Spinach!

I was always mistified in the university residence cafeteria when students would actually pick up the small side dishes that held a blackish slimey blob that someone identified for me as "spinach". I had heard of spinach, but I'm pretty sure I had never eaten it. And the way that spinach looked I wouldn't even sit near someone who had a bowl. Just in case.

Now that I'm grown, I have eaten a lot of spinach in salads and pasta dishes and even spanakopita. But, I still haven't been able to do plain old sauteed spinach despite my many friends' assurances that it's delicious. "Just sautee it with some garlic", "Squirt a little lemon", etc. Nope.

Until today. No photo this time, just a link to a really simple and delicious (yup, I just said that about spinach!) Spinach Saag. We had it with butter chicken, curried chickpeas, yellow rice, naan, chutney. YUUUUM!

From MyRecipes.com, Spinach Saag

Choking Down Artichoke

I think the title says it all. Of course I have no idea what it is supposed to look like or how it should taste. I quote Joe "It was ok. I wouldn't do it again..." I hate the big pile of leaves left on his plate. I couldn't even try it. Sorry.

EWWW. Don't eat that!

(If you must, here's the recipe. The leftover sauce made a delicious base for pizza on Sunday. I might do that again!)

Don't let the results of this test taint this recipe book for you. It's usually good. I blame artichokes. 

Braised Turnip?! Rutabaga?! Sweet!

This one was pretty simple. I think I would cube the turnip next time so every bite is coated with the sweet glaze (still pretty rutabaga-ish for me) but my family really liked it. Charlotte had seconds. ( can you see the beans in the background? That's the buttery walnut beans from a week ago - already a staple food - not sure the rutabaga was quite that much of a success!)

Ps this was actually a turnip recipe but in canada we tend to get rutabaga and call it turnip so i used rutabaga and called it rutabaga. So there.

I use this book a LOT. Easy to follow recipes and a wide variety and no low-calorie-low-fat-gluten-free-low-fat malarkey. 

Roasted Cauliflower

This is from Bon Appetit magazine, Feb 2013. Pretty yummy. I made a smaller batch with half an onion, but I think I would use MORE onion and lots of olive oil, salt and pepper.

Before:

After:

I actually get lots of really good recipes from Bon Appetit. I've enjoyed my subscription. I always go through it with post-it notes in hand and usually find 5 or 6 recipes that I will (and can) make. Of course they do cook with fennel a lot. Maybe I'll have to put that on my vegetable list...

The Month of Eating Vegetables

I confess. I am a bad vegetable eater. Or rather, I am bad because I am a vegetable non-eater. I was ashamed at thanksgiving dinner when my virtual niece asked me to put some brussels sprouts on her plate (!) and when I gave her a wee spoonful she asked me for a couple more scoops. "I love brussels sprouts" she said, loading her plate with rutabaga and squash and red cabbage. I gave in to my own pressure and put a teaspoon of bs on my plate and actually ate it, but not with much relish.

I don't like many vegetables. Some raw carrots are delicious but cooked? Bleh! Swiss chard looks nice in magazines, but not on my plate. I really do think I have the genetic marker that makes vegetables taste bad BUT. I am a grown-up (well, I look like one) and I have children (teens now) who also don't go in for veg in a big way. My husband says it's his fault because he does the cooking and he just doesn't know what to do with them. We do get vegetables because he puts them in stirfries and soups but we really could stand to pump up the volume. 

So, I introduce to you, The Month of Eating Vegetables. From today (just after Canadian thanksgiving until American thanksgiving I will make a concerted effort to find vegetable recipes that will make them taste good to me. And I will post the results and recipes here. Starting with... basic green beans.

Green Beans With Lemon, Walnuts, and Parsley

Normally we just steam beans but this time of year they are a little past their prime so I turned to my giant orange Bon Appetit Cookbook for the recipe. The results? DELICIOUS! Decadent even. My son w.d. said wow and best beans ever. This recipe is a keeper.