Lentil & Black Rice Summer Salad

Happy Monday! I've been a nomad these past few weeks, but I'm back...for now at least :)

One of my favorite things about summer is the large array of summer salads that restaurants offer. In attempts to recreate my obsession of a salad from a vegetarian restaurant back in Shanghai, this dish actually became something else and became my very own...and it's better (shh I still love the other one though).

The great thing about salad making is that you are able to use what you have on hand. Mixing and matching various ingredients eventually allows you to find a favorite combination that you'll stick to for a long, long time. 

If you haven't got anything planned for Independence Day, this would be a great option!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup black rice, dry
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp water
pinch of salt
1/2 cup lentils, cooked
1/3 zucchini, about 3 inches from tip
1/3 cucumber
1 small carrot
1/2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
dash of paprika
1/2 clove garlic, minced
salt, to taste
1/8 cup crumbled feta for topping

Directions:

1. Rinse the black rice thoroughly, until the water does not turn purple anymore. Bring the rice, salt, and water to a boil. Simmer for 8-10 minutes until the water is gone. Remove from heat. Take the lid off and place a clean dish towel over the pot. Let the rice sit for 10 minutes.
2. In a medium bowl, toss together the rice and lentils. Place the bowl in a refrigerator
3. Cut the zucchini and cucumber into 1/2 inch coins. Cut those coin pieces into fourths. Place the cucumber pieces into a mid-sized bowl. Put aside. Prepare a stove top grill for the zucchini pieces. Be sure to grill the zucchini pieces until a fork easily pokes through.
4. As the zucchini is grilling, julienne the small carrot. Place the julienned carrot into the bowl with the cucumber. Take the grilled zucchini pieces and also place them into bowl with cucumber.
5. In a small bowl, whisk together the apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, paprika, garlic, and salt. 
6. The rice and lentil mixture should now be cold. Take the bowl out of the refrigerator and mix the cucumber mixture with the rice mixture. Take the garlic dressing and mix it into the cucumber-rice mixture. Top with feta. Refrigerate until served.
   

Notes:
- This recipe serves 3-4 as a side dish.
- Do not over-grill the zucchini; the slight crunch makes it a bit more interesting
- My zucchini and cucumber were about 8 inches from tip to tip.

With love,
Grace

Almond Butter

I've been on this almond craze lately and just can't get enough of it...hand me a jar of almond butter and a spoon, all of it will disappear. Why hadn't I thought of making this earlier? Taking in a big spoonful of this almond butter brings me down Memory Lane. mmm the good ol' days.

Now don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my days now too, but there's been this exponential increase in responsibility that I'm not sure I'm ready to face. C'mon schools, what you should be teaching us should include things such as: paying taxes and bills, buying and renting property, renewing passports... perhaps even a bit of home ec. education? Thank you very much. 

Life skills, becoming street smart, using sharp knives... 

Back to almond butter though. With all this summer free time in my hands, I've been able to get bunches of cardio into my schedule. This almond butter has been by far, my favorite post-workout snack. There's just something oh-so-special about homemade nut butters! 

After I toasted the raw almonds, our home was filled with the warmest nutty aroma evahhh! Look at those cute little cracks in the nuts.

Let me just briefly explain each step: 

1. Unprocessed state.
2. Chopped almonds.
3. Oils starting to come out.
4. Almonds taking on its butter/liquid-y form.
5. Down below is the beautiful butter created after that massive load of hard work. ha ha

I really do hope you enjoy your homemade almond butter!

Ingredients: yields approximately 1 1/2 cups
2 cups raw or toasted whole almonds
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon (opt.)

Directions:

1. If using raw almonds, toast over the stove for about 15 minutes on low fire, or until your home is filled with a nutty aroma and the nuts begin to split. If using pre-toasted almonds, go ahead and skip to step 2.
2. In a food processor, process the whole almonds until the desired consistency. Do not be discouraged at any point if your almonds are taking a while to get to its liquid state--just keep processing! 
3. Once the almonds are almost in its butter form, add in the salt and continue processing until salt is thoroughly incorporated into the almond butter.

Notes:
- If you desire to sweeten your almond butter, add some honey. However, this will dry out your almond butter, so you will need to add some oil.
- You can always make raw almond butter, although I find that it is not as tasty as the toasted almond version.
- Do not over toast the almonds; it will result with a more bitter butter.
- My almonds did not become almond butter until about 20 minutes later. Your processor may result with varying times. 

With love,
Grace 

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

First things first! As you may have heard, Google Reader is ending its services on July 1, 2013. They're reasoning is that it has declined in popularity and the company would also like to focus on fewer things. So, follow me on my Bloglovin' account that I've just created! You'll see the white and blue on your right side.

Anyways, I'm way too excited for spring. I've already hung up my dresses and summer/spring tops and stuffed away my sweaters. As March progresses, I'll find out college admissions decisions, go on spring vacation (hopefully!), and then in April, go on a trip to a rural village in Yunnan, China. And then there are AP tests...

I've been waiting for the longest time to make these spring rolls.

The mango gives it a slight twang, while the sauce spices it up. The best part for me, is the big bunch of spinach.

However, when it comes to eating veggies these days, I've been more cautious about the tap water because of the whole pig circumstance here in Shanghai. Ew x10000! Think happy thoughts!

Since I already have lots of Asian ingredients at my house, I figured this would be perfect to make :)

Sunshine Through Food - Quinoa Stuffed Tomatoes

Picture yourself out on a Greek beach. You've just come out the clear, blue water; your skin is glistening from the Mediterranean Sun, and you've got a huge buffet of food waiting for you. ohmygoodness yum. Now snap out of it. I wasn't making this up...when you take your first bite of these tomatoes, that's what you see and feel.

This is basically how this tomato came to be:

Feta: psssst, take me home

Grace: no! I dunno know what to do with you...

Obviously I gave in. So, the Feta sat in my fridge for a few days until a huge mass of ideas came to me. My favorite was this combination of tomatoes, Kalamata olives, quinoa, avocado, feta, and olive oil--very Mediterranean. Perhaps I was longing for summer flavours, or perhaps I was just tired of the same old weather.