Full Life, Full Heart, Full Plate

My dear friend, mentor, adventure buddy, and food muse

A tornado in the kitchen. A lioness in business. A golden-haired starseed.

An end-of-the-earth friend. A trailblazing nomad. A food is medicine evangelist.

A radical artist. A cliff-jumping bombshell. A maven of travel.

Who could this be, you may ask?!

Welcome back to GUEST CHEF FRIDAY!

A highly entertaining addition to the coveted weekly cookbook newsletter. I have been having so much fun writing and cooking that I thought WE must explore as many recipe authors, cookbook creators, food philosophers, and culinary artists as we can! I have so many great friends and fellow Substack creators who are MASTERS in the food realm, and I want you to know about ‘em.

This woman has done so much in her life and is not even close to slowing down! Born in the UK but found herself drawn to the States when she was young. She has lived in Colorado mountain towns, hiked to the base camp of Mount Everest, spent a year down under, skied in the French alps, sampled tequila on Mexican beaches, became a Kundalini yoga instructor, spent time soaking up the forest in the Pacific Northwest (where we met!), ate her weight in cheese in France, danced in the rain at countless music festivals, traveled the west as a petsitter, crowned worlds best aunt, climbed more mountains then I can count (she got me to the top of Mount St. Helens!), started a coaching business, dipped in every alpine lake that has crossed her path and the through line of all her adventures has always revolved around looking for and creating art!

Introducing my dear friend, mentor, adventure buddy, and food muse…

Rachel Codina

Rachel and I became fast friends back in our Seattle days. We bonded over our love of the outdoors, good food, and, of course, booze! She has the most magical English accent that will charm you like a snake.

I learned so much from her and Seattle. Both very progressive and forward-thinking in most ways, especially with food. The accessibility to beautiful local ingredients was a dream! The flavors were mind-blowingly intense and robust (so this is what a carrot should taste like?!) Rachel and Seattle introduced me to many of my firsts.

• My first hemp seed.

• My first fish jerky. (Yes, it is as ripe as it sounds.)

• My first tea and chocolate after a hike.

• My first sprouted mung bean.

• My first bath house.

• My first arugula flower.

• My first kitchari.

• My first sourdough toast with oregano.

• My first clothes-optional hot spring.

• My first simple homemade curry. (Which I still think about to this day.)

• My first kombucha with a scobi.

As she moves through life, Rachel has been drawn towards all kinds of different eating styles. None being wrong, but most of them she outgrew. (Vegan for a season lol.) Not caring much for arbitrary dietary rules, Rachel now resonates with a philosophy about food.

Rachel’s food philosophy:

I'm not great with recipes, as you know. It's more a philosophy I follow…to do with plant-based, vegetarian, fresh, local, and seasonal whenever possible. It also has to be something quick and easy - I don’t compromise on the love, presentation, or quality. Hell no! Food is medicine!

When you go into sourcing your food with this mindset, you are setting yourself up for a mountain of creativity in the kitchen. The key to her cooking is…

FRESH IS BEST

I love to take what I have in the fridge and make a meal with it. Or even better, I love to take what's in someone else's fridge and make them a meal that totally surprises them.

Exhibit A - She took instant ramen packets left over from our desert adventure and made a delicious, nutritious, simple, and FRESH meal in less than 30 minutes! This Rachel bowl was pho-inspired. Instant noodles with a lime broth, sautéed mushrooms, broccoli and onions, lots of garlic, tofu, and wilted spinach. Finished with lots of lime juice, green onions, and basil. Are you drooling? Cause I am, and I even got to eat every last bite. Also, when you have an impromptu dinner party and don’t have any wine chilled, just add a couple of ice cubes to that Pinot Grigio, nbd.

One of Rachel’s best qualities is that she can find the good in anything, anyone, and any situation. In a world FULL of complaining and negativity, she is the ray of sunshine that we all crave. When she is not cooking up a storm, she is coaching artists on how to get their work out there! As someone who went to art school, they don’t teach you that, so this is a VERY important skillset.

Rachel is on a mission to empower artists to grow their Life Freedom Art Business! Check out her newsletter and BRAND NEW course here! Or send to your artist friends, no poor artists around here!

Let’s take Rachel’s zest for life, philosophy about food, and artistic sensibility to create ourselves a dish!

Rachel has given us some building blocks to get us started, listed in the order that you will layer them in the bowl (very important).

• Some kind of dip - chimichurri, beet hummus, or garlic tahini dressing.

• Greens, raw or cooked - arugula, spinach, or mixed spring greens.

• Other bits on top of the greens - cherry tomatoes, olives, wild mushrooms, warm cubes of roasted sweet potato, cucumbers, or watermelon radish.

• A protein or two - roasted chickpeas tossed in ras el hanout, boiled egg, oily sardines, mackerel, or white anchovies (Yes! from a can), green or puy lentils in a spicy sauce, baked tofu, grilled salmon or chicken.

• Seed topper - hemp, sunflower, or toasted pumpkin seeds. Or pan-roasted hazelnuts!

• Extra bits! -sauerkraut, micro greens or sprouts, sprinkle of sheep milk feta, squeeze of lemon or lime, drizzle of olive oil or toasted sesame oil.

And viola, you have created your very own Rachel bowl! Remember, it’s a philosophy, NOT a recipe. It is meant to be adjusted, swapped, substituted, added, proteined up, dairy-free, hold the spice, add all the seeds, add none of the seeds. You get my drift. It is adaptable, like Rachel. The philosophy stays the same and we allow the ingredients to eb and flow.

Here is my take on a Rachel bowl. I dove headfirst into my fridge and pulled out the following:

• Some kind of dip - store-bought hummus

• Greens, raw or cooked - mixed greens

• Other bits on top of the greens - cherry tomatoes, kalamata olives, fresh peas, and carrots

• A protein or two - 6-minute egg

• Seed topper - hemp seeds

• Extra bits! - sauerkraut, mico greens, olive oil, lemon, tequila salt, pepper, (ran out of feta but would have been perfect for this bowl)

Rachel has a timeless, no-frills approach to plating the delicious food she has created. It’s all about those layers!

Let us build

It’s time for you to run, not walk, to your fridge and make yourself a Rachel bowl. I know you are feeling like a little snackie snack.

If you feel like sharing, please click that button and send this to someone who needs a fresh bowl of delicious and beautiful food in their life. Come on, live a little!

If you enjoyed learning about one of the coolest cats that I know, please show some support by subscribing to the Sassy Artist Biz Club newsletter. Get all the tips, tricks, and proven methods to sell your artwork in her NEW course that just launched this week!

A little self-reflection time here. If you are feeling like your life is a little lackluster, it probably is. It might be time to get off that couch and switch things up a bit, quit that job, plan that trip, go on that walk, turn off that TV, call that friend, cuddle that cat, ditch that partner, you deserve a life that sparkles as bright as Rachels!

Cheers,

The Culinary Maven, Nicole S.