Beet + Wild Rice Grain Bowls

It has taken me seven days to put fingers to keyboard on this one, and before that, three weeks to slow down for long enough to take photos. Despite being forced to slow down in 2020, life—the world- still feels very chaotic. This makes it hard to write about something as simple as a grain bowl. Where do you begin when there are so many important things happening in the world?

Yet here, on planet Earth—the ground we all stand on- we must still eat. Food is a symbol of its own: a cultural symbol, a mark of a movement, a taste of history, a connection to the ground. When I think of this recipe, my mind goes to the earth. It boasts deep flavors that remind you of where your food came from (nutty wild rice, sweet and earthy beets, buttery feta cheese), and in that way, this meal is grounding.

I grow a small patch of beets in my garden every year. They are one of the easiest vegetables to grow, resilient and hardy. This dish puts beets, such a humble root, on show. Eat it warm on a rainy evening, or cold for a mid-day work lunch.

Beet + Wild Rice Grain Bowls

Published July 30, 2020 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 4   |    Active Time: 30 minutes

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Ingredients:

4 beets

2 cups cooked wild rice (for serving cold, allow rice to cool first — for serving warm, rice can be freshly cooked or reheated)

1 cup cucumber, sliced

1/2 cup feta cheese crumbles

1/2 cup walnut pieces, toasted

1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives, halved or roughly chopped

1/4 cup parsley, minced

For vinaigrette:

Juice of 1 lemon

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

Generous pinch of salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

Directions:

1. Cook beets: Pierce each beet with a knife (this allows steam to escape during cooking). Place beets in a large microwave-safe pyrex with a lid, and add 1 cup of water. Microwave until softened through, about 10-12 minutes. When done, beets will be softened and a fork or knife should easily go through. Allow to beets to cool 5-10 minutes.
2. While beets cool, make the vinaigrette: combine ingredients for vinaigrette in a jar. Secure lid, and shake until well mixed.
3. Dice beets into bite-sized pieces, then assemble bowls: scoop 1/2 cup of rice into each bowl. Divide beets, cucumbers, cheese, walnuts, and olives amongst bowls. Garnish with parsley, and drizzle vinaigrette to taste. Serve hot or cold.

Pesto Chicken Salad with Summer Veggies (Updated)

This is an old recipe from the Foraged Dish — originally posted in 2016. But the original recipe was a bit more complicated, so when I revisited it this year, I decided to make some edits. As long-time readers may know, I am a sucker for anything pesto. I often keep store bought pesto around, but if you’re feeling ambitious (or your basil plants are out of control), make your own. This one is perfect for a picnic on a hot summer day, and the leftovers make a great lunch in the middle of a work day.

Pesto Chicken Salad with Summer Veggies

Published July 1, 2020 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 6   |    Active Time: 30 minutes

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Ingredients:

2 zucchini

1 tablespoon cooking oil, such as avocado

Salt

1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

1 pound chicken, cooked and diced into bite sized pieces

1/2 cup black olives, sliced in half

1/3 cup feta cheese crumbles

1/2 cup pesto sauce

Optional: 2 cups baby arugula for serving

Optional: basil leaves for garnish

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Slice zucchini into bite-sized pieces, and toss in oil. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Roast zucchini for 15-20 minutes, until browning on the edges. Set aside to cool. (Note: Too hot to turn on the oven? You can slice the zucchini into strips and grill them. Dice into bite-sized pieces after they cool).
2. While zucchini cools, prep the rest of the chicken salad: in a large bowl, combine diced, cooked chicken, halved cherry tomatoes, sliced olives, feta cheese crumbles. Add zucchini and pesto sauce, and stir until everything is well mixed and coated in pesto.
3. To serve, place a handful of arugula on each plate, and then top with several spoonfuls of chicken salad. Garnish with basil leaves.

Raspberry Popsicles with Dark Chocolate Drizzle

Poison ivy and raspberry bushes—when I was a kid, these were the two plants my dad always pointed out to me on camping trips. This summer, as we hiked through Big Elk Meadows (which is not a meadow and there were no elk), the wild raspberries were copious. The dry creek was spotted with small bushes, each of them ripe with red gems. Those wild berries were far better than the ones growing in my own backyard, and not just because we were eating them outside. They were juicier and sweeter. We ate the ripest ones and left the others for the birds.

These popsicles are an end of summer hoorah! A sweet-tart cool down for mid-afternoon.

Raspberry Popsicles with Dark Chocolate Drizzle

Published September 10, 2019 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 6   |    Active Time: 20 active minutes

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Ingredients:

12 ounces fresh raspberries

1/4 teaspoon lemon or lime juice

2 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips

Optional: 1-2 tablespoons raw sugar or coconut sugar

Equipment: Popsicle molds and popsicle sticks

Directions:

1. Place raspberries in a blender and purée.
2. Place a fine-mesh sieve over a sauce pan, and pour raspberry puree through sieve in order to remove seeds. All of the juice should go through the sieve (into the pot), and you should be left with just seeds in the sieve. Discard of seeds.
3. Place raspberry purée on stove over low heat and stir in lemon juice. Bring to a slow simmer, and add sugar to taste. Stir until sugar is completely dissolved. Allow mixture to cool, about 10 minutes.
4. Pour raspberry mixture into popsicle molds with popsicle sticks and freeze for 8 hours, until frozen solid.
5. When popsicles are frozen, prep the chocolate: melt chocolate in microwave (at 30 second increments, stirring in between each until smooth), or in a double boiler.
6. Remove popsicles from molds, and drizzle with chocolate. Allow chocolate to set. Serve immediately, or store in air-tight container until ready to eat.