When Life Gives You Kale, part 2;

Eating: You may recall a few weeks back, part one of this post, about what to do with abundances of certain types of produce.  Well, now I have a bunch of beets (actually, I still have roasted beets in the freezer from last year) and some large cabbage, as well as several pounds of apples we picked.  Here are some more recipes in the same spirit as When Life Gives You Kale, Make Kale Chips.  I am thinking of cross-stitching that saying and hanging on the wall.  By the way, I really really like that roasted tomato soup recipe I posted last time.

Beets.  Was there ever a  vegetable that divided groups of people more?  Well, maybe brussel sprouts but more on those later.  Beets seem to be something you like or something you definitely do not like.  I like beets.  I liked them canned when I was a kid, I like pickled beets, I like them in a salad.  But...there is a such thing as too many beets for me.  I think part of it is that I don't know a lot of ways to prepare them and so when I have a lot of them, I am overwhelmed and get tired of the roasted-beets-as-side-dish preparation.  So I found something new to do with them: Roasted Beet Borscht.  In the same vein as carrot soup and zucchini soup, this is a pureed soup.  I made one sample batch to see if I like it (made with a very large golden beet - it was a very beautifully colored soup), then made a triple batch and froze most of it for later (mix of red and gold beets, deep red color, also quite lovely).  Recipe is courtesy Tyler Florence of Food Network.  Have I mentioned that I love Tyler?
Roasted Beet Borscht (for when life gives you beets)

1 pound beets

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

6 sprigs fresh thyme

6 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

6 cups chicken stock (I cheated and used chicken base/bouillon and hot water)

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon honey

 

To roast the beets (same as I do when I make them for a side dish), heat oven to 400.  Scrub beets and place them on a pan. Salt and pepper and drizzle with 3 T olive oil.  Add 3 sprigs of thyme. Bake until the beets are tender, about 1 hour (depends on the size of the beets).

When the beets are cool enough to handle, slip off their skins, and chop them into large chunks.

 

In a large heavy bottomed pot over medium heat, add the remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil. Put in the onion, carrots, garlic, and remaining 3 thyme sprigs and cook until softened and just starting to color, about 10 minutes. Add the chicken stock and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Remove the thyme sprigs. Put the chopped beets into a blender and add the cooked vegetables and most of the stock (SMALL BATCHES!! to avoid soup scald shower). Blend until smooth, add more stock if the puree is too thick. Add the vinegar and honey; season with salt and pepper. Blend again to incorporate flavors. Can serve hot or cold. (The borscht is good without the vinegar and honey but definitely add those because it enhances the flavor A LOT.)

You can also make a garnish for this (I did not do this part, because it was just for me - I don't need to be so fancy eating my lunch). Grate a Granny Smith apple on the large holes of a grater and mix 2 T chopped fresh dill.  Add a big dollop of sour cream to each bowl of soup and top with the apple and dill mixture.

I was also going to blog cabbage recipes but realized I did that last year, so if life has given you cabbage, check out Cabbages Galore for recipes for a soup that uses carrots and for the very handy Freezer Cole Slaw recipe. 

I know everyone likes apples, so an abundance of apples is probably not a problem, but here are a few of my recipes and ideas for when you hit the orchard in the fall and pick way more than you really know what to do with.  Not that I would ever do that...

Apple Cake - two different recipes posted here.

Taffy Apple Pizza - an old Pampered Chef recipe that I have made many many times and previously blogged here

Grandma Nellie's Apple Crisp
(I received this recipe from my mother-in-law as part of a bridal shower gift and it is the only apple crisp E likes because it does not have oatmeal in it.  I lost the recipe and had to call my MIL to get it again.  Grandma Nellie's original lacked a few directions, so this is slightly modified.  I will give you cooking temp and time, for example.)
Fill bottom of a 8x8 or 9x9 pan with sliced, pared, cored apples.  Sprinkle with 1 C sugar (lately I have cut this back to 1/2 or 2/3 C) and sprinkle with cinnamon (lots of cinnamon if you are making this for E).
Combine: 1 C flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 C butter (I melt it in the microwave first)
1/2 C brown sugar
1/2 t salt
Mix until forms crumbles.  Crumble over the apples.  Bake at 375 for 45 minutes until the top is golden.

Applesauce
I make mine in the crock pot because then I don't have to watch it so closely and it makes the whole house smell delicious!  This year I bought a food mill which is not necessary but does make the sauce smoother and (maybe more importantly) I don't have to peel the apples or worry about getting all of the seeds and core out.  I just use the apple wedger.  I also make mine without added sugar.  Then I can use it in recipes without altering the sugar content of the recipe.  And you can always stir in a little brown sugar to taste.
Wedge/core about 10 apples (peel if not using a food mill).  Place in crock pot along with about 1/2 C water.  Cover and cook on high for 4 hours.  If not using the food mill, you can mash with a potato masher or use an immersion blender.  Cool and store in refridgerator or freezer.  I freeze mine in 1 1/2 C portions in freezer bags.  That is what I use to make muffins.

Applesauce Streusel Muffins are yummy and the recipe is here.  I usually mix up the batter on a Saturday morning and bake half the muffins then and half again on Sunday morning. 

Now I am hungry. 

Until we eat again,
Hallie

Cabbage galore

Eating: I am cleaning out the fridge.  For some people that would mean that there is meal of odds and ends of leftovers - a little meatloaf, some chicken soup, a dab of mashed potatoes, a couple spoonsful of green beans - for me today it means figuring out what to do with 3 heads of cabbage, 10 parsnips, 5 turnips and a bunch of other produce just "hanging out" in the frigo.  Our CSA ended over a week ago but I still have a bunch of things that apparently store really well (when they are so fresh to begin with, even a week or more in the fridge and they are fresher than most things at the grocery store).
With the cabbage, I have chopped it all and am first making Freezer Coleslaw.  This idea came from our CSA - I had no idea you could freezer cabbage.  This is the recipe I am using. Super easy and I plan to freeze in smaller portions so I can grab some to have with meals this winter, maybe with some BBQ ribs or pulled pork.
That takes care of about 10 C of it (I have about 30 C), so the next idea is some Weight Watchers Zero Point Soup (I think it's official name is Garden Veggie Soup or something similar to that - I have always called it Zero Point Soup).  It is very tasty and a great way to eat your veggies.  Plus it is zero points (at least it was under the old points system, though, as I understand the new system, it might still be zero points because veggies are "free"), low calorie, high fiber.  And tasty.  Did I already say tasty?  This was the "0 point" item that inspired me to ask, in a WW meeting, how many servings of something zero points per serving can be eaten before you have to count a point or two.  The answer was something about thinking why you are eating 4 servings of something, even if it is zero points, yadda yadda yadda.  That's another 5 C or so used. 
Here's another soup I would like to try sometime.  Unfortunately I do not have all the ingredients on hand.  Another day, perhaps.  Internet search for recipes often turns up a bizarre assortment of things.  For example, "Vegan Smothered Cabbage" - why would I want a vegan all over my cabbage?  And the soup recipe that calls for some beef short ribs, "preferably from a jewish butcher" - guess I am out of luck on that one (I don't think I will ask the butcher at Super Target about his religious background). 
Well, enough about cabbage.

Reading:  I am still working on Treasure Island.  I have been unusually sleepy the past few nights and fall asleep while reading more often than not.  I have only been reading maybe 5 pages before this happens.  Not because I am not interested in the book.  Just excessively sleepy.  May need to try reading during the daytime more.

Creating:  Yesterday I knit up E's new Vikings hat.  I still need to do the ear flaps and braids but it is coming along nicely.  The super bulky yarn knits really quickly.  I will post pictures as soon as I figure out how to upload from the iPod.