Pacific Northwest: Root Vegetable Stew

The reality of this venture is that it will take me some investments in order to be successful. First it is an investment of time and then there will be some money: mostly for the canning stuff. I just started going through recipes and checking them for locality of products......hmm not as straight forward as i thought.

Here is my first recipe of choosing for the new year with changes from the original for pure local eating. I took out a couple other "roots" such as celery root and tossed in some more local items such as actual celery.

While I was at it hacking away at so many veggies I started two other pots on the stove to make veg stock. I looked at the page I just gave you as a link and decided that veggies of any sort boiled for about an hour or so would give me good enough stock in the future. The finished stock is currently frozen in ice cube form and also baggies, ready for use.

As for the root vegetable stew below, here is what I think: 1) it's so easy 2) it makes a lot, from my pot it seems far more than 6 - 8 servings and 3)it's pretty darn bland, in that yummy rooty sort of way which actually makes it very functional. With my giant pot o' root soup I'm gonna split it up, freeze it and be able to add what I like to it with time: different sorts of beans and other vegetables as they become available.

Root Vegetable Stew

2 onions diced
2 parsnips, peeled and diced
2 medium rutabagas, peeled and diced
2 turnips, peeled and diced
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
4 celery stalks, diced
4 carrots, diced
1 fennel bulb, halved, cored and diced

spices: ginger and cinnamon

vegetable stock

In large pot over medium heat, saute onion in oil for five minutes or until soft. Add parsnips, rutabagas, turnips, sweet potatoes, rutabagas, turnips, sweet potatoes, fennel, celery and carrots. Add enough stock to barely cover vegetable, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 25 minutes.

Remove from heat and gently puree soup 3 seconds to slightly thicken liquid and blend flavors. Season to taste with cinnamon and ginger.

serves 6 -8.

Roasted Citrus

So a friend just said "the Morrocans love to cook like this" so perhaps I'm new to the boat of simple cooking of citrus fruits but I am in love with this. I'm also IN LOVE with Clean Eating magazine, a random find in the Sacramento airport on my return from family Christmas. It really is a magazine focused on allowing foods to be as whole as possible and to cook purely. Finally i say!

I went to the awesome produce stand near my house, Uncle Pauls and picked up a bunch of the fresh citrus. (any will do that you have available: grapefruits, navel oranges, tangerines, kumquats, etc)

Then in a bowl I mixed the fruit with one vanilla bean (split and beans scraped out) and cinnamon and cardamom. Spread this out on a piece of foil on a baking sheet and roast for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Depending on how carmelized you want your fruit you may want to pan sear them as well when they are done. (apparently the juicier the fruit the harder it is to carmelize in the oven).

I took it to a friend's house for New Year's Eve and enjoyed it on top of some yummy ice cream, Haagen Dazs Five brand to be exact. Yummy! I'm also sure this would taste amazing with savory foods as well. I'm hooked!

first week of January planning

Let's think about December 31, 2009 to January 9, 2010. Basically from the last day of 2009 to the first Saturday. What will this week be about when it comes to healthy eating?

First I have signed up for every other week deliveries of local produce: at least as a setting point for eating from local farmers. The organization is called Organics to You. Yesterday I got my first delivery and here is what I've got:

• apples
• cara cara oranges
• fairchild tangerines
• pears
• leeks
• broccoli
• avocado
• lettuce
• beets
• carrots
• mushrooms
• potatoes
• turnips
• spinach

From this starting point I will start pulling together recipes. I will also use Locavore to make educated plans about what is available for my purchasing.

Of course all this learning encourages me to start thinking about things like what are the flour and sugar alternatives available for baking, etc. So I'm sure some other adventures will be occurring here as well.

Chat soon, with actual recipes and ideas:

Courtney

Planning for a strong start: January 2010

January 2010 is my month of education, purification and preparation for a year of attentive growth in my knowledge of eating and health. Alongside my boyfriend, Carson, we are committing to our first month of goal setting...you know, one step at a time.

first:

1. eat locally. It is winter so this is well, less inspiring than when farmer's markets are spilling with heirloom tomatoes and vivid piles of berries. Regardless, I do believe that the ethics of minimizing transportation costs, supporting local farmers and also ensuring that the food I eat is nutrient rich and not shipped across the world is worth the challenge. To this end I have several amazing resources I've already found such as the Locavore Application on my iphone and amazing amounts of magazines, blogs and books with ideas which I intend to share with you. To define local, I live in Portland, Oregon I will always look to Oregon first for options and then next to Washington State and northern California...it seems to be that southern California is stretching it a bit. As the weather alters and there are more options simply in Oregon and Washington than I will limit my reach to this region.
2. if I eat meat then I have to know it safe and humane
3. for this month, god help me, but no alcohol. Its almost amusing to me how accustomed to drinking I have gotten. I don't even like it all that much. Being a daughter to an alcoholic and related to plenty more I never wanted the dependancy to slip its way in...and yet I see how it does it. So I will take it all out of my life for at least a month and 1) give my liver some recovery time and 2) notice what it changes in my life.
4. commit to trying more in this month that is new so that I'm learning now...don't put if off to someday. So this month I'll start canning and making bread and pasta and just give it a good go. If I'm gonna do it, might as well do it well.

For the sake of what I intend to do with this blog, well I'm sure it will evolve and for now I think it is safe to say that I want it to be a place of planning and sharing resources and information. Recipes that work. Alternatives and ideas that support this way of life.

solid intro eh?

Courtney