Dried Apples

I am sitting at my writing desk, crafting my next blog post, and enjoying the autumnal scent wafting from my kitchen: apples baking in my oven.  Apple slices dusted with cinnamon drying in my oven, to be exact.  I wish this scent could be bottled because if it was, I would wear it as perfume; it has the tangy sweetness of apple cider and rich earth, with the spicy heat of cinnamon.  My mouth is watering with the knowledge that in just a few short hours, I will be able to pull these apples from my oven and enjoy these dried morsels resembling fruit chips as a mid-afternoon snack (naturally with a cup of autumn harvest tea). 

When I was younger, my family had a dehydrator that we would use to make beef jerky and these dried apple slices.  This time of year, I find myself longing for those dried apples; they are a perfect grab-n-go snack or an ingredient that can enhance everything from a tea blend to cocktails to salads.  They are also a good way to preserve apples when you find yourself with more than you can eat.  But alas, I have no dehydrator.  This lack makes me get creative, and I've found I can get these same dried apples by using my oven.  The crisper you want your apple slices, the longer you keep them in the oven.

Feel free to dry as many or as few apples as you would like for this recipe.  As a general rule of thumb, I don't work with less than two apples at a time, but you can dry as many as six in the oven at a time.  I don't skin or core my apples; the skin provides healthy nutrients and not coring the apples leaves a pretty star shaped center.  It's best to make this recipe when you can spend several hours at home.  The prep is under ten minutes but then you need to let the apples slow bake in the oven for a couple hours to dry out. The cinnamon here is optional, but a great addition if you want the full flavors of fall. 

Ingredients:

2 large apples (at least)

cinnamon for dusting (optional)

Preheat over 200 degrees.  Slice apples about 1/8 inch thick.  Lay slices on a baking pan lined with parchment paper.  Dust with cinnamon if desired.  Place pans in oven and let cook for at least two hours (the longer they are in the over, the crispier they get).  Remove from heat and let cool completely before storing in an airtight container.  Stores for one week on the kitchen counter or up to a month if in the fridge.  Makes approximately one cup of dried apples.  Enjoy!

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

On the Autumnal Equinox

It is a celebration of the year's bounty, the richness, and abundance that came from months of living in the sun.  But now it is time to descend into the underworld.  A dark place, yes, but not made of darkness; it is the home of the inward-turning gaze, the refuge of introverts, a sanctuary of gentle solitude where you can reflect on the abundance in your outer life and nourish your inner one.

It is a union with both halves of ourselves: the balance of external and internal mirroring the equal length of night and day, bringing wholeness.  The sun and the moon are aligned in you.  For one moment, one shift of the earth on its axis, one shift of you on yours, you receive this gift.  A gift that allows you to taste what year-long union with self would be like, one whole year of honoring your dreaming and waking lives in equal parts, one whole year of your world above mirroring your world below. 

The dying rays of the sun plant the seed of balance within your fertile soil.  Though it will seem you are dormant in the coming months as you retreat to the underworld, you are really nourishing yourself, tending that seed, cultivating your soil.  Come spring your seed will unfurl into the plant it's meant to be.

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

5 Ways to Celebrate the Autumnal Equinox

It has been a few weeks since we felt the first kiss of autumn settling over the land, bringing with it all the glories of the season: apples, crisp mornings, cozy sweaters, pumpkins, hot mugs of tea, hearty stews and, in New Mexico at least, the chile harvest.  But autumn will officially be here tomorrow on the equinox--an event worthy of celebration.  Like the harvest moon or other important dates on nature's calendar, the autumn equinox represents a time for us to be more aware of our connection to nature and the natural cycles of life.   Every equinox and solstice, I like to pause and take the time to relish the bounty in my life and the importance of my connection to nature.  This ritual helps to both ground me and give me wings, as I feel at once rooted to this earth and yet capable of continued growth.

Given the importance of the autumn equinox--historically and symbolically a time of harvest and turning inward as the coming months pull us indoors--it is important to celebrate this new season so we can transition gracefully into the colder, more contemplative months.  I offer you five simple ways to celebrate this autumn equinox; you can do one or all of them or invent your own!

1. Sage burning. Traditional sage burning, best known from its Native American roots, is about cleansing a space using a smoking smudge stick (or densely packed bundle of sage).  Sage has long been considered an important healing herb and, magically speaking, offers protection and wisdom to the user.  Sage is also considered an important autumn herb because it thrives in this weather, symbolizing abundance for the next harvest cycle. 

2.Celebrate your abundant harvest.   Typically, when we think of the harvest, we picture farmers market stalls overflowing with squashes and pumpkins and apples, or gathering the last of our garden goodies before the first frost.  This is an important part of celebrating abundance, true, but not the only one.  It is equally important to reflect on your emotional, spiritual, personal harvest--what do you have in abundance in your life?  What are you grateful for? By honoring these things, events, and people, you welcome future abundance and wellness into your life. 

3. Feast!  What better way to celebrate fall than with a lovely feast featuring the produce of the season?  In older traditions, people would pour cider or wine on the roots of trees and plants to thank them for the food they bore.  Think of feasting as another way of honoring the way nature nourishes us.

4. Spend time in nature.  Go for a walk or hike; you might even be able to enjoy the turning leaves.  Linger outside in your garden.  Sit under a tree and just let your mind wander.  Soon the cold will make it harder to venture outdoors, so take time now to relish nature.

5. Turn your home into a sanctuary.  Since autumn ushers in winter, it signals a turning inward, both literally and metaphorically; it makes sense then to tend your home, preparing it for when you spend more time inside.  Decorate it with autumn by collecting gourds and other signs of fall.  Pull out your knitted blankets, roll out the autumnal table cloth.  Give it a good cleaning.  Create a cozy space that feels like a sanctuary you can retreat into for the coming months.

How do you celebrate the coming autumn?

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

On Belief

The deepest form of magic.  It's how we conjure day after day, crafting our lives through a series of routines, thoughts, actions, dreams.  It creates our reality and paves the road to our future.  It is the strongest yet most ephemeral of things: belief.

Yes, magic.  Often cast without conscious intention or a clear purpose.  Rather, it is like a well-worn road made by the repeated tread of footsteps.  But like any magic, it is capable of both dark and light.  Sometimes used to stop yourself short of fulfilling your own potential. Stuff like that just doesn't happen to people like me, that's not real life, that's just how things are.  Or used to conjure a deeper way of living. Let's bring this dream into the waking world, this will happen sooner rather than later, what I am searching for will find me in its own time.

If not a well-worn road, let it be a butterfly's wing, so fragile and yet capable of making you fly.  Still not convinced?  Then think of your belief as the silky wisp of a spider's thread: breakable with just one strand but when spun with others, over time it becomes a home that protects and nourishes.  Belief, any way you choose to think of it, is the backbone of our existence, making its home in your spine and radiating outward to craft your world from hopes and dreams and fears and what-will-bes and what-might-have-beens.

So what will you choose to believe in?  What path do you choose to create?  For belief at its strongest, at its most unbreakable, is a fluid thing shaped by nourishing the dreams of our most authentic self.

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational collection of musings touching on life’s simple pleasures, everyday enchantments, and delectable recipes that will guarantee to stir the kitchen witch in you.  If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe here.

Want even more inspiration to make your dream life a reality?  Follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Thanks for following!

On Normalcy

Normal.

It is a curse disguised as a cure for your soul-sickness, wrapped in a perfect package like a dainty chocolate truffle dusted with gold leaf and neatly cradled inside a ruffled liner.  It is hard to resist the temptation to slide that little morsel between your lips and feel the immediate satisfaction of giving in to what is expected of you.  

It promises everything: safety, community, release from the burden of carving out your own path.  Just one taste and you can have the illusion of being just like the others.  Just one taste and you can strip away your accountability and sense of self, your teeth and your bite for the simple comfort of not having to question anything, least of all your place in this world.

That's the problem with poison: it always seems like such a good idea at the time.  And it always looks so lovely: an apothecary's cure-all dram poured and stoppered in a vial just for you.  A quick fix for something that will only heal by prying loose the stitches used to hold colorless clothes together (all the better to blend in).  Or better yet, to wear your bright colors like a second skin, as loud and untamed as your unruly hair.  Still better, your remedy is in reveling in the dusty hue of your skin (there is no need to hide from the light, no need to keep yourself interminably pale like those parasitic grub worms).  But that takes work.  And so much heart.  You simply want to taste that rush of sugar and feel-good tingles up and down your spine...that quickly fade, leaving you with a gnawing hunger stronger than ever before.

Let that emptiness be your wake-up call.  Let the gnawing hunger in your belly be the reminder that you were never normal and so normal will never be for you.  There is no cure for being who you are.  There is no cure for your whispers that sound likes shouts to people not used to listening or the way you seem to live in a technicolor dream.  There is no need to be less.

So forget about normal.  That dirty, filthy excuse for a word.  Forget about condemning yourself to a life of cheerful oblivion.  And don't you dare demean yourself for being other.  (It is a gift, not a punishment.)  Be the weed that grows--thrives--from a crack in the earth no matter how hard other might try to uproot it.  Be the sliver of moonlight peeking through bedroom curtains illuminating a dreamer's heart.  Be the wind's wild and restless song, without end, implacable with its message.

Simply let yourself be.

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

Odes to Self-Care

It seems to me that there have been a lot of conversations floating around the office this week about how to make time for self-care and really give ourselves over to living a healthy, balanced life.  I've also talked about ways to make self-care a priority when your scheduled gets busier.  It can be tempting--albeit an awful practice long-term--to think of self-care as a luxury rather than an essential part of our lives.  But over the years of actively developing my wellness routine, I have come to view self-care not as an indulgence but a necessity; to see it any other way is a form of self-inflicted violence. 

Sounds extreme, I know.  But really, if we don't take the time to tend ourselves--our hearts, our minds, our bodies, our souls--we deprive ourselves of living fully, deeply, meaningfully.  Why shouldn't we take as much pride in our self-nourishment as we do in our hard work?  Why shouldn't we carve out time to tend ourselves the same way we pencil in time to grade papers? 

In honor of these office conversations and my renewed efforts to tend to my personal wellness, I offer you three past blogs that celebrate self-care:

1.  On Things You Do to Unwind

2.  On Self-Care

3.  On Healing as Art

How do you care for yourself?

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

On Rainy Days, Miles Davis, & Whiskey

Today was a day of low steady drizzle--the kind you used to dread when you lived in Seattle, but that is now somehow more romantic, more cozy for its rarity in your desert home.  It brings back perhaps one of your few good memories of when you lived in a land coated in fog and frost: listening to jazz, drinking whiskey, watching the rain roll down your window pane.

Yes, those were those moments of bliss, when after a week of work and trudging through that rain you knew you could come home, put on some Miles Davis, and, after warming up in a hot bath, pour yourself a little whiskey and get lost in the sounds of Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud, the jazz record of all jazz records.  The movie it plays soundtrack to is incidental, forgettable even.  But that is not the case for that woozy, intoxicating drone that Davis teases out, hitting your system harder and faster than any glass of whiskey--and all the more dangerous for its richness, no fire, just cottony bliss that soothes away the thorns of the day and melts the frost building up around your heart--a side effect of living among the frozen.

You enjoy a similar moment today, but somehow much more wonderful than when you did in those long winter days in that damp land because you do not need to hold that record quite so tight, nor seek the refuge of your home quite so hard to chase away the frost.  You are one with your land now, as warm and as feeling as you are, as full of richness and depth as that soundtrack. 

This rainy day calls to you, begging you to play that jazz record, which you now realize you haven't played in so, so long.  Even though the rain has faded into a mere suggestion of moisture and cloud cover outside, you are still drawn to Miles Davis, a glass of whiskey, and gazing outside at the world softened by jazz and rain.  This time from the comfort of your patio.

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

Teacher's Survival Tea Kit

I love my tea--brewing it, drinking it, blending my own healing mix--all of it!  Of course, this should come as no surprise, considering how much I write about it; for those of you who see me beyond the writer's desk, you know I am never without a good cup or thermos of this magical elixir.  And I love teaching, too---the lesson plans, the classes, yes, even the grading.  But most of all, I love the way tea helps me stay refreshed and nourished while tackling those important teacher duties, especially this time of year when the first term papers beginning to rolling in.  

I look to my herbal tea to revive me in (healthier) ways that caffeine or sugar just can't, to sooth me to sleep at night, or to keep me from getting that bug going around the office...the list goes on and on.  Tea is my personal toolkit for self-care during a busy workday.  So here I offer you three of my favorite teas every tea-lovin' teacher should have in her stash to help her plow through those first round of papers or take a breather between classes.

1. Warrior Tea Blend: Teachers are warriors of the mind, right?  Whatever your answer to that, this warrior blend is chock-full off nutrient dense herbs to keep your body nourished between meals while you go from class to class.

2.  Winter Wellness Tea: This tea is the miracle cold and allergy prevention blend to drink the very second you think you might be coming down with something.  The elderberries, especially, ease congestion while the tulsi helps your body adapt to stress. 

3. Sleepy Time Tea:  A teacher needs her shut-eye if she's going to be a grading wizard and look good doing it, so this tea helps you unplug from your day and wind down for an evening of sweet dreams.

What teas do you drink to keep going through the day?  What else is in your Teacher Survival Kit?

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

DIY Ironing Spray Starch

I will be the first to admit that ironing is not always on my list of priorities.  As much as I love cleaning my house (and yes, I really *do* love it!), ironing is one of those things I always put off...so much so that I think I've only ever used my ironing board and iron maybe a dozen times in the past few years and only in dire need. 

Cut to me with a pile of dresses--absolutely adorable dresses, mind you--that I wanted to wear but hadn't because (you guessed it) they need to be ironed.  My default excuse was that I didn't have any starch to iron out all the wrinkles and smooth out the pleats of my clothes.  Then one day I bit the bullet and commit to an afternoon of ironing so that I could finally wear those dresses.  I even learned how to make my own spray starch so I wouldn't be tempted to put off my chore with my go-to excuse. 

Now here I am with a closet full of well-ironed clothes and a new addiction blooming: ironing!  Yes, it's true, I've fallen in love with the soothing routine and all because of making my own starch.  It is a simple mixture of cornstarch and water, but there is something about mixing up a batch (way cheaper and eco-friendlier than anything you'll get in the store) and spraying it across my wrinkled dresses feels so right.  Now I can't stop myself. 

And you should try it too.  All you need is a clean empty spray bottle and cornstarch, and you've got yourself a household miracle.  If you want a heavier starch, use more cornstarch--less, use less.  Use cold water here to keep cornstarch from clumping. 

Ingredients:

Heaping tablespoon cornstarch

1 pint cold water

Add ingredients to an empty spray bottle and shake well until cornstarch dissolves. Store in fridge.  Shake well before each use.  Enjoy wrinkle free clothes!

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

Heaven is a Weekend at Home

Time slows down.

You have no schedule, no place to be, no pressing plans.  Just as you like it.  You can let your imagination unfold as you tend your writing--those beautiful words and phrases you've been itching to polish during the week as other demands took you away from pen and paper.  You can lose yourself in a good book--or two--and simply nourish your soul as you devour one story after another, filling up on words and tea in the comfort of your sanctuary. 

Then there is the yoga.  You get to let your body breathe and stretch into its fullest self, no longer confined by high heels or restrictive clothing (or, let's be honest, any clothing, if you so choose).  It is in caramelizing apples for Saturday pancakes or making pasta from scratch for your Sunday dinner.  That is the joy of being at home. 

It is in disappearing from the outside world for two whole days and two whole nights. You retreat into your own world of dreams and stories that often feel more real to you than your waking world.  You tend that inner landscape as you are safely sheltered in your sanctuary relishing the solitude that makes your healing and rejuvenation possible.  Between crocheting on your couch and retiring to your patio to read, you decide that heaven, truly blissful, divine heaven, is in a weekend at home.

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

On the First Kiss of Autumn

Yesterday the wind whipped through your land, chasing out the heat of summer and bringing with it the first kiss of fall.  The day had started out warm, hot almost, but slowly cooled as the wind pulled clouds down from the mountains and over the city.  You had been out in the bluster long enough yesterday to feel the chill in your bones that only a bubble bath and cup of tea could cure.

This morning, the wind is gone and in its place is the heady aroma of autumn. You linger on your porch, enjoying the cool air and the gentle cloud cover.  You inhale that almost undefinable smell synonymous with this time of year: crisp air tinged with the bright green of leaves and the dusky overripe scent of your garden about ready to curl in and retire for the year.  

The weather promises a day of delicious slowness.  Autumn is slowly snaking its fingers through the earth and your heart, pulling you inward, deeper into the quiet of the season.

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

This Lady Needs Some Pampering Spa Kit

Oh yes, you know it sounds so right to be thinking of some lovely spa time right around Friday afternoon.  Sometimes a lady--or let's be honest, a gent--needs a little TLC and time to be pampered.  When you have the energy, it can be fun to have a home spa day, but sometimes even that feels like too much work and all you want is a gentle routine to help you transition from work to play.  So if you're looking for a way to kick off your weekend with a relaxing start, or just get some ideas for how to include a little more self-care during the week, check out my favorite end-of-the-week spa kit.  (And yes, I look exactly like the woman pictured to the right when I take a bubble bath, jewels and perfect hair and all.) 

1. Weekend Head Start Bubble Bath

2. Honey Face Mask

3. Hydrating Hair Mask

4. Lavender Foot Scrub

5. Women's Soothing Mint Tea

These recipes are made from simple ingredients found in your kitchen and pair well together for a total self-care experience.  The hair mask and face mask are perfect to try while you linger in a hot bath--which you should do since my Weekend Head Start Bubble Bath actually detoxes your system. After time spent drinking tea in the bath while letting these potions and lotions do their work, you will feel radiant and rejuvenated.  What bliss!

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

A Homebody's Love Letters to Her Home

This week has left me craving some home time; it's been a lot of out and about, a lot of this and that at work--all good stuff, mind you, but it has kept me away from my little hobbit hole for longer stretches than I would like.   I found myself missing my home this week, eyeing my patio garden that needs a little TLC and gazing fondly at my couch, piled high with yarn for the baby blanket I haven't had the time to work on this week.  This feeling has grown so much that I am beyond excited to be tucking in after tomorrow for a quiet weekend of crocheting, reading, puttering, and writing. 

These thoughts and others made me realize how much I depend on my home, my sanctuary, to ground and replenish me after making my way in the world day to day.  So I offer you three posts I've written about the love of home.  Enjoy!

1.  On Home

2.  On Returning Home After a Long Journey

3.  On Reasons I Love My Home

What do you love most about your home?

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

Tuna-less Mason Jar Nicoise Salad Recipe

One of my favorite all time lunches is a well prepared Nicoise salad; it is elegant and well balanced, full of good-for-you fats, proteins, and veggies that leave you feeling light and energized.  Naturally, I set about figuring out how to transfer this dish into a quick mason jar meal for when I'm on the go. 

I made my version tuna-less because I often prefer vegetarian lunches.  You can, however, feel free to add tuna if you so wish.  After trial and error, I found that cherry tomatoes work best in this salad because they hold up better if you like to make your mason jar meals ahead of time like I do.  But if you are making your salad the morning of, chopped tomatoes, pictured here, work just as well.

Ingredients:

2 cups boiled small potatoes, halved

2 cups chopped green beans

1 cup chopped radishes (about 8 big radishes)

1 cup kalamata olives

2 tomatoes, cut into chunks or 1 cup cherry tomatoes, left whole

4 hard-boiled eggs, cut into quarters

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 heaping tablespoon Dijon mustard

Combine vinegar, oil, and mustard in a mason jar and shake until combined.  Then divide this dressing between 4 mason jars.  Starting with the potatoes, evenly layer ingredients into each jar in the order they appear on the ingredient list.  Store in the fridge.  To serve, simply shake the jar until dressing coats all layers and enjoy!  Makes 4 servings. 

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

On Another Harvest Moon

You went moon gazing last night.  You sat on the front lawn of your family home and simply gazed at this perfectly ripe orb, full of the promise of harvest, of cleansing and rebirth, of inward reflection.  You watched as it grew more golden in the late-night sky, covered only by thin, stray clouds like frayed ribbons drifting over its upturned face.

You let its light wash over you, bathe you in the mythology of the moon, settle your mind and refresh your soul.  And when you finally turned your gaze from that moon and made your way home, it was to dream deeply, letting its light filter through your window and into your dreamscape.

It has been almost a year since you have opened yourself to a better way of living, of dreaming, of being.  A year since you began diligently working on doing less, on recovering from the addiction of busyness.  A whole year since you learned to have time for the moon and embrace the bounty of its wisdom.  Each month it waxes and wanes in its own time, its own pace. So you too continue to learn how to grow into the fullest expression of yourself and take the time you need to take to listen to who you are.

And who you are is a woman who bathes in the moonlight and cultivates the quiet essential to her well-being.  The moon, as if to emphasize this realization, is there to greet you on your waking.  It has watched over you as you dreamed through the night and is there looking over you again in the morning; heavy and golden in the sky as you make your way to work, only the two of you are awake in the city.

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

A Celebration of Kitchen Magic in 5 Flash Essays!

There is something almost ephemeral about the magic that is conjured over a simmering pot of beans or a shallow pan slowly melting butter for ghee.  Somewhere between rinsing and sifting the beans and the hours they spend cooking on a hot stove--or the brief moments it takes for your melted butter to separate its contents--magic occurs.  It is in the way tinkering in the kitchen can sooth us and in how we nourish ourselves not just by the food we make but how we make it. A pinch of this.  A dash of that.  Food is intention, a pure embodiment of how we chose to live, heal, nourish, love.

In many ways, the kitchen is also the most intimate space in our home; it reveals everything about us, from what we consider essential to our everyday life to how we connect with family and those we love.  In honor of this kitchen magic that keeps pulling me back to my stove, a new recipe, or a fresh kettle of hot water, I present to you five musing on the wonder and healing energy of the kitchen:

1.  Under the Influence of M.F. K. Fisher

2.  On Baking

3.  On Grocery Lists

4.  On Cooking and Onion

5.  On Cooking Dinner

What do you love most about the kitchen?

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

Peaches & Cream Overnight Porridge

Right now I'm trying to make the most of peaches as their season is slowly winding towards its end.   Especially come September, much of the peaches you can find at the markets are ripe and juicy--in some cases, verging on overripe.  Not to fear!  These almost overripe jewels are perfect for this Peaches & Cream Overnight Porridge because their juices mingle with the yogurt and milk creating a decadent treat for your breakfast.  The chia seeds and almond meal add an extra vitamin boost.  Like my Tropical Breakfast Quinoa or my Tulsi-rose Breakfast Quinoa, this dish translates well into a breakfast mason jar meal.  In fact, I often prepare this porridge by serving it up in my mason jars straight from the fridge.

What makes this dish so simple--easier even than my quinoa recipes--is that you simply stir all the ingredients together and let them sit overnight in your fridge.  Then the next morning, you have a perfect jar of oats ready and waiting for you.  I especially love this meal when I find myself strapped for time come Sunday and can't linger in the kitchen as I prepare my weekly breakfast and lunch. 

Ingredients:

1 cup multi-grain oats

2 tablespoons chia seeds

2 tablespoons almond meal

2 tablespoons flax seed meal

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ginger

3 tablespoons maple syrup or honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup milk

1 cup Greek yogurt

4 peaches, chopped

Mix all dry ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.  In a separate bowl, mix together all the wet ingredients until combined.  Then begin to add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients slowly, until thoroughly mixed.  Finally, stir in peach chunks.  Divide mixture evenly between 4 mason jars and let sit overnight in fridge.  Makes 4 servings.  Enjoy!

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

On Peeling Chile

It is a yearly ritual, one that closes out summer and ushers in fall; it's as synonymous with your beloved New Mexico as red chile ristras and open turquoises skies: chile peeling.  That art of gathering, roasting and then peeling giant sackfuls of your native fruit to store for the rest of the year.  Every family has their own way; every family knows that their way is the best.

For you, chile peeling is always done on a series of Fridays, when you can devote a few hours to talking, drinking beer or tea--or tequila, and peeling, always peeling the hot, charred skin off the flesh of the roasted chiles and separating them into two bowls: the broken chiles for stews and salsas, and the unblemished whole peppers for rellenos (that dish perfect in the way it stuffs your chiles with cheese, smothers them in blue corn batter, and fries them up).  The waiting-to-be-peeled chile sits in sacks, cooling on your kitchen counter.

Chile peeling.  Your hands tingle from the heat of the peppers long after you've stored your last bag in the freezer.  The pot of beans cooks on the stove top as you work, the promise of celebratory homemade tortillas and rellenos to feast on afterward.  The cool splash of a micro-brew on your tongue, the taste of your homeland.  It is a mediation and an art, flooding you with memories of working with your mother in this very kitchen peeling, planning, preparing a year's worth of chile, a year's worth of countless family dinners, a year's worth of new history laid into the grooves of your lives.

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

Mason Jar Spinach Salad

Spinach is one of those leafy greens that I crave deep in my bones.  More than kale or chard, I simply cannot have enough spinach!  This mason jar salad is an ode to that and stuffed with other good-for you veggies and nuts.  I added a little Dijon mustard to the dressing and its tang ties all the ingredients together--from the sweet, smokey tomatoes to the sugary peas to the peppery radishes. Don't worry if you feel like you are stuffing the spinach leaves into the jar at the end--they'll be fine; you just want to make sure to pack that jar with as many yummy veggies as you can.

Ingredients:

1 cup extra firm tofu, chopped

2 cups sundried tomatoes, diced

1 cup radishes, sliced

1 cup sugar snap peas, diced

4 cups spinach

1 cup pepitas

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup extra virgin voile oil

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

salt to taste (optional)

Combine apple cider vinegar, olive oil, mustard, and salt if desired in a small mason jar and shake until combined.  Divide dressing between four mason jars evenly.  Then proceed to layer each ingredient evenly between 4 mason jars, starting with the tofu and ending with the spinach. Store in the fridge.  When you're ready for your mason jar meal, simply shake the jar to spread the dressing around.  You can eat straight from the jar or pour it on a plate.  Makes 4 servings.  Enjoy!

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

On Dressing for Yourself

To truly dress, you must dress for yourself.

Some say women dress for men.  Others, for other women.  Both are wrong.  Those who do the former waste the pleasures of a perfectly flouncy skirt or nice underwear on an approving gaze--isn't their admiration of your ensemble a mere side effect of the unadulterated enjoyment you take in wearable art?  Those who cater to the later lose the delicious expression of self in exchange for the paltry approval of current trends and conventional clothing found in shop windows.  What a bore.

No, if a woman is to truly dress, she must dress for herself. 

You must take pleasure in pairing turquoise stockings with your blazing yellow dress, despite the general consensus that too many colors are unrefined.  You must cultivate your love of polka dots and retro heels--and jewelry stacked one on top of the other.   Above all, you must ignore the fashion magazine that tells you that gray is the new black because you know full well that pink will always be the new black.  You must wear your dress that makes you feel like a daisy, though not everyone likes flowers.

You wear it for you.

Yes, you must do all these things and more.  For to waste your talents on dressing for others will leave you forever trying to love those stifling button up shirts and deny your passion for retro dresses.  That road only leads to fashion misery and a slow fading of your spirit into the gray when you were once nothing but pink...until, of course, you can't take it anymore.  Then comes an outburst of glitter and polka dots, once again your loud self.  Dressing for others never does last.

For to truly dress, you must dress, always and forever, for yourself. 

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!