eggplant – Page 2 – GUTSy Performance Nutrition

Pomegranate + Hazelnut Moroccan Grain Salad

October 30, 2015October 31, 2015by Rebecca5 Comments

There was once a man who had a fig tree growing in his vineyard. He went looking for figs on it but found none. So he said to his gardener, ‘Look for three years I have been coming here looking for figs on this fig tree, and I haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it go on using up the soil? But the gardener answered, ‘Leave it alone, sir, just one more year. I will dig around it and put in some fertilizer. Then if the tree bears figs next year, so much the better; if not, then you can have it cut down.’

– Luke 13:6-9

I have a plain black journal which I cart around for all things spiritual. It is a book riddled with inspirational sayings from homilies, scripture, from the girls in my prayer group, and messages I hear from prayer. I doubt the journal could be useful to anyone aside from me as it’s got thought-segments scattered randomly and the same phrases scribbled repeatedly throughout. Months ago, Father Ignacio stated, God is not like Amazon Prime. We have to wait, in one of his homilies. It is a phrase which has taken up considerable real estate these past few weeks.

As is usual when I need to work on something, signs appear from all sorts of corners with the same message. For the last couple weeks, I have had several reminders on perspective, of thinking about whose lens I am looking through, of being able to see my life as Jesus sees it, through His vision, and of rewriting the story I tell myself. Consistently at church, I hear the message to ask God the way and He will use you. I have been increasingly frustrated as I’ve been asking for guidance for months and (telling myself) I hear nothing. I sat for an hour this week and had an internal fight with God. Why are you not speaking to me?, I silently yelled. What do you want me to do? And then the quietest, softest answer: Have patience. Trust in me. My immediate reaction was to act as if I hadn’t heard anything. Instead, I responded, but WHAT do you want me to DO!? Trusting and being patient sounds a lot like sitting around doing nothing when all I want is for my fig tree to be bearing figs.

I then came home and complained to William about the experience, of asking for guidance daily and hearing nothing, of being frustrated because He refuses to speak to me. William’s response was, perhaps you’re not looking at the situation the right way. Perhaps when you think nothing is happening, it is because His answer is not what YOU THINK it should be.

I can be incredibly stubborn. I ask for guidance but I only want to hear an affirmation that what I want is what I should want–is what I should be working on and is going to happen according to my schedule. I want clear, easily discernable boxes to check in a linear pattern marking the way forward. I want to know the daily labor will produce the desired results. I find it extremely difficult to entertain the possibility that He is answering and doing something in my life when it doesn’t look exactly like what I expect it to.

I look to my journal. His message to trust and have patience is written clearly, week after week, right next to the reminders about Amazon Prime. When I turn the pages back and see the same words time and again, I realize He’s been there responding all along. It is time to stop being frustrated and trust. It is time to rewrite the story I tell myself. I need to stop looking at my life as an unbearing fig tree. I need to spend less mental energy tearing it down and more of it in adding fertilizer.

God is not like Amazon Prime. We have to wait.

Moroccan Grain Salad with Pomegranates + Hazelnuts, adapted from Green Kitchen Travels

I pulled the last two eggplants from their stems the other morning. It was a beautiful morning to be in the sunshine, to pull the last of the season’s purple jewels from their life cord, to traipse around in my mud boots after months of heat and dry ground. It poured rain the day before and since and the ground has been soft. Most of the summer vegetables are finally done. This salad is a snapshot of the present season, a mix of old and new. Combined with those last two eggplants, roasted sweet onions and handfuls of parsley and mint, there are this season’s hazelnuts and the seeds of a pomegranate tossed in. I made this salad for the first time over the Labor Day holiday for our family reunion. That first version was slightly different with a couple zucchini sliced into rounds and roasted. It was a big hit and I promised to share the recipe. Now that summer is well and truly over, I’ve thought about how to carry this salad’s flavors into the autumn and holiday season as it would do nicely as a side during a celebration meal. I’m picking up a load of winter squash this weekend and I imagine some roasted delicata or kabocha squash would make for an even tastier mixture paired with the cinnamon-infused grains, herbs, pomegranates and hazelnuts.

1 large or 2 medium eggplants

1 medium onion

2 Tbs. olive oil, plus extra for drizzling

1 garlic clove, crushed

salt

1 cup equal parts quinoa and millet (or all of either one)

2 cups water

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

juice of 1/2 a lemon

a handful of mint leaves

a handful of parsley

1/4 cup raisins

1 pomegranate, deseeded

1/2 cup toasted and coursely chopped hazelnuts

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Chop the eggplants and onion into small pieces. Place them on a large baking pan and drizzle with a small dose of oil. Sprinkle with salt and roast in the oven until soft and slightly burned around the edges, about 15 minutes. Remove the vegetables from the oven and place in a large serving bowl. Add the olive oil and garlic and set aside.
Meanwhile, cook the quinoa and millet. Place the grains in a small saucepan and add the measured water, cinnamon, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat immediately, and cover. Cook for 15-20 minutes until the water is absorbed.
To assemble the salad, place the cooked grains in the bowl with the roasted vegetables. Add the lemon juice, herbs, raisins, pomegranate seeds, and chopped hazelnuts. Give everything a good stir to evenly mix. Serve at room temperature or warm slightly.

Autumn, Summertime

Za’atar-Spiced Millet + Chickpeas with Baba Ghanoush

November 8, 2014November 8, 2014by Rebecca5 Comments

In between eating roasted pumpkin and winter squash in everything possible because it’s already November, I finally used up all the garden’s eggplants. There were as many growing in my tiny space as were in the school garden and given their late start last spring, they took seriously forever to ripen.

The real question is why did I plant so many in the first place? Quite simply, I like eggplant. Most people don’t. Like a little girl, I could say I like it because the fruit is purple and a funky shape and that name, egg plant. But there’s more. I began my eggplant-eating-tendencies years ago after trying it for the first time at The Olive Garden. My group thought I was crazy for ordering, of all things, something vegetarian and with a slimy vegetable as the main show. I was just beginning to show the “let’s-eat-all-the-weird-to-rural-Eastern-Oregon-food” side of my personality, and everyone else’s strong opinions made me like the vegetable even more.

All these years later, I still love eggplant because it’s often unloved and misunderstood–and because it can be seriously good. It pairs especially well in Middle Eastern food, and according to Ottolenghi, in Jerusulem it is often featured in every meal.

I whipped roasted eggplant into baba ghanoush a few weeks back and then, needing something for lunch on a busy day, threw all these ingredients in a dish before running out the door. I suspected something magical was in the works, and though leftovers for lunch is not always exciting, this combination of baba ghanoush, millet, chickpeas, za’atar, and kale goes together super well. It was so good that a decent amount of all that eggplant made its way into baba ghanoush for the sole purpose of making this.

If you’re at all like me and tend to have beans and grains and random spreads and spice mixtures like baba ghanoush and za’atar hanging out, this will go together super quick. If not, it will take a bit more time, though it’s definitely worth it!

Za’atar-Spiced Millet + Chickpeas with Baba Ghanoush, serves 1

1 cup cooked millet

1/2-2/3 cup cooked chickpeas

2-3 Tbs. Baba Ghanoush, or more to taste

a big pile of chopped kale leaves

1-2 tsp. za’atar, to taste

chopped cilantro, optional

Toss all the above together. Eat warm or at room temperature.

Baba Ghanoush, adapted from The New Book of Middle Eastern Food

1 lb. eggplant (about one large)

2 cloves garlic, crushed

salt, to taste

2 Tbs. tahini

Juice of one lemon

1/3 tsp. cumin

Split the eggplant in half length-wise and roast, cut side down at 425 degrees F, until very soft inside (about 30 minutes). Let it cool slightly and then peel the skin off and discard. In a small dish, mash it all up with a fork and then stir in the remaining ingredients until they come together. Adjust seasonings to taste.

Za’atar

You can buy this spice mixture, but it’s easy to make yourself. Combine 1 part ground dried thyme, 1 part lightly toasted sesame seeds, 1/4 part sumac, and salt to taste.

Autumn

Eggplant + Sweet Potato Curry with Coconut Milk

October 21, 2014August 30, 2015by Rebecca3 Comments

It rained last night & all day today
so the lake I can’t quite see
over the tree line is pure frothy white.

There is mist everywhere
& I am alone in it.

The white light
burns my eyes, sears a holy purpose
in my human frame.

I’m setting out
on a new journey, ever faithful.
Early on, I walked away
from everything, from things I loved.

But now, when I come to the ocean,
as I know I will, foaming
like some impossible hell,
I won’t despair or surrender.

I’ll find a tree, growing from a crag
on the shore & I’ll cut it down
with the force of my loneliness.

There is the shape of a boat
hidden beneath the bark,
I know it.

So I’ll release it,
using my most tender memories
as tools. I’ll continue.

Nothing
will block my way.

– Nate Pritts, from “Mist Everywhere”

We tend to eat curry fairly frequently, and it lends itself to being highly adaptable. I have a recipe that I’ve used in the past, but often choose a random one that looks good from the internet. Recently, I’ve been asked by a few friends if I can share a version that Will and I like, and in the interest of The Recipe Redux challenge of experimenting with spices this month, I decided the time has come to lay down a good base. By that, I mean the vegetables and protein can be changed up depending on the season, but this combination of coconut milk, spices, and sweet raisins will work for all sorts of variations. I’ve had a turmeric root hanging out in the freezer for a few months and finally decided to branch out and actually use it. I frequently use dried turmeric, but just like fresh ginger, fresh turmeric is easy to incorporate into recipes. I like to store both in the freezer as they can be used whenever necessary, and then use a micro-grater on them while still frozen. Fresh turmeric is not always available, so if not, the dried kind can be substituted instead.

Eggplant + Sweet Potato Curry with Coconut Milk, serves 4-6

1 1/2 Tbs. coconut or olive oil

3 leeks, cleaned and chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced

1 jalepeño pepper, diced

2 medium sweet potatoes, chopped

1 large eggplant, chopped

1/8-1/4 tsp. cayenne powder (adjust according to taste)
3/4 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp.chili powder
3/4 tsp. coriander powder

1 tsp. salt
1/2 Tbs. fresh turmeric, grated (or 1/2 tsp. dried)

1 Tbs. fresh ginger, grated
11 oz. light coconut milk

2 Tbs. lemon juice
2 cups cooked garbanzo beans
2 cups kale, chopped

1/4 cup raisins

fresh cilantro, to serve

cooked long grain brown rice, to serve

Directions:

In a large skillet over medium heat, warm oil, moving around the pan to coat the bottom evenly. Toss in leeks, garlic, sweet potato and jalepeño; stir; let cook for about 10-15 minutes, until sweet potato has become slightly soft. Stir in the eggplant and cook for 10 minutes longer, or until both eggplant and sweet potato are cooked through.

Once the veggies are tender, add the spices. Give them a minute or so to toast and then pour in the coconut milk, lemon juice, beans, kale, and raisins. Stir everything together and let the flavors meld for 5-10 minutes more. Adjust seasonings to taste, and enjoy with rice and cilantro.