soft quiet kitchen adventures

it's been a pretty busy week, with many different things going on, on multiple levels. so kitchen adventures this week is quiet. more internal. it's less about having adventures, and more about finding back (in)to myself.

feel to explore?

quiet kitchen adventures with joy

with this past week so active and challenging (in a good way!), I didn't feel like experimenting too much in the kitchend. also, unlike other weeks, there was less time, overall, to really get into things.

and so, this edition of Kitchen Adventures with Joy is about simple things. uncomplicated, down-to-earth dishes. grounding ~ in the food prep, and the food itself. it's about remembering the joy of creating for the sake of creating. it's going internal, finding the centre of Self again.

and so, this time, I have but three things to share:

marinated bean salad

the marinated bean salad. dense food, full of colours and protein. I'd been seeing different recipies for different salads, and ultimately, it's pretty much down to you how to make the salad:

1. choose your veggies, and chop them into whatever shapes and sizes you prefer

2. choose your sources of protein ~ two for each salad; and can you make the colours interesting, too?

3. choose a dressing

step three tends to be the challenge for me. saues I can make, no problem. salad dressings? for some reason, they're intimidating.

so I tend to work around recipes for dressings. make up my own ~ or flat out "cheat".

this time, I went with the marinade for veggies for another dish, that I didn't end up making after all - sesame oil, tamari, coco aminos seasoning, fresh lemon juice, a littel bit of salt, and some pepper.

it is an unusual taste, due to the aminos seasoning. but then, these kinds of salads need to marinate. I'm looking forward to how the taste will change over the next days, as the veggies have the time to soak up the dressing, and the flavours mix and merge.

colours!

love the colours in this one ❤️

veggies: cucumber, yellow beet (oven roasted, not raw), tomatoes

protein: soy beans, beluga lentils

and where this salad is colourful, exciting, maybe even exotic ~ the dish it's going with is simple:

parsnip-potato-mash

a parsnip potato mash:

• two parsnips

• three fairly big potatoes

• two cloves of garlic

• one small onion

• 375ml water

• 125ml plant-based milk (whichever you prefer, I use oat)

Chop parsnips and potatoes.

Roughly chop garlic and onion, and then sauté until translucent.

Add parnips and potatoes and 1/2 teaspoon salt; fry while stirring regularly for about two minutes.

Deglaze with water and plant-based milk, then cook on medium to high heat for about 15 minutes.

Blend to preferred consistency. Yes, the recipe says "until smooth", but honestly, it's a mash. it can have little lumps. surprise potato!

season to taste, with salt, pepper, maybe some nutmeg. whatever you like.

I enjoy this dish, becaue it's a little sweet due to the parsnip. 😃

And while all of the above was going on, this was in the oven:

gluten free bread

a gluten-free chia-walnut bread. with sesame seeds on top, because I like them.

because I was feeling like bread. real bread, made from flour, and for once, neither my usual experiments nor the go-to nuts-and-seeds loaf.

I accidentally left it in the oven for too long, because I was busy and so didn't hear the timer going off. oof. so it's turned out a little brown.

but, unlike I feared, not hard or burned. it's very nice!

gluten free ginger bread :-)

goes really well with both savoury and sweet spreads and toppings.

Recipe:

• 10g chia seeds

• 120g walnuts (roughly chopped)

• 500g buckwheat flour

• 1 package of baking powder (~ 18g, I think)

• 650ml lukewarm water

• 10g salt

• 3 tablespoons honey (or maple syrup, or agava syrup or ...)

• bread spices (or whatever spices you enjoy)

How to make this:

1. mix chiaseeds with 200ml water and let soak for 30 mins

2. mix flour, baking powder, salt, honey, spices, and the remaining water to a dough

3. add in chia seeds and walnuts (dough might be pretty runny at this point, but that's fine!)

4. line a loaf pan with baking paper, pour in dough, and top with walnuts or sesame seeds or whatever you like!

5. bake for 40 minutes at 220°C (top and bottom heat); or, you know:

6. don't hear the timer go off and accidentally bake bread for about 54 minutes, oops

7. let cool down and enjoy with hummus or ginger bread spread or whatever you enjoy!

personally, I like soft bread, but also bread with crunchy bits, like walnuts, inside. so this is great! I will probably make this again, because it's simple, and versatile, and potentially perfect for experimenting with spices and maybe additional ingredients, such as carrots and/or potatoes and/or zucchini.

so yeah. that's it for this weeks kitchen adventures. seems I am in need of simple and dense, grounding food these days.

but with the moon doing Things, and 3i/Atlas in the solar system, and also the upcoming AVALONIA: Golden Age online workshop, where I will be facilitating ~ maybe that is not as surprising as it first seemed to me. 😃

.. I still have one interestingly shaped zucchini, one cucumber, and more limes than one person NOT bent on cocktail drinking needs in the fridge. so there might be Adventures throughout the next week. but for now, I'm saying goodnight.

thanks for reading, and see you next week. ❤️