The Divine Kitchen

Hello everyone! Lots to catch up on. I’ve been quite busy making plans, getting organized, and doing stuff  while out and about. I’m definitely going to need to talk about Reiki at some point, since that’s been a really important part of my life, recently. I’ll save that for another time. A few times this week, the concept of making choices has come up.

Its an interesting thing, making choices. Why is talking about that so important? Well, truthfully, it’s as important as you want it to be. Here’s a few examples.

• You’re out to eat with a bunch of friends. You’ve recently made a choice to eat healthier, and you find yourself looking at the menu. You could get a burger (whatever! It’s Friday night, what are calories!?), or you could get a nice salad with salmon, dressing on the side and stick to the original choice you made to eat healthier.
• You’re in a job where you’re unhappy, but it pays the bills. You’ve been at this job for years, and you’ve just hit a rut. You know you’d like to do something more fulfilling, but branching out into a new job that you might not be good at or might also not even like is terrifying.
• You’re in a bad relationship and you’d love to leave, but due to financial or other resource constraints, you feel like you can’t. You’d be risking way too much to give up your home, benefits or the security of being where you are, so you tough it out (even though you know this only hurting you and everyone involved) because you think you’re stuck.

See anything in common with the above three examples? The person has a choice to make – and it could be incredibly easy, or devastatingly difficult to decide what to do. The fact of the matter is this: we make hundreds, if not thousands, of choices in our life. Some we don’t even give a second thought, and some eat at us daily until we come to a conclusion.

The idea that we make our own choices can be downright scary sometimes. Some people choose to give others those decisions, and that is truly one of the most disempowering things I can think of.  Another damaging idea is to consider that you don’t even have a choice – that your hand has been dealt and that you only have one option available to you in a certain situation.

That’s just not true! Not true, one bit.

Perhaps because I’m a Libra, I have this innate drive to be the Justice League and defend what I think is fair. I must say though – to think that this giant, complex universe puts us in situations that we HAVE to comply to (when we have so much independence otherwise) seems a bit silly. The next time you find yourself in a situation that seems as though your hands are tied, you’ve only one way to go, just know that you ALWAYS have a choice. Your options may not all be favorable, pretty, or easy, but they are there.

You know that saying, “not all that glitters is gold”? You always thought that it meant that good things aren’t always what they seem, didn’t you? Let’s make a choice and see that a different way. Not everything that’s best for you is going to be outfitted in shiny lights, saying “PICK ME!” as the obvious choice. Sometimes, you have to make a choice that seems foolish because it’s so darned unappealing. It all passes, and you are always given another set of choices to make.

An easy way to stick to this mentality is to go into every choice you make with this question: what will end up making me the most happy? This does require you to have some really personal reflection on what truly makes you happy, but if you use that as a guiding principle to all of your choices, there’s no way you can make the wrong choice.

Well Sarah, I want to be a free bird and retire early and have hundreds of puppies! Okay, then stop watching TV or going to happy hour for a few hours a week, start researching investment guidelines, and start volunteering at an animal shelter.

Sarah, I want to abandon my verbally abusive family, move to Nepal and weave fingerless gloves! (true story of a colleague) Okay, save your money for a one-way ticket instead of buying that handbag, cut your toxic family off, and learn how to knit on the flight over to Nepal.

But, Sarah, what if I realized I made the wrong decision? Well, you didn’t. It was the right choice at the time because that’s what you wanted to do, and now you’ve got different choices to make.

Moral of the story – conceptually, it REALLY is that easy to make choices when your goal of happiness is clear. The result of the choice may be difficult – it may be the hardest thing you ever do – but people forgive, wounds heal, time passes, and money keeps flowing. You just need to make the choice to have that stuff happen.

How about making the choice to enjoy some nice tacos? 🙂 Pardon the lack of actual photos of a constructed taco… once everyone put theirs together, they were already eating them by the time i came back around to take photos of them. Here are some action shots!

Crispy Shrimp Tacos with Boom Boom Sauce and Jalapeno Slaw (Paleo)

Prep time: 30 min

Cook time: 40 min

Serves 6-7

Ingredients

Boom Boom Sauce

• ½ cup mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp Sriracha
• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp tablespoons honey
• 1 clove garlic, grated or pressed
• ½ tsp red pepper chili flakes
• 1/2 tsp fresh ginger, grated
• Pinch of sea salt

Tortillas

• 4 eggs
• 1.5 cups water, plus more if needed
• 2 cups tapioca flour
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• ~1 tsp sea salt
• ½ tbsp garlic powder
• ½ tbsp paprika
• ½ tbsp onion powder

Shrimp

• 2 lb shrimp, peeled and tails removed
• 1/2 cup tapioca flour
• ~1 tsp sea salt,
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp onion powder
• ½ tsp cayenne powder
• ~2-3 tbsp ghee, for frying

Slaw

• 1 1/2 cup napa cabbage, sliced very thin
• 1 1/2 cup red cabbage, sliced very thin
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 3 scallion stalks, sliced thin
• 1 large jalepeno, minced; ribs and seeds removed
• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 heaping tbsp paleo mayonnaise
• 1/2 tbsp honey

Directions

1. For the Boom Boom Sauce, combine all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together. Set aside and/or refrigerate.
2. Next, start the slaw (to let it marinade). In a small bowl, combine the vinegar, mayo, honey, cilantro and jalapenos and whisk together. Taste test to see if you prefer any additional honey, vinegar or spice and adjust accordingly.  In a separate bowl, combine the cabbage and green onion. Mix with sauce and stir to coat. Set aside, stirring occasionally during downtime during prep time for following ingredients.
3. Start with the tortillas. Preheat a medium sized skillet over medium high heat.
4. In a bowl, combine your flours and spices, whisking to mix thoroughly. Next, add your egg and water, ensuring there are no clumps and the mix is uniform. It should be quite thin, like soupy pancake mix – you want the mix to spread out to make thin tortillas. If not runny, add a tbsp. of water at a time until your mix is thinned out.
5. Using a ladle or measuring cup, pour a ~6 inch circle of batter, shimmying the pan to even out the mix. Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Your batter should make about 5-6 tortillas.
6. While your tortillas are frying, prep the shrimp. In a large bowl, combine the tapioca flour and spices in a bowl and toss the shrimp, coating entirely.  Heat a large skillet over medium high heat and melt the ghee. Saute the shrimp for 1-2 minutes until golden; flip and saute on the other side for another minute until crisp.
7. To put together your tacos, layer your tortilla with slaw, top with the shrimp and drizzle with Boom Boom Sauce.

Enjoy!

-S