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Food Lover’s Cleanse Day 2

Day 2 of the Food Lover’s Cleanse started out great and ended especially deliciously. I learned some new cooking techniques and flavor combinations, which was one of my main goals in following this program.

Breakfast: Warm and Nutty Cinnamon Quinoa; kefir. This was really good and I look forward to eating the other half in the morning. I halved the recipe and that amount was perfect.  I also used black quinoa – new to me, as I usually eat red quinoa – which had a nuttier texture.  I replaced the frozen blackberries with frozen blueberries, as the blueberries were more sustainably grown than the blackberries.

Fortunately, I had some raw kefir on hand – it’s quite sour, so I added a little maple syrup to it.  I enjoyed it today moreso than in other times, so I think I’ll be drinking kefir regularly.

Lunch: Leftover couscous and vegetables, celery root and apple salad. I have so much leftover couscous that it made sense to eat it for lunch.  The celery root salad was really good, but I’m a huge fan of celery root, nom.  The mixture of the mild celery flavor, sweet-tart apples, and nutty walnuts was a total winning combination.

Snack: yogurt with tangerines and shaved chocolate. Was very busy and didn’t find time to snack this afternoon!  My loss because this combo sounds very tasty.

Dinner: Salmon in a bengali mustard sauce, black-eyed pea curry, roasted butternut squash with curry leaves and mustard seed. The salmon and curry were both amazing, the squash was good but didn’t blow me away.  The salmon came from my salmon CSA, so it’s incredibly nourishing. The curry got super rave reviews in my household, so I will definitely make it again.  I loved how easy the execution of these dishes was, and I think that’s because my mise-en-place was in order.  Lots of spices and ingredients in these recipes!

After Dinner Snack: 1 ounce of dark chocolate and rooibos tea with honey. I had some raw chocolate that I got in Washington (I’d put it in the freezer when I got home), so that’s what I ate. It is so tasty, and contains coconut (dark chocolate and coconut is a great combo).  No tea for me, just not in the mood.

It will be interesting to see how I’ll manage this cleanse program with my work schedule (read: less hours in the day to cook) starting tomorrow.  Thank goodness for the dishwasher, too – it has made the cleanup part of this so easy!

And last, it’s been fun to see what other people are doing with this cleanse.  I’m keeping an eye on both the progress of Shauna from Gluten Free Girl and the Chef, and Lexi from after apple-picking.  You should check them out, too!

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Melted Leeks, Quinoa, and Poached Egg

poached on top

I can’t remember exactly what originally brought me to Married …with dinner, but it was probably through a tweet or a blog post by Shauna.  Oh wait, I remember! I was led to the site because of this post.  It is part of the discussion about the importance of cooking meals at home, something that I do believe is important.

However, as someone who works a full time job, has a lively social life, and is active in the community, I know how challenging it can be to put together dinner at the end of the day when you have competing interests vying for your time and attention.  There are evenings when I get home, when I can’t think straight, and just want to order-in something, or eat a bowl of cereal, or even forgo dinner altogether (not a good idea).  It can be really hard to figure it all out when you’re beat from the workday.

As it turns out, my solution to this is planning out my meals for the week.  Granted, I’ve only been at this practice for a couple of weeks, but I’ve noticed a difference.  It helps to have the evening’s menu all written out, and I definitely eat more consistently well these days.

quinoa

Last week, MWD posted this intriguing recipe that includes a number of my favorite ingredients – leeks, quinoa, broth, and egg.  It could be considered a soup, but it’s much more than that.  It’s surprisingly filling for its size, too.  The nutrition will also increase if you use a nourishing homemade broth (I had broth from my stewing hen, which was delicious).

I can see myself making this again and again because it’s just that awesome.  It was easy to prepare, too – and it can be made piecemeal over a few days, combining everything on the day you want to eat it, or you can make everything on the same day, which is what I did.  It took me about 45 minutes to put everything together.

leeks

These “melted leeks” – which are basically soft, caramelized, salty leeks – are a wonderful condiment all by themselves and would be good on other things, too, like pasta, roasted tomatoes, or even toast with cream cheese.  They would be excellent on top of salsa verde chicken, too.

Melted Leeks and Quinoa with a Poached Farm Egg and Parmesan Broth
Mildly adapted from Married …with dinner, who was inspired by a first course at Range.

For each serving — multiply as needed:
1/3 cup melted leeks (recipe below)
1/2 cup cooked quinoa (I prefer red)
1/2 cup simmering chicken stock
a handful of Parmesan or other hard cheese, grated as finely as possible (about 1/2 oz by weight)
1 large egg, preferably pastured
minced chives, for garnish
salt, as needed

NOTE: Soak the quinoa in water and an acid (I use raw apple cider vinegar, but lemon juice works well, too) for 8-12 hours before you start preparing this dish.  I find it convenient to put this together in the morning before I go to work.

Cook the quinoa: rinse the soaked grain and add it to a pan with water (1:1 – I used 1/2 cup quinoa to a 1/2 cup water).  Cook for 15-20 minutes until all the water is absorbed by the grain.  Makes a 1 1/4 – 1 1/2 cups of quinoa.

Make the melted leeks:  cut off and discard the root and the woody tops, slice the leeks in half lengthwise, then slice the white and light-green parts into half-rings about 1/4- to 1/8-inch thick. You should have about 2 cups.  Rinse leek slices well in a bowl of running water. Melt 4 tbs butter in a heavy skillet over medium-low heat. Add leeks and a couple of tablespoons of water. Simmer slowly until leeks are tender and almost all water evaporates, adding more water if needed to further soften the leeks. Season well with salt. If using immediately, remove pan from the heat and set aside.

Mince the chives.

Bring the chicken broth to a lively simmer and whisk in the Parmesan.

Just before you’re ready to serve, soft-poach the eggs.

While the eggs are cooking, divide the melted leeks among individual bowls, spreading to cover about 2/3 of the bottom of the bowl. Scoop the quinoa over the leeks, and top each serving with a soft-poached egg. Sprinkle with chives, and pour the Parmesan broth around the edges of the bowl.

Enjoy.

This post is participating in Real Food Wednesday, hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

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Greens and Meal Planning Observations

dinner

As I mentioned earlier this week, I’ve planned out my meals for the week.  So far so good, though I had to replace soaked oatmeal for breakfast yesterday with a fried egg and sourdough toast with jam.  I spaced the night before and thought I didn’t have any milk or yogurt, but I did.  Oh well, the egg and toast were tasty!

One problem I’ve had lately has been incorporating enough vegetables into my diet, so I included them in the meal plan.  Since it’s spring, asparagus is in season, so I’ve had that a couple times already – once with quinoa and once simply roasted with olive oil and salt.  So good, especially this time of year (I rarely eat it out of season).

I also cooked up a couple bunches of organic swiss chard – when I am running, as I’ve started doing again, I often crave dark leafy greens.  Not sure why, but I do.  I just love them.  I’ll have them for lunch and dinner throughout the week.

I am convinced that if I hadn’t planned it all out, I would not have eaten those vegetables, and they would slowly rot in my fridge.  Not good.

I love to cook and explore new recipes, but I have to be careful about not tiring out in the evenings after work, especially now that I’m running and exerting a lot more.  So, a lot of the time I tend to fall back on just cooking, not following a recipe (however, I have reserved one evening this week to devote to something more elaborate).  I put together things that taste good together, using cooking techniques I’m comfortable with (sauteeing, boiling, roasting, etc.). This week that manifested itself into the following meals:

Meal 1
red quinoa with white onions, asparagus, and walnuts
sauteed chard with garlic and lemon
cubed cheddar cheese

Meal 2
roasted asparagus
cheese omelette

green collage

Both meals are easy to make and allow for some improvisation.  They contain, real, whole foods in season, with plenty of green veggies to counteract my recent habit of not eating many.  I also cooked the quinoa with the chicken broth I made on Sunday, making the dish even more nourishing.

Although both meals contain pretty straightforward dishes (you can pretty much figure out how to make them from their description), one tip I’ll pass on has to do with the garlic lemon chard – get rid of the excess liquid created by the chard after it wilts.  All that liquid dilutes the yummy garlic and lemon flavors.  Here’s the full recipe:

Garlic Lemon Greens

1 bunch greens (spinach is best, but chard and kale work, too)
1-2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt
1 lemon and its zest
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Cut off the stems and wash the greens to get rid of any dirt. Check over the washed greens for any discolored leaves and remove them. Chop into big pieces.

Add olive oil to a hot skillet. Add garlic then a little salt, and saute for about 30 seconds.

Add the chopped greens and immediately rotate them. Add a little salt. When they have started to wilt, add lemon zest and red pepper flakes. Continue to rotate the greens until they are quite wilted.

Dump entire contents of the pan into a sieve. Press the greens down to dispose of as much extra liquid as possible. Return greens to the pan.

Add juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon (depending on how lemony you like your greens) and mix with the greens. Drizzle another tsp of olive oil over the greens. Serve immediately.

This post is participating in Real Food Wednesday, hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.