An Apres-Holiday Cleanser: Roasted Broccoli & Farro Salad with Feta

Greta wears her great-grandmother’s Thanksgiving apron prepping the potato mushroom casserole.

Hey friends. I’m tired – not fully recovered from last week.  Almost too tired from the festivities to line the pan with foil. Blame it on intake excess, the side-kick of celebrations. It was a great party – hilarious times in the kitchen, and at the table – but I’m roiling for balance, feel bad about my belly, and (thankfully) my body craves veggies & grains, instead of turkey, gravy, stuffing and pie.

So I chop the broccoli, place it on the foil-lined pan, and make this cleansing broccoli stand-by.

Plates filled with fowl-free nutrition are suddenly right for me. On Wednesday, I made a variation of another restorative – Quinoa & Chickpea Salad with Crunchy Vegetables, which we munched on a couple of days.  In the recipe I substituted beets for radishes and goat cheese for feta.

Exercise apps at the ready for a quick class.

Vegetarian menus combined with intensified workouts – I’m addicted to my Pocket Yoga app – are restoring my equilibrium. Nothing replaces my flesh-and-blood yoga instructor, but the drive consumes time and gas. My living room is the most restful room for yoga in the house – undoubtedly because it’s the only room consistently clean.

Many of you have roasted other veggies, such as cauliflower and brussels sprouts. This recipe for Roasted Curried Cauliflower with Grapes & Almonds is particularly good. But try giving rich, herbacious broccoli a whirl. The feta lends a smidgen of  indulgence to the recipe; I always prefer the French fetas as they are creamier and  less salty to my palate.

This detox will continue until next Thursday, when I’m hosting a ladies’ party. It won’t be as buttery intense as Thanksgiving, but rest assured a vegetable platter won’t be the only item on the menu. I’ve been fantasizing a low-octane champagne punch with a festive ice-ring, and a ginger cake with lemon curd; I’m consulting Lucy, my go-to mixologist and pastry chef, about both.

Stay tuned, eat well, and be well. After this week, I’ll tip the see-saw in the other direction. After all, it’s the holidays!

(For well-tested Holiday Recipes, click the Holiday Cookbook Ball                                       on the upper right side-bar.)