Quinoa-Millet Salad with Ambercup Squash

I went on my weekly (weekendly, to be more accurate) Farmer's Market run today, and I'm so pleased! Among my finds: a huge bunch of kale in different varieties, a bag of fat, juicy carrots, and Roma tomatoes.

At one booth, I saw what I took to be the first pumpkins of the season. The lady who grows them told me that despite the look, they're not actually pumpkins, but a drier, more flavorful winter squash called "Ambercup".

A challenge, if I ever did see one! :D

So this dish is a mildly sweet, protein-rich grain salad. I only used a quarter of the squash, so I'll make a nice creamy soup with the leftovers.


Quinoa-Millet Salad with Ambercup Squash

1/2 cup each quinoa and millet, cooked (can be cooked together!)
2 cups cooked winter squash, chopped
2 kale leaves, chopped fine
1 large carrot, shredded finely
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
3 Tbsp. honey or agave
1 1/2 Tb. olive oil
1 tbsp. lemon juice
splash of orange juice (maybe 2 Tbsp.)
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
salt to taste

In a food processor, grind sunflower seeds down to a coarse meal. In a large bowl, mix sunflower seeds, kale, and carrots, and toss lightly. Then, add the vinegar, honey, oil, and cinnamon.

Once your quinoa mix and squash are done, throw them into the bowl. Drizzle the lemon and orange over the top, toss, and season to taste. Serve warm! :)

Southwest Walnut "Scramble" (raw)

I love watching people cook. Growing up, I'd spend hours watching my family cook, and whenever there was a cooking show on, I was right there. My eyes were glued to the television. I have since given up watching TV, and only have one for the occasional movie marathon with the housemates.

Luckily, YouTube has all kinds of cooking to watch, from the expert chef cooking shows, to amateur videos of people proudly showing off their newest creations. I hope to, at some point, get some of my own videos on YouTube. In the Meantime, I'm an avid seeker of new food porn to watch. :)

Which brings me to my next thought. I love watching people prepare raw food. It can range anywhere from simple preparation, like this dish, to hours of intense work. I really like the foods that Ani Phyo shows us on YouTube. They're very quick and easy recipes to prepare, and it's very easy to elaborate on them.

My recipe today was manipulated from this recipe, the Spanish Breakfast Scramble. I loved the idea of this recipe, but thought it needed a bit more of a kick. So, I came up with this:

Southwest Walnut Scramble

2 cups walnuts, soaked and dried
1 cup sunflower seeds, soaked
1 large tomato, chopped
1/2 bell pepper (color of your choosing, I chose yellow)
2 small green onions
1 Tb. turmeric
1 tsp. chili powder
1 1/2 tsp. tamari (use nama shoyu for truly raw)
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 small garlic clove, crushed (optional)
splash raw apple cider vinegar (I don't ever use filtered ACV)
squeeze lemon
cracked pepper
1 avocado, chopped

Blend walnuts and sunflower seeds in the food processor until they're nicely minced. Using a spatula, pour contents into a bowl. Add in everything else except the vegetables, and mix well. Finally, fold in the tomato, green onions, and bell pepper. Garnish with avocado and kale.

In the picture, I used a whole kale leaf. Normally, I would chop it fine,
and add a dash of lemon juice, olive oil, and Bragg's Liquid Aminos.

Hemp seed Furikake

I've been eating a lot of rice lately because of stomach issues (read: free pizza, oy!) and looked around the local asian market for some vegan Furikake with no MSG. Usually I can find this, but our market here doesn't seem to have it. C'est la vie. So I rummaged around my cupboards and made up this recipe instead.


Hemp Seed Furikake

5 sheets of nori, ground into a rough powder in the blender
Equal parts:
Black sesame seeds
Raw hemp seeds

Toss all ingredients into a pint jar, and shake vigorously until evenly mixed. (It helps to do a little dance and jump around a bit!)


I'm LOVING this mix. Salt-free, sugar-free, but full of flavour! Plus, you get a punch of nutrition from all sides. The hemp seeds particularly. You can it sprinkle on rice, salads (yum!), soups, noodle dishes, veggies - well, pretty much anything! :) Best of all, it's shelf-stable.


Blessings!
~L

"Yogurt" seed spread

I was going through my old journal to find some of the recipes I've written in the past, and I've found a couple. Here's one:

---

Okay, so I was using my handy chopper to grind some pumpkin seeds for the split pea soup I'm making, and decided to save a little bit for an experiment. I guessed on the measurements when I wrote it out, but here you go!

"Yogurt" seed spread

About:
3tb ground raw pumpkin seeds
1tb ground raw sesame seeds
1tb raw tahini
2tb ground raw flax (ground in the coffee grinder)
1t kelp powder
1 1/2 t raw organic apple cider vinegar
splash of extra virgin olive oil (cold pressed!)
A nice squirt of lime juice (long enough to say "Mmmm.." :)
small squeeze of raw blue agave
2tb water (enough to activate the flax so it coagulates, and just to generally cream the paste out)
2tb Maple syrup, or to taste (I use grade B maple)
pinch of salt

Add everything into a bowl but the maple syrup. Stir and let sit for a couple minutes (so the flax can do its thing) and then when you come back to it, it should have thickened considerably. That's when you can add the maple... I used about 2 tablespoons, I think. :)
Makes about 1 hefty cup.

I spread it on some bread that I toasted with Earth Balance in a frying pan, but you can use anything you'd like. Some chopped bananas with this spooned over would be great. :)

I'm really surprised though, because it tastes like yogurt. The mix of the tahini, syrup, and apple cider vinegar I think is what did it. It's very tasty. :)