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I made this last weekend for a few friends. It’s simple, delicious, healthy, and edible for those who have various food allergies. I always intend to share more recipes on here, but I was particularly inspired to share this one by my wonderful trainer, Kyle Golden at Workit Training.
Grilled Quinoa Salad
- 1 bunch asparagus (I used the purple haze from WF Market)
- 2 large zuchinni, quartered lengthwise
- 1 large red bell pepper, quartered lengthwise
- 1 medium yellow onion, cut in half crosswise
- handful of yellow sunburst cherry tomatoes, cut in half
- 2 C. dry quinoa
- 4 C. vegetable broth
I used my double-burner Le Creuset cast iron griddle, but you could easily grill on your outdoor grill.
Brush vegetable, except tomatoes, with fresh lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Brush grill with olive oil. Grill vegetable, except tomatoes, for roughly 10 minutes or until tender, turning once. Cook quinoa in vegetable broth according to directions. I usually let it come to a rolling boil, cover, turn heat to low, and simmer for 15 minutes or until liquid has evaporated. Chop grilled vegetable into bite size pieces. Toss vegetables, tomatoes, and quinoa in a large bowl. Top with more fresh lemon juice, salt, pepper, and fresh herbs. Garnish with goat cheese if you like!
Last night I watched the film Surfwise and it made me start thinking more about my lifestyle and the lifestyle that Cory and I will provide for Archer. Surfwise is a documentary on Doc Paskowitz and his family of 11 who traveled the country in a 24′ camper, surfed daily and eventually started a well-renowned surfing camp. The film is rich with potentially dichotomous ideas on health, education, sex, success, religion, and, of course, child-rearing. I started out being greatly inspired by Doc’s choice to separate his children from public education and American materialism and instill in them a strong value of health. However, as the film progresses, it becomes clear that that there are serious repercussions for his choices.
As with so many things, I believe balance is the key. I know I will never be able to convince Cory to sell everything and take off on an unknown adventure with me and the (soon-to-be) kids. But, I still plan to travel on a regular basis and provide my children with experiences similar to my childhood. I know that I want to raise my children to value good nutrition and exercise, but there will be times when we eat tex-mex at Trudy’s (Cory’s favorite) or order pizza. I hope to balance that by getting their help with the garden and exposing them to produce that I only became familiar with in the past 5 years such as beets, fennel, kale, chard, and turnips, etc. I would rather not put my children in public school, but that decision may take a back seat to other family values and I think that parents are just as responsible as schools for their child’s education. The public school system doesn’t teach you to manage money, change a tire, or develop a good work ethic. As an adult educator I know that there is only so much you can do for students. If they insist on doing the very least possible to pass, then so be it. When students are young, it should be the responsibility of the parent to inspire curiosity, motivation, and an active interest in the world around them. If you’re apathetic, you’ll have apathetic children.
Of course, I may look back on this in 5, 10, 15 years and laugh at how naive I was. There is no way to know for sure what kind of parent you will be or how your children will turn out until it’s already happened. We all just do the best we can do, right? Still, as a soon-to-be parent, it is fascinating to me to consider which parts of my personality developed from nature versus nurture and to witness so many examples of how parents affect their children. To some extent, children are born as little pieces of clay that we mold even when we are not intending to do so. They go out into the world and continue to be shaped by their experiences and we hope that the impressions we’ve made are not completely destroyed in the process.
I recently had the pleasure of attending a presentation by Diana O’Connell that my trainer arranged at the Wild Basin Preserve before our group hike. I’d like to think I know more than the average bear about nutrition, although I can’t say that I always put that wisdom to use in my own lifestyle. Even so, Diana made a couple of points that really stuck with me.
While it goes without saying that too much of anything can be bad for your health, I’ve never fully understood what is so bad about coffee. It is mostly water and I drink it with light vanilla soy milk only, so I’m not getting the ridiculous calorie intake of, say, a venti caramel macchiato from Starbucks. I also only drink about 1-2 cups in the morning, so my caffeine intake is not comparable to an IV drip like some people I know.
I’ve read that since coffee is a diuretic, it can dehydrate you. I’ve also read that the amount of fluid lost from coffee (or tea) is inconsequential. I’ve read that coffee has a myriad of benefits from reduction of risk of diabetes to parkinson’s disease, so why all the fuss over a few boiled beans?
Diana really helped to put it into perspective. Our liver, kidneys, and other parts of our body’s systems that filter toxins can only take so much. Even if you have the most impeccable diet in the world, you are still absorbing toxins from the air you breathe and everything that touches your skin. Since most of us are not perfect and cannot eat only organic produce, or completely abstain from processed foods, our detox systems are working overtime to keep our bodies free of anything internalized through our digestive system AND all of the latest and greatest chemicals and preservatives in our personal care and cleaning products, AND anything that may be absorbed through our skin or lungs when we’re out and about in the world. That’s some serious overtime.
When there is too much toxic waste for our bodies to dispose of properly, it starts to wreck all kinds of things including organs that control our hormones, our cells’ metabolic rate, and our body’s ability to communicate with the brain in an effective manner and it’s ability to regulate itself. Hence, the crash-and-burn effect after too much caffeine, alcohol, or unhealthy foods.
However, in the end, there is a certain amount of pleasure that comes from a hot mug of coffee first thing in the morning. Diana conceded that it isn’t worth denying yourself some small thing if it will make you bonkers for the rest of the day. So, while there are days that I go without coffee completely, I feel quite a bit better about my single cup with light soy on those days when I would be going for someone’s jugular without it.
P.S. If you’re ever in the mood for a beautiful, quiet nature hike, Wild Basin Preserve is a great place to visit!
I’ll admit, I used to be a smoker. Albiet a “social smoker”, I was a smoker nonetheless. I was recently talking to a friend of mine who works in the medical field about how bad cigarettes are for your health and she mentioned the lethal combination of smoking and birth control. Upon digging a little further, I feel as if I’ve been a walking timebomb and never knew it.
We all know cigarettes are bad for us and for those who are not ready to quit smoking, I don’t believe there is much more you can say to get them to quit unless they are ready to quit for themselves. However, I would have quit long ago if I had encountered a gynecologist who truly cared about my health. It was always phrased to me that cigarettes would decrease the effectiveness of the birth control, not that I might have a heart attack. My friend informed me that she had a patient come in to their office who had a heart attack at 35 years-old because she was a heavy smoker and used birth control. Come to find out, your risk for heart attack increases 30 times when you combine the two. And it’s not just heart attacks that you’re at risk for. Your chance for blood clots increases as well as general heart disease. One of those little suckers gets loose and you could be looking at some serious brain damage!
I’m not one for scare tactics, so I’ve listed some helpful resources below. My main reason for addressing this is that I have been on low-dose birth control for over 10 years and not once has a gyno mentioned that I was putting myself at such high risk. I understand that any medication has side-effects and birth control has it’s fair share, but I think increasing your risk of heart disease (dare I say, death?!) should be something you mention to your patients.
The most helpful article I have found on the matter is at Stop Smoking. There is even more information regarding the effect of cigarettes on your fertility and fetus at Contraception Online and details on birth control and all its side-effects at eMedicine Health.
