thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is such a wonderful holiday. It's so much simpler than Christmas. Sure, there's a big dinner to prepare, but I think sharing good food with friends and family is one of the nicest things you can do. Now that we live in Chicago, we have spent Thanksgiving with some more distant relatives for the past 3 years. It's comforting to be with family, and to know that they are nearby should we ever need them, even if we are separated by a few branches on the family tree. I always bring a different side dish, and this year I was proudly named the vegetable queen. Fresh green beans the first year that definitely outshined your standard mushy casserole, kale salad last year that gave some people their first taste of that amazing vegetable, and Brussels sprouts this year.

It's good to have a simple holiday, allowing plenty of time to just sit and relax with family, and to reflect on all that we have to be grateful for. It feels a bit cliché to write about this, but we really don't take enough time for this in our normal hectic lives. I'm sure we would all be much happier and healthier if we did so. Just having 4 days away from the hospital is a major blessing! Already I've listened to good music with friends, gone to a yoga class, taken a few walks, cleaned the apartment, lounged around after the big meal, watched the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, slept for 11 hours last night (!), and it's only Friday.

While I was preparing the Brussels sprouts and Ian was washing dishes, we listened to the radio a bit and were intrigued by a question the reporter posed (rhetorically?) to the audience: What books are you thankful for? As we thought about it we realized that this is very different than asking what your favorite books are. Right now, I'm thankful for the Brothers Karamazov because I'm really enjoying it right now. Interestingly, one of the first books I thought of is called Anticancer, which talks about how diet, exercise, and stress affect our health in a very significant way. I think reading this book played a big role in sparking my interest in integrative & preventative medicine, which has influenced my life in a major way. I'm not sure what else, but I really like this question and plan to think on it a bit more.

How about you, what books are you thankful for?

2 more salads

Way back when, or maybe just a few months ago, I had the grand idea of sharing a series of salad recipes. Of course life gets in the way, so I should be more careful about making statements like that. It's like every time I have a week off from school or work - I begin making a list of things I'd like to do about a month in advance, and inevitably fill it with much more than anyone could fit into that time span. Oh well.

In the meantime, summer has faded and blustery winds are blowing in. But I do have a couple salad suggestions, photos and all, that have been set aside ready to go, just waiting for a bit of time to type them up. And when I say suggestions, I mean I don't really think it's worth taking the time to make up exact measurements because I generally just wing it, and I imagine that will work nicely for you as well. Cooking is the most fun when it's variations on a theme.

1. Sauteed Corn Salad
This is delicious with corn freshly cut from the cob. You could try it with frozen or canned, but I'm doubtful.

Ingredients:
Corn on the cob, at least 1 per person
red onion, diced
fresh thyme
fresh rosemary, chopped
feta cheese
almond slivers or pumpkin seeds, toasted (or any other nut or seed)

Heat some olive oil in a large pan. Add a handful of diced onion and let it cook for about 5 minutes before cutting the corn straight into the pan. Mix to coat everything evenly with the olive oil. Season with salt, pepper, and a few springs of fresh thyme and rosemary.

Let this cook until everything begins to caramelize. The key is keeping the heat up enough to let the corn and onions brown around the edges and stick to the bottom of the pan a bit - when you scrape that off, it adds an amazing sweetness to the dish.

Top with crumbled feta and toasted almond slivers and pumpkin seeds.

2. Tuna Salad
I am not a fan of the traditional tuna salad, or any mayonnaise-based salad for that matter. But I do like tuna. I consider this a fresher take on the traditional dish, and it still gets some creaminess from the oil and feta.

Ingredients:
1 can of tuna fish
olive oil
feta cheese
capers
lemon juice
fresh parsley, finely chopped
red onion, diced

Combine all ingredients well, balancing out the olive oil, feta, caper liquid and lemon juice to get the blend of richness and acidity that best suits you.

Enjoy on a bed of greens, a slice of bread, or however you usually eat tuna salad.

speaking of salads

It's been quite a while since I have used a recipe. I've been avoiding the stove top, and the idea of turning on the oven would be crazy. It's hot here and my single window unit does the kitchen no good at all. I guess it's a good thing my parents didn't listen when I said coming up from Houston would offer them some relief from the summer heat. Fortunately, I can easily get through the whole summer on salads alone.

Let's take a minute to expand our definition of "salad". I do not mean iceberg lettuce. Not even romaine, or butterhead, or mixed field greens. As far as I'm concerned, a Salad (I'll use a capital 'S' to keep things straight, my Salad has a capital, the standard restaurant side salad does not) requires no leaves, but if you do want that kind of salad you might as well make them spinach or kale or arugula. Something with flavor and nutrients. I have seen many pitiful salads, and I'm convinced that this is why so many people say things like, "I don't like vegetables". What do you mean you don't like vegetables? Your body thrives on vegetables. Throwing some grilled chicken, shredded cheddar, a few diced veggies and ranch onto your standard lettuce is not going to make it much more exciting, or satiating for that matter. There have been times when I have felt a strong urge to teach the world how to make Salads. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but I think that this food blogger is off to a really good start.

So then, what is a Salad? The dictionary says it's basically just a mixture of foods - raw or cooked veggies, sometimes with meat, with a dressing, served cold. See? nothing about lettuce. The key to a good Salad is simply starting with good, fresh ingredients. You can throw in just about anything, you just don't want to get carried away. Often the fewer things the better. I always try to include a good protein source - tuna, nuts, beans, lentils. I often just drizzle a little olive oil and lemon juice over top, but sometimes I actually mix up a honey mustard dressing or some kind of vinaigrette, but I rarely ever buy a pre-made bottled salad dressing. Adding in a grain can easily turn a light salad into a full meal, maybe even a whole week of meals.

Here is a quinoa salad that I made yesterday for a friend's going-away party. I wasn't sure where it was going when I started, but it turned out to be really delicious. This also means I didn't measure, so I'm just guessing on the measurements now. If anything seems off to you, please adapt accordingly, and let me know so I can change it on here. I wish I had more left over for myself, but this is all I've got. Enough for a photo, at least.

Quinoa Salad with Mango and Edamame Recipe:
3 cups cooked quinoa (about 1 cup dry, maybe a bit less)
1 champagne mango, cut into cubes
3/4 cup edamame
1/4 cup red onion, diced
1/2 cup red pepper, diced
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tbs apple cider vinegar
salt & pepper to taste

Mix everything together. Serve on a bed of arugula, or by itself.


I've got a few other salad ideas up my sleeves that I hope to be sharing on here soon, so stay tuned.

cooking for two

One day, in the middle of last week, I knew that I was going to be able to sleep in the next morning. My current definition of sleeping in is waking up any time after the sun rises high enough to pass a ray of light through one of my windows. Any one of them, I'm not picky. so long as I'm not leaving my house in the dark and driving to work passing party-goers making their final stop at the McDonald's drive-through. In celebration of that fact I invited a friend over for dinner with plans to take a walk and get ice cream afterwards. It was a simple evening, but we relished our taste of freedom and our bit of summer. I've been craving lazy summer days each time I see a block party or a wet-headed, pig-tailed girl riding a bicycle. But now is the time for surgery, and I have plenty of summers yet to live.

Our evening was simple. We introduced our pets and discovered that Zenith is scared of playful dogs. I heard him hiss for the first time ever, which made me a bit sad because he has never hissed at other cats. For dinner I made a salad and corn on the cob. Much of it was fresh from the farmer's market: the corn, butter with garlic scapes, tomato, cucumber, baby mustard greens and a soft buttery lettuce, tarragon white vinegar, sourdough bread. I don't usually peel cucumbers, but this time I did, and I added the peels to a pitcher of water and chilled it in the fridge. I chopped things up and made a dressing. I briefly boiled the sweet corn and slathered it with butter. I was having such a good time before my friend even arrived.

 It made me realize how much I enjoy preparing food for other people. It can be a luxury to prepare a good meal for yourself, but there's something very special about creating a dish - even a basic lettuce & veggie salad - that you will share with somebody else. It makes peeling cucumbers, using up the very last tomato, or splurging on some fresh herbs all seem completely worthwhile. That food becomes a sort of offering, a gift, a poem, an expression of love and friendship, it says "I care about you. I will feed you tasty things."

I'm going to try to have people over for dinner more often. Or lunch, or brunch, or coffee, whatever my crazy schedule will allow. Let me know if you want to come, feel free to invite yourself, my kitchen is open. And I will definitely be throwing myself a birthday party next month - I can't wait to come up with the menu.

simple standard lunch

Being parted from your beloved can certainly inspire poetry. Ian is studying abroad and, oh man, you should see the e-mails we write one another. Except for the fact that I will not be sharing them with the world via internet. I've been trying to focus on some of the other, less romantic, positives of him being away: when I need a break from studying I clean instead of just chatting, there are way fewer dirty dishes, I can let the cat sleep on his pillow. It's not much, but it's a reminder to focus on the simple joys in life. It's hard to do that when life is zooming all around you. Sometimes you just have to step back and simplify things in order to see all the beauty.

For me, simplifying what I eat can definitely help. I like to do this by preparing a week's worth of lunches all at once. It's nothing special but it's tasty and filling and healthy, so it gets me through the afternoon quite nicely. In fact, I often get comments when I eat this at school. Somebody says, "That looks good, what is it?" and I'm surprised because it's really just beans and rice. In fact, that just happened to me right now as I am writing this. So, if you've ever wondered, here it is:

• Cook 2 cups of brown rice, according to package instructions
• Cook 1lb. of dried beans - I use a pressure cooker and it takes <30 minutes. If you don't have one, try soaking the beans overnight first. Then drain, re-cover with water, bring to a boil, simmer for several hours, until tender. Alternatively, you can use canned beans, just opt for salt-free and drain them before using. [We could talk about the hazards of BPA-lined cans here, but I think that if that gets you to eat a nutritious meal then it might be worth the risk.]
• Steam or lightly sautee green vegetable of your choice - broccoli, green beans, a bunch of kale or chard. Sometimes I even cheat and use frozen vegetables.

Get out a few portable containers (glass, please, if you will be microwaving). Add a large spoonful of each of the above. I usually aim for close to 1 cup of each. You might feel satisfied after eating less than this, but it's pretty low calorie and I usually find myself wanting to eat the rest in a few hours. Drizzle on some olive oil, freshly ground black pepper, and turmeric. I'm pretty liberal with the turmeric - everything should be yellow.

luscious

"Luscious" is the best word I can come up with to describe figs. When biting into one on its own, the sweet earthy flavor and the soft, round, fleshy texture makes me feel as though I were doing something sinful. I first came to really appreciate figs when I spent a summer in Spain. My husband was so kind as to follow me around as I gawked at the amazing food market in Barcelona. We bought giant figs, jamon serrano and a dry, salty cheese, which we ate picnic-style in our hotel.

I love it when something so simple feels so luxurious. That's my favorite thing about good, fresh food or a hot cup of coffee as the sunlight streams through the kitchen window. This weekend has been kind of like that. For an evening snack I prepared some warm figs with cheese and honey, 2 different ways. Try it with a glass of red wine if you're feeling romantic.

Warm Figs and Cheese:

Version 1:

On a baking sheet lay out plain round crackers

Top with a slice of hard cheese, followed by half of a fig

Drizzle top with honey and a sprinkle of cinnamon

Version 2:

Cut an "X" into the bottom of the fig

Stuff with goat cheese

Lay them on their sides on  baking sheet

Drizzle top with honey and a sprinkle of cinnamon

Bake at 350 degrees until the cheese begins to soften, 10-15 minutes