I’ve been cooking and selling dinners for people to pick up from our kitchen here in Boulder since October and I go through challenges at this time of year that push me to get creative in a different way. Monotony can be a test at this time of year when you’re a chef. If I see another freakin’ winter squash I’ll scream! It’s enough to just keep on track with our organic wholesale bakery but feeling creative when root vegetables are mostly what’s left…yikes! What to do…well, Tex-Mex Barley came up in my stack of recipes from six years ago and from 6 years of cooking classes at Alfalfa’s and Whole Foods before that. The date on the recipe was from November 0f 2001 and I don’t think I’ve even made this since then.
So, here you go: cook up some hulled or unhulled barley and set up these layers in an oiled baking dish…1) pinto beans seasoned with some good chili powder, ground cumin, cayenne & oregano…2) the cooked barley on top of the beans…3) then saute some frozen corn with a chopped onion or thinly sliced scallions, diced carrots, diced zucchini maybe use up that leftover cooked brocolli and dice some green bell pepper. Cook these veggies all together till al dente season with salt & pepper and put them on top of the cooked barley…4) top the whole dang thing with grated Monterey Jack or Cheddar cheese or both and top the cheese with…5) a can of diced tomatoes. Bake this in a pre-heated 350 oven for 30 minutes and serve on top of plain salad greens that will wilt from the heat of the food. This is a good kids dish too and a great way to get those veggies in the little ones.
Add some new foods to your own repertorie once a month at least so that you don’t end up with the same old dishes that bore the crap out of you and everyone you serve them to. It helps to keep things fresh on all levels when you care enough about you to give yourself the time to PLAY with your food. I grew up cooking for 12 other people besides myself and as much as that seemed, at times, like a pain-in-the-butt I’m tellin’ you it saved the day when I was guided to work in the food business as a caterer in NYC. Food and design helped me feel connected to study food & healing and now I feel that intellectualizing food has a lot to do with some of the food allergies in this world. I’ve had my own issues with body size & shape and lots of guilt associations with food over the years.
Self care and self esteem aren’t readily taught nor talked about in most family systems and some of us learned all kinds of distorted ways to attempt to figure out how to feel nurtured as a result. Food and nurturing are linked in huge ways. I know that’s way too obvious but it certainly explains why fast food has gotten so out of control. People think they’re too busy to have the time to sit down at a table in their own homes and share handmade food. The cover up in that one is that until we value our physical lives enough to value our bodies things like plastic surgery will seem like a smart option. We all know how easy it is to want approval outside of ourselves, I know I do but hiding out won’t get any of us anywhere. Make the time…play with your food, share that play and most of all have fun doing it!
