee Olson

Photo Credit - Renee Olson

Finally add the eggplant and cook for about another minute.

Serve over rice and/or with Naan.

Photo Credit - Renee Olson

This dish was pretty good.  We tried it several times adjusting the recipe.  Remember to remove most of the seeds from your chilies if you want to be milder in flavor.  I used only one and it was still a bit spicy. 

A lot of traditional Indian and Thai dishes call for ginger.  I recommend getting a fresh ginger root and keeping it on your counter.  You can always use it to make Crystallized Ginger Candy which is great for digestion!

Have questions?  Have a recipe you’d like me to try?  Feel free to leave a comment here or email me at sosanna@sosannascloset.com.

Namaste & Blessed Be

Sosanna

)O(

Back in February a fellow artist and dear friend of mine, Lorelie Gumbiner shared a recipe with me.  She runs Enchanting Elegance and creates some amazing stuff, I highly recommend her products.  The recipe she shared with me was for a veggie burger made from sweet potatoes featured on How Sweet It Is.

Hubby and I tried it out that very night.  It was a pretty easy recipe and it tasted pretty good.  After trying it their way we decided to get a bit creative and try it our way. 

Ingredients

2 medium Sweet Potatoes

1 Can Cannellini Beans

2 bulbs roasted garlic

1 Egg

Panko Bread Crumbs

Olive Oil

Sea Salt

Pepper

Onion Salt

1 ½ avocado sliced (optional)

Sour Cream

Plain Yogurt

1 teaspoon Maple Syrup

¼ cup organic wheat flour

We started out by baking the sweet potatoes in the oven.

Next we put two huge cloves of garlic in the oven covered them with olive oil and baked.  If you've never made roasted garlic before, here’s a great video on how to do it.

The Sauce

Pop out the little garlic pieces from the clove and mash up, I like to do mine really fine.

Combine the yogurt, sour cream and maple syrup in a large bowl then add the garlic in and mix.  

We added some onion salt and a dash of Worcestershire here.  Hubby likes his a bit spicier so adding a little bit of horseradish here would be a great addition.

The Burger

Put the peeled sweet potato in a large bowl with the mashed beans.

Now season this mixture as you would a bowl of meat for hamburgers.

I used onion salt, sea salt, some of the roasted garlic, pepper, an egg and some Panko breadcrumbs.  I had to double up the breadcrumbs because the burger was really soft.

After allowing them to rest in the fridge for about 15 minutes, add to an oiled frying pan and cook for about 4 minutes on each side. 

The original recipe called for a bun and some veggie toppings; we don’t usually eat bread unless it’s homemade so I opted for just the patty with the sauce and the avocado.  The first bite was a little odd, so I removed the avocado, the texture just wasn't working for me.  But the rest was very good.

We had loads left over so hubby ended up making it a couple more times and we changed it up a bit by adding some chopped spinach to it.

Over all it worked out really good.

Have a recipe to share?  I’m always looking for new ways to keep my vegetarian diet new and exciting!  Just send them over to me at Sosanna@sosannascloset.com or leave me a comment here.

Namaste & Blessed Be

Sosanna

)O(

C is for Correspondence

cor·re·spond·ence  [kawr-uh-spon-duhns, kor-] 

noun

1. communication by exchange of letters.

2. a letter or letters that pass between correspondents: It will take me all day to answer this business correspondence.

3. Also, correspondency. an instance of corresponding.

4. similarity or analogy.

5. agreement; conformity.

In Magic, correspondences are items used to correspond or relate to an item.  For example, the stone (actually a resin) Amber corresponds to the element of fire, the Sun and it thought to be related to clarity, confidence and strength.  Amethyst is a form of quartz crystal.  It corresponds to the element of water and the astrological signs of Aquarius and Pisces.  It is said to be a healing stone and helps relieve stress, anxiety and depression.

There are correspondences for everything from Gods and Goddesses to plants and seeds.  A quick search on Amazon.com will give you a full list of assorted books that will assist with some of the comparisons.  One of the more popular is Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Correspondences.

I've not done a great deal of across the board research on all correspondences.  I have worked mainly with crystal and candle magic.  I use blue candles for healing, green for prosperity and red as my Goddess candle.  Red is thought to represent Hecate/Hekate.

Other correspondences for Hecate are:

Animals – Dogs, red mullet, frogs, serpent and sheep. Hecate has been depicted with the heads of a cow, dog, boar, serpent and horse.

Plants – Garlic, belladonna, willow, leek and mandrake.  The Greeks would hang yew around the necks of black bulls which were sacrificed in Hecate’s honor.

Other Associations – keys, as she holds the Keys to the underworld to assist in the travel from life to death.  Torches – as she is a light bringer. 

These are not the only correspondences to Hecate and some of these may cross over to other deities as well.   As I read more and more I learn that there many have a lot of ideas around what is and is not related to a particular Goddess. 

The most common discrepancy I see today is that Hecate represents the crone aspect of the Triple Goddess.  In all the images showing Hecate she does not appear to be of any “older” age.  In her Triple form statues all the faces appear to be the same age.  The concept of Maiden Mother and Crone is a relatively new idea and usually is found in Wicca. 

In her video “Is Hekate the “Crone” of the 20^th Century Maiden Mother Crone Triple Goddess”, Sorita D’Este discusses the way Hecate may have been added in this ideology.

When setting up my altar for Hecate, I’ll add eggs, leeks and honey.  This I take out and leave at my offering spot at the physical crossroads. 

In looking at all the information out there keep in mind that everyone has their own ideas about correspondences.  There are times when many of these will cross over to other deities.

For more information on The Covenant of Hekate check out this webpage or this Facebook Page.

Namaste & Blessed Be

Sosanna

)O(

Over the years I’ve had many grilled cheese sandwiches.  Starting with the commodity cheese my mother would get from the social services to the six cheese Tuscan grilled cheese at Mimi’s in San Diego the gamut of the grilled cheese is undoubtedly the widest of any sandwich.

From a vegetarian prospective this would be considered a Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian dish.  Meaning we do use ingredients from animal sources and would not be suitable for a Vegan.  I have found that eating processed foods, or foods with GMOs is more harmful in my opinion.  So I would be willing to eat cheese, which is an animal product, but avoid Tofu that’s non-organic, with no animal contents due to the probability of Genetic Modification.

I like to slice the bread right in the middle and get four very even slices of bread.  My local market has Organic bread available so I use this.  My basil comes from my garden.  I had four large plants this year and was able to dry and save about 3 bottles.

 Ingredients

Two types of Cheese

Butter

Bread

Basil

Garlic Salt

Process

Grate together your cheese together.

Place the skillet on a medium high burner.

Slice the Bread. (Doesn't have to be perfect)

Add a slab of the butter to the skillet.

Add two slices of bread on the buttered skillet.

Add the grated cheese to the slices of bread.

Sprinkle Basil and Garlic Salt over the grated cheese.

Cover both with additional slices.

Cook until golden brown on each side.

Serve

This is one of my favorite dishes, either eaten alone or with a nice bowl of tomato soup.

Did you make this?  Have a new idea?  Let me know.

Namaste & Blessed Be

Sosanna

)O(