Ain't Got No Meat? Whatcha Gonna Eat?

Just because I consider this a bit of a fast (a Pagan Lent? *L*) doesn't meant I can't still eat delicious, nourishing food.  Now, because I have a gastric band, I will have to drink at least one protein shake a day.  There is a lot of protein to be found in vegetarian substitutes, but I have some special dietary needs, so it will be whey protein to the rescue.  I'll be consuming some eggs and dairy as well.

I have sort of started developing recipes, but the real testing and development will happen in the moment, when the produce I want to use is actually in season.  For now, though, I have a list that I am working on.  Here are some of the dishes that I will be experimenting with during the period between the old and new year:

Linguine frittata with greens - chard, etc.
Lentil burgers - I'll experiment with different spices
Majahdra - lentils and rice flavored with fried onions
Tofu scramble - That recipe is posted on here somewhere
Butternut squash lasagna - Another recipe that is on this blog somewhere
Tofu stir-fry with veggies and probably a peanut sauce
Stuffed cabbage - Using my lentil-walnut loaf mixture as a stuffing
Stuffed mushrooms
Roasted vegetable enchiladas
Roasted carrot and parsnip soup
Wild mushroom soup
Mushroom and polenta pie

I'm also working on a grain or rice salad that features the colors of Samhain.  I will probably have some of that on Samhain to mark my transition.  

Those are just a few of the ideas I have. I'm sure I'll feel creative enough once the produce is in season and the stores are decorated with squash and other autumn goodies.   Stay tuned, as always, for recipes.

Dark Goddess Series, Pt. IV - The Callieach

Picture is from from The Goddess Oracle and is the property of Thalia Took (www.thaliatook.com).


The Cailleach, or Veiled Woman, is a Celtic hag goddess, associated with places in Scotland and the Isle of Man. There she is seen as a winter spirit, whose behavior on February 1 predicts the weather for the coming year. In other lore she is the symbol of winter that holds spring captive, by keeping Brigid prisoner inside a mountain. Upon her escape, spring returns.

Other lore features The Cailleach Bhéirre as a hideous old woman in search of love. If she finds love, she turns into a beautiful woman.

Druidry.org has this to say: “The early Celts savored the dark side of life. They embraced war like a lover, plunging into battle naked, singing gloriously boastful songs. They were fearless in the face of death, which their belief in reincarnation taught them was “…but the center of a long life.” It was not uncommon for a man to lend money and agree on repayment in a future lifetime. Their day began at dusk; the new year at Samhain, the festival we know as Halloween. Darkness was associated with new beginnings, the potential of the seed below the ground. In Celtic mythology and folk-lore, the wisdom of darkness is often expressed by powerful goddess figures. Whether in the natural, cultural or individual context, their role is to catalyze change through the transformative power of darkness, to lead through death into new life. A Dark Goddess of nature, particularly in Scotland, is the Cailleach, a name that came to mean “Old Wife”, but which is literally, “Veiled One,” an epithet often applied to those who belong to hidden worlds. To this name is often added Bheur: ‘sharp’ or ‘shrill’, for she personifies the cutting winds and harshness of the northern winter. She was also known as the daughter of Grianan, the “little sun” which in the old Scottish calendar shines from Hallowmas to Candlemas, followed by the “big sun” of the summer months.”

She is depicted as a crone with the teeth of a wild bear and/or the tusks of a wild boar, or she is seen as a one-eyed giantess. Her appearance, frightful as it sounds, makes sense, as she is the guardian spirit of reindeer, swine, deer, wild cattle, goats and wolves.

On November 1, a festival known as 'Reign of the Old Woman Cailleach' is celebrated annually in the Celtic countries (in Ireland it is known as 'Day of the Banshees'). ‘The End of Cailleach’ is also observed. It is held on the eve of Imbolc (Jan. 31 or Feb. 1), This fest signals the start of Imbolc and the end of winter.

Thalia Took, author and artist of the incredibly gorgeous Goddess Oracle Deck, says this about The Cailleach: “ Getting the Cailleach in a reading indicates a time of winter. Peer into the darkness to find the old and ancient bones. What do they cage? What new thing can they support? Is the Cailleach holding beautiful Spring captive, or will time transform the Hag into Spring Herself?”

What does this mean? Again, this is another goddess telling us to take time to look deep within, to face our darkest fears and realize our darkest desires. Only then can we begin to grow and flourish. We must first face the darkness of winter before we can bask in the light of the spring.

To observe The End of Cailleach at the end of January/beginning of February, prepare an altar or table with a bowl of snow (or freezer frost!) as a symbol of Cailleach. You can place candles around the bowl or in the bowl. Use red, orange, and yellow candles to welcome the sun. You can do this before your Imbolc ritual, or find a way of combining the two if you so choose. For Cailleach, I would use ice blue and dark blue candles, as well as black and white. Give thanks for the time of introspection, as well as the gift of life during the long, cold winter. Give thanks for the release of Brigid, so spring can come.

Foods:
Root vegetables
Irish soda bread
Preserved meat, such as ham

Roasted Winter Vegetable Soup (Zedral Z)
1 small winter squash, peeled, seeded, cut into chunks
1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks
2 gold potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
4-5 garlic cloves, peeled
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, or ½ teaspoon dried
4 tablespoons oil (olive, Canola, etc.)
Salt and pepper to taste
Homemade vegetable or chicken stock (or store bought), or water

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In an oiled roasting dish, combine the vegetables. Toss with oil, rosemary and salt and pepper. Roast for 40-50 minutes, until vegetables are fork-tender and the flavor has intensified.

From here you can either transfer the vegetables to a soup pot with 5-6 cups of warm stock and puree with a hand mixer, or use a blender to puree the vegetables and broth together in a blender. You may reserve some of the chunks of potato, carrot and squash for the soup, or puree it all until smooth. Reheat gently.

Irish Soda Bread - recipe from Cooking by the Seasons by Karri Ann Allrich

2 cups unbleached all-purpose (AP) flour
4 tablespoons (T) sugar
1 teaspoon (t) baking powder
½ t baking soda
½ t sea salt
1 cup currants
1 T caraway seeds
1 free-range egg
½ cup canola oil or melted stick margarine
2/3 cup milk or almond milk

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a round cake pan with stick margarine. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, salt, currants, and caraway seeds. Whisk together. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, oil, and milk. Pour into the dry ingredients and combine with a wooden spoon, until moistened. Batter will be a bit sticky.

Mound the batter onto the pan, forming a rounded-shape loaf in the center of the pan. Smooth out the surface as best you can. With a sharp knife, cut an equal-sized cross into the center-top surface, about ½ inch deep, and sprinkle lightly with flour.

Bake on the center rack for 25-30 minutes, until the loaf is a golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Place on a wire rack and cool before serving.

Cut the bread into wedges and serve in a basket, with plenty of butter or margarine.

Dark Goddess Series, Part III: Hecate

I know I'm a bit late for the Night of Hecate but I've been very busy at work. Please accept this slightly late post and know that you can certainly honor Hecate at any time. :)


Who is Hecate? Today’s Witches and Pagans associate her with the crossroads, magic, witchcraft, and ghosts. She has also been associated with everything from childbirth to dogs. During the Hellenistic period she was depicted as a three-faced woman. The earliest depictions of Hecate, however, were of a single-faced goddess. Some neo-Pagans refer to her as a crone goddess, although this conflicts with her former characterization as a virgin.

Hecate was a pre-Olympian goddess, the only Titan Zeus allowed to retain any authority once the Olympians took over. Often classified as a moon goddess, Hecate actually reigned over the earth, sea and sky. Her ability to create storms or to hold them back made her the protector of sailors and shepherds.

Like her cousin, Artemis, Hecate retained her independence and solitude, remaining unwilling to give up this independent nature for the sake of marriage.

Another similarity between the two goddesses is the presence of sacred dogs, although the dogs, much like Hecate herself, were thought to each have three heads and the ability to see in all directions at once (and even the past, present and future). Hecate is depicted as either a beautiful woman with three heads, or a woman with the heads of a snake, a boar, and a horse.

Hecate became Persephone’s friend and confidant during the latter’s time in the Underworld. Her ability to see into the Underworld made her comfortable in the presence of those who would normally be shunned by others. Her friendliness toward Persephone gained her a permanent invitation to Underworld from Hades.

Hecate was not only called upon to help ease a mother’s labor and to aid her child’s transition into this world, but she was also called upon to help the dying make their journey. Hecate is there to help us when we have a journey to make. She waits at the crossroads, waiting to help us find our way.

Now that you have a tiny bit of background information on Hecate (and there is so, so much more that could be said, believe me!), it is time to think about how to honor her in the most sacred room of the home: the kitchen.

The first step is to thoroughly clean the kitchen. Scrub the grease off the stovetop, wash and put away the dishes, sweep and mop the floor, and take out that smelly trash! Next, spiritually cleanse the area.

Rosemary is one of those all-purpose herbs and can be used for protection and cleansing as well as remembrance and love. However, it is ruled by the sun, and as Hecate is a moon goddess, you may wish to find something a bit closer to the cool, silvery energy of the moon. Cleanse the area with sage, which is more traditional, and light candles of black, white and silver. Welcome Hecate into your home in the way you deem fit. If you need help finding your way, or have something you wish to be rid of, ask for her assistance. Again, you the words that you deem appropriate.

Some suitable offerings for Hecate are moon foods: Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, coconut, lemon, lentils, melon, milk, mushrooms, potatoes, and pumpkins.

Some ideas (recipes provided upon request):
Lentil salad with lemon and cucumbers
Roasted Brussels sprouts
Potato-cauliflower soup
Potato-mushroom gratin
Pumpkin soup

Another suggestion is to leave some food outside for stray neighborhood dogs, or make a donation of dog food to the local animal shelter. Do this in Hecate’s name in honor of her sacred hounds.

Dark Goddess Series, Part II - Baba Yaga

Baba Yaga (Baba Ye-gar) is prominently featured in many Russian tales. She is the stereotypical evil witch in appearance, with the long, down-turned nose, pointy chin, and numerous warts. Known also as “Old Bony Legs”, this fearsome hag flies through the air in a mortar, using the pestle to propel herself, and sweeping her tracks with a silver birch broom.

Baba Yaga lives in a house that is perched on chicken feet. The gate around her house is topped with human skulls and she is known as an eater of children. She has a very short temper, yet in some stories she has a helpful side.

She is also the keeper of fire, and the skulls around her home have a fire in each of them. In some stories the fire is green. She has three horsemen – a white rider on a white horse, a red rider on a red horse, and a black rider on a black horse – who represent day, sunrise, and night, respectively.

In one of the more famous stories, a girl named Vasilisa is sent to Baba Yaga by her stepmother. Vasilisa’s mother died some time before, but not before giving her daughter a magical doll. Sent by the stepmother to get coal for the fire, Vasilisa ends up spending several days in Baba Yaga’s house completing tasks such as separating poppy seeds from soot. As in Cinderella, Vasilisa is rewarded and the stepmother and stepsisters are punished in the end.

Vasilisa can be seen as the Maiden who must come into womanhood by completing certain rites of passage –i.e. the tasks Baba Yaga asks her to complete. Baba Yaga herself is, of course, the Crone. She is seen by some as evil, but to others she can be a source of wisdom and help, much as other Crone or dark aspects of the Goddess.

Baba Yaga is the arch-Crone, the wise one, the symbol of the death that we must all face. She is also a symbol of transformation, represented by the mortar and pestle she uses to fly. A mortal and pestle grinds course grains and seeds, wearing them down to reveal the newly transformed material. A poppy seed, for example, is transformed into oil, which is its next phase. So are we transformed through death and rebirth, from one incarnation into the next.

There are so many more things that can be said about this scary woman, but you can look into her information and wisdom on your own time if you wish. Does she really eat children? Is she really as terrifying as she is made out to be? Stories say that those who seek her of their own free will seem to fare better than others. I do not know.

Baba Yaga: The Black Goddess: http://www.mythinglinks.org/BabaYaga.html
More stories of Vasilisa and Marusia: http://www.oldrussia.net/baba.html

Now, if you are in the mood to honor the Crone and her wisdom, you can set aside the 20th of January to honor Baba Yaga/Baba Den, as they do in Bulgaria. Grandmothers, doctors, wise women and others who help bring children into the world are also honored on this day. Children visit and take them flowers.

For Baba Yaga or Baba Den:

Decorate the altar or table with birch branches to represent the broom she uses to sweep away her tracks. If you have a mortar and pestle, place that on the table as well. Burn sandalwood or patchouli incense. Place geraniums on the table and light candles in black, white and red. Do these also if you wish to request her aid in banishing.

Foods:

Banitza – Phyllo pastry with cheese

10-12 sheets phyllo/filo pastry (you can purchase this in the freezer case of the grocery store)
1 lb/500 gr. Brined white cheese, such as a mild feta
½ stick butter, melted
3-4 eggs
1 cup soda water
Pinch of salt

Butter a medium-sized baking dish. Put on a layer of pastry and brush with melted butter. Keep the rest of the pastry sheets covered under a damp cloth so they don’t dry out.

Sprinkle the crumbled white cheese onto the pastry. Cover with another sheet of pastry and repeat the process.

In a bowl whisk together the eggs, salt and soda water. Pour onto the banitza and allow it to soak in.

Bake at about 425 F for approximately 40 minutes, or until the banitza is golden brown and has risen slightly. Allow to cook for 30 minutes before serving.
You can add sautéed spinach to the cheese, or even sautéed cabbage.

Accompany this dish with mushroom stroganoff, buttered poppy seed noodles, and maybe a nice roast chicken with walnut sauce. This menu is a mixture of Bulgarian and Russian recipes, but you could skip the banitza and make (frozen) piroshky instead.

Oh, and don’t forget the vodka.

After the Darkness, Light

It’s the dark half of the year and seasonal depression is kicking my ass. I could try to fight it but I know I would ultimately lose, so why not just go with the flow? Since I’m in a dark mood, I’ve decided to look at some of the darker aspects of the Goddess and work on dishes to honor them.

We shall begin with Kali, a goddess to whom I have long felt a closeness. Kali, whose name means “black”, is the Hindu goddess of time and change. She has often been looked upon as violent and bloody, and this concept of a goddess of annihilation still carries some influence. However, she is also viewed as a redeemer of the universe, and some new devotees look upon her as a benevolent mother goddess. In reality she is all of these. She is the beginning and the end, the creatrix and the destroyer, the one who births you and the one who removes you from this life.

Kali is the consort of Shiva, upon whose body she is often depicted standing. Kali, in her role of destroyer, became drunk from drinking the blood of the dead and found it impossible to stop her dance of destruction. Mythology tells us that Shiva lay down in front of her in an attempt to stop her. Another version states that Shiva was but an infant when he is sent onto the battlefield to stop her. She ceases her rampage and picks up the infant Shiva to comfort and nurse him. This is Kali in her mother goddess aspect, as aspect which is not as widely recognized in the Western world.

The lesson she has for us is similar to that of other dark goddesses: life cannot exist without death. If we are to accept her blessings in life, we most also face the terrors of the grave. This is an easy concept to pay lip service to, but when you really start thinking about it, or are actually faced with the prospect of meeting Her in death, it becomes quite different. I believe those who truly struggle with certain ailments – mental as well as physical- are closer to this reality than they would like to acknowledge. Suddenly the thought of the cycle of birth, death and rebirth is not so comforting. It becomes a rather frightening concept, or at least one that causes nervousness, discomfort, and worry.

What are we to do, then? We cannot avoid death. Our end is just as inevitable as it has been for everyone else who has walked upon this planet. I think it best to accept the fact that all of us must meet the same fate, but that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily going to happen anytime soon.

When I get into one of these dark, introspective moods and over think my own mortality, I find it best to do something to get my mind off things. I hit the kitchen. That’s what kitchen witches do, is it not? In the kitchen I am more at ease and am able to release some of my anxiety and some of my thoughts of the cold lonely grave and embrace life and joy through cooking.




When I want to open myself up to Kali, to receive any wisdom she wishes to pass my way, I cook up some Indian food. One of my favorite dishes is rajma masala, which is full of ingredients that are ruled by the element of fire. Fire is a good representation of Kali, as it an element that can destroy and purify at the same time.

*Note: Followers of Jainism and Vaishnavism , as well as devotees of Krishna, do not use onions and garlic. Instead, they use asafetida. As far as I know, Kali has no problem with onions and garlic.

Rajma Masala

2 cups kidney beans, soaked over night
Water
1-2 bay leaves
1-2 onions, finely chopped
1 tablespoon each finely chopped/grated ginger
1-2 tablespoons finely minced garlic 1
½ teaspoon turmeric powder
½ teaspoon asafetida powder, optional
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 teaspoons red chili powder
2 large tomatoes, finely chopped, or one small can
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
2 tablespoons ground coriander
3 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
Finely chopped cilantro/coriander leaves for garnish

Cook the kidney beans until they are soft. Some recipes recommend a pressure cooker but most people don’t have these. You’re more than welcome to use canned kidney beans, which most people can get. They’re safer. If you’re using canned beans, use two large cans.

Heat the oil in a heavy skillet. Add the cumin seeds and let them sputter for a minute. Add the bay leaves, asafetida (if using), garlic and ginger. Stir-fry so the garlic doesn’t burn. Add the onions and fry until lightly golden. Add the rest of the spices except the garam masala. Add the tomatoes. Fry for 5-6 more minutes.
Add the beans and either a ladleful or two of the cooking water, or a 2 cups of regular water. Add salt to taste. Simmer for about 15 minutes.

Add the garam masala last. Cover and turn the heat to low. Let the dish simmer on low heat for another 5 minutes. Garnish with the fresh cilantro leaves. Serve with Basmati rice.

Offer some of this with a prayer of thanks for life. Offer up your apprehensions regarding mortality and ask for a deeper understanding of the cycle. Breathe in the aroma of garlic, onion, and chili and visualize the dish’s ingredients warming you and revitalizing you.

Light flame-colored candles and decorate the table with marigolds or other golden flowers. Share this meal with your loved ones and know that this darkness will pass.

Suggested music
George Harrison: All Things Must Pass
Traditional Indian music
http://www.raaga.com/channels/sanskrit/moviedetail.asp?mid=S0000025