So, I am into week 2 of my holidays here in Dungarvan and I am absolutely blissing out on all this me-time. I am sleeping deeply; eating well; walking 8 to 12.5km most evenings while balancing absolute silence in nature with listening to a mosh of Esther Hicks “The Vortex” and music ranging from Coldplay to Tiesto; reading a couple of books (Allowing by Holly Riley, The Druids by Peter Berresford Ellis, A Histry of Ireland in 250 Episodes by Jonathan Bardon and Kryon Letters from Home) and well also doing plain nothing but what I WANT…… just as it should be!

“If doctors prescribed ‘me-time’ there would be a whole lot less illness.

It is in this sacred me-time that we find ourselves, our answers, our path, our BEING and our hearts…. when you connect back into yourself and open yourself to nature and your inner voice you can only feel love… head to toe….”

Regarding The Vortex; I have the audio book and I believe that this work has the power to transform your life; if only this was available to us in school instead of learning the lessons the hard way!

Here are a selection of iphotos from my ramblings… oh and yes; the new Coldplay album Ghost rocks… a bit more mellow than previous works however.

The first collection of photos are from my evening rambles around the bay here; and the second collection from my trip to Ardmore and The Cliff House Hotel….. I have written more about my holidays here last year in this blog

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Here is some more on Waterford County’s tracks, trails and activities

Aromatic Thai Sprouted Mung Bean Curry

This is a fast recipe, for those new to cooking, and so includes the recommendation of an organic and made from natural ingredients only thai curry sauce in a glass jar. More adept cooks will know how to make a thai curry from scratch or can use a thai curry paste and coconut milk. The brand recommended here tastes amazing.

Beans and lentils are very nutritious, tasty and inexpensive foods perfect for adding to meat-eating as well as vegetarian and vegan diets. I chose mung beans as they have a nice soft texture that melt into the curry sauce divinely.

I have come to believe that the perfect diet is one that embraces the  strengths and vegetable variety of a vegetarian and raw diet (minus the soya and fake meat) that includes small to moderate portions of ethically reared and organic meats and fish…

I prefer to buy organic dried beans

I prefer to buy my (mung) beans dried, to cut back not only on costs but my exposure to canned foods. I rinse and then sprout the beans by leaving them sit in water for 24 to 48 hours. This improves their nutrient content and nutrient bioavailability.

In brief this little green bean is a helpful source of low in glycaemic index high fibre carbohydrates, protein, fibre, vitamins A, B family, C, E and K, and minerals potassium, magnesium, calcium, zinc, copper and selenium.
Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/mung-beans-nutritional-value.html

The Thai lemongrass sauce that I used was purchased in a health store (I purchased mine in Lynch’s Greenhouse). This sauce is a perfect example of a ready-made sauce that is healthy. If you read through the ingredients you will see that there is nothing untoward in here.

Tastefully Yours Aromatic Thai lemongrass curry

Ingredients list

Ingredients:

• 1/2 packet/ 250g dried mung beans (or any other bean will work; canned if you are in a hurry)
• Filtered water
• Tastefully Yours Aromatic Thai lemongrass Curry (or other healthy brand made only from fresh and real ingredients OR use thai green curry paste and a can of organic full fat coconut milk with the optional addition of lemongrass for additional flavour)
• Optional seaweed – I has sugar kelp to hand
• To serve:
  • For lean string skinny beans serve on steamed vegetables, root vegetables or cauliflower rice. Or stuff into cabbage or lettuce leaves as a cabbage wrap.
  • For mighty warriors serve on cooked grain such as basmatic, wild or brown rice, quinoa, or millet with a side of vegetables or salad.
  • This will work well in a baked potato; leftovers especially will rock this way.
  • I used mine as filling in Sushi nori rolls along with mango chutney, cherry tomatoes in one and shredded mixed salad greens… I actually added a dollop of pumpkinseed butter in my last roll… and wow.

Directions:

1. If you are using dried mung beans (or other), then rinse and cover with water and allow to soak until you see the little sprout shoots appearing. Mine took approximately 36 hours.
2. Rinse again, cover with water, bring to the boil and then simmer until cooked. They are cooked when they are soft through and this takes approximately 1 hour..
3. Other beans have varying cooking times; here is a handy chart for cooking bean times.
4. Add the Thai lemongrass curry sauce (if not using a pre-prepared sauce and in a hurry, then Thai green curry paste and a can of coconut milk will substitute well).
5. At this point I actually added some chopped Sugar Kelp sea weed to add further nutrition.
6. Heat through and allow to sit for 30 to 60 minutes to let the sea-weed soften. Serve as suggested with shredded fresh coriander as garnish.

Soaking mung beans

Baby sprouts

Thai lemongrass curry sauce

Irish seaweeds

Finished Thai lemongrass mung bean curry

Enjoy,

Love

Andrea