My Chop Recipes

[elitys]

I wanted to make a thread just for posting my chop recipes for reference purposes and in the interest of not overloading the Food Court. Here are the past two I've made threads about:

Made Chop Today!

Time for Another Round of Chop!

And here's today's! I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

Grains
¼ cup (raw) wild rice blend
¼ cup (raw) tricolor quinoa
¼ cup (raw) barley
Oats as needed (to promote dryness)

Greens
3 leaves purple kale
3 leaves Italian kale
3 leaves romaine lettuce
1 head baby bok choy
3 large pieces broccoli
4-6 sprigs carrot greens
⅓ pack broccoli sprouts

Veggies
1 jalapeno
1 sweet red pepper
1 sweet orange pepper
1 habanero
¼ acorn squash (with guts and seeds)
1 sunburst squash
1 Indian eggplant
2 large pieces cauliflower
¼ cup frozen peas

Fruits
1 passion fruit
½ persimmon
½ starfruit
< ¼ cup frozen mixed berries

Herbs/Spices
8 leaves fresh basil
6 star anise (finely chopped)
1 tsp. chili pepper flakes
1 tsp. dried oregano
½ tsp. turmeric
½ tsp. ginger powder
½ tsp. cayenne pepper

Other Additions
3 tbsp. hemp hearts
2 tbsp. flax seeds
2 tbsp. chia seeds

Grains, seeds, produce, herbs, and spices!​

Instructions:

1. Rinse rice and barley in a strainer. Boil covered for 4 minutes. Add quinoa and boil covered for another 6 minutes. Strain, rinse with cold water, and let cool and drain as much as possible.
2. Cut acorn squash into small pieces and boil covered until slightly softened. For the size of the pieces I cut, this took about 3 minutes. Strain, rinse with cold water, and let cool and drain as much as possible.
3. Prepare the veggies however your bird will eat them. This time, I am trying something a little different. I decided to chop everything Poppy likes into larger pieces and set them aside. This list included the beet, eggplant, peppers, squashes, and fruits. (To avoid the beet turning the entire mix purple, I chopped it finely and rinsed the pieces under the sink until the water ran clear). As for the rest of the veggies, all of the greens, and the basil, I used a food processor to blend them into a very fine mix.
4. Add blended and chopped vegetables to a bowl. Once the grains and squash are adequately cool and dry, add them to the bowl as well. Then add the dry herbs and spices, the flax and chia, and the hemp hearts. Finally, top it off with a sprinkle of oats to soak up excess moisture.
5. Portion into storage containers (I prefer quart sized freezer bags) and let sit in the fridge for a few hours to overnight to allow the grains to absorb moisture.
6. Store in the freezer for up to 3 months.

That's a lot of greens, Mom...


Poppy's favorite: peppers!


Greens gradient.


Passion fruit is a bit tart for Poppy.


Combining ingredients. I always love the colors before they're mixed.


Taste test! It's Poppy approved!


Ready to be stored.
​

Some personal stuff...
Geez, balancing remote school, housework, and a job is really difficult. Most of my free time happens after midnight these days. I've been under a lot of stress with the difficulty of my class load while also working part time, taking care of Poppy, and trying (failing...) to stay on top of housework. When I talk to most of the older adults in my life, they act sympathetic, but also admit that this is how things kind of are in adult life. Ugh, I hope things aren't this stressful and exhausting forever. I don't know if I could handle the thought of that future.
Schoolwork has been so time consuming and mentally draining as of late that this big, hours-long chore of making chop actually became my break today. Even though it takes a long time and there's a lot of steps, it's pretty soothing and gives my brain a much needed rest. Just getting to have my hands working and my head relaxing is a welcome change of pace from my assignments.
I'm trying to stay positive as much as I can given the circumstances. But some days I find it hard to find patience for things like struggling through learning curves at school or dealing with unwanted behavior from the birds.
I just hope that I'll get a good day or two off soon. I feel that if I can just get my feet under me, I could stay on top of things.

 

[Zara]

Look great! How sweet you call it ¨Pop chop¨

 

[finchly]

Great job! I never Think to put in that many spices, so good for you.

Im sorry you’re under so much stress. Although it is true that adult life is often busy, and we all like to over commit and then complain about it, it sounds like you are overwhelmed right now. It shouldn’t be this way.

I assume school=college? Can you lighten the class load? Or work fewer hours at your job?

 

[Maggiebird]

Your chop recipes look great! I know how you feel about being stressed from being super busy.

 

[elitys]

I assume school=college? Can you lighten the class load? Or work fewer hours at your job?

Yes, college. At this point, I can't reduce my class amount because I won't get a tuition refund if I drop them. I've also kind of committed to a couple of series classes that will have their second and third parts in winter and spring respectively, so I'm stuck for the year unless I want to push my graduation date awkwardly to winter a year later than it's scheduled to be.

I also can't really afford to work much less than I do now with rent and needing to eat and all.

It's a nasty situation with not much wiggle room. I pretty much just have to push through it as best as I can.

Great job! I never Think to put in that many spices, so good for you.

I think I'm turning Poppy into a prissy eater by doing it. I offered her some plain rice without all the veggies and spices, and she actually snubbed it! But then, I gave her some with all the extras, and she took it happily.

 

[budgieluv3]

If I was a bird I would eat that! (I would probably eat that as a human too!)

 

[elitys]

If I was a bird I would eat that! (I would probably eat that as a human too!)

I would too, except the peppers made it quite spicy! My fingers were burning all night after cutting them up.