We have an abundance of farmers markets in our neck of the woods, and with Fall here now, we are greeted by rows and rows of “root” crops to feast on.  The trouble usually is, like most folks, we run out of new ways to cook some of our old favorites.  Long before the supply of turnips, and similar crops, run out, we’ve exhausted our recipe file. 

Apart from boiling turnips, and mashing them with a little salt and pepper, there are other ways to enjoy turnips.  Of course, there’s the hearty harvest stews that I grew up with;  a big pot of beef surrounded by turnips, potatoes, onions, carrots, celery, and all your favorite Fall flavors.   I have a friend who has successfully oven fried them, coated with oil, Parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper, for a tasty and healthy alternative to regular white potato oven fries.  Also, I have seen a few recipes for turnips in Chinese cooking, but haven’t tried any yet.  It appears that if you thinly cut most root crops on a sharp angle, you can stir fry them and include them in a variety of dishes.  Turnips are a tasty surprise in your stir fry, when you are expecting only carrots, celery, and green or red peppers.  Also, pickling turnips is a unique recipe that may be worth trying.  I’m wondering now what other unusual recipes are out there for using our current root crop - turnips.  

I usually have a freezer full of bags of sweet green peas.  Peas are the “go to” vegetable in my house because it’s the one vegetable my kids will eat without a fuss.  I’ll actually “cook” my peas by running hot water over the peas in a colander until they are just thawed, but not hot.  Then, for the kids, I mix them in with some cottage cheese, and for the adults, I serve them on top of a nice, mixed salad full of other goodies like broccoli, chopped egg, mushrooms, grated cheese, and anything else I have in the house to make a salad complete.  Now, everybody is happy.  Kids are eating their vegetables, and liking them, and Mom and Dad have a great salad complete with snappy green peas covering the top.  I rarely cook green peas in boiling water, because the taste is so sweet and fresh when they are just thawed.

Because my kids absolutely love green peas (must be the sweetness) I need to find a thousand-and-one ways to serve peas to my kids so they will not get bored and quit eating them.  Have you ever had that happen?  You finally find something your kids love to eat, so you feed it to them every day, and then, they hate it.  I would like to avoid that trap if possible.  Can you help me please?

I believe the only beets I’ve ever eaten in my life have been pickled.  Does that sound strange to anyone?  I’m not sure if it was just a family recipe, or if it’s common practice to pickle beets.  I do remember liking them, and that they stained anything they came into contact with red.  Which was fun, for a kid. 

Now that I think about it a little further, I do recall some beet salads at our school picnics when I was a kid.  I’m sure, because I was a kid,  I didn’t actually try any of the salads, but I remember they were really bright and pretty.  And, like a lot of brightly colored vegetables, beets are rich in antioxidants, folic acid, and calcium.  Also, since I’ve been following a low-glycemic diet, on and off, for a few months now, I checked on where beets fall on the glycemic index scale.  They’re in the medium range, but still lower than a white potato or parsnips.  And, really, I don’t think you can sit down and eat a whole plate full of beets in any shape or form, so a glycemic rating of medium isn’t too disastrous.  I’m curious to see if anyone is serving beets for dinner, and how they’re preparing them. 

Provolone cheese has a distinctively smoky aroma and flavor.  I like it on any sandwich where I use rye bread and ham.  It’s one cheese that can stand up against other strong flavors.  Even if you add a thin slice of onion to your sandwich, you’ll still taste the Provolone!

What I’m wondering about is if Provolone cheese is a cheese that you’d want to use in casseroles.  I use a lot of Cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, and Parmesan cheese, but haven’t tried Provolone cheese in my casseroles as yet.  One recipe my daughter made quite a bit when she lived in Oregon, was Grilled Portebello Mushroom Burgers, served on a nice bun like a burger with all the trimmings.  Her cheese of choice was Provolone because of the smoky aroma, which mimics the smell of a burger on the grill.  Clever!  I’ve also talked to some friends who prefer Provolone over Swiss cheese on Reuben Sandwiches, because of the smoky flavor and how it stands up to the corned beef and sauerkraut in the Reuben. 

What do you think?  Is there a whole new world of Provolone cheese to explore?  What am I missing?

It’s October… all those beautiful, orange pumpkins are lined up on hay bales in front of every store, and I am trying to figure out what to make with a pumpkin other than a jack-o’-lantern.  Besides pumpkin pie, are there recipes for using fresh pumpkin in soups, casseroles, and other desserts?

One thing I know for sure is the pumpkin you carve into your jack-o’-lantern, or set out among your Fall decorations, must not be the pumpkin you cook.  If it has been out in the weather for awhile, it’s not suitable for eating.  After your carved pumpkin has done its duty decorating your landscape, please add it to your compost pile or feed it to the deer. 

Now, back to recipes… when I buy my fresh pumpkin and get it home, what will I make?  I’m partial to winter squash and have heard you can substitute pumpkin in recipes that call for squash.  Has anyone had success doing that?  Also, there were some dessert bars that I had at a potluck some time ago that were delicious.  I’m sorry I didn’t track that person down for the recipe.  I’m wondering if anyone has a great bar or cookie recipe using fresh pumpkin.  One more thing;  how does using fresh pumpkin differ from using canned pumpkin?  Hope there is someone out there who can help!

My Grandma made the best navy bean soup ever!  Period.  End of debate.  She called it Navy Bean Soup but we always referred to her masterpiece with a resounding “Ham On The Bone”!  Yes, she left the ham on the bone and left it in the soup.  Why waste a minute of that flavor soaking into the broth and beans.  You just sort of dug around in there, hoping to knock a few chunks of ham off the bone with the ladle and into your bowl. 

Any way you make it, Navy Bean Soup is probably one of the most satisfying soups there is on the entire planet.  Depending on the garden, my Grandma would add carrots, onions, parsnips, parsley, potatoes, and whatever she could dig up or snip off.  Now, I’ve made this soup a few times in my life, but it never, ever, will turn out as good as my Grandma’s Navy Bean Soup.  That’s just the way nostalgia works. I would, however, like to hear if anyone else has a favorite memory or recipe using navy beans.  I don’t know if it would be worth trying them in a casserole, or a salad, but why don’t you tell me what you think.

I’ve been intrigued by spaghetti squash ever since I was a little girl.  My Mom grew spaghetti squash, as well as other varieties, in her garden and fascinated us with the magic that happens when she cooked this particular squash.  It looks like any other squash when you cut into it and scoop out the seeds and stuff, but after it’s cooked, take a fork and start loosening up the ‘meat’ of the squash and see what happens.  You turn your squash into strands of ’spaghetti’ that you can use just like noodles.  This is really fun to do with kids, especially if you don’t tell them ahead of time what’s going to happen.

My Mom would usually just treat the spaghetti squash like real spaghetti noodles, scoop them out and serve them with butter and Parmesan cheese… a favorite for us kids.  She didn’t get too adventurous with different sauces, I think because we kids were happy with what we had, so why push it.  Now, as a grown up, I’d like to explore some other sauces that would be complimentary with the flavors and texture of the spaghetti squash ‘noodles’.  I’m guessing you can make a traditional spaghetti meat and tomato sauce and serve it over the spaghetti squash noodles.  Are there some herbs or spices that are particularly tasty with spaghetti squash?  Have you tried anything with spaghetti squash that would make it stand out from any other squash dish?

I keep seeing this fabulous vegetable, Bok Choy, on cooking shows and it has become my new favorite vegetable.  Also known as Chinese Cabbage, it is actually in the cabbage family.  Bok Choy is built a little bit like celery, so you cut it up and clean it in a similar way;  cut the bottom off, separate the stalks and wash them thoroughly.  Once you have your Bok Choy clean, you are ready for a treat.  Its wonderfully sweet and crunchy texture has me on a quest… trying to find every conceivable Bok Choy recipe out there!

Now that I’ve given Bok Choy a try, I’ve fallen in love with it as a simple stir fry side dish.  You’ll want to cut the leaf part off the stem, or stalk, before you stir fry it, because the leaf part will just cook too fast.  Then cut the stalk part into bite size pieces, and start to stir fry them in a very hot pan with a high temperature oil, like peanut oil.  You can add whatever vegetable you like along with it, as long as the vegetable you add has about the same cooking time.  Give your vegetables about a minute or so to soften, then add the seasoning you like.  I’m hooked on fresh grated ginger.  Add a little bit of onion diced very small and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes. The hot, spicy pepper flakes compliment the sweet flavor of the Bok Choy.  Then, add garlic if you like, and the Bok Choy leaves with a little soy sauce for an extra boost of flavor.  That’s all it takes to have a side dish that is amazingly beautiful and nutritious, too.  How creative can you get with your Bok Choy recipes?

Butternut squash is that pretty little vase-shaped vegetable you see in grocery stores and farmers markets in the early fall through winter.   I keep walking by them because I don’t know any other way to cook butternut squash besides oven roasting.  Butternut squash tastes a little like sweet potatoes, has a finer texture, and a sweeter, somewhat nuttier flavor than other squash.  If you want to try cooking one, choose a butternut squash that’s not too light in color;  more orange than beige.  The darker the color, the more likely it will be sweeter, riper, and not as watery as the lighter colored squash.

I’ve made my butternut squash by peeling it with a vegetable peeler, scooping out the seeds and mushy insides, coating it with olive oil, salt and pepper and oven roasting it on a cookie sheet, until it’s fork tender.  This is fine, but I think I’m missing out on a whole world of butternut squash love!  With its sweet, nutty flavor, I’m guessing that there are some unique flavor combinations, seasoning inspirations, and cooking techniques that folks have been creating forever.  Anybody feeling inspired?

October is “National Popcorn Poppin’ Month” and The Popcorn Board would like us to learn more about popcorn.  Did you know that popcorn is a whole-grain food?  Popcorn has not been milled into oblivion, so it contains the entire grain, kernel and all.  Did you also know that popcorn is low in fat and calories?  That is why health and weight conscious people are snacking on popcorn.  Of course, if you are on a strict diet, you’ll want to enjoy popcorn in its most delicious, natural state… limiting the butter and seasonings. 

But, when you and your family want a special treat, The Popcorn Board has recipes galore for every popcorn fan and fanatic.  One of the recipes that I love for Halloween will probably put you off your diet, but it will be worth it just this once.  This treat includes peanut butter, so it’s not without added nutritional benefits.   Be sure to make double batches… the kids (and adults) will be begging for more long after Halloween!

POPCORN CANDY-CORN STACKS
7 ounces marshmallow cream
1/2 cup peanut butter
8 cups popped popcorn
1 cup candy corn

Put marshmallow cream and peanut butter in large bowl and mix until smooth.
Stir in popcorn and candy corn and mix until everything is coated evenly.
Drop spoonfuls of mixture on wax paper or non-stick cookie sheet.
Allow to cool and store in airtight container.

There are more popcorn recipes like this one, along with some main dish recipes, on The Popcorn Board’s website at popcorn.org. It makes sense to include popcorn in your diet when you consider not only how nutritious popcorn is, but how inexpensive popcorn is, too.  Do you have any favorite recipes using popcorn, or any stories of how popcorn has become a part of your life?