She Ate What???

I hope you all will be proud of me. I’ve been broadening my palate by eating more beets and eggplant in various salad ways. I don’t know why I feel compelled to make myself like these particular veggies. Perhaps it’s because of their beautiful color.

Last week after receiving beets in my CSA box, and expecting many more to come, I set out to find a way I could enjoy them and discovered I actually like them raw. I made a delicious raw beet dip and ate it with gluten free crackers and atop green salads. Melody left me a comment suggesting I might like shredded beets in a green wrap. So I made myself a nice little appetizer one night and took the last bit of leftover dip and wrapped it some leafy lettuce I had. A beet wrap – sounds musical.




Thanks, Melody, it was delicious!

I still had a couple of giant beets left and although I didn’t think they would go bad anytime soon, their uncertain presence was bothering me. I remembered a recipe that my CSA farm provided for sautéed gingered beets. It sounded really good, except for the beets. Then it occurred to me to make a raw version. This was so messy to make but it’s really really tasty. Here’s the recipe I came up with. Feel free to convert it back to a roasted or boiled beet version.

Gingered Beet Salad with Radishes

Ingredients:
2 large beets, peeled and julienned
2 large radishes, thinly sliced
1 lime, juiced and zested
1 teaspoon sugar or sweetener of choice
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
2 tablespoons raisins (or Craisins)

Directions:
Place the beets and radishes in a serving bowl. Mix together the lime juice and zest, sugar, vinegar, and ginger; pour over beets and radishes and mix to coat. Stir in raisins.


This next recipe for an eggplant salad comes from one of my favorite local restaurants, Aster’s Ethiopian. This salad is not on the menu but was in a local magazine. I had to adapt it a little because the recipe does not provide for cooking the eggplant. That scares me for some reason and certainly doesn’t appeal to me. It does provide for soaking the eggplant in lemon juice. Do you suppose that cooks it? Anyway, the salad is quite good. Here is my adapted version.

Eggplant and Blackeyed Pea Salad

1 medium eggplant, peeled and diced (about 1-1/2 cups)
juice of 1 small lemon
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1-1/2 cups cooked blackeyed peas
1 teaspoon agave nectar
black and red pepper to taste
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 green onions, sliced
2 tablespoons diced red bell pepper

Blanch the eggplant for 2 minutes. Drain, then cover with lemon juice and salt. Let sit for 30 minutes in the colander. Put eggplant into a serving bowl and toss with the olive oil. Stir in the blackeyed peas and agave nectar. Season with black pepper and red pepper. Garnish with cilantro, green onions, and bell pepper.

Chocolate Covered Katie, my food soul mate and adorable fellow Texan, is hosting a giveaway as part of her New Foods Challenge. She is encouraging her readers to try a new a food and then tell her about. She will then enter you in a drawing for a yummy food prize. You would think eating all these beets and eggplants would make me an automatic winner, but I actually did eat something this week I’ve never eaten before – garlic scapes. I’ve heard of them and wasn’t afraid to try them, I honestly just didn’t know how to prepare them. I got a small bunch in my CSA box. If you don’t know what they are, here’s what they look like. (The green things, not the pink things.)

After a little research I figured out which part was edible and the way they are usually eaten. (Discard the bulb and use just the tops.) I just chopped and sautéed mine in a little olive oil. I have to say I am absolutely crazy for garlic scapes! They taste like hearty green beans already seasoned with garlic – yum! Since I only had a few scapes, I added some red onion and fresh mushrooms to my little stirfry. Oh so delicious.

The only sweet treat I’ve made lately is Chocolate Chia Pudding.

I made it good and chocolaty with lots of cocoa powder. Unfortunately, a couple of tablespoons of chia seeds in one sitting is a little hard on my tummy and I won’t be enjoying this any more.


This post has been long enough already, but I have one more thing. You may have noticed that Sunday dinners are becoming rather infrequent. I know a lot of you have looked forward to seeing my family feasts, but times change and I think this blog needs to go in a new direction. Don't worry, I still see my son, just not on Sundays due to his work schedule. I thought about *retiring* but I don’t really want to quit blogging. Will you all stick around if there aren’t so many family dinners? I will try to keep up with 2 posts per week of healthy food and continue to put up pretty food pictures. And I have really been into developing recipes lately. Do you like when I provide recipes? (That may change too once all these fabulous new cookbooks come out!)

Thanks guys! As always, I can’t wait to come around and see what you’ve been cooking.