Salad Inspired by Jamie Oliver

Awhile back we saw the show, “Food Revolution,” hosted by Jamie Oliver.  This took place in Huntington, WV, the town my husband works in.  Just recently they added vegetarian selections to Marshall University cafeteria entrees.  I don’t know if this was inspired by the show, but am glad to see it happen.

These directions were taken from www.oprah.com.  I put in my own changes.  I can’t seem to ever follow a recipe exactly, unless it is something baked.  And, even lately, I’ve been veering off in my own direction with baked items, as I adapt for vegetarian or vegan, and get more confidence in the kitchen.

Most all ingredients I used in the following salad were organic.  I would love to see more organic being used.  Well, actually, I would love to see all organic being used in schools.  Don’t we owe the best to our children?  Why couldn’t local organic farmers supply the schools?  Wouldn’t that be cheaper, as well as greener, and provide jobs locally?  Perhaps I’m living in a dream world.  In the show the cooks were dismayed at having to peel real potatoes.  I can certainly understand this.  My own grandmother was a school cook.  I know the hard work involved.  However, if organic were to be used, the whole potatoes, peel and all, could be eaten.  This would certainly save on time.  Plus, the skin of the potato, if free of pesticide, provides valuable nutrition including fiber.

From what was being thrown in the garbage, in which there appeared to be no composting or recycling going on, the children shown in the show were dismissing the healthier food prepared by Mr. Oliver.  I, myself, think this would require time.  It takes taste buds a while to adapt to what is actually real food as opposed to what I consider artificial food.  I know my own eating habits took time to develop.  There are so many “so called foods” that I used to eat that I couldn’t stomach at all now, and still I feel I have a long way to go in the healthy eating department.

At any rate, I certainly congratulate Mr. Oliver and applaud him in his inspiration and good work.

Everyday Green Chopped Salad Inspired by Jamie Oliver

 

• 4 scallions
• 1/2 cucumber
• Handful of fresh basil leaves (I also used cilantro.)
• 1 small avocado, just ripe (He called for two.)
• Combination of Sweet Gem, Tango & Oak Lettuce (He used 1 head butterhead lettuce.)
• Large handfuls sprouted cress or alfalfa (I used alfalfa.)
• 2 ounces Cheddar cheese, optional (I used a little bit of goat cheese grumbled on the salad.)
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Red wine vinegar
• English mustard (I used Dijon.)
• Sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper (I used mixed pepper.)

Directions:

Get yourself a big chopping board and a large sharp knife. It’s best to start by chopping the harder, crunchier veggies first, so trim and chop your scallions and slice your cucumber. Slice your basil. Bring it all into the center of the board and continue chopping and mixing together. Halve your avocados around the big pit. Carefully remove the pit and peel the skin off. Add the avocado flesh, lettuce leaves and cress or alfalfa to the board. Crumble over the cheese, if using, and continue chopping. When everything is well chopped, you’ll have a big mound of salad on the board. Make a well in the middle and drizzle in 6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar. Add a teaspoon of English mustard and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Mix up so everything gets well coated and serve on the board or in a bowl.

Memorial Day Weekend Marathon

Drawer from cutting board

I haven’t posted for awhile.  It’s really only been I think a couple of weeks, but in computer time that is probably an eternity.  In essence I’ve lasted close to 5 months on the post a day challenge for 2011.  In fact I have really shied away from the computer and writing, etc., in general for the last several weeks.

The rain, rain, finally went away and the work, work, outside began.

On Friday I was cleaning cabinets and found a cutting board that I never use, simply because the cherry is just to beautiful to cut on.  A light bulb went on in the darkened corridors of my mind to use it for the bathroom drawer.  I’ve never been happy with the wood on the drawer.  The problem though was that the cutting board was too small and an odd shape.  So, some artistic license was needed.  How artsy the drawer actually turned out , people’s opinions may differ on, but I’m fairly happy with it.  I’m thinking of adding another piece maybe down the road.  You will see by the picture that the board had to be cut up.

Rock work

My husband and I had during the week made a list of things we needed to accomplish around the house by the end of June.  I had to

at the last minute throw the drawer into the mix.  What may seem to be the less time consuming task usually ends up with the most complications.  The complication was that the original drawer we were gluing the new “artistic design” to, cracked in the process. We kept going back to this project as we began the Memorial Day (long) weekend of other projects.  By Monday the drawer was finally finished.

There was lawn work.  There was partial dismantling of part of a barn that was deteriorating in order to use good beams of wood for a building project.  We are in the midst of rocking two buildings which we will join and make into a workshop/greenhouse.  As much as possible we are using recycled and found materials.  The rock we gather from our woods.  So far the only thing we have purchased is concrete mix.  The

West Side of Deck

window was also taken from part of the dismantled barn.  I am looking forward to using a door which someone gave discarded from their own house remodeling.  Roof materials will definitely have to be purchased.

There was much cleaning out of the smaller building.  Amazing how much stuff  can be shoved into one building.  A good deal was weaving supplies which has already found a home.  So more recycling there.

There was some gardening done. There was pressure washing of the house and deck.  There was sandblasting of two old metal gliders that my Dad had given us.  There was window painting and deck furniture painting.  There is still some touch up pressure washing to do, as well as some touch up painting.  By Monday night we were about to drop.

The best part was putting up the hammock which had been stored in the small building.

Hammock

No More Garbage

In an effort to be greener and not contribute any more to land fills than we have to, in July of 2010 we got brave and told our garbage man we no longer needed his services.  We live in a rural area and contracted his services, so we had that option.  I was afraid if we didn’t do this, we would get too lazy and trash things that could be recycled.  Also, the garbage collectors were burning oil and gasoline to come down our one-half mile drive way.

It all sounded easy at first.  The nearest recycler is twenty-five minutes away.  So far we have went once.  We purchased metal trashcans lining them up, one for plastics (only number 1’s and 2’s), one for metal (thus the metal trash cans for when they will need to be recycled) and one for glass.  Paper is either burned outside, used in the wood burning fireplace to help start fires, or taken to where my husband works, as a recycling bin is just outside his office.  We have compost bins for our raw food scrapes.

We take our own reusable bags to stores; try to remember to ask for mugs in lieu of paper cups at Starbucks.  I have my own reusable plastic cup for the cold drinks.

This whole process has made us rethink our whole consumerism as a family (there is just the two of us – empty nesters).  Not only are the ingredients in products we are buying important as we try to be as organic as possible, but also the package it’s in is equally important.

It’s a learning process, and I hope we are making some impact.  I am finding that there are some items we encounter that can’t be avoided as garbage.  Where there is a will, though, there is a way.  I’m thankful that thus far the actual throw away has been so minimal as to be something we can toss into the small trash can at the gas station once a week.

The other day I did break a ceramic bowl.  I was at a loss of how to dispose of it.  My solution thus far is to bury it in the field to be found perhaps hundreds of years later by an archeologist.

Vegetarian Revolution

We recently saw the show, “Food Revolution,” hosted by Jamie Oliver.  This took place in Huntington, WV, the town my husband works in.  Just recently they added vegetarian selections to Marshall University cafeteria entrees.  I don’t know if this was inspired by the show, but am glad to see it happen.  A couple of months ago a student group sponsored the showing of the film, “Food Inc.”  There was a panel discussion afterward along with free vegetarian samples provided by The Java Joint restaurant.  I’m thankful to see these changes towards a healthier life style.

These directions were taken from www.oprah.com.  I put in my own changes.  I can’t seem to ever follow a recipe exactly, unless it is something baked.  And, even lately, I’ve been veering off in my own direction with baked items, as I adapt for vegetarian or vegan, and get more confidence in the kitchen.

Most all ingredients I used in the following salad were organic.  I would love to see more organic being used.  Well, actually, I would love to see all organic being used in schools.  Don’t we owe the best to our children?  Why couldn’t local organic farmers supply the schools?  Wouldn’t that be cheaper, as well as greener, and provide jobs locally?  Perhaps I’m living in a dream world.  In the show the cooks were dismayed at having to peel real potatoes.  I can certainly understand this.  My own grandmother was a school cook.  I know the hard work involved.  However, if organic were to be used, the whole potatoes, peel and all, could be eaten.  This would certainly save on time.  Plus, the skin of the potato, if free of pesticide, provides valuable nutrition including fiber.

From what was being thrown in the garbage, in which there appeared to be no composting or recycling going on, the children shown in the show were dismissing the healthier food prepared by Mr. Oliver.  I, myself, think this would require time.  It takes taste buds a while to adapt to what is actually real food as opposed to what I consider artificial food.  I know my own eating habits took time to develop.  There are so many “so called foods” that I used to eat that I couldn’t stomach at all now, and still I feel I have a long way to go in the healthy eating department.

At any rate, I certainly congratulate Mr. Oliver’s efforts, and hope he keeps up the good work.

Everyday Green Chopped Salad Inspired by Jamie Oliver

• 4 scallions
• 1/2 cucumber
• Handful of fresh basil leaves (I also used cilantro.)
• 1 small avocado, just ripe (He called for two.)
• Combination of Sweet Gem, Tango & Oak Lettuce (He used 1 head butterhead lettuce.)
• Large handfuls sprouted cress or alfalfa (I used alfalfa.)
• 2 ounces Cheddar cheese, optional (I used a little bit of goat cheese grumbled on the salad.)
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Red wine vinegar
• English mustard (I used Dijon.)
• Sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper (I used mixed pepper.)

Directions:

Get yourself a big chopping board and a large sharp knife. It’s best to start by chopping the harder, crunchier veggies first, so trim and chop your scallions and slice your cucumber. Slice your basil. Bring it all into the center of the board and continue chopping and mixing together. Halve your avocados around the big pit. Carefully remove the pit and peel the skin off. Add the avocado flesh, lettuce leaves and cress or alfalfa to the board. Crumble over the cheese, if using, and continue chopping. When everything is well chopped, you’ll have a big mound of salad on the board. Make a well in the middle and drizzle in 6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar. Add a teaspoon of English mustard and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Mix up so everything gets well coated and serve on the board or in a bowl.