So, this is all related, but it's a bit random

[conuly]

1. Today I headed into the city to purchase sheep yogurt, goat butter, and quinoa. This required going to two different Whole Foods - one for the bulk quinoa, and one for the sheep yogurt. (I also picked up a purple cauliflower at an exorbitant price. I swear, next year we're growing our own. I'm always looking for ways to eat more purple foods, but $5 for a small head is ridiculous! Well, I'll find a way to make it into two meals, maybe by going halvsies with a white one.)'

2. I've never cooked quinoa before, and I'm not about to start making whole sides with just quinoa as a grain (pseudo-grain actually) because even from the bulk, unwashed bin it's pricey. However, I plan to mix it in with the grain I'm cooking to make my meals slightly more nutritious and to ensure the nieces get some protein even if they eat nothing but rice. (Or, rice and quinoa mixed, rather.)

Washing quinoa is a pain in the neck without a mesh strainer. Maybe just a muslin bag? I must have some of those around, and I'm not cooking enough by itself to need a large one, maybe a quarter cup at a time.

3. So I did mix some in with my oats for tomorrow after determining online that they cook for about the same amount of time. It'd be cheaper and easier to get some protein in the oatmeal by adding an egg, but after Ana threw up that one time and spent the next month demanding to know if I'd hidden any egg in the oatmeal (no, Ana, not after you threw up...) I haven't even *considered* such an idea. Dear god no.

Canned pumpkin (organic!) was on an awesome sale, 99¢ per can. So tomorrow they're having pumpkin pie oatmeal, and then on Wednesday I'll make pumpkin-cardamon roti. (It's supposed to be sweet potato, but pumpkin works as well and I don't have to cook it first if I get it from the can, so yeah.)

I actually make *awesome* oatmeal, the nieces say. This recipe consists of:

1/2 c uncooked grain product (mix of steel cut oats and WASHED quinoa)
1.5 c water
.5 c evaporated goat milk (okay, that's protein too, but it's not really ideal, it tastes like goat milk)
Bit of goat butter
1/4 c raisins
1/2 c pumpkin puree and a little more
1 small diced apple (I would have preferred to use applesauce in this, which I made up today)
Quite a bit of grated nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves
2 tablespoons flax seed, ground
Ginger
A handful of raw sugar

Soaked overnight and cooked in the morning. Online people will advise more liquid for your steel-cut oats, but as near as I can tell that's because they assume you're only cooking it with dried fruits or plain. I use fresh fruits more often, and they add their own liquid to the mix.

This should be enough for two small children and one Bonne-maman.

4. On the subject of quinoa, I think I have a relation of it growing wild in my backyard! I didn't know anything like it grew this far north natively!

5. On the subject of things growing in my backyard, this summer I just randomly tossed some spare purslane about under the crape myrtle and it took, it really took! So we should have some next year to eat. I love purslane :) (Try it in tabouleh!)

Comments

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

Tell me more about how you use purslane and what it tastes like. We've never had any, not even Andy that he knows of.

[conuly]

You can cook it more or less like spinach, but I use it raw like a salad green. The leaves taste like you'd expect, but the stems are crispy and crunchy and salty and sour. They're really indispensable any place you're using salad stuff.

[gingembre.livejournal.com]

Well, I think it was the thickening aspect of the canned pumpkin, but I am pretty sure the batch you prepped that I cooked this morning would not have scorched if it'd had a bit more liquid.

[conuly]

Duly noted... but I assume the cook has the brains to work this out herself :P

[gingembre.livejournal.com]

Generally, yes. This cook was a bit crazed that morning, unfortunately! :-/

[jedirita.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I never thought about mixing quinoa with rice. That's a good idea!