It Might Be Time to Plant This Potato

I've never been one to shy away from eating a tuber with a few eyes sprouting.  I've just rubbed them off in the wash and prepared the potato as usual.  In this case, when I neglected the root bin and found these lovely sprouts, the process had gone too far.  Not only has this plant now likely sapped much of the flavor and nutrition of its benefactor, I just don't have the heart to kill this willful, spunky little thing.  I'm debating now whether to keep it inside and give it some water for a while while it warms up outside (it's had no water thus far) or put it right into the ground. Hmm.  I'll keep you posted. 

Fab Food

Today I want to share some really fabulous, easy food I've thrown together recently based upon my home-delivered organics, other plant foods and whatever I happened to be craving. These were quick, so no recipes -- I'll just try to explain what you see. Here, I sauteed organic sliced tomatoes and giant spring onions which almost looked like baby leeks in olive oil, then added chunks of organic straightneck squash and kale, and stirred in a can of chick peas and cooked brown and wild rice and quinoa. I seasoned all with a splash of tamari, a few shakes of turmeric and a tiny pinch of sea salt.

This dish sounds like more trouble than it actually was. In an effort to teach my adult child in college that late night fast food needn't be a gas station burrito, I have found some great healthier convenience foods in the freezer section for him. One of these is cooked rice and grain blends -- 4 minutes in the microwave. I know the microwave is not as healthy as steaming in a pan, but a microwave is what he will choose to use, so I pragmatically choose my battles. I bought some easy frozen cooked grains for myself too. I'm happy to do it the longer/more macrobiotically sound way, but I didn't this time.

Not being a big fan of sweets, I wasn't thrilled when organic sweet potatoes made up the lionshare of my organic boxful each time. I thought I had opted out of this selection, but it turns out there are so many different breeds of sweet potato that don't even sound sweet, so I got some help tweaking my list to my liking. Now that I'll be weeding out the sweets from my crisper, I think I could eat one of these every day. I topped this baked tuber with a lazy version of my creamed kale -- this time I didn't bother with the miso. I just mushed up the beans a little bit, added some water and lots of nutritional yeast. The sweet in this potato was almost eclipsed by the flavorful, savory greens and beans, and served only to round out the flavors. This is now my favorite way to eat a sweet potato!

Finally, you have absolutely seen this sandwich before, but here it is again in all its glory -- the kale sandwich, this time with a nice handful of organic alfalfa sprouts. Toasted Eziekiel bread a generous spread of hummus on each side, and you can see the rest. What could be more simple? What could be more delicious? I have since opted out of the organic sprouts for future deliveries as well, since I do grow my own sprouts!!

There -- for all those who say it's too expensive/difficult to eat healthfully: nonsense! Lighten up and dig in!

Winding Down

At what point does one decide the summer crop is over? I get a little crop like this every day now. You can see in the Chinese longbeans a certain madness now. Somersaulting, pinching and twisting, they are in a frenetic scramble as they sense the "last call" of the season.  I'm sort of loving the show, but it may be time to pull it all out, dry the pods that remain for a new crop in the spring, clean up the garden and condition the soil for the winter.

Indoors, here's a recent project (I LOVE the warm, soothing light of the very early morning):

Sprouts! My friend, Liat, loaned me this awesome hemp sprouting bag which works so, so much better for me than the tall jar with the rubber gasketed/screened lid. I am ordering one of these bags right away! I showed my daughter my sprouts and she asked, "But what do you eat them with?"

"My fingers!" I answered, demonstrating.

Another bonus is that Liat is the Mom of my daughter's best friend, so the sprouting bonanza provides fodder for hours of eye-rolling, teenage fun at our expense! It is such a joy to make those kids laugh.

Here's another way I eat my sprouts --

This was my breakfast this morning: sprouts (Ezekiel Bread), sprouts and hummus! Delish!

Why sprouts? Bioavailability! Simply put -- the sprouts are alive, with 100% of their nutrition intact, and have converted the starches/gluten of the seed/bean to the phytonutrients we all need for regeneration and fuel for our cells. I'm a newbie in this learning process, so I will share more when I know more.  I'm going to go throw a handful into the juicer now with some kale and maybe a pear. What do you do with your sprouts?

P.S. upon re-reading, I'm happily noticing the sprouts echo the acrobatics of the longbeans, all indeed "winding"!