Recently I watched Jamie Oliver’s 2010 TED Talk, and I got fired up. Fired up in a good way. Jamie Oliver was talking about getting kids to eat healthy, especially at lunch time. He also spoke about how cooking, which used to be something everyone knew how to do, has started to become a lost art. He dumped out a wheelbarrow full of sugar to demonstrate the amount of sugar that gets eaten in a day. He showed photos of families struggling with morbid obesity. And he talked about how ketchup and french fries are classified as vegetables. It was upsetting and saddening, and generally I felt this is not ok. I got fired up. And I wanted to do something to hopefully make our food world just a tiny bit better. His talk combined a few things I love: cooking, teaching, and working with children. And in it, he reminded me of some of the reasons why I started my blog and wanted to learn to cook.
In my mid 20’s I knew how to cook about four things, which generally suited me fine. But when I started to think about my future, I realized if I ever had a family there was nothing I knew how to cook that could be a family favorite. Nothing that people would love and ask for. So I decided I’d teach myself how to cook, and that way I could feed myself, make healthy food, and make good tasting dishes that my future family would enjoy.
As my cooking skill has improved I’ve started to cook more difficult and random dishes, but Jamie Oliver’s talk reminded me of what I originally set out to do. I’d like to try and get back to that a little bit. There are two specific things that Jamie said that really stuck with me and here they are:
- If one person teaches three people, then those people teach three more, then eventually everyone will know how to cook.
- We need to set our children up with the tools to be successful.
So I’d like this blog to help out more with those two points. I want to recommit myself to make easy and beginner friendly recipes. Also, hopefully the recipes will be kid friendly too. I don’t have kids so that is harder for me to promise. In short, I am going to post at least two healthy beginner friendly recipes every month. That’s my promise. If it goes well, I hope to amp is up to one beginner recipe a week. The rest of the recipes will still be the crazy randomness inspired by life, travel, and what’s in my fridge.
I hope through those beginner recipe posts it will help people learn to cook new dishes that they can share with others and pass on. And I hope they will be tasty so that kids can be healthy and hit their day full and happy. My professional passion is to inspire kids to learn and see the world differently through experiences in museums. I figure, what can’t I transfer some of that passion and ambition to what I do with the blog? It’s a big dream for just a few recipe posts, but why not?! It’s the least I can do. And besides, I think cooking is fun. 
Today’s recipe is good for lunch, for a snack, or even serve as an appetizer when you’re hosting a party. It’s inspired by those green juices I often buy at the store. You know the ones, that sort of look like green sludge but are made up of apples, mint, spinach, and other healthy stuff. I love those drinks and I wanted to see about packing those flavors into one meal. Although there are some scary ingredients in there for kids (almonds and spinach) I thought the inoffensive flavor of the cucumber paired with the sweetness of apples and honey would make it more palatable for kids. Plus, it’s boat shaped and that’s pretty awesome. The other difficult ingredient is curry powder. It’s not going to be spicy at all, but the curry does give it a little heat which nicely balances the sweetness. If kids don’t like it, you can easily leave it out or just save the dressing for the adults. If you don’t want to buy curry powder, don’t do it. You can substitute more pepper, or garlic, or chili powder to give it some kick in a different way.
Messy level: Since most of this recipe calls for raw ingredients, there’s very little you have to do besides chop and mix. Warning though, eating this is a whole different story. When you take a bite of the cucumber some quinoa salad will fall out. Be sure you have a fork nearby to scoop up any fallen goodness.
- 4-6 cucumbers (depending on size)
- ½ cup white quinoa
- 1 cup water
- ¼ cup chopped raw whole almonds
- ¼ chopped mint
- ¼ cup chopped spinach
- 1 medium (or large) green apple, cored and chopped into bite size chunks
- 1 teaspoon honey
- juice from 1 lemon
- ½ teaspoon curry powder
- ¼ teaspoon coarse salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- In a medium pot, combine the quinoa and water. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low. Let simmer for about 15-20 minutes or until the quiona is tender and the water is mostly absorbed.[Alternatively, you could follow the package instructions]
- Drain any excess water from the quinoa
- Once quinoa is cooked put it in a medium bowl and let cool while you prepare everything else.
- If you haven't yet chopped the almonds, mint, spinach, and apple do it now while the quinoa cools.
- Take 1 teaspoon of lemon juice and sprinkle it over the apples. This will help keep the apples from browning.
- Mix the almonds, mint, spinach and apple into the quinoa.
- Now for the dressing! In a small bowl mix together the honey, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, and curry powder.
- Pour the dressing over the quiona salad. Alternatively, leave the dressing to the side so people can pour it on as they like.
- For the cucumber boats, cut the cucumbers in half lengthwise. Using a spoon scoop out the seeds and discard them. Cut the cucumbers into about 3" long pieces. This makes them easier to hold, eat, and pack into a lunch box.
- Spoon quinoa salad into the cavity of the cucumber boats. Fill as generously or as lightly as fits your taste.
- Optional: If you want to make a cucumber mast, set aside ½ of a cucumber. Using a vegetable peeler, peel the cucumber lengthwise to make sails. Make as many sails as you have cucumber boats. Using the tip of a sharp knife, make one small horizontal cut on both of the short ends of your cucumber sail. These are just small slits that will allow the mast to stick through. With the remaining cucumber, cut fat matchsticks. These need to be sturdy enough that if you hold them with your thumb and forefinger at the base, the rest will stand up fairly straight and not bend over. Bend a cucumber sail into a "U" and push the mast through the slits you cut. The finished product should look something like the letter "D." Now, in the bottom of your cucumber boats use a knife or a chop stick to stab a hole through the boat. The hole should be big enough to fit the mast you just made. Stick the base of your cucumber mast into the hole in the bottom of your boat. Now you have a cucumber boat! Fill with quinoa!
