Root for the Roots!

Repeat after me; it's November 8^th, we have no snow and it was 58 degrees in Minneapolis today. I know it will snow in time but I can't recall the last time it was this nice in Minnesota in November. And Camille knows it too – she's been bugging us to take her out most everyday – she doesn't always stay out a long time but she wants to go out nonetheless.

Normally I'd be hunkering down and looking for a nice stew recipe about now – I did make my black bean soup recipe for our Halloween party last week, which we finished up and combined it with the last of the cornbread – it was delicious and it only had 170 calories per serving.

In my family (actually both our families) I'm known as the veggie queen. One of my favorite things to do to kill time is search for new veggie recipes – that's why I'm such a Pinterest freak – it's on-line recipe heaven to me. When I first met Dan he told me he didn't like brussels sprouts – I was amazed and confused in the same moment – my only response was "You've never had them cooked correctly, I guarantee that you will love my brussels sprouts" which by the way he does.

Before I started A Vegetarian for One Year, I would wash, trim and then cut small "x" in the bottom of each brussels sprout and then steam them until they were still crisp. While they were steaming I would sauté an onion in olive oil and cook a few strips of bacon in the microwave. When the brussels sprouts were done, I would cut them in half and add them to the onion and bacon mixture, add salt and pepper – and they were ready. I never got a bad review.

Since A Vegetarian for One Year, I've been roasting them. I wash, trim and slice them in half, toss in olive oil and then give them a few grinds of pink sea salt and black pepper. They are even better and they don't have bacon (my apologies to those of you who think bacon is part of the food pyramid).

How I digress, while I do have brussels sprouts in my fridge I took a different route this week. I had a pie crust in the fridge because I used it's mate to make a slab apple pie a week ago. I wanted to use it up and my first thought was a veggie quiche but I wasn't really in the mood. As I was going through the fridge for inspiration, I spied the beets I bought a week ago, some cauliflower, sweet potatoes, turnips and spinach. I knew exactly what I was going to make.

I started by chopping all the veggies, tossing them with olive oil and adding a few grinds of pink sea salt and black pepper (see a pattern) and put them in a 400 degree oven until they were tender. While they were roasting I caramelized a very large onion and then tossed a couple handfuls of spinach in and cooked it until wilted.

I combine the veggies, onion/spinach mixture and feta cheese in a large bowl and mixed well then poured it into the unbaked pie shell and baked it for about 30 minutes until the cheese was melted. 

It was delicious and we had leftovers for Saturday night too – what more can a girl ask for? In a couple weeks we'll be celebrating Thanksgiving with my family in Fargo. I'm looking forward to a good time with family and great food. If you have any favorite Thanksgiving recipes send them my way - I'm always interested in trying new things.