This episode addresses the opportunities we have to create new beginnings at any time, without being confined by time markers based on a calendar. And we will literally (and metaphorically) build a master salad as we explore the process of reinvention. Whether you've set out this new year crushing your goals or need a little extra motivation, this discussion will energize you and provide perspective for you to continue to take that first step.
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Episode Transcript:
Feed your fire, a podcast from Kim Baker Studios that dives into self discovery and personal fulfillment through the shared experience of food.
I'm Kim Baker, founder of Kim Baker Foods, and this is Feed Your Fire. It's a bit of a mash up discussion about life topics and food. Sometimes we'll cook, other times we'll just eat, but in each episode, we'll share stories and have a conversation that pushes us further in our relationship with ourselves and other people to us, food is the connective tissue in life, and it's so much fun. Feel free to just listen or cook with us.
In January, we're all accustomed to the idea of using a calendar shift as a time to begin something new, to set goals, to take on healthier habits, or to make progress on that thing you've been procrastinating on. Sometimes we set out the gate and we crush it. We were just ready. We had the clarity we needed. We were disciplined and focused, and we created the momentum that we needed to move to the next step.
But a beginning, by definition, is a moment in time or space, and that means the time markers, like a new year, are only one measure, and beginnings can occur at any moment. The way something starts does not dictate how it will end, and we have the power to influence the process continuously and to re begin at any moment time and time again.
I was remembering the New Year's Eve when my friend Sarah and I got into a taxicab accident in New York City on our way out, we still had a fabulous night together, and the disastrous beginning is ironically, what made it so memorable.
And then there was the year I had planned a quiet New Year's Eve to myself with the idea of enjoying an evening soak in the tub with a glass of wine and taking an early morning walk with my dog. And then the tub stopper refused to hold water from draining out of the bath, and my dog got triggered by a passer by dragging me at least 10 feet on the rock hard pavement with her leash, not the best start. At that moment, I did wonder if it was a sign of what was to come. But then I found myself empowered by the different ways I could interpret that moment and that I could re begin it right then and there with the halo of good fortune that I didn't end up in the ER.
So as I was thinking about the food that we would share in today's episode, I thought it would be nice to lean into the idea of re-beginnings and to find inspiration together through the process of reinvention.
So many amazing foods are actually made from something that began as something else. Remember the vegetable stock that I made for the mushroom soup in episode one from the stuff I had in my fridge. Soup, as a general concept, is built on the idea of repurposing what isn't being used and sort of starting again. How about all the things that you can do with stale bread, Panzanella, crostini, croutons, French toast.
And since it's January and it's a time of year when healthy foods, and in particular, the salad, is typically celebrated. We're going to make a fabulous salad today from the unique combination of small bits of otherwise unused ingredients that we have in our fridge to honor how we can create opportunities to re begin at any time.
I do have a slight advantage here, because, admittedly, my fridge is sort of a hoarder's delight. It's never sparse. There's always a remnant or random ingredient to be found, and it's typically filled to the brim. So you'll have to see what you have and use your imagination. What I don't have a lot of today are fresh greens. And so we're going to create a salad base from sweet potato. Potato and some leftover rice, and then everything else will be sort of an accent.
I'm going to begin by taking this sweet potato and giving it a rough dice and then tossing it with some olive oil, salt and pepper, and throwing it in the air fryer for maybe 15 minutes, and that'll get it tender and a little bit crispy. Now, the rice I don't have to make. It's already made. I'm just going to warm it up in the microwave. I do sort of wish that I had some quinoa, but the rice will have to do and again, this is a fluid process, and that's kind of the beauty of it. So don't get hung up if you don't have exactly what you want.
What you want is a contrast. Contrast is good. We want a mixture of textures and complimentary flavors and maybe some things that are unexpected. What do you have that's a little bit salty or sour that can create dimension, interestingly, in a salad and even in life, that unexpectedness, that complexity, is actually what makes it better.
In culinary school, there was a module that we studied on salads, mostly the classics like a Cobb salad or Caesar. And there are different types of salads. So the Cobb salad, for example, is what's considered a composed salad, where all the ingredients are neatly partitioned separately. And then there are salads where everything sort of gets tossed together, because this meal is a bit of a metaphor. We're gonna go with the toss salad because we are embracing things that might be considered a little bit messy, but are nonetheless every bit as delicious.
I would have loved some brussels sprouts here, but I don't have any, so I'm going to chop up some celery. I'm going to slice it super, super thin to give the salad some bite. And I've got an apple that I'm going to small dice, maybe a half an apple, and I'm going to add in some cashews, which have almost like a creamy nuttiness, and a handful of arugula, so it's got a bit of a peppery punch.
Now, you can't see what I have in my fridge, but I haven't just thrown everything that I had into a bowl. I also have mushrooms and broccoli and cheese that could have made sense, but I'm staying focused on using a relatively small number of intentional ingredients. Use whatever makes sense to you, but be judicious.
I'm going to whip up a simple salad dressing. You can certainly use something that's store bought, or make a quick vinaigrette. I want something creamy today, so I'm going to start with some apple cider vinegar. I'm going to put a little bit of Dijon mustard, some shallot, maybe about a half to a quarter of a shallot, depending on its size, some tahini, I'm going to add in a ton of cilantro and parsley, and thin that out with a little bit of water and season it with salt and pepper. Now that's all going into a blender while it blends, drizzle in some olive oil, and that'll create like an emulsification, and you'll see it sort of become this lovely, delightful, smooth texture. And then give it a taste, see if it needs some more salt and pepper. I'm going to actually add in a little bit of maple syrup to balance the acidity.
One of the things that we learned about salads in culinary school is that it's preferred that they get dressed from the bottom and pretty sparingly. And so that's not necessarily common or intuitive in our in our houses, right? We typically put our dressing on top, but in a restaurant, they would dress from the bottom and put that in the bowl and then put all of the salad ingredients on top. And so to be in good form, we are going to do that and just kind of give everything a wonderful toss. So we've got that creamy dressing on the bottom, and then we have our sweet potatoes that have been roasted. We've got our rice. We have our thinly sliced celery and very small diced apples, cashews, bit of that arugula. I'm going to go ahead and add in just about a tablespoon of capers that I'm going to rinse really quickly because I want a touch of a briney element with every bite.
If you want to add a protein other than the nuts, and I'm going to add some crunchy lentils and fry an egg and put it on top. I love a warm component on a salad that just kind of makes everything just a little bit wilty. And the fried egg will almost like make a dressing. So think about that. Now I'm sprinkling my protein lentil crunch on top that, as I mentioned, gives it protein, but it also gives it a great textural element.
And then once you've made your salad, it's time to enjoy what you've created. I hope that yours turned out as fabulously as this one, and if it didn't, don't be afraid to begin again.
Whether you've been rocking these first 15 days of the month, like you're being inducted into the Hall of Fame, or you've been trying to psych yourself up after a lackluster beginning, there is always a new opportunity to hit reset.
Progress isn't typically ignited by a single flame. It is usually a slow, steady build of continuous steps, some forward and some back. What's really important is the commitment to movement. That's what counts with the beginning just being one point along the continuum, and it need not happen at one moment in time. Until our next episode. I say so long.
Feed Your Fire, where food nourishes growth.