Borscht

I've been making soup with my carrot and beet harvest to freeze for later consumption. This borscht turned out very tasty, especially with a little yogurt and kraut on top. Borscht is so easy and flexible! I should have made a double batch, but I wasn't thinking it through. I used this Ukranian recipe for inspiration, but you can really put in whatever you have. I opted to not use cabbage, but did have a bunch of beet greens that were really nice in there. I ate this soup for breakfast one morning with soft eggs and it was so warm and delicious. 

Serves 4-6

• 2 T butter
• 1 cup celery, diced (opt - I didn't have this so added a little more onion)
  
• 1 cup onions, diced
  
• 1 cup (or more) of cabbage or beet greens, chopped
  
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• Bay leaf
  
• 6-8 cups bone broth (I used beef)
• 1 can (or equivilant) diced tomatoes 
• 3 medium to large sized peeled beets, half grated and half diced
• 2 medium carrots, grated
• 1 medium potato, turnip, or 2 sunchokes, diced
• 1/2 cup of fresh dill weed
• Salt and pepper to taste

• Sauté the onions and celery in a large soup pot with the butter until soft and translucent (also saute cabbage here if using).
  
• Add the diced tomatoes, bay leaf, garlic, and broth. Bring to a boil over medium high heat and add the beets, carrots, and potato/turnip/sunchokes. Once soup is boiling again, reduce to medium heat and let simmer until beets and tubers are soft, 15-20 minutes. (Add beet greens about half way through the simmer time if using.)
  
• Remove soup from heat; stir in chopped fresh dill weed, salt and black pepper.
• Serve hot with a dollop of sour cream and sauerkraut.
  

   

Beets with beet greens & soft eggs

I planted my beets a little earlier than usual this year, and they are so lush! It was a good move. I am going through and eating a few of them to thin things out as we progress through the summer, since they are a good veggie that will keep well into the fall. Last fall I remember walking home from my garden with an overflowing basket of beets and their greenery, and an older couple stopped me to ask about them. They told me beet greens were their favorite greens and they go to the farmers market just to buy them as they are hard to come by elswhere. I used to not like beet greens as much as kale or collards, but then I started to steam them briefly before loading them with butter. They become so soft and luscious, it is pretty much the only way I eat them now.

I made a 1 person serving, so adapt this as necessary!

2-3 small/med beets with greens

2 tsp Butter

2 tsp Dijon mustard (I used my homemade stuff)

salt/pepper

fresh dill sprigs

2 eggs

1. Chop beet and beet stems into 1" pieces; chop greens. Boil salted water in a small saucepan and add beets and stems. Cover and simmer for 5-6 minutes, then add greens and simmer another couple of minutes. Drain water, and add butter, mustard, salt and pepper; toss to coat.

2. While beets are simmering, make a 6 minute egg: bring enough water to cover eggs to boil in a small saucepan. Once boiling, carefully add eggs (I use a spoon so they don't crack) and cover pot. Set timer for 6 minutes. When done, remove eggs and cover with cold water to stop the cooking.

3. Plate beets and greens, top with eggs, and sprinkle dill over the top. Eat!

Labneh, Beet Hummus, and Chrispy Chickpeas

Seasonal Middle Eastern Appetizers! That is what I decided to make when I hosted my aunties for a family sing. My talented friend teaches rounds and 3 and 4 part harmonies like nobody's business, and has a vast repertoire of traditional songs from all over the world. So. Many. Songs. It does my heart good to have a person like this in my life. Lately I want to host continual and non-stop sings. ha!

So. Singing to feed the heart and soul, and Labneh with cranberries, Beet Hummus, and Chrispy Chickpeas to feed the belly. I was in Iowa City two weeks ago and basically swooned from the Labneh at Oasis Falafel. OMG. I really had not thought much of labneh before. I'd had it, but it seemed nothing to fuss about. Now, there is life with labneh. And it is really easy. Like, so easy you are not doing anything but waiting.

Labneh
32 oz plain full fat yogurt

Labneh with Za'ater

3/4 tsp salt
cheesecloth

Mix salt into yogurt. Spread out cheesecloth over a plate or colander. Pour/spoon yogurt into center of cheesecloth. Tie ends onto your faucet over the sink (or hang somewhere else, or put cheesecloth in a colander over another bowl) and let drip for 24-36 hours. Eat! Keep in a covered container in the fridge for a couple of weeks. Top with cranberry sauce (follows) or dukkah, or olive oil and za'ater. Eat with veggies, crackers, pita, falafel, kubideh, salad, etc.
*Some people put lemon juice in with yogurt too, I will try that next time. I left mine for about 28 hours and had pretty thick yogurt to start out with. Your labneh texture can be softer or more firm depending on how long you let the whey drip off.

Cranberries to go atop Labneh (title links to original recipe)

Overly thick cranberries!

2 c fresh cranberries
1/2 c sugar
1 T lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 jalapeno, minced (opt)

Put all ingredients into heavy pot over medium-high heat. Once it is boiling, lower heat and cook until cranberries pop. (I left mine too long and it got pretty thick - but still tasty!)

Crispy Chickpeas (suggested amount - make however much you want)
1 1/2 c cooked or 1 can chickpeas
1 T olive oil
1 tsp salt
1-2 tsp herbs/spices

These do not keep long - they get chewy as they sit out, and are best right out of the oven. The main thing to know is to dry your chickpeas well, which I have done using a dish towel. This time I made my own chickpeas for the first time in a long while (think my vegetarian days in the early 2000s), cheaper and tasty. Heat oven to 400. Stir dry chickpeas on a sheet pan with the olive oil and salt so that all of them are coated. Bake for 20-25 minutes until crispy on the outside, shaking or stirring the pan once or twice as they cook. Sprinkle spices over the top (I made za'atar and it was delicious). 

Roasted Garlic Beet Hummus

1 large beet
head of garlic
2 c (or 1 can) chickpeas
2 T tahini
1-2 T olive oil
Juice from 1/2 lemon
1-2 tsp sea salt

1) Wrap beet in foil. Roast it and head of garlic (I removed the outer paper only) in a 350 degree oven for about an hour until beet is tender. Remove and let cool. Peel skin off of beet and unpeal garlic cloves. I used about 7 cloves in the hummus, and mixed the rest in eggs the next morning.
2) Mix ingredients in a food processor until smooth. *For a super smooth, creamy hummus you need to have one of those vita-mix type mixers. Maybe an immersion blender would do it too?

Roasted root breakfast veggies

This post has some music and food. Food and music. I've been listening to Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros lately - it's like some kind of spiritual nourishment or something. You know how sometimes songs do that? I don't generally seek out music much, but My Charming Companion sends me "music transfers" over the email. One was the duo of songs below.

I spent much of yesterday listening to youtube music and cleaning the house, starting the day off with this really good breakfast (that filled me up and kept me going for hours!) I still am on the pork belly train and get them regularly, so breakfast included a couple slices of pork belly and some eggs. I love meals where you just put them in the oven and do some other stuff and then it is all done. Plus you can still get local carrots and beets right now, and maybe parsnips too. You could make this an entirely local meal except for the tahini sauce.

Roasted veggies with Tahini sauce
*makes several servings
1-2 large Carrots
1-2 med Beets
1 small Sweet Potato or Parsnip
1-2 T lard, ghee, olive oil

1. Chop everything in a small dice (if using sweet potatoes, chop them a bit larger than the other items since they cook faster). Coat everything in your fat of choice - I have plenty of excess pork fat and I use that and toss in a baking pan. Cook at 375 for 30-40 minutes, stirring once or twice.
2. While they are cooking, mix up a little tahini sauce: lemon juice, salt, water, and tahini. I like a lot of lemon juice, but just taste as you go, and add enough liquid so that it is a "drizzle-able" consistency.
3. Serve veggies with tahini sauce. I usually have plenty extra to just reheat the next morning or two.

Roasted Beets with Honey Balsamic Sauce

Just about the only place I go out to eat these days is the Seward hot bar. Last weekend My Chmaring Companion and I sat at the window seats for 2 hours chattering away over some tasty food and coffee. And then I do my shopping and it all makes for a cozy, convenient, "I know exactly what is in my food" kind of experience. They have been serving these roasted balsamic beets in there for the last couple of months, and I really love them. In part because of the honey and sweetness, I am sure. But I finally got around to making these at home because the local beets are big and gorgeous and why not just have a big batch?!

These were super simple: just roast the beets, and cook down some balsamic vinegar and honey. That is about it. Roasting beets just takes awhile - you want them to get tender, so give them a long time. Mine were really big and I cooked them for almost 2 hours.

Roasted Beets!
2 lbs beets
1/2 c balsamic vinegar
1-2 tsp honey
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 450. Cut off the end/greens from your beets, and rub olive oil on the skin. Wrap the beets (together or separately) in tin foil so that they don't dry out. Because my beets were so large, I wrapped them each individually, but if yours are small, create a bit of a package of them all in there. Be sure to put the foil wrapped package on a baking sheet or pan because it is likely to drip a bit of beet juice. Roast for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until a fork pierced into the beet goes in easily. Set aside to cool.
2. In a small saucepan heat vinegar and honey on low until reduced by about half. Stir in cinnamon and salt.
3. Once beets have cooled, peel off skin and chop into whatever size pieces you like (I like some large bites). Pour balsamic reduction over the top, and sprinkle any additional salt or pepper to taste. It's delicious warm, but nice cold too.

Root Veggie Latkes

I've been tinkering with this recipe to find the right combo, and I think I finally got it. The recipe for "Root Veggie Cakes" comes from the Paleo Comfort Foods blog, but I found it not quite right - at least using the coconut flour I had. So I've changed it up a bit to be less cakey and more latke-y, which seems especially fitting as we approach the end of Hanuukah. These are pretty with all the bright colors, and would be great as a platform for eggs benedict. I found them tasty with a sauce of mayo mixed with horseradish. AND these are my garden beets and carrots!?! 

Root Veggie Latkes (makes 4-5 latkes)
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup shredded parsnips
1/2 cup shredded beets
1 small onion
1 T prepared horseradish (opt)
1 egg
2 T coconut flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
coconut oil/lard/fat

1. Combine shredded carrots, parsnips and beets in a bowl and set aside.
2. In a food processor, pulse chopped onion until minced. Add egg, horseradish and salt and pulse again to combine. Add coconut flour and pulse to mix until mixture becomes a thick batter. Add batter to shredded root veggies and mix together. The mixture should be slightly wet and able to stick together. Because brands of coconut flour vary so widely, if your mixture is really wet (or soupy) add another Tablespoon of coconut flour.
3. Heat 1-2 T of fat in a skillet. Form about 1/4 c of mixture into a ball, and place in hot oil for each latke. Press flat with your hands or spatula and cook on medium heat for 4-5 minutes on each side. You want the veggies to cook and the outside to become crisp.
4. Serve immediately (or keep warm in the oven).

Whole30 Update and Carrot Beet Salad

I am at the three week mark of my Whole30, and am feeling pretty good. I'm eating some occasional fruit, but my biggest splurge was when I ate a date last weekend. This is the most sweetener-free I have ever been, and I notice I am very aware of a sober sort of feeling. I have certainly had some days/emotions come up where I've wanted to eat chocolate or something, and I've eaten a good share of frozen coconut macadamia nut bars instead, but its not like I can eat a lot of them - they are just too filling. And really, even if I ate lot of them, I don't know that I would have any negative side effects.

One feature of the Whole30 that I hadn't really expected was how easy it helps me be with my food boundaries. I've had a long road of that - initially feeling like I was being rude for turning down food that was made/brought for me, and sometimes eating stuff because it was gluten free and looked delicious even if it maybe wasn't what I felt good about eating (some really mediocre wedding cake for example). Maybe it's because the Whole30 is so clear, I just have not had a problem or felt tempted. 

Yesterday I happened to look at The Heavy Table for something or other, and also saw a link to a new bakery that is opening up near my house this month. It's a cupcake place, and for whatever reason I thought I'd peruse their cupcakes. Honestly, it's kind of crazy to see that much sugar. I was fascinated to watch myself not feel pulled in/interested in eating them (the gluten free ones). I don't know if that will last since I don't plan to keep up with the rigid boundaries, but I'm curious about the craving landscape and how it changes.

I've been eating lots of cooked veggies of late: squash and kale, cauliflower and carrots. Frozen peas were on sale so I made pea puree and ate almost all that I made (a whole bag of frozen peas! it was so good). This salad was nice for lunch one afternoon though - fresh and raw, and with veggies and mint from the garden. Soon I'll need to pull all the carrots and beets, so I need to start eating them all up! The original recipe contains honey, but I omitted that, and added olive oil.

2 c grated carrots (about 3 carrots)
1 c grated fresh beets (about 1 medium beet)
1/2 c golden raisins or dried cherries
1/2 tsp paprika (sweet, not hot)
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of salt
Small pinch of cayenne
2+ Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp (sliced) fresh mint leaves

1. Combine carrots, beets, and raisins in a bowl.
2. Mix remaining ingredients (except mint) together in a jar or small bowl. Whisk until smooth.
3. Drizzle dressing over salad. This salad will taste best after it sits for an hour or two so the dressing can permeate the veggies. Toss in the mint just before serving. (I love mint, so used the leaves whole. You can also slice them for a more subtle taste!)

Garden Veggie Salad with Sardines

This week has been fairly uneventful on the food front - my daily routine is to get home from work, eat dinner, go for a walk, and watch some Lynx basketball before getting into bed and reading a bit. Except sometimes eating dinner and watching basketball overlap a little, which I don't actually like doing but is tempting anyway - it's a slippery slope if I am waiting for something to cook and just want to see the start of a game or something. I've become a super Lynx fan lately - I watch all of our games of course (mostly at home via "Live Access" where you can watch every WNBA game for $15 a year or some such), but I also started watching some of the other teams - especially the good ones who "we" will likely play in the coming weeks in the play offs. I'm finding it all very exciting.

The Lynx really have nothing to do with today's salad - which has everything to do with the current garden haul. It is a new time of bounty because the beets and carrots are finally sweet and ready to eat. And they are gorgeous! The carrots especially with the multi-color variety.

Each weekend I spend a day at the northside homestead watering and harvesting and maybe pickling or freezing or pesto-ing. And then I pack up a big haul of veggies to bring home and eat throughout the week. Most all of them made an appearance in today's salad: beets, carrots, green beans, cukes, arugula, and tomatoes, plus some dill and parsley. 

Garden Veggie Salad with Sardines: Assemble whatever veggies you've got!

Handful arugula
1/2 carrot, sliced
1/2 cucumber, sliced
Cherry tomatoes, halved
1 Sliced boiled beet*
Blanched green beans**
Fresh herbs: dill, parsley
Tin sardines
Dressing: olive oil from sardines, sherry vinegar, mustard, mayo (opt), salt, pepper.

*Beets: I've been boiling my beets in one batch each week so that I can have sliced beets whenever I want. They are great in so many ways, or plain with a little vinegar, olive oil, and salt.Bring pot of water to a boil. Put in beets (skin on) and boil for 30-45 minutes, depending on size, until tender. Remove and chill in cold water; remove beet skin with thumb.
**Green Beans: Add green beans to boiling water for 1-2 minutes; remove and cool in cold water.

Beet and Sardine salad

My co-worker is not a beet eater and every year, to my delight, she brings me the beets from her CSA. My garden beets are just a bit slow (they aren't in the sunniest garden spot) and aren't quite ready yet, so these were a treat. While perusing the beet section in Tender, I came across a recipe for beets and marinated mackerel. I used it as inspiration to make something simpler - with sardines and a bit of arugula added in. Nigel Slater says that oily fish (sardines, mackerel and herring) are a perfect accompaniment to beets, and based on this dish I agree!

Spring beets are so nice and small, you can boil them on the stove top and they are ready in 20-30 minutes. They peel easily after they cool - just use your thumbs and fingers to press off the beet skin and watch your fingers turn pink. Once the beets are made, this is a super quick salad. I ended up using some of my pickled onions, but regular ones would work too. I also had purchased a tin of Bela sardines (the Wedge carries them) - usually I get the Wild Planet ones - and wanted to try them for a taste comparison. (The Bela's are the fave from Nom Nom Paleo.) They definitely look different than the Wild Planet sardines, and they tasted delicious. I don't know that I could tell a difference by taste alone between the two products though, and the Bela's cost a bit more for fewer ounces.

Beet and Sardine Salad
3 small beets, cooked/boiled and peeled
handful arugula, chopped
fresh dill, chopped
pickled (or regular red onions), sliced thin
one tin sardines packed in lemon olive oil
juice of half lemon
1 t dijon mustard
salt and pepper

Slice beets thickly and arrange on a plate over arugula. Remove sardines from tin, reserving olive oil, and lay sardines and onions on salad. Mix sardine olive oil, lemon juice, dill, mustard and salt and pepper together and pour over salad.

This tasted really good - the beets were sweet and almost creamy tasting with the sardines. I also think you could forgo the arugula entirely. It wasn't necessary, though I enjoyed it as a surface with which to eat more of the dressing on. Next time, I will go straight up beets and no lettuce - the simplicity is appealing to really taste the strong flavors.

Dandelion Green Salad (with Beets and Carrots)

I tried some dandelion greens straight from the garden and yard last weekend, and they were so good! Now is a good time to eat them because they are still young, tender, and not overly bitter. Plus they are plentiful. I was walking in the park last night, enjoying the 80 degrees, and noticed tons of baby dandelion plants that could be picked.

You want to look for dandelions that have not flowered yet, and then look for ones with smooth (as opposed to furry) leaves. If you look around at a few, you can compare leaves to better understand smooth versus furry. The smooth ones are the ones you are looking for to eat in a salad, and they will be a variety of sizes. Use a dandelion picker to pick the whole root and get all the leaves (and rid your garden of the dandelion), or just pick the leaves off and deposit them right into your colander. They are pretty fragile, so it is best to pick them soon before consuming them. You can rinse and wash them, and spin them dry in a salad spinner - they will get bruised, but that is not a problem for this salad.

This salad of beets, dandelion greens and carrots perfectly complement each other: the bitter greens match the sweeter raw veggies in a really delicious combo. Fresh spring green onions are also nice for the mild flavor, the smaller ones you can find the better. My Charming Companion made this salad up, and there was not any measuring going on. Below are some close estimates, but feel free to take some liberties.

This is about 2 big handfuls of the washed greens

Dandelion, beet, carrot salad
1-2 c dandelion greens, chopped
1/2 raw beet, grated
1 carrot, grated
7-8 small green onions, chopped*
2 T fresh lemon juice
2 T olive oil
1 T mustard
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 c toasted almonds
*the smaller green onions are more mild. If you only have large ones, chop the white part very fine and use a few less.

Combine all of the ingredients but the almonds in a bowl, stir to coat all the veggies with the oil and lemon. Sprinkle almonds on top and serve!

Raw Beet Salad

I tried to get scale here!

I am home with the windows open, listening to my neighbor's bluegrass band - they are all crammed on the porch, upright bass, fiddle and all - thankfully they are good. The warm weather makes me want cold salads of things other than lettuce. Today's recipe (last night's dinner) features Lutz beets. Which, btw, are STILL local at the Seward. They are these ginormous beets (the photo is of a relatively small one) that are really sweet tasting and a beautiful red with some pink inside (the other beets are from CA). I buy one at the co-op each week to become beet kvass, breakfast, and now beet salad. This is totally refreshing, simple, and good. It's a Mark Bittman recipe, and I kept it as is except to add some toasted walnuts. As is his usual, there are many variations on it, so you can use half carrots plus ginger, or put in cabbage and orange (see his link above) for a different, but same, sort of salad. I love that about Mark Bittman's recipes, although I don't own any of his cookbooks to really make use of it!

Speaking of cookbooks, I just got a cookbook from the library (after seeing it at Moon Palace Books) that turned out to be excellent: Odd Bits by Jennifer McLagan. It's all about using animal parts (brains, kidneys, feet, udders, etc) with lots of recipes and really nice directions about how to prepare these odd bits, as well as some helpful information about what it might taste like and why much of Europe still considers these pieces delicacies. It's straight forward and made me feel less squeamish about getting a whole pig head, for example. The fact that it makes me want to try pig head at all is pretty great. So. I recommend her book - I'm even thinking about buying it, and I have not bought a cookbook in over 5 years or something crazy. For sure not since I was a wheat eating vegetarian!

Anyway - back to beet salad.

1 to 11/2 pounds beets, peeled
2 large shallots, minced
1 sprig tarragon, minced (opt)
1/4 c chopped parsley leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp Dijon mustard, or to taste
1 T extra virgin olive oil
2 T sherry or other good strong vinegar
1/4 c toasted walnuts

1. Shred/julienne beets in a food processor or with a mandoline. Mix with shallots, parsley, and tarragon (mine was dried).
2. Toast walnuts on a dry cast iron skillet on medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring often.
3. Mix remaining ingredients for a dressing. I was out of mustard so used mustard powder, and it was still good. Pour dressing over beets, and toss walnuts on top.

This salad was even better for lunch the next day.

Beet Kvass

Beet Kvass in a "juice" glass - what a color!

I had some store-bought, "Angelica's Garden" beet kvass a few weeks ago - it was served a la red wine while preparing a sort of date-night dinner, and it was REALLY good. (It costs a little more than wine, but you get some good gut flora out of the deal!) It also inspired me to try making my own. It looks like the Angelica's Garden folks add some apple cider/juice and fresh ginger juice right before bottling to give it a little sweetness, which I think would be an amazing next experiment. So far, I have only had this straight up, and I give it two thumbs up. It's just a little fizzy, rich and savory/sweet like wine, with a taste of earthy beets that is not too strong. I so far can't drink a whole glass - this is more of a 4 oz. sort of deal. But it's good. And WAY easier than kombucha, with perhaps more nutrition.

I followed Sally Fallon's beet kvass recipe. When I went to look up kvass in Salvador Katz's fermentation book, his kvass was made from bread?! Apparently both bread and beet versions are traditional - I had no idea.

Getting the whey!

I am going to try making kvass some more (maybe sometime without added whey) - but decided to go with using whey to get the culture started. I have not really had much dairy other than heavy cream for the last long while, so it was a bit of an adventure picking out which cultured dairy product to use to get my whey from. I thought about a coconut yogurt, but even the plain ones had cane sugar and weird stuff in there, so I went with some goat milk kefir. I had a swig of it too, and it was really delicious. You could also use juice from homemade/live cultured sauerkraut or any other fermented something you have around.

To get whey, use any yogurt or kefir that has live cultures in it. Put the cultured yogurt/cream/kefir in cheese cloth, or in a coffee melita thing over a cup to separate the "curds" and "whey" - though really you will be having whey and what ends up being like cream cheese. You only need 1/4 c whey, but it does last 6 months in the fridge, so you decide how much whey you want to make. (After you make beet kvass once, you can use leftover kvass as the starter culture.) I ate my "leftover" cream cheese stuff with some frozen blueberries and it was amazing.

Beet Kvass
2 large beets or 3 medium sized ones, peeled and roughly chopped
1/4 c. whey (see above)
2-3 tsp salt
filtered water
2 quart jars or a 1/2 gallon jar

Put all ingredients in jar/s and stir well (I shook them up with their lids on). Set sealed jars on counter for 2-8* days. The Kvass is ready to drink as soon as it is chilled, or right away if you don't mind it at room temp.

*My kvass took 8 days to get the full flavor, though the recipe says 2 days. It's been pretty cool in my house, so I would guess 2-3 days is great for full on August heat, whereas 8 days fits for this cool/cold springtime. I tasted mine every couple of days: early on, it was a light pink and tasted like salty water with some whey. It started to lose the salty taste after about 5 days, and finally started to get a little fizz going on right at day 7 or 8. You can certainly call yours done at any phase, but I was really happy waiting for the bit of fizziness without any sort of salt taste. By then it was a nice rich red color.

Note - reuse the beets another 1-2 times for more kvass. Instead of using whey, you can use some of the kvass you just made as the "starter culture." I have not tried it yet, but you can than eat the beets on salad or however you like. Nothing goes to waste!

Breakfast Veggies & Eggs with Tahini

I started doing kettle bells this month. I am not sure what got me inspired to do it, except I had a little extra time and a desire for some more msucle. And I found a nice kettle bell place right by my house. I tried lifting weights one time last year (ha!) - the way where you do very few reps with as much weight as you can do and still actually lift it. I burst into tears each time. Not because it was impossible, but it was like my mind thought I couldn't do it and my mental state just collapsed. So. Kettle bells seemed like a nice way to build up some muscle without the tears. I've gone to 4 classes and already I feel stronger and could do way more than the first couple of times. Holy cow!

My breakfast this morning is based on Modern Times' "Good Morning Healing Earth" breakfast, which is a lovely medly of lots of sauteed veggies topped with scrambled eggs and drizzled with tahini. It seems like an excellent pre-kettle bell breakfast. It's really good, and the version I made at home turned out equally as tasty, if a little simpler. The original dish at Modern Times actually uses onions, beets, carrots, green peppers, mushrooms, kale, zucchini and broccoli. So go for it all if you happen to have all those veggies - but I thought the ones I selected were a good combo that still gave a similar taste. Sub any veggies in for something else, though I do think the kale, beets, and carrots are key. Modern Times uses roasted beets instead of my pan sauteed ones, so if you happen to make a big batch of roasted beets, keep a few out to use in this for breakfast!

Good Morning Breakfast (serves 1 large serving)
1-2 T butter, ghee, coconut oil, bacon fat, etc
1/4 small beet, diced small
1 small carrot, diced small
3 kale leaves, de-stemmed and chopped
1/2 small onion, diced
handful of broccoli florets, trimmed small
salt
1 T. parsley, chopped
2 eggs
tahini (mixed with water - and lemon juice if you have it - to thin it out, plus a pinch of salt)

1. Put a cast iron pan on medium heat. Add fat, and then beets. Cook covered for 3-5 minutes. Add onions and remove lid. After another few minutes, add broccoli and carrots. Cover the pan again for 3-5 minutes. Add kale. Cook a final 5 minutes, until greens are wilted but still bright, and beets are just tender. Stir often to keep things from sticking and add a little more fat if needed.
2. Meanwhile, scramble eggs in another pan so that they finish about the time of the veggies. Mix up some tahini with water to make it drizzle-able (a little less water than tahini ratio).
3. To serve: dish out veggies in a pile on a plate and top with scrambled eggs. Sprinkle parsley and drizzle tahini over everything. Serve!

Roasted Chicken Thighs/Roasted Beets & Sweet Potatoes

Well, as fall descends, my work schedule shifts to later hours. Which means I want dinner to be pretty speedy and/or easy, along with tomorrow's lunch prep. Last night I ate steak and some roasted broccoli (20 minutes total, but only 5 of that involved any action on my part). This morning I put 4 chicken thighs in the oven, along with 2 small sweet potatoes (cut into wedges), and 2 beets. They all roasted in under an hour, and I got 2 lunches and a dinner out of it, plus some extra sweet potatoes for breakfast tomorrow. And all I have to do is reheat it for dinner. I love fall and roasting things!

Roasted Chicken Thighs
4 bone-in, skin-on thighs
Olive oil
Spiced salt (I like Sel de Cuisine from Mississippi Market)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Rub olive oil and salt rub over thighs (all sides). Place them skin side down in a cake pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes, flipping over halfway through.

Roasted Beets and Sweet Potatoes

While the chicken cooks, throw in some beets wrapped in foil to roast, and/or sweet potato wedges. I coated the sweet potatoes in coconut oil and sprinkled on a bunch of the Sel de Cuisine. They only take about 20-30 minutes, depending on the wedge size, and can be flipped part way through. You could do giant wedges, which would finish up about the same time as the chicken. The beets take the longest: about an hour. Once they are cool enough to handle, peel off the skin (I just waited til I got home later that day.) I made a simple salad a la An Everlasting Meal from a couple of posts ago: slice or chop the cooled beets and top with olive oil, vinegar, a nice salt, and roasted nuts. Mmmm.

Chicken thighs sans 1 (it was in my lunch already)

For the fast dinner: reheat the thighs under the broiler for a few minutes on each side. They get piping hot, and can be served with the chilled beets, or along with the sweet potato wedges (reheated or not) making dinner cook time about 10 minutes.

Breakfast Veggie Pile-up

The garden is in full swing with green beans, zucchini, cucumbers, and various other greens. Exciting! I've been eating lots of veggies for breakfast lately - always in the form of some sauteed veggie medley topped with either fried or scrambled eggs. It feels really decadent to eat so many vegetables for breakfast, and it is surprisingly easy. And you can use just about anything. I always make the veggie mix on my fave cast iron skillet, starting with the onions and slower cooking veggies, and adding in whatever else I am using so it all finishes about the same time. Then I dump the veggies onto my plate, put a little ghee in the pan, and cook up a few eggs to go on top.

This one was beets (from my co-worker's CSA), red cabbage, onion, and a little bit of sweet potato and bacon. I put a little homemade mustard in with the veggies too.

Greenery! There is zucchini, green beans, onions, basil, and kale in this one - everything was from the garden but the onions. I cooked some basil in with the scrambled eggs too, and put a little lemon juice on the greens while they cooked.

This photo got my breakfast table in addition to my plate - ah well.  This one was zucchini, bacon, onion, green beans, chives, and a leafy green called Tyfon Holland greens from the garden. They cook down pretty small (like spinach)- and are super good to throw in just about anything.

Cool Beet and Cucumber Soup

I love this soup recipe in the heat of summer - especially Polish style, ladled over a hard-boiled egg. It is fetching with its pink color, and surprising in its not-really-borscht-but-still-a-cold-beet-soup. It's also perfect for the early summer produce: beets and their greens, green onions, cucumbers, and dill.


This recipe is from ReBar, a veggie restaurant/bistro in Victoria, Canada that has a great cookbook. I made the broth on day one so that it would better chill in my fridge, and then finished it off to eat for dinner day two. I sort of wonder if bunches of veggies are a little smaller in Canada than they are here - I inevitably need to add more buttermilk, lemon and pickle juice, and I still end up with a pretty chunky final product. So, when they say adjust the seasoning, I guess they mean ADJUST. you know?!

Serves 4-6 (or closer to 8 if you add in the extra like I do)
2 small beet bunches, with greens
water to cover
1 T salt
2 T sugar
3 c. buttermilk
1 c. yogurt, kefir, or sour cream
2-3 lemons, juiced
1/4 c. pickle juice
lots of cracked pepper
1/2 long English cucumber, 1/4" dice
1 bunch scallions, minced
1/4 c. fresh minced dill

1. Cut greens from the beetroot and and wash both well to remove any clinging dirt. Peel beets, quarter, and thinly slice. Place in a pot and cover with water by 1-inch. Bring to a boil. Add salt, partially cover, and reduce heat. Simmer until beets are just tender.


2. While the beets are simmering, finely shred the greens and stems. When beets are tender, stir the greens and sugar into the pot. Cover and turn off the heat. Let stand 10 minutes. Uncover and cool to room temp; then chill thoroughly before proceeding. (This step can be prepared up to days in advance or frozen up to 1 month!)

3. In a large bowl, combine the beets/greens/cooking water with buttermilk, yogurt, lemon & pickle juice. Season with salt, cracked pepper, sugar, or more lemon to get the right balance for your taste. Chill the soup for at least one hour before serving.


4. To serve: stir in the cucumbers, scallions, and dill and taste one more time to adjust the seasoning. Serve in chilled bowls. (Or in my case, jars!)

Beet Infused Vodka Martini

The inspiration for this post came from two things:
1. I recently had a delicious drink at the Craftsman that included beet infused vodka, lime, and cointreau.
2. I am doing some research about alcohols that are GF (especially because Gin, my fave liquor, is definitely not!)

I discovered that many vodkas (ones made only with potato), all good quality tequilas, and most rums are GF. The folks at Zipps seem very knowledgeable about their GF products - which is helpful because many of the bottles are not labeled. Cointreau, incidentally, is GF.

I came across an excerpt of "Hip Sips" - a cocktail book that includes a beet infused vodka drink. I followed her technique for the infusing. This photo is right after I added the beets - 3 days later the vodka was opaque.

My take on the Craftsman's drink:
Ice cubes for chilling and shaking
3 oz. beet vodka (I used Rain Organics)
1 oz. fresh lime juice
1 oz. cointreau
splash of simple syrup*

Fill martini glass with ice and set aside to chill. Shake ingredients in a cocktail shaker for 10 seconds. Empty ice from glass. Strain drink into glass and drink immediately!

*Recipe thoughts: I am wondering if I add more cointreau if I could eliminate the simple syrup all together?

I also came across this really delicious looking recipe for beet infused tequila with rosemary infused simple syrup...which I tried (this is an addendum now). Kinda strange. I maybe like my tequila straight up.

Pickled Beets

It has been so hot lately that I only want cold things to eat. I am also thinking ahead to fall - making pierogi with pickled beets and sauerkraut a la Bedlam. Beets are $1 a bunch at the farmer's market right now, and they are gorgeous! I tried this easy refrigerator pickling recipe and they smell and taste amazing - warm cinnamon spices with apple cider vinegar. The beets/brine will stay good in the fridge for up to 6 months, and you can replenish beets as they get eaten. I suspect these would be amazing on salad greens with goat cheese and pecans. yum.

cold pink borscht

I ate a lot of borscht when I was a kid; I just didn't know it had such a fancy name. We called it "vegetable soup" and my mom and grandma pulled it out often in the dead of winter. At Grandma's house we ate it with heavy whipping cream, but my mom could never seem to remember to buy such an unhealthy condiment when she made it.
Alas, fond memories persist and to this day I can't think of a better use for a bunch of beets. I found this recipe in the New York Times Magazine last week and made it tonight for friends.

A few things if you decide to try it yourself:
1.) We don't own a kitchen scale, so either my oh-so-reliable arm scale was off on the beet measurement or 8 cups of water is WAY too much for this recipe. (Either way, the excess is in the freezer- a tasty broth for later!)
2.) I used half golden and half regular old red beets hoping for an orange-y color. Unsurprisingly (and a bit disappointingly) it's just pink.
The title links to the recipe online.