The season changes, and so do I

Something is changing internally.

I have been observing the shift for a few weeks now, and it is growing stronger. Something is changing, something ... no, it is not something new arising.

It is something long buried coming to the fore.

I am not entirely sure what it is, though writing that feels incorrect. I do know, though not with enough certainty to speak it, yet. Itfeels very soft and sweet and encompassing.

Never, ever believe soft and sweet to not be immensely powerful.

So far, it is ... building, growing stronger. Just as I do not feel to name it yet, out loud in words, so is not the time yet for its expression. Yes, the mind frantically tries to squeeze this into an existing expression, and I am pulling it back, over and over again.

Do not rush this. This is not to be rushed. Act too soon, it will diminish, it will wither and break and be gone.

Hold it, gently, nurture it. Give it attention. Give it love. Just be with it, in it, and feel it.

And expression will arise by itself.

... and in the meantime, do that which you love, which gives you pleasure, which nurtures and nourishes you.

And in my case, that is found in the kitchen. In more sense than one. ;-)

So, welcome to another week of kitchen adventures with Joy!

kitchen adventures with joy

... I genuinely enjoy making these "covers". And since this is all about doing what I enjoy, what gives me pleasure, well. Cover!

And also, food. Here is the first one:

oven-baked cheezy broccoli

Oven-baked cheezy broccoli.

Because the broccoli was starting to look very unhappy, so. I'd contemplated doing something else with it, maybe even integrate it in the stiry fry, but no, something inside insisted on cheezy broccoli.

So I cooked potatoes for the cheeze sauce, and meanwhile chopped the broccoli into small flowers.

By the way, in case you weren't aware, yes, you can eat the stem of the broccoli as well. Simply cut off the hard, woody outer layers, and the inner is white and soft and perfectly edible. Make the most of your broccoli!

When the sauce was finished, the broccoli went into a small, oven-proof dish, with a little bit of water. Then as much sauce as I felt like on top, and into the oven for a good deal longer than I thought it would take, but apparently broccoli doesn't cook fast. Who knew.

(Not me.)

So, um, 200°C and about 35 minutes, I believe?

The broccoli was still a bit crunchy, but I was done with waiting for it to become un-crunchy, so whatever.

And since I was already chopping things into small pieces - still one of the most therapeutic, also grounding, things in my life right now - I went on to chop more veggies: beetroot, carrot, sweet potato, some red potatoes. Onions. Garlic. Then combined into this:

root-veggie stiry fry with tempeh

Stir-fry with tempeh for protein. Seasoned with salt, pepper, paprika, and a dash of agava sirup because I felt like it.

The sauce is passata, plus some tomato puree for more tomato flavour - because more water was needed to cook the bloody beedroot, ugh - and then fresh parsley. I've never had fresh herbs in my rescue box before, and also, I'm not a great fan of parsley. But I thought I'd give this a try?

Oh, yes: juice of half a lemon also went into the sauce, because when Life and your veggie box gives you lemon, you put lemon juice in everything.

Cooked for 45 minutes, and the bloody beetroot is still crunchy. I have given up.

(If you want beetroot uncrunchy, cook separately in water for 15+ minutes first.)

And last but not least - actualy first - beetroot brownie. Cake style. With a twist.

Because there were two beetroot in my box this week, both about the size of a bowling ball, and the recipe for the beetroot brownie only asked for 150g. I had, like, 346g. So I doubled the ingredients and made a cake:

The twist here being mandarine jam: Half of the brownie dough went into the baking tin. Then the jar of mandarine jam spread. And the other half of dough on top.

Jam squished through here and there, making the whole thing a bit sticky. But also very nice.

... in hindsight? I should have maybe added pumkin spice or something. make it Christmassy!

Note to self: next beetroot brownies will be Christmassy.

There is one more dish to make on my meal plan for this week, an oven-baked curry, but I haven't made it yet, because I still have so much cooked food from last week oh my god when am I supposed to eat all of that who wants to come for dinner???

...

See you next week.

:-)