Today Dar and I went for a long walk through the Brighton, Brookline, Allston area and found the day to be filled with beauty. There is a slight flavor of Autumn in the air even though we've just begun August; the air was crisp, sweet, and dark, and yet the sun bled through the clouds with such brightness, we were compelled to recognize these last moment of summer.
Something about this time of year in Boston brings my mind back to moments in childhood. Perhaps it's the anticipation of returning to school that I remember as the students begin their return to the city (the T is filled with families and their bags and bags and bags of stuff.) I often wish the North Shore recieved a sooner and longer Autumn, but again, I must appreciate Summer and her seasonal vegetables.
For the past 2 weeks, and for the next 4, Dar is teaching a summer course at one of the local community colleges. While this is a great opportunity, it's difficult to plan meals together since our schedules remain opposite. When this course began we came up with a great way that we could still prepare delicious vegan meals for each other, even though we were not eating them together. Each night when I get home from work I make a double portion of a meal for my dinner, which will produce leftovers to be his lunch the following day. And the oppisites (my lunch and his dinner), are simple sandwiches.
On Mondays we go for a long morning to early afternoon walk. During this time we find some lunch somewhere (usually Dorados or Root-- we can speak more to these in a later post), and then head to my beloved Trader Joes. $50 later, we return home with dinner ingredients for the week. Our list usually looks something like this:
Grains:
- Barley, brown rice, farro, bulgur, quinoa, or whole wheat couscous. You can buy these in larger portions, cheaply, so this is not typically a weekly expense. I'd estimate we buy barley weekly, only because I use this most often. (Hence, the title of this post.)
Beans (& other legumes):
- Black, kidney, garbanzo, pinto, edamame, or lentils. Beans and whole grains are both such an extrodinary source of protein that I sometimes like to switch things up and replace a bean with tofu or tempeh, instead of simply adding them to an already protein-heavy meal. So if beans are not in our basket, a package of tempeh is!
Vegetables:
- A sack of onions, 2 boxes of mushrooms, a bushel of kale (we eat more than 1 bushel a week, but we buy this ingredient as we need it instead of letting it wilt in the fridge), a head of cabbage, broccoli, garlic, tomatoes, zucchini, summer squash, fennel root, and sage leaves. I like to use rosemary and fresh basil a lot, but we grow those at the apartment.
Some extras that we commonly use:
- Olive oil, Earth Balance vegan butter, vegetarian bouillon cubes, Braggs amino acid, nutritional yeast, and other spices (one should always use the spices of their fancy).
My summer recipes are very simple. I like to start with a sort of broth or stew to create a basic flavor for the dish. This technique was learned through our interest in Indian cooking. Spice the oil as opposed to spicing the food.
Pictured is a conbination of vegetable broth (1/2 veg. bouillon cube dissolved in about 1/2 cup boiling water), 1 teaspoon of Earth Balance, 1/8 cup Braggs amino acid, chopped fresh sage leaves, 1/8 cups nutritional yeast, and a pinch of pink Himalayan rock salt.
Immediately add chopped onion and wait for it to give up the ghost. Then add mushrooms, and once everything is beginning to brown, you should be left with an intoxicating and earthly aroma, and an open door for creativity. Add you favorite green veggies and something with substance. For this particular recipe I added broccoli, chopped fresh kale, and barley (1 cup cooked per serving).
In this picture, the barley hadn't been added yet. But you can see it on the back burner!
To conclude: choose a broth or oil to flavor, veggies to cook in said broth or oil, a grain and bean, or grain and other protein. It's quick, simple, delicious, affordable, and healthy!
Enjoy the rest of summer everyone! (...she says, drinking Pumpkin Herbal Blend iced tea made with clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, rooibos and natural pumpkin flavor.) Soon to come are our Autumn recipes, and they take no prisoners other than your affection and adoration and soul, as most Autumn-inspired things do.
Take care and stay compassionate--
Laura
