59 recipes down, 178 days to go

Thursday, December 3rd.

Last night I made another delicata squash and kale salad; the one from The First Mess was so delicious (see previous post). This was the delicata squash, millet and kale salad with lemon-tahini dressing (a seperate recipe) from Oh She Glows.

I was actually all resigned to use quinoa in place of millet, because turns out, millet is an unfindable item on Amazon, Whole Foods. Somehow, my dad was able to find this grain, and his groceries arrived just in time! Another grain added to our diverse pantry selection. Hehe. I'm glad I was able to use millet. It lended a nuttier, chewier element to the salad because of it's coarse texture.

The addition of millet to this salad made it much heartier than the previous one. Just a small plateful made a filling dinner I found. It makes enough to serve at least four people generously, despite the "Serves 3" given.

I quite liked the shallots cooked with the delicata squash in the previous salad so I took Angela up on her tip of roasting the diced red onion with the squash. I also decided to toss it all with the parsley, to cook. I have learned from the recipes I've made so far that cooked parsley doesn't cause the same aversion that raw does. The flavors of thyme and rosemary cooked with the delicata squash was wonderful, so I thought adding parsley would be similar in boosting the flavor. I damned myself for throwing away the leftover rosemary, because I'd thought there'd be no use for it. I could have thrown it in with the squash for this salad!

...

I didn't get to finish this post; I was interrupted during lunch the following day when I was typing it up, and it is only now (exactly four weeks later!) that I am sitting down to type up the rest. You know, my plan was to type posts for recipes the night of... and that's what I had planned for this recipe...

Long story short, it was around 9:30 pm that I was sitting down to eat this salad; hungry out of my mind, whole body achy and wearied out. So I didn't follow through on my plan; no way josé was I going to be able to write anything that night.

Why did I end up eating so late you might ask?

Other than that there's not enough hours in the day... and starting in the kitchen at around 7:30 pm because that was when I'd gotten down after taking a highly rushed shower after softball. But it wasn't supposed to take two hours, so...

Well, on Sunday our main kitchen sink clogged. The very convenient one, right next to the counter I use for my cooking endeavors. The one where we wash and pile all the dishes. I'm afraid all those peels from the delicious pot-roasted celery root I made that night (see previous post) were the final straw. Our old, beloved sink couldn't take any more. So, little did I know that would turn out to be my last recipe using that sink for a while...

A plumber had come earlier in the day on Thursday, but wasn't able to fix it. Gosh, out of order signs can be so frustrating, and here it was in our kitchen, whoopie! Then, a week after this recipe, a different plumber came. And wasn't able to fix it. That was a bit of a major disappointment...

"Why weren't they able to fix it?" I asked my dad.

The verdict: a hole would have to be drilled in the wall... it would not be cheap. Basically, it would be a while. Don't hold your breath.

In case you're wondering, it's still out of order.

When the clog first occurred, it seemed terrible. How was I going to be able to cook anything? How would everything go on?

Go on it did. By everyone using and sharing the tiny sink on the far counter. The sink where we made the dogs breakfast (stinky!), and washed our hands. It would now be the only one.

It seemed an incredible pain in the ass that first night I was making this recipe. I had to bring over two pieces of kale to rinse at a time, sometimes having to wait patiently for my family members to finish their business. I made 4 rounds before all the kale pieces were cleaned off. Walking back and forth across the kitchen, dripping some water on the floor in the process.

I have now successfully cooked a multitude more recipes and have become adapted to the inconvenienced set-up. It can work.

That's what I've learned from this. To make do. Now it will seem like an incredible luxury when our big sink is working again.

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The dressing for this salad (a seperate recipe) is what took this salad to absolute heaven and beyond.

The lemon-tahini dressing; made with a whole lot of fresh lemon juice and tahini, a garlic clove, a good amount of nutritional yeast, sesame oil, water, and salt; turned out wonderfully thick and creamy. I love the flavor of tahini, and the lemon took it up a whole nother notch in rich, tanginess. It was also super duper easy to make, just throwing all the ingredients together in a food processor. (though then I did have to clean the food processor!!). Can I add that this is also one of Angela Liddon's all-time favorite salad dressings?

The most time consuming part was having to open a brand new bottle of tahini, which meant the dreaded process of stirring it all together because of oil separation. I was so hungry, I licked the knife clean afterwards.

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Because kale is so hardy, an important step in the making of a delicious kale salad is softening the leaves by letting the salad sit with the dressing mixed in. Only a little bit of the dressing was mixed into the leaves. The rest was to be poured on after adding everything else, just before serving. While it sat (for 10-15 minutes), instead of typing up my post like I was planning, I was a nice sister.

My brother needed me to do a dancing video with him for an advisory thing. He was very insistent, saying he would wait until after I had eaten to have me do it with him. It was already really late, as you know (around 9 pm), and I didn't know how much longer it would be until then, considering how much longer than I'd expected it had already taken me to get up to that step. I had originally told my brother I would be done eating at 8:30!

I had a ton of things to clean, celery to chop, pepita seeds to toast, salad to assemble, and pictures to take before I would be able to eat. I didn't want him hovering over me, I didn't want the extra pressure of feeling rushed, and I wanted to enjoy eating this salad which I had put so much time into making. I also felt bad since I wanted to help him out.

So, I said heck, I'll just do it right now. Then you can go to bed.

I threw on a sweatshirt over my super loose pjs (the top hung down too low to be appropriate, and I wasn't wearing a bra!). I re-tied my damp hair, which at that point was a mess falling out of my scrunchie. And I put on a smile on my face to hide the grumpy, hangry-ness overwhelming me at that point.

Despite that, it was fun.

The pepita seeds burned, so I had to toast another batch. Bummer.

And then like a dream (I was so far gone by that point), I had a plate of salad I'd served in front of me. I was sitting down (relief)... and eating!

Eating it warm that night, I thought it was even more delicious than the last kale salad. I liked the delicata squash cut a little thicker like I cut it this time. The recipe had me cook the delicata squash for 30 minutes, which was the perfect time, this time. Just the right amount of softness. And the dressing... wow.

I was the only indulger that night. My dad had some for lunch the next day. He liked it a lot. However he told me, I think I liked the previous salad you made a little better. Well, you didn't taste this one warm! (warm tastes best)

I still thought the leftovers served from the fridge were delicious.

I can't wait for the next opportunity I get to make this salad again. Hopefully it will take less time (second time around usually does, I've found), and I won't eat nearly as late and be as hungry and anxious while making it. Even so, it was worth it.