Smelling our way to supper

W brings home a few bags of packaged salad. I choose one, open it, and dump it into a big bowl. As I inhale deeply, supper comes to me.

W shaves 2/3 of a ripe pear into the bowl and I toss in:

• a big handful of pine nuts
• 2 sliced fresh mushrooms

and raid the cupboard to whip up a dressing:

• 2 tbsp. blueberry maple syrup
• 2 tbsp. champagne vinegar
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• flower pepper (Trader Joes)
• S. African smoke seasoning (TJ)
• seasoning salt (Lawrey's) 

It sits on the counter until we're ready to eat, the flavors mixing and combining.

We're hungry so don't have a lot of time to prep a main course. We have leftover rice, which starts my nose twitching. I heat 2 tbsp. of oil and stir-fry:

• 2 c. cooked rice
• 1 cup of frozen peas
• 1 diced carrot
• a sprinkle of dried onion
• 1 teaspoon of finely chopped garlic

When it's almost done, I add:

• 1 tbsp. of reduced sodium soy sauce. 

I'm getting better at tossing things around the frying pan without dropping them all over the stove. The chef at NU told me practice makes perfect and boldness in the flick of the wrist is a good thing. She was right!

Before the rice goes to the table, I stir in 1 tsp. sesame oil.

The salad and rice are quite yummy, especially with a few tiny pieces of smoked salmon on the side.

Rating: 4/5
Taste: savory, sweet, and satisfying. A handful of fresh blueberries would have rocked the salad. The fried rice - very good but it occurs to me post-meal that I could have added 2 tsp. smoked black sesame seeds for color and texture.
Time to fix: 10-15 minutes
Calories: 700?
Tea: Jasmine green

The breakfast of Swiss champions

So I'm not Swiss.

And I'm not a champion of anything.

But Muesli is a staple that is quick, easy to fix, requires no cooking, and tastes so delicious that it's hard to beat.

Ingredients for the base: 
1/2 dried fruit, seeds, and nuts
1/2 rolled grains 
Add your own small grains or supplements,  like wheat grass powder, "horse yeast' (whatever it is that my dad buys), chia seeds, etc.


Mix the base with equal parts of fresh, chopped fruit. Wet to a consistency you like, using milk, juice, tea, and/or yogurt... stir and yum. 

My own morning feast came together like this: toss a few handfuls of rolled oats, rye, barley, and tricale into a big mixing bowl.

Add raw pepitas (pumpkin seeds), raw almonds, raw sunflower seeds, chia seeds, dried raw coconut, dried cherries..

Put everything in a big mixing bowl, and choose a plate. This morning, it was an oldie but goodie we bought in Chinatown while living in Vancouver 25 years ago.

Mix, then put 1/2-1 c. of muesli mix into a cereal bowl with chopped fresh fruit (an apple from our own trees). Trust me, you don't need much of the mix: it expands and provides a lot of nutrition that will stick with you until lunch!

Then add soy yogurt. (I made my own overnight with live culture peach yogurt from Trader Joes and soy milk from Costco.)

 

I poured Vita-Mix-ed OJ (Costco orange plus a bit of water) over top, wrung out the teabag over the mix, and oh yum, yum. Breakfast is served.

Rating: 4/5. Depending on additives of fruit and liquids, this can taste different every time.
Taste: crunch, mix of flavors, good blend of sweet (fruit and coconut) and savory (grains and nuts) and sour (juice, yogurt, and dried cherries). Plus it sticks to the ribs: you will be full until lunch.
Time to prepare: 3-5 minutes in the morning. 3 minutes to toss ingredients together, or under a minute if you keep a mix on your countertop; 2 minutes to chop fruit, add juice, milk or yogurt, etc.
Calories: 550: 80 OJ, 350 3/4 c. grains and nuts?; 50 (3 oz yogurt); 70 small apple.
Tea: some plain old floor sweepings disguised in a tea bag (Typhoo?)