Macaroni and Peas

I love the sweet, caramelized flavor of roasted veggies. Fall is the season for many great roasting veggies like butternut squash and sweet potatoes. Roasting doesn’t have to be reserved for a special occasion - you can serve roasted veggies on a weeknight with a little planning. Better yet, roasted veggies are great in tons of other dishes.

What You Need

Any combination of the following veggies:

• Sweet Potatoes
• Potatoes
• Onions
• Carrots
• Turnips
• Beets
• Parsnips
• Butternut Squash
• Acorn Squash
• Pumpkin
• Any Winter Squash except Spaghetti Squash

Other Ingredients

• Olive Oil
• Various Spices (see below)
• Garlic
• Salt & Pepper

Supplies

• Cookie Sheet, 9 inch x 13 inch Cake Pan, or Roasting Pan
• Sharp Knife
• Vegetable Peeler

Let’s Roast Some Veggies!

Wash all your veggies really well in cold water, even if you’re going to peel them. These veggies grow in the ground or sit on top of it for a good chunk of their growing season, which exposes them to quite a few microorganisms. Since your knife or peeler is going to be touching both the outside (where the dirt is) and the veggie flesh, you need to make sure the outside is as clean as you can get it.

Peeling is optional for all of these except the squash. The peels on those aren’t edible…they’re usually so tough you need to peel them with a knife. I kinda like the peels on both for texture and appearance, but it’s totally a personal preference.

Dice all the veggies into 1/2 inch pieces. If you’re using several different kinds of veggies, the shapes can be a challenge. The small pieces will cook more quickly. Try to keep the pieces all about the same size. That’ll  ensure they’re all done at the same time. Trust me, no one likes biting into a raw potato when they were expecting a delightfully roasted potato.

Cleaning, peeling, and dicing these veggies is the most time consuming part of this process. I like to do this part on the weekend. Just put all the prepared veggies in a gallon size freezer bag and stick it in the fridge.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.

If you didn’t prepare the veggies ahead of time, put them in a gallon size freezer bag now. Pour about 1/4 cup of olive oil into the bag. Add a few minced cloves of garlic, salt, and pepper.

Now’s the time to talk seasoning. You’ll want to stick to dried herbs for this. Here are my favorite combos: rosemary & thyme, chili pepper & cumin, curry powder & cumin, 5 spice powder*, garam masala*, herbes de provenece*, sage, and nutmeg.

*Yeah, you could make these blends, but the specific herbs and spices used vary widely and some of them are hard to get a hold of here in the US.

Toss your seasoning into the bag. Zip it up and shake away. Then pour the veggies out onto the pan and pop it into the oven.

Check the veggies after about 15 minutes. Move the veggies around in the pan to make sure they get cooked evenly. The total cook time varies depending on the type of veggies selected (squashes take longer than carrots and onions) and on the size of the pieces.

Now What?

I like to serve these fresh out of the oven when they’re all golden and caramelized. They’re also good at room temperature, so leftovers are a good thing.

Add the veggies to your favorite veggie soup recipe for an extra punch of flavor. Whether you serve it chunky or blended, the roasting adds a ton of flavor.

Last, but definitely not least, roasted veggies make a great salad. Mix them with fresh red onions, tomatoes, and toss them with your favorite vinaigrette.

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away. For some reason, this fall season has flown by. I can’t believe it’s almost time for turkey and crack-o-dawn shopping.

We generally spend Thanksgiving here at home in Iowa. We’re not having any relatives come visit this year. That’s good because our house is…let’s just say the house is not clean. All of our relatives are at least a thousand miles away…so we don’t do a lot of weekend visits.

Duncan’s class has recently started talking about Thanksgiving, its history, and being thankful. I thought I’d share some thoughts about this very food-centric holiday.

Family Ties

My mom was very interested in genealogy. She traced our family back to the 1500’s. Well, as much as one can trace one’s family back that far. Tony’s dad is pretty into genealogy too, although he tends to focus on the Civil War. So we know a fair bit about our history.

Both of my parent’s family names are German. My dad’s family name, Kessler, means cheese maker. My mom’s family name, Lieser, means lover. Yeah, I love cheese.

Despite all this German-ness, I’m mostly Scottish, albeit from tons of different sources. Most of my Scottish ancestors come from the Highlands. One of them claimed to be descended from William Wallace (aka Braveheart).

My husband and I find it rather amusing that his family descends in part from the McDonalds and mine from the Campbells. These clans were the Hatfields and McCoys of Scotland. Yeah, that’s the first feud that springs to mind…followed promptly by Romeo and Juliet’s families: Montague and Capulet. But then I laugh and realize that Tony and I are not likely to kill ourselves over something as silly as what our parents want.

By far, my coolest ancestor was a privateer in the employ of Queen Elizabeth. Yay, Pirates!

The point of all this is that Thanksgiving makes me think of family. And in doing so, I am reminded that the Rancks, a family from Southern Britain, came to America shortly after the Mayflower. These were the first ancestors of mine and of my son’s to set foot in America. I like to share the stories of our ancestors with Duncan so he feels a little closer to his history.

Food History

We watch a lot of Food Network, History Channel, and Discovery Channel around here. That means we see a lot of shows about the history of food, especially this time of year. We learn about what the pilgrims really ate for Thanksgiving (more on that later) and when certain American staples like pie and turkey came into the picture.

I enjoy telling Duncan all about the history of the foods he’s eating. For me, Thanksgiving dinner isn’t complete without mashed potatoes, but the pilgrims didn’t have potatoes at the first Thanksgiving.

Potatoes are originally from the Andes Mountains in South America. It was first cultivated about 7,000 years ago by pre-Columbian farmers. It wasn’t discovered by Europeans until the early 1500’s. The potato made its first trans-Atlantic trip in the 1570. Even then, it wasn’t used in everyday meals until the 1780’s. Finally, in the 1800’s, the potato made it back to the Americas and found a home in American kitchens.

I like to share stories about the ways the Irish might have cooked potatoes and why the Europeans were so reluctant to eat it (its leaves really are poisonous). I make sure Duncan is involved in cooking Thanksgiving dinner and we talk about what we’re making while doing it.

Traditions

When Tony and I got married, we talked about starting our own traditions as well as keeping certain family traditions alive. Both of our families celebrated Thanksgiving with tons of food and family.

However, his family also enjoyed football. Growing up in Alaska, football wasn’t exactly popular in my family. I’ve become a fan of football in the course of our 12 year marriage and look forward to watching the Thanksgiving games each year. Heck, I even enjoy the turducken that John Madden dishes up each year.

I know a lot of folks who don’t eat breakfast or lunch so they’ll have room for a bigger dinner. Tony falls into that camp along with most of my family. I’m that person who MUST have breakfast every morning. Duncan got that gene from me, so we eat breakfast together. I usually make oatmeal with fruit and nuts to make the meal last.

We try to get outside for a while both before and after dinner. It’s always nice to let Duncan work off some steam at the playground across the street before dinner. Being cooped up all day can be rather boring. After dinner, we enjoy the chance to get some fresh air. The exercise does us all good and it feels better to be moving than lying on the couch digesting.

I’ll share some fun activities as well as great recipes between now and Thanksgiving.

Image Credit: Dori O'Connell

For me, fall is all about soup. I love sitting down to a steaming bowl of soup when it’s cold out. It warms me up like nothing else. Homemade soup doesn’t have to be as time consuming or complex as you might think. Here are some tips for getting a delicious homemade soup on the table in just a few minutes.

Ingredients

A good stock or broth makes all the difference in your finished soup. Don’t be ashamed to buy canned broth or stock. Check out a few different brands to see which ones you like best. Try to stick to the low sodium varieties. You can always add salt…you can’t take it out of the broth.

Next, you’ll want great veggies. I usually start with celery, carrots, onions, and garlic. Many soups also have corn, tomatoes, potatoes, and beans. To save time, feel free to use frozen and canned veggies.

Some soups have meat - chicken, beef, even meatballs. Whatever you choose to use, keep the pieces really small and cook them thoroughly before adding them to the soup. It saves time to buy pre-cooked meats, but they can be more expensive.

You can also add herbs, spices, seasoning packets, pasta, or rice. If you use pasta, make sure the pieces are small so they’ll cook up faster and be easier to eat. I love using packets of seasonings made just for soup. It takes all the guesswork out of seasoning your soup.

Preparation is Key

Dice all your fresh veggies so they’re about the same size. Smaller pieces will cook faster. Microwave your frozen veggies and drain them before adding them to the soup. Drain and rinse any canned veggies you’re using.

If you’re adding potatoes, dice them up and boil them first. I generally do this on a weekend day so I can throw everything together quickly after work.

Putting It All Together

Saute fresh veggies with cooking spray. You want to do this on the night you’re going to cook the soup. You can do almost all the other steps ahead of time, but the flavor you get from this step is priceless.

Add the stock, other veggies, and meats. Because everything’s precooked, you just need to heat everything up. To speed the process up, cover the pot and turn it up to medium high.

About ten minutes before you want to serve the soup, add the pasta or rice (if you’re using it). If you add them too soon, they’ll be mushy and overcooked by the time the soup gets to the table.

Serving Tips

Spoon the soup into bowls and add any toppings you want. Cheese, crusty bread, croutons, and sour cream are all yummy (depending on the soup).

Let me know how your soup turns out!

Halloween is tomorrow. So if you don’t have your fill of Halloween treats just yet, try one of these recipes:

Caramel Apples

Image Credit: Nina Shannon

You’ll need roughly three ounces of caramels per apple. I prefer the individually wrapped caramels. They’re cheap and easy. Have the kids help unwrap them and put them in a microwave safe bowl.

Melt the caramels in the microwave on about half power. Remove the bowl from the microwave and stir it every minute or so.

Have the kids wash and dry each apple very well. Then push a popsicle stick into each one.

Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Put a pile of decorations/toppings on the cookie sheet for each apple. These can be anything you want - nuts, chocolates, sprinkles, etc.

Roll the dry apples in the melted caramels until well coated. Place coated apples on the cookie sheet and roll them around in the toppings of choice.

To make them a little more festive, melt some white choclates or almond bark. Stir in orange food coloring (or a combination of red and yellow - I can never find orange). Drizzle the mixture over the finished apples.

Eyeballs and Crackers

Buy a whiteish cheese ball and stick it in the freezer. When the cheeseball is nice and hard, cut it in half. Place the halves on a serving dish.

Drizzle with tomato sauce or ketchup in the shape of veins. Pour some into a plastic baggie and seal the top. Snip one corner off and squeeze gently.

Top the cheese ball halves with an olive slice or a raisin. Refrigerate your creations.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Grab your best Halloween cookie cutters and flour tortillas or pita bread. Try tomato tortillas - they’re orangeish red and very festive.

Cut out fun shapes with the cookie cutters. Lay your shapes on a cookie sheet coated with cooking spray. Spray the tops of the shapes too.

Bake for 5-8 minutes - keep an eye on them. You want them crispy but not burnt. Turn them over about half way through the baking time.

Spread the crackers around your eyeballs and serve to your ghoulish guests.

Duncan at Halloween 2007

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Halloween is by far my favorite holiday. Yeah, I dress up to take my son trick or treating. And yeah, we do a gazillion Halloween related activities. And of course, Halloween is full of tons of treats in our house.

Halloween has offered up one of my biggest challenges. I’m all about healthy food that kids still love to eat and Halloween is all about candy and other sweet treats. It’s not easy to transform candy corn into a healthy food without losing all of the kid appeal.

Here’s my theory on Halloween (and most other major holidays): It’s special, right? It only comes once a year. So a complete and total ban of treats is akin to cruel and unusual punishment.

Like everything else in life, it’s all about balance.

That being said, parts of the treat I’m about to suggest are healthy and others are decidedly not. It is intended to be prepared with the help of your kid(s).

Pumpkin Cupcakes

These are painfully easy to make and they’re always a hit.

Mix a can of plain, pureed pumpkin (not the pumpkin pie stuff) with a box of spice cake. The mixture will be super thick and gooey…that’s normal, don’t add any liquid. Scoop the mixture into a muffin tin lined with festive Halloween themed papers. The cups should be about ¾ full. If you’re not going to use papers, spray the muffin tin very, very well with cooking spray. These cupcakes are very sticky.

Depending on the age of your kids, they can help stir the mix and scoop it into the pan.

Bake your masterpieces at 350 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes. Since these cupcakes don’t really turn brown as they cook, check one of the center ones with a toothpick to see if it’s done. It should come out with crumbs or nothing at all.

Let the cupcakes cool for about 10 minutes. Remove them from the pan and let them cool completely on a cookie rack. While they’re cooling, you can mix up the frosting and get out your decorations.

You’ll need two tubs of white frosting, funky food coloring (purple, black, orange, and lime green are great), and other goodies like sprinkles and candies. Mix up a small batch of each color of frosting. Once the cupcakes are cool, get a base coat of frosting on them. Mix it up, you’ll want a few in each color.

Put each type of decoration in a small bowl or cup. I love using colored sugars, sprinkles, mini m&ms, and chocolate chips. Don’t be afraid to add bigger things like marshmallows, chocolate kisses, peanut butter cups, or licorice.

Now, step back and let the kids go to town. Oh sure, you can find all sorts of recipes for perfectly cute Halloween cupcakes, but most of them require you to follow directions and stuff. That’s not nearly as fun as going crazy with the toppings.

I’d love to see pictures of these creations (and any other Halloween treats you and your kids make).

I’ll post a new treat every few days between now and Halloween, so check back often. Better yet, you can subscribe via RSS or email to get updates automatically.