Cilantro Pesto Quesadilla's

Cilantro pesto
Place ingredients in food processor:
One bunch cilantro washed and most of stems removed
½ cup roasted peanuts
2-3 cloves of garlic
¾ cup grated parmesan cheese
½ cup extra virgin olive oil drizzled in as machine is pulsing
Juice of one lime
Salt to taste
Blend until smooth
Optional- add ½-1 jalapeno deseeded and diced (this keeps for a week to 10 days in the refrigerator. This pesto is delicious on potatoes, tossed on pasta, mixed in soups…

Quesadilla’s
Serves four with a salad on the side
4 Whole wheat tortillas
1 cup grated cheese - you can use sharp cheddar, jack, pepper jack or your favorite
1 can black or pinto beans drained, rinsed and heated add salt and pepper to taste
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
3-4 carrots
1-2 cups cabbage
Optional: red bell pepper, broccoli or other veges you have on hand
1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ head chopped red or green leaf lettuce
1 bunch green onions diced
Place sauté pan over medium high heat and add onions and garlic, when onions are translucent add other vegetables (not the lettuce or green onions) and cook for 3-4 minute’s, add salt, pepper and lemon or lime to taste.
Place ¼ cup cheese on each tortilla, heat tortilla in oven or stove top until cheese just melted. Slather on the cilantro pesto then add beans, vegetables and top with some chopped lettuce and green onion.
Enjoy!

Lifecoaching for connection, balance and health.

Discover the Power of Choice!

Floating

We spent yesterday floating down the Deschutes river.

Seconds after we pushed off the shore I noticed feelings of peace, ease and joy.
Once on the river there is an inner freedom that happens...I am in the present moment... listening to the silence, my children talking, the sounds of nature...looking outward at the landscape as well as inward... as a calmness washes over me like a wave.

There is no doing in these moments, I am simply being...present to what is now, silent underneath the brim of my hat, smiling big to myself.

Ahhhh...bliss

What can you find in your day that might connect you to that place inside yourself?

Life Coaching for connection, balance and health.

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A Story

I've seen this story before and felt the need to share it with you.

Autobiography in Five Short Chapters by Potia Nelson

Chapter One
I walk down the stree.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk...
I fall in...
I am lost...I am helpless.
It isn't my fault...
It takes forever to find my way out.

Chapter Two
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk...
I pretend I don't see it...
I fall in again.
I can't believe I am in the same hole again.
But it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

Chapter Three
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk...
I see it there...
I still fall in.
It's a habit but my eyes are wide open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault...I get out immediately.

Chapter Four
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

Chapter Five
I walk down another street.

As I was sharing this with my husband last night he said "The Delman way of this story would be to stay in the hole, sense, feel, connect with your needs, develop a deep understanding of the wisdom that led you into the hole and then climb out and move onto chapter five."

I like options...how about you?

Lifecoaching for connection,
balance and health.

Discover the Power of Choice!

Asking for Support

It's challenging for many of us to ask for support, often even for very simple things. I'm not sure where that comes from, old cultural patterning of independence, genetics, distance from family and friends, fear of being needy...

What I do know is our inability to reach out for support when we need it can cause deep pain for ourselves and others.

Ironically as we hold back asking many, many people I know say the greatest gifts in their lives have been when they have been able to give to others. They give support willingly and with joy in their hearts. It fills us up to give to others, it is our true nature...we may forget but it is always there if we choose to access it.

I'm writing this now because friends of ours just lost their 23 year old son to suicide...it's been a very rough week. One in which I have more understanding of the importance of sharing and remembering that to reach out is not a sign of weakness (which is a very prevalent perception in our culture, particularly with males) but a sign of strength.

As I spoke with my children about this tragedy I recognized the need to continue this conversation in wider circles.

Talk to your loved ones about the value in asking for support. Model asking as well as giving support as often as you can. Talk about it, write about it, sing about it... Let's create a world where fewer lives are taken in despair.

Reach out, hug your loved ones, be present in the moment.

Coaching for connection, balance and health.

Discover the Power of Choice!

Being in the ebb

It seems there is a rhythm to life and I find I often get concerned when work begins to ebb. Instead of seeing it as space to reflect, write, renew, clean my house...I feel a bit afraid. Being a small business owner has been a huge journey for me and this is one of its greatest challenges...enjoying and even dare I say embracing the ebb.

What will come forth after a slowing down? What kind of collaborating/creative juices will I find flowing? What is the universe telling me?

Lots of questions and can I simply be aware and awake for the answers...

How is being in the ebb for you?

I like to imagine riding the tide with a smile on my face, not grasping, gropping or fighting what the tide is offering at this moment.


Coaching for connection, balance and health.

Discover the Power of Choice!

Something in me...

I went to a workshop/retreat last week with my mentor for the next three years Russell Delman.

I took in a lot and haven't yet processed it so that I can distill it in a way that might resonate with you. I wanted to share this one piece anyways and see where it goes.

Often when we have a strong feeling like overwhelm, resistence, confusion, elation...we fully identify with it. It feels like it's all of us and we may express it as "I am in resistance or I am overwhelmed..." In that moment we have become that feeling leaving no space or room to observe, sense, and perhaps gain the wisdom the feeling can show us.

To do that we need to make some room. Here is one strategy to play with.
Consider shifting your words to "Something in me feels confused or something in me is tired..."

Do you notice any change in how you feel or what you sense in your body by making this small shift?
Explore this and see what you notice.

I will continue to share more of this process and what I am learning.
It's good to be home!

Coaching for connection, balance and health!

Discover the Power of Choice!

Almond Sauce

Almond Sauce
8 ounces of almond butter
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/8-1/4 cup tamari (to taste)
2 tablespoons chili paste, or to taste
1 tablespoon fresh finely grated ginger
2 garlic cloves
1 bunch cilantro- chopped
juice of 1-2 limes
Place all ingredients except cilantro into food processor and blend add water to give you desired consistency. Adjust seasonings to taste, add cilantro and hand mix it in.
This sauce keeps for a week to 10 days in the refrigerator.

We use this sauce on buckwheat or soba noodles with steamed and fresh vegetables tossed in. Most vegetables work in this dish.
We also use this as a dipping sauce for raw vegetables and on sushi. Its a nice alternative to peanut sauce.
Enjoy!

Self-reflection

"It all starts with self-reflection. Then you can know and empathize more profoundly with someone else.
-Shirley MacLaine

Self-reflection takes the willingness to pause...

Consider committing to pause and reflect for 10 minutes a day for one week and see what shifts!
You could pause with a cup of tea, on your favorite chair with a journal, sitting in meditation, gazing out a window, taking a hot bath...

Coaching for connection, balance and health.

Discover the Power of Choice!