As a family of four living on one income, part of my role as our Domestic Engineer is to be frugal and cut corners whenever I can.
Given that we love to read, I get the majority of the books we devour from the library. It saves us money, clutter – and saves me time too. One less book on the shelf is one less thing I have to dust.
Who am I kidding. I never dust. And I pay enough late fees to the library they could open a new branch in my name.
It felt like I was on a mission trying to collect all the ingredients to make The Brendan Brazier Salad.
Good thing a salad mission is exactly my kind of mission.
I already had a bunch of the usual salad suspects on hand:
Spinach, kale, a variety of greens (including arugula!) cucumber, avocado, beets, hemp seeds.
Whoops, I almost forgot the carrots!
Boy Carrots, you sure are bossy. And kind of rude.
These were the guys I had to hunt down.
Dulse, Vega Antioxidant EPA oil blend and lentil sprouts.
Last year we devoted an entire bed in our garden to growing spinach, moving in other vegetable plants when all the spinach we’d planted had been harvested. I absolutely loved growing my own spinach, and I especially loved the ease at which I could bolt out the back door, snag a couple of leaves from the ground and shove it into a wrap, salad or sandwich and then straight into my mouth. Local and organic? These are a few of my favorite things.
I think it was mid-December when I started looking for an alternative to my typical oatmeal/grain-based breakfast. Not because I stopped digging oats mind you, but because somewhere toward the end of last year I came to understand that sugar is just no good and I wanted to start eating less of it.
Now before you get annoyed with me and that blasphemous statement, I’m not saying that I’ve stopped eating sugar or bread completely or don’t enjoy sweets. I’m just not eating sugar (or as the case may be, foods that your body eventually converts to sugar – i.e., grains like rice, pasta, bread) on a daily basis like I have for oh, I don’t know – 31 years?
(Adapted from Feb 2009 Vegetarian Times) Serves 4.
1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 Tbsp ground cumin
1 clove minced garlic
5 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 15oz can diced tomatoes, drained, liquid reserved
7 oz canned black beans, rinsed and drained
1/3 + cup quinoa, rinsed
2 medium carrots, grate
1 c vegetable broth
3/4 c pepper jack cheese, grated, divided
2 large red bell peppers, halved lengthwise, ribs and seeds removed
More Mama’s Weeds
