Adding in the Weird

Most people do not like change.  But if you want to add some healthy new items to your daily repertoire, sometimes you just need to venture into the "weird" ingredients.  After a time they will not seem so foreign, but the first time or two may take some guts.

1.  Chia.  Chia is a great seed which absorbs over 10 times its weight and becomes very gelatinous and gooey when soaked in water.  It has the capacity to make you feel full for hours, is loaded with great nutrients and is relatively inexpensive and unobtrusive.  I keep a container on the counter and add them to smoothies.  I have heard that you can make a cool kind of "chia rice pudding" with them, some vanilla and some coconut milk, so I might try that for dessert tonight.

2.  Umeboshi Plum.  Whole plums or paste, these are a MUST TRY if you ever over-indulge in the toxins of the alcoholic kind.  They are literally hangover magic.  One good tablespoon the morning after is extraordinary for rebalancing your blood and your stomach.  You can get them at whole foods or natural health food stores.  I liked to nibble on a plum or two, but that was before I found the paste.  I have never just proactively added umeboshi plums to my diets without needing to - that might be something to try this year.

3.  Quinoa.  Now that quinoa is being written about more often, it might not qualify as weird, but for most of my friends it is still a relative unknown.  When venturing into the experimental, it is a great start to just do something familiar but using the new ingredient.  IE:  if you normally like a dish served over rice, try it over quinoa.  Do exactly the same steps and seasoning.  Quinoa cooks up beautifully in a rice cooker, has lots of whole grain and protein and really looks cool when cooked.

4.  Flax Seed.  If you have heard about all the benefits of flax, including great fats, omega 3s, fibre, etc you might be tempted to just add it in over cereal, in oatmeal or perhaps over a chili or stew.  But it's important to break down flax's cell walls - otherwise it will just go through your body's amusement park unabsorbed.  Think of it as going to Canada's Wonderland with a blindfold on.  Grind it up in a blender or better still, a coffee grinder.  I have two coffee grinders, one just for spices, but if you must use just one, buzz up some rice and give it a good wipe before grinding your flax.

5.  Daiya cheese.  While mozzarella might be your traditional choice for pizza, Daiya mozzarella with its creamy cheesy taste and dairy and casein free rap sheet win out for me.  I love to doctor mine up with lemon zest and lemon juice before sprinkling it on pizza (a trick I learned from Harrison) because it makes it taste more like feta.  And here's the other thing about adding in the weird.  The first time I tried Daiya I "liked" it, but didn't love it.  I loved its benefits, but just needed some time to adjust to it.  Now, a pizza lunch for everyone at the house is always Daiya and always good.  "Weird" has become "normal".

Perhaps another way of looking at the weird stuff is to just consider it pre-normalized.  I think of where I'd be if I had never tried riding a bike, or swimming, or skating.  Just standing on two feet stagnant, I suppose.

Worse still, what if I had never tried fuschia-coloured hibiscus flowers soaked in syrup?  Or whole grain dijon mustard?  OR BLACK TRUFFLE?    Talk about deprived.

So today, try something just a little outside your comfort zone.  It might turn out to be a matter of routine by the time New Years' Day rolls around 360 days from now.