Old Hippy Eats Hippy Food

[drdoug]

Have just had a lovely dinner, although it was a bit worryingly worthy and hippyish. It was based on quinoa, which those in the know pronounce keen-wah, to rhyme with an air-kissing "Darling! Mwah-mwah!". I like to irritate pedants and pronounce it kwin-oh-ah anyway, to rhyme with a mock-innocent "Really? Oh ah." Quinoa is an ideal hippy food

Comments

[syllopsium]

huzzah. I'll have to try some Quinoa. My garden is doing well on the fence painting front, but less well in growing much other than grass and weeds.. (although one of my herbs is doing very well)

[drdoug]

You can grow fence paintings? That's pretty cool :-)

[syllopsium]

we're talented up north ;)

[headgardener]

Congrats. We too have chard by the yard, down the allotment, and a couple of packets of right-on quinoa. I've mostly used it (and amaranth) thrown in with rice, to make a multi-grain starchy base for whatever. I'll have to give your recipe a go.

Pale chard/beet? Was the pale in patches -- made by leaf miner grubs? That's what attacks ours as summer goes on. We haven't found a cure, but try to keep it in check by squashing the miner-grubs in the leaf, and ripping off the mined leaves.

[drdoug]

Chard by the yard - I like it!

The paleness wasn't leaf miners - or if it was, it was like no leaf miners I've ever seen! It was a general whitening within the leaf, accompanied by a bit of wilting. It looked a little like a very finely-spread-out case of mildew, but I don't think it was, since there was no trace of downy fuzz and it wouldn't rub off at all, and the conditions if anything it were a bit dry.

Whatever it was, it's over now and they're doing fine!

[aster13]

quioa is fvery good and i am ntoa at all xrunk heee heee
also beans and whole grains are a complete proten more than beef actushlly

hee hee we should meed up soem toime!

[aster13]

Sounds like you had a good night. *grin*

Beans and whole grains is a great combo, but the cunning thing about quinoa is that it's complete protein on its own. Obviously it's smarter to mix it up with the ol' peas, beans, pulses and nuts.

Yes, we should meet up some time, and perhaps get 'ntoa at all xrunk' together!

[drdoug]

Actually that was me but the new interface caught me out yet again.

[plumsbitch]

Your garden sounds v.impressive. Am v. jealous of being able to eat 'picked from my own garden' produce.

I love quinoa, and am annoying enough to pronounce it the first way. Though I do live in Brighton, so might well be run out of town for getting it wrong.

I have some good quinoa recipes, if yr interested?

[drdoug]

Ah, but you get to live in Brighton which is jealousy-inducing in a bigger way than a garden. As it happens, the right-on quinoa came from that workers co-op supermarket place in North Laine (and I'm not sure I'd have dared pronounce it wrong there).

Very interested in good quinoa recipes if they're floating around, thanks!

[plumsbitch]

here's a simple but nice use of quinoa rather like basic risotto, so add whatever to it.

2 tablespoons veg oil
1 to 3 cloves garlic
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 cup quinoa, thoroughly rinsed (rinsing is important or it will taste bitter)
2 cups stock or water(or reduce and top up with white wine. I like this.)

Heat oil in saucepan, saute garlic and onion for 2 minutes, add quinoa and saute for another 5 minutes, stirring.

Add stock or water and bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat.

Simmer slowly until all liquid is absorbed. Let stand covered 5 minutes before serving

[drdoug]

Simple but looks good - will give it a try, ta! White wine sounds a very good plan.

Found special rare breed red quinoa in a health food shop earlier in the week - will write more when I've had a chance to try it out!

[kissmeforlonger]

I thought the phytoestrogens in soya were good for you, for reducing heart disease and cholesterol?

[drdoug]

SFAIK the evidence is unclear on benefits and problems. I think I've seen trials that found a benefit in heart terms and trials that found a variety of nasty outcomes in humans - things like sterility, loss of libido, and gynecomastia. But nothing that you would make a strong recommendation on. I'm sure in megadoses in lab animals it's pretty seriously disruptive of sex hormones, but then lots of actually inoffensive things are nasty if you give ludicrous quantities to inbred rats in cages. Anecdotally, some women swear by phytoestrogens to help with menopausal symptoms, and some men swear at them for making them impotent.

My view is it's not a huge health benefit (for men in particlar), but the risks, if any, are so small as to not be worth worrying about. As it happens I don't care much for soya beans (other beans are nicer) or for soya products (tofu is horrible IMO, and soya products in general are processed and I prefer to minimise my processed food intake) so I don't eat very much.