Winter’s Coming: Comfort Food

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Nights are getting cooler and cold, drizzly rain or snow, or sleet is going to start gracing our days and nights. These two recipes pack an anti-cancer POW, give you a crazy good dose of winter vegetables, warm your tummy, and makes your house smell beyond wonderful. Be sure to use the dark green leaves on the outside of the cabbage. For some reason, people toss these wonderful leaves of health and goodness out. Remove the large stem part and chop. This adds great flavor and color to the stew. Feel free to add other vegetables to the roasted vegetable dish: cubed sweet potato, butternut squash, broccoli.

Both dishes are vegan, but don’t let that stop you from preparing and enjoying. Something about stews put me in mind of hobbit journeys, semi-lawless olde country taverns and food eaten out of wooden trenchers, and down on the farm, filling comfort food. Add some good bread, a cold glass of apple cider, and you are good to go.

Vegetable Stew
2 large carrots, diagonally sliced into 2-inch pieces
2 large parsnips, diagonally sliced into 2 inch pieces
2 medium turnips, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes (about 3 cups)
1 large onion, diced (about 1 cup)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch slices
1 16-ounce can chickpeas, drained
¼ chopped green cabbage
1 cup vegetable broth
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 – 2 tsp. good Hungarian paprika, smoked or not.

Directions
Combine the carrots, turnips, onion, garlic, tomatoes (with their liquid), cabbage, broth, salt, cumin, and paprika in a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker. Cook on low heat for 6 hours, or on high for 3 hours. Add the zucchini and chickpeas and cook 1 hour longer on low. If you are lucky, put into a dutch oven, adding chick peas, cabbage, and zucchini about 30 – 40 minutes before end of cooking and cook in the oven or on top of the stove until veggies are tender and melt in your mouth.

Oven Roasted Winter Vegetables
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil + 2 tbs olive oil for pan
3 medium carrots (about 3/4 pound), cut into 1 1/2-inch thick circles
1 1/2 cups Brussels sprouts (about 1/2 pound), halved
4 cups small yellow or red skin potatoes (about 1 pound), cut into 1 1/2-inch thick slices
3 medium parsnips (about 1 pound), cut into 1 1/2-inch thick slices
1 cup sweet potatoes (about 1 pound), cut into 1 1/2-inch thick slices
1 tsp. each basil, oregano, thyme, minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
Splash of balsamic vinegar

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place vegetables into a large bowl and season with salt, pepper, herbs, oil, and vinegar, toss well. Grease an 11 by 17-inch baking sheet pan with extra-virgin olive oil (I use parchment paper instead of the extra oil). Place vegetables in baking sheet. Add more oil if the vegetables seem dry. Place pan of vegetables the middle rack in oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

 

 

Recipes – KISSATURDAY 2

Yowser…it’s cold here!!! Nights in the teens, days in the 20’s. You folks in parts of Canada and Alaska can laugh all you like, but it is cold for us.

So…something warm and yummy for Dinner – I’m going again with the Keep It Simple Saturday. For dinner (and leftovers) – a slow cooker Swiss style round steak. It’s on sale for $3.99 pound at a local chain. I like to pair the Swiss steak with yellow rice and a tossed salad. You can add garlic, oregano, and thyme, and give it an Italian flair and serve with pasta. Dessert for the evening is going to be toasted, sliced pound cake (purchased – did I mention today was KISSaturday?) and topped with ice cream or sherbet of your choice.

Breakfast is cheese toast with a side of fresh fruit. Lunch is chunky tuna salad stuffed into pita pockets and cut up veggies on the side. I keep cut up veggies on hand all the time for my bento and my husband’s lunch or for snacks. Same with fruit. I buy fresh strawberries on the cheap or, use bananas cut up with pineapple chunks. Apples, oranges, and tangerines are always on hand. We are big on getting our five servings of fruit and veggies every day. You can use canned fruit in juice for ease and frugality. Sometimes I open a can of chunky mixed fruit in their juice and add sliced banana.  But I am a fresh girl….in more ways than one!!!

I am going to fix the tuna salad first so the flavors can blend and then throw the round steak together in the slow cooker. When this gets to going, your house is going to smell sooooo good! You can watch basketball games on the tube, run errands, have that rare lunch with a friend, sneak in a nap or read…..be all kinds of busy while this cooks without you having to worry.

Now remember, this is KISSAturday – not haute cuisine-impress your foodie friends-make something exotic Saturday. Ingredients are simple, easy to find, based on frugalness, and tried and true combos for a savory comfort factor. We’ll get into fancy-schmancy another time.  Enjoy your Saturday. Don’t make yourself crazy. And take some time to take a walk and enjoy winter beauty…it has its own style and is as seductive as spring, if you learn to appreciate it.

Cheese Toast– per serving
(I shouldn’t have to tell you this but……)
2 slices of bread – your choice
Schmear of low fat margarine or be bad and use butter
Cheese of your choice – enough to cover two slices of bread

Schmear butter on bread and top with cheese. Please cheese side up in a toaster over or under the broiler until it is melted and bubbly.

Chunky Tuna Salad
2 standard cans of chunk white tuna in water, drained
¼ c. chopped onion
¼ c. chopped green or red pepper
¼ c. chopped celery
Dash of hot sauce
Dash of lemon juice
     Enough mayo to bind ingredients. Mix all well. Some curry powder is good added to this as a change from standard mixes. Stuff in pita pockets, spread on bread slices, or eat as I do on lettuce.

SWISS STEAK
1.5 – 2 Lbs beef round steak, cut into serving size pieces: 6 – 8
2 cans whole or diced tomatoes, smushed
1 envelope onion soup mix (I use ½ envelope and use a store brand)
1 medium onion sliced
1 small green pepper, sliced
Salt and pepper
Few dashes of Worcestershire sauce
     Sprinkle steaks with salt and pepper. Put some of the tomatoes and veggies in bottom of cooker and top with steak pieces. Top with remaining ingredients. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.  Serve with rice, noodles, or mashed taters.  If you do the Italian seasoning, serve with pasta.