Happy Herbaceous Grain Salad via One is Hungry

Happy Herbaceous Grain Salad

Hello all!  A very, very late happy New Year to you.  How are you; how is 2015 treating you so far?  We are doing A-okay.  Can we talk for just a moment about the revelation that is January in Tampa?  It is pretty magical.  For the most part it is blue skies, sunshine, and 70 degree days. Here, people take down their Christmas decorations to hang pirate flags and Gasparilla wreathes.  That’s right, this weekend we will experience part one of our first ever Gasparilla!

We’ve been spending our time getting better acquainted with the area, and getting to know some of our fellow. . .Tampons?  :)  What in the world do you call people from Tampa?  Tampites, Tampians, Bay Dwellers?  Anyway, we’ve been meeting people.  We recently had a potluck dinner with two of J.’s co workers and their families.  The food was fantastic and there were littles running amok to keep things lively. Our contribution was a gigantic Greek-ish quinoa salad (if a salad based on a seed that comes from the Andes mountains can be in any way Greek).  Recipe requests were made, so I thought I’d share with everyone at the same time.

Happy Herbaceous Grain Salad

As I said, for the dinner party I made this dish with quinoa as the base.  My intention was to do the same for this post however, my inattentiveness led to a happy accident.  I had grabbed, soaked, rinsed, and drained my quinoa before I realized it was not quinoa at all, but millet. Good news: equally delicious, so I continued on as planned. A quick note if you decide to do millet instead of quinoa, my inadvertent soak and rinse didn’t hurt anything, but usually when cooking millet, I would just toast the dry grain before adding liquid, as in the recipe from this post.

Doing the Allergy Elimination Diet?  By changing the feta into avocado, the pistachios to seeds, and the raisins into chopped grapes (or sulphite-free raisins), you can totally embrace this salad!

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serves 4-6

Ingredients

1  C quinoa or millet

2 bay leaves

kosher or sea salt

1/2 cucumber

1 large carrot

zest and juice of 1 to 1 1/2 lemons

1 1/2 C tightly packed herbs, chopped ( I used flat leaf parsley, cilantro, and mint.  Basil or oregano would be really nice too.)

3 TBS – 1/4 C golden raisins

1/2- 3/4 C crumbled feta

1/2 C kalamata olives

*banana peppers (I couldn’t find any at the store, but I think they would be fantastic)

Directions

Soak quinoa, rinse and drain.  Place in saucepan with 1 1/4 cups of water, two bay leaves, and 1/4 tsp salt.  Bring to boil, cover, reduce heat to low.  Cook undisturbed for 15 minutes.  Check to see that all water is gone and quinoa fluffs dry with fork.  When cooked, spread in tray or platter to cool.

Quarter lengthwise, and slice carrot and cucumber.  Zest and juice lemon.  Roughly chop herbs.  Pit and chop olives.  Cube feta.

Combine all ingredients in large bowl and fold to incorporate.  Taste for seasoning.  I know everyone hates to be told that, but I can’t possibly know how salty your olives or feta are, so you are just gonna have to taste as you go!  Top with chopped pistachios.

*If it will be some time before you serve, consider adding the herbs just before eating.  The acid of the lemon juice and the bruising of being chopped can cause the herbs to change color.

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catching up over chocolate-ginger granola with buckwheat

Hello again.  Given my record of inconsistent posting, it no longer even makes sense to apologize for/explain being away so long; I’m going to assume the privilege of an old friend and pick up where we left off.

We are in Tampa!  We have been living here for two and a half months now, and the change has been really good. In fact, aside from discovering new depths of incompetence in a certain government contracting company that shall remain nameless, and missing a few very dear friends, it has been a great experience.  We are roosting in a sun-filled apartment within walking distance of the bay.  A quick glimpse from our windows would easily fool you into thinking we live in a tropical jungle.windowviewEvery chance we get we stroll down to the water to watch sting rays, manta rays, sea turtles, dolphins, sharks, and dozens of fish whose names we don’t know.  Yep, in case you have been wondering, runners of Tampa, we are that annoying couple walking really slowly, hanging over the balustrade, soaking it all in, while you are pounding the pavement.  Give us time.  We may eventually become jaded to 70 plus degree November days, and seeing the sun glint diamonds off of the waters of the bay. . .but I hope not!doublestingrayWe spent a disappointing month shopping the local grocery stores to find them filled with really expensive produce that is often already going bad on the shelves, or, alternately, completely under-ripe and flavorless.  I’m not just talking one store, I’m talking every store (yes, I’m talking about you Whole Foods, Publix, Winn-Dixie, and Fresh Market).  We were throwing away a shameful amount of food because it was spoiling before we could use it. In the last two weeks I finally made it a priority to seek out some alternatives; the results were surprising!  There is a farm hidden away on a cul-de-sac in south Tampa where you can get fresh eggs, raw milk, fresh from the hive honey, and so much more, on the honor system.  I want to do a full post on this place soon, but if you are in the Tampa area and want to see for yourself, it is South Tampa Farm at 6101 s. 2nd st. Tampa, Florida 33611. there is a produce wholesale shop that welcomes retail customers (Sanwa Farmer’s Market) and a pretty cute veggie stand just down the road on Swann.

My mom came for a visit and took us to the 5th annual veg-fest, after which we went to a nearby power plant to see the manatees that collect in the heated waters at its base.famvegfestI had a whirlwind day at Disney with one of my very best friends and her kids, and I’m pretty sure I enjoyed it more than any of the littles!  I have no shame in being an adult disney lover. . .the magic is real.  Thank you J.S. for sharing the nugs with me; it was wonderful being Aunt Brandy again for a day!

And, finally, I made a recipe I would love to share with you today.  Based on the fantastic Sarah Britton’s Chunky Chocolate Buckwheat Granola, this version is lighter on oil, and has a kick of heat courtesy of my spicy friend, ginger .parfait2

Chocolate-ginger granola with buckwheat

Ingredients

  • 3 cups rolled oats
  • 1 cup buckwheat (I found this in the bulk bins at whole foods)
  • 1 1/2 cups coconut flakes
  • 1 cup hazelnuts, roughly chopped
  • 1/4 cup chia seeds
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 5 dates, pitted and soaked in 1/4 cup milk of choice or water
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup or honey
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 to 1/2 tsp fresh minced ginger
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 300 degrees
  • In a blender combine dates and their soaking milk, maple syrup, coconut oil, vanilla extract, ginger, and cocoa powder.  Combine until mostly smooth; thin with extra milk of choice if needed (warm before adding).
  • Combine dry ingredients in large bowl, mixing to evenly distribute.
  • Pour chocolate mixture over dry ingredients and fold until evenly coated.
  • Press evenly onto parchment paper lined baking sheet and place in oven
  • Cook for 30 minutes, check and turn/stir as needed if outer edges begin to burn.  As sarah b. says, tasting the hazelnuts is the best way to tell when this granola is ready.
  • Cool completely before storing in air tight container.

 

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Ch-ch-change!

You know how it is when you have something that is consuming all your thoughts, and you aren’t yet ready share it, but you can’t think of anything else, so you end up saying (or writing) nothing at all?  That is where I’ve been for the last several weeks.  But now I can finally say it: we are moving to Tampa!  As in, my husband starts his new job on September 3 and we are packing NOW!

I’m so excited to share this new experience with you as it unfolds.  If you are from the Tampa area, or have visited often enough/long enough to have favorite places and things, please leave a comment!  Jason and I will be utterly and entirely new to the area, and have everything yet to discover.

Health and Happiness

I expect this could be a divisive topic: the balance between striving for health and having a life that you still enjoy.  For some people, people who have been immensely unhealthy, physically, nothing may seem too difficult to give up if only they can feel better.  For those who have always been moderately healthy but still want to make good choices, it can become a spiraling rabbit hole of “how much is okay, and how much is too much” or “should I even bother when it is all so hard to understand”.  Examples:  I’ve mentioned before that my mom (hi, momma!) has made some major changes in the last year.  For as long as I can remember she has been trying different systems or diet plans to get healthy.  She finally chose a lifestyle (whole foods, plant based diet) that seems extreme to many who eat more “standard” diets: no animal products, no fats, no sugar, no salt.  It has worked beautifully for her and she is really, really happy with it.  For her, every single sacrifice has been abundantly repaid in life quality and happiness.  In fact, she has been so successful that it has become really difficult for her to watch other people not feeling as great as she does, and she is admittedly right down evangelical about the benefits of this lifestyle (as we all sometimes are with anything that makes our lives immensely better).

Alternately, I’ve also mentioned that my husband and I were seriously examining our sugar consumption.  Jason has a strong family history of high cholesterol, heart disease, and diabetes.  We spent several months doing research, having the “how much is too much” discussion and asking ourselves if it was even a good idea, given the evidence of how bad sugar can be for the human body, to walk that tight rope and consume any at all.  Jason’s final decision for himself was to give up all sugars that are not fruit on a daily basis, and then have a treat a few times a month.  His thought is that he might be marginally healthier if he never, ever had sugar again, but he would almost certainly enjoy his life less without those occasional treats (and the social settings in which they usually occur).  He lost seven pounds in the first month after making that decision, and his recent blood work was fantastic!

I can remember many times in life saying, “I could never give up milk!” or hearing others say “If x made me sick, I’d just have to stay that way, because I cannot live without x.”  Well, I definitely came to the point where my quality of life was improved by giving up the milk I so immensely enjoyed, but I have know others who did in fact refuse to give up something that made them ill because they felt life would be less worthwhile without it.  Not just food here, either. . .I put off finding a new loving home for the cat I was desperately allergic to until I was made aware that it wasn’t fair to my husband for me to hold on to something that made our lives more difficult at a time when he was nearly drowning in the stress of caring for us all.

What about you all.  Where do y’all draw the line between health and happiness.  What are some things you either have given up to be healthier, or held onto despite your (or your doctor’s) best judgement, or because you felt the joys outweighed the detriments?  Also, what are some health changes you’ve considered and maybe given up on because there was just too much conflicting information and it was confusing? (I realize that this discussion could easily veer into the deeper and darker waters of addictions in general, but lets try to keep it on the nutrition side of things for now.)

I’ve been thinking

Greetings, again.  You may have noticed that I took some time off. . .I mean REALLY took some time!  I found in March that I was just utterly tired of food.  To be honest, I was utterly tired, period.  I began having some heart problems in late winter.  I let it go, too discouraged to try to deal with it, until my physical therapist and doc.’s office finally sent me to the E.R. one morning.  Answers were not quickly or easily forthcoming, but in the end it turned out that the allergy medications that made life here in northern VA. bearable were greatly increasing my heart rate.

Through all of this my husband and I ate in survival mode: nothing fancy, nothing that required navigating new recipes.  Luckily, we were in Williamsburg, Virginia for three of those weeks, and didn’t have to worry about cooking.

Since that problem began to resolve, I’ve still been feeling lackluster about cooking.  I’ve been thinking about lots of things and wanting to share them, but I’ve hesitated because they weren’t necessarily about recipes, and recipes and travel are what have defined this space until now.  Well, that may have to change.  I plan (notice that is plan not promise) to be writing more in the days to come.  A lot of it will be nutrition or health related, some of it won’t be; I may even get in a recipe or two before the year completely disappears!  I hope that those of you who have stuck around through the silence, and those of you who are just dropping in for the first time, will come and join the conversation.  Let me know if there are topics you have questions about, books you’ve been reading, changes you’ve been making, foods you are enjoying.  I would love to hear a bit about all of you, and could use the inspiration!  Thank you for stopping by or sticking with me, whichever the case may be :).