Pimento Boursin "Orzo" (protein hack!!)
& my grievances with the "natural" & "holistic" community
Hi! Welcome to “good mood food” from Kale Me Maybe’s Carina Wolff. If you’ve made it here and aren’t yet a subscriber, come join! You can expect recipes, musings, and faves in your inbox every Wednesday! Paid subscribers get even more! Learn more about the paid tier of my newsletter here. You can also try a week for free!
CATCH UP!
Something that’s been on my mind lately, especially as I’ve been dealing with my body, medicine, doctors, etc. while trying to conceive, is the balance between holistic solutions and modern medicine. I deal with this a lot on my platform anyway, as what I do involves food and health. I am very passionate about wellness, but I also tend to get scared off (and sometimes, enraged), by loud wellness influencers because they have to take everything to such an extreme.
Sometimes I joke that I am “secretly crunchy.” I love making food from scratch. I like to get to the root cause of things. I’m a sucker for a natural solution, and I love and appreciate Eastern medicine, ancient wisdom etc.
But at the same time, I also love modern medicine! I also know that one food, or one habit, or one “chemical” isn’t going to make or break your health. I don’t stress over every little ingredient in my makeup or clothing, especially when headlines and sometimes even brands are meant to scare us. I don’t like promoting too extreme of a holistic lifestyle because I feel like that can feel so toxic and counterporductive.
I don’t have hard and fast rules. I live my life in moderation. I choose what works for me and what doesn’t. I like science, and I like to read research papers, not just listen to some rando on TikTok. And I don’t think ANYONE needs to be shamed for their choices if they don’t align with what you think is “better.” And holistic or “natural” isn’t always better! I hate how the holistic community can make people feel ashamed or scared. That’s a hard no for me.
I’ve gotten so much advice in this process of trying to have a baby: “Have you tried this supplement?” “Add this to your diet.” “You must try acupuncture.” “Drink this tea.”
I’ve done all the holistic things, and guess what, I’m still not pregnant! Sometimes, we just have a medical issue that needs intervention. The same goes for any area of health. It frustrates me that we have to view things with such a binary lens. You can be someone who loves natural remedies but also uses Advil when your head hurts! Why are you punishing yourself?!
We are so lucky to live in a time when we have advancements in medicine. Our bodies are complicated, and sometimes we need a combination of natural remedies and advanced medicines to get where we need to go. Sometimes “natural” is not enough, and it’s condescending to pretend otherwise. I just wish we could all take a more balanced approach and actually embody what it means to be holistic, aka look at the big picture.
THINGS I’M LOVING!
We got a new rug for our living room, and I love how it fits into our space. I was also crazy shocked at how affordable it is, especially since it’s 100 percent wool! Only $230 for a 6x9 rug?! Crazy, because it looks and feels expensive! I would’ve spent more on it if I do to! It’s what we needed to pull the space together and give it that zen feel, and it’s super cozy on the feet!
You all know by now that I’m in my yuzu era, and I cannot believe I haven’t shared my favorite yuzu juice on here yet. I’ve been mixing my Yuzu Co with pomegranate juice to make an afternoon drink that tastes like sour candy, and I also use it to make dressings, mayo, and more. I had no idea they sold it on Amazon, so now there’s a super easy way to get it!
I have always loved Kerrygold butter, but why did no one tell me how good Kerrygold cheese is, too?! I’m especially into their Dubliner cheese right now. It’s a harder cheese with a little sweetness, and my god is it good. They come in these little snack sticks that are so addicting and perfect for on-the-go.
RECIPE!
Does anyone else feel like orzo recipes are taking over the internet? I guess I’m jumping on the bandwagon, but when I see something that looks fun and easy, I can’t help but try it. Maybe it’s because I’ve been digging the 30-minute meal vibe, but these one-pot orzo dishes are FAST! Gotta love it.
So this one is called orzo, but confession, it’s not technically orzo! I used Banza rice so this dish could have some protein. The Banza rice is made from chickpeas, and it cooks into the shape of orzo, so it’s my favorite little hack!
As you can tell from the title, this recipe was inspired by the flavors of pimento cheese. It uses pimiento peppers and jalapeños like the Southern spread, but I used Boursin cheese as the base because it just makes the most decadent, creamy sauce!
This recipe was inspired by Kim The Foodie, who makes amazing orzo recipes!
Pimento Boursin "Orzo"
Ingredients (serves 2)
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 medium jalapeño, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 4oz jar sliced pimiento peppers
1 cup Banza rice (or regular orzo)
2 cups vegetable broth
1 (5oz) block Boursin, garlic & fine herbs flavor
Salt & pepper
1. Heat up olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and jalapeño, and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 3-4 minutes until onions have softened. Add in the garlic and pimiento peppers, and cook for a minute until garlic is fragrant.
2. Add the rice/orzo and vegetable broth, and bring to a light boil. Add the Boursin into the middle of the skillet, cover, and reduce heat to low. Cook for 15 minutes or until liquid has mostly absorbed.
3. Stir the Boursin to mix it into the orzo, and season with more salt and pepper. Serve warm!
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT!
Another week, another 30-minute budget meal recipe for my paid subscribers! This one is so warm and nourishing and uses chicken thighs for lots of flavor!
My husband and I both get a "splurge" item on Costco each week (things that are not on our list) and I always take that Kerrygold cheddar as my treat and pair with dark chocolate at night.
Carina I am 100000% in your boat! I actually felt defeated calling the fertility clinic today running some tests. I tried holistic things such as ashwaganda then vitex that messed me up. Then I tried seed cycling and lots of yoga and meditation. Then I tried tracking with low cost OPKs to expensive ones using Mira. Girl I’ve been through it… to the point I channeled my energy into a passion project and like you have been very interested in nutrition not just to have better chances of conceiving but having better periods after all. I built a web app that recommends recipes based on what phase of the cycle you are in and a set of ingredient list ie like root veggies in menstrual phase and omegas in fertile window and healthy fats and citrus and more dark greens in literal phase . When I’ve eaten around the recommended ingredients to the phase I’ve had healthier cycles which is also my goal. Hang in there ! And definitely lean into things that bring you joy meanwhile like making this app for me. https://pmschefbot.com