Monday, December 31, 2012
Kale experience
Kale, I've heard about this supposed super-food greens for years, but never plucked up enough curiosity or courage to try it. Its curly leaves just does not seem prep-friendly. Well, today I finally did. For lunch I had a kale salad with red yams, edamames, sesame seeds, avocado, and sauteed portabella and corn in olive oil. For dinner I had a dish, I guess you could also call it a salad, of kale, baked salmon, red yam again, sesame seeds again, brown rice, and sauteed portabella and corn and onions in olive oil. A lot of it was just whatever ingredient I had in the fridge and needed consumption the most. I did intentionally incorporate the red yams and the fatty foods (salmon, avocado, sesame), as Vitamin K is abounds in kale and beta carotene in both kale and red yam, and both nutrients need fat to be broken down. So I had a very satisfied day in terms of my fat soluble vitamins. Both dishes also tasted quite good. The kale had a dark green color and a very leafy, dark green taste to it, if you know what I mean. For each dish I used three small stalks of kale, tore off the leaves into small pieces, sprinkled a dash of salt, and scrunched them up with my bare hands for a few minutes until they started to look wrinkled and darker in color, similar to crumpled leaves. I found this tip on another food blogger's site when I was looking for recipes (http://cookieandkate.com/2012/raw-kale-salad-with-creamy-tahini-dressing/); she's a big fan of kale and has a bunch of other interesting-looking dishes. I also ended up pouring the scrunched up kale into the mixture of portabella/corn/onion sautee shortly before dishing it, just to give it a slight torch (which probably didn't make a lot of difference). These days I find myself gravitating meal-in-a-bowl; such is the life of cooking for one.
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Quinoa, avocado and humms salad and an unsatisfactory variation
I came to like quinoa, this very much mispronounced and hippie grain, through a very non-hippie dish of quinoa, potato and cheese casserole bake from my college dorm cafeteria. It was savory(cheese) and crunchy(thinly sliced potato) and chewy(quinoa) and fatty(cheese again) and all sorts of goodness. Later Justine also shared with me one or her creations, a modified fried rice with zucchini, eggs, kielbasa and corn with quinoa replacing rice, good hot or cold, for breakfast or anything after. Then earlier this year at a very hippie restaurant in Palo Alto, LYFE kitchen (you can tell from the spelling), apparently created by some high-rank McDonald's personnel under the disguise of 'healthy fast food,' I ordered a wrap that's quinoa, adzuki beans, 'forbidden rice'--heaven know what's that, hummus and avocado in whole wheat tortilla, accompanied by a side of greens of course. It was very good, and I was quite pleased with my decision, which I mulled over way too long between the more exotic ('forbidden,' ooh la la) quinoa wrap and comfort flat bread. Though I have to point out a major flaw in the 'healthy fast food' idea: this is a restaurant that has assorted potted herbs as decorations, and where you will spend orders of magnitude more time mulling over the menu items and guessing what they are than over McNuggets and fries, and that, rather than the preparation time in the kitchen, often becomes the time limiting factor, or rate determining step (chemical kinetics cough*). It really is okay to get your food in 20 minutes rather than 10 when you've spent 15 minutes reading the multiple menus (gluten free, vegan, winter, breakfast, normal).
Anyways, so I got inspired by the quinoa wrap, and made my own variation in a salad form (picture will follow) that came out quite well. I cook 1/4 cup quinoa, 2 tbsp each of black beans and corn in 3/4 cups water, to which I add 2 tbsp hummus. I sautee a carrot, a zucchini, a quarter onion (and sometimes a yellow bell substituting any above) in olive oil. I chop up an avocado, and mix all of the above together, sometimes with sauteed tofu, sometimes salted edamames. That is two meals. Of course if I eat if for two meals i mix in the second half avocado later because avocado oxidizes and turns brown. It's dry, good cold, and therefore excellent for packing lunch. Also none of the veggies turns yucky left over like leafy greens, another plus.
But today I substituted about 2 cups of kabocha squash for the quinoa and black beans, and sesame seeds for the hummus, and it was quite tasty except the buttery softness of the avocado fared very poorly up against the starchy, tougher squash and virtually became invisible to my tongue (texture- rather than taste-wise). Next time I will drizzle sesame oil in place of the avocado to spin it toward oriental. I looked up kabocha squash afterwards, and it turns out this subtly sweet, starchy-tasting and squash is not nearly as carb-loaded as other squashes and should really be thought of as a fibery rather than starchy vegetable. But it tastes so good! Perhaps next time i will throw in more corn and/or substitute with sweet potatoes.
Note to self: I'm eating a lot of carrots lately, pairing it with every fatty food to take advantage of the beta-carotene, a precursor to the fat soluble vitamin A. Can broaden selection to other orange/red-hued foods such as squashes and yams and sweet potatoes.
Anyways, so I got inspired by the quinoa wrap, and made my own variation in a salad form (picture will follow) that came out quite well. I cook 1/4 cup quinoa, 2 tbsp each of black beans and corn in 3/4 cups water, to which I add 2 tbsp hummus. I sautee a carrot, a zucchini, a quarter onion (and sometimes a yellow bell substituting any above) in olive oil. I chop up an avocado, and mix all of the above together, sometimes with sauteed tofu, sometimes salted edamames. That is two meals. Of course if I eat if for two meals i mix in the second half avocado later because avocado oxidizes and turns brown. It's dry, good cold, and therefore excellent for packing lunch. Also none of the veggies turns yucky left over like leafy greens, another plus.
But today I substituted about 2 cups of kabocha squash for the quinoa and black beans, and sesame seeds for the hummus, and it was quite tasty except the buttery softness of the avocado fared very poorly up against the starchy, tougher squash and virtually became invisible to my tongue (texture- rather than taste-wise). Next time I will drizzle sesame oil in place of the avocado to spin it toward oriental. I looked up kabocha squash afterwards, and it turns out this subtly sweet, starchy-tasting and squash is not nearly as carb-loaded as other squashes and should really be thought of as a fibery rather than starchy vegetable. But it tastes so good! Perhaps next time i will throw in more corn and/or substitute with sweet potatoes.
Note to self: I'm eating a lot of carrots lately, pairing it with every fatty food to take advantage of the beta-carotene, a precursor to the fat soluble vitamin A. Can broaden selection to other orange/red-hued foods such as squashes and yams and sweet potatoes.
Monday, December 24, 2012
When I'm lazy
I make brown rice with corn, soy and black beans, and red and white yams, in the proportion of 1/2 cup rice, 1 tbsp of add-ins each, and two quartered small yams with 1 cup water. It comes out a hodgepodge of colorful grains and legumes and roots, golden corn kernels dotted around and chunks of yam like massive islands in a sea of rice stained purple by the black beans. I like the nuttiness and chewiness of brown rice and that it never goes mushy like its delicate white cousin (bad pun haha). I also like yams a lot for their non-excessive sweetness and texture (the red ones like pumpkin pie, the white and purple ones like baked potatoes but less dry). This hodgepodge lasts me three or four meals worth of starch.
When I want something safe and simple, I stir fry half a broccoli crown, half a yellow or red bell, 1/4 of an onion, and a carrot, all coarsely diced, in olive oil and a clove of garlic; I like using canola oil, which by the way has a higher omega-3: omega-6 ratio than olive oil, for anything remotely oriental and olive oil for everything else. This comes out literally like an abridged rainbow--green, orange, yellow and white--and lasts me two meals worth of veggies. It took me a while of cooking for one to grasp the right portion sizes; many times I overestimated my stomach or my pan and a few other times I made tomatoes and eggs with half a tomato and one egg which looked absolutely ludicrous in the pan. Anyways, I digress. I just pile one meal worth of rainbow veggies on top of one meal worth of brown rice hodgepodge in a large bowl, throw on edamames from a dozen or so pods (Trader Joe's sells thaw-and-peel salted edamame pods that are quite delicious considering they're frozen), and sprinkle on toasted white sesame seeds, lightly mix and eat. Voila, a bowl of eye-candy laziness and a dose of peace to the health-conscious part of mind. Good for a slow evening in or a small lunch.
12/23 edit: the same regiment also works with an egg, cooked any way, substituting the edamames.
When I want something safe and simple, I stir fry half a broccoli crown, half a yellow or red bell, 1/4 of an onion, and a carrot, all coarsely diced, in olive oil and a clove of garlic; I like using canola oil, which by the way has a higher omega-3: omega-6 ratio than olive oil, for anything remotely oriental and olive oil for everything else. This comes out literally like an abridged rainbow--green, orange, yellow and white--and lasts me two meals worth of veggies. It took me a while of cooking for one to grasp the right portion sizes; many times I overestimated my stomach or my pan and a few other times I made tomatoes and eggs with half a tomato and one egg which looked absolutely ludicrous in the pan. Anyways, I digress. I just pile one meal worth of rainbow veggies on top of one meal worth of brown rice hodgepodge in a large bowl, throw on edamames from a dozen or so pods (Trader Joe's sells thaw-and-peel salted edamame pods that are quite delicious considering they're frozen), and sprinkle on toasted white sesame seeds, lightly mix and eat. Voila, a bowl of eye-candy laziness and a dose of peace to the health-conscious part of mind. Good for a slow evening in or a small lunch.
12/23 edit: the same regiment also works with an egg, cooked any way, substituting the edamames.
The rainbow pallette and the awesomeness of fat
Justine wanted to start a food blog because we both are moving toward less animal in our diet (see below). What should we call it, she asked? I said I wanted to have rainbow in the name, because food is so colorful and vibrant. Then we became double rainbow all the day, with a wink to the awesome Yosemite guy.
Food from the soil (and here I include animals who are made up by matters from earth) is indeed rich and colorful and endlessly wonderful as rainbows. People nowadays forget about a lot of foods. When you think fruits, don't just think apples and bananas and oranges and berries; there's the tangy green kiwi, bittersweet pink grapefruit, creamy yet light papaya, decadently sweet and velvety durian, delicate white mangosteen. When you think vegetables, go beyond broccoli and carrots (though those two make a cheerful color palette), where eggplants, sweet bells, onions tomatoes celery zucchinis portabellas, arugula, snow peas and Chinese mustard greens or Napa cabbage and Wakame seaweed promise endless timbers of favor as well as colors. When you think starch, there's more than rice and pasta and the addictive bread; branch out from grains of nutty steel cut oat and chewy quinoa to all colors of yams and potatoes (try purple), corn, taro, pumpkins and squashes. For protein, think wider than animals; there are spectrums of beans and lentils and legumes and curious grains (in which I am poorly versed but hopefully will improve), crunchy nuts and silky tofu and velvety soy milk and young green edamames, and good old peanuts (which is a legume, did you know?). And when you do think animals, there's more than chicken and steak; eggs cooked a thousand ways, cheeses of a thousand kinds(in which I also am poorly versed), fatty pink salmon and pristine white scallops and golden yolk-like sea urchin and all other aquatic denizens, rich brown duck and fragrant lamb, and a little to my chagrin I'd be lying if I didn't enjoy rabbit stew in the deep winter. Though Justine and I independently made the resolution to move toward less animal and more plants in our eating pallette; did you know that methane from cattle of the world account for more green house effect than vehicles of the world? And that most of them are not at all fed what they've eaten for the age of their species or kept where their ancestors roamed (but instead corn and soy and antibiotics to keep them from getting sick from the unnatural diet)? But I shall leave this to a whole other book by some better-informed, better-enthused vegan advocate; as you can probably tell I (and I know I can speak for Justine) love certain foods too much to ever become vegan in the foreseeable future. The point is that people today eat much more meat than any reasonable quantities (12 ounce steaks! Come on!) and said meat comes from unnaturally mass-produced (and in many cases mistreated, if you'd care) sources, an artificially distorted link in the food chain. And so we two as a duo would like to clear out some poor animals off our respective tables, to make space for samples from the edible rainbow pallette, the grains and paint and pixels of our amazing planet.
I should save the closing for the most slandered slice of the food pie chart--fat. I absolutely love fat and I think I can speak for many people. But I don't hate that I love it; I love that I love it. From the bad-for-you butter on bread and fatty meat and cheesecake and madelines and chocolate-filled shortbread cookies (find these all-butter little miracles at Trader Joe's), to the no-so-guilty, and so very tasty nuts, fatty fish and seafood, endlessly sloppy peanut butter, creamy rich avocado, lime-and-amber olive oil, fragrant sesame seeds or oil, savory chunky hummus, I love them all. Fat is the lubricant of life; it makes us smoother and fuller. Literally: hair shines and skin dewy and lips full and cheeks colored with a certain happiness only achievable through fat. And hard fact wise, vitamins A, D, E and K are fat-soluble only, and I'm sure I don't have to rage about the omega-3 and the brain. So there we go. Cut fat a break. Actually, love fat.
Food from the soil (and here I include animals who are made up by matters from earth) is indeed rich and colorful and endlessly wonderful as rainbows. People nowadays forget about a lot of foods. When you think fruits, don't just think apples and bananas and oranges and berries; there's the tangy green kiwi, bittersweet pink grapefruit, creamy yet light papaya, decadently sweet and velvety durian, delicate white mangosteen. When you think vegetables, go beyond broccoli and carrots (though those two make a cheerful color palette), where eggplants, sweet bells, onions tomatoes celery zucchinis portabellas, arugula, snow peas and Chinese mustard greens or Napa cabbage and Wakame seaweed promise endless timbers of favor as well as colors. When you think starch, there's more than rice and pasta and the addictive bread; branch out from grains of nutty steel cut oat and chewy quinoa to all colors of yams and potatoes (try purple), corn, taro, pumpkins and squashes. For protein, think wider than animals; there are spectrums of beans and lentils and legumes and curious grains (in which I am poorly versed but hopefully will improve), crunchy nuts and silky tofu and velvety soy milk and young green edamames, and good old peanuts (which is a legume, did you know?). And when you do think animals, there's more than chicken and steak; eggs cooked a thousand ways, cheeses of a thousand kinds(in which I also am poorly versed), fatty pink salmon and pristine white scallops and golden yolk-like sea urchin and all other aquatic denizens, rich brown duck and fragrant lamb, and a little to my chagrin I'd be lying if I didn't enjoy rabbit stew in the deep winter. Though Justine and I independently made the resolution to move toward less animal and more plants in our eating pallette; did you know that methane from cattle of the world account for more green house effect than vehicles of the world? And that most of them are not at all fed what they've eaten for the age of their species or kept where their ancestors roamed (but instead corn and soy and antibiotics to keep them from getting sick from the unnatural diet)? But I shall leave this to a whole other book by some better-informed, better-enthused vegan advocate; as you can probably tell I (and I know I can speak for Justine) love certain foods too much to ever become vegan in the foreseeable future. The point is that people today eat much more meat than any reasonable quantities (12 ounce steaks! Come on!) and said meat comes from unnaturally mass-produced (and in many cases mistreated, if you'd care) sources, an artificially distorted link in the food chain. And so we two as a duo would like to clear out some poor animals off our respective tables, to make space for samples from the edible rainbow pallette, the grains and paint and pixels of our amazing planet.
I should save the closing for the most slandered slice of the food pie chart--fat. I absolutely love fat and I think I can speak for many people. But I don't hate that I love it; I love that I love it. From the bad-for-you butter on bread and fatty meat and cheesecake and madelines and chocolate-filled shortbread cookies (find these all-butter little miracles at Trader Joe's), to the no-so-guilty, and so very tasty nuts, fatty fish and seafood, endlessly sloppy peanut butter, creamy rich avocado, lime-and-amber olive oil, fragrant sesame seeds or oil, savory chunky hummus, I love them all. Fat is the lubricant of life; it makes us smoother and fuller. Literally: hair shines and skin dewy and lips full and cheeks colored with a certain happiness only achievable through fat. And hard fact wise, vitamins A, D, E and K are fat-soluble only, and I'm sure I don't have to rage about the omega-3 and the brain. So there we go. Cut fat a break. Actually, love fat.
Sunday, December 23, 2012
--rainbow
-quinoa, hummus, avocado salad
-oatmeal
-hodgepodge brown rice
-tomato and eggs
-rainbow veggies over brown rice
-salmon head soup
-eggplant cold dish
-eggplants, tomatoes and potatoes
-basil eggplant?
-stir fried daikon
-catfish head soup
-split pea soup
-something with leeks
-something with artichoke
this is justine editing your post!
-eggplant cold dish
-eggplants, tomatoes and potatoes
-basil eggplant?
-stir fried daikon
-catfish head soup
-split pea soup
-something with leeks
-something with artichoke
this is justine editing your post!
Monday, December 17, 2012
Sunday, December 16, 2012
about
test post! this is sally and justine's food blog for sharing ideas, successes, and failures in the culinary arena.
:)
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