The postpartum appetite is a moody one. With a super frequent nursing schedule, I was eating like a high school athlete, except not exercising at all, just, you know, keeping someone alive with the food my body is making. Then it slowly starts to balance itself out and my portions have become more reasonable and I just recently hit the phase where I'd like to be eating a more wholesome diet than I was getting away with while grasping for energy and sustenance all day. My grandma told me that you crave sugar when you're tired and I'm not sure how factual that is but it felt very true to me. I still need a lot of food, but I'm trying to clean it up as of late. And it's Spring! How appropriate. Fresh things abound. I mean, look at that beautiful pea pod above. So Jeanine's book came in the mail at just the right time because her whole schtick is colorful and fresh and simple. I made her cold noodle salad for lunch with some crispy tofu bits on top but you could leave those out or add any protein of your choice really. It came together in 20ish minutes and I would guess you have most of these items on hand. It's an everyone sort of salad - open to adaptations, saves well to pack for lunch, crunchy and light but still filling. So good.
Soba noodles can come in a wheat blend or a full buckwheat version, which would make them completely gluten free. The former are a little easier to work with, the later more appropriate for those with dietary restrictions. I like my noodles with LOTS of vegetables, like more salad with noodles in it, so I personally could have gone for two cucumbers but the original calls for one. I use this julienne peeler.
1/4 cup rice vinegar 1.5 Tbsp. low sodium tamari 1 Tbsp. toasted sesame oil 1 Tbsp. creamy peanut butter 2 garlic cloves, minced or grated 2 tsp. grated ginger 3 chopped scallions 12 ounces soba noodles 1 large cucumber, julienned two large handfuls blanched snap peas
for garnish sauteed tofu cubes roughly chopped mint and cilantro avocado sesame seeds
In a large bowl, whisk together the rice vinegar, tamari, oil, peanut butter, garlic, and ginger. Stir in the scallions.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Prepare the noodles according to instructions, cooking until al dente. Drain, then run the noodles until cold water until chilled. Mix the noodles into the large bowl of dressing. Add the cucumbers and snap peas and stir. Add your tofu and lots of herbs and then chill in the fridge for an hour before serving. Garnish with avocado and sesame seeds as desired.
I started a post about my place in the work/life/momming balance and I realized I just don't have much to share on figuring through that yet. I understand you don't ever get it "just right," but I am trying to get close enough to where I feel happy with what I was able to give at the end of the day. I want to check all my boxes and still feel like me at the end of the day, but I don't think I get to have that yet. I am trying to be patient and gracious with myself that I still have an infant that wakes up multiple times through the night, but I can't help but feel like I should be able to keep all the balls in the air. We've made these huge strides with women in the workplace but I think we still feel the pressure to do all the home and childcare tasks as well. Blame the internet if you wish, but it's tough trying to be the everywoman. My juggling skills don't look natural quite yet, and I cry too easily when a ball falls, but I'll check back if I figure something out.
I've been stuck on vegetarian main ideas that satisfy all three of us and I loved this spice combination on the vegetables from Emma Galloways book. Never mind that Hugh added a grilled sausage to his, making this ever the flexible omnivorous meal, but I liked it just as it was. Warm with cinnamon and honey, spiced with garlic and interesting with paprika and coriander. I repurposed the chilled leftovers over greens the next day with a little feta cheese to make a salad of the dish. Don't skip over this if you don't stock cumin seeds, half a teaspoon of dried cumin is fine. Or I didn't have quite enough coriander and it still turned out great. Again, pretty flexible.
SPICE-ROASTED VEGETABLES WITH CHICKPEAS + CHERMOULA
1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas, freshly cooked or one 14 oz. can, rinsed well 3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil 2 Tbsp. finely chopped cilantro stems 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped 1 tsp. ground coriander 2 tsp. cumin seeds 1 tsp. paprika 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. honey 1 tsp. sea salt 1/2 tsp. fresh ground pepper 1 lemon 1 bunch baby beets 1 bunch baby carrots or about 4 larger ones 2 small parsnips, cut into quarters 2 baby potatoes mint leaves, to serve
2 cups cooked whole grains such as quinoa, millet, brown rice etc.
/chermoula/
1 small bunch cilantro 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil juice of one lemon 1 garlic clove 1/2 tsp. ground coriander 1/2 tsp. ground cumin sea salt
Drain the chickpeas well. Preheat the oven to 375'. Place olive oil, cilantro stems, garlic, spices, honey, salt, pepper and lemon zest in a large bowl and mix well. Cut the beets and potatoes in half so they are about the same thickness as the carrots and parsnips. Add the chickpeas, carrots, parsnips and potatoes to the bowl and toss to coat. Transfer to a baking sheet in a single layer. Toss the beets in the remaining marinade and tuck them to one side of the baking sheet (beets stain and will turn everything pink so this is for aesthetics, if you don't mind all pink vegetables, by all means toss everything at once). Roast for 35-45 minutes, stirring everything once, until golden and tender. Meanwhile, cook your grains and keep them warm. To make the chermoula, put all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until a rough sauce is formed. Season to taste with salt. Serve the grains topped with the roasted vegetables and chickpeas, scraping up all the spices left on the tray. Drizzle with chermoula and sprinkle with mint leaves.
I rocked Cleo for a solid hour in that stained, suede chair. Nursing on either side of that just to try to calm her down while she screamed at me. She screamed even more at boobie-less Hugh. Pecking at his collar bone searching for one anyway while refusing to take a pacifier. Baby cries may not have a ton of gusto to them yet, but man can they grate on you. They make you empathetic for a little while but progressively become really frustrating. So I made cookies at 10pm because the only other sweet around here were date-coconut ball things and I needed something more serious than that. I didn't measure anything, I just eyeballed and trusted my experience to come up with something close. I referenced a recipe for how much baking soda or powder to use because it's the one piece of a cookie recipe I can't seem to log to memory. I added crisp rice cereal per Tara's instagram post and cut up a chocolate bar with scissors so I didn't have to wash a cutting board. We baked off a large one in the toaster oven to share as a late night snack and Cleo started crying again before it cooled. I know emotional eating is a real thing and that our relationship with food can greatly affect our long term health but sometimes, cooking for what you need in that moment, can be just the thing. Maybe it's cookies, but the next day, in light of a fresh start, I chopped up the vegetable drawer to make this easy lunch. You wore me down last night, little girl, but today is mine! That is how I felt as I stood over my largest salad bowl, eating this with a serving spoon. If food didn't connect us to things, to see the ebb and flow of what happens in our own kitchens, cooking would be nothing but a responsibility. The cookie nights versus the salad days, the big enough pots of pasta that I can treat someone to a last minute dinner delivery or share bits of "toddler food" with a friend who isn't sure what to feed her son. It's more than a responsibility. It's a gateway to so much more when you stand back. I know at first glance it may look like a lot of ingredients here, but I think you'll find they are mostly pantry staples and it's more chopping and less cooking. When I asked a few months back what you all were looking for here, many of you requested easy, week-night, real-life sort of stuff and this is that for us. It's an even quicker version of this if you have rice leftover. I know I should probably just be cheerleading for salads here, but if a cookie is what you need, I hope you find that too. The sweetest spot is right in the middle.
CRUNCHY TOFU CHOP
I resisted avocado here because I wanted it to stay crunchy in the fridge but use one if you have it and may be eating this immediately. This could also be wrapped in a tortilla if you are going for a handheld situation. I used leftover rice, but quinoa could be a quicker cooking option. Most of the work here is the chopping as listed in the ingredients. Otherwise, it comes together in minutes.
Serves 4
1 14 oz. pack extra firm tofu 1 heaping Tbsp. coconut oil 1 Tbsp. sesame oil sea salt and pepper, to taste 2 large carrots, grated 3/4 cup cooked and cooled brown rice (or quinoa) 1 small hothouse cucumber, seeded and diced 1 bell pepper, seeded and diced 3 green onions, thinly sliced 1 small bunch cilantro 2 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds 1/2 cup toasted cashews, roughly chopped
// dressing //
1 minced garlic clove 1 Tbsp. agave nectar 2 tsp. sriracha 1 tsp. tamari juice of one lime 2 Tbsp. rice vinegar 3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Drain the tofu and pat dry with a paper towel. Cut it into small cubes.
Preheat a large cast iron skillet over medium heat. Warm the coconut and sesame oil and once they are hot, add the tofu. Season generously with salt and pepper. Saute for 5-8 minutes until the outsides are just browned. The longer you cook it, the drier/crunchier the tofu cubes get so time it to taste. Set aside to cool.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the carrots, cooked rice, cucumber, bell pepper and onions. Very roughly chop the cilantro and add it to the mixture.
In another bowl, whisk all the dressing ingredients together and toss desired amount with the salad to mix. Season to taste. Add the sesames and cashews. The salad may be kept dressed in the fridge for 2-3 days, slowly loosing some of it's crunch but still enjoyable.
