Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Dreaming of somewhere warm

After my Sunday cooking spree which I shared on facebook, several requests came in for the recipes. So this post is in response to those requests. I use the term recipe loosely since the dishes that I made were born out of me filling my counter with the food I happened to have on hand and then proceeding to carve out dishes from there.

Mexican Inspired Soup
My dear friend and fellow RHN, Selah Koile, posted a great lesson in soup making on her site. It has inspired me to create some yummy combinations over the last few weeks. I used its inspiration this week to make a Mexican inspired soup while practicing my Latin dancing to the  Gypsy Kings .

The soup base:
4 c of chopped onions
2 Tbsp of ghee
Saute until colour begins to turns translucent
Add in some mushrooms if desired ( I desired!) and 1/2 c of white wine.
Cook in uncovered pot until onions are soft and wine has mostly evaporated.
I used an emulsion blender to puree the base.

Next comes the liquid:
1 can of organic whole tomatoes.
I also blended this. I left it kinda chunky but you can decide yourself on desired texture.

Main players:
2 c of cooked sweet potato (cubed or mashed, depending on your texture preference)
1 can of organic black beans
3-4 c of Swiss chard, chopped fine

Now for the flavour:
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1/2 - 1 tsp of cayenne
Note** I didn't actually measure, start with this safe amount and add more to taste.

Topped it:
Fresh cilantro to garnish

My Kind of Salad
Moving on to another warm and sunny spot...the Mediterranean. The thought of a bunch of cold veggies in a bowl is more than I can take on a cold damp day in March. Heat them up a little and you have my kind of salad. Really when you think of it, a salad is any combination of fruits or veggies dumped together. The possibilities are limitless. I just prefer mine to be warm, a combination of cooked and raw. I also like a hardy salad, the stick to your ribs, use as a meal on its own. This one is a good example and can be eaten cold, heated, in a wrap, as a side dish or a meal on its own.

The best part of a salad is that you don't have to get picky on exact amounts. Size, though, does matter - size of each item going into the mix. Nothing I hate more than getting a salad and the greens are big enough to float on! So make sure your items are around similar sizes and you won't have to worry about one over powering the other.

This salad has a different take on dressing as well. It is always a good idea to accompany your greens with a healthy fat in order to best absorb all those wonderful fat soluble vitamins but that fat can be in the form of nuts, seeds, coconut, olives or avocado not necessarily an added oil. The main reason we really use a dressing is to add flavour. Here I chose to saute some onions and garlic and spices and called that my dressing, my way of adding a bit of zip.

So, I dumped the following in a big bowl:
Cooked millet
Shredded and steamed:
   carrot
   red cabbage
   savoy cabbage
   chopped kale
Cooked chickpeas
Raisins

I dressed it with:
Sautéed onions, garlic, celery in coconut oil. I added some rosemary, basil, cumin, a mild chili (you could use a curry here instead) and a pinch of Himalayan sea salt.

I then gently warmed some pumpkin seeds on very low heat for a few seconds in the drippings from the dressing. DO NOT overheat and risk denaturing the healthy fats found in the seeds.

Added in fresh chopped coriander and tossed.

Hope these recipes inspire you to get whole food cooking while dancing through your daily routine.
Enjoy!