hippie chow.

Oh HEYYYYY food blog, what's up? I almost forgot about you. On our budget, we eat a lot of the same crap, so we don't do anything too fancy on a regular basis. I've mentioned this to a few people, and they seemed interested in the same-shit-different-day approach that we have, so pretty soon I'm going to do a week of our meals, and you can see how we eat on a daily basis. It's boring food but we try to keep it healthy. Until then, dig this hippie chow!



Look, I love to make fun of hippies. I can't help it, there's just something so funny about being like, "Shut up, hippie!" When I see some goofy hippie walking down the street, I say stuff like, "HAHA, HIPPIE!!" to whoever I'm with. If someone I know is doing something to make their lives more "green" or whatever, I'll jab them in the ribs and be all, "HIPPIEEEEE!" It's not that I have anything AGAINST hippies, I just love saying the word, and I also love making fun of people. Not to mention, I'm a huge-ass hippie. I didn't wear a bra for like 10 years (ah, those were the days), I was vegetarian for almost half my life, I even have one of those goofy stickers on my car shaped like the state of Oregon with a green heart in the middle. I shop at the farmer's market, I like eggs from backyard chickens. What's up, HIPPIE!?



So anyway, my husband and I are always making cracks about how hippies can't cook, and how all their food is just junk in a bowl, so whenever we decide to eat a pile of crap in a bowl (FAILURE PILE IN A SADNESS BOWL? I THINK NOT), we call it hippie chow. Hippie chow can be anything- back in the day when my husband was vegan and living in punk houses with tons of hippies punk rockers, hippie chow was toasted TVP with red sauce on whatever carb was laying around, or rice with condiments, or dumpstered vegetables (Yes, I have engaged in dumpster-diving for pleasure. Sorry, Mom. I have a job now.) thrown together in a sauce pan with some spike or something. Hippie chow is whatever the hell you want it to be! In this case, however- as our tastes have refined over the years, our hippie chow was hella delicious.

HIPPIE CHOW FOR GROWN-UPS:

quinoa (I don't know, 2 cups? a cup? If you don't have or don't like quinoa, get brown rice. It's not hippie chow if it doesn't have a whole grain, so no cheating with white rice, haha)
2 medium-large beets
2 large carrots
1 bunch of kale
a few zucchini and yellow squash
a potato or two
garlic & onion
Whatever other vegetables you have lying around- broccoli would be good (IF IT DIDN'T MAKE ME FART SO MUCH), or green beans, or asparagus. Try to think "RAINBOW." Because you're a hippie.

Cook your quinoa- you can just put it in a rice cooker and cook it exactly the same way you would rice. Or like, cook your rice in the rice cooker, if you're not enough of a hippie to want quinoa- but you know what? Quinoa is really good, and supposedly it's really, really good for you. Go out on a limb, hippie.

Chop beets, carrots, and potatoes- then toss them with olive oil & roast them in a pan at about 400ºf until tender. When they're getting close to done, saute garlic & onion in a pan with some butter or oil, until glassy, then add the rest of the vegetables, which presumably you have chopped up already (don't add the kale until the end, or it'll get overcooked. I put it in and then put a lid on it to steam a little, but only for a minute or two, I still like some crunch to my greens). Season with salt & pepper, throw in some fresh herbs if you like (I think Jason added basil) and then, in the immortal words of Patton Oswalt, pile it all in a single bowl. Top with a poached egg, if you're feeling fancy (we totally were), then mix it all together. If you're a real hippie, you'll add ketchup and/or hot sauce, like I did. Ta da! You just slummed it like a hippie. No seriously, though- I love hippies. Please don't send me any butthurt emails. I love the Earth, guys! I love hugs, and rainbows, and kittens, and Nag Champa, I really do! The sad part is that I sound sarcastic, but I'm really serious, just like when I tell people that my favorite movie is Legally Blonde and they don't believe me. Whatever, that shit rules.

Oh hey, you know what's more awesome than hippie chow for dinner? HIPPIE DESSERT.





My husband eternal soul partner came out of the kitchen bearing these little bowls- vanilla ice cream topped with slices of fresh peach, a drizzle of local honey (hippie!) and some warm, freshly toasted almonds.

And, now I can stop making fun of hippies. One love, y'all!