Tag Archive: Avocado

1. Nori Rolls with Edamame Wasabi Spread

   April 9, 2013 12:09 pm 53 Comments

   

   “Everything is so alive, that I can be alive. Without moving I can see it all. In your life I see everything that lives.”

   ― Pablo Neruda 
   

   

   These puppies are adapted slightly from The Longevity Kitchen, the latest release from Rebecca Katz — one of the kindest, most authoritative voices in health and wellness I know. You’ve seen me cook from The Cancer Fighting Kitchen and One Bite at a Time over the years, and I’m just thrilled to share her third nourishing gift to the world. The Longevity Kitchen is packed with healthful, accesible recipes to help readers combat chronic disease and lead healthier, happier lives. It may not get the blogger pony-show like Vegetable Literacy (which is amazing, too), but it is of equal importance and measure in our conversations on cherishing the good things growing and how they heal us inside and out.

   Rebecca wrote “stand in your truth, Kelsey” in the front pages of the copy she sent me while I was away in Chile. It is a prayer that has permeated and punctuated my days lately as I begin to make significant changes in my life. With that… I’m giving away one copy of The Longevity Kitchen to a reader who can tell me how they plan to stand in their truth this week, this month, or this year.

   

   Nori Rolls with Edamame Wasabi Spread

   • 8 sheets toasted nori
   • 1 peeled daikon radish 
   • 1 cucumber
   • 1 cup sunflower sprouts
   • 1 small mango
   • 2 small avocados
   • 24 sprigs mint
   • handful cilantro
   • (optional) 6 oz smoked wild salmon OR tofu
   • ——–

   • 2 cups edamame
   • 2 + teaspoons wasabi powder
   • 2-4 limes
   • 8 sprigs of cilantro
   • 4 tbsp olive oil
   • dash of water
   • sea salt

   To start, prep all of your veggies and working ingredients. Julienne the cucumbers and radish. Thinly slice the avocados and mango. Peel apart salmon, or cut tofu into 1 inch by 2 cm strips if you’re making these vegan. Create an assembly line of the proteins, veggies, and herbs then begin to prep the edamame wasabi spread.

   In the bowl of a food processer blitz together the edamame, wasabi powder (adjust measurements to match your affinity), lime juice, olive oil, water, and sea salt. Mixture should be just barely chunky, but not a total paste.

   Place nori sheet on a clean work surface. Spread 1/4 cup of the edamame spread onto the sheet leaving a bit of uncovered nori for grip while wrapping. At the bottom edge of the spread facing you, begin to build your roll, filling it with strips of cucumber, radish, mango, salmon or tofu, avocado, and topping with bits of sprouts, mint, and fresh cilantro. Wrap with your hands from the bottom around the filling until completely sealed. If you use an excessive amount of spread, like me, you won’t need to seal the edge shut with water and your finger. Cut each roll into 8 pieces with a super sharp knife. Repeat.

   

2. Cherries + Fennel + Lentils

   July 9, 2012 7:30 pm 43 Comments

   

   Summer storms are a new indulgence for me. Cozied in a reading chair by our front window I tend to my journal and a cup of cold tea. Torrents of rain bear down on the front walk and I visualize a release of stagnant memories, ideas, and beliefs being carried down the road with the leaves to the storm drain. Shaun is in the Domincan Republic, filming, and I sit alone, silent at my perch, letting the explosive energy of the passing thunder reverberate in my bones.

   Thoughts pass, yet nothing lingers. I experience an excess of calm amidst the raging weather and am reminded, again, of my smallness. I am a speck of matter and energy in this massive, bursting earthplane of people, places and dreams.

   During my months living at sea, I used to spend hours gazing upon the open ocean, begging the waves to teach me their humility and sense of time. Years later, in this chair and the throes of a summer storm, no begging is needed. I am both humbled and grateful for the gift of an unrushed hour to my afternoon. Tears form, then a smile. For the first time in a long time, I actually believe it will all be okay. 

   Tomorrow my morning walk will smell of fresh ideas, resolve, and renewed opportunity, the rain will have cleansed the world of todays mistakes and made space for all that can, and will, come next. Exhale.

   // july 6

   

   Cherry, Lentil, Fennel Salad 

   • 1/2 lb red cherries, pitted and halved
   • 1 small bulbs fennel, shaved
   • 4-5 small red beets, chopped
   • 1/2 cup de puy lentils
   • 2 giant handfuls of baby greens (kale, chard, etc.)
   • 1 ripe avocado
   • 1 tbsp fresh basil, julienned
   • 1 tbsp fresh mint, julienned
   • 1/4 cup shallot, minced
   • 1/4 cup olive oil
   • juice of 1 lemon
   • 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted
   • salt/pepper on hand

   I’m going to make these instructions short and sweet, a salad is as salad does folks. Boil lentils for 20 minutes. Remove. Rinse. Cool. Set aside. Steam sliced beets for 10 minutes. Rinse. Cool. Set aside. Finely slice fennel and place in a small bowl. Douse with salt and massage with hands. Let sit for 10 minutes, rinse, drain. Pit cherries. Set aside. Toast pumpkin seed under the broiler for 2-5 minutes until lightly browned. Set aside.

   In a large bowl combine basil, mint, shallot, olive oil, and lemon juice. Stir. Pile in cherries, softened fennel, steamed beets, and lentils. Stir to coat. Cut in Avocado. Toss with greens (probably should use your hands to get everything good and mixed/coated). Top with seeds, salt, pepper.

    ** Sharley and Caroline, this one’s for you ladies. Thank you for sharing your kindness and light with me last week.

   

3. To Be Free

   June 20, 2012 11:43 am 45 Comments

   We’re here now. With roof, and kitchen. Community. Plans for a garden. It is a wonder to me now that we resisted the temptation to carry on as gypsies forever. The further we let ourselves drift away from the clutter and noise of reality, the more absurd the conventions of our lives always seem to appear. The open road and an empty agenda make few demands of a person – curiousity, patience, willingness, a sense of humor, maybe a toothbrush. Tall grasses, mountains, and the wind gently whisper permission to step out from the rigid set of ideas, requirements, expectations we’ve set for ourselves and make space for new truths and new understandings of what our purpose is on this planet.

   It’s easy to romanticize the freedom of it all – no sense of time, place, before, or after. And it’s important. To leave, to get away, to lose oneself to it all. But I think it’s also important to come back. There is an even more profound freedom to be experienced when we recognize that we have the power to create that same sense of adventure, inhibition, and joy in our daily lives. That is my intention. To let myself be free everyday. Wherever I am, wherever I go, wherever I don’t.

   Thank you for your love, kindness, and support over the past month as we’ve meandered to our new resting place here in Colorado. Cheers to the next chapter.

   * Open fire scramble technique borrowed from “Cooking in the Moment” by Andrea Reusing.

   * *  Video shot in our favorite parts of Alaska. For more behind the scenes action on our Alaska visit, see here. 

4. Spring-y Spring Rolls with Carrot Ginger Miso Sauce

   April 9, 2012 10:26 pm 49 Comments

   

   When I start a copywriting assignment with a new client, the most important question I ask to get to know them is “where are you, what are you doing, and who are you with when you most feel like yourself?” They often smile, get a little quiet, and start to tell a story. Somewhere they visited, Saturday rituals at home… little details that reveal their personality and perspective. It’s more anthropological experimentation than it is helpful writing tool. Often, how they answer this question is entirely different than the manner in which they answer all the others. They haven’t prepared for this sort of prompt, so they have a chance to share in their sincerest form. How interesting is it that?

   

   Using the exercise on myself, I become overwhelmed with a deep and exhilarating sense of peace and understanding as I am instantly transported to a time and space where things were just as they should be. When I find myself drifting off course or am sorting through serious life decisions, I try to practice this mediation. It has a funny way of bringing my head and heart back into alignment when the wires get crossed or cut. I’ve recently come to think of it as my “happiness compass.”  Ultimately, when we are able to live out the truest, most authentic versions of ourselves, we can be the most happy.

   I think so often we get caught up in creating an idea of happiness that we look too far outward, forward to things and elaborate ideas that will slingshot us out of a current state of fatigue, frustration, fear, etc. While I totally think happiness is something you can and should work to manifest, in times of uncertainty, it is best guided by the reminders living inside us all. Memories can’t provide direct answers for our troubles, but the process of remembering may lull the voices, our own and otherwise, that may be pulling/pushing us into a direction that leaves us feeling unsettled. It creates space for us to truly consider all that we know to be true, trust all that is yet to be taught, and go forward with a sense of empowerment to just be. It brings everything back to center. There may be chaos, there may be distraction, there may be consternation… but in our own answer, there can be stillness. And that is enough.  

   

   So I ask you this question, today…

   Where are you, what are you doing, and who are you with when you most feel like yourself?” 

   Close your eyes. Listen. Let those places, people, spaces wash over you and fill you with love and light.

   

   Feel free to shred, julienne, or dice anything your heart desires for these guys — spring rolls are incredibly versatile. I’ve mixed soft greens, crisp cabbage, and creamy avocado to diversify the texture. Add or subtract herbs as desired. Play with the sauce to your liking too, I spotted it in the magazine and knew it had potential.

   And… get this: Happyolks has a free app for iPhone. Um, What!? Speaking of things that remind us who we really are, my incredible/handsome/kind little brother spent the semester in one of his engineering courses developing it for us. Hugs to Austin for his hard work. Download it from the App Store and check for updates and new features as the year progresses.

   Spring-y Spring Rolls 

   • 1 dozen medium rice paper sheets
   • 1 head napa cabbage, shredded
   • 3 cups escarole (or soft lettuce), shredded
   • 2 cups micro basil
   • 2 cups whole mint leaves
   • 3 avocados, segmented

   Carrot Ginger Miso Sauce - adapted from Bon Appetit

   • 2 tbsp miso paste
   • 1/4 cup minced spring onion
   • 6 tbsp olive oil
   • 2-3 tbsp finely grated carrot
   • 2-3 tbsp finely grated ginger
   • 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
   • t tsp rice wine vinegar
   • 2 tbsp honey (brown rice syrup for vegans)
   • juice of one lemon
   • sprinkle of salt

   Submerge a single spring roll wrapper in a bowl of hot water until completely pliable, about 15 seconds. Remove, and gently set on a flat surface. Layer with cabbage, escarole, avocado, and herbs. Construct a roll like a burrito; start with the bottom and cover the horizontal line of veggies. Fold in both sides and press to seal. Roll up tightly to the top and seal the edge. Set aside. Repeat.

   For the sauce “Place all ingredients plus 1/4 cup water in a resealable container. Cover and shake vigorously until well combined.”

   

5. Fava Bean Crostini

   May 11, 2011 4:54 pm 16 Comments

   

   My head is full, my heart is ready. A few more days and it all shall pass, as they say. The last few days of the semester are the hardest, but most important, times to practice balance and moderation. In Sanskrit, moderation is matannuta, knowing the right amount: where well-being and contentment come together. I’m thankful for this Buddhism exam. It throws me beautiful and thought provoking buoys while navigating the sticky stuff.

   Cooking provides the time and space to step away from what crowds our day planners, our thoughts, and helps us to practice “the right amount.” Too much vinegar will overpower your salad, not enough yeast will leave your loaves lifeless.

   I love this fava bean crostini, for it is just the right amount.

   

   Creamy Fava Bean Crostini (adapted from Kay Chun, Gourmet)

   • 1 cup shelled fresh fava beans (1 1/4 pounds in pods)
   • 1 1/2 cups packed baby arugula (or spinach if bitter greens aren’t your party)
   • 2 medium sized ripe avocados
   • 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
   • 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
   • 1 garlic clove, finely minced
   • 8-10 mint leaves, finely minced
   • 1/2 tsp salt
   • 1/2 tsp pepper
   • sliced multi-grain baguette
   • 1/4 cup olive oil
   • (optional) wild caught Alaskan salmon

   Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.

   Remove fava beans from their pods, and cook in a pot of boiling water for 3 to 4 minutes, then drain and transfer to an ice bath to stop cooking. Gently peel off skins, and set aside.

   In a food processor, pulse avocados and arugulua until very coarsely chopped. Add fava beans, lemon zest, lemon zest, salt, pepper, and minced fresh mint. Pulse for 1-2 minutes.

   Cut bread into thin slices,and lay flat on a cookie sheet and smear with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Bake until golden crisp, 8-10 minutes.

   Spoon fava-bean mixture onto toasts with a few sprigs of arugula, then drizzle with oil. Lemon broiled salmon makes a perfect topper… just saying (smiles).