Here you go guys. Anybody looking at ways to put more veggies in your diet can check out this new website.

http://www.mastersinpublichealth.net/more-than-meats-the-eye-top-25-blogs-to-help-you-go-vegan/

Hot and Spicy South Indian Rice

Hot and Spicy South Indian Tomato Rice

The spice masala:

1 ½ teaspoons oil

3 large dried red chilies

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

3 teaspoons chana dal or yellow split peas

¼ teaspoon fenugreek seeds

1 tablespoon desiccated coconut

Remaining ingredients:

2 tablespoons oil

2 cups water

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup basmati or other long-grain white rice

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

10 fresh curry leaves

2 large red or green chilies, sliced in rings

½ teaspoon asafetida (hing)

4 large firm ripe tomatoes, chopped

To prepare the spice masala:

Heat 1 ½ teaspoons oil in a wok or heavy pan over moderate heat. Drop in the red chilies, coriander, and chana dal. Toast, stirring occasionally, for 3-5 minutes or until they darken in color and become fragrant. Towards the end, drop in the fenugreek and coconut, and stir until the coconut becomes golden brown. Remove the spices and coconut and grind to a powder. Remove and set aside.

To prepare the rice:

1. Slowly bring the water and salt to a boil in a 1-liter/quart covered saucepan.

2. Warm 1 teaspoon oil in a 2-liter/quart saucepan over moderate heat. Pour in the rice and stir-fry for 2 minutes or until the grains glisten and turn whitish. Add the boiling water, raise the heat and quickly bring to a full boil. Immediately reduce the heat to very low, cover with a tight-fitting lid and gently simmer, without stirring, for 20-25 minutes, or until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender and fluffy. Remove the pan from the heat and let the rice sit, covered, for 5 minutes to allow the grains to firm up.

To prepare the tomatoes and complete the dish:

1. While the rice is cooking, place the remaining oil in a wok or heavy frying pan over moderate heat. When the oil is hot, drop in the mustard seeds. They will crackle, sputter, and start to turn grey. Add the curry leaves, stir briefly, then add the chilies and fry them for 1 or 2 minutes, or until they turn translucent. Sprinkle in the asafetida (hing), sauté momentarily and add the chopped tomatoes. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the tomatoes soften and break down. Stir the spice masala into the tomatoes and cook for an additional one minute. Remove from the heat.

2. When the rice is fully cooked and firm, stir in the spicy tomatoes, fluffing the rice and tomatoes gently with a fork to mix evenly. Serve piping hot.

Mind-Brain Problem

"A century and a half after Charles Darwin published his theory of evolution, some still doubt its ability to explain the emergence of human beings and other forms of life.

These days, some Darwin skeptics are focusing on the human brain. They say a higher power must be involved; otherwise, how could a bunch of cells produce such complicated mental processes as consciousness or subjective experiences? How could something like free will be the result of evolution?

While Darwin skeptics have homed in on this mind-brain problem, most brain scientists say there's plenty of evidence that mental actions such as consciousness have evolved along with the brain."

After reading and hearing the previous excerpt from an NPR piece, (more completely provided in the link below), our Reflections discussion went in a variety of directions as we discussed the origins of our own being and the way people approach the topic.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100867217

Investigating the Health and Science of Meditation

For thousands of years, spiritual traditions from around the world have emphasized the need for a balanced practice of contemplation and mediation in our individual lives. Now, science and biology and increasingly telling us the same thing. Check out a recent article from the New York Times that investigates this idea.

http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/02/mind-and-body-investigating-the-health-and-science-of-meditation/?scp=2&sq=meditation&st=cse

Inception, Dreams, and the Mind

This past week we continued our study of the working of our mind, and what the wisdom of the Bhagavad-Gita has to say about it, by exploring one of the most fascinating aspects of our mental reality, the dream. We viewed a scene from the recent hit film Inception as an initial way to frame our discussion, and in this scene, we saw how the main character, Cobb, a master of mental espionage, revealed the workings of the dream state to his young and impressionable architect friends, Ariadne. This is a dream state one is aware of being a part of, and one that can be actively controlled and created, like the phenomenon of the lucid dream. As we watched, we saw that Ariadne learned that the power of the mind and the contents of the subconscious that arise in a dream can be both wondrous to control and too overpowering and dangerous to handle.

Dreams reveal to us so many different things within us that make up the contents of what we have taken into our consciousness in this life, and perhaps in previous lives. We discussed how certain dream experiences could be echoes, or actual memories, of previous lives, and how this connection may further our own consideration of the phenomenon of reincarnation. We considered again the ABC News video of a young boy who remembered, through vivid dreams, his previous life as a WWII fighter pilot, and whose parents actually researched and corroborated much of the info he was relating from his dreams as being historically accurate.

The mystery of the dream may never be something that can be fully captured, and to a greater extent this also applies to the mystery of our mind. The Bhagavad-Gita has plenty of thought-compelling wisdom to present, which can challenge our own conceptions of our mental and overall reality, if we have an open mind to it.

Plantain subji

• PREPARATION & COOKING TIME: 1 hour
• YIELD: Enough for 4 or 5 persons
• vegetable oil for baking
• 2 large baking potatoes, peeled and cut into 2 1/2 cm (1-inch) cubes
• 2 large eggplants, cut into 2 1/2 cm (1-inch) cubes
• 1 block firm tofu, cut into cubes
- 2 ripe plantain, peeled and cut into 1-inch spears
• 1 tablespoon (20 ml) vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons (10 ml) cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) crushed dried red chilies
• 1/2 teaspoon (2 ml) yellow asafoetida powder
• 1/2 teaspoon (2 ml) turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon (2 ml) ground coriander
• 1 1/2 teaspoons (7 ml) salt

1. Place moderate oil in a wok or frying pan. When hot, add the potatoes and stir fry for about 10 minutes. Then add the eggplant and continue to stir-fry for another 10 minutes until both potatoes and eggplant are sufficiently cooked. Remove and repeat with the plantains.
4. Heat 1 tablespoon (20 ml) oil over moderate heat in a heavy 3-litre/quart saucepan. Saute the cumin seeds until golden brown. Add the chilies, asafoetida, and turmeric. Stir momentarily; then add the, salt, and ground coriander.
5. Add the potatoes, eggplant cubes, plantains and pieces of tofu (feel free to cook the tofu in the same way you did the vegetables). Take care not to crush the eggplant. . The eggplant should be soft but not mushy. Stir sufficiently until well mixed. Serve hot.

Plantain subji

• PREPARATION & COOKING TIME: 1 hour
• YIELD: Enough for 4 or 5 persons
• vegetable oil for baking
• 2 large baking potatoes, peeled and cut into 2 1/2 cm (1-inch) cubes
• 2 large eggplants, cut into 2 1/2 cm (1-inch) cubes
• 1 block firm tofu, cut into cubes
- 2 ripe plantain, peeled and cut into 1-inch spears
• 1 tablespoon (20 ml) vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons (10 ml) cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) crushed dried red chilies
• 1/2 teaspoon (2 ml) yellow asafoetida powder
• 1/2 teaspoon (2 ml) turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon (2 ml) ground coriander
• 1 1/2 teaspoons (7 ml) salt

1. Place moderate oil in a wok or frying pan. When hot, add the potatoes and stir fry for about 10 minutes. Then add the eggplant and continue to stir-fry for another 10 minutes until both potatoes and eggplant are sufficiently cooked. Remove and repeat with the plantains.
4. Heat 1 tablespoon (20 ml) oil over moderate heat in a heavy 3-litre/quart saucepan. Saute the cumin seeds until golden brown. Add the chilies, asafoetida, and turmeric. Stir momentarily; then add the, salt, and ground coriander.
5. Add the potatoes, eggplant cubes, plantains and pieces of tofu (feel free to cook the tofu in the same way you did the vegetables). Take care not to crush the eggplant. . The eggplant should be soft but not mushy. Stir sufficiently until well mixed. Serve hot.