Glory Bowl

Today, I was much more bundled, on my walk, than I care to admit.  There was a chill on the wind coming up over the vineyard, from the water, that I do not like.  At least, I will blame the wind & the water for chilling me to the bone.  That's what I felt but what I saw was a feast for the eyes that could cheat the chill out of my bones. The leaves are turning. I have witnessed this beauty, in all its glory, on the riverbanks of the South Saskatchewan River as she winds her currents through the beautiful city of Saskatoon.  However, the wind I witnessed here, in the beautiful Okanagan, today, can't meet the challenge of her efforts when she blows in with the fall air in Saskatoon.  (Just a side note here:  I can hardly type the word Okanagan without the adjective beautiful in front of it.  I pray I never tire of the tapestry of the land that God reached down & gave to this place.) And with her chill, she whisks away, with ease, so many of the fall colors on display in Saskatoon.  Here, the leaves manage to hold on to their grandeur for just a while longer.  That was what was on display for me today.  Reds, oranges, yellows, purples, greens (of every description)...really it was a dizzying array of color & content.  Every shape of leaf, every genre of flora represented, roses still bursting their vibrant colors into the fall mix, grass green as if has forgotten summer has passed...

And still, though not my favourite, fall has its place.  The fireplace can now, for a few days, take the place of the air conditioner before the furnace has to come on.  For me, the desire to cook something to eat from a bowl starts roiling in my brain.  I want something saucy, soupy, or warm, at least, to partake in when fall starts to show its antics.

Maybe, its my thoughts of glory & colourful splendour from my fall walking or maybe just that I am easily impressionable.  I have been craving a Glory Bowl every time I see them in the display case at my absolute favourite coffee stop, The Bean Scene. Several ladies ahead of me in the the line yesterday ordered them for lunch.  That was it!  I got out my Whitewater Cooks Cookbooks, looked up the recipe & gathered up the ingredients.  (I must deviate again to plug the Whitewater Cookbooks.  They are some of my faves & if you know me at all, I have a lot of cookbooks.  I read cookbooks like most people read novels & collect them with great fervour!)  I don't know if the Glory Bowl really fits the "saucy, soupy" category, but it is warm & just fits the bill for how I'm feeling food-wise today.

I actually started on the Glory Bowl prep yesterday, when Darrell & I made a midcourse correction & decided to take in a movie & have the evil movie popcorn for supper instead.  I have to admit that's not such a bad idea when it comes to Glory Bowls - to do some of the prep a day ahead, that is.  Don't let the simplicity of her look fool you - there is plenty of work involved in her "glorious" finish!

I love any excuse to get out this little gadget too!!

GLORY BOWL;

EVOO = olive oil (a Rachael Rayism)

General Ingredients:

3 cups brown rice (I use brown basmati & cook it in my rice cooker, so I cook a scant 3 cups because of using the rice cooker measuring cup - they are always smaller than a standard cup)
2 cups of raw red beets (I spiralize mine but it is unlikely that you may have a spiralizer, so grated is fine) *I keep a small bag of surgical gloves on hand for dealing with beets, raw or cooked.  And I have a couple of dark coloured plastic sheet cutting mats that are a breeze to clean after beets.*
2 cups grated carrot (the pre-grated bags of carrot are so good for a bowl like this - go ahead - no one has to be super girl!)
2 cups Tamari almonds toasted (I like to leave some whole & chop some)
2 cups spinach leaves (give or take - buy a pre-washed bag full - I like a little more spinach with mine)
2 cups tofu chopped (I prefer the firm & pressed kind, and even at that, I like to squeeze it out more in a clean kitchen towel. When I have time, I marinade the tofu in a little soy sauce first)
2 chicken skewers grilled & diced (if you have an aversion to tofu)
2 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper
dash or two of soy sauce

Dressing:

1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes (you can get these at a health food store - a little sprinkled on your popcorn is good too)
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup tamari or soy sauce
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cup oil (I have used veg & olive oil & I am stuck - canola oil is a little too oily & EVOO is a bit too big of a flavour in competition w/the tahini - another time I am going to use 1/2 of each)
2 tbsp tahini paste

Combine all ingredients, but oil, in a blender & give them a good whiz.  You can add oil gradually & blend but I have great results from just dumping it all in at once & blending till creamy.  Without a blender, whisk vigorously in a tall container (save a frozen yogurt or ice cream container to use) or put in a large sealer jar & shake it up baby!  *NOTE:  THIS WILL BE WAY TOO MUCH DRESSING FOR THIS SALAD* Just put into a small serving pitcher & let everyone drizzle on as much as desired.  Keep the rest in a jar or Tupperware in the fridge for at least a week. This is a very unique dressing & may have to grow on you, but once committed - you will crave it, I am certain!

Prepare brown rice as desired.  Sauté tofu cubes in a skillet with EVOO salt & pepper. If you did not marinade first in soy sauce, drizzle a little over as you sauté.  

Eat as a deconstructed salad.  Put rice into a bowl with a little drop or two of soy sauce, top w/beets, carrots, spinach leaves, almonds & sautéed tofu cubes.  Drizzle with dressing & dig in!!  It's glorious!!!!

P.S.  pairs beautifully with Little Straw Sauvignon Blanc

Spinach Quinoa Sweet Potato Salad

Recently, I had the Maple Glazed Salmon Salad at Earls.  For the record, let it be known, that I love Earls & have frequented the Saskatoon location regularly (& happily) for years.  And, now, we do, on occasion, go to Earls on Top in Kelowna to enjoy the food & the most fabulous view. (& especially the pumpkin pie of late - hee) However, this salad left me wondering if I could not tweak it a little more to my liking.

First of all, I found the farro to be overwhelming in the salad & it seemed to expand exponentially, in my stomach, as the evening wore on! I wondered about changing that to quinoa & eliminating the salmon altogether.  Also, the cold green beans & butternut squash (maybe mine just arrived cold) weren't my favourite.  With all this aside, I really did like the potential of the salad & decided to try one on for myself. What follows is my new rendition.  I hope you enjoy - we sure did!!

Spinach Quinoa Sweet Potato Salad

The salad:

1 Bag prewashed baby spinach
1 225g box quinoa - prepared as instructed cooking in chicken stock instead of suggested water
1 large sweet potato - peeled & cut into small cubes
1 tbsp steak spice
1 - 2 tbsp olive oil
Appx 3 Cups green beans (you can use fresh or frozen - I happened to have a bag of Costco's Tender French Beans in the freezer, so I used 1/2 the bag of those)
1/2 cup feta or goat cheese - crumbled (Costco also sells a great little box of small cube goat cheese - it's the bomb for salads!)
1/3 cup roasted pumpkin seeds
1/3 cup craisins (try to get the ones sweetened with fruit juice) *You will notice I forgot mine before taking the photo - do add them tho, they are tart & nice*

The Dressing:

1 cup olive oil
1/4 - 1/2 cup white wine vinegar
2 or 3 cloves garlic minced (never sub garlic from a jar or garlic spice in a salad dressing unless otherwise specified!)
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp Tarragon or thyme
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 - 2 tbsp maple syrup, honey, or agave (amount & choice to your taste)
1 small shallot or 1/2 of a large
*1/2 fresh lemon - squeezed

Preheat oven to 400.  Mix cubed sweet potato, in a bowl, with olive oil & steak spice. Spread out on a parchment-lined cookie sheet & bake for appx 30 mins - just check in as some sweet potatoes cook quicker than others

While potatoes cook, bring your beans to a boil (you may add a drop of oil & a dash of salt to water if you like) & boil for precisely 5 mins.  Drain, & leave in pot with lid on until ready to serve.  When they have cooled a little, dump out on cutting board & cut beans roughly in 1/2.  It definitely makes for happier chewing! Then, return to pot with lid on.

Cook your quinoa as per package instructions.

Toast your pumpkin seeds if you could not buy them already toasted.  Just stick them in alongside the potatoes in their own small baking pan - just be careful - at 400, they will not even need 5 mins!

When nuts have cooled a little, toss them in a bowl with your spinach & cheese.

If you have a blender, that is definitely my preference for making the dressing.  Just add all the ingredients, pulse a few times to emulsify the mustard properly & break down the shallot.  Blend until creamy.  If you don't have a blender, whisk the mustard with all ingredients except the oil & then whisk the oil in in small amounts until nice & creamy.  Without a blender, you may want to leave out the shallot.  It is still a very good dressing without it.  *I find that this dressing becomes quite stiff, so just before I serve it, I always sqeeze in the juice of appx 1/2 lemon  NOTE:  this will make WAY more dressing than you will need for this salad!!! Just keep in a jar or sealed container in your fridge for at least a week.  It is yummy for many salads!

We served our salad deconstructed as pictured & just drizzled a little dressing on each serving.  It was simply delicious!! You could put all ingredients in a large bowl & toss with a small amount of the dressing if desired.  My husband insisted on BBQing some sausage to go alongside - but - it was not needed - he agreed in the end...

Viola!

30 Minutes With Jim MacKlean MacDonald

Today's walk was not similar in comparison to the day I met Jim, but for whatever reason, I could not get him off my mind for the entire 3 miles.  I walked, and composed in my head, as I so often do, the things I would blog about when time permits.  And today, my thoughts were most completely of Jim;
maybe because today was a lonely day on the path near the end of Boucherie. (And it seems that loneliness is the only reason that a complete stranger would engage in more than a smile & a brief hello in my experience on this path...) That's where I park my little truck & pick up the path at Rotary beach, where begins the most scenic off-leash dog park - a beach all of their own overlooking Lake Okanagan towards the mountains on the Mission side.

Today the path was pretty much my own, maybe because the angry sky threatened rain & the cool air coming in off the water didn't appeal to many.  Today the waves crashed against the rocky shoreline & the park along the way was visited by only one brave Dad cheering on his little guy as he swung across the monkey bars.  The Cove Resort was not bustling with happy tourists & children using the water park. One teenage boy threw rocks against the incoming tide in a futile effort to skip the stones. The boats, left to brave the cold in the small marina, lurched & creaked against the force of the waves against the docks.  As I rounded the corner of the resort into the quiet park on the other side, I could see a small group of bundled seniors engaged in a raucous game of Boules & I nearly collided with a Grandpa emerging out of the bushes.  I chuckled to myself that he must not know there is a fully equipped toilet only footsteps away... The lush green grass carpet of Gellatly Nut Farm now lay covered in nuts from the presiding winds.  Soon shoppers & pickers would be gathering to harvest the spoils.  The pastures along the road are now full of horses eating the lush green grasses, their owners possibly too engaged in the frenzy of fall activities for a crisp Sunday ride.  It is here that I walk along a busy little stretch of road with Shaquille in a tight heal, for a while, to make the circle complete back to The Cove. There, my circle forms its way back to the parking lot where I am parked.  It is, on that corner, where The Cove starts & my trail converge, that I first met Jim.

This day the sun was shining in all of its glory, not a cloud to be seen, the sky a full burst of blue.  I had my ear buds in & was just a' walkin' to a favorite Country playlist. You couldn't miss him though on his shiny red scooter smiling & waving me over in his direction.  I pulled one ear bud from my ear & walked near him to see if he needed help with something.  It actually wasn't me he was interested in at all, at first, but my four-legged friend, Shaquille.  This was the beginning of my "30 Minutes With Jim MacKlean MacDonald."

He was drawn to Shaquille because of his fluffy white coat.  He promptly told me how he & his wife had Yorkie show dogs for 25 years & did all of their own grooming. (Good thing Shaq didn't look too bad that day...) They had travelled all around to attend shows and they had started a sort of club for Yorkie owners here in Kelowna back in the day.  After his bit on his love of dogs, with no apparent need for an appropriate segway, he told me of the movie he had watched just the night before, Pal Joey.  But as he went on about it, I realized he was indeed still on track, as the movie was an old musical & featured Frank Sinatra & Rita Hayworth...and a brilliant little white dog, that was in his opinion, the real star of the show.  Speaking of Rita & Frank must have made him think of his wife.  It was at this point that he told me of his wife & how she was now in a care home.  He has a small condo close by the care residence so that he can "scooter" over every day to see her.  He told me of his macular degeneration & how he can see close up but loses sight of things far away. Life could always be worse though, didn't I know, there are so many worse off than him - he sees plenty of sadness in his wife's care home.  But, once he sported clear vision & was a driver instructor in Calgary - his wife is a Calgarian (in his words.) I thought maybe he was not sure-footed either, because of the scooter, but no sooner had the thought crossed my mind, than he burst up onto his feet - still on the Frank Sinatra track, I guess - & told me of their involvement, too, in Scottish dancing.  They had been very involved in such a club & teachers of that genre of dance.  Oh, & he still dances to this day - one has to stay fit, you know!  Scottish dancing, of course!  I knew I recognized that accent from somewhere.  I commented on it & he was off! Telling me of his last trip to Scotland & the Italian fellow he had met there who was doing stem cell research.  He didn't know how he felt about that & he marvelled at the wonder of creation & now shared his faith & love of Jesus with me.  He told me how it is not his job to lead people to Jesus but just to sew seed, to love unconditionally (like dogs do - back to dogs!) and to enjoy the wonderful life we are given.

At this point, you are not going to believe it, but a cavalcade of black Escalades like I have never seen before whisked by.  And in hot pursuit was an unmarked SUV with a flashing light that pulled over the most unassuming small car.  This threw me and every other passer-by, on the path, off of our game.  Everyone, that is, but Jim.  He could, of course, not see what was happening.  He did not take a breath.  He had now dug out his binoculars & was preparing to show me a bird's nest high up on the hill that he had been keeping his eye on.  A small group of folks had gathered around us & we were all talking about what could possibly be going on.  Jim became quite interested when someone speculated that the prime minister was rumoured to be in town to speak at Quail's Gate later in the day.  This got him onto the subject of politics and this is where I knew I had to bow out.  He had found a new talking companion, now, anyway, in a young man that had stopped in all the commotion.

I did quickly explain to him that I would like to write a little blog about him & asked if I could include a photo of him.  He was more than cooperative.  I promised that I would carry a copy of it with me & give it to him the next time we cross paths.  ...and he was off..."so your a writer are you, well you should look up Dorothy Brotherton, she's quite a local writer you know, writes a real worthwhile column..." I assured Jim that I would look her up, (& I will) I said my good-byes & my prayers, as Jim told me he had to cross Boucherie to get back up to his place & I now knew of his poor distance vision.

I haven't seen Jim since - maybe he's a fair-weather scooter.  But, I do know this: Never again, will I see just an old man on a scooter.  I will see an old man on a scooter that represents an entire life filled with scores of stories.  And if I but pause to listen, my life will be fuller for it.  I do look forward to our next encounter and another "30 Minutes with Jim MacKlean MacDonald!"