Roasted Beet Salad

This is seriously yummy.  I think it is my new favorite salad.

Roasted Beet Salad with Arugula


Nouns-
4 medium-sized beets, trimmed and peeled
1 container baby arugula
3 oz chevre, crumbled
1/2 cup walnut or pecan pieces (plain or candied)
1 navel orange
3 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp honey
1-2 tbsp orange juice
salt and pepper to taste

Verbs-
Preheat oven to 350.  Slice the beets and toss them in a little oil and salt.  Roast them in an oven-safe pan for 45 minutes or until fork-tender.  Set aside.  Peel and section the navel orange, then slice the sections.  In a jar with a lid, mix the vinegar, honey, juice and oil together, then shake vigorously with the lid on to combine.  In a large bowl, combine the arugula, orange pieces, nuts and chevre.  Then toss with the dressing mixture.  Serve the tossed salad over the sliced beets.  Yummmmmm,

Overnight Oatmeal- Updated

For The Husband's breakfast tomorrow. 1 cup steel cut oats, two cups dried fruit (raisins and apples), tsp cinnamon, 4 cups water and 1/2 cup half and half go into the crockpot overnight on low. We'll see in the morning if it is good!

UPDATE:

And the verdict is--it's good!  In fact, it's really good.  I will probably use a little less water next time, but it cooked perfectly, and the fruit made it sweet enough that I didn't add sugar at all.  (The Husband added sugar, but admitted it probably wasn't necessary).  I also found it sufficiently creamy without adding milk, but The Husband added some.  This is a great winter breakfast for us because it is warm, ready the moment we wake up, and makes enough for several days.  Next week, we might try dried cherries in it, or peaches, or some other yummy fruit.  The Husband suggested strawberries and bananas.  We'll see what's good! 

Green Smoothie

Though I try hard not to be swayed by trends, in fashion, in food, or in general, occasionally I hop on a bandwagon and am really really glad I did.  I have been seeing green smoothies everywhere recently, especially on health and fitness boards and on PInterest, and I thought, "okay, another smoothie fad for the health nuts, no big deal."  And really, that's true.  Green smoothies are a trend in keeping with the occasional resurgence of smoothies and shakes as the fitness gold standard; they are a delivery system for the kinds of things that most people don't get enough of, like greens and fruits.  I tend to avoid shortcuts like that, when possible, because I think eating a nutritionally complete meal like roast chicken, kale and sweet potatoes for dinner is better than drinking a green smoothie for breakfast, feeling nutritionally superior and then having a nutritionally dismal dinner.

But, The Husband is on one of his periodic smoothie kicks and I've been looking for a way to get more bang for my buck nutritionally, so I thought of smoothies.  I need all the help I can get, health-support-wise, because I'm in training for a really demanding run and my body will need lots and lots of support over the next few months to meet the demands I plan to put on it.  I want to stay healthy and run lots and lots and lots of miles.  A smoothie can be a fantastic way to support your body and get some of the things your body most needs to maintain itself.  To be clear, this is a recipe for a breakfast smoothie, not a run recovery shake.  This is for daily nutrition and not for the more specific needs for right before or after a long-distance run. It's just breakfast.

I chose this combo of stuff because it is really high in vitamin C, potassium, vitamin K, calcium and other antioxidants.  It's also very high in fiber.  Yum, fiber.

Alice's Green Smoothie
Nouns-
1-2 handfuls kale
1/2 cup mango chunks, fresh or frozen
1 banana
1/2 cup to 1 cup orange or tangerine juice

Verbs-
Put the stuff in the blender, starting with only 1/2 cup OJ.  Blend, adding OJ to reach desired consistency.  Drink.  Don't be afraid of the kale.  The smoothie tastes good.  Really!

Turkey Ragu with Pappardelle

The other day when I was reading Macheesmo, I came across this recipe for Shirt Rib Ragu, which made me sad because I don't eat mammals and it looks soooooo good.  Then, I was reminded of a fantastic trip I took to Chicago a few years ago with my friend Angie where we went out for fancy food and ate an amazing duck ragu. And I wondered whether I could come up with something equally fancy and delicious from my supermarket ingredients.  What I came up with is pretty darn yummy if I do say so myself, though it would surely be better with duck.  The main ingredient in this dish is actually time, so this is a weekend endeavor, not a quick weeknight meal.

Turkey Thigh Ragu with Pappardelle


Nouns-
Two turkey thighs, bone in and skin on
1 can high-quality plum tomatoes
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
1 onion, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, diced
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 half bottle red wine
2 oz dried porcini muchrooms, soaked for two hours in water (save the liquid!)
1 tbsp dijon mustard
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp oregano
1 cup chicken or mushroom stock

1 package pappardelle or other egg noodle

Verbs-
Brown the turkey thighs in a pan for several minutes, until crispy on the outside.  Remove the turkey to a crockpot or dutch oven.  Deglaze the pan with the wine, then add the wine to the turkey thighs.  Add in the other ingredients except the noodles and stock.  In a crockpot, cook on high for 8 hours.  If using a dutch oven, bring to a simmer on the stove top, then remove to a 350 degree oven for three hours. If at any point the mixture becomes too dry; add stock.  After the cooking time, carefully remove the turkey thighs and let them cool for about 20 minutes.  In the meantime, bring the remaining mixture to a simmer to reduce if still liquidy, and start a big pot of water boiling for the pasta.  Remove the skin and bones from the turkey and shred the meat.  Then, using an immersion blender, puree the tomato mixture for a minute or two.  Some chunks are okay, it doesn't have to be perfectly smooth.  Add the shredded turkey back to the sauce and reduce the heat to low.  Cook the pasta according to package directions and drain.  Serve the turkey and sauce over the pasta with some fresh basil or shredded parm.  Yummmmm.

English muffins

I used the Macheesmo recipe, but with half whole wheat flour. They are very yummy, though mine came out much thicker and puffier than store-bought.

Why Home-Made?

When I read THIS POST  over at Macheesmo, I felt both admiration and kinship, but also a sense of "Why didn't I think of this?"

Essentially, if you aren't going to click through to Macheesmo, he is relating an experience that he has and I have all the time.   As told by Macheesmo, it goes like this:

Me: You should really try out X recipe. It’s really delicious and not that hard to do.
Person: Why in holy Hades would you make that? You can just buy it?
Me: Well, it’s just better.
Person: Sure it is buddy. Take a hike.


I often have the addendum: 


Me: It's easy!
Person: What you think is easy is not actually easy because you are a magical cooking person and I do not know how.
Me: No, really!  It is easy!  Just try it!
Person:  (mumble mumble) I'll just buy some (mumble mumble).


But!  The reason Macheesmo is so brilliant is that he goes on to prove that homemade is better, step by step, with some favorite foods, and he has spreadsheets to compare the two.  Seriously, this dude has the same problem I have and came up with a spreadsheet solution to it before I did!  Spreadsheets!  Showing that homemade Mac and Cheese is better than store bought in a number of important categories!  I need to meet this guy.  For reals.  


Anyway, here's the proof that the time commitment is similar, the money commitment is similar, and the taste and nutrition absolutely cannot compare (homemade wins!), at least with this particular meal, and I would argue that that is largely true across the board.  


However, I say this with an important caveat.  As my beloved aunt Esther emphasizes: part of being a good cook is knowing what store-bought foods are good and which aren't, and what store-bought stuff can be added to homemade to make something incredible.  Her example: pesto.  Pesto is often gross when store-bought, but is time consuming and requires fresh fresh ingredients to make from scratch.  So, for a main dish of pasta with pesto, she does homemade.  But for appetizers, she does store-bought pesto (she says Buitoni is the good brand, and she would know!) spread on store-bought crescent roll dough, rolled up and baked into fantastic pesto rolls.  


So what's the moral of this story?  Try homemade.  It's usually better. The end.

Meal Plan

Here's next week's plan:

Split Pea Soup
Roasted Root Vegetable Salad
Eggs in Purgatory
Lemony Spaghetti with Shrimp
Crockpot Chili