INSTANTPOT RECIPE ALERT!

This Red Pumpkin Dal recipe flow is adapted from #everydayayurvedacookbook for the instantpot. It’s a favorite of mine and so easy when you put it in the pot in the AM, then eat when you have the lunch break. Enjoy!

Red Pumpkin Dal

Ingredients:

1 cup red lentil or split mung beans

3 cups water

1 can coconut milk

2-3 cups cubed winter squash (any and all!)

1-2 tbsp seasonal spice mix (see my cookbooks for more!)

Direction:

1. Pressure cook for 5 minutes.

2. Hand-blend if you want it real smooth.

3. Serve with a sprinkle of toasted coconut.

Have you adapted any of my recipes for your IP? Please share below so everyone can benefit!

Ashwagandha!

One of more famous Ayurveda herbal friends.

The name of this herb from the Himalayan foothills means “smell of a horse.” While the root does smell like horse, its use is also said to bring the strength of a horse. This is a common tonic herb for male reproductive vitality, and an adaptogen, which helps the body cope with stress.

Best used in milk.

Botanical name: Withania somnifera

AKA: Winter cherry

Parts used: root, bark

Rasa: bitter, astringent

Virya: heating

Vipaka: sweet

Qualities: heavy, unctuous

Actions: nourishes all seven tissues, improves strength and reduces fatigue, improves memory

Rtucharya: winter

Contraindications: can be heating in excess

Ayurveda texts describe the importance of shifting our diet and routines with the seasons...

Ayurveda texts describe the importance of shifting our diet and routines with the seasons, but something I keep meeting in my Ayurveda practice is the pervasive effects of changes that AREN’T due to nature.

Culture can also be a factor in lifestyle rhythms, and have huge impacts on health. In some places, fall is a time of massive change in daily schedules as children and university students go “back to school” and they as well as their families are swept into a sudden shift in the demands and timetable of daily life. It is wise to take into account the effects such changes have on the system!

If you think about it, it makes sense the digestion, or sleep, or nerves might go through the ringer a bit as things are suddenly quite busy, and quite different, from how they were a week or two ago. Simplifying the diet can make things a lot smoother, as well as taking care to implement a few touchstone routines, such as a consistent lunchtime or bedtime, to ground down the days while change is afoot.

Consider a Fall Community Cleanse as an opportunity to establish these rhythms, with a little help from your friends.