“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Luciano Pavarotti
My husband and I are not vegetarians, but we eat a plant based diet most of the time. We enjoy food of all kinds, preferring food that is good for us, but happy to indulge in delicious food that may not be particularly healthy, on occasion. Our philosophy is that it’s what we do most of the time that really matters.
My dad was in the Air Force, and did a tour of duty in Korea for a year when I was in the fourth grade, so my mom and I moved to Harrisonburg, Virginia, in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley. My family is from Harrisonburg, so we moved from San Antonio, Texas to be closer to family. Those Virginia kids told me I “talked funny.” What!? I don’t recall, but I probably thought they “talked funny” too. But I digress. For some reason, that was the year I decided to dabble in “vegetarianism,” in quotation marks because I didn’t know the meaning of the word at the tender young age of 9. I don’t know where I got the idea that mom and I should be vegetarians, because I’m pretty sure there weren’t many of them in the Valley at that time.
As adults, the beginning of my exploration into vegetarian food lies with a friend I worked with at Stanford Medical Center, where I worked on the oncology floor before returning to school full time for my teaching degree. Actually, I went back to get a degree in nutrition, but changed my mind and became a teacher. I’m sure I would have been happy in either field, but I have no regrets with the path I took. Erika was a vegetarian, and she introduced me to one of my favorite cookbooks, Laurel’s Kitchen.
We have been eating plain yogurt for a long time at our house. It started when I learned about falafel, from Erika and Laurel’s Kitchen. I can’t remember if my first falafel was from a local restaurant that served fried falafel balls, or the baked falafel I made from Laurel’s Kitchen, but they were both delicious. I’ll post a falafel recipe in the future, but for now, I’d like to say how delicious plain yogurt is, and how it can be the main focus or a tasty garnish. It’s probably safe to say that it is an acquired taste, and in my opinion, one worth acquiring. Here are a few favorite ways I like to eat plain yogurt. They are all seasoned with freshly ground salt, freshly ground black pepper and extra virgin olive oil-fresh herbs are always a welcome addition.
Try this for breakfast or lunch…you can make it however you like.
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Or this. . . Can you tell the orange bowl is my favorite??
Yogurt, tomatoes, preserved lemons, kalamata olives and sprouts
I think I have mentioned before that vegetables are my favorite food, with green vegetables being at the top of my favorites. Some may think it odd, but the taste of green rocks, in my book. On occasion, I enjoy having vegetables for breakfast, just to get a head start on healthy eating for the day. Disclaimer: I am writing this after consuming a not so healthy lunch at a little Mexican place in Kahului. The wet chicken burrito was very good, and I would order it again. As I was thinking of the wonderful salad we would have for lunch, which was going to involve grapefruit, among other tasty things, my husband informed me that he can only eat our usual healthy way for so long, then he needs something a little heftier, like Mexican food. So off we went to Amigo’s. At least I walked/ran 4 miles this morning, before the rains came. Anyway, I have been wanting to try Deb’s {Smitten Kitchen} soft cooked egg, and I finally decided to give it a try.
Soft boiled egg on sautéed kale
The only experience I have had with soft cooked eggs was quite a long time ago. My mother-in-law used to make them for my husband when he was young, and he has fond memories of eggs prepared this way, so we made some. Although they were certainly tasty, they were also certainly a pain to crack open and eat before they got cold. . . I never made them again. My mom used to hard cook an egg and then smash it up with butter, salt and pepper; I loved that and still make it every now and then. The reason I wanted to try soft cooked eggs again, in spite of my not so positive experience with them, was that Deb’s way of eating them does not involve carefully slicing off the top part of the shell and scooping the egg out with a spoon. She actually releases the egg from its shell; I can do that! Deb serves her eggs up with toast, butter and cheese {!!!} and cooked spinach. I will do that as well, but this time I kept it simple~sautéed kale with a smashed soft cooked egg on top. I didn’t take the time to make toast, but of course that would be a delicious accompaniment, as would potatoes {!!!} of some sort {I love our creamy, locally grown potatoes!}.
Kale, a couple handfuls per serving, washed and dried well
Extra virgin olive oil, about 1 tbsp
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Sherry vinegar
Eggs, 1 or 2 per serving
Fill a 1 quart {or larger} saucepan with water, and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling, gently lower the eggs into the water. Set the timer for 6 minutes if you intend to eat the eggs immediately. If your eggs will be waiting around for a few minutes before you eat them, set the timer for 5 to 5 1/2 minutes; the eggs will continue to cook in the shell while waiting to be cracked. See Deb’s photographs on Smitten Kitchen to check out the difference between eggs cooked different amounts of time. When the timer dings, gently rinse the eggs under cold water, just so they will be easier to handle. Peel the eggs and set aside.
While the eggs are cooking, heat up the olive oil in a skillet large enough to hold your kale. When the oil is hot, add kale and toss it around so that it will cook evenly. Season with a little salt and freshly ground pepper while you are tossing it about, so all of the seasoning is not sitting on one leaf of kale. The kale is best, in my opinion, when lightly sautéed, as opposed to being completely cooked down. If it is cooked too long, it can get that canned greens taste, which isn’t the best. Taste a leaf and take it off the heat when you think it tastes great. Sprinkle the kale with some sherry vinegar to taste.
Put your sautéed kale in a bowl or on a plate, top with the peeled egg. Smash the egg, and season it with salt and freshly ground pepper. Crumble some soft fresh goat cheese over all & enjoy.
Our morning began with the required glass of Freshly Pressed Ginger Kombucha, then a relaxing stroll on Baldwin Beach in Paia, which is about 15 minutes down the slope of Haleakala from our home. Lifeguards were not yet on duty, and we shared the beach with fewer than two dozen early risers who wished to start their day with a soundtrack of gentle waves crashing and then receding into the vast Pacific. The temperature was somewhere in the high 70s, with the perfect level of skin caressing breeze. A double rainbow spanned the western sky, although the second one was camouflaged by clouds.
Of course, there were the usual dogs running willy nilly, some playing in the salty ocean, and others happily chasing each other in the sand {How did I not photograph the dogs??}. My husband spotted one of those fluorescent green tennis balls in the sand, which he donated to a lucky dog who passed by at just the right moment; the dog, whose mannerisms reminded us of our dog Max {an Australian shepherd who passed away a few years ago}, was delighted by his good fortune. It’s a little over two miles to walk the entire beach. . .I highly recommend it if you are in the neighborhood.
After our walk, we went for coffee at Maui Coffee Roasters in Kahului. My husband has a number of free drinks on his card, so that was the perfect way to top off our walk.
Next stop was home for breakfast. I’ve shared my breakfast salads with you before, and for those of you who are okay with eating salad for breakfast, this one is a winner. My husband bought some gorgeous beets from the farmers’ market last Saturday, so those definitely had a place in the salad. There are blueberries in the freezer, which play nicely with beets and goat cheese, so in they went. And there is more. . .
This is more of a guideline than a recipe, so play around with ingredients & make it your own. For me, the key components are the beets, berries, goat cheese and nuts. The black currant balsamic adds a lovely fruitiness which I highly recommend, if you can get your hands on some. This shouldn’t be difficult, because it seems that olive oil and vinegar tasting stores are cropping up all around. I read about such a place here on Maui, Wailea to be exact, several months ago in our local paper. The first one I visited, however, was in Port Townsend, WA. We moved to Maui in the summer of 2011, but I had not gone back to visit until this year, when I went twice in two months. What fun I had! Anyway, in Port Townsend, there it was, this fabulous store {Lively Olive} that had kegs of extra virgin olive oils and vinegars begging to be tasted. I love vinegar and olive oil, so I was thrilled to stumble upon this place. I brought home a bottle each of Blenheim apricot white balsamic and black currant balsamic. I thought the black currant would be great with the blueberries and it did not disappoint. After returning home, I thought I should visit the store in Wailea {Fustini’s Oils and Vinegars}. The sales people were offering up all kinds of deliciousness in the form of taste combinations: coconut balsamic + Persian lime extra virgin olive oil was the one I was particularly smitten with, so I purchased the coconut balsamic. I decided I would make my own lime olive oil, and make some kind of salad that involved soft Manoa lettuce, sweet onion and mango, among other things. If you are a Hawaii resident, Fustini’s offers a kamaaina discount! Feel free to use another vinegar if you can’t find black currant balsamic. . .I’m sure your salad will be delicious!
Beet, Blueberry & Goat Cheese Salad with Black Currant Vinaigrette
Salad greens, washed & thoroughly dried {I used kale and romaine}
Beets, cooked, peeled and diced
Blueberries, fresh or frozen, thawed if frozen
Onions, thinly sliced
Fresh herbs, torn or julienned {I used basil and mint}
Soft fresh goat cheese, crumbled
Walnuts, toasted & broken
Eggs, prepared however you like them, optional
Extra virgin olive oil
Black Currant Balsamic
Salt & freshly ground pepper
I like to build meal size salads on a dinner plate, but you can use whatever you like. The lettuce goes down first, and is topped by the fresh herbs. Add beets, blueberries, onions and goat cheese. Top with walnuts, salt and pepper. Drizzle salad with black currant balsamic and olive oil. If you are putting an egg on your salad, add it right now. Enjoy!
“The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight.” – M.F.K. Fischer
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I’ll start by apologizing for my finished bread looking burned; it was not burned. No matter how I aimed my camera, part of the loaf looked black, which is why the picture is cropped. Sometimes a photo just doesn’t do justice to its subject. Now that that is out there, let’s move on.
I love baking yeast breads because I find it relaxing and therapeutic. Not that I’m necessarily in need of therapy when I decide to bake some crusty, yeasty and delicious loaves. It’s just that it feels good to get your hands in the dough and feel the magical transformation from wet sticky dough to dough that is silky and elastic, and a pleasure to touch. Homemade bread actually engages all of your senses-
~There is the smell . . . yeasty fragrance wafting up from the bowl of blooming yeast. “Blooming yeast” sounds like a British expression; in this case it means to put the dry yeast into warm water to dissolve and begin activating, so your bread will rise properly.
~ The tactile nature of bread dough is that it goes from sticky to silky, shaggy to supple
~ Visually appealing is your bread when it emerges from the hot oven, golden and brown, like it just spent the day on a glorious tropical beach {Maui??}
~ If you were able to achieve a nice crisp crust, you will hear that crust shatter when you tear or cut into your beautiful bread. Maybe it’s the kind of crust that sends pieces of toasty shards over the edge of the counter to the floor when it’s cut.
~ Last but not least is the taste . . . yeasty, whole wheat flavor {or maybe rye} made better with thin slices of good butter. Or perhaps you have chosen a smear of fresh goat cheese, or a dip in some fruity extra virgin olive oil showered with freshly ground salt, pepper & herbs. My dear readers, it doesn’t get any better than this!
For tips on baking yeast breads {proofing the yeast, shaping the loaves, etc.} click here.
This recipe produces a bread that is dense, chewy and slightly sweet, with a crisp crust when toasted. We had a turkey sandwich on it a couple days ago, and it was most excellent.
Whole Wheat Oatmeal Honey Bread
adapted from Honey Oatmeal Bread from Bread Winners {Mel London, 1979}
*1 cup/110 grams ground oats {uncooked rolled oats processed in a food processor until you have 1 cup}
1 cup raw sunflower seeds
*I wanted my bread to taste more of oats, so one of my adaptations was to add a cup of ground oats in place of 1 cup of whole wheat flour. Feel free to use all whole wheat flour, or other flour of your choice.
Glaze: Honey
Uncooked rolled oats
In a large bowl, stir together boiling water, honey, butter, salt and rolled oats. Let stand for 1 hour.
In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water. Add to the oat mixture. Stir in the flour, 1 cup at a time and beat well. I start with the ground oats, and then add whole wheat flour until the dough is not super sticky. Stir in the sunflower seeds before the dough gets too stiff. It will be a little sticky, but that will be remedied as you flour your counter to knead the bread.
Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until dough is smooth and elastic {about 10 minutes}. If necessary, add enough flour to keep dough from being too sticky. Wash the big bowl you just used, rub some olive oil around the bottom and sides and add your ball of dough. Turn the dough to coat all the sides. Cover the bowl with a towel or damp cloth. Place in a warm spot and allow to double in bulk-about 1 1/4 hours. I turn on my oven for a minute or 2 to get it slightly warm, and that is where I put my dough to rise.
Turn out onto floured counter, knead for 1-2 minutes, shape into 2 loaves and place into well-greased loaf pans {9” x 5”}. Cover and place in a warm spot until almost doubled in bulk {about 45 minutes}.
Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 50 minutes. Tops should be well browned and the bottoms should sound hollow when rapped with your knuckles. I look for a temperature of 200 degrees when I insert the instant read thermometer in the bottom of the loaf.
For a delicious glaze, brush tops of bread with honey that has been slightly warmed, then sprinkle with oats. It looks pretty with the honey & oats on top, but I must say that the oats don’t stick very well. Maybe I don’t use enough honey!
As hard as it might be, you should cool the bread completely on a wire rack before slicing. We {or I should say my husband} often finds it difficult to do this! Enjoy the rewards of your efforts!
A few tidbits about cranberries. . .
~ The cranberry is native to North America.
~ Cranberries bounce because of air pockets inside the fruit. They are also called bounceberries.
~ If you were to string all of the cranberries harvested in North America last year, it would reach from Boston to Los Angeles more than 565 times!
Some time ago, I posted a few ways that we like to eat plain yogurt. Cranberry season is here, which means we can swirl some raw cranberry orange relish into creamy plain yogurt for a delicious breakfast treat. Topped with walnuts & a sprinkling of raw cacao nibs, it makes a great breakfast with a piece of toast and some tea. As I mentioned in a previous post, our favorite yogurt is Nancy’s.
Nancy’s Plain Yogurt
When you open up a new yogurt, stir it well until all the lumps are out and it is super creamy. Add whatever you like to make a healthy and delicious breakfast.
Plain Yogurt with Cranberry Orange Relish & Broken Walnuts
You could stop with the cranberry orange relish {recipe here} and walnuts, or do as I did and sprinkle a few raw cacao nibs over the top. In one fell swoop, you can boost the taste & the nutrition of your creamy bowl of yogurt. What a deal!
Try some raw cacao nibs on your bowl of yogurt!
I enjoy having some toast with my yogurt. It adds somewhat of a “savory” bite to counter the yogurt’s sweetness, even though this yogurt isn’t super sweet, since it only contains a bare minimum of sugar. I wrote about this bread before, but it’s worth revisiting. It is simple to make & tasty to eat.
Date Walnut Cinnamon Bread with Star fruit
Better eat it quickly, because the butter is almost melted! I prefer my butter sitting on top in cold, thin slices. Mmmmmm! This bread is just about as good as cinnamon rolls, but a lot easier and quicker to make. With the cranberry orange relish, more fruit isn’t really required, but the star fruit makes a pretty addition to the plate. Aren’t they cute? Star fruit is a tropical fruit whose season runs from July-February in the U.S. It is a good source of Vitamin C, potassium and fiber. According to Food Chemistry, star fruit is a good source of antioxidants, particularly the kind found in green tea and red wine.
1 1/4 cups / 300 ml warm water (105-115F) 2 teaspoons active dry yeast (one packet)
1 tablespoon runny honey
1 cup/140 grams whole wheat flour
1 cup/100 grams oats
1 cup/125 grams unbleached white flour
3 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt
5 dates, snipped into small pieces
1 cup broken walnuts
2 tablespoons butter, melted, for brushing {you probably won’t need it all}
In a medium bowl, sprinkle the yeast onto the warm water and stir until the yeast dissolves. Stir in the honey and set aside for a few minutes, until the yeast blooms and swells a bit – 5 – 10 minutes.
In the meantime, mix the flours, oats, salt, cinnamon, dates and walnuts in a large bowl. Add the wet mixture to the dry and stir very well.
Brush a 9” x 5” loaf pan {8 cup} generously with some of the melted butter. Turn the dough into the tin, cover with a clean, slightly damp cloth, and set in a warm place for 30 minutes, to rise.
Preheat the oven to 350F / 180C, with a rack in the middle. When ready, bake the bread for 35-40 minutes, until golden and pulling away from the sides of the pan. I finish things up by leaving the bread under the broiler for just a heartbeat – to give the top a bit deeper color. Remove from oven, and turn the bread out of the pan quickly. Let it cool on a rack so it doesn’t steam in the pan. Serve warm with butter.
“Good soup is one of the prime ingredients of good living. For soup can do more to lift the spirits and stimulate the appetite than any other one dish.” Louis P. De Gouy, ‘The Soup Book’ (1949)
Have you noticed a change in the weather in your area? Maybe the mornings are a bit dewier than they were last month, and a sweater hits the spot in the evening. We have noticed that the mornings and evenings are a little cooler here on Maui, even though the days feel about the same, nice and warm. The first day of autumn is just around the corner {9/22}, which means it’s time to get out the soup pot. Our soup pot is never far from the stove. Even though we live on Maui, we eat a lot of soup, and surprisingly most of it hot soup, not cold. We live at about 1200 feet altitude, on the slopes of Haleakala Volcano, so it is often cool enough to enjoy soup, especially when the trade winds are blowing, as they are now. While it may feel warm outside in the sun, the breeze can feel cool in the house. We eat soup for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The soups we enjoy are all healthy; they are full of vegetables, high in vitamins and minerals and nutrient dense. I realize that people who live in places with 3 or 4 seasons probably don’t eat much hot soup in the summer, but like I said earlier, ready or not, autumn is on its way.
If you haven’t made home made soup, I encourage you to try out a few recipes; you will be rewarded with several delicious meals that don’t have to be complicated to prepare. There are some elaborate soup recipes out there, but the ones I make are pretty straightforward. I assure you that the soup you create from top notch fresh ingredients will be far superior to any soup you get from a can.
This minestrone is one of our new favorite soups, and I highly recommend it. This is the link to the original; what follows is my adaptation.
A bouquet garni made with 2 sprigs each thyme and parsley, a bay leaf, and a Parmesan rind
1 1/2 quarts water
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
3 medium carrots, diced
3 celery stalks, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced {mince & let sit for 10 minutes for health benefits}
Salt, preferably kosher salt, to taste
1 28-ounce can chopped tomatoes, with liquid
Pinch of sugar
3 tablespoons tomato paste
About 1/2 small head of green cabbage, thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Very thinly sliced celery, from the inner heart, for garnish
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese for serving
1. Combine the lentils, 1/2 onion and the bouquet garni with 1 quart water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, add salt to taste, cover and simmer 30 minutes.
2. Chop the remaining onion. Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat and add the onion, carrot, and celery. Cook, stirring often, until the onion is tender, about 5 minutes, and add the garlic and a pinch of salt. Stir together until fragrant, about 1 minute, and add the canned tomatoes with their liquid and the sugar. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring often, for about 10 minutes, until the tomatoes have cooked down somewhat and smell fragrant.
3. Add the lentils with their broth, the tomato paste, salt to taste, an additional 2 cups water, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer 30 minutes. During the last 10 minutes, add the cabbage. Taste and adjust seasonings. Season to taste with freshly ground pepper, stir in the parsley and serve, garnishing each bowl with thinly sliced celery heart if you want some crunch, and passing the Parmesan at the table.
Yield: Serves 4 to 6
Like most soup, this is even better the next day.
Nutritional information per serving (4 servings): 276 calories; 4 grams fat; 0 grams saturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 2 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 milligrams cholesterol; 49 grams carbohydrates; 12 grams dietary fiber; 392 milligrams sodium (does not include salt to taste); 17 grams protein
Nutritional information per serving (6 servings): 184 calories; 2 grams fat; 0 grams saturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 2 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 milligrams cholesterol; 32 grams carbohydrates; 8 grams dietary fiber; 261 milligrams sodium (does not include salt to taste); 11 grams protein
Notes:
* You may use any lentils that you like. I usually use brown lentils, but if you like your lentils to hold their shape, you may want to use the French green lentils {lentils du puy}.
* I highly recommend the celery & Parmesan garnish. Generally speaking, I find that if a recipe has a garnish, it’s best to put in the extra effort to put it on your soup. A garnish can take your soup to a higher level!
*Please, please, please do not use what they call “Parmesan cheese” that comes in the green can! Use the real thing; if you don’t use the real thing, you won’t have the Parmesan rind which adds a huge amount of flavor to your soup. It really does make a difference! Get more ideas on using Parmesan rinds to elevate your dishes to a whole other level here.
* If you do not have any kitchen twine, put it on your shopping list, and then you can tie your bouquet garni with a green onion top or chive {don’t tie too tight or they will break!}.
If you are a banana nut bread lover, you must try these muffins. They are dense, moist, banana-y, and just plain delicious. I have put my own spin on them to make them healthier and even tastier than the original recipe. The list of ingredients is perhaps a little longer than most muffin recipes, but they go together quickly, and are definitely worth your time.
As far as I’m concerned, any banana bread or muffin must contain walnuts & be eaten with butter; preferably the bread is cool enough so that the butter just sits on top so you can really taste it. There is something special about the flavor combination of sweet banana bread, crunchy walnuts & creamy butter. Another “must ingredient” for me in these muffins is cacao nibs. Cacao nibs are one of my favorite ingredients. As you can see from the package, they are a Mayan Superfood, with antioxidants, iron & magnesium! Don’t expect to snack on them from the package, because they have no sweetening, so aren’t like popping chocolate chips. I buy these from Amazon:
Cacao nibs are a nice addition to banana breads because they add a little punch of chocolate flavor in every bite. What’s not to like about that?
The original recipe calls for strong coffee & suggests water if you don’t have coffee. I highly recommend using coffee, even if you are not a coffee drinker, because it adds a layer of flavor that you can’t detect as coffee; it’s just good. I buy the Starbucks Via packages from Costco when they go on special.
Wet Ingredients:
2 ripe bananas
1 large egg
1/3 cup melted unsalted butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp. strong coffee {you can use water, but I highly recommend the coffee}
Milk, buttermilk or coconut milk-enough to make 2 cups TOTAL wet ingredients {if you use 3 bananas you may only need a few tablespoons; if you use one banana, you may need to add 2/3 cup or more}
Dry Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup flaked unsweetened coconut
1 tbsp. ground flax seed {preferably grind your own from whole flax seeds}
2 tbsp. hemp seeds
2 tbsp. raw cacao nibs
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg {I use whole nutmeg, freshly grated on a rasp. Definitely worth it!}
1 cup broken walnuts
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Be sure to put the muffins in a fully preheated oven.
In a small bowl, put all of your wet ingredients-make sure you mash the bananas thoroughly with a fork. Stir in the egg with the fork, and then add the remaining wet ingredients.
In a large bowl, thoroughly mix your dry ingredients. I always put the measured baking soda & baking powder in my hand & smash any lumps; it’s not pleasant to bite into a lump of baking soda in your muffin.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir gently {12-14 quick strokes}. Do not over mix-this will result in tough muffins. Who wants tough muffins? There may be a few streaks of flour but that is ok.
Spray your muffin tins with coconut oil spray {or Pam}, or grease them with butter. Lightly spoon in your batter {don’t pack it in}. You can fill the tins up to the top.
Put the muffin tin into the preheated oven & bake for 20 minutes {I always start checking at 18 minutes}. They are done when a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs.
Leave the muffins in the tins for 5-10 minutes, and then remove them to a wire rack. Enjoy with butter!
“There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast” Anonymous
This is so true! Jack has all kinds of tricks to wake us up when he thinks it is time for him to eat his breakfast. He’s just like Simon’s Cat.
It’s late, so this is going to be short. Breakfast is important because if you think about it, when you wake up, you probably haven’t had any food for 10 hours or so; it’s time to nourish your body. We had a simple, but tasty breakfast this morning. Rye toast topped with my husband Gerald’s eggs fried in a little coconut oil and pasture butter, broccolini with a bit of home made mayonnaise and a beautiful mango with freshly ground salt and pepper. And tea, of course!
This is what we had for breakfast this morning, and it was quite tasty. There are those who have to eat “breakfast food” for breakfast, but here at our house, we eat most anything that tastes good and is good for you. Sometimes we like to start the day with a salad, to get a jump start on the day’s vegetables. You may remember from my Saturday is Market Daypost that we stock up on lots of fruits and vegetables on Saturdays, and it can be a challenge to eat them all in a week.
The salad included red leaf lettuce, super thinly sliced onion, creamy avocado, cherry tomatoes, freshly made hard cooked eggs, dried plums, cilantro, freshly grated ginger, hemp seeds and lilikoi. I dressed it with freshly ground salt & pepper, champagne vinegar & extra virgin olive oil. The produce & eggs all came from local farms. We also enjoyed toast made from Whole Wheat Seeded Sourdough Bread from the Moana Bakery and Cafe located in Paia, topped with the herb butter I made the other day. Green tea washed it all down. Delectable!
About the lilikoi. . .I was always planning to make a lilikoi vinaigrette, but I once saw someone cut a lilikoi in half and squeeze the contents onto her cottage cheese. So I decided that squeezing the contents right on top of the salad and then putting dressing on was probably just as good, and it is. We eat it all, including the seeds. Of course, you can always strain them out if you don’t want the added crunch. Everytime I eat lilikoi, the taste and smell take me right back to the Radford High School {Oahu} locker room, where we had a vending machine with canned juices. After every P.E. class, I would always buy a Passion Orange drink to help me cool off. Taste and smell are powerful senses. Best to have lilikoi trigger that locker room memory than sweaty bodies!
Try a salad for breakfast-it’s a delicious & healthy way to start your day!
“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Luciano Pavarotti
“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Luciano Pavarotti
“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Luciano Pavarotti
“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Luciano Pavarotti
“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Luciano Pavarotti
“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Luciano Pavarotti
“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Luciano Pavarotti
“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Luciano Pavarotti
“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Luciano Pavarotti
Maui Girl Cooks 