BLANCHED ASPARAGUS with crunchy garlic

[THE RECIPE]

1 bunch of asparagus
3 cloves of garlic
2 - 3 tablespoons of olive oil [ghee or avocado oil]
sea salt to taste

Peel garlic cloves and roughly mince. Place oil and garlic in a small saucepan and warm over low to medium-low heat. Stir occasionally. Cook until garlic is a golden brown color.

Meanwhile, bring a medium pot of water to boil. Slice asparagus on a diagonal. Once water is boiling add asparagus and simmer for about 90 seconds. Asparagus should be bright green and just tender with still a bit of crunch. Remove from heat and drain water immediately. Run asparagus under cold water for 30 seconds or so to help stop cooking process. Place asparagus in a bowl.

Drizzle garlic and oil over asparagus. Sprinkle with sea salt to taste.

VEGETARIAN BROCCOLI-POTATO SOUP with sauteed garlic, onion, and herbs

I typically like a good snow. I figure, if it's going to be cold why not be sparkling white? And I really love a good winter storm that keeps up nestled close to the fire with hot tea and coloring books. Yesterday was both and I couldn't stop thinking about a warm, creamy soup. In an effort to use some things up, which is generally where most of the recipes found here originate, I followed my taste buds directly to here: creamy potato broccoli soup in vegetarian style. No cheese, no cream, no worries.

A couple of words about the recipe. White beans are an awesome way to add a creamy texture without the cream. The beans, in combination with nutritional yeast, come out in the vicinity of cheesy. I highly recommend using bone broth here as it provides a deeper, richer flavor but vegetable broth will work just fine. If you're using store-bought broth, reduce the salt listed in the recipe to at least half and taste as you go. And please oh please don't skip on the roasted broccoli and seeds or sauteed garlic and onion. Whole new level of awesome.

If you're a winter hater I hope you find ways to enjoy it in the simplest of forms. If you're a cold weather lover, may this add to your glee. And either way, may you find the loviness in today.

[THE RECIPE]

7 T. ghee, divided
1 medium onion, thinly sliced

4 large cloves of garlic, peeled and minced

4 - 4 1/2 c. red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into small cubes
2 tsp. nutritional yeast [optional]
1 1/2 tsp. rosemary powder
2 tsp. sea salt or to taste
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/4 tsp. smoked paprika
1/4 tsp. turmeric
1/4 tsp. celery seed
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 c. white beans [great northern, butter beans, etc.], cooked and rinsed

4 c. turkey broth or broth of choice

4 c. water

1 head of broccoli, chopped into small pieces
1/2 c. pumpkin seeds
1 - 2 T. pure maple syrup

In a medium skillet, melt three tablespoons of the ghee over medium heat. Add onion and cook until onion is soft and translucent. Lower heat to medium-low and saute until onion is just beginning to brown. Remove from heat and pour cooked onion into a medium size pot. Set aside.

In the same skillet that onion was cooked in, add three tablespoons of ghee and minced garlic. Cook over medium-low heat until garlic is just beginning to brown. Remove from heat and add to the pot with the onion.

Place all remaining ingredients, except broccoli, in the pot with the onions and garlic. Cover and bring to boil over high heat. Once the boiling, reduce heat to medium-low and cook until potatoes are tender when poke with fork. Add broccoli and cook for an additional 7 - 10 minutes or until broccoli is soft and bright green. Remove from heat and let cook for 10 minutes or so.

While soup is cooking preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place half of the broccoli and pumpkin seeds on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Toss with about one tablespoon of ghee, syrup, and sprinkle with salt. Rub with your hands so that it is well combined. Bake until broccoli is bright green and just starting to brown on edges and pumpkin seeds are just becoming light brown, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.

Once the potatoes and broccoli are tender, place half of the soup in a blender and blend until smooth. Add blended soup back to pot, stir to combine, and serve. You can also use an immersion blender and blend soup to a creamy chunky consistency.

Top with roasted broccoli-pumpkin seed mixture.

MASOOR DAL with onions and garlic

Today I found myself thinking, “If only we didn’t have to eat. I could get so much more done.”

Uh oh.

We were just back from a 10-day trip and woke up late [vacation-lag], finding ourselves rushing somewhat frantically throughout the morning, just trying to make it out the door with hair combed and shoes on. Food was the last thing I needed to be bothered with.

I've learned, with a lot of practice, to watch these kind of thoughts with curiosity. It came from somewhere within me and is probably less about what I actually think and more of a red flag gently warning me something is off. 

I watched and waited.

Pretty quickly I stumbled upon this: I was feeling rushed and out of control, unprepared and unsettled. My body and soul were at work, signalling my mind for a time of slow. Interestingly body/soul chose food as the medium, something I deeply care about. The point was so blatant, so obvious I had to listen. Give up food? Yeah. Right.

I wonder if the act of eating – the process of growing, storing, and preparing food is actually meant to slow us down. The act of creating anything really - food, music, tangible art, literature, children - all of it begs us to slow our steps. It tries to connect us to a more sustainable, livable pace. 

In the same way the seasons can act as a guide if we allow them. Right now the high summer energy is transitioning to the more hibernation-like energy of winter, a time to re-coup from summer. I think our daily meals can show us a similar pattern. Chew or gulp anything really quickly, especially while traveling in a moving vehicle or in a state of anxiety, and you’ll soon find yourself suffering bloat, heart burn, indigestion, constipation, and abdominal pain. Chew slowly and intentionally a meal prepared with care and you’ll find yourself nourished and connected in a deep way. Not a new theory, however I need to be reminded of most things 70 times 7 to finally grasp the importance. 

Hmmmm. 

After a school pick-up, I settled my youngest in for a nap and took my oldest upstairs. We turned on music, shared kombucha, and painted together. We left everything urgent and delved into the truly important - finding meaning, purpose, beauty, and excitement in the now. We slowed down and created something. I listened to the soul within me and entered into an extremely holy moment. My world slowed down to one breath at a time, one brush stroke at at time, the sweet smiles and sacred glances from my child. 

My shoes were off. I was on holy ground.

The more I listen to the whisper within me, the more I find power and transcendence within the slow, the quiet, the creativity in the daily. 

After four hours had flown by and we set our paintbrushes down, I headed to the kitchen to cook dal. Simple ingredients, slowly cooked. Nourishing, warm, holy. 

May you begin to be curious about the thoughts that pop up throughout the day. May you enter into conversation with them as if old friends are stopping by, ones who know you quite well. May you create time to create simply for the sake of creating and, in the process, may you happen upon holy. 

[THE RECIPE]
Serves 6 - 8
Adapted from Rodale's Organic Gardening Masoor Dal

4-5 T. extra virgin, unprocessed coconut oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 - 5 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 T. whole cumin seeds, dried
2 tsp. ground turmeric or 2 T. fresh turmeric, minced

2 - 3 tsp. sea salt

2 tsp. ground coriander

1 tsp. sweet paprika [and/or 1/4 - 1/2 tsp. cayenne for spice]

2 c. split red lentils [or masoor dal]

6-7 c. water
1 can regular, full-fat coconut milk [optional]
fresh cilantro, minced
cooked basmati rice

Begin by placing the lentils in a mine mesh strainer. Place under running water. Rinse the lentils until the water coming from the strainer runs clear [or really close to clear]. Set aside.

In a large stainless steel pot, melt coconut oil over medium-low heat. Add minced onions to the oil and stir to coat the onions with the oil. Cook until onions are translucent and beginning to soften [adjust heat as necessary to prevent browning]. Add cumin seeds and garlic. Saute 1 - 3 minutes or until cumin is slightly toasted and fragrant. Add turmeric, salt, coriander, and paprika. Stir to thoroughly combine. Stir in lentils and water.

Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat as necessary to retain small simmer. Cook uncovered until the lentils are very soft and consistency is a little thicker than a creamy soup, stirring occasionally [approximately 30 - 45 minutes]. If it becomes to thick, add water in 1/2 cup increments. Once the lentils are fully cooked, add coconut milk if you are using [milk is completely option - with or without is delicious].

Serve over a bed of basmati rice and garnish with fresh cilantro.

SPRING RISOTTO: 2 WAYS

Eating seasonally has many advantages [disease prevention, budget-friendly, healthy for body and planet, etc.] but one of the greatest is the anticipation that comes with spring.

My guess is many who take on the frozen tundra [otherwise known as Michigan or any other northern state] anticipate the melt of spring - the receding plow piles, the bit of green here and there, the buds and then blossoms, the daffodils and tulips and trilliums, a green horizon. Spring is all about re-birth, newness, a fresh start that even the concrete-bound cannot ignore.

But there is something even richer about orienting your diet around the change in weather. 

By aligning my diet with the season, I've experienced an anticipation for spring that is somehow deeper, more gut-felt. Everyone can feel spring in their skin but not all experience spring in there soul.

It makes a person slow down.

Way down.

Because we've waited all year for this.

We've come through winter for this.

There is the refusal to rush.

This is why I love risotto. In the same way waiting out winter causes me to pause and enjoy every bite of spring, risotto begs me to stop and feel every bit of cooking. It puts me in front of a warm stove on a chilly spring evening and then tells me to stay and stir. That's it. Stay and stir. Risotto doesn't demand. It isn't fussy. It rarely lets me down. It simply asks that I do two things really well: stay and stir.

May you find yourself at the stove with a counter full of spring and a soul bursting with thanks for the willingness to simply stay and stir.

[FIRST, A THING ABOUT RAMPS*]

Ramps are one of my favorite spring-time foods mainly because they have to be foraged. I feel a touch wild when I eat them, like I'm connecting to my hunter-gatherer side [although right now I depend on other hunters to gather]. They seem pure in the best, deepest sense. Untouched by our human hands. There is beauty in what we create and do and think up as humans [and of course danger] but there is also a lot of splendor in the simple, unchanged.

So it is with ramps. Ramps sit in the onion family. They're kind of like leek meets garlic and goes wild.

They are similar to onions, leeks, and garlic in medicinal benefits - antiviral, antifungal, antibacterial, anticarcinogenic and tonify the body, meaning they kind of work on that "stuck" feeling, the blahs if you will.

Essentially they are the best bang for your buck - tons of health benefits for the whole body. For free.

[THE RECIPE WITH ARBORIO RICE]

1/2 onion, chopped
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
2 - 4 cloves of garlic, minced

2 c. arborio rice

1 c. dry white wine or 1/4 c. white wine vinegar
6 - 8 c. of vegetable broth
1 bunch wild ramps*, chopped and separated white parts and green parts
1/3 c. chopped fresh parsley
4 - 6 c. of fresh spring greens [chard, spinach, arugula, kale]
salt and pepper to taste

Warm the oil over medium-high heat in a large pot. Add onion, ramp whites, and garlic. Stir occasionally until onion becomes translucent. In a separate pot, warm vegetable broth. Add rice to the onion, ramp whites, and garlic and stir continuously for a minute or so. Pour in white wine and stir continuously until the wine has almost evaporated completely. Now, add vegetable broth one cup at a time, waiting until each cup has evaporated before adding the next. Stir continuously. Mixture should bubble gently but not boil. Once you have worked through all of the broth [or reach the texture you desire], turn heat to low and add ramp greens, parsley, and spring greens. Stir until wilted and bright green. Season with salt and pepper to taste.


[THE RECIPE WITH BLACK RICE]

1/2 onion, chopped
2 T. extra virgin olive oil + 1 T.
2 cloves of garlic, minced
6 - 8 dried mushrooms, soaked to soften and then minced

1 1/2 c. black rice, rinsed and drained

1 c. dry white wine or 1/4 c. white wine vinegar

4 c. vegetable broth
2 - 4 c. water
1 - 2 T. dulse flakes [optional]
6 c. mix of chopped spinach, arugula, and kale
3 - 4 c. asparagus, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
sea salt and pepper, to taste


First, saute asparagus in 1 T. olive oil until bright green and tender but not soft. Set aside. Warm the oil over medium-high heat in a large pot. Add onion, mushrooms, and garlic. Stir occasionally until onion becomes translucent. In a separate pot, warm vegetable broth and 2 cups or water. Add rice to the onion, mushrooms, and garlic and stir continuously for a minute or so. Pour in white wine and stir continuously until the wine has almost evaporated completely. Now, add vegetable broth one cup at a time, waiting until each cup has evaporated before adding the next. Stir continuously. Mixture should bubble gently but not boil. Once you have worked through all of the broth [or reach the texture you desire], turn heat to low and add dulse flakes, spring greens, and sauteed asparagus. Stir until wilted and bright green. Season with salt and pepper to taste.