I love cooking. I love taking in the colors, flavors, tastes, and smells…
I love the transformative process of ingredients becoming meals.
But honestly, I only use recipes about half the time. Mainly it’s an assortment of the delicious ingredients of the moment, prepared simply, speaking for themselves.
I rinsed and soaked a cup of quinoa in the morning. In the afternoon I cooked it using half broth, half water. I consider myself beyond fortunate to have access to organic quinoa that is grown in the region.
Quinoa has got it going on. Its nutrient profile is impressive. It’s delicious, it’s easy to make, it’s a wonderful substitute for other grains. And yet, with a surge in worldwide demand over the last several years, farmers in Bolivia, where the grain hails from, have been tragically disconnected from this traditional staple of their own diet as prices soar and distribution is skewed away from the local residents. Not a good scene.
There is so much wrong with the global food industry, so much inequity, so much disconnect from the traditional practices that support culture, ecology, and health. All the more reason to get really interested in local ingredients. At one point, eating locally wasn’t even a catch phrase because it’s literally how we all survived. It didn’t even bear mentioning because it was simply the way of life. But I digress.
I was overjoyed to discover a farm in Southern Colorado which has been growing organic quinoa for a few decades. What a gift. I’m so so happy to have local quinoa!
So – in the skillet, I sautéd some onion, garlic and local daikon radish in a bit of olive oil. Added a handful of orange bell pepper and a bunch of kale. Kept the lid on, jiggled the pan a few times. That’s all I did, literally. No salt, no anything else at all.
After the quinoa was cooked, I added a big dollop of ghee on top which I stirred in once it had melted.
I whipped up a mini batch of my quick-and-dirty peanut sauce, which is too crude to even merit a recipe.
(It’s basically: peanut butter, a touch of something sweet like honey or maple syrup, a dash of tamari and a touch of lime juice.)
On a bed of quinoa, I served up the vegetables, some peanut sauce and a lovely little pile of kimchi. Mmmmmm.
The late afternoon sun amplifies the experience ~ a true feast for the senses.
Eating a simple, relatively light supper before it gets too late is one of the habits I lean on consistently for optimal health.
Not being exhausted and overstuffed at the end of a meal does wonders for the digestion. Feeling satisfied but not heavy after the meal, I have space to enjoy the rest of the evening with my family. I don’t dread clean-up the way I used to when I made big, complicated dinners that I was too tired to really digest and way to tired to even think about cleaning up. Now, I feel grateful and easeful as I clean up.
Leaving plenty of space between the evening meal and whatever I break my fast with the next day is deeply supportive for my physiology. This nice long gap helps my body shift into a more efficient state of internal clean-up on a consistent basis. It supports natural detoxification cycles that follow a circadian rhythm. As a result, I tend to wake up without pain, without grogginess, and with natural energy for the day ahead.
I could just as easily have made a simple tahini sauce, added a little extra ghee and a bit of salt and skipped the sauce altogether, or thrown a dash of tamari over the cooking vegetables. I embrace the gift of listening to how I feel and what kind of sustenance my body needs, and am now in the habit of adjusting accordingly.
The point is that when we focus on simplicity, high-quality ingredients, vibrant colors, and a balance of tastes, we can receive such deep nourishment without spending a lot of time in the kitchen, or even worrying about following a particular recipe.
That’s a big yes, please for me.
Ready to make a few shifts in your eating to help restore your energy levels, let go of build-up from the winter months, and set the stage for some healing changes in your daily rhythms?
Join me for a guided spring cleanse. March 28- April 13. Find out more here!
