Serving Up {Vegetable} Roasted Sweet Potatoes & Leeks with fresh Sage

 

I have been on a leek kick as of late and although I totally realize that my last post was a potato and leak recipe, I am posting another right behind it because it is a great recipe.  Not to mention it's cold outside where I am and there is something very hearty and comforting about roasted root vegetables at this time of year.

Roasting vegetables is my absolute favorite way to prepare just about any vegetable.  I have posted roasted pumpkin and roasted asparagus and roasted broccoli and roasted new potatoes, but I also roast squash, kale, mushrooms, peppers....even carrots!  The flavor is the absolute best and my kids like their vegetables so much better prepared that way.  This recipe was something that I threw together because I had a (white) sweet potato, a yukon gold potato and a leek that all needed to be used and I just knew they needed to be roasted together.  Boy oh boy, did I got it right!  We had dinner guests over the first time I prepared this dish and there wasn't a bite of these potatoes remaining by the end of the meal.  Yum!

One Year Ago: Thanksgiving Beans

ROASTED SWEET POTATOES & LEEKS WITH FRESH SAGE     
printable version

1 large sweet potato (white variety)
1 large russet or yukon gold potato (could omit or use another sweet potato in place of)
1-2 large leeks
olive oil
1/2 cup (packed) fresh sage
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Line a large baking pan with foil and spray with non-stick spray.

Peel both potatoes and cut into 1-inch cubes.  Place in a large bowl.  Wash leeks well and chop.  Add the leaks to the bowl of potatoes.  Drizzle olive oil over all and toss until everything has a light coating.  Slice fresh sage into strips and add to potatoes.  Season all generously with salt and pepper.

Spread potatoes evenly onto prepared pan so that all potatoes are in a single layer.  Bake at 425 degrees for 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender when poked with the tines of a fork.  You can stir or toss the potatoes halfway through the baking time, but it isn't necessary.  Be sure to test a sweet potatoes as they do not cook as quickly as the russet or yukon gold (if using the potato combination).

Serving Up {Vegetable}: Mashed Potatoes and Leeks

One year ago, in preparation for Thanksgiving, I posted my all-time favorite mashed potato recipe and I would not have guessed that a year later I would even consider posting another recipe.  But I have made these potatoes twice in just the past two weeks and they are really delicious and deserve to be published!

I was at the tire repair shop recently and the television had a cooking segment on it (I wish I could give correct credit, but it was not a network I was familiar with) preparing "easy" Thanksgiving sides.  These potatoes were prepared and, although I don't have the official recipe, I was able to remember the important steps and re-create it at home.  The key is the combination of the leeks with the potatoes - a BRILLIANT combination considering the number of Potato Leek Soup recipes out there.  It is just a natural, and delicious, flavor combination!

So if you are looking for a great way to add something new to your Thanksgiving table next week, I would highly suggest tweaking your potatoes just slightly.  You won't be sorry!

One Year Ago: Refrigerated Mashed Potatoes

MASHED POTATOES & LEEKS     
printable version

3-4 pounds potatoes, russet & gold combination

1/2 cup butter

2 leeks, washed thoroughly and chopped
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
salt & pepper to taste

Peel potatoes and cut into 1-inch cubes.  Place into large pan.  Cover with water and add (generously) salt.  Place on stove and bring to a boil, cooking until tender.

Meanwhile, place butter in a medium saucepan and melt over medium heat.  Add the chopped/washed leeks and allow to cook until the leeks are tender and fragrant.  Add cream to the saucepan and heat without bringing to a boil.  Remove from the heat and place in a blender, or use an immersion blender to process just until the leeks are blended with cream.

When potatoes are tender, remove from heat and drain cooking water.  Begin mashing the potatoes by adding about 2/3 of the cream to the potatoes.  Add additional cream as needed.  You want creamy potatoes but don't want so much cream to create a soup.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serving Up {Vegetable}: Smashed Parmesan Potatoes

Yummy, Yummy, Yummy!

These potatoes are one of my favorite!  In fact, my husband, who is not a huge potatoe fan, would give these potatoes two thumbs up!  I made these for a dinner guest recently and I found my husband a couple of days later raiding the fridge.  When questioned, he admited that he was looking for leftover potatoes - a phrase I never thought that I would hear!  No leftovers honey - they are simply too good!

No worries if making smooth (lump free) mashed potatoes are a struggle for you.  These potatoesa are meant to be "smashed", not "mashed" so embrace the lumps and enjoy these potatoes.

One Year Ago: Scor Cake

SMASHED PARMESAN POTATOES     

(recipe from Karen S.)

printable version

3 pounds red potatoes
1 1/2 cups half & half
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup fresh parmesan, grated
salt & pepper

Wash and scrub the unpeeled red potatoes and place in a large pot.  Cover with water and generously salt and boil until very fork tender. Drain. In saucepan heat together the half & half and the stick of butter. With potato masher break up the potatoes some, but don’t turn them into mashed potatoes (like one mash per potato). Slowly add the hot cream and butter, folding in. Gently stir in the sour cream, the freshly grated parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste.

Serving Up {Vegetable}: Thanksgiving Beans

Last Thanksgiving was the first Thanksgiving in twelve years of marriage that we celebrated with (part of) my husband's family.  Isn't that crazy?  We had just moved to Oregon and were living with my in-laws who were preparing to move back east.  Needless to say, the household in general was a bit topsy turvey.  My sister-in-law and I took care of everything except for the turkey, which we left to my father-in-law.  When it came to vegetables, I prepared a green salad and my sister-in-law prepared roasted brussel sprouts and we both agreed "NO GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE".

When my mother-in-law discovered that there wasn't a green bean casserole on the menu she let me know that it was requested yearly by one family member in particular who was going to be in attendance.  She offered to put it together and we left it at that.  When Thanksgiving arrived, there was a beautiful, creamy green bean casserole on the table - topped with golden crushed croutons and large shredded pieces of Swiss cheese.  I immediately understood that this was not the canned green beans and mushroom soup dish that I had attempted to void from the meal.  In fact, I determined to not title it "green bean casserole" because this is in it's own category - delicious!

THANKSGIVING BEANS     
(recipe from Marilyn D.)
printable version

2 (12 ounce) bags of French  cut beans (frozen)
2 Tbs. flour
2 Tbs. butter
1 pint sour cream
1 tsp. salt
4 tsp. onion powder
½ pound swiss cheese, grated
croutons, crushed

Cook the beans until just tender; drain well.
In a saucepan make a rue by melting the butter and adding the flour; stir until free of lumps. Remove from heat and cool.
Combine sour cream, salt, and onion powder. Add to the cooled rue. Add the grated swiss cheese and then add the beans and mix everything together.
Pour into a buttered glass cooking dish and top with crushed croutons (could use crackers or corn flakes). Dot with additional butter and a bit more swiss cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until heated through.

Serving Up {Vegetable}: Roasted Pumpkin with Shallots and Sage

For the next couple of weeks I am going to be a bit out of commission, but I am leaving some (pre) posts of some of my favorite pumpkin recipes.  I LOVE pumpkin and October is the perfect month to enjoy pumpkin in all of it's glory.  Enjoy!

I have carved pumpkins before, but never in my life have I cut apart a pumpkin with the sole purpose of cooking and eating it.  Until this recipe.  My sister-in-law passed it along to me and I have wanted to make it for a while, but it's hard to find sugar pumpkins to purchase except during the month of October.  So take your chance now and try this recipe before the pumpkins are gone for another 11 months.  

(I found my pumpkin at Trader Joe's and it was the perfect size)

This posting is really two recipes - both completely simple, yet very gourmet.  

The first recipe is for the Roasted Pumpkin with Shallots and Sage.  

Once you have your pumpkin roasted, there is a recipe to follow that pairs the roasted pumpkin with pasta and goat cheese.  

I really liked both recipes, but goat cheese is a bit of an acquired taste and I don't think it went over very well with the kiddos.  If goat cheese isn't your thing either, make the Roasted Pumpkin and serve it as a side with anything.  I am not exaggerating - it was so sweet that I felt like I was literally eating candy.  So good!  I hope you think so too.

ROASTED PUMPKIN with SHALLOTS and SAGE     Pin It

(recipe from Martha Stewart)
printable version

1 medium sugar pumpkin (about 4 pounds), peeled, seeded, and cut into 2 inch chunks
4 shallots, peeled and quartered lengthwise
3 Tbsl olive oil
1/4 cup fresh sage leaves
coarse salt and ground pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Divide pumpkin, shallots, oil and sage between two large rimmed baking sheets.  Season with salt and pepper and toss.
Roast until the pumpkin is tender, 30-35 minutes, tossing once nad rotating sheets halfway through.


RIGATONI with ROASTED PUMPKIN and GOAT CHEESE
(recipe from Martha Stewart)
printable version

12 ounces rigatoni
2 Tbs. butter
5 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
Roasted pumpkin with shallots and sage (recipe to follow)
coarse salt and ground pepper

In a large pot of boiling slated water, cook pasta until al dente.  Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water; drain pasta and return to pot.  Add the butter, cheese and pasta water; toss until butter has melted.
Gently fold in oraste pumpkin; season with salt and pepper.
Serve immediately.

Serving Up {Vegetable}: Ranch Vegetable Dip

There are so many yummy vegetables coming on right now.  I LOVE it!  There is a sense of accomplishment when you can create a vegetable platter with the harvest of your very own garden.  Currently I have colorful peppers, cute yellow pear tomatoes and cucumbers all coming in each day with carrots not too far behind.

My favorite vegetable dip to serve with a platter of veggies is this recipe.  It's super easy because you use a packet of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix.  By adding the cottage cheese with the sour cream, I feel like it's a bit of a healthier option as well.  I hope you like it as much as our family does.

RANCH VEGETABLE DIP     Pin It
printable version

1 cup sour cream
1 cup cottage cheese
1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch dressing seasoning

Combine all the ingredients in a medium bowl and stir until mixed well.
Refrigerate for a couple of hours prior to serving.
Serve with fresh cut vegetables.

Serving Up {Drink}: Green Smoothie

About two years ago I was introduced to green smoothies (here) and I became very passionate about them.  It seemed like such a simple way to get fruits and veggies into my kids diet without the battle over "one piece of broccoli" - because, really, how much benefit does one piece of broccoli really afford?

(not to mention, how else will you get your kid to wear such a cool green mustache?)

While living in Vegas we would have a shake each morning with breakfast and another shake as an after school snack.  I am not kidding when I say that I would actually crave them!  But with our move last summer we kind of fell out of the smoothie routine.  We have them here and there but not with any regularity and I have missed it!

So with the summer harvest of produce, and the heat that makes a cold shake sound REALLY good, we have slowly been getting back into the Green Smoothie routine.  Just yesterday my three year old asked me to make a shake and he even opened up the fridge and pulled out two carrots and declared he wanted an orange shake (coconut milk, carrots, apricots, tart apple, tomato, banana)

You can put out a google search and come up with more drink combinations than you will ever use.  My advice is to start heavy on the fruit and then as you (and your kids) get used to them, slowly decrease the fruit and increase the veggie content.  You will be surprised at how the veggie battle will be a distant memory as your kids begin "drinking" veggies that they never would have eaten served on a plate.

I am sharing a "heavy fruit" recipe that is packed with spinach, which is a terrific leafy green veggie yet very mild in flavor.  As you begin to add more veggies, other mild flavored veggies include tomatoes, carrots, avocado and cucumbers - your kids won't even know they are in there.  I have discovered that if I throw in 1/2 lemon (peel and all) any other flavor is hidden by the citrus and I can get away with even stronger flavors such as bell peppers.  No matter what combination we use, we always throw in some frozen fruit of some type to make it nice and cold - frozen bananas work really well for that but so do frozen berries.  We also sometime steer clear of green altogether and go for another color - beets, red cabbage and strawberries are a delicious combination and because it's red, the kids think mom forgot to make it healthy :)

FAVORITE GREEN SMOOTHIE     Pin It

2 cups liquid (coconut milk, water, rice milk, kefir)

Spinach to fill blender container twice

Orange juice concentrate

Frozen peaches

Frozen banana

Place liquid in your blender container and fill the container with spinach; blend down to liquid.  Fill the container again with spinach and blend down to liquid again.  Add 1 Tbs. OJ concentrate, 1/2 - 1 frozen banana and 1-2 cups frozen peaches.  Blend until smooth. 

**if you have any smoothie remaining (which we seldom do) put the mix into a popsicle mold and freeze it.  Delicious (my kids had apricot smoothie popsicles just this afternoon)**

Serving Up {Vegetables}: Roasted Asparagus

I love spring...when there is so much fresh produce in the markets.  Asparagus is one of those spring delights that I look forward to.  I have always loved asparagus but up until a couple of years ago I didn't make it very often.  Then I discovered roasting it to prepare it, and while it's not nearly as pretty as when it is steamed, it is SO good.  It is not uncommon for me to have roasted asparagus for lunch a couple of times a week when it is in season.  I know you're jealous!  Give it a try and you will be surprised at how easy (and yummy) it is.

ROASTED ASPARAGUS     

printable version

1 bunch of asparagus spears

olive oil

balsamic vinegar (optional)

sea salt

freshly ground pepper

Parmesan cheese

Heat the oven to 425 degrees.

Wash the asparagus and break the tough ends off.  Place on a foil lined baking sheet in a single layer.  Drizzle with olive oil and then balsamic vinegar (or use a balsamic dressing in place of both the oil and vinegar).  Roll the spears around until well coated.  Sprinkle with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.  

Bake for 20-25 minutes until they are tender but still crisp.

Grate fresh Parmesan cheese over the top as soon as they come out of the oven and allow to sit until the cheese melts.

Serving Up {Vegetable}: Rosemary Herbed Potatoes

This is a recipe for something that I don't actaully use a recipe to make.  I just eyeball everything and determine the amount of sauce based on the amount of potatoes we are making.  I will mention that we find that when we make these for dinner, the more potatoes the better.  My kids can put down potatoes when they are made this way.  It's pretty impressive actually.  In fact, my eight year old, who is adverse to about 99% of what I cook, has declared these his favorite potatoes.  It's nice to have something that can serve as a white flag in the parent/child relationship.

We like to use the little yellow fingerling potatoes when we make this recipe.  For us we find them at Trader Joe's year round or at New Seasons when they are in season locally.  You could use a red potato, but the fingerlings are so moist and have a natural buttery taste that makes them our favorite.

What really makes this recipe is the fresh rosemary.  In a pinch you could use dried rosemary, or even substitute a different herb, but you must try these at least once with the real thing.  You will be rewarded with a delicious aroma of baking rosemary filling your kitchen before you even get to take your first delectable bite.  You can freeze any leftover rosemary you may have so that you don't waste any - or if you prefer, throw the remainder into a loaf of homemade french bread!  Delicious!

ROSEMARY HERBED POTATOES     
printable version


Mayonnaise
Dijon mustard
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
Fresh rosemary, removed from stem and coarsely chopped
Fingerling potatoes, washed and cut into bite size
Parmesan shreds

In a large bowl combine equal parts mayo, Dijon and olive oil.  Add salt and pepper to taste, one teaspoon of minced garlic and a handful of fresh rosemary.  Mix well.  Add the potatoes and toss to coat.  Pour out onto a foil lined baking sheet.  Sprinkle with Parmesan shreds.  Bake at 425 degrees until fork tender - approximately 30 minutes - stirring (carefully) once halfway through the baking process.