morels and chard and NVC

I bought these wild mushrooms at the farmer’s market this week. The woman who picks them follows the trails of forest fires because that’s where they like to pop up – in spring, in areas that burned the previous year. Cool. They were a little pricey but that’s okay because I am a mushroom fiend and am always into trying new varieties; and since I’m the only one in my family who will touch mushrooms, I didn’t have to buy very many!

Quiche is one of those recipes I am always playing with. There are so many variants; using different vegetables (and ways of preparing them) and different cheeses gives entirely different results, but you still follow the same basic rules and use the same basic ingredients. It can even be made dairy and gluten free very easily.

This weekend, Todd turned 40 and we also had a baby-welcoming potluck to go to for my friend Tabitha. So I decided to make quiche. You can find my basic quiche recipe here, using broccoli and three kinds of cheese. This time, I sauted a huge bunch of swiss chard and a few of these morels in olive oil (in place of the broccoli) and substituted provolone for the three cheeses. I seasoned with dried basil and dill. And instead of a pastry crust, I made a rice crust simply by pressing cooked rice into the base of the pie plates. Easy, yummy, and so much healthier, eliminating the trans-fats or pounds of butter found in most pastries.

During my fast over the last week, I’ve discovered that as long as I’m remembering to eat enough to keep my blood-sugars level, my body is really digging this gluten/dairy free living. I had decided let go of the fast for the weekend and eat all my regular foods; but this morning when I got up and went to grab bread for toast, my stomach said no! It did not appeal to me at all! Instead I toasted up some rice bread and felt much happier. I have no desire for cookies or muffins of the wheat or oat variety like I thought I would crave, I am quite satisfied with the alternatives – millet, rice, quinoa… and I think actually prefer them because of the difference in how I feel after eating them. I really would like to find some gluten free baking recipes for when the muffin mood strikes though.

Okay, I know, unless you’re really into the alternative/allergy diet thing, that last paragraph was probably insanely boring, so I won’t go on, and on, and on. But I’m afraid I’ve run out of interesting things to say. So if you’re dying to read something, I’ve reposted my last post. It just didn’t sound complete to me, like there was so much more that I wanted to say. I took it down because I thought I’d revise and add to it, but then lost the motivation and need. For now.

What I could add is, there have been a few connection moments with Kale this weekend (using some serious doses of empathy for him and self-empathy for me) and they have been extremely real, and sweet, and just what I needed to keep me optimistic that things really will be okay.