Tag: vegetables
Home cooked meal (chicken optional)
I visited my mom yesterday. She fixed butternut black bean soup with a side of garlic kale, fig preserves, chicken, and special Texan corn bread.
(Note: My mom might have gotten her corn bread recipe from the side of a Quaker corn meal box.)
Doused in a modest serving of Sriracha, the dish was plenty spicy, and the heat blends well with the sweet of the fig jam.
Modifications
As for modifications in the soup, mom substituted chili powder for chipotle powder and omitted red pepper flakes.
Also, there was no mirin (Japanese rice wine) available at her grocery store, so she used sake.
Thyme lentil potatoes
I like the idea of slow food, and Sundays are perfect for all day food creations. Making home cooked meals is my favorite artisanal craft: you are constantly using your hands and you can perfect it daily.
When I am not watching TV I am usually thinking about food. As a result I tend to frame life goals around things I have seen on TV.
I recently had a conversation with some people at work about why some people live so long. NPR aired an interview with the 90-year-old Dick Van Dyke. He said the key to staying young is always keep moving. This is the same name of his recent memoir. He is constantly in motion.
Connecting the weird dot from old film stars to now, a gif in my mind runs Dick Van Dyke doing a little tap dance with a caption that reads: Always Be Moving, in the style of the ABC (Always be Closing) speech from the movie Glengarry Glen Ross where Alec Baldwin’s character motivates a bunch of salesmen to make the deal.
I think there is a lot of play with this dish. You could add more lentils and less potatoes for a more stew consistency, or pack on the tots like my current incantation which reads more like a casserole.
Simple contrasts pull this piece together: savory thyme mashed up with sweet coconut. This recipe includes ingredients I got at the farm market and items already in my cupboard.
Prep time: 35 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour
Total time: 1 hour 35 minutes
Equipment:
1 Butcher knife
1 pairing knife
1 peeler
1 strainer
1 9″ x 11″ Pyrex dish
cutting board
1 large pot
Ingredients:
4-6 red skinned potatoes
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp thyme
2 Tbsp extra virgin coconut oil
1 can chunked pineapple
1 12 oz bag lentils
2 handfuls Brussel sprouts
Optional topping:
plain Greek yogurt
Directions:
Preheat oven at 400ºF.
Crush and finely chop garlic cloves.
Fill large pot 2/3 way with water. Heat on high.
Pour thyme, ginger, coconut oil, and garlic into pot.
Open bag of lentils. Pour in strainer. Rinse in running water for a minute.
Once water begins to boil, add lentils. Boil lentils for one minute and then simmer for 15 minutes. Turn off burner under lentils.
Open can of pineapple. Empty entire contents in Pyrex dish.
Clean and scrub potatoes. Use a peeler to remove blemishes and eyes.
Chop potatoes into 16ths. Set aside in Pyrex dish.
Cut each Brussel sprout in half. Set aside in Pyrex dish.
Pour lentils on top of vegetables in Pyrex dish.
Cook in the oven for one hour.
Remove Pyrex dish from oven.
Let sit five minutes before serving.
Optional: top with a dollop of Greek yogurt.
Root vegetables
I love food, so much so that I tend to have a strained relationship with it. Not that I always use food to problem solve, but I eat when I’m bored, nervous, or otherwise unoccupied.
I consider a scene in the TV show 30 Rock where Alec Baldwin’s character, Jack Donaghy, attempts to quit drinking. So instead of drinking, he knit a sweater.
I often defer to this mantra when changing my habits. Lately I have been eating more vegetables and when I am watching TV instead of sitting down I’ll paint at my easel. I don’t know if the art is that good, but it makes me happy and it is an activity that I lose myself in entirely.
The following recipe is something I tried today. I hope you enjoy it.
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour
Total time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Equipment:
1 Butcher knife
1 pairing knife
1 peeler
1 spoon
1 9″ x 11″ Pyrex dish
1 small bowl for optional sauce
Ingredients:
4 orange beets, peeled of blemishes, cut into four chunks
handful of rainbow carrots, scrubbed
1 butternut squash
1 bunch scallions
1 bunch basil
4 cloves garlic
1-2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Coconut oil
1 spoon
Optional Sriracha Greek yogurt sauce:
1 Tbsp Sriracha sauce
4 Tbsp Greek yogurt
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400ºF
Peel and chop butternut squash into 2″ x 3″ blocks. Set aside in Pyrex dish.
Wash four orange beets. Scrub and peel blemishes off. Cut and quarter beets. Set aside in Pyrex dish.
Wash rainbow carrots. Peel if desired. Cut off root and end tips. Set aside in Pyrex dish.
Wash scallions. Pat dry. Finely slice. Distribute evenly over vegetables in Pyrex dish.
Crush and finely chop garlic cloves. Sprinkle evenly over in Pyrex dish.
Pour coconut oil evenly over vegetables in Pyrex dish.
Cook in preheated oven at 400°F for one hour.
When finished cooking, let sit for five minutes.
Optional Sriracha and Greek yogurt sauce:
Mix Sriracha and Greek yogurt together until blended in small bowl. Scoop desired amount on top of vegetables.
blorgons 