fitness

Sam makes peace with kale and quinoa

Sam B

Tracy broke up with chocolate. Not me. Me, I broke up with kale and quinoa.

We’re big on liking things around here. About exercise we say, find the thing you love. If you don’t love it, don’t do it.

Ditto with food. Eating shouldn’t be a duty.

Kale and quinoa were starting to feel that way.

Truth be told, it was probably in part due to all the special meals that I get served as a vegetarian. People get excited about the special efforts it took to get me a bowl of kale and quinoa. “It’s a complete protein, you know.” I think that’s a myth,

Also, I really hate salads where you expect edible vegetables and instead you get kale. Kale Caesars are an abomination.

But then my GoodFood box arrived this week and of the three meals, one had kale and the other quinoa. True, I made the deconstructed lasagna that had neither kale nor quinoa first. But the other two were delicious.

The seared tofu and broccoli salad was amazing even though it contained quinoa. Turns out that peanut sauce helps.

Ditto the Bibimbap that contained kale. Turns out when you steam it, it’s actually edible and has that nice green taste I associate with spinach, broccoli, collard greens etc. Yum! Thanks Sarah for knowing how to cook it.

I’m beginning to see advantages to knowing how to cook. The GoodFood boxes help. I won’t say I enjoy cooking just yet. But I like the food I’m eating as a result. Kale, quinoa, you’re forgiven for now.

See also:

Just cook! (And help me out…) –

Sam dislikes cooking (and she’s not alone)

My aspirational cookbook problem

Published by Sam B

Philosopher, feminist, parent, and cyclist! Co-founder of Fit Is a Feminist Issue, co-author of Fit at Mid-Life: A Feminist Fitness Journey, published by Greystone Books.

6 thoughts on “Sam makes peace with kale and quinoa”

  1. I had no idea you’d never tried cooked kale, only raw. When cooked it shrinks into the background like spinach or Swiss chard.

  2. Plus I’ve not completely broken up with chocolate. I just don’t love it anymore. I still like it. And eat it. 😊

    1. Right. I get that. But it was the break up letter I was responding to. Maybe you just down graded chocolate from regular partner to occasional fling!

  3. OMG – kale is wonderful when cooked and the Devil’s spawn when raw. I grow a lot of kale (3 different varieties – dwarf green, Russian Red and Cavalo Nero) as well as chard (Swiss, Vulcan and Rainbow), both of which I love, but I really can’t imagine eating much of them raw. In contrast, kale that’s been blanched (i.e. plunged into boiling water for < 1 minute, then drained – and here we're assuming that you've stripped the green leafy stuff from the hard stems, not simply chopped the whole lot as ignorant folk seem to do), and is then sauteed in butter (driving the excess water off), then dressed with a little lemon juice and black pepper is fabulous. It's also a great basis for a meal – add a couple of previous cooked salad potatoes (and potatoes are much better for you and your gut flora and fauna if you cook them and cool them in the fridge before use – so bulk cook them), some fried tofu or tempeh/chopped hardboiled egg/grilled fish (depending on your dietary preferences) for a complete nourishing and filling meal.

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