Every month or so for many years now, a group of my friends and I get together for an evening of laughter, fun and feasting that has included my friend Tiffany’s Vietnamese Spring Rolls (absolutely divine!), Nima’s Turkey Meatball Curry (out of this world delicious!) or most recently Vani’s Sprouted Moong Bean Salad, which was not only refreshing and super healthy, but tasted amazing.

Today I am sharing with you the Sprouted Moong Bean Salad recipe, compliments of Vani. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2 cups sprouted moong beans
• 1 medium size pickle style cucumber, cut into cubes
• 2 medium tomatoes cut into cubes
• ½ yellow pepper cut into pieces
• ½ cup shredded carrot
• ½ cup shredded cabbage

Dressing

• 1 table spoon lime juice
• 1 tea spoon ginger juice
• 1 table spoon yogurt
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 tsp roasted grounded cumin seeds
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Cilantro to garnish

Whisk all ingredients for dressing together, pour over the beans and let it sit together for about 10 minutes. Add all the vegetables in a bowl and layer the beans on top and gently toss it all together.. Garnish with cilantro.

By Guest Blogger Lisa Valencia
travelexperiencecostarica.com
vida.nueva.lisa@gmail.com

“At age fifty, I was not yet ready to cross the threshold into the kindly and quiet world of ‘older adulthood’ sitting on a park bench feeding squirrels. Nor was I willing to keep my nose to the grindstone as I had done for so many years while raising my kids or repeat the tragedy of those who devoted themselves to the far off dream of retirement only upon arrival, to be too tired, sick or dead to enjoy it. I had lived half my life with another half to go, only this time I had the skills, maturity and confidence that come from fifty years of life experience. So with little means and lots of determination, I set out to live a life of my own creative design.”

Vida Nueva Aventura (New Life Adventure), an online travel journal is the vibrant personal account of an ordinary woman in pursuit of an extraordinary life. For many years Lisa Valencia lived, raised kids, ran a business, owned a home and made a life for her family in a small Montana town. Then one day she decided she didn’t want that life any more. So dreaming of tropical beaches, salsa music and romance she took off for Costa Rica.

If you’ve ever pondered on packing it all in and starting over in a foreign land, here is a first hand account. Lisa takes you with her through the mountains down into the jungles, onto the beaches and into the culture of Costa Rica. With wholehearted candor, she shares the doubts, fears and frustrations that come from an impulsive immersion into a new world. Her photos and words bring you into a place, brilliantly colored with passionate people and intriguing places. And along the way, she reveals the inner education taking place.

“In this new life I frequently feel like I am bumping around in the dark. I run into something unrecognized, pause and reflect in search of illumination and then things seem to get brighter. As I share my travel experience, what is most evident from the outside, is the physical journey. What you do not see is the inner journey, which happens simultaneously and is a result of the bumping around in the dark. Of the two, it is the inner journey that has the most impact and creates the energy to continue the outer one.”

Lost on a dangerous highway, lonely on the beach in the pouring rain, being chased around by guys half her age and dancing Salsa ’til three in the morning, Lisa revels in it all and leaves you rooting for her success. The endearing quality about this story is found in the confidence gained from triumph over adversity and Lisa’s dogged determination to jump right back in and do it again. Soon you are believing that, “If she can do it, so can I!”

Some of my most wonderful memories are of cooking and eating together with my immediate family.

Other memories consist of  fabulous, noisy, chaotic family get togethers which included incredibly deliciously food while we all caught up on the latest and greatest news with siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles, met new babies who we fawned over, and got re-acquainted with nieces and nephews who seemed to have turned into teenagers overnight. What amazingly great times we all had!

I really treasure those moments, they seem so brief now – some of those precious people have passed away (such as my grandparents and two uncles) while some live so far away it has become harder to have these reunions.

I would like to pose some questions to you, my dear readers. Do you have stories to tell or special memories you cherish? Would you be interested in sharing them? Do you have any favorite recipes associated with your wonderful memories? Would you like to share a special dish that your grandmother or favorite uncle used to make? I would love to hear from you.

All I ask is that the recipe has:

• A short story and/or background
• Is healthy
• Can be made in 30 minutes or less

I will select five submissions out of all the entries sent in between May 1st and May 30th and if yours is one of the five selected, I will publish your recipe and story in one of my upcoming blog posts.  Or I may choose to make the dish, videotape it and post the video in my blog.

I will additionally send you a complimentary autographed copy of my upcoming book The Deity Diet.  You can email your stories and recipes directly to me at connie@himalayanbootcamp.com.

I hope you will join me in recreating memories of those special moments. We all benefit when you share. I’d love to hear from you.

And if you do not want to submit any recipes or stories, but would like to post your suggestions, comments or feedback, please feel free to do so.

To Your Longevity and Abundant Living!

Connie