Inspiration

Like my friend Hilary's blog, I'm going to try to remember to include some inspiration occasionally. Lately it's been what I've been reading. I started reading Anthony Bourdain's A Cook's Tour, which is his 'round the world quest to find the perfect meal. It includes a lot of meat, of course, but his way of describing food, as well as his state of mind, is fascinating. The first chapter is about a pig slaughter that he participates in in Portugal.

"And I'd seen an animal die. It changed me. I didn't feel good about it. It was, in fact, unpleasant in the extreme. I felt guilty, a little bit ashamed. I felt bad for that pig, imagining his panic, pain, and fear. But he'd tasted delicious. We'd wasted maybe eight ounces of his total weight."

I think more people should have to witness something like this. To look their food in the eye before they eat it. I think people would have more respect for their food (and perhaps eat less of it) if they knew what it had experienced before arriving, harmlessly shrink-wrapped in their supermarket.

As for dinner this week, there have been many meals cooked by Dandelion the Bitter Green. Not the least of which was this amazing dinner waiting for me when my flight landed at 10:30 at night. Grilled tempeh with rice and lentils and a curried veggies dish.



After the farmer's market last week I had an excess of asparagus. The first night I made roasted asparagus (along with other veggies) and tempeh served over soba noodles.



Thursday night I tried out a recipe from a new cookbook The 30 Minute Vegan by Mark Reinfeld and Jennifer Murray. I made Crispy Kale which uses my new favorite item: nutritional yeast! I thought it was delicious but when I made it again a few days later (I had an excess of kale last week too) Dandelion the Bitter Green felt like it wasn't to his liking. So not sure how often I'll make it in the future. (I have included my version of the recipe below.) This was served with polenta, steamed carrots, and white beans cooked with herbs.



Friday night we had taco noche with asparagus, carrots, and greens, leftover beans, and avocado in sprouted corn tortillas.



Saturday night we ate leftovers. Sunday night I made more Crispy Kale, along with baked polenta, broiled tofu, and a stir-fry of greens.



Monday night was roasted veggies again, including the asparagus, served over rice and lentils with an almond butter sauce.



Tuesday night Dandelion the Bitter Green added to that dish by making a stir-fry of greens and adding the leftover roasted veggies, served over leftover rice and lentils.



Wednesday night we had Chinese takeout, which I took a picture of so that you can compare it to our homemade Chinese food on Thursday night: tofu, carrots, Chinese broccoli leftover, served over buckwheat.





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Recipe:
Crispy Kale (adapted from The 30 Minute Vegan by Mark Reinfeld and Jennifer Murray)

1 bunch of kale (I used dino kale. The original recipe recommends the curly leaf type of kale.)
2 Tblsp olive oil
3 Tblsp nutritional yeast (OR LESS. This was probably the reason that Dandelion the Bitter Green didn't like the dish. There ended up being too much nutritional yeast. Start with 2 Tblsp and see if you like that.)
pinch of sea salt (The original recipe called for 1/2 tsp but this was too much salt even for me. If a pinch is not enough for you, try adding more slowly, pinch by pinch.)

Preheat the oven to 350. Wash and cut the kale into bite sized pieces. Layer them on a cookie sheet, ideally all in one layer nicely separated from each other. If there's too much kale just put them on there anyway and remember to stir occasionally. Bake for 15 minutes or until the kale is crunchy.

Remove from the oven and put in a large mixing bowl. Drizzle with the olive oil, sprinkle the nutritional yeast and salt over the mixture. Toss it together with your hands until everything is well coated. DO NOT REFRIGERATE! Kale will lose all crispiness if you do that.