The Big Cover-Up

The time change is still playing tricks on me. Normally I'm a morning person. Lately I'm not sure what I am. Business is slow, so I can push my morning starting bell a little later. Which often results in me being the cartoon you see of the women in her home office in her robe and bunny slippers. Not Good. Not Right.

Evening finds me outside until I can't see. Then I'm all charged with oxygen and want to stay up late. There is no rhyme or reason. Tuesday I was up a 5. It was still dark. Tonight, I type this at 10pm. Not sleepy.

Meals are not regular either. On Monday I had one of my brighter moments and cooked up a big pot of buckwheat grouts so breakfast would be easy all week. And so evolved "The Big Cover-Up".

Buckwheat is a complete protein. That's comforting isn't it? But the flavor is tipped a little to the left. Lopsided. Nutty? Not really. Sweet? A little itty-bitty. Odd? That's the word. I'm not thrilled with buckwheat neat. So, every morning I put a cup of cooked buckwheat into the bowl and take it to the pantry to see what else it can be.

This morning it was a few golden raisins, then a dozen raw almonds, about 1/2 cup of unsweetened coconut, a shake of cinnamon, a drizzle of real maple syrup, and about a 1/2 cup of rice milk. Into the microwave for a couple of minutes. Out it came. I could still see a bit of buckwheat, so I sliced up some strawberries. The cover-up was complete and delicious.

Barter Power

The Techie doesn't cook. The Cook doesn't tech. So the Techie teched while the Cook cooked and now all is well with Dell.

The story goes that the Elder's parents paid for his birth with a bushel of potatoes. I know that part of the payment for my eldest was a pencil drawing. You can barter with goods and services or with the cotton fiber dollar.

In the Techie's kitchen I fixed a little veggie stir fry with Buckwheat Soba noodles. It was a first. I'd never fixed Soba noodles. What an attractive package.

The package said serves 4 and at $6.13 for the 8 ounces, I was careful to fix only enough for the two of us. I expected the noodles to double in size. They didn't. They just softened up. There they sat, a little handful of noodles in the bottom of the bowl. YIKES. I poured a little sesame oil over them, added the stir fry vegetables and thanked my lucky stars I had brought a salad.

I'm pretty sure I can live the rest of my life without Buckwheat noodles. What did they offer? 6gm of protein. That. But really. I wanted more. More bulk, more flavor, more drama. Don't bother with them. Why not cook up a pot of buckwheat groats and serve them on the side with a little herb pesto?

Vegan Wednesday Week One

VW-W1 Buckwheat
Vegan Wednesday, Week 1 - Buckwheat“Otay”, Buckwheat is that cute little girl from the Spankie and Our Gang show. So we’ll think of her while we fix breakfast. (Editors note: It has been brought to my attention that Buckwheat was a boy. So I went to wikipedia to verify this. In fact, the character of Buckwheat was a girl and early on she was played by a girl but later by Billie Thomas, a boy. )

Buckwheat is a complete protein containing a high concentration of all essential amino acids, especially lysine, threonine, tryptophan, and the sulphur-containing amino acids. It has a bit of a nutty taste and is an easy breakfast meal. Good hot or cold. So you can make it ahead. The first meal of the first week of the One Year Vegan Wednesday commitment.

Hot or Cold Buckwheat Cereal (2 servings)

Bring 1 cup of water to a boil.

Add ¼ cup buckwheat grouts

¼ cup raisins

¼ cup walnuts

A pinch of salt

A shake of cinnamon

Turn the heat down and simmer until buckwheat is soft, about 10 minutes. That’s it. If you are dairy and soy free, pour a little rice milk on top. If you have no restrictions a bit of cream is nice.

(But not vegan.)

Today's menu: for lunch, navy bean soup, sliced watermelon, and for dinner, a cold black bean and brown rice salad with avocado, sliced tomato and a vinaigrette dressing.