Roasted turnips

Last Saturday I received an amazing turnip from my CSA share.  I love turnip greens and have a few go to recipes, but I've never had much luck with the turnip.  I cleaned and chopped it and put it in the fridge hoping that I would find a use for it.

I was sitting at work and then it hit me - roasted turnip.  Recently I've been roasting every vegetable possible, so I was excited to give the turnip a chance.  It didn't disappoint.  I thought that it was delicious.  And incredibly easy.

Turnip (mine was rather large)
Olive oil (enough to lightly coat turnip)
Rosemary (also from my CSA share)
Salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Toss chopped turnip with olive oil, rosemary, and salt until turnip is lightly coated in olive oil.  I put all of the ingredients in a plastic bag and just gave it a good shake.  Roast turnips until tender and browned, start checking on them after about 30 minutes.  Try not to eat the entire pan at once.

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from localfoods.about.com

Parmesan Roasted Green Beans

I realized that in the long months on winter, we've been slipping on serving vegetables every single dinner. I always feel guilty when this stuff happens. It's not intentional, but I still feel like I am missing an opportunity to make my kids a bit healthier and introduce them to nature's yummy foods.

Last night I decided to break this trend and pulled out a bag of frozen green beans. Feeling more inspired than the usual steamed with butter, I found a recipe for Parmesan Roasted Green Beans. Yum, right? Super easy, too.

Parmesan Roasted Green Beans

Green beans
Olive oil
Salt and pepper (to taste)
Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place dry (since mine were frozen I patted them dry with a towel) green beans (ends removed) in a bowl. Add enough olive oil to just coat green beans and salt and pepper to taste. Spread on a baking sheet (as single layer as possible). Top with parmesan cheese (we love it, so ours got a pretty good coating). Place in oven for 15 - 20 minutes. Enjoy!

My boys (Jason included) each ate healthy servings. I've never seen them go after green beans like this. They've eaten them before, but not so willingly and happily. I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture of the process and final result. I will take one next time and update this post. This will definitely become a regular in our house.

How do you get your kids to eat vegetables?

Getting greener

In a week and a half we will be moving and I have been pretty busy. The baby food production is quite a bit slower since I want to move as little as possible, so we are using up what we have. The CSA and farmer’s market have been plentiful. Unfortunately my weekends have been packed with activity, so I haven’t had a lot of time to spend scouting the market. I hope to spend some time there (and invest in some meat) after we are settled (mid-June?).

I also just realized that I could make my own teething biscuits. I may have to invest in a box of the organic premade first because our kitchen is in boxes, but I plan to try a couple of recipes shortly after the move. If any of them work out, I will post the recipes.

Even as busy as we are, I constantly find new ways to go greener. I hope to have a compost pile for our new house. I don’t think that I am ready for a large outdoor one, but at least a countertop bin. I hate throwing out all of the vegetable remains (carrot tops, kale stems, etc.) after I process my weekly share. I have been looking at functional, yet somewhat attractive bins to use.


Although I love the ceramic and the bamboo, I am leaning towards the stainless steel for better durability. I also want to purchase the “ugly green one” since it holds twice as much as the others. This way I can use that to break down the scraps while I continue to collect in the other. Thanks, Kate, for such great ideas and references.

Even though baby food production has decreased, I have been trying to find ways to improve that, as well. I always hated that I stored the food in plastic zipper bags, but couldn’t think of a suitable alternative to ensure freshness. I considered mason jars, but don’t have any and really didn’t want to make the investment. Then, one day, I was looking around the house and realized that we have quite a few empty glass jars around. Mostly from pasta sauce, but we have a few different shapes and sizes. I made some homemade labels for the jars and just put the food in them. I really like how cute the different sizes look and I love the labels because I made them pretty big, so they are easy to see. There are some cons. Now I fear that the jars will break and it takes a few jars to hold what one gallon bag would hold, so there is a space issue. I have a freezer in my garage, though, so this shouldn’t be too much of a problem. I also don’t have enough jars right now, but I plan to build my collection. All of his organic fruit juice and our organic pasta sauce are packaged in glass containers, so hopefully our collection will build quickly. I also found out that our city doesn’t recycle glass, so this is a great alternative to the trash.

I also invested in a few WasteNot Saks™. Jason and I were so impressed with our first order that we immediately ordered more. These are great to travel with the little guy’s food and bottles to and from the baby-sitter. I plan to add these to Christmas and other holiday lists so that we can have a nice sized collection. We special ordered a gallon size for the bottles and food and like the snack and sandwich size for future finger food use.

As I make these tiny changes and look back at all of my efforts, I constantly wonder if I am wasting my time, money, and energy. Luckily, I always have some reassurance shortly after that thought. I was talking to a friend over lunch today and he mentioned that I may be onto something with this organic stuff (he was not a huge supporter of the transition – not against it, just not understanding). He mentioned that he saw a news story connecting ADHD in children and pesticides commonly used on produce. After hearing this, I am so thankful that I am taking the time, spending this money, and making the extra effort. Especially for my son, but also for my entire family. And now that other people are aware, they are beginning to believe and make healthier choices, too.

More reactions plus cost worries.

Last post, I mentioned the negative/defensive reactions to organic living. I forgot to mention all of the positive reactions I receive, though. I found numerous supporters, especially (and surprisingly) at work. People have offered to help me with various things, from making the baby food (I already mentioned Teresa) to canning portions of the CSA share. I had a shop employee bring in his book about canning today, not to mention all of the tips that people have been verbally sharing with me. I am so grateful for all of the offered help and I now have so many resources to consult.

Even last night during a church dinner the use of antibiotics in livestock became the topic of discussion. After talking about how antibiotics are used with cows and other sources of meat, someone at the table made the comment that it really seems reasonable to go organic. She was met with the usual complaints about how it isn’t cost effective and that there aren’t many resources in our town. That’s when I got to talk about what my family was doing to successfully make the switch. I gave them the information about the CSA and told them how much it cost. Everyone at the table thought the price is reasonable (although someone did mention it would be tough to come up with all of the money at once). One person asked about the variety of foods in the CSA and if there is anything strange. I told them that I really didn’t know, since it was all new to me, but I plan to use the Cookus Interruptus website and how I hope that it is going to help me cook and prepare any produce that isn’t familiar to me. I also told them about how I want to make my own baby food and also can as much as possible. The common reaction is that I am taking on a lot of work. And I know that may be true, but I hope that by taking steps it really isn’t overwhelming.

One thing that is becoming overwhelming is the cost to do all of this. I am not much of a garage sale or auction shopper and really don’t have any tips on how to save money with that. I am a coupon cutter and a warehouse store shopper, so I guess that helps some. I feel like every time I think of something that will benefit us (making baby food, canning, etc.) there is a list of tools or appliances that I need. First it was the Magic Bullet and cube trays. Now it is a pressure canner and mason jars. Plus, today someone recommended a juicer to can certain things. As the list grows, I get stressed and overwhelmed thinking about everything I need, but can’t afford.

Today I started talking to a friend that does his own canning. He suggested I borrow for a while. I will probably need my own mason jars, but it doesn’t hurt to ask around in my circle of friends and family to see if anyone has any sitting around. I have a relative that has a pressure canner that I am sure she would let me borrow for a weekend. I also have a friend with a pretty nice juicer which I am going to ask to borrow for a weekend. I know my dad has a dehydrator that I don’t think he has used in over 10 years that I am sure I can borrow. I have another friend with a bread machine that they use about monthly, so hopefully I can borrow that one weekend. Which reminds me, does anyone recommend a particular brand/model bread machine? I have never really thought of borrowing to save money, but I think that I have to reach out to make this work. And the best part is that most of these people live within a 5 mile radius around me and I usually visit them weekly anyway. Meanwhile, as I am borrowing, I will try to save money to buy my own and also ask for these items for my birthday or Christmas. I really felt a lot better after realizing that all I have to do is ask for a little help and this project became much more do-able again.

And if anyone out there is feeling benevolent, I do have a Wish List on Amazon.

Research, Recommendations, and Resources

 Research

To begin, I looked up some baby food recipes on the internet. This entire concept is completely unfamiliar to me and I do not have any close friends in the area that have ever done this. I really wanted to see if it was even practicable for our family, or if it was something that was incredibly time consuming or expensive that we could not accommodate. I was happy to find that making baby food is not only a cost saver, but the recipes seem simple and can be accomplished in just a couple hours during the weekend and also can be made in bulk.

Recommendations

Next I wanted to talk to someone who had actually made baby food before. Luckily, a co-worker’s wife, Teresa, is a SAHM who is (well, was, her kids are older now) a firm believer in making her own baby food. I asked her for any recipes and/or tips that she may have to make the process easier. Her first suggestion was that I purchase a Magic Bullet. Although the Magic Bullet is a $55 appliance, she swore that I would recover the cost quickly with the homemade baby food and it would not only make the process easier, but it also is the best appliance for the job. She also said that she still uses it to make her kids homemade smoothies. Her other suggestion was to purchase ice cube trays. Once the food is made, it is divided into the trays and frozen. After the food freezes, it is removed from the trays and stored in a labeled Ziploc bag. In a regular ice cube tray each cube size is approximately one ounce, so premeasured food can be frozen and stored with minimal space consumed in the freezer.

Sticking to my eco-friendly ideas, I think that I will purchase this type of tray. But, since the food will need to travel to the baby-sitter, I am going to purchase at least one set of these, too. Although it isn’t stated on the Amazon website, these containers are BPA and phthalate free. Plus, I have read that some foods (like apricot and prunes) do not freeze solid, so these will keep the portions separate for those types of food. Maybe I should purchase two sets of these...

Resources

I realize that there are many benefits (in food quality and cost) in supporting local farmers. Also, I would rather not fund the overly priced, imported, organic section at the grocery store. With those ideas, I am pursuing alternative options for finding ingredients.

Both my sister, Jamie, and my friend, Kate, have participated in a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). I was interested in joining a CSA years ago when Jamie started, but was unable to find one in my area. Fortunately, I recently found this site that supplied me with the names of three CSAs in my community. With the information on this website, I compared prices and also the length of time that each provides shares. I found one that was not only less expensive than the others, but also offers shares for 42 weeks out of the year. And they allow a half share (which I think is more than enough for my family). I contacted this CSA for more details, but haven’t heard back yet. I really hope that this CSA works out; it is a great way to acquire seasonal produce while supporting local agriculture.

I also plan to visit the Farmer’s Market weekly once it starts again in the spring/summer and possibly some local orchards and farms to pick (if we have time as a family), or at least purchase fruits, as needed. I mentioned in the last post that there are a few health food stores in the area and I need to visit those in the near future to see what they provide. If necessary, I also have Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods about an hour away.

My last (and most important) resource is the group of people willing to help me with this transition. I know that you may think that I am being dramatic, because, seriously I am just purchasing organic produce and sticking it in a blender monthly. But for us, in a land of frozen pizza and Lean Cuisines, this is going to be a huge lifestyle change. I love that I have people in my life that understand how important this is and have offered to help. Thank you all (and you know who you are).