Let us wrap

After an overnight fast in preparation for an annual physical exam (my first in 16 years), I'm hungry. Time to go to Yakima Fresh Market for a $20 splurge on fruit and veges.

I look over my loot as I unpack it and consider what I'm hungry for. Quinoa with this stuff? I start cooking 1/2 c. quinoa with 2 c. water and set the timer for 10 minutes.

I wash, slice, and chop leaf basil and the vegetables - cabbage, tomato, onion, red pepper - and grate the carrots and ginger. Into a bowl they go!

Meanwhile, I spot a package of sprouted grains and beans in the cupboard. They only need 5 minutes of cooking and a 10-15 minute "rest." When the timer beeps, I measure 1/3 cup of grains and break 5 stalks of asparagus into the pot. Lid on. The timer gets reset for 5 minutes.

The timer dings. I turn off the gas heat to let the quinoa, bean, and grain mixture settle for 10 minutes. Might as well tidy the kitchen. Knives go back on their magnetic strip, dishes in the DW. There's time to halve and remove the stems from two big romaine lettuce leaves ... and make a cup of tea, too.

Combining the grains and chopped vegetables makes a beautiful arrangement beside the lettuce. I sprinkle on thick soy sauce for flavor ... and plate the food. (See the large tablespoon in the photo for perspective.)

I'm ready to wrap and eat! Half the salad makes 4 substantial lettuce rolls. I'll save the rest of the mix for supper.

Rating: 4.5
Taste: nice combination of bitter (lettuce, asparagus, and cabbage) with savory and sweet (basil, ginger, quinoa, carrots).
Calories: 350-400? for all 4 rolls. Bulky calories!
Time to prepare: 15 min.
Tea: Trader Joe's Well-Rested teabag (sadly). Nice spearmint smell to clear the nose between bites.
Beauty: 4.5 Tighter rolls might be prettier. The color is fabulous and the sizes and textures vary.
Improvements? Perhaps add smashed fresh walnuts and chopped fresh apricot, or - Chinese mustard or wasabi peas, blueberries, and pine nuts. Maybe tonight!

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