May’s Potluck was a bit different than the other monthly events we’ve been doing. Rather than pick an ethnic or ingredient theme we wanted to give one of our friends the opportunity to explore some of her new skills as a Health Coach and choose mindfulness as our theme. Rather than bringing a dish we all brought ingredients to make set of predetermined dishes (listed below) and our friend Vicki walked us through mindful cooking and eating. Vicki is a good friend of mine who is a Mental Health Counselor. She loves yoga, running and cooking and just graduated from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. Rather than do a brief overview of the potluck myself I’ve asked her to do this month’s post. Here’s what she has to say (with some commentary in italics from me):

The spread at the table

Mindful cooking is using cooking as a form of “moving meditation.” Meditating usually conjures up solely images of one sitting down, silent, with the eyes closed, however, this is but one form used. During a moving meditation, we are encouraged to take any task at hand and focus solely on our actions for that task without letting our mind wander off course (something incredibly hard for me personally). As we chop a vegetable, for instance, if we are not focused on our task but instead thinking about all the dishes we need to do after dinner, we might chop a finger off! Not only for safety reasons do we stay mindful, but also as a way to fully enjoy every detail and moment of the beauty that is the cooking process.

During this potluck we focused on making (or eating) the following items:

Beef taco filling (recipe below)
Rice and black beans
Sweet potato and black bean taco filling
Tossed salad with mixed greens (including massaged kale), colorful tomatoes, and other veggies
Taco fixings: sour cream, cheddar cheese, chopped onions tomatoes and peppers, various hot sauces, soft and hard corn tortillas
Dessert: mixed flavors of sorbet

Colorful food, and cook ware makes things all the more fun!

We were encouraged to focus on ways of involving all our senses while we cooked in order to bring our awareness to the present moment and feel connected to our food.  We focused on the different colors (I brought purple carrots for this exact reason, I LOVE colorful food) and textures of our veggies (Vicki walked several people through the process of helping her massage the Kale for the salad- a texture experience that is very unique) and how pretty they looked all together. We tasted our dish as we went along and took note of how the flavors deepened as the dish cooked longer. We listened to the satisfying sizzle of veggies hitting a hot pan while Spanish music (the perfect kind of music to listen to for a cooking party) played in the background. We smelled each veggie and spice as the heat of the pan opened up their scents. Some of our guests said they weren’t as knowledgeable about cooking as they would like, so we led an instruction (on a few different cooking techniques such as cutting onions) as we cooked our main dish.

A delicious salad with wooden spoons from Africa.

Before even getting to the food, our potluck began with a dirty kitchen, a sink full of dishes, late guests with car trouble and a frazzled host. This scenario proved to be the perfect exercise in mindfulness and teamwork (it was a great opportunity!). We were forced to delegate small chores to each person. When frustrations flew we stopped our minds from wandering by focusing on the task at hand. Our host admitted that resentments over family members leaving a mess in the kitchen has been a thorn in her side when it comes to wanting to cook (this is a common issue with those of us that live gluten free and have a shared kitchen space too!). This began the group discussion of what prevents us from wanting to cook. Answers around the room provided an interesting look into the much deeper issues that are tied to food. One guest told us that she learned to resent cooking because it was expected of her from her mom in order to become a “good wife.” One person admitted he and his family members fight for control at the stove when they cook together. Food addiction, the dull chore that is food shopping, and lack of cooking knowledge were all topics brought up as well. Each guest was able to offer a solution that worked personally for them, or simply provided a listening ear (This discussion was incredible in my eyes. Culture, upbringing, and so many other aspects influence our perceptions of cooking/food/eating and we all have experiences that hinder out ability to connect with food. With this dialogue we were working mindfully to bust through those or help others come up with ideas how to bust through their own, thus reconnecting the social aspect of cooking and eating that is often overlooked).

Of course no mindfulness potluck would be complete without keeping that feeling of connection going by sitting together at the dinner table. We were able to look at each other, talk to each other and pass each other dishes in a way that being scattered in separate rooms would not allow (one downfall to our usual buffet style potlucks). Someone offered up that they almost felt “drunk” on good feelings. We were relaxed. We laughed. Most of all, we were able to do nothing more than enjoy the magical moment we cultivated by putting so much love into our meal.

Mindfully Cooked Beef Taco Filling

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

1 hour

Total time

1 hour 15 mins

 

This Beef taco filling is a little spicy and a little sweet, perfect for any taco lover.

Author: Vicki Moir

Recipe type: Main Dish

Cuisine: Spanish

Ingredients

• 1-2 lbs ground beef
• 1-2 cups cooked black beans
• small can tomato sauce*
• ¼ cup ketchup
• dash of cinnamon
• sprinkle of maple syrup or brown sugar
• dash of hot sauce
• cumin, paprika, chilli powder, salt and pepper all to taste
• 1 large tomato chopped*
• 1 large onion chopped
• 1 large bell pepper chopped
• 5 garlic cloves chopped small
• 2-3 medium carrots peeled and chopped
• 1-2 cups hot water
• *usually a can of diced tomatoes can replace the chopped tomato and can of sauce. We were out of diced tomatoes and replacing our missing ingredient became a lesson in staying calm while cooking!

Instructions

1. Peel and/or chop all veggies and set aside.
2. Brown the meat without using oil.
3. Once meat turns brown drain off excess oil
4. Return meat to heat and add all veggies except tomato and garlic. Stir until softened.
5. Add garlic and tomato and stir for one minute
6. add all spices a little at a time, stirring often and tasting often. Cook until fragrant. (Note: spices are meant to be added and tasted throughout the cooking process as opposed to measuring out specific amounts as this is the method was used to encourage the use of our senses while cooking).
7. Add tomato sauce, ketchup, maple syrup or brown sugar and water. Stir until blended then turn heat down to low and cover. Let mixture simmer for about 15 minutes to allow flavors to blend.
8. Remove lid and continue cooking, stirring often until mixture has thickened. You can turn the heat back up to speed the process up if desired.

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I’d like to thank Vicki for taking the time to write such a thoughtful piece on this potluck, it was loads of fun and I am so happy to be sharing our process. Keep an eye out for others guests posts from her in the future!