It's cooking time! Wheat berries and winter vegetables, beet salad

This past weekend, I further investigated my newest cookbook!  I bought some fresh veggies and wanted to use them first.  I had read on the way down to the Mad-oldest son's place a week ago about a fresh beet salad with a light dressing.  This is a perfect thing for me, as I love to use beet greens for greens and beans, and the only way to get them at this time of the year is to get them attached to the beets themselves.  SO, I decided to try this out!  I am excited about the new food processor too, so I got to use it for BOTH of these recipes- so yay for me!  :)

The beets and carrots together have a a wonderful taste!  They are somewhat sweet and the lime and ginger really enhance this flavor and also gives it a very fresh taste for this time of the year!

Begin with about 8 oz of beets and 8 of carrots

Roughly cut the beet and process with the blade of your  FP.  Don't puree- chop!

Dressing is comprised of lime, ginger, cilantro, oil, Dijon and sweetener

Mincing the ginger

Mix the vinaigrette 

Such pretty color in this!

Add the cilantro for a beautiful green counterpoint

This was fresh and delicious- not super "beety" and the ginger adds such a great touch

Beet and Carrot Salad with Ginger

Adapted from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman

1 T canola oil

1/2 lime- juiced

1 T minced fresh ginger

2 T chopped cilantro

1 T dijon mustard

1 T honey, agave or maple syrup

1 medium beet

8 oz carrot

Chop the beets and carrot together in the food processor. Combine the oil, lime, ginger, mustard, sweetener and mustard.  ( I added the sweetener- not in original recipe)  Toss with beets and carrots. Add chopped cilantro and serve! 

About 4 servings, around 65 calories per serving

There are several variations to this recipe as well!

And then there was this for leftovers for the week for me!  I had read about wheat berries and bought some down in Janesville.  Park Falls is pretty sparse in these different types of grains.  The awesome thing about this recipe is that I was able to use up stuff and substitute freely what I had in the frig.  I had a mostly used bottle of white wine and this was a great way to finish that bottle- well, there would have been another great way, but you know those margaritas the other night......  :)
I love having go to ideas when there is a variety of fresh food available and I can pick and choose my flavors.  Though the original recipe called for carrots, I came across this lonely parsnip and then I noticed the partial pack of portabellas and so on.  NICE!

Wheat Berries and Winter Vegetables
Adapted from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman
About 8 servings, 350 calories per serving (approximately a cup)

2 cups cooked wheat berries- see below for instructions

1 medium chopped onion

1 sweet potato or small acorn squash- peeled and chopped

1 diced parsnip

1/2 cup mushrooms

1/2 cup plus white wine and/or vegetable stock

1/2 small cabbage, sliced thin

1/2 - 1 tsp sage leaves or dried

Cook wheat berries first-

Use about 1.5 cups wheat berries, put into pan and cover with water by at least one inch.  Bring to boil, add a little salt and cook on low, stirring occasionally.  Add boiling water to keep the grain under water as it cooks. Drain and set aside

Keep the water level up as it cooks off and the grain absorbs the liquid by adding boiling water

Begin by sautéing the onion in a tablespoon of olive oil

Add the raw vegetables to the onion- mushrooms, sweet potato, parsnips..... any vegetable you have on hand will work!

Add liquid to these vegetables as you cook them down- I had white wine and some vegetable broth, you can use these and/or water.  For the denser things like sweet potato, allow a good 20 minutes.

After the vegetables are soft- about 20 minutes- then add the cooked wheat berries and sliced cabbage.

Cook this down for another 10 minutes or so, until it is ready to eat!  SO GOOD!

I finished this off with a little Spike seasoning and dried sage!

This was quite a successful experiment and gave me a lot of joy!  I think it will continue to as the week goes on.  :)

My newest (food) obsession

I know this is crazy, but I have developed a super simple recipe for pickled beets that has me craving them.  Seriously.  CRAVING AND OBSESSING.  I know- crazy.

I sporadically watch things like Top Chef and similar shows that I usually avoid, because they either
a. make me extremely hungry or
2. make me somewhat ill.... (think whole animals and things like that- ew)

trust me, "a" happens much more frequently than "2".

Anyway, every so often these people talk about pickled vegetables- and I do love a nice pickled beet, but they are so so sweet. SOOOOOOO sweet.  You are getting the picture, I think.  I looked at a few techniques for doing this- its putting vinegar on cooked vegetables for heavens sakes- and so this is what has resulted:

SOOOO good and refreshing!

First of all, I LOVE my Chiogga beets- they are a striped heirloom beet that is not very beet like in the traditional strong, earthy, red sense.  They are sweeter and lighter.  Cook those babies too late to actually serve them for supper one night.
Two nights later peel and slice them.

Pour about 1/4 cup (I don't measure, btw) of cider vinegar over the beets, a sprinkle of salt and a quick squeeze of agave syrup (or honey).

Let it sit for about 5 minutes or more, if you are strong, stir and then sit down with a fork!!  Or you could be civilized and wait for a meal to come around, but it's summer.  Civility is way over rated!

*****SPEAKING of honey- I was totally disgusted to see I accidentally bought a blended honey the other day at the grocery.  BLENDED WITH CORN SYRUP! IN A TEDDY BEAR JAR!!!!  Are you KIDDING me????  That stuff is so going back to the store.  I'm going to look for local honey from now on.  Grrrr.

Whew, I just let that one go, but I put that honey jar by my purse for further action necessary!!!

Find your joy in the simple things!  :)

Garden Delights and a photo or two- updated with supper!

Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it. 

 ~Russel Baker

I don't care what anyone says, it may be hot outside, but this is just a magnificent summer!  The clouds are spectacular this year, or maybe it is because I am viewing them through a new camera!  hahaha. Maybe.  Counting your blessings for a whole month is helpful, too. 

So, here is what I saw this morning when the gloom cleared away: a perfectly marvelous sky with the most beautiful, puffy, marshmallow clouds.

Dirty beets!  And why are they on the patio table??

I was outside poking around in the garden, looking for SOMETHING that is ready, and I found some beautiful beets.  We grow the Italian heirloom called Chiogga- they are so doggone good, you won't believe it.  They are sweeter than the traditional dark red ones and are striped inside- red and white.  They stay sort of stripey when they are cooked as well.  Looking forward to supper tonight with some chicken skewers and new potatoes.  The Mad Accountant tells me there are lots of pea pods, too, so it'll be a bright and beautiful meal!

After hosing off the dirty beets, I had to wash my dirty feets, and crocs!  Pretty spiffy gardening shoes, eh??  Lol.
UPDATE:

So here is supper!
Beets and beet greens, pea pods and a stray broccoli from the the garden!  Plus chicken skewers, baby carrots and raspberries- new potatoes not shown!
Yum, and nothing processed, preserved or altered.  Well, maybe the bbq sauce!


And here is one flower pix that I goofed around with on my new photo editing software.  I may have gone too far.  I don't want to make the pictures unrecognizable, just make them more like I see them.  It is hard to work with these reds and keep them true red and not end up on the purply pink end.  Oh well, live and learn.  I am going to keep trying!

Until next time, find your joy! Hopefully it is good for you!

For more on gardening, be sure to visit my friend Rachelle's delightful blog- Talking to Plants - I am not the only person counting her blessings today!  oooooo - it's contagious!!  :)  Watch out for joy!