wild rice – The Kitchen Illiterate

Super Herb-y Wild Rice Salad

We renewed our CSA recently, after an unintentionally long break. Our CSA is from Full Belly Farm out in Guinda, California. I love getting a CSA box: It keeps me from buying and eating the same vegetables every week, and it forces me to be more creative in the kitchen. Not to mention I like taking at least some of my grocery shopping out of the industrial food chain and giving money to people who are committed to building and nurturing their land and all that other Wendell Berry-esque stuff.
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Wild Greek Rice and Spring Onion Crostini

I’ve been loving all of the foodie shopping opportunities here in the Bay Area. I’m a bit of a grocery store junkie: whether it’s a big supermarket or a small gourmet boutique, I love browsing the shelves, looking for the unusual, the new, and the hard-to-find, seeking out good deals and inspiration. Oakland is full of great grocery stores: We’re only blocks from Whole Foods, and Trader Joe’s is right up the road. Berkeley Bowl is a heaven of wonderful smelling produce, and the Rockridge Market Hall brings together all of my favorite things (bread, fresh pasta, sustainably-produced meat, wine, coffee, the list goes on) under one roof. And let’s not even get started on the Farmers’ Markets.
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Black Bean and Wild Rice Soup

In my attempt to eat less meat and more plant life, I’ve been experimenting with vegetarian soups for the past month or so. I make a big pot of soup every Sunday and bring a bowl to work every day for lunch, and I’ve got my soup-making skills down now. I’ve become quite fond of lentils, and should probably start making my own vegetable stock because I’m going through the stuff like crazy. What I love about making soup is that you have so many opportunities to be creative. Once you have a basic formula down you can add and subtract and experiment, and make something completely new just by using different herbs and spices.

Black bean soup has always been one of my favorites. When I was in college I was addicted to Progresso’s Hearty Black Bean soup and probably ate it at least once a week. When I realized that I was four weeks into my soup experiment and hadn’t made black bean soup yet, I knew I had to rectify the situation, so I came up with this: Black Bean and Wild Rice Soup.
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