"Leftovers" are nice to have on hand

                                                       "Leftover" Garbanzo Salad

                                                                garbanzos

                                                                chard

                                                                carrots

                                                                hard-boiled egg

                                                                shaved cheese

                                                                vinaigrette

Hi Winnie and Steve,

My friend Wil came by and joined us for the hike  -- we still do our two hour hike each day.  Wil started The Artisan Food School so we always end up talking about food.  Of course he always brings his great hound dog Otis -- that made a grouping of four dogs and three humans.  A very merry group I must say. We always feel good at the end of the hike.

Whenever I make up some beans and grains, I inevitably have some left over -- at least for another meal or two.  When you go through the process of soaking your beans and grains overnight it only makes sense to get at least two meals out of the bargain.  I can't remember some of the language now, but I recall in nutrition school that the soaking of grain overnight "disarmed", so-to-speak, the phytic acid in the grain.  This enables our absorption of all the minerals.  Soaking the beans overnight enhances digestibility and makes the cooking time shorter. I've always been given the advice to never add salt to the beans while cooking. This is said to make them tough.  A friend just gave me a great tip that seems to work beautifully.  You put a bit of salt in the soaking water.  The beans are then rinsed thoroughly before being put in fresh water for cooking.  This results in the beans being more tender and creamy -- pretty neat huh!

As you can see above, the garbanzos or chickpeas (whichever name you prefer) were "leftovers" today.  So when we got back from the hike, we tackled another salad with some slight variations.  One variation was to add some hard-boiled egg for more protein.  The other delightful variation was to add the cheese Wil brought back from Italy -- 8 year old Parmigiano Reggiano -- yes, 8 years old! So delicious.  We also shaved a dab of firm Italian goat cheese on top.  

Thinking of you.  Donna