October 14th, 2011
Sorry for not posting yesterday. I came down with a bad flu on Wednesday evening and I barely got off the couch yesterday. Thankfully, I’m feeling much better today!
I’ve had some turnips and parsnips from my CSA hiding in the back of my fridge for weeks now. I’m not a huge fan of either so they always end up languishing in my fridge because I don’t know what to do with them. Thankfully, they stay good for a long time. I finally decided to use them in a simple roasted root vegetable soup hoping that roasting them would take the edge off their bitterness. I also added some potatoes and carrots to balance out the stronger flavour of the turnips, and some shallots and garlic for extra yumminess. This is more of a method than a recipe. You can use any type and quantity of root vegetables.
Generic Roasted Root Vegetable Soup
1. Cut up your vegetables into consistent size chunks – about half an inch. Place them on a baking sheet that has been lined with parchment paper. Toss with 1-2 tbs olive oil and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper or Herbamare. (I used 5 turnips, 2 parsnips, 1 lb potatoes and 3 carrots).
2. Bake in a 400 F oven for 40-50 minutes or until the vegetables can be pierced with a fork.
3. Heat up some vegetable broth in a pot – as much as you think is necessary to cover the vegetables, I used 5 cups. Add the roasted vegetables to the broth and puree with a hand blender until mostly smooth (I like to leave some texture). Taste and season with additional salt and pepper.
This soup was surprisingly delicious, even though we didn’t like most of the vegetables that were in it! Unfortunately I didn’t take a pic of the final product.
Posted in Recipes | 3 Comments »
October 12th, 2011
I still had some ‘pumpkin’ to use up from my giant candy roaster squash as well as some left over stale bread from making French toast, so I made the Baked Pumpkin Ziti from Vegannomicon. I mostly followed the recipe but I reduced the amount of oil and margarine substantially. The original recipe has 9 tablespoons of added oil and margarine (in addition to the naturally occurring fat in the cashews and walnuts). I reduced this to 2 tablespoons and the result was still incredibly delicious! I used 1 tbs of oil for the caramelized onions, didn’t add any oil to the ricotta and used 1 tbs of Earth Balance for the Sage Breadcrumb topping. This is definitely a dish that is fancy enough to make for company. And it makes a ton!
Posted in Reviews | 4 Comments »
August 30th, 2011
Sweet Potato Lentil Chili!
This is truly one of my favorite recipes. It’s by Dreena Burton (my fav vegan cook book author) and I haven’t felt the need to alter the recipe one bit. I actually just finished making about 5 ½ litres of this stuff. I’m going to a baby shower this weekend and the momma-to-be wanted some freezable food for when the baby arrives. This is exactly the occasion I turn to this tried and true recipe. I’ve made this recipe for many omnivores and it is always a hit. This is my go to recipe when making dinner for a crowd or when I’m making meals to deliver for a friend. This would be a great starter recipe for someone who is just starting to make plant based meals. Lucky for you guys, Dreena has shared this recipe with VegNews and it’s available online. Here are some reasons why I LOVE this recipe:
- it’s super easy to make
- you can make it ahead
- it freezes well
- you can double it
- with sweet potatoes, lentils and beans, it is very hardy and healthy
- it’s always a crowd pleaser, even when serving omnivores
Things are getting pretty busy around my house. My partner Dave is running in the Ontario provincial election for the Green Party and the election period officially starts in 8 days (ahh!). Generally during times of super busyness and stress we end up eating out a lot more and eating way less healthy. But, I’m determined to not let that happen this time! So expect a lot of tips on eating healthy during busy times over the coming weeks. The first tip is – never make a single batch of anything!! It only takes a tiny bit more time double a recipe and you end up with twice as much healthy food. This is how I ended up with 5 ½ litres of this chili. I’ll probably give 2 litres to the momma-to-be which means I still have around 6 meals worth of chili left for us. I know this recipe freezes well so I’ll pop them in the freezer for when we need a healthy meal and have no time to cook.
I’m working on a long post all about how to make the switch to natural and cruelty free bath products so look out for that next week!
Posted in Reviews, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
July 13th, 2011
I’m not really a turnip fan. I usually only eat them in the depths of winter when they are pretty much the only local produce available. And even then I hide them in soups with a lot of other veggies. So I wasn’t exactly thrilled when I started getting them in my csa box. But there they are, every single week. I let them stock pile for a few weeks until I figured out what to do with them.
After some googling, I read online that they were actually very pleasant raw, so I chopped off a piece and sure enough they are very tasty! A lot less turnip tasting than their winter counterparts. So I decided to slice them thinly and make a salad out of them. I coated them in my raw cashew poppy seed dressing. This is one of my all time favorite salad dressings! It’s perfect on a spinach fruit salad or a coleslaw and it worked really well over the spring turnips.
Spring Turnip Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing (2 large servings)
6 spring turnips
1 small bunch radishes
2-3 green onions
Cashew Poppy Seed Dressing
¼ cup cashews, soaked for at least 30 minutes
3-4 tbs water
2 heaping tsp honey, agave, or sugar
1 tbs apple cider vinegar
¼ tsp dried mustard
salt to taste
1 tsp poppy seeds
Thinly slice the turnips and radishes. The turnips are quite soft so it’s easy to get them nice and thin. Chop the green onion. Blend all the dressing ingredients except the poppy seeds until smooth and creamy and then stir in the poppy seeds. Add the dressing to the veggies right before serving otherwise it will get watery.
Posted in CSA Challenge, Recipes | No Comments »
