Generation Why

This recipe came from The Hip Chick's Guide to Macrobiotics by Jessica Porter. It's really interesting. I didn't know you could steam bread instead of baking it! I used my plug-in steamer to do it---that saved me from having to check the water level in my pot every 15 minutes. Anywho....

Ingredients:

2 level tablespoons miso (I used red miso, which is dark and made only of soybeans)
3 cups of cooked quinoa (you could also use rice, buckwheat, any wholegrain you have around)
3 cups of wholegrain flour (I used a mixture of brown rice and spelt flours)

oil for brushing on the loaves
raisins, seeds, onions, grated carrots, or other ingredients to add variety (optional)

Add miso to your cooked grain, mixing them together well. Put aside for two to three days in a warmish place (I waited two days). Massage it once a day to get the fermentation to occur. This will become a little smelly and wet. It is your sourdough "starter". If you use quinoa, your starter will probably have a lot of moisture, and you won't need to add water along with the dough. The night before you plan to cook the bread, add the flour a little at a time until you have a dense dough. If you're starting with a relatively dry grain, add water at the same time you're adding flour. Knead for a few minutes, then divide into two small loaves. Spread lightly with oil (safflower works). Cover with cheesecloth and then a warm, damp towel. Let sit overnight. In the morning, place the dough (wrapped in cheesecloth) in a steamer basket above boiling water, or in an electric steamer. Steam the bread for about an hour if you're using a steamer basket; I set the timer on my steamer for an hour and ten minutes. Let cool and serve. Store in a plastic bag to prevent dryout.

*Note: If you're working with gluten-free flour, you won't get normal springy bread dough, you'll get something that kinda breaks apart a lot. Don't worry about it.

Fresh steamed sourdough bread is dense and hearty, and very tasty with butter and honey. It's also quite good with hummus, sprouts and red onion as an openfaced sandwich. Despite having made it with quinoa and miso, my bread had a nice mild flavor.

Good luck and enjoy!

from Moosewood, again.
this time: Gingered Carrot Soup.

I kept this recipe exactly the same as the book, except I minced the ginger and I added one extra tablespoon of it. it was spicy, delicious and soothing; and quite a bit tastier the second and third day.

I'm eating this omelette thing for breakfast that I made last night, and it's so good that I need to share. I made a pretty big batch so I'd have breakfast for a few days.

Mushroom-pepper-cheese Pan Quiche (Vegetarian)

5 large eggs
2 oz. Cabot 50% Light Cheddar cheese (1/4 package)
Trader Joe's frozen grilled red and yellow peppers to taste
one pint container of fresh white mushrooms
about a half teaspoon of each: rosemary, thyme, parsely, garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

1. Slice the mushrooms and saute them in cooking spray. As they're cooking, add the herbs. Dice some frozen peppers and add these to the saute pan. Cook off whatever liquid is in with the veggies.

2. Beat the eggs. Grate the cheese and add it to the beaten eggs. Add the veggie saute to the eggs, mix well.

3. Cook on medium-low heat in a sprayed skillet until it's firm enough to be picked up around the edges with a spatula. Carefully slide the omelette onto a clean plate and flip it over/ Let it cook on low heat for a couple of minutes. Cut the omelette into slices and store in the fridge.

Weight Watchers:
The whole recipe has 13 points. If you slice it into four pieces, you can pretty much count each slice as 3 points.

Not to toot my own horn, but damn, this is the best breakfast I've had at work in a loooong tiiiime. :-D

(xposted to wwgeeks)

Mmm, memory foam. Very conducive to sleep. The only problem is that I keep fantasizing about going back to bed.
I need to start doing something organized about breakfast, as my tummy is rumbling, making it harder to concentrate.
I faced the intimidation factor with the woman who operates the cytometer most, and asked her when she could train me on basic operations. I did feel like a nervous twit while asking, but I sucked it up, and now I'm getting something done because I didn't continue to avoid that task. Woot.

I hope the weather continues to allow me to sleep with just fans and no AC; this is really nice.