It's been awhile since I've written. I can most certainly say I have missed it, although the reason I didn't blog is certainly no fun: I hurt my knee. Rather, my meniscus was torn and a side ligament sprained as well. After X-rays, MRI and doctors' visits, interspersed with physiotherapist's painful sessions, I seem to be in no better shape than more than 6 weeks ago. It sure has frustrated me to no end.
Being a person who thrives on having something to do, trying to stay off of my feet is just about next to impossible for me. Never mind I am still of course working from home, and so a large part of my usual workday is spent doing that and not resting, nor icing my injured knee. I truly had no idea, until now, how important knee joints are to our daily movements and ability to, well, just walk or just plain stand up.
So here I am trying to go back to some semblance of what is normal. Normal, yes, well, some semblance of normal as I lug my crutches around with me where ever I go. How has it affected my microgreens business and growing my micros? It certainly has placed an aspect of pain into the daily tasks that I perform maintaining my growing harvests. However, as I watch the tiny green leaves appear over and over each week as my harvests mature, it reminds me of the promise of life and the repetitiveness of seasons, styles, fashions and humanity. Our lives are marked by repetitions of seasons come and gone by, of clothing fashions that come and go and come back into style again, of days where we see the sun rise, then later set, to then rise once again. There is a comfort in this, this repetitive wave-like life we live each of us.
One thing that is changing and growing bigger is my customer base. It is indeed a good thing as my business grows larger bit by bit. I see that it can flourish and be a success, and that I can make an impact to more than a small circle of friends. The end result would be that my enthusiasm for microgreens and their benefits to our health can be passed on to more and more people.
With that in mind I am going to share a website I love where I have gotten recipes I've tried and found successful and delicious. 10 Best Microgreens Recipes | Yummly What's great about this site is that it gives concise , clear recipes with photos that give real impact on what you will be preparing. What I have found challenging is looking for ways to incorporate microgreens into cooking and baking, especially baking.
Baking is not the usual realm of the microgreen, and using micros in baking calls for a bit or creativity and willingness to try new things. Making small changes in a recipe can sometimes have great impacts. I modified a zucchini loaf bread recipe to incorporate micros into the loaf. For best results use a mild microgreen like kale, broccoli, alfalfa, etc. For an interesting color pop of purple in the loaf, use purple kohlrabi.
Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 ¼ cups white sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
1.5 cups grated zucchini
2/3 cup mild microgreens, finely chopped
1 cup chopped walnuts
Step 1
Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch loaf pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
Step 2
Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
Step 3
Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl, then adding sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini, microgreens and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.
Step 4
Bake for 40 to 60 minutes. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool. Enjoy Freezes well.
Let me know how it turns out! Send me photos of your baking and cooking recipes with microgreens to info@microcosm.online I want to see your creativity come through your ideas and recipes!
I look forward to sharing them in coming posts and online. Until then, bon micro apetit!