GUTSy Performance Nutrition

Roasted Zucchini + Tarragon Soup

August 22, 2015August 22, 2015by Rebecca4 Comments

I have a loose policy that for every new purchase of clothing or books that comes in, at least the same number of clothes or books must go out, to be sold or donated. I generally purchase only books that will be used over and over again and I tend to check out those of interest at the library first, renewing them repeatedly until the library decides it is time to give another person a turn. Then– often–I won’t purchase the book, thinking someday instead, and I’ll get back in the hold queue and repeat the process until it is practically my personal copy anyway.

Somewhere in between being a teenager with aspirations of growing up to live in a giant house and drive a fancy vehicle, I veered sharply in the other direction and wound up aiming for minimalism instead. Clutter and “things” make me cranky. Whenever relatives call and ask if we would like an item they are getting rid of, I default to no. If the item is used only once a year or so, it is no longer worth the space and headache.

Yet, I fail daily in keeping clutter to a minimum. I leave stacks of books in every room. Despite my library-tendencies, there are three fairly large and overflowing bookshelves in our small apartment and nearly all of them ‘belong’ to me. When I take a giant stack in to sell, I purchase two more with the profit instead of taking the change. There are clothes, too, in the closet which have not been worn in years, and in the kitchen, I aspire to make simple meals, letting the flavor and the freshness of our garden produce shine through. And then I go and make every meal (every meal folks!) overly time-consuming, with something like five or more steps and at least one appliance/gadget for each one. I almost went to culinary school. Twice. Given my affinity for recipes that should require several sous-chefs and an industrial dishwasher to boot, one would think I actually did. And if you can’t tell, I tend to overcomplicate just about every little thing I turn my focus onto.

I’ve been attempting (and struggling with) less steps and ingredients in meals lately, and mentally beating myself up about it. After listening to the most recent Pure Green Podcast episode, I realize I resonate so greatly with Jonathan MacKay’s style of cooking and food philosophy. Jonathan, the food editor at Pure Green Magazine, says,

I like food to be simple and complex at the same time. Complex because the textures and flavors are layered, but simple because they are practical to make and easy.

Listening to Jonathan share this and many more valuable tidbits made me realize I need to take a deep breath and stop trying so damn hard–in all aspects of life. It is okay–and often essential–for there to be many steps to make a great meal. It is okay for there to be a tension between leading a simple life and a complex one. It is okay to have more than I need, but infinitely less than I desire. It is just fine to embrace clutter and at the same time, strive to minimalize the accumulation of things.

Roasted Zucchini + Tarragon Soup, serves 4-6

This zucchini soup is a double-remake of an old family favorite. I’ve revamped the original to make a simple gluten-free and vegan version that has a tangy cashew cream stirred into the end to round out the flavors and provide healthy fats. True to me, I added another step by roasting the zucchini rather than simply cooking it on the stovetop until soft. The result adds a nice complexity that is well worth it and makes for a soup which rivals my memories of the original. This soup is a great way to use up larger zucchini that have gotten out of hand, and fits right in with the August Recipe Redux theme of getting ‘back to the dinner table’ after the busy summer season. Growing up, we tended to slurp zucchini soup all summer long, but since this summer has been such a cooker, I’ve had little inclination for soup until now. I know we’ve at least a month left of true summer, but the winding down of longer days and the gear-up for school starting in a couple weeks makes it feel as if the season is basically over. We are nearly into my favorite time of year when all the late-summer harvests are colliding with the onslought of fall flavors, but until then, I’m holding onto these slower summer days and enjoying the bounty they bring.

12 cups chopped zucchini

3 cups vegetable broth

3 cloves garlic, smashed

1 large onion, chopped

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbs. fresh tarragon, minced

1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours

1-3 Tbs. water

1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

In a large baking dish, toss together the chopped zucchini, garlic, and onion. Roast until soft at 400 degrees F, about 30-40 minutes. Remove from oven and cool slightly.
In a large pot on the stovetop, bring vegetable broth to a simmer. Slide roasted vegetables into the broth, add salt, tarragon, and pepper, and simmer for about 10-15 minutes, to allow the flavors to meld slightly.
Transfer squash mixture to a blender and blend in batches until smooth. Return to the pot and bring back up to a low simmer.
Drain the soaked cashews and puree with lemon juice and water in a food processor until completely smooth. Add enough water so the mixture is slightly thinner than paste consistency.
Stir the cashew cream into the zucchini soup, taste, adjust seasonings as necessary, and enjoy!

Journal, Summertime

Summer Socca, Grains of Sand

August 9, 2015August 10, 2015by Rebecca3 Comments

Saturday night I stood in the ocean, letting the frigid Pacific rush at my toes and then tug with an invisible powerful force back into the sea. I watched that tide pull a million grains of sand from their resting place, scattering them back into the depths and I thought, My life is sand. And then a silent whisper, Let it go.

I stood there until time seemed to stop, and then gently, finally, I let the tide pull and scatter and let land my intentions to become what they will.

Afterwards, William and I shared bento bowls at a little hole-in-the-wall with ‘world beat cuisine,’ live music, and skulls and wisdom inked in crayon across the walls. We sat at the bar which was really a table with the waitress sifting through orders a half-arms-length from me, and I shared–with tears welling to the corners of my eyes and fingers desperately hugging a cup of ginger tea: I wish I had a timeline. That’s the hardest thing. If I just knew that I’d feel better in three weeks or three months or three years, it would be easier. The unknowing, what even tomorrow will bring, is challenging. My entire life, I’ve had a plan; I’ve had a timeline. It is terrifying to have intentions without all the usual signs that I’m moving toward them.

Recently, I fell apart in my doctor’s office. She asked how I was doing and as I tearily told her about my anxiety and the fear, indecision, unknowing, and how I’m used to having my life figured out and put together, she calmly responded in her sincerest voice, Oh, Rebecca, you have it sooo together.

At the time, I couldn’t see what she meant. I couldn’t see that even being able to recognize the internal and external chaos and responding to it –healthfully– is having it together, is being on the right track.

Eleven months ago, I had a message come very firmly in prayer: The lesson is in the unknowing. I thought about that message for weeks and months afterwards, trying to wrap my head around what it meant for me, as if it were a foreign code to be deciphered. I’ve lived that message daily in all the months since, and as I stood in the ocean Saturday night, I was reminded that letting go has to happen repeatedly, daily, until doing so becomes inherent as the grains of sand letting the water scatter them back into the ocean.

When you begin to pay attention — I mean center your attention, turn off the chattering mind, get present and really tune in to your environment — you begin to realize that even the tiniest observations, events and exchanges can carry meaning…To put things in perspective, I don’t have enough fingers and toes to count the number of times I have found myself in a metaphorical canoe without a paddle – unsure where I was being directed and just surrendering to the current, present and open to what might come downriver and proceeding only on intuition, instinct and faith…It’s always and without fail exactly where I am meant to be. I know this to be true because every time I peer into my rear view, it always adds up. Good or bad, the math is inevitably perfect. – Rich Roll

Summer Socca with Grilled Eggplant, Smashed Tomatoes, Olives + Basil, makes 2/serves 4

When I’m feeling all out of sorts, one of the ways I get grounded is by spending time in either the garden or at the Saturday market, ‘talking shop’ with my favorite farmers, and then subsequently cooking up a delicious meal with the results of the bounty. The speckled eggplant above is the Listada de Gandia, a French heirloom. Socca too, is a French ‘pancake,’ made of chickpea flour. It is infinitely simple and serves as a perfect base for grilled summer vegetables. Toss together a little salad of greens, a light dressing, and perhaps a fistful of cooked grains to round out the meal.

Socca:

1 cup chickpea flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

a dash or two of black pepper

1 cup water

olive oil, to coat the pan

Garlic-Basil Oil:

1/4 cup olive oil

3 large cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbs. minced fresh basil

Toppings:

2 small eggplants, sliced into thick rounds

4-6 large tomatoes

14-16 Kalamata olives, diced

2 Tbs. chopped fresh basil

Sea salt

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper, and then water. Whisk until you have a smooth batter. Set aside while you make the basil oil.
In a small dish, combine the olive oil, garlic, and basil.
Heat an indoor grill (or outdoor grill, if you have one and a grill basket for the vegetables.)
Rub the whole tomatoes with a light coating of the olive-basil oil, and set them on the grill whole. Cook until they are soft and slightly charred. Remove and set aside to cool for a few minutes. With fingers or a pastry brush, lightly brush the oil mixture on each side of the eggplant rounds. Grill for about 4 minutes and then flip and grill the other side, until slightly soft. Remove and once slightly cool, cut each round into quarters.
Tear or lightly chop the tomatoes into smaller chunks and set them in a fine-mesh strainer in the sink to drain lightly, if they are quite watery.
Heat a large skillet on the stove over medium heat and lightly brush the bottom with oil. Pour in half of the socca batter and tilt the pan to distribute it evenly. Cook for about five minutes, until the bottom is browned and comes away easily from the pan, and then flip to do the same on the other side. Repeat with the remaining socca batter.
Remove the socca to a serving platter, brush the bottom with the remaining garlic-basil oil mixture, making sure the basil and garlic are distributed evenly, and then top with the eggplant, tomatoes, olives, and remaining basil. Sprinkle lightly with coarse sea salt and serve.

Journal, Summertime

The Pittsburgh Salad

August 7, 2015August 8, 2015by Rebecca5 Comments

The summer before my senior year of college, I took a leadership class required for my degree. Our main text was The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and from it we created a personal mission statement as one of our first assignments. I created a poster-size version of my mission statement at the time and I’ve since carted it around from home to home, always finding a special place to make it visible. This morning, the poster fell off the wall and I picked it up, re-read those words and realized, despite the distance of years, I would not change a single thing about the mission I crafted for myself that summer.

I was gently reminded in re-reading that no matter my fears and unknowns, if I’m living my mission, I’m on the right track.

Listen to God. Live His plan.
Be active. Think healthy.
Cherish family. Do small acts to support positive, loving relationships.
Be a role model. Help others to achieve personal success.
Be a supportive and giving friend.
Appreciate nature. Do small tasks to ensure long-term ecological health.
Live in the moment. Right now. Enjoy it!

Have you created a personal mission statement? If so, what is on it?

The Pittsburgh Salad, serves 2 as a main dish

Last week, I was in Pittsburgh for a nutrition educators’ conference. It was the first time I had traveled long distance in years, spending several days with neither car nor kitchen, and I wondered how I would find the food options given my dietary constraints and vegetable-heavy tendencies. Within a few blocks of the conference, I discovered not one but two AMAZING salad bars. Normally, when I envision a salad bar, I think of Subway without bread–iceburg or romaine lettuce concoctions with pale tomatoes, dry shredded carrots, processed meats, and sketchy dressings. This was not the case. There were a gajillion freshly prepped and creative toppings to fit all sorts of eating preferences and lonnng lines out the door around lunch time. I found myself returning three days in a row because I only wanted to eat these salads. Without further going on about my hippy-dippy affinity for kale, quinoa, and beets, I’ve reconjured a variation of my favorite Pittsburgh Salad. Enjoy!

2 cups chopped kale

2 cups mixed greens

1/2 cup cooked and cooled quinoa

1/2 cup finely diced raw beets

1 medium yellow zucchini, chopped small

1 medium carrot, shredded

Grilled Tofu (below)

1/4 cup Honeyed + Spiced Pecans (below)

2-3 Tbs. Honey-Basil Balsamic Vinaigrette (below)

In a large mixing bowl, combine the greens, quinoa, beets, shredded carrots, grilled tofu, and pecans.
While the grill is still warm from the tofu, toss the chopped yellow squash in the container that the tofu marinated in, gently moisten with the remaining marinade, and slide onto the grill. Cook until just beginning to soften, about 4-5 minutes. Remove from the grill and toss in the salad bowl with the remaining ingredients.
Toss the salad ingredients with the desired amount of vinaigrette and serve.

Grilled Tofu

6-7 oz. extra firm tofu

1 1/2 tsp. apple cider vinegar

3/4 tsp. honey

1 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika oil (or use a mild-flavored oil and a dash of smoked paprika)

Wrap the tofu block in several sheets of paper towels and set on a cutting board near a sink. Stack several heavy objects on top to press the extra water out, and let sit for 30-45 minutes.
Unwrap the tofu and cut into 1-inch cubes.
In a glass container with a lid or tupperware, gently mix the vinegar, honey and oil. Toss the tofu cubes into the marinade, close the lid, and shake to coat. Marinate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Heat a stovetop grill, slide tofu cubes on, and close the lid. Grill until char marks begin to form, about 4-5 minutes. Quickly turn the cubes to grill the other side and cook for 3-4 minutes more.

Honeyed + Spiced Pecans

1 1/2 cups raw pecans

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. black pepper

pinch of cayenne powder

pinch of dried thyme

1 1/2 tsp. olive oil

1 tsp. honey

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread pecans on a large baking pan and roast until fragrant, about 10-12 minutes. Remove from the oven to cool slightly.
In a small bowl, combine salt, thyme, pepper and cayenne.
In the baking pan, drizzle the pecans with oil and honey and toss well to coat completely. Sprinkle with the spice mixture and toss again.

Honey-Basil Balsamic Vinaigrette

1 Tbs. honey

2 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil

2 Tbs. balsamic vinegar

1 Tbs. whole-grain mustard

1 Tbs. finely diced fresh basil

Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste