Rainbow-salad and courage for everyone

Lack of courage and other difficulties!

Before I’ll lure you into the kitchen with my rainbow-salad, there is something, I have to tell you:

Yesterday, despair was just around the corner. I really,  I mean really and definitely want to share our trip to the Pacific North-West with you. It took me weeks to screen, thin out and edit the digital data-flood. It almost made me runaway and give up the entire thing more than once.

As my brother recently so fittingly mentioned: “ You know, I think I rather enjoy shooting than editing pictures…”. Dah, I thought, me too…But then I thought about it again and it’s rather the choosing of which pictures to keep and which ones to let go! Once decided which shots to work with, I fairly enjoy getting started – chosing the crop I want to display, hunting for the last bit of light here and there, … I am really enjoying that! Once those 700 pics were finished and ready for viewing, I was really proud of myself. Not to mention the feeling of freeing my computer of 2500 rejected pictures!

 

Back to my day yesterday.

The blog-post about our trip. How in the world is that supposed to work? Where to start? Again I realized, that I had to deal with major thinning out again (700 Shots to choose from ?!?!). And there it was again – the first wave of discouragement was getting to me. I could overcome that with a glass of hot water (but that’s an entirely different story, which I’ll tell you another day – the secret of hot water) and some leftover courage and will. There I was: new folder, choosing the pics, sizing them down for the web-use. So far so good.

Then the courage was rapidly fading away again – I couldn’t place the pics where I wanted them to be in my post – technical difficulties I stumbled upon. Of course I also got stuck with my desire for perfection. Also I haven’t cared about file size and the right technical settings…. Argh. More discouragement on it’s way. HOW is it possible to gain the knowledge of writing a functional, beautiful and inspiring blog?

I don’t know how it is for you – for me self-doubt’s little devils is instantly knocking on my door: “Hello, here we are – don’t you love the state of discouragement?!” They are silently creeping up on me or sometimes running rapidly towards me – no escaping. Equipped with good points why this entire project doesn’t make any sense at all and won’t be doable anyways.

And hey does the world need one more blog?

 

And about the courage, that allows you to always go on!

Biefly tucked away and closed my laptop for a few hours. Let it settle, let it sink in. I grabbed the heather-plants from our balcony, drank another glass of hot water and braided a floral wreath. I did something with my hands. Being able to feel the texture of the tiny heather-blossoms, put on some music and decided to face and fight the discouragement. Courage, simply courage! Reminding myself of all the things I already accomplished. How often did I think: “I can’t do that! That’s not going to work!”

BUT then I decided to dare it and what can I say? It worked!

 

I decide if the thoughts and worries push me to the ground or whether I accept the challenge, if I make room for discouragement or whether to simply shoo it away…

Using my energy to look forward.

To make yourself smaller than you are never helped. So go on – move forward! Step by step knowing that everything has it’s own time! I can always decide again. Now is the time to say: stop you little devils, go away and take those sorrow-filled discouraging thoughts with you! GET LOST! Now I can stand tall to my full potential. Already I can see so many things that make me happy, that make me smile, that give me COURAGE! Then I can concentrate and open my laptop again ready to ask people for solutions and to bring clarity into my thoughts.

 

Rainbow Salad – bring the energy on!

Sometimes the awareness of being the pilot, the director, the producer, the responsible person all in one is quite exhausting! On the other hand it can also be so liberating that it’s hard to put in words! Feeling how new courage permeates my life! Courage that comes from within!

So I accept the struggle and pull strength out of it.

The rainbow-salad for example. I can recommend it for those days when your thoughts feel like hanging low again!

Rainbow-Salad with avocado dressing

• 2 sweet potatoes
• 1/2 hokkaido pumpkin
• 3 tbs oil
• 1 fully loaded tsp cumin
• 1 exact tsp turmeric
• chili powder to taste
• salt, pepper

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Peel the sweet potatoes and remove the seeds from the pumpkin. Dice them both up in small cubes. Add the spices to the oil and stirr it up. Mix the potatoes and pumpkin with the spiced oil and spread it all on a baking tray. Bake for 10 minutes. Lightly shake the tray and roast at a higher temperature (230°C) for another 10-15 minutes. Salt und pepper to taste.

Meanwhile:

• 1/4 head of green lettuce
• 1  chicory salad
• 1/8 red cabbage
• 2 carrots
• 1 small beetroot

Cut up the chicory and the green lettuce, wash and dry it. Shred the red cabbage, the carrots and the beetroot in a food processor or use a grater. I like the slightly bigger pieces so that I have something to chew on. According to your taste you can use the fine cut as well – it tastes equally great. Prepare in a salad bowl. You can mix it all up or sort it by colors. Whatever suits your style.

The dressing (inspired by the fabulous Lindsey from pinchofyum)

• 1 ripe avocado
• 1 handfuls of cilantro
• 2 twigs of fresh mint
• 100 g greek yoghurt
• 200 ml water
• 1 small clove of garlic
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Juice of 1 lime

Mix all ingredients in a blender and add salt to taste. Add to the warm vegetables and the salad. If you want you can roast some nuts or seeds for a little bit of crunch (e. g. pine-seeds, sunflower-seeds, pumpkin-seeds)

 

Honestly – this rainbow-salad bowl will make you happy and give you courage! Promise! There is a ton of varieties. I see sprouts on top of it or corn added to it…. Just open your fridge and dump in whatever you can find and whatever sounds yummy to you. The dressing is so tasty and creamy and it goes with almost any ingredient!

 

Do you have a special soul-food of your choice? Something that picks you up, when you are not in the groove? Let me know, I am extremely curious…

For these kind of days and especially for this time of year I can also highly recommend the ‘golden turmeric milk’, or baking Christmas cookies for relaxation. Important: Baking without time pressure! Following the recipes step by step at your own pace can be really sorting, relaxing and soothing.

If you want you put on a nice audiobook. Years ago I was baking when everybody was in bed already Springerle, Spritzgebackenes and many other recipes. I was listening to a childrens book (Inkheart) – just magical. I have really good memories for that time.