Entres

Thanksgiving Vegetable Dishes and Liver Support with Beets

/ Lee Reynolds

 

 

Thanksgiving 2014 is behind us and while I missed two of our older children, Alyssa teaching in the U.K. and Mitchell, studying at the University of Victoria, there was still much to be thankful for.

For instance, I’m very grateful that there is such a thing as Skype. When my sister J traveled the world in her early 20’s, there was no such thing as Skype, or even email.  I know my mom was on pins and needles between letters. Additionally, 100 years ago when my grandfather, Robert Clark left England for Canada, my great grandmother Jane must have been beside herself with worry, since letters only came a few times a year, if that. I was able to “see” and talk with both of our children on the weekend and give them a kiss on their forehead. (via the screen) They are both happy and living their dream. What more can a mom want for her children?

Another reason to be thankful, is that I have a sister and brother-in-law who can pop in for a quick visit, or spontaneously join us for Thanksgiving dinner. Also, my oldest son Clark’s girlfriend, joined us as well. Times are changing and this is going to be a new normal as our children grow up, move away from home or come home with loved ones whom they have found out in the world.

When I heard we were having more than just “us,” I went into “company mode.” Which is what D calls it when I start to clean and cook rather madly. I want to make sure the dinner would be extra special. Although I probably would have done several of these new dishes for our immediate family, because I believe, to live a gracious life means making every moment special. We all deserve candlelight, linen napkins and clean glasses, even if we are alone. Maybe ESPECIALLY then.

I was so happy with the results of our dinner, I thought I would write a blog about it AND also include something my brother in law, B, sent me awhile ago after I blogged about making borscht. B’s ancestors are borscht makers from way back, so beets etc are in his blood. If you have read my blog you know about my morning green drink and how I like to support my liver by juicing lots of veggies, particularly green ones. I think it gives me the energy I need to keep up with our family. Also, it’s another way of balancing hormones and boosting immunities. I did not know that beets were so highly acclaimed so I thought I would pass this on to my viewers. Here are some thoughts from my blog guest, my brother in law, B.

He wrote:

We admittedly love beets, which not all people can say about themselves.

The lowly beet is gaining some respect lately as health consciousness rises
across the population. One point that caught our attention is it’s roll in
the secondary breakdown of nutrients in our liver. That aside, put some
colour in your life! Live it up!

There are as many borscht recipes as their are cooks. The key IMO is to get
it into those stomachs around us. My own family tradition would likely have
been related to my swede/Irish mother from my Georgian/Ukrainian father’s
childhood recollection. In turn our recipe is my own version of that
concoction. I will spare you the minute details and just say that we use
mega dill and beets, all the other usual suspects, and as can be seen from
the pic, chard or beet tops. Another key memory for me is the finish with a
tablespoon of butter and the same of vinegar.

 
 


B sent me a picture of his borscht and sadly I couldn’t copy and paste it here….but the picture above, gets your saliva juices going hey?….his picture had chunky beets in his soup…oh happy LIVER.

Thanks B. for sharing your thoughts on the lowly Beet and I hope it inspires my homesteading friends to plant a good portion of this unremarkable vegetable in their garden next spring. (don’t forget you can eat the tops too and they keep really well throughout the winter, making them excellent in your sustainable root cellar/garage/basement.

Now onto my Thanksgiving line up of new dishes, oh my, if you love vegetables like I do, hold onto your seats. Next year we may even say goodbye to Mr. Turkey, who sadly was only a side player this year. Don’t get me started on our movement towards being vegetarians. It’s a process.

Okay, here were the new dishes, drum roll please….ta, ta, ta, ta, ta,

Green and Yellow Beans with /Wild Mushooms
Candied Yams with Apples
Brussel Sprouts and Pancetta and Rosemary
Roasted Garlic Squash and Crispy Sage Brown Butter (yum)

My sister also brought homemade roasted carrots with maple syrup…(she must have just picked them as they were amazing!)

For my Canadian friends, making these dishes for Thanksgiving 2014 is too late, but maybe you can incorporate them into your December holiday dinner menu. For my American blog readers however there is still time. Source out your supplies and start planning a really special Thanksgiving feast. The nice thing about Canadian thanksgiving in mid October, is that a lot of the herbs etc are still growing in the garden. Also, my butternut squash supply is still intact. (Thanks J for the big one)

Also, I have to give total credit to the web site,”Delish.com.” As the name implies, these dishes are/were, they went fast, delicious. If you are looking to spice up your holiday table, I hope you try them out and add lots more vegetables to your meals. Any day can have a special vegetable dish…if we truly love ourselves…and want to support our liver etc.

Here is vegetable dish #1

Green and Yellow Beans with Wild Mushrooms

Serves 10
Total time 35 min
Prep time 20 min
Cook time 15 min

Ingredients

U.S. Metric Conversion chart

 

  • 1 pound(s) green beans, trimmed
  • 1 pound(s) yellow wax beans, trimmed
  • 3 tablespoon(s) extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 clove(s) garlic, minced
  • 8 ounce(s) wild mushrooms, such as chanterelle, oyster or porcini, trimmed and sliced (see Substitution Note)
  • 1/2 teaspoon(s) kosher salt, divided
  • Freshly ground pepper, to taste

 

 

Directions

 

  1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add green beans and wax beans and cook until tender-crisp, about 4 minutes. (Cook for another minute or two if you like your green beans more tender.) Drain well.
  2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in mushrooms and cook, stirring, until they release their juices and most of the liquid has evaporated, about 5 minutes. Season with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper.
  3. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the mushrooms for garnish. Add the cooked beans to the mushrooms in the pan and cook, stirring to combine, until heated through, 1 to 3 minutes. Season with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper. Serve topped with the reserved mushrooms.
  4. Substitution note: If you cant find wild mushrooms, use button or cremini mushrooms.


Vegetable dish #2

Candied Yams with Apples

Serves 8
Total time 1 hour/30 min
Prep time 15 min
Cook time 1 hr 15 min
Oven temp 350 degrees

Ingredients

U.S. Metric Conversion chart

 

  • 3 pound(s) yams, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 1 pound(s) Granny Smith apples, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
  • 2 medium onions, cut into 1-inch wedges
  • 4 tablespoon(s) unsalted butter
  • 1/4 cup(s) honey
  • 1 teaspoon(s) salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon(s) nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon(s) cayenne pepper

 

 

Directions

 

  1. Roast the yams: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Toss all ingredients in a large bowl to combine. Transfer to a baking dish and bake, stirring occasionally, until yams are tender, about 1 hour. Increase oven to 500 degrees F and bake until liquid evaporates and yams are browned, 10 to 15 minutes. Serve immediately.

Vegetable dish #3

Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta and Rosemary

Serves 8
Total time 26 minutes

Ingredients

U.S. Metric Conversion chart

 

  • Salt and pepper
  • 3 container(s) (10 ounces each) Brussels sprouts
  • 1 tablespoon(s) olive oil
  • 2 ounce(s) pancetta, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon(s) chopped fresh rosemary
  • 1/4 cup(s) pine nuts (pignoli), toasted (I used almonds)

 

 

Directions

 

  1. In covered 5- to 6-quart saucepot, heat 3 quarts water and 1 teaspoon salt to boiling on high. Meanwhile, pull off any yellow or wilted leaves from Brussels sprouts; trim stem ends. Cut each sprout in half.
  2. Add Brussels sprouts to boiling water and cook, uncovered, 5 minutes. Drain. Plunge Brussels sprouts into large bowl filled with ice water to chill quickly. Drain well. If not continuing with recipe right away, place sprouts in plastic storage bags and refrigerate until ready to use.
  3. In 12-inch skillet, heat oil on medium until hot. Add pancetta and cook 2 to 3 minutes or until beginning to brown. Stir in rosemary and cook 1 minute.
  4. To mixture in skillet, add Brussels sprouts and 1/2 teaspoon each salt and freshly ground black pepper, and cook on medium-high 5 minutes or until heated through, stirring frequently. Add pine nuts; toss to combine


 Vegetable dish #4….my personal favourite as it was so easy and I love garlic and sage

Roasted Garlic Squash with Crispy Sage Brown Butter

Serves 8
Total time 1 hr 30 min
Prep 15 min
Cook Time 1 hr 15 min
Oven 350 degrees

Ingredients

U.S. Metric Conversion chart

 

  • 1/2 cup(s) peeled garlic cloves
  • 4 teaspoon(s) extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 (3-pound) butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 3×1-inch chunks
  • 1 teaspoon(s) kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon(s) freshly ground pepper
  • 5 tablespoon(s) unsalted butter
  • 24 fresh sage leaves

 

 

Directions

 

  1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Toss garlic with 1 teaspoon of the oil; wrap in a foil packet. Put squash on a rimmed baking sheet and toss with remaining oil, salt, and pepper. Place squash and garlic packet in oven; roast squash 1 hour, turning pieces several times, or until browned and tender. Roast garlic packet 45 minutes or until cloves are tender and soft. 
  2. Five minutes before the squash is done, melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add sage leaves and cook 2 to 3 minutes, until butter is lightly browned and smells nutty and sage leaves start to crisp. Remove the skillet from heat; transfer sage leaves with a slotted spoon to a paper towel; reserve the brown butter.
  3. Transfer roasted squash and garlic cloves to a large serving bowl. Drizzle with browned butter. Top with crispy sage leaves.

.And voila……

I dished up and then realized something was missing…I added some gravy, cranberry sauce and a dill from my stash…oh and one of my homemade dinner buns too…see my dinner bun recipe.

 

Sorry this was blurry…everyone was waiting for me to join them in the dining room…”are you taking pics for your blog again mom!”

Okay, I know this doesn’t look very pretty, but we did our dinner buffet style around the kitchen island and well, the cook (me) was the last one to dish up. Everyone was patiently waiting for me to join them in the dining room, I thought I had better just pile it on and dash. Do you skip lunch on Thanksgiving too? It all looked so good and was delish.

My personal favourite were the beans and the butternut squash ,but even the potatoes were whipped beautifully (thanks B) and the gravy was the BEST I have ever had at my house and that credit goes to my sister J who made it and gave me some tips for next time. (thank you…no lumpy gravy in the future) We were all helping out, while D carved the turkey. We pulled off another Thanksgiving dinner! Thanks to all who attended. It was a special memory for the little ones.

Will, Victoria and Kate (close up) enjoying their meal at the little table…does everyone do a little table?

The kids dashed off to watch Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving video, while we enjoyed our pie in relative peace and quiet…..but isn’t all that little people noise just the BEST! They were so excited and helped me to remember, we are always creating memories but the present moment is IT!

 

I made the pies. An apple and a pumpkin, the night before Thanksgiving, along with my ambrosia salad....Although they aren’t the most beautiful pies, they were made from scratch, Tenderlake lard, flour, salt and water, really easy but the trick is in the rolling. I will have to blog about pie making…a lost art in my opinion. I had an Auntie Geordie who was a master pie maker. I wish I had studied with her before she passed away. With it being so easy to buy pumpkin and apple pies at Costco for low cost, I think we are loosing the fine art of pie making but don’t you just love PIE?

As I leave you, I thought I would suggest a great Thanksgiving movie to watch with your family. Also, something for the little kids.

Check out the movie called, “The Old Fashion Thanksgiving” based on a short story by Louise May Alcott (she wrote Little Women) and of course the classic of all time, “Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving.” (if you can’t see the clips below, click on the highlighted video titles above for a connection link.

 

Well that’s Thanksgiving until next year.

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

Butternut Squash and Ginger Soup

/ Lee Reynolds

Tis the season. Soup season that is. Nothing says home, more than coming in the house after a long day to smell a delicious aroma drifting from the kitchen. Knowing it’s healthy and satisfying makes it our family’s fall comfort food. After a season of raw vegetables, salads and fruits, it’s like putting on a wool sweater to warm your body.


I was inspired to make this soup when Harrison woke up feeling under the weather. He had had his braces tightened, was feeling headachy and on top of that, felt like a cold was on his doorstep. I knew I had to make something easy to chew and filling. I went out into the garden to be inspired and when I saw the butternut squash, gleaming in the sun amongst the dying vines, I thought PERFECT!

 

(I planted 6 butternut squash plants in an area that wasn’t ideal. I had pulled up yucca plants from this area and I didn’t get all the roots up so I had little yucca plants growing up all around my squash this summer….but despite the competition for water and sun, the squash prevailed. Sadly, we won’t have any to store for the winter as we LOVE squash and have eaten almost all of it. Next year, I’d like to plant twice the squash for our size family.)

 

I probably focus on our 15 year old Harrison’s growing needs the most lately, since he literally grows a 1/8 of an inch every night. Okay, maybe that is an exaggerations. Let’s just say, his basketball coach is going to love seeing him this year! Anyway, I get worried when his braces are tightened as his food consumption drops a lot.

Then I came inside to rummaged around the pantry (noticing that many of my bottles needed to be topped up and it’s generally disorganized….another blog post for sure) and found some ginger root. I had purchased the ginger to make some tea but had forgotten all about it. Another PERFECT ingredient. I also dug some boneless chicken thighs from the freezer and although this soup is lovely with just vegetables, I find adding some pieces of chicken and broth very satisfying, especially for our son who basically lives on smoothies for days after he has his braces tightened.  If you are a vegetarian, of course please disregard the chicken aspect and use vegetable broth.

So without further ado, let’s get cooking.

Hope’s Butternut Squash and Ginger Soup

Ingredients

  • 1 butternut squash (peeled, seeds removed, and cubed)
  • (note, you can use 2 butternut squash instead of the carrots
  • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 4 large carrots 
  • 3 tbsp minced fresh ginger
  • 3 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 tsp nutmeg
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 cup thinly sliced onion
  • 3 large garlic cloves
  • 1/8 cup brown sugar
  • 1 lb chicken
  • 8 cups chicken broth
  • 2 cups cooked rice (I used a Basmati because Harrison loves that…but personally I prefer a nutty brown rice
  • Chopped fresh parsley
  • Sour Cream for a topping, (opt)



Directions:

Put the rice on and while it’s cooking;



Peel, the squash, remove the seeds and cube. Peel and chop the carrots. Mince the ginger, set aside 1 tbsp for later, and then crush 1 garlic clove.



Pour 2 tbsp of olive oil on a baking sheet and add the squash, the carrots, 1 crushed garlic clove, 2 tbsp of ginger, 2 tsp of cinnamon, 1 tsp of nutmeg and sprinkle with sea salt with freshly ground pepper. Coat all really well in the oil and put in the oven to roast at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.

If you are using chicken, you can cook it on a separate pan while the vegetables are roasting.

While the vegetables are roasting, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a pan, add 1 cup of chopped onion, 2 of the remaining garlic cloves (minced). Cook onions and garlic until translucent. Add 1 tbsp of minced ginger, 1 tsp of cinnamon, 1 tsp of nutmeg and 1/8 of a cup of brown sugar. Cook until carmelized. 



Transfer the onion mixture to a soup pot, add the chicken and cook well until both are sizzling, add the chicken broth at this point. Bring to a boil, then add the rice and the roasted vegetables.


Add the chicken to the onions
Add 8 cups of chicken broth…less if you want to puree it
Add your roasted veggies and your rice




The magic in this soup is layering all the seasonings, otherwise it will be bland. Finally, if you aren’t using chicken, if you wish, you can puree the soup in your food processor. I wanted our soup to have soft chunks for a filling main dinner soup. It would make a delightful fall soup prior to your entre. For our family, soup, salad, a rosemary dinner bun and old fashion rice pudding for dessert was perfect.




Ladle your soup into a bowl, add a sprig of parsley and a dollop of sour cream which is refreshing and a nice complement to the ginger. This is a warming soup full of flavour. Enjoy!

As if that wasn’t good enough….finish it off with some old fashion rice pudding. Oh my, talk about comfort food or WHAT!

This was the creamiest rice pudding ever! Harrison ate his portion and before bed he sat down to finish off the rest of the casserole dish.

I don’t know if it’s more enjoyable to eat all this wonderful homemade stuff or to hear my family’s contented sounds as they consume it.

This to me is one of the best parts of nurturing my children. Watching them appreciate food and grow.

If you are also interested in making the Rosemary dinner buns here is the recipe.

Rosemary Dinner Buns

Ingredients

*1 tbsp white sugar
*1 cup warm water
*1 package active dry yeast or 1 tbsp (I buy Red Star active dry yeast from Costco )
*1 tsp salt

Our rosemary plant next to the Kale
*2 tbsp softened butter
*2 tbsp rosemary….I went to the garden and picked it fresh
*1 tsp Italian seasoning
*3 cups bread flour…although you can use an all purpose as well
*1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
*1  beaten egg (opt)
 
 

Directions

  1. Dissolve the sugar in warm water in a medium bowl, and mix in the yeast. When yeast is bubbly, mix in salt, butter, 1 tablespoon rosemary, and Italian seasoning. Mix in 2 cups flour. Gradually add remaining flour to form a workable dough, and knead 10 to 12 minutes.
  2. Coat the inside of a large bowl with olive oil. Place dough in bowl, cover, and allow to rise 1 hour in a warm location.
  3. Punch down dough, and divide in half. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lightly grease paper. Shape dough into 2 round loaves, and place on the baking sheet. I like to shape my dough into balls and put on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with remaining rosemary. Cover, and allow to rise 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
  4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
  5. Brush loaves with egg. Bake 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brow

The Rosemary buns were such a nice flavour, next to the warming squash/ginger soup.

Finally, if you are a lover of Rice pudding, then you have to try this recipe. I actually had Harrison make it while I was making the soup and the buns. (he wasn’t feeling that bad) We have been working in the kitchen together for years. I like to encourage all of our children to help me in the kitchen from the time they are small. We like to  make muffins, pancakes, cookies; things they are excited to eat.

Once they are around 11 or 12, I like to get them working on main dishes and of course teach them to cook the foods they love. Harrison was more than happy to make this dessert for this meal and ended up eating the majority, which was good since he hadn’t been eating much since visiting his orthodontist the day before. This is an excellent recipe to make if you have left over rice. I just made extra rice, when I made the Butternut Squash and Ginger soup.

Okay, get ready for comfort food extrordinaire……

Old Fashion Rice Pudding

* 3/4 cup uncooked white rice,
* 2 cups milk, divided
* 1/3 cup white sugar
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1 egg beaten
* 2/3 cup raisins
* 1 tbsp butter
* 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
*  2 tsp cinnamon
* 1 tsp nutmeg

 

Directions

  1. Bring 1 1/2 cups water to a boil in a saucepan; stir rice into boiling water. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.
  2. In a clean saucepan, combine 1 1/2 cups cooked rice, 1 1/2 cups milk, sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat until thick and creamy, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup milk, beaten egg, and raisins; cook 2 minutes more, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla.

 

After cooking the rice pudding on the stove top, pour it into a casserole dish, sprinkle it with cinnamon and nutmeg, put a lid on top and put it in the oven at 300 degrees for 30 minutes or until it thickens. Pour into dishes with a little piece of mint on top. It’s a wonderful finish to this evenings meal.

We doubled the recipe for our gang but this is perfect if you have a family of 4, unless you love rice pudding. Then there is never enough!

Put in a fancy dish, add a sprig of mint and it looks like something from a restaurant

I hope you try this delightful trio of recipes. Thanks for coming today, it’s always a pleasure having you in our kitchen.
Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

Vegetable Borscht~Grateful Gardens

/ Lee Reynolds
Look what I have found in my garden this summer?

 

This was the first one I found in my garden. EVER!
And look where I found it.
I know hey, a jumble of pumpkin, raspberry bushes, somewhere under there are also potatoes growing in containers …but then cantaloupes have been discovered too.
This mysterious cantaloupe appeared in my pumpkin/raspberry/potatoes in container/ garden this summer, …next to one of my compost bins.
Yes, I know, it’s lucky I found anything in this mess but one day, when I was out hand watering this patch, I was counting pumpkins and boy was I SHOCKED to find a cantaloupe.
I didn’t plant ANY cantaloupe seeds. I’m actually surprised too that anything grew in this patch down by my compost bin.  My sister J says raspberries grow anywhere…thanks btw J, for the new raspberry plants. I’ll put them in as soon as I clear out this mess this fall.
After I planted my main garden, I still had a few plants left and I just randomly planted them in this bed, not thinking anything would come up at all. After all, it isn’t on our underground irrigation system and the dirt is terrible.
 For years we had a weeping birch planted in this space. Although I really like birch trees, that one was always needing pruning and well, it also absorbed a ton of water and wasn’t producing anything for us to eat. When I started thinking garden sustainability, one of the first things to go was that birch. Before I planted down there this year, I meant to remove the stump and improve the soil but I never got around to it/ Was I ever surprised ANYTHING grew down there. One of the reasons I had the compost put in this area was I was wanting to build up the soil in this location. Smart thinking on my part to place my compost bin, where I wanted the new, improved garden area.
So SURPRISE, surprise, surprise….I grew a cantaloupe.
And boy was I feeling like a real farmer when that happened.
But then, on another occasion, I found another one, again surprise! Did I mention this area gets little sunshine (no water, unless I get down there with the hose) and from what I have read melons love the hot sun.
And I wasn’t the only one surprised at our bounty. Harrison who is always happy to see food even posed with our new melon friend…to be eaten forthwith.
Then it happened two more times.

 

From a plant  I didn’t even “knowingly” plant, we received four glorious cantaloupes. YOU can bet  I saved the seeds for us to plant in this same spot next year. I know four melons isn’t a lot in the big scheme of things and even eating but hey…when you have bonus food that you weren’t expecting, and it’s fruit that your family loves to boot, well you are GRATEFUL!
Then there is the produce you did plant that turns out beautifully. I have never planted cabbage before as I was concerned about the notorious white cabbage butterfly infesting our garden but this summer our first cabbages turned out beautifully. I planted two varieties this year, a green and a red. They grew to enormous sizes and 6 plants of each fed our family all summer. Next year I’m doubling that as I want to put some away for winter. Cabbage keeps great I hear.
All summer we ate coleslaw and I added cabbage to my kale salad but I was hoping that there would be one cabbage left in September so we could have our first pot of Borscht of the season.
And look what was waiting for me in the garden the other day. Another reason to be grateful.
Isn’t this Red Dynasty Cabbage a sight for sore eyes…..something my grandmother would have said…but it’s beautiful.
And that wasn’t all. Down in that infamous pumpkin patch, I tipped over one of the containers I planted with Yukon Gold potatoes and I was happily surprised to find enough potatoes for several meals. We can go through 10 pounds of potatoes in no time if all the older boys are eating.
Potatoes grown in one of the containers down at our pumpkin patch
If you live on an urban homestead as I do, I would recommend growing your potatoes in a container. It was so easy and  as I was pouring my lawn clippings into the compost bin, I would top up my potatoes with a bit of mulch and throw a bit of dirt as well. By the end of summer the container was topped up and it was full of veggies. I was surprised by how many potatoes we received.
With  our newly dug potatoes and this beautiful cabbage, I’m going to make a vegetable borscht. Come and join me as I cook.
Pour a cup of tea and let’s get cooking. We can chat about being grateful as we go.

Let’s see, where is my recipe, oh here it is:

Hope’s Homemade Vegetable Borscht
 
Ingredients
  • 3 medium-size beets, peeled and grated
  • 2 large carrot, peeled and grated
  • 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 large tomatoes, diced
  • 2 tbsp of water
  • juice from ½ lemon
  • 2 L of water/vegetable broth
  • 1 tbsp of salt…or salt to your taste.
  • 6 medium-size potatoes, or the equivalent, diced
  • ½ cabbage….you can use green or red
  • 1  onion, diced
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  •  black pepper/pinch of salt
  • 2  bay leaves
  • 1 tbsp dried parsley or fresh finely chopped.
  • 2-3 garlic cloves, chopped or minced as you desire
  • 1 tbsp of dried dill or a large bunch of fresh finely chopped
Directions
  1. Heat up 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add grated beets, carrots and diced tomatoes.


2. Add 2 tbsp of  water and lemon juice to the vegetables and stir.
3. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot and simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, boil 2 L of water in a kettle and add to the shredded vegetables, that have been on simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Bring to a boil and add salt to your taste
6. Add diced potatoes and shredded cabbage to the soup and cook for another 10 minutes


7. While that is cooking, saute the onions and garlic over medium heat until golden


8. Add onions and garlic to the pot and combine well.
9. Add freshly ground black pepper, salt, bay leaves, parsley and dill to the soup. Cook for 15 minutes. 




10. Now the best part, pour into bowls, add a big dollop of sour cream and a sprig of parsley.


Serve with salad and dinner buns (recipe below) for a complete and delicious meal.

This recipe feeds 12-14 people. It fed us for 2 nights which I’m grateful for as the second night was after being at the dentist with the whole gang and we were hungry when we arrived home. If you don’t need a whole pot full, please know it freezes really well. Perfect for a cold fall night.

Let’s say Grace….

Don’t you think when you come from a place of gratitude, even more gifts are bestowed. Let’s say grace.

And before I close this post, I just wanted to jot down my dinner bun recipe. I used this also for my black bean burger recipe…but I make the buns a bit smaller for dinner.

Ingredients:

Serves: 12-15
  • 4 1/2cups flour
  • 4 1/2teaspoons dry yeast (2 8g packages)
  • 1 cup milk
  • 3/4cup water
  • 1/2cup margarine or 1/2 cup butter or 1/2 cup of oil
  • 1/3-1/2cup  white sugar
  • 1/2teaspoon  salt

 

Directions:

 

    1. Mix 2 C flour& yeast in a large bowl.
    2. In a separate bowl, heat milk, water, oil, sugar& salt to lukewarm in microwave.
    3. Add all at once to flour mixture and beat till smooth. (Approx 2 mins in a Kitchenaid stand mixer).
    4. Mix in enough flour to make a soft dough (2 – 2 1/2 Cups).
    5. Mix well until dough is soft and slightly sticky, then turn out onto floured surface and let rest under a large greased bowl for about 15 minutes.
    6. Shape dough into 12-15 small balls and place on greased baking sheet to rise until doubled in size. (approx 45 Mins).
    7. Bake in preheated 400 degree oven 12-15 minutes.
      I add some ground flax seed and oatmeal to the tops of the dough as I’m making the buns

       

      For some reason, making bread and buns is such a nurturing experience

 

 

So there it is my blog friends. A home cooked meal, nothing extravagant but when the ingredients come from your garden, you are even more thankful. I have to tell you our kitchen smells heavenly between the borscht and the buns cooking.

Our cat, May Ling, a blue lynx point Siamese, has snoozed the whole afternoon away on the window seat in our kitchen. There is nothing like homemade soup, buns and a cat dosing in the kitchen in my books.

 

When she hears my camera click, she starts slightly but only just…in a second she is dreaming about mice and quail again

Thanks for coming today……..

Until we meet again, may you be well, peaceful and happy.

Blessings from Hope

 

 

 

 

 

Black Bean Veggie Burger~Homemade Burger Buns

/ Lee Reynolds

It’s around the table and in the preparation of food that we learn about ourselves and about the world.
~Alice Waters~

It’s a gorgeous September Saturday here in the Okanagan. Welcome!

View of Kalamalka lake from our deck

I’m thinking it’s the perfect day to prepare my black bean burgers so they are all ready to barbecue tonight.

Please come in and join me in my kitchen and we can prepare them together.

The first thing we need to do is saute 1 large onion in a skillet with about a tbsp of oil.

Once onions are tender and translucent, place in a large mixing bowl and let them cool.

When they have cooled, add the following ingredients:

1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp cumin
11/2 tbsp chili powder
1-19 ounce can of black beans, drained, rinsed and roughly pureed
1 tsp oregano
1/4 cup parsley or cilantro, chopped
2 tbsp sesame oil
1/2 cup almonds, roasted and chopped
1 cup sunflower seeds, roasted and chopped
3 cups of fine bread crumbs
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
5 eggs
2 cups grated carrots
2 cups of oats

Mix all ingredients really well,

I like to add my eggs one at a time and mix really well.

then shape into patties. Dredge lightly in flour.

These burgers hold their shape really well and make enough for my large family plus lots to freeze for another night

You can cook these burgers a number of ways. You can bake them in the oven on a greased pan at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, or you can heat vegetable oil in a large pan and brown them on each side until they are heated through and ready to eat. We like to barbecue them. They keep their shape and often I’m grilling zucchini, corn etc to serve along with the burgers.

Tonight, since I have some red dynasty cabbage still in my garden, I’m making a coleslaw to accompany them.

We like to slather guacamole on our buns, along with  tomato and lettuce…I like mine totally loaded with everything I’ve listed plus some red onion. Let your imagination with toppings inspire you.

Since the burger has cumin and chili powder in it, it’s got a southern flair and I like to serve some tortilla chips on the side with lots of guacamole for me, some of our kids like salsa

It is so rewarding making the burgers, the buns and the slaw all from scratch…Delicious too!

If you want to make your own buns like we do…here is my easy to make burger bun recipe..although I also use this recipe for dinner buns all year round as well…with my burger buns I just make them a bit bigger and the recipe below makes about 10 BIG buns.

Hope’s quick and easy burger buns

Ingredients:

Serves: 12-15
  • 4 1/2cups flour
  • 4 1/2teaspoons dry yeast
  • 1 cup milk
  • 3/4cup water
  • 1/2cup margarine or butter
  • 1/3-1/2cup white sugar
  • 1/2teaspoon salt
  • (opt: cheddar cheese, dill, rosemary, or any herb you would like)

Directions:

    1. Mix 2 C flour& yeast in a large bowl.
    2. In a separate bowl, heat milk, water, oil, sugar& salt to lukewarm in microwave.
    3. Mix in enough flour to make a soft dough (2 – 2 1/2 Cups).
    4. Add grated cheese or herb of choice is you wish here…
    5. Mix well until dough is soft and slightly sticky, then turn out onto floured surface and let rest under a large greased bowl for about 15 minutes.
    6. Form into balls, top with sunflower seeds and ground flax and let the buns sit on a baking sheet for a further 45 minutes to rise.
    7. Bake in preheated 400 degree oven 12-15 minutes.
      Side note, I like to add a mix of ground flax seed and oats and sprinkle them on the top of these buns before they start to rise…you can you any combination of seeds etc of your choice. My kids also like a cheesy bun so I will also put grated cheese on top as well as in the mix. The smell in the kitchen is fragrant and homey. I’m so glad you came today and joined me in preparing food for our families.

Finally I should say if you have a large gang like I do this recipe makes enough for one meal AND another to freeze for another night. (which we busy moms need) I made 16 large burgers from my recipe today and they are BIG, the little kids just eat 1/2 a burger each.

I made some homemade lemonade to accompany the dinner tonight. It’s an end of summer celebration

I want to thank my friend Alison  for inspiring me to make these burgers. When the twins were newborn, she came over with a large container full of delicious food, along with freezer bags full of black bean burgers and lentil burgers. Lemon pound cake…oh it was absolutely the BEST gift a new mom could receive.  I know I phoned her to thank her but I don’t  think I ever told her how AMAZING it was to receive. Since then, black bean burgers are our regular summer fare and take me right back to when the babies were tiny and I needed to eat A LOT to keep my milk supply strong.

So this post is dedicated to her and other generous people who go out of their way to give of themselves. Don’t even get me started about my best friend Tamara, who brought me tons of healthy muffins, even though she lived a days drive away from me when the twins were born.

These are the earth angels surrounding me and they inspire me to give back. How can you help another person as the summer ebbs away? Maybe you can make a batch of black bean burgers for your family and give the other 1/2 of the batch to a new neighbour, or friend in need or invite a new family to join you for dinner.

To Alison and Tamara, you are earth angels!  Thank you for being there and helping me stay healthy when our twins arrived. People like you are the light workers we need on earth.

Thanks to my blog readers for joining me today.

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

Homemade Pizza night

/ Lee Reynolds

It’s Friday fun night and I’m planning to make a pizza or two for my crowd. We have chicken left over from last night so I’m thinking my weight lifting teenagers will opt for that instead of “peasant food” which is what our oldest son calls pizza. Then he regales us with the history of pizza. He’s a science major at our local University and a bit of a know it all about everything.

My oldest son brought home some dry ice from the Science Centre where he works in the summer time. This is him drinking something with that ice. He is always regaling us with his vast knowledge about sciency stuff and of course peasant food.

Suffice it to say, he will eat our chicken so I’m thinking I will make one big pizza.

Classic Cheese on one side and a veggie on the other for those of us who like eating stuff from the garden, us peasants. Which is most of our family, thank heavens!

So help me by grating the cheese and cutting up the veggies and I will make the crust.

Here’s how I make one large pizza crust that is thick and holds lots of veggies. If you like your crust thinner and crispy just add a bit more flour and split the dough in half and spread it on two pans. We like ours thick….which our oldest also says, ‘”is not a true pizza crust, it’s suppose to be thin”

Hope’s Homemade Pizza Crust recipe

Ingredients

3 cups of flour
1 tsp of sugar
1/2 tsp of salt
11/2 cups of warm water
1 tbsp yeast (I buy the quick rising kind from Costco’s…it’s in a large box for around $5.00 dollars.)
1 tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Non stick spray for the pizza pan

Kate and Tori help to mix the dough

Directions

Add 11/2 cups of warm water to a large bowl
Sprinkle the yeast on the top of the water and let it sit for at least 5 minutes

Mix the flour (and I like to use unbleached white with some whole wheat…the combination can be your choice…We like 1/2 and 1/2 but if you aren’t use to whole wheat flour use less at first)
the sugar and the salt together until well combined.

Then take a fork and make sure the yeast is mixed really well into the warm water…it should be frothy. Then add your tbsp of olive oil and mix well again.

Finally, add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix really well. When a ball has formed I start to turn it over and over kneading it like bread with my hands. I continue to mix until all the flour is worked in. This usually takes about 2 minutes. Sometimes it’s still sticky and if that is the case, then add a tiny bit of flour to the mixture so your hands don’t stick but not too much or your crust will be heavy.

Then I let the dough sit in the bowl with a damp cloth on top for at least 15 minutes. The longer you let it sit the more it will rise but I’m usually making mine right before dinner so I don’t have time to let it rise higher.

While you are waiting for it to rise you can grate the cheese and cut up all the veggies.

Grace Elizabeth grates the cheese

The combinations are endless and like my chocolate chip cookies, my pizza’s always turn out a bit different each time. It’s endlessly interesting and delicious. I can’t believe the days that we used to order pizza out.

After the 15 minutes are up you can spread your dough on your lightly sprayed pizza pan. If you want you can let the crust sit on the pan to rise once again…another 15 minutes makes it light and soft and you will have an even chewier crust.

 

 

You can make pizza sauce from scratch or use your fav spaghetti sauce

Spreading the pizza sauce of your choice is the next step…..I just use whatever we have in the house. Usually it’s the organic tomato sauce from Costco’s but this year it’s going to be from my own tomatoes as I have planted enough to keep us going all year. Stay tuned later this summer for all my “what to do with the tomatoes posts.”

So that’s it for the crust.  Now let the creativity begin by letting your palate be your guide. Whatever we have growing n the garden or in the fridge is what I throw on our pizza.

Right now we have red onion, spinach, mince garlic (from my garden…I’m thrilled with my garlic this year.) basil, tomatoes (sadly, from the store, hey I’m in Canada and we are just starting to see them turn colour now, although I did have a few red cherry ones that were yummy) and of course zucchini and feta cheese. For the cheese side of the pizza just pile on the mozzerella cheese and some cheddar…our kids like that and a bit of parmesan cheese too.

And  voila!

A few weeks ago my sisters C and J were in town and I made them my new pesto sauce pizza….it was delish….I will for sure do a post on making pesto so you can try it out. It is amazing if you like basil and garlic. But try anything you like and you can’t go wrong with a Friday night fun food like pizza. I think I will pull out an apron and an old hat when my older son comes home and welcome him to peasant land. It’s a good place to be.

I also made a Kale Salad to go with our pizza and some cut up cucumbers and carrots from our garden as well. Did you know that Kale was also peasant food in the ‘ole days. Nobler folks wouldn’t touch it. Last summer I was reading how marvelous Kale was…a top 10 healthy food choice for sure. Oh that makes me think of doing another blog post on my green Kale drink….stay tuned for that.

Well, if you have gotten to know me at all bu reading my first few blog posts, I often write a novella so I will stop here and get on with cleaning up the kitchen….that is a picture I won’t show you but I’m sure you can imagine what it looks like when you have kids helping you and you are trying to write your blog. We also made homemade ice cream sandwiches this afternoon as well. (for another blog post day) If you could smell the chocolate wafting from my kitchen you would be in heaven (that is if you like chocolate….we love it around here)

So bon appetite!

 

My taste tester, who has been painting the living room

You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces – just good food from fresh ingredients. – Julia Child

Until then, may you be well, happy, tummy full and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope