A Taste of Primavera

The español word of el día: primavera.

Primavera means spring.

Spring means fabuloso weather, fresh produce and a general influx in reasons to love life.

So when Wednesday decided to play dress-up as primavera, I awoke in a state of general gleefulness—and with a surge of extra endorphins.

I sprung (pun definitely intended) out of bed and immediately channeled those enthusiastic endorphins toward creating a delicious spring-welcoming breakfast.

Being the indecisive chica that I am, breakfast brainstorming took some time.

And so, I partook in a little pregame of iced coffee and cinnamon sugar Truvia manzana.

Apparently my brain just needed a little fuel/caffeine/deliciousness because mid-manzana, inspiration struck.

Last week, when I reached out for cottage cheese consultation, my dear amiga Little J insisted that I’d fall in love with her favorito cottage cheese concoction, which involves fresh fruta, Kashi and almond butter. My taste buds operate on a similar wavelength as hers do—so I was eager to heed her advice.

Unfortunately (except not really), I’ve been a bit of a cottage cheese junkie since discovering its glory. This means I’ve been plowing through almost an entire container in un día. This also means that every morning when I’ve woken up intent on trying the Jess Favorito, I’ve not had enough cottage cheese left to make it work.

Oh, the woes of a crack cottage cheese addict…

But back to that miercoles morning moment of inspiration. I realized that, for the first time in a long time since I started eating cottage cheese last week, I had enough cottage queso left to make the Jess Special.

La mezcla: 1 cup cottage cheese, 1/2 cup Kashi Go Lean, 1/2 cup Kashi puffs, 1 cup sliced strawberries and an almond butter spoon.

 

Simple? Sí. Spring-welcoming? Sí. Mind-blowingly delicious? Sííííííííííííí.

I’m still in awe of the fact that I’ve missed out on years of this creamy wonder.

Mostly because this means I’ve missed out on years of this messy bowl of loco goodness.

 

Yo quiero más. Ahora.

Lunch continued down the path of primavera-welcoming, fresh foodism.

Oh, and cottage cheesedom.

On a toasted whole wheat English muffin: 1/2 cup cottage cheese mixed with 2 scoops roasted red pepper hummus and sriracha. Topped with half an avocado and seasoned salt.

I overestimated how much ‘cado an English muffin could host—so some slices served decorative purposes. By that, I mean I ate ‘em straight up.

 

On the side: giant plum, baby peppers and grapes.

(Yes, some of the cottage cheese mixture made its way onto a grape. No, I didn’t hate it.)

Con Sabra for baby pepper/finger dippage.

Later, I met a fellow writer amigo for a Starbucks productivity session because we both had fallen a bit behind on our freelance writing workload.

Of course, I packed provisions—courtesy of some samples I was sent this week.

 

I had one of each Granola Gourmet energy bar so that I can post a full review for you in the near feature.

Note to self: Eating two “energy bars for athletes” at once will induce ridiculous fullness.

Note to self #2: Your crazy estómago will always find a way to defy all properties of fullness and demand the biggest dinners ever.

So, you know how I’ve been on a double dinner kick?

Yesterday I embarked on a triple dinner endeavor.

Endeavor was a poor word choice. Clearly I succeeded at dominating that dinner.

Let’s start in the center because the eggplant dish was the star of cena.

En serio, this may have been the best eggplant dish I’ve ever created.

Oh, you want a receta? Fine.

Sesame Seed Japanese Eggplant

Serves one as entree.

Ingredients:

• 2 Japanese eggplants
• sesame oil
• 2 tbsp. sesame seeds
• 2 tbsp. soy sauce
• 1/2 packet stevia

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 400°.
• Cut the eggplants lengthwise.
• Score around the edge of the skin and then cross-score.

• Brush with sesame oil.
• Mix 2 tbsp. soy sauce with 1/2 a packet of stevia.
• Then pour 1/2 tbsp. of soy sauce/stevia mixture onto each eggplant half, making sure it sinks into the cuts.

• Place on baking dish and sprinkle 1/2 tbsp. of sesame seeds on each eggplant half.

• Bake for 40-45 minutes, until eggplant is soft and the skins begin to peel away from the flesh.

The result?

Fantastically tender, sweet, salty, sesame-seedy eggplant.

 

I’m very partial to smothering my baked eggplant with hummus—but this dish really gave that combo a run for its money. I’m pretty sure the crux of the deliciousness lies in the stevia and soy sauce mixture.

I was so enamored by this concoction that parte dos y parte tres of my dinner also featured it.

Asian Ensalada

In the mix: endless romaine, grilled zucchini, baked portobello mushroom cap, grilled onion, clementine, soy sauce/stevia-marinated shrimp and a fortune cookie! Dressed in Newman’s Own’s Sesame Ginger dressing.

An outer ring of clementine, portobello and green cheetah.

 

Inner ring of shrimpies.

I mixed up another 2 tbsp. of soy sauce with a 1/2 packet of stevia and let the cooked shrimp bathe in the mix for a bit. Los taste buds were screaming gracias for that foresight.

 

And a grilled cebolla and fortune cookie center.

Post-photo, I crumbled the fortune cookie and devoured.

Oh yes, and I obviously took a gander at my fortune.

A merry corazón? Just another symptom of springtime.

However, I was more interested in the Chinese lesson on the back.

Bao means bread.

Bread means carbs.

Which brings me to parte tres of dinner.

I almost forgot to include carbs in my cena. Almost.

Devout carbist that I am, I brainstormed a quick carby creation.

Which brought me to this amazing life-changing discovery.

Brace yourselves, carbists…

Instant “Sticky Rice” Oatmeal

 

Desperate for a quick carb fix, I hit up my instant oatmeal stash and attempted a simple side of savory oats.

What resulted was an unexpected foodgasm.

The method:

• Microwave one packet of plain instant oatmeal with a dash of salt and a little less than 2/3 cup of water for 2.5 minutes.
• Combine another 2 tbsp. of soy sauce with 1/2 packet of stevia.
• Douse instant oatmeal with soy sauce mixture and stir.

Commence consumption/moaning over instant “sticky rice” oatmeal.

Despite all of the effort I put into the rest of my dinner, this 2.5 minute creation was—hands down—the best part. I will likely begin eating this on a daily basis. As should you.

Dessert catered to my both my sweet and salty cravings.

Vanilla peanut butter fro-yo with whipped cream, sourdough pretzels and the salty remnants from the bottom of the pretzel bag.

BRILLIANCE.

Seriously, spring brings out the best in us.

Unfortunately yesterday’s taste of primavera was exactly that—a taste. The forecast for the weekend is not looking so bueno—but I’ll be perfectly content curling up with bowls of instant sticky rice oatmeal, sweet and salty fro-yo and cottage cheese concoctions.

Preguntas: Are you as enamored by springtime as I am? Even if it’s just a tease of warm weather day? What’s the last amazing food discovery you stumbled upon on a whim?

Amor,

Sarah

Recipe, Uncategorized

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March 11, 2010

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