The Shakti School

Feminine Form Sacred Technology

Recipe

Katie’s Ayurveda-Inspired Gatorade

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Ingredients:

  • 5 limes
  • 1 tbsp Manuka honey (this one is bangin’)
  • ½ tsp black or Himalayan pink salt
  • ¼ tsp fennel powder
  • 1/4 tsp licorice powder
  • 3 cups water
  • Ice Cubes (this is an Ayurveda NO-NO, so if you wanna’ be a purist, leave this one out, but I'm gonna’ be honest - in the dead of muggy Virginia summer, this girl breaks the no-ice rules)
  • Mint leaves
  • 2 Tbs. Hibiscus flowers (dried)

Instructions:

  1. Steep the hibiscus flowers in boiling water for 20 minutes in 2 cups of water. Strain and let cool.
  2. Squeeze the lime juice into a bowl.
  3. In a Mason jar or carafe, add the lime juice, hibiscus tea, honey, salt, licorice, fennel, ice cubes (if you’re naughty) and additional water.
  4. Mix or shake.
  5. Add more honey or spices as per your taste.
  6. Garnish with the mint.
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Subtly Sweet Harvest Muffins

~sweeter foods are a reminder of the sweetness of life~
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Craving more sweets this fall? A vata-pacifying diet actually calls for more sweet (madhura) taste. Beyond being comforting, soul-hugging and grounding, the sweet taste pacifies vata, invigorates the mind, strengthens the immune system, nourishes body tissues and enhances the ojas. Satisfy your sweet taste with these yummy fall muffins crafted from whole grains, a good dose of vata-pacifying spices and some orchard-fresh apples! 

Gluten-free Buckwheat Muffins with Apples & Walnuts

Dry ingredients: ½ cup crushed walnuts; 1 cup almond flour; ½ cup buckwheat flour; ⅓ cup ground flax seed; 1 tsp each powdered ginger, cinnamon & salt;  ¼ tsp each nutmeg, cardamom & allspice; ½ tsp each of baking powder & baking soda

Wet ingredients: ½ cup coconut oil, ½ cup maple syrup, 3 eggs, ⅓ cup non-dairy yogurt, ¼ cup nut milk, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 2 finely diced apples (medium-sized)

Instructions: Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl. In another bowl, mix wet ingredients, including apples. Add wet to dry and mix well. Spoon mixture into greased muffin tin and bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Pair a freshly baked muffin with a nourishing cup of Golden Yogini Milk or another Shakti-infused recipe.

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Katie’s Spring Time Ice Cream

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Katie’s Spring Time Ice Cream

“Oh my horror of Ayurveda horrors! Ice cream in the spring is a big no-no Katie Silcox!”

Yes, yes. But you still wanna’ eat it, right?

You, see I don’t believe in dogmatic Ayurveda food rules. (I ditched all fundamentalism a few years ago :-))

But what I DO think is really cool is using the principles of Ayurveda and the seasons to adapt and work with my cravings and desires. Ice cream in the spring included.

So, how do I do that in the spring? In this season there is a domination in the heavy, wet and unctuous qualities. And what’s so weird about imbalances in our system is that when we have imbalance, we will often crave things that are exactly the opposite of what we need. 

Which is why, before I got way healthier, I craved lounging about with an ice cream bowl on my belly exactly in the Kapha season.


End result - mucous, sad-face, lethargy and a lack of getting s%$t done. 

So, my hot little healer-woman, here’s a GREAT spring ice cream replacement that will totally douse your cravings, but also keep Kapha at bay.

It’s fruit-only sugar. A powerful protein and healthy-fat punch. As well as chock full of mind-tonic herbs that will keep you sharp all day. The secret ingredient is that it replaces the dairy of ice cream, which is super heavy and mucus producing with a wonderful Kapha-reducing replacement. Cauliflower! And I don’t even like cauliflower. 

 

Give it to me, Silcox:

2 cups frozen cauliflower

One cup frozen blueberries

One scoop of any good bone broth protein. My favorite is this chocolate kind from Ancient Nutrition.

One scoop Anima Mundi Qi Energy powder

One scoop Anima Mundi Shroom mocha milk

Add in 1/2 tsp ginger, cinnamon cardamom to spice it up and further reduce the kapha

2 cups water- add a bit more if needed

Blend in a blender til’ creamy smooth.

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Aphrodisiac Sweet Potato Sex Bomb Brownie Bites

Aphrodisiac Sweet Potato Sex Bomb Brownie Bites

A treat for you and your loved one...

My girl, ya know what’s missing in your kitchen today? Some of these sexy dark chocolate brownie bites. Every now and then (especially in my luteal phase) I start to crave a little bit of decadence, a little bit of mouth pleasure, and a little more magnesium too. Raw cocoa is one of nature’s superfoods and it’s here to make you feel so GOOD.

Did you know there is actually scientific evidence showing that dark chocolate (without sugar) is a powerful antioxidant which by consuming can help to improve your hormones, reduce bloating, and soothe the spirit?! (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4696435/)

Eating a little dark chocolate is also a perfect way to spark a little playfulness with your lover before heading to the bedroom.

If you don’t believe me, make them for yourself and let us know how it goes.

Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 1 medium large sweet potato (cooked and mashed)
  • 1 egg (or substitute a “chia egg”: 1 Tbsp chia seeds + 2 Tbsp water, stir, and let sit for 5 min)
  • ½ cup almond butter
  • ⅓ cup coconut flour
  • ⅓ cup coconut oil (or ghee)
  • ¼ cup raw cocoa
  • 5 pitted dates (you can also use coconut sugar or maple syrup)
  • ½ cup raw cocoa chocolate chips
  • 1 tsp ceylon cinnamon
  • 1 tsp celtic salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla bean
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp Ashwagandha
  • Optional Add ins: ½ cup of Raspberries (fresh or dried) ½ cup crushed macadamia nuts

Directions:

  • In a food processor add your mashed sweet potato, dates, spices, and almond butter. Process until smooth.
  • Meanwhile in a medium saucepan melt your oils and the raw cocoa on low
  • Once the oils have melted, transfer your ingredients from the food processor to a large mixing bowl, add your egg, flour, and remaining ingredients and mix well with a fork. Slowly pour in the oils. You want your mixture to be pretty thick, so you may need to add a tiny bit more oil or coconut flour depending on what your consistency is.
  • Lastly, mix in the chocolate chips and any other optional add ins (like nuts or berries)
  • Transfer to an 8 inch pan lined with parchment paper, bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
  • Let cool for about 2 hours before serving

Special Ingredients We Used

Raw Cocoa Chocolate Chips from Hu Gems Chocolate

Sun Potion Ashwagandha

Sun Potion Anandamide

Sprouted Almond Butter from Better Almond Butter

Ahara Ghee

Use promo code THESHAKTISCHOOL at checkout for 10% off your order at Ahara Rasa.

Bowl of ingredients
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Adaptogenic Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Holiday Treats with a Twist

Holiday treats with a twist

Tis’ the season for gifts and treats, and who doesn’t love something slightly sweet and with a crunch!?!

This is almost too simple to even call a recipe, but a buttery crunch + dark chocolate + sea salt is a damn good combo, that’s why we want to share it anyway.

Like with our special holiday Pumpkin Pie blog, we want to offer you an alternative to the usual sweet snacks on the holiday table.

This recipe is simple and will fill the room with a little extra joy once you take your first bite. These also make a superb travel snack when you’re headed to the in-laws. With adaptogens like Maca Powder and Ashwagandha your hormones will thank you for this magnesium rich raw cocoa delight. Here’s How it’s Done:

Holiday Treats with a Twist

What you will need: 

Directions: 

  • In a medium sized pot add your coconut oil and set on medium-low heat. (You can also do this with a double boiler, but this method seems to work well)
  • Break up your chocolate bars and add them to already heated pot
  • Once the chocolate is completely melted, add the spices and the adaptogens (with the heat turned off)
  • Stir generously until the chocolate is nice and smooth
  • Add the pretzels in one handful at a time
  • Using tongs scoop them out (shaking off any excess chocolate and place them onto the parchment paper
  • Next sprinkle any toppings you like (we did coarse sea salt and coconut flakes)
  • Transfer into the freezer for about an hour

Happy Holidays ! !

Special Ingredients that we used:

Ashwagandha Powder from Banyan Botanicals

Maca Powder by Healthworks

Dark Primal Chocolate Bar by Eating Evolved 

FitJoy Gluten/Grain-free Pretzels 

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The Pumpkin Pie You Want To Eat

The Sugar Timeline, celebratory events, and why we eat more when we’re together
(Recipe included)

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The Holidays can be frustrating when it comes to making healthy food choices.

This should be a special time of year when your energy is centered around celebration, togetherness, and joy and where the focus is to spend quality time with the people you love most. Instead it often includes frustration around food decision making, and the fear of uneasy digestion. On Thanksgiving especially, it's common knowledge that we overeat and typically we overeat sugar.

In North America (and all around the globe) the use of sweets in celebratory events has been a historical tradition. Though the cultivation of sugar dates back to 8,000BC, we see the use of sugar in celebratory event as early as 2,400 BC (!) where there is evidence of beekeeping and the collection honey for honey cakes found at a religious temples near present day Cairo, Egypt. (Hippocrates Health Institute-The Sugar Timeline)

We also see this in the Hindu/Yoga tradition where bringing sweets to the temple as an offering to the God’s is commonly practiced. Traditionally, before industrial sugar cane manufacturing, sweets were more of a luxury item and were considered “Sattvic,” or pure. Of course, this is in reference to sugar in the form of dates and honey which aren’t nearly as taxing on the body as the chemically refined sugar we most commonly use today. As sugar cane evolved into the chemically refined substance that we know all too well now, it became more accessible and affordable and unfortunately we see a direct correlation to the rise of Alzheimer's, diabetes and obesity. Instead of sugar being used a sacred treat, or offering, it became readily available to everyone, all the time, in unnatural states and in absurd quantities.

So, how do we go back to making sugar sacred?

It all comes back to eating whole foods and preparing food at home. For most Americans, having access to healthy ingredients and the time to prepare food at home is a luxury. If we all made an effort to only eat sugar when we could prepare our own sweet treats, it would likely lead to much healthier options (no matter if you’re cooking with white sugar or not). The act of cooking for others truly is sacred and the Thanksgiving holiday is a perfect time to make food that is celebratory, healthy, and sweet. 

What about when it comes to overeating? 

It’s interesting to note that a food study in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in 2013 concluded that people tend to eat more calorically dense food and more volumes of food—depending on the information they’re given about what other people are eating. Similarly, the same study showed that we even synchronize our bites, the same way we subconsciously mirror someone else’s posture or body language, without ever realizing it. Simply becoming aware of this fact is enough to make you think differently and possibly act differently when you sit down at the Thanksgiving table. If you are able to be more aware when you’re eating it not only will help you to make more thoughtful choices about your meal, but it could actually help those you are eating with to make more thoughtful choices about what they are eating as well.

Now, let’s go back to celebrating. 

Now that we’ve established that we all love the occasional sweet treat and we want to celebrate with some sort of sacred sugary dessert,  it’s important to choose something that is still balanced and nourishing, not something that is loaded with white flour & white sugar. This is especially important when you want your energy to be sustained through those long evening chats with cousin Kristie. So, how can we be sure a healthy option shows up to the Thanksgiving table? Bring it yourself!

If you want your family to be blown away, show up to the holiday dinner party with this amazing (and healthy) Pumpkin Pie ! ! !  It’s not going to spike your blood sugar, it’s going to make everyone in the room happy, and eating it might even be a sacred act.

The Pumpkin Pie You Want To Eat

For the Crust:

  • 2 cups pitted dates
  • 2 cups raw nuts (I used half pecans, half walnuts)
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
  • 1 tbsp of coconut oil
  • 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • ½ tsp cinnamon
  • A dash of salt

For the Filling :

  • 2 cans of pumpkin puree
  • ½ cup of cashews (previously soaked)
  • 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
  • 3-5 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon each of nutmeg, ginger and cloves
  • pinch sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Pumkin Pie

Directions:

For the crust: pulse the nuts & coconut flakes in a food processor until they're crumbs, add the dates and the remaining ingredients and process until it begins to stick together. Press into a pie dish and put in the fridge (or freezer) to harden.

For the filling: blend all of the ingredients until smooth, adding however much of the spices you like. Pour into your crust and freeze overnight until it's set. The next day transfer to the fridge to let it thaw out. Take it out of the refrigerator 15-20 min prior to serving.

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*Top with your favorite homemade whipped cream!

(It’s best to use an organic Grass-Fed Heavy whipping cream or you can try this recipe below for a vegan coconut whipped cream).

Vegan Coconut Whipped Cream: 

1 can coconut cream or full fat coconut milk (Cream tends to work better)

3 TBSP of organic powdered sugar (optional)

1 tsp vanilla extract

*Place the can of coconut cream into the refrigerator and leave it there overnight

*The next day, take it out and carefully open it

*Scoop  out only the cream into the bowl of an electric mixer, leaving the coconut water behind.

*Start with a slow speed and gradually increase speed until you achieve a whipped cream consistency

*Once you have whipped cream consistency, Add your powdered sugar and vanilla

*Whisk again until it’s mixed in !

 

Enjoy !

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Sattvic Goodness Bowl

Dreaming of bowls packed full of Sattvic goodness. Sometimes all you need is a bowl of steamed veggies! ⁣⠀
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Steamed carrots and spinach on top of quinoa spiced with mustard seed, fennel, and turmeric. Hidden below is an Avocado dressing! ⁣⠀
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Avocado Dressing:⁣⠀
1/2 avocado⁣⠀
1 TBSP Apple Cider Vinegar ⁣⠀
1 clove of garlic⁣⠀
A handful of chopped parsley⁣⠀
1 TBSP of nutritional yeast ⁣⠀
A pinch of black pepper + turmeric ⁣⠀
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Blend and enjoy! ⁣⠀
(This dressing is delicious thick, but feel free to add water or vinegar for your desired consistency). ⁣⠀

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Ep. 03 Summer Date Shake! OMG Love!

Here in Virginia, we're in the middle of a heat wave. So in today's mini-episode, Katie shares her favorite date shake recipe to help you stay cool and feel amazing!

In this episode, you'll hear:

~ Katie's current obsession with dates!

~ The importance of milk in Ayurveda

~ The benefits of cardamom

~ Summer Date Shake Recipe (see below)

~ All you need is a blender, milk, dates, and SPICES!

Summer Date Shake Recipe

~ 2 cups milk of your choice

~ 1 or 2 dates with pits removed

~ Cardamom to taste

~ Optimal: crushed rose petals for topping

Put everything in a blender and mix for about 30 seconds. Pour into your favorite glass and sprinkle with crushed rose petals. You can drink the date shake straight away, put it in the fridge to enjoy with your tea or coffee later or heat it up and sip before bed.

Enjoy!

Or Subscribe on iTunes

Learn more:

Help us Spread our Podcast Wings

Did you try this summer date shake recipe? This show is a passion project that I produce for the love of sharing. If you enjoy this show and want a free and easy way to help it grow, the most effective way you can help is to:

  1. Subscribe to the show by clicking “subscribe” in iTunes
  2. Write us a review in iTunes
  3. Share this show with one friend right now!

It’s simple, but you’d be AMAZED to know how much it helps my little love project reach more people. iTunes’ algorithm uses ratings and reviews to know who to show our show to in their app.

Here’s the link to leave us reviews in iTunes.

From my heart to your screen,

Katie

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