Vegan Pho

As I see it we have two choices when we wake up every day, we can choose an attitude of scarcity which comes with mantras like "I'm not good enough", "I don't deserve to be happy", "My income will never support me" (I think everyone is familiar with these types of thoughts) OR we can choose an attitude of abundance which is accompanied by "I'm going to have a fantastic day today", "I am going to radiate love today", "I can't wait to see what ways I can support others today".  My yoga practice AND my career as a potter and business woman has taught me endless lessons about myself, ways to adapt to the ever-changing world around me and most of all, that I am in charge of my own attitude and my own gratitude.

This month I organized a fundraising project for a local non profit called Meals on Wheels which makes approximately 9,000 meals each day that are delivered to seniors in southeastern ct. I created a template for a small hand built bowl that could easily be taught to anyone of any age and then invited the community to come in and make the bowls which we sold this past weekend with 100% of the profits going to the MOW program. Over 20 people came in over the course of three making days to help out and over 100 bowls were created. The bowls were stamped with short quotes : "made with love", "be peace", "treat yourself", "eat well be well", "eat mindfully", and since the sale, less than 20 bowls are left. This community service effort was a way for me to give back but the ripple effect has been that I have been inundated with "thank you's", with hugs, with "we had so much fun making those bowls", "we came back to buy the bowls we made" and so on. Long and the short of it.......abundance comes from within. We all have the capacity to use our personal skills to serve our communities.

On the day of the sale a multimedia and film editing teacher, Susan Selvidio Stanley brought two middle school girls to interview and take footage at my studio. Check out the short video they created about this community service project on facebook and like my new page The Vegan Potter while you're there!

I realized last night during a live food demo broadcast on Periscope that I've been using the app as a form of community service and that's part of my love of broadcasting! I'm a teacher, I love sharing my knowledge, I love being inspired by students, I love networking and meeting people from all over the world. Out of all the different items I can make from clay, bowls represent sharing food through family style meals and food made with love. As I was thinking about making food last night I realized I wanted to share that experience with my periscope followers and so I offered my humble recipe for Vegan Pho (delicious vietnamese soup).  You can catch the replay on Periscope until Wednesday March 23 at 8:30pm @artsandwellness but after that it will be gone!  Please share your thoughts on abundance, gratitude and how sharing food makes you feel in the comments to this post, I would love to connect with you!

Vegan Pho

 Ingredients:

2 quarts water bring to a boil

2-3 Tbl Better Than Boulion No Chicken Base

1 Tbl Garlic Chili Paste

1 Tbl peeled and sliced fresh ginger

3 tbl sesame oil

2 packages extra firm tofu (optional)

2-3 tbl corn starch

4 scallions thinly sliced

4-5 radishes thinly sliced

1 lime sliced into wedges

bean sprouts

1-2 jalepeno pepper thinly sliced

1 package vermicelli rice noodles

1. In a large pot get the water boiling for your rice noodles. Follow instructions on package for preparation.

2. Drain and press the tofu to extract as much water as possible and then cube it up and toss in a large bowl with corn starch until it seems a tad on the sticky side. In a shallow skillet with 2 tbl of sesame oil, fry the tofu tossing until it crisps up over medium heat.

3. In a second large pot get the soup broth started by boiling the water and adding the ginger, boullion, chili paste and sesame oil. Cover and simmer.

4. Chop your veggies and remember you can dress this soup up with any veggies you like, try carrots, red peppers, turnip or anything else that moves you!

5. Assemble your soup! Get out your favorite bowl and ladle some broth, add some noodles and top with your fresh veggies and tofu, squeeze in some fresh lime, stir in some hoisin sauce, siracha sauce or other garnish like cilantro, fresh ground pepper or red pepper flakes, stir and enjoy!