My cooking is largely fueled by a desire to find a use for everything in my fridge and pantry. This thriftiness comes from the Holy Spirit and over the years, His suggestions have led to hearty and delicious meals like chickpea arrabbiata and okra gumbo.
His wisdom is not limited to the kitchen either. The Holy Spirit has written entire emails for me. He has suggested hairstyles, outfits, creative ideas, prayers, when to call someone, how to respond to questions, the order of activity for the day, things I’ve dropped the ball on and so much more. He really helps in all things, especially when I’m willing to humble myself and admit my need of Him.
Anyway!
Look at what I got in the mail! While I love mint as an aromatic, I don’t know how to cook with it. For me, mint is the herb in my tea packets, an unnecessary addition to ice cream (sorry not sorry) and something people make into jelly for meat dishes. So between the bag of parsley I already had on hand and momma’s care package, I was becoming the tiniest bit stressed about how to use the bulk before it went bad. Cue some quality time with Google and the hilarity of my search history below:
/”chive mint pancake.” hmmm no. potato. i have potatoes. “potato chive pancake.” okay, but do we have to involve flour? what about just potato?>/ hmm okay then potato. “potato with herb.” “potato with fresh herbs.” oooh boiled potato with fresh herbs. that looks good! okay herbs.>/ “herbs in olive oil.” “olive oil and herb dip.” “fresh herb dipping oil recipe.”
<deadend>
/okay let’s go “parsley mint and chives.” “potato pancakes.” “potato pancakes without eggs.” “green sauce with fresh herbs.” chimichurri. oooh what’s gremolata? let’s find out. oooh what’s ossobuco? oh that’s meat. we’ve gone too far. recover, recover.>/ “potatoes and mint.” parsley and mint potato recipe. green chutney. chermoula. minty roasted potatoes. “make a sauce with chives, mint and parsley.” ooohhh mint chimichurri!! i think this is the one. <it is.>/
If you read through all that, you’re the real MVP.
Here’s how it turned out:
A hunk of bread, some sliced avocado and a splash of balsamic would go well with this.
I tossed it with some boiled potatoes as a simple side dish:
- Take-aways
– I didn’t measure anything. Roughly, here’s what I did:
– Simmer some red pepper flakes in 1 – 2 tsps of olive oil. When that cooled, I blended it with a cup each of parsley and mint along with two cloves of garlic, a tsp each of apple cider vinegar and balsamic vinegar and the juice of half a lemon.
I also made some flatbread with the chives and used that to scoop up the sauce. I’m thinking that it’d even be a great base for a pizza, much like pesto.
A note on flatbreads. If I tell you how many I’ve made and eaten in the past week. Sigh. This is why I don’t love recipe development… I’m stuck eating my own mistakes and they’re not always good. I’ve also been testing gluten-free flatbreads and I’ve come to the conclusion that flatbreads need wheat flour. Nothing else quite cuts it and I’m happy to be done experimenting… for now.
Until next time, happy plant-based eating! 🙂
Oh and one more thing! I made a video about why and how I went vegan + cured my sugar addiction. Check it out below: