Chasing Away the Blues at the Farmers' Market

There are a number of things that can brighten anyone’s weekend, especially in the summertime. That’s where Grill Day, wild fish, and the local farmers’ market come in. 

(source)

Mama Dazz and I drove to Ben Brenman Park in Alexandria, just a few miles from SportRock. The West End Farmers Market has two rows of white tents, filled with tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, cucumber, eggplants, crafts, baked goods, flowers, and more. A nice gentleman, either picking up my need to smile or hearing my comment on the beautiful sunflowers, gave me a pink carnation to enjoy.  

It was a nice excursion, and we walked to the car with Cherokee Purple tomatoes, basil, collard greens, yellow zucchini, purple okra, and eggplant in hand.

We cooked the tomato, zucchini, and eggplant on the grill with the (wild) corvina fillets, and pan-fried the okra lightly dusted with Maseca® corn flour in our cast iron pan. (Let it be known to cyberspace that this was the first time I ever enjoyed okra.) The basil made a wonderful salad with sweet onion and cucumber, and harmonized well with the other components of the dish.

Whenever we have these sort of meals, I wonder why we don’t go to the farmers’ market more often. It is certainly worth it.

The Bento Box Snapshot: A Week of Pareve

Much like my summer internship last year, I really have had to focus on what I am able to eat for my job as the camp’s art specialist. As I mentioned before, the community center I work at is Jewish-oriented, as is the camp, so that meant following their dietary laws as well. In the beginning it was impossible to tell which meats the kids brought to camp were kosher, so all lunches are now required to be either dairy or pareve.

BBS 1: Carrot risotto, fresh veggies, mozzarella, and daily apple

Since I’m not Jewish, I was worried about offending people with the food I brought. Regardless of my food intolerances, I took on the challenge to make a week of bento lunches that:

1. Observed the dairy and/or pareve rule as written in Judaic law
2. Consisted of things I could and would eat
3. Were nutritionally balanced
4. Kept me full until dinner

Let’s just say that all my lunches were total successes.

BBS 2: Homemade hummus, rice, and dipping veggies (not shown)

For one thing, I learned that size does matter for a bento box. The one Daddy-O gave me last Saturday on our way back from the National Harbor is just perfect for my active lifestyle and appetite. It is two-tiered, which gave me the ability to either make two small meals, or one lunch with a variety of ingredients.

Much of what I packed were leftovers from dinners the night before, tons of veggies, and freshly made spreads like guacamole and hummus. Beans and rice were common, though I did enjoy tuna salad spring rolls and salmon cakes immensely. Cottage cheese and blueberries showed up twice on the top tier (the one that is split into two separate compartments) upon finding that I loved the combination.

BBS3: Salmon cakes, quinoa salad, cottage cheese & blueberries

I hope to have another week of Bento Box Snapshots this time next Sunday, along with: other recipes that may or may not end up in my lunch box, food from my family’s July 4th festivities (i.e., a Grill day), and the camp’s field trip picking blueberries.

Goodness, I love summer.

BBS 4: Tuna salad spring rolls, and cottage cheese with blueberries (not shown)

Inspiration from a Chocolaty Flop

Sometimes great ideas for recipes come to you just after another reveals itself to be a flop. I was inspired to make chocolate muffins, the ultimate breakfast indulgence, but without all the sugar. So I used applesauce and stevia, and let’s just say that applesauce and chocolate do not go together. I also attempted to make it dairy free, and the sunflower seed oil I used in place of butter turned out to be a big mistake.
 
So what did I get in my muffin tin? Well, it was: bitter and not at all sweet; crispy on the outside and gooey on the inside (neither one a compliment); and chocolaty, yes, but completely unbalanced in flavor.

It’s flops like these that I really wish baked goods were compostable.
 
Since it was still early in the day (I woke up early for a morning rock climbing session), I felt I could still make a recipe before my shift at the community center. I thought about remaking the muffins, but that looked to be a recipe for another day, so I thought about making something I planned on doing later in the week.

I know, I know… it’s completely random. How does one go from muffins to spring rolls (of all things) in a morning? I honestly have no idea, but this recipe worked with what I was craving at the moment. It was filling, clean (in the sense I could taste every ingredient), and filled with delicious vegetable goodness. That, and I think Meals with Morri needed a recipe that didn’t call for cooking or baking anything.

Spring rolls are something I’m surprised gluten-freers aren’t embracing more. The rice paper is relatively easy to find – not to mention inexpensive – and you can stuff it with practically anything. You can have sauce/dressing in the filling without fear of it dripping on your hands. It’s the perfect finger food on the go, and highly adaptable to your dietary lifestyle (save the grain-free crowd, sadly).

I made mine with tuna salad as I have done with lettuce wraps and socca in the past, but I added some Asian flavors to change it up a bit. For this recipe, you don’t have to use tuna. You can cook up some chicken, use another species of fish, or go completely veg with beans and/or quinoa.

Either way, I guarantee it will be delicious.

Tuna Salad Spring Roll Wraps

10 Rice paper sheets
5 Romaine lettuce leaves, halved and stemmed
2 cans 5 oz/142 g Albacore solid white tuna in olive oil, drained of excess oil
2 Small red onions (or shallots), finely diced
2 Carrots, grated
2 Garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 Ginger chunks (garlic clove size), finely chopped
5 ml Unrefined apple cider vinegar
1 Small green bell pepper, thinly sliced
184 – 200 g English cucumber, seeded and thinly sliced

In a medium-sized bowl, thoroughly mix together the drained tuna, onion, carrot, garlic, ginger, and apple cider vinegar.
Take one piece of rice paper at a time, and dip it into warm (not hot!) water for 5 seconds in a shallow bowl or until it softens.
Place it on a flat surface and lay the pieces for one lettuce leaf down, followed by the tuna salad, and then the cucumber and pepper slivers.
Fold it into the shape of a roll like so, or however you wish to serve it (I left one end open for a “wrap” appearance.)
Garnish with black sesame seeds and serve with a dipping sauce containing coconut aminos, Penzeys wasabi, and white sesame seeds.

Makes 10 spring roll wraps. Serves 2 – 5 people depending on meal preference.  

A Taste of Adventure

Maybe it’s my delirious state that has given me the audacity to be something I don’t encourage on this blog: a Doubtful Darcy. (This in no way judges the ladies of the world named Darcy, nor do I believe they are more or less likely to be more doubtful than a David, say, or a Dolores… or a Dan.)

My getting sick started out as a wave of nausea on Saturday morning, and completely took the winds from my sails by the early afternoon. Then the coughing started, followed by the rise and fall of body temperature, a raw throat, and a Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer mouth. I’m better today, though I’m rather unsettled with the whole thing, partially because I was in bed most of the day, thinking. And when your heart rate is going at a runner’s pace simply because you’re standing or lying down, your thoughts become anxious and fragmented.

Now, I’m a Doubtful Darcy (or a David, a Dolores, or a Dan) because of this blog. I believe in it with all my heart, and I know I’m making progress with my recipe making, my fitness, and my photography, but I want to go the next level.

Since I haven’t been able to focus my attention more than a few minutes before getting lightheaded, I’ve just been looking over my old blog posts and old blog posts of foodies and health enthusiasts I respect. These people have beautiful photos from the very get-go of their blogging careers, have amazing recipes that are well thought out and restaurant-worthy, and beautiful site layouts. I have a yearning to have something just as perfect in my neck of the woods in cyber space.

In short, I want to be taken seriously.

Delirium and sickness has made me a deep thinker, I know. I’ve been looking into various organizations on idealist.org that are doing what I want to do for the world. And believe me, there are many. I feel stagnated, because I know what my potential is, and I’m not certain how to go about it. Do I want to apply for a Masters program for 2013? Am I willing to move away from Virginia in order to follow my dreams? Do I need to get some sort of Culinary Degree to open a community-oriented place to begin a movement of food security? How do I change the world for the better?

All of this Doubtful Darcy stuff came about from my old photos, when I was (and still am) getting used to using a DSLR. Part of me wants to delete the old photos, the ones that are grainy because of the ISO I used, or the ones that are out of focus, have a low shutter speed and a small aperture setting, or were taken in awful lighting. I’ve learned quite a bit since April 2011, and the other half wants me to hold on to the physical evidence that shows my progress. My other idea is to recreate my early works, edit the recipes, and take new photos this April but keep the old posts the way they were written. Somehow, I am uncertain how I would feel about it – maybe even feel a little hypocritical – though I’m sure none of my readers would mind very much.  

It occurs to me that the bloggers I respect so highly, the ones with phenomenal photos, stories, recipes, and sites, worked their butts off for it. They paid for quality and received the fruits of their labor with the same eminence. If I’m going to get to their level, I’m going to have to work hard, be patient, and follow my heart.

My heart has led me down many paths in the past. It is a lot more spontaneous and daring than it used to be. Besides rock climbing, I want to take a class that works on digital photography techniques, maybe buy one or two lenses to really enhance the images (especially for low/no light, moving subjects, outdoor, and non-food) I post. Perhaps I can go into a culinary program at a community college, look into molecular gastronomy or focus on a kind of cuisine (gluten free and holistic, naturally).

The details are unknown, but I do know what I want as far as the big picture is concerned: I know that I want to work with/for the community, the word ranging from a group of people to every single sentient being on this planet; I know that I want to work with food, empowering the relationship of what comes from the ground and what goes into our mouths; I know that I want to end food insecurity, world hunger, and I want to be part of a nonprofit or movement that is just as passionate about it as I am; and lastly, I want to make a place for people from all over the world to share their stories, eat great food, and take that happiness back home with them.

Over the next for days/weeks/months, certain changes will be happening, both to the blog as well as the blogger. In the meantime, to all you fellow bloggers and readers out there, I’d love to hear from you:

• What are your thoughts of me editing old posts, particularly recipes and photos?
• Where did following your dreams in the culinary arts (or whatever it is you are passionate about) take you?
• Would you continue to follow Meals with Morri if: it changed its blog host, its domain name, or if less than satisfactory food photos disappeared from old posts?
• How can Meals with Morri be taken more seriously?

Feel free to email me or to comment on this post directly.

As always, I want to thank you so much for being part of my life. 

To stop myself from getting too mopey, I thought I’d share with you a recipe. It’s one that a Morri, in sickness and in health, can make in less than forty-five minutes, is dense in nutrients as it is with flavor, and is easier to make than you know. Tom yum is a clear spicy soup that hails from Laos and Thailand. Along with the Peruvian pollo a la brasa restaurants that are popular in northern Virginia, Thai food is another cuisine that’s trendy in the area and also very near and dear to my heart. I can remember drinking Thai iced tea until my mouth was coated in the sweetened condensed milk and sugar and getting brain freezes while I waited for my order.

Mama Dazz, the Burt-man, and I usually shared an entrée such as the Pad Thai or the drunken noodles, and we each had an appetizer of soup of some kind. Depending if the Pad Thai was made with chicken, I ordered tom (soup) yum (spicy/sour salad) goong, or tom yum with shrimp. And if the entrée had shrimp, I had tom yum gai, or tom yum with chicken. Chili infused sesame seed oil droplets scattered along the surface, and the spices were perfectly balanced. The spicier it was, thought Mama Dazz and the younger me, the better. Then I had tom yam nam khon, similar to the previous soups only the broth is opaque from the coconut milk, and it became on of my favorite soups of all time.

This particular recipe is similar to my beloved tom yum nam khon, though it should not be confused with tom khai gai, or chicken galangal soup, simply because it has chicken as the main protein. Looking back, I’m surprised I didn’t use galangal for this recipe. We still have a vial of the powdered stuff we purchased from Penzeys Spices way back when and I think it would have brought a nice peppery fragrance to the broth.

What I love most about this soup is how simple and forgiving it is if you don’t have all of the ingredients. Since we frequent the international market every week, we typically have ingredients on hand for Asian, Hispanic, and Indian dishes that is typical in our household (concentrated fish extract or “fish sauce”, curry leaves, organ meats and pork belly, and more spices than you would believe). So if you don’t have particular ingredients on hand, that’s okay. The only thing you really need to consider is balancing hot with sour. If you don’t have kaffir lime leaves or tamarind paste, you can substitute it with lime juice, curry leaves, and apple cider vinegar, as I did. Any kind of dark and fleshy mushroom will work, but I’d recommend a species that has a meaty cap, minimal gills, and a slender stalk.

The only ingredient I was unsure about was how to prepare the lemongrass. I simply removed the outer layer of two stalks and thinly sliced the yellow bulbs, thinking it would soften. It added remarkable flavor… but I wouldn’t recommend trying to eat it unless you know how to cook it correctly. I didn't; and let me tell you, it’s extremely fibrous if you don’t.

All in all, it’s a taste-as-you-go kind of soup, and goes well with sticky rice, cellophane noodles, and a spicy marinated salad. Next time I'll make it just as any respectable lover of Thai food would, and I'll post the results.  

Tom Yum Nam Khan with Chicken

1 qt./946 ml Veggie stock or water
240 ml Coconut milk
5 ml Sand lance fish extract
15 ml Unrefined apple cider vinegar
Juice of 1/2 lime (save the remaining half for later)
2 Stalks Lemongrass, washed with outer layer and lower part of bulbs removed, then halved vertically
1 White onion, finely chopped
6 Curry leaves (or kaffir lime leaves)
82 g Maitake mushrooms, gently pulled apart and left whole
1 Jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped
1 lb Boneless and skinless chicken breast, cut into small slivers
16 Frozen shrimp, thawed
1 tsp. Red chili pepper flakes
1/4 tsp. Galangal, optional (but suggested)

Combine all of the ingredients into a large pot (except for the shrimp) and cook on medium heat until the chicken is fully cooked.
Remove the lemongrass stocks from the soup and discard.
Even pour out four servings into bowls and top with four shrimp, a quarter wedge from the remaining lime half, and carefully sprinkle the chili-infused sesame oil onto the surface. (The curry leaves are edible, but you can set them aside on the edges of the bowl if you wish.)

 Makes 4 servings.

Grain-Free Salmon Cakes

I can’t believe how sore I am after less than a week. Five days, and muscles I never knew existed are tender. It may have more to do with learning the mistakes I made on Tuesday and Friday, but on Wednesday I flew down the sidewalk, running despite the ache. I felt beyond empowered.

With the poster for my final project in Conflict Integration presented on Thursday, I’m surprised I’m not as openly stressed, especially after the all-nighter and the all day schedule that had me sleeping over twelve hours that evening. It may have to do with increasing my caloric intake per meal, and not clawing towards the next one when they were smaller. Even with one poster presentation down, and four papers plus two take-home essay exams to go, simply having a plan for my health has taken a lot of weight off my shoulders. 
   
It’s nice, having a plan for something.

This grain-free, low-carb whatchmacallit that I’m eating day-to-day is amazing! The boyfriend has gone on the slow-carb diet in Ferriss’ book, missing noodles, bread, other gluteny things, and not so gluteny things like cheese, but doing very well regardless. Our lunches have turned into similar beasts, and I’ve noticed that most of the dinners I’ve been making were s/low-carb anyway. All you had to do was take away the rice, quinoa, buckwheat, or various potatoes. But his binge day and my rest day are on Saturdays; it is also my day to enjoy all gluten free grains, fruits, and certain sweetener. It’s a day where guilt is not welcome and sleeping in is encouraged. It’s a day of wearing pajamas while working on various blog posts and schoolwork due next week. Oh... and Ikea.

I couldn’t wait for Saturday. You have no idea how much I’ve been looking forward to it. What carnage of epic proportions will I partake in? I don’t know yet. I thought it would have something to do with oats (which ended up being a two egg breakfast bake with half a banana), a Granny Smith with nut butter (nah…), tea with honey, rice with dinner, and pumpkin pie somewhere during the day (Burt-man ate it all).

We shall see.

There are moments where I’m thinking “Yeah! A grain-free free day!” followed by “Crap! A grain-free free day!” The FiveLac worked, all right, but all it did was kill the bad bacteria, with little to no good bacteria to be found. I’ve started taking enzymes again, and Mama Dazz was kind enough to order me enzymes specifically for digesting grains, so we’ll see where that goes. I actually like the grain-free eating. I’ve become rather innovative with recipes and what goes on my plate, as well as making things I never thought I would or could.  

Where Elana’s Pantry has almond flour, I have garbanzo bean flour. I’ve used it to make a socca breakfast bake (well, for everything socca really), as a thickener for sauces, as part of a pie crust ratio, and donuts. I love everything about this flour and what it brings to recipes. It’s dense, rich, and has a hint of savoryness that stands out beautifully in a plethora of dishes.

Take salmon cakes for example. I was absolutely craving salmon cakes, with a superb crunchy outside and an inside so flavorful you’ll be craving for more. It’s a delicious grain free and dairy free option perfect for the entire family.

Grain-free Salmon Cakes (Recipe adapted from The Joy of Cooking)

1 can (14.75 oz) Wild salmon (containing skin and bones), drained
2 Eggs, lightly beaten
1.6 oz Garbanzo bean flour
1/4 tsp. Sea salt
1/8 tsp. Spanish smoked paprika
1 Dill sprig, leaves removed from the stem and left relatively whole
10 (0.20 oz) Thai basil leaves
3 Garlic cloves
Olive Oil (Ghee or Coconut oil works too), for greasing

Plop the salmon meat in a large bowl and use a wire potato masher to fully integrate the skin and bones.
Fold in the eggs, garbanzo bean flour, salt, dill leaves, and paprika.
Chop the basil leaves and garlic cloves as finely as possible (I used a small food processor), and pour them in with the salmon cake mixture.
Separate the mixture into four distinct pieces and form them into thick patties (alternatively, you can make eight small patties).
Put a cast iron griddle pan on medium heat and add the oil.
Once the oil begins to smoke, put in the patties and cook two minutes per side.
Place them under the broiler and flip every other minute for a crispy exterior until cooked through.
Serve with a side of green beans and garnished with Dijon mustard or homemade mayonnaise.

Makes 4 – 8 salmon cakes. Serve 2 – 4 people.

The Cape

My travels in Cape Cod were beyond my expectations. We had no plan of what we were going to be doing those six days, no direction in where we were going, but we had a heading. We had a beginning, and that’s all we needed.

We stayed at the Barnacle Motel in West Dennis, and like the hotel we stayed in Marlborough it had a kitchen. The beauty of having stayed in the dorms with no kitchen at all, we adapted to having to move to a smaller room of the motel where all that was there was a stove and fridge-freezer. That was when we started our eating adventure where, for the first time in a long time, we weren’t the ones cooking.

We had coffee in a number of cafés and coffeehouses, not one of them Starbucks (only in Long Island). We had lobster. We had gluten free pizza. We ate at a completely gluten free establishment. We went to a swank bistro that used to be your typical household whose chef has a famous relative but is also famous in his own right.

Only at breakfast and on the road and at the beach did we eat the food we made ourselves, except for one dinner where scallops were involved.

So, where and what did Mama Dazz and I eat, you ask? I’ll tell you.

The Swan River Restaurant & Seafood market, Dennis Port: I don’t think it could’ve been a more genuine Cap Cod experience. I called the restaurant ahead of time to ask about reservations and what was gluten-free friendly, and all my questions were answered with a patient and understanding disposition from the woman who ended up being our waitress. I forgot to bring my camera to take pictures of the establishment and the 1.25 lb deep red lobster staring at me from my plate, including the dressing-less salad and the sea-salted baked potato. This was the first time that I recall ever having a fully intact lobster, but I was able to remove the majority – if not all – the sweet and tender meat from its shell. 

It was casual dining with a romantic view. We had seating along the water, and all of the windows were partially open to get that lovely warm and salty breeze throughout the establishment. Our waitress told us to keep our eyes peeled for the three-week-old baby bunnies hopping along the high grasses of the river’s edge. This restaurant was highly recommended by the owners of the Barnacle Motel, and I wholeheartedly agree with them. The seafood market next to the restaurant has a wide variety of freshly caught seafood, and the scallops we purchased were clean and succulent. If you call ahead, they can even steam lobster for you in fifteen minutes for a meal to go. 

Idgy’s Gluten Free Dining, South Yarmouth: You walk into this small café-looking establishment, with colorful chalk on blackboards serving as menus. To your left you have the breakfast and lunch menus, along with a weekly (or monthly, I do not recall which) special that a member of the staff created, vegan options and pizza. To your right, perpendicular to the display of delicious looking breads and baked goods, is the menu for the entrees and sandwiches. Mama Dazz and I both ordered a Beef Puff Pie, a beef stew inside a sturdier pâte à choux pastry. I informed the staff that, along with my gluten intolerance, I also did not handle soy or sugar well. Chelsi, the young woman behind the counter (and also the creator of that week’s special), checked often to make sure the puff pie was suitable, and it was. We also ordered a caprese salad, but they were wonderful enough to get us a new one because of the balsamic vinaigrette and I was uncertain of the ingredients. They didn’t charge us for the exchange, which was very kind of them.

What I loved most about the menu was its affordability. My jaw dropped at the prices, since veteran gluten-freers know exactly how expensive gluten free dining can become. But the inexpensive menu did not mean it lacked taste or quality, and I am now extremely optimistic about my future endeavors with owning an allergen-friendly restaurant striving for community cohesion. So if you are ever in South Yarmouth, head over to Idgy’s. Satisfaction is almost certainly guaranteed.

 
BZ’s Mexican Pizzeria, Dennis Port: At first we were planning on going to Paradise Pizza, where their gluten-free version of a pizza crust was a large potato latke. And that’s perfectly fine, but Mama Dazz and I were in search of a true pizza crust, gluten free but one that satisfied her gluten-sympathetic palate. We ordered an Arizona White with chicken, along with another naked house salad. The house salad came with a piece of bread on one side, one that was not gluten free. When the pizza came, I asked the waitress if she was certain it was gluten free. Mama Dazz took the first bite, assuring me that it was.

It tasted good, really good… until I read the ingredients. For those who cannot handle soy or sugar, this may not be the crust recipe for you. Soybean oil, sugar for feeding the yeast, egg replacer… for an hour or so after, my tummy grumbled and cramped uncomfortably. It was possibly more psychological than it was physical, but regardless I didn’t feel so hot after eating it and Mama Dazz’s feelings were hurt because she was the one who had recommended it and my explanations of why soy and sugar were a no-no. It could be, however, that because my thyroid is healing – and thus, the rest of my body is following suit – the pain was minimal and didn’t last very long.

But I do have a new favorite pizza, and I plan on making a Morri-friendly crust that will knock your socks off soon enough.

Blue Moon Bistro, Dennis Village: Probably my favorite and most expensive dinner was at the Blue Moon Bistro. I called ahead for reservations, and the only openings they had at 6:00 p.m. was either outside or at the bar. I made the decision to eat outside, and with a casual Sunday’s Best ensemble, we headed out to the restaurant. Our waitress, a young woman who I had also talked to on the phone about reservations and eating lifestyle, was offbeat and charismatic, with a willingness to help and make our dining experience as wonderful as possible. The bugs and the promise of rain was a constant worry, but the food… the food was magnificent.

The chef and owner of the restaurant is Peter Hyde, the second cousin of the late Julia Child. But he is a gastronomic genius in his own right, using fresh and local ingredients to make dishes that are out of this world.

We started off with drinks. Mama Dazz ordered watermelon ale whose brand escapes me and I had a glass of the Glascón Malbec from Argentina, tasting like a combination of a find-bodied Pinot Noir and Merlot.

While I was taking pictures of the kitchen and the home grown herbs, bread sticks and triangles came out with a duck confit with red wine reduction and white bean spread. I tried the confit and it is something I definitely want to make in the future.

In no time at all, our order came. My “George’s Bank Lined-Hooked Cod” came with charred onion and tomato soffrito, wild and basmati rice risotto, and blanched asparagus. I couldn’t find what Mama Dazz’s duck meal was called on their website, but she offered me a taste and, let me tell you, it was like butta’. We would have had coffee and stayed a while longer, but the bugs were relentless. If we had eaten inside, it would have scored five stars out of five. 

In the number of coffee places we went to, my favorite by far was at Café Al Fresco at the Lemon Tree Village, a shopping wonderland for those who love a change of pace and local artistries. Their cappuccino espresso base was smoky and rich without that burnt taste you find at chain coffee joints. Mama Dazz had a cannoli (not gluten free) along with her caffé breve, and the ambience was complete with sculptures and birdbaths at the neighboring stores.

The was, of course, The Cook Shop, filled to the brim with amazing cookware, bakeware, and special ingredients like whole vanilla bean and sauces.

All in all, from P-town to Dennis, Cape Cod is an amazing place that I’d like to make a tradition. It is a combination of old and new, where diversity is encouraged and the people are eccentric in the best way possible.

Curried Sweet Potato Oven Fries

After this week, I can happily say my summer funk has lifted. I spent the better part of two weeks in my pajamas, lethargic and bored out of my mind. As a Morri always on the go, I was saddened that my body didn’t want to exercise.

I felt like I wasn’t eating more than I usually did, but it was apparent my inactivity was physically and mentally taking a toll. For the majority of my journey in self-awareness I had only two speeds: stop and go. Everywhere I went I wholly put myself into the moment, then crashing as a result for days afterward. I learned to balance my highs and lows, to listen to my body when it was time to step back and give myself a break. But these days, with people coming by daily and my house is full of activity, I felt lazy by comparison. The only thing that kept me from watching cartoons all day was – you guessed it – cooking.

My two weeks of inaction was my time of self-reflection. In a few short weeks I’ll be at my internship, working with wonderful people at George Mason for a month. By August, I’ll be renting a house with the boyfriend and some friends, maybe with an animal or two. Finally, after this fall semester, I’ll have graduated, set out into the world with a degree and a dream. So I think I can safely tell you all that there are a lot of things going on in my near future.

Mama Dazz has been my go-to person to talk about these kinds of things (as mothers typically are) and she helped me put it into perspective. For one, I have learned to give myself some slack and to not punish myself for the things my body wants as a result. For another, I am an active person, and my way of relaxing is by being in motion.

Since I do not have access to the university’s gym this summer, I’m finding different ways to work out. When I was a little girl, the Burt-man tried to get me to play tennis, but I was never interested in the sport. But I was desperate. I needed to get outside, to feel the strain on my muscles and the sweat trickling down my face. I yearned to hear the playlist I made specifically for exercising.

Tennis has become my summer sport, to which a shocked Mama Dazz looks at me and says, “Who are you and what have you done with my daughter?”

She was right about one thing, though; giving your whole self a break is good for the soul. Truthfully, I was in a funk for most of it, but my creations in the kitchen have definitely been some of my best works yet.

I now have an outlet for my body, a way to keep myself balanced and mobile, but I am learning the art of doing nothing (i.e., relaxing) when there is nothing to do, to accept and trust that my body is resting for a reason, and to enjoy being still.

Even when I’m not in the mood to play, at least I have refuge in preparing meals for the people I love.

Curried Sweet Potato Oven Fries

3 medium Sweet potatoes, peeled, quartered, and slice (each potato can be made into 32 pieces)
2 tsp Garlic, finely grated
1/2 tsp. Sea salt
1/2 tsp. Garam Masala (or curry powder)
1 dash Cayenne
3 tbsp. Olive oil (or flaxseed oil)
1 tbsp. Orange juice

Preheat the oven to 400°F.
In a large plastic bag, add all of the ingredients and shake the bag until the sweet potato strips are equally coated.
On a greased baking pan, spread out the strips on a single layer.
Roast the fries for 45 minutes to an hour, turning them over at the 25-minute mark.

Makes 96 fries and can serve 3 to 6 people.

"Love Incarnate" White Bean and Kielbasa Stew

To celebrate the one-month anniversary of this blog, I want to take a moment, step back, and really reflect what Meals with Morri has done for me. As Finals (with a capital “F”) are mere days away, other stresses have come at me in waves to the point that I’m questioning my place in this beautiful world of ours. For one brief moment I wondered if this blog was worth it, and the calorie counting and poor body image reared their obnoxious heads. I know people visit this site, and for that I am honored, but it suddenly occurred to me why I was doing this.

I’m not posting recipes and taking pictures of food for recognition or popularity. I’m not competing with other bloggers to see how many times my blog is visited for the rush of being heard. I have no ulterior motive other than sharing my experiences, insights, and recipes with the rest of the world.

This blog has been in the making for a little over a year. I would have started posting sooner, only I had been in Sweden and simply surviving abroad took up plenty of my time. Then, I dropped my point-and-shoot digital camera, so I waited until I had enough money to buy a digital SLR camera. In the meantime, I adjusted to life back at Mason, purchased a Bento box and food scale. I met up with old friends, making new ones along the way. And after my beautiful camera finally came… well, the rest is history.

On Thursday I witnessed something that upset me greatly. As I was walking to class there was a ring of students around an individual, laughing and calling out things I couldn't hear. The individual was a man who he and others like him go to colleges around the country to “Preach the Good Word”, essentially harassing the students with verbal abuse until one cracks and takes a swing. I kid you not, people use a good idea to sue universities.

It wasn’t the response from the students that angered me, but the fact they gave him the attention he wanted. This man was shouting out words of intolerance, so filled with the h-word and not at all what that philosophy was originally about. When the three-hour class let out for break, he was still there, shouting at the top of his lungs. The students laughed, and I was near tears.

Part of me wanted to buy the man some water (because all that screaming must be hard on the vocal cords). That same part of me wanted to get in the middle of the circle with the man, and do what he was not. I wanted to spread love and shout it to the heavens, to tell every single person (even the h-word driven man) that they are loved and cherished. Images of me spreading compassion and acceptance with encouraging messages tied to flowers came to mind.

I just may do that.

Please don’t misunderstand me, however; a “Good Word” of any idea, religion, or discipline that preaches togetherness and love for the world is wonderful. And I have no problem with people doing that on campus, be they Christian, Agnostic, Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish, Hindu, Pagan, etc. But this man was doing no such thing. He was preaching his agenda where the love should’ve been. What I saw was h-word in action.

You may have noticed that I am using "h-word" instead of spelling out the word that rhymes with plate. This unwelcoming and counterproductive word has no place on this blog (except for here, and it was to quote Charles M. Schultz). This blog is about what happens in my life revolving around health, food, fitness, and healing. That is why I don’t use bad language or discuss politics or religion in detail. Yes, I’m a spiritual person. Yes, I have personal opinions regarding my existence and the world around me. But my answer to that is: “Hey, who doesn’t?”

I want people from all over the world to visit this blog, regardless of age, ethnicity, religion, and political views, for the recipes and a brief moment or two knowing what it is like to be me. Nothing more, wonderful readers, and nothing less. Should I stray away from this promise, if I use the blasted h-word (other than to quote someone), send me an email and I will correct it.

After Thursday’s class let out, you can bet your bottom dollar I was bummed. It was dinner with the folks for the week, and the boyfriend was due to come by. I wanted to make something that was comforting and filling the void where the man’s words had dug into my being. There was so much change happening in my life, and I wanted the open arms only loved ones can give.

I wanted the warmth of a kitchen, and this recipe was exactly what a Down-in-the-dumps Morri needed.

Above all else, lovely readers, thank you for making this month such an enlightening experience, with plenty more months to come.

"Love Incarnate" White Bean and Kielbasa Stew

32 oz Veggie stock
8 oz Dry white wine (I used Pinot Grigio)
1 tbsp. Olive oil
30 oz (2 cans) White kidney beans
16 oz (1 bag) Frozen petite peas
14.5 oz (1 can) Roasted tomatoes with green chiles
3 Garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
1 – 2 oz Frozen chopped spinach
1 Medium white onion, diced
8 Frozen colossal wild shrimp, raw
12 oz Kielbasa, chopped into bite sized pieces
1/2 tsp. Sea salt
1/4 tsp. Pepper 
3 Bay leaves   
1/4 tsp. Sage
1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning
Pinch of Tarragon

Place the ingredients (excluding the shrimp and kielbasa) in a large cooking pot or pressure cooker on medium heat.
When the liquid comes to a boil, add in the shrimp.
Once the shrimp are fully cooked, take them out and set aside.
Place the kielbasa in with the rest of the ingredients and let the stew cook up to an hour.
After an hour (more or less), the beans will have thickened the broth, and will be ready to eat.
Serve with the shrimp and a dollop of sour cream on top (I heartily recommend eating it with gluten-free rice Pad Thai noodles, but it is delicious without).

Serves 4 with a definite chance of leftovers. 

Zuppa Di Cozze & Savory Fritter Flatbread

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It has been less than a week since Meals with Morri began, and already I am noticing how much my perception of food and cookery has changed. I am making things that never would have occurred to me otherwise. Everywhere I go, everything I do, everyone I see inspires me in some shape or form.

Tonight’s dinner is a perfect example.

As mentioned in previous posts, the way I show love and respect for others (and myself) is through cooking. Laugh all you like, but I put as much love and good vibes as I can into every stage of preparing a meal. Even when I’m merely dicing a garlic clove or shimmying a spice or two into a bubbling concoction, I’m thinking happy thoughts. Why? Personally, I believe it gives food an extra taste of deliciousness. That, and it’s downright therapeutic for the wonderful person (That’s right, I’m talking to you, hon!) going out of their way to making a meal special.

And the equally wonderful people you made it for?  They’re definitely feeling the love.

 I had been planning tonight’s menu since last Saturday. Mama Dazz and I were out on our weekly food-shopping excursion when we stumbled upon frozen mussels on a half shell by the Harris Teeter seafood counter. Typically we only go there to get toilet paper, paper towels, and other random knickknacks, but she saw them and asked if I would be interested in using them for some romantic dinner in the near future. Since I had never cooked with mussels before, and am never one to turn down being romantic, I took on the challenge.

The next day, I had a cookbook and a recipe.

Italian Family Recipes from The Romagnolis’ Table is a delightful cookbook. Mama Dazz’s copy was printed in 1974, but it is clear this book has been used since then. The edges of the cover are torn in some places, and the front picture is faded slightly. There are bookmarks of different fashions (from tabs to folded pieces of paper to a Washington Dulles International Airport Washington flyer taxi receipt from 2002) for favorite recipes of old and pencil markings by specific ingredients listed.

And the best part about this charming book? Many of their recipes are naturally gluten free (or easily modified), and Mama Dazz showed me the one she thought I should try.

Zuppa di cozze is Italian for “mussel soup.” But to quote Margaret and G. Franco Romagnoli, it “is only a literal translation that in no way can indicate the delicate and exciting flavor of the dish.” And they are absolutely right. There are less than ten ingredients in the soup, and takes less than half an hour to make. In fact, prepping the ingredients took longer, simply because I had to ask my neighbor if they had a corkscrew while wearing my Monty Python killer rabbit slippers.

But I was determined. I was going to be romantic, darn it, even if it killed me. The boyfriend, also known as the man-man and other things equally as silly and embarrassing, was due to arrive in twenty minutes. I had this image in my head of how I wanted the dish to look, including the fritter-flatbread thing I wanted to incorporate for ultimate sauce absorption. As I was making two recipes that I’ve never made before for one meal, let’s just say the counter and stovetop looked like a war of the ingredients had just been declared.

It was all worth it, though. With over 200 recipes, I’ll definitely be looking to this cookbook again for inspiration. In fact, Pasta e ceci looks pretty good…

Zuppa di cozze

1 lb / 16 Frozen mussels on a half shell

2 – 3 tbsp. Olive oil

2 Garlic cloves, finely diced

1/4 tsp. Red pepper flakes

2 c. Peeled plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped

1/2 c. Italian dry white wine (I wholeheartedly recommend Gaetano d'Aquino’s Pinot Grigio)

1/2 tsp. Sea salt

2 – 4 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

Put the oil in a big soup pot.

Add the garlic and red pepper flakes, and sauté over medium heat.

When the garlic reaches a nice golden brown, add the tomatoes, wine, and salt.

Cook for 4 minutes, raise the heat to medium-high, and place the mussels throughout the soup pot in a way that they can evenly cook and are slightly dunked into the liquid.

Cover the pot and let the mussels cook for about 10 minutes.

Once the mussels are fully cooked, add the parsley, stir carefully, and serve in big soup bowl with slices of bread (or the following recipe).

Serves 2 (a romantic dinner).

Savory Fritter Flatbread

*I used Ruhlman’s fritter ratio for this recipe. It’s not technically a fritter, as it doesn’t have a garnish to go along with it, and is more of a savory pancake… thing. Anyway, it performed its function marvelously (which was to sop up the remaining juices at the bottom of the bowl). I’m going to try a different liquid and/or flour combination next time, but the fritter’s pancake-like look and feel to it (without a garnish) was very appealing.

1 oz Quinoa flour

1 oz Millet flour

1 oz Amaranth flour

1 oz Arrowroot starch

1 tsp. Baking powder

1/4 tsp. Sea salt

Freshly ground pepper, to taste

4 oz Vegetable stock (or water, milk, etc.)

1 large egg

A smidgen or two Cumin and Curry powder (optional)

Combine the flour, salt, pepper, baking powder, and spices.

Combine the stock and egg into the flour mixture, and whisk until thoroughly combined.

On a greased skillet, pour the desired amount of batter* (I used a 1/4 c. measuring cup and filled it half way) over a medium heat until done.

Makes 8.