Mustard-and-Maple Roasted Root Veggies

Ahh... root veggies. My Mom's garden provides almost more of these goodies than we can eat, but I'm not one to pass up free food, so my vegetable bin is stuffed.

Consequently, I'm always on the lookout for different ways to use parsnips, turnips, beets, onions and/or carrots in recipes that my kids will like. No easy feat, but sometimes I hit on something that works.
This combination, oddly enough, has turned out to be a favorite. I say "oddly enough" because I am not a mustard fan and rarely use it in recipes. Apparently my kids like it though. Who knew.

**Even though I'm not a mustard fan it is a good flavor contrast here, to the sweet maple syrup and veggies. AND if you really don't like mustard, just leave it out, it's really good without too.

Oven Roasted Maple Veggies

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1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tbsp Dijon mustard ** (See note above)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 cup coarsely chopped onion or 20 pearl onions, peeled
5 cups coarsely chopped or sliced veggies of your choice; turnips, parsnips, rutabaga, carrot, potato, yams, beets and/or golden beets.

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Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Toss veggies and onions with the olive oil, salt and pepper on a baking pan.
Roast in oven for 20 minutes, then remove and re-toss on baking sheet.
Cook 15 minutes more. Toss again.
Cook another 15 min. Combine maple syrup, Dijon mustard and garlic powder in a small bowl.
Drizzle the maple mixture over potatoes and veggies and mix to coat well. Cook again until veggies (beets and potatoes will take the longest) are soft and glaze starts to caramelize and brown a bit.
Serve and enjoy!

Trying to use up some BEETS!

This salad was thrown together the other day to use up random kitchen and garden surplus.

The results? So yummy I decided to make it again, and share with you!!

Baby Beets and Greens Salad

4 cups baby spinach, baby arugula or mixed greens    (even some baby beet greens are nice here) 
12 baby beets 
1/4 cup toasted hazelnuts or pecans 
1 blood orange or two tangerines, peeled and sliced 
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar 
1/4 tsp. salt 
1 bay leaf 
5 whole black peppercorns 
fresh ground black pepper

Vinaigrette

1/2 cup fresh blood orange or tangerine juice 
1/4 cup honey (*gasp* yes, I know), agave or brown rice syrup 
1/3 cup olive oil 
1/3 cup grapeseed oil (or olive oil) 
2 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar 
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh mint

In a saucepan place cleaned beets with enough water to cover. Add rice vinegar, bay leaf, peppercorns and salt. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and continue to cook until beets can be easily pierced with a knife. Remove from heat, strain beets and allow to cool. Cut beets in half or quarters and refrigerate until ready to use.

Vinaigrette:
Combine juice, honey and rice vinegar in a bowl. Slowly drizzle oils in a steady stream while whisking continually to create an emulsion. Season with salt. Refrigerate until ready to use. Stir in chopped mint when ready to serve.

To Serve:

Lay greens on platter or individual serving plates. Lay slices of oranges on greens. Sprinkle with nuts and beets. (Or arrange all fancy-like if that's your thing...) Fresh ground black pepper to taste.

Drizzle with dressing.

Borscht (Pressure-Cooker or Not)

Record snowfall last month, record flooding this last week, it's been one of "those" winters and we've barely started!!

All the crazy weather puts me in the mood for soup. Well, pretty much ANYTHING puts me in the mood for soup.
One of my favorites growing up, was the delicious borscht my German-Russian Grandma would make. Smelling it cooking even now takes me back to her steam-filled kitchen with the soup-pot bubbling away on a rainy afternoon, munching on Pfeffernuesse and listening carefully to her heavily German-accented cooking tips. She never used a recipe.

Life seems to fly by a lot faster now, than 40 years ago when I sat in her kitchen. I wish I had time to stand and watch my soup simmer for hours. Fortunately I discovered that Grandma's Borscht translates very well to either a pressure cooker or crock-pot with nearly similar results.

For this particular recipe, I much prefer the pressure cooker as the veggies cook up beautifully but don't disintegrate. If you haven't discovered the wonders of this cooking machine, I implore you to read up on the benefits and see for yourself. I won't spend hours trying to convince you that modern pressure cookers are nothing like exploding vintage models, I could quote facts and show diagrams but I think it's all about what you're comfortable with. If it isn't something you see yourself ever using, then stick with a crock pot or the stove. But they are great time-saving devices. Huge. And the best part? My Grandma's Borscht takes about twenty minutes! I think she would be baffled by the need for speed but would approve of the authenticity of the final product.

Even if you think you're not a beet fan, you need to try borscht just once, you may be surprised at the subtle blend of flavors and what a wonderful, and healthy winter soup this is. No canned beets though. That would be so wrong. And don't worry about an exact measurement of each veggie, or using ones you don't care for - as long as you have around the total amount.

**If your veggies are organic, go ahead and leave the peelings on and scrub well. They soften up nicely in the pressure cooker.
If you want to do this in a crock-pot, peel the veggies first, chop in more uniform, smaller pieces and cook on low for about 5+ hours until done

Miller Family Borscht

(Pressure Cooker Edition)

2 Tbsp margarine
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
1 (28 oz. ) can chopped tomatoes
1 lb. small beets, scrubbed well, and sliced in 1/4 in. slices
1 lb. cabbage, coarsely shredded or chopped
3 large carrots, well-scrubbed, cut in 3 or 4 chunks
2 small parsnips, well-scrubbed, cut in 3 or 4 chunks
1 largish turnip or rutabaga, cut in chunks about the same size as the carrots and parsnips
Coarsely chopped chard, kale or beet tops, about 2 cups, packed.
6 cups vegetarian "beef" flavoured stock
3 bay leaves
2 tsp. caraway seeds
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
optional garnish:
vegan sour cream
sauerkraut

Heat margarine in pressure cooker. Saute onion about three minutes, until soft. Add remaining ingredients except vinegar, sauerkraut and sour cream.

(I'm going to assume you already know how to use your particular pressure-cooker now - these are the guidelines that work with my model, but pretty standard for most types.)
Lock lid in place and bring to pressure over high heat. Adjust heat to maintain high pressure and cook for ten minutes. Quick release under cool running water. Remove bay leaves, stir in vinegar and add some salt if needed.
Garnish (optionally) with a spoonful of sour cream and/or sauerkraut and
serve.

I'll leave you with this fun picture of my daughter and her adorable hat. A family friend used the pattern from this knitter's blog and made this awesome "Brain-Monster (or Shark?)" Hat for her.
Totally perfect winter hat for a nine-year-old, don't you think??!! She's in LOVE with it.

Winter Veggies

This afternoon my Mom gave me some awesome garden-fresh beets, orange carrots, parsnips, garlic and these really cool carrots called (honestly)Cosmic Purple Carrots.

Check them out! Well, the picture isn't all that great, but trust me, they're bright purple with an orange center.

I'm lucky. My mom has root veggies all winter long in her garden and she's always experimenting with unusual varities - (summer and winter). These purple carrots were definitely different but they taste pretty much like any other sweet carrot.

And no, lest anyone worry, these aren't some genetically-engineered weirdness. They're actually an heirloom variety. With a little (highly scientific) 'Google' research I discovered that carrots used to come in many colors, mostly reds and purples, until the Dutch in the 17th century bred the carrot orange to honor their national colors.

Interesting.

So what to do with all this colorful, garden goodness?

Again, no specific recipe - I just scrubbed the veggies, cut them up, (about 4 cups total) and tossed in a baking dish with some halved garlic cloves, olive oil and kosher salt.

Then I roasted 'em at 400 degrees for about an hour until tender.

They turned out great!

<<-- Finished result. The veggies were soooooooo sweet and intense, the garlic mellow and 'roasted'. Drool.

Some orange juice would have been yummy I think? I may add some cracked pepper, rosemary and/or thyme another time too.