On the heels of my reflections about metaphor while reading Whole, a quick poetry update about my forthcoming chapbook if a sparrow: I got my first sales update this weekend, and I am happy to report I have enough sales for a press run of 250. This also means, since the advanced sales period for my book extends until July 26, that I now have a shot at a press run of 500 (something I didn’t think was possible when this all began). So if you were thinking of preordering if a sparrow, and you haven’t gotten around to it yet, you can do that right here . My heartfelt thanks to everyone who already preordered and helped me make the quota for the 250 mark!! I am deeply honored and grateful for your support.
I am also happy to report that before I dove into Whole I finally read Eat to Live. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover I am much more of a nutritarian than I might have thought. Just one who eats more starch than recommended in Dr. Fuhrman’s six week plan. I was reassured by these words he wrote about eating whole starches (in my case gluten free), which have not been an issue for me in terms of weight or symptoms: “Many can still achieve an ideal body weight by cutting out refined starches only, such as white bread and pasta, without having to limit starchy vegetables to just one serving. Your diet should be adjusted to your metabolic needs and your activity level.”
I was even more surprised to read that the concept of true hunger makes perfect sense to me. And I was delighted by the colorful and crunchy combinations of veggies and fruits in the recipe section. One especially appealing combination came in the salad section. It featured asparagus and mushrooms, beets, and a crunchy favorite I realized I hadn’t had in a long time: mung bean sprouts. Suddenly I couldn’t wait to walk over to the co-op and fill in the gaps so I could put all the veggies listed into my salad that night.
I thought about trying the Creamy Sesame Seed Dressing that goes with the salad, but in the end I wanted something a bit lower fat, maybe a little sweet, and well, orange. It just seemed like the color and flavor to go with the veggies I’d be assembling. The obvious choice for making a dressing sweet and orange, is, of course, an orange. I was reaching for that orange when I happened to look down. Under my outstretched arm was a basket of minneola tangerines. My open hand froze in place before I picked up an orange. Then I brought it back and picked up a tangerine. Hefted it. Smelled it. (My Italian and French ancestry makes it difficult for me to resist picking any fruit or vegetable out without giving it a good handling.) The tangerine felt perfectly ripe in my hand, and I saw it was the perfect size for me to hand juice it easily. And it smelled heavenly. I bought two. And here is the dressing I came up with.
Creamy Tangerine Sweet Potato Dressing
Two tangerines, zested and juiced
1-1/2 tbs of almond meal (leftover from making almond milk)
1 large medjool date, pitted and soaked
½ tbs of chickpea miso
1 clove of garlic
2 tbs of almond milk
2 pecans
¼ strawberry infused wine vinegar or rice vinegar, or more to taste
soaking water from date (about ¼ cup)
about 1/4-1/3 cup of cooked peeled sweet potato
tangerine zest
Soak your date in warm water for a few minutes, longer if it’s hard. Start with the smaller amounts listed of vinegar, sweet potato and soaking water. Combine everything but all the tangerine zest in a blender. If it’s too sweet, add a little more vinegar, a tablespoon at a time. If it’s not thick enough, add a little more sweet potato, a tablespoon at time. If it’s really not sweet enough for you, add another soaked date. Adjust to your own taste preference. Stir in the rest of the tangerine zest. Pour into a jar and refrigerate. Use on any salad of your choice. Mine was a big layer of arugula and red russian baby kale, water sauteed mushrooms and asparagus, red bell pepper, red onion, choggia and red beet slices (I roasted the beets whole first in baking parchment, then peeled them under cold water), mung bean sprouts and water chestnuts. It went crunch-sweet-crunch with every bite. My favorite salad-sound-taste.
Bottom layer of greens with dressing drizzled over them
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