Quarantine Food Diaries, Day 14, Doshas , Root Vegetable Lasagna

Starting our third week of quarantine and I'm called to return to root veggies. Ayurvedic medicine will say that root veggies address balance in your root chakra, makes sense, right? So what resides in our root chakra, well it is what we are all feeling right now, our sense of fundamental security. Root chakra governs our feeling of stability in life, our basic needs of food, water, shelter and safety. If we are secure in our basic needs then generally our root chakra is balanced and we feel grounded. Because our very basic needs are being threatened almost daily, no matter who you are it will take some serious discipline working with those things that would help to balance our root chakra. Through diet this means root veggies, warm milks, porridges, grounding foods. Now might not be the time to do a juice cleanse, but rather to allow yourself the physical grounding of the aforementioned foods.
I've made various versions of veggie lasagnas in my day, not being able to eat eggplant is such a bummer as it makes for a perfect veggie lasagna, zucchini is a little watery for my tastes in a layered dish and they are not in season locally anyway. Remember, for so many reasons, eat seasonally and locally. Fruits and veggies that don't have to travel and are local are of a much higher vibration and therefore assimilated by the body better.
Root veggies like sweet potatoes, rutabagas and parsnips are high Vitamin A, K and C boosting immunity and are super anti oxidant.

In Ayurveda one aspect of looking at wellness involves knowing your specific dosha or breakdown of doshic dominance. Translated literally,  the word dosha means, that which can cause imbalance, therefore we are clued into the fact that balancing our doshas is a lifelong journey. Each of the three doshas are comprised of a combination of each of the five elements ( ether, air, fire, water and earth)
Vata governs air and space, Pitta, fire and water and Kapha,  water and earth. So what does all this mean? The answer is, like so many answers in eastern medicine, "it depends".  All of us have each of the doshas within us, but primarily one and secondarily another.  Once you know which one is your primary and secondary you can really begin to holistically look at how you function based on this information. To find out take this free quiz. You will have to put in your email, sort of annoying but, it's a very well done test with a ton of information for your specific doshic distribution. 

Banyan Botanicals Dosha Quiz

I am mainly Vata mind / Pitta body, when I feel things spinning for me I do two things, I eat something grounding and I put on a hat, yes, a hat. There are doshic balancing postures in yoga too, this week at Balanced Planet Yoga I am teaching a Vata balancing gentle vinyasa...feel free to join me. Thursday morning at 9:30am. Follow the link below and set up your mind body account if you don't already have one. If you do, find Balanced Planet Yoga in Marlton and sign up for my class, an email will be sent to you on what to do next.

mind body log in

Have fun with your quiz and feel free to ask as many questions in my comments section as I love love talking specifically about balancing doshas and keeping them from derangement.

Root Veggie Lasagna

350F    

1 Japanese white sweet potato

1 sweet potato

1 rutabaga

1 turnip

2 potatoes

1 can peeled tomatoes

fresh basil

1 white onion

extra virgin olive oil

Vegan version ( silken tofu, soy milk, garlic, basil, salt, pepper)

dairy version ( goat cheese, parmiggiano, basil, parsley, salt and pepper)

I used my mandolin component to my cuisinart, it is key to slice your root veggies exactly the same widths so they cook evenly, attempting to thinly slice a raw rutabaga or sweet potato by hand is not easy.  Place sliced root veggies in water and put aside.

saute' 1/4 of the white onion chopped in a little olive oil in a small pot until translucent, add crushed peeled tomatoes, torn basil leaves to taste, salt, and pepper. Bring sauce to a boil and simmer 15 min longer. 

Meanwhile, if you are preparing the vegan version put in a blender about 3 oz. silken tofu, 1/2 cup of soy milk, 1 garlic clove, basil and salt and pepper) blend into a "cream sauce" put aside.

Otherwise once the sauce has simmered you are ready to layer, using one layer of goat cheese and parmiggiano in between alternating layers of sauce and veggie "pasta" sheets.

Layer until finished. If using the vegan cream sauce layer that in place of the goat cheese.

cook at 350F for 2 hours covered with foil. 

Take out and garnish with fresh herbs of your choice!!