food – Page 21 – GUTSy Performance Nutrition

winter meals + reading

February 14, 2016February 14, 2016by RebeccaLeave a Comment

I engaged in a little spontaneous five-o’clock social hour at the co-op last Friday and realized I may never get over my fear of people judging what’s in my grocery cart. And what I mean to say is I’ve long had people comment (probably admirably so) how healthy I eat. Those comments might seem harmless but are not helpful. Regardless, it was a truly pointless fear at the co-op because when you’re chatting about getting garden produce on school lunch trays in the bulk bins, or the difference between natural food stores between C and E, there is no one around judging the contents of my cart. What’s more, it’s likely no one else at any other grocery store really cares all that much either. This was a lesson in Not That Big Of Deal Lady, and Needless Fears 101.

Second, I’m taking an introductory cooking lab for school right now. It covers the basics of cooking with whole foods and I wasn’t expecting to learn much. We started with knife skills last week and prepared the simplest side of caramelized onions with matchstick carrots and sauteed greens. There were no additional spices beyond a little salt and pepper, and I had to resist fancying it up. The results were truly fabulous as the flavor of the fresh vegetables showed through and I was reminded of the experiences that led me to eating seasonal produce and whole foods, the simplicity of those meals that called to me, and how I continually desire to go “back to basics” with food and life, and invite in more minimalism.

And then we had dinner last night at some slighty-new-to-me friends who served a truly exceptional fancy-restaurant quality meal. I already knew what to expect as one of them is William’s coworker and he stayed at their house and was treated to those meals weekly last year. The meal was the exact opposite of what I described above and as I sipped the winter squash soup, I thought to myself, I’ve got to get on board with fancier cooking. This is way more delicous that any soup I’ve made. It was super fun to chat with friends who are into good food. It was also different, because though I consider myself quite adventurous, I was the less adventurous one at the table last night. I don’t go out of my way to try new things I view as not that necessary, overly processed, or too-exotic (i.e. vegan cheese, most dairy alternatives, specialty spices, most vegetables that are not in season locally). Some of this is because I lean towards minimalism in meals, a lot of it is because I avoid foods that were produced in factories or in far away places where I imagine soil degradation and inhumane working practices (yes, my mind goes there), and some of it is because I harbor a little bit of shame about fancier cooking. Frugality was an essential component to meals growing up. I feel a little elitist sometimes in prioritizing local and organic ingredients and getting too fancy with additions most people haven’t heard about or tried before. I’m still trying to find balance. And maybe I’ve found balance but when I start to overthink it, I get out of balance?

With that, I’ve read and enjoyed many good articles and meals since we moved, and a few of my favorites are below:

Reading:

I went to high school with Tommy. He was a little older and we didn’t really know each other, but even then I remember him as the goofy runner dude in my speech class. His share about his win at the Rock n Roll Arizona Marathon is super inspiring.

Gena Hamshaw’s 5 Tips for Balanced Eating. Gena continues to inspire me and I resonate much with what she shares.

No diet, no detox: how to relearn the art of eating. I’ve been reading a fair bit about food relationships lately. This article was a good one.

Nourishing Wisdom. This book is super great! I’m still making my way through.

My biggest vegan challenge was one I didn’t expect. This article about the challenges and disconnect of navigating meals with family and friends when following a specialized diet is a discussion worth highlighting. I still haven’t truly figured out what works for me with my own family and friends and I’ve been eating very differently than most of them for a number of years.

You already have everything you need.

Zen Habits-Let Everything Breathe

Eating:

Meal planning and prep has gotten super streamlined these last few weeks and it has revolutionized late evenings after a long day. There have been so many good meals and most of them are either old or new favorites. I keep a laundry list of meals I want to eat on my computer and many of these have been made and then go right back onto the list. William also initiated one night a week as his night to decide, plan, prep, and cook. It’s kinda sweet, but mostly he’s not so into winter squash and would like to limit how many meals I work it into. :)

Moroccan Wild Rice with Butternut Squash + Garbanzos

Garden Keepers’ Pie

Sprouted Mung Bean Salad inspired by Heidi

Millet Polenta + BBQ Lentils

Butternut Mac + Cheese, Food52Vegan

Creamy Pasta with Leeks + Broccoli, Food52 Vegan

Cumin-Lime, Quinoa + Black Bean Bowls

Shaved + Curried Cauliflower Salad

Smoked Paprika Vegetable Chowder + Orange Zest

These Black Beans. I’ve mentioned them a zillion times. They make all meals delicious.

Root Veg + Garbanzo Pot Pie, Food52 Vegan

Broccoli, Collards + Kalamata Salad

This weekend, we’re enjoying cookies. I’ve somehow managed to avoid every sort of mainstream store in the past few weeks, so have missed all the marketing of chocolate, hearts, and balloons. I feel not one inch of regret. We first made these Jam + Sunflower Thimbles for Christmas and they’re worthy of a special occasion/sharing with friends.

Journal, Running, Winter

and Flying

February 8, 2016July 22, 2016by Rebecca1 Comment

I’ve finally accepted I don’t handle big, celebratory life events like most people. So I wasn’t jumping up and down excited the day we got the keys to our new house. Actually, I was wishing it would go away, the moving, the moving-on from the town that is home and the many special places there that I consider mine. My high school students asked my age the other day, and when we started talking about it, I shared how I won’t consider myself “grown up” until I reach 30. They laughed at me but were also surprised because as teenagers eager for freedom, they think becoming grown up happens at the exact turn of the clock to 18. Moving on from Corvallis means much to me for so many reasons, but at the bottom of it, it is the place where I’ve done all my formative growing up, where I belong to and am invested in the community, where my work is, and many individuals have shaped my life perspective.

William’s grandma accused me of not being very happy about the new house over the Christmas holiday. I explained it away with, I’ve only been in it once so it’s a little difficult to love yet, but I was well aware my lack of enthusiasm went deeper. Since then, many people have asked me if I love it and I can tell by their tone of voice that my honest response will burst all their happy-for-us excitement. Ultimately, loving a place (or person) comes from deeply knowing it, and this little space and I are only just getting acquainted. So no, I do not love it yet. But knowing we were eventually moving, I prayed about it for a long time. Finally, just a few days before William brought up the idea of purchasing instead of renting, I felt the peace with relocating that I had been asking for. Later, a couple days before we got the keys, I felt very strongly that there is work for me to be done in this new place, that He is calling us to Eugene for a reason, that it is okay to have little clarity right now.

A week and a half in to being a Eugene resident, I told William, I’ve skipped straight to the angry stage of culture shock with this town. I prefer a community a little smaller, a little less busy at 5:57 am, a little friendlier to my idea of getting across town, a few less barking dogs in our neighborhood, and many more cats(!). I was complaining, irritated, and aware of it. In other words, I was adjusting.

I have still to figure out which will be “my” grocery store, where I will enjoy running on a regular basis, how to take all the quiet(er) little shortcuts to where I am going. And I’ll have to meet and make some new local friends.

Corvallis taught me these things take time. But even though I’ve felt a little upended this last month since moving, I’m diving in to learning this community in the ways I tend to, with running and with food:

A couple weeks into the relocation, I was out running out at the edge of Alton Baker Park, near where the river gets a little wild and Eugene becomes Springfield. I remembered being on my pony, Angel, back at the ranch, about a mile from the house, on the road between the creek and the calving shed. I was around nine years old.

I remember leaning forward over Angel’s neck, letting the reins out, the hairs of her long mane tangling into mine, and feeling her fly, as fast as her legs could carry her. And I remembered that wild, heady freedom that a nine-year-old feels, completely absorbed in that moment, no fear, no coulds, shoulds, if-thens, but just there, all there in that rush, that moment, going as fast as we could go.

I relived that memory a moment and then I turned to run back towards home and my car, and my nine-year-old self and Angel faded behind me.

Back at that exact same spot a couple weeks later, the memory came back, just the same as before, unexpectedly, as if waiting for me. And then I connected the dots. So that’s why I’ve been running all these years, I thought. That’s why I love running fast especially. Perhaps I’ve been searching for that part of me I experienced with Angel all those years ago, that wild, carefree little girl who wasn’t afraid to go all out and live.

And then I smiled. This little city and I will get along just fine, I thought. There will undoubtedly be some growing pains, and I do miss the comforts of home in Corvallis, but I can tell there will be good things for me here.

So when friends ask, do I love the new house? my answer will likely continue to be hesitant. I don’t know that I will ever love the house, as I’ve never grown too attached to a building before. But I do get especially attached to places. And I’d like to tell them, in time, that I absolutely love this new place.

Broccoli, Collards + Kalamata Salad, serves 4-6

inspired by Sara’s Emerald Salad

William is on a broccoli kick lately. He asks for broccoli in everything. I had no idea he is partial to this vegetable until now, but glad I am because our school-garden-broccoli was such a success last year and I’m now planning on upping my broccoli-growing game in our new home garden this spring. Planning has already begun!

2 lbs. broccoli

1 large red onion

3 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil, divided

zest of 1 orange

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground black pepper

3-5 cups collard greens (or other winter greens), thinly sliced

red pepper flakes

3 Tbs. orange juice

1 small handful flat-leaf parsley

¼ cup kalamata olives, sliced

¼ cup toasted hazelnuts, chopped

– Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

– Chop the broccoli into 2-inch pieces; include the stems but discard the large, tough ends. Roughly chop the onion into large pieces. On a large bar pan lined with parchment paper, mix the broccoli pieces, onions, 2 Tbs. olive oil, orange zest, garlic, salt, and pepper. Once all the vegetables are nicely coated, roast in the oven for about 20 minutes, until the broccoli is starting to brown on top. Rotate the pan or stir halfway through.

– While the vegetables are roasting, remove the tough center stem and thinly slice the collards. Put them in a large mixing bowl. When the vegetables are roasted, pour them atop the collards to soften slightly and give the mix a good stir. Add the orange juice, pepper flakes, remaining tablespoon, if necessary, and toss with olives, parsley, and hazelnuts.

– Serve warm or chilled.

Winter

Simple Weeknights with Sun Basket

January 25, 2016by Rebecca5 Comments

I’m sure I learned quite an extent of where and how my food is produced growing up on the ranch, but it wasn’t until I graduated high school, began working on others’ farms, and explored the full extent of farm and food systems that I was able to cement my understanding that just about every farmer, no matter how ill we might think their production practices, believes wholeheartedly in what he or she is doing, and is putting their heart, soul, and of course body into the work. For a couple summers in college, I had a wild hare to go adventuring, so sought out farmers from Vermont, Iowa, California, northwest Washington, etc. in which to work. Somehow, I never quite made it to those places, as even then I guess I knew my calling was not in becoming a farmer.

During that search for adventure and learning, I remember one distinct phone conversation with Dru Rivers of Full Belly Farm, in Guinda, California. It was the summer before I began grad school, a pursuit I was admittedly on the fence about. During that phone conversation, Dru shared about the importance of agricultural educators, of which I was looking to become, and we sort of mutually came to the conclusion that since I was still planning to return to school in the fall, something in the program was drawing me over the farming venture. It’s kind of funny now to realize that one phone conversation with a nice farmer I’ve never met resolved a lot of internal uncertainty about a career path which advice from friends, family, and mentors was not able to clear up.

Even though I have since stepped away from agricultural education in the formal sense, I put a lot of store in farmers: Farmers that will have me eating turnips right out of the ground at the beginning of my first visit, farmers that will re-name the agronomist’s scheduled farm tour as Rebecca’s Farm Tour, and then spend a whole summer having me traipse along behind, explaining little details all the day(s) long, and farmers that will offer a random girl some career advice over a long-distance phone call.

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When Sun Basket, a new healthy meal kit service that delivers organic ingredients and delicious, easy-to-make recipes for cooking at home, contacted me about sharing some of their meals on my blog, my first desire was to look into which farms they source from. While they source from a number of farms, ranches, and sustainable fisheries, I was excited to find that Full Belly Farm happens to be one of them. Having already had a good phone chat with one of Sun Basket’s farmers was quite a nice treat.

What I like about Sun Basket, other than their super quality ingredients, is that their recipes are created by their chef who was formerly the head at a James Beard award-winning restaurant. The meals are special but not too fancy for weeknight cooking, diverse, nutritious, and always feature seasonal ingredients. There are also gluten-free, vegetarian, and paleo options each week to choose from.

Sun Basket has an in-house nutritionist, the meals take approximately 30 minutes from prep to eating, and all the ingredients are sustainably sourced from the West Coast. Keeping the need for a little more local sourcing in mind, Sun Basket meals are available to those living in California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and Idaho. A subscription includes delivery of three recipes per week for two, four or six people. William and I tried two dinners and their new, two-breakfasts option. Both dinners easily stretched beyond two servings to make three to four meals for us.

We tried Indian Red Lentil + Chard Stew with Naan, Honey-Ginger Tofu with Roasted Bok Choy + Forbidden Rice, Piña Colada Smoothies, and a Baby Kale Scramble with Chermoula. Our absolute favorite was the red lentil stew (William was a big fan of the naan), but I now have all the recipes and will gladly make each one again. With every recipe, the extra mile was taken in the seasonings/herbs/sauces to make it taste special. The fact that those seasonings, herbs, and sauces all came pre-measured and prepared helped to cut down the cooking time significantly. In essence, every recipe calls for a little prepping of veg, a little hands-on cooking, and a lot of flavor at the end for the effort.

I can now say I’m a big fan. I recommend Sun Basket to my friends and family trying to eat a little healthier throughout the week, and I’ll recommend it to you. If you live on the west coast, Sun Basket is offering $30 off for your first week of service. Subscriptions are weekly and you can cancel any time, so you can even try it once and then decide whether you wish to continue. I guarantee, it’s a nice treat to not have to plan, shop for, and prep meals.

Get $30 off your Sun Basket order! Organic ingredients from the best West Coast farms and easy, healthy recipes delivered weekly.