Your responses on my last post were so kind! Thank you for your words and encouragement. I think since right now I’m going through a major transition period in my life (fresh out of college)… it sometimes feels like everything is new to me. Including my blog.
On another note, I wanted to share one of the many things that have been on my mind. I was thinking back on when I went to Colombia a couple years ago, and stayed with my grandparents for a month. They do almost everything there the old-fashioned way. From melting a chocolate tablet in boiling milk and whisking it vigorously to make hot cocoa, to washing the laundry by hand and leaving it out to dry on the line. I love going to places where you really get a sense of how things are made. No special equipment made for convenience sake. Instead you become in tune with the primal way of preparing something. That’s one of the reasons that keeps me interested in cooking. I just think it’s awesome that what grows from this earth can be eaten and we can flourish.
I also think it’s interesting to see why parts of the world have an abundance of certain foods. For instance, you can find so many rye breads in Northern Europe. Did you know that wheat grows poorly there?
- Rice is a crop that is available in abundance, so I’m going to share a delicious recipe using this grain.
Brown Rice Salad
Ingredients
3 cups cooked brown rice
3 green onions, chopped (about 1 cup)
1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 celery stalk, thinly sliced
1 carrot, grated
1 green apple, cored and diced
1 cup finely shredded cabbage (green and purple)
1/2 cup golden raisins
Dressing
1/2 cup Vegenaise (or regular mayonnaise)
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons curry powder
Directions
1. Place the rice in a large salad bowl, then add green onions, bell pepper, celery, carrot, apple, cabbage, and raisins.
2. To make the dressing, in a small bowl, mix Vegenaise, vinegar, mustard, and curry powder.
3. Pour over salad and toss to mix.
The fruits mixed with the tangy dressing makes for a refreshing summer salad! Actually, if you like cole slaw, I think you will enjoy this as well.
- I never noticed the purple hue on artichoke hearts until the other day.
- Recently, I tried an ancient recipe… manna bread.
I didn’t make it myself, although I do have the ingredients on hand now, so I just need to get to soaking. I’ve heard about Nature’s Path’s Manna Bread from various people, and have always been curious to try it. I decided to try out the ‘Cinnamon Date’ loaf.
- For breakfast with coconut butter, a glass of almond milk, and a crisp apple.
- The bread was so dense and moist that it almost seemed like a slice of cake! Delicious too.
Supposedly, manna bread has been around since BCE. Now that is a lay of the land recipe, don’t you think?
- Simple salads have been making their way on to the kitchen table.
- Simple salads with plenty of avocado.
- And a salad for the kale lovers!
My mother is definitely a kale lover, so when I saw Natalie’s recipe for Marinated Kale Salad I was on it ASAP! Tahini dressing is not something I usually have, but it makes me raise my eyebrow in interest as soon as I hear about it. The process of preparing this salad really did break the kale’s toughness down, and there was no cooking involved (besides roasting the beets). Simple and delicious.
What’s something that has recently truly fascinated you?
