Roasted Beet Salad

INGREDIENTS:
8-10 beets, rinsed and trimmed
1 fennel bulb, rinsed, trimmed and diced
3 scallions, rinsed, trimmed and thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup cilantro, minced
2-3 Tablespoons of sunflower oil
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
pumpkin seeds, garnish

Preheat oven to 400. Place beets in a baking dish along with about 1/4 inch water. Cover with foil (optional - experiment and see what you like best) and roast until tender but still firm (30-40 minutes). Larger beets will take longer than others. Let beets cool. Once cool, the skins will easily slide off. Slice and add to salad.

While waiting for beets to cook and cool, Add fennel, scallions, garlic and cilantro in your salad bowl. Drizzle with oil, vinegar and s&p. Let this marinate in fridge while beets cook and cool. Add beets when ready. Serve immediately or chill in fridge until ready to serve. To serve, sprinkle with pumpkin seeds and on a bed of lettuce.

Thoughts on a CSA box

It's CSA season again, and I could not be happier. Every Thursday, we are gifted with an amazing box jam-packed with fresh, beautiful vegetables from Driftless Organics. I was inspired to write about how I used this past week's box, because many people ask how we can go through a full-share every week without food going to waste. Why so inspired this week? I was able to plow through this box in just two days. We were headed out of town for two and a half days just 36 hours after picking up our box, so I immediately attacked that box. Here is a list of the vegetables, and how I used them.

Broccoli
Garlic Chives
Green Garlic
Pea Vine
Radishes
Red Butterhead Lettuce
Red Potatoes
Salad Mix
Spinach
Yukina Savoy

Thursday
We picked up our box when we are usually already eating supper. So, just as we arrived home, I quickly threw in an Amy's veggie burger for the boys to share and started a pot of water to blanch the broccoli. Then I made a salad using half the spinach and half the salad mix along with pear, walnuts, balsamic vinegar, sunflower oil (also by Driftless and AMAZING) and freshly ground salt and pepper. The boys ate toast, veggie burger, salad and mounds of broccoli. Then off Ethan went to put them to bed as I continued on my mission.

Just after I pulled the broccoli out of the boiling water I tossed in the rest of the spinach which quickly wilted. I then pureed it and voila! Baby food. (Yes, there were bits of broccoli...but Odin loves broccoli, too). Put it in ice cube trays, and we've got spinach for several days for our Odin.

Dumped that water and started the pot all over again for a pound of whole wheat spaghetti. As the water came to a boil, I created pesto out of two handfuls of walnuts, all the garlic chives, salt and pepper, drizzle of olive oil, the rest of the salad mix (yes, you can make pesto from salad mix...you can make it from any green you want), and a cup of the pasta's cooking water. The cooking water is an excellent way to stretch the pesto with using very little oil and smoothing it out for the little ones. After the boys were asleep, Ethan and I finished the salad and had pesto spaghetti.

Friday
I was inspired to have breakfast for dinner, because this week's newsletter mentioned that the amount of potatoes was perfect for one batch of hashbrowns. I sliced the potatoes into 1/4 inch rounds, place in a pot and covered with cold water. Bring to a boil and parboil. I did this a few hours before dinner while the kids were either napping or occupied. Placed them in the fridge until I was ready to brown them. Heat one to two tablespoons of olive oil in a non-stick skillet. Add parboiled potatoes. Cover. Just before they were finished (about 8 minutes) I threw in the green garlic (chopped) and yukina savoy (roughly chopped). Along with the potatoes, we had another salad exactly the same as the night before except butterhead lettuce was the green along with roughly chopped pea vine. If you don't have pear, just skip the fruit or add berries instead! And the main dish...waffles!!! Topped with greek yogurt and pure maple syrup. My vegan-altered Betty Crocker recipe follows. I simply loved this meal.

Yes, I didn't use the radish...but they are sturdy and last long in the crisper drawer with the carrots and apples. I'm thrilled to use them tonight.

Vegan Waffles
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 bananas
2 1/2 cups of soy milk
3/4 cup sunflower oil

Combine dry ingredients. Mash bananas in mixer. Gradually add soy milk, oil and dry ingredients until all are combined. Cook/bake as directed for your waffle maker. Extra waffles can be frozen. I used the extras for breakfast-in-the-car the next morning. (I needed to get to Grandma and Grandpa's house in record time...I needed a break!).

Feeding The Whole Family

One of my hobbies is to constantly check out cookbooks at the library. I feel the urge to buy a new cookbook at least everything six months (cookbook budget is unfortunately quite limited.) I am thankful for living in a city so large that it has an enormous cookbook selection and is willing to purchase most every book I ask them too. Yea for libraries!!!

Feeding The Whole Family by Cynthia Lair is so wonderful to me that it is a definite "buy" by my standards. It is a fantastic resource on wholesome family eating, and I believe the recipes are easy for the less-advanced or least-interested cooks. Yet, the tastes have proven to be great for those more-advanced and very-interested tastebuds.

I cook and bake our family meals strictly vegan, and this book has a wide variety of recipes to accommodate. There are recipes that call for meat, but there are very few. The recipes that include dairy seem easy to translate into vegan.

Recipes we've come to love: French Lentil and Potato Stew, Split Pea Soup with Fresh Peas and Potatoes (minus the ham bone), and Pumpkin Pecan Muffins (vegan style).

Here are some of her recipes published on mothering.com and also included in the book, as well as an article she wrote:

Winter Fruit Compote with Nut Cream
Becky's Braised Greens
In The Kitchen with Baby
Summer Fruit Ambrosia with Vanilla Nut Cream
Golden Mushroom Basil Soup
Luscious Beet Green Salad

Earth Salad

I'm back! August proved to be outrageously overwhelming but now I'm thrilled to share more of what's going on in my kitchen. As summer nears its end, the food growing in Minnesota and Wisconsin continues to be oh so beautiful. This is one of my newest fave ways to eat the plentiful root vegetables given to us from Driftless Organics. Overall cooking time is long due to roasting the beets, but you barely lift a finger to make this. Hands-on time is very minimal and easy to do while the rest of dinner bakes or grills.

We enjoy this with grilled corn, portobellos, veggies burgers and zucchini (grilled zukes are the BEST!). Get those grills going while you still can. Vegans and vegetarians can rock the grill, too!

INGREDIENTS:

4-5 beets, rinsed and ends trimmed
4 yellow potatoes, scrubbed and cut into bite-size pieces
4-5 carrots, scrubbed and cut into bite-size pieces

Preheat oven to 350. Individually wrap beets in foil and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast for 90 minutes. Let them cool while you prepare the potatoes and carrots. Place potatoes in a medium-sized pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil. Cook for about 8 minutes (don't overcook the pots...don't want them mushy) then add the carrots and cook an additional 2 to 3 minutes (until the carrots are barely tender). Drain in colander when finished. Unwrap beets and remove the skin - it will easily fall off with barely a touch. Cut into bite-size pieces. Add all the veggies together in a serving bowl. Cover with below dressing. Serve immediately or chilled. Delicious either way.

DRESSING INGREDIENTS:

3 tablespoons of sunflower or olive oil
2 tablespoons of vinegar (balsamic, apple cider or red wine)
salt and pepper to taste

Whisk together with a fork and pour over veggies. I prefer to eyeball my measuring of dressing ingredients. I think it always turns out tastier and obviously unique each and every time.

OPTIONS:

Add a few handfuls of arugula or spinach, OR throw in some rinsed and roughly chopped beet greens to the end of the potatoes and carrots cooking time. Just barely blanche them in the hot water.