Gender specific produce. Scientific or fable? Continue reading
Gender Specific Veggies?
Category Archives: vegetables
It’s All About The Beet
As a vegetarian, there are few meals that have that old fashion “meat & potatoes” type feel. When I started eating fish, putting together the trifecta dinner plate (veggie, meat and potato/starch) was a favorite of the week. While tonight’s meal was short the starch, nothing beets (ha ha…get it?) a super tasty salad and fish. Tonight was spinach salad with beets, apple, goat cheese, maple glazed slivered almonds and a homemade maple balsamic. Sharing the plate with some scrumptious ginger coconut lime crusted baked mahi. A mouthful, I know, but a wicked tasty one! Recipe(s!) below.
Ginger Coconut Lime Crusted Mahi (baked)
2 pieces of Mahi Mahi approx 8oz ea
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
2 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger or grated fresh ginger
1-2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lime juice
A pinch of chili powder
A pinch of garlic powder
A pinch of sea salt
Preheat oven to 375
Line a baking dish with coconut oil
Combine the coconut, ginger, lime, chili powder, garlic and salt in a small bowl
Pat the fish dry
Place the fish in the dish and press the coconut mixture onto the fish
Bake for 25 minutes or until cooked through and starting to brown
Beet and Spinach Salad
4 cups fresh, chopped spinach
2 small-medium beets
1 green or honey crisp Apple, sliced
4ish oz of chevre
1/4 cup maple glazed shivered almonds
1/4 cup (or to taste) maple balsamic
Twist off the stems and leaves of the beets if they are still attached. Boil in a pot of water for 20-25 minutes or until soft. Cut them in half to cook if you want to speed up the process. Once they are cooked, remove from the water and allow to cool briefly. You should be able to pull the skins right off. Slice thinly.
Add the chopped spinach to a medium bowl. Pour the dressing over the leaves and toss until they are coated. Separate the mix between two plates. Top with beets and apple slices, chevre and almonds.
Maple Glazed Almonds
In a cast iron frying pan, add 1 tablespoon of butter and melt on medium heat. Add 1/2 cup slivered almonds to the pan. Stir in 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup. Allow to brown slightly, stirring occasionally. Once the butter and sugar has cooked off, remove from burner. You can allow to cool and enjoy or place in the oven at 350 for 10 minutes to dry them out a bit more.
Kraut Update
It’s been 21 days since I started my sauerkraut journey and it continues to steep. It has turned a light beige at the upper half of the jar and is more of a an off white toward the bottom portion. I taste it every couple of days and it seems to still have a ways to go before I halt the fermentation and stick it in the fridge. It tastes an awful lot like salty cabbage… I may just cut the process short since the article I had read suggested 5-10 days and I’ve already doubled that.
Having almost half a gallon of sauerkraut in my fridge will certainly encourage me to broaden my eating habits. It’s not that I don’t have a wide pallet range or that I’m not new things, it’s more my tunnel vision when it comes to mixing flavors. I have a specific mindset when it comes to what flavors work. Just today I scoffed at the radio as the host of A Splendid Table suggested mixing rosemary and chilli.
It’s one thing when we desperately need to clean out the fridge of leftovers and have a feast of the diverse ethnic cuisines that surmised our week’s meal plan. It’s another to add sauerkraut to just anything. My narrow gaze on what sauerkraut belongs with equates to two things:
- Seitan Rueben’s
- The occasional fake sausage
That doesn’t leave a whole lot of opportunity to polish off a four pound jar of fermented cabbage…
I’m open to adding it as a topping to stir fry or…wow, that’s it! Like everything else, it’s something that I know is good for us so I’m willing and interested in adding it to our regular diets but clearing I’m having trouble on where to start.
What do you enjoy sauerkraut on, in or with? Any suggestions!?!
Soup Season Has Returned!
Tonight’s dinner was a thrown together overall win. With an array of stray vegetables piling up in the fridge now that our farm share is over, it’s become somewhat of a personal achievement to create meals utilizing what we have and supplementing via grocery store as minimally as possible. While it’s taken me three days to take the peeled, cut and steamed butternut squash and carrots, (working all day and wanted to do nothing but cuddle up with a babe every night will do that), and turn them into a delicious soupy meal, it was certainly worth the wait. Butternut squash, carrot and ginger soup, topped with Vermont Creamery’s madagascar vanilla crème fraîche and a side of fresh Elmore Mountain Bread’s country french bread. Yum.
Butternut Squash, Carrot & Ginger Soup
1 small to medium size Butternut Squash, peeled, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 pound or so of Carrots, peeled & chopped
1 medium Onion, chopped
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
1 quart Vegetable Broth/Stock
1-2 tablespoons grated fresh Ginger Root
4 small-medium Garlic cloves
Salt & Pepper
Creme Fraiche (optional)
Crusty, fresh bread (optional)
- Steam the carrots and squash until soft when you stick a fork in them.
- Add the oil to a large pot on medium heat. Once heated, add onions. When onions are soft and starting to brown, add garlic. Cook until aromatic.
- Add softened carrots, squash, veg broth and ginger to the pot.
- Bring to a boil and let the liquid cook down slightly (approximately 20 minutes).
- Season with salt and pepper to taste
- Remove pot from heat. Using a wand emulsifier (food processor, or blender), puree the chunks. Blend to the desired consistency.
- Serve hot topped with creme fraiche and sided with warm crusty bread & butter.
Enjoy!
Note: skip the creme fraiche and bread to turn this easy meal into a vegan and or gluten free recipe.
The secret life of a baker 
