Curried Acorn Squash Soup with Toasted Chickpeas

The best recipes are usually the most simple. You can take a little extra time making some special garnishes that will make a basic soup seem pretty fancy. This recipe has room for many optional embellishments. I think my favorite herb is cilantro and I find myself creating dishes around it just so that I have really good excuse to eat it. I know that it offends some people because of it's particular flavor, so feel free to substitute fresh parsley instead.

 However, the primary function of cilantro is to rid the body of heavy metals, which can be absorbed by consuming foods that are packaged in cans, from products we use and from the basic exposure to it. It mobilizes mercury from it's storage containers in the body, which is adipose or fat tissues. It can move it quickly from the brain and central nervous system. Combined with algae, which binds to the excreted toxin, this combination is extremely efficient at working together. Just some quick facts about this delectable herb and it's powers.

Now that we are heading toward warmer weather, I will be growing my own squashes and looking forward to mixing up my recipes with them. Try making this delicious soup - it's very easy and takes about an hour, start to finish. Most of that time is the slow cooking and doesn't require a lot of fuss.
This can easily be made vegan by omitting the yogurt drizzle on top, but it's totally worth it!

INGREDIENTS
1 large acorn squash, halved and seeded
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
3 stalks of celery, minced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups vegetable broth or chicken stock
1 cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon curry powder
olive oil
salt + pepper
cayenne

OPTIONAL GARNISHES
fresh chopped cilantro or parsley
1 cup of cooked chickpeas or toasted cashews
greek yogurt
sauteed mushrooms
green onions
smoked paprika

DIRECTIONS
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Take each half of squash and rub it down with a drizzle of olive oil and season with salt + pepper. Put them face down on a baking sheet and cook them for about 35 minutes or until the tip of a knife can pierce the outside easily. While the squash bake, start a saute in a medium to large sized soup pot. Warm about a tablespoon of olive oil and add the onion and the celery. Season with a pinch of salt + pepper. Let them go about 10 minutes until they begin to brown slightly. Add the garlic, curry powder and cayenne and cook just until it becomes fragrant. De-glaze your pot with your stock liquid by pouring in about a half cup at first, then add the rest. Add the coconut milk and adjust the salt. When the squash is done, remove it from the oven and let it cool about five minutes. Using a spoon, scrape each half down to the skin and add this to the soup. You can blend the soup right in the pot by removing it from the burner and using an immersion blender. This is a tool that is totally worth the investment. If you don't have one, you can use a blender but you will need to allow it to cool down a bit first.

In the meantime, you can toast your nuts or make crunchy, spiced chickpeas in the oven that's probably still warm. Bring it down to 375 degrees. Toss the chickpeas in a bowl with olive oil, salt + pepper and smoked paprika. Spread them out single layer on your same baking sheet and pop them in for about 20 minutes, giving them a shake halfway through. After they cool, they will be crunchy and crispy like nuts. So delicious.

If you have a squeeze bottle fitted with a small tip for dressings or sauces, use this to make your fancy zig zag. Fill it with a couple tablespoons of plain, greek yogurt and a splash of water. Shake it up and you've got a great little tool for finishing touches. Dress your bowl with sauteed mushrooms if you're using them, and top it with fresh herbs and nuts. Add your design last. You will love this versatile soup that can be made just as easily with a butternut squash or even sweet potato.

ENJOY!!

Red Dirt Woman | Spring, 2015

I'm so thrilled to be able to offer Red Dirt Woman's spring retreat again at Blue Doors! How fortunate we are that they love Red Dirt Woman as much as we do. This season, the theme of our retreat will be linear with spring rituals and activities as we focus on body-positive activities, rituals and content that are designed to reinforce healthy self image while staying mindful of our health + wellness.

It is so easy to sink into a loop of thought about the way we look or, more oftentimes, the way we think we look, and project those negative feelings onto our relationships and into our environment at home and at work. Everyone experiences physiological changes after childbirth, after the end of a relationship, moving, losing a loved one, surviving a trauma, or simply completing a cycle that has in place for a long time. It is natural to absorb self doubt and criticism as we move forward into unfamiliar territory, but the lasting effects of those emotions, unchecked, can lead to physical and emotional imbalance.

By restructuring our habitual behaviors and consciously changing or re-writing them, we step back into that imprint of powerful positivity, and the effects can be immense! Women are naturally a bit critical about how they look and what they accomplish in a day. We tend to be hard on ourselves when we compare our measure of success to other women. The healing we can experience with counteracting those things in the company of other women, gives us the support, encouragement and safety to explore that shift.

To learn everything you need to know about the retreat including our schedule, our brand new tribe of lady staff, a virtual tour of the resort and sign up, head to the official retreat website here! We are excited and looking forward to seeing YOU!

Red Dirt Woman Tribe

A few years ago, I started having this dream. THIS one. Powerful women gathered together in ceremony, ritual, creativity, love and enduring community. A spectrum of ages, colors, skills, hearts and heads - retreating into the woods and gathered around fire. This vision was something that I was spiritually cultivating as an expansion on many sister circles I have attended and co-created over the last two decades of my life, which truly makes up an enormous part of my female foundation. I feel the most strong and focused when I am in the company and conversation of other mothers, sisters, wives and daughters. Our gifts are amplified when we bring them together in circle, collecting the energy, and give it back to the universe. It creates a boomerang effect that works a lot like karma, returning to you in some form that reflects your high self. I firmly believe in the strength of these gatherings and with my passion, my bleeding heart and my greatest honor, I set out to womanifest this tribe as a living collection of women, a global sisterhood of stars, sharing their journeys together. When we raise the vibration in togetherness, we levitate a little.

Here are some collected images taken by the women who attended our first retreat, last November. I'm so grateful to this awesome tribe of healers who made everything possible, especially to the incredible Jane and Pat of Blue Doors at Tenkiller who generously opened their space up to us and welcomed Red Dirt Woman in a really big way. We really put some roots down there and look forward to our spring retreat which is already underway! Registration is now open until May 2nd. You can learn everything you need to know about it here.

Welcome to Blue Doors at Tenkiller, Highway 100 in Gore, Oklahoma just off of the lower Illinios River and Lake Tenkiller.

We put together  little gift bags filled with treats and goodies to welcome our sisters as they arrived to the retreat. They were on their beds as they checked into their cabins. A little nicer than a mint!

The roaring pizza oven at night, fired up and ready to turn out an abundance of pies that we feasted on the first night for dinner.

An impressive craft table set up in the tipi the first night. The ladies found journals in their gift bags. They collaged the covers and infused them with love and intention for the weekend.

After hours, these sisters turned the kitchen table into a playground and they blessed our space with their inversions, stretches and breath of light!

Our beautiful, dusky rainbow kitchen at looked so magical. This is completely open air on all sides but we hung a tarp over the top to keep the potential for rain out, which we got!

A simple morning breakfast of fresh fruit, nuts, granola from my blog and homemade almond and hazelnut milks to give us some healthy fuel for the day.

We hiked back into the woods, away from camp, for a group meditation. The leaves were thick and golden and the moss was cool, green and wet. It was a perfect place for some quiet reflection.

I made mini, crustless quiches in my doughnut pans for another breakfast using fresh eggs from the hens at Blue Doors. Thank you Sister!

How many women can you find meditating in this picture?

The tipi served us well for many of our classes and activities throughout the weekend. Holy, holy.

That's beauiful Jane in the background who owns Blue Doors and that's Sister. This hen is like a dog - she follows Jane everywhere, hangs out in the kitchen, gives us eggs and even rides in the golf cart!

Yoga twining.

I built this altar in our heated yoga studio. These crystals and stones were generously donated by our sisters at Be The Light Rocks. Everything was ruled by the sign of Sagittarius and the planet Jupiter. I made a special oil blend in the glass bottle that you could annoint your chakras with as you entered and left the space.

Our essential oils workshop with Tori Rose and Young Living.

A regular sight at meal times - gathered around the rock fire pit with good vibes and conversation always.

This is the view from the tipi. It sits back in the woods behind the cabins. So quiet and peaceful back here. A perfect place to collect your thoughts, meditate and simply BE.

The last night of retreat, I surprised the girls with this performance from Carrie and Kelsey. The astrological theme of the weekend was fire and I thought this was perfect. They were amazing!

The altar contained fluorite, selenite, red jasper, amethyst, cedar and lotus, among other little treasures.

On the last day, everyone was eager to look at all of the photos that had been captured throughout the weekend so that we could go home with some amazing memories to share with our friends and families!

Good byes are always a little bittersweet, but everyone left with full hearts, renewed spirits and a whole lot of love to take home.

Until next time, ladies! See you this May for our spring awakening retreat! Love, blessings and light!