Tang and Spice

Please excuse my tardiness but I was busy this morning auditioning to teach Pilates at an awesome local gym.

The audition went really well and (fingers crossed) I will probably begin subbing there soon until a regular class becomes available.

By the time I got home it was all about lunch and then kimchi and cookies called-to make, not eat-

A few nights ago I was served a really lovely, wholesome meal by my friend Shawna.  Along with fish, greens, and black rice, she set out sides of green cabbage kimchi and ginger carrot salad.

The carrot salad alone was a thing of simple beauty, multi-colored carrots sliced thin and dressed with loads of spicy ginger and a liberal sprinkle of salt.

I was inspired to combine both of these veggie sides into one tangy, spicy kimchi.

My past kimchi creations have revolved around Napa cabbage but I was game to try something new.

I chopped the cabbage and soaked it in salt water overnight.  This afternoon I strained the cabbage and add to it thinly sliced carrots (in the food processor), grated ginger, more salt, red chili flakes, and a spoon of sugar.

And I dug in.

You have to use your hands to mix kimchi because you must squeeze the ingredients as well as thoroughly mix them, this starts releasing the water from the veggies and makes a brine.

I always think I am making loads of kimchi but after all that squeezing and packing it as tight as possible into a jar I am usually left with only a quart or so.

The jar went on the pantry shelf and after two days will move to the fridge.  When there’s kimchi or ‘kraut in the fridge Tate and I eat it almost everyday so it only lasts a week or 10 days.  Not only do we love the tang and spice that it adds to meals but it’s an easy way to add some raw food onto a plate and get a healthy dose of probiotics.

But let’s be honest, most of you are probably more intrigued by these little guys ↓

Remember those almond butter cookies I wasn’t really nuts over?   As soon as I first bit into one I thought “these are a little boring but they would be a great ice cream sandwich cookie”, and proceeded to eat two more.

We don’t really eat a lot of ice cream around here and I wasn’t going to make a special purchase just to fill a few mediocre cookies so I rummaged around and came up with a Cinnanut Banana Cream filling.  Into the food processor went 1 banana, a generous sprinkle of cinnamon, and a tablespoon of almond butter.  Once it was nice and smooth I put the whole thing in the freezer-well not the whole thing but you know, the canister or whatever you call the mixing bowl part of a food processor.

After 10-15 minutes the “cream” was thick enough to dollop onto the cookie bottoms, top with another, and put the sandwiches back into the freezer on a plate covered with a plastic bag.   One was intercepted by Tate as he headed out the door to go for a bike ride and I believe I heard “delicious…” in his wake.

I worked out hard after my audition and have a feeling that all of those 9 mile an hour sprints may haunt me with heavy legs tomorrow.  Only time will tell…until then I’ve got a kitchen to clean!