Roasted broccoli

Today is day one of a return to healthful eating (Dragon's Way), and yes, to being gluten-free and casein-free.  I didn't just fall off the wagon...I fell off, then decided to join a crazy happy dance caravan.  When I came to, it was a long and arduous trek back.

But, I'm here now.

I was recently drawn to Elana's Roasted Broccoli post at Elana's Pantry.  I'd starred it in my Google Reader, tucked it away.

This afternoon, I needed a snack.  Withdrawal from meat and dairy, eggs and sugar, and junk food has hit fast.  I sliced a couple of the giant Mutsu apples that came in our CSA fruit share last week and enjoyed them with the kids. 

I needed something more.  I imagine what I need is protein.  Preferably animal protein.  But a quick glance down at my ample belly tells me otherwise.  There's just no way my body needs meat, dairy or eggs right now.


There's broccoli in the fridge so I distracted myself with trying out a new recipe.  Roasted broccoli.

Honestly?  I was a bit underwhelmed.  My first piece was bitter.  (The emotion associated with the heart system in TCM.)  I took these out at 13 minutes.  They are cooked, I was careful to cut them in small pieces.  But, they are just shy of crunchy.  Next time I'm going to push for 15 minutes and watch for the softness/browning ratio.

To be clear, I think the recipe is sound (the recipe can be found in the link above).  Future tweaking will be based on my own preferences and ensuring the quality of the broccoli I start out with (this head was from the supermarket, not John's farm.)

I'm going to pack these up for adding to stir-fries and scrambles later.  They'd be great on pizza.

Veggie scramble

Our pastured eggs come every two weeks and this latest batch is gorgeous. Red Sox Daddy made corn bread last night and the color of the bread was completely different, deeper and brighter, due to the yolks of these amazing eggs.

This morning, I couldn't resist the siren song of the eggs.

I decided to make a veggie scramble because something from the Dragon's Way book has been reverberating. Something that never has before (the benefit of doing anything more than once is you really can and do pick up and learn something new/different every time).

The healing foods are healing no matter what. So, if you choose to go off-list, try to do so in addition to eating healing foods, not instead of.

This morning's scramble:

3 scallions (white and some green parts, chopped)
1/2 zucchini (chopped pretty finely...they cook faster this way)
1 plum tomato (chopped pretty finely...see above)
safflower oil
1 lovely pastured egg
salt
pepper
sugar

Heat oil in small pan. Sauté the scallions, then add the zuke, then add the tomato. Once it looks wonderfully melded and smells really good, crack the egg in. Stir and stir to scramble the egg. Season to your liking, with seasonings of your choice. I almost didn't use sugar figuring the tomatoes were sweet, but am so glad I did. It pulled the flavors together gently and nicely.

I had my scramble on toast with mayo.

Zucchini-walnut stir fry

A curtain is drawn back.

This morning I almost had an egg for breakfast.

(Eggs, particularly egg yolk, are off-list for the Dragon's Way.)

The morning was off to an unusually good start. I practiced the full Qigong set including 10 minutes of #10 (I did 15 minutes for the first time ever in class on Monday!)

I slept well last night (the self-massages really did something good). I made a list of things to do today. I glanced through my other list (a list of things that I want to get done generally...not complete by any means, but a list too long to put in my daily planner). I was happy to check some things off this list.

I entered the kitchen and unloaded the dish washer, washed up what was in the sink and swept the floor. Made a mental note about what I'd make for the kids and/or Cap for lunch and dinner. Pulled out the Gluten-Free Pantry French bread mix to possibly bake in the machine today.

And thought about breakfast for myself. An egg called to me, but there was something off in the resonance of the call. With eggs, sometimes I want the animal protein, sometimes I want the ease/convenience, sometimes I want the absolute comfort of two pastured poached eggs on toast with mayo.

I realized this morning, with startling clarity that none of the above applied.

Without a doubt, it helped that I had an organized fridge that was stocked with Dragon's Way ingredients. (I spent time on Saturday and Monday carefully meal planning/food shopping and clearing out the fridge of old food. I've also slowly been organizing the fridge designating spaces and shelves to specific types of items. Truly, we arrive at moments having taken, or not taken, certain steps along the way.)

Stir frying zucchini with walnuts has been percolating in my mind since I plucked the zucchini from the bin at Whole Foods on Monday. I thought I'd make that for lunch. I thought I 'should' toast some nuts and have some fruit. But, I wanted something more. I decided to make the stir fry for breakfast.

As I chopped and sauteed, a gorgeous dish took form in the pan, the aroma burgeoning in complexity and total comfort. The walnuts were toasted first. I poured the olive oil right onto the walnuts. Once the oil was heated I tossed in the scallions. Then I pressed the garlic right into the mix. While those ingredients got friendly, I chopped the zucchini, added them to the pan, and then did the same with the plum tomato. (This stir fry is completely Dragon's Way friendly.)

As the stir fry cooked I shook on some salt, pepper and sugar. (A bit of sugar really goes a long way to soften and expand the flavor of my food.)

I toasted a piece of homemade GFCF sandwich bread, spread on some mayo and served myself up some zucchini walnut stir fry on top.

I realized that what I wanted this morning, what I was craving, was a rich breakfast. Walnuts-and-olive-oil rich. It was so good and so satisfying.

Dragon's food

I am taking it slow, doing what speaks to me, meal by meal.


Breakfast yesterday: kiwis and toasted walnuts with honey.


Lunch yesterday: steamed cauliflower, scallion, baby bella mushrooms, water chestnuts, coconut aminos, sugar, salt, pepper, all sauteed in safflower oil.


Snack on-the-go.

Snack at home.

For dinner I had what Red Sox Daddy made: carrot pancake and sweet potato pirakka (both Finnish recipes).

Oh, and I inhaled half a bar of this dark chocolate. It was, essential.

Yum to the day, all around.