Chipotle-inspired rice salad (vegan, gluten-free)

As I was driving back from my writing class tonight I had the urge to stop by Chipotle to grab a salad for dinner. I could almost taste their honey lime dressing in my mouth, but just as I envisioned my salad before me, my thoughts blurred and I missed the turn I would have had to make to head to the nearest Chipotle. Going back or trying to swing by the other location would have been out of my way and put me home later than I would have liked. Instead I decided to see what I had at home and whip up a quick dinner. As I drove home I could see the basic foundation of my salad coming together: brown rice, corn, black beans and chili powder. When I got home, it took less than 15 minutes to whip up what turned out to be an absolutely delicious meal. Thanks to Trader Joe's frozen brown rice, the rice was cooked in 3 minutes. To the rice I added half a can of corn and half a can of black beans. For fresh veggie crispness I chopped up some of the cabbage I had from my produce box, a spring onion, a third of a cucumber and a handful of grape tomatoes. I added half a chopped avocado and stirred everything together. To recreate the honey lime dressing, I squeezed the juice from one lime, added a spoonful of honey and a slosh of canola oil, whisked everything together and stirred it into the salad. For seasonings I used a couple dashes of organic chili powder, ground sea salt and Penzey's Mural of Flavor spice blend. I stirred everything together and had a delicious, filling meal in under 15 minutes.

The delicious and colorful result! Sooo yummy!

Squash-filled cabbage rolls (vegan and gluten-free)

So I came up with something yummy to make out of some of the items in this week's Produce Box: cabbage rolls stuffed with a medley of squash, tomatoes, onions, garlic, red bell pepper, grape tomatoes, shiitake and brown button mushrooms and spiced with German herbal salt and Penzey's Mural of Flavor salt-free spice blend.

I took leaves from the pointed cabbage and steamed them to soften them up. In the meantime I worked on the filling and the sauce.

For the filling: Chop half of one large sweet onion and 1 scallion. Add approx. 1 Tbs. of olive oil to pan, add onion/scallion and press 2 cloves of garlic. Chop several yellow squash and add to onions. Chop red bell pepper, grape tomatoes, shiitake and button mushrooms into small cubes and add to pan. Saute until squash softens. Flavor with herbal salt and Penzey's Mural of Flavor spice blend or other preferred spices.

Filling

Spices

Filling up close

The sauce

For the sauce I put a little bit of olive oil in a saucepan, added 3 diced tomatoes, half a chopped sweet onion, 1 pressed clove of garlic, some herbal salt and ground in some of the "Pizza and Pasta" spice from Aldi. I let the sauce simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the tomatoes were no longer solid and the onions   were soft.

To make the rolls, I put a couple spoonfuls of the filling onto the cabbage leaf and then rolled it up. Once all the rolls were made I covered them in the homemade tomato sauce, then baked at 350 F (175 C) for about 15 minutes. Before serving, drizzle with crema di balsamico for a nice presentation. The entire recipe including preparation took about 40 minutes. 

Making the rolls:

Produce Box: 26 May 2011

This week's Produce Box came this morning with lots of yummy goodies to enjoy over the next few days:

- Tomatoes
- Yellow squash
- A cucumber
- Blueberries
- Pointed cabbage (Spitzkohl)
- Sweet potatoes
- Spring onions

I already have some ideas of what to do with this week's bounty. Maybe some squash fritters and gluten-free blueberry cobbler! We'll see :-)

Positivity

I want to get out of this rut I'm in of seeing the glass half empty,

I want to toss out this attitude and replace it with positivity.

Time to stop blaming INTJ and Wednesday's child for my state of mind.

Personality only goes so far, 

    happiness and satisfaction certainly can't be that hard to find.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's to trying to focus more on the positive from now on. They say positive thinking is a powerful thing; let's see if I can manage to get it to work for me.

Der Lenz ist da! (Spring is here!)

In case you haven't noticed, spring is here! A German song from the 1920s made famous by the Berlin sextet the Comedian Harmonists playfully associates the coming of spring with the growth of asparagus - though it seems this was actually metaphor implying something entirely different! Nevertheless, in Germany this time of year is synonymous with "Spargelzeit" - the short season between May and June when white asparagus is harvested in the various growing regions across the country - including Baden and Lake Constance/Bodensee in Baden Württemberg and Beelitz not too far from Berlin. In the United States we are much more familiar with green asparagus, yet white and green asparagus are actually the same species. The difference in color and taste simply comes from an entirely different way of growing this gourmet vegetable. In order to prevent photosynthesis, which causes the vegetable to turn green, white asparagus is grown under mounds of sandy dirt. The shoots are then harvested individually by hand using a special asparagus picking knife and a trowel.

I had my first taste of white asparagus as an exchange student my senior year of high school. Before that I had only ever had green asparagus and didn't know that any other kind existed. I was a bit skeptical of the white vegetable and couldn't understand why asparagus had to be peeled. Unlike green asparagus, white asparagus has a much thicker skin and must be peeled before cooking in order to be tender. Once I tried it, I was hooked. After that, I always made a point to have asparagus whenever it was available. When I worked at Siemens in Berlin the company cafeteria served local Beelitzer white asparagus almost every day during "Spargelzeit" - traditionally with potatoes, ham (optional) and hollandaise sauce. Since I am not a big fan of the peeling aspect of preparation, I used to eat it almost every day that it was available.

Now that I live back in the United States, it can be much harder to find white asparagus, much less a restaurant that will serve it. However, the German American Chamber of Commerce usually sponsors dinners in the chapter cities, but this would mean traveling to Charlotte or Atlanta.

How excited I was when I saw that a local restaurant here in Raleigh - Capital Club 16 - would be serving a "Spargelzeit" dinner paired with delicious Austrian wines. I simply had to go! The dinner was held this past Thursday and I invited my dear German friend Mea (81 years young!) to come along with me. The chef had spent time training in Germany and was excited to bring the Spargel tradition to Raleigh. He found a farm in Ohio that grows asparagus in the traditional German style - complementing the white asparagus with locally grown North Carolina green and purple asparagus. Mea and I had a wonderful time treating our palates to delightful dishes featuring the ultimate vegetable of spring, perfectly paired with superb Austrian wines. Even though I had lived in Vienna for a summer in 2004 and certainly tried a good bit of Austrian wine, I really was not familiar with it beyond that. It was wonderful to become reacquainted with wines that pair so marvelously with foods - in a dinner in which this was precisely the intention! The wines are available locally through Seaboard Wine or through importer Klaus Wittauer, who was at the dinner to explain each of the wines with ardent enthusiasm. Mea and I had a wonderful evening this past Thursday! I'm already looking forward to the next wine and German-themed dinner - hopefully soon!


Thursday's menu (copied from the e-mail sent out by Capital Club 16)

Reception:
White Asparagus "Reiberdatschi"
Bavarian Style white asparagus and potato pancake with goat cheese and chervil

Lump Crab Cake Bites with slivered pickled asparagus and Gruner tartar sauce

Tegernseerhof Grüner Veltliner

First Course:"Spargelcremesuppe"Traditional cream of white asparagus soup with nutmeg, spring chives and Morel mushroom saute

Steininger Loisium Grüner Veltliner

Second Course:
Marinated White Asparagus Salad  Basted quail egg, planed reggiano, grape tomatoes, frisee and tarragon vinaigrette

Anton Bauer Rosenberg Grüner Veltliner

Third Course:
"Spargelessen auf Lazarus-Stube art"
*This is the preparation found in most taverns, beer gardens and homes during the harvest season.

Simmered white asparagus, NC Country Ham, dill new potatoes, blood orange hollandaise
(Veggie option: Simmered white asparagus, spring vegetable florentine, dill new potatoes, blood orange hollandaise)

Steininger Grand Grüner Veltliner

Dessert Course:
White Asparagus and Rhubarb Crisp with oatmeal crust and white asparagus lemon cream

Anton Bauer Frizzante Grüner Veltliner

An awkward encounter

Before having my gallbladder removed in March, I had been going rock climbing with my friend Andrew almost every Tuesday since last November. It had been nearly three months since my last climb. Since next week I start taking a writing class on Tuesday nights, I decided to go climbing again with Andrew last night. It had also been nearly three months since I had last seen the guy (J.) I had been dating in December/January. Rock climbing had actually been one of the things we used to do together. When he found out that I went regularly, he wanted to join me. I wouldn't say that things between us ended on bad terms - he had even wanted to try to stay friends, but I really wasn't ready for that when he suggested it. Nevertheless, I certainly thought it would be possible to be amicable to one another should we ever run into each other again. Apparently he saw that differently - or maybe it was yet another misunderstanding. At any rate, J. happened to be at rock climbing last night with one of his friends who also used to go when we went together. In the nearly 2 hours that we were there - at times standing just a couple feet away from each other - he not once said anything to me or even acknowledged my existence. Maybe the situation was too awkward - after all, I never attempted to say anything to him either. But then again, I really didn't think it was my place to be the one to speak first. I somehow thought he would have the decency and common courtesy to at least say, "Hello, hope you're well." I guess not.

Weekend highlights

First of all, Happy Mother's Day to all those who have the privilege to be mothers - either to actual human children or animals of any species. My mother was out of town this weekend so I'll be taking her out for lunch tomorrow to make up for it.

Gilded cranes

The weekend turned out to be better than I ever could have imagined. As a result, I'm quite tired so I might just have to mention a few highlights and come back and elaborate later on. First Friday was fantastic - beautiful gilded cranesat Flanders, first visit to the brand new Contemporary Art Museum, art auction at Centerline (the highlight there was actually the company's office itself), PBR-themed art at Design Box, student textiles at the Fish Market... but my personal favorite was the work by Rob Logic on display at Morning Times.

Gilded cranes with "Gaga" glitter glam

Saturday was beautiful - long walk with the dogs in the morning, resting then a crazy 3 mile Kangoo Jump run (my muscles are crying out in agony today), out to dinner (Ethiopian) and an album release concert (Birds and Arrows) with my new friend Cheryl.

Today I've mostly been working all day, but still managed to get in a little walk - even if it was very slowly since every muscle - even muscles I didn't know existed - aches from my Kangoo Jump escapade yesterday.

One of the many beautiful works by
Rob Logic on display at Morning Times.

Although I was heading into the weekend feeling a bit down about some things, I managed to bounce back see things from a new perspective - great art, music and company have a way of inspiring a change in attitude.

I'll have to go into more later - for now I need to hit the sheets (except that I still have to put sheets on the bed before I can go to bed, I hate when that happens!)

Almond milk latte

I'm admittedly not much of a coffee drinker, particularly because I try to avoid caffeine. However, from time to time I really enjoy a good latté, as long as it's made with almond milk. The problem is that most coffee shops - including the major chains like Starbucks - have failed to accommodate the needs of non-dairy, non-soy consuming customers - i.e. people like me. I would love to order a latté in a café, but until such places "wake up and smell the coffee" and realize that there is untapped potential to sell to this target group, my coffee beverages of choice will be consumed in the comfort of my home café.
I make my decaf almond milk lattés usually using a flavored decaf coffee and unsweetened Almond Breeze almond milk. Powdered stevia is my sweetener of choice (also yet to be offered in most coffee shops). I use the eco-pods in my Senseo machine, which is a nice alternative to an actual espresso machine.

Almond milk froths up thick and foamy - you can't even
tell it's not real milk!

Homemade Mango-Pineapple Salsa

Here's one of my most recent creations that I simply had to share: Homemade Mango Pineapple Salsa. I got the idea while shopping at Whole Foods for my Good Friday meal. At the fish counter I asked the clerk how he might prepare swordfish steaks and he suggested marinating them in mango teriyaki sauce and then either grilling or baking them and topping them off with fresh mango. While fresh mango in itself is certainly delicious, I thought a mango pineapple salsa might be even better. I looked up a recipe for mango salsa on allrecipes.com and then improvised.

Here's what I came up with:

2 ripe organic Mexican mangos, fresh cilantro, sweet and red onion,
scallions, red pepper, jalapeno, avocado, pineapple, cherry tomatoes,
juice of a lemon and a lime

 

 

 

 

Dice mangos, pineapple (about a quarter half a can if using a can - I normally would use fresh pineapple, but Trader Joe's has the best canned pineapple in natural juice, tastes like a fresh pineapple), half to 1 whole avocado, red bell peppers, cherry tomatoes (basically cut them into eighths), half of a sweet onion and half of a red onion into fine cubes and stir together in a bowl. Chop 2-3 scallions into thin slices and add to bowl. Chop a good handful of fresh cilantro and add to bowl. Squeeze the juice of 1 lemon and 2 limes and add some of the pineapple juice to the bowl. Stir well and let the flavors blend together for a couple of hours before serving.

The beautiful result!

The Good Friday meal: mango teriyaki marinated swordfish steak
topped with the mango-pineapple salsa, oven grilled garlic herb
asparagus, oven roasted medley of purple and orange sweet potatoes
and baby red, purple and yellow potatoes tossed in
Arabian spices.

The salsa on a picnic - best with Target's black bean
jalapeno tortilla chips. (Oh and the sandwiches
are tomato avocado sandwiches on Udi's gluten-free
multigrain bread with local tomatoes from the Produce Box,
herbal salt and Trader Joe's garlic aioli spread).

Catching up (Part 1)

It's been a little over three months since I last posted anything to the blog. It wasn't that I couldn't find 15 minutes to write each day or even that I didn't have anything to say, but more of a matter of not really knowing exactly what I wanted to say or even if I wanted to say it. I've been wondering how much of my personal life I really want to write about because it seems that in some personal matters as soon as I get excited about something and start to be hopeful, the verbalization itself seems to jinx it and everything quickly falls apart. Back in January I was excited about what seemed to be the start of a new relationship with someone I met in December. He was all too eager to use the word "relationship" like it meant something, but words require action to have meaning. When it came to following through on basic things that one might expect of a "relationship", he just wasn't ready, having not yet gotten over his last relationship, which ended last fall. My heart was broken temporarily - after all, we seemed to have a good connection on many levels, I had actually felt inspired, he spoke German... he seemed to match up with so many things on my "wish list". I guess I just wish he hadn't started off by doing everything right, only to disappoint me when he wasn't really ready to commit. I've since recovered and have been seeing someone else for a little over two months. This time I've decided to set aside my wish list and just go with things, which seems to be working so far. I think the problem is that my idea of love is based on feelings I've only ever had about people who never truly cared about me, i.e. in the past I've "fallen in love" with someone, but it was never reciprocated, so what I think falling in love is actually is just a false perception because it was never completely real. I don't actually know how it is to love and be loved in return. Maybe my idea of love needs to be tossed out and replaced with a different version. Sometimes I almost think the idea of arranged marriage and learning to love someone out of mutual respect might be more practical.