FOOD THAT MAKES YOU HUM

I warned you a few posts ago that I was busy stocking the kitchen with Japanese ingredients.

Triple A Salad - Arame, Almond and Avocado Green Salad

So here comes the Japanese-inspired dishes, or at least Japanese ingredient-inspired. I strongly recommend you make a note to grab the bits and pieces for this delicious salad next time you're wandering the aisles of a well-stocked supermarket or little Japanese/Asian grocer.

This is food that makes you hum. Tonight after Miles and I devoured the whole salad bowl we almost bounded around the house, both eager and energetic to take on the Billie-bath-bed routine - rather than sluggish and impatient to crash on the couch.

Okay, I admit Billie didn't eat this one, but then she wasn't actually offered it. Instead I was very happy she chowed down the spinach dahl left-overs, mixed with brown rice, yoghurt and mango chutney. Very happy, because lately vegetables have not been winning the popularity contest at Billie's end of the table. Here's the dahl - I just swapped the red lentils for brown this time: billie bites lentil dahl recipe

This is a superb salad. Extremely tasty and satisfying. It does need to be served with some protein and carbohydrates - we just had a small amount of dahl and brown rice, which obviously isn't the best team mate, but it worked as two courses. Tofu, tempeh, fish, soba noodles, potato...any of these would work well. But you don't need anything with much flavor.

This is just slightly adapted from a Mary Shaw recipe. Mary taught at Bastyr University and ran a cooking program for the Ashland Food Co-Op in Oregon. Another credit goes here to my recent wonderful kitchen companion, Cynthia Lair's Feeding the Whole Family, which published the recipe.


TRIPLE A SALAD - ARAME, ALMOND AND AVOCADO

Arame, Almond and Avocado Green Salad

Salad:

1/4 cup raw almonds

4 cups salad greens - try spinach, rocket/arugular, and lettuce

1/8-1/4 cup arame, soaked in 1 cup cold water

1 ripe avocado, sliced into long strips

Dressing:

3 Tablespoons sesame oil

3 Tablespoons brown rice vinegar

2 tablespoons runny honey

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons poppy seeds

Heat oven to 180C/350F. Roast almonds on dry, flat tray for about 7 minutes or until giving off that nice almond smell. Set aside to cool and then coarsely chop. 

Wash the salad greens and spin or pat dry with tea towel.

Combine all dressing ingredients in large deep salad bowl and whisk. Drain arame (don't need the water) and add to dressing with salad greens. Toss well, gently fold through avocado, and sprinkle cooled almonds on top. 

FOR BABIES 6 MONTHS AND OLDER: Mash avocado or offer slices. 

FOR BABIES 9 MONTHS AND OLDER: Offer salad, minus the almonds (for choking purposes)

FOR BABIES/TODDLERS 12 MONTHS AND OLDER: Offer the whole salad (good luck)

EXTREME FOODS, HEALTHY MONDAY AND A SUPERIOR SALAD

Since stepping off the Sydney-Chicago flight on Wednesday night, there's been a lot of pancake and burrito-eating. Family reunions tend to be centred around food, and here that means the local diner. Or the favourite diner in the neighbouring suburb. Or the fast-food outlet trussed-up to look like a fancy family restaurant.

But when an order of vegetable omelet comes with hash browns, a side of blueberry pancakes and toast for Billie - in other words our family of three can split one meal that costs $US6.75 - why would you bother cooking?

Well, after a few days you just do. You crave fresh vegetables and fruit, cheese that's not melted and a salad that's not sweet. (Why, oh why, do Americans put sugar in everything?)

The balance of the not-particularly healthy ubiquitous diners and fast food outlets are farmers markets - such as Oak Park's 34-year-old one where we picked up affordable organic vegetables on Saturday - and the impressive Whole Foods Market franchise.

On my previous visit to Oak Park (an 'urban village' on Chicago's western fringe) I was taken to Whole Foods a few hours after landing. It blew my mind.

So on Healthy Monday, this organic/healthy/sustainable/fair trading/locally produced but MASSIVE and CHEAP supermarket was the main destination for Billie and I.

In Australia, I buy bits and pieces of organic food - milk, yoghurt, teas, breads etc but it's often too darn pricey.  As usual, today I studied the price tags of every item before it made its way into Billie's stroller/shopping cart.

A dozen organic large free range eggs for $US3.99? Organic raspberries at $US.300 a punnet? A block of organic tofu for $US1.69? And apparently the big regular supermarket chains offer some organic lines even cheaper.

Oh, and fresh organic mozzarella for $US3.99 - several large pieces. So that became the protein in our vegetarian Healthy Monday Superior Salad tonight:

SPINACH, MOZZARELLA, ASPARAGUS  SALAD WITH CRANBERRIES

Fresh baby spinach leaves, washed and picked
Three ripe tomatoes, quartered and then cut again
1 orange pepper/capsicum, cut into chunks
1 large round of mozzarella cheese, chopped in smallish pieces
Handful Brazil nuts, chopped in half
Handful dried cranberries
Bunch asparagus, chopped into thirds of quarters and then lightly steamed
Vinaigrette

Assemble all ingredients except dressing and asparagus. As soon as asparagus is cooked, add to salad, dress and serve. This is a light meal - serve with bread perhaps. Or corn chips, guacamole and salsa as we did (only because we had leftovers in the fridge).

Yes, this is not really a baby recipe, but Billie would love mozzarella given half a chance.
Sorry - no pics as using mother-in-law's computer...