What's for Breakfast?
Breakfast is a challenging meal for many people. And, the most important meal of the day to keep you nourished and on an even keel throughout the rest of the day. Here's a hearty breakfast incorporating adaptogenic herbs, dooryard greens, "soft protein", microbially active kimchi, and the rich, satisfying nourishment of bone broth. A powerful start for a full day.
Putting a combination of foods together in a meal that tastes good, improves health and well-being and is fun to eat is a pleasure! I find eating that keeps me connected with the place I live, the people in my community and the beauty of my environment a satisfying endeavor. Growing what I can and connecting with neighbors and farmers is supporting the emergence of a healthy food web in the Snoqualmie Valley where I live. What's happening in your area regarding local food? Are you seeing more growers? Farmers markets? People gardening? Foraging?
Recipe for a hearty breakfast:
Left over Easy Rice with Adaptogens
Pink Kimchi purple daikon adds the pink color
Fresh picked, frozen collards
One egg over easy
A cup of bone broth
One tiny bouquet
I have many things to do as my day gets rolling and I'm guessing you do, too. Leftovers help me start the day on the right foot, so I make a big pot of Easy Rice with adaptogenic herbs to bring their pulse into daily life.
Easy Rice w/ adaptogens, herbs that are non-specific, non-toxic and have a normalizing influence on the body. This recipe makes enough rice for several meals in a small household.
2 cups rice
4-1/2 cups water
2 Tablespoons kelp
1/4 cup dried goji berries
1/4 cup dried codonopsis slices
1/2 Teaspoon salt
Put all ingredients in a saucepan, cover, bring to boil, turn down to slow simmer, cook until steam stops coming out! When rice is cooked, mix herbs that have floated to top back into the rice.
Pink Kimchi was prepared last fall and is ready to use in meals throughout winter. Nutrient dense & microbally active, Kimchi is a tasty way to carry abundance forward.
Food Camp: Unleashed...a 3-day weekend dedicated to fermented food preparation, food & culture and the enjoyment of the table is held at RavenCroft Garden in August.
Fresh-Frozen Collards
This morning I harvested frozen collards in the dooryard garden. They literally snapped off the plant when I picked them! Brassicas are hardy. Kale & collards are adapted to a wide temperature range. Because their cells do not burst in a frost, they can often grow year round in the northwest, producing summer and winter from the same plants.
A diet rich in brassicas can protect you from cancer, diabetes, heart disease and other common health concerns. Growing interesting vegetables at the croft and participating in a local CSA provides a bounty of fresh produce to incorporate in meals at the croft.
This is the same collard a few hours after harvest, thawed with no sign of damage.
Adaptability is a strong suit for brassicas and seems to transfer to people whose diet is rich in them. These collards have been producing for 3 years from a single mother plant in the dooryard garden at RavenCroft. Part of our perennial vegetable testing.
One egg over easy
The eggs are produced by croft chickens. A reliable source of what I call "soft protein". Soft protein comes on in early spring and serves as a transition from the heartier soups and stews of winter fare. Chickens support soil fertility, pest control, waste management, companionship and are self-perpetuating. They hold several threads in the web of life of the croft while living a green powered life themselves.
Bone Broth
Bone broth is a regular addition to the table at the croft. A cup at breakfast, mixed with miso for lunch or added to soups, stews and sauces. We know that cooks and grandmothers around the world have relied on broth for nourishing people for eons.
"Meat and fish stocks play a role in all traditional cuisines—French, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, African, South American, Middle Eastern and Russian. In America, stock went into gravy and soups and stews. Many studies now confirm what Grandma always knew–that broth made from bones is a great remedy, a tonic for the sick, a strengthener for athletes, a digestive aid, a healing elixir..." Learn more at the Westin Price website.
Local meat producers are returning to the Snoqualmie Valley. We now have local options for grass fed meat available close to home. Despite 5 floods this winter, the valley farmers are rallying and readying for spring planting. Resilience in place...
One Tiny Bouquet
Bringing the garden to the table is a simple gesture of connection. Today, a catkin from the Trazel nut tree, a flower from the fragrant winter bloomer, Viburnum x bodnantense 'Dawn', and a sprig of yew, Taxus x media 'Hicksii' completes the breakfast table.
All of this is together is weaving a complex infrastructure for local food sovereignty and a growing, thriving community. A generative, local economy depends on local participation for the success of people and place.
Where ever you live how can you grow something you can eat yourself? Support a local farmer? What would change in your daily life if you chose to ally with one local food producer or market?
We are living in amazing times! Watching life grow through the challenges facing everyone is heartening. Every bite we take grows the world we live in...
Green blessings on your journey...
