What I Stand For, and Quinoa Risotto

In recent posts after the PETA brouhaha, jjiraffe asks, "Is the advocacy angle necessary to blogging"?  and "How are you able to balance activism with your own life activities and not lose yourself?  Or is losing yourself necessary to being committed to a cause?"

I've been thinking this issue myself for a while now, and I've decided that you do need an advocacy angle in order to be a successful blogger ... depending on how we're defining advocacy.  I don't think you need a "cause" in the way that Faceb.ook defines them, but I think that our stories--regardless of what those stories are about, whether it's food, or running, or pets, or children, or infertility, or meditation, or Capitol Hill--are advocacy, for a way of life, for an approach to the world.  And if we're any good at it, hopefully those stories are an invitation to conversation.

I answered jjiraffe's post by saying that I think the way to be an activist without “losing yourself” in advocacy is for it to be part of your life, rather than something you do on top of it.  As I thought about it, I realized that the things I am most active about are the things that I am living anyway, and in the communities where I live, and they are things in which I involve my children, so that I’m teaching them my values as I’m acting on them.  Like local eating, for example, and environmental stewardship: we belong to a CSA where I took my son to pick vegetables and talk about farming; we frequent the farmer's market up the street and make friends with the beekeepers who make our honey; my son has helped me flyer in our neighborhood for a new charter school focused on sustainability.  And so my blog is also a part of those "causes": I write about being a locavore, for example, just as I've written about loss and IF.   They're both part of who I am. 

And speaking of local ... friends of ours were going out of town this week, and needed someone to pick up their share of organic produce with a local co-op.  They called us, and S. told them we'd be happy to oblige.  I mentioned that we've joined a CSA again this year (one that has fruit, and only for half a share--see my post about learning that it is indeed possible to have too much chard!); it was fun to get back into the mindset of cooking from what was on hand again.  I knew farther in advance what we'd be getting from the co-op, but what I didn't anticipate was the volume.  Two heads of lettuce, two pounds of carrots, two enormous bags of beans, two heads of collard greens, two and a half pounds of sweet potatoes ... and I haven't even gotten to the fruit yet.

So I've been busy cooking in an attempt to use it all before it spoils.

This is a recipe I found while scouring the internet for ways to use the most produce in interesting combinations in three meals.  I played with it a little bit, and I'm sure there's a lot more you could do with it; it seems like the sort of recipe that would be versatile enough to accommodate all sorts of vegetable combinations.  Quinoa is actually a seed, not a grain, as some people think, and unlike wheat or rice, it's an unusually complete protein source among plant foods. It's also a good source of fiber and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron.  Enjoy this recipe with whatever is coming up out of the ground where you are.

(And I'd love to hear your thoughts on the advocacy/blogging/etc. issue.)

Quinoa Risotto

4 t. butter
2/3 c. chopped walnuts
1/2 sweet onion, finely chopped
2 t. canola oil
1/2 t. salt
1 T. fresh thyme or 1 t.dried
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 1/3 c. quinoa, rinsed and drained
1 c. unsalted vegetable stock
1 c. water
4 medium carrots, chopped
1 1/2 c. sugar snap peas
1/2 c. grated parmesan

Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add nuts and cook, stirring frequently, until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Remove nuts and set aside.
Add onion, oil, and salt to same pan and cook 5 minutes. Add thyme and garlic and cook until onion is golden, about 3 minutes longer.
Stir in quinoa and stock. Cover and cook 10 minutes. Stir in 1/2 cup water, cover again, and cook 5 minutes. Stir in carrots and the final 1/2 cup of water if needed to keep quinoa very moist. Cover and cook until carrots are tender, 10 to 15 minutes longer. Add sugar snap peas for last 5 minutes of cooking. Season with salt and black pepper to taste. Serve topped with cheese and walnuts.