In today’s post: the fifth season (we’re in it), caring for our future selves (without becoming homesteaders), filling ourselves up (to shine our light out), wholesome breakfasts and snacks (to ease us into September), and a video showing how to make my must-have breakfast staple (the recipe I ALWAYS have on hand).
Hello my loves,
There’s a shift in the air. A slight change that feels both of the earth and of my body. The mornings are turning cooler, the evenings duskier. The thick green hum of the oak leaves is darkening. Yesterday I saw a red and gold leaf flutter to the street from some bush or tree already making its shift to fall.
We’re in the full abundance of summer, and yet, we’re not.
Mid-August through the fall equinox in September is Earth season in Traditional Chinese Medicine. It’s a fifth season marking the transition from summer yang towards autumn yin. We’ve moved on from fire season—all play and energy and outward movement—into a season of grounding and nurturing abundance. It’s harvest season, after all—the time when we gather the fruits of the seeds we planted earlier in the year to nourish us in the months ahead. It’s a moment to care not just for our present-day selves, but also our future selves.
I think back to the “olden times”, as my eight-year-old self reading Laura Ingalls Wilder would have called them, when food preservation was a must. This is the season for canning and preserving, a task that once meant survival. While many of you lovelies find joy in these tasks—ladling stewed tomatoes and jammy berries into jars and boiling them to enjoy throughout the winter—I, admittedly, am not one of them. I am no homesteader (although I do love the occasional fermentation project—Betty Williams’ CookStack Collective kimchi class on Friday proved how easy it is; the replay is coming soon).
But I don’t let things go to waste. I will strip all of our basil plants of their leaves and make a giant batch of pesto, which I’ll batch up and freeze. If we have an abundance of tomatoes, I’ll roast them whole with a few garlic cloves, herb sprigs, and olive oil, then coarsely mash them into a rough (dreamy) tomato sauce, which I’ll also freeze.
I’m no homesteader, but I do care about future Nicki. That’s what really motivates me.
September starts next week, and with it the first day of school for my kids. An energy is building. I’ve felt it every year of my adult life, not just since having babies and getting swept into the school routines that set the cadence for our year. It’s the shift from fire to earth. From play to harvest. There’s a unique energy to September, one of industriousness.
Fall is a busy time—back to school, back to work. That’s where future Nicki comes into play. I want her to be cared for, just as I’ll care for my kids as they transition into new classes, teams, and experiences. I do this in the easiest way I know how—I cook for her.
I just made a huge batch of slow cooker beans (see below), which I spooned into pint and quart containers to freeze for mid-week taco bowls. I do this because I love those beans, and my family loves taco bowls. This week I’ll bake a batch or two of wholesome muffins to stash in the freezer—yes for easy school breakfasts, but also for me. I’m going to make another huge jar of my favorite (grain-free) granola to store in my pantry—the staple that I always (and I mean always) have on hand for breakfasts, snacks, and treats (scroll down for the recipe and a step-by-step video!).
These are all easy tasks, but if I’m not careful they’ll turn into just one more thing to check off my (already long) to-do list. Instead, if I approach making them in a softer way, thinking about future Nicki but also setting an intention for the making right now to feel nourishing and satisfying, then I’m not just tending to my future self, but also this Nicki, right here.
It’s a small shift, but it’s an instrumental one. I talk often about micro-shifts: how the smallest changes are often the best way to move our lives toward more presence and satisfaction. Tending to your future self with intention takes conscious action, but it can be as simple as pausing before you cook—a few deep breaths, a hand on your heart, an invitation for the process to be one of nourishment rather than one more task to knock out. Feel your limbs as they move and the ground beneath your feet. Smell the waft of cinnamon and coconut. Be present. Stay open to joy, beauty, and comfort.
In tending to ourselves in this way—for both present and future versions—it spills over. It might sound like selfish work, and it is. We must start with ourselves.
That’s the real harvest, isn’t it? Not just what fills the freezer, but what fills us, so that our light can ripple outward.
I’ve written about my family’s ritual of saying grace before dinner in my book (and here). We take two deep breaths to land us in our bodies and at the table with one another. Then I (or somebody at the table) says a few words of gratitude. Most nights, I end with this:
May we nourish ourselves abundantly so that we can go out into the world to nourish those who need us.
It starts with us. Here, now. Let’s nourish our bodies, minds, and spirits abundantly—and tend to our future selves—so that we can spill this energy forth. So that our light and love can radiate out into the world, lighting up those who need it.
So welcome to earth season, my loves. I wonder, are there recipes, routines or practices you can make/start/practice now to fuel you as we transition to fall? What does your future self need, and can you give it to her/him/them in a way that also nourishes you, right now?
Below I’ve featured my favorite breakfasts and snacks to store or freeze. Make them for your future self, but also make them in a way that feels good to you now. As my daughter, Ella, said to me last week, “I love baking by myself. I play music, and I just get in the flow.” A bit of conscious action is all you need to transform the process into an opportunity for self-care: set an intention for how you want the process to feel, invite the flow, channel your divine self. Tend to you!
This protein and fiber filled grain-free (and sugar-free) granola is the one staple I always have on hand (and one that’s gone viral on the web). It’s easy to make, but there are a few essential tricks to get those crisp clusters. I made a video for you to walk you through each step in real time—the ingredients I use (including where I source them and options for swaps), and how I bring more nourishment into the process. You’ll find it below, for premium subscribers! If you don’t see the video and want access to all the subscriber benefits, you can upgrade your account here (and the video will magically appear ✨).
Muffins are my favorite afternoon snack—a little gift I get to unwrap for myself with a cup of tea—but my kids love them for breakfasts with sausages alongside. While most recipes out there are sugar-laden (closer to cake), I prefer wholesome (but equally delicious) recipes: grain-free peach muffins, blueberry banana muffins, carrot apple sunshine muffins, and vegan carrot cake muffins. Oh, and this one-bowl, grain-free banana bread is our very favorite, but there’s never enough left over to freeze!
Vegan banana oatmeal breakfast cookies taste like the best mash-up of banana bread and oatmeal and are great for packing as snacks. These easy banana oatcakes and pumpkin spice breakfast cookies are my eleven-year-old’s favorite, while I love these hemp-sunflower protein bites for steady energy. For a snack that tastes like dessert, these grain-free granola bars, which get slathered with a thick layer of dark chocolate, can be cut into bars or squares.
Oatmeal in cake form is just so much more fun, especially when slathered with a yogurt frosting that tastes like cream cheese frosting—the recipe (for a blueberry and carrot variation) is in my book. These baked oatmeal bars are another family staple and were the only way Juni would eat oatmeal for years.
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I shared my slow cooker beans in my Instagram Stories, and a few people reached out for the recipe (it works for nearly any dried beans and results in plump, absolutely delicious beans that are miles better than canned, with very little effort). Would you like a fleshed out version?
Fall is coming to The Seasonal Table! Join me and my friend Steve Sabicer on September 17 at 10am PT / 1pm ET for our quarterly celebration of cooking with the seasons. We’ll talk about what we’re excited to cook as the weather cools, and share simple ways to make the most of fall’s abundance—in the kitchen and out.
Wishing you a wonderful week, my dear. Tend to yourself—present-day and future—and remember to nourish yourself with intention and love. ❤️
xo, Nicki
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