Sunday Updates - More Root Vegetables and a Snow Day

I finally added pictures to some of the older posts so this will seem like a real cooking blog. Here's some of what I've been cooking over the weekend.

Here's breakfast from this morning:


It's an arugala, sun-dried tomato, "bacon", and egg sandwich. Delicious, however I am still finding that light life smart "bacon" to be a bit disappointing. It's not nearly as good as the other faux meats we've eaten and it really can be like eating soy jerky. This is served along side the roasted root vegetables we are enjoying at most meals. Our CSA box is generally full of roots right now, so i keep just making the roasted root dish to have on hand to supplement all of our meals. They are good as a side, in burritos, in a hash, in soup, in anything really.

Here's how to make roasted root vegetables, adapted from a pasta and company recipe. I had the pleasure of working there in the last year of the 20th Century.

5-7 roots - i like to really mix this up, the particular mix featured in this blog so far is a combination of 1 red potato, 2 white satin carrots, 1 parsnip, 1 turnip, 1 celery root and 1 yam. Other roots you can use include any type of yam, potato, beet, or carrot, rutabaga, or even winter squash.
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
3 bay leaves (optional)
3 Tb EV olive oil
1 tsp Italian seasoning (optional)
1 Tb brown sugar (optional)
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 400. Chop the roots and onion into chunks, put in a large oven proof rectangle, and minced garlic, herbs, sugar, salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil and toss together. Cook for at least 40 minutes.

Yesterday we went on a lovely snowshoeing adventure. Our first of the year and quite possibly one of the best we've done. Snowshoeing has got to be the greenest winter sport especially since we carpool to the mountain :)

Here's a pic of the veggie sandwiches we took with us for our picnic at the grand junction lodge. We took two kinds and each had a half. The first was avocado, tomato, salad mix and provolone. The other was hummus, tomato, and salad mix. Both were delicious.

 

Here's what I recommend for a warm up bevie - Silk Nog with Spiced Rum, best if you heat up the nog. The Silk Nog is so good, Charlie and I actually argue over who gets to finish that last little bit in the carton.

More uses for TVP
As I mentioned, I have a mountain of TVP and a fridge stocked with roasted root vegetables and black beans. I decided to make a hash (pictured) with the trio the other morning and this may be the most filling thing I have eaten since going veg. TVP is a miracle that way. I did not get hungry for over 5 hours despite going on a 3 mile run. I'll keep reporting on uses for the TVP, because despite eating it at 4 meals for two people, we still have plenty more of the stuff.